My Adventures With Funfetti Cake Mix

I started with this…

When I opened the box I divided the mix… half went into the mixing bowl. The other half I put into a ziplock bag for storage. Next time I will probably store it in a mason jar.

I made these… To make 1.5 point plus cupcakes – preheat the oven to 350. Line your cupcake pan with paper liners. Mix half a box of  cake mix with 6 oz (3/4 cup) of diet sprite and 1 egg white.  Whisk it all together, making sure there are no lumps and the batter looks like cake batter.  Divide the batter equally among the 12 cupcake liners. Bake 18 minutes – 20 minutes – test with a toothpick. When they are done the toothpick will come out clean.  When they are cool, I will frost them with fat free cool whip. They will be a nice low fat dessert later tonight.

After I made the cupcakes I made a cake batter dip. Sounds strange doesn’t it? But it tastes so good! This has been all over the pinterest boards, but I made it my way, using less cake batter and more yogurt.  I liked it a lot!!!  My family liked it a lot! So yummy good!

  cake batter dip recipe – my version

• 1/4 cup fat free Greek yogurt
• 2 TBS cake batter mix (dry – right out of the box)
• 2 TBS fat free cool whip

Mix well, and serve with sliced apples or other fruit

A serving is 2 tablespoons – it was plenty of dip for my sliced apples. YUMMY!

I didn’t come up with these yummy recipes on my own. I found the recipe for the cupcakes here: Skinny Funfetti Cupcakes

The dip recipe I found here via pinterest: Funfetti Cake Dip I love browsing her website, Eat Yourself Skinny, as I am looking for new recipes with weight watchers points plus listed.  I can browse her recipes by points per serving, or by course. I like that!

Fat Free Greek Yogurt Salad Dressing

I'm loving my salads this week! My lunch consists of a big beautiful bowl of freshly chopped vegetables.

This  was my lunch bowl. Broccoli and cauliflower in small florets. Aren't they beautiful! Next I added chopped carrots, walla walla sweet onion,  and celery. I added a serving of garbanzo beans, a sprinkle of low fat mozzarella cheese.  This salad looked nearly perfect.

Normally I would have added ranch dressing.... the regular full fat stuff.  My normal is changing. This is my new normal.... and I love it! Fat free Greek yogurt, with freshly crushed garlic cloves, a sprinkle of season salt, and black pepper.

YUMMY!

How many weight watcher points plus in this salad?
1/4 cup garbanzo beans = 1 point +
1/4 cup low fat mozzarella cheese = 2 points+
1/4 cup fat free Greek yogurt = 1 points+

When I need to save points (for example when we had family pizza night) I can skip the cheese and garbanzo beans making this a super low point side salad. This bowl of chopped vegetables is my new favorite.... my new normal!

Menu Planning For 4th of July

Considering I've been on a diet before, you would think I would have a preplanned menu for holiday weekends. But I don't have a plan. 

So far all I know about the week ahead of me... there is a BBQ tonight and a Potluck on Sunday. I'm not sure about any of the other days. I know there will be more BBQs and a lot of big family gatherings.

I have no ideas for the potluck. I think I can manage the BBQs and not have a problem with my weight watchers points. Grilled chicken, corn on the cob, fresh veggies and fruit for dessert. Someone is planning on BBQ ribs. My favorite. Ohmy.

I don't want to be obsessed thinking about food from now through the 4th of July.  I think I'm making this whole menu plan more difficult than it needs to be.

I Wish I Was That Fat

Earlier I was browsing through some old photo albums when I came across some old pictures of me... I wish I was as fat as I was back then. Seriously. I thought I was a fat slob some years ago. Yeah, no self-love in that statement is there?

That is how I viewed myself. A big fat slob. I look at the photos and I realize I wasn't all that fat. I was not a slob. I was a normal healthy, young woman. I wasn't skinny. I was actually smaller than today's average size woman... today's average size woman is about 160 lbs and wears a size 14.

Society made me believe I was fat.

My motivational photo is of me... I keep it where I can view it often, because seriously... that is the size I wish to be when all is said and done. 

Here We Go Again

What happened to all that enthusiasm I had back in January... it done left the building. So here I am starting over... again.

I didn't go back to all my bad ways. I lost a little weight, continued eating nuts, and healthy fats like salmon. I have been drinking more water than other beverages. Sometimes it is the sassy water from the flat belly diet book. Sometimes I just add a slice or two of lemon to my water.

A couple weeks ago I started back on the weight watchers plan. This time I'm going with the points plus plan. When I first started out, I was left at the end of the day with points left over. I'm sure that won't be a problem as I continue to lose weight and the points allowed in a day go down.

So that is where I'm at... weight watchers is the plan for me.