Venison Roast & Balsamic Roasted Potatoes

Hey cuties!

Wanted to share a few quick recipes with you guys that are absolutely delish! Hope you can find a use for these and remember, if you change them up in any way, please share so that I can taste yours as well!

Venison Roast {Serves 4}: 302 Calories, 1 carb, 15 g Fat, 44 g Protein

Roasted Potatoes {Serves 4-6}: 237 Calories, 35 carbs, 10 g Fat, 4 g Protein, but if you have the potatoes do 6 servings instead of 4, you get 158 calories, 23 carbs, 12 g Fat, and 3 g Protein {I like a bigger helping of spuds}

Until Next Time...

Cake Wreck!!!

Hello everyone...

So this past weekend, I had a cake order for a rainbow birthday cake to help celebrate a little girl's 1st birthday. Everything that could go wrong with this cake, did go wrong with this cake. Fortunately for me, the customer was extremely gracious and understanding. I forgot to take a picture of the actual birthday cake {See, everything that can go wrong did go wrong! LOL} so I don't have anything of substance to show you, BUT...I can show you my 1st attempt at this cake and share with you the recipe! Even though it is a wreck, it is very tastey and I used the same recipe for round 2, so I'm sure it can be of use to at

least one person out here in cyber space!

Hope you get a laugh at my expense!

Vanilla Rainbow Layer Cake

{Adapted from Sweetopia birthday cake recipe}

Makes 6-9" thin layers or 3 thick layers

1.5 c. Whole Milk at Room Temp

7 Egg Whites at Room Temp

1 Large Egg at Room Temp

1 Tlbs Vanilla Extract

1/2 tsp. Almond Extract

2-1/4 c. Sugar

3-3/4 c. All Purpose Flour {or 4 c. Cake Flour}

1-3/4 Tlbs Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

1-1/2 c. Butter at Room Temp

6 Tlbs Shortening

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare pans {I use parchment paper and baking spray to grease pans}.

2. Combine 1/2 c. Milk, Extracts, Egg Whites & Egg in a medium bowl and set aside.

3. Fluff flour in stand mixer using paddle attachment for 30 sec. Add remaining dry ingredients to include sugar. Mix for 30 seconds. Add butter & Shortening. Mix for 60 sec.

4. Slowly add remaining 1 cup of milk and mix until moist {About 30 sec.}

5. Add milk mixture in batches of 3 and mix for 3 sec. {Scrap sides of bowl after each addition}

6. Pour 2 cups of batter into pan and bake for 20 min. If more time is needed, bake 2 min. longer.

Vanilla Birthday Cake Whipped Frosting

Yields 3 cups

5 Sticks of Salted Butter

5 c. Powder Sugar, more if needed

4-1/2 Tlb. Heavy Cream

1-1/2 Tlb. Vanilla Extract

1. Cream butter in a stand mixer for 8 minutes (will turn white)

2. Add remaining ingredients and mix on low for 30 sec. Increase speed and mix for 6 minutes.

3. Frost the layers and cake, chill in fridge for 30 min. and frost again. Decorate with remaining frosting!

*Notes* If baking a rainbow cake, pour 1 cup of batter into 6 different bowls and mix with desired food coloring. Then pour colored batter into prepared baking pan. Bake for 12 min. Allow to cool completely before layering and frosting.

**You can also skip a couple steps and just do 2 colors per layer, just be sure that each color uses 1 cup of batter...

Until Next time...

Spinach & Pan Roasted Tomato Spaghetti

Hey there!

Just want to quickly post a recipe I concocted last evening...I was craving carbs and didn't have time to run through my list of recipes after Zumba & weights last night. So I came home and used some leftover spaghetti noodles I had in the fridge for my dinner...It turned out so delish {yes, I'm tooting my own horn here: beep-ba-beep-ba-beep-beep} so thought I would share it with you all! Hope you enjoy and if you make it your own, please share, always looking for new recipes!!!

Spinach & Pan Roasted Tomato Spaghetti

Serves 1

2 oz. Spaghetti {cooked}

8 cherry tomatoes

2 c. Spinach

1 Tlb. Minced Garlic

1/4 tsp. Onion Powder {I like this stuff, you don't have to use it}

Zest of 1 Lemon

Juice of 1/2 Lemon

2 Tlb. Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper to Taste

2 Tlb. Grated Parmesan Cheese

~Saute tomatoes in 1 Tlb. Olive Oil. Add the Spinach and saute until wilted and tomatoes are just starting to pop.

~Add S&P, Onion Powder, Zest & Lemon Juice and let simmer for 2 min. Add remaining Olive Oil, season more if needed and then add cooked spaghetti noodles. Toss together and cook for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, plate and top with parmesan cheese before enjoying...

Until next time...

Results of my Transformation Challenge!!!

Hello everyone! Happy Tuesday! Hope you all have a wonderful day!
It has been a while since I've blogged, but I wanted to share this with anyone and everyone. I know it may not be a big deal, but to me, it is a HUGE milestone! May 21st was the end of my 6 week transformation challenge. That last week was a buggar for me, but I still managed to get some pretty good results. Considering I haven't had much if not any good results since last August when I started my weight loss journey, I am pretty impressed and hope I can continue with this healthy lifestyle!!! Anyways, thanks for stopping by and letting me brag for just a minute or 2!!!
6 Week Transformation Challenge
April 1st Start Stats

Age: 30 Height: 5'2"

Starting Weight: 147.6 lbs

Body Fat: 36.7 {YIKES}

Metabolic Age: 48

Waiste: 32"

Hips: 39"

Muscle Mass: 88.8%

Core Fat: 34.9

My goal is to get my body fat down to 27% and my metabolic age down to 30...

May 21st End Stats

Starting Weight: 140.6 lbs

Body Fat: 28.7

Metabolic Age: 29

Waiste: 30"

Hips: 38"

Muscle Mass: 96.2

Core Fat: 25.9
So I've reached all of my goals and I'm beyond excited! Everything either went down or up, the weight didn't come off that much, but I changed my body and gained more muscle, which counts more than numbers on the scale...
Hope you have a wonderful day and can find time to start some challenge with yourself! It is all the kick start you need to succeed!!!

Happy 1st Birthday Baby Jack!!!

Hello everyone! Hope you enjoy a beautiful weekend!!!

Today I'm happy & I'm sad, and this is because my baby boy turns 1 years old today! I cherish every moment of every stage and I am rewarded with a wonderful little boy. Jack is such a light in all of our lives and is absolutely never crabby. He goes to sleep on a dime, plays with his older brothers, eats almost everything {others are picky eaters}, and is always smiling. Which is a pretty darn cute smile because he has no teeth yet! LOL...So I wanted to take this opportunity and wish Jack a Happy 1st Birthday!!! I hope you have a wonderful celebration and know how much we are blessed to have you belong to us!!! Love you Mr. Smiles!!!!!!!!!!!!

Jack at Birth

Jack's 1st Photo Op

Jack's 1 Year Photo Op

Fajita Lettuce Boats

Hey everyone! Happy Monday!

I just wanted to quickly share with you a recipe I created for low calorie fajitas that don't lose any of the flavor!!! Totally delish and filling! I'm on a very strict calories diet and wanted Fajitas for dinner one night. But looking at the packaging, I noticed that the wraps themselves were over 250 calories for 1 serving! YIKERS, I didn't have that many calories left if I wanted to have a bag of popcorn later {priorities I tell ya! LOL}...so what I did was substituted Romaine Lettuce for my Tortilla Wraps. I went from 250 calories to 15 calories! Seriously delish!!!

Hope you enjoy!!!

Fajita Lettuce Wraps

Beef Marinade:

3 Tlb Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Tlb Worcestershire Sauce

3 Tlb Soy Sauce

2 Tlb Spicy Brown Mustard

Fajitas:

15 oz. Beef Round Steak, Marinated

1 Bag 10 Minute Rice

1 Head Romaine Lettuce, Peal off the Leaves for boats

1 Red Pepper, Sliced

1 Green Pepper, Sliced

1 Red Onion, Sliced {Or onion of your choice}

1 Lime, Wedged

2 Tlb Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1. Mix vinegar, Worcestershire, soy sauce & mustard all together. Cut steak into thin strips and marinade in sauce for 1 hour in refrigerator.

2. Prepare vegetables, set aside, boil rice.

3. Heat oil over medium heat, add steak and cook 1 minute on each side, remove from pan. Add vegetables to the pan and cook until just wilted. Remove from pan.

4. Remove bag of rice from pot, drain and poor into bowl.

5. Add rice, steak and vegetable medley to a lettuce boat, squeeze lime wedge over tops of 3 Fajita boats, eat and enjoy. Very tasty!!! {Don't skip out on the lime, that for me was my favorite part!!!}

Serves 6 people: 270 calories and 21 g of protein per serving. {8 grams of fat and 30 carbs in case you like to know those numbers as well!!!}

I'm Back!!!

Hey Everyone!

Happy Friday! Wow...I've had a crazy couple of weeks! My computer crashed for a long while, but I'm happy to say that it's back and we are getting re-acquainted with one another! LOL...

Just wanted to quickly share with you all a project the kids and I created for Michael's Birthday!!! They were super fun and make a wonderful addition to our home! I also want to note that I will be selling them on Etsy!!!