Get in my belly!

I want my baby back, baby back, baby back - Chili's baby back ribs! Ok no this post isn't a paid advertisement for Chili's. It's a post about one of my favorite things-FOOD!

Wow it's been over a month since I've made a post. But this past month has been incredibly busy! After being on the road for 3 weekends in a row, (one weekend in Dallas w/ my parents celebrating their 32nd anniversary and our 2nd and Liz and Colt's sealing, then to good ole Jtown to spend some time w/ my girl Gretchen, and LR to meet baby Cullen and hang w/ Tristan, Abigail and the girls) I am finally home. While I loving traveling, it's nice to be home and just relax. Not that I really got to do that this weekend, but I did have so much fun!

Last night, I got together w/ a group of my very best girls. Our friend Amanda was in town from Texas so we all enjoyed spending time w/ her. Today, I threw a shower for my friend Liz. She's due May 2nd w/ a little girl. We had tons of good eats! I am so stuffed! Sadly, I didn't take any pictures. :( But here is one of the treats that I made.

Chocolate covered strawberry cake balls! They were so yummy!

Making cake balls is really easy. First you bake a cake, let it cool a little and then smash it. Sounds silly, I know, but these are great easy little treat. Add a can of frosting to the cake and mix well. Then make little balls like so....

Next, dip them or drizzle them (like I did) in chocolate. Yum!!!

Poor Rem went to go try one and I quickly shot him down. He said "Hey you ate one!" I responded "I had to, there wasn't enough room for all of them in the pan." hehe

Along with cake balls, I made several other goodies for the shower. Here was the menu and it all was great!

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Cowboy Caviar
Veggies and Greek yogurt dip
Fruit and marshmallow cream dip -and chocolate of course!
Light queso dip 
Strawberry Lemonade Punch
Devil's food chocolate cupcakes w/ homemade butter cream frosting

If I don't have you drooling yet, then maybe this picture of the chocolate frosting will!

The chocolate frosting turned out ok. The cocoa tasted a little bitter though. Next time I make chocolate frosting, I'll use Rem's mom's recipe.

Now cooking in a small kitchen can be quiet the adventure OR pain in the butt. You see we have about 2 feet of counter space in our humble little kitchen. And b/c of this, I am not yet an owner of one of the beloved Kitchen Aide mixers. So I am left to an electric hand mixer and try not to get powdered sugar EVERYWHERE. I didn't get it everywhere, but boy did I make a mess!

This was while making the first batch of frosting. I got smart the 2nd time and just moved the rug out of the way.

And of course I got some on me.

Now if you've ever made butter cream frosting you know what the first 2 ingredients are...

That's right butter and shorting! Do you feel your arteries clogging as you look at this picture?!

Then bring on the powdered sugar! This is where things got messy. But it was so good!

I recently discovered Neufchâtel cheese. It's just like cream cheese but has a 1/3 less fat- YES PLEASE! I'll take it! I tried low fat cream cheese once and I'll never make that mistake again. With my new found love of Neufchâtel cheese I created this pasta dish.

I cooked whole wheat pasta. Then for the sauce, I used half a block of Neufchâtel cheese, a little Ricotta cheese that I had in the fridge. Mushrooms (LOVE THEM!), basil, garlic, and salt and pepper. Turned out pretty yummy! Rem was scared of the sauce at first. lol Even when he's scared of a new dish I've cooked he'll try it. And most of the time he likes it.

While I love cooking, it can easily become a fattening habit. So lately I've looked for ways to eat healthier. I learned that years ago meat was more of a side dish. Not the biggest portion on the plate. You should be eating 2 vegetables, 1 whole grain and 1 meat for a meal. Not a huge chunk of meat and a few carrots. Here is a yummy creation I made during the last snow storm.

I started w/ piece of flat bread- only 90 calories! The reason I was so excited about the 90 calories was b/c I recently realized a 12 inch tortilla has 320 calories in it! I mean seriously, are you kidding me! That's such a waste of calories and carbs! Flat bread is def'ly the way to go. Ok so flatbread, cucumbers, diced tomatoes, black olives, black beans (great for protein), feta cheese (who doesn't love a little feta!) and a dash of italian salad dressing. Delicious and healthy!

Hummus anyone? I love hummus! And for a long time wanted to make some of my own. So I finally got brave and did. I found this Red Pepper Hummus recipe on Sparkpeople.com. And boy was it yummy! Or at least I thought so. I took this dip to a Super Bowl party. Rem noticed no one had ate anything. His comment to me "Honey, I think people are scared of your hummus." Well they just missed out.

Ok so maybe it doesn't look amazing but it was good!

Let me know if you want any of these recipes. I assure you, they are all easy and don't require 20 different spices you've never heard of or can't pronounce.

Bon Appetit!