Bustin' out the good ol' blog!

It will be one year tomorrow since I last wrote on this blog. Ooops!

With the ever increasing price of groceries, and growing popularity with couponing, I'm taking it upon myself to start keeping better track of our spending habits.  Over the next few days, I'll outline what our "plan" is for budgeting our grocery spending and what we're actually going to spend. My hopes are that blogging about what I spend and any good deals I find, will keep me on better track and hold me somewhat accountable.

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Better Bites: Nutella Mousse!

This past Sunday, I made Nutella Mousse. It was amazing. We put it on chocolate shortbread and then added some fresh raspberries on top. It was the best dessert I've had in a long time. I'm not going to lie, this dessert is NOT low calorie and not low fat when made as the original recipe calls, but with a little crafty thinking, I was able to reduce the calorie and fat content significantly. The preparation will change a bit, too, but if anything, it gets easier! 
I'm including t the original recipe taken from  http://www.singforyoursupperblog.com/  on the left so if you want the real thing, you can go for it! The original recipe was used as a filler for a brownie pie (Um..Yum>?!) 

Nutella Mousse: Before!                                                       

5 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup Nutella,

1/2 pint heavy whipping cream 

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Using a mixer, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form. Transfer to another bowl and set aside.In the same mixer bowl, mix Nutella and cream cheese until well combined. Spoon in 1/3 of the whipped cream and gently fold in.  Repeat with remaining whipped cream- be careful not to stir- it won’t be as light and fluffy.    

Nutritional Data:                           

Servings: 6; Calories: 374.3 ; Total Fat: 23.7

Sat Far: 12.5; Carb: 39.8 ; Sugars: 37.9

WW POINTS: 10

Nutella Mousse: After  

5 ounces fat-free cream cheese, softened 

1/2 cup Nutella 

2 cups Cool Whip Free

1 teaspoon Vanilla

Using a mixer, blend Nutella, vanilla and cream cheese until smooth and fluffy.Then, fold in 1/4  Cool Whip and be sure Not to stir! It won't be as fluffy if you do! There might be a few white streaks, THAT'S OKAY! Just walk away! If you keep stirring,  it will be runny! :) 

Nutritional Data:

Servings: 6; Calories: 191.4; Total Fat: 7.7

Sat Fat: 2.5; Carbs: 24.1; Sugars: 16.8

WW POINTS: 4

If you're wondering why I omitted the sugar from the "after" recipe, it's because cool whip is already sweetened, but if you realllly want a sugar fix, add some splenda!! :) 

Enjoy!

Better Bites!

We have two trips planned for the upcoming months. Next weekend, we'll be going to Toronto to see CONAN O'BRIEN!! and then in 6 weeks, we're going to Jamaica. In the meantime, I've decided to start something new. 

For those of you who don't know, I LOVE www.hungry-girl.com. It has really easy low-fat and calorie recipes and some pretty awesome tips on eating out. If you don't receive these newsletters, SIGN UP NOW! :) Anyway, there's a section called "chew the right thing" where she takes a recipe (usually from a fast food restaurant) and then gives it a makeover to cut the fat and calories a whooole bunch. It's similar to "Eat this, Not that" ....

So, I'm going to try to do my own version featuring recipes that I am obsessed with that are not good for me, at all. hah.

 

First recipe coming soon!!!

UPDATE!

Here's the end result of the coconut cake!

IT was suuuuupper yummy!

Bobby Flay's Coconut Cake..

So, in January, Brandon, my brother Zac, and I  went to the Atlantis Resort and Casino on Paradise Island, in the Bahamas. It was an awesome vacation, even if the weather didn't cooperate most of the time.
One of the restaurants we went to was Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.
We all had different steaks, and really unique side dishes..but the star of our dinner was the Toasted Coconut Cake. It. Was. Amazing. Brandon hates coconut, and loved this cake..that's how good it was. Since then, Zac and I have been wanting to make a coconut cake and low and behold, yesterday Zac posted an exciting link on my wall : Coconut Cake!!! 

So, we're obviously getting together tomorrow night (well, tonight I suppose since it's technically Sunday now..) and we're going to try our hand at replicating a culinary masterpiece. haha. The recipe looks like it's going to take up to 6 hours to make..wow.. I'll post pictures of what we end up with, even if it's a disaster! :)

Toronto!

So, this past weekend, Brandon, Bentley and I drove to Toronto to stay with our friends, John and Sarah. As I mentioned in an earlier post, John and Sarah just got a super cute min pin named Jack, and well, he wanted his cousin Bentley to visit!
(For those of you interested, taking your dog across the border isn't hard at all, you just need a signed copy of the dog's rabies vaccination from your vet and you're all set!)

The weekend wasn't too crazy, in fact it was realllly relaxing. Friday night, we went to a restaurant called Milestones. The food was really, really, good! I had Tomato Bisque soup and a pasta dish. The soup was soooo amazing! It came with mini grilled cheese croutons, so cool! After dinner, we came home and went to bed. Not too crazy, eh?! :)

Saturday we decided to walk around and go to Cabbagetown. While there, we went to a restaurant called Cranberries. Lunch there wasn't anything too crazy, just normal pub-like food. But here's a few pictures of it, anyway!





 After getting lunch, we headed to Bloor street and did a little shopping, followed by a lot of drinking. We went to a few different bars, one of which was the Regal Beagle!It was a small pub and we were the only ones there, nothing special, but fun nonetheless.

We also stopped at My Big Fat Burrito on the way back to the apartment. This Burrito place is really good and can be really spicy! Don't get the level 5 unless you LOOVE hot sauce! They even have a Yam burrito for vegetarians! Take a look at their menu! Thus one is located in Kensington Market!


Saturday night concluded with some board games back at the apartment, and some more drinking. At some point after 3am, Brandon, John and a few of John's friends headed out to get Chinese food. Sarah and I stayed home and went to bed! No Chinese food for us!!

Sunday morning we went to Kensington Market. It's kind of a Hippy hangout, but I really like a few of the stores there, so we always try to go. First, we decided we needed some lunch. For the first time since I've known Brandon, he requested we go somewhere "Healthy and possibly vegan for something like a salad." !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! After I recovered from my intial shock, we decided on Urban Herbivore. Last time we were in Toronto, Sarah introduced to ttheir chocolate chunk vegan cookies (amazing!). This time around, we all ordered lunch, and some cookies to go! :). Brandon and I both had salads which included your choice of greens, 6 items, nuts, and dressing. Sarah had vegan Moroccan stew and John had a grain bowl, which was the same as the salad bowl, but grain instead of greens! I also ordered a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice! Yummy!



After lunch, we headed to Blue Banana Market. It's almost like a flea market, but really, really, clean and the actual vendors aren't in their booths. It has really unique gifts and a cute coffee place with really good tea.  Upstairs there are clothes and jewelry that are reasonably priced and really cute. They even have a section for plastic free toys for kids. Don't tell Jasmine, but this is where we get Jenavieve's presents! ;)

So, that's all for now! We had a great weekend with WONDERFUL weather. We'll be back to Toronto in a few months, you can be sure of that! It's a awesomely clean and fun city, and as soon as we're home, we're already planning our next trip there!! Thanks to John and Sarah for being great hosts, as always!!

Toronto!

So, this weekend, Brandon and I are visiting Sarah and John in Toronto. They have a pretty sweet Penthouse Apartment in downtown and have 2 bedrooms, so we're staying with them. They recently got a super cute and sweet puppy, Jack and asked us to bring Bentley to visit, too! Bentley isn't quite sure about the big city, but he does like looking out the windows at all the people on the street, although we think he thinks they're squirrels. :)

We're not doing anything too crazy or touristy since we've been here before, but I will post about some of the places we go, as soon as we go to them! My camera is actually working so that's a plus!