Red Velvet Update

I know that I promised to give y'all an update on the Red Velvet cupcakes - so here it is.

I tried out a red velvet recipie from Paula Deen - and I have to say that I was not impressed with the cake. It tasted too much like oil - although it wasn't oily.

The frosting on the other hand...was FANTASTIC. And relatively low fat (compared to normal cream cheese frosting). Now most cream cheese frosting recipies call for 16 oz. of Cream Cheese (2 8oz. packages). Just 1 8oz. package of regular cream cheese is 22.5 points. So 2 packages put you at 45 points. Add in the powder sugar, butter, and vanilla and you are at something close to 90 points (this is the whole frosting - not the frosting divided into servings. What I learned making my pumpkin cheesecake earlier this year is that while fat free cream cheese may be much better for you, it tastes bitter compared to regular cream cheese and doesn't necessarily have the same consistency in the end. So I used a combination of fat free cream cheese and neufchatel cheese. Neufchatel is a soft cheese that is very cream cheese like (you even find it in that section of the grocery store) but it is lower in fat than regular cream cheese and is creamier than fat free cream cheese. It's a happy medium. So here is my recipie.

Emily's totally AWESOME cream cheese frosting
1 8oz. package of fat free cream cheese (room temp)
1 8oz. package of Neufchatel cheese (room temp)
1/2 cup of butter (softened, but not melty)
2 cups powder sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Using and electric mixer, cream together the FF Cream Cheese, Neufchatel Cheese, and butter. Once mixed together, mix in powder sugar in about about 1/2 cups increments. Mix until frosting smooth but not bubbly. Add in vanilla and mix for another 30 seconds. If you want a different flavor of frosting - you can add in a different extract in substitute for vanilla. If you want chocolate frosting - you can add in 1/2 cup cocoa (I reccommend Hershey's special dark cocoa - it's totally sinful).

When I made this recipie, I was liberally able to frost 23 regular sized cupcakes and still had over a cup of frosting left. The total points for the icing is about 64 points, meaning that point for a serving (based on 24 cupcakes) is about 3.

Enjoy.

They're EVERYWHERE

So last week I went to go visit my father in Mexico. Mexico City to be exact. And it was really nice to hear my dad say when he first saw me, you are looking pretty good - keep up the good work. Usually I cry at least once with my dad because he has to say something about my weight and how I need to loose it, but this time it was a simple recognition of what I had done. No harping on the issue (which always makes me want to stress eat).

Now for the past couple of weeks I was on a losing (weight) streak, but I thought that this trip combined with the fact that I badly hurt the ligaments in my foot the week before would have done me in, but no. I lost 5 pounds since my last WW weigh in and 1.2 pounds since my work weight club weigh in. Woo Hoo! I guess it didn't really hurt that Mexico has Crazy Good fruits and vegetables that I couldn't get enough of. Everymorning we had like fresh Papaya and mango and oranges for breakfast - and you can guarantee that you will have lots of fresh salsas and vegetables during rest of the day. I tried Nopal (aka cactus) at one meal and found that it was delicious - kinda like a tangy green bean. I also had an authentic mole (a chocolate based barbecue sauce) which is so delicious but so filling that you are filled for like the whole day.


Plus on top of everything else - we walked a lot. I'm guessing that we walked at least 2 miles everyday doing sight seeing. Plus we walked in my dad's neighborhood a lot if we needed to go run a small errand.

But one of the things that really made me laugh was when I found a Weight Watcher's in Mexico. We were driving to my dad's zen center when I saw it. I actually made my dad stop and let me take a picture of it. As soon as I saw it my leader's story about how she found a WW on the vegas strip came to mind and I became convinced that you can go anywhere and find a WW. Anyways, I didn't go in (I left my card at home - and they only spoke Spanish) but whenever we passed it - it helped me to remember all that I have worked for this year and helped me stay strong when temptation hit me.