Dinner at our House: Christmas Brunch

This Christmas I had both my parents and Tim's family over for Christmas breakfast. Lots of goodies were made including pancakes, quiche, bacon, Chocolate Chip Ricotta muffins, hashbrown casserole, and more. Two of the items I made were from my beloved addiction, Pinterest. One turned out AMAZING, the other was disgusting. I'll go ahead and rave about my favorite first.

Mmmm! Sticky cinnamon breakfast ring!

I found this gem on pinterest, and I am sooooo glad I made it. Was definitely my favorite part of the breakfast goodies.

Ingredients:

• Pillsbury Grand Biscuit (large)
• Pillsbury Grand Biscuit (small)
• 3 Tbsp. butter, melted (I use yogurt butter)
• 1/2 C. pancake syrup (I use lite syrup)
• 1/3 C. packed light brown sugar (I only had dark brown)
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions:

1. I sprayed down my brand new Bundt pan. 
2. Melt the butter and combine with the syrup. 
3. In a different bowl, mix the sugar and cinnamon. 
4. Drizzle half the syrup mixture into the pan. Then sprinkle some of the sugar mixture. 
5. Place the biscuits on the bottom of the pan to form the "ring." 
6. Drizzle the rest of the mixture and sprinkle the sugar. 
7. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. I took mine out after 22 minutes.
8. Let cool for a minute, then flip over on top of a plate (I used my glass plate as seen above).
9. Consume and enjoy the gooey sugary love.

And now for the ugly:

French Toast in a crock pot?

First off, I don't eat French Toast. Tim does. I wanted to include something he might enjoy. Well, I don't think FT was meant to be made in a crock pot. This photo is actually when I first put it all in. I forgot to take a photo of the pinstrosity that arrive after the six hours in the crock pot. Tim gave it a 2 out of 10. Here is the original pin link.

Overall, it was a Christmas full of food and yummy goodness. In fact, I spent most of today in a food coma on the couch watching Nip/Tuck on Netflix. :)

Snacking at Our House: Yummy Chocolate Cake

When I saw this in Taste of Home magazine I knew it would be delicious. I couldn't wait to try it. Chocolate is my great weakness, but this recipe is light, or at least lighter. When all is said in done one serving is only 4 WW points. Not too shabby.

I wish I could say the process was fun, but it got a little hectic in the kitchen. Problem #1 was the fact we had no cooking spray. I didn't want to try and grease the pan the old fashion way so I thought..hey! I'll make cupcakes instead of the cake. That way I'll also have exactly 16 servings. Sweet precious Tim tried helping me out so I could eat my cooling microwave dinner...and that became Problem #2. Tim did a decent job helping scoop batter into the cups, he just didn't attempt to level the cups. Because there is pudding in the batter, they kind of help some funky shapes and cooked all funny in the oven. Needless to say, I may have flipped out on him a little....ha!

Anyhow, this is the finished product:

Yummy chocolate cupcake.

The icing wasn't as great the first night, but the second night (after being in the fridge almost 24 hours) the icing is much better.

Ingredients

• 1 package (18-1/4 ounces) chocolate cake mix
• 1 package (2.1 ounces) sugar-free instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1-3/4 cups water
• 3 egg whites
• 
  FROSTING:
• 1-1/4 cups cold fat-free milk
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 package (1.4 ounces) sugar-free instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 carton (8 ounces) frozen reduced-fat whipped topping, thawed
• Chocolate curls, optional

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the cake mix, pudding mix, water and egg whites. Beat on low speed for 1 minute; beat on medium for 2 minutes.
• Pour into a 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 12-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
• For frosting, place milk and extract in a large bowl. Sprinkle with a third of the pudding mix; let stand for 1 minute. Whisk pudding into milk. Repeat twice with remaining pudding mix. Whisk pudding 2 minutes longer. Let stand for 15 minutes. Fold in whipped topping. Frost cake. Garnish with chocolate curls if desired. Yield: 16 servings.

Snacking at Our House: Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

And I do believe this takes us to recipe #4 for the month. I've already made it to a benchmark in my Eleven for 2011! Today I was menu planning for the week and every time we sit down to dinner my dad says "Well, this was good, now what is for dessert?" Nine out of ten times I haven't been making a dessert because let's face it- dessert is not always WW friendly. At least not desserts that my dad and Tim would care for (sugar free, taste free). But, today looking through my handy tasteofhome cookbook from Mom S. I got the idea to make these 4pt treats. I present to you...Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies!

The pan! I wish I had swirled them a little more but it was very thick.

My brownie. I wish I had vanilla ice cream...

Cannot believe this was only 4 WW pts! <3

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup HERSHEY®’S Cocoa
• 1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese

Directions

• Separate two eggs, putting each white in a separate bowl (discard yolks or save for another use); set aside. In a small bowl, beat butter and 3/4 cup sugar until crumbly. Beat in the whole egg, one egg white and vanilla until well combined. Combine flour and cocoa; gradually add to egg mixture until blended. Pour into a 9-in. square baking pan coated with cooking spray; set aside.
• In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and remaining sugar until smooth. Beat in the second egg white. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls over the batter; cut through batter with a knife to swirl.
• Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until set and edges pull away from sides of pan. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: 1 dozen.