Monday, January 30, 2012

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes


Pink Lemonade Cupcakes for Valentine's Day


Pink. It's not just a singer with a sassy attitude and flamboyant style. It's also the colour that fills my mind when I think of Valentine's Day. Swirls of colour — shades of pink and red, pretty and girly in a heart-shaped package.

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Sugar High Sunday: Pinterest Edition

Have you heard of Pinterest?

It's a social network-style community on which people "pin" their favourite images, kind of like a vision board. The pins maintain the original links to their original web pages. Think of it as a visual bookmark. I first found it a couple of months ago and I was quickly hooked. And not just for the food!

Today's Sugar High Sunday features cool baking projects I found on Pinterest. You can follow me and my pins on Pinterest here; be sure to drop me a line if you like what you see.

Just a small sampling from one of my boards on Pinterest.


From Sweetapolita: Neopolitan 5-Layer Cake

Here is Half Baked's gorgeous Blueberry Rainbow Cake


Caramel Cake by Mac & Cheese

How Sweet It Is! brings us Homemade Snickers Bars... yummmmmmy

Red Velvet Cream Cheese Brownies from Jamie Cooks It Up

Enjoy!

xoxo,
Lulu

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Fruit & Almond Power Bars


Fruit & almond power bars to power you up the mountain and down again.


As the snow melts away and my favourite hiking trails are revealed fresh, my thoughts once again are pulled outside to be in the great outdoors. I love to be outside, but walking and hiking in the damp, chilly air takes extra energy. I like to take a "stick-to-your-ribs" energy snack along on longer walks to keep the blood pumping and the mind on the birds and trees, not my empty stomach!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Site Changes



Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes! I've added two new pages to the site today: Recipe Index and About Me & Him. I hope the index will help you quickly find what you're looking for. If you find a link that doesn't work, please drop me an email and let me know. Thanks, sweeties!

Cheers,
Lulu xoxo

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Heart-Healthy Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies with almonds – perfect with a cup of tea.

Happy New Year! If you are like me, you may have included 'eating healthier' in your New Year's resolutions. Eating healthier meals doesn't necessarily mean that you need to stop enjoying dessert! Besides including lots of fresh fruit in your diet, you can easily whip up some of these heart-healthy cookies for a special treat.

Health Benefits
Dried Cherries: I used dried Montmorency cherries in my cookies. Montmorencies are tart, or sour, cherries. Cherries are high in the powerful antioxidant anthocyanin, which has been shown to be beneficial in preventing many diseases, including cancer. Dried tart cherries also contain high levels of melatonin, which can help regulate sleep and slow the aging process.

Dark Chocolate: Dark chocolate is also high in antioxidants. Chocolate increases blood flow to your brain and heart. It can help control blood sugar. Chocolate is high in the minerals potassium, copper, magnesium and iron. It also makes you feel happier by elevating your mood. And it tastes great!

Oatmeal: Oatmeal contains a fiber called beta-glucan. Including more oatmeal in your diet can lower cholesterol, boost immunity, and stabilize blood sugar. Oatmeal also is high in magnesium, which can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Almonds: Almonds are high in the antioxidant Vitamin E, cholesterol-lowering monounsaturated fats and are a good source of protein. Almonds also contain Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), manganese and copper. Don't care for almonds? Substitute walnuts, pecans or chestnuts; all of which are also high in good fats and antioxidants.

Chewy little yummy nummies

I found these cookies to be a little too mounded, so I flattened them with a spatula slightly before baking. The dried cherries I bought were really huge; next time I will chop them up. I'm not a fan of chopping chocolate, so I might use dark chocolate chips next time.

I hope you enjoy these heart-healthy cookies!
I ate four. They're healthy, so it's OK. Right? Anyone?
Heart-Healthy Chocolate Cherry Cookies
Based on a recipe by Cooking Light
Makes 42 small cookies

Ingredients
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 cup dried cherries (chopped up if you like smaller bits)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips)
1/2 cup slivered blanched almonds

Method
  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Combine flours, oats, baking soda and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk.
  3. Melt butter in a small bowl. Mix in brown sugar, stirring until smooth. Add sugar mixture to flour mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add cherries, vanilla, and egg; beat until combined. Fold in chocolate and almonds. Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes. Cool on pans 3 minutes or until almost firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.
Nutritional Information
Amount per cookie (based on 42 cookies)
Calories: 67
Fat: 2.3g
Saturated fat: 1.1g
Monounsaturated fat: 0.43g
Polyunsaturated fat: 0.14g
Protein: 1.2g
Carbohydrate: 11.2g
Fiber: 0.9g
Cholesterol: 7.1mg

Monday, January 2, 2012

Happy New Year! Bring on 2012!

Happy New Year sweeties! I am so excited about 2012 and the changes I will be making to this blog. I will be adding a recipe index page, so you can easily find the recipe you are looking for. I am also planning to add some tutorials, some of them will be video tutorials. I promise to be hilariously inept with the video tutorials; maybe I'll even be sober.

I'm still cleaning up after Christmas and New Year's Eve around here, but I hope to post a new recipe this week. Since it's a new year and we're all probably shunning fatty food (for at least a week, lol) I will be giving you a recipe that is somewhat healthful.

I hope 2012 brings you everything you wish for!

In the meantime, I'll just leave this here.


xoxo,
Lulu