Sweet Cinna-Muffin

Review: I don't remember the last time I had cinnamon toast so this was freaking awesome. It was like being a kid again. And the best part is that I never thought of putting the cinnamon/sugar on an english muffin as a kid. Those nooks and crannies hold all that good stuff in there so you don't lose it to the plate! When I made this, I was surprised by how much cinnamon/splenda I got to have. I wasn't sure it was all going to FIT. This was so fun!

Score: 5/5
Prepared: 1/9/10
Points: 2

Fuji Fritters, Cravin' Cap'n Crunch Shake, Joe Cool Java Freeze

Review: I REALLY liked these fritters. I was really surprised that I didn't have to mince the apple but it was a happy surprise. And they were pretty huge for only 2 points. They were more soft than crispy and of course they were super apple-y. I really enjoyed them and got great reviews from those I shared with!

Score: 5/5
Points: 2

Review: The Cravin' Cap'n Crunch Shake was actually pretty good. It was really sweet and not weird at all (I thought it would be REALLY weird drinking a shake with Cap'n Crunch in it). Of course I was stuck with a box of super sugary cereal I don't normally eat but I found a family willing to adopt the cereal. In the end, I wouldn't make a 4 pt shake when I can make a 2 pt strawberry daquiri.

Score: 4/5
Points: 4

Review: The Joe Cool Freeze wasn't TOO coffee-y. My husband seemed to like it but I don't think it tasted much different from the original vanilla coffee drink that is his go-to favorite iced coffee drink now. Plus the vanilla one is way easier.

Score: 3/5
Points: 2

Prepared: 1/7/10

So-Good Chocolate Chip Softies

Review: Woah that's a big cookie. Not sure why it's so big. Anyway, I tried the raw batter and it was disgusting. I was afraid to try the baked cookies. But they looked good so I did. And they weren't bad. I mean, they looked like a cookie and smelled like a cookie but kind of felt like a pancake. Very - spongy. Didn't stop me from eating them all though.

Score: 3/5
Prepared: 1/3/10

Points: 1

Frozen Fudge Chip Freeze

Review: This was alright. Even with my amazing Ninja, it didn't chop up the mini chocolate chips so they all sunk to the bottom and froze so I can't say they contributed much. 3 points seems so high when I can have a 1-2 point WW smoothie. I think I would just opt for the WW smoothie.

Score: 3/5
Prepared: 1/03/10

Points: 3

Berries & Cream Oatmeal Pudding

Review: Caveat - The cookbook says this looked disgusting so I was prepared - unlike you. The flavor was pretty good but there was just a lot of stuff going on here. I think I like oatmeal with a side of berries not really the other way around. It didn't really increase the portion size, just made it fruity.

Score: 4/5
Prepared: 1/2/10

Points: 3

Big Fat Blueberry Muffins

Review: OMG these blueberry muffins were amazing. I have a feeling I'm going to be starting a lot of posts from this cookbook like that. But really, they were. I was a little disappointed in the size - I mean they were hearty but I was expecting coffee shop HEARTY. The recipe only makes 4 so I thought at least they would 1/4 bigger. Anyway, the flavor was great. They are super blueberry-y. But they get soggy kind of fast from all the moisture in them. Can't keep them longer than 2 days. But there's only 4 so it's not so hard at 2-pts each!

Score: 5/5
Prepared: 1/01/10

Points: 2

New Year and Iced 'n Spiced Pumpkin Puddin' Cupcakes

So, I'm back and ready to cook through 200 Under 200. My current goal is to do it before the new HG cookbook comes out in March. We'll see how it goes. I'm not going to go crazy this time. I wasted a lot of ingredients with the last cookbook by not grouping recipes to use up ingredients. Lesson learned.

I'm also not going to make something I know I won't like. Luckily, that's very few things. Sure, I know I don't really like Fiber One but I'm still open to trying things with it. I'm talking fish. I'll do the shrimp recipes and I bought some frozen fish on sale for the last cookbook so whatever that is, I'll try throwing it in some fish recipes. I'm not eating semi-raw salmon again. No way. I don't do coffee drinks and if my husband won't drink it or I don't have a volunteer, I'm probably not making it.

I'm also making some formatting changes. I'd like to know someone is reading this but this is mostly for myself. So I'm making it easier on myself. If I make more than one thing in a day, they are getting a group posting. No more page numbers and no more vegetarian descriptions because it's too hard with the group recipe posting. If if you have any suggestions on how to set this up, let me know. If you don't care about photos, I can go back to individual listings easy. Generally speaking, some feedback would be cool. And I'll try to get more involved in my postings.

Review: OMG these cupcakes were amazing. They pleased everyone - the icing lover, the minimal icing people, the people who like good food, etc. And they were pretty easy. I should've spent more time on the icing and gotten a better consistency but I hadn't opened my Ninja yet, so I mixed it by hand rather than getting the food processor dirty. Never again. I would make these again and again. They only use 1/2 box of spice cake so I already have an open invitation to make another dozen...

Score: 5/5
Prepared: 12/31/09
Points: 2