June 2014 ~ Colie's Kitchen

Jun 26, 2014

Black Magic Chocolate Cake... Pure Magic!

This cake has to be the best cake I have ever eaten in my life. I love chocolate cake but making it homemade never tastes as good as a bakery cake. This cake is certainly an exception. It’s delicious! First off the color is incredibly beautiful I love the dark cake color and I love love love the amazing frosting.

I can’t tell you enough just how wonderful this cake is. It’s moist and bouncy and simply delicious. If you want to make an impression bring this cake with you. I love that it cake easily be a sheet cake or a two tier cake. This will be my forever go-to chocolate cake!

Ingredients:

1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoons salt
2 eggs
1 cup strong black coffee, cooled
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

CHOCOLATE FROSTING

1 stick + 2 tablespoons butter, softened
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer.
Add eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed for two minutes. Batter will be thin.
Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x13 pan or two 9 inch cake pans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes for a 9x13, or 30-35 minutes for layer pans.
Combine frosting ingredients and mix with a hand or stand mixer. Spread frosting on cooled cakes.

Original Recipe Source

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Copacabana Smoothie

This smoothie is amazing and it’s exactly what I envision Copacabana Brazil being like, clean water, fresh fruit, and amazing. This smoothie is probably my favorite smoothie of all time. Sorry corporate smoothie companies but this one beats yours hands down!

It’s not a complicated smoothie but it’s simply delicious. I that this recipe is sweet and refreshing that isn’t killer in calories! The entire smoothie is 153 calories! Now that’s a great smoothie!

I had something comparable at a smoothie establishment and it was triple the calories for the same amount but they used frozen yogurt which (in my opinion) didn’t do anything to make it any better than this one! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk (So Delicious)
6 ounces Frozen Fresh Pineapple
1 ounce frozen banana
3-5 packets of Truvia (add desired sweetness of Stevia)
¼ teaspoon Coconut Extract
½ cup ice (more if needed)

Directions:

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smoothie.
Add more liquid if necessary or more ice.
Ice may not be necessary if your fruit is frozen well.
Add desired amount of Stevia based on how sweet you like it.
Taste before blending.

Number of Servings: 1

Nutritional Information:

153 calories per serving
39 carbs
5 grams of fat
1 protein
22 sugar

*Nutritional information found on www.myfitnesspal.com this information will vary based on the products you use.*

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Wordless Wednesday: Vegetarian Taco Salad with Cilantro Dressing! Ole'

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Alane's Best Brisket

This is a very good brisket recipe. I have made this twice now. The first time I did mine in the oven and the second time I used the same method below but I made my brisket in the slow cook. Regardless of what you do the recipe will turn out fantastic?

Make sure you use a beer that you like because this recipe takes on a very strong beer flavor. I used a light beer but if you like the dark beer flavor than try that.

I found the slow cooker to be much easier and less work than using the oven, but with the slow cooker my meat fell to pieces as you can see from the picture but in the oven it keeps its form nicely. The slow cooker meat was stringy because no matter how hard I tried to cook it the entire brisket fell to pieces. Delicious and easy! What more could you ask for?

Ingredients:

1 (4 pound) beef brisket
1 large onion, sliced
2 (14.5 ounce) cans beef broth
2 (15 ounce) cans French onion soup
2 (12 fluid ounce) cans or bottles beer

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Place a large roasting pan over medium-high heat and sear beef brisket, fat side down at first, until browned on all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Remove brisket and set aside.
Place onion slices into the bottom of the roasting pan; pour 1 can beef broth, 1 can French onion soup, and 1 can beer over the onions.
Lay the brisket into the roasting pan; pour remaining cans of beef broth, French onion soup, and beer over the brisket. Cover the roasting pan with a lid.
Bake in the preheated oven for 3 hours. Remove from oven and let stand for 30 minutes.
Remove cooled brisket from roasting pan and wrap tightly in aluminum foil. Pour pan juices and onion into a food storage container and cover tightly with a lid. Refrigerate beef and pan juices overnight.
The next day, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Pour pan juices and onion into a 9x13-inch baking dish.
Unwrap the brisket, cut away any visible fat, and slice thinly across the grain of the meat. Place brisket slices into the pan juices.
Return to oven and bake until pan juices are thickened and meat is hot, about 45 more minutes.

Original Recipe Source

Number of Servings: 7 (fat removed)

Nutritional Information:

396 calories per serving
24 carbs
8 grams of fat
51 protein
2 sugar

*Nutritional information found on www.myfitnesspal.com this information will vary based on the products you use.*

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Fruit and Pound Cake Parfaits

This recipe is incredibly delicious! Oh my! The flavor is so good and satisfying. The calories are a bit high but this recipe is well worth it. This makes a great summer holiday recipe that you can serve to a big group or to a small family.

It’s easy and something you can make up in advance. You just need to cut up the cake and put it in a zip back and seal it up and place in the refrigerator. The cream and the fruit can be made up ahead too. You only need to cover it up and refrigerate.

When it’s time to serve it up you can make it in a matter of minutes. Use clear plastic cups for easy clean up!

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract, optional
6 cups cubed store-bought pound cake
½ cup raspberries
½ cup blueberries
½ cup strawberries sliced
1 pint pitted black cherries
1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

To a bowl add fruit and sugar and stir. Cover and allow to set in for several hours or until sugar melts. Stir every half hour or so.
Combine cream, sugar and almond extract in a bowl. With an electric mixer, beat until soft peaks form.
Place a dollop of cream in each of six glasses. Top with 1/4 cup of pound cake cubes, another spoonful of cream and some fruit mixture. Continue alternating layers of cake, cream and fruit until you have used it all up. Serve immediately!

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Strawberry Mock-Shake! 181 Calories

If you are like me when you are trying to lose weight is when you crave everything that is bad for you. Thanks for a friends inspiration I came up with this Strawberry mock-shake that (in my opinion) taste just like a McDonalds Milk Shake for 180 calories. For the same size, a 12oz milk shake at McDonalds you would be consuming 550 calories WOW that is a 370 calorie difference.

Although initially you might think 180 is a lot when you are having a craving and could be using up 550 calories 180 doesn’t look so bad.

This is delicious! I had everyone in the kitchen ooing and awing over how great this mock shake is. It’s a milkshake in a way, but it’s a whole lot better for you!!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. frozen cool-whip (just estimate)
1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 heaping tbsp. vanilla pudding (not sugar free)
6 frozen whole strawberries
2 packs Truvia (stevia)

Directions:

Blend! Then top with cool whip or stawberries!

Number of Servings: 1

Nutritional Information:

181 calories per serving
33 carbs
4 grams of fat
1 protein
26 sugar

*Nutritional information found on www.myfitnesspal.com this information will vary based on the products you use.*

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Wordless Wednesday: The Crazy things Amazon Delivers!

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Weight Watchers Cabbage Soup (38 Calories Per Cup)

This recipe is delicious. Honestly when I set out to make it I didn’t think I would like I suppose that is the reason I have been putting this recipe off for so long. On the contrary though I actually thought it was great! The flavor was wonderful and it’s light yet hearty.

Nothing beats all of that plus knowing that you can eat as much as you like and still have plenty of calories in your diet to spare. This is one of these recipes that keeps on giving because you can really do anything with this recipe and add just about any vegetables to make it even heartier!

Ingredients:

3 cups nonfat beef broth (beef is the best) or 3 cups nonfat vegetable broth (beef is the best) or 3 cups nonfat chicken broth (beef is the best)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cups chopped cabbage
1/2 yellow onion
1/2 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup green beans
1/2 cup chopped zucchini
1/4 teaspoon basil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
Salt & pepper

Directions:

Spray pot with nonstick cooking spray sauté onions carrots and garlic for 5 minutes.
Add broth, Tomato paste, cabbage, green beans, basil, oregano and Salt & Pepper to taste.
Simmer for a about 5-10 minutes until all vegetables are tender then add the zucchini and simmer for another 5 or so minutes.

Original Recipe Source

Number of Servings: 5

Nutritional Information:

38 calories per serving
7 carbs
1 grams of fat
3 protein
4 sugar

*Nutritional information found on www.myfitnesspal.com this information will vary based on the products you use.*

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Sweet Cornbread

I thought this recipe was good but the original recipe called for a 9 inch round pan that I found to be too small. The cornbread was more like cake than cornbread and it took forever to bake. No really forever!

The second time I made this recipe I used a large square pan and it turned out much better. This is a super sweet recipe that you could even cut down the sugar on and use a honey glaze for the top now that would be delicious!

This is a recipe that I think you could make so many fun changes with. I think that this would make awesome muffins and you could even use some fresh corn in the recipe to make it even better!!

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
2/3 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder (yes this is correct)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/3 cup vegetable oil

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 10 x 10 x 2 inches pan or similar. The original recipe calls for a 9 inch round pan but I found that to be way too small. The cornbread was more like cake than cornbread. I didn’t like that at all it was just too thick and took forever to cook.
In a large bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt and baking powder. Stir in egg, milk and vegetable oil until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean

Original Recipe Source

Number of Servings: 12

Nutritional Information:

213 calories per serving
33 carbs
7 grams of fat
3 protein
11 sugar

*Nutritional information found on www.myfitnesspal.com this information will vary based on the products you use.*

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Balsamic Chicken

This recipe was incredibly delicious and easy. We all enjoyed it so much that I can see us eating this recipe often. You could change this recipe over to a slow cooker recipe in just a few steps. I also think adding sliced onions to the recipe could also be super delicious.

I love recipes that are easily adaptable and low in calories and this is certainly one of them. We severed this chicken alone with smashed potatoes and used the gravy to pour over them. Delicious!

Ingredients:

1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried Italian herb seasoning
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each or more)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

Whisk together the balsamic vinegar, chicken broth, sugar, garlic, and Italian seasoning in a bowl, place the chicken breasts in the marinade, and marinate for 10 minutes on each side.
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Remove the chicken from the marinade and reserve the marinade.
Place the chicken in the heated pan and cook until they start to brown and are no longer pink inside, about 7 minutes per side.
Pour the marinade into the skillet, and cook until it thickens slightly, turning the chicken breasts over once or twice, about 5 minute

Original Recipe Source

Number of Servings: 6

Nutritional Information:

258 calories per serving
12 carbs
8 grams of fat
35 protein
12 sugar

*Nutritional information found on www.myfitnesspal.com this information will vary based on the products you use.*

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Mock-olate Shake (117 Calories)

I adapted this recipe from a recipe that my friend Alison over at Underthebigoaktree.com found called Wendy’s Frosty Skinny Version on the site Go Girl Diet.

Although I don’t think this taste like a Frosty in the least I think it’s fantastic never the less!! Seriously! It's fantastic! I have already drank many of these little shakes and I have to say they are awesome especially for 117 calories.

Obviously any changes you make to the recipe you will need to add or subtract calories. You could use sugar free pudding and fat free whip topping but I myself prefer to stick with the full fat and full calorie versions and leave out the aspartame.

With the base recipe you can do so many things like add PB2 for a peanut butter cup, a shot of espresso for an awesome iced coffee drink and so on! I think there are endless things you can do with this recipe how about even changing the flavor of the pudding or adding vanilla pudding and strawberries for a strawberry shake for only a few more calories and fresh strawberries!

I really love the Go Girl Diet site because she has a lot of great recipes. Please head over and take a look around I think you will be impressed!

Ingredients:

1 cup vanilla almond milk unsweetened
2 tbsp. instant chocolate pudding (you can use sugar free for less calories)
2 tbsp. Whip Topping
1-2 packs of Truvia or Stevia
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Ice

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a blender or blender cup and blend until you reach your desired thickness.
Add to a glass and enjoy!
*Optional Toppings* Chocolate sauce, sprinkles, whip topping, and nuts.

Number of Servings: 1

Nutritional Information: