The cupcake recipe below is from where I found the cupcakes but I chose to top them with my favorite marshmallow frosting. Top however you’d like!

Happy Valentine’s Day! 💘💗💘

Enjoy!!

Ingredients:
Cupcakes and the hearts:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
3 eggs
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
the seeds from half a vanilla bean
1/4 t. salt
2 1/2 c. flour
1 1/3 c. whole milk
red food coloring

Buttercream below cupcake recipe

Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees (F).
Mix the butter and sugar together at medium speed for about 90 seconds, until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until creamy. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so everything gets well combined. Add the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla and mix until the batter is smooth. Finally, alternate between the flour and milk, beating on med-high speed until the batter is light and creamy.
Pour a little more than 1/3 of the batter (about a cup and a half) into a smaller bowl. Add red food coloring until you get your desired pink or red color. Pour the batter into a non-stick (or lightly greased) 8×8 baking pan and bake for about 20 minutes (mine only took 10 mins)until the edges of the cake start to turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Allow to cool completely. Once the sheet cake is cool, loosen the edges away from the pan with a knife and then invert the pan onto a cutting board. Use a small heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out a dozen cake hearts that are small enough to fit into an average-sized cupcake pan.
Spoon two heaping tablespoons of the remaining batter into paper-lined cupcake tins, so they’re about half-full. Put one heart into each tin and press it point down into the batter. Keep all the hearts facing forward in the pan. Cover with another teaspoon of batter and bake for 24 minutes. Allow the cupcakes to cool before frosting.
Here’s where it gets a bit tricky. Keep the cupcakes facing forward so you get the right cross-section of the heart when you cut or bite into the cupcake (to get the full heart effect). So keep all the cupcakes facing forward as you move them from the cupcake tin to a cookie sheet for cooling/frosting. After frosting, put heart candy on them (or some other decoration) that can also face forward so you know which way to cut the cupcake in order to see the heart shape inside (if you cut the heart in the wrong direction you just get a rectangle shape—not very romantic!).

Marshmallow frosting:
2 sticks of butter ( at room temp.)
1 cup of confectioners sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 – 7 ounce tub of marshmallow cream

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy.
Beat in one fourth of the sugar until fluffy, then repeat with the remaining sugar.
Beat in vanilla, then stir in the marshmallow cream until well blended.

As you can see you can top your donuts anyway you enjoy!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour (I make substitutions here)
1/3 cup sugar(I cut the sugar back)
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1 tub (150 gm) fat-free plain Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp canola oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
Toppings of choice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine egg, yogurt, canola oil, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry, mixing until just combined.
Spray the donut pan with nonstick cooking spray very well.
Divide batter among pans. Place the batter only half full (or less) so that you will see donut hole when baked. They rise a lot!
Bake for 10 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire rack.

Top as necessary.
Yield: 12 donuts.

We loved this over the arugula (see below) its a fantastic add on.

Enjoy!

Ingredients (enough for 2)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts about 4 oz
Almond flour
Garlic powder to taste
Dried Italian seasonings to taste
Salt and pepper
1tbsp butter
1-2tbsp evoo
2-4 oz Brie
2-4 slices good quality prosciutto

Directions:
Bread chicken breasts in combined mixture of almond flour, garlic, Italian seasonings, and salt/pepper.
Heat butter and evoo over medium heat in a skillet. Once warm, add chicken breast and cook each side 5-6 mins each or until cooked thru.
Once cooked, top with Brie and prosciutto and serve over arugula immediately.

Arugula salad:
1-2 cups arugula
Grape tomatoes sliced
Red pepper chopped
1-2 tbsp red vinegar
1tbsp Dijon mustard
Salt and pepper
Evoo

Direction:
Mix vinegar and mustard and salt and pepper. Once mixed, add in oil until desired thickness. Toss with veggies and serve with chicken! Enjoy!

Well there you have it. Out of all the waters, ONE or Vita Coco are the top winners. I personally love the small flavored boxes of ONE waters the best! Also, Real Coconut with coconut bit and Real Aloe with aloe bits are also great! Enjoy after a sweaty activity!!

Enjoy!!

Ingredients:
One cup per pepper of leftover burrito soup
One pepper per person, top cut off insides cleaned out
Toppings for peppers: low ft cheese and sour cream

Directions:
Heat oven to 350. Prepare peppers and place in an oven safe dish. Stuff with a cup of leftover burrito soup.
Bake in over til peppers soften a bit and filing is heated through. I baked for about 25-30 mins. About 10 mins from finishing, top with cheese.
Once done, remove from oven, add sour cream and enjoy immediately.

1. Like all coconut waters, these refreshed and replenished me right away. I really need rehydration after Nikki’s yoga fusion and then hot yoga and Elaine’s yogalates and Nikki’s hot yoga, and both of these did the job. The bottles are just slightly bigger so I enjoyed more of the good coco goodness!
2. I really enjoyed the very light coconut taste of these waters. Both had very mild flavorings but what I really liked was the bits of coconut and aloe in each. I was quite surprised I liked it as I’m not one for liking pulp in my drinks at all. But this really hit the spot and added something to the water. Obviously not something I’d always enjoy but while drinking these I really did like the added bonus!!!
3. I like the glass bottles over the paper containers of my top choice, ONE Water, ESP because it kept the water much colder. Like I’ve mentioned, I’m not one for cold drinks, but coconut water IS best enjoyed chilled! Glass bottles keep it a bit colder.
4. I found this brand to be just as refreshing and “chugable” as ONE and one I’d choose to replenish myself after a strenuous activity.

So far I’m still loving ONE or Cocovita, but this brand is definitely one I’d have again.
Now, if I can just convince my H to give up gatorades for coconut water, everything would be perfect! Lol. Baby steps!
Tried any of these waters yet? Liking any brand over another? Let me know your thoughts!
One more review to go!

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
For the crust: (I used pre made as it was 82 degrees here today. Too hot to roll out dough! )
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp. heavy cream
½ tsp. vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
¼ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes

For the ganache:
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
¼ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature

For the filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
½ tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. milk or cream

For topping:
Fresh strawberries, sliced (approximately 12 oz.)
Melted bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, for drizzling (optional)

Directions:
To make the tart shell, whisk together the egg yolk, cream and vanilla in a small bowl; set aside. Place the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Process briefly to combine. Scatter the butter pieces over the flour mixture; process to cut the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses. With the machine running, add the egg mixture and process until the dough just comes together, about 12 seconds. Turn the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and press into a 6-inch disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. (If refrigerated for more than an hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable.) Unwrap and roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to a 13-inch round. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch tart pan. Mold the dough to the sides of the tart pan and remove the excess off the top. Set the dough-lined tart pan on a large plate and freeze for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, adjust an oven rack to middle position. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Set the dough-lined tart pan on a baking sheet, press a 12-inch square of foil into the frozen shell and over the edge, and fill with pie weights. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time. Remove from the oven and carefully remove the foil and weights. Continue to bake until deep golden brown, 5-8 minutes longer. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

To make the ganache, place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Let sit 1-2 minutes to melt the chocolate. Whisk together until a smooth ganache forms. If there are still bits of unmelted chocolate, microwave in 10 second intervals, whisking in between, until the ganache is completely smooth. Whisk in the butter. Spread the ganache in a thin even layer over the bottom of the cooled tart shell. Allow the ganache to set before proceeding.

To make the filling, beat together the cream cheese and confectioners’ sugar in a bowl on medium-high speed until smooth. Blend in the vanilla and milk or cream. Spread the cream cheese mixture over the cooled ganache in the tart shell.

Starting from the outside and working toward the center, place the sliced strawberries in concentric circles slightly overlapping each other. Gently press the berries into the cream cheese mixture to help keep them in place. Drizzle with melted chocolate, if desired. Chill until ready to serve.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 large bag of red potatoes ( I made 3 per person) chopped into large chunks
Salt and pepper
Juice and a bit of zest from one lemon
Evoo to coat
Dried Italian seasonings- I used about 2-3 tsp worth
Fresh grated parm cheese-about 2 tbsp

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. Toss potatoes with evoo, salt, pepper, zest, juice, seasonings, and parm cheese. Shake often and coat well while oven heats.
Roast on lipped sheet pan or roasting pan for 20-40 mins (ovens differ-ours took 25 mins) or until desired doneness.
Toss every few minutes in oven. Once done, toss with a bit more of cheese if desired and serve immediately.

Enjoy!!

Ingredients:
4 ounces low fat cream cheese , softened
4 eggs
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon chives
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning or 1/2 teaspoon pizza seasoning
1/2 teaspoon wet garlic or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup pizza sauce or 1/2 cup tomato sauce (the lowest carb you can find)
3 cups mozzarella cheese
pizza toppings of choice

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375.
Beat together cream cheese and eggs until smooth. Add cream, Parmesan, garlic and Italian seasoning. Spray 9X13 pan with cooking spray or oil. Place 2 cups mozzerella cheese in bottom of pan. Pour egg mixture over cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and spread sauce over baked mixture. Add toppings of choice. Cover with remaining mozzerella cheese. Bake until bubbly and brown.
Let stand for 5 minutes.