Drake aint got nuttin on me!

We recently watched with baited breath as they announced the various winners at the 2013 Grammy Awards.  With Jay-Z and Kanye cleaning up for N****s in Paris and Drake winning rap album of the year, my budding rap career has some serious competition.  I may not be the best rapper but I am definitely the best WRAPPER!  While Drake is making sick beats i'm making sick wraps, lettuce wraps that is!

So why am I writing a blog about the easiest thing in the world to make? Uh because its the easiest thing in the world to make, duh!  Im busy, like really busy, all the time.  I dont have time to make some fancy healthy meal every day, or a gourmet lunch for the hubs to take.  As most of you know a dieters biggest downfall is when theyre busy and they go grab fast food, and if you are me making a healthy decision at a fast food place doesnt happen.  I have no will power.

So I have learned what is easy for me and that is lettuce wraps! You already saw my delicious tuna wraps, if not look at my old blogs, NOW! :) But I have created several varieties.  Our favorite has been the buffalo chicken lettuce wraps with avocado and tomatoes! Those were delicious, so delicious I ate them before I could get a pic!  I recently made honey mustard chicken lettuce wraps.

The Recipe

1 lb of chicken (cubed)

1 T Dill

1/2 C Honey Mustard (low fat)

1/2 Avocado

Cherry Tomatoes

Boston Lettuce

Sautee the chicken with whatever the seasoning of choice is, I kept the salt low because honey mustard is already kind of tangy.  Once the chicken was pretty much cooked I put in the dill and honey mustard and let it cook for about 5 min.  Then I wrapped it up!  Avocado adds a mellow fresh flavor and the tangy tomatoes were delicious!

These are super easy for dinner when you are in a hurry, you can even have the chicken pre-cooked.  

Once I realized how awesomely low carb and delicious lettuce wraps were I started making them like crazy! One day I was trying to throw something together for lunch, I was already running behind and didnt have time to create something awesome, so I basically made a lettuce wrap lunchable.  I LOOOVE regular lunchables, they are like my favorite thing because im five. 

YUM! But so not healthy, they have like 80 gillion calories and sodium and fat and blah blah blah BOO. So here is what I came up with in a hurry, and with the exception of mistaking bleu cheese for ranch it was awesome. (bleu cheese is real gross. Moldy mold with extra mold, uh no.)

It was seriously so simple, I quickly cut up an avocado and some tomatoes.  Thru some lunch meat and lettuce in there and some cheese.  Then I made the actual wraps at work during lunch when I had time.  I also had an apple a snack, no caprisun tho. :( 

Basically it takes finding something you like and learning how to make variations of it.  No rapper has ever created some entirely unique beat, they use whats there and make variations of it.  So I took a page out of Drake's book and made a variation.  My wraps are definitely better than his and so much healthier.  No STD's, or hoes, or pimps, or sick whips, or drugs involved here, just some wholesome goodness! So get crazy and wrap it up!!

Getting funny on the green stuff!

As we get older our definitions of the green stuff have probably changed!  Now I know some of you are thinking of a particular herb used for medicinal purposes only of course, but unfortunately I'm not talking about that sticky icky.

No, now that we are adults, and we are fat its time to trade in the green for the other green stuff.  Zucchini, cucumbers, kale, cilantro, bell peppers, spinach, etc.  Yes we must make healthier and legal choices! :)  I have been getting creative (meaning Ive been making pinterest things) out of the good greens lately.  Our lifestyle change seems to be going well as Grant and I can both button our pants now, BIG accomplishment! We did not want to be part of the 2/3's of Americans that are obese.

Patriotism is being proud of your country and proud of yourself.  Obesity and over-weightness happen, I am just glad we are taking steps to be healthier and still eat some legitness!  Soooo here is what has been happening....

First thing I made was some super amazing and delicious Zucchini pizzas.  Now there are a few tips I will give you that will make your pizzas a little easier to enjoy.  I didn't grill or cook the zucchini first, mistake.  Zucchini is super duper juicy, like a zucchini waterfall. Its cray. 

So i suggest grilling or baking the zucchini first.  It will get a little soggy if you bake it, so bake it for like 7 min then take it out, drain the juice, pat dry with a paper towel and get ready to party!  Once your zucchini is a little less juicy, its time make some pizzzzzzza!  I kept it simple, i added sauce, cheese and pepperonis.  

A few more tips, beware of the sauce you use.  Some sauces have a ton of sugar added and that adds calories and carbs.  Read the labels, most people consume unnecessary calories because they're too lazy to look at a label.  Also I learned if you bake the pepperoni chips in the oven they get crispy, but also all that nasty grease comes out of them so you are saving yourself quite a few calories and zits right there! :) You're welcome!

Sooo here is the final deliciousness!

It was like bagel bites without the bagels.  The zucchini adds such a good flavor, its mild compared to the acidity and sweetness of the sauce, the saltiness of the cheese and pepperoni.  Great combo, Grant couldn't stop eating them, and unlike other foods I didn't have to cut him off because they're pretty healthy!

As I continue on this journey to appreciate other green stuff I learned about cucumber sandwiches on pinterest.  Now let me tell you sometimes pinterest ideas are awesome, sometimes they're not.  This was a half awesome idea resulting in this face....

This is not a pretty face, so pinterest don't make me look weird...its uncool.

Anywho let me tell you why it was only a half good idea.  Cucumber are big, and pretty difficult to bite through.  I followed directions (meaning I looked at the picture and emulated) I cut the cucumber in half, scooped out the middle part with the seeds, filled it will delicious things like turkey, avocado,and muenster cheese.  I brought a side of light ranch and at lunch I was ready to get funny on the green.  I took a bite, sorta. I tried to take a bite and realized the one trait of a T-Rex I didn't get was razor sharp teeth. (many of you are wondering about the t-rex reference, I have the world's shortest arms and tiny hands, I'm also a ferocious carnivore that will eat your face like I'm on bath salts. jk) I digress, so back to the cucumbwich.  I took the top cucumber half off and at more of a cucumber flat bread type thing.  So for the next time I think ill cut the edges off the cucumber and make a more flat and thin cucumber sandwich. Also ill probably peel the skin off so its easier to gnaw on.

Sooo it was difficult, but how did it taste? AMAZEBALLS!  It has the crisp, cool, clean flavor of the cucumber, it felt like I was eating summer. It was filling like a sandwich would be, but low carb and I didn't feel like a fatty afterwards.  So here it is....the half good pinterest idea....

I'm excited to continue my journey into the world of green.  I hope to begin a relationship with Kale soon but its playing hard to get and being kind of difficult.  Ill figure it out.  Don't be afraid to get a little funny on the green stuff! 

OH MY GOSH Becky look at her BUNDT!

I have a problem, lets be real I have loads of problems because I'm a hot mess, but nothing that cant be handled.  The problem I bring to you today is my severe addiction to anything with sugar in it.  Sweet tooth does not begin to describe my obnoxious sugar addiction.  I'm pretty sure I could break a crack addiction easier than my sugar addiction. Its also probably God's best invention, other than me! :)  This lifestyle change for Grant and I has been going pretty well, but I got a hankering for something delicious.  I also recently found my bundt pan that I got for our wedding and have never used, so it was decided, I would make a bundt cake.

Oh the possibilities for a bundt cake are endless.  There are only like 8 gagillion different types of bundt cakes.  So as any good pinterest addict would do I hit the boards.  I must have pinned a hundred different types of bundt cakes. (I feel that this is a good time to mention that Blogger is not recognizing bundt as a word...get it together, how would it make you feel?)

Anyways, there were so many different kinds of bundt cakes, there was a puddle of drool on my desk once I was done pinning.  I was going to be taking this on a trip over the weekend though, so I couldn't get too crazy because I wanted it to be able to travel well.  So using my in depth knowledge of the texture, density, and moisture of different types of cake I chose to make a pound cake bundt cake!  At this point after hours of pinning bundt cakes, I realized I had no recipe for a pound cake.  At this critical juncture one decides whether they will use a random recipe or whether they will consult the food gods.  I chose food god, meaning Paula Deen.

Look at that amazing woman, who wouldn't want to follow in her culinary footsteps?

So it was decided that I would make Paula Deen's Mama's pound cake. The most important thing to remember when baking is that it is actually an exact science.  When you are cooking you throw in a little of this and a dash of that, in baking you cant do that or you end up with ugly nasty lumps of ew! And then people make faces like this....

So follow the recipe. Don't try to be a hero.

The Recipe:

Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, plus more for pan
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
3 cups sugar
5 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

With a mixer, cream butter and shortening together. Add sugar, a little at a time. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition. Stir dry ingredients together in a bowl and add to mixer alternately with milk, starting with the flour and ending with the flour. Mix in vanilla. Pour into a greased and floured tube pan and bake for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.

I found that it is very important to alternate the milk and the flour mix, otherwise you end up with a weird situation. Again, follow the directions or the baking fairy will come after you and she is a nasty little lady.

Also it is important to ensure that the cake doesn't stick.  I have found that getting some Crisco on a paper towel and covering the whole pan in a very thin layer,just making it greasy, then covering it in flour is the most effective way to get the cake to pop right out.  Some people use bakers spray, its whatever works best for you.  Make sure on the bundt pan to get all the nooks and crannys though.

Now most pound cakes do not have a glaze, but most bundt cakes do.  Since I was getting all fancy and creating a hybrid that rivals Klaus's vampire/werewolf hybrids in the Vampire Diaries, I needed to create a glaze.  I decided on an orange butter cream.  Now usual butter cream icing is thick, because its icing.  So I wanted the flavors but not the texture.  Luckily with the glaze you can just throw stuff in and hope it works, unless you are not a baker, then don't do that. 

The Glaze:

2/3-1 Cup of light cream (I used heavy whipping cream and it got a little stiffer than I wanted)

about 1/3 Cup of powdered sugar

1/2 stick of melted butter

Zest and Juice of one orange

Mix the cream and butter in your mixer until they are mixed together well, then add the powdered sugar.  Mix well then add the orange zest and juice.  Don't whip between adding ingredients to avoid the glaze getting too thick. 

SOOOO what happened? Well amazeballs deliciousness happened, DUH!

It was approved by everyone who ate it and my taste buds were ecstatic! I had never made a bundt cake before and now I can tell it will be happening more frequently than my diet should allow! :)