Fun With Elements and Recipes From A Hungry Girl

So last week I received something totally cool and I love it! I bought it from Anandi's Laboratory. It's a handmade tag with Cesium, my favorite element. What's not to like about Cesium? It's name is derived from the Latin caesius meaning "blueish-gray" and blue is my favorite color. It's a metal, but liquid at room temperature, like Mercury. It's used in atomic clocks and photoelectric cells and, wait, not everyone has a favorite element? Umm...ahem...well, moving on...

Another great item I purchased recently was Hungry Girl's 200 Under 200 (200 Recipes Under 200 Calories). The first thing I always do when I get a new cookbook is to go through every page and write down which ones I want to make. There are all kinds of recipes including blueberry muffins, breakfast pizzas, dips, chips, cheeseburger quesadillas, and a ton of desserts. Naturally, I was immediately drawn to the ones that have pumpkin in them, and the first recipe I made was the So-Good Chocolate Chip Softies. Pumpkin in a cookie? Wait until you taste them! I sprang them on my unsuspecting kids and needless to say, we polished off all of them in one sitting. I substituted Brown Sugar Twin for the regular brown sugar so mine were even lower than the 88 calories each that is listed in the book. A few nights later we tried the Funky Monkey Squares. The recipe called for a medium banana, but I only had a really small one so I cut the recipe into about 3/4 and baked them in a muffin tin since there would not be enough batter to use an 8 x 8 inch pan. I also added a few peanut butter chips that I had on hand. They turned out to be yummy, chocolately, banana-y, brownies. I will definitely make both of those recipes again! Tonight I sprung the Miracle Mashies on Hubby. I told him we were having potatoes with our steak. These consist of a little bit of real potato mashed with cauliflower. The book says "This recipe will keep any and every mashed potato fan happy. And that is a promise!" Half way through dinner, Hubby, who does not like cauliflower, gave me an unsolicited "These are really good!" Promise kept! In my meal plan for the upcoming week I have managed to squeeze in 17 more Hungry Girl recipes including Cheesy "Broc-Star" Soup, Pumpkin Pudding Parfait, and Fried Cheese Sticks. For lunches and dinners I have added additional items like salads, fruits, or more veggies because at my height and weight, I could not survive on 200 calories for every meal. :) I think that's how the book is meant, though. A great starting place for meals, and tasty snacks. I'll let you know how it goes!