Carrot Ginger Soup

Sweet, spicy, and subdued. This soup has got to be the best low calorie dish ever. Yummy!!!

I just hope I won't turn into a bunny!

Ingredients:

One package of baby carrots

Two tablespoons of grated ginger

Four cups of vegetable broth or water (if you wish for it to be thicker, then only use three cups and use more carrots. If you want it to be creamier, use two cups of milk and two cups of broth!)

One teaspoon of salt

Assorted spices- pepper, paprika, chili powder, dried herbs, etc.

To make this bowl of amazingness, just throw everything into a pot! 

Wait for it to boil, then set the timer for fifteen minutes. After the time is up, simmer on high closed for another fifteen minutes. Then throw everything into the blender or into a mixer machine and blend away! 

Garnish and serve hot or cold with some yogurt. 

Nutrition facts: for two cups of soup with a little milk (about a tablespoon) it is around 70 calories. Suuuper light!

Chocolate Chai Vanilla Cupcakes

Oh my chocolate. These wonderful little suckers are possibly the best low calorie, low fat cupcakes ever.

And they taste like my two favorite cultures mixed together. Vanilla chai from Asia, and chocolate from, well, pretty much everywhere. But mostly Europe. They aren't too sweet, which is perfect, and the chocolate isn't too bitter for those of you who aren't me and don't like their chocolate 100% pure and crazy.

I slept in until around noon and then made some pineapple pancakes from Chocolate Covered Katie, and the Copycat Frappuccino. And now here I am, devouring these. 

Ingredients for twelve cupcakes:

• 1 1/2 cups spelt, gluten-free, all purpose, etc. flour
• 1/2 cup pure cocoa powder and for a more authentic taste, use pure dutch cocoa powder.
• 3/4 cup sugar- brown, white, or you can use stevia. I'm not sure how much in cups or tablespoons, but usually one packet is around two teaspoons of sugar, so you can use eighteen packets. That's a little much though...
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk of choice
• 2 chai tea bags (any kind you like)
• 1 cup hot water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Oh, and if you wish to make them less dense, you can add 1/4 cup vegetable oil. Just reduce or eliminate the milk. Another good sub is applesauce or mashed banana. 
• Optional spices, like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, etc.

To begin, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cupcake tin. Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then add the milk, and while you mix that, steep the tea bags in the water for five to ten minutes, depending on how strong you want the chai flavor. Add this and the vanilla into the mixture, and beat it. Don't over mix the batter. Pour the batter into the tin, and put it in the oven for ten to twenty minutes. I am only giving a huge range because ovens and people vary. Some like their cupcakes harder while others like them softer, so as long as you stick a skewer in one and it comes out clean, it's done! Wait for ten to twenty minutes for them to cool.

Now to make the cream cheese frosting...

Ingredients:

• One package of cream cheese (any style, or even vegan)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp. milk of choice, or more if it isn't thin enough
• Some flour if the consistency is not thick enough

Just beat the sugar into the cream cheese and milk. Add more milk if it isn't thin enough, and flour if it is too thin. Pour it into a plastic bag and cut one corner off. Frost your cupcakes like it's nobody's business!

Yummm... now here's what they looked like after my sister and I appeared in the kitchen...

Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts:

Per cupcake: 120 calories- with 1% milk and sugar, and pretty much 1 gram of fat

The stevia version will be around 70 calories.

 ~Jas

Copycat Starbucks Frappuccino

Starbucks.

My most favorite place in the entire universe.

Oh. My. Goodness. I just MADE a frappuccino. And you can too!

So for this recipe, you can do two things: Buy their frappuccino bottles and create it, or you can make it from scratch.

To create it from their bottles, all you have to do is pour your favorite flavored bottle (mine is mocha, gotta have that chocolate!) into a freezable tray, such as an ice cube tray, a different container, or the way I did it, a popsicle holder. Freeze it overnight, and in the morning, you can dip the bottom in hot water to help take it out, and dump it into the blender! Blend away and when you are finished, you have your very own Starbucks Frappuccino!

But that's the easy way out...

If you want to create a copycat recipe, then grab your coffee maker and make a cup!

Ingredients: 

• One cup of hot coffee (Or less if you want more milk)
• 2 tsp. sugar (or more if you want it to be super sweet!)
• 1/2 a cup milk of your choice
• Any flavorings! Add in a teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, a splash of vanilla, hazelnut syrup, cinnamon, anything really!

Mix everything together. Taste a little to make sure that you like it, and tweak it to be the way you want it to be if needed. I like to let people make it their own way because you get to be the creator really!

Pour it into some containers and freeze overnight or for four hours. When it is ready, dip it into hot water and blend it! 

Yummmm..... Enjoy! Pictures of this recipe will be up later.

~Jas