Carrot and Zucchini Bars with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting xxx :)

photo from Real Mom Kitchen - my frosting looked.....a little different

I found this recipe on Pinterest and was really excited to make it.  I love carrots, I love zucchini, I love cream cheese frosting and I love anything lemon!  So, when I found this recipe I just had to make it.  The recipe is from Real Mom Kitchen which is a wonderful food blog.  There is even a special place just for zucchini recipes (sorry, a little excited here, but zucchini would have to be my all time favourite vegetable).

The best thing about the recipe was that I actually received a compliment from the hubster "this is the best thing you have ever made."  Not a bad compliment if I do say so myself.  Normally I hear "what slop are we eating tonight?" so to hear BEST EVER was very exhilarating for me.  Just so we are clear, this wasn't his main meal, I did serve him some sort of slop that I can't remember before his best ever dessert.

P.S.  Fart Features Hubby thought it was a carrot slice, he had no idea it was also full of zucchini :)

What you will need :

• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil - I used olive oil (only oil I had)
• 1/4 cup honey - I used golden syrup (don't like honey)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups shredded carrot
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 1/2 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger - I didn't add ginger (don't like it)
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

• 225g reduced fat cream cheese
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest

I think next time I will only do half of the frosting.  I had heaps left over and sadly, had to throw it out.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Not sure what that is in C, but I have a weird oven and just use 150C all the time.

In a large bowl, whisk : eggs, sugar, oil, honey (syrup) and vanilla

Fold in : carrot, zucchini and walnuts

Dirtying another smaller bowl, combine : 

flour, baking powder, ginger and baking soda

**whisk to blend together - no sifter needed**

 Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir until just combined

(2 separate shots here, cause I'm all arty-farty and all)

Spread batter into an ungreased baking pan - 13 x 9 x 2 inch (I just used whatever pan I had of similar size) and, wait for it, put it in the oven

another awarding winning photo while in the oven

Bake for about 25 mins or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.  Once cooled, prepare the frosting.

In another bowl mix, beat, thrash, punch, or kneed (whichever method you prefer) the frosting ingredients.  I used an electric mixer and it did the beating for me.

Lastly, spread or pipe the frosting over the cooled bars.  

I told you my frosting looked a little different

The white stuff on top of my frosting isn't some sort of white mould, it's just a little extra icing sugar. It really isn't necessary and it disappeared into the frosting anyway - won't be doing that again.

The recipe says that it makes 36 bars - I cut mine up into 36 pieces and they were tiny bite sized pieces worth 3 Pro Points each or 2 Pro Points each without icing.  I think I will add it up again cause 3 points for a tiny bite seems a little much.

The bars were delicious and they also freeze really well.  I put over half of it into an airtight container and straight into the freezer.  They defrosted nicely and were still really fresh and moist.

Feeling Like Kimmy

Kimmy talking about her wedding to Bretty :

"If I had of known the flowers and dinners out every night were going to stop, I never would've done it"

"When are ya comin' home Kim?...........I can't use the washin' machine"

*Kitchen Fun*

Well, yesterday I was feeling bored very creative so I decided to make something using all the seedy type things I could find in my kitchen and I came up with Choconut Seed Bites.  It was a success and failure all rolled into one.  They didn't turn out exactly as I expected, but they weren't revolting either. 

Choconut Seed Bites (2 pro points each)

My bites were actually supposed to be muffins, but they were a little flat.  I did use self raising flour, but I was thinking that some bi-carb soda may give them a bit of a lift??  Because these weren't a complete disaster and I do like them, I am definitely going to make them again with a couple of tweaks.  A bit more of a chocolate flavour is needed so I am thinking some chocolate essence, maybe?

This is how my masterpiece bites were created :

• 1 cup Wholemeal Self Raising Flour
• 1 tbs Cocoa Powder
• 20g Sunflower Kernels (Seeds)
• 20g Shredded Coconut
• 15g Slivered Almonds
• 10g Brown Flax Seeds
• 10g Black Chia Seeds
• 250ml Coconut Water
• Liquid Sweetener (equivalent to 1 tbs of sugar)
• 1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum 
• I used the gum cause the batter was a little thin after adding the water

Simply combine all the ingredients, you can even use a bowl if you like, mix together well and then spoon into a greased muffin pan - makes 12.  I baked mine on 150c for just under 15 mins.

****I have a strange oven - I cook everything on 150c and always, always for less time that you are supposed to cook it for.  Eg. if the recipe says to cook for 20 mins, I check it at 10 mins and maybe cook for another 5 mins*****

*Exciting News*

Baby number 5 is on the way!! Only kidding, the exciting news is that I tracked all of my food yesterday and I counted all of the points!!  I can not remember the last time I tracked 'n' counted and the surprising thing is that it was e-a-s-y.

Breakfast - 6 pro points

• 1 pro point - coffee
• 5 pro points - 40g cereal + 1/2 cup skim milk

Lunch - 7 pro points

• 5 pro points - Mini Pizza
• 2 pro points - 3 egg whites on side

 

The Mini Spinach & Mushroom Pizza was soooo good :

• 1 Herb & Garlic mini Pita (3 PPs) 
• A dob of Dolmio Classic Tomato Sauce (0 points)
• 6 baby spinach leaves (0 points)
• 1 chopped mushroom (0 points)
• 20g of tasty cheese (2 PPs)

On the side :

• 3 egg whites (cooked obviously) (2 PPs)
• 1 mushroom (0 points)

Dinner - 7 pro points

• Dinner Salad

• 1/2 medium avocado (4 PPs)
• 1 boiled egg (2 PPs)
• 20 grams of grated Haloumi Cheese (1 PP)
• Lettuce, carrot, cucumber, capsicum, beetroot, tomato (0 points)

That is not all I ate yesterday, but those are my main meals.  Just tracking and counting for 1 day has made me feel so good.  I think it's because I proved to myself that I can do it, that I actually accomplished something!

I don't think I will ever make a pizza with just tomato paste again - the Dolmio sauce on the base made a huge difference.  In fact, the difference with the sauce made such a huge impact on me that I even told crapolla face my husband about it.  He has no interest at all in my lunch, but I made him sit through a detailed description anyway - just for fun!  Fun for me that is :)

Getting the hang of it - Finally!

I have been following WW for a while now and have been doing well until ProPoints was introduced. For some reason and I can't figure out what, it just threw me for a 6. It put my head out of alignment and it felt like I had to start from scratch AGAIN and I started gaining weight AGAIN. However, the difference this time is that I have managed to keep any gains to a minimum and I have finally turned the corner and seem to have started to lose the weight again.

I was contemplating leaving WW, but I realised that I don't want to leave, I like being a part of something that has such a strong and supportive community so I have decided to stay and continue on the journey and I can do this 2 ways : 

I can either continue how I am going, slowly losing here and there or I can kick myself in the butt and get going by embracing the change completely, not just doing bits and pieces, but completely so that means I have to track all day everyday and not just half a day a few days a week. I know there has been a lot of success on the new points system and I know that if I just buckle down I will have the same success as well.

I will still be apart of WW and follow the program, but on my terms and what I mean by this is that I am only going to eat when I am hungry (something I learned on Core) - not because I still have points to use up! There are some days when I could just eat and eat and eat and then other days where I could go without eating at all. I have also been experimenting with having my main meal at lunchtime so I don't go to bed with a stomach full of food that isn't being burned off. Some nights I am not even hungry because I had a big lunch and I am tired of eating dinner just because it's dinner time. Most nights, especially if I have been to the gym, I just want something light like a few pieces of fruit, but then WW is telling us not to over-do the fruit so I am being careful about that as well, but I love my fruit, I always have.

When I started WW for the 2nd time in my life there was the Core program - it was fantastic! I didn't have to count any points unless I used my 21 weekly points. When I first started on Core I ate soooo much fruit - 5 and sometimes 6 pieces a day and I lost weight consistently each week. After losing 30kg this way WW went and changed the program and NO MORE CORE! I was devastated and started to lose the plot and started gaining. I really resented having to count points for pasta and fruit again, but I finally got my head around that and started losing again. Now there is ProPoints and the same thing has happened. I lost the plot for a little while, but I am back now and finally starting to lose again. Everything seems to finally be falling into place for me and I am enjoying the new system.

Hopefully I will follow this through, well I am determined to see this through to the end and reach goal by the end of this year and this will be my last time joining WW - I just need to refocus.