Homemade Sour Cream - 10 Calories, 0 Fat

Ingredients:
1 cup cottage cheese
2 tsp lemon juice
(I usually make a double batch)

Directions:
Combine all ingredients into a blender (I use my fav Ninja blender!), blend, and that's it.

Health Facts:  (per tbsp)
Instead of 30 calories, this only has 10 calories!
Instead of 5 grams of fat, this has ZERO grams of fat!!

Now you can enjoy sour cream on EVERYTHING and not feel guilty about it.  Enjoy!

20 Second Calm-Down Trick

Have you ever had one of those moments when you start ranting and raving about something that has upset you, you can feel your blood boiling as you continue to talk faster and faster, then you finally stop to take a breathe....(gasp)....and you realize that you just lost it.  Literally, you feel like you lost control of yourself.  All of the sudden you lost control of your emotions and started saying things that maybe you did not mean, should not have said or maybe you truly do not feel that way.  Well, you just experienced what I call an Emotional Hijack.  Your emotions and feelings took control of you and hijacked all sources for which you think, feel and act rationally.

This happens to a lot of people, so don't let it worry you.  Instead, let's talk about how to prevent it from happening again, or simply minimize the amount of times it does happen.  First and foremost, we have to understand, and most importantly accept, that we cannot control our emotions and feelings.  As much as we would love to and we attempt to, we simply cannot.  We do not have the ability to decide or choose how we feel about something.  But what we can do is control is our reaction.  We do have the ability to decide and choose how we react to something.  This can be life-changing! 

To help you accomplish this, it is very important to identify your feelings by stating them clearly.  For example "I am feeling angry/mad/sad/disappointed/_______(fill in the blank)."  The key is to include the very important word "feeling".  Without this, you are defining who you are and not what feelings you are experiencing.  For example, if you were to say "I am angry."  You are not an angry individual, you are simply feeling angry because of a particular situation that has occurred. By recognizing this feeling and not letting it define you as a person, you will be able to think more clearly and rationally. 

So, the next time you have a rush of feelings come over you, and you sense an Emotional Hijack is approaching, take 20 seconds to list off all of your feelings.  Identify them by stating "I am feeling _______."  Now that you've successfully identify your feelings, you can decide how you would like to react to those feelings instead of letting them take control of you.

Give it a try and leave a comment below to let me know how it is working for you.

Healthy Banana Oat Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cup oats (old fashioned kind, not instant)
• 1 cup (or 1 single serving) of plain low fat greek yogurt (I used vanilla)
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup sweetener of choice (I used the good stuff...sugar!)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 bananas (You can use just about any fruit-be creative! Leave a comment and let me know what fruit you used.)

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray tin with non-stick cooking spray or line 12 muffin tins with silicone or foil liners (or just use a silicone muffin pan). 

 

 

Place all of the ingredients in a blender (I love using my Ninja!) or food processor. Blend until oats are smooth.

 

Divide batter among cupcake liners.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Sausage and Cheese English Muffins

Ingredients:
1 package english muffins
1 lb breakfast sausage
1 large jar cheez whiz (usually found in the Mexican food aisle)
1 package fresh mushrooms

Directions:
Fry sausage until done.  Add cheez whiz to sausage mixture. Wash and slice mushrooms, then add them to the sausage adn cheese mixture. Let simmer for a couple of minutes. Cut english muffins in half and put on a baking sheet. Spoon mix onto english muffins.

Broil on high approximately 10 minutes or until cheez whiz is a golden brown.  Serve hot!

Holiday Fruit Spritzer Cocktail

Ingredients:

• Raspberries
• Lime
• Sprite
• Vodka (I used berry flavor)

Directions:
Mix all ingredients to taste, it's that simple! I had this over the holidays and it's delightful.

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 1 can (6 oz) crabmeat, drained
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup real mayonnaise (I use plain greek yogurt instead)
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1 1/2 tbsp parsley flakes
• 15-20 medium mushroom caps (or 4-6 large mushroom caps)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix first 5 ingredients in a bowl.

Wash mushrooms and remove the stems (the pop off very easily). Spoon mixture evenly into mushroom caps. Place on baking sheet. Top each mushroom cap with a little extra cheese (optional). Bake 10-15 minutes depending on the size of the mushrooms.

Candy Cane Candle Centerpiece

Materials:

• Candy canes
• Candle
• Ribbon
• Wood (optional)
• Hot glue gun
• Nail

Directions:
Hot glue the candy canes to the candle.  Wrap ribbon around the candy canes and tie into a bow.  Optional, place the candle on a small piece of wood.  To make it extra sturdy, hammer a 4" nail through the bottom of the wood and then stick the candle on the nail.  This will help to make sure the candle does not slide off the piece of wood.