Well Isn't that a Pinteresting Wednesday? Except on a Thursday?

As part of my new, better me in the new, better year, I decided I would cook/craft/do something that I had pinned on pinterest and blog about it. I like reading other people's blogs when they blog about it, and OMG I am a mad pinner and a not-so-mad doer of the pins.

I had let my sister pick out whatever she wanted from my pinned Pinterest stuff for me to try and blog about. She picked a good one. An emergency binder for my family. It'll be awesome. But, it was not to be this week.As previously mentioned, my body failed me and got the flu.  I took too much Nyquil, and I'll be honest, I rubbed Vick's Vapo rub on my feet because someone told me that would stop my coughing and I would have given birth out my right nostril to JUST. STOP. COUGHING. So, there was no way I was putting together an emergency book. Howeva, yesterday morning, I took a shit ton on ibuprofen, rubbed my feet with vapo rub, put on a heating pad, and drank a load of tea and honey and lemon and something in that concoction was a game changer. I slept a beautiful 4 hours and woke up not coughing till I wanted to cry or pee my pants or both.

And that, my friends, is a beautiful feeling. A feeling worthy of making good on my promise to try one Pinterest thing a week. So, I quickly scoured my Pinterest trying to find something doable on a (slightly) Nyquil high, and with the resources I had on hand. Here you go:

Crockpot Chocolate Lava Cake (as skinny as I could get it AND dairy free)
adapted from this recipe

For the cake
1 cup splenda brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup milk (I used almond milk)
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 tbsp low fat margarine
1 tsp vanilla

For the pudding
3/4 cup splenda brown sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3 cups boiling water

Directions:   For the cake: Mix together the sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Stir in milk, melted butter and vanilla until combined. Spread the batter over the bottom of a large crockpot.

For the fudge topping:  Mix together the brown sugar and cocoa. Sprinkle mixture over the cake batter.

Pour the boiling water over the top. DO NOT STIR! Cover and cook on High for 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

Cake will be very hot! Turn off heat, and remove lid. Let sit 20-30 minutes before serving, so its still warm but wont burn your mouth : )  ENJOY!!

*I loved it, Rob thought it was "pretty good" and Max gave it back to me. Rylan didn't eat enough of his dinner to get dessert**, I'm mean like that. My kids are weird. They don't like chocolate. Max likes chocolate milk, but a brownie? Chocolate cupcake? No thanks.

**How weird is Rylan? He didn't eat SLOPPY JOES!!! That is what we had for dinner. What kid doesn't like sloppy joes? At least enough to get dessert? If he wasn't Rob's clone, I'd send him for a paternity test.

Its starting to look like Hot lava isn't it? Hot lava. Those words make me giggle.

I wouldn't be my mother's daughter if I didn't put a giant dollop of Cool Whip on it. Yum.

(note sparkly not chewed fingernail above plate)

According to My Fitness Pal, 1/8 of the recipe gets you 332 calories. 

And just for your viewing pleasure, here is a video from a birthday party we went to a couple of weekends ago. Not only did our kids sit down and take down their cupcakes BEFORE the birthday girl even got in the room, we had this:

Well, isn't that Pinteresting?

As part of my New Year, New Me, I've decided to try something off Pinterest every week and blog the results. Basically, I stay at home with my kids and I need more people to talk to, you know, other than the ones that talk about pee pee and tooting at the dinner table, so....Congratulations!!!!

Basically, Pinterest is as addictive as pizza, ice cream and booze. In that order. And just like losing weight, I am bad about reading about things and talking about things, but NOT ACTUALLY DOING THOSE THINGS. So, I pin things like a madwoman and I do a few of them, but not nearly enough. And, some things on there are really really awesome.

Because, I am in a weight loss frame of mind, I'll try to mostly post recipes that are "skinny". I also have a million things pinned to clean my house and make it beautiful.

So......here's Pinteresting Wednesday Part 1

Scrumptious Cinnamon Pecan Granola
adapted from this recipe
4 cups rolled oats (I used quick oats)
1 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1/4 cup brown sugar (I used Splenda brown sugar)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup applesauce
1tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins or craisins or dried blueberries

Preheat oven to 325. In a large bowl combine oats, flaxseed and pecans. Stir until combined.

In a small saucepan, combine honey, brown sugar, applesauce, salt, and cinnamon. Cook over low heat while stirring until the brown sugar is dissolved. Turn off heat and stir in vanilla.

Pour the honey mixture in with the oat mixture and stir until the oats are coated. Add raisins, stir to incoorporate.

Put entire mixture on a large cookie sheet and spread evenly. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring at least once. Granola should be browned, but watch for burning.Store up to 10 days in an air tight container. *

*10 days.....like we could make it 10 days before we ate it all.
This makes 10 servings, according to My Fitness Pal, one serving =258 calories

We like it with milk or over yogurt.