Million Dollar Brownies

Ingredients

Caramel Sheets

Pecans (1 1/2 Cups or more)

Brownie Mix (I prefer Duncan Hines Fudge)

 

Mix your brownie mix as you normally would an only add half to a 9 x 13 pan. The Caramel Sheets come in circles so you'll have to cut them to fit the pan. Word to the wise leave the paper on to cut, learned the hard way a long time ago. Anyways then you sprinkle the pecans on top, cover with batter, and add more pecans.

However, like all things, practice teaches you how wrong you've been doing something so I think it would be best to mix the pecans with the batter and then top. 

You can use caramel pieces, which I have, but I've found that they sink to the bottom and do not melt evenly or at all. So you can find the Caramel Apple Wrap's around Halloween time. I wait until they go on sale/clearance after the holidays and buy them for $1 a piece. You do not need a whole package so they really last. 

Bake per your boxes directions and ta da! I could not get a good enough picture to capture the awesomeness that are these brownies. They are so good! I make them for everything. Enjoy!

Low Cal Options

I started the fasting diet I posted about a few days ago.

http://ebcangel.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-fast-diet.html

Since them on my two days of the week in which I can only have 500 calories a day I've been finding it hard to eat only 500 calories and not be completely starving! So I thought I would share the ideas I'm coming up with as they happen.

Spaghetti Squash w/ Sauce (123 Calories)

1 Cup of Spaghetti Squash

1/2 Cup of Huntz Sauce (sauce of your choice)

1 Tlbs Parmesan Cheese

I've found that when your trying to have the same foods you would always eat like bread, pasta, etc you will be starving so I have been looking into low cal veggies and fruits. That might seem a little ridiculous since you assume that all veggies are good for you therefore low cal but not so. The best ones I've found so far are cucumbers, celery, romaine lettuce, sweet peppers, mushrooms, spaghetti squash, and summer squash.  

Metabolism Boosting Water

Mango Ginger Water

Frozen Mango

Ginger

Water

I didn't follow any set amount I just eye balled it. Then let it sit for two hours before consuming. I saw this post on Pinterest that claimed this water could help you lose up to 10 lbs a week but its not just the water. The recipe comes from Lose Weight by Eating and can be found at the link below:

http://tonetiki.com/2012/07/27/day-spa-mango-ginger-water-0-calories/

The blog has a lot of water recipes and this woman seems to know a lot about different foods and their health benefits so its worth the read. I will be adding this water to the fasting diet to see what effects it has. 

Rustic Granola

Ingredients 

5 Cups of Thick Cut Oats

10 oz Cranberries 

1 Cup Raisins

6 oz Slice Almonds

2 Cups Pumpkin Seeds

2 Cups Honey

3 Tlbs Unsalted Butter

2 Tlbs Brown Sugar 

Its a good idea to toast the oatmeal in a skillet before mixing which I did not do this time.

Mix all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

In a saucepan over medium heat combine honey, butter, and brown sugar and bring to a boil.

Pour honey mixture into mixing bowl of dry ingredients and stir until all the dry ingredients are coated. The mixture may not seem like enough to coat but it will. Take (2) 9 x 13 cookie sheets and line them with parchment paper and spread the granola mixture evenly over the two cookie sheets and place in the oven for 20 minutes. You'll want to check them at about 15 mins to make sure they are not getting to dark.

When the granola is done baking slide the parchment paper off the pans to allow the granola to cool faster. Once the granola is cooled I put the granola back in a clean mixing bowl and gently break it up to place in containers. 

You can cut his recipe down and I usually use a ratio of 1 part oats 1 part dried fruit 1 part seeds or around that. For smaller batch you'll need 1 cup of honey, 1 Tlbs butter, 1 Tlbs of sugar. I have tried margarine in this recipe and it tasted very weird. I don't know about I Can't Believe it Not Butter, I've never tried it. 

Chicken Stir Fry Recipe

Ingredients

1 lb Chicken

12 oz Frozen Steamable Green Beans

8 oz Fresh Mushrooms

Garlic

Olive Oil/ Cooking Spray

McCormick Montreal Seasoning/Mrs. Dash

1/4 C Soy Sauce

1/2 C Water

2 Tbsp Cornstarch

Rice

Directions: 

Slice whole white mushrooms, mince garlic, and add to hot skillet w/ olive oil. You can choose to cook your chicken in the same pan or separately. Add chicken and cook until chicken is thoroughly done. Add McCormick season or seasoning of your choice along with cooked green beans. To make sauce combine soy sauce, water, and cornstarch and whisk until cornstarch is evenly dispersed (this makes a very light sauce so if you want more of the soy sauce flavor you can add more as you go or double the amount of soy sauce). Keep heat on and the sauce will begin to thicken. Once sauce is thick remove from heat and serve on a bed of rice. 

The Fast Diet

The Fast Diet or 5:2 Diet

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I heard about this diet the other night while watching the above segment on ABC Nightline that aired Thursday night.  As you can see from the video its a highly alluring diet even with the two day a week fasting. You can allegedly eat whatever you want 5 days a week and for only 2 days out of the week is fasting required. The fasting is a severely calorie restricted diet on the 2 days of your choosing as long as they're not back to back. It's 500 calories for women and 600 for men.  I'll admit like most women I'm extremely skeptical of a diet that promises you carbs, fats, sweets, and treats. What makes me even more curious is the alleged health benefits, and although I have no prior stats to compare to, it would be interesting to see if there was an overall improvement in health.

So what do you think? Scam or your kind of diet?