Skinny Raspberry Lemonade Cupcakes

These cupcakes are such a perfect summer dessert that won't hurt your diet plans.  The original recipe is here.  The day that I made them we were having Chicken Tinga for dinner, a Mexican dish that a friend of ours made for us.  The cupcakes were perfectly refreshing after the somewhat spicy meal and they weren't too heavy to eat on a warm spring day.

You will need:
1 box white cake mix
3 tsp Raspberry Lemonade flavored Crystal Light Drink Mix
1 6 oz. container Yoplait Light Raspberry Lemonade flavored yogurt (my grocery store didn't have this flavor so I just used Light Raspberry)
2 egg whites
1/2 cup water
1 8 oz. container Cool Whip Lite

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-In a medium size bowl or stand up mixer, mix cake mix, egg whites, Crystal Light mix, yogurt, and water until well mixed and lump free.
-Pour mixture into a 9x13 inch pan or two 8 inch round pans (or a cupcake tin like I did!  I made 20 cupcakes but you could make bigger ones and do about 16).
-Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until cake has cooked through. Let cake cool and top cake with Cool Whip Free topping. For optional toppings, use fresh raspberries or lemon slices. 

adorable pink cupcakes before being frosted...

...and after!

Insta-cupcake

Initially I was nervous that a "skinny" cupcake recipe wouldn't come out quite right, but these cupcakes were the perfect texture and consistency, and the flavor was great!  The bite of the lemonade flavor was balanced out perfectly by the sweetness of the cool whip frosting.  Even the cool whip was a great touch instead of real frosting because it wasn't too heavy or too sweet.  This is a great summer dessert recipe that you don't have to feel bad about!

Estimated nutrition info from livestrong.com for 20 cupcakes (serving size: 1 cupcake): Calories 32; Fat 0.9g; Saturated Fat 0.8g; Cholesterol 0.3mg; Sodium 26.8mg; Carbs 4.4g; Dietary Fiber 0g; Sugars 2.5g; Protein 0.7g.  I got this recipe from the same place as the Skinny Chicken Florentine I made in week 9, and once again our nutrition info differed a lot, so I just went with what livestrong.com gave me since that's the site I always use.

Skinny Chicken Florentine

I made this recipe for Skinny Chicken Florentine last Friday night and it was a big hit.  My only complaint was that the recipe says it makes 6  1 1/2 cup servings, but we only got 3 out of it, so you'd have to double everything if you want to feed more people.  Also the nutrition information provided on that site and the nutrition information that livestrong.com generated for me were different, so I just stuck with the info that I had gotten.

You will need:
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 box (approx. 5oz.) frozen spinach, thawed & squeezed to remove as much liquid as possible
1 cup low fat cottage cheese
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 large garlic cloves, minced (or 1 tsp. from my jar-o-garlic)
1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs flour
1 tbs lemon juice
1 can no-salt low fat added chicken broth
pinch nutmeg
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
8oz. whole grain pasta

cooking the chicken

ooey-gooey yumminess

Directions:
-Cube 'n cook chicken
-Cook pasta according to package directions
-Mix cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, and spinach together until smooth 
-In a large pot, heat olive oil
-Add flour and whisk for 30 seconds
-Add chicken broth and stir until thickened (about 3 minutes)
-Add lemon juice, garlic, nutmeg, oregano & pepper
-Bring to simmer
-Remove from heat and add blended cottage cheese, spinach, chicken, Parmesan cheese & pasta. Stir to combine
-Place in lightly sprayed casserole dish
-Bake at 375 degrees F for 30 minutes

ready for the oven...

Ta-da!

final product on my plate!

This is a great cold weather recipe that will satisfy your cheese and carb cravings without ruining your diet.  It tasted great, was easy to make, and isn't that bad for you - what's not to like about that?  

Estimated nutrition info from livestrong.com:  Yields: ~5 cups, serving size: 1 cup.  Calories 432; Fat 16.9g; Saturated Fat 6g; Cholesterol 56mg; Sodium 889.6mg; Carbs 38.4g; Dietary Fiber 5.4g; Sugars 3.8g; Protein 31.5g.