Skinny Pumpkin Cookies

 

As I've mentioned in one of my last posts, Fall is my favorite season. I adore absolutely everything about this time of the year-- particularly the fact that I have an excuse to indulge in anything pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin! This morning I made my first pumpkin meal of the season; Bethenny's SkinnyGirl pumpkin pancakes, and boy were they were amazing. I will be posting that recipe soon, too, don't you worry. The pumpkin madness didn't end there though, I mean I had to use up the leftover pumpkin puree from the pancakes! ;) So just a few hours later I began baking some "42 Calorie Pumpkin Cookies" (which were actually 49 cals according to my calculations) that I found on Pinterest (where else?). I put my own spin on the recipe though and added chocolate chips to a third of the batter, butterscotch chips to a third, and kept the other third plain. I had my bag of white chocolate chips out, too, but I figured I'd use those for the next time-- as I was sure there would be a next time just after test-tasting the batter. All versions were super tasty, but surprisingly I loved the pumpkin-butterscotch combo the best (I expected to like the chocolate chip version best... if you know me, you understand, if you don't, you'll come to.. my name is Danielle and I'm a chocoholic). Needless to say, this recipe did not disappoint, which is why I just had to sure it with you all. :)

Skinny Pumpkin Cookies

Adapted from The Realistic Nutritionist

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 15-18 minutes
Yields: About 34 cookies

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/8 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (you can use vanilla if you prefer)
• 1 cup canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie  mix)
• Cooking spray

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking spray.
• Cream sugar, applesauce, pumpkin and almond extract together.

• In another bowl, or if you're like me, in the same bowl, mix flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and spice. Once mixed, add to bowl with the wet mixture and combine well.

• Add chocolate chips or butterscotch chips to mixture (optional).

• Drop rounded spoonfuls of batter onto pan and bake for 15 – 18 minutes, or until browned.

• Enjoy!

Nutritional information per cookie: 49 calories, >1 gram of fat, 9 grams of carbs and >1 gram of protein. 
(I added these to MyFitnessPal-- you should be able to find them by searching Cupcakes and Corgis).


There you have it, 49-calorie pumpkin cookies that don't taste like cardboard, but rather taste extremely delicious. Not only are they lo-cal, but they're very easy to throw together. Hopefully you enjoy them as much as I did. 

And there is a lot more where these bad boys came from! I have several more healthy recipes on my radar, so look forward to more skinny-deliciousness in upcoming Motivational Monday postings. Use these recipes as a reminder that eating healthy doesn't mean having to break the bank, or sacrifice flavor or time. I hate, I mean hate cooking (baking is another story), so a majority of the recipes coming your way will mean minimal cooking time and easy prep-- although I can't promise the same for my baking recipes. Regardless, you can expect most healthy recipes I share won't contain 2334546 ingredients, take hours to prepare, or require you to buy high-end ingredients. I hope these recipes motivate you to make smarter meal choices and ease you into adapting to a healthier lifestyle. I will also be sure to include nutritional information with these recipes as well, just to make it easier in keeping yourself on track.

Thank you so much for reading, have a wonderful week! xox
 <3 Danielle

Celeb Weddings That Take the Cake

So I've got some great wedding-related posts in the works-- in my mind that is. As far as taking the time to do my research and put it all down on paper; that's another story. But I can go through my favorite celeb weddings and point out what I love-- and don't love-- about them... so let's do that! ;) Below is a compilation of some of my favorite celebrity weddings to date.. enjoy!

Justin Timberlake & Jessica Biel

Love it: The groom. And the flowers and decor. But mostly the groom.
Leave it: The dress. Don't get me wrong, my girl looked unbelievable, and this is just my personal preference, but I think the pink could've been toned down a bit. There also could've been less ruffles. Once again, just my tastes. If I were into pink and ruffles, I wouldn't change a thing about this gorg wedding. Except maybe I'd put myself in the dress and tell Jess to take a hike for a minute.. or forever. ;)

Prince William & Kate Middleton

Love it: That train, the groom's attire, the party, the entrance, the exit... I mean come on, they seriously look like they stepped right out of a Disney movie, seriously. You don't think the above image went viral for no reason, do you?
Leave it: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Ooooh, except that the royal Corgis should've been invited.

Molly Sims & Scott Stuber

Love it: The mismatched bridesmaids are done so perfectly in my opinion, I can't get enough of this trend. The ceremony location is also to die for.
Leave it: Not a huge fan of the bouquets-- especially Molly's. The feel of the wedding seems so shabby chic to me and I think looser, more free-flowing bouquets would look better with the whole ensemble.

Hilary Duff and Mike Comrie

Love it: THAT DRESS. I die. It's Vera Wang's "Gemma" and I tried on one similar to it and it's just breathtaking. I could stare at it for hours. I wish I was kidding.
Leave it: The bow tie. Not a fan. Besides that everything else looked stunning.

The Kardashians

Khloe & Lamar

Kim & Kris

Love it: Khloe's dress and bridesmaids dresses, as well as Kim's mermaid reception dress. I also adore the simplicity of Khloe's all white flowers and Kim's all white attire; perfection.
Leave it: While I like the all white for Kim's bridesmaids, I don't know if I'm necessarily crazy about them being actual wedding dresses. I think flowy or all fitted gowns vs. the mermaid silhouette would've been a better choice. I'm also not all that into Khloe's sash on her wedding gown.

David & Victoria Beckham

Love it: Quick back story; this is the wedding that pretty much started it all as far as my wedding obsession goes. I remember buying the issue of Vogue that featured their wedding specifically to read all about it and drool over the photos. And that I did. I couldn't believe my eyes as I read that her gown estimated about $100,000 (and still to this day remains one of the most expensive celebrity wedding dresses) and I flipped through each page slowly, fully taking in the fabulousness that was their wedding. At the time I loved every detail of their day. But especially that custom-made Vera.

Leave it: Looking at their wedding now, as a grown woman and bride-to-be, I have a couple critiques of the Beckhams' big day. First, why was Mel B. wearing black while Emma and Mel C. sported white? Huge problem. Next, explain the cake to me. It's unique and different and I respect that.. I'd just like to understand it. And finally, I'm just not feeling the purple reception outfits the couple changed into. Vic, you were wearing a $100k custom-made Vera... rock that sh*t as long as you can. 

Ok, there you have it, the wedding police's my thoughts on some of the hottest celeb weddings. Do you agree with my favs? Which celebrity wedding takes the cake in your opinion? 

I hope you had a fab Bride Day Friday and that you have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for reading,

xox D

Accountability is Key

 Confession time: I fell off the fitness wagon last week. I started slacking a couple weeks ago, but made up for my missed lunges (see lunge challenge) and stayed strong with 3-4 days of cardio (not my ideal 5), and I was even using MyFitnessPal to track all of my meals-- and snacks! I was in a good rhythm, that is until last week. I don't know what happened... wait, I take that back. Laziness happened. I succumbed to that little voice in my head telling me not to go to the gym, that I was too tired to do my run, and to eat as many breadsticks as I wanted to. And now I want to kick that little voices ass because I just gained back all those cals I burned weeks prior. The truth is being lazy is easy and getting off your tush can be rough sometimes... I decided to go with the easy route. But oh well, the show must go on, and that it will-- and in a bigger way I might add. Because now that I've gotten so off course from the lunge challenge, I restarted today (you will get those after pics). This week also marks the first week of half-marathon training-- in which I will be the sole participant in my own personal halfie, which will consist of me running 13.1 miles, probably in the snow, on the trails and roads of Lansing and East Lansing. It must be done though; I won't hold myself accountable if I'm not following a strict schedule... so a strict schedule it is!

That being said, what makes you accountable? Perhaps it's writing it down, or having a friend or family member keep you on track, or maybe you're like me and you need to follow a schedule. Whatever it may be, practice it. You know yourself better than anyone, so just do what you have to do to get on track-- regardless if it's for an active lifestyle, or better eating habits, or just life in general. Don't make excuses, hold yourself accountable for your actions-- or lack thereof.

Sure, I may have fallen off a bit, but the moral of the story is that I'm not staying off; I'm putting on my Nikes and jumping right back on. I realize what I did wrong and I know what it takes for me to be accountable, so rather than setting myself up for failure, I'm going to follow my schedule to a tee and tell that little voice in my head to shut up, and I'll just watch as the pounds fall off and the abs form. ;) That's my recipe for success-- what's yours?

If you couldn't think of anything to make you accountable, maybe Ryan Gosling will do the trick. He has faith in you, girl! ;)

Fall Wedding Inspiration

Walking out to the chilly, sweater weather with that lovely cool, Fall breeze just does something to my blood. 

I love everything about the season; the cider mill and the caramel apples, the smell of pumpkin, the taste of pumpkin... pumpkin, pumpkin, pumpkin. Then of course there's my favorite holiday-- Halloween, and the comfy clothes; the scarves and hoodies, and football and tailgating and the gorgeous fall colors and tailgating and... OK, I think I made my point; Fall is the cat's pajamas. And considering that today is the first Friday Sunday of Fall, I wanted to make today's Bride Day post all about Autumn-inspired weddings. So I bring to you my inspiration board of Fall weddings; enjoy and have a PSL on me. ;) Oh and be prepared for a slew of pumpkin recipes coming your way soon.

Fall Color Schemes

 Love the shades of orange, red, and brown

 

 

Adore the simplicity and fall-feeling of the brown and cream color combo

 

 

Flowers

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Table Settings 

 

 

 Venues

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Desserts

 

Attire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tried on this ombre dress and absolutely loved it; perfect for a Fall wedding with a gold/ brown color scheme

 

 

Obsessed with this one as well..

 

 

Photo Opps

How dreamy are these shots. *sigh*

 

 Well there you have it, my favorite color schemes and details for a Fall wedding. Hope you enjoyed and maybe gained a little inspiration for your own Fall fiesta one day. ;)

xo D