Vanilla Pound Cake

I was looking for a light dessert to make for Mother's Day (I know... a little late in posting) and came across this fantastic recipe from Weight Watchers. I had never made pound cake so I didn't know quite what to expect. This turned out way better than I was thinking! It was super moist and delicious!

The only change I made was that I didn't have almond extract on hand, so I used a little extra Mexican vanilla extract.

This is a GREAT summer dessert and I think it would be wonderful with blackberries, blueberries or any other fruit.

1 spray(s) cooking spray
2 large egg(s)
3 large egg white(s)
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
8 oz light cream cheese
3 1/2 Tbsp butter
1 1/3 cup(s) sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
1 3/4 cup(s) all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Coat a 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, vanilla extract and almond extract; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese and butter until blended. Beat in sugar, baking powder and salt until blended. Beat in flour and egg mixture, little by little, beginning and ending with flour.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, about 55 to 65 minutes.

Cool cake in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 12 slices and serve.

WW Points per serving: 5 pts (without the berries or Cool Whip)

Giveaway Alert!

One of my faithful followers, Meg, is hosting a giveaway over at 1 Funky Woman to celebrate her 100th post. She's giving away a $50 gift card to CSN stores, which I hadn't heard of... until now. I think I've found a new love on their beddingsheets.com specialty store. Check this out...

I am swooning over the black and silver paisley combination. I really hope I win. Even if I don't, I think these sheets may find a new home in our bedroom. So hop on over to 1 Funky Woman to enter her giveaway!

White Bean and Roasted Garlic Hummus with Chives

I love spring! I especially love that my chives came back from last year. I hear they're pretty hard to "kill," but still, I'm pretty happy about it. I used a couple of different recipes from the internet to come up with what I think is a delicious accompaniment to vegetable crudite and also pita chips.

1 Can (15.5 oz) Cannelini Beans, drained, but reserve 2 Tbsp liquid
2 heads garlic
1 Tbsp tahini
Juice of one lemon
1 tsp salt
1/2 C olive oil, plus more for roasting
5 stalks chives

Start by roasting your garlic. To do this, heat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel away the outer layers of the garlic bulbs, leaving the skins of the individual cloves intact. Using a knife, cut off 1/4 to a 1/2 inch of the top of cloves, exposing the individual cloves of garlic. Place each one into a piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle with olive oil and cover them up. Roast for 30-35 minutes or until the heads feel soft when pressed. Let cool completely. Use a small small knife cut the skin slightly around each clove. Use a cocktail fork or your fingers to pull or squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins.

Finely chop the chives. Place the beans and reserved liquid, tahini, lemon juice (minus the seeds, folks!), roasted garlic cloves, chopped chives and salt in a food processor. Puree with the blade attachment until mostly smooth. While the processor is still running, drizzle in up to 1/2 C of olive oil or until smooth. Refrigerate for at least one hour prior to serving with cut up vegetables and/or baked pita chips.

Spinach and Pork Tenderloin Salad with Pears and Warm Shallot and Cranberry Vinaigrette

Another winner from Cooking Light! This one came from the April issue of my new favorite mag. I am really excited at how satisfying this salad is. It totally filled me up and it felt good to eat so much iron-y, calcium-y goodness. I had to make a few slight adjustments, including only making two servings. My modified recipe is below. You can find the original recipe here.

8 oz pork tenderloin (or about half of one tenderloin*), trimmed and cut crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices
1 Tbsp cider vinegar
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
3/4 tsp brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp dried thyme, divided
1 garlic clove, minced
pinch of salt and pinch of pepper
2 Tbsp flour
1 1/4 Tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, sliced thinly
1/4 C dried cranberries
1/4 concentrated pomegranate blueberry juice - that's what I had on hand. The original recipe calls for cranberry juice cocktail
6 C baby spinach leaves
1 ripe pear, thinly sliced

Combine vinegar, mustard, sugar, small dash of salt and pepper and 1/4 tsp thyme in a small bowl. Set aside.

Combine flour with remaining thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper. Flatten the slices of pork between two pieces of plastic wrap with a heavy pan. Toss the slices of pork in the flour mixture and set aside.

Heat 1 Tsp oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add shallots and minced garlic to pan. Sautee for 3 minutes or until the shallots are tender and lightly browned. Add cranberries and juice. Cook until liquid is reduced to 2 Tbsp (about 2 minutes). Reduce heat to low and add the vinegar mixture. Cook 1 minute, stirring with a whisk. Set aside and keep warm.

Heat 1 Tbsp oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Shake the excess flour from the slices of pork and add them to the skillet. Cook 3 minutes or until brown, turning once. Toss the pork with 1 Tbsp warm cranberry mixture.

Cobine spinach and pear in a large bowl. Drizzle with remaining cranberry mixture and toss well to coat. Arrange the spinach on 2 plates and top evenly with pork.

WW Points per Serving: 8 points

*Since it's just Mr. Tote and I, we trim our pork tenderloins right after purchasing and usually cut them in half crosswise before packing them individually in freezer bags. Half of a tenderloin is usually plenty of food for the both of us.