catching up...

I had a totally busy/awesome weekend to kick off my spring break. I hung out at Applebee's with Kris and his friends on Friday.. and in an attempt to be a good girl, I ordered a 'skinny' mojito - 90 calories. It was really YUM! But then Kris ordered the sliders and all hell broke loose.. I ate 2.

Saturday I spent making this for my friend Stephanie's son's first birthday!!

It was one in a handful of 'sculpted' cakes I've done.. so I'm still learning - but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out! Needless to say, it kept me busy this weekend! After a good nights' sleep I had to get my house ready for bunco on Monday night. We just started a group and I was the first to host. I think it turned out really nice.. and keeping with my 'healthified' lifestyle right now, I served all Hungry Girl appetizers. Too bad I didn't take pictures though.. The menu was: Crab Rangoonies, Pigs in a Blanket, Spinach-Artichoke Dip (with pita chips, carrots and celery sticks), and Fruit Kebobs that I put in mini flower pots - cute! Because I had some Easter M&Ms on hand, my friend Lisa made some miniature Cowboy Cookies, which were not 'light', so I stayed away from them. For beverages I made Strawberry Lemonade using Crystal Light lemonade and wild strawberry flavors, with some fresh strawberries in it as well. I put citrus vodka on the side for people to help themselves.. =) It was fun!!

To get back on track today from all the festivities I had the intention of going to the gym to sign up, but got busy cleaning. Instead, I did an on demand video from Crunch fitness called 'Lyrical Hip Hop'. It was SOOO much fun, and when I put 15 minutes of hip-hop dancing into the activity tracker for WW, it gave me 3 points - woot! (It was 25 minutes total but a lot of that was warm up and practicing the moves). Then for dinner I made Gnocchi with Shrimp, Asparagus and Pesto (9 Points + for a BIG serving) from Cooking Light (with some strawberries & grapes on the side):

Instead of just shrimp, I used a "Seafood Blend' from Trader Joe's of shrimp, bay scallops and calamari rings - it was cheaper than shrimp alone and SO good (which, BTW, for 1/4 of the bag is only 2 P+). While boiling the gnocchi I sauteed the seafood blend. You just have to make sure when you're sauteeing it to drain out all the liquid before combining with the gnocchi. I added the gnocchi to the pan and allowed them to brown a bit while I boiled the asparagus. Then I combined it all with the pesto in that same skillet. I also cooked up a couple mini baguettes from TJ's (2P+) for my boyfriend and myself... perfect! My inspiration to make this recipe was my new basil plant.. I get one every spring since it's finally warm enough to keep alive. Only $2.99 from TJ's, and it keeps growing! We'll see how long this one lasts me!

I hope everyone's doing well.. I'm looking forward to a very productive spring break!!