Saturday!

I love my days off and know I am going to enjoy retirement. I am down to my final seven weeks, it has gone by so fast. I remember last summer. I was so ready to retire then but I needed to pay down my credit card. That said, I am almost to zero now! I wish I would have made my mind up to do this two years ago, but I have enjoyed spending on my family over the 15 years and now it is time to say, sorry, you will need to help me! Chuckle. Lets hope I never get into the type of a situation. I can't see it ever happening, thank goodness.

Today, being Saturday, we always have a nice breakfast together. this morning it was vegy omelet, toast ...

  and Skinny Hummingbird cupcakes, well they really are more like a muffins.

The muffins/cupcakes were something I made on Thursday. I was home for the day and decided to call my visiting teachers to come visit after I had made them. As an after thought I invited them to lunch. We had a wonderful visit. I made a macaroni chicken salad and we sat out on the deck, it was about 75 that day. Amazingly beautiful and we had a very enjoyable visit plus some spiritual thoughts along with it.

I took out the cupcakes for dessert. They were a wonderful hit, I was so happy that it made 23! We could take more than one if we wanted; and we did.

Here is the recipe and the info about the recipe:

"These scrumptious hummingbird cupcakes are super moist and light, full of pineapple, chopped bananas, pecans, cinnamon and spices topped off with a sweet cream cheese frosting.

Hummingbird cake first appeared in Southern Living Magazine back in 1978, originally submitted by Mrs. L.H. Wiggins of Greensboro, North Carolina and is known to have won numerous blue ribbons at county fairs. This skinny version does not disappoint! The flavors are reminiscent of a carrot cake, without the carrots and make the perfect Mother's Day dessert!

Skinny Hummingbird Cupcakes Skinnytaste.com 

Servings:

 22 • Serving Size:  1 cupcake  • Old Points:  4 pts  • Points+:  5 pts Calories: 197.8 • Fat: 6.5 g • Carb: 31.1 g • Fiber: 1.7 g • Sugar: 21.7 g Sodium: 284.2 mg

Ingredients: I made some changes - Enjoy!

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (I used 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour),1 cup sugar (I used raw), 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg fresh grated, 1/4 tsp ground ginger (I used ½ tsp Chinese 5 spice instead of ginner), 2 tbsp oil, 2 large eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 cups mashed ripe bananas (I used 2 large bananas she had just purchased that day), 20 oz can crushed pineapple in juice, drained well, 1/2 cup chopped pecans, 1 cup grated carrots.

For the Frosting:

• 8 oz 1/3-less fat Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 22 pecan halves - didn’t use on top.

Directions:

To prepare frosting, beat together cream cheese and butter and vanilla, add powdered sugar, beat until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and spices; stir well with a whisk (I used a mixer from start to finish).

In a medium bowl, combine oil, eggs, and vanilla; stir well. Add banana, pineapple and carrots.; mix well. Fold wet ingredients and chopped pecans with the dry ingredients, batter will be stiff and dry but keep folding it and it will all come together.

Spoon batter into cupcake tin. Bake at 350° for about 23 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Spread frosting over the cupcakes once they are cooled. Garnish each cupcake with a pecan half on top if you want.