Oreo Cheesecake Greek Yogurt Cupcakes

Everyone seems to be talking about Greek yogurt lately. Well, I bought some, tried it, and sorry to say, I thought it was gross. So I decided to try it in something instead. It is supposed to be a healthy substitute, right? So I developed this recipe for Oreo cheesecake. This recipe is SUPER EASY, and SUPER DELICIOUS! It is something anyone can make, and guess what; these babies are only 140 calories each! That's what I call dessert!

Oreo Cheesecake Greek Yogurt Cupcakes

6 Oreo cookies, halved and filling removed
8 oz. 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
2 - 6 oz. containers fat-free vanilla Greek yogurt
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
2 tbsp. flour
6 Oreo cookies, filling removed and crushed in pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 12 muffin cup liners in cupcake pan. Place one Oreo cookie half in the bottom of each cupcake liner. In mixing bowl, combine softened cream cheese, Greek yogurt, sugar, and vanilla. Mix with electric beater until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour, then add crushed Oreo cookies. Do not over beat. Pour batter evenly into muffin cups. Place in preheated oven and bake 20 - 25 minutes, until center is set. Chill for 1 hour, then serve.

These cheesecakes turned out great! Here's my journey through the process:
First I filled the muffin tins with the Oreo cookie halves.

Then, I mixed up my ingredients in my handy KitchenAid mixer. (Best gift my husband ever gave me!)

Next, I filled up my muffin tins, and put them in the oven!

After a long 20 minutes (because I wanted to eat them so badly) I was finally able to take them out of the oven! Don't they look delicious?

Face Toner

Toner is an important part of a daily face regimen, but sometimes it can feel like you're spending tons of money on something that you don't see visual results for. I found a recipe online for a face toner that is cheap and claimed to work great. The recipe was:

1 part lemon juice

1 part witch hazel

I used this recipe and I'm sure it would have worked great on my skin if I continued using it, but every time I used it my face would feel itchy and irritated. When I was pouring in my witch hazel I noticed that it had the exact same smell as the fancy face toner I used to use when I was a teenager. It even says on the bottle of witch hazel that it can be used as a skin astringent. So that is what I use now for my face toner and it feels great. No more itchiness, and my face feels clean and beautiful every time I used it. And the best part is that I found the bottle I am using at the dollar store. That's right. Only 1 dollar! You just can't beat that! But no matter where you buy it, it's almost always very inexpensive for how much you get. So worth it!

Make Your Own (Super Healthy) Instant Oatmeal Mix

Oatmeal is such a power food, but buying the packaged instant oatmeal at the store is really not very healthy for you at all and can be quite expensive. So here's a recipe to give you the most nutrition, while still being a tasty, quick, and cheap breakfast!

Instant Oatmeal Mix

1/4 cup quick oats
2 tbsp. powdered oats (run through a blender or food processor)
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. wheat germ
1 tbsp. ground flax seed
1/4 cup powdered milk
2 tbsp. dried fruit of your choice (optional)

Combine all ingredients and store in separate plastic baggies or tupperware containers. When you want to eat some oatmeal, just pour the contents into a bowl and pour 1/2 to 3/4 cup boiling water over the top and stir it up. If you aren't a fan of dried fruit, you can always add fresh fruit on top after you've prepared it. My favorite is sliced bananas. So tasty and so good for you!

8 Good Reasons to Stop Eating White Bread

I grew up on whole wheat bread, and I still firmly believe that whole wheat is the only type of bread worth eating. When I found these reasons on http://diet.allwomenstalk.com I just had to share.  Next comes the debate on how much of a difference it makes in your health when you make your own bread instead of buying bread loaded with preservatives....


1. IT’S TASTELESS

Let’s face it: white bread is just plain bland. It has no real flavor, which is why so many people like it. While it doesn’t conflict with the savory taste of your meat or humble peanut butter, it sure doesn’t enhance it either, the way a whole grain bread will.

2. IT WON’T KEEP YOU FULL

White bread doesn’t contain as many parts of the grain as whole-grain does, so it doesn’t have the fiber, which means when you’re eating white bread, you’ll be hungry again, and soon. If you’re dieting, make the switch to wholesome, healthy whole-grain bread and stay fuller, longer!

3. IT CONTAIN LOADS OF NASTY CHEMICALS

If you knew how white bread was made, you’d never eat it again. Most shocking to me is that it’s made with heavily processed, bleached flour. Bleach, as in BLEACH. Not something I want to eat, and not something I want my kids to eat!

4. IT LACKS MOST NUTRIENTS

As you can imagine, stripping away two of the three parts of the grain and then bleaching the flour that’s made with it is going to leech most of the nutrients out of the bread, about 30 nutrients in total. And the bread industry only put a handful of them back in!

5. IT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO DEVELOPING DIABETES

Recent studies have shown that people who eat white bread(and other processed foods) rather than whole-grain bread have a higher risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

6. IT’S NOT VEGAN-FRIENDLY

Most white bread contains several animal by-products, including eggs, shortening, emulsifiers, glycerides and lactase. In short, it’s not vegan-friendly, while there are several vegetarian and vegan-friendly whole grain bread options. I love Rudi’s Organic, and it’s easy to find.

7. IT CAN CONTRIBUTE TO TUMMY TROUBLE

Whole grain breads contain something very, very valuable to your digestive health — fiber. Sadly, white bread contains very little fiber. In fact, to get the same amount of fiber in your whole-grain PB&J, you’d have to eat 16 pieces white bread. That’s a LOT of bread!

8. IT DOES NOTHING FOR HEART HEALTH

Eating bread, if it’s whole-grain bread, can help with your heart health. But none of these heart-healthy benefits can be gained by eating white bread, so why not give whole grain bread a go?