I had a few ladies over last night to chill and relax and thought to myself "I should make that low-fat chocolate cake with pumpkin puree I heard about. How hard can that be?" Fact is, it sounds incredibly easy…the recipe (which I looked up before I started but I guess I didn't "read" it thoroughly) calls for chocolate cake mix and pumpkin puree. TWO INGREDIENTS!! Now, I ask you, how can that go wrong? Here is how it went down...

I placed the cake mix and in a bowl and mixed in the pumpkin puree. I mixed, and mixed. Then I smell it and it smells like PUMPKIN. Then I taste it and it tastes like RAW PUMPKIN! Panic ensues and I run to the computer to read the incredibly simple recipe again and realize I needed to mix in a 15 ounce can of pumpkin and I mixed in a 29 ounce can instead. In comes my event planner instinct and I aim to fix it. The solution? Pour in another bag of cake mix. Stir, smell, taste. Add water…stir, smell, taste, start feeling sick. Start drinking wine and laughing wildly to myself. Luckily, my fabulously supportive mother tells me it ill be fine and I should just bake it and everything will be ok.

I baked the cake for almost an hour and the outside looked like a black, burnt mess. We didn't eat it, in fact I put it aside and made my guests promise never to speak of what they saw at my house that night.

This morning however, I turned the pan upside down and to my surprise the cake looked normal. To my even greater surprise the cake was good!!! It was moist and fudge like and had no taste of raw pumpkin. I guess mom was right…baking solves all!

Here is the recipe for the low fat, low calorie and low in weight watchers points cake:
1 15 ounce can of pumpkin puree
1 box of chocolate cake mix

Mix two ingredients together. Do NOT put eggs or oil. Place a little water if you feel it is too thick. Place in pan of your choice (I chose the bundt pan) and bake for as long as it says to on the box for that size pan. I just sprinkled powdered sugar on top to keep the calories low. Enjoy! See more nutritional breakdown here.

Serves:

10 (3-inch) pancakes

Ingredients

2 medium zucchini (about 3/4 pound)

2 tablespoons grated red onion

2 extra-large eggs, lightly beaten

6 to 8 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Unsalted butter and vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Grate the zucchini into a bowl using the large grating side of a box grater. Immediately stir in the onion and eggs. Stir in 6 tablespoons of the flour, the baking powder, salt, and pepper. (If the batter gets too thin from the liquid in the zucchini, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of flour.)

Heat a large (10 to 12-inch) saute pan over medium heat and melt 1/2 tablespoon butter and 1/2 tablespoon oil together in the pan. When the butter is hot but not smoking, lower the heat to medium-low and drop heaping soup spoons of batter into the pan. Cook the pancakes about 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Place the pancakes on a sheet pan and keep warm in the oven. Wipe out the pan with a dry paper towel, add more butter and oil to the pan, and continue to fry the pancakes until all the batter is used. The pancakes can stay warm in the oven for up to 30 minutes. Serve hot.

5 ears of corn

½ med red onion finely diced

handful of basil chiffonade

4 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp cider vinegar

salt & pepper

Remove husks and silk from corn and blanch in boiling salted water for 3-4 minutes

While blanching set up a bowl large enough to hold the corn and fill with water and ice.

When corn is done, submerge the ears in the ice water to shock and stop the cooking.

Cut kernels off the cob making sure to not cut into the cob.

Combine corn kernels, red onion, basil, olive oil and cider vinegar.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Chill before serving.

For Dessert pick up some yummy cupcakes from Kerri's Kupcakes. (Not sure if the link to facebook works but find her by typing in "Kerri's Kupcakes") These delicious morsels sell quick so

be sure to get there early.

To decorate pick up a lovely local bouquet for only $10.00. These blooms are so colorful and gorgeous and I am totally loving the vintage tomato cans they are in. So much so that I found some here to buy.
What a great idea for a backyard wedding!

While my culinary school graduate husband is making an amazing meal tonight for a small dinner party I am attempting to contribute and make a grilled watermelon salad. Am I scared? You betcha! In fact I added to my morning mantras: "I can pull of a salad." However, I went to Home Goods last night and bought some decor to dress up the table and hopefully distract our diners from any disaster my salad becomes. Plus I know my hubby's food will blow mine out of the water and make everyone giddy with gourmet fare.

Here is the recipe courtesy of Food Network…I'll let you know how it goes. Pray for me.

However, yesterday the better half was out and I was left to fend for myself. We had mushrooms and I remembered eating mushrooms that were stuffed with Alouette, a sweet creamy cheese awesomness. Here is the recipe that is so simple, even I pulled it off.