On Vacation

Are there some foods or drinks that just make you feel like you're on vacation? For me, I always used to say to my husband that my vacation begins when I have a cold pina colada in hand. Pineapple is such a tropical fruit that it just makes me feel more relaxed, if that makes any sense.

I was delighted that my farmer's market had fresh whole pineapples for $2 on the weekend, so I bought a few to do some experimenting with (along with eating them fresh! I love fresh pineapple). These two recipes will make you swear you are cheating- your dessert will be better than whatever your friends have!

Pancake Mix (Breakfast):



Pina Colada Cake:

1 pkg Nutrisystem Pancake Mix
1/3 cup milk
1/4 tsp rum extract (optional)
1/4 tsp coconut extract
1/2 cup pineapple, diced
1 tsp sweetened coconut
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp Splenda

Icing:
1.5 tbsp Philadelphia Ultra Low Fat Cream Cheese
1 tsp butter
2 tbsp Splenda
1/4 tsp coconut extract
1 tsp sweetened coconut

Spray a baking dish with PAM and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix together all the cake ingredients and pour the batter into the dish. Bake for about 20 minutes or until top has browned. In a little dish, blend together the cream cheese, butter, Splenda, and extract, ensuring there are no unmixed lumps (which would make your icing taste gross). Refrigerate icing until the cake is cool and ready to be frosted. Spread icing on top of cake and sprinkle with 1 tsp coconut and enjoy.

This was amazing. I couldn't believe it wasn't cheating because it was SO sweet and rich. It uses a breakfast entree but I highly suggest having this for a dessert because it is just so sweet- I couldn't handle that much sweetness in the morning, personally. Breakfast and dessert entrees are interchangeable so there is no problem doing that. The coconut (oddly enough, sweetened coconut has better stats than unsweetened!) counts as a free food- 2 tsps is 24 calories. The butter is your dinner fat serving, and count the cream cheese as part of a dairy/protein serving (you can count it as another free food if you want but Nutrisystem suggests not having more than one at the same time).


Pineapple Upside Down Cake:



1 pkg Nutrisystem Pancake Mix
1/4 cup pineapple, diced
1 maraschino cherry
2 tsp Splenda Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp Splenda
1/3 cup pineapple juice

Spray a baking dish with PAM and place the cherry in the center. Dust the bottom of the dish with the Splenda Brown Sugar and place the pineapple bits all around the cherry. Mix remaining ingredients together- you may need to add a little water if the batter is too thick- I added 1 tbsp more. Pour batter on top of pineapple and bake at 350 degrees for about twenty minutes or until the cake is browned. Allow it to cool, then carefully invert it onto a plate and enjoy.

Since I was using fresh pineapple, I had no pineapple juice on hand. I substituted V8 Fusion Peach Mango juice, which I thought was tropical enough. It turned out great! Note that this recipe has no dairy in it, so you'll need to add a half dairy serving to your day to compensate for the missing milk. Count the maraschino cherry as a free food at 12 calories.

These recipes made me feel like I was getting ready for vacation already!