“Those cake pops were seriously the best cake pops I’ve ever had! Even better than Freeport Bakery.”

This high praise comes from a former co-worker, Mariel. For her last day in our office, I wanted to bake something special as a surprise. I knew she liked cake pops and salted caramel (she requested that I make salted caramel macarons a few months ago, which I will post soon). The idea of a salted caramel cake pop was born.

I was shocked that I couldn’t find any recipes for salted caramel cake pops online. I ended up adapting my salted caramel cupcakes (one of my all-time favorite cupcake recipes). However, once I covered them in chocolate, the delicate salted caramel flavor of the cake and frosting was overwhelmed by the chocolate. I made a salted caramel sauce to drizzle on top (along with a sprinkle of fleur de sel, a French sea salt). I think you could probably use an easier vanilla frosting recipe and simply make some salted caramel sauce to pour over them.

Stay tuned for Valentine’s Day recipes coming next week, including some heart shaped cake pops. I realize I’m a bit behind as far as food blog schedules go, but I couldn’t bring myself to bake Valentine’s desserts in early January.

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This isn’t a regular Slow Cooker Monday post. Instead of posting a slow cooker recipe, I’m excited to tell you about the newest Crock-Pot slow cooker. Crock-Pot revealed their latest design a few months ago and it’s nothing like any kitchen tool I’ve ever seen. It’s more like scrapbook meets kitchen appliance.

What does that mean? Check it out:

Front of the Create-A-Crock

It’s a customizable Crock-Pot! The “Create-A-Crock” lets you choose from a variety of colors and designs for the background. Then you upload 4 of your favorite photos and they’re printed right onto the Crock-Pot! I’ve never seen a personalized kitchen appliance like this before – have you?

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Congrats to Janet D., winner of the Yufit giveaway!

Last year a close friend of mine was diagnosed with several food allergies after having health problems and discomfort for years. Turns out she’s allergic to eggs, dairy and yeast, foods she used to eat on a regular basis. A few weeks ago she came to visit, which coincided with me receiving a bag of Meyer lemons from my brother’s tree. I knew I wanted to bake something, but I had to avoid some major players in baked goods.

You probably know where I’m going with this, since you’ve seen the title of this post, but the easiest way to avoid eggs and dairy is…bake vegan! I actually have a great vegan cupcake cookbook, but it doesn’t have a simple lemon cupcake recipe. I was pretty set on using my surplus of Meyer lemons, so I found a vegan lemon cupcake recipe on another blog and adapted it.

By just tasting them, I don’t think anyone would guess that these cupcakes are vegan. They’re extremely light and fluffy and have a subtle lemon flavor. By topping them with a simple lemon glaze, the cupcakes remain light and lemony, a satisfying dessert that won’t leave you feeling weighed down. I garnished them with candied Meyer lemon peels for an extra lemon punch. You can make this with regular lemons too, and I’m sure it would be just as good. (If you’re not familiar with them, Meyer lemons are a cross of lemons and oranges, so they’re a bit sweeter and milder than regular lemons).

Do you bake for any people with food allergies or special diets?

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It’s over 2 weeks into January so it’s ok for me to post desserts again, right? We’ve had time to recover from indulging over the holidays and work on New Year’s resolutions. (If you’re still working on healthy eating and exercise resolutions, check out my post on healthy snacks and enter a giveaway to win a year membership to a new fitness website that lets you stream workout videos anywhere you are!)

Let’s ease into things with something sort of healthy: Meyer lemon peels turned into candy. (Which I may or may not have used to top lemon cupcakes – you’ll just have to wait and see what I post later this week…)

Ignore the fact that I dipped some in chocolate. There’s lots of Vitamin C in the peel, which makes this a healthy-ish dessert…right?

See, you can leave it plain too. Either way, they’re delicious. Blanching the peels (cooking them briefly in boiling water) 3 times removes the bitter flavor of the pith. It may seem like a lot of work, but it’s really easy to put them in a pot of water, bring it to a boil, then dump the water and repeat. Then you cook them in simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water) and roll them in granulated sugar. You’re left with a chewy, sweet and crunchy treat that has a great lemon flavor.

Did you make any resolutions? How are you doing with the changes? I didn’t make any major resolutions this year but last year I gave up sugar for a month and the year before I started this blog as a way to get myself to cook more and try new foods.

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I often find myself getting these sort of backwards compliments about my weight. You know, after people see the amount of cupcakes and Nutella on my blog, they look at me and ask how I’m not 500 pounds.

First of all, I never bake anything unless I have someone to share the results with. If I left a dozen cupcakes in my kitchen, I would undoubtedly eat all of them. So instead, I bake for friends, family, special occasions, and if all else fails, I bring my goodies to work.

My other main two strategies are working out and keeping a supply of healthy snacks around for between meals. I get hungry a lot and usually crave sweets, so I plan ahead and have healthy and filling snacks prepared for that inevitable 3pm hunger pain. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Nuts and seeds

Nuts and seeds are full of healthy fats, fiber and protein, all things that help keep you feeling full and satisfied until your next meal. For a quick snack on the go, measure out a serving (1/4 cup) into little tupperware containers or small baggies. Keep it interesting (and more healthy) by varying them day by day. Try walnuts one day, sunflower seeds the next, then almonds, and so on.

You can eat them raw, but I get bored with that quickly. Here are some easy roasted nut recipes: pumpkin pie almonds, slow cooker sweet and spicy roasted nuts, roasted pumpkin seeds.

2. Greek yogurt

I like Greek yogurt more than regular yogurt because it’s strained more, which makes it extra thick and creamy. Plus, it has a lot more protein than regular yogurt, which will keep you feeling full for longer. Get unsweetened to avoid excess sugar and add your own fresh fruit or honey to taste. Another way to sweeten up Greek yogurt is with jam, apple butter or pumpkin butter.

You can also make a smoothie out of Greek yogurt and fruit. A couple of my favorites are this chocolate raspberry smoothie and tropical green smoothie. And if you want something even cooler, you can freeze a smoothie into Greek yogurt pops.

3. Larabars

Larabars are the most simple and straightforward energy bar I’ve ever seen. The ingredient list is very short, from 2-9 ingredients and all whole foods – mostly dates and nuts plus spices or fruit. They have fun flavors like peanut butter cookie (dates, peanuts and salt) and banana bread (almonds, dates, unsweetened bananas). They’re also raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, non-GMO, and kosher. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, they’re pretty awesome but also pretty expensive (over $1/bar). Luckily, you can make them pretty easily at home. So far I’ve tried making copycat cashew cookie Larabars, copycat chocolate Larabars and (this is similar to Larabars but with some added grains) healthy cookie dough.

4. Hard boiled eggs

Eggs are a pretty cheap source of protein. I always get local, cage-free eggs (which costs a little more, but is worth it to me for the peace of mind that the eggs are safe and also the chickens are treated humanely). Boil a bunch of eggs over the weekend and you’ll be set with snacks for the rest of the week. Plus, if you don’t want to wait around for a pot to boil, you can try hard boiling eggs in a CrockPot!

5. String cheese

Remember the days of string cheese? I still enjoy this classic childhood snack. I usually get the “light” version, which is only around 60 calories but has a little fat and protein to keep you full. And while I’m often a food snob, I must admit that my favorite string cheese is Target’s generic brand. It’s a little sweet, not too salty, and tastes creamy too.

Working out isn’t as simple as healthy snacks unfortunately. I don’t really like going to the gym, and I don’t want to pay for a monthly membership unless I know I’m going to get my money’s worth. For a while I tried out Jillian Michael’s Ripped in 30 DVD, but workout DVDs are repetitive and get boring after a while. Lucky for me, my friend Yu Hannah has been working on a great solution to my problem – a website, Yufit, the first-of-its-kind online fitness experience in the cloud.

What does that mean? Basically, for a small monthly fee, you get access to a variety of 30-60 minute fitness classes, streamed on high definition. Classes are updated twice a week so there’s no getting bored. Plus, you can interact with the instructors, integrate your account with your Facebook profile, and access extra videos and blogs from the instructors with lots of tips and advice.

I’ve been a tester for the last few months and I’ve been loving the convenience and variety of Yufit. My favorite is Fernando’s cardio kick-boxing class – it’s only 30 minutes and he keeps me moving the whole time. There’s also yoga, balletone, buns & thighs, core burn, street jazz, and much more. There’s an easy way to pick out classes too: put in how long you want to work out, your goal (cardio, strength, flexibility), and your fitness level to find out the best class for you.

Now you can try it out too! Sign up now and get a free 14-day trial. After the trial period, and for a limited time, Yufit is only $9.99/month for one year (regularly $14.99/month). SO much cheaper than a gym!

I’m also giving away membership for an entire YEAR to Yufit (that’s worth almost $180)! Enter using the Rafflecopter form below:

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