Buffalo chicken dip is one of my favorite appetizers of all time.

I love chicken, cream cheese, and buffalo sauce, so how can this not be delicious when you mix them all together?

Well, if you’ve ever made any kind of buffalo chicken dip before, you know how bad it can be. And you also know that some low fat replacements can be, well.. not so good.

This one is the real deal though. It tastes nearly identical to the regular recipe, but the calories are less than half, and the fat count is literally a fraction of what the regular recipe would be. Look below and you’ll probably be surprised.

What You’ll Need

6oz Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo Sauce (original) – 0 cal / 0g fat
16oz Fat Free Cream Cheese (2 packages = 16oz) – 480 cal / 0g fat
6oz Plain Greek Yogurt (I used Anderson Erickson) – 130 cal / 4g fat
10oz Canned White Meat Chicken – 300 cal / 5g fat
1 package Ranch Dressing Seasoning (any brand should work) – 80 cal / 0g fat

Total Nutritianal Value: 990 cal / 9g fat – That’s only about 25 calories per ounce, which is about 2 tablespoons.

Compare that to the regular recipe, which I calculated out to be around 2800 calories / 240g fat (regular ranch and cream cheese are really bad for you).

Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix Greek Yogurt and Ranch Dressing Seasoning in a bowl until creamy. This is your Ranch Dressing replacement, and it’s so much better than light or fat free Ranch Dressing.

Put Cream Cheese into a baking dish, and stir until smooth.

Mix in your Ranch Dressing, Buffalo Sauce, and Chicken into the Cream Cheese until it’s mixed evenly.

Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, and it should thicken up a bit. Garnish with some Ground Red Pepper for an extra kick, or chopped green onion for some color.

Serve with celery for dipping if you want to go really low calorie, or with some low calorie wheat crackers.

Your friends will be impressed when they find out how low calorie this is compared to the regular recipe, and you won’t feel so terrible for eating it either!

Apple pie filling and cream cheese mixture is sandwiched between layers of crescent roll dough, topped with cinnamon and sugar. This treat is so tasty and very easy to make.

Apple Sopapilla Cheesecake Dessert

You have got to admit, it looks great!

I came across a similar recipe on Pinterest the other day and it sounded so good that I had to make it.

Of course I just so happened to have crescent rolls, cream cheese and apple pie filling at home. 

When I went and looked at the recipe each serving had over 600 calories!!! Goodness, no… that was just unacceptable.  This is why I have made many adjustments… I am positive this dessert is in no way good for you, but it’s a dessert. It’s not supposed to be… right?

Anyway, back to this recipe. I love finding different things to do with crescent rolls and to add cream cheese and apples… this was just too good to pass up!  The creaminess of the melted cheese all nuzzled into the apples sandwiched between two layers of tender crescent dough. Then the cinnamon/sugar topping creates a crunchy topping. Yummy!! This was good and so easy to make.

Here is what you need:

1 package of reduced fat crescent rolls
8 ounce package of fat free cream cheese, softened
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 can of apple pie filling
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoon butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a small mixing bowl mix cream cheese, ¼ cup sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy.  (If needed you can soften your cream cheese in the microwave, medium heat for a few seconds)

Lightly spray an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with non-stick spray.

Unroll and divide the crescent rolls in half.

Place one half in the bottom of your baking dish. Spread out the dough to cover the bottom of the baking dish.

Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the top of the dough.

Layer the apples on top of the cream cheese layer.

Add the other half of the crescent rolls on top of the apples.

Pour the melted butter on top.

Sprinkle with the cinnamon and sugar  on top of the butter.

Bake uncovered for 25 to 30 minutes or until top layer is golden brown.

Enjoy!

While I was out getting a pedicure, I decided to get a shellac manicure as well. I have heard wonderful things about it, so I figured I would give it a shot.

Well she was right! It stayed on my nails for two weeks, and I just couldn’t wait any longer, I needed a change of color on my nails!

If you are wondering about shellac manicures, I will not be of much help. I know that it’s a system of base coats, top coats, and a UV light that cures the polish to stay shiny and chip free for two or more weeks. (It’s pretty awesome!)

The nail tech told me that I would need to return to the salon to have the polish removed at the cost of $10! Yeah right! I wasn’t going to pay them $10 to get this stuff off my nails.

Here’s what you’ll need:

1. Take your fine grit file, and slightly buff off the top coat of polish. (This is to remove the shiny top coat. This will help the acetone to sink in.)

If you are having a hard time scraping off the polish, let your nails soak in the acetone for a few more minutes and try again.

Nail Stamping is pretty great! There are so many images to choose from.  Konad is a main manufacture of the nail stamping plates, but there are also other brands such as:  Shany, Mash, or Bundle Monster.  If you are looking to buy stamps, I would suggest Amazon. I got my Konad plates, stamp and scraper for a fraction of the cost compared to  Konad’s website (Score! I love a great deal!).

What you will need to get started:  Konad Nail Art Image Plate, a stamper and scraper and “Konad special polish”.

There are starter kits you can buy that include the basics for $15 to $20 at Amazon.  I know that seems like a lot of money for nail accessories, but the end results are worth it! You can create so many looks and it’s fast!

First, you will want to start with a dry base color (make sure the base coat is dry).

Second, paint a thick layer of nail polish across the pattern you want.

Hold the scraper flat against the plate and pull upward so the only polish that’s left is on the pattern.

Firmly press your stamper in a rolling motion across the plate to pick up the polish off the plate.

Line up the edge of the pattern to your nail.

Press the pattern across your nail in a rolling motion.

Next clean up the edges of your nail.

Tada!!

Tips:

• I find that when I hold the scraper at a 45 degree angle it works best.
• Oh no! You lost your scraper? It’s ok… any credit/gift card will work just as well.
• Be sure to work FAST! The polish starts to dry as soon as you apply it to the plate.
• You don’t have to use Konad special polishes. What makes them special is that they are very thick. Any polish that goes on thick would work (i.e. one coat polish).  I personally use polishes that I currently have in my collection. I normally have good luck with any brand as long as they are deep dark colors.
• Practice makes perfect! In the beginning I had issues with lining up the stamp to my nail and everything was just off.  I promise you will get better over time.
• Do not apply multiple coats of your top coat. One clean swipe, using a generous amount will do it! If you need a second coat wait for the first coat to dry.