Desserts

Number 1
I like my treats and in the summer, I love my treats frozen.  Yeah, you can get delicious frozen treats by Weight Watchers for more than $5.  You can get some decent 100 calorie pops by Creamies for about $3.50.  Snickers makes a 100 calorie treat that, it turns out, is just too small even when I'm dieting.

Meanwhile, in the category of "that's kinda obvious" a box of Jello pudding is about $1 and makes 4 1/2 cup servings.  Well, at the dollar store, we found popsicle molds that hold about 2 ounces so one box makes 8 pops.  Yes, Jello Puddin' Pops.  Remember the days?  A serving made with skim milk is less than 100 calories and you can have all kinds of fun.  We made Cookies and Cream last week and this week I used cheesecake flavor, then crushed some graham crackers and mixed it in at the last moment to make something that turned out especially delicious.  Butterscotch is a standard fave in this house, but I also bought banana cream (I am going to try pureed bananas in it) and lemon cream to try later.

My personal tip?  Whip 400 times or for about 1-1/2 minutes instead of the 2 minutes recommended.  It thickens fast and is hard to get into the mold.  If you mix it just before that level, you can pour it like juice, then freeze.  Also, while I like the sugar free pudding for snacking, I do not like it as much frozen.  Pudding cannot be made with soy because it doesn't thicken, but if you are going to freeze them, does it matter?  So if you like pudding, but have switched to soy, this is a way to still enjoy pudding.

Number 2
Popcorn is a pretty great diet treat, but what to do when you are either bored or have a sweet tooth?  I bought a popcorn machine so that I could control exactly what went on my popcorn.  After making Holiday chocolate treats, I had leftover candy melts and came up with an idea.

Pop the popcorn without butter, salt, or anything else.  Lay out on a cookie sheet.  Melt just a few ounces of chocolate in the microwave just until smooth.  Use a fork to pick some up out of my measuring cup, then spin in small circles over the popcorn.  When it cools, you have a tasty treat with just a hint of sweet.  You can buy candy melts in many flavors including dark mint (tastes like junior mints, but way fewer calories!), milk chocolate, and eggnog (special at Christmas time).  Recently I found a bag of special flavored rasberry sherbet.  It made a really tasty popcorn treat for out last movie night.