Stolen Desserts

So lately my husband decided that we needed an upgrade. This means that he removed all of my programs from the computer. I have no way to edit my pictures now, and MS has decided to be bitches and not add any sort of software with which to edit pictures. I think there was one in our MS suite, but apparently I don't get even that any more. I don't know what I'm going to do, as asking for the software back hasn't gotten me anywhere!

Anyhow, I have been cooking. The diet marches slowly on, and I still have a major sweet tooth. I do love sweets, and really I prefer chocolate. Though sometimes berries can ... kind of... do the trick. The reason to eat sweets with berries is because they are healthier for me than eating tons of chocolate. I have several basic recipes that I make that involve sliced berries with Splenda and a touch of sugar and non-fat, sugar free pudding.

I have heard all you hippies out there who say that artificial sweeteners are bad for me; that they still raise blood sugar, and did you know that started out as a pesticide? You know what, I don't care. I don't. I like sweets, eating sugar makes me fat, and honestly you can stick in your... well you get the idea. So I use Splenda, I tried Stievia and my husband and I agreed that it's really bad. It tastes like plastic. Splenda has it's issues too, if you use too much you get a weird taste, so I usually use it in moderation. I did make some jam this year that has a very low sugar content and then I added Splenda to it, to help with the sweetness, and I don't think my husband can tell. It tastes fine. I mean, it's not as good as some of the other jams I've made, and the blueberry is better than the raspberry, but for all that each tablespoon of my jam only has 15-20 calories in it, depending on the berry flavor.

Not all to long ago my mother in law brought over a dessert for a dinner party we had. It was defiantly not a healthy dessert, though it was trying to masquerade as one. Let me tell you about it. It had a pie crust (not healthy), a layer of sweetened cream cheese (high fat, and sugar), a giant pile of raspberries (OK, those might be healthy), and a sauce made from simple syrup, three tablespoons of sugar jello and two tablespoons of full sugar jam. In the simple syrup you put a cup, a cup of sugar. I can't tell you that it was bad, because it was fantastic, but it was also loaded with hidden fat calories and lots of sugar, which goes right to my thighs. Oh did I mention we covered it in whipped cream?

I want to be clear about this, I am guesstimating the number of points/calories here, but there seem to be 7 points (without whipped cream) in one slice of this pie. That's 350 calories, a meal for me. So while that's OK once in a while, I need something sweet that I can eat when I get sweet cravings, which is pretty much all the time.

I haven't perfected this yet, but I am willing to share with you what I did. I made one with blueberries, and one with strawberries, and that's only because raspberry season is over. I like the blueberries better, but the pictures are strawberry so that's what you get.

I think if you read the recipe you can see where I'm going with this. You could also do something with angel food cake in cups, that would work too. Really the basis for all low cal, low fat desserts include berries and nonfat, sugar free pudding. Or Jell-O, take your pick. This recipe only has 3 points per serving, if you cut it into 8 slices, that's 150 calories, 200 less the previously mention one.

Creamy Strawberry dessert

Ingredients:

1 C. water
1/3 C. organic sugar
1/3 C. Splenda
1 tsp. sugar free lemon jello
4-6 C. strawberries, quartered
1 C. graham cracker crumbs
1 Tbs. melted butter
cooking spray
1/2 C. low fat buttermilk
1 C. non fat organic milk
61 g. sugar free jello mix (vanilla)
1 tsp. good vanilla

Method:

In a bowl use your fingers to mix the butter into the graham cracker crumbs, being sure to distribute the butter evenly. Press into the bottom of a pie pan, and spray with cooking spray. Bake the crust in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Set on the counter and cool completely.

In a small saucepan heat the water and sugar to boiling, remove from heat and add the Splenda and jello. Mix until dissolved and let cool until just warm.

Whisk together the milk, buttermilk, vanilla and pudding mix. Pour the pudding into the cooled pie crust and top with the berries. Pour the cooled syrup over the berries and let cool in the fridge for about 4 hours. Serve with non fat whipped cream (it exists, and it's not weird).