Banana Split Frozen Yogurt Bars

These bars are a delicious treat in the middle of the summer heat. I’ve written a basic recipe for you here, but basically there are a million variations, depending on what yogurt you start with, and what mix-ins you choose. I just write down the calories of each item as I add it in, total the calories, and then divide through by 6 or 8, depending on how I choose to cut the bars.

Ingredients:

2 cups yogurt (if you use unsweetened yogurt, you might want to add your sweetener of choice.)

3/4 cup granola

1 cup frozen cherries

1 very ripe mashed banana

1 oz chopped walnuts

2 Tbsp mini chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together and put in an 8X8 or 9×9 pan. Freeze until firm, and then cut into bars. Wrap individually in plastic wrap and keep in freezer. To eat, take out about 20-30 minutes ahead of time to allow to soften up.

For this particular recipe, I used whole milk yogurt, divided into 8 bars, and my stats came out to about 135 calories per bar.

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Apple Honey Custard

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/2 cup eggbeaters

1 cup low fat yogurt

2 Tbsp honey

1/4 cup splenda granulated (NOT the kind with sugar added)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced small

Directions:  Preheat oven to 375. Spray 8X8 pan with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients except apples in a blender. Put diced apples in the pan and pour custard on top. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes. Cool and cut into 4 big pieces.

4 servings, about 150 calories per serving.

Single Serving Pumpkin Custard

1/3 cup pumpkin (3 frozen pumpkin cubes)

1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze

1/4 cup egg beaters

1/4-1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/8 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sweetener of choice (for raw, I use splenda, and for baked I use sugar)

Whisk all ingredients together. If baking, place in a single serve oven safe custard glass that has been sprayed with Pam and bake at 350 degrees for about 40-50 minutes.

I enjoy drinking this raw, either as a light smoothie, or as a dessert “soup.”

If you use frozen pumpkin cubes, it makes a great smoothie. Add 1/2 scoop of vanilla whey protein powder, and you’ve got a delicious protein smoothie.

Original recipe, using splenda is only 100 calories!

Peachy Quinoa Compote

 

I cooked one serving of quinoa–1/4 cup of quinoa in 1 cup of water. While that was cooking, I peeled and chopped 2 peaches. I put them in a separate pan with just a bit of water to keep them from sticking. After they cooked for a bit, I added a slurry (don’t you love these fancy new cooking terms I pick up from my cooking shows) of 1 1/2 tsp corn starch, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/4 cup water. And I continued to cook for about 3 minutes. By this time the quinoa was cooked and I added the quinoa to the peaches–Voila! Peachy Quinoa Compote. Remove from heat and add sweetener of choice. This made 3 servings at 95 calories per serving.

Strawberry Rosemary Scones

These scones are very low in fat, and so the texture is different than traditional baked goods. But I have enjoyed them very much as a low-calorie breakfast treat.

Ingredients:

1 cup brown rice flour

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1 Tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup splenda (granulated splenda, NOT splenda blend for baking)

1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped fine

1 cup low fat yogurt

4 Tbsp flaxseed meal

1/2-1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond breeze

Strawberry Jam*

Directions:  Preheat oven to 425F.  Mix tog. first 6 dry ingredients with a fork.  Stir in yogurt with fork, and add almond breeze til all sticks tog. in a lump. Be careful to NOT add too much almond breeze or dough will be difficult to work with. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board.  Pat/knead dough out into about a 12 inch circle. You can cut into wedges or whatever shape you want!   Sometimes I use a 2 3/4 inch circular cutter to cut out 10 scones. In all this process, try not to be too harsh with the dough, in order to keep the scones as tender as possible.  Place scones on ungreased cookie sheet. Make an indentation in the middle of each scone, and fill with about 1/2 Tbsp strawberry jam. Bake for 12 minutes.  Do not over bake.

Cool on wire rack, and immediately place in ziplock bag and freeze flat.   (Of course if you are going to eat all of them immediately, eliminate this step!)

To reheat:  425F for 7 minutes.  Just like fresh-baked.

Makes 8 servings, approximately 155 calories each.

Strawberry jam: Mash a cup of ripe strawberries. Mix in 1 tsp cornstarch. Put on medium burner and heat up. Allow to boil for one minute until it thickens, stirring constantly. Cool. Add sweetener, if desired (I use splenda.) You could also substitute a commercial sugar free strawberry jam if you like.

Roasted Butternut Squash Pudding

1 cup roasted butternut squash puree (roast squash, cool, and puree in the food processor)

1 cup eggbeaters

3/4 cup 2% milk

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients and pour into 8X8 pan. Bake at 325 for about 45 minutes.

Makes 4 servings—105 calories each. 9 grams protein, 14 grams carbs, 1 gram fat.

Debby’s Pumpkin Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

1 egg

1/2 cup egg beaters (or two egg whites)

1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze ( may substitute low fat or fat free milk)

4 Tbsp pumpkin butter (I used this recipe)

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp all spice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 light whole grain English muffins

Directions:

Mix all ingredients except English muffins. Tear muffins into bite size pieces (I think next time I might try toasting the muffins first.) Mix muffin pieces with ‘batter,’ and pour into four ramekins. Place ramekins in a 13X9 baking dish and put hot water in BAKING DISH halfway up the sides of the ramekins.  Bake in pre-heated oven at approximately 300 degrees for about 30 minutes until set. (To be honest, I made these when the thermostat on my oven was not working so temperature and cook time is approximate. When I repeat this recipe, I will update with more accurate times.)

Makes 4 servings, approximately 140 calories each.