3-point Smoothie and Dessert

Banana Berry Smoothie

I used to think that restaurant smoothies were super healthy, until I realized how many excess calories they typically have (a regular banana berry smoothie at Jamba Juice is 8 points -- not terrible, but I don't want to spend that much on a snack) . I decided to make a banana berry smoothie at home today for an afternoon snack. It was delicious, super filling, and only 3 points.

1 carton vanilla Activia Light (the nonfat kind)
5-6 frozen strawberries
1/2 slightly overripe banana, fresh or frozen
1 T homemade raspberry puree (Thaw a bag of frozen raspberries, puree them in the blender with a little Splenda and lemon juice, and pass them through a mesh strainer to get the seeds out. Freeze in ice cube trays and use as needed. You could use regular frozen or fresh raspberries instead, but I can't stand having raspberry seeds in my smoothies.)
1/2 cup skim milk

Throw everything in the blender and puree. Add ice until it's as thick as you would like it.

Total: 3 points


Key Lime Pie Tarts

I had a super intense craving for key lime pie after Martha Stewart made one on her show this morning but unfortunately, regular key lime pie is definitely not lowfat by any stretch of the imagination. Most key lime pie recipes call for sweetened condensed milk and a lot of egg yolks, but my mom actually has a no-bake recipe that uses just sweetened condensed milk and cool whip. This recipe is a variation of my mom's, but I decided to make tarts instead of a whole pie for portion control, and I also froze the tarts. If you make these, try to resist eating the entire bowl of filling before you get it into the freezer. :)

1 14-oz can of fat free sweetened condensed milk (try drizzling this on fresh peaches, it's unbelievably good)
1 8-oz container of fat free cool whip
zest of 2 limes, plus juice of 3 limes (key limes would obviously be better, but I couldn't find any fresh ones at the store. You can buy bottled key lime juice if you want, but I didn't feel like dealing with that)
graham cracker crumbs
cooking spray

Combine sweetened condensed milk, cool whip, and lime zest and juice. Spray a muffin pan with cooking spray (a silicon pan would work best, but you could use a metal pan and just loosen the tarts with a knife around the outside after you freeze them). Put a very thin layer of graham cracker crumbs on the bottom of each hole, about a teaspoon or less. If you use any more than that, the excess won't stick to the filling. Spoon the filling evenly into the muffin pan and freeze for at least 4 hours. Serve with a drizzle of melted chocolate and more fat free cool whip, if you want (I know lime and chocolate sounds weird, but it's delicious).

Makes 12 tarts
Total: 3 points per tart (without chocolate or extra cool whip).

If you want a thicker crust and don't mind using a small amount of butter (since you're saving calories by using fat free ingredients elsewhere), you could combine about a cup of the graham cracker crumbs with 2 T melted butter or margarine, divide it among the holes in the muffin pan, pack it down firmly, and bake it at 350 for about 8 minutes. If you do this, make sure you let the muffin pan cool completely before adding the filling.