The DIY Diet

Evelyn’s Rhubarb Sauce is a great dessert, a favorite of Finnish-heritage people.  Rhubarb, a perennial plant, is something a lot of people grow in their gardens in Minnesota, then freeze for use during the winter.  It can be bought fresh in grocery stores during the growing season.  I’ve noticed it for sale in Cub grocery stories in the frozen fruit department, packaged by SuperValu.

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Kozy Shack brand products, a family-owned business, makes delicious flan, an egg custard with caramel sauce.

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The idea here is to use twice the quantity of strawberries than ice cream thereby keeping the calorie count low but the flavor satisfying, so sit back and enjoy the luxury of this sumptuous dessert.

You can use blueberries or peaches or nectarines varying the flavor of the ice cream with each fruit to make similarly satisfying sundaes at fewer than 200 calories. Use your imagination.

I also love the Blue Bunny Personals packaging. There are two 1/2-cup servings per package. Split the package in half and share it with a friend or save the other half for another day.

With the Personals-size packaging you can have several ice cream flavors in your freezer and don’t have to worry about ice crystals forming, as they tend to do in larger packages when you don’t eat the ice cream in short order.

Sure. I love the luscious variety of flavors that both Nestlés Ultimates and Pillsbury Big Deluxe refrigerated cookies offer but I don’t like the big calorie count. I also don’t want to feel deprived. So here’s what I do.

I cut the refrigerated individual cookie dough pieces in half. I roll them between my palms forming a ball, then press them gently onto a cookie sheet. I follow the manufacturer’s baking instructions except I set my timer for 1-2 minutes less baking time than is recommended. When the end of my estimated baking time is up I watch the cookies carefully and remove them from the oven the moment they are ready.

Using Nestlés Ultimates Turtle refrigerated dough, I end up with two dozen yummy cookies at 90 calories each. The Chocolate Chips and Chunks with Pecans dough makes into two dozen cookies at 95 calories each and the Triple Chocolate Decadence dough makes into two dozen cookies at 85 calories each. It’s the same with Pillsbury’s Big Deluxe cookies. Using the White Chocolate Macademia Nut refrigerated dough, I end up with two dozen delicious cookies at 100 calories each. The per cookie calorie count on the other varieties is similar.

I eat the cookie with a 4-ounce glass of skim milk (45 calories) and I’ve had a simple, sweet dessert for under 150 calories! When I’m baking, I usually bake several packages of the cookies and put most of them in the freezer. I never leave out more than six cookies at a time. I don’t want to be tempted. I make assorted bags of cookies usually six cookies to a bag. If I’m having a friend over for tea, I can quickly pull out a cookie assortment.

Homemade Lemon Meringue Pie is my niece’s favorite dessert especially when it is made by her mother using the Betty Crocker recipe for the filling and meringue.

Because it is easy and delicious, Pillsbury’s Refrigerated Pie Crust is used for preparing the pre-baked pastry shell. Here’s the recipe with my calorie calculations.

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