Angel or Devil?
Like so many other things that start out good for you, you can add a little of this and a little of that and the next thing you know you have a monster-calorie treat with *gasp* sssshhhhhhh trans fats in it. My defense is that I *never* eat trans fats, with the exception of Cool Whip, and only in duly moderate quantities..and soon will trade it in for Reddi Whip.
[editoral note: the author is babbling. I'm going to bold the relevant parts, ok?]
So lets start on the angel side. The base of this luscious dessert is a 200 gram serving of 2% Fage Greek Yogurt. (130 calories, 8g carbs, 4g of fat, and SEVENTEEN grams of protein). This is low fat yogurt done right – replacing the fat with protein instead of useless poison carbs. This is seriously the best yogurt ever, it turned my boss into an arm-slapping junkie. I totally won that round. Put it in a bowl, add a teaspoon of real Maple Syrup, not that chemical crap, and mix it around a bit. Meanwhile, in a dedicated coffee grinder, pulverize 1.5 tbsp toasted flax seeds. You can go un-toasted but trust me on this, its way yummier if you toast it. More on that later. I grind mine with a tablespoon of HiBee Cactus Honey Powder, which is apparently nothing more than dehydrated agave syrup…and you can certainly substitute syrup for the powder. My point here is to not add more fluids to the yogurt than I can avoid. My mission, if you like, is to turn this already thick yogurt into something much thicker. You can have your own points and missions. So, having ground up my heart-healthy flax seed (seriously, killer source of Omega-3, and no mercury to worry about! Not to mention all the other trace vitamins and good stuff flax has. I mean, it’s called a miracle food for a reason!) with my low-gylcemic agave powder, I dump the lot into the yogurt, stir it thoroughly, and let it sit there while I make a cuppa or something. Here’s where the magic happens. The flax acts like a sponge and absorbs moisture from the yogurt, making thick yogurt so much thicker and creamier and more wonderful than you could ever have dreamed. At this point, decide what, if anything, you’re going to add to your concoction. Nuts? Dried fruit? Seeds? Still in the angel ballpark…
…or you could add chocolate chips, M&Ms, crushed up cookies, or just about anything, really. Welcome to the devil side. Myself, I stick to almonds, raisins, sunflower seeds, and the occasional bit of dried mango or minced dried cherries. But go crazy! After all, it’s your waistline and glucose levels. Before adding anything to mine, between the maple syrup, the agave, and the yogurt, my carb count is running around 15-20. Almonds and raisins would up it some more, maybe around 30g, but still healthy! Especially if I leave the syrup out! Oughta stop there, but no, I’m living life on the EDGE, baby, and here comes the devil….
Cool Whip. (or whipped cream, but what I have is Cool Whip Lite).
You take a couple of good sized glops of the stuff and gently fold it into your yogurt mixture. Don’t overmix, you do NOT want a homogeneous substance.
Hide from anyone else in the house, put a spoonful of this in your mouth, and be prepared to swoon in ecstasy. Seriously. It’s that good.
Another way to thicken your yogurt: start with good Greek yogurt, like your Fage (about which I enthusiastically second the motion). Put a mesh strainer over a bowl or cup and line it with two layers of cheesecloth. Then put the yogurt in, and let it sit in the fridge overnight or a bit longer.
What you get at the end is a dish called labneh or lebeneh — kind of a cream-cheese-textured yogurt. Classically, it’s served with a substantial drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt, and scooped up with pita bread. It’s incredibly good.
Mmmmm. Ill try that! Thanks!