Fran-Jell-O-co

So, my husband and I have been on the South Beach Diet for about two months now. I swear, once you get past those first two weeks, this diet is as easy as pie...with a whole wheat flour crust and sugar-free filling, of course. Now that I'm on Phase II, I enjoy my homemade, whole wheat, oatmeal and slivered almond waffles with raspberry preserves (and a little spray butter) and a mango smoothie for breakfast, either apple & peanut butter or pear & herbed goat cheese on crispbread for lunch, and some kind of meat and vegetable for dinner. For a snack, I have anything from light string-cheese to jalapeno-smoked almonds to anise-flavored biscotti, but when it comes to dessert...it can get a bit dull. On Phase I, about the only dessert I could have was sugar-free Jell-O gelatin or some nasty ricotta concoction (and no matter how much the SB cookbooks trump it up as fantastic, it is just plan awful to me). So finally, on Phase II, I could have a square of dark chocolate after dinner, or sugar-free Jell-O, or frozen sugar-free Cool Whip, or sugar-free pudding...satisfying, but after awhile, both my husband and I were tired of it. So I created "Fran-Jell-O-co." Who says Jell-O pudding can't be sophisticated??

Fran-Jell-O-co

Ingredients:
1 4-serving pkg chocolate fudge sugar-free, fat-free Jell-O pudding
2 cups cold lowfat or fat-free milk
1 cup sugar-free Cool Whip, defrosted
1/4 cup chopped, toasted hazelnuts
4 teaspoons Frangelico, hazelnut liqueur

Directions:
Prepare Jell-O pudding according to package directions, pour into 4 ramekins. Let sit until firm, then top each ramekin with 1/4 cup of Cool Whip (if you can manage to make it into that perfect swirl like in the picture on the container...10 points!) Top each with a teaspoon of Frangelico (I know you are not suppose to have liquor on the SB Diet, but it's just a teaspoon!). Then top that with a sprinkling of the chopped hazelnuts. And...voila...Fran-Jell-O-co!

Enjoy!

10 Things I Learned This Mother's Day

10. That my child receives at least 500% of her daily calcium requirement via Mac and Cheese, Cheez-its, string cheese, and yogurt (make that 1000% if my husband is in charge)
9. That in our modest 4-member household (we have a cat, Gracie), I am responsible for the clean-up and disposal of (at least) 3/4 of the poop generated around here.
8. That no matter how many times I have to follow my husband around turning off lights, tv's and faucets in unoccupied rooms, I will always get hounded for how much I spend on a bottle of wine.
7. That you can always cure an unhappy child with an icee pop.
6. That you can always cure an unhappy husband with an ice-cold beer
5. That no amount of interesting conversation I can muster-up, can compare to the intrigue and suspense of a 48-hour Transformers movie-a-thon, or The Players Championship.
4. That mothers never truly get a "day-off." They just add to their to-do list for the next day.
3. That a day like today, is not a good day for your 2-year-old to tell you for the first time that they don't like you anymore.
2. That the mixture of smells from a lime-bamboo pillar candle and 2-day-old flaked white ocean fish canned cat food that Gracie left in her bowl while we were gone for the weekend, do not make for a welcoming home-fragrance.
1. That the best gift on Mother's Day is not tangible or definable in any way. It is priceless, really. It's that peaceful, serene feeling you get when you realize.....ahhhhhh......everyone is asleep...I can finally watch what I want to watch (Desperate Housewives) while cozied up with my glass of Syrah on the popsicle-stained, overstuffed couch, wrapped in my cream-colored bamboo cotton throw and completing my weekly Sunday crossword puzzle.

Happy Mother's Day!