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!