Low(er) fat French Vanilla Bread Pudding with chocolate chips

I promise I will post something other than desserts soon. I've been on a sweets kick for a while now, as my scale demonstrates every morning.

This is my own creation. It is a reduced-fat version of chocolate chip/french vanilla bread pudding. My Daddy is lactose-intolerant, so I've learned to make it using a non-dairy coffee creamer. You can use any flavor you like, I just happened to have the fat free french vanilla on hand.

My husband said it was good, but he would've preferred the texture of raisins to chocolate chips. (Blasphemer.)

Bread Pudding

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

3 cups fat free International Delights French Vanilla Coffee Creamer (non-dairy)

1 cup chocolate chips

2 eggs

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 loaf french bread, torn into small pieces

Directions:

1. Tear or cut bread into small pieces. Place in a greased 9 x 14 Pyrex dish.

2. In medium saucepan, over medium heat, heat butter and creamer until it almost comes to a boil, stirring until butter is melted. Cool to lukewarm.

3. Add eggs and cinnamon, whisk for 1 minute. Slowly add to cooled butter/creamer mixture.

4. Pour wet mixture over bread in the dish.

5. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. I like to let my bread soak overnight for maximum flavor, but if time is not on your side, you may bake immediately.

5. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 to 50 minutes or until set. Serve warm.

Bread Pudding Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup fat free International Delights French Vanilla Coffee Creamer
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. flour

Directions:

Mix ingredients and bring to a boil in a small saucepan for 3 - 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside for 5 minutes, then pour on warm bread pudding. Enjoy!

(I forgot to take a picture before our Memorial Day lunch guests dug into it. Oops!)

Low-fat Lemon-Lime Congealed Salad

For the record, I am not a big congealed salad fan. I love this one, though!

Ingredients*:
1 pkg. sugar-free lime Jello
1 pkg. sugar-free lemon Jello
2 c. boiling water
1 #2 can crushed pineapple
1 can fat free sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
1 c. fat free small curd cottage cheese
1 c. fat free mayonnaise
1/2 c. pecans

Mix both packages of Jello into boiling water. Stir with a whisk for about 3 minutes, until fully dissolved. Add only the juice from the can of crushed pineapple. Chill in refrigerator for about 40 minutes.

Add can of sweetened condensed milk. Mix well and place back in refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
Mix cottage cheese, mayonnaise, crushed pineapple, and pecans together. Add to the Jello mixture. Let chill for 4 to 6 hours.

Enjoy!


*You can use regular versions of any of these ingredients, if you don't wish to go the low-fat, sugar-free route. You can also use other flavors of Jello, like strawberry, orange, peach, etc. I couldn't find lemon Jello this time (thanks for nothing, Wal-Mart Supercenter), so I used two packages of sugar-free lime, which makes it a lot greener.

Butterfinger Cake Recipe

• 1 box chocolate cake mix (You can use any flavor you like.)
  
• 1 can sweetened concensed milk, not evaporated
• 1 jar caramel ice cream topping
• 2 Butterfinger candy bars, chilled
• 8 oz. carton of Cool Whip

Bake cake by box directions. While cake is baking, mix milk and caramel topping until well blended. Then, crush up the butterfinger candy bars.
When the cake is done and while it's still hot, poke holes in it with a fork or straw. We used a straw, which filled up with chocolate cake. The kids nearly gave themselves aneurysms sucking the cake out...in a good way.

Pour milk mixture over the cake. Then, sprinkle one candy bar over the cake. Spread Cool Whip over the top.

Finally, sprinkle the other candy bar on tip. Chill.

Tip: Stick the candy bars in the freezer for 30 minutes before crumbling to make it easy. The cake is best when made one day in advance. Do not try to calculate calories. It will make you sad.

This was a huge hit at church yesterday!