Chocolate Fro Yo!

i'm embarrassed to admit how many times i have been to bops in the past month... it's just so gooooooood!!!!! well, i thought it might be a good idea to look for a lower-calorie alternative to the delicious custard. i came upon a recipe for a peanut butter cup protein frozen yogurt on pinterest and decided to give it a try!

i decided to just make a straight-up chocolate version because it sounded tasty and would be less calories. but to make it "peanut cup" style like the original recipe, you can add in some peanut butter chips and peanut butter. 

 put all ingredients except the chocolate chips into a blender and blend until smooth. it's important to make sure it's completely smooth and that all the cottage cheese chunks are mixed in. stir in the chocolate chips and sugar just before putting in ice cream machine. 

 sierra kept asking, "is it done yet?" and "when will it be finished?" it took about 20 minutes in my mom's fabulous ice cream maker. this machine is great- super easy clean up, and it just shuts itself off when the ice cream is done. 

sierra didn't end up liking the frozen yogurt afterall, but the grown-ups did! it was a little bitter, so maybe i'll add in a little more sugar next time. but the consistency was just like frozen yogurt! if you served it to other people, i don't think they could tell a difference! this recipe makes about 2 cups and is only about 250ish calories for the whole thing (depending on if you use fat free ingredients, how many chocolate chips you add, etc.) and about 40g of protein. 

the only downside i see is that you have to pretty much eat it all immediately. wait, did i say "downside"? i'm pretty sure that if you tried to save some in the freezer that it would just turn into a solid block. the recipe was perfect for three of us to have a modest sized bowl and curb our cravings for something sweet! i hope you'll try it-- i'll definitely be making it again!!! 

::Chocolate Frozen Yogurt::

1c fat free or low fat milk (i used almond milk, which has fewer calories than regular)

1/2c fat free or low fat cottage cheese 

1/2c fat free or low fat plain greek yogurt

2 TBS cocoa powder

pinch of salt

optional: 1-2 TBS sugar free instant chocolate pudding (might be interesting to try different flavors), chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, sugar or sweetener

Put all ingredients into a blender, and blend until completely smooth. Stir in any optional ingredients, and pour into ice cream maker according to the directions for your machine. 

If you do not have an ice cream maker, you can pour the mixture into a tupperware container and freeze for one hour. Don't forget because you'll end up with one solid block if you leave it in too long!