The Wild Wild World of Yogurt

I am a HUGE fan of yogurt. I eat one almost every day. I love the fact that there are a ton of flavors available. I will say this though. You must beware of the yogurt point spread!! What I mean is that there are so many different brands and the point value is SO different for all of them!! I see many people post about greek yogurts and a ton of posts about Chobani in particular. I love some of the flavors they have to offer with that line, but a point value of 4 seems high to me for a yogurt. Please understand that I usually eat my yogurt as a morning snack after I eat my oatmeal and that is why I try and keep the point value low. I like the greek yogurts because they carry more protein and make it easier to tide me over until lunch without crazy points.

I have really started to favor the Yoplait 100 Greek because they are only two points and they are a little creamier for a greek yogurt (I can't stand that chalky feeling in your mouth with some of the others). Some of the other reasons I tend to lean to that one is for the price point as well. I can pick them up on sale for $1 each and usually pair that with a coupon for a decent deal. There is only one down fall and that is that there are only about 6 flavors. So that leads me to see what else I may find out in the world...

Part of my discovery of awesome yogurts started with this one..

Muller frutUp is made by Quaker. They were on sale for $.80 each at Safeway one week and I thought I would give it a try. They come in at 4 PP a piece but let me just say that I thought they were COMPLETELY worth every point. It is a nice creamy yogurt with a fruit "mousse" on top. Let me just say that this is not just the syrupy fruit you normally find on the bottom of a "fruit on the bottom" cup of yogurt. It is a lovely, airy, fruity gem that is a LARGE layer of the top of the cup. This comes in 4 flavors. Strawberry, Lemon, Blueberry, and Peach Passion Fruit (which is my absolute favorite). They must have impressed a lot of people with this one because for at least two weeks after the first time I tried it, all three Safeways in my area were sold out of the Peach Passion Fruit!! If you haven't given this one a try, go out and find it. I would also recommend that you try it for dessert...YUM!!

While on my hunt, I also decided to give Trader Joes a look to see what they had. I have found that the prices at TJs can be pretty good if you pay attention to what you are getting. They have some greek yogurt there that is very delicious.

I will start with their Greek Yogurt. These little guys are a standard size for a greek yogurt, come in at 3 PP a piece, come in about 6 or so flavors and cost $1 each which is an average price in the market. I love the texture of this yogurt too. No chalkiness and they have a nice thick texture that we have all come to expect from a nice greek yogurt. I tried this Honey flavor and it was just OK for me. I also tried the Pomegranate which I thought was pretty good and I found to be a nice change of flavor from the standard ones everyone seems to put out. However, HANDS DOWN, my favorite was their Vanilla Bean. I am honestly considering doing a little Pinterest trick I found and putting one in the freezer to make "frozen yogurt" because that one feels like I am eating ice cream or pudding. Nice little specks of vanilla bean....ohhh so tasty...

Trader Joe's should also get another honorable mention for this guy here as well..

This one comes in at 4 PP a cup and also comes in the Pomegranate flavor. This is not a greek yogurt and is LOW fat not NON fat but it has a great fruity flavor and their granola was nice and crunchy. I really enjoyed this one as well and have purchased it again. Another different flavor to keep it interesting!!

I hope I haven't bored you with yogurts. I just know that these days it seems like there are so many brands and flavors and they are all so very different so I continue to try them all to always keep it fresh. I have found that I do so much better when I have variety in my food choices. I never get bored and that way I never need to fall back into old terrible habits. Find your way and move ahead. Each day is a new challenge and each day I face it with a little yogurt to make me smile...what can I say, it's the little things!!

Chocolate Cherry Dump Cake

Ok, so I know that it has been awhile since I posted and that is completely my fault. Life gets busy and I didn't take the time to sit and post like I wanted to. That doesn't mean I stopped counting points or cooking. I also made sure that I was taking notes and pictures along the way so that I could sit down and let you all in on what I have been doing. So, in an effort to apologize for not posting for a few weeks I decided to lead in with a dessert to make it up to you.

I have seen a lot of dump cakes and soda cakes on Pinterest. You all know the ones. Dump a bag of this, add a box of cake mix and bake. Or add a can of diet soda to a box of cake mix and make cake. Sure, I was skeptical at first but the first one I ever tried was to add Diet Sprite to a Lemon Cake Mix and bake. I have to say that it turned out great and tasted great so I thought I might give this new one a try and put my own spin on it.

Here is the link to the original recipe. 

My take on it all started with this little bag here.

With it being summer time, I have been loving all things cherry. I have been snacking on them like crazy and this bag of frozen berries immediately caught my eye. At first, I was going to leave them at Trader Joe's since I had no immediate plans for them and then I remembered!! I thought about how great they would be in that recipe I had seen if I added a little of this...

And this...

Yes, chocolate cake and Diet Cherry Coke! 

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and dump the fruit into the bottom of the pan in a single layer.

Pour the cake mix on top of the fruit in an even layer.

Next slowly pour the 12 oz can of soda over the top.

Do NOT mix it up. It will look like this...

I know it seems strange but you are going to have to trust me here. Now put it in the oven and bake for 

35-45 minutes. 

The recipe I found said that this is 4 PP for 1/16th of the cake. I apologize that there is no picture of the finished dessert but by the time it came out it was smelling so delicious that all I could do was cut and eat.

 I can't lie!

The recipe is very easy and this came out wonderful. Top it with a little Cool Whip Free and you are looking for a great dessert. I will say that I had this both warm and room temp and either way is good. My preference was to the warm gooey goodness.

This is my mix but try and change it up whatever way sounds good to you. Experiment with all the diet soda flavors that are available these days. My next will probably be the peaches with yellow cake and diet sprite. So many different ways that you can think to do this!! Enjoy it!!