Tasty Tuesday -- Skinny Copycat Starbucks Chocolate Chip Frappuccino

It's the first day of October!!! I'm so excited. This means my No-Soda September is over. I tried. I really was hoping to kick the soda habit for good. But, I can't. I've been craving it for the last week of September. But, I do promise that I won't drink as much of it anymore. Whew...thank goodness! Oh, and this is my birthday month, so keep your eye open for a fun giveaway!

Do you love Starbucks? Well, I'm not a coffee drinker, so it's not my first choice, but my daughter is obsessed with that place. One of her favorite drinks to get at Starbucks is the Double Chocolate Chip Blended Frappuccino Creme. I've tried it. It's good and doesn't have an over-powering coffee taste. I could actually handle one of those. BUT...did you know a 12 oz. size is over 400 calories and has 17 g of fat? Now, I can't have one of those.
But, I found a skinny version that has been taste-tasted by my daughter, her friend and myself and we all think it is a good "skinny" version of the real thing. I've tweaked the recipe a bit because we thought the original one was too sweet.

Skinny Chocolate Chip Frappuccino
Adapted from Hungry Girl

Ingredients
1 pkt diet hot chocolate mix
4 oz warm water
1 Tbls sugar free chocolate syrup
2 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 Truvia Sugar Packets (or other sweetener)
1 Tbls Mini Chocolate Chips
8-10 ice cubes
Fat Free Whip Cream

Directions
Mix the hot chocolate and water together until completely dissolved. Pour hot chocolate, chocolate syrup, Truvia, chocolate chips and almond milk in blender. Blend on high for 45 seconds. Pour into a fun cup and top off with some whip cream! Sprinkle a few more mini chocolate chips on top to make super cute!!

Yum! Enjoy this lighter calorie version. According to Hungry Girl, it comes is at 135 calories, 4.5 g of fat! Now, this is something I can have!!

SKINNY, but Delicious Chocolate Cake

Low-fat and delicious--could it be so? I whipped this cake up for a celebration we had over the weekend. My mother-in-law's birthday is tomorrow, but we celebrated on Sunday. I know she watches her calories like I do, so I thought I would give this Hungry Girl recipe a try. Have you ever caught one of her episodes on the Food Network? Love the easy swaps she makes to cut fat and calories on everyday recipes. This cake was so simple, super tasty--what more can you ask for?

Low-Fat Chocolate Cake

Ingredients
1 box Devils Food Cake Mix (moist)
1 can canned pumpkin
Frosting (I used Chocolate Cool Whip Frosting)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, combine the cake mix and pumpkin and mix together. Don't add anything else. This batter will be very, very thick. Spread into a 13x9 cake pan that has been lightly sprayed with cooking spray. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes, check the box to be certain you don't over bake. Check to see if the cake is done by inserting a knife into the center of the cake. If it comes out clean, its done. Let cool. Frost and decorate as desired. I took my vegetable peeler to a chocolate bar and make little chocolate shavings all over the cake! According to the Hungry Girl website, the cake has 181 calories and a Weight Watchers value of 4, without the frosting and chocolate shavings.

Have you ever tried to make "skinny" recipes? I have a few more I'll be showing you in the upcoming weeks! And, have you tried the Cool Whip Chocolate Frosting? It's tasty! I could slather this on some graham crackers or on vanilla wafers! Thank goodness we have some leftover!

Have a great week!

Cindy