The Skinny Cow...Moooovelous!

I love ice cream. No, really. I loooooooove ice cream. One year I gave it up for Lent, and I struggled with whether or not Jesus' sacrifice was comparable. (Oooooh, I can hear my Mom's disapproval from over 3,000 miles away!)

Anytime a healthy (read: less unhealthy) ice cream treat comes on the market, I'm all over it; Double-Churned, Slow-Churned, Fro-Yo, I was even subjected to Ice Milk by my parents when I was in high school.

I was offered the chance to taste test Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches by MomCentral, and after some arm-twisting, I decided to go ahead and give it a try. Okay, fine, I couldn't sign up fast enough!

I had already tried the chocolate version at a friend's house, so thought I'd get a package of Vanilla and a package of the chocolate-filled at the store. Little did I know there would be so many choices! I settled on a package of mint-filled and a package of chocolate/peanut-butter; both of which had the chocolate cookies outside. I was also tempted by the Cookies and Cream (my true fall-back flavor) and Strawberry Shortcake which have a vanilla cookie and strawberry ice cream...yum!

My family will concur that they were both good, but we all liked the mint better. I don't know that I'd get the peanut butter again, because I've tried the others and liked them more, but if I was offered a pb Skinny Cow, you would certainly not find me turning it down!

I was pleasantly surprised at how filling they were. Ringing in at just 140 calories for most, 150 for some (2 Weight Watchers points; excepting Chocolate Peanut-Butter and Cookies & Cream, which are 3) they are a sensible choice that is also fulfilling flavor-wise. I get discouraged with 'diet' foods that are low-calorie because they're only one bite's worth of food...it doesn't help much when you eat four or five of them! These were definitely satisfying with only one, and I would most likely have felt sick with two.

While they are on the spendy side (mine were about $5.50 at Stop-n-Shop), since you'll be eating an actual serving each time, they're actually cheaper in the long run. Mine have been in the freezer for over a week with all three of us around to eat them. When you can only grab a certain amount instead of scooping to your heart's desire, I'm far more likely to eat what I'm supposed to and be done with it.

I remember last summer when we got the Good Humor variety pack from BJ's and there were several nights that we'd have an ice cream sandwich and a cone, or another treat. I feel like the Skinny Cow treats are just bigger and more filling.

The Mint, Vanilla and Chocolate-Vanilla Combo are all Best Life approved treats.

One thing I don't like is the after-taste of artificial sweetners in my post-dinner (or anytime of day, really) sweet. I love Diet Coke and really don't drink any regular soda, but something about the taste of NutraSweet in ice cream, yogurt or any other food is just not good to me. For those who like the sugar-substitute option, they do offer the Vanilla in a no sugar added version, using Splenda.

The Skinny Cow website has a lot of information, including a bunch of stuff for scrap-bookers. I'm not sure of the connection, but there are scrap-tips and some other fun things.