Soup Spice Everything Nice: Strawberries

Monday, May 12, 2014

Banana Split Yogurt Pie

Our family has been making frozen yogurt pies for years. I will share the basic recipe and variations in a future post. But for Mother's Day I decided to get creative. I made a Banana Split Yogurt Pie. I faintly remember trips to a Diary Queen or a similar place in the neighborhood to bring back Banana Splits for the family. I remember holding the splits and trying not to let the melting ice cream run all over the place. This pie has all that flavor but is so much neater. The fruit is suspended, frozen in a mix of vanilla Greek yogurt and cool whip. Using fresh strawberries and can pineapple is much healthier than all the sugary preserves and syrups. It still tastes decadent with a layer of chocolate fudge hiding under the cool whip topping. I didn't forget the nuts and cherries. There is a stemmed cherry for each piece. This pie is refreshing, light and delicious. The family was impressed with how much it tastes like a banana split. This experiment is a keeper.

Banana Split Yogurt Pie
Serves 6

Ingredients

2 cartons of light vanilla Greek yogurt

1/3 cup sliced banana

1/3 cup sliced Strawberries

1/3 cup crushed pineapple, drained well

8 oz. light whipped topping, thawed

1 prepared graham cracker pie crust

Hot fudge topping

Chopped walnuts, almonds or pecans

6 Maraschino cherries on the stem

Directions

Place yogurt in a mixing bowl, fold fruit into yogurt. Add an equal amount of whipped topping (about 1-1/2 cups or half of the carton) gently fold whipped topping into yogurt and fruit mixture. Pour into pie crust and spread evenly. Place pie in the freezer and freeze solid. When frozen, spread the top with a thin layer of hot fudge, the remaining whipped topping, chopped nuts and garnish with cherries.