Creamy Date Spread

One of my old favorite treats was a slab of date nut bread covered with a slab of cream cheese. Especially if someone else made the date nut bread, because I'm not much of a baker. I was trying to think of a new dip or spread to go with my afternoon fruit snack and came up with this yummy-licious creamy date spread.

1/2 c. low fat cottage cheese (I use 1%)
2 oz low fat cream cheese (you could use fat-free)
1/4 c. chopped dates
1 tbl Splenda
1 tbl honey (don't skip this - the flavor it adds is worth the sugar calories)
a sprinkle of cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)
a few drops of vanilla, almond, or caramel extract (optional)
2 tbl chopped walnuts (or other nuts)

Put everything except the walnuts in a mini food processor and whiz until well combined. Stir in the walnuts. Spread it on slices of apple, pear, or banana.

I figured out the nutritional info based on the cottage cheese/cream cheese mixture above and compared it to what it would be if you used all cream cheese. Using the cottage cheese/cream cheese mixture saves you 14.5 calories, 1.5g total fat, .9g saturated fat per tablespoon.

Nutritional info per tablespoon:
Calories: 35.7
Total fat: 1.5g
Sat fat: .6 g
Cholesterol: 2.6mg
Sodium: 44.9mg
Carbs: 4.4g
Fiber: .3 g
Protein: 1.7 gram