There’s no reason to deny yourself a sweet treat after a meal. Dessert can be part of a healthy eating plan without taking up too much extra time in the kitchen. When choosing a dessert recipe, just keep in mind these tips to make sure it will fit in your healthy eating plan:
— Look for desserts that include healthy ingredients. Fruits, dairy or nuts can be desserts on their own or included in a healthy recipe. This enables dessert to function as a dish that adds nutrients to your diet, rather than one that only provides a ton of calories, saturated fat and added sugar (aka empty calories).
— Be mindful of portions. Although this may sound cliched, portion control can enable you to enjoy a sweet treat without sabotaging your waistline. If you enjoy chocolate, one ounce of milk or dark provides 150 calories and 9 grams of fat. Eat 4 or 5 ounces, and you’ve racked up between 600 to 750 calories in a flash.
— Use alternatives for high-fat ingredients. Look for recipes that use applesauce, mashed bananas and pureed prunes instead of or as part of the butter. You can also substitute half the amount of butter with unsweetened applesauce. Nonfat plain Greek yogurt is another substitute for both butter and oil. For one stick of butter (1/2 cup) substitute a half stick (1/4 cup) of butter plus 2 tablespoons of plain nonfat Greek yogurt. For a half-cup of oil, substitute 1/3 cup of nonfat or reduced fat plain Greek yogurt.
— Remember that simple does it. When it comes to dessert, the more ingredients you pile in there, the longer it will take to prepare — and the higher chance it may exceed a healthful calorie limit.
[See: 9 Healthy Recipe Swaps That Taste as Good or Better Than the Original.]
Put these tips into action by trying two of my recipes below. The first is from my Wall Street Journal best-selling cookbook, “The Easy 5-Ingredient Healthy Cookbook,” and the second is from my best-selling cookbook, “The Healthy Meal Prep Cookbook.” Note that in my cookbook focused on five ingredients, salt and honey are considered pantry ingredients and do not count toward the three ingredients.
Pomegranate-Pistachio Bark
Serves: 24 Prep time: 10 minutes
> Cook time: 10 minutes
1/2 cup raw shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
1 pound 60-percent dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1/2 cup pomegranate arils, liquid drained
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside. Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the pistachios and cook until toasted, about three minutes. Set aside to cool.
In a small saucepan, bring a cup of water to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer. Place a heat-proof medium bowl on top of the saucepan to make a double boiler. Add the chocolate to the bowl and cook, stirring gently with a wooden spoon until the mixture is smooth, about five minutes. Spoon the chocolate onto the prepared baking sheet, spreading to the edges evenly with a spatula.
Evenly sprinkle the chocolate with the pistachios, pomegranate arils and sea salt.
Transfer the baking sheet to the refrigerator for about 45 minutes, until the chocolate sets.
Break the bark into 24 pieces and serve.
Nutrition information (per piece): 127 calories; 8 g fat (4 g saturated); 2 g protein; 11 g carbohydrates; 2 g fiber.
[See: 8 Dairy-Free Desserts.]
Honey Ricotta With Strawberries
Serves: 4 Total time: 10 minutes
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese 2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup unsalted cashews, chopped
3 cups strawberries, halved
In a small bowl, combine the ricotta, honey and cashews. Place 1/4 cup of the ricotta mixture and 3/4 cup strawberries in each of four resealable containers. Store the honey ricotta in the same or separate resealable containers for up to five days.
Nutrition information (per serving): 201 calories; 9 g fat (4 g saturated); 9 g protein; 23 g carbohydrates; 2 g fiber
[See: 6 Darn Good Reasons to Eat Sugar and Not Apologize for It.]
Other Desserts With Three Ingredients (or Less)
— Almond-stuffed dates: Place an almond into a date; repeat.
— Dark chocolate: Stick to one ounce of 60-percent dark chocolate.
— Banana ice cream: Puree frozen bananas in the food processor. Add a splash of cow’s milk or almond milk to thin it slightly. Sprinkle with cinnamon or fold in chocolate chips or chopped walnuts.
— Yogurt-dipped grapes: Dip grapes into nonfat plain vanilla yogurt and sprinkle with cinnamon. Place the yogurt-dipped grapes onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze for at least four hours until the yogurt is frozen.
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Healthy Desserts With 3 Ingredients or Less originally appeared on usnews.com
