Healthy dessert Archives

Cranberry Mojitos + Winter Cocktail Ideas

Author: Sandra
Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

Scale

3–5 large mint leaves
2 teaspoons coconut sugar (or simple syrup)
a wedge of lime, squeezed (~2 teaspoons)
handful of ice
¼ cup cranberry juice
¼ cup plain sparkling water
1 ounce white rum

Instructions

Place coconut sugar at the bottom of your class. Then, add in rum. Using a spoon, stir for about a minute or so, dissolving as much of the coconut sugar as possible. Next, add in mint leaves and lime juice. Muddle with your spoon. Add ice, cranberry juice, and sparkling water and mix.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Strawberry Peach Quinoa Crumble with Coconut Whipped Cream

March 12, 2023 by Lee Hersh Leave a Comment

Strawberry Peach Quinoa Crumble with Coconut Whipped Cream

Did you know that when peaches and strawberries are baked together…they turn purple?

Who would’a thunk it?

Not this girl!

I spent most of my day yesterday working on the ebook. Blake is taking summer courses for grad school (MBA), so our weekends are very low key. He has to write a 12 page paper…and it was raining, okay! I had a last minute change of heart in the design I was working on. I had originally had my mind set on a horizontal layout (11 x 8.5), but then I started designing covers…and this happened.

This still isn’t the final final, but I LOVE the color story and the amount of white space this photo has. I keep my fonts pretty consistent on the blog, so I tried to take those into the book for continuity.

If you have a design eye. I’d LOVE your feedback on…

Font choices
Font color choices
Font placing
Anything else you have an opinion on!

Do you ever get in one of those modes WHERE YOU JUST CAN’T STOP. Like I am so excited to be in the home stretch of designing this e-book that I could literally stay up all night and do it. #obsessive

Okay, back to this delicious DESSERT.

Strawberry Peach Quinoa Crumble with Coconut Whipped Cream

All you need are 8 ingredients. It’s gluten free. Seasonally tasteful. And healthy enough to eat for breakfast! LEGITIMATELY.

The innards are a mixture of fresh strawberries and peaches mixed with maple syrup, orange juice, and a few tablespoons of almond meal for texture.

On top- I mixed together some leftover quinoa from the night before and some Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Granola. Very basic. Very very basic.

I finished this bad boy off with some coconut whipped cream…but you could totes go straight up ice cream. I would if I had any…but I try and keep that out of the house or I would probably turn into the ice cream man himself.

I still can’t get over the color that was made when the two fruits roasted in the oven and mixed together. #baffled

Unless I bought magical fruit, in that case…SWEET!

Feedback on the cover? CHIME IN!

Seasonal summer fruits- what’s your fav?

Strawberry Peach Quinoa Crumble with Coconut Whipped Cream

Author: Sandra
Total Time: 45 minutes
Yield: 4 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

3 large peaches
2 cups strawberries (or one carton)
2 Tablespoons almond meal
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1 Tablespoon orange juice
1 cup quinoa, cooked
1/2 cup gluten free/vegan granola OR Rolled Oats
one can coconut cream (Trader Joe’s Brand), chilled for 2 hours

Instructions

First, preheat oven to 350F. Then, grease a medium size cast iron pan (or normal medium size frying pan with NO rubber) with coconut oil. Set aside.
Next, dice peaches and strawberries into one inch cubes. Place in a medium size bowl. Add almond meal, maple syrup, and orange juice, and mix.
Transfer into cast iron pan.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
While the fruit is baking, mix together about 1 cup of cooked quinoa and 1/2 cup of your favorite granola. Spread evenly over fruit.
Place back in oven for 15 more minutes or until the fruit begins to bubble.
While the crumble cools off a bit. Pour chilled coconut cream in a large bowl. Mix with a hand mixer for 30 seconds to 1 minute or until fluffy. Feel free to add a tablespoon of sweetener or a few drops of liquid stevia if preferred.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes

Nutrition

Calories: 329
Sugar: 22g
Fat: 7g
Carbohydrates: 68g
Protein: 10g

Healthier Chocolate Chip Blondies (Gluten-Free)

March 6, 2023 by Lee Hersh Leave a Comment

Healthier Chocolate Chip Blondies (Gluten-Free)

Ingredients for Healthier Chocolate Chip Blondies

garbanzo bean flour
brown rice flour
gluten free all purpose baking flour
sugar
baking powder
vanilla
coconut oil
almond milk
eggs
dark chocolate chips

I told you there would be a return of garbanzo bean flour! I can’t get enough of that stuff. It’s like quinoa- very versatile & can be eaten sweet or salty.

This time. I mixed 3 different flours, garbanzo bean, brown rice, and gluten free all purpose baking flour to create these little squares of heaven. I brought them on our boating excursion this weekend and they were gobbled.

My friends give me so much shit for baking gluten free….but I don’t care, because honestly, I can’t really tell a difference between the two. Gluten free baked goods just have a slightly different texture.

A lot of people don’t realize that most food they eat are naturally gluten free. Like…

corn tortilla chips and salsa
chicken, steak and any kind of meat
rice
popcorn
all fruits and veggies
peanut butter
hummus

The list goes on!

I actually used almost this exact recipe to make gluten free cookies that didn’t make the blog. In general, the batter didn’t rise that much, so my cookies turned out more like balls (unless I flattened them myself). Still delicious…but still mastering that recipe.

Pretty much not possible to just have one.

But that’s just me

Gluten free bakers…do your friends give you sh*t for making everything gluten free?!

Ice Tray Banana Yogurt Pops with Dark Chocolate and Blue Diamond Almonds

March 6, 2023 by Lee Hersh Leave a Comment

Ice Tray Banana Yogurt Pops with Dark Chocolate

This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds. I was compensated and all opinions are my own.

These Frozen Banana Yogurt Pops are a refreshing dessert with a crunch. They’re packed with protein and easy to make! No popsicle mold needed!

Ice Tray Banana Yogurt Pops with Dark Chocolate and Blue Diamond Almonds

The worst feeling is when I find an amazing ice cream recipe on Pinterest and then realize it calls for an ice cream maker, which this girl doesn’t have. My kitchen isn’t big enough for hundreds of gadgets, so I have to pick and choose which ones I buy. That’s why I decided I was going to make frozen banana yogurt pops with out the help of 1. an ice cream maker and 2. popsicle molds.

What you do need is a: food process, Magic Bullet, or blender AND an ice cube tray.

For this particular recipe, I used frozen banana, greek yogurt, and vanilla protein powder. The combinations are endless. You could add any kind of frozen fruit you wanted and even leave out the protein powder. I dipped these lovely pops in a dark chocolate/nut butter mixture and then rolled them in chopped Blue Diamond Whole Natural Almonds for a little crunch. Let me just say that the crunch is absolutely necessary.

There is something about plain almonds. I had to refrain from eating this entire jar in one sitting. #truth

Make sure you let your banana pops freeze ALL THE WAY, or you will have issues getting them out of the tray.

Speaking from experience. I am not patient. AT ALL. Especially when it comes to dessert.

You’ll also need to work fast because these guys will melt on you! I only took about 2 or 3 out of the freezer at a time to add the toppings and then put them right back in the freezer once they were dressed. That prevented me from having a huge sloppy banana-ey mess.

These seriously hit my sweet tooth post dinner and would be perfect to serve at a summer BBQ.

You will wow people in the fact that they are 1. Healthy and 2. Homemade.

These are pretty much the best dessert ever. You’ll be crossing your fingers your guest don’t eat them all so you can have a few left for yourself At least I’m selfish like that

If you’ve got any of Blue Diamond’s other flavors: ie: The Mocha Flavor, which is my ALL TIME FAVORITE, you could chop those up instead of the plains ones.

PS: Happy National Ice Cream Day!!!!

Ice Tray Banana Yogurt Pops with Dark Chocolate and Blue Diamond Almonds

Author: Sandra

Ingredients

Scale

2 bananas, large and frozen
1 cup vanilla or plain Greek yogurt
2 scoops vanilla protein powder (I used Designer Whey)
½ cup dark chocolate chips
2 tablespoons nut butter (I used peanut butter)
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
⅓ cup Blue Diamond Whole Natural Almonds, finely chopped

Instructions

Place frozen bananas and Greek yogurt in a food processor or Magic Bullet and mix until smooth. Then, add in protein powder and mix again until smooth.
Fill an ice cube tray with the mixture and place in freezer for about an hour to an hour and a half.
Once the pops begin to freeze, insert popsicle or wooden sticks in the middle of each cube. You’ll need to work quickly or they will begin to melt and the stick won’t stay straight up.
Place tray back in freezer over night or until completely frozen.
Once the pops are fully frozen, prep the toppings by melting ⅓ cup dark chocolate chips with about 2 tablespoons of your favorite nut butter. Finely chop about ⅓ cup Blue Diamond Whole Natural Almonds.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place in freezer. This is what you will place each pop on once they have been coating with toppings.
Working with 2-3 pops at a time, Use a brush (the kind you use to rub sauce on meat), rub each cube with the chocolate nut butter mixture on all 6 sides. Then, roll in almonds. Place the frozen pops directly on the baking sheet in the freezer to solidify,
Repeat with all cubes.

Inside-Out Grain Free Oreos

March 5, 2023 by Lee Hersh Leave a Comment

Inside-Out Grain Free Oreos

HEALTHY OREOS!!!!!!!!!!

Did I mention that these have a chocolate protein filling?

I mean fer real. This is a dessert lovers dream, right here ya’ll.

Inside-Out Grain Free Oreos- vegan, paleo, and gluten-free friendly!

I find cookie making extremely therapeutic. Especially the kind that takes a bit of elbow grease like these guys. I usually have the radio on in the background and leave my phone in my office (unless I need to take a quick pic, of course :D).

For these oreos, you’ll need to have a circle cookie cutter…or at least a make shift one like I had. I used the cap from a spice jar. It was sized perfectly.

These guys don’t really rise or expand much, so you could probably fit in an extra row and be fine.

This was one of those recipes where I purposefully put them somewhere I know Blake won’t look. More for me less for him. MWAHAHA.

The cookie part of the oreo was softer than I thought it was going to be, but I think that’s that’s because it’s pretty much almonds. I don’t mind a softer sandwhich cookie. I just wanted to throw it out there that it’s not super crumbly.

Side note- there was just a giant flash of lightening outside and I peed a little the crack of thunder was so loud.

Side-Side note. Kansas has the craziest storms I have ever seen. Excuse my french- but I got my shit tossed driving home from a wedding Saturday night. 70 mph gusts of wind. I kid you not I have never been more frightened to drive in my life.

Ingredients for Inside-Out Grain Free Oreos

almond meal
coconut sugar
almond milk
chocolate protein powder
cocoa powder
maple syrup or honey
almond milk

Here are a few photos from this weekend! Blake’s family lives in Kansas and we went back for his dad’s 50th birthday/father’s day/a wedding!

*Because I know you’re wondering (and I’m a wee bit obsessed) Both of my dresses are from GAP, purchased just last weekend for $41.99 and $21.99*

Kansas people know how to party. Blake’s dad lives outside of Topeka in the country. We had a surprise party for him! There was tons of food and even a live band! His chickens gave him a birthday surprise too…one of the hens laid eggs outside of the coop and 14 chicks hatched that morning! I’m obsessed.

The wedding we went to was in Manhattan…one of Blake’s college buddies. It was an all around really fun weekend!

Un-side not. Back to cookies.

The chocolate protein filling is where it’s at. All you need is chocolate protein powder, maple syrup, cocoa powder, and almond milk.

I think I forgot to mention that these cookies are vegan, paleo, and gluten free! …depending on the protein powder you use, of course.

Confession- I ate every cookie in this batch.

Over a week and a half, okay.

Don’t judge.

What’s your all time favorite cookie?!

Inside-Out Grain Free Oreos

Author: Sandra
Total Time: 40 minutes