How to Create Healthy No Bake Nutrient Rich Veggie Desserts?

 

Click HERE to Get These Super Healthy Sweet Treats & Dessert Recipes

Health Enhancing “Veggie” Desserts

Do you view dessert as your enemy? Have you assigned a “damaging” title to it subconsciously?

If so, it’s time to change your perception of dessert to something that contributes to your health rather than subtracting from it and the only way to do that is by shifting the ingredients that make up your desserts from unhealthy ones to healthy ones.

Create Healthy Nutrient Rich Desserts

Desserts are commonly thought to be “dead nutritiously” and because of that, they have never been viewed as a serious contribution to our health. It doesn’t have to be that way if you change your desserts to include healthy nutrient rich ingredients by tapping into the variety of veggies that nature so generously offers.

Veggies bring vitamins, antioxidants and healthy fiber to all recipes wrapped up in a tasty package.

With healthy veggies thrown into the mix, no longer will you view your desserts as nutritiously dead but you’ll begin viewing them as healthy additions to your daily diet – a fresh new healthy perspective, raising desserts from the level of damaging foods to those that heal.

Veggies are highly versatile. They add natural sweetness to desserts, make a perfect binding agent, provide needed moisture, are a great substitute for eggs and fat and boost nutrition and the best thing of all…they eliminate the guilt normally felt when eating dessert.

Savory desserts are nothing new – home and professional cooks alike have been experimenting with veggie-based desserts for a long time (think Pumpkin Pie and Carrot Cake), however, they are enjoying renewed attention as wise cooks and smart homemakers everywhere demand nutrition out of every bite for both themselves and their families. Desserts are no longer excused but included in the equation.

Truth is, there is no logical reason to be eating “dead calories” even in dessert when dessert is so easily transformed into something that contributes to health by including veggies as either the star or supporting ingredient.  

They are easily disguised in most dishes (so, you can enjoy veggies in your desserts that you might not ordinarily enjoy as a savory dish) but silently work their magic once they get inside your body.

Vegetables That Work in Desserts

Carrots: Carrots have been used as a sweetener for thousands of years. Rich in vitamins A and beta carotene, carrots provide antioxidants and phytochemicals that help reduce cancer and cardiovascular risks, improve immune functions and regulate blood sugar.

Sweet Potato: These colorful gourds can be used in desserts in several ways. They are the perfect “fat” substitute…you can use ¼ cup of mashed sweet potato to replace 1 egg or ½ cup of oil nor butter when baking.

Kale: This ever popular nutrient dense green veggie is not only great in salads, juices, smoothies, sandwiches, soups and chips…but Kale even has a “sweet side” and works well in cakes, brownies, cheesecakes and other sweet treats.

Squash: Squash is another veggie that makes the crossover from savory to sweet dishes easily and done correctly makes a great ingredient for cakes, pie, cookies, waffles, homemade granola’s, muffins, pancakes and the list goes on.

It’s time to pack added flavor, color, nutrition and health benefits into your indulgences and make every calorie count simply by experimenting and including nature’s bounty of veggie choices into your sweet dishes. With such a vast variety available, your imagination is your only limitation.

Its never been about the amount of calories going in but about the amount of nutrients consumed. Make every bite count.

Most veggies and many herbs can be used with great success in desserts and treats and can be key to getting the required daily requirements of nutrients that your body needs.

Want to have some more healthy no bake nutrient rich veggie desserts? Watch this video – HEALTHY VEGAN NO BAKE DESSERTS ‣‣ easy to make!

If you are ready to expand beyond your traditional recipes and upgrade them to a more nutrient dense level you will love my newest creation…“Blended Bites.

Author Bio:

Carolyn Hansen is the author of The Blended Bites Healthy Snack and Dessert Recipe Collection. This is a one-stop resource for delicious, healthy, guilt-free snacks that you can eat every day. And even better, EVERY ONE of these recipes are RAW healthy snack foods that taste as good as their fattening counterparts.

You can NOW satisfy your snack urge without any negative impact on your weight loss and fitness goals, and without sweating over a hot stove. These easy-to-prepare snacks contain no sugar, no flour or butter and are paleo friendly.

So, if you want to get your hands on recipes for desserts and snacks that you will not need to feel guilty about eating the next time you have a craving for something delicious, be sure to check out Carolyn Hansen’s books at Blended Bites, where she will show you how to take control of your blender and churn out mouth-watering desserts and snacks that will have the kids in your neighborhood lined up around the block for a sample.

The Incredibly Versatile Sweet Potato – Super Food Choice for Guilt-Free Snacking

 

Click HERE to Get These Super Healthy Sweet Treats & Dessert Recipes

The incredible sweet potato. This high powered super food deserves a separate post of its own for what it contributes to our health and well-being.

Sweet potatoes are root veggies (meaning they grow below ground) that are treated in similar ways to butternut squash, turnips and parsnips.

There are about 400 different varieties with the skin and flesh appearing from white to cream to yellow, to orange (these are the most common) to pink and deep purple. They are often mistakenly grouped together with yams but they are a different food family altogether.

Sweet potatoes are nutrient dense powerhouses that offer a whole range of essential micro-nutrients as well as a wealth of important fiber. Vitamin C is the most prominent nutrient in sweet potatoes – one large sweet potato contains more than double that of white potatoes.

But, these golden, orange gems (that actually come in a purple color also) offer more than vitamin C. They are an excellent source of complex carbohydrates and rich with thiamine, potassium and manganese and provide a hefty dose of Vitamin A.

Although they contain a good amount of starch, their starch is known to impact blood sugar levels less dramatically than simple carbohydrates would (white bread, white potatoes and pasta).

The intensity of the color of the sweet potato is directly correlated to its beta-carotene content. Some studies are even suggesting that sweet potatoes are actually a better source of bio available beta-carotene than green leafy veggies. All sweet potatoes offer amazing antioxidant properties but the antioxidant activity in purple ones can be as much as 3.2 times higher than that of a blueberry.

Sweet potatoes are multi-talented and play both starring and supporting roles in main courses, side dishes and desserts. Yes, you read that right. Sweet potatoes make the crossover from savory to sweet dishes with flying colors…literally!

Because of their sweet taste, creamy texture, ease in growing and their low cost and long shelf life, sweet potatoes are a stable in countries throughout the world supplying much needed nutrients.

If you presently view the sweet potato as something to be made into a casserole at Thanksgiving buried under a mound of marshmallows, it’s time to shift your perception and begin seeing the real value of this colorful tuber so you can begin using it as often as possible in your sweet as well as savory dishes.

Here’s a dessert and treat recipe that uses sweet potatoes as one of the main ingredients. Sure to become a family favorite!

SWEET POTATO BARS

BASE:

• 1 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup dates, soaked at least 30 minutes and drained
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Place almonds and seeds into a food processor and process until broken down and crumbly. Add dates, coconut and cinnamon and process until well combined. Press mixture into an 8 by 8-inch pan or dish.

TOPPING:

• 2 cups sweet potato, steamed or raw and grated
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, warmed until liquid
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth. Spoon the filling onto the base and smooth out. Place in fridge to firm up and set. Cut into squares as desired.

What can be considered a super food choice for guilt-free snacking? Watch this video – 12 HEALTHY FOOD SWAPS ‣‣ snacks & sweets

This recipe is only one of 50 exciting new dessert and treat recipes that you will find in my newest addition: “Blended Bites” where I show you how to use a variety of fresh veggies in your sweet dishes to turn them into nutrient powerhouses.

Author Bio:

Carolyn Hansen is the author of The Blended Bites Healthy Snack and Dessert Recipe Collection. This is a one-stop resource for delicious, healthy, guilt-free snacks that you can eat every day. And even better, EVERY ONE of these recipes are RAW healthy snack foods that taste as good as their fattening counterparts.

You can NOW satisfy your snack urge without any negative impact on your weight loss and fitness goals, and without sweating over a hot stove. These easy-to-prepare snacks contain no sugar, no flour or butter and are paleo friendly.

So, if you want to get your hands on recipes for desserts and snacks that you will not need to feel guilty about eating the next time you have a craving for something delicious, be sure to check out Carolyn Hansen’s books at Blended Bites, where she will show you how to take control of your blender and churn out mouth-watering desserts and snacks that will have the kids in your neighborhood lined up around the block for a sample.