My husband and I love sweets. We are trying to straighten out our diet and I don't like the idea of cutting out all sweets. Like for him he is happy with strawberries dipped in dark chocolate. Fruit and cool whip isn't too bad or some jello. But that all can get boring pretty fast. I have seen recipes of people baking gourmet treats with all this organic stuff making it healthy, but quite frankly, I can't always afford that. What do y'all suggest?
Cereal bars can be pretty healthy. Especially if you make your own so you know what goes into them. I make some using oats or Cheerios usually, and peanut butter as a binder. I like to make icecream or sorbets as well with fruit. Then I get a frozen treat. I especially like to do that in the summer months as it's cooling as well as being tasty. I also like cinnamon and honey roasted chickpeas. It makes a nice change from the savory ones I usually have, or an alternative to roasted peanuts. Another (admittedly not cheap) alternative I like is Nakd bars, but I've just taken a look at their website and see it appears that they're only available in Europe, although Amazon does sell them. They really fill you up and keep you full, and give you the energy you need to get things done if you have a busy day for example. They come in loads of different flavours which is always a bonus as it means you won't get bored easily. I would think you could make them yourself, but it's not something I've attempted just yet.
If you can go off of sugar all together it will help you to enjoy natural sweets like dried dates, figs, and apricots more. But if your taste buds are searching for that sugar taste, these won't satisfy you. Once you are off of sugar, it is easy to start filling the cravings with other things. We are trying to loose weight too and are still eating too much fruit though so you have to be careful. If you aren't worried about weight gain and are just trying to eat healthier than fruit is the way to go. You can even make your own dried fruits using your oven in case you don't have the means to buy them. There is even a recipe out there for apple sugar; the powder from dried apples that can be used like a sugar substitute.
We too love sweets especially chocolates. We found Russel Stover's sugar free products and Hersheys sugar free candies. Walgreens and Walmart plus CVS has a nice selection. Sometimes you got sales at Walgeens and CVS too, all stores online too with their weekly ads. Walmart is not as weekly as CVS and Walgreens. There are sugar free wafer cookies too. You just got to take the time to read some labels too for most cookies and candies under 10 grams of sugar is good with exercise about half and hour a day. Sweet tooth lovers unite and there are lots of good stuff for our sweet tooth too that a little window shopping will find; happy shopping!
Cereals are a cheap way to satisfy your craving for sweets. Fruits such as mango, pineapple and watermelon are also good alternatives.
@H.C. Heartland Yeah, we're mainly trying to just eat healthier. We like the occasional treat. I love dried fruits, but once in a while I like to be wild and eat something super sweet, but do not want to have to make a super rich cake, or cheese cake or something you know? Thank you guys for your suggestions, those are awesome. Recently I found cheerios and bananas killed my sweet craving. @Krissttina Isobe I will have to look into it. I was always worried about eating the sugar free stuff because everyone told me it was not as good. I'll give it a try.
One of our favorite desserts that does not cost much is peaches and cream. You just need a couple of peaches and some half cream. Add a little bit of sugar and there you go. It is very yummy! There is another dessert that is very similar with bananas and plain yogurt with a little bit of sugar.
When it comes to sweets, it's hard to go "healthy" all the way. However, I do make some of my favorite recipes more healthy by substituting some ingredients. I replace oil sometimes with unsweetened applesauce. I also love baking with Splenda instead of sugar. No one can ever tell the difference and with very few exceptions, no one can tell the difference!
