My family is full of dessert lovers, but they don’t love us. That includes our waistlines. We tried moderation, but that didn’t work so well. If it was there, it was fair game. So I decided to look into other alternatives. I scoured the internet for ideas, found some that I thought were realistic, and brought them to my family.
What I discovered was that with my Cuisinart food processor, I could whip up some really great desserts, but things that weren’t loaded with artificial things and white sugar. The recipes were all combinations of different things that we all liked, so I figured it was a no brainer.
My family was on board with my idea. My husband wasn’t getting any younger, and he realized this too. My three sons, while the dessert thing hadn’t really caught up with them yet, were all involved with sports and knew that health and being in their best shape was the key to their success in that facet.
So I brought out my Cuisinart food processor and it definitely looked like it needed a little face lift. I couldn’t find half of the blades I had that were supposed to go with it. I had to do some more research until I found out about KitchenWorksUSA just by doing a simple google search. I was able to order Cuisinart DLC-7 parts from them.Thank goodness because I needed to get this show on the road if they were going to take me really seriously on this.
So the experimenting had commenced. There are so many different ideas out there, and when you stumble upon your typical unhealthy dessert, you find ways around them, like using a healthy substitute rather than what the recipe calls for. Usually there are a lot of great substitutions.
Some that I’ve found are swapping brown sugar or maple syrup for sugar depending on what you’re making. We’d replace sugar for baking projects with coconut sugars which worked out so well. We used a lot of whole wheat flour, which took some getting used to due to it’s texture, but if everything else is how you like it, you adjust to it. We also used a lot of dark chocolates, around 72 percent, so dark, but not too dark. We also made it a point to use a lot of the fruits that we enjoyed and incorporated them into our lineup.
Our first few sets of desserts went over pretty well. First we tried avocado chocolate pudding. I will be honest and say that I did not tell our sons what went in it right away. I figured let them try first and then see. They thought it was great or “bomb” as they say. First experiment was a success , so it was time to move on to the next one.
Another thing that we tried was making our own at home ice creams, and even those ice cream shells. So we started with the ice cream. Now I wanted to make the ice cream simple, like a fruit purée and maybe some almond milk. I combined freeze dried strawberries, dark chocolate and coconut oil to make the shells. So far, so good. Some of the kids complained about the ice cream and “nice” cream texture, just that it wasn’t exactly like their favorites, but again, they would adapt.
We’ve continued to find more creative things; we’re even trying a raspberry ice cream pie. It sounds amazing. It’s really been helpful to us, not having these things so easily at our hands, and having to make them to get to enjoy them. It’s also really been a gift to plan with the family because then it doesn’t all fall on me, and I have a wonderful time when I discuss ideas with my husband and our sons. It’s such a wonderful bonding experience, and it makes it fair for everyone which is really what it’s all about.
