30 Day Challenges Day 28 - 10 Relatively Healthy Recipes for Sweet Treats

In the last couple of years I've tried to watch my refined sugar and wheat intake after reading a lot of info on Traci D. Mitchell's blog. DH and I did her Belly Burn plan when she was planning it out for her book and it really helped both of us. It helped me drop some of the baby weight, and although I gained some back when I went back to lazy habits, it definitely isn't that hard to continue with when you can see results pretty quickly and feel better too. 

There are lots of great recipes in her blog section, but you do have to hunt for them now. I'm going to list a few different places to find relatively healthy dessert recipes, and I hope you enjoy them as much as we have. 

10 Relatively Healthy Recipes for Sweets

1. Chocolate Avocado Pudding

I'm sure many of you have seen how avocados are the new healthy food. They do seem to be worth having as they have healthy fats and protein. This pudding recipe is delicious! But it doesn't make a lot with just one avocado. If you're going for a really rich, small dessert, then make it as is. If you like a little more, I'd recommend 2 or more avocados and adjust the other ingredients as needed. 

2. Healthy Cut-out Cookies

These are fantastic! DH loves them. I've made them with both cashew flour and almond flour and my personal favourite is almond flour. Because they call for pretty much a whole bag, this is a fairly expensive cookie to make. It's easy because there are only a few ingredients and they always turn out great for me. 

3. Homemade Junior Mints

I made these for Easter and they are amazing! They didn't last very long between DH and myself and they are relatively healthy compared to the original. You're using very few ingredients, and not refined sugar, even in the chocolate if you follow Coconut Mama's recipe for chocolate chips. 

These do need to be kept in the freezer, but that doesn't keep you from eating them, trust me. The trick with these is do not melt your coconut oil first! Keep it in solid form and whip it to a creamy texture. Again, these were amazing!

4. Chocolate Coconut Butter Bars

Yes, coconut butter is expensive, but you can make your own! And it works pretty well. All you need is shredded coconut and a good food processor. These turned out really well and I used a loaf pan to make them so there weren't too many for us to eat. Sometimes that's the best way to make sure I don't get carried away, just make less. The recipe calls for a loaf size pan to use.

5. Black Bean Brownies

I ate so much red meat while I was pregnant that I'm still not really interested in it. I tend to have low iron, so another good source is beans. We will make a pot of beans in the pressure cooker fairly often and have them in the fridge to use when needed. I decided to appropriate some to try in this recipe, and it worked really well! I was surprised how I didn't taste any of the bean taste at all. 

This recipe does need a blender or food processor or you'll end up with bean bits, and that might throw you off the delicious brownie-ness of this recipe. 

6. Paleo Lemonade

This is a fantastic lemonade without all the sugar of the regular kind. It was easy to make and tasted fantastic! You can add sweetener to your taste, and enjoy on a hot day. I will definitely make this again. 

7. Coconut Flour Chocolate Mug Cake

One way to keep your portion size down is to make a mug cake. This is a great recipe and makes a very good cake. I doubled the recipe and made it in a small glass casserole dish for breakfast for DH and I yesterday. It's got an egg in it, so that = breakfast food to me. You can adjust the sweetness to your preference or drizzle it in maple syrup, etc. as you prefer. 

If you try this one, make sure you mix everything really well. Coconut flour is a really odd substance and it almost seems to avoid mixing with fluid. You need to check all the areas on the mug or mixing bowl and really mix it well before cooking. I've had this one be half unmixed before and it's edible, but barely. 

8. Paleo Shamrock Shake

I have no choice but to eat dairy free, and every once in a while I'll remember something that I used to love and can no longer have. Around St. Patrick's Day (March 17) I start thinking about Shamrock Shakes from McDonalds. I haven't eaten at McDonald's for years, but there is some mystery about the Shamrock shake that make me love it. It could just be the minty-ness. I love anything that tastes of mint. 

I've made a couple recipes of dairy free Shamrock shakes over the years, and this one is very good. The avocado adds a nice green colour as well as a smooth texture and the coconut cream in the canned milk also makes it very creamy. 

9. Paleo Pumpkin Pie

This is the best pumpkin pie I've ever tasted and it doesn't even include pumpkin! They use kabocha squash, which we happened to get in our farm share and weren't sure what to do with. When I searched for recipes I found this one. It turned out so amazingly well we can't wait for autumn this year to try it again. It also works with acorn squash as well. Because you're not loading down the pie with sugar, it still ends up being fairly healthy overall. 

10. Paleo Pecan Pie

I made this for DH's birthday last year and he said "This is the best pecan pie I've ever had!". I won't say how much of it he consumed on his birthday, but it didn't last long. :) The crust wasn't too finicky, and I think I ended up pressing in some with my hands. That worked well and turned out very nicely. It was much easier than I expected really. I had some idea that pecan pie was difficult to make, but this was really quite simple. 

I hope you enjoyed the list and see you tomorrow!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch