Healthy Frozen Yogurt

I am generally good about keeping my dessert intake to a minimum during the week but I definitely have cravings. I can eat fruit and be happy but not satisfied. I need the rich and chocolatey dessert to feel satisfied. I can always count on my Greek yogurt and peanut butter mixture to keep those cravings at bay but sometimes I need chocolate and that's where this dessert comes into play.

Ingredients:

1 cup nonfat plain 0 percent Greek yogurt

3 teaspoons of coconut oil

3 teaspoons peanut butter

3-5 chocolate chip morsels 

honey 

Directions: 

1. Place yogurt in the freezer to slightly freeze a couple hours before you're ready to eat the dessert

2. Melt coconut oil, peanut butter and chocolate chip morsels in microwave once you're ready to eat. 

3. Stir completely to mix

4. Drizzle peanut butter mixture over yogurt

5. Place back in freezer for about five minutes to allow peanut butter mixture to harden

6. Take the dessert out and drizzle with honey 

Container Count:

1 red 

6 teaspoons 

P.S. I don't count the honey nor do I count the morsels since there isn't even enough to count. I also only use one type of Greek yogurt as well. I've tried almost all brands and this is my absolute favorite. I buy mine at Food Lion. It is cheaper than most and you get more for your money. You can view it HERE.

Homemade Sunflower Butter

Does your diet consist of staples? I'm sure some of you eat a variety of items each day, but do you have something you eat more than five times a week? For me it is oatmeal. I eat oatmeal each day for breakfast and sometimes I make protein balls with it or I bake it into cookies, but all-in-all I eat oatmeal like it is going out of style. Alongside my oatmeal I like to mix in a couple tablespoons of sunflower butter, but when I am stretched for money I opt for the less healthy counterpart – peanut butter.

Recently I have been really stretched financially so I've used peanut butter, but I went to Trader Joe's this morning and grabbed a bag of roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds. Let me just add in that I went Whole Foods first and priced a 12-ounce bag of seeds for $3.99 but I figured they would be cheaper at Trader Joe's. They were definitely cheaper! For a 16-ounce bag it only cost me $1.99 and that was too great of a deal to pass up. 

I've been wanting to make my own sunflower butter for weeks and finally got around to purchasing the products and actually having the time. So, get ready for the easiest and healthiest option for sunflower butter! 

Ingredients: 

2 cups of roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds 

1 teaspoon of salt (optional)

1 blender

Directions:

1. Take two cups of roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds

2. Add to a blender and blend (scraping sides often)

3. Once a powder is created continue to blend until liquified
4. Once liquified add 1 teaspoon of honey and 1 teaspoon of salt
5. Blend until smooth and liquid

Note: the heat from the blender blades will release the oils in the seeds and that will speed the liquifying process along.  I also used the whip feature at the end of the process just for texture.

Nutrition Facts:
Calories: 100 per tablespoon 

36 Calorie Peanut Butter Cookie

When my sweet tooth gets too much to bear I try to make healthy choices and tonight I made my wonderful boyfriend and myself these delicious peanut butter cookies. I researched some recipes on Pinterest and here's what I came up with.

You can tell these aren't your typical peanut butter cookie with the added sugar, flour, etc but they'll cut the dessert calories and keep the cravings at bay!