Low-sugar healthy recipes Archives - Page 3 of 20

Pear Strawberry Smoothie + Healthy New Year 🎉

Pear strawberry pair for a delicious and healthy smoothie. And I’m always looking for a new smoothie taste… you too?

This pear-straw amuse bouche is a great easy way to kick off healthy, brightening intentions for a blessed new year… after a holiday partridge in a pear tree.

strawberry pear smoothie start.

Strawberry or strawberry lemonade is a great summer drink, but in the cool months, I found a strawberry pear-pair is a great sweet one.

The tastes seasonally complement. And you don’t need to add any more sweetness.

Because the juicy pear does the trick. 🍐 Not a prickly pear (cactus) but a regular sweet pear like a Bartlett pear. Anjou and Bosc are also common pears.

…And there’s just a ‘lil prep work that’s worth waiting for.

Like a few weeks after you buy (or pick) your pears.

As the pears ripen to a softness at room temps, you can squeeze the pear juice out. You can speed things up by putting pears near other ripe fruit (like a banana or apple), and even better put in a closed brown paper bag.

A soft pear looks the same on the outside, but inside it’s so soft that you don’t need a knife to pierce in.

You can push into the pear flesh and make pear sauce (like applesauce) if you wanted to.

And it’ll look like (and have the consistency) of juicy mashed potatoes.

That’s when it’s ripely good for a pear strawberry smoothie.🧉

Where you decide to add frozen (or fresh) strawberries.

Strawberry is the new banana in this smoothie.

Like the one here zhughed with shredded coconut… oui?

For the smoothie consistency, if you don’t have bananas around, are tired of them, or just never liked the taste of bananas, then the soft textures from frozen strawberries brought to room temps will do the trick.

Pull them out a day or two beforehand, so they can cold thaw in the fridge into useable mushy smoothie strawberries.

Then fire up your Magic Bullet, blending up your smoothie nice and smooth… and bottoms up!

So refreshing and sweet.

Spices also can enhance the pear tastes, and help remind you and I of the season we’re in… like winter, and if you’re feeling Kapha, ginger anti-inflammatory spice add a punchy but mild flavor.

And pinches of cinnamon for any Vata anxiety.

As someone who lives anti-inflammatory year-round, pears are full of fiber and are a low glycemic index food.

And strawberry is a superfood that has more Vitamin C than oranges!

So you’re doing a world of good by having a pear strawberry smoothie in your day.

Fruit, as in seeing what yields, is what keeps us going and growing and a smoothie can be the metaphor.

With a new year, we can use juicy winter fruit as a healthy symbol for what’s ahead.

I like seeing fruit in trees as a visual.

Bright berries are especially inspiring because you can find them out in nature even in the winter. Nature is not all dormant.

And fruit is abundant… and seasonal.

Fruit is a good metaphor for abundance. And what we all want is not just enough, or enough in the new year.

We want more than enough.

Because in overflow, we can give more to the world.

And by leaning into nature’s fruits, we can bring a little abundance into our daily smoothie drink.

For dominant Vatas (who love variety), seasons pose a garden backdrop of sweet fruits that help define what’s available and fresh to eat.

They show up in your kitchen and smoothie up!

And when you’re out and about…

Instead of reaching for a beverage, you can use a juicy apple (or in-season pears) to quench your thirst.

Apples and carrots are winter in-season healthy foods, and with the abundance, you can amp up in a apple-carrot smoothie with coconut tastes.

Or eat them raw if you don’t want to stop for restroom breaks.

Fruit also act as a mouth-teeth cleaner.So bringing a fruit snack with you in your travels make healthy sense all around.

And if you’re a hiker like me, they weigh little on the back.

They make for a happy and healthy snack break.

And if eating healthy today (with a healthy weight) and less sweets is your new year intention… and you have a natural daily sweet tooth craving, you can pair this pear-straw smoothie with a low-sugar berry shortbread cookie (no-bake), no-bake matcha cookie, low-sugar fruit pastry tart, gingerbread cookie, or low-sugar cinnamon donut and other low-sugar recipes.

Sheep’s Cheesecake (Basque-Style) – Protein Healthy and Low-Sugar

Sheep’s cheesecake can be made into a protein-filled dessert that tastes like your favorite cheesecake desserts. I know because that’s what’s in this recipe. And the sheep’s cheese cake is lower fat and sugar, for a healthier cheesecake. It’s easy to find in stores (see below tips).

This sheep’s cheese cake plate has cranberries that are also mixed into the cake batter. Cranberries are high in Vitamin C and are good for an anti-inflammatory diet during the holidays (and year-round).

Cranberries are uniquely good for preventing UTIs and seasonally they add a red pop of festive color – that ranges from the bright fire engine red to burgundy shades.🚒 ♥️

You can buy whole cranberries and freeze them for when you want to use them. So the shiny and red fruit berry jewels are hard to turn down.

As is this protein cheese cake.

What makes this cheese cake protein-rich are the ingredients that include sheep’s cheese.

You can expect to easily find 5 grams of protein per sheep’s cheese ounce. At many stores, you can find packaged grocery sheep’s cheese logs, that come in smaller 4 oz size packaging these days. And that will make this regular size 8″ shareable cheesecake.

Or you can use 2 ounces per individual 4″ cheesecake. Doing the math, that’s 10 grams of protein for an individual cake (or 20 grams per 8″ cake).

If you compare the protein in regular cream cheese (commonly used in cheesecake recipes), sheep’s cheese is more than double the protein.

Regular cream cheese has about 1.7 grams per ounce. That’s about 1/3 of the protein as ordinary sheep’s cheese in national grocery store chains.

I found pre-packaged sheep’s cheese in the cheese section at national grocery store chains like Aldi’s and Trader Joe’s.

So that’s a good start (in case you didn’t think it was easy to source).

…And of course, sheep’s cheese comes in all shapes, sizes, pasteurization types, etc.

We’re not talking Blue Zones’ (100 years) healthy living sheep cheese here… which is where this all began for me when I studied up, researched, and wrote about the superfood cheese.

Since then, the idea has wildly grown in popularity and you can find all kinds with the label. Sheep’s cheese is easy to find like pre-packaged Brie or buffalo mozzarella cheeses in stores.

Because otherwise you’d have to pay a pretty penny (or accepted currency) to source sheep’s milk cheese, and/or fly to rural areas like the Sardinian regions to find high-quality, grass-fed sheep’s pecorino cheese.

But the kind you bring home, you can pair with Greek yogurt to get probiotics added back. And even more protein added.

The healthy idea that works in a sheep’s cheese cheesecake like this, is to find a thicker Greek yogurt that has no additional sugar. You can also find a lower fat content yogurt.

And then when you bake the sheep’s milk cheese and yogurt into your desserts like this holiday cheesecake, this helps support a happy and healthy lifestyle.

In an hour, you can have a nice Greek yogurt healthier cake ready.

Since this cheesecake has no crust (like a graham crust on a New York-style cheesecake) and has no flour baked in, you can get baked Basque-style sides that are more decadently burnished-brown without using high baking temps.

This happens when you use a metal spring form cake pan where you can release the sides after the baked cheesecake is cooled.

If you cover the sides entirely with parchment paper (that you may have learned to do with Basque cheesecakes), the cake will be more easy to pull out, but it won’t be connected directly to the cake pan heat. So you compromise the end result bake.

The better way I suggest is to brush neutral/light olive oil (or butter) on the sides. And after baked, don’t release the cake from the spring form until it’s completely cooled when the cake is more stable, and will more easily stay together in one piece, as it firms up.

For interest (I have a catering background), I also added softened ripe pears to the bottom of the cake pan for additional sweet flavors and textures. It helped release the cake and gave a burnished look to the bottom (similar to poached pears 🍐). But that part is optional, as you’ll get the Basque-inspired cheesecake style either way.

But surprisingly by using regular 350°F/180°C temperatures and not the higher Basque cheesecake temperatures, to save energy (but also low and slow is easier to not burn in the oven).

But if you leave it in these lower oven temps for 55 minutes, I think you’ll be happy with your bake’s doneness.

Your cheesecake will have an Old World charm look.

And when you bite into the sweet and tart cheesecake (made even tart-er with cranberries), it’ll be a delight. With a rustic crumbly feel on the tongue as a satisfying texture that’s distinctly baked (no half-bake here 😊).

But if you prefer a more creamy cheesecake with less small cheese-yogurt chunks, then add more milk (liquid) to your batter, or use a less thick sheep’s cheese and/or yogurt.

You have so many options to make your (maybe?) NEW favorite cheesecake 😋

But no matter what you choose as actual ingredients and final texture intent for your high-protein cheesecake, this is a daily cheesecake you’ll have no regrets making. Ready to try?

If you like this, you may also like a cranberry pumpkin trifle, blueberry-peach cheesecake smoothie, and other low-sugar dessert bites.

Basque-Style (No Crust) Cheesecake - High Protein and Low-Sugar

This is an individual-size 4" protein cheesecake made with healthier cheese and lower fat. To make a shareable 8" cake, double the ingredient amounts.

Course Dessert

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

spring form cake pan

Ingredients

2 oz sheep's cheese
2 oz Greek yogurt (no-fat and no-sugar added)
1 Tbsp milk of choice
1 Tbsp raw honey
1/4 cup seasonal fruit (or jam) of choice or cranberries
cranberry sauce or fruit jam as spread on top (optional)

Instructions

Brush neutral olive oil or baking spray on bottom and sides of (spring form) cake pan.
Combine ingredients in one bowl. Reserve some fruit for the top, so they don't all fall to the bottom of the cake pan. Option: add softened pears to the bottom of the pan.
Bake at 350°F/180°C for about 55 minutes. This will give a Basque-cheesecake feel as the sides turn a darkened brown (pleasantly burnt-ish) color.

Dark Cocoa Cookie (No-Bake)

Dark cocoa cookie is festive fun when they are decked out bon bon or made into twist candy bow shapes like these just in time for holidays. And festive candy wrappers. 🍬

They remind me of the sweet treat colors in a Swiss Colony catalog.

The good news is there’s no planning needed! Work I dug my heels in for many years where I holiday planned other people’s parties in private venues.

…I know what it’s like to be on my feet for hours in heels, hiking miles in a room. That was good enough exercise where I had no additional trekking outdoors need on the weekend. 😊

And if that’s how you feel no matter what you do all week… while kicking your feet up, holiday bakers can take a break. And make a guilt-free treat.

An enjoyable plate of no-bake Christmas cookies can be the pre or post-Advent fix (along with Advent chocolates).

How does that sound?

If good, holiday party celebration festive cocoa candy bows and balls are quick and no-bake easy.

You decide what shape you make ’em.

Your delightful no-bake cookies can be a joyful respite when you’re tired of standing or doing hours of prep holiday cooking.

Good for people who work all day in kitchens too.

And then the day of the event, the enjoyment flies by. Everyone is happy. You with your prepped plate making something creatively homemade and TASTY.

Because if it’s healthy only, it’s NOT happy. 😊

No one need know that it took minutes to make.

You get to be Mary with the guests.

The reward part is spending time with people, laughing and having a good time, and not having to do any cooking work.

And these dark cocoa cookies are like a delightful break you give yourself where you don’t cook or bake.

Dark cocoa in case it doesn’t ring a bell, are the tastes from the cookie sandwiches that start with “O” and end with “O.” The cocoa tastes different than traditional hot cocoa’s cocoa.

And you can make these with the same ingredient or use regular cocoa (or healthy cacao).

Either cocoa way, the best part is they’re sweet energy snacks in disguise.

They won’t last on a plate long.

Making them is as simple as rolling out the dough…

Then refrigerating for a few minutes to let the dough rest (and dry out a little).

And finally, cutting out your shapes.

Or you can roll the dark cocoa cookie into fun balls… probably blindfolded without refrigerating.

Add your decorations while the dough is still sticky. You can zhugh with powdered gold ginger dust or more (dark) cocoa decadence.

Or use elegant uniform sprinkles and coconut flakes for confetti. 🎉

You can dye the confetti with healthy natural powders like blue spirulina, green matcha, and beet that I’m suggesting here.

With a little magical water ingredient, they will make colors like pastel watercolors.

And if you want the colors to be more vibrant colors, you can use natural liquid gels like Pandan gel that will give a deep green.

Let your color wheel imagination go wild! 🍬

Other ideas: if you like peanut butter tastes, try these healthy peanut butter candy chews or peanut butter cookie that have cocoa vibes.

You can pair your sweets with a festive pistachio layered cacao beverage that you freeze and bring to room temps to watch the naturally sand art unfold.

Dark Cocoa Cookie

This is a no-bake festive dark cocoa cookie you can make in minutes.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 cup dark cocoa
1 Tbsp coconut flour
5 Tbsp oil (coconut or light olive oil)
2 Tbsp molasses
1 tsp coconut flakes
1 Tbsp additional coconut flour for top and bottom

Instructions

Combine ingredients together to make a dough disc.
Refrigerate dough in a closed container or plastic wrap for at least 20 minutes to rest and dry out some.
Add coconut flour to top and bottom of dough to prevent sticking. Flatten dough with palm of hand.
Cut out shapes desired e.g. with cookie cutter.
Plate, serve, and enjoy!

Chocolate Frosted Donut (No-Bake and Gluten-Free)

Chocolate frosted donut is one you may be familiar with. That you may remember from childhood. Or maybe just saw some at a grocery store. They’re still around and you can make them yourself.

With a tempering process that gives chocolate a smooth, shiny coating. And you can make homemade chocolate frosted donut with no baking at all. The filling is a no-bake healthy cake recipe, called “a rainbow cookie.”

And in a chocolate frosted donut you get donut, cake, and a cookie, all-in-one (explained below). Plus you learn the tempering dark chocolate easy process below.

These are all the steps… here we go!

For starters, you’ll grab the ingredients. And I mean grab from the pantry. You don’t need to remember to bring butter out to room temps. Because there is no butt-ah!

The ingredients are room temp pantry items: almond flour, olive oil, dark chocolate morsels, and almond extract.

How’s that for ease?

And for a healthy and happy donut (that’s the only kind I like to make).

The frosted donut filling is an all almond cookie/cake. It’s one-bowl and hand mixing easy. No fuss, no muss.

Chocolate frosted donut no-bake cake batter. — Almond cookie no bake Cookie: and 1/2 cup almond flour, 1/8 cup light EVOO and 1 tsp almond extract

It’s the same one I used in a gluten-free rainbow cookie. 🌈

Over the rainbow, it’s good for everyone and you decide if the cake filling is more of a vanilla-almond or pure almond tasting one.

And since the cake (or cookie) is simple and easy, you can make and set aside. Then work on the fun tempering chocolate part.

I recommend dark chocolate, 70% or higher, that’s anti-inflammatory good.

And for practicality, different chocolates have a different melting and tempering point. So the recipe below is for dark chocolate.

And you can bring out the nostalgic frosted donut taste and look with a contrasting dark tempering chocolate shell.

And it’s worth the small extra effort, as you get this nice shiny finish no matter what shape your donuts are.

A healthy dark chocolate makes a reminiscent fun frosted donut.

And tempering chocolate is fun…

You can do this process with dark chocolate morsels or baking squares.

They will turn into another shape…

Which btw, you can find chocolate molds( to shape your frosted donut) that have a top and a bottom, so you can fill the middle with cake filling.

And how I found you best do it consistently without burning chocolate is in the double boiler method on the stove.

To get the right heat, you make a double boiler setup on the stove with a heat-proof bowl that can fit ontop of and fully cover a cooking pot rim. This way you help keep the chocolate away from the steam (by blocking the steam).

I actually setup up a triple boiler (to be triple proofed 😊). I put a bowl inside of a bowl that sat ontop of the pot rim.

It didn’t take (much) longer because the water in the larger bowl heated up the smaller bowl quickly (instead of just steamed water).

And that worked great as the chocolate got heated but was shielded from the elements of burning (🔥) and steam (💧). Neither of which are good earthly touching elements for chocolate.

…Maybe chocolate is heavenly?

And if you can keep the chocolate to intense summer body tan heat and room air only elements, chocolate rewards you by giving a shine at the end.

…Like shined leather shoes that gets looks for all the right reasons. 👞

It’s chocolate magic since you needed no buffing tools/appliances, or additional ingredients. With just the right temps, you have tempered chocolate ready for your frosted donut.

And in the end, you gain an acquired tempering chocolate whisperer skill.

You in?

Chocolate Frosted Donut - No-Bake, Vegan, and Gluten-Free

Tempering chocolate is an easy way to get a shiny look and make a frosted donut. This Is for 2-mini donuts or 1 larger donut catering to the size of your molds.

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Equipment

pot
heat-proof bowl that can sit not the rim of the pot
kitchen-use temperature gauge
chocolate or silicone molds

Ingredients

1 cup dark chocolate morsels
4 Tbsp cake filling (gluten-free recipe below)

Instructions

Set 1/3 "seeding" chocolate aside and put 2/3 chocolate into heating bowl. You can start with one cup for easy measuring.
Heat the chocolate: Using your stove top, heat chocolate using a double boiler method, so you don't burn the chocolate. Set chocolate inside the heating bowl that is best to sit ontop of the rim top of a pot filled with water 1/4 to 1/2 way up in the pot. Be sure to prevent the chocolate from getting wet or steam coming in contact, or the chocolate could seize up (turn grainy and the opposite of shiny). Heat chocolate to ideally 118°F/47°C
Cool the chocolate: Finish tempering the chocolate by adding "seeding" chocolate and letting it cool to ideally 86°F/30°C or slightly lower (but not lower than 80°F/26°C).
Use the chocolate immediately. Pour into top and bottom molds. Leave enough unused tempered chocolate for piping or "glue-ing" the two halves together after the filling is added.
Refrigerate molded chocolate for at least 30 minutes.
Make the cake filling In a bowl. Combine 1/2 cup gluten-free almond flour, 1/8 tsp almond extract, and 2 Tbsp neutral oil or light olive oil.
Pull out chocolates out of molds and add cake filling in both halves.
Glue the two chocolate halves with a piping bag with the tempered chocolate or smear with a decorating spatula.
Refrigerate again until chocolate halves are sealed and dry.
Enjoy right away or refrigerate for up to 2-3 days.

Notes

For the frosted donut cake filling, see the instructions and/or recipe for the rainbow cookie.

Vegetable Pizza – How to Make From a Home Oven

Vegetable pizza is a plant-based pizza that can be made easy, savory, and interesting from a home oven. Like this whole wheat flour pizza crust…

Or like this tomato-shaped farmers market okra, peppers, beets, and alfalfa sprouts pizza.

Microgreens like sprouts 🌱 are a great add to a veggie pie.

This one was made same-day and with “00” pizza flour that makes chewy crusts like those found in frozen pizzas. That’s what I found from baking in my home oven on regular baking temperatures.

That’s different than a commercial oven that I’m also familiar with.

You see, I’m not a beginner pizza maker or vegetable pizza maker…

I spent 4 of my pre-college years working for Domino’s Pizza making pizzas in busy stores around the DC metro suburbs.

The crusts were more like softer warming bread crusts, the kind that I am used to making at home these days. 😋

At the pizza shops, they were called the regular handmade pizza crust. Bread and handmade made for good comfort food. It made the bread soft and a little airy inside.

I was glad I could achieve a similar crust at home from techniques I tested and learned.

And similarly there’s no reason why you can’t make your own handmade pizza dough from your home or apartment oven. 💭

The recipes and steps for how to turn your pizza ideas to dream reality are easy to follow and you can also check out my Home Pizza Dough Beginner guide.

You can make your own easy pizzas from you home oven. And you can see some of my fall pizza regular and soft bread crust examples for ideas.

And you can also make slightly more advanced light and airy, charred pizza bread crusts (like those from wood-fired pizzas or “professional” pizza equipment).

Those are impressive and deliciously satisfying Neapolitan-style pizza that can come easily from your home or apartment oven! …Yasss! 🤸🏼‍♂️

I think pizza is an easy add anyway.

Especially because food costs have climbed a lot over the past years, and making your own home pizzas is a good way to save food and pizza money… and still get your satisfying pizza-fill on Game and pizza craving days.

Making pizza bread is as easy as 1-2-3 once you get the hang of it. It can be an auto-no-brainer with a few tries.

And that can be a regular healthy meal for you (more on this below)…

It’s also a way to impress your friends with your pizza kitchen skills like with this pizza that you may be surprised to know was made in my apartment oven with just a regular baking pan:

…So no fancy tools. And no wood-fired or outdoor pizza oven. What’s not to love? It did get gobbled up – leaving no crumbs.

And pizzas are also such an easy way to add more anti-inflammatory healthy plant-based foods to your diet.

A vegetable pizza is an easier sell than a plate of veggies (for any age) because not one ingredient is the star.

It’s the salty, savory ingredient melange that makes a pizza.

And it wins points for this old vegetable pizza maker! It’s happy and oh yeah, healthy…

Pizzas can be very healthy and low-fat if you don’t add as much “greasy” cheese as you see on most pizzas on the planet. In the pizza shops, our rule of thumb was one layer of oily cheese and no gaps. And that was a good amount of cheese you can pull apart.

But you can use a lot less cheese like in a Margherita pizza where healthy Buffalo mozzarella (yum!) slices are randomly added and the melted cheese patches don’t cover the entire pizza. It’s what you make it!

We also used in the pie shop, all our healthy scraps that fell in the pit for the everything pizzas. Those ingredients are just as healthy!

And you can do the same at home with very little pitfalls.

…Only pizza benefits.

Especially vegetable pizzas that make good beginner pizzas and are good opportunities to use all those veggies that the gardens are abundantly growing. 🍅 🥬

Pizzas are a great way to ramp up on onion and mushroom pairings as powerful immunity foods, especially during cold and flu season. 🧅🍄‍🟫

And if you’re dairy-free, you still can enjoy a pizza.

I remember there were always people who ordered no tomato sauce or no cheese… and even no dough…whaaat? That was before gluten-free was a thing.

And subbing those ways is all covered in my little 17-page guide. Because I believe there’s a pizza for any occasion! And can be enjoyed by anyone who can eat solids.

Oh, and I almost forgot… if you like sourdough or have never made before but interested in beginner learning skills, adding starter to your pizza dough is a great way, and for the crust’s sake that I cover as well.

It’s much easier adding sourdough starter in a pizza where it’s just a little bit and not a whole sourdough bread commitment.

Sourdough is also healthy because it’s lower glycemic index than doughs made from just commercial yeast. And that’s good for not spiking blood sugar (and helping prevent lifestyle/Diabetes 2 on the rise).

That’s just one reason why people are still so wild about the wild yeast and an added benefit for those who didn’t know!

That’s healthy food inspiration and ideal weight aspiration for anyone who has a gut and wants to keep it healthy. I’m pretty sure that’s all of us 🧡

Vegetable Pizza (Whole Wheat Flour Crust)

An easy and delicious pizza crust you can make in a couple hours to accompany veggie toppings you choose.

Course pizza

Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour (or combine with bread flour)
water (enough to combine and have a slightly moist dough)
1 tsp salt (kosher salt recommended)
1/4 tsp instant yeast

Instructions

Incorporate ingredients with either a mixer with a bread hook or do by hand. By hand, create a well (that looks like a volcano) in the middle of flour, yeast, and salt (like you would in homemade pasta making). Gradually add water and mix in.
After combined, knead dough. Roll with hand and flatten with palm of hand. Do not be gentle. Do this for 5+ minutes.
Let dough rest for at least 2 hours in a plastic container. Be sure the dough is moist. If baking same day, pull out and shape/flatten dough with hand leaving about 1/2" edge crust untouched.
Bake at 350°F/180°F for 20 minutes and then pull out of oven and add sauce and vegetable toppings. For wet or frozen veggies, cook those separately in a pan before adding to pizza. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until bottom of crust is fully baked.