Tag Archives: desert

Creamy Crunch Bowl~Low Carb Desert

Leave a reply

Creamy “Power” Crunch Bowl is my new favorite low carb desert.

My family went to Dairy Queen for Blizzards last week, and I mustered up every ounce of will power I could find to not eat one.  It has been at least a year since we had visited this DQ and their icecream used to be one of my favorite “foods”.  I ordered a coffee latte instead, and took one sip and it was too sweet so I gave it to my teenage son.  He willingly accepted.  I will admit I was disappointed.

But when we got home, I got the idea to make my own creamy desert with some Greek yogurt I saw in the fridge.  My husband had bought the yogurt for one of the boys who likes it as a substitute for sour cream.  It was a big tub and he uses very little.  I will admit that I hadn’t eaten any yogurt in a long time at this point.  We usually buy the individual size sweetened yogurt (vanilla and fruit blends) each week for the younger children’s snacks, and I just skip using them partly because they are sweet, they are expensive so we get just enough for their snacks, and partly because I would rather drink a creamy coffee.

However, I made a commitment to myself last week to lower my daily carbohydrate intake.  I am still trying to put together a routine that incorporates a low carb life style and avoid foods that would sabotage my goal.  Power Crunch bars are a delicious treat I have used for the past six months or so as a desert when my family is enjoying a normal desert (like cookies, cakes, or pie).  I really enjoy having a Power Crunch bar and a cup of coffee as a desert.  So finding that big tub of Greek yogurt sitting in the refrigerator was just what I needed to create my own low carb DQ blizzard substitute.

Creamy Crunch Bowl

Ingredients:

1 cup of plain Greek yogurt

1 Power Crunch bar (flavor of choice).

(optional: sweeten with stevia or truvia to your liking)

This recipe makes 2 snack servings.  But if there is no one near by to share it with, I am sure you will want to eat the whole bowl!

Directions:

Break a Power Crunch bar into pieces and stir into Greek yogurt.

Creamy Crunch Bowl

Nutritional Data:

  • Calories: 190
  • Carbohydrates: 9 grams
  • Net Carbs: 8 grams
  • Fiber: 1 gram
  • Fat: 10 grams
  • Protein: 16 grams

Recipe Variations:

Almost DQ Creamy Power Crunch:

Freeze for a delicious ice cream substitute, like a homemade DQ blizzard.

Pecan Creamy Crunch Bowl

Just stir in – 1/4 cup Pecans, chopped (use nuts, or nutbutter of your choice).  Again, this makes two servings, so you can have one now and refrigerate one for later, or eat both servings if you wish!

Pecan Creamy Crunch Bowl

Nutritional Data:

  • Calories: 284
  • Carbohydrates: 11 grams
  • Net Carbs: 9 grams
  • Fiber: 2 gram
  • Fat: 20 grams
  • Protein: 18 grams

Amazing!

ENJOY!

Please share.

New Favorite Treat Power Crunch Bar

Leave a reply

I wanted to share a treat with you I found recently.  It has become a favorite at my home. It is called Power Crunch Protein Energy Bar.  Trust me when I say it is not like other protein bars.  It is like a decadent desert.

This is not a sponsored post.  I bought these bars on my own.  The first bar I tried, I had purchased a box of them online.  I was making a vitamin order and saw these on a huge sale in the fall and wanted to give them a try.  They had several flavors, but the only flavor they had left in stock that day was “mocha”.  So I ordered a small box of them to try.  Wow!  I was impressed.  It reminded me of the Italian dessert called tiramisu.

Then I found a few of the flavors at our local grocery store.  They didn’t have the “mocha” in stock, so I chose “original” chocolate, hoping it would be as good.  Oh my!  The “original” chocolate Power Crunch bar was even better than the “mocha” flavor.  These have now become a regular item on my grocery list.

My favorite way to enjoy them is to take a few minutes of quiet “mommy” time, usually reading while enjoying the Power Crunch bar with a cup of coffee or hot tea.  It is such a treat.  They have a delicious chocolate wafer crunch and in between the crunchy layers are more layers filled with a soft creamy chocolate filling and the entire outside is covered in chocolate.  It is like a gourmet desert!

I was eating one of these during my quiet mommy time today, and my son asked me to save him a bite.  So I agreed and asked if he would do a taste test and tell my viewers what he thinks about them.  He was more than willing.

From my son “These are delicious.  It is sweet, crunchy, silky, and chocolaty.  Can I have another one?”

Here are some the nutrition details:

  • Serving: 1 Bar (1.4 ounces)
  • Calories: 205
  • Protein: 13g
  • Fat: 13g
  • Carbs: 10g
  • Fiber: 1g
  • Iron 7%
  • Calcium 10%

These bars are low sugar with only 5g.  The sweetness comes from a combination of sugar, stevia, fructose, and monk fruit.  This combination provides just the right sweetness, but still keeps the sugar low.   The rest of the ingredients are basically whey protein, cocoa, vitamin enriched wheat flour, barley flour, oil, salt, lecithin, and a couple other items.  Here is a photo of the nutrition label on the box.

The texture and taste is hard to describe, it is clean tasting and enjoyable.  It kind of reminds me somewhat of a cookie called a chocolate wafer and a candy bar we enjoyed in my childhood called a “whatchamacallit bar”.  I haven’t had those treats for years.  That is the closest thing I can think of to describe how wonderful these bars taste.

I know 1 bar is a serving, but trust me when I say, it is hard to stop with just one bar.  They are so delicious, you will want to eat two!

Please share.

Banana Nut Yogurt Sundae

Leave a reply

This is a nutritious, fun and easy to prepare snack or desert for kids.  It makes a fantastic breakfast too!

 

Kids can be picky eaters.  Setting them up for success with good nutrition is key to maintaining good health.  Including a variety of foods, like yogurt, fruits, veggies, and nuts in their daily routine lays a great foundation in good nutrition choices.

Adding nuts (for those who are not allergic) is a great way to boost nutrition. There are so many different kinds of nuts to choose from.  The most popular nut used, peanut, isn’t even a nut but is actually the seed of a legume.  But there is a huge variety of nuts and seeds that are seldom included in the standard American diet for kids that are great options.

A few of the nut and seed varieties to try out with your kids are:

Cashews

Almonds

Walnuts

Pecans

Macadamia

Coconut

Hazelnuts / Filberts

Hickory Nuts

Hemp Seeds

Sunflower Seeds

Pumpkin Seeds

Pine Nuts

A fun way to get nuts like walnuts in your kids diet is putting them into special treats like a sundae.  If you grind the nuts, they hardly know the nut is there.   Walnuts have a stronger taste and most kids don’t usually choose to eat them on their own.   If I leave out a big bowl of nuts of different varieties, my kids would eat all the cashews! Next they might finish of the peanuts.  Then the rest of the nuts would sit there until Dad and I ate them.   So to get more variety of nuts into their diet, a sneaky banana nut sundae piled high with lots of yummy ingredients is a win win!

Walnuts are great for brain food.  They also help to purge parasites from the body.  They contain essential fatty acids that are needed by the body

Banana Nut Sundae

Set out your ingredients out on a table or counter and let the kids fix their own sundaes.

Yogurt

Banana

Nuts

Optional: Syrup, berries, chocolate chips, chocolate covered nuts, ground nuts, whole nuts in the shell that they must remove before using, nut butter, ice cream, angle food cake, cookies, pumpkin cake, etc.

We used vanilla yogurt,  ground and halved walnuts, bananas, chocolate covered peanuts, and chocolate syrup.  I also set out some grapes and nut butter covered pretzel crackers in case they wanted to experiment with some other ingredients.

 

Desert:

We have made similar treats for desert too. This is a fun and delicious way to eat nuts and eat healthy!

Similar ingredients with pecans and whip cream.

Substitute angel food cake for the yogurt.

Serve as a fancy desert for company.

We also made homemade nut butter with a mixed nuts.  We ground some smooth and some chunky and mixed it together for a delicious spread for our pretzel crackers.

You can add mini chocolate chips and these will taste like Reese Peanut Butter Cup Pretzel Treats!  Even Daddy likes these treats!

Please share.

Delicious Chocolate Praline Extreme

Leave a reply

Oh yeah, Baby!  You know your mouth is watering now!

IMG_5951

I asked my husband what I should name this and he stated, “Delicious!”

So without further ado, I give you:

 

Delicious Chocolate Praline Extreme

1 scoop Complete Dutch Chocolate protein powder

1 frozen banana

1/8 cup pecans to blend,

1/8 cup pecans for the topping, whole or chopped.

1 cup unsweetened Coconut Milk (or milk of your choice)

Blend all of the ingredients in the blender until smooth.  ENJOY!

This recipe makes a large 24 oz serving.  I use a special 24 oz size jar that holds three cups (instead of the standard 32 oz or 1 quart jar), and this recipe fills it to the top.  These jars are nice for shakes as they are easy for everyone to hold and easy to reach all the delicious yummy treats inside.   You could easily divide this recipe in half and share smaller servings between two people.  I also make this recipe without the nuts (leaving the nuts out reduces about 1/2 the calories).  It turns out like a chocolate Frosty and has a whole lot less calories, and is way better for me and my family too.

Nutrition:  429 Calories, 16g Protein, 13g fiber, 20g Fat (healthy fats from nuts and plants), Vit C, Vit A, Potassium, Iron, Calcium,  and so much more.

Nutrition Facts:

Delicious Chocolate Praline Extreme Nutrition

Options:

2 Tbsp whipped cream (optional)

1 tsp chocolate sauce (optional)

These extras are purely optional.

Complete Dutch Chocolate
Whole Food Shake / Smoothie Powder:

The Dutch Chocolate Complete powder costs about $2.00 a scoop (or you can use a half scoop for $1 a serving for a smaller portion and make it even more budget friendly) and makes your ice cream and smoothie treats creamy, but also light and fluffy.  It is amazing!

You would not know it, but it is made with 20+ wholesome plant foods like broccoli sprouts, quinoa, pomegranate, apples, spirulina, alfalfa sprouts, radish sprouts, millet, pumpkin, cocoa, and more, but tastes like the best chocolate powder.   It is a complete meal, or use it as a healthy snack or treat too.   The Complete powder also comes in Vanilla too.  The flavor combinations you can come up with using this as your base and adding other fruits or nuts is endless!  You just have to give this whole food powder a try, it is amazing!

Such a simple way to nourish your body with whole food nutrition! 

Be wise and blessed!

 

This post will be linked up with:

Raising Homemakers

Please share.