Holiday Goodies without the Guilt

I hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! I don't know about you, but my holidays, especially ones filled with family gatherings, BBQs and picnics, are usually also filled with unhealthy foods, too many cookies, and overindulgence. If that was you this weekend (like it was me), don't panic. Today is a new day. Start fresh and make healthy choices. A few days and a few too many cookies are not the end of the world. Don't get down on yourself. Just keep going.

I didn't actually go to any parties yesterday. My boyfriend and I went grocery shopping and spent the day spending time together at home. However, the holiday spirit was in the air, and I couldn't help myself. I had to make at least SOME kind of dessert, right? I mean, it IS a holiday. At least that's what I kept telling myself. I did want to keep the desserts on the healthier side, though, so this is what I came up with. I thought I'd share these healthy desserts so that maybe on your next holiday, you can eat as much dessert as you want without feeling that guilt creep up on you.

First, I found a recipe for a guilt-free peanut butter pie. Um, yes please. It looked amazing, and I had all the ingredients. I was sold. (I found the original recipe at http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/09/09/no-bake-peanut-butter-pie/. I also suggest checking out some of her other recipes. She's amazing!)

I'll also break down the recipe here as well, with a few minor changes by me. It was very simple.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup peanut butter (I used half all natural peanut butter with no salt added and half JIF, so mine wasn't completely guilt free, but I ran out of my natural PB! You can also use any other nut butter or sunflower seed butter.)
4 large bananas
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. sea salt (or table salt)
1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp. coconut oil, melted 
(or you can sub with an additional 1/4 cup PB)
5 Tbsp. raw honey (I actually used about 2 Tbsp. With the added sugar in the JIF peanut butter, I didn't need the extra sweetness, so you can just add sweetener to taste. You can use pure maple syrup if you want your pie to be vegan! You can also use powdered sugar, agave nectar, or stevia extract. The honey worked great for me!)

Combine all ingredients into a high powered blender. Mine struggled with this a little bit, because it got clogged up with all the peanut butter (I just have a yard sale blender.), so just be careful of that and stir frequently. You could probably use a food processor as well. Anyway, combine all ingredients until very smooth. Mine was still a little lumpy because my blender was getting real sluggish, but it really didn't matter.

After blending, pour the mixture into a prepared pie crust (You can make your own, use a store-bought, or go crustless! I went crustless. I also didn't have a spring form pie pan, so I just poured mine into a glass baking dish, and it worked just fine. You can also check out this healthy pie crust at: http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/05/13/ridiculously-easy-chocolate-pie-crust/).

After pouring, you can put it straight in the freezer to set (if you used PB instead of coconut oil, you can just put it in the fridge). Before putting mine in the freezer, I decided to top mine with some shredded coconut, crushed pecans, and melted dark chocolate. You can use whatever toppings you want or no toppings at all. Trust me, the peanut butter filling is delicious enough on its own. I may or may not have licked the entire blender clean :)

So there you have it. I have been keeping mine in the freezer, then I just take it out and let it thaw a bit before eating. (Or I just take a fork right to the dish for a few frozen bites.) A guilt-free dessert that can be raw, vegan, gluten-free, and refined sugar-free depending on the ingredients you choose. And it is so delicious. My boyfriend gave it two big thumbs up! And I can't stay away from it either! :)

The second dessert I made is even healthier, a bit less sweet and rich, and a lot more simple. A watermelon pie. All I did was slice a watermelon in half (I had a baby seedless watermelon, so my pie was teeny tiny), and cut off a slice. Then, you just simply spread Greek yogurt on top of the center of the watermelon, and add berries, nuts, spices, or whatever else you want. And ta-da! You have a watermelon pie. I added berries, pecan, and cinnamon to mine. What would you add to yours? You can slice it up into triangles or serve however you wish (I ate mine with a fork!).

So, there you have it. Two simple, healthy, and delicious desserts that would be a hit at any holiday party. Try them out and ENJOY! :)

Please tell me in the comments if you have tried any of my recipes. I'd like to know what you thought of them! Also, feel free to email me with other questions or recipe suggestions at wellnessbynicky@gmail.com. Thanks everyone! :)