Tag Archives: desserts

Dark Chocolate Quinoa Candy Bars Replace Your Crunch Bar Habit

My daughter is three and loves chocolate, or “chock-wit” as the case may be. It’s her one vice, and speaking woman to woman, can you blame her? Considering how well she eats, I let us both indulge in this little craving on occasion, especially after a business trip.

Before taking off on one of my trips last year, I promised, as most parents do, to return with a present. Days later, barely awake at the airport before dawn, I remembered my promise and grabbed the first thing I could find – a three-pack of Ghirardelli chocolates. My daughter was overjoyed at this unusual gift, and somewhere along the line decided all business trips should end in chocolate.

quinoa dark chocolate

So on a recent visit to New York City, I was hounded at each of our morning and evening calls. “Have you got my chocolate yet?” she would anxiously ask. I said no most days, until finally, I’d found the perfect chocolate. At a small grocer in Brooklyn I happened upon Alter Eco’s Dark Quinoa bars. If you have a thing for Nestle’s Crunch bars like I do, you’ll never want to look back after snacking on these.

dark chocolate quinoa bar

An organic, sustainable, undeniably addictive little chocolate treat, I’ve raved to everyone since finding them. My daughter and I have since depleted our stash. I’m left wanting more, but haven’t found it locally yet. So we turned our chocolate craving in to a play date in the kitchen and crafted our own.

Ingredient wise, it’s as simple as dark chocolate and quinoa. Preparation wise, it’s just a tad more work. (more…)

Food Blogger Spotlight: Katie from Chocolate Covered Katie

cck ResizeAhhhh, dessert, the sweet end to a delicious meal. Unfortunately, it can also be the button-popping end to a healthy waistline. That’s why we’re excited to feature Katie from Chocolate Covered Katie as this week’s foodie! Her blog’s motto is “This isn’t just any dessert blog, it’s a healthy dessert blog.” By using low-fat, fresh ingredients, Katie shows how to make delicious, healthier versions of high calorie favorites and some goodies you’ve probably never even thought of.

Chocolate Covered Katie is so vibrant you might wonder if it’s in 3D. I dare you not to try and lick the chocolate dripping from the cone in the Secretly Healthy Red Velvet Ice Cream picture. The site is full of easy to follow recipes but you’ll also enjoy following Katie, as well, since her posts are often accompanied by a personal story or anecdote. Here’s what Katie has to say about her popular blog.

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The Great Gatsby Recipe Guide: 10 Party Foods Inspired by the Roaring Twenties

The roaring twenties will no doubt be a theme of many a summer party this year as The Great Gatsby film release has everyone reconnecting with this classic novel that embodies one of the most fabulous periods in our history. When most people think of the 1920s in the U.S. they think of the flappers, Prohibition, gangsters, and jazz. What people often overlook are the great advancements in home cooking and recipe development during this period. A comprehensive listing of the top rated diet plans can be seen when you click the link here.

gatsby

The availability of “sliced bread,” refrigerators, and other convenience foods that are dogged today helped (mostly) women spend 44 hours each week in their kitchens preparing meals. By 1965, women were only spending 25.7 hours per week cooking, and research in 2024 revealed women today spend only 13 hours each week on all household chores.

If you plan on hosting a Great Gatsby party this summer, you’ll want to dress the part of course, but the food can play a major role in pulling together the theme. If healthy is your goal, stick to the recipes we’re sharing. But if authenticity is most important, you’ll appreciate the homemade, healthified versions of many of these processed foods that are still popular today.

Thai Blueberry Old Fashion

old fashioned with blueberries

Alcohol was banned for much of the 1920s during a period known as Prohibition, but that didn’t keep the booze from flowing. The Old Fashion, a tart whiskey-based cocktail, was a creation of this decade that we still raise a glass to today. Guests will easily celebrate with this jazzed up version with fresh blueberries and a Truvia simple syrup. See what diets were rated as the best when you follow the link here.

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Classic Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches Are a Healthy Treat Worth Indulging In

Remember those oatmeal cookie sandwiches with the creamy, sweet filling that you used to swipe from vending machines and beg your parents for in the grocery store? Well, these are those, only a million times healthier. A cause for healthful indulgence? We think, yes.

Healthy Oatmeal Cookie Sandiches Recipe

These oatmeal cookie sandwiches are almost 100% vegan and made with healthful ingredients like rolled oats, grated carrots, whole wheat flour and banana. Though the inspiration for the recipe was pre-packaged oatmeal cream pies, these little guys take the treat to a whole new level and are even better than the original (we think). (more…)

A Lighter Shamrock Shake Recipe That Doesn’t Need 73 Grams of Sugar Like McDonald’s

Every holiday comes with its traditional fare. During Lent the fast food chains bombard us with fried fish sandwiches. People lose their minds over Cadbury Easter eggs each spring. Candy corn makes Halloween more enjoyable. And for most of fall we add pumpkin to anything that will sit still. Few restaurants other than your surly neighborhood Irish pub get any attention on St. Patrick’s Day, but during the last ten years, McDonald’s has moved in on that market.

They didn’t do it with corned beef or potatoes or even soda bread, but instead with something not even remotely close to being Irish. They did it with ice cream.

Their Shamrock Shake has almost become the stuff of drive-through legends, falling behind its popular brother the McRib. With much fanfare the restaurant announces “It’s Back!” and fills customers with this cool, creamy mint shake just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Other than the fact that mint is green and St. Patrick’s day is green, we’ve yet to find much connection between the holiday and the herb.

What we have found is that the McDonald’s Shamrock Shake, for the small 12 ounces, will fill you up with 530 calories, 15 grams of fat, and 73 grams of sugar. That last one sent even us in to a bit of shock. Seventy three grams of sugar in a 12-ounce cup is, to put it mildly, a lot. (more…)

Pomegranate Pistachio Dark Chocolate Bark Makes Valentine’s Day Healthy and Sweet

Calling all chocolate lovers! We have the perfect Valentine’s dessert for you and it just so happens to be healthy, decadent and loaded with antioxidants. Finally, a Valentine treat we can actually feel good about.

Inspired by our editor, I created this beautiful bark last week in preparation for Valentine’s Day. Just because we operate a health and diet website doesn’t mean we don’t crave chocolate once in a while (or every day).

The entire time I was prepping the ingredients I couldn’t wait to take a sample bite of the finished product. The luscious dark chocolate, the salty pistachios and the sweet, crisp pomegranates were sure to be a stellar flavor combination. Sure enough, my suspicions were right. (more…)

Hasselback Apple Crisp from the 2024 DietsInReview Holiday Card

We are off today celebrating the Christmas holiday with our families and friends. If you’re stopping by DietsInReview today, we want to say welcome and thank you! Each of the millions of people who visit us each month have made our fifth year an exciting one, not to mention a successful one. We appreciate you and hope you’ll drop by often in 2024, too!

While we’re kicking up our feet and enjoying a little downtime, we wanted to share our 2024 holiday card with you! It’s not just any card with well wishes for the season and new year, it comes with a pretty fantastic treat that we dreamed up. Flip the card over (or in this case, keep reading) and you’ll find one of our most unique recipe creations ever … the Hasselback Apple Crisp!

We figured the potato couldn’t be having all the fun with this trendy slicing method and applied it to our favorite fall fruit – the apple. Use any apple you like, we prefer Honeycrisp and Granny Smith. (more…)

Pimp That Recipe: Caramel Apples for Fall

By Abra Pappa for Nutritious America

Fall is not fall without caramel apples. At least to me. Crisp tart apples and sticky sweet caramel. Yum!

As a child, October meant caramel apples. We would travel to the farmers market to pick out the perfect caramel apple for the ride home. This much-anticipated treat was homemade by the farmer’s wife, with a fresh apple picked from the tree and dipped in a simple caramel sauce, made from sugar, heavy cream and sometimes butter. Then, as Halloween neared, my mother would come home with a big bag of apples and get to work on her own caramel apples for the family.


What was once the simplest and purest treat has turned into the simplest, fastest pre-packaged (and full of scary stuff) treat. Walk down the apple aisle of any grocery store this month and you will find “caramel apple wrappers” and packaged  “old fashioned caramel dip.” Although convenience has its place in today’s hustle and bustle world, I wonder if you have ever read the ingredients in that easy-to-grab dip? (more…)

Best Dessert Ever: Chobani SoHo Really is Nothing But Good

I’m in New York City on business for a few days this week. Somehow all of my meetings worked out to be staggered perfectly around each meal time on a single day. It was positively gorgeous outside, so I walked about 60 blocks throughout lower Manhattan to get to each meeting. My second-to-last meeting was with the nice folks from Chobani and it timed out perfectly for a post-lunch dessert / mid-day snack.


“A first-of-its-kind Mediterranean yogurt bar in NYC’s SoHo neighborhood- this is @chobani like you’ve never had it before,” is how the @ChobaniSoHo Twitter page describes itself. It’s dead on. I was invited to meet the Chobani team at their six-week-old yogurt bar. I’m a total Chobani fanboy; a significant part of my grocery budget goes to their Greek yogurt. So of course I’ll meet you there!

The shop is nestled on the corner of a likable street in SoHo, just a few blocks from the brand’s NYC office. It’s got all the allure of most fro-yo shops, except this isn’t frozen. Barely. They say they keep the yogurt chilled to about 34 degrees, where grocery stores only manage about 41 degrees.

Since we eat with our eyes, the bright LED board displaying their ten menu options pulled me and my appetite in. Even with a simple menu, it was not simple to make a choice. Finally, I committed to the Pistachio + Chocolate. The brand’s tagline is not a lie… this was nothing but good. Frankly, nothing but amazing and truly indulgent. (more…)

3 Must-Try Frozen Banana Ice Cream Flavors

If you haven’t jumped on the banana ice cream train yet, it’s time! After trying it for ourselves the first time this summer, we’ve been spinning our wheels to come up with new flavor ideas so we can keep enjoying this healthy, easy-to-make treat.

Banana ice cream is so simple to make. It’s essentially pre-peeled, sliced or loosely chopped frozen bananas whirled into a magical soft serve dessert in a blender or food processor. You can eat it as is and it’s quite delicious, if you enjoy the flavor of bananas. Or you can add in fun toppings like we did this time. (more…)

How to Eat Gluten Free: Dessert

Welcome to part four of my “How to Eat Gluten Free” series. In case you missed the first three editions, check them out for some delicious and healthy inspiration in eating gluten free for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t have celiac disease and I don’t adhere to a gluten free diet. However, as more and more of my friends are forced to go gluten free, I desire to know how to cook for them on nights that my husband and I host them for dinner. After all, tacos on corn tortillas get old after four nights in a row.

Additionally, because I’ve noticed feeling sluggish and tired myself after consuming particularly carb-heavy meals, I’ve grown interested in carving some gluten out of my diet just for trial and health’s sake.

With that said, let’s move onto the main event: dessert! At first thought it seems desserts are off limits for the gluten-free eater: no cake, no cookies, no muffins – basically no anything that contains flour. But thanks to the innovation and creativity of several gluten-free cooks and professional chefs, there are now countless options when it comes to enjoying gluten-free desserts. (more…)