Healthy Winter Desserts

The quick answer:  In winter, when you crave an after-dinner sweet, make fruit the first ingredient.

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Next Year

We’re most grateful for all that has been accomplished in 2011.  In the next post we’ll discuss our  plans for 2012.  We started our conversation a year ago with three basic premises. 

1. The modern American diet (MAD) is the primary cause of chronic disease (heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, etc.).
2. Prevention of chronic disease by dietary reform is better than treatment.
3. Dietary reform is too big a jump to do all at once, but could be substantially accomplished in a year of 52 weekly steps, called Healthy Changes.  

The three premises rested upon three hypotheses:

1. Because the science of nutrition is impossibly complex and changes with time, we could balance science with two timeless oracles: food tradition and scripture.  This brings to mind the stability of the three-legged stool.
2. Using these sources, an ordinary person given sufficient time could better define a healthy diet than any congress of conflicting and conflicted experts. 
3. Because everyone is different, this diet could be improved though conversation with other concerned people.  Whoever reads this blog and comments, adds to that conversation.

The focus of this blog is prevention.  Only qualified doctors can diagnose illness and prescribe treatment; nothing in this blog should be considered medical advice.

The Sugar Addiction

Americans eat too much sugar, over 100 pounds each year.  So six of the 52 Healthy Changes combined to reduce our sugar intake to below the AHA target of 6 teaspoons daily for women (about 20 lbs./year) and 9 for men.  

Healthy Change #1 targeted the problem of excess sugar intake, by going after sugary drinks:  If you consume sodas or other sugary drinks, limit yourself to one (12 oz.) serving per week. 

Healthy Change #3 talked about breakfast cereals, but actually provided a rule for all processed foods:  Cereal products must be made of whole grains, and have more grams of natural fiber than grams of sugar.

Healthy Change #8 went after the bag of candy in your home:  Buy candy a piece at a time; never bring a box or bag of candy into the home.

Healthy Change #9 applied the “more sugar than fiber” rule to the bakery aisle:  Your daily bread must be whole grain, with more grams of fiber than added sugars.

Healthy Change #31 put the dagger into the diet drinks, which many mistakenly think are healthier than the sugar drinks:  If you consume diet drinks, limit yourself to one (12 oz.) serving per week.

Healthy Change #51 proposed that traditional spices and herbs replace sugar as our most popular flavoring agent.  This is the hallmark of a competent cook—to not rely on sugar to make food taste good.

The Easiest Thing

Did you notice this year how we haven’t had a single post on one of the healthiest food groups—fruit?  There’s a reason.  Fruits are so easy to eat they don’t need an eating rule.  They’re Nature’s candy—fruit is fun to eat so it usually is eaten before it spoils.  Not so with vegetables—if you don’t include them in your menu writing, they’ll go bad sitting in your refrigerator.

People enjoy candy during the Holidays.  Because we expected a lot of company, the beautiful wife bought a box of See’s candy (technically, a violation of Healthy Change #8).  Christmas passed without opening the box.  Later, overwhelmed by the noise of little grandchildren, I proposed a silence contest, with a treat for all who could be still.  Silence by the promise of See’s worked.  Had a few pieces myself.

Dessert

We crave something sweet after dinner, a little dessert.  Have you noticed this craving more in winter?  I have.  In times past, summer’s fruit was put away for winter use.  Berries were preserved as jam.  Tree fruits were bottled, or dried.  Dried fruits could be used in compotes.  Traditional fruit preservation has declined because fresh fruits are available year around.  This presents an opportunity to reinvent, or at least redisocover fruit-based desserts:

Here are ten winter fruits desserts that can be made with little sugar:

1. Apple with cheddar cheese—no cooking required.  See this Washington Post article for cheese ideas.
2. Apple Crisp with granola topping—there are lots of recipes.  I could eat this every week; it’s great with vanilla ice cream, or just cream.
3. Pear Crisp.  I’m not a big Ina Garten fan, but she does have a recipe that combines pears and apples.
4. Chocolate dipped fruits—winter strawberries need a little help and what’s better than chocolate?  Here’s Martha’s recipe.
5. Tropical fruit—if you have a ripe pineapple, combine it with banana and/or coconut.
6. Baked Apple—here's a recipe for this traditional winter treat.
7. Poached Pears (photo shown above)—delicious with a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, or lemon sorbet (recipe here).
8. Banana Nut Bread—good for desserts or snacks.  When bananas get brown spots, simply slip then into the freezer until needed.  Recipes abound but I do a health-up by replacing half the white flour with whole wheat flour, cutting sugar by 1/3 and replacing with brown sugar, substituting butter for less healthy oils, and adding applesauce to reduce the butter.  I also double the walnuts.
9. Orange slices with warmed raspberries—this recipe is another way to enjoy winter navels.
10. Dried Fruit Compotes—this recipe can be made from a variety of fruits by simply adding honey and a little vanilla.

Please comment.  Share your favorite healthy fruit desserts and treats.

Need a reminder? Download our Healthy Change reminder card. Print and fold, then place in your kitchen or on your bathroom mirror to help you remember the Healthy Change of the week.

Comments

[Nancy O]

My husband is 70 today. For dessert, I am making a Dixie Fruit Salad...This includes but not limited to:
pomegranates, bananas, apples, pecans, pineapple and or grapes and mixed up with some slightly sweetened whipped cream. I think I got the last of the pomegranates at the store. Someone said that the season has passed. We have found a fun, quick way to seed pomegranates (under water).

Here is another soup recipe:
American Hamburger Soup
1/2 to 1 lb. of hamburger (browned in soup pot)
2 c. cubed potatoes, 3 diced carrots (make them small)
2 T. minced parsley, 3/4 c. diced celery
1 t. sugar, 2 c. canned tomatoes (I often use a quart of home bottled tomatoes)
2 med. onions, diced msall, 2 T. minced green pepper
l large bay leaf, l clove chopped garlic, l t. Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 quarts water, 6 whole allspice, 1/8 t. pepper, 3 1/2 t. salt
1/3 c. rice or barley (I really like the barley)
Simmer until vegies are tender.

[Nancy O]

Another soup recipe:
Cabbage Patch Stew
1 lb. ground beef (I use less), 2 med. onions sliced thin. I c. shredded cabbage (I use more)
1/2 c. diced celery, 1 can of red kidney beans. I c. canned tomatoes, 1 t salt, pepper, 1 t. chili powder. Hot mashed potatoes. We mash ours with buttermilk and no butter (delicious)
Cook beef, add onions and cabbage and celery. Cook till onion turns yellow. Add water to cover about 2 c. and simmer 15 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes and seasonigs. Cook 15-25 minutes. Serve in bowls topped with scoops of mashed potatoes.

[skip hellewell]

Nancy O. Glad you wrote. This post on fruit for dessert got zero comments until you posted. This had never happened before so I concluded that the idea of fruit for dessert was foreign to all. Result was I removed this as a Healthy Change, as people just didn't connect with it.

Happy birthday to Mr. O.

[Nancy O]

My kids remember 1/2 a pear with a scoop of cottage cheese and some grated cheddar on top,
not as a dessert, but for breakfast. I love apple slices with some natural peanut butter. How about a date or a prune with an almond or Brazil nut inside. Someone told me that they put a scoop of coconut cream in their herb tea. I tried it this morning - pretty good. In a mixed fruit salad, I often put some unsweetened coconut flakes and a little almond extract.
The birthday was fun...the surprise, a trip to Disney World joined by our kids from NC
Cheers...

[alisha]

sorry it took me a while to reply to this post. my kids LOVE fruit for desert! blackberries and cream is a family favorite. but another one my kids beg for is:
"Chocolate Pudding"

2 frozen bananas (broken into chunks)
1 Tblspoon cocoa powder

throw it in a food processor and blend. my kids LOVE it! sometimes they get it for breakfast with a spoonful of yogurt thrown in too. oh yeah, and if you feel they need some good fat you can throw in an avacado (the cocoa covers it entirely). if it's desert, it gets a few sprinkles on top. and yes, they know it's good for them and ask for it anyway. :)

[Rachel]

Thank you for this post! I'm excited to try some new recipes.

We have a few fruit recipes that we make fairly regularly.

I like just a plain old sliced pear with cinnamon sprinkled on top. Bake at 375 until the edges start to caramelize (around 5 minutes).

We also love fruit smoothies (just add a little milk and ice).

I also a eat a version of this for breakfast, but it tastes like dessert. (I use half the sugar and don't bake the apples in the oatmeal, just add it with my milk.)
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/apple-cinnamon-baked-oatmeal/

[Mims]

I'm a bit behind in my reading, but when I grew up dessert was usually fruit based and we covered some of the desserts you already mentioned. Today dessert is usually a mixed fruit salad with nuts, just a fruit or one piece of dark chocolate. Here are some of my favourites:

Stuffed apples; we usually used oat meal as well in the stuffing
Apple sauce with cinnamon (and maybe milk)
Blueberries or strawberries with milk and maybe a dash of cream (no sugar added) (though where I', from this is a highly seasonal dessert)

One of my favourite winter fruit salads is the Citrus fruit salad:
Cut the skin off one grape fruit and two oranges, slice them in thin slices and put them on a plate or in a bowl. (You want to get the inner peel off as well, don't know what it's called in english though.)
Squeeze one or two limes into a small container and mix with a teaspoon of honey. Pour over the oranges and grape fruit and let marinade for at least a couple of hours.
Serve with a dollop of greek style youghurt or just as is (though I'm sure no one will complain if you serve it with vanilla ice cream).

Pomegranates, oranges and cinnamon also makes a great fruit salad.

Also, I have lived in eastern Europe, and there it's quite common to drink "compote" instead of juice: pour boiling water over dried fruit to let them soften, and then dilute with cold water. The longer you let the fruit steep the richer the taste will be, so they usually let leave the soaked fruit in the jug (plus, then you can always top it up with some more water when the supply is running low).