cheap & healthy desserts?

[lisabarr]

I was watching the Food Network today and saw this yummmy desert being made. I printed it out for my self and thought I would share.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_36665,00.html

 

[NHdisneylover]

Lots of good ideas already. How about pumpkin pie? We just put one in the oven for tonight. My kids love it and it is pretty healthy (lots of vitamin A and fiber).

 

[Wilsonfamily4]

my kids love smoothies and when there is extra I make that into frozen pops as well.

 

[scrapquitler]

Honestly, we don't do much 'desert' around here. We do cakes/cookies/cupcakes now and then, but homemade is much less expensive (and has less preservatives and other junk in it).
Mostly, I try to encourage my kids to eat fruit but I also make sugar free jello, both with and dwithout fruit in it and instant puddings. They also love homemade applesauce, made with lots of cinnamon.

 

[MEM]

My kids love cupcakes made from a box of spice cake mix and a can of pumpkin. No other ingredients needed. There are umpteen varieties on the theme, most of which call for a can of diet soda and a box of cake mix. We don't do any artificial sweeteners at my house because three of us are ultra-sensitive to them, so I use regular Coke with chocolate cake mix, for example, and it only adds a few calories per cupcake. I make these about once a month. You can greatly reduce the fat in a lot of recipes by replacing the oil, measure for measure, with applesauce. Brownie mix made with cinnamon applesauce is outstanding.

Angel food cake is also popular, served with canned peach halves that have been sprinkled with a little brown sugar and broiled until caramelized.

We also like smoothies made with frozen, unsweetened strawberries, skim milk, ice cubes and a little honey.

 

[IluvKingLouis]

My kids love cupcakes made from a box of spice cake mix and a can of pumpkin. No other ingredients needed.

Wow! This sounds fantastic. Could you tell me what size can of pumpkin you use? And did I understand correctly? No other indgredients?

 

[MEM]

Wow! This sounds fantastic. Could you tell me what size can of pumpkin you use? And did I understand correctly? No other indgredients?

Its the smaller of the two cans pumpkin usually comes in - I want to say, about 15 ounces? Yep, its just the two ingredients - the cupcakes don't rise very much. Some folks like to "frost" with cool whip - I don't care for the fat-free one, but the lite version is okay.

When using the cake mix and soda/pop some popular combos are lemon cake with Sprite, chocolate cake with Coke or Dr. Pepper. For that you use a 12 ounce can of soda/pop and the box of cake mix. I was told to avoid the cake mix that has pudding in it. The cheapest, store brand mixes work just fine. Sure, its a lot of sugar
but I'm more concerned with too much fat in my diet.

 

[Danemom]

My family loves this cake, especially in the summer.
http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/recipedetail.htm?recipe_id=51103
We make it with a sugar free angel food cake. It's low sugar (just the natural sugar in the fruit) and low fat.

 

[tyluvsdis]

At our house, we love to eat angel food cake with cool whip. Also, cool whip with cut bananas and a small amount of carmel or butterscotch topping. So great and refreshing!!

 

[loveabargin]

Weight Watcher's cupcakes: Box of Devil's Food Cake Mix/ can of pumpkin...that's it. Very yummy!

Vanilla Wafers, spray a dollop of whipped topping, sprinkle with sprinkles...very festive and my kids love it...great for "tea parties"

Fruit of any type, cut up, with cheeses

ham or turkey and cheese and crackers (lunchables like, but cheaper)

FF or SF whipped topping with 100 calorie pack of nutter butters to dip! YUMMY

 

[marcyinPA]

Weight Watcher's cupcakes: Box of Devil's Food Cake Mix/ can of pumpkin...that's it. Very yummy!

YUMMY

I used to make these when I was doing WW a few years ago. They were so good!! (I used just plain chocolate cake mix) I haven't made them in a few years...I think I need to try them again! Thanks!

 

[autumnsmommy]

Weight Watcher's cupcakes: Box of Devil's Food Cake Mix/ can of pumpkin...that's it. Very yummy!

YUMMY

What size can? The 15oz one or the 30-ish one?

 

[kandeebunny]

Apple slices to dip in melted peanut butter

Fruit...plain old fruit is very popular here

Meringues made with splenda instead of sugar, add a bit of unsweetened cocoa powder for variety

 

[NHWX]

Strawberries dipped in melted chocolate.

NHWX

 

[It's A Happy Day]

In this house...
*yogurt with either fruit or granola or both
*popcorn
*homemade trailmix - various cereals, nuts, pretzels, popcorn, raisins, M&M's or chocolate chips (can also use PB chips, white choc chips, etc.)
*frozen fruit - blueberries, strawberries, grapes, bananas
*fresh fruit
*buy egg roll wrappers - add chopped apples, walnuts (optional), cinnamon, and a little sugar, fold over & seal - fry or bake - great mini apple pies. Can do with various fruits
*Frozen waffles topped with fresh fruit & whipped cream - cut waffle in 1/2 or even 1/4's for portion control
*sugar free jello, pudding, popsicles, reduced sugar creamsicles, ice cream sandwiches, fudgicles.
*Celery with cream cheese or peanut butter

 

[JKYlovesRuss]

we like a mock key lime pie.

1 fat free ready graham cracker crust (the rest of the ingredients should not be fat free as it will turn out runny)
1 pkg lime gelatin
1 10 oz container whipped topping (store brand is fine)
2 6 oz containers lime yogurt (yoplait rich and creamy)
lime zest.

boil 1/4 cup of water. Add the gelatin. mix until gelatin is disolved. whisk in the yogurt. fold in the whipped topping. top with some lime zest.

freeze over night. defrost 1 hour before serving. Serves 8

This dessert is always a hit.... you can also substitute lime for raspberry and add dark chocolate shavings... awesome! you can make it in any flavor

 

[mjantz]

We don't usually do desserts with family meals but I put a little sweet treat in the kids lunches. They love the various snacks that I get at our local Asian market. Here's a few:

-Pocky: various cookie sticks coated with different flavors. Strawberry & chocolate are the favorites around here although I bought some milk-flavored that they loved as well. 1 package usually has about 16 sticks & I usually send 4 in a lunchbox.
-Koala cookies: Not sure what the actual name of these are but they're little cookies filled with either chocolate or strawberry cream. In the past I've bought the little packages that were $1 but this time I bought a larger box that had 16 mini-packets inside. Each packet had about 5 cookies in it.
-Yogurt jellies: These come in different fruit flavors & are about the size of a medicine cup. They keep at room temperature but I put them in the fridge.

 

[IDoDis]

We all love the Blue Bunny Sweet Freedom Fudgsicles. They are fat free and sugar free -- about 13 or 14 calories each.

Another thing I do is freeze containers of yogurt. The kids love eating the "frozen yogurt." I get the natural lower sugar version, so they have a lot less sugar than Gogurts (which you can also freeze).

Rice Krispy treats are also low fat and pretty cheap to make.

 

[marcyinPA]

Last night, I took a Gala apple, cut it in half and cored it, sprinkled about 1/2 a teaspoon of brown sugar on each half, and a good dose of cinnamon, and microwaved it until it was soft. Then I put a very small scoop (less than a serving size) of light vanilla ice cream on top. It was REALLY good!!! Sort of like a baked apple. YUMMY!

 

[problemchild718]

2 Low fat chocolate graham crackers with lite or fat free cool whip in the middle. Freeze and enjoy-tastes like an ice cream sandwich. I make a bunch at a time.
We do lots of fruit and veggies (I have to wash and cut everything up as soon as I get it home)
pita chips with dip or salsa/cinnamon pita chips with fruit salsa or fruit dip (equal amounts of fat free cream cheese that I whip and add Fluffernutter.
I make the pita chips from inexpensive pitas-cut into wedges seperate and bake until crispy, you can sprinkle with cinnamon sugar or italian seasoning and a little parm. yum
My kids also eat alot of dry cereal for snack.