A small snack, treat or dessert idea? page

[thaijinx]

OK, so you're sitting on the couch, at the end of a productive day. You've had a belly-full of meat and fish and eggs, and a bunch of greens and some veg. But there's something kinda missing... a small hankering for a wee desert. Something to take the place of ice-cream, or cheese-cake to round off the evening.

What makes a small, and healthy Paleo snack alternative?
(And, bear in mind I'm trying to loose weight.)

Each thing I think of, has downsides!

I'm not ANY doing dairy or grains - so that's out.
I'm also no doing sugar - so no to that too...
Cheese is out because of the calories.
I would grab a handful of nuts, but too many nuts seems to get a bad rap, also calories.
Frozen fruit would be perfect, - but too much fructose, and again, carbs!

The only thing left seems to be dark chocolate, coconut or berries!

Any other suggestions for small, treats, snacks or desserts?

Thanks

[Sigi]

I sometimes like to have just a couple of naturally dried apricot halves after a meal, for a tangy/sweet finish. A bit of fibre, a bit of carb (not as bad as some other dried fruits), and I love the taste. Just don't overdo it.

I think you could have a few frozen raspberries without getting too uptight about the fructose/carb thing, particularly after a good protein/fat dinner - there's plenty worse things for you.

[La.C]

Can you give us a calorie range that you are looking at? My thoughts on losing weight are, if you are maintaining a healthy, balanced diet fruit should be allowable for dessert. Apples are in season here right now and they make the best after dinner snacks.

[Aili]

I have an apple when the mood strikes a couple of times a week.

[duckmama]

I've been enjoying apples & pears occasionally as "dessert" the past few weeks because they're in season here and we get them in our organics box. They're delicious!

Otherwise, when I need an indulgence, it's a square or two of very dark chocolate (85% or higher) with a cup of tea straight up.

[otzi]

Here are my go-to desserts:

Melt 4 squares of 100% baker's chocolate into 1/2 a jar of coconut oil [put jar of CO in pan of hot water, then stir in the choc], after it's mixed, put it in the fridge over night. It will set up rock hard, now put the jar in your cupboard and the next day it will be like peanut butter. I eat 1 or 2 big spoons right out of the jar for dessert.

Handful of frozen blueberries, cherries, raspberries or whatever in a bowl. Pour a splash (1/4 cup?) over them. It will instantly set-up like ice cream. Eat it while it's really cold.

Also, a good habit to get into is to not eat anything after supper. I like to end my evening meal with one of the above desserts, but after that--it's no more food until the next day. If you find yourself on the prowl for snacks in the evening you should have eaten more dinner or you are just bored or it's just a reflex. The quicker you can stop the evening munchies the further along you are to a better diet.

[Fury]

canned coconut milk that is thick enough to solidify in the fridge makes an amazing base for coconut 'chocolates' (the coconut milk gives a great mouthfeel as it melts)

I mixed a can with 3-4 tbsp of cocoa powder, dash of stevia, a block of creamed coconut (coconut oil would work too) & about 30g of 80% dark chocolate in a double boiler, then cooled on parchment paper in fridge. I then rolled the resulting fudge into balls, dipped in finely shredded dried coconut and store in fridge/freezer.

End result is "chocolates" that are +80% coconut by weight & rather low sugar (just from coconut & 11g from the cheap chocolate I had on hand) and the recipe made at least 50 or so truffles.


That, or perhaps some sort of coconut milk & egg pudding/custard sweetened w stevia. Perhaps even made with some sort of sticky white rice as a way to get enough starchy carbs if need be.

[tplank]

Change your idea of dessert: grab some meat. I'll make kabobs and then have chunks of meat and vegetables for just such an occasion.

Another "desert" I love:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/forum/thread40210.html

[thaijinx]

Change your idea of dessert: grab some meat.

Ugh! More meat!?!

It's not that I'm still hungry... it's more habit, boredom, or just wanting some variety from the usual meat, fish,egg, veg. A 'treat' just every now and again... I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, as long as you can find a healthy alternative.

I like the sound of the chocolate/coconut oil combos you guys have suggested. I will definitely try some of those idea. Berries are impossible to come by here, I might perhaps be able to find frozen ones, but only tropical fruits, coconuts and papaya here...

[thaijinx]

Handful of frozen blueberries, cherries, raspberries or whatever in a bowl. Pour a splash (1/4 cup?) over them. It will instantly set-up like ice cream. Eat it while it's really cold.

A splash of what, Otzi? Coconut oil?