You can get the same great taste you enjoy with half the fat and sugar.
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Satisfy those cravings fast with this recipe
t Battling constant food cravings and feeling like you just can’t stick to your diet? If you are always craving sweets and often do find yourself giving in from time to time, your best bet is to make sure that you are finding ways to satisfy those cravings to maintain adherence to your diet plan.
t If you continually give in to them with higher calorie items, it doesn’t take much to realize that continued fat loss is unlikely to be in your cards.
t Therefore, your far better option is to think up smarter substitutions for some of the recipes you love so that you can get the same great taste you enjoy with half the fat and sugar.
t Apple pie is a favorite among many people and you can easily make this recipe healthier with a few food swaps. Whether you’re on a low-carb or low-fat diet, you can easily alter it to fit your needs.
t Let’s look at how to go about doing so.
The crust
t The crust is the first thing that will need to get a significant makeover, as a usual pie crust is very high in sugar and fat and isn’t going to do your diet justice.
t To help improve the nutrition, simply swap out the flour for protein powder and use ground almonds to help build the base.
t To prepare, mix together 1/2 scoop of vanilla casein protein powder with one scoop (1/4 cup) of plain vanilla whey and 1/2 cup ground almonds (or almond flour).
t Add a little unsweetened almond milk to get a thick dough type of texture and then press into a pie pan.
t Note that you will not need to bake this crust, so simply set aside until you’re ready to eat.
The filling
t Next, you need to address the filling. While typical apple pie recipes do call for fresh apples, which does include good nutrition, they also call for a high amount of added sugar. Our mission is to avoid that.
t So to prepare the filling, you’ll want to chop up two or three fresh apples (Granny Smith and Gala apples both work well — stay away from Red or Golden Delicious however) and then add them to a baking dish. Add to that enough unsweetened applesauce to coat, about a teaspoon or so of cinnamon (depending on how strong you want it) and then some stevia or Splenda to sweeten if desired.
t Place this in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes at 350 degrees F or until desired firmness is reached.
t Remove from the oven once finished and then set aside to let cool for a few minutes.
The topping
t Meanwhile, prepare the topping. Now here is where you can alter the recipe to be lower fat or lower carb in nature depending on your diet goals.
t If it’s lower fat that you want, then you’ll combine a quarter cup of quick oats with about a cup of chopped pecans along with a touch of almond milk to get the mixture to ‘crumble’ slightly.
t If you want to add some brown sugar Splenda, you can do so, but note that it is not a calorie-free sweetener.
t If you want a low-carb version, then swap out the oats from above with ground almonds instead. It’ll provide some healthy fats and keep the carb count down.
t Once you have this assembled, then simply spoon the apples into your crust and then top with this mixture and serve immediately.
t So don’t let your cravings get the best of you. Get creative and think up healthier substitutions that can be used.
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