Delicious, Guilt-Free Desserts

To me, the best things in life include dessert! I have to have it almost every night. And it has to be good.

When I was just watching calories, I always made sure to have lots of low-cal treats on hand - things like Skinny Cow ice cream bars or Weight Watchers cakes. I figured they were better than the full fat versions, but I knew they were still full of sugar and empty calories.

With the new vegan diet, I've been trying my hardest to do it in the healthiest way possible. To me that means less sugar and processed food. And though I haven't managed to cut all the store bought vegan treats (like Tofutti Cuties and Newman's Own sandwich cookies), I've been trying to keep them to a minimum.

So, I was super excited to learn about a new healthy dessert to add to my repertoire - vegan soft serve. I learned about it here.  I was a little skeptical, but it's amazing! It has the exact texture of soft serve ice cream. And you can top it with any of your favorite ice cream toppings to make it taste even more like the real thing.

Vegan Soft Serve
It's super easy to make. You just peel, break up and freeze a really ripe banana or two, throw them in the food processor and pulse, pulse, pulse. Add a splash of almond or soy milk and process until it looks like soft serve. I topped mine with a few crumbled chocolate cookies and drizzled with melted vegan chocolate chips and it was scrumptious! Try it!

Here are a few more yummy, but good-for-you options:

Apple Mint Salad
My mom introduced me to this a year or two ago. You just cut up an apple, chop up some mint and mix it together. Try to get at least one little piece of mint with each bite of apple. I've used fuji and gala for this. The mint brings out the full flavor of the apple - its so good! 

Vegan Strawberry Parfait
Strawberries are in season, which means they're super sweet and cheap. I made this a few days ago on a warm afternoon when I wanted something cool and refreshing. I got the idea from a fruit dip recipe where you dip the fruit in sour cream and then brown sugar. I sliced a few strawberries and stirred in a few spoonfuls of vegan sour cream and some agave syrup. I topped it with granola.

Granola Bars
I made these a few weeks ago and they were so good! I made them for snacks, but they turned out really sweet and made a great dessert.

Dessert Toast
Another one of my favorites is a piece of whole grain bread toasted and spread with peanut butter, almond butter or tahini, covered with sliced banana and drizzled with agave or maple syrup.

Do you have a favorite healthy dessert? Share it below!