Fresh Fruit Salad - A Fast Healthy Breakfast and Dessert Idea

Looking for a simple, healthy and fast breakfast or dessert idea? A fresh fruit salad is the perfect choice. This simple fruit salad with just a few ingredients is easy to prepare and delicious every time. With some simple ingredient exchanges and serving ideas it can be one of the most versatile recipes around.

This fruit recipe serves two to three people but can easily be doubled to serve more.

For this fresh fruit salad recipe you will need:

One large red delicious apple - cored and thinly sliced

One large navel orange - peeled, sectioned and cut into chunks

1 cup green or red seedless grapes - cut each grape in half

1/2 cup of sliced almonds

1 to 1 1/2 cups of lemon yogurt - to desired moistness

ground nutmeg - to taste

In a mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients. This salad can be prepared the night before, so in the morning the salad is ready to go. It's a healthy and quick breakfast any day of the week.

With these easy ingredient exchanges, this fresh fruit salad will always be new and flavorful. As the seasons change you can use whatever is available. Some fruit combinations you could try are:

- Spring fruit combination: bananas, blueberries, kiwi

- Summer fruit combination: grapes, pineapple, peaches

- Fall fruit combination: apples, pears, dates

- Winter fruit combination: mango, avocado, oranges

Swap out the almonds with toasted or raw coconut, toasted sunflower seeds, walnut pieces, pecan pieces, or dried cranberries. Instead of the lemon yogurt, try strawberry, peach, blueberry, or plain Greek style yogurt and instead of the nutmeg, use cinnamon, or a nutmeg and cinnamon combination, or honey. You are only limited by your imagination.

For a simple dessert, try serving this salad in mini graham cracker tart shells or you could try preparing the fruit salad without the yogurt and instead layer the fruit and the yogurt in alternating layers in parfait glasses.

Another simple presentation is to serve the fruit salad over a bed of sliced strawberries or salad greens with warm rolls on the side for a light and quick meal.

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Kid Healthy Dessert - Fruit Crisp

Fruit crisps are thought to be a dessert that originated in the Southern States. Whether old or new, the recipe is a favorite with children. The fresh fruit makes a healthy snack for kids as well as an elegant dessert.

The recipes taste best is made with fresh fruits but frozen fruits are convenient and taste fresh with modern day packaging. A fruit crisp is easy to make. There is no crust required. These desserts can be served warm right out of the oven and topped with ice cream or real whipped cream.

You can create some healthy fruit crisps desserts for kids' snacks. Fruit crisp recipes are simple and quick to prepare. You can use almost any kind of fruit to create these scrumptious but healthy desserts. This recipe is a simple and quick way to prepare dessert without using refined sugar or even honey.

You can substitute fruit concentrates, date sugar or brown-rice syrup for white refined sugar. These alternative ingredients are usually available at your health food store.

Cherry Fruit Crisps are a delicious and a healthy way to consume vitamin C. Cherries are abundant with naturally occurring chemicals are called anthocyanins. Cherries also have anti-inflammatory properties useful in treating arthritis and may help fight colon cancer. Cherries are good for the entire family.

Cherry Crisps

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh or frozen, thawed, and drained dark sweet cherries

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons plus 1-1/2 teaspoons tapioca

½-1/2 cup of unsweetened pineapple juice concentrate (Minute Maid)

2 tablespoons of water

Double oat topping

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Spray a 9x9 by 2-inch glass or ceramic baking dish.

3. In large bowl mix together all the ingredients with the exception of the topping

4. Pour mixture into prepared baking dish.

5. Let sit for 10 minutes.

6. Add topping.

7. Bake 50 minutes or until topping is golden brown.

8. Remove from oven.

9. Place on a wire rack to cool

10. Serve warm or refrigerate

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5 Simple Healthy Fruit Dessert Recipes

You will be happy to know that not all desserts are going to do a lot of damage to your body. In fact it is not a bad thing to come back for seconds without feeling guilty. Using fruits in desserts is a great idea because not only do the natural sugars add to the sweetening of the dish, but they provide antioxidants necessary to combat fatal diseases such as cancer and diabetes that are not welcome in our lives. We especially love easy healthy desserts recipes. Life is complicated enough as it is without having to worry about how to make the dessert.

Here are 5 simple healthy dessert recipes that you will probably enjoy and are good for you at the same time

Strawberries with Balsamic

Using balsamic with the sweetness of the strawberries makes for an excellent combination. Topping them with a meringue and a little sweetened yoghurt will be an even bigger treat. Just use natural sugar when you are making the meringues.

Caramelized Bananas

This is a really simple dessert. All you have to do is slice the banana in half. Add a small square of margerine to a pan and leave the banana in the pan for 1 minute on either side with a drizzle of honey.

Berry Frozen Yoghurt

This is a simple thing to do. Just mix everything together the night before and freeze it. The next day you have a fabulous dessert.

Lemon Granita

This is an old Italian favourite. Just add lemon, natural sugar and water together and place it in the freezer. Every hour take it out and then break the ice crystals up with a fork until they are fully formed. You can use different fruits here.

Baked Apple

People like having an apple baked in the oven for breakfast and others as a dessert. It tastes great stuffed with cinnamon, brown sugar and raisins.

Healthy Dessert Recipes

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Fresh Fruit: The Sweet, Healthy Dessert

Americans love dessert so much that some of us eat it before the meal instead of after. Fudgy brownies, gooey layer cake, cookies the size of saucers - we savor them all. But these desserts are high in sugar, fat, and calories. Is there such a thing as a healthy dessert? Yes, and it's fresh fruit.

"The New Mayo Clinic Cookbook" recommends fresh fruit as a regular dessert and for good reasons. Fresh fruit contains fiber, something we need to eat every day. Our bodies also need vitamin C and fresh fruits are loaded with it. Some fresh fruits, such as red grapes, may protect your body from heart disease and cancer, according to Mayo Clinic.

There are other reasons for eating fresh fruit. An article on http://www.MyPyramid.gov says fresh fruit may reduce the risk for type 2 diabetes, protect the body against colon and rectal cancer, and reduce the risk of kidney disease. When the government and Mayo Clinic recommend fresh fruit, they're talking about plain fruit, not something under a mountain of whipped cream.

You must store fruit properly in order to reap its health benefits. The University of California, Davis, says some fruits should be stored at room temperature. Bananas are an example. If you put bananas in the refrigerator they get black spots on them and the flavor diminishes.

Honeydew melon, cantalope, and other fruits that can be refrigerated should be chilled after they're ripe. Store fruit in a separate bin, away from vegetables and meat. Fresh fruit should be washed just before you eat it.

Choosing fresh fruit for dessert satisfies your craving for sweets and helps you get the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day. These desserts are the perfect ending for a casual or fancy meal. They're healthy, too, so if you want to eat dessert before dinner, do it!

RED AND GREEN GRAPES WITH FRENCH CREAM. Wash grapes, pat dry with a towel, and put them in a large bowl. For French cream, combine 1 cup of fat free sour cream, 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar, 1/2 cup Splenda, 1 teaspoon of grated lemon peel, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Spoon mixed grapes into serving dishes and top with a dollop of French cream.

ORANGE FLOWERS WITH RASPBERRY SAUCE. Carefully remove the peel from four oranges. With a serrated knife, cut tic-tac-toe slices in the top of each whole orange, being careful not to cut all the way through. Place the oranges on serving plates. Spread the orange "petals" apart, leaving the center "stamen" in tact. Combine 1/2 cup low sugar raspberry jam with 2 tablespoons hot water and 1 tablespoon of honey. Drizzle sauce over the orange flowers and garnish with mint.

STRAWBERRY DELIGHT PARFAITS. Wash and slice 1 pint of strawberries. Sprinkle with Splenda and set aside. Break apart mini vanilla wafers until you have 1 cup of crumbs. To make parfaits layer strawberries, fat free, sugar free strawberry yogurt, sugar free topping, and crumbled wafers in parfait glasses. Stick a whole wafer on top of each parfait before serving.

BAKED APPLES WITH CINNAMON CRUMBLE. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel 4-5 Granny Smith apples. Cut the apples into slices and arrange in concentric circles on a 9" pie plate coated with baking spray. Combine 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon cloves, 3 tablespoons extra-light olive oil, and 1/2 cup sliced almonds. Sprinkle crumble mixture over apples and bake until the top is golden brown, or about 30 minutes. Serve warm with a spoonful of fat free, sugar free vanilla yogurt.

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Healthy, Nutritious and Tasty Carrot Dessert

Healthy, nutritious and tasty carrot cake recipe are considered one of the best desserts to have on cold winter nights. Packed with essential nutrients and vitamins in the form of nuts, eggs and lots of carrots, these cakes are easy to prepare at home. Given below is a popular homemade carrot cake recipe.

What you will need:

- Vegetable oil - 2 cups

- White sugar - 2 2/3 cups

- Eggs - 5 (at room temperature)

- Peeled and grated carrots - 2 2/3 cups

- Cut walnuts - 1 1/3 cups

- Diced pineapple - 1 1/3 cups

- Coconut flakes - 2/3 cup

- Raisins - 1/3 cup

- All-purpose flour - 3 1/2 cups

- Baking soda - 1 1/3 tablespoons

- Baking powder - 1 1/3 tablespoons

- Ground cinnamon - 2 2/3 tablespoons

- Salt - 1 teaspoon

To prepare:

- Preheat the oven to 180C.

- Grease two 10-inch baking tins using flour and oil.

- In a deep mixing bowl, break the eggs and add the sugar.

- Use an electric blender to beat the mix for about 2 minutes.

- Add the vegetable oil to the mix and beat some more until you get a smooth emulsion.

- Add the grated carrot and diced pineapple. Switch from electric blender to a spoon to mix the ingredients.

- Add the coconut flakes and raisins and mix well.

- In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ground cinnamon and salt.

- Add the flour mix to the wet ingredients, spoon by spoon, and mix well to avoid any lumps.

- Pour the prepared batter in the two greased pans and smooth the tops.

- Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

- Let the cake cool for about 30 minutes before removing from the tin and cutting to serve.

Serving suggestions:

Carrot cake is best served with cream cheese frosting. You can use this frosting in layers or over the whole cake; or you can also prepare two different cakes and join them using a layer of cream cheese frosting.

Another popular option for serving and decorating this cake is to cover the top and sides with cream cheese frosting and sprinkle coconut flakes all around the cake.

You can also use cornflakes on the frosting for the crunchy texture.

Caramel sauce also tastes very good with the carrot cake. You can either drizzle some caramel sauce over the homemade carrot cake or serve it on the side.

Honey and cream also goes well with delicious carrot cake. Serve the cake warm when serving with honey.

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