Caregiver: Senior Friendly Hacks for Holiday Desserts
Caregiver: October is National Healthy Dessert Month.
With the holidays right around the corner, it’s a great time to learn how to make healthy substitutions in traditional holiday desserts. When you sub out the high-calorie ingredients like butter and sugar in your holiday treats your senior loved one can enjoy the traditional holiday foods that they wait all year for without you having to worry about how those holiday feasts will impact your senior loved one’s health. If your senior parent loves to help with the holiday baking or if the holiday baking is something that they usually do with the help of a caregiver you can share these health substitutions with them so that they can use them when creating all those delicious holiday treats.
Senior Home Care in Redding CT: Holiday Dessert Hacks
Use Applesauce Instead Of Sugar
Applesauce can take the place of sugar in many recipes. It sounds shocking, but it’s true. Unsweetened applesauce has a similar texture to sugar and it can function just like sugar in recipes for baked goods, including in pie crusts. You and your senior loved one probably won’t notice the difference in the taste but you will notice the difference in calories! One cup of unsweetened applesauce has around 100 calories while one cup of white refined sugar has about 800 calories. So swapping applesauce for sugar can turn a high-calorie dessert into a low-calorie dessert.
Use Greek Yogurt Instead Of Sour Cream
Sour cream is used in many baked goods to give the finished product a rich and creamy flavor. Sometimes it’s also used in frostings for the same reason. But you can use unsweetened Greek yogurt instead of high-calorie sour cream to make desserts and cut out a lot of fat and calories. You can also use Greek yogurt in any recipes that call for ricotta cheese. You can also top fruit and cakes with flavored Greek yogurt instead of whipped cream or frosting.
Use Black Beans Instead Of Flour
Most people don’t believe that this substitution actually works but it really does. Puree some black beans and use them instead of flour. The beans add protein and fiber to the finished dessert and in most cases, no one will ever taste the difference. You can use a straight one-for-one swap when you use beans instead of flour so you can use a cup of pureed black beans instead of a cup of flour. Using black beans is also a fantastic way to make any recipe gluten-free.
Use Fig Puree Instead Of Butter
Another substitution that people think is weird until they try it is fig puree instead of butter. Unsweetened fig puree has the same consistency as melted butter and it adds healthy fat to a recipe. Because the consistency is the same fig puree can be used as a binder the same way that butter can. If you are making vegan-friendly treats for the holidays you can use fig puree instead of butter for baking cookies, breads, cakes, pies, and other items.
Hiring a caregiver can be a great companion to your senior to help and guide your senior in the kitchen as they are cooking.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring a Caregiver in Fairfax County, VA, please contact the caring staff at LivinRite Home Care.
Call Us Today at (703) 634-9991.
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