3 Healthy(ish) DESSERTS | Vegan + Gluten-Free + Dairy-Free

Hey lovelies. So since getting pregnant last year, I have to tell you, I have developed a bit of a sweet tooth, which is actually new for me. I used to always be a savory instead of a sweet, but now I get these strong cravings for things like chocolates and desserts. So today I'm actually going to be sharing with you three of my very favorite healthy-ish dessert recipes that I use to satisfy my sweet cravings. Now to bring you this video, I've teamed up with Thrive Market. It's an amazing online marketplace that looks to make eating healthy, easy, and affordable for everyone. What I love about Thrive is that all of their organic and natural products come in at about 25 to 50 percent less than traditional retail prices. So you can get a lot more bang for your buck, which of course is good for everyone. The other thing I love about Thrive is that their site has more than 80 different filters you can use to sort through thousands of products. Things like Whole30, Paleo, Gluten-Free, basically they accommodate almost all dietary preferences. And the best part about Thrive is that for every membership purchase, they give a free membership to a teacher, a veteran, or a low-income family. If you're new to Thrive Market and you want to give it a try, they are offering 25% off your first purchase and a free 30-day trial. All of those details are in the description box. You can check them out. Plus, if you're already a Thrive Market member, don't forget to check out your inbox or their homepage for today's extra deal. That's right, if you sign up for Thrive, you get gifts and special discounts each and every day. How great is that? Now I should mention that as of today, Thrive Market is only available in the United States, but they have assured me that they are working on coming up to Canada as soon as they can find an environmentally sustainable way to ship up here. So I will keep you posted on that. Stay tuned. Now, my friends, it is time to talk dessert. And almost all of the ingredients you see in today's video actually came from Thrive Market. We're kicking things off today with these ethically scrumptious crispy chocolate peanut butter balls. These are totally to die for, guys. And they also happen to be gluten-free, dairy-free, and totally vegan. What makes these so amazingly crispy is actually some crisp rice cereal, one of my favorite ingredients when making balls like this, because you get such an awesome texture. Now, the glue that's going to hold these all together and our sweetener is going to be our dates. Really important to pit your dates ahead of time because your food processor is not going to be happy if you don't. To that, I'll be adding some peanut butter and some coconut flour. You could swap in some almond flour here as well if you wanted to. Both will work really, really well. Just helps to give everything a nice consistency. Once I've got all of that yumminess mixed up and nice and smooth, I'm going to transfer it into a bowl. And then I am going to stir in my crisp rice cereal. You could do this with a spoon, but I have to be honest with you guys, the best way to do this is with your hands because obviously that mixture is nice and thick now. The crispier, as far as I'm concerned, the better. And then I'll simply roll it into one-inch balls and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. This would be a wonderful job if you've got kids in the house. The great part is this mixture is completely cooked already, so they can lick the bowl, no problem. Then I'm going to get these into the freezer for between 20 and 30 minutes. The reason I do this is because we're actually going to be rolling these in some melted chocolate. And of course, if they're frozen, they're less likely to melt when they hit that heated chocolate. Always really important to think about. Once your peanut butter balls are just about ready, it is time to prepare your chocolate. Now for this recipe, I am using some dark chocolate chips and I'm just going to be mixing them with a touch of coconut oil, which is going to help give a nice texture to my chocolate. I'm going to melt these together using a double boiler, which is basically just a heat-proof glass bowl sitting on top of about one inch of simmering water. And I'm just going to gently stir my dark chocolate chips until everything is nice and smooth. Then I can roll each of my frozen peanut butter balls in the chocolate until they are well coated, and I'll just transfer them back to the same parchment-lined baking sheet to allow them to cool. Just before these set, I always recommend adding just a touch of sea salt to the tops. Totally an optional step, but what you end up with is like these little delicious magical bites. Do I have chocolate on my teeth? Next, for even more chocolate goodness, we're making some brownies, guys. But not just any brownies, these are my decadent double chocolate chickpea brownies, the not-so-secret ingredient being chickpeas. Now I know that might sound a little crazy, but trust me, you can't knock it until you guys tried it. These brownies are killer, and using chickpeas instead of traditional all-purpose flour keeps them gluten-free. Plus, they've got fiber and protein. What's not to like? For this recipe, once again, I'll be using my food processor. I'm starting by adding my cooked chickpeas, which I have drained and rinsed. To that, I'll be adding some almond butter, a little maple syrup for sweetness, some cacao powder, and a little bit of almond flour. Now traditionally, these ingredients can be really, really pricey, so it was nice to get them through Thrive Market at a significant discount. Next, I've got some vanilla extract headed in here with a little bit of baking soda and baking powder for lift, and of course, a little bit of salt because whenever you are baking something sweet, you want to add a little bit of salt because it helps all of the flavors really come to life. Then I'm just going to blend all of this up on high until it is super smooth. Don't hesitate to let this blend up for two, three, four minutes. You want to get it as smooth as you possibly can because obviously, the smoother it is, the smoother your brownies will be. A little food processor dance for you guys there. It's been a while since I've danced on the channel. I felt inspired. Just before I get this yumminess into the oven, I wanted to add even more chocolaty goodness to this recipe, so I'm actually going to be shaking in some vegan chocolate chips. I'll stir those thoroughly, and then it's just a matter of transferring this batter into our prepared baking dish. Now, I believe it is so very important when making brownies to properly line your dish like this. I like doing it with parchment paper hung over both sides. That way, I can just lift my brownies out, and it makes them really simple to cut. If you don't have parchment paper on hand, you can just grease the dish really well with a little bit of coconut oil. That will work too. Then you just cut them straight out of the pan. Into the oven this goes 350 degrees Fahrenheit for between 30 and 35 minutes, and what you come out with is a gluten- free, vegan dessert that is absolutely delicious. These amazing brownies are guaranteed to turn your frowny upside down. Now, I have to say our final dessert is definitely the one that I am most excited about today. These are my delicious lime tarts, and they're actually made with a macadamia nut crust, one of my very favorite kinds of nuts. First, we'll start by making our crust. I'm just going to get my few dates into my food processor and let them pulse up for a little bit just to help them turn into a bit of a paste before I add the rest of my ingredients. To that, I'm going to add a heaping helping of macadamia nuts, and then I'm also going to add a little bit of shredded coconut to this because obviously, coconut and lime were meant to be together, as the song suggests. You put the lime in the coconut and spin it all around. I can never remember what the actual lyrics to that song are, but you know what I'm talking about. We'll let all of that tastiness blend together until it resembles coarse crumbs, and then it will be ready to press into our tart tins. Traditionally, when I make tarts like this, I have these adorable little non-stick tart shells with a little scalloped edge and the bottoms come out. Unfortunately, for reasons I cannot explain, they have absolutely disappeared in my kitchen. So today, I am improvising with a really great kitchen hack. I'm basically using the tops of my mason jars. I flip them upside down and grease them really well with a little bit of coconut oil, and I'm just going to take a handful of my macadamia nut mixture and press it into the lid to create a tart shell. You can see I'm leaving a little reservoir in the center because that is where our amazing filling is going to go. Then, I'm going to get these into the freezer for between 20 and 30 minutes. While those tart shells are setting, we are going to work on our avocado lime mousse. Of course, that all begins with some avocado. To that, I'll be adding the little agave for sweetness, and then I'll just add the zest and juice of two limes to get this really incredible lime flavor. Once that's all mixed up, you can just transfer it either to a piping bag or a zipper bag, clip off the end, and then use it to fill those amazing tart shells. I like adding a little pretty to the top of these with just some coconut chips and a teeny tiny wedge of lime. How adorable is this dessert? Adorable and deliciously edible. I hope you guys will give all three of these awesome dessert ideas a try. If you do, be sure to tweet me, Instagram me, or Facebook me a photo because I always love seeing your kitchen creations. Remember, if you want to give Thrive Market a try for yourselves, they are offering 25% off your first order and a free 30-day membership. All those details are in the description box. If you haven't already, be sure to subscribe because there is a lot more deliciousness where this came from. Decadent chocolate peanut buttery deliciousness like this.