I often get asked if I have a cheat day. Honestly, I feel like every day is a cheat day with the meals that I prepare.
With a little effort and creative ingredient swaps, we can eat delicious foods that feel indulgent. When I think of a salty cheat meal, a burger and fries come to mind. I grew up going to a local drive thru for a good burger and it was delicious, but not the best for my body. I’ve found that with a few ingredient tweaks, I can turn these “cheat day” meals into daily options. For example, use grass-fed beef and make your own burger to replace the factory farmed fast-food burger. Your body will thank you for it!
Some days you may just crave a “real” cheat meal. In this scenario my best advice is to let yourself truly enjoy it. Don’t ruminate over the fact that you aren’t eating the healthiest option. Enjoy your food! Your thoughts are powerful and beating yourself up about a treat that you enjoyed is more damaging than the treat itself. Grant yourself some grace and enjoy! No shame about it.
Sweets are my kryptonite. I’ve made a business out of sweet indulgences. The baked goods world has always been my cheat meal of choice. Back in high school, I used to make late night donut shop runs for fresh out of the fryer donut holes with my buddies. Whenever we’d go to the mall, we’d always grab a warm chocolate chip cookie from the food court. Sugar is hard to resist! However, after suffering from major gut issues, I decided to completely cut out gluten and refined-sugar from even my cheat days. It just wasn’t worth it for me anymore to have stomach pains and bowel inconsistencies. I started to search for smarter ingredients that I could use to make my favorite treats a little bit friendlier on my digestive system. This was a key moment in starting Crosby’s Baking Co and how I found Lakanto! I love being able to eat sweets that are gluten-free, sugar-free, taste amazing and leave me feeling good after.
Another one of my other favorite cheat day treats is ice cream. I love going to local ice cream shops, but I am sensitive to the sugar spike. I don’t want to give up ice cream, so I recently started making my own at home using organic ingredients and a blender. To start, I use an ice cube tray to make frozen milk cubes. This is key as it helps make the blended treat turn out extra thick and creamy. With those frozen milk cubes in the blender, I add egg yolks, vanilla extract, protein powder and monk fruit extract drops to keep the ice cream sugar free. You can be creative and add more flavors that you like.
I’ve put together an ice cream blizzard sundae for you guys using some of my favorite toppings from Lakanto! Check out the recipe below and head to Lakanto’s Instagram to see the finished product! It uses healthier ingredients and it’s delicious! Go try it!
Peanut Butter Cup Blizzard Sundae
Freeze milk of choice in an ice cube tray overnight.
8-10 milk cubes
1 scoop protein powder of choice
1 tbs Lakanto Organic Monkfruit and Erythritol Sweetener
1 tsp glutamine
1 tsp glycine
1 egg yolk or tbs almond butter
1/8 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
Cut 2 Lakanto Peanut Butter Cups into 1/4s and add in
I used a Vitamix tamper to help blend into an ice cream texture. Add liquid as needed depending on the blender.
Add more cut up pieces of Lakanto pb cups, gems, and mini chocolate chips to the top.
Enjoy!
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