For those of you who don’t know, I’m in the process of moving. So I apologize for missing a few days of challenges here and there. But I am no longer employed at the moment so I should have at least 30 min a day to get a blog done till my trip back to Oregon.
Anyways, I had my last night at work on Tuesday. Woohoo!!! Stay at home mom for a few months! But it was still sad. I hate saying bye to people. It would be one thing if I wasn’t leaving the state and it was just me leaving the job. But I am moving a little too far away to have a Saturday lunch and stuff. So my friends at work threw me a party.

As you can see, we had a little bit of foodage… Ok a whole table. It was wonderful. I didn’t expect it at all. I’m still in shock that people cared enough to do that for me.

At my work, a lot of people know me as the girl who lost a lot of weight in automation (the area I worked). There’s actually a few women in automation that lost a ton of weight but my weight loss is pretty much the only thing I’m known for there. Others a tad bit ( a lot) more well known than I am.  So right after the party, people came up and said stuff about my diet plan and the food that was there. There really weren’t a bunch of healthy options there.

  1. I’m going to be real honest here and say my diet has sucked over the last month. Like sucked enough that people that know me will be shocked when I reveal my weight during the 10 minute trainer challenge. I do blame stress but at the same time, I know what choices I should make and I haven’t been making them. I’ll apologize for that when the time comes.
  2. . It’s my freakin party. I couldn’t care less what food was there. People threw a party for me. If it was a table of burnt cookies, it would have still been lovely. Why? Because for that entire 20 minutes (how long our break was) that table of food was put there to celebrate me. I enjoyed that food like a carb, sugar, cheese diet was going to save humanity.
  3. I did the whole number thing but had to get up and put the cat out and now I forget what #3 was, so you’re just going to pretend something epic was written here.

But the comments had me thinking. The people that put this together had said they were thinking about telling people to only bring healthy food but decided that it would go over better if people could just bring what they wanted. Now if I was the one bringing food, I would have been the wonderful person who brought the fruit tray. But if it was me from 3-4 years ago, I would have been bringing the soda or a cake or something I thought would be gone within minutes. Why? Because I don’t want to have to go back to get the leftovers. I’d rather it was gone. Don’t you want to go back and know your item was so wonderful that the front of the line tore into it and the back of the line missed out? Admit it, you want to be the “Hey, you brought that awesome cheesecake.” person.

This brings me to your challenge.

I want you to come up with a party tray. But not just any party tray. It has to be one of your favorite party trays. And I want you to make it a healthier version. One that you can fool others into believing is still sinful for them to pop into their mouth.

How do you make it healthier?

  • Replace plain white sugar with truvia. This is my sugar of choice unless you have something that you can put raw cane sugar or agave nectar into instead of sugar. Yes, I know, it’s made by Crack-a-Cola, the people dentists love best. But hear me out. It’s all natural, about a quarter of the calories as regular sugar, and you can cut the amount of sugar requested in half. So if the recipe calls for a cup of sugar, use a 1/2 cup.
  • Make the portion sizes a bit smaller. Instead of using a full cup cake tin for the mini cheesecakes (yes, I am craving cheesecake), use the mini cuppycake tins. Spread them out on the tray you put them on so they’re not touching and that way they look bigger to the human eye (apparently animal eyes are much smarter). Then put a frozen strawberry half on top of each of them so that by the time the mini mini cheesecakes are served, the juice coming off the strawberry (which is super duper  condensed with sugar from the natural freezing process) looks like a glaze. Then sprinkle (not dump) a bit more truvia over the top. Like a pinch worth… whatever amount a pinch actually is. Doesn’t look like it’s big enough? Put the small cuppycake tin with the cheesecake in it inside of a larger cupcake tin and add strawberries to fill in the gaps. Now it’s like an epic desert. If they don’t eat it, I will.
  • Substitute white flour with wheat flour. My sister in law does this with cookies. Then she adds flax to it and it’s like a godsend for moms with kids who have tummy issues. Plus they’re the tastiest cookies I’ve ever had. JOIN ME IN ENCOURAGING HER TO OPEN HER OWN SHOP!!! Her cookies are so good that I have been known to not know when to stop and because of the flax, I will be in the bathroom for a while. TMI, I couldn’t care less. I’m just trying to say, the wheat flour will not ruin your recipe. It will still be tasty.
  • Skip the syrups. If it doesn’t actually need cherry pie filling, why are you adding it? Whats so wrong with just cherries or kiwi or strawberries? They don’t need the goop to taste yummy.
  • Skip the chips. Do you know how many better alternatives there are to chips now? My perfect table would have a bowl of lettuce leaves next to a bowl of home made pico de gallo, a bowl of hummus, or (le gasp) a bowl of shepherds dip. Yes I know, shepherds dip is taboo in the “eat well” category. Anyways, I know others wouldn’t like lettuce like I do but maybe pita squares or triscuits or anything else with a corner to it made for shoveling on side items.
  • Use real ingredients. You may not be cutting calories but you are saving a life. You know what “light” usually means? It usually means “More unhealthy for you than just eating the regular calorie filled item in the first place.” Certain chemicals added to make your food “light” can actually cause you to crave more food. They can also cause stomach, liver, kidney, intestinal, and even heart issues. When you’re adding “light” or “calorie free” to a recipe, it’s like slabbing canned cheese goop to a burrito instead of real shredded cheddar. YOU RUINED IT! “But Laura, you told us to use truvia.” I did. I also explained it’s natural. Those swaps are ok. Chemical swaps deserve a slap to both your ears. So be proud of your natural recipes.
  • Think of your own ideas. You’re smarter than me. Now get to it.

So now that you’ve come up with a new recipe for such a loverly party food, try it out on a friend.

Bonus points if you shove it in their mouth and scream “SAVED YOUR LIFE!”

Strawberry Cheesecake - cheesecake Photo Yummo!!!!