Tiramisu: Italian Classic Made Healthy

Purists will shudder at this version of tiramisu. No pretty layers, no mascarpone cheese, no heavy whipping cream. Don't get me wrong, I love, love, LOVE traditional tiramisu.

It's a favorite to order out, and the first few times I tried to make a "lighter" version at home, it didn't work out too well. Too sweet. Too cream-cheesy. And just not what I wanted.

Never fear, third time must be the charm. I've got the ratio down now and I stopped trying to use instant espresso – hello, bitter! This healthier version of the Italian classic is easy to make and takes ingredients you can find anywhere.

For extra fun, I serve them in mugs, pre-portioned and cute to boot! You might notice the chocolate chunks on top. Sure, you can use cocoa powder to make these even healthier, but I can't help my sweet chocolate tooth.

Plus, my husband John only likes them this way. He's a stickler for his milk chocolate. Had I been making these just for me, I would have gone with dark.

In all reality I bought a chocolate bar to shave and use as the topping, but "someone" got into the chocolate bar stash and ate it all up. Hence the chopped chocolate chips. Still tasty, just not as pretty. If you have the time, use chocolate shavings instead.

What a great dessert! It caps off Steph's Lentils and Rice recipe perfectly. Don't forget to enter the Planet Rice giveaway too!

Tiramisu Recipe

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Ingredients

• 4 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons amaretto
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups cool whip fat free
• 24 lady finger cookies
• 3/4 cup coffee, strongly brewed
• 3 tablespoons chocolate chips, finely chopped

Directions

1. Beat cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Stir in Amaretto and vanilla.
3. Fold in cool whip.
4. Place 6 lady fingers into each mug and drizzle with cooled coffee.
5. Divide whipped mixture into the center of each mug and top with chocolate shavings.
6. Serve chilled.

via Food Fanatic http://www.foodfanatic.com/2013/09/tiramisu-italian-classic-made-healthy/

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via Personal Recipe 3564685

navratri fasting food or vrat ka khana – navratri or vrat fasting rules

fasting food for navratri – this post is about the various food ingredients that one can include during the navratri fasting or vrat period.

in north and western india, many people keep fast during navratri. the rules for the food ingredient varies little from community to community. however the ingredients used are more or less same. the same rule applies for fasts during the ekadashi, janmashtami and mahashivratri fasts. i hope this post will be helpful to you all.

food allowed for navratri vrat or fast:

flours & grains allowed

1. singhare ka atta (water chestnut flour) – you can make singhare ki poori, paratha, pakoras, halwa .
2. kuttu ka atta (buckwheat flour) – you can make paratha, poori, halwa.
3. rajgira ka atta (amaranth flour) and rajgira (amaranth) – you can make paratha, thalipeeth and halwa. roasted rajgira can be had mixed with fruits, porridge and even ladoos.
4. sama ke chawal ka atta (barnyard millet flour) – can be used to make vrat ke uttapam, dosa, pooris.
5. vrat ke chawal (barnyard millet) – you can make pulao,kheer, dalia, idli, dosa, upma or just plain steamed .
6. arrowroot flour or paniphal flour – used as a thickener and binding agent

spices & herbs allowed

1. cumin or cumin powder ( jeera or jeera powder )- you can add them to your curry or veggie dishes or make jeera aloo.
2. black pepper powder, chaat masala, red chili powder and dry mango powder (amchur powder)
3. *black salt (kala namak) – some folks include and some don't
4. rock salt (sendha namak)
5. green cardamom (chhoti illaichi), cloves (laung), black peppercorns (saboot kali mirch), cinnamon (dalchini)
6. dry pomegranate seeds (anardana) – you can make chutney or raita or use it as a souring agent.
7. ginger – both fresh as well as dry, including dry ginger powder
8. *coriander and mint leaves – some folks include and some don't
9. lemons

vegetables allowed

1. potatoes – make vrat ke aloo, dahi aloo, jeera aloo. halwa or add them to raita.
2. petha or pumpkin – you can make kaddu ki sabzi, pakoras or halwa.
3. shakarkandi or sweet potato – you can make shakarkandi halwa, tikki or chaat.
4. arbi or colocasia – you can make many dishes from arbi like sukhi arbi, dahi arbi, arbi tikki, arbi cutlet.
5. suran or jimkand or yam (regular yam as well as purple yam) – you can make suran chips. suran ki sabzi.
6. raw banana – you can make sabzi, banana fries and banana chips.
7. raw or semi ripe papaya – you can make papaya halwa and salad from raw papaya.
8. tomatoes – tomatoes are added to curries or sabzis. tomato sauce and chutney is also made.
* some folks also use spinach (palak), bottle gourd (lauki) and carrots (gajar)

other food or ingredients allowed:

1. sabudana or tapioca pearls – sabudana is favorite during fasting. you can make sabudana khichdi, vada, thalipeeth, pakoras, ladoos and kheer.
2. makhana or phool makhana – you can make makhana kheer, roasted makhana, rotis or a simple makhana sabzi.
3. all dry fruits – you can make dry fruits milkshake.
4. all fruits – make fruit chaat, fruit salads, fruit raita or fruit juices or have them raw.
5. all milk products like paneer, curd, white butter, cream, ghee, khoya, malai, condensed milk. but some people make paneer at home and don't use the paneer brought from market.
6. sugar, honey, gur or jaggery
7. tamarind (imli)
8. coconut
9. melon seeds (magaz)
10. peanuts
11. groundnut oil

foods to be avoided for navratri fast or vrat:

1. onion and garlic are strictly avoided. if you find any recipe in a food blog which has onion and garlic then skip adding them. so most vrat recipes make use of curd and ginger.
2. no lentils and legumes
3. common salt is not used and instead rock salt or sendha namak also called as upvaas ka namak is used.

flours and grains not allowed:
1. rice and rice flour
2. wheat flour or atta
3. maida (all purpose flour)
4. sooji (rava or semolina)
5. besan (chickpea flour or gram flour)

note: if you want to make roti or paratha for fasting then use above mention singhare ka atta, kuttu ka atta and rajgira ka atta. for making rice based dishes, kindly use sama ke chawal.

via Veg Recipes of India http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/VegRecipesOfIndia/~3/RVeWCMTbeIY/

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via Personal Recipe 3542052