Many dieters find that they feel deprived without
a dessert. A dessert is a change of flavour and texture, its purpose
is to complement the meal, not stuff you with calories, fat and make
you feel so lethargic, and full you cannot move for the rest of the
day!
Fresh fruit is a great choice, it is tasty light and the fructose
is a natural sugar, which is sweet enough to satisfy your craving
for something sweet.
Kiwi is packed with vitamin C and is a healthy food choice especially
if you smoke, smoking depletes the bodies' ability to take in vitamin
C. Mango peach and lime make a fantastic choice; just squeeze the
juice of the lime over the fruit. When dieting or just to maintain
a healthy life style eat plenty of fresh fruit as a snack a meal or
a dessert. It is an easy choice it comers ready packaged and ready
to eat, but remember most of the fibre is just under the skin, so
fruit such as apples and pears are best eaten with the peel.
Desserts containing the animal product gelatine or jelly are a low
calorie option for the dieter. Gelatine as agar agar is available
for the vegetarian, it is harder to buy, but most health food shops
stock it. As a substance, gelatine is packaged in a variety of ways,
as a powder, as leaves or as a solid tablet; it may be flavoured or
clear. Some raw fruits such as pineapple and papaya contain bromelin,
which hydrolyse gelatine and break down the gelatine, which in effect
means that it will not set. However canned fruit has been heat treated
to destroy the enzyme, so do not add fresh pineapple or papaya to
gelatine. Sheet gelatine tends to produce a clearer product than its
granular counterpart does.
How to Use Gelatine
Sprinkle the gelatine over a small amount of cold water, which has
been measured from the water for the recipe and let it stand. Heat
the remaining liquid to boiling point, and then pick up the mass of
sheet gelatine, which will now be floppy, and squeeze the excess water
out and add it to the hot liquid. Stir until the gelatine has been
completely dissolved. If using the granules just add to boiling water
and stir.
There are two ways of adding the fruit add the fruit straight away
if you want it to sink to the bottom, so that when the jelly mould
is inverted it will be on the top and not evenly through the jelly.
If you want an equal distribution of fruit, chill the jelly until
it has the consistency of unbeaten egg white and then add the fruit.
Refrigerate for four or five hours until set or overnight.
Gelatine does not have to be used for a dessert it can make a salad
as well. Slice cucumber very thinly, dip in a fat free dressing and
add to a lemon jelly. Chill the lemon jelly and when nearly set layer
the cucumber in a ring at the base of a mould, add the jelly just
to cover and set until firm and then add more cucumber and jelly until
the desired level is reached. It looks pretty, impressive, tastes
great and best of all it is low calorie and low fat.
Gelatine has another bonus it makes your hair and nails grow stronger.
If you want a quick dessert and do not have the time to make a jelly,
then meringues are a fast option. Buy meringue prepared in a bakers
shop, scrape off all the cream and filling, fill with passion fruit,
or serve with fruit compote or fruit yoghurt. As a special treat,
make a fruit smoothie with fresh fruit, thick Greek natural yoghurt
and crush chocolate meringues over the top, sit back and savour.
