Healthy and Delicious Ways to Cook with Applesauce ...

One of my favorite ways to use applesauce for meals and snacks is by baking with it. Baking with applesauce eliminates the need for oil, butter, and eggs. This also eliminates unhealthy fats, sugars, and cholesterol in your diet. You can make plenty of goodies like loaf breads, cupcakes, muffins, pancakes, and cookies that are moist, flavorful, low in fat, and naturally sweet.

You can easily make homemade, dairy-free pudding by using applesauce with just a few ingredients. I like using applesauce, coconut flour, cocoa powder, a serving of French Vanilla Vega One nutritional shake, and a bit of stevia and almond milk. Just stir it all together and you have yourself a filling, high-fiber, delicious little snack!

Out of fresh fruit? Just add a cup of applesauce to your smoothies instead. You'll need to eliminate some of the water in your smoothie since applesauce contains a good bit of water. Now your smoothie will taste like a delicious apple pie! You can also freeze applesauce into an ice cube tray and use the frozen cubes in your smoothies for an even thicker, frostier shake.

So you're ready for a nice PB&J and notice you're out of jam. No worries - just use applesauce instead! Applesauce and PB is a delicious combo if you haven't ever had it. I like using plain, organic peanut butter (in small amounts since it's high in fat) and adding a couple tablespoons of applesauce to sprouted grain bread. Give it a sprinkle of cinnamon for an even better flavor boost and enjoy this new take on PB&J. You can also use it with almond butter for a yummy option too!

I love maple syrup but I don't love all the sugar it contains. Maple syrup contains 16 grams of sugar in just one teaspoon - making it an unhealthy way to get natural sugars in your diet. It's much better to eat your sugars from fruits since they contain vitamins and minerals, and not from syrups and sauces. The good news is that you can use applesauce as the base to make a healthier version of maple syrup. Just take around a half cup of applesauce and some organic maple flavoring and blend in your blender. Use this as a syrup for healthy muffins, sprouted grain toast, or even on top of oatmeal.

Oatmeal is a healthy breakfast choice all on its own and adding applesauce improves the fiber content and heart-healthy benefits of this breakfast staple. It also adds a sweet, creamy flavor to your oats without the need for dairy milk and sugar.

We can't forget dessert, now can we? Blend plain applesauce with frozen bananas, cinnamon, and a little almond milk. Freeze in a bowl for an hour and serve just like soft serve. Yum!

Try out a few of these ways to use applesauce in your meals and snacks and let me know what you think.. Do you eat applesauce?
Sources: edenfoods.com, vermontvillageapplesauce.com, myvega.com