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shapedbycharlotte

📍Baltimore/DC dietitian
👯‍♀️I help women take the stress out of eating by making food & nutrition uncomplicated!

A little perspective for tomorrow! 🦃 I know the

A little perspective for tomorrow! 🦃
I know the holidays can be stressful for many and for numerous reasons (especially this year), so don’t let food guilt be a source of that stress.
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No good comes of beating yourself up over enjoying more food than you had planned – it won’t magically take that food out of your body. One meal won’t derail your health and wellness goals unless you let it. Be grateful for the delicious food you had and enjoy some balanced meals the next day instead of overcompensating by eating little to nothing. 💕

Sweet potato casserole, but make it a single-serve

Sweet potato casserole, but make it a single-serve version! 🍠There’s a lot going in and out of the oven during the holidays, so it’s nice to have my little holiday helper for when the oven is occupied. The @ninjakitchen Foodi Deluxe is more than just a pressure cooker, it has 9 cooking functions including: bake, roast, air fry, slow cook, and more. I used it to both pressure cook these sweet potatoes and air fry them once I added the toppings. Plus, the nonstick ceramic-cooking pot makes clean up a breeze!
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Sweet Potato Casserole-Style Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
6 small sweet potatoes, scrubbed
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1/3 cup chopped pecans
Pierce sweet potatoes several times with a fork. Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the Ninja Foodi Deluxe. Place 3 sweet potatoes on each rack of the deluxe rack inside the cooking pot. Pressure cook on high for 20 minutes. Combine brown sugar, seasoning, and salt in a small bowl. Cut each sweet potato open and fluff the inside with a fork a bit. Brush the insides with butter & sprinkle with sugar mixture. Top with marshmallows & pecans. Place back onto the deluxe rack & air fry @390 for ~5 min.
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The Ninja Foodi Deluxe is available at NinjaKitchen.com (link in stories)! Tell me, what’s your favorite holiday side dish?! #sponsoredbyninja #NinjaFoodi

Burning my tongue on hot cocoa since the 90s 😅

Burning my tongue on hot cocoa since the 90s 😅 but semi-worth it for this homemade rich & creamy cocoa
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Coconut milk hot cocoa:
1 can lite coconut milk
½ cup almond milk
¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used @lilys_sweets )
2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 Tbsp maple syrup or sugar
½ tsp vanilla
Pinch salt
Heat everything in a small saucepan over medium-high heat & whisk until smooth, a few minutes. Top with a handful of mini marshmallows. *I like my cocoa rich & less sweet, so if you like sweeter cocoa add another Tbsp sweetener when cooking.

But butttt don’t the “unrefined” sweeteners

But butttt don’t the “unrefined” sweeteners like honey, coconut sugar, etc retain more minerals and antioxidants that are removed during the more extensive refining process used for table sugar? Well, yes.
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BUT, to reap any health benefits from these trace amounts of nutrients would require excessive sugar and therefore calorie consumption, thus negating any of those health benefits. No one should be eating sugar (no matter the form) to obtain nutrients. You use sweeteners to sweeten things and tickle your taste buds.
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Now this isn’t meant to shame anyone for consuming unrefined sweeteners. I use maple syrup and honey all the time for their unique flavors and how versatile they are in a lot of my recipes. And no shame to my fellow food bloggers who feel like they have to use unrefined sweeteners in their recipes for better post engagement and SEO, I get it (I feel the same way).
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This post is for those of you who just want to know wtf they should be using in their baked goods this holiday season. There’s no such thing as a healthy sweetener, period. So, use what you want! If you like the taste and don’t mind dropping a few extra bucks on some maple syrup or coconut sugar, go for it!
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But if you want to make grandma’s famous cookies with the $0.99 white table sugar, rest assured – you’re not sabotaging your waist line or missing out on any health benefits because you chose table over coconut sugar. Enjoy those cookies without the side order of guilt, please! 🍪🥧
PS if you really want to make some lightened-up treats this holiday season, focus more on HOW MUCH and less on WHICH sweetener you’re using😘

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