Allergy-Friendly Frozen Yogurt Chocolate & Raspberry Bites

It's Wednesday, and I need a pick-me- up. Anyone else with me on that one?

I'm a self-admitted sugar fan, but let me be clear, I don't do refined, crap GMO sugar. I do pretty sugar. Straight from the veins of maple trees in Quebec sugar. I do sugar that is easily recognized by the liver, can be metabolized and utilized as clean energy and I always pair it with its fellow nutrition powerhouses - fat, and protein.

As I've improved my gut health over the past several years I crave sugar less and less. And when I do indulge I do so minimally (I used to eat whole boxes of cookies, cupcakes, and squares) and most importantly, I eat it without guilt. If you're reading this and are struggling with a sugar addiction paired with guilt surrounding your indulgence, remember this:

When you change the type of bacteria in your microbiome from the kind that feeds from sugar to the kind that feeds from prebiotics (fibres found naturally in whole foods), your cravings will change as well.

If you're dealing with emotional eating, addictions or binging - be brave and give yourself as much compassion, patience and love as you can. Then be even more brave and find a great therapist.

Facing my pain and insecurities in therapy is what led me to finally being free from addictions (including binging and obsessive eating).

Ok, ok, enough of the heavy talk - I promised you a healthy hump day pick-me- up, right?

Here at The IBS Academy we thrive off gluten-free, dairy-free, refined sugar free recipes and if we can get some beneficial bacteria in the mix, we have a winner.

Great news my loves, this recipe's a winner!

These guys take about 10 minutes to prep once they're frozen, so don't worry, it won't eat up your whole afternoon.

Allergy-Friendly Frozen Yogurt Chocolate & Raspberry Bites

Ingredients:

• 1 stainless steel or silicone ice cube tray (plastic and BPAs suck)
• Parchment paper
• Cookie tray/baking sheet
• 1.5 bars of sugar free dark chocolate
• 1 tub of dairy and sugar free frozen yogurt (I used coconut yogurt) *If on low FODMAP diet please avoid inulin, and chicory root fibre in non-dairy yogurt
• 1 pint of beautiful raspberries
• 1T of maple syrup

The Toppings:

• 1 Microblader
• Hemp hearts
• 1 Almond (if on low FODMAP diet, use macadamia, pecan or walnut)
• Macadamia
• Sea salt

Instructions:

1. Pour your nut or coconut based yogurt in to the ice cube tray, filling about halfway.
2. Take 1 raspberry and place in the middle of each cube making sure the yogurt covers the raspberry. Place in freezer for 4 hours.
3. Pop your frozen yogurt bites from the tray and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment
   paper.
4. In a double boiler melt the chocolate on low heat, stirring often. Chocolate can be hard to work with so you must keep it at a medium low temperature and work quickly.
5. I used 2 forks to roll the yogurt bites in the melted chocolate.
6. Once coated, lay the bite on the baking tray and sprinkle a pinch of sea salt or help seeds on top. If you want some of the
   beautiful nut shavings like in the photo, use a microplaner and grate either almond, walnut, pecan or macadamia on top.
7. Place back in the freezer in between each one while you work on your other bites. These guys melt fairly quickly.
8. Once frozen (takes about 5 mins), enjoy!

I hope you love these bites as much as I do! Happy, healthy desert indulgence.

In good health + happiness,
Cassandra Hope, RHN