Foodie Friday: 3 Healthy Valentine's Treats

So perhaps, if you're anything like me, that whole clean eating New Year's resolution was quickly replaced by lots and lots of chocolate. And donuts. And caramel corn. And now there are tempting pink and red heart-shaped treats everywhere. I don't want to miss out on all the festive yumminess, so I did a little Pinterest scouring and a little experimenting to come up with three me-and-Ez-approved Valentine's treats. If you're into counting calories and all that, I've included nutrition info. All of these are 150 calories or less, and aside from the cupcakes they took like 5 minutes to prepare. Win/win in my book.

These cupcakes are really more like healthy muffins, with a little cherry cool whip frosting on top. But if it's frosted, then it's technically a cupcake, if you ask me. 

My little helper was more interested in the measuring cups than the actual baking process. Which was probably better as far as actually creating edible cupcakes that don't wind up on the floor and walls.

Cherry goodness.

Fresh from the oven. Ez and I couldn't resist sampling right away. (Ok, mostly me.)

The finished product.

Mmmm!

Healthy Cherry Cupcakes

Ingredients for cupcakes (makes 1 dozen)

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup white flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1.5 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• 1 cup plain nonfat greek yogurt
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1.5 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
• 1/3 cup chopped maraschino cherries

Ingredients for cherry frosting

• 1/2 container lite cool whip (thawed)
• 2 tablespoons maraschino cherry juice
• cherries for topping
• red sprinkles

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Prepare cupcake pan with foil liners, or spray pan with baking spray.
• In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, and flaxseed.
• In a large bowl mix together yogurt, applesauce, and sugar. Once smooth, beat in egg, vanilla, and cherry juice. 
• Slowly add flour mixture to the wet ingredients, stirring as you go. Fold in chopped cherries.
• Scoop mixture into prepared cupcake pan. 
• Bake 13 - 15 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Place on wire rack to cool.
• Meanwhile, to make frosting stir together cool whip and cherry juice. Place in fridge until ready to use. Once cupcakes are completely cool, frost, sprinkle, and place a cherry on top.
• Store these in an airtight container in the fridge.

Nutritional Info (per cupcake with approx. 2 tablespoons of frosting):

Calories: 140; Total Fat: 2g; Carbs: 26g; Fiber: 3g; Sugars: 8g; Protein: 5g, Iron: 5%

We took this strawberry yogurt bark straight from Pinterest. You can find the recipe here. It's really more like a popsicle, in bark form. I halved the amount of yogurt, but left the amount of honey the same. Next time I'd probably use vanilla yogurt, to make it sweeter. Turns out Ez is not a fan of frozen food. He never really has been, but I figured eventually he'd grow to love it. Apparently not. So this treat's pretty much just for me. Not gonna complain ;)

Nutrition Info (per 1/5th of recipe)

Calories: 106; Fat: 2g; Carbs: 16g; Fiber: 1g; Sugars: 15g; Protein: 6g; Vitamin C: 18%; Calcium: 7%

K, so this is really more of a smoothie, since there's no ice cream, but if you'll remember Ez and I have been drinking green smoothies daily, so humor us. To us this was definitely dessert. We slurped these down and practically licked the glasses. Only 4 ingredients, and aside from a few little chocolate chips, all of them healthy:

Cherry Chip Shake instructions:
Blend 1 frozen banana, 1 cup frozen cherries (we used the Very Cherry Berry Blend from Trader Joe's), 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, and 1-2 tablespoons chocolate chips. Ez and I split this, so the nutrition facts are for half a shake. Adding whip cream and a cherry is optional (but recommended).

Nutrition Info:
Calories: 148; Fat: 3g; Carbs: 30g; Fiber: 5g; Sugar: 19g; Protein: 2g; Vitamin A: 7%; Vitamin C: 14%; Calcium 24%; Iron: 6%

What are some of your favorite Valentine's treats or traditions? Chocolate covered strawberries are definitely one of my faves! Mine never turn out as pretty as the ones you can buy though, so I leave that up to the professionals.