I was excited that Laura asked me to write another article for the gazette and even more excited when she suggested I write about food. If you know me at all, you know I could talk about food all day! So, I will pick just one topic from under that huge umbrella and because I am writing for Ripped in the Ripple, I will keep it on the 'lighter' side.

INDULGENCES, I am definitely on board with going all in on special occasions; life is too short not to. However, if you are like me, that sweet tooth calls to me on a regular basis. So, I have a few tips & tricks that help me crush those cravings without having to deprive myself.

Most of us know about replacing oil/butter with applesauce and egg whites for whole eggs or whole wheat flour and sugar substitutes. Therefore I had to dig a little deeper into my basket of tricks and pull out these lesser known suggestions.

Let's start with the magical, protein rich, fiber packed legume! Yup, beans in your sweet treats and no one, except you, will be the wiser. Use black, cannellini, red or even lentils pureed with a bit of water to replace 1/2 of your butter, shortening or oil in your recipe. Match the color of your bean to what you are making and no one will suspect a thing. Problems with gluten? Or not! Try this flour-less cookie, chewy and rich, it is sure to satisfy. The pureed chick pea does the trick, checkout this link for the details, www.loseitwithalexis.com. I have even been so bold as to make chocolate chip cookies with whole chick peas! Jessica Seinfeld has the recipe in her cookbook and yes, they look funny, but everyone enjoyed them. You can also puree beans and add them to soups and stews as a thickener instead of the traditional rue base of flour and butter. OH wait, that is savory and could lead me down a whole other road.

Back to sweets! Let's talk brownies, cause everyone loves a brownie! Well, whether you bake from scratch or take the box mix shortcut (as I do) there are things to try. With a box mix, stir it together with 1 can of pure pureed pumpkin. It's a bit of a workout as the batter is really thick, but this brownie is almost like fudge without the pudge! If you make brownies from scratch, try adding 2/3 C of raw, grated beets and then reduce the called for sugar by 1/4 C Reduced sugar; good! Added moisture, antioxidants and fiber; GREAT!

One other really quick trick for pre-made cake mix is, diet pop. Believe it or not, it just takes 1 can of soda stirred into a cake mix to create a super light and moist cake or cupcakes. Get creative and use root beer, Dr Pepper, cherry cola in chocolate cake, lemon/lime, cream soda or orange in a white cake; the options are endless!

If pies and crisps are more to your liking, try these ideas. Not a fan of making/rolling out those pie crusts? Me neither, but I love the graham cracker crusts. Love it even more because I know you don't need butter to make it stick together! just pulse 10 sheets of graham crackers in a processor till you have fine crumbs; add 2 Tbsps of low fat milk and then pulse about 30 secs. Press into 9 inch pie pan and bake @ 350 for 10-12 mins. Need a crumble topping? Follow your usual recipe, but only use 1, maybe 2 Tbsp of butter and 4 Tbsp of apple sauce; blend these together and cut into dry ingredients. You can even reduce the sugar because the apple will add some natural sweetness. Or you could just throw on homemade granola during the last 5 mins of baking. There is a great recipe on So Be Fit's facebook page.

Like I said at the beginning, I could go on all day, but I will leave you with my favorite toppings for all these sweets. 1) Greek yogurt blended with vanilla, or other extract and Splenda. 2) Cool Whip light, don't use the fat free, personally, a bit plastic-tasting. 3) Fat Free Reddi Whip, even good straight from the can into your mouth. Oh wait, I don't do that! 4) Blue Bunny fat free vanilla ice cream is 'go to', because after trying many duds, I found this has great flavor and texture.

Happy eating and treating!