Healthy Muddy Buddy Recipe: An Indulgent Treat Full of Blueberries

Trying to eat healthy can be a challenge! It’s one thing to learn what is healthy and good for you; it’s another to find healthy foods you enjoy and start eating those on a daily basis. Even when you’re completely dialed in to your meal plan, there are those times when you crave a little something sweet. If everyone around you is eating cake, it’s a lot easier when you have something you enjoy too. That’s why I love finding healthy and delicious treats that are full of protein and whole foods rather than processed ingredients and sugar. This Healthy Muddy Buddy Recipe is one of those recipes and is full of fresh blueberries!

Are Blueberries Good for You?

Most berries are full of anti-oxidants and vitamins, and blueberries are no different. If you’re going to eat a fruit, berries are usually a good choice. Blueberries also help support your brain, heart, and digestion. This is one of the reasons I love this recipe! Instead of filling your body with processed junk and sugar when you’re craving something sweet, you’re fueling it with something to help you stay healthy.

Should I Freeze This Healthy Muddy Buddy Recipe?

Of course, you can just eat the Blueberry Muddy Buddies as soon as the chocolate hardens. If you need to store it, it’s great in the refrigerator. Just make sure it’s not sitting so long the blueberries are going bad. To avoid this, you can seal them and move them to the freezer.

Actually, you may even want to start with the freezer. If it’s refrigerated, it gives it more of a chewy texture. You can also taste more of the rich flavors in the chocolate. In the freezer, the blueberries freeze into an icy texture. You don’t get all the flavors, but you get more of an icy sensation, which also tastes amazing. Feel free to experiment to see which one is your favorite!

Fruits are a Great Option if You’re Craving Something Sweet

If you have a sweet-tooth, a banana, berry, date, or another fruit can be a great way to curb your craving. A lot of recipes that call for fruit are pretty sweet without any other sweetener. Since it’s a whole-food God put on the earth for us to eat, we can avoid many of the negative effects from eating processed sweets.

You can get different textures when you freeze a fruit or use it at room temperature, so feel free to experiment when adding fruits into recipes or things like smoothies and yogurts. I like to use frozen fruit in my smoothies to get a thicker, ice cream-like texture. I’ve also blended up fresh strawberries into plain yogurt, and it tastes amazing!

Peanut Butter is Another Naturally Sweet Ingredient in This Healthy Muddy Buddy Recipe

Most recipes that call for peanut butter have a rich, sweet flavor. You do have to look over your labels, or many brands will try to sneak sugar into their product. There are natural peanut butters you can find, without added sugar, that taste amazing. It’s an easy way to sweeten up a recipe without having to add any additional sweetener. Many recipes that call for both bananas and peanut butter are already very sweet and don’t need anything else to sweeten them up.

The Healthy Muddy Buddy Recipe is no exception. By melting the chocolate and peanut butter together, you end up with a rich chocolate to satisfy any chocolate craving. The mix of the two is a very indulgent, sweet flavor that makes you feel like you’re eating an off-plan treat.

Is Chocolate Bad for You?

In itself, chocolate isn’t bad for you. A lot of the chocolate you can find in grocery stores are full of sugar and other unhealthy additives. When you use an 80 percent or higher dark chocolate, you can minimize a lot of those bad ingredients. You can also choose a chocolate that uses a healthier sweetener. Some of our family favorites are Lily’s Chocolate Chips and Bake Believe.

In recipes, you can also use Cacao instead of cocoa. Like cocoa powder, it isn’t sweet, but it is less processed than cocoa and is full of antioxidants. The good news is: it is possible to eat a healthy, whole-food diet and still enjoy different forms of chocolate.

What Kind of Protein Powder is Best in the Healthy Muddy Buddy Recipe?

I love to use Orgain Vanilla Bean Protein Powder. It has a great flavor and a very clean ingredient list. That’s my go to for recipes like this. Another good brand to try is the Fit Father Project Protein Poweder. It is packed with even more nutrients and protein, but it doesn’t have quite the same “dessert” taste as the Orgain. I like to keep both in the house. For recipes like the Blueberry Muddy Buddies, I usually go with the Orgain.

How Do You Keep the Blueberries From Clumping Up in The Healthy Muddy Buddy Recipe?

The key is to lay them out in a thin layer on wax paper to harden. If you don’t, all of the chocolate will harden into one giant blueberry mass. Just taking a second to spread it out can make all of the difference. It still tastes good either way, it’s just easier to eat and store if you spread it out before it hardens.

Eating Healthier Makes You Feel Better

The way I feel is the main reason I’ve stuck with eating healthy on a regular basis over the past 3 years. It isn’t worth it to me to feel bad just to eat what everyone else is eating. The more I’ve discovered foods I enjoy that are good for me, the easier this journey has gotten to maintain over time. Why eat a chocolate bar if you know it’s going to make you feel bad for the next several hours? Why indulge in a burger and fries or donut or high-sugar coffee drink when you know it’s going to make you feel yuck?

Is It Worth It?

This is a question I ask myself more and more. If something is worth it to me in the moment, I may choose to indulge. I do enjoy ice cream and chocolate. However, if I know it’s not a food a really enjoy, I don’t waste the carbs and feeling great on a food I don’t even enjoy. Thru trial and error, I keep learning more and more what foods are worth it to me.

That Chocolate Moose Track Ice Cream from Publix tastes incredible, and it doesn’t make me feel crappy. However, it also doesn’t help that scale drop any lower the next day and definitely isn’t on-plan. Eating at a specific restaurant with my family that I didn’t enjoy helped reinforced that it’s not worth it for me to go “off-plan” at that restaurant in the future. Don’t settle for what everyone else is doing. Customize it to your own likes, preferences, and personal goals!

This Healthy Muddy Buddy Recipe Involves Just a Little Planning Ahead

How long does this recipe take to throw together? It only takes about 5 to 10 minutes. However, you have to make sure you have blueberries and the other ingredients on-hand. The key is planning ahead. If you know you’re going to want a little something sweet and you don’t want to give in to those sugar-laden foods that are everywhere we go, you have to plan for that.

It’s these small steps that make such a tremendous difference. Just planning to make one or two snacks for the week can be the thing that keeps you on track all week long. It’s also what makes the journey enjoyable. If you know you have a yummy treat you enjoy, something to look forward to, you don’t feel like you’re missing out or cutting out foods you enjoy. Instead, you feel like you’re making healthy choices and you feel great!

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