
Sometimes we eat healthy, and other times we let ourselves go. That’s life. The perfect compromise? Making dessert healthy… or more accurately, healthier. Whether your preference is adding fruit, getting rid of the gluten or demanding the chocolate as dark as it comes, there are plenty of ways to cut the calories while saving on taste. From healthy donut recipes to substituting olive oil for buttery alternatives and incorporating ingredients like sweet potatoes and chickpeas, these recipes will keep you guessing… and keep you fit… ish.
1. Whole Wheat Banana Spice + Brown Butter Glaze Muffins: In matters of staying on top of your health-conscious game, whole wheat is always the answer. Any time you can substitute natural wheat for a starchier batter, go for it. That allows some extra sugar room for add-ons like this yummy glaze. Or, dark chocolate chips, anyone? (via How Sweet Eats)
2. Pomegranate Spiced Poached Pears With Orange Cashew Cream: We hadn’t seen so many poached pear recipes until now. Different flavor combos and spices are all around us in food blog world, pick one or create your own with your favorite flavor. (via Jeanette’s Healthy Living)
3. Crazy Healthy Good Chocolate Chip Pan Cookie: This might look like an average cookie pie, but what you can’t see is the lack of butter, flour and eggs… and the presence of… wait for it… chickpeas! (via Sweet Anna’s)
4. Skinny Peanut Butter Granola Bites: Coconut oil, honey, peanut butter, rolled oats and sprinkles — we’re beginning to like this “healthy” thing. (via Inside Bru Crew Life)
5. Healthy Cheesecake Bites in a Quinoa Crust: You had us at cheesecake and quinoa. Making dessert bite-sized is another great solution for portion control… as long as you don’t end up popping 50 of them. (Hey, it happens.) (via Happy Food Healthy Life)
6. Healthy Dark Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookie Bars: Checking butter at the door is a theme among these recipes, and oatmeal and chocolate prove to be just as scrumptious without it. (via Half Baked Harvest)
7. Mango Crisp With Almonds: This crisp is made with a modest amount of sugar, lots of natural grain for a great source of fiber and Vitamins A and C from mango. See? This isn’t so bad after all. (via Hoosier Homemade)
8. Baked Nutmeg Donuts With Raspberry Icing: The fact that we could find 15 healthy donut recipes makes us very happy about the state of the world. Here’s one of the most unique. (via The Vintage Mixer)
9. Skinny Champagne Parfaits: A light cake mix and diet soda are all you need to make fruit more interesting. (via Beyond Frosting)
10. I Can’t Believe These Are Healthy Brownies: We had to go ahead and create our own special guilt-free sweet. Secret ingredient? Black beans. Tasty? Absolutely. (via Brit + Co.)
11. Oat and Yogurt Fruit Pizza: Here’s a fruit tart you can make at home, so you know exactly what goes into it. Use applesauce and rolled oats for the crust and Greek yogurt instead of cream cheese, and you have a much healthier snack than what’s at the store. (via The Yummy Life)
12. Pumpkin Pie Dip: You’ll find hidden vitamins galore between the Greek yogurt and pumpkin in this treat. (via Shugary Sweets)
13. Maple Bourbon Tiramisu With Pecans: This tiramisu may look indulgent, but with light syrup, non-fat cream cheese and skim milk, you can cut the calories tenfold. (via BHG)
14. Sweet Potato Pie Crust: In addition to being delicious, sweet potatoes are one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. We know they make delicious fries, why not make them into a crust for your pie? (via Food)
15. Zucchini Banana Bites: Don’t worry, there’s still cocoa in these brownies, but there’s also veggies and fruit to fill you up on something good and good for you. (via BHG)
16. Red Plum Tart: It’s fruit and jam that make the filling for this tart. As for the crust, it’s okay to add a little sugar to ingredients that have lots of nutrients on their own. (via Sprinkle Bakes)
17. Carrot Date Cupcakes: Remember the good ol’ food pyramid? Your veggie serving is right here, in cupcake form. (via Runner’s World)
18. Dark Chocolate Mint Bites: Along with fruits and veggies, natural oats are also stars of this health show. Add cocoa powder and peppermint extract to make these bars extra appetizing. (via BHG)
19. Herbed Olive Oil Pie Crust: Substituting olive oil for butter is another smart move with turning pastries into healthier snacks. Check our desserts with olive oil, we promise there’s no difference in taste, just in the way you feel. (via My Fair Baking)
20. Silky Chocolate Pie: If you learn to depend on Greek yogurt — as well as low-fat milk and cream cheese — chances are, you’ll never have to live without your favorite treat. Simply, whip it up in a much healthier form. (via BHG)
How will you stay healthy while still getting your sweet fix? Leave us some healthy eating tips in the comments below!
Welcome to Selfmade Finance School, our new money series with Block Advisors to help small business owners with their tax, bookkeeping, and payroll needs year-round. This week, we explore the tax implications of bringing family members into your business.
The question for today is this: Does hiring your family members make sense for your business? Let me be clear. This is not a piece about whether hiring your family members makes sense for your relationships with those family members. As someone who is part of a family business, I could fill up a lot more than 600 words on my opinions about that. For today's purposes, we focus on whether it makes sense from an overall "good business and tax implication" perspective. As it turns out, there is a decent amount of tax nuance when it comes to employing your family. Let's break it down based on relationship to the employee:
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Spouses Who Are In Business Together
Personally, if I had to be in business with my husband, it would not go well. However, many couples build viable, strong businesses together and I say, good for them! Depending on how you have your business entity structured, it will make a big difference on the tax treatment of you and your spouse working as partners. Because a business jointly owned and operated by a married couple is generally treated as a partnership for Federal tax purposes, the spouses must comply with filing and record keeping requirements imposed on partnerships and their partners. The election to file two Schedule C (Form 1040) forms, (one for each spouse) permits certain married co-owners to avoid filing partnership returns, provided that each spouse separately reports a share of all the businesses' items of income, gain, loss, deduction, and credit. Under the election, both spouses will be subject to self-employment tax and on net earnings from self-employment and receive credit for Social Security earnings.
One Spouse Employs Another
If you have a dynamic where your spouse is an employee of your business, then your spouse's wages are subject to income tax withholding, Social Security and Medicare taxes. If you are self-employed (not a corporation or a partnership), your spouse's pay does not have to be included in your federal unemployment tax account (FUTA) contributions and payments. However, if your business is a corporation or a partnership you must include that spouse's pay in your unemployment tax contribution calculation.
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You Employ Your Child
First, let's be clear. I work in my family business, but I am an adult, so I am treated just like a normal employee. However, if you, for example, run a family restaurant and want to hire your children under 18 to work for you, there are some tax benefits. But first, you should check with your state for rules on how many hours minors can work (in non-agricultural jobs) and reference the Fair Labor Standards Act for information on limitations on the kinds of work children can perform.
"This is an often overlooked or under-utilized strategy. Paying your children for true services they provide in your business can be a powerful tax-saving tool," says Cathi Reed, Block Advisors Regional Director. "If you are a sole-proprietorship or single member LLC, and the child is less than 18 years of age, the business is not required to withhold FICA or payroll taxes. The child can use his or her standard deduction against income you pay."
You Hire Your Parent
Oh dear. If you are brave enough to do this, know that you will need to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes on your parent's wages and make the appropriate withholdings, but you don't have to pay unemployment taxes. Now all you have to do is convince your parent that you are the boss. Have fun with that!
Is Hiring Family Members Worth It For The Tax Benefits?
"There are some positive tax advantages to hiring family members. It's important to treat a family member like any other employee. Hiring your children can result in substantial savings for businesses. Make sure your child has real, age-appropriate work to do and a reasonable pay rate, comparable to other employees. Consult with a Block Advisors small business certified tax pro to ensure that you are complying with all requirements," advises Reed. "Block Advisors, a team within H&R Block, is dedicated to meeting the tax, bookkeeping and payroll needs of small business owners year-round. To start working with the tax experts at Block Advisors, visit blockadvisors.com."
In my opinion, you should not hire a family member solely because of the tax benefits. You should always hire based on whether that person is right for the job and keep in mind how this hire could materially impact your relationship with that person and others in your family. Finally, as I mentioned, make sure you have a tax professional on your team when making these determinations. As you can see, things can get a little tricky!
*All details were sourced from IRS.gov and blockadvisors.com
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect those held by Kestra Investment Services, LLC or Kestra Advisory Services, LLC. This is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific investment advice or recommendations for any individual. It is suggested that you consult your financial professional, attorney, or tax advisor with regards to your individual situation. Comments concerning the past performance are not intended to be forward looking and should not be viewed as an indication of future results. Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, LLC (Kestra IS), member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through Kestra Advisory Services, LLC (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. O'Keeffe Financial Partners and any other entity listed herein is not affiliated with Kestra IS or Kestra AS Investor Disclosures: https://bit.ly/KF-Disclosures