Portion size matters
If you use a large serving bowl for dessert you will probably fill it. Does this mean the portion size is right? No. It probably means that the portion is going to be, on average according to our experiments, about three times LARGER than it should be. Over time, excess calories from over-sized portions can really add up.
For dessert dishes, it’s time to line up smaller options. Explore your cabinet or nearest dish outlet store. Look for small sauce dishes that can become petit dessert plates. Pictured here are sushi sauce dishes that doubled as dessert plates. We had fun mixing and matching with the dishes, berries, and sorbet flavors.
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Here are the dishes:
Raspberry sorbet with fresh berries
Cabernet Sauvignon sorbet with fresh berries and shaved milk chocolate
Passion fruit sorbet and fresh raspberries
By serving the petite dishes on a small tray you allow the guests to pick and choose the flavors they like and it becomes a fun, gourmet style treat. This grand finale can help any home-cooked meal have a spectacular low-calorie finish that does not cost a lot. The portion control for the small container of sorbet helps us get many servings rather than a few big bowls.
Here are a variety of sauce dishes from our Crate and Barrel Outlet – from the bargain area – I decided to mix and match to make it fun.
And here is our #30 scoop that is one ounce. If you get used to using this scoop for fat-free ice cream and sorbet you will learn to use less and to judge portion sizes better. It also makes a gorgeous round ball. Our scoop was a little large so the serving size we used is about 1.5 ounces (volume). The package calls for 1/2 cup which is about 4 ounces (volume). We like to use a variety of fruits and we feel this was a fun and attractive way to manage portion control for dessert!
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Great site with lots of useful information. Thanks for sharing.
The restaurant chain “Seasons 52″ has small plates and small desserts, with calorie counts. Wish there was one near me. Seasons 52 is a wonderful concept. We always leave feeling satisfied and taken care of and certainly not hungry or uncomfortably full.
Madalyn Friedberg RD CDN
New York and Lenox MA
You “plate size” selection goes along with what some restaurants are now
offering called “shooters”. The glasses hold about 3-4 ounces. You can
have the most decadent of desserts and feel satisfied you got to have
dessert without as many calories. For many, it’s a very important part of
the meal. In fact, many people who aren’t really doing mindful eating are
already thinking about dessert before they’ve even finished the entrée.
I once got my husband a t-shirt that said “Life is uncertain. Eat dessert
first.” For some, they eat dinner just to get to dessert.
Regards,
Roberta
Roberta Schwartz Wennik, M.S., R.D.
Nutrition Consultant, Culinary Nutritionist, Author, Freelance writer,
Speaker, Spokesperson, MBTI specialist
http://www.spinarecipe.com
http://www.advantagediets.com