Spoonful of Sugar Free

Registered Dietitian

Recipes

Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes

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I present to you “The Twelve Days of Christmas” by Alex.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me:

Twelve Pick-a-Fruit Crisps,

Eleven Grain-Free Pumpkin Spice Breads,

Ten Baked Banana Oatmeals,

Nine Raw Coconut-Iced Barks,

Eight Sugar-Free Monsters,

Seven Peanut-Chocolate Truffles,

Six Healthy Pumpkin Rolls,

Five Leftover Salsa Bowls,

Four Apple Pies in Bowls,

Three Hobo Dinners,

Two Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes,

And a Grain-Free Bitter Chocolate Cake for One!

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

Do you have any recipes planned for the Holidays yet? I actually have a lot more Christmas-y recipes to post, so I better get them up before the Holidays pass by!

What is your favorite Holiday song? There are so many of them, but I think I would have to choose Greensleeves! It is my favorite one to sing!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Agar Agar giveaway! Today is the last day to enter!


Apple Pie in a Bowl

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Check out my guest post at The Flourishing Foodie by clicking

HERE.

While your at it, make yourself a nice, hot bowl of Apple Pie for Breakfast.

Apple Pie in a Bowl

~On a cold winter morning, make this quick apple pie in less than five minutes. Then, sit by the fire and enjoy breakfast with Christmas music on!

Ingredients

  • One Apple
  • A handful of chopped walnuts
  • A sprinkle of cinnamon
  • A dash of water

Chop the apple into little bits. Put all ingredients into a saucepan and heat on medium heat, covered. Heat until the apples are nice and soft. Stir Occasionally.

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

If you had to choose either the crust of the pie or the insides, what would you choose?
I love the insides. Just make me some pie in a bowl!
Psst! Don’t forget to enter my Agar giveaway HERE.

Crazy for Agar Agar

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I finally found it! I have been on a quest to find agar agar flakes/powder ever since Katie wrote about the wonderful pudding and creams you can make.

While I was playing in a tournament over Thanksgiving, I came across a wonderful Hong Kong Market. They sold anything imaginable there: spiky fruits, seafood, dried seafood, chopsticks, and even purple sweet potatoes (we’ll talk more about this one later)!!!

I scoured the aisles for agar, and I found it for a good price. At the health food store they were going to charge me $20 for a package of agar agar, but at the Hong Kong market I bought it for $1.50. Yeah, I definitely bought more than one pack!

Agar Agar Base

~This is the base you use to make any of the treats listed below!

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon agar agar powder (if you are using agar agar flakes, use 1 Tablespoon)
  • 2 cups of liquid (juice or milk substitute)
  • Optional: add ins like vanilla extract, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, fruit chunks, nuts, be creative!

In a saucepan, heat up the liquid (not boiling), then add the agar agar. Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until the agar has dissolved.

Next, pour the liquid into a container and place in the refrigerator. Let the agar base set for about 20 minutes until jelly-like.

Note: It does not thicken while heated. The mix only thickens if chilled. The first time I made this I expected it to thicken like regular pudding, so I kept adding more and more agar agar. When I put it in the fridge, it was rick-solid!

You can make Vegan Fruit-Sweetened Jello…

Orange Jello with fresh citrus. I made this by using orange juice as the liquid and adding fresh clementine chunks.

You can make Pudding…

Chocolate pudding. Made by making a vanilla-base and blending in cocoa powder after it was set.

You can make Whipped Cream…

Strawberry Cream atop Bitter Chocolate Cake for One. I made this cream by blending frozen strawberries into the agar base.

 

You can make Vegan Yogurt…

Meg made this wonderful vegan yogurt by mixing a probiotic capsule into the agar base. Brilliant, Meg! Can’t wait to try this!

You can make some yourself…

I am going to giveaway one of my packets of agar agar powder to one lucky winner, so you don’t have to score the aisles of every grocery store. Each packet contains  25 servings of agar. This will make about 13 cups of jello, pudding, yogurt, or whipped cream. Think of this as a Christmas giveaway 🙂

To enter:

  1. Leave a comment telling me what you would make first with the agar agar powder
  2. Become a fan of Spoonful of Sugar Free on Facebook, and leave a comment back here telling me.
  3. Subscribe to me by email by entering your email address in the box to the right. Leave a comment here telling me you did.
  4. Answer these questions for fun and more entries!
    1. What is your favorite holiday treat?
    2. How are you spending the Holidays?

The Giveaway ends this Friday the 17th. Good Luck! THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Test Time! Are You Ready?

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End of the year.

Time to take final exams.

ACT.

SAT.

Midterms.

(Insert test of choice here)

You’ve studied all you can (hopefully!) and now the test day arrives.

Are you ready?

Get Plenty of Sleep
Dress in Layers
Bring lots and lots of #2 pencils (and erasers because everyone makes mistakes 😉 )
Wear a Watch!
Be hydrated! (But not too hydrated, you don’t want to have to go to the bathroom in the middle of the test!)

Eat Brain Food!

 

Cacao Nibs
Eggs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salmon
Almonds

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now relax, breathe and ace that test!

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

What are your favorite test-taking tips? Do you have any “brain foods” you like to eat?

 

Healthy Twisted Pumpkin Roll

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Another Pumpkin Recipe! Yay!

Don’t you just love pumpkin? One cup of pumpkin has 7 grams fiber, 2650 IU Vitamin A, 564 mg potassium! It also boasts a truckload of antioxidants like Alpha-carotene and Beta-carotene. What a wonderful winter fruit. Yes, science defines seed-carrying pumpkins as fruit. Not vegetables.

As a variation of my savory flourless-free crepe from Heather, I created a Healthy Pumpkin Roll!

Inspired by the back of a can of Libby’s Pumpkin:

Not-Your-Ordinary Pumpkin Roll

~This pumpkin roll can be used as a breakfast or dessert! It would be a perfect breakfast to impress guests during the Holidays. The recipe is flour-free, grain-free, gluten-free, dairy-free, and of course, sugar-free!

Ingredients

Serves 1

  • 2 eggs
  • pinch baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon, plus more for garnish
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
  • Optional: chopped nuts

First, lightly grease a pan for the stove. I used a cast-iron skillet. Next, turn the stove on medium heat. Whisk the eggs, baking powder, and cinnamon in a small bowl, and pour the mix into the skillet. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes or until it is cooked through. There is no need to flip the crepe. Remove the crepe carefully from the burner and place on a plate:

Next, spread the pumpkin on the crepe. If you wish, you can heat up the pumpkin before spreading it. If you wish to add chopped nuts to the pumpkin, add some now.

Then, roll the crepe, and garnish with an extra scoop of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nuts (if using):

Delicious!

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

Have you made plans for Christmas, or Hanukkah, or another holiday you celebrate yet?

I am so excited to visit my aunt and grandparents in Arizona this Christmas. I haven’t seen them in two years, and am very excited to see them! I’m making them all gifts. I would tell you what they were, but I am afraid they might be reading this! Let me keep it a surprise!

Do you like surprises?

My sister is a big surprise person! She will not let anyone tell her what her gift is, and she will not tell anyone what she made/bought them. It is actually quite fun to tease her with this 😉

 

 

A Bitter Christmas…

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I have been hesitant to post all my numerous chocolate recipes because I always eat 100% dark chocolate! The majority of people don’t have a taste for the bitterness of this dark of a chocolate, but I think the bitterness makes it the best! 100% dark chocolate does not have any room for milk or sugar, just chocolate. This makes the flavor intensely dark.

Well, I have finally decided to share a few of my chocolate recipes, even though most people won’t like them. For you sugar eaters out there who can’t handle the bitterness of 100% dark, please feel free to add a few stevia drops or a drizzle of honey to this recipe.

Grain-Free Bitter Chocolate Cake for One

~Like I said above, please feel free to add a drizzle of honey or some liquid stevia drops to the recipe before baking so that it may satisfy your liking of chocolate. This cake is meant to serve one person, but feel free to double, triple or quadruple the recipe. The cake is gluten free, dairy-free, and of course, sugar-free!

Serves 1

Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder (I like using Hershey’s Dark cocoa because it has a great, intense flavor)
  • 2 Tablespoons of squash puree, like pumpkin, sweet potato, or butternut squash
  • splash of vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
  • water
  • Optional: 100% dark chocolate bar (I used Baker’s)

Preheat oven to 375*. Mix all of the above ingredients together. Then add a splash of water until it reaches the consistency of a thick pudding. Pour batter into a mini bread pan or a muffin tin (It makes about 4 muffins). If using, chop the 100% dark chocolate bar over the top of the batter. Bake in the oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

More Ideas: Try adding mint extract to the batter to make a mint chocolate cake. Also, use different topping like nuts to personalize the cake to your liking.

Oooo....yum...the chocolate pieces on top are nice and melty! Also, for those counting calories, the whole cake is only 120 calories. It is one big cake, too! Most people would probably stop eating it halfway through because it is very large.

I made this cake last night while I was watching Tim Allen’s Santa Clause.

LOVE this movie! So heart-warming and fun!

You definitely know it’s Christmas time when ABC starts showing a Christmas-Related movie every night! What’s on tonight while I bake myself another Bitter Chocolate Cake?

The Polar Express. Another great holiday film. I loved the book, too! Have you read it?

 

This recipe is a shout-out to those who asked for more grain-free recipes; those who like bitter chocolate cake more than the sweet kind; those who love bitter chocolate; and of course, all others who enjoy chocolate for their taste and health benefits!

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

  1. Would you like me to post more of my chocolate recipes? I have tons of them ranging from grain-free pancakes, to mousses, to puddings, to breakfast parfaits.
  2. Have you tried 100% dark chocolate yet?? If not, then DO IT! I’m begging you to! Pick up some Baker’s chocolate squares or a Ghiradelli bar in the baking aisle of your grocery store. When you try it, roll it around in your mouth and actually taste it. Don’t go by your first bite. Take another bite and think about chocolate-not the other chocolate-flavored impersonators out there!
  3. Last question-I promise! What do you think of all the holiday movies showing at this time of year? Personally, I love having an upbeat, sometimes corny movie to watch every night. I love all the Christmas films because they put me in such a great mood! There is no way that I could choose a favorite because there are so many good ones out there!