Spoonful of Sugar Free

Registered Dietitian

Snacks

Peanut Butter, Bananas, and Chocolate-Oh My!

By

I Love Peanut Butter.

I Love Chocolate.

I Love Bananas.

Put them all together, and you have the perfect snack.

Step 1: Make Chocolate Pancakes

I made these delicacies by mixing 1 cup brown rice flour, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, 1 egg, 1 tsp baking powder, splash vanilla extract, and adding liquid (almond milk) to desired consistency.

Step 2: Make Art

Spread with a good amount of peanut butter-don’t be skimpy! One of my pet peeves is when people skimp on the peanut butter-don’t do it! Then, top with sliced bananas and shaved unsweetened chocolate (like Baker’s or Ghiradelli. Both found in the Baking aisle of most grocery stores)

Step 3: Admire your art

Step 4: Devour

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

What is one of your favorite food combinations?


 

Friends by Recipes Recap

By

Well, my Friends by Recipes Challenge has come to a close. I had so much fun making all of your recipes! It was also great to make more friends through a creative way. Below is a recap from my 11 friends I made from 11 different recipes. Click on the pictures to access the recipes.

Anita's Oatmeals: Savory Oats and a Pina Colada
Cindy's "Donut Holes"
Teenage Health Freak's Apple Bars
Eat Move Love's Blueberry Muffins That Take the Cake
Emily Elizabeth's Marathon Mud Pie
Sarah's Zucchini Hummus
April's True Porridge
Katie's Single Lady Pumpkin Muffin, Better-n-Rice Pudding, and Fudge Babies
Lauren's Spicy Sweet Potato Apple Bread
Deb's Adobo-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin

Kiki's Toasted Coconut-Crusted Cheesecake

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

What was your favorite recipe? If you had to make one, which one would you make?

 

#8 Friends by Recipes: Chocolate Covered Katie

By

Welcome to day 8 of my Friends by Recipes Challenge!

Today, I am going to be featuring someone who inspired me to start this blog in the first place, Chocolate Covered Katie!

Katie is such a great girl, and she has the most amazing recipes. All of her recipes are so easy, that I decided to make a few of them. (Just one recipe wouldn’t do her justice!)

First, I tried a recent recipe of hers:

“One lil Pumpkin” Muffin

(covered in chocolate)

  • 1 T canned pumpkin
  • handful chocolate chips
  • pinch pumpkin pie spice
  • 1/4 tsp baking powder
  • 3T flour
  • sweetener of choice
  • heaping 1/16th tsp salt
  • 1 1/2T water, nondairy milk, or oil (such as coconut), or a combination

Procedure: Follow the directions for a Single Lady Cupcake, subbing pumpkin for the applesauce and adding the chips and spice. Also, sub the oil for water or nondairy milk if desired.

The insides....mmmm....

I used cacao nibs for the chocolate chips (I still haven’t found those 100% dark chocolate chips yet, Katie! I’m going to have to look in another Whole Foods), and used 2 drops of stevia to sweeten. I then topped it with another dollop of pumpkin and some cacao nibs.

Yum! Yum! I think these would be great to prepare while making dinner, and just pop them in the oven before you eat dinner. Then, the cupcake will be done by the time you are done eating.

Then I made some Better-n-Rice Pudding

So comforting on a cold morning...

2 cups non-dairy milk
2 servings cooked oatmeal (i.e. start with 80 grams uncooked)
2 tsps cinnamon
2 Tbs vanilla extract
up to 1 cup raisins

Combine all the ingredients and bring to a boil. Then turn down to low heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pudding is the desired consistency.  Cooking the oats twice makes them even fluffier and gives the recipe a real pudding-like taste.

The recipe makes 2-4 servings, depending on how big the eater’s appetite is and whether the pudding is being consumed as a meal or a snack.

And finally, her famous Fudge Babies!

Rolled in Cocoa powder and coconut shavings!

Fudge Babies

Ingredients:

  • 1 c walnuts (120 grams)
  • 1 and 1/3 cups pitted dates (230 grams) (If you want a sweeter result, up the proportion of dates.) (If you’re unsure as to what dates to use, or you want measurements in cups, not grams, see fudge baby FAQ post)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3-4 tablespoons cocoa powder, depending on how chocolatey you want the balls to be (I used 4T extra dark)

Directions:

1. Chop/blend all the ingredients, using a food processor, Magic Bullet, etc.  (No need to blend the dates first; I just blend everything all at once.)

2. Roll into cutey-pie little balls.  (Use plastic wrap if you need to.)

 

Thanks for all of this recipe-making fun, Katie!!

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

Have you gone over to this Chocolate-Covered Vegan‘s blog yet? If not, go now!

 

 

 

#6 Friends by Recipes: Zucchini Hummus

By

Welcome to day six of my Friends by Recipes Challenge!

Today, I would like you all to meet a spunky girl named Sarah who owns the Smart Kitchen blog!

She is a fairly new friend of mine, and I am loving every bit of her posts! She combines “Healthy, Economical, Creative, and Realistic” to create fantastic tasting food!

Today I am sharing her Zucchini Hummus with you!

Sarah's Hummus

 

Raw Zucchini Hummus
(Makes about 3 cups or so)

2 medium large zucchinis, peeled and chopped
Juice of 1 large lemon (5-6 Tbsp.)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. paprika
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/3-1/2 cup raw tahini
1/4 c. chopped sweet onion

Combine all ingredients into a food processor. Blend away! Serve as a dip with raw veggies, crackers, or whole grain pita bread (or chips!).

 

Following her recipe, I placed the ingredients in a food processor….
And devoured it with a red pepper! (I’m eating a veggie on top of a veggie!!)

This was so, so good! It has a lighter flavor than regular hummus, but it still packs a punch! I will be making this again, Sarah!

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

What is your favorite hummus flavor?

I really love Roasted Red Pepper Hummus! I usually like making my own, but when I’m busy I will grab a huge tub of Sabra from Costco! I like their roasted red pepper, too, but I also love their olive flavor. Sabra’s hummus is extremely creamy (probably because of the high-fat content 🙂 )

 

Hallow-Excuses

By

Hello all! I know I haven’t been keeping up with my Friends by Recipes posts over the weekend, but give me a break! It was Halloween 😉

I promise, I am in the kitchen right now baking all of your wonderful recipes! I will start posting them again as soon as I can!

But for now, how about a recap of Halloween?

My little brother received his new belt!
Made a fruit monster for breakfast! Grrr! Hiss!

Carved Pumpkins. Mickey Mouse was my sister’s, and Jack (the Pumpkin King) was my little brother’s. Ok…I didn’t carve a pumpkin because I wanted to roast mine 🙂 Or maybe make a pie…
Helped my little brother go Trick-or-Treating! I mean….I helped Harry Potter go Trick-or-Treating 😉
He got a load of candy! (Some were King-Sized!) And no, they were not sugar free 🙂

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

How did you spend Halloween??

Oh yeah, and Happy November!

#4 Friends by Recipes: Muffins that take the Cake

By

Welcome to day four of my Friends by Recipes Challenge! Today, I am sharing a recipe from my new friend from eat move love.

Her Muffin Pics!

 

Oooo...Yum...

Blueberry Muffins-That-Take-The-Cake…Look ;)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup oats (optional)
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup applesauce
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • cinnamon to taste
  • 1/2 mashed banana
  • 1/2 cup blueberries
  • raisins (honestly, I don’t measure – just throw them in ;) )

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2) Mix all wet ingredients thoroughly in a bowl.

3) Add dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, oats, cinnamon. Mix thoroughly.

4) Add in blueberries and raisins.

5) Pour batter into muffin tin (with liners or lightly oiled).

6) Bake at 350 degrees for ~20-25 minutes.

Makes ~ 8-10 muffins (depends on the size you prefer).

7) Let cool. Then, EAT.

I used brown rice flour instead of regular flour to make them gluten-free, and they turned out great! They do taste cake-y!

I made my muffins mini! I also used frozen blueberries, and made them “bleed” on purpose to make them Purple muffins!!! Fun, Fun!

These were really yummy! I loved the cake-like texture! Who says you need sugar to eat cake? 🙂

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

Halloween is coming up! What do you plan on doing? Are you going to dress-up? Maybe I’ll wear this hat…

Also, do you get a lot of trick-or-treaters? I used to get a good number, but since we moved I don’t know if we will get any! Do you give out candy? Or do you just shut off the lights?