Spoonful of Sugar Free

Registered Dietitian

raw

Nacho Chips and Giveaway Winners

By

First, thank you to everyone who entered the NuNaturals Stevia Giveaway. I wish I could give you all some! Also, thanks to NuNaturals for allowing me to host this giveaway.

The four randomly chosen winners are:

Congratulations, ladies! You will be receiving an email shortly.

Now for the recipe I promised you yesterday.

Nacho Cheeze Kale Chips

 

First, make the Dairy-Free Nacho Cheeze Sauce. 

Wash your kale and tear into chip-sized pieces. Pour the Nacho Cheeze Sauce onto your kale and massage thoroughly.

You have two options for baking the chips:

  • Dehydrator Method: The Kale chips will be raw if using a dehydrator. Each dehydrator is different, so timing will be different on each. Typically, it will take 4-6 hours to dehydrate. They are done when crisp. The dehydrator method keeps the kale chips crisp the next day. Store in air-tight container or ziplock bag.
  • Oven Method: Usually, the chips don’t stay as crisp the next day. However, they are tasty enough that you won’t have any leftover! Place kale in an even layer on a baking sheet-do not overlap. Bake at 300* for 20 minutes. Flip, and then bake for another ten. Be careful and make sure you don’t burn them!
They are light and crispy. A delicious way to get all the vitamins and minerals from the green, leafy kale.

THOUGHT-PROVOKING, MIND-PRODDING QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Favorite ways to eat kale?

Do you try and eat your greens everyday? Any tips and tricks you’d like to share?

Pluots

By

I tried a new fruit! It came in last week’s organic produce bundle.

Looks like a plum, right? Well, it is a hybrid-cross of plums and apricots! They sell many different varieties of pluots, and I believe the ones I received were the “Dapple Dandy” variety.

It has a lighter complexion than your regular plum, and is more speckled. However, once you slice into it…

The color blossoms in a deep ruby-red. Absolutely gorgeous.

The skin is not as sour as a plum, which is nice, and the flavor is more intense than plums. I enjoyed them, and I bet they would taste great in place of the plums for my Plum Socca Tart with Rosemary.

They are also rich in Vitamin A.

THOUGHT-PROVOKING, MIND-PRODDING QUESTION OF THE DAY:

Have you ever tried a pluot? If so, did you like it?

Also, do you have any favorite strange hybrid fruits? I haven’t tried many of them, and I would love to explore them more. I would love to try a grapple (grape/apple), pineberry (pineapple/strawberry), or strasberry (strawberry/raspberry).

Raw Banana Cream Pie

By

Alright, enough teasing. Here is the recipe for that festive cake I told you about yesterday.

Raw Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Crust

~This pie is only raw if you use raw cacao powder. If this doesn’t matter to you, then use cocoa powder (like I did). Vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, raw, and, of course, sugar-free! 

Crust Ingredients

  • 1 cup raw walnuts
  • 3 large dates
  • 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder (or cacao)
  • pinch of salt

In a food processor or strong blender, blend all ingredients until thoroughly mixed. The mixture should stick together. If it doesn’t add a splash of water. Press the mix into a pie dish, and freeze while making the pie filling.

Filling Ingredients

  • 4 frozen bananas

Blend the bananas in a food processor or strong blender until the bananas have a “custardy” texture like Magic Banana Ice Cream. Put the filling on top of the pie crust and freeze for at least 2 hours.

Thaw the pie for about 10 minutes before eating. The pie should be set but not rock-solid. Who likes rock-solid pie?

 

Decorate if you wish. I made this pie for the Fourth of July, so I topped mine with sliced bananas, strawberries, and blueberries in the shape of the American Flag.

The chewy crust compliments the creamy filling beautifully.

Everyone was raving about the pie at the party. No one could ever guess that it was healthy! They were shocked when I told them the ingredients.

 

 

Health Benefits:

  • Chocolate: Click HERE for a post I did about all the benefits of chocolate.
  • Walnuts: Rich in fiber, protein, vitamin B, Omega-3s, magnesium, and antioxidants. Walnuts have also been shown to aid in the lowering LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol) and the C-Reactive Protein (CRP). CRP was recently recognized as an independent marker and predictor of heart disease. Walnuts have often been thought of as a “brain food,” not only because of the wrinkled brain-like appearance of their shells, but because of their high concentration of omega-3 fats. Your brain is more than 60% structural fat. For your brain cells to function properly, this structural fat needs to be primarily the omega-3 fats found in walnuts.
  • Bananas: Rich in potassium, bananas help the body’s circulatory system deliver oxygen to the brain. This also helps maintain a regular heartbeat and a proper balance of water in the body. It also contains tryptophan to help relax you and lift your spirits!

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

Fruit or chocolate desserts? What do you prefer? This pie is the best of both worlds, but if you had to choose-what would you choose?

I choose Chocolate!

Psst! In the mood for more Banana Cream Pie? Try my Chocolate Banana Cream Pie with Chocolate Peanut Butter Crust.

Lazy Sunday Mornings

By

Last night I tried experimenting with my julienne peeler. I shredded two carrots and a zucchini and tried making a avocado-based sauce. It tasted like a nut-free pesto. I’m still tweaking the recipe a bit, but I will give it to you when I have it ready! For now, why not try my raw pesto recipe?

This morning I woke up to this:

Looks like it is going to be a rainy day! But that’s ok. Sometimes we need a day to slow down and relax.

Take my overflowing bucket full of T-shirts and make a T-shirt quilt:

Take the leftover scraps and make a braided band. Just because.

Sip on some hot coffee.

And enjoy the day!

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

What are you up to on this beautiful day?

Movie marathons? Pancakes? Scrap booking? Sports (if it isn’t raining!)? Spending time with friends and family? Reading a good book? Baking (maybe some Pecan Sticky Buns?)?