Showing posts with label sugar-free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sugar-free. Show all posts
14 April, 2010
Gluten-free Cupcakes
11:52 | 
Posted by
W
I ran across a recipe on Healthy Indulgences that I had to try. I didn't have a lot of the strange chemical ingredients, and I really don't like coconut flour (trust me, you don't either), so I made some substitutions. This cupcake is quite dense and not terribly sweet. I find it's perfect topped with a swipe of Nutella, but if you're really serious about this sugar-free business, then some cool whip I suppose would work just as well.
The Perfect Yellow CupCake, sugar and gluten free
- 15 oz white beans canned or cooked
- 4 eggs
- 5 tablespoons light butter or margarine
- 3/4 cup splenda
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 6 tbsp ground almonds
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- cupcake liners
Before you get started, or even buy that $11 bag of almond meal here is what you should know..
You will need a blender of some sort, a hand blender will do, but this is necessary to de-skin the beans. WARNING: make sure the blender does not smell like anything (ie that potato soup you make that week) because the egg yolks will pick-up the smell.
Rinse and blend beans with eggs and extracts with blender or food processor until no bean pieces remain. Cream butter and Splenda in bowl, slowly adding in salt, baking powder and soda, and ground almonds. Wisk into the butter mixture the egg and bean mixture. Place in cupcake liners at bake at 350 F until golden. Depending on size should make 12-18 cupcakes.
These cupcakes are best small as they are so dense.
Top with no sugar added whipped cream or cool whip.
Makes the cupcakes so moist and yummy, no one would suspect the beans.
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11 March, 2010
Eggs for Dinner
I love eggs; they're cheap, healthy, and really can be prepared for any meal. Dinner again for Alin and I last night and I made this an occasion for my first shot at hollandaise sauce, because poached eggs just aren't enough of a challenge on their own.. 
The trick, I've found, with poaching eggs is to not let the water boil while the egg is in the water, it should just be almost to a boil, the bubbles tear apart the whites.As for the hollandaise sauce, I was a little nervous. After stories of the sauce 'breaking' or the egg yolks 'scrambling' in the double boiler, I was hesitant to use more than 2 egg yolks, as I only had 6 eggs (some of which needed to be poached). But all in all, after removing and then returning and removing again the metal bowl from the double boiler (for fear of a scramble due to heat) it all turned out fine, and even kept for 30 minutes in a warm oven! Granted I whisked in a tad more warm water to the sauce after it sat for awhile, but all in all, the reputation is surely more intimidating than the execution itself.
With the eggs on toast we also had orzo salad, made with heirloom tomatoes, feta, olive oil, and basil.
Hollandaise Sauce
- 3tbsp butter
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp warm water
Whisk eggs and lemon juice together in metal bowl. Melt butter separately. In a double boiler beat egg/lemon mixture, careful not to let the eggs get too hot, while slowly adding in melted butter. If the sauce is thick whisk in warm water. Salt and pepper to taste.
03 February, 2010
Limonada Cordoba
Last night when I got home from the gym I was thirsty, very thirsty. The kind of thirst that a drinking fountain couldn't quell; the next thing I knew it was 11pm and I was at Market Street trying to refrain from buying every beverage in sight. I did come away with; one gallon of water, a two litre bottle of Diet Coke, eight oranges, eight lemons, a mint plant, and a single serving bottle of Honest Tea "Peach Oo-La-Long". The tea and some water were enough to sate my thirst enough to go to bed but this morning it was back in full force, so I began to juice. As previously mentioned I've been making fresh juices a lot recently. I have this cheap-o Betty Crocker juicer that works horribly, it's no Philippe Starck juicer (as pictured), but if I don't plug it in I can manage to use it as a manual juicer. My most recent favorite has been grapefruit juice, almost solely because grapefruits are juicer and cheaper than oranges. However as you will have noticed last night I bought oranges and lemons, so orange juice it is, but what with the lemons? I had some sort of idea while in my thirst frenzy that I would make mint lemonade, like a sort of non-alcoholic mojito type concoction. However, like many plans, things changed. After making the orange juice and pouring it into my reusable wine bottle I bought from Kensington Whole Foods in London (and can't stop raving about how useful it has been), I turned to the lemons... How could I make this different from your baseline lemonade? This is what I've come up with; named after the blooming almond trees of Cordoba, Spain I present Limonada Cordoba.
Limonada Cordoba
- 7-10 lemons juiced (roll them before you attempt to juice them, it helps)
- 1/2 cup Splenda granular (or sugar)
- 5 sliced strawberries
- 1 tsp almond extract
- 3-5 cups of water (however strong or weak you like it)
- ice
Juice lemons and place in sealable drink container, add sweetener and stir until dissolved. Add sliced strawberries and mash with wooden spoon into the bottom of the lemon juice. Add almond extract. The mixture should be pinkish. Then add the desired amount of water, though try and keep it strong as you'll pour it over ice later. Serve with lemon slice over ice.
23 January, 2010
Tofu Migas
I am very 'kick' prone, that is, in the sense that I am prone to going on streaks of eating one food almost exclusively until I burn out. That is what I mean by 'kick' prone. I've gone on kicks of eating only cauliflower, popcorn, zucchini, pineapple, jalapeno poppers, the list goes on and on. One such kick I entertained for quite some time was the two month period where all I ate was tofu migas, a vegan version of the traditional Mexican breakfast food of eggs scrambled with peppers and corn tortillas.
Don't get me wrong, I love eggs, I'm no vegan, but I do love tofu. This is a super healthy dish that you can alter to be single serving.
Ingredients
1/2 (16 ounce) package lite firm tofu
1/2 onion (diced)
1/2 diced jalapeno pepper (you could use the whole pepper, depending on heat tolerance)
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons light margarine
2 tablespoons salsa (chunky, can also be substituted with a small fresh diced tomato and diced bell peppers)
cooking spray
3tbsp nutritional yeast
Directions
Ingredient Prep: Dice pepper and onion, drain and crumble tofu, and tear corn tortillas into 9 pieces each. Set ingredients aside.
Spray a sauté pan with cooking spray and sauté onions until almost translucent.
After cooking the onions almost completely, add the salsa, (or diced tomato pepper mixture), peppers, and spices to the pan, sauté on medium heat until onions are translucent.
Add crumbled tofu, salt, and half of the margarine, sauté until all of the margarine is fully incorporated.
Add tortilla pieces and the rest of the margarine, and cook until the
tortilla pieces are softened and incorporated.
Add nutritional yeast to migas and pat down flat.
When the bottom begins to get crunchy the migas are done!
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