Spoonful of Sugar Free

Registered Dietitian

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Day 3: Slow Cooker Cinnamon Applesauce

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Welcome to day three of the Sugar Free Challenge! 

Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Grain-Free Pumpkin Pancakes topped with coconut butter.

Lunch: Lightly sauteed spinach, green peppers, black olives, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, onions, and black beans served on a grilled brown rice tortilla. Side of sliced cucumbers.

 

Snack: Bowl of High Protein Cookie Crisp Cereal.

Dinner: Hobos. Take a piece of ground beef and roll into a patty. Top with peppers, potatoes, onions, and carrots and wrap in foil. Bake at 375* for one hour. Tastes great drizzled with dijon mustard or Homemade BBQ Sauce. Vegan option: Two Cans and a Potato

Dessert: Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce:

Slow Cooker Cinnamon Applesauce

~This recipe is from my Apple a Day Dinner menu. Most homemade applesauce recipes contain added sugar. Apples are extremely sweet on their own, though, so they don’t need the extra sweeteners! Gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, grain-free, vegan, and, of course, sugar-free! 

Ingredients:

  • 8 apples (any variety will do. I find that a mix of tart and sweet apples gives the sauce a better flavor)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional
  • pinch salt, optional

Peeling the apples is optional. If you choose not to peel them, then you might want to consider blending the apples at the end in order to achieve a smoother consistency.

Core and quarter the apples and place them in your crockpot. Add water and salt (salt helps bring out the natural sweetness of the apples, but is optional) and cook for 6-8 hours on low or or 3-4 hours on high. Once the apples are tender, mash them with a fork and stir in cinnamon. Serve hot or cold.

Health Benefits:

  • Apples: a flavanoid called phloridzin that is found only in apples may protect post-menopausal women from osteoporosis and may also increase bone density. Boron, another ingredient in apples, also strengthens bones. The pectin in apples lowers LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and it supplies galacturonic acid to the body which lowers the body’s need for insulin and may help in the management of diabetes.
  • Cinnamon: Studies have shown that it can help lower LDL cholesterol, help regulate blood sugar levels, has anti-clotting effect on blood, and it can boost cognitive function and memory.

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

Do you use your slow cooker a lot (or at all)? I just started using mine a whole lot more ever since we started renovating our kitchen. I have a few new crockpot recipes to share with you now!

Do you ever consider certain fruit a dessert on its own?

Day 2: Apple Crisps and Peanut Butter Hummus Dip

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Welcome to day two of the Sugar Free Challenge! Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Bitter Chocolate Waffles with Sliced bananas and peanut butter whip.

Lunch: Socca with a spinach salad topped with fresh bruschetta. Served with a hard-boiled egg.

Snack: Apple Crisps with Peanut Butter Hummus Dip (recipe below).

Dinner: Brown Rice Stir Fry with carrots, onions, leftover chicken, bell pepper, ginger, soy sauce, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.

Dessert: Chocolate Almond Cookie Dough Bites.

 

Apple Crisps with Peanut Butter Hummus Dip

~This recipe is from my Apple a Day Dinner menu. They were inspired by my High-Protein Cookie Dough. Gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, grain-free, vegan, and, of course, sugar-free! 

Apple Crisp Directions

Thinly slice your apples, and leave the peel on. I used a mandolin slicer to have even slices. You may slice in rounds or halves. If desired, sprinkle with cinnamon.

Dehydrator Method: Lay slices flat on food dehydrator and dehydrate for 24 hours. Let cool in a dry area before serving or covering.

Oven Method: Lay slices flat on baking sheet. Do not overlap. Preheat oven to 225* nd bake for two hours, turning halfway through. Let cool in a dry area before serving or covering.

Peanut Butter Hummus Dip Directions

  • 1 can chickpeas (1 1/2 cups)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1/3 cup nondairy milk

First, drain and wash chickpeas well. Make sure they are well-washed so that the cookie dough doesn’t taste like beans. Add all the ingredients into a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Adjust liquid as needed.

Health Benefits

 

 

  • Chickpeas: Click HERE for a post I did about all the benefits of chickpeas.
  • Peanut Butter: These legumes are full of protein with 7g per ounce. They also have a great monounsaturated fat content that helps your heart and brain. Peanut is a good source of Coenzyme Q10 which protects the heart during the period of lack of oxygen example high altitudes and clogged arteries. It also has a high antioxidant and high niacin content that helps in the recovery of cell damage and provides protection against Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive problem.
  • Apples: a flavanoid called phloridzin that is found only in apples may protect post-menopausal women from osteoporosis and may also increase bone density. Boron, another ingredient in apples, also strengthens bones. The pectin in apples lowers LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, and it supplies galacturonic acid to the body which lowers the body’s need for insulin and may help in the management of diabetes.

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

How was your second day of sugar-free?

Also, what’s your favorite dish to bring to parties? Please share! I would love some more ideas.

Day 10: Last Day of Challenge!

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Welcome to day ten of the Sugar Free Challenge! Today is officially the last day of the challenge. I have had so much fun creating sample menus and helping you all with the challenge. A big thank you to everyone who joined! I hope you all had a great time learning (and eating!) sugar-free food. Maybe you found that it wasn’t as hard as you thought? Or perhaps you found you ate too much sugar before?

Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Mocha Oatmeal.

Lunch: Steak Salad. Sliced steak, spinach, cucumbers, red peppers, onions, olives, fresh strawberries all drizzled in balsamic vinegar and ground black pepper.

Dinner: Leanne’s Comforting Baked Mac n’ Cheese with Bacon. Goodness gracious everybody, this gluten-free, dairy-free mac n’ cheese tastes delicious! It really is comforting-nice and warm in my belly 😀

Dessert: Chocolate Almond Cookie Dough Bites.

Again, thank you all so much! I have had a wonderful time with this challenge. I hope you continue to eat at least low-sugar (if not sugar-free!). A word of warning: be careful going back to sugar this week and weekend. Don’t go over board because your body is not used to eating sugar these past ten days.

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

How was the sugar-free challenge???!!! Please tell me all your experiences and how your body feels! I would love to know!

Day 9: Iced Coffee

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Welcome to day nine of the Sugar Free Challenge! Tomorrow is the last day for the challenge. Are you counting down the minutes or has it been easy for you?

Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: One Size Fits all Pancakes with fresh sliced strawberries and Peanut Butter Cream.

I also had some Iced Coffee. I had some fun taking these pictures and watching the almond milk mix with the chilled hazelnut coffee:

The almond milk slowly seeps down through the coffee…Kind of looks like a root beer float!

Mix! Mix! Mix! Look at that nice foamy layer on top!

Lunch: Baked Sweet Potato with almond butter and cinnamon.

Dinner: Steak, Corn on the Cob, Mashed Taters, and Fresh Watermelon!

Dessert: Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting

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

Do you like your coffee or tea hot or cold?

Although I like hot tea and coffee, I have been craving iced drinks lately. Probably because it is so darn hot here everyday now!

Day 8: Birthday Wishes

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Welcome to day eight of the Sugar Free Challenge! There are only two days left for the challenge-can you believe it? It has gone by so fast! Today is another special day because it is my Dad’s birthday!

Happy Birthday, Dad! I love you!

Here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Oatmeal topped with sliced banana, a dollop of Peanut Butter Cream Frosting, and Unsweetened Chocolate Shavings.

Lunch: Baked Sweet Potato with almond butter and cinnamon.

2-ingredient Macaroons

Snack: 2-Ingredient Macaroons.

 

Dinner: A BIG salad with spinach, bell pepper, onion, quinoa, strawberries, chicken, olives, and artichoke hearts. Drizzled with Dijon dressing and balsamic vinegar.

Dessert: High Protein Cookie Dough.

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

When’s the last time you had dessert for breakfast?

Ummm…Just had some today!

Day 7: High Protein Cookie Dough

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Welcome to day seven of the Sugar Free Challenge! I have been making myself this “Dessert Hummus” for months now, but haven’t bothered posting a recipe yet. Once I saw Katie’s Cookie Dough Dip, I knew I had to show people that cookie dough can be high in protein and sugar-free!

But first, here is today’s sample menu:

Breakfast: Grain-Free Bitter Chocolate Pancakes for One with Toasted coconut.

Lunch: Apple slices dipped in High-Protein Cookie Dough (Recipe Below)

Snack: Artichoke with lemon juice.

Dinner: I actually went out to dinner and had a BIG salad with lots of veggies and beans.

Dessert: More Cookie Dough!

High Protein Cookie Dough

~This unbaked dough is high in protein because of the garbanzo beans. Don’t shy away from it, though, because it tastes fantastic! Dairy-free, vegan, gluten-free, and, of course, sugar-free! 

Ingredients

  • 1 can chickpeas (1 1/2 cups)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
  • 1/4 cup nutbutter (I prefer Making it a Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough by using peanut butter)
  • 1/4 cup nondairy milk (I used almond milk. Water will probably work, too)
First, drain and wash chickpeas well. Make sure they are well-washed so that the cookie dough doesn’t taste like beans. Add all the ingredients except chocolate into a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Adjust liquid as needed. Stir in chocolate chunks.
Serve with apple slices, crackers, bars of unsweetened chocolate, on toast, or my favorite-eat it straight with a spoon! It would also be a fabulous frosting for my Chocolate Cake.
Health Benefits
  • Chocolate: Click HERE for a post I did about all the benefits of chocolate.
  • Chickpeas: Click HERE for a post I did about all the benefits of chickpeas.
  • Peanuts: These legumes are full of protein with 7g per ounce. They also have a great monounsaturated fat content that helps your heart and brain. Peanut is a good source of Coenzyme Q10 which protects the heart during the period of lack of oxygen example high altitudes and clogged arteries. It also has a high antioxidant and high niacin content that helps in the recovery of cell damage and provides protection against Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive problem.

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

What is one food you absolutely love, but everyone else hates? Or you absolutely hate, but everyone else loves?

Honestly, I will eat just about anything….as long as it is sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free…Ok, well that kind of narrows it down. I love love love capers! Some people don’t.