Raspberry Curd (Sugar Free, Low Carb)

      With a large bag of frozen raspberries on hand I knew that I needed to use, I started thinking of ways to use them. Not to mention Valentine's Day was close and who doesn't like a indulgent dessert on that day?

      I had never tried lemon curd before starting my Trim Healthy Mama journey. I really like its sweet tart tang and creamy mouth feel. However, I wanted something a bit different and to change things up a bit.

     One of the most important things to remember when making a curd or a custard is to keep the heat low. Trust me, you don't want scrambled eggs in your raspberries.

     You can use this curd in a number of ways, the recipe I'm going to share makes about 1 1/2 cups of finished curd.


 Some ways that I use this are: 

• As a fruit side with eggs and bacon.
• As a dessert pudding (pictured above) 
• As a filling for Skinny Chocolate (page 371, Trim Healthy Mama ) 
• To fill donuts and whoopie pies (future post) 
• In a dark chocolate and raspberry triffle 

     So you see just how versatile this recipe is. It keeps well in the refrigerator.

 

 Raspberry Curd (Sugar Free, Low Carb, THM S)

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

   8 TBS (1 stick), unsalted butter

    2½ cups fresh or frozen raspberries

    6 medium egg yolks, lightly beaten

    3 1/2 TBS sweetener, I used this one

    ⅛ tsp salt

    2 TBS  fresh lemon juice)

Directions:

1.     Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
2.     Add the sugar, berries, egg, and salt. Heat until all the sugar has dissolved and all the berries have broken down. Stirring constantly.
3.     Cook at a low simmer (medium heat) for 10 minutes or until the mixture has thickened.
4.     Stir in the lemon juice.
5.     Press the mixture through a coarse strainer sitting over a large bowl. Try to press out as much of the juice you can from the pulp and seeds of the berries.
6.     Pour mixture into a jar or container with a lid. Allow to cool for 2-3 hours before covering and storing in the refrigerator. Curd will thicken as it cools.
7.     Keeps for about a month if refrigerated.

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Sugar-Free Coco Caramel Crunch Cereal

      It sure seems like I am on a cereal kick, but these recipes have been a life saver for me due to the ease of cooking as well as that it gives me options for breakfast and snacks that are quick and easy to put together. This cereal is amazing and the taste profile is crunchy and sweet like "Samoa Cookies". It is a little more time consuming to make but what a special treat. I'm sure it could be mixed into some Greek yogurt as well for a nice snack with a crunch.

       Being that it is February we are all starting to see Girl Scout Cookies. Being on a Sugar free whole foods eating plan like Trim Healthy Mama, requires you to forego the yearly indulgence of these cookies. That is really hard, honest I can relate to how hard it is … I used to buy cases of cookies and freeze them for longevity. With three sons even by the case they never did last nearly long enough.

      So to feed my cereal addiction as well as indulge in my favorite flavors of these cookies, I have been working on some cereals that work great for breakfasts and snacks. Yesterday I made the Coconut Caramel Crunch from this blog. This is an amazing snack as well as a wonderful topping for her
Samoa Shake (Yep I linked the recipes for you). 

      But to get the taste of the "Samoa" cookies we all love so much it needed some chocolate and short bread. So I mixed up some cereal to meet that need. And melted some Stevia Sweetened Chocolate Chips to drizzle over the cereal, I used the baking chips because they stay solid at room temperature a lot better than skinny chocolate does.

Sugar-Free Coco Caramel Crunch Cereal
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

½ cup of Whey Protein Powder

½ cup of Oat Fiber

1/3 cup of Sweet Blend or Sweetener of choice

¼ cup+ 2 TBS Coconut Oil, Melted

1 tsp almond or vanilla extract

3 TBS water

1 batch of Coconut Caramel Crunch Topping

1 Batch of Stevia Sweetened Chocolate Chips, Melted

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F

Blend Whey, Oat Fiber and Sweet Blend.

With a fork stir dry ingredients as you add coconut oil in a gentle stream, combining into loose crumbs.

Stir in extract and water until dough is coarse crumbs, dump onto baking sheet and bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

This should be stored in the refrigerator so that the chocolate is stable.

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Pear Waldorf Salad

     I was going through one of my Taste of Home cookbooks and ran across a version of Waldorf salad that included pears, grapes, walnuts, mayo and cottage cheese. This doesn’t work for my lifestyle because it tandem fuels with both S and E fuels.

     So I adapted it to fit my THM lifestyle. This makes enough for 4-5 servings which gives me a good go to lunch or snack when needed. This is a higher carb option which makes it an E meal/snack for THM mama’s.

     I adore the Waldorf Cottage Cheese Salad recipe on page 300 of Trim Healthy Mama . It has been my go to E meal for lunch and breakfast since I first tried it. This recipe is huge, so I normally have to split it into a meal and a snack since I can’t seem to eat it all in one sitting.

    

Pear Waldorf Salad

Printable Recipe

2 ripe pears, diced

2 cups diced celery

2 cups 1% cottage cheese or 1 cup cottage cheese & 1 cup 0% plain greek yogurt

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 Tbs chopped walnuts

Add first 4 ingredients to a large bowl.

Mix with a fork, sprinkle chopped walnuts into bowl and mix again.

Serving size is aprox 1 ½ cups

*** I normally eat this in a cereal bowl or will split it into ½ - 1 cup servings for a snack. I also will sub greek yogurt for the cottage cheese and eat this as a sandwich on a pita or with on plan bread.

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Blackberry Coconut Cookie Bars

      I need to say Thank You! to everyone that has visited, pinned, re-posted and shared the Cinnamon Cereal/Snack Bar post.

     I figured since everyone really liked that recipe, I would make a variation with some berries and coconut flour to try and cut the food costs a little bit.

     They came out well, and even though most of them cracked as I was putting them together I only had one casualty. Sometimes coconut flour can be so very frustrating.

     The cookie part of these is less sweet than if it were a stand alone cookie, only because with the filling and the fact that I sprinkled sweetener  on the tops I didn't want to get that weird bitter too much stevia aftertaste.

     These are a lot softer than the other bars because coconut flour really doesn't crisp up like almond flour does which is why I added a bit of oat fiber.

     I've been playing with Jelly/Jam recipes a bit and you can find the blackberry jelly recipe here or use Slim Belly Jelly from page 411 of Trim Healthy Mama .
 

     I see so many mama's looking for snacks that travel well, something they can pack in their purse or keep in the car when out running errands. For me these are an easy snack that I can take with if needed or munch on when I am studying. They are considered an S food for those following the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle, but would also work as a low carb/sugar free option. They do crumble more than the cinnamon ones.

Here is the recipe for these yummy cookie bars:

Blackberry Coconut Cookie Bars

Printable Recipe

1/4 cup butter

1/3 cup granulated sweetener of choice.

1 large egg
2 TBS almond milk

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbs oat Fiber

1/3 cup  Coconut Flour
1/2 tsp  Glucomannan Powder 
 
Preheat oven to 350ºF. 

    In a medium mixing bowl add the butter , granulated sweetener, egg, oat fiber, baking powder, vanilla extract and the salt and blend with a handheld blender for 2 minutes on medium speed.

    Add coconut flour and glucomannan and blend until combined.

    Allow the dough to sit for 5 minutes.

    If it is sticky or not firm, add another 1/2 tsp of glucomannan.

    Place between sheets of parchment paper and roll out to desired thickness.

    Cut desired shapes. Place 1 TBS filling on bottom layer.

    Top with additional cookie layer, seal with fingertips and place on cookie sheet

    Bake for 8 minutes.

   

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Sugar Free Blackberry Jelly

     I have been making jams and jellies all my life. I remember doing this with my grandma Boyle so many times. While I was growing up the only types of store bought jelly we had were grape and strawberry, anything else came from my grandma.

 What kind of jelly is your favorite? Leave me a comment.

     Mine is currant and strawberry jam. But those are triggers for me so I have to be mindful of my serving size or I will over do it.

     The biggest challenge to making sugar free jelly is getting it to gel, typically sugar is added to aid the natural pectin in this process. But on my Trim Healthy Mama journey, I need to be totally sugar free. So this is sweetened with stevia and I used gelatin to help with the gelling process.

Here the recipe I used

 Sugar Free Blackberry Jelly

  Printable Recipe

1 cup frozen blackberries
1 cup water
1/3 cup THM Sweet Blend or other plan approved sweetener
2 TBS lemon juice
2 tsp unflavored gelatin

Place blackberries and water into a heavy sauce pan. Heat until berries burst.

Stir in sweetener and lemon juice until sweetener is dissolved.

Wisk constantly as you add the gelatin until it is dissolved. Remove from heat.

Pour or ladle mixture into sterile jelly jars and refrigerate. Mixture will gel as it cools.

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Sugar Free Cinnamon Jelly

I'm really excited about this jelly!!

     While I love the Slim Belly Jelly from page 411 of Trim Healthy Mama , I was looking for a jelly that was a little more budget friendly as well as gave me a few different flavor profiles that were on plan.

   I have increased the amount of herbal teas that I use and love so many of them. There were a couple that I wasn't as fond of in a drink but they work amazing in this jelly. I use it with on plan toast, to make Cereal Bars from this post as well as in jelly style yogurt (page 252) and to top muffins in a mug as well as so many other recipes.

     Some of the benefits to using this jelly in your plan are:

• it is very budget friendly
• Gelatin has some amazing health benefits
• It is Sugar free and doesn't add a bunch of unneeded calories

     It takes about 2 hours and 15 minutes which includes the gelling time.

So here is the recipe:

 Sugar Free Cinnamon Jelly

Printable Recipe

1 cup boiling water

1 Cinnamon stick or tea bag (you can also use other herbal teas)

2 tsp or 1 packet gelatin

1/3 cup sweetener

Boil water and add tea bag and sweetener allow to steep to desired taste.

Add gelatin and whisk to combine. Allow to cool for about 2 hours until gelled.

Store in refrigerator. 

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The products I recommend are :
 

Sugar Free Peanut Butter Crunch

     When I made the Trim Mint Cereal I had visions of so many varieties of cereal that I had a hard time waiting to make these.

     With the new peanut flour from Trim Healthy Mama, I was able to put this one together in about 10 minutes. Quick easy and so many uses.

• A crunchy snack that travels in a container
• With almond milk (who needs Captain Crunch!!)
• mixed with some on plan Greek yogurt 

     Just to name a few. Mixed with a batch of plain Cocoa cereal (that's a future post) this would make another great Cereal/snack mix that packs in the protein without all the sugars and carbs from store bought varieties.

Come Join me in my journey for better health!!

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Here's the recipe

Sugar Free Peanut Butter Crunch

Printable Recipe

2 scoops whey protein powder, I used this one
1/2 cup Peanut flour, I used the THM Brand
1/3 cup Sweetener, This is what I use
1/4 cup melted Coconut Oil 
1/4 tsp Celtic Salt
1/4 tsp Baking Soda

Preheat oven to 300F.

Combine whey, peanut flour, sweetener, salt and baking soda, I used a wisk.

Drizzle coconut oil into dry ingredients while stirring with a fork, should be crumbly.

Dump out onto a baking sheet with sides, so the oil doesn't leak off into the oven.

Place in oven and bake for 12-15 min, making sure it doesn't burn.

Stir while hot, it will crisp up as it cools A LOT.

Store in an air tight container.

Makes 4 Servings

This is an S for Mama's following Trim Healthy Mama like me.