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.

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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.

Cinnamon Cereal Snack Bars

I've been racking my brain to find something that I can

• snack on while studying
• have for breakfast without waking everyone up
• can travel well if needed

This bars seem to work really well for all of those things and they taste good. They store well and would be more self stable if I had used coconut oil instead of butter, but with the amount of almond flour I am more comfortable storing these in the refrigerator than in the cupboard for extended periods of time.

If you are following Trim Healthy Mama like I do then these bars are considered an S meal/snack.

Cinnamon Cereal Snack Bars

Printable Recipe

3/4 cup Almond flour/meal
1/2 cup Coconut flour
2 TBS Oat Fiber
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
4 TBS Softened Butter/ Coconut oil
1/3 cup THM Sweet Blend or Pyure Organic Stevia
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1 Cup Cinnamon Jelly or Slim Belly Jelly (page 411)

 

In a large bowl, mix almond flour, coconut flour, oat fiber and cinnamon until well combined.

 In another bowl, cream together the butter or coconut oil, sweetener, eggs, vanilla and salt. 

Add the dry ingredients into the wet until well combined.  

Chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes for easier preparation.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. 

 

Place 1/2 the dough onto 1 piece of parchment and top the dough with the other piece of parchment. 

Roll out until a rectangle that is about 1/4 inch thick. 

Cut into small rectangles about the size of a cereal bar. Place 1 TBS jelly or a few berries onto the middle of half of the rectangles. 

Gently cover the jelly topped rectangles with a piece of dough without the jelly.

Seal the edges with a fork or your finger. 

Place the parchment onto a cookie sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown.

This should make 6 bars.

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Flavoring My First Batch of Kombucha Tea

    My Kombucha tea is ready for some flavoring, mind you it is drinkable at this stage of fermentation but I like fruity teas better than unflavored ones.
   
     I fermented my first batch for a about 21 days, I know that seems like a long time, but considering I have a sugar free lifestyle, I wanted to make sure that the sugars had been eaten up before consuming any.

 

    The first thing I noticed when decanting my brew into a sterilized mason jar was that it had lots of bubbles. YAY for bubbles, which seems to be the one thing that most new brewers like me can't seem to make happen.

    I put 2 Tablespoons of raw strawberries into a 1 quart mason jar and filled it with Kombucha leaving a 1" headspace and am letting it sit at room temperature for 2 days.

 
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Yummy in My Tummy Turmeric Tea

     I have always had an issue with inflammation. I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis when I was 12.  When my dad passed in 2012 my oldest brother was staying with us through the funeral services. Steve likes to cook and he gets creative to the point of “that’s scary” quite often. So when he started looking through the spice cabinet while cooking I got a little scared. Thankfully that meal was only for him as it was a curry and no one else cares for them.

     While he was looking through the spices he started talking to me about the health benefits of each one. When he found the turmeric he told me that this was one that I needed to work more into my diet. Of course I asked why, and he shared with me that it helps with inflammation and cold relief as well as a bunch of other benefits.

     I had forgotten about that conversation until I was floating around on pinterest as so many of us do and there was a glass of “golden milk” on my screen. I clicked on it to see what it was and was surprised to see that it contains turmeric. Then when I started following TrimHealthy Mama they came out with the Singing Canary…. I tried it to curb a craving for orange juice.  So then I went searching for the specific benefits of turmeric and wow did I find a lot. I also found a bunch of recipes for Turmeric Tea …

     I made a couple of them and wasn’t impressed until I started changing ingredients around… This is my version of Turmeric Tea.

Turmeric Tea

Printable Recipe

    8 ounces (1 cup) almond or coconut milk

    1/2 teaspoon turmeric

    1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
     1/8 tsp ground black pepper

    1/2 – 1 teaspoon sweetener

    1 teaspoon MCT oil, coconut oil or butter 

Instructions:

Gently warm the almond milk on the stove.

In a mug, combine the remaining ingredients.

Drizzle a teaspoon of the warmed milk into the mug and mix until the liquid is smooth. 
Then incorporate the rest of the warmed milk.

** for my fellow Trim Healthy Mama’s this is an S drink.

The Ooey Gooey Fudgy Brownie Quest

     One thing that is mandatory in our house are brownies. They are Rick's favorite and one of the things that will make me go off plan in a heart beat.
     Now some of the recipes have come out okay like these ..

 
    But they weren't quite what I was looking for, they are edible... and would be amazing in a brownie sundae drizzled with some hot fudge or caramel sauce (which is probably how they are going to be eaten) Tummy Tucking Ice Cream (Trim Healthy Mama page 368) here we come....

     I did use these while on my fuel cycle (the recipe is available on that group page)  but I think I cooked them too long, and they contain no fat so they are a little dry and chewy. These are the Fuel Pull Brownies. I haven't tried the Deep S ones just yet.

      We did make the Secret Agent Brownie Cake (on page382) before I knew that it needed to sit overnight in fridge, so it was a little weird. I do need to revisit that recipe now that I have been on plan for a few months and have seen some of the tweaks.

Trim Mint Crispy Cereal {Low Carb, Sugar Free}

Raise your hand if Thin Mint cookies are your favorite…

They are mine too!! With cookie season right around the corner this cereal makes indulging in the flavor of our favorite cookie possible all year long FOR BREAKFAST!!

I've been missing cold crunchy cereal for breakfast, and let's face it some of the options just aren't nearly as fun as crispy minty chocolate cereal with some nice cold almond milk. I was looking to find a cereal that could be enjoyed in my Trim Healthy Mama journey as a fuel pull meal, and couldn't find one. Most of them contain nut or seed flours which aren't allowed during a fuel cycle, See Chapter 28 for more details about that. This is an S though because of the amount of coconut oil.
So I played with ingredients and here we go!!!

Trim Mint Cereal

Printable Recipe

2 Scoops of Whey Protein Isolate
¼ cup Psyllium Husk Powder or Oat Fiber
¼ cup Cocoa Powder
¼ cup Coconut Oil
4 TBS Sweetener, I used Pyure, Organic Stevia Sweetener
¼ tsp Baking soda
4 TBS Water
1 tsp Pure Peppermint Extract

 

1. Place dry ingredients in a larger mixing bowl.
2. Cut Coconut oil into dry ingredients with a fork until crumbly, Add extract, then water 1 TBS at a time incorporating until dough sticks together.
3. Roll dough to 1/8^th inch thickness and cut into pieces with a pastry cutter or pizza wheel.
4. Bake at 400(F) for 8 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and break pieces apart allow to cool on baking sheet.

 
Store in an airtight container.
Makes 4 servings
For trim Healthy Mama's this is an S 

 

My Favorite Printable Meal Planner

     This is my favorite meal planner. it allows me to set goals, make notes and label my meals by type  ( for my Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle). I first saw this style of planner at this blog, although they don't allow you to print a blank one for personal use which is what prompted me to make my own add a note area and offer it as a free printable

     If you aren't following that lifestyle, this works wonderfully for diabetes management in that you can note the carb counts in the little boxes or b/s readings.

      Planning and logging your food is a major component in successful weight loss and diabetes management. I can say from experience that having a food and b/s log has helped me see what foods trigger b/s spikes and when I may not have eaten enough.

     Using forms like this to plan also help with grocery shopping and compiling the list of ingredients needed. Noting things like the recipe page number helps my husband to locate recipes if he is the one preparing the meal.

Sprouted Soda Bread

  I love bread baking for a variety of reasons. It makes my home smell wonderful and it nourishes my spirit as well as my body. I'm also very Irish and Soda Bread was something I grew up with while visiting my grandparents.

      I found that when I started my Trim Healthy Mama life style I was avoiding breads at all costs, a mindset I had learned when doing Atkins previously. Bread is not bad for you especially when it is made with the proper ingredients and techniques. Thank heavens for this lifestyle!!

  

Sprouted Soda Bread

Printable Recipe

3 cups sprouted spelt flour

1 2/3 cups low fat milk kefir

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

Combine kefir and flour in a glass container. Leave somewhere warm for 12-24 hours to ferment.

The next day, start by preheating the oven to 400.

Grease a baking pan (or use a preheated baking stone).

When the oven is warm sprinkle the dough with the salt and soda then integrate the dry ingredients into the bread dough.

     ***Gluten will have formed, so try to combine the ingredients evenly by folding and cutting them into the dough with your fingers.

The dough will be very acidic so the soda will immediately become active. Turn the dough on to your baking pan and slice the top.

You can wash the top of the loaf with beaten egg white or water then sprinkle on a topping.

Bake for 20-30 min (until a toothpick comes out clean)

If following Trim Healthy Mama this is an E recipe

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Bread and Trim Healthy Mama

     One thing that many mama's including myself do is to shy away from bread products. It is quite confusing to know which brands, styles and types of bread are on plan and in which meal setting.

     In our house I am the one who has issues with eating off plan bread products. Some E meals really mess with my blood sugar. The recommended brand of store bought bread is Ezekiel 4:9. While I am sure this product is enjoyed by many it doesn't work in our house for a couple of reasons:

• It is stored in the freezer
• The texture
• The cost

     I have always loved bread making, it relaxes me and is therapeutic. My family was really missing homemade bread so I started looking in the book to see which recipes would work for us.

     The Chewy Sprouted Mini Loaves on page 422 was the first recipe that I tried. And boy did that not go well. My wheat berries sprouted with no problem see aren't they great ...

But the finished loaves came out with the density of hockey pucks, they were not edible... expensive ingredients in the trash once more...

     I continued reading and found a sour dough recipe on page 420. It's a rye and spelt recipe that makes 6 loaves. That's not going to work in our house.

     So off to the internet to search for an acceptable recipe ... I found many. I am still working on this and will post more when I find some that work on plan.

     Until then one of the other ladies who is also on plan, posted a reasonable 2 loaf recipe using sprouted flours that can be made in a bread machine. I made it using my  Kitchen aid.

Sugar Free Gum Drops

     When I first started my THM journey I found that I was missing gum drop style candy you know like sour patch kids... gummy bears and worms...

     So I challenged myself to making some at home, my kids always loved Jigglers so I have a bunch of molds from when they were at home. I was hoping they would curb my urge to snack without tandem fueling.

     The first batch I made was a little squishy when I used 3 packets of gelatin which is equal to about 2 tablespoons. So I went searching some more and experimenting.

     Gelatin is a wonderful ingredient that adds a protein boost as well as collagen and other nutrients that help with healthy hair, nail and skin growth.

     Recently, I wanted to try the recipe that was available in the Trim Healthy Living, ezine but it wasn't available due to technical issues. So searching again I ran across this version that includes sugar...

  Part of the issue with using a sweetener like Pyure Organic Stevia is that they are mixed with erythritol and when that is concentrated it causes a weird cooling sensation, at least to me. This time I opted to use the sweet juice concentrate that I made. It worked beautifully!!!

     I adapted the above recipe to make it sugar free and it fits within Fuel Pull guidelines for Trim Healthy Mama.

 Here is the adapted recipe that I used:

Sugar Free Gum Drops

Printable Recipe

 4 Tbsp gelatin (that’s about 6 envelopes)
 1 cup cold sweet juice concentrate
 1  cup boiling water
  1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
 1/4 cup lemon juice
 1/4 tsp flavored extract like lemon or peppermint (I used strawberry)
 1-2 drops food coloring
  extra sweetener for coating or a combination of sweetener and citric acid for sour gummies

• In a large pot, soften gelatin in cold sweet juice concentrate for five minutes.
• Stir in boiling water until gelatin dissolves
• Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil for 25 minutes. Stir constantly.
• Pour mixture into 4 – 3X5 pans.
• Add 1/4 tsp extract and 1-2 drops food color to each pan.
• Stir until thoroughly combined.
• Cover pan and chill overnight in the fridge.
• Cut gelatin mixture into 3/4 inch cubes using a knife dipped in hot water.
• The gelatin may pull, but continue cutting.
• Separate cubes and roll in sweetener until coated on all sides.
• Place gumdrops on wax paper and leave at room temperature for two days to crystallize.

Store in an airtight container.
Makes about 8 dozen 3/4 inch gumdrops or 3 trays of jiggler molds.

This post contains affiliate links, while it is no extra cost to you, if you happen to make a purchase than we make a small profit. This helps keep the content of the blog free