Tag : gluten free

This fast, easy and naturally sweet, but very low carb and low fat chocolate chip cookie recipe uses two of my favorite things, almonds in the form of almond flour, and chocolate chips. These are not just any chocolate chips, however – they are sugar free, nothing but 100% chocolate, and amen to that. For a while, baker’s chocolate had to suffice – along with time spent chopping it up, which wasn’t pretty.

Sugar, along with sugar alcohols, artificial sweeteners and other additive sweeteners like agave, are so overused in our food supply that it is truly rare to find an unadulterated, unsweetened product like Pascha Organic Dark Chocolate Baking Chips, which are 100% cacao, and nothing else. These chips are unsweetened, nut free, wheat and gluten free, and dairy and egg free as well as free from soy.

A product of Peru made for the Pascha Chocolate Company in Toronto, Canada, I found my curiosity piqued and visited their site to see the bag of chips on their front page along with that ever-so-important tagline: One Ingredient. One of their site’s main menu categories is “Free From.” It’s what I look for most of the time these days, simple things without all the BS in order to keep the “cup runeth over” diseases and syndromes at bay.

Recommendation made, so let’s get to the recipe, which is super quick and easy. You’ll need:

*Canola oil was chosen for its low saturated fat profile (and as a money saver). Choose any oil that is right for your purposes, but be wary of the saturated fat content.

Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips in a medium-sized mixing bowl, like so…

…and mix all ingredients until the dough is uniform:

 

 

Next, add in your delicious, decadent-without-the-shite chocolate chips. Enjoy these photos…

…I could take an extended, slow, sensual bath in this stuff…

…and I’d do it all day if I could stave off my chocoholism for long enough. But, having preheated the oven to 375 Fahrenheit degrees on a hot day, I gotta get back on track here.

After mixing in the chocolate chips, take two regular flatware teaspoons and spoon out the dough in small dollops – about 2.5 cm or an inch or so in circumference each – onto a baking sheet or whatever you have available. As all my other baking sheets are out on other projects at the moment, I’m using the oven’s broiling pan, which turns out to be better than the baking sheets I’ve been using. It has enamel instead of that chemicalized non-stick material that is now lodged in all our body tissues, is better than that crappy non-stick anyway, and it also makes for a great contrast with the little No-No dollops. They kind of look like little space cookies, don’t they? Cute!

Bake these at 375 for 10 – 12 minutes, remove them from the oven and scarf them up before anyone else sees them! These are a great low carb way to answer the chocolate chip cookie craving, which is absolutely fierce and must be answered. The good news: These are entirely BINGEable – I have eaten half the batch in one sitting and had no blood sugar issues at all. I’ve found them to be priceless while working on reducing insulin resistance, often eating these on the days I’m not doing HIIT (high intensity interval training) when I find myself craving something sweet, filling and “carby” tasting.

The tally here is about 16 of these dee-lish little gems:

I’m also cooking up a gingerbread version of these…I’ll add that variation in when it’s passed the taste test. Enjoy!

Yours in great health,
Alison

I think I’m in love.

No…really.

I remember when I was a little kid, and had pancakes for breakfast with maple syrup, and I poured so much syrup on my pancakes that they became these soggy-sweet things I just could not get enough of!

That’s what THESE remind me of…WITHOUT THE SYRUPY MESS OR BLOOD SUGAR SPIKE.

I most often eat low carb – and note this is not NO CARB – quality, highly nutritious carbs in low amounts is the key. I’ve been on a mission lately to ramp up the nutritional value of everything I eat, and wherever I can substitute vegetables for flour, I’m all in.

This recipe uses a vegetable – in this case, leftover baked acorn squash, a sweet and mildly starchy veggie known for magnesium, potassium, fiber, vitamin C and vitamin A content, among many other great things. It also makes use of the principle of heating and cooling a starch to increase its resistant starch (i.e., the kind of starch that has some health benefits and does NOT raise your blood sugar). This is called starch retrogradation, according to a healthline.com article titled, “Cooling Some Foods After Cooking Increases Their Resistant Starch,” by Grant Tinsley, PhD. Also check out a very thorough PDF on resistant starch and its benefits and role in healing insulin resistance and the gut.

The recipe also uses monk fruit powder, a zero-sugar sweetener (also known as lo han guo) that, according to Dr. Axe’s website, “has long been regarded as the “longevity fruit” thanks to its high antioxidant levels.”

Per Dr. Axe, it has also been utilized “as a treatment for diabetes, and as a way to clear heat from the body caused by both internal and external source.” This is of big interest to me as someone who experiences blood sugar issues as a component health issue – it seems to go hand-in-hand with the systemic candidiasis, cancer and hormonal issues I deal with. Not to mention my Chinese doc always told me I have a tendency toward damp heat, meaning foods and other things that clear heat are helpful.

Best of all, these little pancakes only have three ingredients, plus some butter or oil for cooking. As always, I prefer to use organic:

Skinning the baked acorn squash is really easy – it usually peels right off once it’s been baked and in the fridge for a bit. I then squeeze it into a 1/4 cup measure:

In a small bowl (even a coffee mug works), whisk together the skinned acorn squash and egg with a fork, this might take a few minutes. Mash any stubborn lumps of squash against the side of your bowl using the fork until the batter is smooth:

 

Add in your 1/4 teaspoon (or thereabouts) of monk fruit powder:

The finished batter should be very smooth:

Next, Add butter and/or healthy oil to a frypan, set on medium heat. Using a tablespoon measure, spoon a generous tablespoon’s worth of batter into your frying pan. Cook on each side until browned…the time to flip is when the outer edges become dry. These brown pretty fast, so keep an eye on them! Usually I’ve turned them at around the 2-3 minute mark, but sometimes the second side can take a little less time:

And here’s the final product! This recipe makes about six 2-3 inch pancakes, and you can do a lot with these. They’re great by themselves…

…or as a side dish. Try sprinkling some cinnamon over them, delicious!

And did I mention these are great for an impromptu layered desert, sans the added sugar? Here, I’ve topped one pancake with plain greek yogurt and a frozen strawberry, which defrosted perfectly by the time I was done my main course…

These pancakes are moist, and have a texture kind of like spongecake, which gives me an idea: Why not layer the pancakes with heavy whipped cream or plain greek yogurt (to which I might add some stevia or monk fruit powder to increase the sweetness as needed) and strawberries (or blueberries, etc.) in either clear plastic party cups or a round cake pan, then refrigerate. This would make a very nutritious party dessert without gluten or sugar…and plenty of protein.

Yield: Six 2-3 inch pancakes. These pancakes can be frozen for later use or stored in the fridge for a few days.

Variations: [Note: I haven’t tried these yet, so look for an update] I’m not sure if it will work, but if you don’t have a sweet tooth, try omitting the monk fruit powder for a 2-ingredient treat. Another variation is to use stevia instead of monk fruit powder, though I like the taste of monk fruit powder in these – it blends in rather well with the acorn squash.

Notes (Based on nutritiondata.self.com): The quarter cup of acorn squash in this recipe has 7.5 grams of carb, 2.25 grams of fiber, negligible sugars, negligible fat and .6 grams of protein. One large fried egg contains .4 grams carbs (no sugars), 7 grams of fat, and 6.3 grams of protein. And according to the container, one quarter teaspoon of monk fruit powder has zero sugars.

Enjoy!

Yours in Great Health,

Alison