Friday Fare – Sugar free and refined sugar free muffins

March 28, 2014

As promised, here is the recipe for the sugar free muffins I posted about on Sunday Summary two weeks ago!

Sugar free and refined sugar free muffins

I am going to share two versions of these muffins with you. The difference between them is that one is purely sugar-free (as it contains sugar-free honey made of xylitol) and the other is refined sugar free (and contains honey). Both are healthy and delicious, but I realize that sugar-free honey is not easy to come by which is why I am offering two versions.

This recipe was taught to me by my boyfriend’s aunt who is on a strict sugar-free diet to help battle her candida. These muffins are surprisingly fluffy and moist, and very very delicious. You can’t stop at just one, but the beauty of these muffins are that they contain a healthy mix of protein and fats with no sugar or no refined sugar! The sugar-free version is great for those with sugar issues, such as diabetics, and provide a sweet treat without blasting up your blood sugar levels. The refined sugar-free version contain sugar from honey (I use raw honey), and while this is still sugar, it does not undergo mass levels of refinement that most commercial sugars go through.

Although sugar is good for you (save a few who have medical issues with it) and IS necessary for the body to function, I try and limit the amount of ADDED sugar I ingest. And sweet treats tend to have a LOT of unnecessary added sugar which will cause you to gain weight in the long run and could lead to longer term health problems. This article is a great read if you want to know more about how excess sugar can negatively affect you. Like excess ANYTHING though, too much of it will lead to weight gain and you putting on fat.

Therefore, I like to share yummy sweet things which have natural sugar-free alternatives or sugars that have not been refined. I would prefer you to stick to natural sugars if possible as we still do not know the long-term side effects of sweeteners, but liquid stevia is a good sugar-free choice.

Okay, informational talk and slight rant over!

Sugar-free & Refined Sugar-free Muffins

Alice Williams

Incredibly moist sugar-free and refined sugar-free muffins to satisfy your sweet tooth.

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Ingredients

Ingredients for the sugar free muffin are

4 eggs
1 and a half cups of almond flour
1/3 cup ground flax seed you can make this by buying flax seed and throwing it in the food processor for a minute or longer
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup almond milk
15 drops of liquid stevia
1/4 cup sugar-free honey
6 tablespoons cinnamon or pumpkin spice
OPTIONAL: 2 tablespoons olive oil I prefer it without to be honest

Ingredients for the refined sugar free muffin are

4 eggs
1 and a half cups of almond flour
1/3 cup ground flax seed
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup honey
6 tablespoons cinnamon or pumpkin spice
OPTIONAL: 2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees farenheit and get a muffin tin or some muffin/cupcake holders ready.
2. Whisk the eggs in a bowl and then add and mix in the rest of your ingredients
3. Pour the mixture into your tin or holders and then put into the oven for 13 minutes.

Sugar free and refined sugar free muffins

Voila! Easy, fluffy and delicious sugar-free or refined sugar-free muffins!! Enjoy with some sugar-free jam on top, honey, some berry compote, with coconut whipped cream or any way you choose. If you make them, tag me in your photo and hashtag it #fridayfare so I can find you 🙂

Hope you enjoyed this post and I look forward to seeing your recreations!

Honestly yours,
Alice

Friday Fare, Health

Friday Fare a collection of healthy recipes

January 17, 2014

Hey everyone! Welcome to the first edition of Friday Fare a collection of healthy recipes.

Friday Fare is going to be a regular weekly post (may become bi-weekly during the uni semester though unfortunately) where I will be posting healthy and filling breakfast, lunch, or dinner recipes. Why did I choose ‘Friday Fare’ as opposed to ‘Monday Meals’ or ‘Tasty Tuesday’? Well a) I wanted to be original and b) ….

Which is exactly what I will be doing. Posting a range of foods, especially of a particular type – the healthy and nutritious type 🙂

The first edition of Friday Fare features one of my favorite simple meals that can be eaten for lunch or dinner. What I made for you all today is a simple stir-fry featuring a lean protein – shrimp, carbohydrate source – sweet potato, healthy fats – coconut oil, and plenty of fresh vegetables. It only took me about 30 – 40 minutes to make (chopping, cooking and everything) and is such a delicious and nutritious meal! The photo below shows you all the ingredients you need to make this delicious stir-fry.

As you can see, you really do not need many ingredients at all! They are all relatively cheap as well, although I know shrimp is not that cheap but if you buy it frozen you can get some great deals. As you can see, I did not put a measurement on how much salt or cumin to use. This is because I think you should spice and salt the stir-fry according to how you like it. As a rule of thumb though, you can start off with a teaspoon of salt and cumin, and then add more if you like the flavors.

The secret to making my vegetables quickly and in a healthy way is my beautiful steamer … Ta da! I do not know what I would do without this baby. I literally chop up my veggies and throw it in my steamer and then put the steamer in my microwave for a few minutes. I know some of my old housemates will recognize the steamer, they loved using it 😉

Alright, now that you know what ingredients to use, and how to make the veggies, I will now tell you how to make it and nutritional value of this dish.

Healthy and filling shrimp stir-fry with sweet potato and steamed veggies

1. Make sure you have done your prep work – this includes chopping, getting all your spices out, and etc.

2. Throw the chopped broccoli and sweet potato in your steamer and microwave for 5 minutes. If you do not have a steamer, you can mimic the steaming action by placing the vegetables in a frying pan and adding about 2-3 tablespoons of water and then placing a lid on top of the pan. Check it every few minutes to see how soft the veggies are.

3. Whilst the veggies are being steamed, get a frying pan and heat the coconut oil in the pan until the coconut oil has melted (coconut oil is usually found cold-pressed so is in a solid state).

4. Then put your diced garlic and shrimp in the pan and fry until the shrimp is pink on each side. Lightly season the shrimp with some salt and cumin, and add half of your half tablespoon of chicken broth. Once the shrimp is cooked, place the shrimp on a separate plate for now (we will come back to it shortly).

5. Put your spinach into the frying pan with a splash of water. And no, not a Niagara Falls splash, just a tablespoon or so of water. This will create a nice steaming effect for the spinach. I typically just steam my spinach in the pan because since the sweet potato and broccoli take longer to steam and soften, if I add the spinach in with them, it will come out a pile of mush!

6. Now your sweet potato and broccoli should be steamed. Take them out of the steamer and add them to the spinach in the frying pan. After a minute or two, add the shrimp back into the pan so all the flavors mesh together.

Voila, and there you have it! A really simple, healthy and quite filling meal. If you do feel as if you want more food, feel free to add some more sweet potato, shrimp or veggies as you wish. Keep in mind that this will change the nutritional values of what I posted below. Adjust it to your own unique daily caloric needs 🙂 If you are weird like me, you can chop an ounce of Parmesan and nibble on that whilst enjoying the stir-fry (Parmesan has a surprisingly high protein content).

Mmmmmmm. As you can see, I am a chili fiend so added some chili powder to it. I hope you all enjoy the meal! Let me know if you would like me to post meals with specific ingredients, anything you can think of!

Nutritional Info
Calories: 343
Protein: 30 grams
Carbohydrates: 54 grams (mostly all from the sweet potato which has 41 grams in one cup)
Fat: 6 grams
Fiber: 14 grams