Cooking Classes- Sugar

Well, my cooking classes that I have been doing with my cute little neighbor girl have been going well. A few weeks ago we talked about sugar substitutes and what sugar does to your body and more specifically how it effects our hormones.

Did you know:
- That the average American consumes an astounding 2-3 pounds of sugar each week, which is not surprising considering that highly refined sugars in the forms of sucrose (table sugar), dextrose (corn sugar), and high-fructose corn syrup are being processed into so many foods such as bread, breakfast cereal, mayonnaise, peanut butter, ketchup, spaghetti sauce, and a plethora processed foods. When you start looking at labels and know what to look for you will be super surprised at how many things have sugar in them. Prior to the turn of this century (1887-1890), the average consumption was only 5 lbs. per person per year!

-Sugar is addictive. Sugar promotes cravings. The more sugar you eat, the more sugar you want. A high sugar meal raises the blood glucose level, which triggers the outpouring of insulin. This excess insulin lingers in the system, triggering a craving for more sugar, thus adding another hill to the roller coaster ride.

-When we eat sugar it actually depletes our bodies of nutrients. This is because in order for our bodies to digest anything it needs nutrients to metabolize it. Because refined sugar contains no fiber, no minerals, no proteins, no fats, no enzymes, it actually steals those nutrients from our cells.

-Sugar can cause hormonal imbalance; some hormones become underactive and others become overactive.

-Sugar inhibits the release of growth hormone which deppresses our immune system and makes us more prone to disease. Sugar aggravates autoimmune conditions such as arthritis, asthma, and multiple sclerosis.

-Sugar raises the insulin levels in the body which in turn causes our body to store and hang on to fats.

-Sugar can cause a rapid rise of adrenaline, hyperactivity, anxiety, difficulty concentrating, and crankiness in children. Sugar reduces learning capacity, adversely affects children’s grades in school, and can exacerbate learning and behavioral disorders.

-Sugar exacerbates PMS.

-Sugar exacerbates fertility related diseases like PCOS (poly-cystic ovary syndrome) and Endometriosis and is many time the cause of such diseases.

What do I look for on food labels?

Avoid any of the following things that may be on a food label.

• Aspartame (NutraSweet, Equal)
  
• Corn sweetener
• Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids
• Dextrin
• Dextrose
• Fructose
  
• Glucose
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Lactose
• Maltodextrin
• Malt syrup
• Maltose
• Saccharose or saccharin (Sweet and Low)
  
• Sorghum or sorghum syrup
• Sucrose or sucarlose (Splenda)
• Sugar alcohols such as maltitol and sorbitol
• Sugar, brown or white
  
• Syrup
• Treacle
• Xylose

What sugars are safe to use in moderation?

• Agave
• Blackstrap molasses
• Coconut sugar
  
• Dates or date syrup/sugar
• Dehydrated cane juice
  
• 100% pure maple syrup
• Raw honey
• Stevia
• Sucanat
  
• Turbinado Sugar

I mostly use the ones that are highlighted.

We made three recipes this day.

“Almond Joy” Fudge from greensmoothiegirl.com

Put 2 cups each agave nectar (found in health food stores) and coconut oil in the BlendTec Total Blender. Set the blender container in a sink of hot water for 10 minutes to warm them. Add 1 cup powdered raw chocolate (or unsweetened cocoa) and blend well. Pour into a 9×13 pan and stir in 2 cups each of shredded coconut and chopped or sliced almonds. Chill and cut in squares.

Ginger Bread Cookies from simplehealthytasty.com

3/4 cup coconut oil melted
Egg Replacer for 1 egg
1 cup Sucanat
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses
2 cups soft white wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon each of ground cloves,
nutmeg, and sea salt

Cream together oil and Sucanat. Add Egg Replacer and molasses then mix in spices, soda and salt. Add flour last mix well roll into walnut sized balls. Gently roll in Raw sugar place on cookie sheet press down gently with hand to flatten. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes or 10-12 minutes for Ginger Snaps. Let cool for 3-5 minutes before removing from pan to cooling rack.

Tapioca pudding

3 TBLS instant tapioca (next time I will use pearled tapioca, but I couldn't find any and my friend really wanted to try making it)
1/3 cup agave
1 organic egg, well beaten
3 cups almond, or macadamia nut milk
1 tsp vanilla

Combine tapioca, sugar, milk and egg in medium saucepan; let stand for 5 min.
Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a full boil. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla. cool 20 minutes; stir. Serve warm or chilled.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

I got this original recipe off of allrecipes and changed it a bit to fit my needs better.

2 1/2 cups whole wheat or spelt flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp aluminum free baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 Tbls ground flax seed
4 Tbls water
(you could use two eggs in place of the flax and water)
1 cup Sucanot
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup coconut or olive oil
3/4 cup apple juice concentrate, thawed
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup water (could use milk, or almond milk)
3 cups shredded unpeeled zucchini
1 cup shredded carrots

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 baking dish. mix all dry ingredients together, then add the wet. Lastly add the zucchini and carrots and mixed until just moistened. Bake for 35-45 min or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Serve plain, or add this simple frosting recipe from Robyn, at greensmoothiegirl.com

1/2 cup powdered sucanot (if you don't have powdered sucanot just put sucanot into a coffee grinder and make it)
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup water

My boys at this up like crazy! They loved it and I didn't mind so much letting them eat it!

Healthified Doughnut Drops

(This is a post that I posted on my family blog a long time ago. I forgot about it until I was looking through my blog the other day and saw it. I thought I would transfer it over here and share)
My neighbor posted these on her blog the other day and I have been wanting to make them ever since I saw her site! I had to healthify them a little bit also to fit our needs, but they turned out beautifully!

Healthified Doughnut Drops
(Check out the link above for the original recipe to get great ideas on how to make these when in a hurry.)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat or Spelt flour
1 1/2 Tbls vital wheat gluten
1/3 C. sucanat
2 tsp. aluminum free baking powder
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 C. water, almond milk or rice milk (I used water)
2 Tbs. cocount oil, melted
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg or egg substitute using 1 Tbls ground flax or chia seed and two Tbls water mixed together and allowed to sit and make a gel.
Coconut oil for frying

Mix all ingredients together to form a dough. In a large saucepan, heat 2 to 3 inches oil to 375º. When oil is heated, drop five or six doughnuts into hot oil and fry for 2 to 3 minutes per side to a deep golden brown. I used my small cookie scoop to drop them in the oil. Drain on paper towels. If you like you can top the dounuts with powdered sucanat or drizzle honey or agave over the top of them. It would also be fun to roll them in some agave and then some chopped nuts and/or shredded unsweetened coconut. We just ate them plain and they were delicious and plenty sweet!

Basic Cake Recipe

For cub scouts the boys were asked to decorate a cake and bring it to pack meeting for part of the Blue and Gold celebration. I was really concerned about this because I wanted to bring something healthy, but I still wanted him to be able to participate. I found this recipe for cake and it turned out really well. I am not sure where I got the original recipe from.

Basic Cake

2 C water
1/4 C olive oil
1 cup agave
3 C whole wheat flour or spelt flour
1 tsp gluten
1T vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbls baking soda
3 tsp baking powder
You can also add in anything else to the batter to make it the kind of cake you would like. I added some whole blueberries to the batter to make a blueberry cake. You could add nuts, another kind of fruit, some kind of flavoring etc.

Mix all the ingredients adding baking powder last. Bake @ 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes in a 10x15 cookie sheet with high sides, until cake pulls away from the sides and bounces back when you touch the middle.



Jonah frosted it with this frosting recipe that I used for sugar cookies. We colored it with blueberries. He then decorated it with almonds and some shredded coconut that I put just a little green food coloring in. I didn't love that, but I didn't know how else to color something green and he really wanted some grass on his cake. He had fun doing it and it was pretty healthy also.

Valentines Day Sugar Cookies

We got together with some other home school families for a valentines part and I volunteered to bring some sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. So then I had to get to work healthifying a sugar cookies recipe. These cookies were every bit as good as the original in my book. YUM!

Sugar Cookies

2 cups Macadamia nut scour cream
1/2 cup butter or coconut oil (softened)
1/2 cup applesauce
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 organic eggs or 2 Tbls flax seed mixed with 4 Tbls water
2 cups agave
2 tsp baking soda
7 cups spelt flour, rice flour or whole wheat flour, or a mixture of any.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream together first 7 ingredients. Stir in last two ingredients. Chill for 2 hours. Roll out 1/4 inch think using flour on surface. Cut out into different shapes. Bake for 8-10 minutes (no longer)

Butter Cream Frosting

1/4 cup spelt flour
1 cup nut or rice milk
1/4 cup coconut oil, softened
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup agave
2 tsp vanilla

Optional- pureed strawberries, blueberries, peaches or other fruit to add color to frosting.

In a small sauce pan, mix the flour and milk and cook over low heat until it forms a smooth paste with no lumps. Place in the fridge and let it cool completely.

With an electric mixer beat the softened coconut oil and butter (MUST be soft) with the agave. Beat the cooled flour paste and mix until smooth. Stir in the vanilla. Stir in pureed fruit if desired.

We decorated them with coconut flakes, nuts, dried fruit, uncooked millet, and what ever else I had in my pantry that I thought would be fun. I wish I had pictures of then all decorated, but I forgot. Sorry.

Pear Upside Down Cake

This is a recipe from Taste of Home magazine that I made better. It was SOOO good. You have to try this one.

Pear Upside Down Cake

1/2 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/4 cup sucanat
2 large pears, sliced into thin slices
1/2 cup no sugar added applesauce
1/3 cup agave
1 organic egg, or 1 Tbls ground flax seed mixed with 2 Tbls water
1/3 cup molasses
1 3/4 cup spelt flour
3/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup warm water

Pour melted butter or coconut oil into a 9 in square baking pan; sprinkle with nuts and sucanat. Arrange pears over nuts.
In a large bowl beat applesauce, agave, egg (flax seed), water and molasses. Combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda; add to wet mixture beating well.
Spread over pears. Bake @ 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before inverting onto a serving plate. Serve warm.

Christmas Eve Fondue

I wanted to have something really fun and special for Christmas Eve dinner. Something that we don't normally have and that we could make a tradition. Of course, I wanted it to be healthy also. I decided to do a fondue dinner. It was so much fun! We had three courses. The first was the appetizer course. We tried two different kinds of cheese fondue. This was a treat for use since we rarely have cheese. I liked the blue cheese one the best. Then we had the main course that was a broth that you cook the veggies in. It tasted great and it was fun to let the kids cook their own. The last course was a dessert course. There again were two choices. They were both good.

Here are some pictures (they are not that great, sorry) and recipes. I healthified the recipes from www.gofondue.com/

Cheese Fondue Recipe for the Whole Family

1 clove garlic
1 Tbls Butter or coconut oil
1 Tbls whole wheat or spelt flour
1/2 cup Nut or rice milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup macadamia nut sour cream

1. Cut the clove of

garlic in half and rub each half inside the fondue

pot. Discard the garlic when done.

2. Turn on the burner on low and melt the butter in the

cheese fondue pot.

3. Add the flour and milk and mix well.

4. Add the cheese one hand full at a time. Increase the tem

perature a little.

5. With a wooden spoon, mix well and stir regularly. D

on't let the mixtu

re come to a boil.

6. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

7. When the fondue is hot enough (but not boiling), add the sour cream, mix well and serve.

8. Dip your pieces of bread and other dippers into the deli

cious melted blue cheese.

9. Enjoy and repeat. Keep stirring the cheese to make su

re it doesn't burn at the bottom.

Easy Cheese Fondue

1/2 Tbls butter or coconut oil
1 clove garlic
1 Tbls chopped green onion
1/2 cup unsweetened apple juice
3 Tbls dried cranberries
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 Tbls cornstarch
1/8 lb Swiss cheese, shredded
1/8 lb cheddar cheese, shredded
1/4 lb Gouda cheese, shredded
pepper to taste

1. Turn on your fondue pot and melt the butter. Add the garlic and green onion and cook for two minutes while stirring.

2. Add the juice, cranberries and rosemary and let it si

mmer for about 4 minutes.

3. With burner on low heat, add the cornstarch and shredded cheese, one handful at a time, until all of it is melted. With a wooden spoon, mix well and st

ir continuously.

4. Add pepper to taste.

5. If the mixture is too hard, add juice. If the mixture is too soft, add

cheese.

6. Dip bite size pieces of steamed broccoli, asparagus and cauliflower, button mushrooms, pear slices, apple slices or mild pepperoni sticks.

7. Let the dipped pieces cool off for a few seconds, the

n enjoy and repeat!

Tip: If you ask your children to make a figure 8 while dipping, it will turn this meal (or appetizer) into a game while ensuring the cheese mixture gets constantly stirred.

Dippers for cheese fondues- steamed broccoli, cherry tomatoes, apple slices, grapes, crusty bread, steamed asparagus, steamed new potatoes

Fondue with Vegetables in Broth

3 cups vegetable broth
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 Tbls grated ginger
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Tbls Braggs liquid aminos
salt and pepper to taste
assortment of dippers

1. In a large pot over medium heat, warn up the veggie stock.
2. Add the chopped green onion, ginger, garlic, and red pepper flakes and bring to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 30 minutes.
4. Arrange your dippers and dips on serving plates and bowls and keep refrigerated until fondue starts.
5. When you are ready to get started, add braggs and salt and pepper.
6. Strain the fondue broth to remove all solid particles.
7. Transfer to your fondue pot. Keep the extra broth in a pot on the stove on low heat to replenish as needed.
8. Light the fondue burner and adjust the heat.
9. Put a piece of vegetable onto your fondue fork and cook it in the broth.
10. Transfer the cooked dipper onto a regular fork and dip into one of your favorite dips.

Dips- Mango Salsa, Ranch, Pesto sauce

Dippers- raw organic chicken, cauliflower, carrots, zucchini, celery, mushrooms, bell pepper

There are only a couple times a year that we cook meat at our home. One is for valentines day and the other is on Christmas Eve. We cut up in to thin strips, one organic chicken thigh and it was enough for our whole family. You don't need very much.

Basic Maple Syrup Fondue

2 Tbls water
2 tsp cornstarch
1 cup real maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut milk
Assortment of dippers

1. In a small bowl, dilute the cornstarch and water. Set aside.
2. In a small sauce pan, bring the maple syrup to a boil.
3. Reduce the heat and add the coconut milk. Mix well.
4. Keep mixing and gradually add some of the cornstarch mixture until the fondue has reached the desired consistency.
5. Pour the fondue mixture into a fondue pot.
6. dip bite size pieces of various dippers.

Peanut Butter Fondue

5 Tbls honey or agave
1 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Assortment of dippers

1. In a small saucepan, bring the honey or agave and the coconut milk to a boil, while stirring consistently.
2. Reduce the heat and add the peanut butter.
3. Mix well.
4. Pour the peanut butter mixture into your warm fondue pot.
5. Add the cinnamon and stir well.
6. Dip bite size pieces of various dippers.

Dessert Dippers- Nuts, Apples, strawberries, warmed pineapple, bananas

Holiday Candy

My family has always had a tradition, as I am sure many do, to make candy at Christmas time. My family is making candy this Friday and I don't want to be left out just because I eat healthy. So I will be making healthified versions of some of my favorite candies. I wanted to share what I am going to be making. I didn't make up any of these recipes. I have gotten them all from other sources so I will just give links to them. I hope you will try some healthified treats this year as well.

Carmel dipped pretzels- I have not tried these yet, but I am excited to this year.

http://www.greenshakesandgiggles.com/2010/12/dairy-free-refined-sugar-free-caramel.html

I had extra caramel after I was done dipping so I just let it harden a little and then cut up the caramel and wrapped it in waxed paper.


Peanut Brittle from here:

http://www.simplehealthytasty.com/2010/12/peanut-brittle_21.html


I also made a recipe called chocolate balls. It is a recipe that I got from greensmoothiegirl.com. I don't have the rights to post it here, but you can get the recipe from her. It was good and all raw. It was certainly the healthiest treat I made.


It was fun to make some new things. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything.

Gingerbread

I was really craving some gingerbread the other day. Not the ginger bars recipe that I have, but real gingerbread. I decided to make some for my son's birthday cake on Sunday and it turned out great. I healthified a recipe that I found on Allrecipes.com.

Gingerbread

1 cup molasses 3/4 cup raw honey 3/4 cup coconut oil 3 eggs or 3 Tbls ground flax seed mixed with 6 Tbls water 3 cups whole wheat flour 1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves 1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 2 cups rice or almond milk Whipped cream or coconut milk whipped cream

In a large mixing bowl, beat molasses, honey, oil and eggs until well-mixed. Combine dry ingredients and add alternately with the milk to the egg mixture. Pour batter into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature with chilled whipped cream.

Ginger bars

So, for my oldest sons birthday party I made ginger bars for his birthday cake. They are really good. I hope you enjoy!

Ginger Bars

1 cup coconut oil
1 cup sucanat
2 eggs or
2 Tbls ground flax seed mixed with 4 Tbls water and left to sit for a while so that it can gel.
1 cup applesauce
1/2 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp sea salt

Mix the coconut oil, sucanat, eggs, applesauce and molasses together. Add the dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour into a oiled bar pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Strawberry Limeaid Brain Freeze (Slurpee)

1 handful frozen strawberries
2/3 cup agave
2 cups water
4 limes
Ice

Put strawberries, water and agave in the blender. Blend until smooth. Juice the limes and add the juice and the ice to the blender. Blend again until smooth and frosty.