Chia Blueberry Sauce - Sugar-Free (Healthified)

Try this healthy variation of blueberry sauce.

This is a very delicious and very easy sauce to put together. It is loaded with antioxidants and fiber. Since it is sugar-free, you can enjoy it knowing that it won't spike your blood sugar.

The beautiful thing about this sauce is it seems dessert like and very more-ish, yet it is great as a yogurt topping for breakfast, or on low-carb ice cream for dessert. there are many uses for this versatile sauce. You will not feel deprived, trust us!

We also like that you don't have to cook this blueberry sauce to death. It tastes F-R-E-S-H.

Also note how we keep using a blend of sugar-free sweeteners on this blog. That is because the blends we use are synergistic, which means they enhance each other's sweetening power along with tasting much more like conventional sugar. Cool, right?



Chia Blueberry Sauce Recipe:

2 boxes (22 to 24 ounces total) fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed
2 c. "Old Orchard" brand no sugar added Cranberry-Raspberry Juice
1/4 c. dark chia seeds
1 to 2 t. very finely powdered psyllium husks
4 to 6 T. erythritol, to taste (or Lakanto white sweetener)
4 to 6 T. xylitol, to taste
Fresh lemon juice and/or Vitamin C powder, to taste
Stevia Glycerite, to taste


Method:

In a small saucepan place the blueberries, chia seeds, and 2 c. juice.
Mix together and let thicken 30 minutes.
Barely cook the mixture.
Powder the psyllium husks very finely in a Krups seed mill.
Mix the psyllium husk powder with the erythritol and xylitol.
Add the psyllium mixture to the hot berry mixture and still very will until fully dissolved.
Let berry mixture cool.
Add fresh lemon juice and /or Vitamin C powder to taste.
Add Stevia glycerite to taste.
Chill the berry sauce overnight.
If the sauce thickens up too much, just add more juice to reach the desired consistency.
Use as a topping for cheesecake, yogurt, ice cream, etc...


Variations:

This Blueberry Sauce can be made with less juice and be used as a sugar-free blueberry pie filling!

Or, Make it less sweet and it could become a tasty blueberry Danish Pudding.

Or, mix it with any kind of sugar-free syrup to make a blueberry pancake syrup!

There are lots of options for the blueberry lover...


Enjoy,

Leila & Nancy.

Light & Fluffy Vanilla Microwave Jiffy Cake - Amazingly Sugar-Free & Gluten-Free

This is a special recipe. 

If you have been looking for a healthy 2-minute microwave cake or muffin recipe, this is it. 

Not only is this cake amazingly light textured, it is also gluten-free, sugar-free, low-carb, high fiber, dairy-free, starch-free, and chemical-free.

Basic Vanilla Jiffy Cake with Sugar-Free Chocolate Ganache Topping.

Vanilla Jiffy Cake

There are some recipes out there that use almond flour and/or coconut flour, but they are generally heavy, dry, and not convincing. It is highly unusual to have a tasty sugar-free, gluten-free, and low-carbohydrate recipe in one.

You're welcome :)

I purposely pared this cake/muffin recipe down. It is like a blank canvas, ready for you to unleash your creativity on.

I'm thinking, pumpkin-spice, applesauce cake, lemon-blueberry, sugar-free chocolate chip frosted with sugar-free chocolate ganache... I will be posting a almond-poppy seed muffin recipe next, using this recipe as the foundation. Check back soon.

This recipe is also a work in progress. Don't get me wrong, it's great as it is, but our recipes continually evolve here at Kitchen Cheetahs. We already have many variations, but I wanted to provide you with a basic recipe that is easy to make at home, with ingredients easy to source.



For a grain-free version, you may omit the oat bran flour and chia flour and use 1 T. golden flax seed meal instead. Note that the taste of the flax meal will be noticed in this recipe, since there are no spices or other strong flavors to mask the taste.

We like to make multiple batches of the single-serving dry cake/muffin mix and individually seal them in small zip-lock bags. When the munchies hit, grab 1 bag of dry mix and add the wet ingredients, mix, microwave, and enjoy!

This Jiffy Cake generously serves one. My daughter and I usually share one. An added benefit of this cake is that it is quite filling, and staves off cravings for hours. This cake isn't full of empty calories either, so it makes a great meal or snack. We like these low-carb Jiffy Cakes a lot, as they help with carb cravings when you want to slim down.




Basic Jiffy Cake Recipe for One Jiffy Cake:

Dry Ingredients:
3 T. (24 grams) white almond flour (Honeyville is a good brand)
2 T. (18 grams) coconut flour (we like Wilderness Family Naturals brand)
2 t. (6 grams) oat bran flour
1 t. (2.50 grams) chia seed flour
1 T. (15 grams) erythritol (or Lakanto's granular zero-cal sweetener)
1 T. (14 grams) xylitol
1 T.  (11 grams) IMO powder (or inulin powder)
1/2 t. (2.50 grams) baking powder
1/8 t. (0.40 grams) lecithin powder
heaping 1/16 t. (0.50 grams) sea salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 large egg, at room temperature (about 50 -51 grams)
1 t. (8 grams) vegetable glycerine
1/8 t. (1 gram) stevia glycerite, to taste
2 T. (28 grams) warm water
2 T. (26.50 grams) warmed deodorized coconut oil
1/2 t. (2.50 grams) real vanilla extract


Method:

Pre-grind your chia seeds into a fine flour using a small seed/coffee mill.
Grind together all the dry ingredients so that the sweeteners are powdered into the mix.
Store dry mix in an air-tight container until ready to use.

To make one Jiffy Cake:

In a 2-cup microwave safe baking container, whisk the egg until blended.

Add the other wet ingredients in the order listed and mix to combine.

Place the container of batter off-center in your carousel microwave and cook on high for 2 minutes, uncovered. The center should just spring back when touched.

Let cake cool in the microwave 3 minutes.

Remove from microwave and invert cake onto a plate, if desired, and cool 3 more minutes.

If you are not going to eat the cake right away, cover the cake to prevent it's drying out.



Photos of the process:

Get all your ingredients out.

A seed mill and good scales are helpful to have.

A small casserole dish (with vented lid) for cooking the cake in.

Measuring the dry ingredients.

I move each ingredient to the opposite side as I use it, so I don't forget where I'm at in the recipe.

The coconut flour I used.

Grind the dry ingredients together in 2 batches.

Do not grind until mixture heats up or it will clump.

The finished dry cake/muffin mix.

Crack the egg into the baking dish then mix in the rest of the wet ingredients.

Mix the dry mix into the wet mix until lump free.

Place the baking container off-center in the microwave so it will cook more evenly.

Let the cooked Jiffy Cake cool in the microwave for about 3 minutes.

Remove cake from microwave and let cool another 3 minutes.

The finished vanilla Jiffy Cake.

Cover the cake if you are not going to eat it right away

The cooled cake is ready to frost.

Here is a sugar-free chocolate ganache frosting.

Dig in!

Look at the light texture and moist crumb...

Hard to believe that this is a guilt-free treat, huh?

O.K., I'm going to go eat this now.

Enjoy,

Leila & Nancy.

Copy-Cat Bragg's Ginger Spice Apple Cider Vinegar Drink Recipe (Sugar-Free)

My Copy-Cat version of Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar All Natural Drink 

- Ginger Spice flavor

This drink is for those of you who are health conscious. Because this drink is not like a diet Coke...I'm just sayin'.

A dear friend of mine came over to my house drinking this bottled beverage. Of course I was curious. She likes it and says it is a definite pick-me-up. I  tasted it, and when I heard how much a bottle of it cost, I looked at the ingredient list and then I told her I thought I could duplicate it. It costs pennies to make yourself. She left me the bottle with a bit of the drink left in it. I figured out how to make the drink at home the next day and sent her the recipe.

This drink is not for everyone, but it is strangely good. You may have already heard about the health benefits of drinking a little apple cider vinegar daily. We know that ginger is amazingly good for us too. The 2 together are an improvement for the vinegar, I must say. I like not having any sugar added and the stevia does a nice job of sweetening this beverage without calories.

When I set out to duplicate a recipe, I always look at the product's ingredient list. I write down the ingredients like you see below. I leave space for me to write in the recipe amounts. I do a sensory test of the product and take notes. I source my ingredients and then get to formulating. Just in case you were curious. Personally, I think it's fun to formulate.

This is the ingredient list on the Bragg Ginger Spice bottle:

Pure distilled water
Bragg organic apple cider vinegar
organic ginger
organic stevia extract

Here is my formula...

Ginger Spice Apple Cider Vinegar Drink Recipe:

Yield: 1 quart
Difficulty level: Easy Peasy

Ginger Water Concentrate:

2-inch piece of raw ginger root
2 c. distilled or purified water

Ginger Drink:

Ginger concentrate, to taste
1/4 c. raw apple cider vinegar (like Bragg's) (plus 1 T. more for a tarter version)
1/4 t. stevia glycerite (recipe on this blog, or use Now brand)
Water to make up a total of 1 quart


Method:

Grate or finely mince the ginger into a medium-sized pot.
Add 2 cups water and place on the stove.
Bring to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.
Simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.
Take off heat and allow to steep. Let cool to room temperature.
Strain, pressing the pulp dry.
I like to add a bit more water to the spent ginger pulp and puree a bit in the blender and strain again.
Pour the desired amount of ginger concentrate into a 1-quart glass jar. (I pour in all of it!)
Add the vinegar and stevia glycerite. swirl to mix well.
Top off with water.
Taste and add more ginger or vinegar as desired.
Chill or serve over ice.


Variations:

Add 2 T. chia seeds
Add a pinch of tumeric powder
Add some real maple syrup, to taste (not sugar-free)


Some benefits of drinking apple cider vinegar: 

Contains antioxidants
Improves blood sugar levels
Antibacterial, so helpful for a sore throat

http://www.doctoroz.com/ says,
"Drinking apple cider vinegar before a high-carbohydrate meal improves insulin sensitivity—slowing the rate of blood sugar levels rising—in people who are insulin resistant (a prediabetes condition) or have type 2 diabetes, according to a 2004 study. The researchers note that vinegar may possess physiological effects similar to the anti-diabetes medications acarbose and metformin."
http://www.doctoroz.com/article/people-are-drinking-vinegar-should-you 

Enjoy,

Leila

Photos of the process (making a double batch):

I freeze my ginger and then grate the amount I want for my recipes.

Grate the ginger while it's still frozen. Here I have about 4 inches worth for a double batch.

Put the pot on the stove with 2 cups of water. Simmer covered, and then let steep.

The ginger has brewed and cooled somewhat and is ready for straining.

I use a fine mesh bag draped over a mason jar strainer to easily strain and then squeeze the ginger dry.

Pour ginger brew into fine mesh bag to strain.

Tightly squeeze the ginger dry.

Put the ginger root in a blender with 2 c. more water (for a double batch) and blend.

Yield: 4 cups ginger concentrate.

Now I am making my Ginger Spice Apple Cider Vinegar Drink. For my double batch I used the full 4 cups ginger concentrate.

Best served cold, over ice! Are you fighting off a cold? Add a pinch of cayenne and drink hot or cold. I like to add a little bit more ACV to make it more therapeutic. A touch more stevia added is fine too.

Author, Leila Wood.