So far, not a problem with losing the sugar. I passed out handfuls of Hallowe'en candy without taking one mini-Snickers, thank you. I did have to have a slice of my son's birthday cake, but it was pound cake and not that sweet, and it was a small slice ...
And thinking about all those cookies and pies and cakes I'd have to forego, I came across a solution. A substitute aptly named Stevia.
I'd seen this advertised on the tube but never paid it any mind. Then I started doing a bit of research. I don't want to get into artificial sweeteners for several reasons, not the least of which is they all taste crappy. But a test of Stevia -- how sweet it is -- and no problem.
You still have to replace the bulk of sugar with something in a baked recipe -- you can use ground nuts or fruit or somesuch, because if you pull a couple cups of sugar out, whatever you are baking will miss it enough to go flat and crumbly. However, the sweet part is easy with Stevia, which comes from the leaf of a South American plant. You can even grow your own -- one of places you can find the plants for sale is a couple miles down the road, if I've a mind to do that.
The herb is not cheap, but a little goes a long way -- the ratio of concentrated Stevia powder to sugar is one-quarter teaspoon of the former to a cup of the latter. And it doesn't have any calories to speak of, and doesn't spike your blood sugar.
Learn something new every day.
2 comments:
GOOD JOB on successfully resisting the mini Snickers! I gave in at the end of the day, intending to bring home 6 to cut in half and place one-half in each of 12 mini low-carb cheesecakes...but waiting that long saved me and there were only 4 left. "Oh well, can't use them!" /leaves them behind
here's the recipe I mostly used... http://cakeonthebrain.blogspot.com/2009/02/low-carb-mini-cheesecakes.html
I used a muffin tin, muffin liners, and instead of a proper crust, used a 2-inch biscuit/cookie cutter to cut rounds out of graham crackers and place them in the bottom of the liners. Hubby has them as is, I slice off the 'crusts'. --Also accidentally used only half the Splenda, 12 packets instead of 24, but neither hubby or I minded!
My mom is growing stevia, and also several kinds of mint. She'd mentioned a friend of hers had made a 'chaw' with a leaf of chocolate mint and a leaf of stevia, rolled together and tucked 'tween cheek and gum. Tried it myself. Not bad!
FYI, I used stevia in the distant past, so I'm glad they've gotten the nasty aftertaste fixed. Another fake-sweetener I'd use is Xylitol - ignore the unnatural-sweetener name, as it's a natural sweeter made from cellulose. All the calories, but low-glycemic. Works really well, measures 1-to-1 like sugar. And has a nice hint of mint in it.
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