Splendiferous Sugar-Free Pudding Ideas

Today we're going to be talking about things to make using sugar-free pudding. Ok, look, try not to make fun of my first attempt at a Pic Monkey graphic too much. It's a little sad, I know. Whatevs. This little experiment came up when I was aimlessly checking out the contents of our pantry and realized we had a box of, you guessed it, sugar-free pudding. I actually haaaate the taste of anything sugar-free, so when I decided I wanted to do something with it, I figured I needed to pick something that would camouflage the taste. These aren't the healthiest recipes, but they are actually low amylose (EXCEPT that my sugar-free pudding had Splenda in it, which has maltodextrin, which is a big ol' no-no. So try to find one without that). I used Lieber's brand, so Idk if Jello brand has Splenda in there too, but either way it probably tastes better than my kosher one. And anyway, it's Bill Cosby approved:

K so first up is the imitation Wendy's Frosty. Now, I've kept kosher for about the past decade (!!!) so I admittedly haven't had one of the real guys in a while. A long while. But this was close enough (even with all of my stupid tweaks) that I got where they were going with it. In high school my friend and I would go through the Wendy's drive-thru for a Frosty and then drive next door for Burger King fries, because they were infinitely better there. My parents never let me pull that crap though. It was all or nothing. :) So here you go:

Imitation Wendy's Frosty (original recipe found here)
Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 2 TBS sugar-free chocolate pudding mix (I used vanilla and was wondering why it wasn't so chocolatey until right now)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1tsp unsweetened cocoa*
• 1/2 TBS Splenda (2-3 small packets)*
• 7 ice cubes
• (optional) 2 TBS cool whip (I skipped this- cool whip isn't kosher ;))

* I actually used a little bit of maple syrup and a little bit of sugar-free chocolate syrup but I do not recommend using my substitutions on the Frosty. The lady that posted it said it was amazing and she'd love it even if she wasn't on a diet. Mine was okay, but still had a lot of that Splenda taste. Shocker.
This one is super easy. All you do is throw it all into the blender until it hits your desired consistency.

Next up:
No-Bake Greek Yogurt Cheesecake
Crust Ingredients (recipe from here- I want to try that full recipe w/ almond or cashew butter instead of peanut butter- I'd already made the pudding when I found this crust recipe, so I was kind of locked into cheesecake!)

• 1 cup ground almonds
• 1 cup dried, unsweetened coconut (I used 1/4c shredded coconut, 3/4c coconut flour)
• 1/2 cup chopped (pitted) dates
• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• ~1 tbsp water (depends on the moisture from the dates- add this last) 

Throw all of this into a food processor, adding a little water at a time until you can pinch it with your fingers and it sticks together.  Then pat it into the bottom of your pan.

 

(Close inspection shows that I've got real chunks of date in there. Oh well.)

Filling Ingredients (recipe from here)

• 12 oz Plain Greek yogurt 
• 1 package Sugar Free Fat Free Cheese Cake Pudding Mix (I used sugar free vanilla)
• 1 Cup milk (any kind; I used dairy)  

I threw these ingredients into the blender for maybe 1.5 minutes. Just until it seemed incorporated. Then I poured it on top of the crust, made a little design with some of that sugar-free chocolate syrup, and popped it into the refrigerator for a few hours. That's what's up.

 Lemme know if you try this, and what additional tweaks you make that are amazeballs. Any other sugar-free pudding recipes out there? :)

Ramblings...

This is just going to be a bunch of random thoughts/updates. Bear with me.

I was added to the Stirrup Queens blogroll this weekend, and I'm really, overly excited about it. I spent a bunch of time checking out all the different parts of the site last night, and I think it's such a great resource. If you happen to be visiting because of that new listing, puh-lease drop me a line to let me know! :)

Last night I didn't go to bed right away as planned. Instead, I forced myself to stay awake until 11pm so I could reorient myself onto a somewhat-normal sleep schedule (I'd become nocturnal. Again.) In addition to obsessing over the Stirrup Queens, and adding a bunch of blogs to my reading list, I answered a questionnaire for a Long Island University, Brooklyn. They're trying to better understand the emotional and psychological impact of infertility on women. Definitely made me confront some serious emotions.

During the questionnaire I learned ("learned" might be a strong word- I'm sure if I'd given it any thought, it would've occurred to me) that iui is considered "artificial insemination". Like I said, it's kind of a no-brainer. But "artificial insemination" sounds so much worse than "iui", doesn't it? I've been artificially inseminated. Like, what? Idk, something about it doesn't sit right. I think it's because we try to keep organic at home (haha) so I've started avoiding anything with "artificial" in it. No artificial sweeteners, colors, you get the drill. We're not insane about it, but we do put in quite a bit of effort (um, and money) into it. So the word artificial has gotten a little vilified around here. And just the principle of it. It's not artificial, really. I'm not getting fake inseminated. I'm still straight-up getting inseminated, just via a different means. I don't know. I think I just need to come to terms with the fact that the word "artificial"isn't evil here like it is in the heath food world.. and yet! It still just doesn't quite apply to iui, etc. They should've used a different word.

Okay, I'm done. Next order of business: As I was hopping into the shower this morning, we got a phone call from our RE's office. Apparently, funny story, we were supposed to go in this morning for blood work, not tomorrow morning. I could have sworn that the NP said "Come back next Wednesday to check your Progersterone" after the iui because we'd been so late for the iui (maybe I'll tell that story another time). Oops. Honestly though, my phone ran out of battery in the middle of the night last night, so my alarm would never have gone off anyway, so it actually all works out because I would've woken up FREAKING OUT if I'd thought I'd missed the appointment. Also, apparently some of my lab work from another visit came back and my folic acid is low so they'll be giving me a special prescription for that tomorrow as well. Yay, more pills!

In a confession that'll prove how "with it" I am (not), it turns out that if you go food shopping two weeks in a row, there's a lot less money in your bank account BUT a lot more food options in the house. And then you eat a more normal diet. And then you're a happier person. Who knew. Here's my snowy morning breakfast (and some dead flowers):

Scottish Breakfast tea with a drop of milk + 1 stevia,
Plain greek yogurt + a teaspoon of honey,
chocolate covered clementines from yesterday's recipe.

Happy National Chocolate Covered Anything Day!

Yep. It's a real thing. Thank the heavens. And here's my contribution:

Chocolate Covered Clementines w/ Sea Salt

I've actually been wanting to do this for some time now, after seeing it floating around Pinterest a while back. I bought the "ingredients" last week but just wasn't finding the motivation. And, honestly, I would've never even gotten around to it today except that as I was about to get into pj's (who am I kidding? I've been in pj's all day!) I caught a Hello Giggles Facebook post that announced that today is National Dip Anything in Chocolate Day (Sorry for the late notice- I was clearly very busy). Aaaaand the fire was officially lit!

These are crazy simple, and E has been making trip after trip back to the kitchen for more ever since he discovered them. 

All you need is: 

• 1 bar of Chocolate (I used sugar free dark chocolate but anything'll work. Also... We were 1 row short of a full bar because chocolate doesn't last long around here)
• 3 clementines 
• A couple of pinches of sea salt
• Wax paper

No, not this kind of Clementine! :)

 Now, you're supposed to use a double broiler or whatever they're called, for this, but we don't have one and I'm too lazy to improvise, so I just broke up the chocolate into it's predetermined squares and threw them into a saucepan. Like so: 

I put the flame on low and got to peeling my clementines, stirring the chocolate in the pan between peeling each one. 

Then I spread the individual slices of clementines out along the wax paper.

To "dip" them I scooped a bit of chocolate up from the pan with a spoon and rolled about half of each slice in the chocolate. I could cover 2-3 slices each time, and found that if I tried to take more chocolate/"dip" more than 3 at a time, the chocolate became too solidified.

Each time I'd finished dipping about 1/3 of the slices, I paused and sprinkled a little bit of sea salt on the dipped chocolate part before it could fully harden on the clementine. 

And that's it!

I'm actually feeling suuuuper lousy right now because I, like an idiot, declared today a Low Amylose cheat day. I had a piece of my favorite Alfredo pizza from my favorite pizza shop. And part of a milkshake (coffee cookies and cream). I know. I should've seen this coming. It happens every time. But I didn't, so now I'm going to peace out and try and sleep it off! Hey, at least these guys were Low Amylose friendly...

Like Buttah, Baby

Almond butter, that is. As in, Almond Butter Cookies.

I'm obsessed with these cookies. Like, they actually might be my favorite cookies ever. I say that because I haven't had real cookies in a very, very, very long time. But either way, these gluten-free babies (one-track mind, much?) make me not miss real ones even, like, half as much.

Here's the recipe:
- First, preheat your oven to 350.
- Then, thoroughly combine:

• 1 cup almond butter
• 1/3 cup honey (you could use maple syrup if you want to go vegan, here)
• 1 egg (again, if you're pulling the V-card- and by that I mean vegan card, you can use an egg alternative. I tend to use this when I start baking something and realize we're out of eggs: 1 egg = 2 TBS water + 1 TBS oil + 2 tsp baking powder)
• 1 TBS vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt (unless your almond butter is already salted)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder

- Fold in:
2/3 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
1/2 cup chocolate chips 
If you can find sugar free chocolate chips, use them to keep this vaguely Low Amylose (the honey is also questionable). Or you could use raisins. But oatmeal raisin cookies are a big contributor to my ongoing trust issues. Seriously, those little buggers fool me into thinking they're chocolate chip EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

Whatever. I don't "count" chocolate chips, okay? Which might be why I stopped losing weight. Orrrr it could be because of the fact that I'm now on week 3(?) without Metformin because my insurance company FORGOT TO SEND IT. It's cool. I'm not bitter. (UPDATE: It came today!!!)

Anyway....
- Roll the dough into normal cookie-sized balls, throw them on a baking sheet or two 
- Bake 'em for 9-12 minutes or until lightly browned. I find that the bottoms burn a bit if I have them on the lower rack of my oven.

Lemme know how they turn out!

Diary of a Chocoholic

I had intended on posting on Friday but got sidetracked by everything going on Boston-- I was glued to the computer watching my hometown news from 1am until Shabbos. At the risk of sounding like a religious freak, I'm going to leave it at this: Hodu lashem ki tov (Give thank to the L-rd for He is good).

So now, let's get to it. The truth is, I am more than slightly obsessed with chocolate. It's not really my fault- my mom's also a certifiable chocoholic (sorry mom!). Forget gummy candy- I can totally live without it. And forget oatmeal raisin cookies; as some wise internet dweller once wrote, they're the reason I have trust issues. It's CHOCOLATE that's my comfort and most-craved food (admittedly, I'm a girl of many cravings. Any time of the day/week/month I've got at least one craving going on). So the lack of sugar (my other big-time love- sorry EE!) in this whole PCOS diet journey is rough.
Side-note: I'm not going to lie- this weekend I definitely cheated on this new diet that I've been romancing. Shabbos is going to be rough. I've got to figure out what to do about Challah... do I just eat the bare minimum required, or is even that amount going to throw this whole thing off? Clearly we've got some kinks to work out. But despite that, I was super "good" during BOTH meals this week. And when we went out to dinner with some of our best friends Saturday night, I ordered a salad! ....and mozzarella sticks and a milkshake, but shhhh. We're back on track as of Sunday afternoon! Hopefully for good. Buckle down, kiddos.
Clearly, the no-sugar rule mostly freaks me out because of all the chocolate it rules out. There was a faint spark of hope while we were out food shopping the other day. We found and bought a sugar-free coconut chocolate bar made with stevia... but not surprisingly, and yet much to my dismay, it was pretty gross. Like so gross that the fact it's chocolate I can eat gets completely cancelled out by it's grossness. So, what's a girl to do? I NEED my chocolate, people!

Worry not- as of today, there is hope! I found this recipe for "Chocolate Brownie Bites" on Pinterest Sunday afternoon, and by Sunday evening I had eaten about half of the batch. Yeah, I know. But can't we just work on WHAT we're eating first and then we'll focus on portion control, k? ....ugh, okay fine. We'll work on it all!

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients-

-1 cup raw almonds
-1 1/2 cups pitted Medjool Dates (approx. 10-11 dates)
-3 1/2 TBSP cocoa powder (the higher quality the better, obviously)
-4 TBSP shredded unsweetened coconut
-1/8 tsp salt
-1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract (more or less depending on your preference)
-Water

Instructions-

1. Add all ingredients except water into a blender, in the order listed (to keep the dates from getting     stuck to the blades)

2. Pulse until your almonds are well-chopped (there will be pieces).

3. If the mixture is dry/not sticking together, add a small drizzle of water.

4. Once combined, scoop the mixture into a bowl and mix/knead to fully incorporate it all.

5. Roll the mixture into TBSP-sized balls and ENJOY!


They're super good. Check out these pics!

YUM. I highly recommend them. They totally quenched this chocoholic's chocolate craving. :)