Below is one of the added sugar-less recipes for those, who are ready to sacrifice their sweet tooth.
This banana bread is excellent to pack for your work lunch.
To my "workday menu", I would add a few slices of cheddar cheese, apples and carrots.
In addition to being free of added sugar, the bread is rich in fiber! And by the way, it would taste sweet along with a cup of black coffee.
Banana bread
Ingredients
1 ¾ cups whole wheat flour
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
½ cup unsweetened apple sauce
¼ cup yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 cup of chopped walnuts
½ cup raisins
Directions
Combine the flour and baking soda. Beat together the eggs, apple sauce, yogurt and vanilla. Incorporate by mixing the mashed bananas, flour mix, walnuts and raisins. Transfer to a pan sprayed with PAM, and bake at 325°F for 50 minutes (or until a knife inserted in the bread comes out clean).
This is the real deal, no-added sugar dessert! The sugar comes from the fruit only; however, along with this natural sugar comes the fruit fiber. Therefore, after you enjoy this cool dessert, your blood sugar will not spike. Here it is:
Yogurt fruit dessert
Ingredients:
2 bananas, mashed
1 1/2 cups of plain yogurt (low fat is best)
2-3 Tbsp chia seeds
2-3 nectarines, peaches and/or plums (or any other fruit of choice such as quince, pear, apple)
1-2 Tbsp of your favorite cognac or rum (skip, if serving to children)
Optional: raisins, nuts, coconut, cinnamon, or natural unsweetened cocoa powder
Directions:
First, prepare the fruit mixture. Thinly cut the fruit of choice (peaches, nectarines, and plums work best). Steep the fruit and raisins in ½ cup of water under cover to desired softness. This will take very little time (a couple of minutes, but it depends on the type of fruit). Add 1-2 Tbsp rum (skip, if serving to children), mix gently. Cool the fruit prior to serving the dessert.
For the yogurt mixture, mash the bananas with a fork, add the yogurt and chia seeds. Leave in the refrigerator overnight. Before serving, you could freeze the yogurt mixture for one or more hours. Serve with the fruit mixture on top. Decorate with nuts, coconut or cocoa powder.
How to achieve high-fiber diet? One recipe at a time...
I found an oatmeal cake recipe in “The Gathering Friends” cookbook by M. Huxtable and A. Christensen, and decided to modify it to create my experimental high-fiber bring-to-work lunch.
The modified recipe has plenty of oatmeal and no sugar other than the one contained in the fruit.
What you need:
2-3 bananas, one pear (or other fruit, such as apple, peach, etc), ½ cup Smart Balance (this could be reduced or substituted with unsweetened applesauce), 1 ¼ cup of oatmeal, 1 ½ cup boiling water, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 ½ cup whole wheat flour, 2 tsp cinnamon, 2 eggs. One could add walnuts, flaxseed, raisins, more spices, etc.
How to:
Fold together the oatmeal and Smart Balance with the boiling water. Add the mashed bananas, the chopped fruit, and the rest of the ingredients. Mix and bake in an oiled pan (9/13 inch) at 350ºF for 20-25 minutes. Test by inserting a clean knife or a toothpick in the cake; if it is ready, the knife/toothpick should come out fairly clean. Cool, cut in small pieces, refrigerate and enjoy.
Next time, I will try the recipe with some applesauce and walnuts. I am also planning a salty version of this oatmeal "cake" with chopped peppers, some corn and hot spices.
