Sugar Free Jellied Cranberry Sauce

~~posted by Jen

Yesterday I posted the Comprehensive Thanksgiving Recipe tips along with my Whole Berry version of Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce. I know some people are purists and don't like actual berries in their sauce, so this is the Sugar Free Jellied version.

My camera is still MIA, it's somewhere here in the remodelling mania. Hopefully I will find it since Dessert Week starts tomorrow and I need to take pics of my scrumptious creations! We'll still be sharing more Turkey Day tips, decorating and centerpiece ideas, along with the desserts, right up until the big day. No need to stress over your holiday cooking, we've got you covered!

Don't stress about those leftovers, either! Because all week NEXT week is Leftovers Week, we'll show you how to turn those turkey day leftovers into deliciously different meals that fit your plan AND please the fam!

Nik will kick us off tomorrow morning with something sweet and delicious that will perfectly complement your Thanksgiving meal. In the meantime, here's how to make the Jellied style Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce. Enjoy!




Pic Totally Jacked From Google


Jen's Sugar Free Jellied Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:

1/2 cup 100 percent Cranberry juice (NOT Cocktail, use the Light or No Sugar Added)

1 cup Splenda

1 pound fresh Cranberries

1 (0.3 ounce)box sugar free Orange Jello gelatin(you could use strawberry or raspberry, not aware of a cranberry flavored one. The orange is a nice complement to the Cranberry)

Directions:

Wash the cranberries, remove any stems, and discard any soft or wrinkled berries.

Combine the cranberry juice and Splenda in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the cranberries and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries burst and the mixture thickens.

Do not cook for more than 15 minutes as the pectin in the berries will start to break down and the sauce will not set as well. Remove from the heat, whisk in the box of Jello, and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Note: If you are early out, or don't want any actual berries in your sauce, strain the mixture through a sieve before whisking in the Jello.

Carefully spoon the cranberry sauce into a 3 cup mold. Place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours and up to overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator, overturn the mold and slide out the sauce. Slice and serve.

Turkey Day Tips with Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce

~~posted by Jen


It's almost Turkey Day! What better time for the boys to decide we need to remodel my kitchen? I got home from Baltimore on Monday night to find the whole house in utter chaos. My camera is nowhere to be found, and I haven't been able to get in my kitchen to cook all. week. long. This does NOT make for a happy Jen, so I have been kinda crabby all week.

Appropriately, I did buy myself a "Don't bother me, I'm crabby!" t-shirt while in Maryland, so at least I have the wardrobe essentials to warn people. S'anyway, it's been a crazy week, and I know yours has probably been hectic as well with getting all the holiday details ironed out.

Nik has our back and planned out the perfect strategy for dealing with the food fest that is Thanksgiving in the BF Survival Guide posted earlier this week. Now I want to go back over some Thanksgiving menu-planning and recipes to make your holiday cooking as stress-free as possible.

First, if you've never roasted a turkey, or are concerned yours won't come out perfect, we've got you covered! Jen's Perfect Roast Chicken gives step by step instructions on how to do it, just adjust your cooking time based on the weight of your bird. It comes out perfect every time, I promise!

Since odds are that most of your guests will be non-ops, you need lots of options to fill them up without wrecking your plan. I usually serve my Roasted Butternut Squash Soup as a starter and it's always a hit.

Need some delicious, WLS-friendly side dish ideas? Green Bean Casserole is always popular, or you can roast some veggies. For Thanksgiving, I love to roast brussels sprouts and broccoli together and serve as a yummy side. Spritz it with lots of fresh lemon juice, maybe sprinkle in some sesame seeds or nuts to add extra crunch, and it tastes like delicious decadence when it's actually a green vegetable! Go figure!

Of course it's not Thanksgiving without the stuffing. Try Nik's Lower Carb Cornbread to get your stuffing started off on the right foot. I use it in my Momma's recipe and no one ever notices the difference.

Pic from Google, due to lack of camera.

Last but not least, we need some cranberry sauce! This is how my sister makes hers, I just tweaked it a bit to make it sugar free. Don't care for whole berry kind? Fear not! Tomorrow I'll post a different "Jellied" version for you purists out there! Here's how to do it:

Sugar Free Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce


Ingredients:
2 (8-ounce) packages fresh whole cranberries (or frozen if fresh aren't available)
1 small orange, zested and juiced**
1/2 cup Splenda
1 cinnamon stick


Directions:
Rinse your cranberries in a colander and pick through them, removing any stems or wilted berries. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and simmer over medium heat for about 15 to 20 minutes, until the cranberries burst. Serve at room temperature or cool and refrigerate. (Remove cinnamon stick before serving.)  


**NOTE: If fruit juice makes you dump, omit the fresh orange juice, increase the Splenda to 3/4 of a cup, and add either 1-2 tsp of Orange Extract or Davinci SF Orange Syrup. 


***Update: Our Sugar Free Holiday Desserts are posted under Dessert Week, you can find them here.****

Protein Shake: Mocha Cheesecake

~by Nikki

Just when you thought we'd run out of decadent ways for you to get your protein, here we come again with a brand new shake!

I have to admit this one took me by surprise. When I first thought it up, I figured I'd have to tweak it here and there to get it where I wanted it. But no! I made it the requisite three times (as we do all our recipes to ensure consistency) and I have not yet strayed from the original recipe. It's THAT good!

I'm going to give this recipe to you two ways for a few reasons. The original recipe has Click in it and I recognize that not everyone is cleared for caffeine yet. Also, if you are a faithful devotee of this blog and the products we suggest, you probably have a decent stock of decaffeinated instant espresso (and if you don't, you should cuz it's good stuff!) and we like to give you lots of ways to use these special purchases so that you do, in fact, use them. Lastly, the original recipe necessitates yet another special purchase (although it's worth it) while the second recipe may only require a trip to your local grocery store.

So anyway, here goes. One shake, two ways, one day!

Nik's Mocha Cheesecake Protein Shake (original recipe)

Ingredients

8 oz. milk (I use Hood milk, you can use whatever you like)
1 envelope Nashua Nutrition protein cheesecake pudding mix
1 scoop Click
3 packets no-calorie sweetener
Optional: ice cubes

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a blender using the "Triple X" method (or not). Top with fat-free whipped cream, if desired, and have at it!



Version #2 - "The Decaf/Accessible" version

Ingredients

8 oz. milk
1 scoop chocolate protein powder (I use this)
1 tbsp sugar-free cheesecake pudding mix
2 tsp instant decaffeinated instant espresso
1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
3 packets no-calorie sweetener

Directions: same as above.

I am in LOVE with this shake! I like the Nashua Nutrition mix because it actually tastes like cheesecake. The pudding mix tries...but somehow it doesn't achieve full cheesecake taste. I think because Nashua has embraced the fact that lemon is what makes cheesecake taste cheesecakey and I can taste the hint of lemon in there. Dunno.

Either way...mix up this shake as a meal or dessert and I guarantee you will have an out of body experience.  But the good kind. Not the kind where you are about to die cuz that would be...bad.

Shutting up now! Wait, no I'm not. I have one more thing to say. We've said it before and we'll say it again...there is NO excuse for drinking a nasty protein shake! Play with your food people!

Nachos a la Nik

Now remember last week how Jen gave you her outlook on nachos? This is one of the many instances where we do the same dish, two ways. We’ve decided when that happens, we’ll both post so you can see various ways to approach a dish.

For the folks that want their nachos now, now, now!!! I would suggest Jen’s recipe. It’s quick, easy and tasty.

However, if you don't mind investing just a few more minutes into the process, here’s I do mine.

Nik’s Nacho Extravaganza

(Jen says I have a flair for melodrama…I can’t imagine where she gets that…)

Ingredients:

10 Trader Joes Soy Flax Seed tortilla chips
2 ounces Hillshire Farm Deli Select lunch meat (I used turkey cuz me and beef got beef) sliced into strips
1 ounce shredded Mexican blend cheese
1 tbsp diced onions
1 tbsp diced green peppers
2 tbsp unflavored Greek yogurt
2 tbsp whatever salsa you like (I use homemade)

Directions:

In a sprayed pan, brown up the deli meat, onions and peppers until the meat is slightly crispy. I used turkey here, but beef is fine as well.

Lay out the chips on a plate, transfer hot meat/veggie mixture to the top of nachos and immediately sprinkle with cheese.

Top with Greek yogurt and salsa. CRUNCH!

To be quite honest, this would be a dinner, even for the “Wonder Pouch.” It’s got a lot of protein (25g the way I make it) and a good deal of fiber (about 11g in the above recipe). If you are early out, first of all check to make sure you are even allowed to have nachos—healthy or otherwise—and then you might want to halve this recipe.

So there you have it: one dish, two ways. But you don’t have to do things the way we do them. Play with your food! And if you come up with something good, hit us up!