Forgotten Photo Friday: Handmade, Sugar-free Chocolate Bars

Over the past year, Honey has reduced the amount of sugar she eats and now noticed that chocolate bars taste different to her. For Christmas, I chose a day when she would be away all day and late into the evening and made her chocolate.

I wanted to use a recipe that would create a hard chocolate that did not need to be refrigerated, was tempered (and thus shiny!), and sweetened with honey. I found the perfect recipe on Living Healthy with Chocolate. I used the silicone moulds we used to make our lotion bars for a nice chunky mouthful of chocolate.

 

Dehydrator Cookies

I made delicious, chewy cookies that looked like this. I thought of them as human scooby-snacks. Using the coconut flour with the almond pulp was based on my cupboard but it turned out to be perfect. They reminded me of the coconut caramel from caramel delights Girl Scout cookies, so I’m planning that!

I don’t have a cookie press, so they were supposed to look like this:

I’ll definitely make a double batch next time because these were gone in a few days. Here’s the recipe from Excalibur Dehydrator’s instagram:

Fudgesicles, Vegan (and Sugarfree)

A character in a book I’m reading bought a pack of fudgesicles, so I began craving them. 

‘No biggie’, I thought ‘be logical’. And so I was. I came home, grabbed some ingredients, put them in the power blender, and created the perfect vegan and sugarfree fudgesicle!

1 can of full fat coconut 

2 mejool dates

2-3tbs cocoa powder.

Crunchy Banana Chips

I dehydrated bananas. I delayed trying because ‘the internet’ seems to be worried about soggy dehydrated bananas, saying it’s impossible to make them crunchy or offering detailed tutorials to avoid the problem. 

It’s not that big of a deal. Just slice and dehydrate. Two and a half bananas fit on each of my trays.

We enjoyed these on our weekend hike and I’m going to make enough for granola. 

Flaxseed Crackers

I’ve finally gotten around to making flaxseed crackers and they were so simple, I can’t believe I waited so long. I was inspired to try after eating Whitworth’s flaxseed crisps, which were the crispiest crackers I’ve had since going gluten free. 

I made a batch in my dehydrator and based the flax, chia, and water ratio on this recipe. 

Using She Paused 4 Thought’s set up of 1C flax, 1C water, 3Tbs chia soaked for at least 20 minutes, I added: 1 tsp seasalt, smoked paprika, and nutritional yeast. I spread it on a dehydrator sheet, set the dehydrator to the ‘fruit’ setting, and flipped it  over after a few hours when the edges had dried and stuck up a bit. I then dehydrated it overnight and it was crispy.

Next time I make this, I will grind about 3/4 of the flaxseeds first and lime & chilli is my next flavour! 

Dehydrated Marjoram

I trimmed the marjoram back from the path for the fall/autumn and dried it in the dehydrator. The way the dehydrator preserves colour is amazing. I love opening the cupboard for something and seeing the vivid green and purple.

Pumpkin Pie for All

Pumpkin pie has always been my absolute favourite holiday dessert, the highlight of my Thanksgiving and Christmas plates waiting to be gobbled up.

Over the years, I’ve made a range of pumpkin pies: from the the traditional pie loaded with gluten, eggs, cream, and sugar, to the  sugar free pie still loaded with gluten and dairy. Last year I was determined to not give up eating my star dessert, so I researched raw desserts and made a few.

After that, I experimented with ingredients and came up with this winning pumpkin pie recipe. Not only is this pumpkin pie edible by the widest range of dinner guests, it is much easier and quicker to prepare. 

Ingredients for filling: 

• 1 1/4 C soaked (overnight) cashews. Measurement is post soaking.
• 1/2 C maple syrup (or honey, if not vegan)
• 1 C cooked (cooled) pumpkin puree
• 1/3 C  coconut oil
• 2 tsp of your favourite pumpkin pie spices

To prepare:

• Prepare your choice of raw pie crust (generally blended dates and nuts, pressed into the tin). My go-to recipe is from My Wholefood Life.
• Puree filling ingredients and add to your raw pie crust and refrigerate for up to several hours. If you are preparing this the night before or more than 4 hours before, keep the filling separate until about 2 hours before the meal and refrigerate. This keeps the crust from going soggy the next day when you’re eating ‘leftovers’.
• Serve proudly and enjoy the creamy, fresh, pumpkin-ey deliciousness you’ve created!

 

Fermented Lime Pickle

I love sour, spicy, salty, and tangy things. If it tastes salty or vinegary, I’ll probably like it. Mustard, hot sauce, vinegar, pickles (and their juice!), pickled onions, kimchi, sauerkraut, you name it and I can’t get enough. An Indian restaurant in town makes very good lime pickle with limes and some other veggies and I devour it in two days following an order so I thought I’d try my own.

I used the fermented lime pickle recipe from India Cookbook by Pushpesh Pant, which we received as a wedding present. The first step in the process is to steam the limes and garlic and let it ferment for two days in the sun. I was a bit worried when I finished steaming the mixture because it reminded me of a faint basement scent…but I trusted in the process. I fermented mine for two days on the counter and then moved it to a windowsill near a radiator for a third as it didn’t seem changed enough. I stirred it each night.

Changes I’d make to stage one next time: add more lime juice and ensure that everything is covered in liquid; chop the limes up instead of the slicing called for in the recipe.

The second stage involves cooking more seasonings and fermenting in the sun again for two days. I used the windowsill for three and think that was the winner. Two days would probably work in the summer. The first photo is of the completed lime pickle before I decided to chop it further in a food processor, and the second photo is post-processing. It turned out spicy, tangy, strong, and addictive. I think it’s great on its own on a rice cake but also find it nice with some blackberry jam. Here’s the honey sweetened blackberry jam, or the sugar version. It’s also delicious mixed in with hummus.

Tangy Apple Jam for Sharing

For a few weeks we were running around foraging the apples we spotted and were given a few bags from people’s gardens as well. We made some traditional (with sugar) jam with them and ended up with 12 jars of Tangy Apple jam for sharing.

Boddington’s Soup Peas

We saved 100 seeds for planting next year and dried the rest in the dehydrator. We ended up with almost two cups of peas. Each time I look into the pantry, I get excited about them and declare ‘we grew these!’.

We’ll be sowing plenty more of these Boddington’s Soup Peas next year.