it’s my jam

Not really. It’s Joy Bauer’s Cherry-Chia Jam!

For our 30-day ‘No-Added-Sugar’ Challenge, jams and jellies are all OUT because they’re loaded with sugar. Bummer. Neither Andrew nor I are big PB&J eaters (not because they aren’t delicious, they’re just not the healthiest choices and we tend to gravitate to leftovers for lunches), but I do like jam on bread or atop oatmeal, etc.

However, when I saw this recipe come across Facebook, I knew I had to try it. I actually have a friend who joined in the challenge who was really going to miss his daily PB&J sandwich, so I was hoping this would be a winner.

Verdict: Success!

The result was a fresh, fruity gel that was perfect on a slice of toasted Ezekiel bread this morning, and I think it would be even better with some nut butter! My chia seeds didn’t change their texture very much (I expected them to swell and become translucent, like chia puddings), but they achieved the gel-like consistency the jam needed.

For this batch, I used mostly frozen cherries with a few frozen strawberry and blueberry stragglers and fresh pineapple. I was able to mash it all pretty well, so I didn’t remove any chunks of pineapple like Joy instructs in the recipe. I can imagine this jam with other fruits, like strawberries or apricots. It was so easy to make, I may start adding this into the rotation as we finish off the jams and jellies we already have at home.

Also, while searching for Joy’s link, I came across this site with a VERY similar recipe. Jessica and Stacie are Registered Dietitians and expound on the health benefits of chia seeds in their post. Be sure to check out their site!

*Note: This is one of those items that flirts with the line between no sugar and ‘added sugar’ since it’s high in NATURAL sugar–basically the very sweet pineapple is contributing natural sugar to the flavor. My no-added-sugar banana bread is also guilty of this, although it’s not very sweet. On the one hand, sugar is sugar is sugar; on the other, it’s natural sugar and doesn’t tend to be as sweet, so it helps to decrease a person’s dependence on sugar.

no-added-sugar banana bread, three ways

This post was originally going to be about a no-added-sugar banana bread recipe I found almost two years ago and have been making ever since. However, I recently found another recipe for no-sugar-added banana bread that looked intriguing, so I gave that one a try. Turns out the first one had great flavor and the second had a better texture, so I melded them together to create my own!

I mentioned the first no-added-sugar banana bread recipe here back in January and planned to post about it soon after. Well, February has come and gone and we’re halfway through March and I’m just now getting to it. Sheesh.

(This is also NOT to be confused with the ‘made-over’ Martha Stewart banana bread recipe posted here. Absolutely fabulous, but it does include sugar.)

Clearly, I’m into banana bread. Or I just buy too many and have to find something to do with all my too-ripe bananas…

First, my recipe:

1 cup AP flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tablespoon flaxseed meal

6 bananas, very ripe and preferably thawed from frozen (approximately 2 – 2 1/2 cups)

2 eggs

6 tablespoons melted coconut oil or light olive oil

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

1/2 cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin. Mash bananas and mix with beaten eggs, oil and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients and add to wet, mixing until just combined. Fold in walnuts and coconut, if using.

Using an ice cream scoop, portion into muffin tin and bake for approximately 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Check out the height on this one! And that nicely browned, domed top! Sugar helps things brown, which is why sugar-free baked products don’t always look the same as those with sugar.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the inside had a very nice crumb as well, not too dense or rubbery like many ‘healthy’ baked goods. Again, sugar helps baked products achieve the right texture, so omitting it can lead to all sorts of baking fails.

I like my banana bread with ‘stuff’ in it, so I tend to add walnuts for sure and dried fruit or chocolate chips if I’m feeling fancy. You certainly don’t have to add anything if you don’t want to. I’ve also experimented with how much or little I mash the bananas and found I prefer mine with small chunks of banana. I’ve been adding shredded coconut ever since I tried Martha Stewart’s recipe (linked above) and haven’t looked back. It adds excellent flavor and texture.

This was the first time I experimented with the two recipes and am very pleased. I think I might still experiment with some of the spices, as I like a really cinnamon-y bread. I’m considering using more cinnamon, or substituting pumpkin or apple pie spice to achieve that flavor.

I split the flours to achieve a better texture and kept the increased bananas for added sweetness and liquid. I’m not against a little fat in my bread, so I kept the oil from recipe two as well for good texture and flavor. I also like flaxseed meal for it’s health benefits (a great fat source!) and texture, so I kept that from recipe one.

And, for completeness, here are the two recipes that inspired my recipe with my recent photos.

Recipe one:

http://www.lovefoodeat.com/healthy-banana-bread-whole-wheat-vegan-oil-free-and-sugar-free/

Like I said, I’ve been making it with pretty good results for a while now, but always felt the muffins turned out a bit dense. This recipe includes whole wheat flour, a flax egg instead of a real egg and four bananas. Photo below:

Verdict: Compared to the other two recipes, this one looks, feels and tastes like a ‘healthy’ muffin. But, I didn’t know any better and kept baking them because they were easy, tasted good and turned out relatively well. However, the muffins never really baked up high with domed tops and were susceptible to bad batches that turned out heavy.

Recipe two:

http://www.accordingtoelle.com/no-added-sugar-banana-bread/

After seeing her photos, I was very excited to try it. Check out the browned tops and height below! Elle’s recipe includes regular all-purpose flour, two eggs and more bananas than the other recipe.

Verdict: A great product, but left me a little wanting on the flavor side. I wanted more heft and heartiness without the density of the first recipe.

Honestly, both of the above recipes are winners. I was shocked at how well the first recipe turned out, so I’m even more thrilled that others are experimenting with healthier baking that highlights the natural flavors of foods without sacrificing healthy fat and a pleasing texture.

And speaking of no-added-sugar…I bet you can guess what Andrew and I will be giving up in April! More on that soon!

who knew it was quinoa?

No one!

Would you believe me if I told you that at one point I had upwards of TWENTY different kinds of flours in my freezer? (Thank goodness for extra freezer space in the basement.)

It all started with Good to the Grain, a cookbook that features multiple grains/flours, such as oat, amaranth, corn, buckwheat, etc… The book came out in 2010, before these flours were available in most grocery stores, and I remember placing a rather large order with Bob’s Red Mill to get the lesser-known varieties (teff, kamut) shipped to my door.

Over the years, the amount of baking I’ve done has decreased for multiple reasons, including time constraints in my schedule, ascribing to a more ‘paleo’ style diet (no grains) and a desire to be healthier overall (decreasing added sugars). However, I really love to bake and do still indulge in both decadent treats and healthier baked goods from time to time.

I’m getting off topic. Quinoa. Back to quinoa.

ANYWAY, I’ve been experiencing an on-again, off-again push to–once and for all–use up all those alternative baking flours that are taking up space in my freezer and keep my collection limited to those flours used most often in paleo-style baking and that yield a good product. The ‘baking-with-ancient-grains’ ride has been fun (and informative!), but I’ve gotta simplify.

Quinoa flour, which boasts it’s own chapter in Good to the Grain, has a strong flavor of…dirt. I said it. In addition to the fiber and protein quinoa flour adds to your product, it also adds a certain ‘earthiness’ that’s hard to disguise. I’ve made quinoa-beet pancakes, quinoa-pumpkin pancakes and many other things and I can still taste the flour a bit more than I’d like, and I’m pretty accepting of less-than-perfect products.

So when I spied the recipe on the back of the bag for chocolate cupcakes, I realized I’d been going about this quinoa flour thing all wrong. I needed an equally strong flavor to balance out the quinoa! (Apparently, beets aren’t strong enough.) CHOCOLATE.

Bob’s Red Mill Sour Cream Fudge Cupcakes

Ingredients

1/4 cup Unsalted Butter
1/2 cup Water
1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 cup Sugar
1-1/4 cups Organic Quinoa Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
2 Eggs separated
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup Sour Cream

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place the butter and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder. Sift together the sugar, quinoa flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the cooled cocoa mixture, egg yolks, vanilla and sour cream and blend well. Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry. Fold into batter.
Spoon into a muffin tin lined with paper cupcake liners. Bake for 20 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.
Makes 12 gorgeous cupcakes.

I actually ended up making these cupcakes twice in one weekend–once to bring to a friend’s house, topped with Ina’s Chocolate Frosting, and another batch to my sister-in-law’s house for the Super Bowl, topped with this peanut butter frosting from Sally’s Baking Addiction.

I was shocked at how well the cupcakes turned out! Not a hint of quinoa flour at all! (Not that it’s all bad, but you’ve gotta know your audience with some of these ‘healthy subs’ and believe me when I tell you I faced two tough crowds this weekend.

So, moral of the story: give quinoa a try! Just make sure to throw in a little chocolate, too.