You Can Have Your Cake
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These are all power packed foods with antioxidants, essential vitamins, minerals and important enzymes none of which are in sugar and artificial sugar substitutes.
You’d maybe like to make a cake, every one like cakes don’t they? But where do you start! All the recipes you have come across need sugar don’t they? Not these.
They are very indulgent but surely once in a while isn't going to hurt. Everyone needs a treat once in while. This one is called Honey Swiss Roll:
Three medium sized eggs.
3oz (75g) of crystallized honey, whipped or granulated honey.
3oz (75g) of self raising wholemeal flour
150ml of whipping cream
One tablespoon of honey.
In your blender make the roll by beating together the eggs with the honey until thick and creamy then slowly blend in your flour until thoroughly mixed together.
Place the mixture onto a Swiss roll baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and gently spread it all over. Place into a pre-heated oven (Gas Mark 4/180 C/350 F) for ten minutes.
Remove from your oven and turn it out on top of a clean tea towel. Whilst still hot, using the tea towel, roll it up whilst keeping the tea towel in the middle and leave to cool.
Beat your cream and honey together, gently unroll the cake base, quickly smooth your honey cream all over and roll back up again. Easy, delicious and all made by substituting honey for sugar.
Try this delicious Turkish favorite called Halva. It is a traditional dish in Turkey, extremely easy to make and will become a firm favorite I’m sure.
In a saucepan place half a cup of milk, two tbsp of honey, one cup of ground almonds (not to be used if you have an allergy to nuts) and two tbsp of semolina or ground rice.
Heat them together stirring all the time and they will begin to thicken. Once they have, add one tbsp of butter and stir this in. You will have a thick paste like consistency.
Spread this into a lightly greased square cake tin 8 inches is the ideal size. Leave it in a cool place and once cold just cut it into squares or slices. How easy was that and not a sprinkle of sugar in sight!
Six cups of peeled and sliced cooking apples
Half a cup of honey
Two tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tablespoons of butter
Simmer them together gently in a saucepan until the apples are soft
Place in a strainer until cold, this stops your pastry going soggy by getting rid of the excess juice.
Once you have placed your mixture in your pastry base sprinkle some ground cinnamon or cloves on the top, add your pastry lid and bake until golden brown.
Chocolate sauce will not Disappoint You!
This is perfect for pouring over bowls of Greek yoghurt. A great "chocolate fix" and again, not a sprinkle of sugar in sight! It can also be used as a dipping sauce for sweet strawberries and is delicious poured over grilled, hot bananas.
Place two tbsp of cocoa powder in a cup with a couple of teaspoons of milk. Stir them together to get rid of the lumps then add a quarter of a pint of milk, stir them altogether and place in a saucepan.
Add 2oz of butter, half a tsp of vanilla essence and four tbsp of honey. Briskly stir over a medium heat and just as they come to the boil lower the heat and simmer for three to four minutes. This can be used hot or cold.
Blend or juice together four cups of a selection of soft fruit berries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are particularly nice but choose the ones you like the best and one cup of runny honey. This mixture can then be used in a variety of ways:
Either pour into pretty glass dishes and place in the fridge for an hour or two, add a good spoonful of plain yoghurt to the top and serve as a really healthy dessert.
Or you could freeze the mixture in lollipop molds as a delicious sweet treat for a hot summer’s day. An amazing way to encourage the children to eat their "five a day"
Or alternatively add one pint of sparkling water, (or replace the water with white wine for the grown-ups) mix all the ingredients together, pour into a punch bowl or jug, add a few more berries and some lemon,lime, and orange zest with a little grated ginger. Leave in the fridge to become cold and serve in glasses with ice cubes for a totally refreshing drink.
Other fruits that work really well together are pineapple chunks and sliced mango or just experiment with fruits and berries of your choice. Blueberries and cranberries are a power packed nutritional choice.
For a highly nutritious vegetable juice to serve four, blitz together the flesh from two avocados, one tbsp of honey then stir together with sparkling water.
You can adapt this by substituting the avocado for eight peeled kiwi fruits, power packed with Vitamin C. Did you realize kiwi fruits contain more Vitamin C than oranges!
Alternatively, replace the water with milk to make a shake, a powerful, energizing, and vitamin packed quick breakfast if you are short on time.
These next two, although not "sweet" as such do help to show just how versatile honey as an ingredient is. You couldn’t achieve the same results with sugar or sugar substitutes.
Finely chop up or slice a really good selection of vegetables, onions, zucchini, peppers and tomatoes are a nice mixture, aim for at least four cups to serve four. Add half a cup of honey and at least two tbsp of olive oil. Toss them altogether and either quickly stir fry them in a wok or roast in a medium hot oven for approximately ten minutes.
To make a delicious bruschetta, slice your chosen bread into half inch thick slices and spread with a mixture
of a quarter cup of olive oil, four garlic cloves and one cup of honey ready blitzed in your blender. Top with gorgonzola cheese and place under your grill until the cheese bubbles.
I hope you discovered something to help you understand that it is very easy to substitute sugar and chemical based substitutes without losing the sweetness we all tend to have a craving for me included.
If you start to substitute honey for sugar you may be surprised with the all the quite incredible benefits of eating honey. I didn't know these either once!
I have spent a great deal of time over the past few years experimenting with what I and many others consider a superfood, I even went as far as inventing my own honey diet which I and my family enjoy and experiment with all the time.
It is quite amazing how easy it is to adapt your every day diet by making a few changes and you will feel much healthier for it. That old saying "You are What You Eat" is actually quite wise!
That goes for drinking too, perhaps you could substitute your honey for sugar as simply as making a Honey Drink.
You May Like to Read this Guest Article Sent in by Sharron
She Explains How She Uses Healthy Sugar Substitutes
Substitute Honey for Sugar
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