Mommin' It Up!

March 3, 2014March 2, 2014

I like big sweets and I cannot lie.

This post is part of the SPLENDA® 365 SWEET SWAPS ™ blogger program by McNeil Nutritionals, LLC. and The Motherhood, who sent me products and compensated me for my time. Opinions, experiences and photos shared here are my own, and I hope you enjoy them.

If you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you have probably realized somewhere along the way that I have one GIANT sweet tooth. I like it sweet. I like my coffee sweet, I like my tea sweet…as a matter of fact, I like ALL my drinks sweet. And of course I love my special treats – not just baked goods, but some of my favorite meals and side dished even call for a *little* sugar – like my favorite corn cake, brown sugar pork, and orange chicken. I also love to make home-made salad dressings, but most of those call for sugar, too. MMMM….

So, I like things sweet, but what I don’t like? Is the added calories sugar brings with it. That’s why I love the new website from Splenda® No Calorie Sweetener – Splenda® 365 Sweet Swaps. Sweet Swaps is all about healthier living and reducing added sugar when possible, so every single day of the year Splenda® 365 Sweet Swaps is offering up a way to swap out sugar for Splenda® sweetener. WHY? You ask? Because added sugar is hiding everywhere! It’s in our flavored yogurt, our cereals, our beverages – lots of places you’d never even think. This is part of the reason why even though experts suggest women only consume 6 teaspoons of sugar a day, our average is a whopping 22 teaspoons a day – yikes! I know I am super-guilty on that one.

I really started to try and cut out added sugar (despite my sweet tooth) last January when I was having gall bladder problems – and one of the first days I did this was by using Splenda® No Calorie Sweetener in my coffee. You all know I have to have my coffee to function – and Splenda is how I keep it tasty without the added sugar! (And have you tried Splenda® No Calorie Sweetener Flavors for Coffee?? YUM! Splenda sweetness, no calories, and yummy flavors! I adore them!)The other way I swap out sugar for Splenda® is on my cereal. Since I eat gluten-free, I eat a lot of unsweetened rice and corn-based cereals for breakfast, and I like to add a packet of Splenda® to make them really tasty. It works like a charm, and makes this sweets-loving girl happy.

I’m excited to be participating in a Twitter party TOMORROW(!!!) Tuesday March 4 from 12-1 pm EST with Spenda® 365 Sweet Swaps. Join me and several other fabulous bloggers as we chat about how #SweetSwaps can help us make little daily lifestyle changes that will produce great healthy results over time. It’s going to be so fun & informational and of COURSE there will be great prizes – $50 Visa gift cards and Splenda® product prize packs! You can RSVP by checking out the invite here. Don’t forget to follow me @Jennyitup, @theMotherhood, @theMotherhood25, @CooperMunroe and @EmilyMcKhann.

Coming up soon on the blog I’ll also be sharing some of my favorite recipes with you and how I made a Splenda® sweet swap to make them deliciously sweet without the added sugar. I can’t wait to share those with you! Stay tuned!

Have you ever used Splenda? How do you cut added sugar out of your diet?

February 21, 2014

Review: The Ninja Ultima blender

It’s been a while since I’ve done an old-fashioned product review! I’m excited to tell you about the Ninja Ultima blender. This thing is sweet! But I don’t want to get ahead of myself.

First of all… look how pretty it is.

It’s lovely, but also quite functional. The base is very sturdy (read: heavy) and it doesn’t feel like it’s going to rocket off my counter when it’s blending at full speed!

Speaking of full speed – this thing has serious power. In fact, it has a 2.5 Peak Horsepower Motor (whatever that means) and can go as fast as 24,000 rotations per minute. That is a lot of blending! In addition to the sheer power, the blender works so well because it has two sets of blades – one at the bottom, where you’d find them in any blender, and the other in the middle of the pitcher itself. They call it Dual Stage Blending, and only the Ninja has it.

Of course, the way I first tested out this blender was with my famous green smoothies. I threw in spinach, cucumber, celery, parsley, apples, lemon, ice and ginger. I hit the “pulse” a few times and then turned the blender up to speed eight, and in less than a minute I had a seriously smooth smoothie.

Now, I’ve made a lot of green smoothies in the past couple of years, and I’ve used everything from another high-end blender to a stick blender, and while they got the job done, I ended up with chunky smoothies. No one wants to eat smoothies with a spoon, let me tell you. The fact that I could pour this concoction straight from the pitcher (using the handy built-in pour spout) was very impressive to me. Honestly, it was nearly the consistency of juice – but with all the fiber from the fruits and veggies that a juicer would have removed.

My next test was another of my favorite things – salsa.

Tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, garlic, lime – I threw it all in there, either whole (the tomatoes) or in big chunks (the onion).

Again, I pulsed it a couple of times and then turned the blender on, and within seconds I had restaurant-style salsa.

(As an aside, the Roma tomatoes gave the salsa the pinkish hue, which was weird. I won’t be using those again!)

Here’s another cool thing about the Ninja Ultima – it comes with two single-serving tumblers that you put directly onto the base of the blender. You get the full power of the Ninja, but in a ready-to-go cup.

I have been really, really impressed with this blender. It’s sturdy and safe, and really does an incredible job. It’s also dishwasher safe and easy to clean, which is of HUGE importance to me. Best of all – the Ninja Ultima blenders start at $199. While that’s an investment, to be sure, it’s about a third of the price of the only comparable blender.

I am already dreaming of making frozen drinks in it this summer!

To learn more about the Ninja Ultima blenders, visit their website, follow them on Twitter, and like them on Facebook!

November 27, 2013November 27, 2013

I hate to brag. BUT I have mastered Gluten-Free Chocolate Cake!

Yesterday was my husband’s birthday. (Which means 2 out of 3 of our family pre-Christmas birthdays are over! Birthmaspalooza 2013 is half done. Whee!) In the past I have gotten him a pie from our favorite local pie bakers for his birthday at his request, but since this is his first birthday since Jonah and I went gluten-free, he wanted a dessert we could all enjoy. So, I set about making a chocolate cake.

I’ve made several chocolate cakes or cupcakes from a recipe I got from Bob’s Red Mill’s website, and although they are very good, they weren’t great. Because they were just a *teensy bit* dry. Not “I need 4 gallons of milk with this” dry, but “Hmm, I might not finish this whole piece” dry. After a while, this just wasn’t good enough for me any more! I’d had some cakes and cupcakes from GF mixes that were nice and moist, but it’s much cheaper to make my own, so I decided to try and doctor my Bob’s Red Mill recipe.

A couple days ago as I was contemplating Bobby’s birthday cake, a file popped out of my brain archives (thank God SOME info in there is still accessible!) and I remembered I had once read that adding Greek yogurt in your baking makes things really moist. The recipe I use calls for 1/2 cup milk of your choice, and I simply subbed plain Greek yogurt for the milk. It turned out AMAZING!!!

As soon as Bobby took a bite, he was like, “Wow, this is awesome!” I was so pleased by that reaction, and taking a bite myself, I had to agree! It was moist, chocolately, and delicious! It tasted just as good as any “regular” chocolate cake!

Since I’m a giver, I will share the recipe with you. Remember, I adapted this from Bob’s Red Mill – not trying to claim credit! Please note: the recipe is hyperlinked above, and it’s working now, but if it goes to the recipe search page, you might have to search. There are several GF cake recipes, the one I use is called “Chocolate Cake Gluten Free”. I’m going to go ahead and type it out for you with my substitutions below for convenience. My notes and substitutions are in BOLD.

3/4 cup warm brewed coffee or hot water (I have used both and I cannot tell a difference!)
1 cup Brown Sugar (I have also made with white sugar, comes out well both ways)
1/2 cup Cocoa powder, unsweetened
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Xanthan Gum
3/4 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/3 cup Butter, Margarine or Shortening
1 large Egg
1 tsp Vanilla (not imitation, must be pure vanilla extract to be GF)
1-1/2 cups GF All Purpose Baking Flour (I use Bob’s Red Mill brand)
Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 11″ X 7″ nonstick pan. Set aside. Place all ingredients, except coffee, in large bowl and blend with electric mixer. Add coffee and mix until thoroughly blended. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Serves 12.

For cupcakes: Line cupcake pan with muffin liners or spray pan well with non-stick spray. Bake 20-25 minutes at 350. Makes about 15 cupcakes.

There ya go, gluten-freeks! Go try this recipe for the holidays! I am going to try adding some peppermint extract to make a chocolate-peppermint cake for Christmas!

If you try it, let me know how you like it!