coconut | The Sweet Life Sugar Free, LLC

Tag Archive for coconut

Miss Cereal? Try This…

Posted on September 3, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

The school year is off to a start, and Labor Day is here, which means the official end of summer. There are both cheers and boos, pros and cons.

One of the biggest cons is that, all to familiar, morning rush once again. The days of cereal boxes and skim milk are long gone for many of us. If you have heard us speak in a group, you are familiar with our “Trifecta of Sugar” lecture.

A typical morning breakfast cereal topped with fruit has the glucose from the cereal, lactose from the milk and fructose from your fruit. Bad, bad and more bad leading to a day of cravings and carb loading, no doubt. If you start your day with carbs and sugar, you will crave more carbs and sugar as you go through your day, leading to that downward spiral as the day moves on.

What else can you have for breakfast on those busy mornings when you don’t have time to scramble, fry or poach? Try faux “cereal”! We have tried it, the kids have tried it, and it is family approved. The best part – you can make it ahead and seal it in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. It is ready to go for a breakfast in a hurry! Top with some heavy cream, and you are set for half the day if you eat it along side your bulletproof coffee to tea.

It is super simple to make, and you can really make it your own just by adding your favorite low-carb ingredients. Try a little, and let us know what you think!

Faux Cereal

Your ingredients and portions can vary. Mix it to your liking.

1 cup unsweetened flaked coconut, toasted

1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

1/2 cup chopped pecans

3/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup finely chopped almonds

2 Tbsp Kerrygold

1 Tbsp Swerve

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp Celtic salt

Directions:

Toast your coconut flakes, watching carefully so not to brown to deeply.

Chop all your nuts finely and lightly toast.

Melt the Kerrygold in a cast iron skillet.

Toss your nuts in the melted butter, and sauté until fragrant. Add your toasted coconut, Swerve and seasonings. Toss all your ingredients in the butter until everything is mixed and coated.

Allow it to cool and then store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

This can be served as a dessert over whipping cream or for a breakfast cereal with cream.

Enjoy!

Posted in articles, Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Health, Kids, recipe, Side Dish, Snacks, tips tagged with breakfast, brunch, Cereal, coconut, dessert, Faux Cereal, nuts, snack

An “Almond Joy” Kind of Day

Posted on May 6, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

My most requested recipe at your fingertips!

Just because you go low-carb doesn’t mean you can’t ever have sweets again! You just have to think differently!

These “Fat Bombs” are the bomb! They are so easy to make, you get your intake of healthy fats, and take care of that little need for a sweet treat every once in a while.

You can keep them in the fridge, and pop them as you need them.

Fat Bombs

4 oz 100% Cacao

8 Tbsp Grass-Fed Butter (Kerrygold)

3 TBSP Coconut Oil

1 tsp Vanilla

1/3 cup Swerve Confectioners

2 Tbsp Cream

Shredded Unsweetened Coconut

Almonds, Pistachios, Macadamia Nuts

Gather all of your ingredients along with a double boiler, a whisk, and either mini-muffin pans or candy molds.

Directions:

Melt your chocolate, butter, and coconut oil in a double boiler over simmering water, stirring often so it does not burn. (This is a double batch.)

Add the Swerve and whisk together until well combined.

After it is completely melted and smooth, remove from heat and add vanilla and cream.

Whisk until it looks like you have smooth chocolate sauce.

Set aside.

You can either use a mini-muffin pan with paper cups or a silicon candy mold. I use both. If you want a variety of candies, you can tell them apart by using different colored paper cups. For instance, my husband doesn’t like the texture of coconut in his desserts so I always do his candy without coconut in green paper cups because that is his favorite color, and he knows which ones are his. In short, you can color code your candy!

I love the smooth texture of the candy molds though, so of course, I use those for mine!

Be creative! I love mine with coconut and almonds! Can you say, “Almond Joy!?!”

The kids like theirs with either macadamia nuts and coconut or plain coconut, and my husband loves his with pistachios. Just have fun with your add-ins!

This is what it looks like when you add your fillings:

On the purple molds, I placed a dab of chocolate right in the center bottom of the circle so it would have a smooth chocolate finish when I popped them out. Then, put the coconut and almonds on top.

Next, add your chocolate by the spoonful:

After your molds are full, place them in the refrigerator to set. This does not take long. Give them about 45 minutes to an hour to set before you try to remove them.

Once they are hard to the touch, you can invert the molds to pop out your candies and remove the paper cups from your muffin pans. I throw them in a ziplock bag, and they are ready to grab when you need a bite!

Enjoy!!!

Posted in Dessert, Kids, recipe, Snacks, Uncategorized tagged with almond joy, chocolate, coconut, dessert, fat bomb, nuts, snack, sweet, treat

Devilishly Delicious Donuts

Posted on April 19, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

I get requests quite often from the kiddos to have something other than eggs for breakfast. Enter Coconut Crusted Chocolate Donuts! YUMMY!!!!

GRAIN FREE/SUGAR FREE

I decided to experiment with a Paleo recipe this morning that needed some substitutions so that it could be sugar free, and the result was an overwhelming winner from everyone in the family! Lots of smiles in our kitchen today! These are so good you could top with some homemade whipping cream (using Swerve Confectioner as your sweetener) for dessert!

Yield One Dozen

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.

1. Start with your ingredients:

DONUTS

1 1/2 cup Honeyville Almond Flour (Don’t even bother with a different brand…I’ve tried them all, and Honeyville is far superior with the best texture for baked items.) I get the big bag at Costco.

1/2 cup 100% Cocoa

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Pink Himalayan Salt

6 eggs separated

6 TBSP Coconut Oil

1/2 cup Swerve Granular (Available at Sprouts, Whole Foods or Amazon)

1/2 tsp Vanilla

GLAZE

1/2 cup Coconut Oil

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 TBSP Swerve Confectioners (Available at Whole Foods or Amazon)

Unsweetened Coconut Flakes (I buy in bulk at Sprouts and keep in a sealed container.)

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine almond flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and Swerve. Make sure it is mixed well without clumps.

3. In a separate bowl, combine egg YOLKS, melted coconut oil, and vanilla. Mix until smooth and slightly fluffy.

4. Add the above to your dry ingredients, and mix well until a thick batter is formed.

4. In a third bowl, with a hand mixer, beat your egg whites until nice and fluffy – not stiff.

5. Add your egg whites to your thick batter and mix until you have a nice creamy batter.

6. Spoon batter into a greased donut pan (use Coconut oil spray).

7. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Cool in pan for about 15 minutes before inverting onto a cooling rack.

8. While the donuts are cooling, mix all your glaze ingredients together. Once completely cool, dip each donut into the glaze. (This is my trick for a smooth surface anytime you are icing with a glaze. Dip – don’t spread.) Then top each donut with UNSWEETENED coconut. I did some with and some without the coconut. Both were devoured! My husband put his in the microwave for 15 seconds to warm it, and said it was fantastic.

9. As I mentioned above, you could heat these as a dessert and top with whipped cream sweetened with Swerve Confectioners and a splash of vanilla.

Enjoy!!!!

Posted in Breakfast, Dessert, recipe tagged with breakfast, chocolate, coconut, dessert, donuts, kids, sweets