Orange Creme de Licious

This afternoon's treat was just that - a real treat! See how beautiful it was?

Orange Creme de Licious (60 calories)

1 Orange (60 calories)

4 cinamon sticks

8 whole allspice

8 whole cloves

1 can Ginger Ale Zevia

2 drops vanilla creme stevia

1T milk

Peel orange. Get as much of the white off as you can. Slice into four rounds. Break four 4" cinamon sticks into large pieces, 8 whole allspice also broken into large pieces - so they're not completely pulverized, but they're open. To that, add 8 whole cloves. Pour them into a coffee filter (or guaze or muzlin), and form a spice envelope.

Put spice envelope into a deep bowl. Lay orange rounds over that. Cover all that with Zevia Ginger Ale. Weight it down with another bowl so the spices and oranges stay completely covered by the Zevia.

Let stand overnight to mull.

When it's done mulling, carefully pick out your orange slices. If you can get the spices out without them leaking, that's great, otherwise you'll have to strain the spices out of the Zevia. To the spiced ginger ale, add stevia, put on stove and reduce some. Add ground ginger (to taste), reduce more, then pour over the orange slices.

Garnish with a cinnamon stick and orange zest for a real show stopper!

Chef's Notes: For pretty pictures, I strained out the "dregs" of spices from the reduction. It's not strictly necessary, but does make it look better!

Toffee Apple

Tonight, we've put a little bit of a twist on an old friend. The Baked Cinnamon Apple is delicious, but even the best things in life get tedious after a while. It's time for a new take on that old favorite. I actually have a two-fer for you this evening, depending on your choice of tart or sweet. The addition of the lemon to the one recipe turned out a very different taste - delicious and like a sweet tart candy. The other was very toffee and just as delicious as the first.

The milk gives it just enough creaminess that you feel really spoiled and I honestly couldn't tell you which I like better! I'm sure you'll love both, too.

I give you the sharesies of the night:

Tart Toffee Apple (80 calories)

1 gala apple (80 calories)

1t lemon juice

1t butter buds

16 drops Toffee Stevia

1/2t cinnamon

1/4t nutmeg

dash salt

1T milk

Core and cut apple into quarters, then slice them about 1" thick. Add slices to a bowl and pour lemon juice over the top of it. Let sit for at least 1/2 hour. Put apple in ramekin. Sprinkle with butter, toffee stevia, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour milk over the top of all of it. Place in oven, uncovered 30 minutes at 350* then broil an additional 10 minutes.

Sweet Toffee Apple (80 calories)

1 gala apple (80 calories)

1t butter buds

16 drops Toffee Stevia

1/2t cinnamon

1/4t nutmeg

dash salt

1T milk

Core and cut apple into quarters, then slice them about 1" thick. Put apple in ramekin. Sprinkle with butter, toffee stevia, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Pour milk over the top of all of it. Place in oven, uncovered 30 minutes at 350* then broil an additional 10 minutes.

Raspberry Jello

Serious big YUMMMMMMYY!! This recipe is thicker than regular Jello so it would stand well for travel and such. I'm not sure you should leave it out of the frig all day long, but if you put it into an insulated lunch bag with a cold pack, this should hold up really well.

Raspberry Jello (52 calories per serving - makes 2 servings)

1c raspberries (64 calories)

1/2c water

33 drops stevia

1/2c Natural Twist Zevia (Lemon Lime)

2 envelopes Knox Gelatin (40 calories)

Mash raspberries and add water and stevia. Bring this just to a boil. In separate bowl, pour Zevia in add gelatin and let sit 1 minute. Add fruit and stevia mix to gelatin mixture and stir 5 minutes. Pour into pie dish or ramakins or other container. (Note: This recipe is doubled so I could pour it into an 8x10 pan.) Refrigerate at least 3 hours and serve!

Of note, when making this, I left the seeds *in* the dish. Where I considered straining them out, I was afraid that I'd lose the fiber from the whole berry, which would be in the raspberry if I were just to eat it whole. To stick to the protocol, that's why I made it and left the berry seeds in.

Gelled Fruit (a Jell-O knock off)

I got ambitious the other day, not to mention bored of the same old same old baked apples for desert. So, I started hunting for some different things I could do with what I'm allowed on this protocol.

Since we have oranges, raspberries, strawberries, and grapefruit, I couldn't think of a single reason why I should refrain from adding some Knox Gelatin to some water and tossing the fruit in with it, sweeten it up with some stevia and set it in the frig to chill out. Here's what my first jelled fruit recipe experiment was:

DON'T MAKE THIS JUST LIKE THIS RECIPE SAYS. IT DIDN'T TURN OUT RIGHT! I POST IT HERE AS A JUMPING POINT FOR OTHER EXPERIMENTERS ONLY!!

Gelled Fruit

Allowed amount of fruit

1 package Knox Gelatin

16-20 drops of stevia

Make the gelatin, according the the directions, squish 1/4 of the fruit so it's pulpy juice and add to the gelatin. Add stevia, chill.

It turns out that this is not as pleasant as I thought it would be. It tasted like orange flavored gelled stevia. I think, next time I give it a shot, I'll go ahead and mash all the fruit, add only 3/4 of the water, and about half the stevia. When I do that, I'll post results again. If you decide to alter it and come up with a tasty recipe, please share in the comments section!

Desert tonight!

Tonight, we decided we'd have desert instead of "just fruit." It's been done before, but I've not found the way I just did it. So, here's the sharesies:

Baked Apple (80 calories)

1 medium Gala apple (80 calories)

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t cloves (if you like)

6-10 drops Stevia (or Vanilla Stevia)

Cut apple (I used the Gala apples because they're a little more tart and juicy than other apples right now, at the beginning of September) in half and core so there's no seeds and you have a little whole in the middle. Sprinkle the seasonings over the top of the apple halves, then add the Stevia, one drop at a time until you think it's going to be sweet enough. Bake in the toaster oven (yah, it's still summer here and we use this more often than the big oven cuz it doesn't heat the whole house up) at 350* for 30 to 45 minutes.

I think, after the dissappoinment that dinner was, this will be a very refreshing treat. :)