Often overlooked, yet wonderful cranberries!

Ingredients
12 ounces (one standard bag) unsweetened fresh cranberries
1 cup water
1 cup Splenda
1 packet Crystal Light Orange Sunrise powder
1 packet sugar free strawberry jello powder (.3 oz)

• Rinse cranberries.  Place cranberries in 2-quart saucepan with 1 cup water.
• Stir in Splenda, drink mix, and jello powder.
• Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
• Turn heat to medium-low and simmer, smashing and stirring every few minutes until cranberries have all popped and sauce has thickened.
• Serve warm, or place into covered container and refrigerate.

When I went into the kitchen to clean up for the night, I basically dumped all the ingredients into a pan and monitored them as I filled up the dishwasher and wiped down the counters.  I turned the stove off just shy of the desired thickness and stirred once in awhile as it cooled down right on the burner.   That’s how quick and easy this is to make.  In fact, once I make it for Thanksgiving, I remember just how tasty it is and continue to make it weekly throughout the winter.  It is WONDERFUL stirred into greek yogurt or just eaten by itself as a snack.  You can certainly freeze some bags of cranberries to make this throughout the year.  I like to leave it as a seasonal treat.

Fall scented simmer!

You can play with this recipe a bit.  The original recipe calls for raspberry gelatin, but I already had strawberry on hand.  It turned out great.  I am trying out peach on a friend a bit later.  Can’t wait to see how that comes out!  You can also swap out Crystal Light flavors.  The original recipe calls for orange.  I had Orange Sunrise on hand, so in it went.  Yes, I “went rogue” by swapping out Orange for Orange “Sunrise”.   By the way…  one of the new style long Orange Sunrise packets, intended for a 2 quart pitcher of Crystal Light, comes out to exactly 1 tablespoon.

Suzy’s recipe calls for cinnamon.  A pinch of cinnamon is a fantastic addition.  Be sure you don’t overdo it.  A pinch will do.  Not everyone in my house likes cinnamon, so I leave it out most of the time.  Suzy’s recipe also says you can make this in a crock pot.  How I overlooked that, I have no idea.  What a wonderful recipe to have simmering on the counter all day.  I just love recipes that double as holiday potpourri.  You can bet I will try that soon.  I will probably need to double the ingredients to make it in my slow cooker effectively.

Also, I have never tried, but I am betting this cranberry sauce could make a wonderful top layer for some sort of cheesecake or cream cheese based pie.  It is so easy and has many many uses.  I recommend you try it at least once, even if you don’t care for traditional cranberry sauce.

Ready for Snackin'

There it is in all its saucy glory.  It’s still pretty warm there, but it continued to thicken in the refrigerator overnight.  I just had some, mixed into Fage Total, for my breakfast.

I still don’t have much of an appetite in the morning.  So, these days I have a protein drink.  In the summer, I usually have some sort of coffee based ready-to-drink (RTD) protein.  I either have something like Atkins Cafe, or I make my own with Lean Body chocolate RTD, chocolate unsweetened Almond Breeze, and some instant coffee crystals.  In the winter, I want something warm.  So, I make myself a protein mocha.

Ingredients
1 scoop of chocolate protein powder
1 shot of your favorite sugar free syrup
fresh brewed coffee

Directions

• Place the scoop of protein powder into a travel mug. My favorite is Nectar Chocolate Truffle, though I have done this successfully with Jay Robb chocolate whey protein, Lean Dessert Chocolate Fudge Pudding, and many others. Just about any brand will work.

• Add a shot of your favorite sugar free syrup to the mug. My two favorites are Da Vinci Dulce de Leche and Monin O’Free Caramel. (The Monin syrups are typically thicker. I like my phony caramel thick.) Just about any sweet flavor will work. You can even get crazy with some orange or almond flavored syrups. Get a spoon and stir… stir… stir. Stir until the protein is completely smooth. This is important. You want to smooth it out with that little bit of liquid before you fill the cup.

• Now, grab your fresh brewed coffee… which has either been sitting with the warmer off for at least 20 – 30 minutes… or, you’ve removed the lid from the pot, letting the steam escape while the coffee cools a bit. You DO NOT ever want to mix protein powder with liquid that is too hot. Doing so is what causes those nasty clumps. Fill your mug the rest of the way up with the coffee. I like to pour with one hand whilst stirring with the other. Be careful if you do this. Don’t burn yourself then blame me for it. You’ve been warned!

• Put the lid on your travel mug and sip away. Your Protein Mocha will make you nice and warm on a cold morning, and it will provide you with a decent amount of nutrients. I love these things. I drink them all throughout the year, but nothing hits the spot better on a cold winter morn. Sometimes I add a squirt of Hershey’s sugar free syrup to the protein powder / syrup mixture. If I want to treat myself, I will add a small spoon of Smucker’s sugar free caramel topping and / or a dollop of Cool Whip Free or fat free Reddi Whip.

The body best absorbs protein in the morning and just after workouts. Protein is also filling and will help keep you satisfied. And really, just about any flavor of protein will work… and any flavor of syrup will work. Go nuts with experimentation. Just stick to a protein powder that is lower in calories and carbs, and make sure you use sugar free syrups. There is no shortage of either out there. You can also do this with plain water, if you are not a coffee lover. I love coffee, and I love mochas, and I think the coffee covers up anything unpleasant about protein powder. In any case, the taste and quality of protein powder has come a long way. Even if you think you hate them, try one of the newer brands. You might be surprised.

These also make excellent snacks for chilly Autumn or Winter evenings.

Find this recipe in my SparkRecipes recipe box!

Devilishly Chocolate Bundt Cake - Reduced Sugar

I have several recipes from that meal to blog about, but I’m a rebel and choose to blog dessert first!  A reduced sugar very chocolate-laden bundt cake.  Let me say that again. REDUCED sugar. Not LOW sugar. Not SUGAR FREE.  Very much higher than what you’re used to seeing here.  A lot of it is Whey Low, a low impact form of sugar.  Nevertheless, it’s quite a conglomeration of sugar.  MODERATE YOURSELF. Got that?  Ok.  Let’s move on.

The bulk of the body. No pun intended.

Ingredients
1 (18 1/4 ounce) box of reduced sugar devil’s food cake mix
1 (1.4 oz) package sugar free instant pudding mix, chocolate fudge
1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
1 3/4 cups water
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spray non-stick bundt cake pan with butter flavored non-stick spray.
• In large mixing bowl, stir together cake mix, pudding mix, and chocolate chips
• In another bowl, beat the 2 eggs. Add the water and vanilla. Mix well.
• Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix until just blended.
• Pour mixture into bundt pan.
• Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until flat knife or wooden toothpick comes out clean from the densest part of the cake.
• Cool completely before frosting.
• Make the frosting by beating together butter, cocoa powder, whey low, cream, vanilla and 1-3 tablespoons of warm water as needed to achieve the texture you desire.  Beat, beat, and beat some more.  Pretend you are mad at it.

The thick and the thin of it.

What you see in this picture isn’t exactly what you see in the recipe. I kind of messed up. The recipe I base this on calls for a 4 ounce box of regular instant pudding mix, which is 4 servings. Well, the sugar free equivalent… also 4 servings… is 1.4 ounces. I made this once before and managed to do the right thing, but this time I put in two boxes of the sugar free before I realized my mistake. Fortunately, I didn’t put in 4 ounces worth! However, the cake was really really really dense and added up to more calories than it needed. You’re better off sticking to one small box of sugar free instant pudding mix.

Most of the batter made it into the pan and not into my mouth. Yay me.

This was the first time I tried making frosting with Whey Low. Everyone, including me, seemed to like the frosting… but I reckon it was too granular for the average person. A better option might be a cup of Splenda or a powdered equivalent. Whey Low actually makes a powdered version of their product, but you probably need to buy it off the internet.  I’ve not personally seen it on the shelf anywhere.  I’m also not really fond of Whey Low.  It is a low impact sugar, but it is still sugar.  I can see myself replacing small amounts of brown sugar with the Whey Low Gold in the future, but I doubt I will use it very much in the future to replace substantial quantities of white sugars.

Good 'nuff without frosting.

If I make this again, I will either make a lighter glaze for it or not bother frosting it at all.  It’s moist and chocolaty, and I think crapping it up with frosting probably wasn’t the wisest decision.  Do as I say… not as I do.  You will love it, whatever you do!  That much, I’m sure of.

In SparkRecipes, I calculated for 14 servings.  However, I’m truly satisfied with a ladylike half serving.  Seriously… moderate yourself.  It’s THAT chock full of chocolate goodness.  Chock choc, Jayhawk.

All dressed up like a harlot!

Find this recipe in my SparkRecipes recipe box.