Related Posts

• Sugar Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins

  

  Today’s recipe is entirely free from refined sugar, but I promise than nobody will miss anything. The banana adds just enough sweetness, and the darker your bananas are, the sweeter they will be. Since I really hate food waste, I sometimes deliberately pick out the darkest bananas from the market, bring them home, slice and store them in the freezer to be used in smoothies, banana bread and in these little muffins. Sometimes I come home with a full box of bananas because they look so sad on the counter and otherwise they would be just thrown out in the evening. So I sometimes think about myself as a banana savior. Since I love overripe bananas it is a very simple saving job for me, so win-win. In addition to being sugar-free these little nuggets here are also wheat-free and if you choose gluten free oats even gluten-free. Preparing these muffins could not be any easier, and the most time-consuming part is swirling in the peanut butter on top of the muffins. For me, these extra swirls are 100% worth the effort, but you can skip this to save an extra 5 minutes of your time.

• Carrot Cake with Citrus Cream Frosting

  

  How would you describe your perfect birthday cake? For me (Jo), carrot cake is the ultimate birthday feast centerpiece. It’s always been my favorite cake since I was a kid. And every year I try to re-create a new favorite version! My birthday was just last week, so I’ve been daydreaming about a new carrot cake recipe for weeks now. My friend and nanny Kerry is an amazing baker, so I asked her to make my daydream into a reality. I wanted this cake to be a spin on the typical carrot cake flavors while incorporating elements of my favorite grain-free pumpkin rolls with a citrus cream for some extra decadence and an extra veggie punch. The end result is this super flavorful and delicious Carrot Cake with Citrus Cream!

• Banana Peel Cupcakes

  

  If you have been following my posts for a while, you probably know that I really do not like food waste. And yet people do waste a lot of food. I can’t say I’m completely free from this sin. Still, whenever possible, I always try to use up everything I have and plan my weekly menu around the things I already have in the fridge before ordering anything new. One thing that people usually don’t consider food waste is everything we remove from produce before eating - vegetable peels, the outer leaves of cauliflower, carrot tops, banana peels etc. It all makes up a lot of food that we feel is completely normal just throw away. However, this is food waste too! For all kinds of veggie scraps (as long as they are not dirty), a good recommendation is to keep a separate box of them in the freezer and if the container is full, make vegetable broth. It saves you the money you would otherwise spend on buying the broth, and you will get all the goodness out of the veggies. Out of carrot tops, you can make pesto (I will share the recipe with you soon), and you can even use banana peels in some recipes! Don’t get me wrong – I usually also throw away the banana peels. As I typically eat at least one banana every day, it would not be possible to use up all of the banana peels, but even using a few of them now and then helps to reduce waste. And, nobody would guess that you also used up the peels in addition to the bananas. Besides reducing food waste, the banana peels are also rich in many nutrients as potassium and fiber. If you decide to give using banana peels in a recipe a try, choose organic bananas.

• How to Make the Perfect Low-Sugar Green Smoothie

  

  One of the foods our cleansers struggle with giving up most is SUGAR. Added sugar is everywhere, even hidden in your favorite salad dressings or condiments, which makes it particularly hard to avoid, and the more you eat it, the more you become reliant on it. Sugar can lead to health issues such as chronic weight gain, an overgrowth of candida, blood sugar imbalance, depression, anxiety, insomnia, and more. It’s also been linked to an increased risk for more serious health concerns like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. During the Conscious Cleanse, you’ll give up added and refined sugars completely, but if you think you might have a sugar sensitivity, you may need to do even more to tame your sugar cravings (take our Sugar Sensitivity Quiz here). Many fruits, grains, and other healthy foods still have naturally occurring sugars that can sabotage your health if you’re sensitive to sugar.

• Sugar Free Banana Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

  

  Ever go to a kid’s birthday party and realize there’s nothing your little one can eat? That’s a regular occurrence for me and my daughter, Ilse. Ilse, like me as a child, is super sensitive to a LOT of common allergens like sugar, eggs, gluten, dairy, and nuts. Wherever we go, there’s often times not a sweet treat she can eat and it’s never fun to be the only kid at a party who doesn’t get to eat any dessert. So my husband Adam and I came up with a super easy, allergen-free cookie we could always bring so Ilse would be able to have a sweet treat with the rest of the kiddos. And guess what happened? Not only did Ilse love these cookies, all the other kids loved them, too! Even when there was a conventional cake or cupcake option, other kids gravitated towards our cookies instead. I even started having parents ask me for the recipe or request that I bring the cookies for their next party! This recipe is truly kid-tested and approved!

• 8 Mindful Ways to Curb Sugar Cravings

  

  I was recently hanging out with some old friends and mentioned that I’m living a nearly refined-sugar free life. (I say nearly because I believe in balance and, on occasion, sharing a chocolate croissant with my family is worth it.) They gasped. While I’ve always attempted a clean diet, it was shocking for them to imagine their former fro-yo lovin’ friend off of sugar. I chalk it up to one of the things that a breast cancer diagnosis did for me – scared me straight off the sugar crack.