Tuesday, May 3, 2011

wonderous xylitol!

I've been doing some research about sweeteners.  I've came to the conclusion that Xylitol is THE BEST sweetener to use.  Not only is it beneficial to your teeth, but it's NATURAL and it measures pretty much the same as sugar.  I also love Stevia, which is commonly sold by the brand "Truvia" in the supermarket.  Another NATURAL sweetener.  It is hard to stay away from artifical sweeteners on the Atkins diet IF you are consuming the delicious bars and shakes (contains sucralose, related to the sweetener "splenda", both artifical).  Even though it's hard to stay away from these, if you can control what you sweeten with at home, then that is great! 
A simple step to weed out artifical ingredients:
1. READ THE INGREDIENTS!
know what you are eating.  If it was a perfect world, everything I consumed would be natural, but in today's world, we are soo busy, atkins bars and shakes really help me out when I'm on the go and allows me to stay low carb at the same time. 
Since I mentioned Stevia, a GREAT soda that is sweetened with it is called Zevia (http://www.zevia.com/).  you should really check it out, it may cost a little more than mainstream soda, but it's worth it.  Below is a picture of xylitol I bought from "Vitaman Shop" and next to it is the fudge I made with my own recepie.  My intentions were to make a chocolate bar, but that's not what happened.  It turned out tasty and rich though, the recepie is below....
Vanessa's Xylitol Sweetened rich fudge
1 stick of butter
3 1/2 T of unsweetened cocoa
4 1/2 T of xylitol
6 T Heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla

Melt the butter first in a saucepan and then whisk in the rest of the ingredients.  Pour into a parchement lined loaf pan and let cool until it stiffens.  Enjoy!
*I think this recepie could be tweaked, but this is what I got on a first try and I'm pleased with the results*

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