Product Round-Up: My Top 5 Current Faves

Recently I’ve had to eliminate all grains, added sugar, peanuts, and other items that used to be included in my diet, and these products have been life-savers. I owe it to them for keeping my diet from becoming totally boring.

Here are my top five current favorite products (in no particular order):

1. Lily’s Sweets Stevia Sweetened Chocolate

I had heard about Lily’s Sweets before through Instagram and had always wanted to try it, but never found it in stores near me. I finally was able to find their dark chocolate bars in one of my local health food stores. The bar is pretty large, and half the bar is only 160 calories with less than 1 gram of sugar and 13 g of fiber. It is sweetened with stevia. The dark chocolate bar includes milk fat as an ingredient, but their baking chips are also dairy free which is a plus for those who need to avoid dairy. As far as the taste and texture, this chocolate is AMAZING. It’s creamy, melts in your mouth, and has the perfect amount of sweetness. It’s amazing on its own, on top of Quest bars, or chopped up and used as chocolate chips!

2. Simple Girl BBQ sauce

Simple Girl BBQ sauce is another stevia sweetened life-saver. It tastes like traditional sugar loaded BBQ sauce, but the Carolina style is zero calories per serving, and the Sweet & Spicy only has 3 g of sugar per serving (from molasses). They have authentic barbeque flavor and I just want to put them on everything. They are perfect for pairing with meals my family cooks on the grill, or to use as marinades. I’ve tried them on chicken, fish, and veggies so far and they are great! My dad happened to take it out of the fridge the other day, squirt it all over his dinner, and then came back after eating it and said “that is REALLY good barbeque sauce!” And he didn’t even know it was sugar-free.

3. Organic Sunbutter

Sunbutter has also become a new favorite of mine. I recently found out that I’m sensitive to peanuts, which was particularly tragic since peanut butter was literally one of my absolute favorite foods. I love almond butter and cashew butter, but they just aren’t the same as my beloved peanut butter. Sunflower seed butter has the closest flavor, in my opinion, to peanut butter. Even my 13 year old brother claims he cannot tell the difference between sunbutter and peanut butter. I particularly love the Sunbutter brand organic because it has no added sugar or salt, just pure sunflower seeds. It also has the creamiest consistency and best flavor of any brand of sunflower seed butter I’ve tried.

4. Against The Grain Rolls (and three cheese pizza!)

Against The Grain products are amazing because they use Tapioca starch rather than rice flour or other grains that are normally used in gluten-free products. Tapioca comes from the cassava root, so it is not a grain. Because of the way tapioca bakes, they do not need to use any gums like xanthan or guar gum, so their ingredient list is very simple, including only tapioca, eggs, cheese, and canola oil. Their products are available in the freezer section of my grocery store. I tried a roll cut in half, toasted, and topped with kerry gold butter and raspberry jam, and it was absolutely amazing. The texture inside reminds me of a crumpet. Super soft on the inside, and crispy and flaky on the outside. They have almost a buttery texture and flavor. So good!!

I also tried their frozen three cheese pizza, which I loved as well.

5. Slap Nutrition Whey Protein

Slap whey protein is not new to my diet, but I’ve come to particularly appreciate it recently since I have learned how sensitive my stomach is. I love the short ingredient list, natural ingredients, and the fact that it is not too sweet. After tasting Slap protein, most other protein powders taste sickeningly sweet to me. They have vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cinnamon swirl, peanut butter, and their new flavor slappy birthday which is a birthday cake flavor. I have tried them all except slappy birthday (I need to try it asap!). My favorites so far are cinnamon swirl, vanilla, and strawberry. I highly recommend Slap if you are looking for a protein that will not upset your stomach, tastes great, and comes from an awesome company!

Let me know if you have a chance to try any of these, and I hope you like them as much as I do! What’s your current favorite product?!

xo, Sarah

 

The Best (and easiest) Chicken Recipe Ever

I think everyone who is into fitness or eating healthy gets tired of eating chicken at one point or another. Let’s be honest – it can be bland and boring. But it doesn’t have to be that way!

Never eat plain, flavor-less chicken again. This recipe is the answer. I make this recipe almost every single day and I never get tired of it. It’s just so simple, yet adds so much flavor, and doesn’t add any sugar or excess sodium. It’s sweet & savory and I crave it again and again.

What you’ll need:

-Chicken tenderloins or chicken breast (I usually use about 200 g raw for a serving)

-Good quality dijon mustard (I love the original Maille – Grey Poupon also works well)

-Good quality balsamic vinegar

-Stevia packet

How-to:

Preheat oven to 425 F. Put your chicken down on a foil lined baking sheet. In a small cup or bowl, mix about a tablespoon of mustard with about 1-2 tablespoons of balsamic. Add about 1/2-1 stevia packet depending if you want it sweeter or not. I usually use about 1/2 and it enhances the flavor perfectly without being overly sweet. Generously cover the chicken with the sauce. Simply increase the amounts if you are making more servings – the measurements don’t have to be exact for it to come out good – another benefit of this recipe!

Bake for 17-20 minutes (for tenderloins). If you use breasts you will probably need to cook a little longer depending on the size. Serve with baked sweet potato or sweet potato fries and a green vegetable like broccoli or asparagus.

Maple Dijon variation: use 1 T mustard, 1 T red wine vinegar, and 2 tsp pure maple syrup – so good!

Enjoy! Leave a comment letting me know if you try it 🙂

xo, Sarah