Most dessert and baking recipes contain hefty amounts of sugar that don’t fit with a low carb ketogenic lifestyle. I’m also wary of many sugar free recipes promoted by healthy-eating gurus that are full of wild honey and pureed dried fruits: replacing table sugar with fruit sugar can be a short cut to fatty liver disease. These recipes contain very low levels of sugar and fructose, sweetened mainly with xylitol which doesn’t stimulate insulin release. I don’t recommend you eat them every day but they make a healthy and delicious treat now and then. Alternatively, finish off your dinner party with a cheese board or some simple, high quality dark chocolate.
Linseeds are a fantastic female food. They are full of nutrition and soluble fibre and can support gut health, relieve constipation and aid safe elimination of oestrogen. They are a core part of any breast cancer protocol but… let’s face it… they’re not the most palatable of seeds. Linseeds are particularly helpful to support gut recovery during and after treatment.
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We invited some dear friends to supper last night for an impromptu birthday celebration. Although I’m not the world’s most prolific or skilled baker I decided to make a cake. My inspiration was a delicious apple and almond cake I tasted at the delightful Southern Cross cafe in Edinburgh – it made such an impression on me that I vowed to recreate it. It’s supposed to have some flaked almonds on top to make it look pretty but the cupboard was bare yesterday so that didn’t happen. The resulting cake is both light and dense, moist and crumbly – easy to make and well worth the effort.
Last night’s simple dessert accidentally turned into something bloggable that I was encouraged to share. I started off by halving some apricots to roast and serve with yoghurt, and the addition of a few extra ingredients along the way elevated it to something special. Continue reading
The fig season is upon us and, while I love adding slices of raw fig to a cheese board, they are even more delicious baked in the oven with goat’s cheese. Continue reading
I’m a great believer that the proverbs and old wives’ tales that we learned from our grandparents were based in ancient wisdom that we ignore at our peril. So I wasn’t surprised to learn, during my functional medicine training earlier this year, that a daily portion of stewed apples can work miracles in just a few days to support and restore a healthy microbial population in the gut. Continue reading
You know how I feel about cake and desserts: even when they’re made with the best ingredients, they are too energy dense for every day scoffing. That’s why making a cake is a treat – because we don’t do it very often.
There are some classic flavour combinations that risk being forever lost to low carb dieters and many of my recipes focus on keeping them alive. Here’s one that works well for breakfast and also as a dessert. Continue reading
I’ll be honest, sprinkling sugar and lemon juice over a hot, lacy pancake is a favourite childhood memory that has been forever spoiled by going low carb-gluten free. But all is not lost: these low carb coconut pancakes from The Ketogenic Kitchen are completely delicious!
There are endless variations of this recipe out there: here’s mine. But Now for a confession… Continue reading
If you’re still searching for a low carb, gluten free, dessert that doesn’t taste like any of the above, then look no further. Continue reading
Dinner with Dawn 