A friend of my MIL is diabetic. My MIL asked me to bake some pumpkin bread and/or banana bread for this friend. I can't find a recipe that doesn't call for the artificial sweetener. This lady can't have the artificial sweetener either. I'm trying to find something that uses apple juice concentrate as the sweetener, but I haven't been able to find anything on the internet. Anybody here have some recipes they're willing to share with us?

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), December 19, 2001

Answers

i made an apple pie once using apple juice undiluted, thawed frozen once., i dont remember the recipe measurements. i do know that applesauce makes a good fat replacement as well. a herb called stevia is a real sweet sweetner that is not artificial. prunes can be used as well

-- js (schlicker54@aol.com), December 19, 2001.

here is a link http://home.teleport.com/~jbdubois/SugarFree.shtml

-- js (schlicker54@aol.com), December 19, 2001.

Hi Cheryl, I still have stevia seeds for a buck plus SASE. E-mail me if you want some,Great stocking stuffer. Daryll

-- Daryll in NW FLA (twincrk@hotmail.com), December 19, 2001.

You can use Stevia in place of white sugar at 1 teapsoon to 1 C of the sugar, straight substituion. If your friend reacts badly to the aftertaste of the artificial stuff, becareful how much stevia you put in as it does have a rather bad aftertaste if too much is used. For my cookies, I replaced all of the white sugar, left the brown and used teaspoons of stevia instead of the tablespoons that the directions called for. If you use baking soda in the mix drop the baking soda down a bit as it reacts with the stevia to produce even more of a rise than baking soda alone. My chocolate chip cookies which should have been flat ended up being little puff balls. This is the white powdered stuff that you can get at the health food stores. annette

-- annette (j_a_henry @yahoo.com), December 19, 2001.

Dj’s Down Home Dunkin Pumpkin Bread (Green River Valley)*

Mix these ingredients well: 15 oz canned pumpkin (or 2 c fresh pumpkin –cook until tender) 4 lg eggs –beat well ½ c cold-pressed vegetable oil (i use walnut oil) 1 c whole milk yogurt 2 t pure SF vanilla (do not use imitation vanilla) 3 t Stevia liquid extract (or 1 ½ t Stevia extract + 1 ½ c Splenda)

Thoroughly stir together these ingredients: 1 ½ c soya flour ½ c miller’s bran (crude wheat bran) ½ c oat bran ½ c wheat gluten ½ c whole wheat flour 2 T guar gum or xanthan gum

2 t baking soda 1 t sea salt 1 t ea cinnamon & nutmeg ½ t cloves ¼ t ginger ½ t cardamon zest of 1 orange –finely grated

½ c walnuts –chop fine ½ c SF shredded coconut (opt) ½ c chopped cranberries (frozen ok) ¼ c dried apricots –dice into bits the size of raisins

Preheat the oven: 350F; spritz 2 loaf pans (5x9")

Beat the eggs; add the pumpkin, oil, water, vanilla & Stevia extract –mix well; separately combine the dry ingredients; mix them into the pumpkin mixture; stir in the Splenda (if using); fold in the last 4 ingredients; divide the batter between the prepared pans; bake 55-60" (until the bread tests done); remove the pans to a rack to cool @ 10"; turn the out & let them cool completely on the racks.

This kind of bread just tastes better as it ages. ~~~~~~~~~ Stevia is not an artificial sugar; it is a sweet herb that has been used by the Guarani Indians in Uruguay and Paraguay for thousands of years as a sweetener, and as medicine; the Guarani call it the "honey leaf". Stevia has been used in Japan for decades, without no reported adverse effects. It was also used by Indian gauchos to sweeten their mate, a type of herbal tea that is heftier by far than my great-Granddad’s boiled coffee.

I began using Stevia extract in ’99, as an adjunct to my DM2 food plan, as a supplement that does help normalize and balance my blood glucose levels. It clearly works for me, because when i run out, my blood sugars start to edge up within a few days. It is more than 300 times sweeter than sugar, 1 teaspoon (or less) is equivalent to 1 cup of sugar. I prefer the taste of the liquid extract; moreover, the dry packets of stevia are cut with maltodextrin, which does not agree with me.

The blend of floury ingredients replaces 3 ½ c of all-purpose flour in my pre-diabetes recipe for pumpkin bread. i converted it to get the benefits of the increased soluble and insoluble fiber, and greatly decreased carbohydrate. The guar or xanthan gum have been proven to help lower LDL (bad cholesterol), raise HDL (good cholesterol); and to lower triglycerides.

Your MIL and i are surely blessed in the young women whom our sons have chosen for our new "daughters". I hope you will find a recipe that pleases you and her (and your family, too).

May a child-like spirit gladden all our hearts as we reach the end of one season, and this battered old year yields to a new one. However bad it may have been for us, fer shure, it’s alot better than the alternative.

dj DM2 since 97 controlling with lowcarb/ high fiber food plan since 99; (my AC-1 is lower than my doc’s and she isn’t even diabetic!!!)

-- dj (rosalesd@muhlon.com), December 19, 2001.

Try this one....

http://www.pastrywiz.com/archive/category/sugarfree.htm

-- Warren (w.baucom@worldnet.att.net), December 20, 2001.

American Diabete Association here in NC recommends "SPLENDA" as a sugar replacement.

To Read more on it try www.splenda.com

-- Kenneth in N.C. (wizardsplace13@hotmail.com), December 20, 2001.