Read Andrea’s Bio here!
One of my favorite things to do in the world is to be in the kitchen cooking and baking. I especially love to bake. Now, that may seem a bit strange, a PWD who loves to bake, but I was brought up in a home where it was natural for everyone to be in the kitchen. One of my earliest presents from my grandparents was a book titled My First Baking Book. When it is Thanksgiving, I bake the pies; when it is Passover, I bake the flourless dessert; when it is a birthday, I bake the cake—you get the picture. Typically, I believe in pure baking. That is, using white flour and sugar and butter. Baking the way the recipe intends. I have dabbled a bit in replacing Splenda for some of the sugar and applesauce in place of some of the butter, but the recipes just don’t taste quite right when I do. The recipes are edible; they just can’t really be a substitute for the real thing.
Recently, I have been working to create recipes that do not replace anything; rather they are their own entity. I love reading other people’s blogs that are about healthy eating, and especially love when there is a recipe attached! I recently found one recipe for Agave Sweetened Strawberry Sorbet. If you do not know what agave nectar is, it is a natural sweetener with a low glycemic index that is made from the agave plant. As you know from my previous blog, I do my best to eat low glycemic foods and to have a dessert that is not made with Splenda, but not made with white sugar, made me very excited. The best part is, I just got an ice cream maker as a gift for my bridal shower. So, I was ready to put our new ice cream maker to good use! I made the sorbet. It was delicious and very low calorie. The only ingredients were strawberries, agave and water. Easy. Throw it in the ice cream maker for 25 minutes and you’re done! Well, the day after I made the strawberry sorbet, Brian and I were going to a BBQ where I was, of course, asked to bring a dessert. I had no idea what to make, but I didn’t want to make anything that I would be unhappy about eating later (like cookies, or bars of some sort). Fast-forward to later that evening when we got to take home a HUGE watermelon from Brian’s parents house. He suggested I make Agave Sweetened Watermelon Sorbet and that is exactly what I did. And it was delicious! Here is the recipe:
AGAVE SWEETENED WATERMELON SORBET
4 cups watermelon chunks
4 cups water (use the juice leftover from cutting the melon first and then add water)
½ cup agave.
- Put all the ingredients in a blender and liquefy.
- Pour into icecream maker and process according to manufacturers instructions.
- Enjoy!
Makes approximately 8 servings.
**Just a quick update on my Weight Watchers progress, I lost 5 lbs in my first week on the plan, this is not a typical result and of course I do not expect to continue to lose at this rate. But I am nonetheless proud of myself!**
Thanks for the recipe Andrea! I'm not a big baker (or cook for that matter) but if I ever feel energetic enough, I'd love to try this. And congrats on the weight loss … that's awesome!!! Keep up the good work
Potluck at your house! Congrats on the weight watchers!
Potluck at your house! Congrats on the Weight Watchers!
Out of curiosity, have you been able to figure out the approx carb count? I only bake pure, as you know. Still I could see fruit covering the taste that I dislike in Agave. Did you like the watermelon or strawberry better?
Way to go on the 5 pounds! That is so great. A friend of mine made me as dessert once (she's not a PWD but knows that I am…) where she blended frozen fruit (different kinds, bananas, strawberries, other berries, etc.) with a little bit of Silk Vanilla Soy milk. It was delicious and pretty low in carbs and calories since it is mostly just fruit. I want to try your recipe now! =)
Thanks for that. We’re having a big potluck party this week, for Xmas I guess and I’ve been trying to find something unique.. found some good ideas at this potluck recipe site. You know, someone should invent a website where you can write what you’ll be taking, and it would check no one brings the same thing!
I am glad you wrote you something on this! Ever since she joined Weight Watchers and then appeared on the cover of People or whatever, all thin and happy NOW, I was wondering WWRS – what would Ragen say? I was really disappointed with all this and what she was still quite small to begin with. I mean she could not have been more than a 14? It is upsetting and I hate the wording that always comes with it – I was never happy or successful when I was such a fattie, omg! It makes me so sad.