Stevia Recipes

I used to use stevia as a natural sugar substitute.  But I have since found out it is an endocrine disruptor (as are all other sugar substitutes, such as aspartame).  One author reports that her period stopped while using stevia, and that is has been known as a contraceptive. A study found that men's endocrine systems were affected as well.

Your endocrine system is too important part of your overall well being to interfere with, so I no longer use it.  Instead I have been using coconut sugar, which is low glycemic.

Other artificial sweeteners can also be problematic.  It's as though your body reads these fake sweeteners as poisons, and sets up immediate elimination.  Xylitol can stimulate clearing the intestines in a matter of hours.  Maltitol can do the same thing, as can sweeteners like amulose.

Stevia does have health benefits.  According to one study it has anti-cancer properties.  It also has  anti-biotic properties, which may help if needed, but also may result in decreasing beneficial bacteria in your gut.

Here is my former post, but I will probably pull it at some point.


----------------------

Here's some recipes I've developed to cook with stevia-- a natural sugar substitute that has no side effects. I used the powdered green stevia. You don't notice the color, and the whole leaf has more nutrients.  (If you use the white stevia, you'll have to do some conversion, but I'm not sure what that would be.)

With stevia, I notice that it hits the tastebuds later than regular sugar. So it is best to have some type of sweetener in the recipe.  Banana bread has the natural fruit sweetener, but with something like pumpkin bread, I add some honey or use sweetened yogurt.




EAT WHEAT AGAIN:  ANCIENT GRAIN WHEAT DIGESTS EASILY

I also use ancient grain wheat. That is wheat that has not been compromised by genetic modification.  Studies show that ancient grain wheat does not spike the glucose levels in the body and does not come with side effects such as Crohns.  I have summarized the book Wheat Belly, which discusses the toxic nature of genetically modified wheat.

Here are some places you can buy the ancient non-toxic wheat:

• Sunrise Flour Mill, North Branch, MN, sells ancient grain wheat, you can have it shipped. 
• City Center Coop in Cambridge, MN (they sell all three Sunrise Mill wheat varieties)
• Seward Coops, MN - only sells refined variety.
• Lakewinds Coops, MN - not sure which varieties each location sells.
• Heritage Breads, St. Louis Park, MN - delicious ancient grain wheat bread and desserts, and 2.5# whole wheat flour

EXTREMELY MOIST BANANA BREAD RECIPE:  Sugar Free, Stevia Sweetened

Banana bread is my favorite, and this recipe is very rich, moist, and sugar free. The trick ingredients are stevia and sour cream. You can also use yogurt in place of the sour cream, but you may need to add some extra yogurt, and decrease the milk.

One trick to keeping the bread moist is to wrap it in saran wrap as soon as it comes out of the oven, don't wait till it cools off. You shouldn't over mix the batter, or it can come out tough.

Sometimes I use sweetened vanilla yogurt -- and it tastes delicious!

• 3 c. Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1.5 T. Green Powdered Stevia (depending on your taste)

• 6 Mashed Bananas
• 4 Eggs
• 3/4 c. Butter or Oil
• 1/4 c.  Milk or Soymilk
• 1.5 c. Sour Cream (you an also use yogurt, but may need to add more that 1.5c, and may need to decrease the milk)
• 1 c. Chopped Fruit (optional)
• 2 tsp. Vanilla

Spices (add to your taste):

• 2 tsp. Cinnamon
• 1 tsp. Nutmeg
• 1 tsp. Ginger

Directions:  Mix dry ingredients. Melt butter and mix wet ingredients.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Pour into greased pans. Makes about 3 loaves or one large flat pan.

• Loaves: Pour them fairly shallow, cook for about 30-45 minutes at 350.
• Flat pan:  Cook for about half an hour, at about 325.

When done you can butter the top and sprinkle with white stevia.

TRIPLE SPICE PUMPKIN BREAD:  Stevia + Sweetened Yogurt

Totally love this!  This recipe uses stevia and sweetened vanilla yogurt as sweeteners. For a sugar-free recipe, see the next recipe after this one.

• 3 c. Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 2 T. Green Powdered Stevia (depending on your taste, you can add less)

• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 c. Butter (or 1/4 butter + 1/4 oil)
• 1 c. Milk
• 1.5 c. Sweetened Vanilla Yogurt 
• 1 tsp. Vanilla

• 2 c. Mashed Pumpkin

• 4 T. Ginger
• 2 tsp. Nutmeg
• 1 tsp. Cloves
• 2 tsp. Cinnamon

Directions:  Mix dry ingredients. Melt butter and mix wet ingredients.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Pour into greased pans. Makes about 3 loaves or one large flat pan.

• Loaves: Pour them fairly shallow, cook for about 35-45 minutes at 325.
• Flat pan:  Cook for about half an hour + at about 325.

When done you can butter the top and sprinkle with white stevia. 

 

TRIPLE SPICE PUMPKIN BREAD:  Sugar Free, Stevia & Honey Sweetened

This recipe uses stevia, and honey or molasses as sweeteners.

• 3 c. Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 2 T. Green Powdered Stevia (depending on your taste, you can add less)

• 3 Eggs
• 1/2 c. Butter (or 1/4 butter + 1/4 oil)
• 1 c. Milk
• 1.5 c. Unsweetened Yogurt or 1 c. Sour Cream
• 1/4 to 1/2 c.  Honey or Molasses
• 2 tsp. Vanilla

• 2 c. Mashed Pumpkin

• 4 T. Ginger
• 2 tsp. Nutmeg
• 1 tsp. Cloves
• 2 tsp. Cinnamon

Directions:  Mix dry ingredients. Melt butter and mix wet ingredients.  Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Pour into greased pans. Makes about 3 loaves or one large flat pan.

• Loaves: Pour them fairly shallow, cook for about 35-45 minutes at 325.
• Flat pan:  Cook for about half an hour + at about 325.

BAKING POWDER BISCUITS

My favorite snack, no sweetener.

• 2 c.  Flour
• 3 tsp (1 T) Aluminum-free Baking Powder
• 1 tsp. Salt
• 1/2 c.  Butter
• 3/4 c.  Milk