Friday Favourites - Sweeteners

Calorie-counting has become a routine for most of us; however we can still be unaware of the damaging effect of high sugar intake. Here at The Amazing Blog, we want to provide a healthy alternative to sweeten your morning coffee. With our favourite sweeteners, you can treat yourself guilt-free.

Firstly, we found an innovative new range of fruity Fine Powders by LOOV, designed to liven up anything from smoothies, baked goods, and even plain yoghurt. The powders are sourced using organic berries giving a fruity taste.

The three delicious flavours include Lingonberry, Cranberry and Blueberry; our favourite had to be the Lingonberry for its potent scent and intense ruby colour. We love that LOOV source their berries from local organic farmers in Estonia, making the product guilt-free in more ways than one. Get your hands on your own berry powders here for £13.50.

If berries aren't your thing, we have the perfect syrup substitute. BeLoved have utilised one of our favourite natural sweet treats to produce Date Nectar. The nectar is expertly extracted to retain all of the yummy goodness from the whole fruit.

We found it to be such a versatile product, perfect as a sweetener in hot drinks, drizzled over pancakes, or for an alternative sticky ‘date’ pudding. Dates are an ancient superfood packed with fibre and minerals. What makes them particularly special in our book is that they actually boost metabolism. A sweetener that turns sugars into energy rather than fat - we’re sold. Go try it and get yours here for only £3.99.

This next product will curb those sweet cravings for good. With only 3g of natural sugar per teaspoon, The Groovy Food Company’s Agave Express Sticks are astounding.

Agave nectar is incredibly sweet, without any artificial additives or refined sugars, so a little goes a very long way. The Agave Express Sticks are the definition of ‘what it says on the tin’, made from 100% organic Agave nectar and so convenient for on-the-go. We thought the 5ml sachets were great to sweeten tea & coffee and add some excitement to our morning porridge. Sweeten up your diet with a natural substitute by getting your Agave sticks here for £2.99.  

We were particularly excited about receiving The Coconut Company’s Organic Coconut Sugar, a fantastic alternative to the regular refined kind.

It’s formed by gently heating coconut sap from the coconut flower blossom. Although this sounds very technical, the result is a beautifully sweet and fragrant brown sugar. What’s more, the sugar retains the vitamins and minerals from the coconut blossom, as well as having a low GI. In other words, you won’t experience that turbulent sugar high or crash. We loved the unique taste and intense sweetness and it was fantastic to use when baking.  If you want the great taste of sugar but want to avoid those awful blood sugar spikes, get your Coconut Sugar here for £4.99. 

Lastly, we wanted to find a truly multipurpose and versatile sweetener that could be used in anything. Essential Nutrition’s Sweetlift Cook is the sugar free, natural answer to our prayers.

This table-top sweetener is extracted from totally natural sources yet has twice the power of regular sugar and is less calorific. We were excited to use this in all aspects of our cooking; it worked particularly well in baking and to sweeten our morning cuppa. There was no artificial or bitter aftertaste, it provided texture, volume and caramelisation just as sugar would. Essential Nutrition have outdone themselves with this fantastic and almost undetectable substitute. Introduce Sweetlift Cook into your kitchen, order yours here for €14.90.

My Relationship With Food by Lisa Roukin

Here at The Amazing Blog we are always down to test out and discover new and delicious recipes, which is why we were ecstatic when Lisa Roukin invited us to her launch party for her newly released cookbook, My Relationship with Food.

On November 25, we sat at work watching the clock slowly tick away as we thought about the launch party (and the food) that evening.

We arrived at Opso Restaurant for the launch party, and as soon as we entered, Lisa was right there and ready to give us her cookbook and a goody bag for each of us.

This goody bag might just the best one I have ever received. It had products from The Groovy Food Company, Chi London, The Foods of Athenry and Revolution Tea. I use the gluten-free honey in my tea every evening and the coconut oil on my face at night. Definitely check out these companies and their products if you have the time!

We made our way to the food table with delicious crackers, spreads and salads. While we cleaned our plates, Lisa sat down with us to explain the process of her cookbook. She made this entire cookbook in 3 months, working about 17 hours a day. Can you imagine? She even had to hire a food stylist. Just sitting there and listening to Lisa talk about her book, I could sense her passion for food and her hope that people will buy her book and develop a healthy relationship with food like she has.

My Relationship with Food features 100 recipes, each mirrored by beautiful photography. All of the dishes featured in the cookbook are virtually gluten-free and see minimal use of dairy and refined sugars. Plus, the recipes are organized by season. It also features the personal story of Lisa and her own journey to developing a better relationship with food, discussing her bad food habits and the ways in which she overcame them.

With recipes like Chicken Satay Skewers with Spicy Peanut Sauce, Raw Blueberry Cheesecake and Sweet Potato Hummus, you can find something both you and your entire family will enjoy. I tried the Sweet Potato Hummus at the launch party and I couldn’t get enough of it! This would be the perfect thing to serve at a family or friend gathering.

After getting the chance to sit down with Lisa and hear her story, we wish her the very best as she officially becomes a cookbook author. She has so much passion and she knows how to make healthy food delicious. We can’t wait to try the recipes in the cookbook and we hope all of our lovely readers try it too.

In the words of Lisa, “Eat what nourishes your body, do what nourishes your soul, think what nourishes your mind.” Now go online and purchase the cookbook here for £22.00 and you can start your healthy relationship with food today!

The Groovy Food Company's Omega High Five Cooking Oil

At The Amazing Blog we love cooking  and everyday we gather around the dining table to have lunch, and we can't help but to try each other's food and judge our colleagues' cooking skills. In my attempt to eat healthily, I realized that not only the ingredients of the final dish should be of a good quality, but the base ingredients aswell. Using the right oil or butter is essential, not only for the taste but for your own health too. When I came across with The Groove Food Company's Omega High Five Cooking Oil, I felt that my mission of leading a healthy lifestyle was being accomplished little by little.

Tagged as a "nutritious oil", the Omega High Five Cooking Oil is the perfect blend of five virgin fruit and seed oils rich in omega acids 3, 6 and 9 and vitamin E: camelina, avocado, virgin olive, oleic sunflower and toasted sesame seeds oil. The final result is a luxurious cooking oil that keeps its flavour and goodness even at high temperatures. We've tried the Omega High Five Cooking Oil with nearly everything: pasta, rice, salads, fries, meat dishes... and even though its taste isn't the one you'd expect from a cooking oil (you can definitely tell it contains sesame seed oil even though the taste is subtle), the final dish is tasty and contains no processed or bad quality added oils.

The Groovy Food Company's Omega High Five Cooking Oil is suitable for everyone but it does however, contain sesame seeds. This fabulous and nutritious cooking oil is widely available at Tesco, Sainsbury's and at select healthfood retailers for £6.99 the 500 ml bottle.