Quick Baked Beans (Sugar-free)

2 15.8 oz. cans Bush’s Great Northerns
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 T. pork fat or 2 slices bacon chopped
2 T. Heinz One Carb© No Sugar Added Ketchup
2 T. Log Cabin Sugar Free Maple Syrup with Splenda
1 T. Yellow Mustard
1 T. Worcestershire Sauce
1 t. Your favorite dry rub

Drain one can only Great Northerns. Render pork fat (or bacon) in bottom of medium saucepan until liquified. Add onion and cook until clear. Add drained and undrained beans and remaining ingredients, mixing thoroughly. Simmer low 15-20 minutes.

You can actually oven finish these if you wish, since all sweetening is from Splenda, or serve directly from stovetop. If pork fat is trimmed from barbecued pork butt roast, add 1/3 cup chopped “bark” for extra flavor.

Cucumber Tomato Onion Salad (Sugar-Free)

2 large cucumbers
2 cups grape tomatoes (1 pint)
1/2 med red onion
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
4 packets Splenda

Peel and halve or quarter cucumbers lengthwise and remove seeds. Slice into 1/4″ slices. Slice tomatoes in thirds. Coarsely chop onion. Place all in shallow non-reactive bowl. Mix remaining ingredients together and pour over cucumbers, tomatoes, and onion. Mix thoroughly
and refrigerate for a day, stirring occasionally.

Sugar Free Sweet Creamy Coleslaw

I love good barbecue, and with good barbecue you need coleslaw– sweet, creamy coleslaw. Having eaten low sugar for years, I thought I would have to live without it, but a recipe I found recently gave me new hope:

1 16oz. package shredded cabbage or slaw mix
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt (may sub. celery salt)
4 to 6 packets Splenda sweetener
1 tsp. Tabasco or Tabasco Chipotle (optional)

Place cabbage in bowl. Mix all other ingredients thoroughly in a
2-cup measuring cup, pour over cabbage, and mix thoroughly. Let sit in
covered bowl in refrigerator for best flavor/texture.

(Thanks to Keri C of Tulsa, OK for this one.)

Doug’s Hummus (Mideastern or Mediterranean Chick Pea Dip)

Just about every country in the Middle East, and well as the Mediterranean, has a recipe for
hummus, served as a snack or side dish. Made of ground chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans), garlic, lemon juice and tahini– which is a ground sesame seed butter– it’s also naturally SB friendly. Serves 4-8.

1 15 oz. can garbanzos (chick peas)
juice and zest of one medium lemon
2-3 cloves fresh garlic, peeled
3 T. tahini (aka tahina, tehina)(sesame paste)
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
1 T. fresh or dried parsley
1 t. Kosher salt or 1/2 t. table salt
pinch black pepper
4-6 whole wheat pita breads

You can do this in a food processor, but it comes out best using a high-speed stick-type hand blender such as a Braun. Use a regular-type blender only as a last resort. My description will assume a stick blender.

Drain garbanzos, reserving half the liquid. Place garbanzos and reserved liquid in mixing jar that came with stick blender. Add garlic, lemon juice and zest, salt, pepper, parsley, and tahini. Blend until pureed. Add olive oil and continue to blend until well incorporated. Warm pita breads in microwave for 30 seconds, and slice each into 6 wedge shaped pieces. Can be served immediately, but also can be refrigerated and served chilled. Traditionally served at room
temperature on a plate in a broad, shallow mound with the center hollowed out, some more extra virgin olive oil drizzled into the hollow (think hummus moon crater), and a pinch of the middle-eastern spice zatar lightly sprinkled over all.

If you don’t want to spend $2.99 on a jar of tahini (spelling varies), substitute no-sugar-added peanut butter – not quite the same, but still pretty good. If you do decide to get it, make sure the ingredients state “100% ground sesame seeds”. There are products on the market with similar sounding names that are essentially a canned version of the dip.

Doug’s German Sweet Potato Salad

Since you can’t eat potatoes on SB, I tend to experiment with sweet potatoes as a substitute. This German-style potato salad recipe, made with sweet potatoes is served warm, and is actually pretty tasty. Serves 4-8.

4 medium sweet potatoes, washed, peeled, and cut into 1/4 inch slices
1/2 medium onion, chopped
4 slices bacon, cooked crispy, crumbled
1/3 cup canola or light olive oil
2 T. cider vinegar
1/2 t. black pepper

Saute onion in oil until translucent. Boil sweet potato slices in lightly salted water until cooked just soft enough to divide a slice against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Drain well in
a collander and transfer to a large bowl. Add bacon, onion and oil to cooked sweet potatoes and toss to mix. Splash in cider vinegar while continuing to toss. Add black pepper to taste. Serve while still warm.

Alternately, for more flavor, saute the onion in the bacon drippings, then use the drippings in place of part of the oil.