Before and after shots ( warning: may cause drooling)

Week 6 Phase 3: BEFORE and AFTER PHOTOS.
(Be warned: May cause drooling!)

Phase three of my nutritional plan means that I have not had a piece of toast in 5 weeks, no coffee and no bread. When you have been having your quinoa porriage for breakfast, the occasional boiled egg and broccolli and you are just plain want some toast and jam or peanut butter, all of which are all not allowed in this phase of the program. So, what do you do? Not wanting to "cheat" or sabotage your efforts you have to just get creative.

If anyone wonders about the power of suggestion and is doubtful that it works, let me just say this: Yesterday Ottawa Life Magazine posted gluten free scones on facebook and I reposted it. A friends commented on it. The problem for me is that not all gluten free recipes have ingredients in them that I can have. I can't eat rice in any shape or form as yet. Nor can I eat sugar, yet. It is no wonder that I woke up this morning wanting scones for breakfast.

So I went online to look for a recipe, but none of them had the ingredients that I could have. I went into the kitchen, got out my food scale, my mixing bowl, turned on my convection oven and went to work.

There were two things in my mind when I came up with this recipe. First of all it had to fit in with the ingredients in my nutritional program and it had to be nutritious. No point in having empty calories full of empty carbs and sugars. What good does that do your body? None except for a sugar rush, if you are into that sort of thing. I wanted to make a scone that was not only delicious, but nutritious. Often times in making things low carb and sugar free, the end product is also taste free and therefore unsatisfying. So with this in mind I reached for my these ingredients: Ground flaxseed, carob powder (Carob is a legume), almond meal (ground almonds)and quinoa flour. I used a half teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) was my only raising agent.

I added 4g of Stevia and about an eighth of a cup unsweetened shredded coconut for sweetness. Instead of buttermilk I used goat's milk with a splash of lemon juice to "sour" it. I have some sugar free chocolate chips that I added sparingly.  Cinnamon, one of the oldest spices, was added. Cinnamon has many surprising qualities that we often overlook.( Click here is you want to know more about the health benefits of Cinnamon)

I used butter to make my scones, (yes, Igor approves) and considering I ate mostly vegetarian yesterday, I can have some butter today. I added half a punnet of fresh blueberries right at the end.  I turned the " soft dough" out onto a chopping board, patted it down to form a nice round shape, cut it into 8 triangles and baked it in the oven.

Unfortunately I do not have the exact quantities of ingredients because I tend to just throw it all together. Had I known just how delicious they were going to be, I would have measured! I baked then in the oven for 25 minutes at 400F and they were delicious. We enjoyed then hot, cut in half and spread some in light margarine on them. They got my husband's approval for sure. They were enjoyed with thinly sliced strawberries as a filling. The essential cup of tea accompanied this treat and I only ate two. I had to stop myself there.

Now for those much anticipated "before" and "after" pictures.

Before

After