Thursday, October 31, 2013

Living the SWEET Life

If you know me at all, you know I don't have much of a sweet tooth. That's certainly not to say I don't eat sweets - because I certainly do - but given the option of a cupcake or a big pile of mashed potatoes & gravy, I'll choose the taters 97% of the time.

This month, however, some of the Allrecipes Allstar Brand Ambassadors were partnered with SPLENDA® for an Apple vs. Pumpkin cookoff. And I was ready & willing to take on the challenge!

Let me start by saying I am most definitely a SPLENDA® fan. I've been using it for years. I particularly love the SPLENDA® granulated product. It measures cup for cup the same as regular sugar & dissolves perfectly in a glass of iced tea. I bought Jim a sugar dispenser like they have at coffee shops which we fill with SPLENDA® Sweetener for his morning coffee (he makes much less of a mess now than he did wielding a spoon). Of course it's great for baking, and I've already mentioned the coffee & tea, but I also use it in vinaigrette dressings, in spaghetti sauce and I put just a touch in my baby lima beans (my Mamaw's secret was always just a touch of sugar). Of course, I keep sugar on hand just in case, but I really only rarely use it.

So - back to the challenge! My biggest issue going into this thing was the pumpkin. Not only had I never - not once in my life - ever cooked anything with pumpkin, but I'm fairly certain I'd never eaten anything pumpkin either. And to be totally honest, I wasn't really looking forward to it. The results, however, were pleasantly surprising!

The first thing I did was select two recipes featuring SPLENDA® Sweetener from Allrecipes.com. There were four listed and I chose these two: Pumpkin Waffles and Baked Apple Turnovers.


Both recipes were Fantastic!!!! Like I said, neither Red, nor I, was excited about the prospect of Pumpkin Waffles - boy, were we wrong! We went crazy for them & both told everyone we saw for DAYS about them & how great they were! The Turnovers also turned out delicious. The recipe calls for packaged refrigerated pie crusts (uh, yes please!), so they're super easy to put together. I have to say, after cooking the apple mixture, I didn't think I would like the consistency of the filling - but the end product was Spot On! They totally reminded me of the Fried Apple Tarts my Nanny used to make (only a whole lot easier & NOT fried)!  Jim ate these with a scoop of ice cream every night after dinner until they were gone.

The verdict?

Apple vs. Pumpkin - Round 1 - A dead heat!

On to Round 2:

I chose two recipes from the SPLENDA® site:  Golden Pumpkin Loaf and Cinnamon Oatmeal Apple Crisp

First up - Golden Pumpkin Loaf:

Again, very tasty. My loaf fell as it was cooling - but in hindsight, I think that may have been me not really knowing how to work the convection setting on my oven & maybe I should have cooked it just a few minutes longer. The taste was quite nice though. I used Craisins® in place of the raisins and Vanilla fat free yogurt instead of plain, because it's what I had on hand. When I warmed a few slices for breakfast the next day, I paired it with a big glass of Sara's Iced Coffee (from Allrecipes.com) which I aslo made with SPLENDA® Sweetener. This was a great way to start my day!

Next up: Cinnamon Oatmeal Apple Crisp


Yummy! What was so great about this recipe is that it only makes 2 individual servings - SO easy to throw together! I found the crumb topping just a little dry, so next time I would probably add a tad bit more margarine, but otherwise it was de-lish! I'd like to tell you Red really enjoyed it too, but that's not the case. Unfortunately for him, he is out of town and I've already eaten all of it! And for a girl with not much of a sweet tooth, that's saying something!

Round 2:

Apple vs. Pumpkin - APPLE!

Share the LOVE of all things SWEET!

#Apple #Pumpkin #AllrecipesAllstars


I am an Allrecipes Allstar Brand Ambassador (a voluntary position) and I am not compensated for my work with Allrecipes.com. I participated in a campaign on behalf of Allrecipes.com and SPLENDA®. I received samples to facilitate my reviews and promotional items as a thank-you for participating. The reviews, content and opinions expressed in this blog are purely the sole opinions of me, Mrs. Redeye.

2 comments:

  1. Looks great Staci, I with you, I'll take mashed potatoes over sweet stuff anytime. I do love anything with pumpkin in it though. It all looks great. Hope we can all get to another round up again soon.

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  2. Thank's Sherri! Yes ma'am - pass the taters, please! Another Roundup is definitely in order - or I'm coming on vacation with You to wherever you keep taking those gorgeous photos!

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