The Everything Naturally Sugar-Free Cookbook: Includes Apple Cinnamon Waffles, Chicken Lettuce Wraps, Tomato and Goat Cheese Pastries, Peanut Butter Truffles, ... Eclairs...and Hundreds More! (Everything®)

Dear Reader,

Thank you for joining us as we pursue a healthier and more energetic lifestyle! Whether you are new to sugar-free baking or have been at it for years, we invite you to explore the art of naturally sweet baking and join us in taking the sugar-free challenge. We have seen the benefits of omitting refined sugar and artificial sweeteners in our own lives and hope that you will do the same as you create healthier alternatives in your own kitchen.

As sisters who live scattered across the country from each other, we find that good food truly brings us together. We have discovered we don’t need to sacrifice great-tasting food or our families’ favorite recipes in our pursuit of health because natural sweeteners help us create the foods we love. We are passionate about the effects healthy foods have on our bodies and we love creating and sharing recipes on our website
www.naturalsweetrecipes.com
.

There is no greater gift we can give ourselves or our loved ones than to take care of our own health. It might seem daunting at first to eliminate refined sugar from your diet, but we are here to show you not only how to do it but also how delicious it can be! We can’t wait to help you get started!

Annie, Holly, and Chelsea Forsyth

These handy, accessible books give you all you need to tackle a difficult project, gain a new hobby, comprehend a fascinating topic, prepare for an exam, or even brush up on something you learned back in school but have since forgotten.

You can choose to read an Everything
^®
book from cover to cover or just pick out the information you want from our four useful boxes: e-questions, e-facts, e-alerts, and e-ssentials. We give you everything you need to know on the subject, but throw in a lot of fun stuff along the way, too.

We now have more than 400 Everything
^®
books in print, spanning such wide-ranging categories as weddings, pregnancy, cooking, music instruction, foreign language, crafts, pets, New Age, and so much more. When you’re done reading them all, you can finally say you know Everything
^®
!

PUBLISHER
Karen Cooper

MANAGING EDITOR, EVERYTHING
^®
SERIES
Lisa Laing

COPY CHIEF
Casey Ebert

ASSISTANT PRODUCTION EDITOR
Alex Guarco

ACQUISITIONS EDITOR
Lisa Laing

SENIOR DEVELOPMENT EDITOR
Brett Palana-Shanahan

EVERYTHING
^®
SERIES COVER DESIGNER
Erin Alexander

Avon, Massachusetts

To our Queen Mum, Leslie Forsyth, who inspires us in and out of the kitchen.

Introduction

1
Going Sugar-Free

Sugar’s Dirty Little Secret

Trends and Statistics

The Meaning of Sugar-Free

Benefits of Going Sugar-Free

A Guide to Natural Sweeteners

2
Breakfast

3
Breads

4
Appetizers

5
Main Dishes

6
Sauces, Dressings, and Spreads

7
Drinks

8
Cakes and Cupcakes

9
Candy

10
Cookies

11
Dessert Bars

12
Frostings, Glazes, and Toppings

13
Frozen Treats

14
Pies and Pastries

15
Sweet and Salty Snacks

Appendix A: Additional Resources

Appendix B: Recipe Index

Standard U.S./Metric Measurement Conversions

THE NATURALLY SWEET RECIPES found in this book feature whole ingredients and natural sweeteners. These foods contain vitamins, minerals, and enzymes that sustain and support life. These nutrients are what set the foundation for optimal health and help you attain the quality of life you deserve. However, most foods Americans eat every day do not contribute to optimal health. It is typically packaged, processed, and full of the food industry’s favorite preservative: sugar. Sugar is found on just about every ingredient list on foods in grocery stores today. Spice blends, yogurts, dried fruits, bread, and even meats contain sugar. It is difficult to find convenience food without refined sugar.

Enjoying convenience foods such as a favorite soft drink or dessert on a regular basis may seem harmless, but when it’s done consistently, sugar begins taking its toll. Health threats and diseases linked to diets high in processed foods and sugar are ever increasing. According to researchers at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, Americans consume roughly 130 pounds of added sugar per person per year. Excess sugar consumption is linked to diabetes and heart disease caused by chronic inflammation of the body.

The Everything
^®
Naturally Sugar-Free Cookbook
will help you create satisfying meals and mouthwatering baked goods without refined sugar and artificial sweeteners. The recipes in this book are all-natural alternatives that are beneficial instead of detrimental to health and well-being. Reducing or even eliminating refined sugar and artificial sweeteners doesn’t have to be painful or boring. It’s possible to create delectable foods and treats that will please the eye and the taste buds without sacrificing long-term health.

Going sugar-free might seem impossible, but the recipes in this book can inspire a desire to start. Take the sugar-free challenge by substituting one dessert a week with a naturally sweetened dessert or make one day a sugar-free day—for example, Naturally Sweetened Wednesday. Ditch the freezer waffle or artificially sweetened cereal and make a nutritious smoothie for breakfast instead. Another popular approach to this challenge is to completely abstain from sugar for a specific number of days or weeks. It doesn’t matter where you start, but making little healthy changes is the key. You will enjoy weight loss, improved mental clarity, improved dental health, and a stronger immune system, to name a few benefits. These rewards will encourage you to continue incorporating natural sweeteners in all your cooking and baking on a regular basis.

The following pages are full of recipes that traditionally call for white sugar—such as candies, cakes, cookies, and ice cream—but are created here using healthy sweeteners instead. You might also be surprised by how much refined sugar is in non-dessert foods. Items such as salad dressings and sauces for common entrées are often packed with sugar to make them delicious, and this book includes alternatives for those as well. Since the goal is to make naturally sweetened recipes available to everyone, also included are recipes geared toward allergies and special diets.

There is something in this book for every taste and skill level. Be adventurous and experiment with new ingredients and we know you’ll be smitten with the results.

In order to inspire positive health changes through the reduction of refined sugars, it’s crucial to understand why change is necessary. Understanding what sugar is, where it comes from, and why it’s harmful will allow consumers to make choices based on facts and not be swayed by tradition or current food fads. Knowledge of the body’s reaction to sugar will create more mindful eating as consumers begin to read labels and recognize hidden processed and artificial sugars in foods. “Every addition to true knowledge is an addition to human power.” —Horace Mann