The struggle is real…

It has been a few months since I posted and so much has been going on in my life. Lots of valleys and a few mountaintop experiences. Between the holidays and, well, life in general, I have succeeded in regaining most of the weight I had lost following the TrimHealtyMama lifestyle. The struggle is very real. On a positive note, it could have been much, much worse. Yes, I ate too many Christmas cookies. But the truth is, I totally did it knowing the consequences and there were many times that I chose not to eat the sugar filled ones and I made a few things that were totally “on plan”.

I wouldn’t have missed these moments for all of the world.

See this pretty little gem below. This cheesecake is completely gluten and sugar free and….yes..soooo delicious. See, one of my Christmas gifts this year was an Instant Pot Electric Pressure Cooker!!! I made this cheesecake in the pressure cooker. It is the perfect size for two adults.

 

I used a 7 inch spring form pan. It was amazing! It has taken me a long time to find the right sweetener for me. The struggle is real. I hate stevia! Splenda and Sweet and Low are horrible for you and I personally get a migraine if ingested anyhow. I have tried Swerve(erythritol) and while I didn’t mind the slight cooling sensation in the mouth, my husband did! Erythritol and Xylitol both measure the same as sugar. There is a perfect combo blend called Gentle Sweet in the Trim Healthy Mama  store. The Gentle Sweet is doable for me even though it has a slight bit of stevia in it but my preference is really xylitol, especially the brand called Xyla. I have tried a few other brands like Zint and Now and even the THM version, but Xyla is the only one that my stomach gets along well with…if you know what I mean…wink wink. If consumed in large quantities it can cause gas and diarrhea. The Xyla is the easiest on my gut, plus it has added medicinal value in tooth decay and believe it or not…prevention of ear infections and some forms of the flu…who knew??!! ****It is also toxic to dogs so if you have a dog in your family that eats table scraps…choose something else!****

Ok..so…I am going to sum up in a few short words how this way of eating works. It is based on fueling the body in order to avoid sugar spikes…aka glycemic load. The key is not to mix fuel types within 3 hours of each other. There are a few types of meals/snacks. ALL START WITH PROTEIN AND PREFERABLY NON STARCHY FRUITS AND VEGGIES OF CHOICE and then you balance it out by adding good healthy fats …picture bacon and eggs and maybe a cup of strawberries…coffee with real cream or moderate carbs and low fat…picture egg whites, turkey sausage and a slice of sprouted toast with no more than a tsp of butter…coffee with fat free half and half…. but not both at the same time. Basically, the guideline is you either have no more than 10 carbs with unlimited good fats or 45 or so carbs with fats limited to no more than 5 grams.  It is so much simpler than it sounds and I am on so many facebook groups where people try their best to make it so much more complicated! For more info, check out the books on THM site or go check out both the plan and the cookbook at the library! or watch this video by the sisters who came up with this idea!

I am happy to say I am back on plan and am in the process of transitioning my hubs onto it as well. He just got put on Insulin this morning due to diabetes caused by removal of most of his pancreas. He is a stubborn cuss so I can assure you if I ever say it is husband approved…it is awesome! The cheesecake above was husband approved!

Yummy Sugar Free and Gluten Free Cheesecake

for the crust you can use your favorite cookie plus melted butter but I used my SF/GF Shortbread Cookie recipe

2 cups almond flour or 1 3/4 cup THM Baking Blend

1/2 cup Xylitol or sweetener of choice

1/2 cup butter(softened)

1 tsp vanilla

Cream together butter and sweetener, add vanilla and mix in almond flour or baking blend. Form into a log, wrap in waxed paper and chill for half hour minimum. Then slice in 1/4 slices and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. You can also roll and cut or just drop by tsp and flatten a bit if you want to be lazy, which is EXACTLY how I did it especially knowing I was going to crumble them up for a crust anyways! 🙂

After baking you will use about 7-9 cookies and crumble up in Ziploc, add 2T melted butter and a dash of cinnamon if you like(and I do!) Press into bottom of springform pan and even go up the sides a little bit.

Wrap bottom of pan in foil…some springform pans say leakproof…I am a skeptic by nature..just sayin…and spray with coconut oil spray.

For Filling

2- 8 oz pkg. cream cheese softened

2 T greek yogurt or sour cream(room temperature)

2 eggs and 1 egg yolk(room temperature)

pinch of salt

1/2 cup xylitol or sweetener of choice

1-2 tsp vanilla

Cream together cheese and yogurt and sweetener. Add vanilla and salt. Mix in one egg at a time being careful to not overmix.

Pour into prepared pan. Tap on counter a few times to settle any bubbles.

Cover pan with folded paper towel first, and then secure the paper towel with foil. (The paper towel layers help keep water off the cake)

Make a sling for pan(trust me this makes it easier!!) by taking a piece of foil about 15 inches long. Fold in sides into a tri fold strip. Place pan on top and center of sling.

Add two cups water to Instant Pot.

Place trivet in pot along with foil sling,  then lower pan centered on sling,   making sure there is ample room around the sides of the pan for steam to rise.

Press Manual and cook on High Pressure for 40 minutes with Natural Pressure Release.  Lift cake out by sling handles and place on a rack to cool.

If there is any water on cake use corner of paper towel to absorb it.  For me,  there is usually a tiny bit of water on the finished cake but not much.

The cake will still jiggle perfectly in the middle,  as it should.  There will be no cracks.  It is going to knock your socks off!

**full disclosure_ I am sure you can make this in an oven but I will be honest…I haven’t done it!** Thankful for my Instant Pot! 🙂

 

Look forward to many more recipes both in and out of my Instant Pot! I am really going to do my best to post a blog at least twice a week.