Natural Sweeteners

Homemade Limeade, Lemonade, and Sweet Tea

By: Tory Wegner

As summer swings into full gear and things heat up, the first thing most of us think about is grabbing a refreshing beverage and heading to the porch. Not only will these simple recipes help you survive the heat and humidity, they will also teach you easy ways to use the natural sweetener agave nectar.

Sweet Tea:

Ingredients:

• 2 c boiling water
• 6 tea bags
• 1/4 c agave nectar (more or less to taste)
• 6 c cool water
• Optional: a pinch of baking soda to cut the bitterness of the tea

Directions:

1. In a heatproof pitcher pour the boiling water over the tea bags and steep 5-10 minutes
2. remove and discard tea bags, add agave and cool water
3. serve over ice

Limeade and Lemonade:

Ingredients:

• 1 lime or lemon
• 1 TBSP agave nectar
• club soda or seltzer water

Directions:

1. Fill a glass with ice
2. Squeeze the juice and pulp from ½ a lime/lemon into the glass (adjust to personal preference).
3. Add 1 TBSP agave nectar (adjust to personal preference)
4. Fill the remainder of the glass with club soda
5. stir, relax, and enjoy!

Substitutions:

• Be creative: add a splash of cranberry juice, orange juice, or fresh mint
• Consider using agave nectar in any of your favorite drinks (alcoholic, non-alcoholic, smoothies etc). It is the perfect substitute for any recipe calling for “simple syrup.”

Chocolate Brownies

By: Tory Wegner

Stevia is a wonderful substitute for sugar when cooking and baking. Sometimes it can be a little tricky because stevia is 30 times sweeter than sugar so a little goes a long way and you may have to adjust the recipe a few times to get the correct sweetness and avoid the bitter taste that using too much stevia can cause. A basic conversion chart is:

Sugar | Stevia Powder | Stevia Liquid ----------|----------|---------- 1/4 cup | 3 tsp | 1/2 tsp 1/3 cup | 4 tsp | 2/4 tsp 1/2 cup | 6 tsp | 1/4 tsp 3/4 cup | 9 tsp | 1 3.4 tsp 1 cup | 12 tsp | 2 1/2 tsp

Another main issue when substituting stevia in a recipe is compensating for the volume you loose by replacing sugar. This can be fixed by adding applesauce, apple butter, or plain yogurt (approximately 1 cup). So play around with recipes and have fun making healthy substitutions.

Here’s an easy beginner recipe for chocolate applesauce brownies from steviva.com

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c chocolate protein powder
• 3/4 c oat flour (put oats in a blender and chop until it’s powdered)
• 4 tsp stevia powder
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 egg whites
• 3/4 cup applesauce (unsweetened)
• 3 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Dash of salt

Directions:

1. Mix the ingredients together and put into a greased 8x8 pan
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 min or until done
3. Enjoy!