I am just over two weeks into the BSD and have lost half a stone and 3 inches – yes inches! – off my waist. I am generally, genuinely enjoying the food using recipes from the book. BUT the courgette and pumpkin seed muffins have to be one of the most disgusting things I have ever tasted!! I do bake and have heard of cakes made with courgette, like carrot cake, but I have no idea what these were meant to be. Needless to say they have ended up in the bin. I wouldn’t mind but they were not cheap to make, coconut flour is not cheap and there were four eggs in this recipe. I am actually finding the whole diet quite expensive but am persevering as I know it will be worth it. My advice would be don’t bother with these muffins, they are not worth it and you don’t need the calories!

I didn’t think much to these either, though I’ve only tried them once and was not inspired to try and modify it. The mix was very dry, even with adding extra liquid, and the result pale and uninviting; the cooking temp and time seemed out as well. I have to say that I think the chocolate brownies are a much better bet, and are my go-to emergency treat when necessary, a batch always in the freezer in small bites , 100 cals each. It did take 4 attempts to perfect the technique though- I’ll post it if anyone’s interested.
( I think there was some discussion about the courgette muffins in an earlier thread- voicing similar opinions!)

Yes MaryR I found the same dry, undercooked but even cooking them longer didn’t help. I am going to try the brownies so any tips appreciated – the recipe is too basic; I assume you have to chop the dates and cacao nibs although it says neither!

Hi,
Sorry for late reply! When I did them the first time, I left the cacao nibs as they came, and chopped the dates. This was OK, but more like a cake with bits in. It was also rather thin, more biscuit than brownie. So this is what I did on my fourth go:
I’ve got a very powerful food processor, so blitzed the dates and cacao nibs which made a thick gooey paste, before adding everything else to it and mixing again in the food processor. Next time I’m going to use cacao powder, Lakeland have it, other places too I’m sure. I also doubled the quantities, but used the same size tin, so the result was much thicker, more like a brownie, though drier. Carefully cut into 100cal bite size bits, for the freezer! I’ve used both ordinary dates and medijool, but need to research which is best on this diet re sugar content.
I suspect this would be quite hard work without the food processor (Thermomix- see another recent thread here)
And it’s not what I would call an economical recipe!

MaryR, I wish I’d checked this forum before I made the brownies (an hour ago)! I don’t know what I was expecting I thought that the nibs might partially melt or something. I quite like them – I like almost anything at the moment. But I would not call them brownies. (One of our household has a nut allergy so I used half coconut flour and half gram flour.) When I make them again I might grind the nibs first. The dates came in packs of 9 so there are still 3 left. If no-one has eaten them by Friday I might have another go at a half batch.

I have just made the courgette muffins for the second time. I don’t mind the taste of the first batch but they didn’t hold together very well. This time I weighed the butter (52g) and I used half gram flour and half coconut flour as coconut isn’t that popular in the house. There is hardly any coconut taste now. I also used fruit juice rather than the juice of an orange and I suspect that I used slightly more than the equivalent amount. They are much more muffin like this time.

Thanks FoFi for the suggestions for the muffins- I might give them another try, specially since I had hoped it might be a way of getting some more veg into my four year old grandson :-), I think I’ll chop the pumpkin seeds, or use some smaller seeds (sunflower?) since pumpkin seeds are large. And I shall just chuck it all in the Thermomix and see what comes out. It still seems a lot of calories to use up on a small item, nearly a quarter of one’s daily 800! And do you think 220C seems a very high temperature for these? I don’t do much baking generally, so not an expert.

Thanks MaryR, I will try blitzing them as you suggest and use a smaller tin.
There is another recipe on here for apple and courgette muffins that doesn’t have any pumpkin seeds. I might try it one day, can’t face it after the last lot though!

MaryR, my baking experience is very limited, but yet I was surprised at the high temperature. However, this time they seemed to work well at that high (non-fan, middle shelf) temperature and cooked in about 14 minutes. I’m having one for lunch today with some yoghurt – it will be interesting to see what it is like properly cooled down.

I really think for the next addition of the book the recipes should be tested and explained in more detail. The muffin mixture was nothing like the texture and consistency of muffin batter. I had to add a full cup of liquid to get it to muffin mixture consistency. I wondered if it meant to be like a scone or english muffin but this didn’t tally with the muffin cases. They’re in the oven now and burning slightly before being cooked through. That temperature seems far too high… I’ll report back in a while…

I was going to try the brownies but can’t find almond flour. Wondered if it meant ground almonds and if so, why not say that? Also what to do with the dates? It makes sense to chop them but come on, explain! I use cacao nibs in breakfast shakes anyway and like them so these make sense. I’d love to try them but don’t trust the recipe to be anything like a brownie… diet brownie or otherwise! Did anyone else notice the mixed spice disappearing in the method to the muffin recipe too. Much more attention to detail needed in a lot of these recipes.

Reporting back. The muffins are not good. Very crumbly yet still a bit ‘wet’. The coconut flour makes them taste a bit claggy and I like coconut. They’re sort of bland too. I really don’t think these recipes were tested or, if they were, someone has edited them down and left out some vital information. We’ll eat them because I won’t waste good ingredients but they might have to be turned into something else. I don’t think you can really trust diet versions of high carb food. Better to find pleasure in healthier things I think.

I have found all of these sorts of things are like going back to my old ways.

New Doug, enjoys apples, a handful of nuts, tomatoes, he does not eat cakes.

So I have not tried any of these recipes.

I have not found the diet at all expensive as I have had simple things that are low calorie and low carb.

D

Almond flour and ground almonds are not the same thing and although some recipes might work with either they won’t all work. Almond flour isn’t available in everyday shops I buy it online and it is quite expensive, it might be available in local health food type places.

I’ve not tried the courgette muffins the recipe didn’t appeal to me, but I am one of those people who enjoys the challenge of seeking out healthier alternatives to the old things I liked. I know for some it can set off cravings but for me I feel in control and at ease with controlling my portions and only eating what I’ve planned.

this is the cheapest place I’ve found to buy almond flour (I’m in UK)
http://www.realfoodstore.co.uk/gluten-free-flours/

this website has some amazing recipes
https://elanaspantry.com/

I recommend the silver dollar pancakes in particular (they freeze well) and the cracker recipes. I make a batch of crackers most weeks and use them for my lunch at work with cheese and salad. At the end of the week I mash the crackers up and use them to coat fish or chicken as a breadcrumb substitute, it works very well and even my kids eat them.

I’ve tried a few more of her recipes and most have turned out well but you do have to watch for calories and portion sizes. It isn’t cheap to follow some of these recipes that is definitely true, however I justify it easily in the knowledge that I no longer buy any sandwiches/crisps/chocolate/general rubbish either at work or otherwise. I’m not out of pocket buying the expensive ingredients when I compare what I used to spend. This is an investment not only in my own health but in the health of my family.

Finding healthier pancakes etc that my kids also enjoy is better for them too.

Adeyg I have a vitamix so when I don’t have almond flour I use whole almonds and grind then in the vitamix to make almond meal/flour. I could be wrong but I think ground almonds uses blanched almonds and almond flour is made with almonds with the skins on.

Thanks for the tips, I might make the brownies in a few weeks when I’m more under control. In week 1 I’m still trying to keep the sweet tooth at bay.

Just spent last half hour making these, plus time watching them in oven, and really disappointed. Got a real stick at the back of my throat from eating just a morsel to try. Added a fair amount of water but they just looked like mashed potato and looked like mashed potato with crispy bits on top when cooked. Very claggy, very coconutty and a very weird texture, not nice I’m afraid!

Started to make the courgette and pumpkin muffins and looked at reviews for advice on the quantity of water. Used 200g peeled courgette, 450 ml water, 2 tsp mixed spice, apple juice instead of orange juice and put the mix into small sweet cases ( 48 small muffins). Baked them at Gas Mark 6/7 for 25 mins and then turned them upside down for 10 mins. The texture is very different to cakes or biscuits and as I like coconut, they are fine. For me, two are enough with some tea (85 cals). Hoping they will freeze OK.

I wish I’d seen this thread! I’ve just made the Courgette and Pumpkin Seed Muffins and they are truly awful! The consistency was more mashed potato than batter and they’re no better now they’re out of the oven!
(I’m generally very hapy with this way of eating, though: I’m one week in, I’ve lost 5lbs and lost 5 inches (3 off my waist and 1 each from bust and hips)- I must have been very full of water!)