So this is day three of our paleo challenge. So far so good! We’ve been filling out our points form nightly, and we’ve both done well. We’ve been eating real food and avoiding all the no-no’s, except for one. We haven’t found a substitute for Vanilla CoffeeMate. But we have a plan!
For the cream, we are going to use coconut milk. Unfortunately, the only place I know of that carries coconut milk without carageenan or preservatives is Trader Joe’s, and they are out of stock. For the SWEET part of Coffeemate, and to use to sweeten other things, I have a solution… and it’s really good! (Even Tom, who normally only uses sugar because that’s all that tastes good) liked this in his tea last night. Guess what this mystery natural sweetener is?
Date syrup. Yep. It doesn’t scream YUM, I know, but you’ll have to trust me on this one. It is 100% natural and is, as far as I know, the only sweetener allowable on a strict paleo regimen. Luckily, it takes only minutes to make!
Dates are produced here in the Palm Springs area. When I arrived a year ago, someone offered me a bacon wrapped date at a hotel function, but I declined. I thought I didn’t like dates. But then I had date shakes at Hadley Fruit Orchards and Shields Date Garden. I quickly changed my opinion of the sweet and tasty fruit. And, eager to find a sweetener to use in my coffee and our Teavana tea, I was very open to trying out date syrup. Here’s all it takes: dates, water, and lemon juice. Seriously!
Medjool dates work the best. They are, apparently, juicier and blend better. If you can’t find them where you live, you can order them here.
Medjools have a pit, so the first step is to cut them in half and remove it.
Next, I put the dates, along with the water and lemon juice into my NutriBullet, my all-time favorite appliance!
Then I blitzed the mixture for about 45-60 seconds, until it was smooth.
- 9 Medjool dates
- 1/1/4 cup water
- 1 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice.
- Slice dates in half and remove pits.
- Put the dates, water and lemon juice in Nutribullet.
- Blitz for 45-60 seconds.
- Enjoy!
This natural sweetener is SO good! You can reduce the water to 1/4 cup and make date caramel. I plan to use in some healthy dessert creations soon.
xoxo,
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Yum! I love dates so will give this a try! I never gave dates a second thought until I tried a raw diet – now I love ’em and still eat dates even though a raw diet was not for me 🙂
Monica.
You will like it, Monica!
That’s SO clever! Thank you so much – I will definitely be trying this! And those Medjools look REALLY yummy, so I will grab those to make it, too!
Thank, Jeni!
Andrea, just wondered if you had an opportunity to e-mail the recipes for gumbo and Spinach Madeline. Just realized you lived in Palm Springs. Before retirement, my company had several Annual Conferences in Palm Springs. Our distributors and suppliers loved it because most of them lived in the Northeast.
Thanks ………..
Will now!
Susan, I just spent a while trying to find your email address. Could you please click on the “contact” menu above and send it to me again? Thanks so much!
brilliant! Make Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop. xo
Very impressed! Can’t wait to try it even though I don’t think I like dates.
That looks really good, Andrea. I never would have thought to do this with dates. Thanks for sharing with the Thursday Blog Hop! Please stop by to enter the very special giveaway on http://www.over50feeling40.com
Sounds great! will have to make this!
This sounds incredible! I will definitely be making it soon. SO glad it’s vegan! 🙂 #HomeMattersParty
Great idea! I would have a hard time giving up my coffee creamers, but this would definitely help! Thanks for sharing at the #HomeMattersParty – we hope to see you again next week 🙂
Wow, that looks delicious!! Thanks for the recipe!! 🙂
#HomeMattersParty
Love this! And I’ve got a Magic Bullet so this will be perfect 🙂
Hi Andrea!
Thank you so much for sharing in my Tuesday link up! It’s so funny that you posted this because I was just drafting a similar post about the carrageenan in processed almond milks. I’m all about single serve blending, I don’t have a nutribullet but I do have a single serve cup for my ninja blender that lives (and thrives) on my kitchen counter. Great idea, I’d never heard of this before!
Xoxo K
http://peeledwellness.com
I love this! I have been looking for some healthier options for my sweet tooth 🙂 Pinning!
What a great idea! I have recently fallen in love with dates–they are just so good! 🙂 🙂 This syrup looks so delicious; do you have any idea how long it will keep in the fridge?
I love dates so I bet I would love this syrup.
Hi Andrea – thanks for sharing this great recipe. We’ll have to give it a try as we are working on eliminating processed sugar from our foods. Looking forward to seeing what you share this week at the Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop at Katherine’s Corner. Nina @ Vintage Mama’s Cottage
Do you have any idea of the ratio for substituting for sugar?