Tag Archives: Jam

Brown Rice Dessert Roll

To make dessert time easy and on track I like to make my desserts ahead of time and freeze them for the week. It makes me less likely to omnom the whole tray justifying to myself that they might go bad if I don’t. Really, who hasn’t used this excuse one time or another? After the holidays I had some leftover marshmallows, can’t let those go to waste. What does one do with marshmallows? Make rice cereal treats of course! We can’t make the same old treats around here though. After spending a bit of time fantasizing about a sushi dinner I was looking forward to I realized just what had to happen. Numminess followed.

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  • 4 tbl light butter or margarine
  • 16 marshmallows
  • 4 cups brown puffed rice cereal
  • 4 tbl light peanut butter
  • 2 tsp reduced sugar jam (I used my hardcore hobbit blackberry jam)
  • 1 tbl honey
  1. Melt margarine/butter using either a microwave (10 second bursts) or in a pot on an element.
  2. Add marshmallows, stir and melt in micro (10 second bursts) or on the element.
  3. Remove from heat and add brown rice cereal. Add the treat mixture to a greased baking sheet. Press down and into edges to create a flat rectangle. Allow to cool for 20-30 minutes. It should still be pliable if you list the edges but not too tacky to the touch.
  4. Combine peanut butter, jam and honey in a bowl.
  5. Turn out the cool rice mixture onto a plastic mat or plastic wrap.
  6. Spread the peanut butter mixture onto the rice treat.workingwithjam 004
  7. Roll, using the plastic to help you keep it all together, like a sushi roll.workingwithjam 005
  8. Put the roll into the freezer for about 20 minutes. Slice and enjoy!

Makes 16 “dessert sushi” each one contains 155 calories, 4 grams fat, 25 grams carbs, 1 gram fibre, 2 grams protein. You can keep these in the freezer and take them out to eat immediately. A fun twist on a classic that you can customize with any filling you feel like. My husband suggests the chocolate and almond butter.

Smoked Tomato Basil Jam

Inspired by the smoked jam we had at the spa. All the ingredients except the gelatin and the sugar came from my local market. I suggest giving yours a visit for making this jam. Tomatoes that have been picked the day before without shipping far and wide really gave this jam a strong flavour! I figure this will go well with those cheese fritters I’ve had an idea for. Another idea that crossed my mind was making bruschetta with it. Mmm could be so fun. Especially since I normally can’t eat tomatoes. There is something about tomatoes that often makes me ill. I think its the acid in them. When they are heavily processed like in ketchup, tomato paste, and some sauces I can eat them just fine…but on a sandwich or in a chunky sauce, oh my! I’m a heartburn mess! This tomato jam at the spa had no such effect on me. So, as you can understand I am pretty excited about it. One day soon I too may be able to eat some bruschetta!

  • 2 lbs Roma Tomatoes, quartered
  • sea salt and cracked pepper to taste
  • Hickory wood chips, soaked
  • butter spray
  • 2 cups sugar/splenda
  • 1 1/2 cup water
  • 2 cups basil, chopped
  • 1 pkg gelatin or strawberry jello sugar free
  1. Arrange the hickory chips in a packet of foil, pierce with holes to make a smoker pack. Arrange the quartered tomatoes on a foil covered tray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spray with butter spray.
  2. Place the smoker pack on the element of the grill. Place the tomato tray on the grill rack. Cook on low for one hour. They should look a bit like this: 
  3. Meanwhile, put 1 1/2 cup of the chopped basil and the water into a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and allow to steep for 30 minutes. Strain and return the liquid to the saucepan.
  4. Once the tomatoes are done smoking, strain them and add the liquid to the herb liquid. Add the sugar/splenda (I did a combination of 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 1/2 cup splenda). Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes.
  5. Stir in the remaining basil and gelatin.
  6. Divide into your chosen storage method.

This recipe makes enough to fill 3 250ml jars. Each 1 tbl serving of my sugar splenda blend has 10 calories, 0 fat, and .2 grams of fibre. A little goes a long way with this tasty jam. I can’t wait to think of all sorts of things to serve it with. Note: Sometimes the gelatin needs to be chilled for a bit after cooking to activate.