Great alternative to high-cal jams and jellies!

Hey guys, if you haven't already discovered the joy of apple butter, give it a try! It's only got 20-30 calories per tablespoon, as opposed to the 50 cal/tbsp in most jams and jellies and the 105 cal/tbsp in your average nut-butter. And it's DELICIOUS! I have it on my toast all the time now.

Also, apples in general are just a good "eat this, not that" food. Half a banana? 50 calories. Half a medium apple? 36 calories. The savings aren't HUGE, but they're still savings.

Original Post by fawkes:

Hey guys, if you haven't already discovered the joy of apple butter, give it a try! It's only got 20-30 calories per tablespoon, as opposed to the 50 cal/tbsp in most jams and jellies and the 105 cal/tbsp in your average nut-butter. And it's DELICIOUS! I have it on my toast all the time now.

Also, apples in general are just a good "eat this, not that" food. Half a banana? 50 calories. Half a medium apple? 36 calories. The savings aren't HUGE, but they're still savings.

Yeah, but if you ate half a banana and half an apple, you'd get a better variety of nutrients than if you ate half a banana twice or half an apple twice.  We need to eat lots of different kinds of fruit and veg - not just pick a couple of the lowest cal ones.

I really like the Triple Fruit jams from E.D. Smith.  They're also only 30 cals/tbsp and have to be refrigerated because they have more fruit and less sugar.  Apple butter is yummy too, though.

I looooove apple butter!!  However, I only eat my grandmother's that she makes homemade so you never know what's in that!! I come from Southern roots, so I'm sure there is prob a lot of butter/sugar in the actual apple butter eeek!  I'll have to try some of the store kind..is there a certain brand you use?

What I do to sub out the jam/jelly on my toast is to just microwave the fruit itself on my bread with pb until warm.  I did this with success with pitted cherries and apple.   Mmmm!  If you like your jams sour, you can try plums.  And I have yet to try berries!

Original Post by susiecue:

I really like the Triple Fruit jams from E.D. Smith.  They're also only 30 cals/tbsp and have to be refrigerated because they have more fruit and less sugar. 

 

I'm pretty sure they're sweetened artificially. I used to love the triple fruit one. (EDIT: I looked it up. Only the "no sugar added" Triple Fruit jams are sweetened with sucralose.)

I love to mix apple butter with cottage cheese. Another good one: pumpkin butter. MMMM. 

I love apple butter too. I second the above post, if you like apple butter, you should definitely try pumpkin butter. I got two jars of organic apple and pumpkin butter from Whole Foods a few weeks ago, and fell in love with the pumpkin. It has the same nutritionals as apple butter, and it tastes delicious.

Original Post by cellophane_star:

I'm pretty sure they're sweetened artificially. I used to love the triple fruit one. (EDIT: I looked it up. Only the "no sugar added" Triple Fruit jams are sweetened with sucralose.)

That made me go look up my jam, and I'm happy to report that I was referring to the regular sugary (just less sugary and more fruity) kind with no artificial sweeteners.  Looks like the artificially sweetened kinds are all in jars with blue labels and/or lids.  Jars with no blue are "safe".

Original Post by cellophane_star:

Original Post by susiecue:

I really like the Triple Fruit jams from E.D. Smith.  They're also only 30 cals/tbsp and have to be refrigerated because they have more fruit and less sugar. 

 

I'm pretty sure they're sweetened artificially. I used to love the triple fruit one. (EDIT: I looked it up. Only the "no sugar added" Triple Fruit jams are sweetened with sucralose.)

I love to mix apple butter with cottage cheese. Another good one: pumpkin butter. MMMM. 

what do you use pumpkin butter on?

I used it on toast or a whole grain bagel.

I love yogurt butter! I also like the cottage cheese on toast. Or the PB2 peanut butter which isn't sweetened with anything artificial. All healthy choices.

I tried something the other day that was really insanely good. Apple butter with peanut butter on toast. about half a tablespoon of each. AWESOME. So you get the good stuff from the pb without a ton of fat ( still some im willing to admit) and the goodness of apple and cinnamon. i spead the pb down first, i find it easiest. I also use the extra crunchy kind.

When I was in undergrad, I went through a phase of eating apple sauce on toast.  That's also really good.

Salsa on toast is incredibly good, especially with cheese. Cranberry sauce has half the sugar and calls of jelly, and you don't have to use as much. it also make an amazing Pb&j, in fact I eat one every day.

Apple butter is great! and I second the pumpkin butter. Both are amazing paired with nut butters. I also like Welch's and Smucker's low sugar jellies - they are 25 cal/tbsp and taste almost exactly the same as regular jelly.

I prefer to just put a dab of honey on a hot toasted english muffin!

I love apple butter, and live close to Amish farms, so I can get the best.  But my favorite fruit spread right now is Whole Foods Market 365 brand - no added sugar, just fruit.  I love the blackberry and the apricot best, but they are all good.