Kelly’s Sugar-free Blueberry and Apple Compotes

I ask and ask and ask for your recipes. And I get SO excited when you guys send them! I actually have a few reader submissions laying in waiting now. I’ll post one a week. Yay!

This one is from Kelly S. who was inspired to play with her food and came up with recipes for TWO delicious compotes that she uses to top things like Greek yogurt and oatmeal!

If you have any questions for Kelly about her recipe, leave them in the comments below. If YOU have a recipe you’d like to share with the Foodie Nation, hit me up at bariatricfoodie@yahoo.com. (Recipes with pictures, please!)

Kelly’s Sugar-free Blueberry Compote

Ingredients:

2 pkgs of fresh blueberries (rinsed and picked of stems, Kelly says, “lots of times I forget to do this!”)
1/3-1/2 cup of sugarfree blueberry or grape jam (Smuckers make this, I find it at Walmart, but whichever flavor you can find)
1/2 lemon (Kelly uses both the zest and the juice)
1-2 tbsp no-calorie sweetener (Kelly uses Splenda), to taste

Kelly’s Directions:
Firstly, taste your blueberries. Are they sweet enough? If not, you might consider adding a wee bit of sweetener to them while cooking.

In a shallow saucepan over medium-low heat, dump in the sugarfree jam (start with the smaller amount first).

Add the zest of the half lemon as well as all the juice from it. I use a juicer that I put the lemon half in and squeeze like crazy (working on my muscles, too!). So, I get quite a bit of juice. You may need to use both halves if you don’t have this fancy tool. Please note that I have also used (horrors), the fake lemon juice. In fact, when I made this last month, I didn’t have anything BUT the fake lime juice and I used it, tasted just the same.

Stir this and let it simmer and bubble away just until the berries start bursting and giving forth their juices. Turn off the heat and let cool; store in a container (I use glass so that it doesn’t stain). If you like your compote thicker, use more jam and/or pull the berries as soon as they start bubbling.

Kelly’s Sugar-free Apple Compote

Ingredients

3 c. of diced apples
2 tbsp no-calorie sweetener (Kelly used Splenda)
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp of vanilla (or more to taste)
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c. cold water

Kelly’s Directions:

In a medium, nonstick pan, combine all the ingredients (except the apples) and stir until all the ingredients are dissolved. [Note: I usually dump everything in at the same time, including apples, stir and then proceed; works fine.]

Bring to medium-high heat, stirring often, for 7-10 minutes or until apples are soft (or to your desired doneness).

Then reduce heat to low, stirring frequently, until the mixture becomes thick and gooey. Transfer to a container, let cool, refrigerate and use as topping to anything your heat desires (cottage cheese, greek yogurt, oatmeal, etc.).

And here are Kelly’s finished masterpieces: