Now that I am done homeschooling, I have been expanding my home business offerings. My husband and I are still writing and teaching parenting through Character Ink/Raising Kids With Character. I continue to write curriculum (including new downloadable products and finishing my Meaningful Composition series). I still teach Cottage Classes to homeschoolers one day a week. I added private students last year—and I love it! So much like my homeschooling days with my kids. This year I also added my Plexus supplement business.

But, when you’ve homeschooled for thirty-two years and filled nearly every minute of every week day with work you love (teaching my kids and being with them!), you just need even more work when you are in your mid-fifties! 🙂 So I have started a healthy living blog to share my sugar-free baking, healthy mixes, time management, and work-at-home secrets.

I would love to teach you there in addition to Character Ink! And to get you started, I have written a one-hundred page e-book that teaches readers how to cut sugar out of their family’s life—what to substitute when, where to purchase substitutions, how to use them, and more. It includes incremental recipes to get you started while you purchase few ingredients in the beginning (something crucial for new sugar-free/healthier cooks).

You can get the free e-book here! Check out the blog while you are there—I already have some great info up to help you.

Question: What are your greatest frustrations in trying to cook and bake more healthfully for your family? How can I help you?

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Hi there! I am in the process of moving my low-carb recipes in my low-carb mixes over to my health and wellness page, plexus to feel great. This brown sugar and powdered sugar post can be found over there. Thanks for joining me!

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Wowsie, sometimes I really miss BBQ—you know the sweet, yet spicy/tangy, taste of BBQ ribs from Outback or pulled pork from a street vendor at the fair? And when I start feeling that way, I know that it is time to pull out my Sugar-Free Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce and make something yummy!

And in grilling season, this is just the perfect dish—without any of the guilt or sluggishness associated with sugar-laden BBQ sauces (okay, and that sweet bread AND bloomin’ onion AND homemade croutons AND…you get the idea!).

This recipe might look like it has a lot of steps, but take heart:

(1) You can omit the marinating if desired (especially if using bone-in chicken with skin and/or dark meat);

(2) If you have the BBQ Sauce Base in your pantry, making the BBQ sauce is really not any harder than mixing up any other one-bowl-one-whisk concoction. (So make that base!);

(3) You might not feel the need to pre-cook your chicken like I do. I get nervous about getting chicken done on the grill without precooking. That is a personal choice.

So…many steps or few—this chicken is worth the extra time to make amazing grilled BBQ chicken!

Grilled BBQ Chicken {Sugar-Free}

• Sugar-Free Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce (two times if you like things really saucy and you are going to marinate your chicken)
• 15 lbs mixed chicken pieces, bone in/skin on
• Monterey Marinade one time (if you want to marinate your chicken that day; if you are using skinless chicken rather than the skin on listed above, I recommend marinating)

Note: This can also be made in the oven. I would recommend baking it a hot oven then broiling at the end to get the BBQ sauce cooked into the skin just so!

Make BBQ sauce as directed here two times for fifteen pounds of saucy chicken.

Marinating and pre/cooking in the crock pot makes it super easy!

Optional: Save out one cup of the BBQ sauce and make Monterey Marinade if you will be marinating your chicken for a few hours ahead of time.

Optional: Make Monterey Marinade one time.

Optional: Place your chicken in a large bowl or huge crock pot insert and pour marinade over all. Let sit in fridge for an hour or more to marinate. (Do not marinate out on counter—even if your chicken is frozen as some will defrost sooner than others and you risk spoilage of the early-defrosted chicken.)

Optional: Place crock pot in the base and cook until internal temperature reaches 120 degrees or so. (For my super-hot crock pot, this is two hours on high followed by two hours on low.)

Note: I always start any chicken in the crock pot on high for an hour or two (even chicken I am shredding for casseroles, etc.,). I feel it is safer than having chicken in a warm environment for too long (rather than in a “cooking state,” which it gets into more quickly on high for an hour.

Optional: If you want to precook in the oven, that is another option, making sure it reaches the internal temperature listed.
Transfer chicken to grill and use a brush to slather the BBQ sauce over both sides of the chicken.
Cook on medium heat for twenty to forty minutes, depending on your grill and how precooked your meat was (longer if you did not precook!).
Turn frequently and sauce often. Chicken is done when it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees. (I always use a meat thermometer for chicken—and I have been known to get my married kids meat thermometers every year for Christmas…you know, in case they lost last year’s!)

Recipe Labels and Variations

Low Carb (LC): Carbs are minimal (just from the tomato paste and a tiny bit from the broth and the molasses).

Family-Friendly Low Carb (FFLC): This does not taste the least bit sugar free or low carb! My “this is sugar-free, isn’t it, Mom?” adult kids all really enjoy it! And there is something wonderful about skin-on BBQ chicken—the way the BBQ sauce sticks to the skin. The way the skin crisps up on the grill. Yeah, this is yummy stuff!

Store-Bought-Stella (SBS):  Very homemade—but very worth it! Of course, SBS may also purchase store-bought sugar-free bbq sauce and use that in place of my homemade version. Just be sure you try it ahead of time as the store bought ones vary greatly in how “sugar-free” they taste!

Homemade Hannah (HH): Go on, Hannah, you know you want to do all the steps! 🙂
Freezer Cooking (FC): This chicken can be flash frozen after it is grilled and then dropped into zip-lock bags for one or two serving use. To flash-freeze, just place the finished chicken pieces on cookie sheets (I would line with parchment…always parchment!) and slide into the freezer. Leave there uncovered until chicken is frozen solid. Then remove and place in freezer bags or containers. To use, you would just defrost in a dish (if you defrost in the bag, all of your sauce will come off on the bag as it defrosts!) in the fridge, heat in the microwave or oven, and enjoy!

Oldie Goldie Family Recipes (OG): This “pre-cooking in a BBQ-based marinade” is how I have always fixed my BBQ chicken! Love that flavor infusion!

Trim Healthy Mama (THM): As it is written, this recipe is an S with the skin on the chicken (and the combination of dark meat and white meat) and with the oil in the marinade. To make this an E, you would need to be sure you do not marinate in oil (broth and BBQ base only) and you would need to use boneless, skinless breasts. I highly recommend marinating if you are using chicken without skin and/or white meat only.

Cycle Cooking (CYC): I don’t usually do BBQ chicken in my cycle cooking as grilling takes longer than a cycle cooking day allots!

Sugar Free (SF): Sugar-free and amazingly yummy!

Gluten Free (GF):  Be sure all of your products are gluten-free, and you will be great!

Low Carb Mixes (LCM): This uses my BBQ Sauce Base mix! Love my “Low Carb Mixes and Fast Fixes”!

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I like to marinate meats in a bbq type/Tex Mex marinade when using them in fajitas, bbq, etc. (Even if I am adding bbq sauce at cooking time, I still love that flavor-infusion from marinading in this mixture!)

I usually make my bbq sauce (plenty for whatever I am bbq’ing) then take out a cup of it for the first Monterey Marinade choice below.

If you do not want to make the bbq sauce or you are not bbq’ing (in the case of wanting to marinate beef strips for fajitas or something that you are not going to need bbq sauce for), you can use Monterey Marinade #2 given below (using my BBQ Sauce Base). Both recipes give you a moist meat with a hint of Tex-Mex!

And they both marinate a lot of meat—depending on how much marinade you like to use. I have marinaded up to fifteen pounds of mixed chicken pieces with each of the recipes given below.

Monterey Marinade #1

1 cup olive oil or melted butter+

1 to 2 cups broth (depending on how much marinade you need/how much meat you are marinating)

1 cup sugar-free bbq sauce (Try mine here!)

+Or sub half wine/half broth or all wine/all broth if using chicken with skin or other fatty meat in which you do not want to add more fat.

1.    Whisk all ingredients together.

2.    Marinate chicken pieces, pork loin slices, etc. as desired.

3.    Do not use extra marinade after you remove the meat unless you cook it first. (You may desire to cook the used marinade in the microwave for several minutes in order to use it on the meat at serving time.)

I love to precook meats before grilling and marinate before precooking! Sometimes I just marinate the meat (putting in s few pieces of meat then some marinade then repeat til done) right in my crick insert then put marinade and all on to partially cook before firing up the grill!

Monterey Marinade #2

1 cup olive oil or melted butter+

2 cups broth

¼ cup BBQ Sauce Base

4 ounces tomato sauce

¼ cup bulk sugar substitute (Splenda, erythritol, or xylitol—use a granulated one that measures cup-for-cup in place of sugar)

Drop or two of molasses

2 tsp liquid smoke

1.    Whisk all ingredients together.

2.    Marinate chicken pieces, pork loin slices, etc. as desired.

3.    Do not use extra marinade after you remove the meat unless you cook it first. (You may desire to cook the used marinade in the microwave for several minutes in order to use it on the meat at serving time.)

+Or sub half wine/half broth or all wine/all broth if using chicken with skin or other fatty meat in which you do not want to add more fat.

Recipe Labels and Variations

Low Carb (LC): Yep!

Family-Friendly Low Carb (FFLC): My family loves meats marinated in one of these mixtures!

Store-Bought-Stella (SBS:  Come on, Stella, join the low carb mixes bandwagon!  🙂

Homemade Hannah (HH): You may desire to omit the liquid smoke if you do not like using processed condiments.

Freezer Cooking (FC): Sometimes I make marinades (one of these and others) and place my prepared meat (chopped, sliced, cubed…whatever) in a labeled zipper bag and pour the marinade over the meat and freeze! Then when I need that meat, I just defrost in the sink or the fridge (chicken always in fridge) and allow the meat to marinade as it defrosts. Then I am ready to use it! (This is actually the basis for many of those “Eighty-Five Freezer Meals in One Day” type of posts in which different sauces and marinades are prepared and meats are frozen raw in the sauces. I am not a big fan of too many of those simply because I like many of my freezer meals to be more ready than that—and I like freezer entrees that are more “all in one meal” types, like lasagna (make it with my crepes here!), enchiladas, etc.)

Oldie Goldie Family Recipes (OG): I have always (at least for the twenty-four years that I have been freezer cooking and mix making!) done the type of marinade and freeze described in the FC note. I just haven’t always done it low carb! Feels so good to find ways to do some familiar favorites of days gone by in healthier ways!

Trim Healthy Mama (THM):  This can be S, E, or FP! Make it as is for an S (with the oil/butter—it does help the marinade infuse the meat more!). Make it an E or an FP without the oil or butter (with more broth or with cooking wine).

Cycle Cooking (CYC): To use this in my cycle cooking, I would probably either use it in my “shaped cycle”—pieces of beef and/or pork that I cook up all in one day for a special purpose or for meals that week or for the freezer. Or I would do chicken breast chunks for the freezer (frozen in the marinade as described). I seldom do two or three “kinds of meat” together since my cycle cooking involves all “crumbled ground beef” or “shaped meat” (meatloaves, meat balls, pieces of meat {like swiss steak, pork loin, etc.}) or “shredded chicken” or “sides” or “chicken breasts.” I find it more efficient to do all one meat type at once and make various meals out of that one type!

Sugar Free (SF): My Sugar-Free Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce is sugar free as is my BBQ Sauce Base! So either way, this marinade is sugar free!

Gluten Free (GF):  Yes! (Again, assuming that you have the condiments and ingredients this recipe calls for in gluten-free.)

Low Carb Mixes (LCM):  The BBQ Sauce Base that is the basis for this marinade is a super handy “mix” that you will probably use time and time again. (Watch for future recipes using it!)

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Sugar-Free Sweet and Spicy BBQ Sauce

One of the primary uses for my BBQ Sauce Mix is definitely to make BBQ sauce! I love sweet BBQ—but I also love foods with a little zip. This sauce give me both!

Click for recipe!

I like the sweetness just as it is, but you might like a little more or a little less bulk sweetener. Also, I like the spice as is, but you might want to adjust your base (i.e. omit the chili powder) or lessen the liquid smoke if you feel it is too spicy for your family.

Generally speaking, this sauce can be slathered on fifteen to twenty pounds of chicken (as given below—totaling three cups or so). It keeps in the fridge for a couple of weeks, so even if I do not need all of it at the time, I go ahead and make the three cups and store the leftovers in a canning jar in the fridge. (I can always BBQ a few breasts or a pound of shrimp for my husband and me when the kids are all gone some evening!)

Soon I will give my Monterey Marinade that I like to use to marinade things I will be BBQ’ing. That marinade uses one cup of this sauce, so I like to keep a little in the fridge for that marinade as well.

 Ingredients:

• ½ cup BBQ Sauce Mix
• ½ cup bulk sugar substitute (Splenda, erythritol, or xylitol—use a granulated one that measures cup-for-cup in place of sugar)
• 4 ounces tomato paste
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
• 2 Tablespoons liquid smoke
• 1 to 1 ½ cup broth (I use beef or pork when making bbq for those meats and chicken broth when making bbq for chicken)
• 1 to 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1.    Mix all ingredients except broth until smooth.

2.    Whisk in broth as needed to get the thickness desired. (Keep in mind that if you are not using it immediately or you are refrigerating it for future use, it will thicken. You can wait and add more broth when you reheat and whisk again if desired.)
3.    Store or use immediately.

4.    Just before using, re-whisk and heat in micro for 2 to 3 minutes.

5.    Makes just under 3 to 3 ½ cups of BBQ sauce (depending on how much broth you use and how thick you like your BBQ sauce).

Recipe Labels and Variations

Low Carb (LC): Carbs are minimal (just from the tomato paste and a tiny bit from the broth and the molasses).

Family-Friendly Low Carb (FFLC): This does not taste the least bit sugar free or low carb! My “this is sugar-free, isn’t it, Mom?” adult kids all really enjoy it! Regular BBQ sauce is so sugar-laden. It is like eating a candy bar every time you use a few tablespoons! This is tasty without the sugar coma!

Store-Bought-Stella (SBS):  Very homemade—but very worth it!

Homemade Hannah (HH): Sweet and spicy HOMEMADE BBQ sauce…you gals will love it! Optional: If you do not want to use liquid smoke, you may omit it altogether. Some HH’s do not like to use such a processed condiment. (I love the smoky taste that it adds!)

Freezer Cooking (FC): I have made BBQ meatballs and BBQ chicken breasts ahead of time and froze them. They were still amazing!

Oldie Goldie Family Recipes (OG): Not my original BBQ sauce from years ago—but better because it isn’t like eating candy! 🙂

Trim Healthy Mama (THM): This BBQ sauce can be used in all three settings, depending on what you put it on! Put it on chicken with skin for a yummy S meal. Put it on turkey meatballs or pulled pork for an E meal. Or put it on skinless, boneless chicken breasts for a FP!

Cycle Cooking (CYC): I make my seasoning mixes all at one time to rotate them in to my cycle cooking!

Sugar Free (SF): Sugar-free and amazingly yummy!

Gluten Free (GF):  Be sure all of your products are gluten-free, and you will be great!

Low Carb Mixes (LCM): This uses my BBQ Sauce Base mix! Love my “Low Carb Mixes and Fast Fixes”!

DISCLOSURE: I am an affiliate for these products that I recommend. If you purchase these items through my links, I will earn a commission, but you will not pay more when buying a product through my link. 🙂

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BEST. Sugar free. Jam. Ever. And I am a grammar police—I have written fifty books (mostly English curricula) and forty thousand pages over the past fifteen years. But this jam is good enough to break the sentence rules over! 🙂

(See samples of my complete language for grades two through twelve here. See samples of my composition/writing program for grades two through twelve here.)

Now, back from that commercial break! I can’t get to the link to give the gal credit for the original, non-sugar-free version of this (blocks me!), so I don’t know who to give the accolades to—but trust me when I tell you that this is the best…the best of the best. The very best.

It can also be used in multiple ways—use a little less sweetener (if desired) for the jam itself. Add a little more sweetener (and maybe thin it when serving with a little water) to use as a shortcake or ice cream topping.

This Trader Joe’s bread only has four net carbs and is amazing with butter and the yummy jam!

I keep a few pint jars of this in my freezer all the time—then transfer to the fridge to use on low carb toast, my BEST Low Carb Biscuits, low carb pitas, low carb crepes, Not-So-Oopsie Bread, pancakes, and more. You want this in your freezer! 🙂

Sugar-Free Jello-O Freezer Jam

10 cups strawberries, washed and crushed with potato masher or mixer

1 ½ to 2 cups bulk granulated sugar free sweetener

2 large (6 oz) or 4 small (3 oz) boxes sugar free strawberry Jell-O

1. In a large pot, combine strawberries and bulk sweetener.
2. Let stand for one hour.
3. Heat the pot to boiling, then simmer for 15 minutes.
4. Stir in the Jell-O.
5. Fill clean containers with jam. (I use pint jars and allow a little room at the top for expansion.)
6. Place in freezer and get out as you need them. (I put one in the fridge right away and put the others in the freezer for later.)

Recipe Labels and Variations

Low Carb (LC): This is a very low carb jam—but doesn’t taste “yucky” like the low carb jams available at the store! 🙂 (I told you that I am picky!)

Family-Friendly Low Carb (FFLC): This is family-friendly too! In other words, it is very low carb, but it doesn’t taste low carb—so all of my kids love it!

Store-Bought-Stella (SBS): No, this isn’t as easy as buying jam at the store, but I have tried like eight different jams—and all of the sugar-free ones are, as I mentioned above, yucky. 🙂

 
Homemade Hannah (HH): I know that many HH’s would never use sugar-free jello, but if you ever want to make an exception to that rule, this is the time to do it! It isn’t that much sf jello per serving over all. But I understand if you are not comfortable with this recipe. No problem!

 
Freezer Cooking (FC): Perfect for the freezer—that is why they call it freezer jam!  🙂  You want this in your freezer, at the ready, all the time…

Oldie Goldie Family Recipes (OG): I have made a lot of homemade jams and jellies in my day (jalapeno jelly, anyone?), but none (even the sugar-laden ones) were as good as this one!

Trim Healthy Mama (THM): Technically, this is not on plan for THM’s because of the artificial sweetener in the store-bought jello. However, if you want to go “off plan” while still staying well under your carb limit for all three settings—S, E, and FP—this is the dish to do it with!

Cycle Cooking (CYC): Not in my regular meat or side dish cooking cycle, but I do try to group things together. For example, if strawberries are on sale, I will buy a ton of them and cut and clean while listening to my audio book—and then have strawberry shortcake, make fruit salad for a dance with strawberries in it, make strawberry cake or muffins, and, of course, this jam! Efficiency, baby!
Sugar Free (SF): Yep—but doesn’t taste like it is!
Gluten Free (GF): Yes!

Low Carb Mixes (LCM): Not a mix per se, but another bulk item. I love cooking in bulk!

DISCLOSURE: I am an affiliate for these products that I recommend. If you purchase these items through my links, I will earn a commission, but you will not pay more when buying a product through my link. 🙂

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Low Carb (LC): Many of my recipes (especially the newer ones that I have been creating over the past year and that I am putting up as of Spring 2015) are low carb or else have low carb options. Generally speaking, when a recipe has the LC label, it means that a serving (or more!) of that recipe would fit well into a low carb eating plan, such as one that is fifty net carbs per day or fewer. Many of the LC recipes are very, very low carb, meaning that they would be appropriate for a twenty net carbs or fewer diet.
 

Family-Friendly Low Carb (FFLC): Because I have been trying to tweak recipes to appeal to my teenage and college age sons, as well as my husband, some of my recipes have the FFLC label. This means that I am giving an option to up the carbs a little bit (for example, to use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour or Bob’s Red Mill Quinoa Flour or Oat Flour for part of the “flour” {rather than all almond flour, coconut flour, wheat fiber, etc.}) or to add oats to a baked good. Additions or changes to a recipe to make it FFLC often make the product more welcomed by family members who are not used to completely grain-free foods—but still make each serving seventy-five percent—plus less carby than traditional recipes of that same dish (due to partial use of low carb flours, low carb liquids, and sugar free/zero net carb sweeteners).

Store-Bought-Stella (SBS): Some people would never dream of using canned soups or Splenda or sugar-free jello mixes in their kitchens. Others are okay using some non-homemade or “less healthy” products in their cooking and baking. If something could be made easier by purchasing something pre-made, the SBS label will be used, indicating that there is a way or ways to make the recipe given easier with store-bought helps.

Homemade Hannah (HH): There are many healthy cooks who desire to make as many things from scratch as possible—and definitely would not use a store-bought cake mix or sugar-free pudding, etc. When a recipe could be made more “homemade” by doing it yourself or has healthier options, the HH label will be given, along with suggestions on how to keep that particular recipe as homemade as possible.

Oldie Goldies (OG): The Reish family is a family of thirty-plus years of home cooking! Raising seven children on one income for twenty-five years caused me to learn how to cook—and how to cook large amounts in easier ways (whenever possible). Because of all of those years in the kitchen, I have more recipes, menus, and tricks than one can imagine. When a recipe is an old family favorite (or a new family favorite that I think other families would enjoy), the OG label will be given, along with a note or two about how we used that recipe, what we liked to have with it, etc.

Freezer Cooking (FC): I began “mega” cooking via freezer cooking, mix making, cooking sessions to prep fruits and veggies, and more in 1990 while preparing for the birth of our fourth child (who, coincidentally, was “Colic Kara”—and boy was I happy to have so many things made ahead of time!). It is not uncommon for me to have fifty to one hundred freezer entrees, starters, and more in my freezers at any given time. And I love to help Moms learn how to freezer cook since it has been a huge blessing to my family for the past twenty-four years—and has been an amazing way for us to bless and help others through the years too. The FC label will show up when I give an option to “mega” cook something and put a few entrees in the freezer.

Cycle Cooking (CYC): Once my freezer cooking (described above) was well underway, I developed even more shortcuts and helps to get meals in the freezer. My most time-saving method was using what I called “cooking cycles.” In this approach, I would cook up a certain type of meat and make all of my entrees during that cooking session out of that type of meat. This turned out to be such a great help that I still do this type of cooking nearly every week to this day! When you see the abbreviation CYC (along with a link to that particular type of meat prep—crumbled ground meat, shredded chicken, etc.), you will find ideas on how to “cycle” cook that recipe.

Trim Healthy Mama (THM): You would be hard-pressed to be on FaceBook and not find a friend who is eating the Trim Healthy Mama way. This method of eating/weight loss program is a low-grain, no-sugar approach in which the “dieter” eats protein with each meal but then chooses to either have fat OR carbohydrates with that protein (but not both at the same time). Many (if not all) of my low-carb and family-friendly low carb recipes are perfect for the THM eating style. I do not have a lot of E recipes on here because of my carb intolerance/pre-diabetes, but I will indicate if one would fall under an E meal.

Sugar Free (SF): Recipes on this blog will indicate if they are NOT sugar free (such as Oldie-Goldie Chocolate Chip cookies, graduation recipes, etc.). To learn about healthy, low-carb/no net carb sugar substitutes, check out my post “Low Carb Baking & Treats: What I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me.”

Gluten Free (GF): Most low carb baked good recipes on this blog are also gluten-free since they utilize almond flour, coconut flour, oat fiber, golden flax, protein powder, etc. The lowest carb gluten-free flour that I have found is Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour. This flour has under eighty carbohydrates per cup while many others have well over a hundred carbs per cup.

Low Carb Mixes (LCM): I have been working on making over a dozen mixes low carb—trying to re-create my Make a Mix Cookery days but with low carb, sugar-free ingredients. Finally (as of May 2015!), after a year-plus of testing and re-testing my mixes, I am ready to start sharing those! When you see the LCM label, there will be a link to the “master mix” that is used in that recipe. If the thought of making and using mixes is overwhelming to you, just try one of them! Make some things from that one mix, and you will discover the ease of cooking with mixes!

DISCLOSURE: I am an affiliate for these products that I recommend. If you purchase these items through my links, I will earn a commission, but you will not pay more when buying a product through my link. 🙂

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