It's been a glorious day in the Upper Highway and what better way to start Spring than a sunrise run (with the full moon slowly setting), followed by a trip to the Shongweni Farmers' Market. Seriously, if you live anywhere within 50km (or more if you're adventurous) of Hillcrest, just west of Durban, you really need to head out to The Market on Saturday mornings. Fresh organic produce, decadent desserts, happy dogs, adorable children, friends, and super finds. Not to mention a range of options for your steaming hot morning cup o' Joe. We love it!
Today's goodies included organic raw honey for use in chocolate cookies, biltong for snacks (oh I love biltong!), organic free range meat from Hope Meats, and a delicious selection of veggies. The gem squashes in particular were absolutely delicious! Even the kids enjoyed them.
To celebrate, when I got home I made Chocolate Covered Katie's 3 Ingredient Chocolate Bars. We used honey instead of stevia, and shape moulds instead of a simple plastic dish. I think the honey needs to be melted a little first, but the end result was certainly not unpleasant. Happy Days :)
Next up: crustless quiches for Tea Sunday at Church tomorrow. Excited!
Showing posts with label sugar-free. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sugar-free. Show all posts
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
FUDGE!
We LOVE Chocolate-Covered Katie. Pretty much everything on her blog is awesome and we've tried all of it! Well, all the things we're allowed, anyway. An Aunty Em permanent favourite is the vegan sugar-free chocolate fudge. Ever since we started down the gluten-free/dairy-free/sugar-free road we've tried to create a substitute for fudge, one of the few things we could never replicate. However, thanks to Chocolate-Covered Katie we now have the perfect solution with the added virtues of good health and veganism (selective, you understand).
We've been battling to get the coconut butter in this recipe perfect, but today we had a major breakthrough (which I will post about tomorrow). The result was awesome, delicious, smooth fudgey heaven!
Yummmm .....
* Always, wherever possible, use pure, raw organic ingredients.
We've been battling to get the coconut butter in this recipe perfect, but today we had a major breakthrough (which I will post about tomorrow). The result was awesome, delicious, smooth fudgey heaven!
Chocolate-Covered Katie's Sugar-free Vegan Chocolate Fudge
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp coconut butter (see tomorrow's post)
- 1/2 a large very ripe banana
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder*
- 2 tbsp honey* (or to taste)
Method
- Make sure your coconut butter is melted before use. (Freshly home-made coconut butter is smooth and soft already but sets if left for a while).
- Combine all ingredients in a small blender (or double the recipe for a bigger blender).
- Smooth the fudge into a plastic container or chocolate molds. (Katie says plastic containers work well because it's so easy to pop the fudge out once it's set).
- Refrigerate until set, then cut up and serve (or gobble!).
Yummmm .....
* Always, wherever possible, use pure, raw organic ingredients.
Monday, July 16, 2012
SCD, Here we Come!
Alright, we’re ready. On Saturday we went shopping and bought everything we need for the SCD Intro Diet. This is supposed to last for three days (give or take a day), and it cost us R164. That’s really, really good for three days for our family, so I think perhaps it won’t last as long as I’m hoping. But some of that stuff will last longer than three days, like the eggs, so we’ll see.
I spent most of Sunday (the bits where we weren’t at Church), preparing for the diet. I have given my family their “last meals.” (Pies and crisps. I know. Don’t judge me). I have cooked up a gigantic pot of chicken-and-carrot soup, 36 meatballs, 8 bowls of grape jelly and a dish of purèed carrots. I also have 40-odd eggs in the fridge, just waiting to be breakfast!
Now, I don’t know how long this lot is supposed to last, but it feels like about two days’ worth. Except the jelly – that’ll get us through today only. Again, we’ll see. The intro diet is supposed to take between two and five days, so we’ll re-evaluate on Tuesday night and decide what to do next. I foresee another full day of cooking in my future, though.
Here’s what I hope to achieve from all of this preparation:
When I list these like this they really don’t seem that serious. One might even wonder why we’re bothering with such a strict diet and lifestyle change. But the thing is that the headaches are really debilitating at times, leaving the girls in tears and me wishing I could get away with tears! The girls spend a lot of time doubled over in agony at their stomach cramps (and their relief is our demise as they expel the offending bubbles. Sorry to share but this journey is important to me and I need to remember as much of where we started as possible so that when I look back I can see real change).
My skin breaks out all the time. It’s painful and decidedly embarrassing, given that I really am too old for this kind of thing. I’ve even had to cancel client meetings because of my skin (or headaches, or tummy troubles). Papa Bear and Goldilocks battle to concentrate and often Papa Bear’s not even here, despite being physically present. He also battles terribly with hay fever, and his hay fever, tiredness and tummy troubles have kept him out of meetings and appointments, too. Not being able to concentrate affects us all and I imagine things can only improve if we have better moods and better focus.
My vision for the outcome of this new eating plan is that we will have energy, joy, focus, time (because of better sleep and better planning), success (because of more confidence and fewer canceled appointments), and all-round awesomeness. I know the beginning is very tough indeed, and I don’t expect it to be easy, but I am looking forward to the long term results. I’ll keep you posted.
I spent most of Sunday (the bits where we weren’t at Church), preparing for the diet. I have given my family their “last meals.” (Pies and crisps. I know. Don’t judge me). I have cooked up a gigantic pot of chicken-and-carrot soup, 36 meatballs, 8 bowls of grape jelly and a dish of purèed carrots. I also have 40-odd eggs in the fridge, just waiting to be breakfast!
Now, I don’t know how long this lot is supposed to last, but it feels like about two days’ worth. Except the jelly – that’ll get us through today only. Again, we’ll see. The intro diet is supposed to take between two and five days, so we’ll re-evaluate on Tuesday night and decide what to do next. I foresee another full day of cooking in my future, though.
Here’s what I hope to achieve from all of this preparation:
- Fewer headaches;
- Fewer stomach cramps;
- Better concentration;
- Fewer mood swings;
- Better skin;
- Fewer allergic reactions;
- Fewer nightmares;
- Better sleep;
- More energy; and
- Better focus.
When I list these like this they really don’t seem that serious. One might even wonder why we’re bothering with such a strict diet and lifestyle change. But the thing is that the headaches are really debilitating at times, leaving the girls in tears and me wishing I could get away with tears! The girls spend a lot of time doubled over in agony at their stomach cramps (and their relief is our demise as they expel the offending bubbles. Sorry to share but this journey is important to me and I need to remember as much of where we started as possible so that when I look back I can see real change).
My skin breaks out all the time. It’s painful and decidedly embarrassing, given that I really am too old for this kind of thing. I’ve even had to cancel client meetings because of my skin (or headaches, or tummy troubles). Papa Bear and Goldilocks battle to concentrate and often Papa Bear’s not even here, despite being physically present. He also battles terribly with hay fever, and his hay fever, tiredness and tummy troubles have kept him out of meetings and appointments, too. Not being able to concentrate affects us all and I imagine things can only improve if we have better moods and better focus.
My vision for the outcome of this new eating plan is that we will have energy, joy, focus, time (because of better sleep and better planning), success (because of more confidence and fewer canceled appointments), and all-round awesomeness. I know the beginning is very tough indeed, and I don’t expect it to be easy, but I am looking forward to the long term results. I’ll keep you posted.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Every one a coconut.
After the coconut milk had been made, I still had no inclination to get to “work”, and besides, I was technically in the middle of home school. So while I listened to the girls reading, I made ice cream and macaroons.
The ice cream was a big hit and super easy:
Blend everything well in a food processor, then freeze. This amount of mixture made six ice lollies, and froze reasonably fast. It was delicious but I think next time I will take it out of the freezer and beat it a couple of times to get the crystals out. If chocolate was allowed on the SCD I would definitely dunk the ice lollies in melted chocolate. So much of nice.
The macaroons were less successful. I’ve made macaroons many times and while I’m no Daniela, they’ve always been edible and in most cases people ask for more.
Not today.
I think I hadn’t squeezed enough coconut milk out of the coconut, and I also substituted honey for sugar, so almost immediately my light and fluffy egg whites swirled into slightly separated strangeness. I thought a tablespoon of macadamia nut butter would help to reconstitute the mass into something that would sort-of hold together, but that was a mistake and I knew that before I even opened the jar.
It wasn’t all bad, because after 20 minutes of baking, the macaroons began to resemble the correct consistency. I let them cool, scraped them into a bowl, and formed the lot into 9 little balls. Baking these yielded something … well … something. But it’s edible. And you don’t need a spoon.
I won’t post the recipe until I have one that works.
The ice cream was a big hit and super easy:
- 1 banana
- 1 cup of coconut milk
- as much vanilla essence as you like (or none at all – I used just shy of a teaspoon)
- honey (I used aboout 1.5 tablespoons, and found it rather sweet)
Blend everything well in a food processor, then freeze. This amount of mixture made six ice lollies, and froze reasonably fast. It was delicious but I think next time I will take it out of the freezer and beat it a couple of times to get the crystals out. If chocolate was allowed on the SCD I would definitely dunk the ice lollies in melted chocolate. So much of nice.
The macaroons were less successful. I’ve made macaroons many times and while I’m no Daniela, they’ve always been edible and in most cases people ask for more.
Not today.
I think I hadn’t squeezed enough coconut milk out of the coconut, and I also substituted honey for sugar, so almost immediately my light and fluffy egg whites swirled into slightly separated strangeness. I thought a tablespoon of macadamia nut butter would help to reconstitute the mass into something that would sort-of hold together, but that was a mistake and I knew that before I even opened the jar.
It wasn’t all bad, because after 20 minutes of baking, the macaroons began to resemble the correct consistency. I let them cool, scraped them into a bowl, and formed the lot into 9 little balls. Baking these yielded something … well … something. But it’s edible. And you don’t need a spoon.
I won’t post the recipe until I have one that works.
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