Marlene's Sugar Free Experience

After a whole week last week of eating way more sugar than I normally do, Sunday I started  "Kick the Sugar."  Julie posted that she wanted others to join with her for a month-long sugar fast.  I decided I needed to try this and see if my headaches would improve, if my cholesterol would lower and my over-all energy and mood would get better.  

We came home Saturday afternoon from visiting the grandchildren in two states, so I didn't have a lot of food in the house.  This was good for one reason-no treats or goodies; and bad  for another reason,  because I had no substitutes to help with the diet.  I am planning on some hummus and- more veggies and fruit- only jam.  I plan to watch what is in the packaged food I eat, but that will be easy since I don't eat too much pre-packaged food.

I will do it a little differently than Julie in that I am not going to cut out fruit from my diet for now, but just cut back to 2-3 servings a day.  My lo-carb sprouted bread from Trader Joes lists honey and molasses at the end of the ingredient list but shows no measureable grams of sugar.  I also plan to eat 1 to 2 pieces of very dark thin Ghirardelli chocolate which is 72% Cacoa.  I just need it; at some point I may be able to cut that out. I read Julie's blog recommendation www.sugarshockblog.com  and ordered the book "Sugar Shock."

Sunday the only sugar I had was:
*a little regular jam on my toast
*1/2 apple
*2 rings of fresh pineapple
*2 dark chocolate squares
*1 cup of hot milk with plain cocoa in it- whippped.

Oh, and I have to mention that I gained 2 1/4 lbs last week.  I am hoping the swimming I do everyday and cutting the sugar will help me lose those pounds and a few more.  This is a challange and discipline that I think will be good for me.  We need to nuture ourselves sometimes and I think this is a good way to do it.   Thanks Julie for starting me on this program.

No Sugar Almond Flour Muffins (with low sugar option)

These muffins are what I eat for breakfast every morning with my coffee or tea.  They have no added sugar, only the sugar from 1 banana and 1/2 cup of blueberries spread out between the 24 muffins.  I like to use almond flour because I find it much more filling than a wheat flour.

Sugar Free Muffins (with low sugar option)

adapted from Everyday Grain Free Gourmet

5 cups of balanced almond flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

6 eggs

2 tablespoons of vanilla

1 banana

1/2 cup of honey (optional)

1/2 cup of blueberries

1. ) Mix all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl.  Make a well in the center.

2.) Put all of the wet ingredients in the well of the dry ingredients.  Use a hand blender or a fork to mash/mix the eggs, banana and vanilla (and honey if using).  

3.) Mix in blueberries, fill muffin cups 1/3 to 1/2 the way full with batter.

4.) Bake in a 300F oven for 25-35 minutes.

A few notes:
* I find that these do not store for very long, so I put them in the freezer and defrost them in my toaster oven each morning.
* Did you notice how brown the banana was in the picture?  That is because when they get old, I throw them in the freezer and then pull them out when I need to cook with them.  Once defrosted, just snip off the top of the banana with a pair of scissors and press out the banana from the bottom right into your bowl.  It will be pre-mashed.  

Products Mentioned in this Post:

           

Sugar Free Salad Dressing Recipe

Well, today is the 1st day of giving up sugar.  I am super excited that two other people have decided to join me and will be writing guest posts here about their experience.  If you would still like to join in, there is still time!

One store-bought item that frequently has added sugar is salad dressing.  To avoid this, I usually make my own.  My absolute favorite recipe that works well on a variety of salads is an adaptation I have worked out from the Greek Salad Dressing recipe from Family Feasts for $75 per Week (a very good book).



Greek Salad Dressing
Adapted from Family Feasts for $75 per week.

I usually make a couple of batches in the pint size canning jars.  I will mix the liquids into one, and then put the rest in the pantry, so when I am ready for the next batch, I only have to add the liquids.

Dry ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoons of garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon salt (1/2 teaspoon will taste good too)
1 teaspoon onion powder

Wet: 
I put the fill line measurements for canning jars in ( ) so you don't have to get out the measuring cups.

1/2 cup olive oil (fill to 6 oz. line.  Note: The dry ingredients take about 2 oz of space, so even though 1/2 cup has 4 ounces in it, we start measuring the liquids at 6oz.)
1/2 cup red wine vinegar (fill to the 10 oz. line)
1/4 cup water (fill to the 12 oz. line)

Shake and use or place in fridge for up to 2 months.



Products Mentioned in this Post:

Giving Up Sugar for a Month

Photo Credit: Uwe Hermann

On Sunday I will start a month-long journey of giving up sugar.  Why?  I have become lazy over the past year and let sugar creep back into my diet.  Too much into my diet!  I know friends and family already feel like I don't eat that much, but I do.  And I can feel it.  I don't like the way my body craves it for a pick-up in the afternoon or the example I set for my kids when they see me eat it.  I don't like the few pounds I have gained because of it.  So the time has come to give it up for another month.

This isn't the first time I have given up sugar, I did it back in November and it was a good experience.  So I will do it again, but with a difference.  This time I would love to have people join me on the journey.  So I would like to invite others who would like to do this with me to guest post on the blog about your experience.  Why are you giving up sugar?  How is it going?  Why do you like it?  Why don't you like it?  How do your family and friends feel about your decision?  

Is anyone with me?

I think giving up sugar could look different for different people depending where you are at right now.  Maybe some people do it for a week, maybe two.  Maybe you give up all sweets, but don't worry about the sugar in your pasta sauce or hot dogs.  

To me a Giving Up Sugar in May means: 

• * No sugar.  
• * No corn syrup.  
• * No sweeteners, fake or real, of any kind in the ingredients list of anything I buy.  
• * Naturally occurring fruit and milk sugars are OK - but I will limit fruit to no more than 1 per day.

So if you are interested in doing this with me, send me an email at j m a g r o @ g m a i l . c o m (remove the spaces) and let me know.

Door to Door Organics Give Away

It is time for Give Away.  The kind people at Door to Door Organics have agreed to give away a box of food to one of my readers!

Door to Door Organics is a service that delivers fresh, organic food to your door on a weekly or bi-weekly basis.  To start, you sign-up for one of the many different size boxes that they offer:



What is really nice is that you see what is coming in your box the following week and can make substitutions if there is something that no one at your house likes.  What is also really nice about their service is that they offer an online marketplace of dry organic grocery goods that you can add on to your order each week.  They also just started carrying grass fed organic meat.  



Door to Door Organics sent me a complimentary box of their food to try before I posted this giveaway.  I ordered the bitty box, which really isn't that bitty.  The picture below shows the box as I got it.  The picture at the very top of this post shows the food outside of the box.



Doesn't that look great?  We really enjoyed all the food.  It was all very good quality.

They also offer an great fundraising opportunity for groups/schools/churches.  You can check out their co-op page for more information.

Win a FREE bitty box from Door to Door Organics
All you have to do is comment on this article with what your favorite vegetable is for a chance to win.  I will choose a winner via Random.org next week, February 23rd on Facebook, so if you enter make sure to like us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/AMichiganMom)


* One entry per person please!
* Make sure to enter your name in the "name/URL" option when commenting so I know who you are if you win (you can leave the URL blank).
* Check to Make sure they deliver to your area: http://michigan.doortodoororganics.com/delivery

Where I've Been

The past five months have been a bit of a blur.

*  Both my kids started school in August, and start at 8AM (a little too early for my taste) so mornings are busy getting them off and ready.  Evenings are busy preparing for the next day of school and getting them to bed in time.  And now they have homework, parties and fieldtrips to keep the days busy.

*  I was writing for Rochester Media's Community Edge.  Check out my 2010 Advent Calendar Activities, as well as our Breakfast Around the World Staycation.

*  And, I have picked up some new consulting clients that have kept me busy developing their websites.

I haven't forgotten about The Dinner Table.  It is frequently on my mind.  I have recipes to post and products to write up.  One of my resolutions for the 2011 is to be more structured in where and how I spend my time, and spending time on The Dinner Table is part of that plan.  I am incredibly excited about the coming year and can't wait to share it with you!

Australian Food & Wine Tour

Came across a travel agent in Birmingham, Michigan (Australia 2000 Travel) that offers a deluxe Food and Wine Tour to Australia.

My husband, Leonard, has family in Australia and it is always a place I have longed to visit (he has already been there).  Wouldn't a Food and Wine tour be the perfect thing to combine with a trip to visit my husbands family in Australia?  I think so...guess I will add this to my Christmas List!

Any of you readers ever booked an Australia travel package before?  What did you see?  Where did you go?  More importantly, what did you eat?  Anything scrumptious?

Julie

Maple Creek Farm Share 2010

Here is a slideshow of the share produce for 2010. My thoughts on this year's share follow the slideshow.



The CSA season is over and I must admit I am not too disappointed about it.

For some reason, I found the share to be more stressful for me this year. I didn't feel in the mood every Wednesday to pick up the share, clean and store the veggies and then prep them for use during the week or to store them in the freezer for use during winter. Last year was the opposite, I felt like every Wednesday was like Christmas picking up my share.

It wasn't that I felt the quality of the share was any less than last year, because I thought it was good considering they hardly had any rain all summer.  We got A LOT of peppers, I would guess it was because it was what they had to give us considering the difficulties with rain.  The tomatoes we got this year were FANTASTIC!!  We had fun eating the many varieties we got through the season.

I am not sure if I am going to be a member of Maple Creek or any share next year for a few reasons. One, I feel like a break.  Two, I go to the farmer's market every week anyway, so I can just pick up what I really wanted there without all the stress of getting things I do not feel like cooking each week.  And Thirdly, we enlarged our garden (which we lovingly refer to as Tuscany, since it is a garden on a hill) for next year and I think we will get a decent amount of produce out of it next summer.  But time will tell, and I will be sure to let you know!

Maple Creek Farm Share ~ Week 13

The weather was already telling me that fall was here and today's share proved it. We got our first acorn and butternut squash.

The basil smelled wonderful and smelled up the whole porch at our pickup site! I already made some yummy pesto out of it.

Everything else looks absolutely fabulously fresh (how's that for too many adjectives) and I can't wait to cook with it this week!

Maple Creek Farm Share ~ Week 12

Week 12 Looks Good!  I've already chopped the peppers for freezing, made pesto out of the lemon basil and chopped and frozen the cilantro in one of those little frozen herb cube trays from Trader Joes.

It was a nice surprise to get some apples today and the Swiss Chard looks absolutely gorgeous.  I treated those watermelons like crystal because the last time we got them I split one open by accident by setting it on the counter (the sign of a truly ripe melon).

I must admit I was happy to not get any green beans.  They tasted really good, but it is not my favorite vegetable and I will be happy to something else as a side for the coming week.

The zucchini is piling up and I must do something with it soon.  I don't have problems thinking of things to do with all my zucchini, I have problems finding the time to do something with it.  Feels like just can't find enough time the last couple of weeks.