inner pickle

nothing if not honest

image source

So at the end of week one of 100% sugar-free... can you guess where this is going?

I got through the whole week without so much as a dried apricot. Zero fructose. There was baking, there were Bikkies, there was the gift of a family sized box of Maltesers in my pantry - and I held on. 

We went to the Rural Fire Service Christmas party (Adam is a volunteer) on Saturday night and I didn't eat so much as a cherry. Dedicated to my sugar-free fortnight I was. 

Until last night. Our street party. (Although 'street' is a loose description for this winding dairy-farming lane!) And my undoing was one lovely neighbour's incredible-looking lemon meringue pie and another's cherry pie. What a cherry pie it was. I was no match for either. 

As I gratefully and deliberately licked my spoon (can't talk right now, sorry, on a sugar high), I pondered the joy of sugar.

I thought about how, when you have them rarely, a handful of peanut M&Ms can seriously feel like magic beans.

I thought about the joy of a really very good cheesecake, baked of course, always shared, usually with friends who take their cheesecake as seriously as I do - we wave our forks at each other and groan in delight.

I thought about standing at my beloved friend Anna's funeral, we weren't yet thirty, and I looked at the big chocolate cake on the table (ordered by her Mum), and I remembered all the cake we shared over many years. Orange and poppyseed or chocolate mud, late at night in our favourite cafe on Glebe Point Rd throughout the chaos of university. I looked at that chocolate cake and was so glad we weren't dieters. 

So I'm sorry. I didn't follow through to the second week of sugar free. In fact, I could be almost certain there'll be sugar in our Slice of Wednesday.

Because just a little bit really makes life sweeter. And life's short. Say yes to the Lemon Meringue. And if someone goes to all the trouble of going all the way out to Young to get cherries, you know their cherry pie will be something special. 

*waving fork at you and groaning happily*

Enjoy. I intend to.

xxx

A Slice of Wednesday

Hello, Slice of Wednesday. 

This above, is not what it seems. At all. It is verifiably 100% sugar-free. Oh yes. I was so proud of myself, mixing up (a made up recipe) butter, peanuts, shredded coconut, organic raw cacao nibs and cocoa, almond meal and unhulled tahini. I thought, this might just work. A sugar-free slice.

Then I served it to friends today. 

ONE out of the eight that tried it actually got through one whole tiny piece. The others I relented and after one brave exploratory bite, it went in the bin. 

One dearly loved friend said, and I quote, I just can't believe it tastes so bad.

Shame, hey? 

Today was tough on the withdrawal front. I felt pretty dreadful. Headachy, centre of back pain, really fuzzy, just like I'd given up coffee. It hit me by surprise because I thought I'd been sailing through and then suddenly, whammo.

I ran into a nutritionist friend at school pickup who kindly said I'd feel better in two to three days and to keep going, great work. Two to three days?!? Far out. 

Anyway, here's our alternative slice. Dinner. Spinach slice. Spinach from Dad, eggs from the chookhouse. Delicious. Even the kids ate it.  

 

Spinach Slice (No sugar. Not even a tiny bit.)

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped

4 large eggs (I used 6 pullet eggs, little ones from new layers)

Approx 2 cups of fresh spinach leaves, roughly chopped

2 tbsp sunflower kernals

½ cup of cheese

Salt and pepper

Method:

Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk with a fork. Stir through all other ingredients. Bake on 170°C for half an hour until firm and set. Slice and serve. 

You could use pinenuts instead of sunflower kernals but the kernals are cheaper and are delicious in this. 

And it tastes better than a chocolate slice with no sugar. So much better. 

xxx

 

 

How on day 2 of being sugar-free I spent all day baking biscuits

 

Luckily, I have other taste-testers. 

Also, none of what I baked today was experimental - it was all standard Buena Vista Farm Bikkie stock, I know what they taste like!! Just to be sure though, my Dad and Adam checked them.

A friend said to me tonight how strange for the bikkie-maker to be on a sugar-strike and not tasting her product. Yep, hence the sugar-strike! TOO MUCH TASTING!! 

Besides, I love a challenge. And in case I haven't been clear enough, this is a serious challenge for me. I have to put my heart and soul into this: I am seriously addicted to sugar. If you've checked out Sarah Wilson, I'm sure you'll agree she's awesome, but she was essentially quitting fruit and some squares of dark chocolate after lunch. She was a health guru before she started. (Not to detract from the results. Or her encouraging method.) 

Sugar followed me whereever I went, even before I started a biscuit business. Honey on toast for breakfast. A sweet treat at morning teatime. A pick me up after lunch. A pick me up late afternoon. A bikkie, a bite of chocolate, a cupcake I'd made with the kids. And then a I'm-tired-I've-worked-hard-I deserve-this treat after dinner. Some delicious homemade custard. A biscotti and a hot chocolate. Sometimes icecream. Fruit is the least of my fructose concerns.

Anyway, hand on heart, I spent an entire day surrounded by (delicious! ha!) biscuits and did not pick up even a crumb with a forefinger. Truly. I'm very proud of myself.

I made avocado on organic corn thins for lunch with sea salt and pepper. YUM.

 

 

I drank lots of water and had cheese and crackers for afternoon tea. 

And Sarah's suggestion of (real) chai made on milk is genius. It perfectly fills the gap.

I'm a disasterously impatient person and thought I'd feel better today. I don't. I feel vague and like I'm missing something. 

But as agreed with a very dear friend of mine who has Menieres disease and who can have no salt whatsoever: giving up sugar is easier than giving up all salt. I think. You? 

And for the record, I am a very messy cook. I have a lovely person who works with me some days who keeps me tidy. She wasn't there today!

 

 

I love love love the commercial kitchen.

On the agenda: a sugar-free bikkie. 

Of course.

xxx

strange sugar-free life

 

So here we are, in it. At the end of the first day without sugar. I feel a bit vague. I sailed through the day and even the afternoon without any trouble, and there is approximately 4kg of chocolate stored in bins in this house at present. Also biscuits. All bagged, sealed and labelled but so much for getting rid of all temptation!

It was after dinner that caught me. Saved by a peanut. 

Thanks for your kind comments pointing me to Sarah Wilson, I just read her eBook, it's very good. Encouraging, sensible, phased. 

I like her 'this is an experiment' approach, so as not to freak out on day three and give up. Also her initial cut back theory for at least the first few days, to begin the adjustment. And so I put a small teaspoon of honey in the litre of yoghurt I made today. I'll make it with no honey next week. 

That's it. That's my cheat. 

Off to make some chai tea, another Sarah Wilson genius suggestion. 

This is going to work. I know it. 

xxx