How difficult can it be to eat out when you are sugarless

I went out for lunch with my son, his wife and kids and my Mom. Well, I searched and searched over many pages of a menu at Boston Pizza. You would think that in all those pages I could find something. Weellll, I did; eventually. I got a side of "garden greens" and a side of chicken wings. The salad was OK; as a matter of fact it was very good; the greens being very fresh and tasty; I am getting used to eatting salad without salad dressing. However, the roasted chicken wings were a problem. They were not supposed to have anything at all on them; just plain roasted. Guess what? There was some king of sauce on it and it had sugar in it; I could taste it.

I tried to pick off all the skin that had the sauce on it. There was not much left to eat. I ended up paying about $12.00 and going away hungry.

It is just about impossible to eat out when you are attempting to be sugarless.

I could even feel the little bit of sugar that I got. Even though I had not gotten much to eat; my stomach (besides being hungry; did not feel good). I went home and drank a lot of water and eat a lot of water melon. It seemed to get better.

I don't think that I can ever go back to sugar. I like feeling calm and in some kind of control. I wonder how I got along at all in my past 61 + years. How did anyone stand me? I don't think that most people really understand the implications of all our eatting of refined sugar to our lives, our society, our world. My word; it has to be vast. I can't wrap my head around it all..........

Dinner was a success!

I was so pleased with dinner last night.

It was well received by my Mom and Husband. I made my cornmeal wraps as I was preparing the main course. For the main course I cooked the following:

Sharon's Mixed Bean and Ground Meat Dish:

Veggies:

1 medium white onion chopped 1 small sweet red pepper chopped 1 small sweet green pepper chopped 1 small sweet yellow pepper chopped Spices: 1/4 tsp sweet basil 1/4 tsp oregano 1/4 tsp dried chives 1/4 tsp cumin 1/4 tsp garlic salt (could have chopped a couple cloves garlic) I saute the whole works in a non-stick fry pan in 1 tbs olive oil (wiped about the non-stick surface) until onions soft. I set it aside in a bowl and worked on the second part.

More ingredient:

1 lb of lean ground meat 1 19 oz can of plain mixed beans (being careful there is no sugar added: I used no name brand) 1 and 1/2 cups of home made salsa (I have given instructions earlier) I saute this until meat is cooled. Then I added the veggie mixture. I had to set some of the the meat mixture aside for my Mom as she has divicular disease and cannot have tomato seeds. I served the above dish with the wraps and a garden salad (no tomatoes or cucumbers in my Moms: I made the salad in two bowls: one with lettuce, carrots, radish and celery; the other with chopped onion, tomato and cucumber. My husband and I mixed the two to get the complete salad).

For desert; I served home made chocolates with Chai tea. The whole meal was a great success! I had some of the mixed bean and meat dish left over and it was great piled on a left over wrap topped with a fried egg. It was a terrific breakfast! I am pleased with this "no sugar, no whole grains, no yeast, no beer, no wine, no fish diet".

I have noticed many positive benefits. I look better; am loosing that "puffy tummy despite exercise problem"; I feel much calmer; I believe that I am getting better sleep. I would like to put the fish and Ryvita crackers back in my diet. I do enjoy a good glass of wine with dinner; but I could live without it. Anyway, we will see how it goes when I try putting those things back in my diet.

So Far so good; this cooking adventure goes on......

Carry on Cooking in the Sugarless Kitchen

Another day; another 3 meals and snacks. I made a huge pot of chicken soup a few days ago. I didn't put any rice or pasta in it since these are some of my present diet restrictions. I put lots of chicken in it and lots of veggies.

I have already served it in its rather plain state a couple of times. Today, I wanted to do something special with it for lunch. I made noodles out of cornflour. I used the same receipt as regular noodles: 1/4 cup of flour to 1 egg. I always add spices: parsley (fresh when I have it); sweet basil; chives (fresh when I can get them); salt and pepper.

I rolled out the dough and cut it into noodles and put it in simmering home made broth (chicken this time as that is what I had. When the noodles were cooked I added more broth that had veggies in it. I served it with chicken sandwiches for my Husband and Mom (who is visiting from down south) and had a corn flour wrap for myself.

Well, that is lunch. I am now looking at dinner. I need more corn flour or corn meal wraps so I think that I will make some beans; using up the home made salsa that I made up a few days ago. I bought a can of mixed beans that did not have any sugar in it. I will use that to save a little time.

I will saute some moose burger (could have used beef or turkey) in olive oil with chopped white onions; add the salsa and beans. I will serve it with a garden salad and wraps. For desert I will serve home made chocolates made out of unsweetened dark chocolate sweetened with Splenda and Chai tea without milk. Both my Mom and Husband like that.

New Breakfast in the Sugarless Kitchen

Darn if I didn't create a great breakfast this morning. I made French Toast out of a Cranberry Cornbread that I made for last night's desert. I topped the French Toast with stewed strawberries for me and my Husband and stewed apples for my Mom who is visiting. We all enjoyed.

I made the cornbread with a combination of soya flour and corn flour and cornmeal. I used 1 cup of soya flour; 1 cup of corn flour and 1 cup of cornmeal. I sweetened with 8 packets of Splenda. I added one tsp of baking powder; 1 tsp of baking powder; 1/2 tsp of salt to the dry ingredients ( I mixed the wet ingredients and dry ingredients separately as you do with any cake made from scratch). I made up the wet ingredients with 1 tsp of vanilla; 1 egg; 3 tbls olive oil; 1/2 cup cranberries (I used wild ones) and 1 cup of unsweetened soya milk (adding somemore as it seemed that the mixture was too dry). I mixed the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients; mixed it then baked in a 350 oven until firm to the touch in the middle (about 1/2 hour). I got a nice little cornbread that I served with stewed strawberries topped with low calorie French Vanilla flavoured yogurt for my Husband and Mom (only berries for me as I am off all dairy products as well).

My Cranberry Cornbread was well received for both desert last night and again as French Toast this morning. So far success in the "Sugarless Kitchen".

All my chores are done. I wish I could take a walk in the woods. But, there have been several sightings of a large, bold, back bear and one sighting of a cougar in the last couple of weeks. I would have to carry a shot gun and I don't feel like doing that. For some reason; I don't mind carrying a shot in the Fall; I guess because Fall is the "hunting and gathering season". Oh, well I will satisfy myself with a walk down to the lake to turn off the water pump for my Husband who is pouring concrete today.

What to do for Breakfast?

I used to have oatmeal cereal beefed up with oat bran, wheat bran and wheat germ. I used to fortify that with flax seed and half a ripe banana topped off with vanilla flavored soy milk. I never did put sugar in it; always used Splenda. Well, that does not work for me now. I decided to have a fried egg on one of my corn wraps.

Well, I like to put salsa on a fried egg. But, salsa has sugar. So, I made up something to approximate salsa. The first thing that I needed was a can of crushed tomatoes. Guess what? Most brands of canned tomatoes have sugar in them. I did manage to find a can of tomatoes that did not have sugar: Hunt's brand. Thank you Hunt's.

I minced some onions and added some spices: oregano, basil, parsley, garlic salt then added it to the crushed tomatoes; mixed and put in a tight fitting jar. I use this in the place of salsa. I do not think that it will keep more than 4 or 5 days. So, I plan to make mixed beans and use whatever crushed tomato mix that I have remaining.

I made a very satisfying breakfast with one fried egg on a corn wrap with my home made salsa mixture on top. I added some fruit on the side; cut up strawberries with a half a cut up ripe banana. I also enjoyed a weak cup of coffee, sweetened with Splenda and whitened with unsweetened soy milk.

That takes care of breakfast for the time being. I will have to devise something else for a change: maybe cranberry pancakes made with cornflour and topped with cooked strawberries or maybe apples.
Hume; I will have to think about it; I think that I will take a walk down to the lake............

Working with the ingredients

Sugar aside for a moment, since I also have to do without whole grains. The first thing that I had to solve was what to do about something to dip in my soups. I have always used ryevita crackers to do this. What was I going to do now?

What could I use to make something to dip. Well.....what about corn meal something or other. Corn meal tortillas would be great but they are not available where I live. Sooooo.....what not make them myself. I ended up making a version of corn meal tortillas.

My own corn tortillas:

1/2 cup corn meal
1 egg
1/4 tsp sweet basil
1/4 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp paprika

Boiling water to make nice runny mix.

Should make about 6 small wraps.

I mixed the dry ingredients together then added some boiling water; enough to make a nice runny mixture. Then I added the egg and more water.

I stirred until I had something to pour into a frying pan. I use one with a non stick finish. It took a little experimenting; but I finally came up with a nice wrap (I had to cook it awhile on low heat to make it nice and manageable when cool).

The wraps were a success.

Something to eat with the wraps came next.......

Starting a journey down sugarless eatting lane

It all started when I went on a "get rid of candida diet". It is necessary to avoid all sugar on this diet. To compound my challenge I was also denied all whole grains, dairy products, fish, wine beer, fruit juice or vinegars. Wow! What a challenge. For one thing, balsamic vinegar is one of the corner stones of my cookery.

My first thoughts; what do I get to eat? Well, not much. Fortunately I am still able to eat barley, thank goodness. So, for starters I can have barley soup. That's a good start. Now what?

Well, lets see: I can eat all vegetables and fruit. I can eat all meant except fish (fish was denied me because I was having a gastrointestinal reaction to it). I can use Splenda (thank goodness for small mercies). So what can I do with this. I had to think about about it carefully.

To be continued.........