Update

I have not posted forever. I have been seriously busy lately. We sold our place on the Gulf Islands. I could not tolerate the dampness. It caused me great distress. I have two rebuilt ears and I would get sinus problems that will wreck havoc with my new ear parts and cause vertigo.
That is not good. We have stairs in our cottage and are serious boaters.

I am still dedicated to sugarless cooking. I made sugarless chocolates today and plan to make sugarless cookies. Everyone likes these treats. They are especially nice for the grand kids. One of them is really sensitive to sugar. Everyone says that she looks just like me.

I have also been busy working on my paintings and getting ready to go fishing. I am still dealing with the sinus difficulties that I picked up on the island before we sold it and am trying to resolve the problem before I get on the boat. I find that horse radish helps. I do not like horse radish but I am using it anyway. At least it has no sugar!

I had a lovely Sunday dinner with our son, his wife, 2 gorgeous grand daughters and my two lovely granddogs. However, there was birthday cake and I ate a wee bit. I also had a wee bit of a ginger bread cake that was sweetened with molasses. There were also munchies from M&M's. I kept it all to a bare minimum. I brought a huge bean salad that is mostly made with Splenda in the dressing. There is about 1/4 cup of organic cane sugar in the dressing but it is a huge salad and the sugar is spread very thin. It is very difficult to get along without sugar in this world of "too much bad food"! I am glad that my daughter-in-law has a healthy respect for sugar. I brought some Nativa Organic Ginger Snaps for the kids awhile back and now that is all she buys for them. Nativa also makes Chocolate Chip cookies. That reminds me I must make myself some chocolates today. If I have a craving for something sweet I have a cup of decaf tea with 1 Splenda and a couple of my sugarless chocolates. The craving is gone immediately. God bless chocolate!

Fall is here and it is gorgeous. We went for a drive with the truck last week on the Dawson Trail and shot some grouse and cut some wood. It was one of those really lovely "Indian Summer Days". One of those days a person should be "out of doors".

The salad is very quick and easy and made with many cans of beans; 1 20 oz can black beans, one 20 oz can kidney beans, one 20 oz can chick peas; 2 20 oz cans of mixed beans; 2 20 oz cans of green beans; 2 20 oz cans of yellow beans; one green pepper diced; dressed with 1 cup vinegar with 1/4 cup organic cane sugar, 8 packets of Splenda, 1/4 cup virgin olive oil. I put this all in a 24 cup (5.6 liter|) container by Rubbermaid and gently toss. I usually make it 2 days ahead; tossing each day. It tastes great and will feed many people. There is usually left overs. I bring the salad home and we eat on it at least 2 days before it is all gone. It is great served with BBQ.

I got away with eating a bit of sugar. I can tell if I have eaten too much. I will be "mean as a snake" the next day. I think that I actually have a "flip of personality". Anyway, my husband says that "I flip out". My Mom has these "flips" too. Maybe the sugar is not totally responsible for the "flips" but is may be one of the triggers! I think that fatigue is definitely another trigger.

Fall is here and it is a lovely time of year here. We went for a ride in the truck on the Dawson Trail last week and did some gathering: wood and grouse. It was one of those days when a person should be "out of doors". It was wonderful, we got wood some grouse and had a picknick by a lake.

Sugarless eatting on a road trip.

I just got back from a quick trip out to Victoria, British Columbia. It was great. I have included a picture of the Victoria Harbor.

Now, I am going on a road trip tomorrow. I am so excited!!! We are partnering up with friends from down south and going on a road trip up the Nahanni Range road in the Yukon Territory. I have really been looking forward to it.

There is lots of challenges; one of them being what do I have to do to maintain sugarless eating? I decided that there will be no eating places up that road so we have to do all our own cooking. This leaves me lots of room for sticking in lots of sugarless (and wheatless) options.

I made my sugarless chocolates yesterday and made a dozen corn wraps today. I also made a big pot of Moose stew with turnips, carrots, celery, onions, sweet peppers and a big can of crushed tomatoes. I will serve the moose stew for the first night. I have Ryevita Crackers to go with it for myself and buns for the other guys. It will be an easy supper. I will put some potatoes cut up in chunks to boil in a largish pot then when they are cooked I will add the Moose stew.

I have also made up chicken soup and some Halibut soup that I will treat the same way. We will cook some Moose hamburger and add it to Zatrain's Black Beans and Rice. I will serve it with wheat flour wraps for the crew and my corn flour wraps for myself.

Well, we will see how it goes. I am also bringing unsweetened cocoa and plan to make hot chocolate for myself with it.

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.

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............