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.

Great Road Trip

I just got back from a road trip into the wilds of the Yukon. We spent 10 days in complete wilderness. We went up the Nahanni Range Road and the North Canol Road with friends and it was terrific

Eating sugarless was a challenge but I managed. I must admit that I did consume some convenience foods with sugar but I kept that to a minimum. I am still "eating all I want and keeping my weight steady at about 130 pounds or thereabouts". I no longer worry about how much I weigh. It is great freedom. I still eat lots of chocolate and drink coffee. I manage very well with "Splenda" and have no ill effects from it.

I intend to make my great "Bean Salad" for "Sundy Dinner" at the kids place. I intend to use mostly "Splenda" in it with just a bit of "Organic Cane Sugar". I will comment on the success afterwards. I have already made this salad for a birthday party recently and it was successful. I made a huge salad and I used the leftovers to serve house guests for a couple days. It was well received by all and none went to waste despite the fact that I made a huge quantity. It is quick to make, good to eat, good for you and it ends up being cheap! What more can one ask........

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.

EAT ALL YOU WANT; LOSE WEIGHT

I'm still cooking sugarless as well as dairyless. It is showing really solid rewards. I recently returned from a 2 week boating trip with friends and I eat as much as I wanted (sugarless and dairyless, of course). I stepped hesitating on the scales expecting to have gained weight. I lost 2 pounds!!! Does this really mean that I can eat as much as I want and never get fat? If so, this is a huge discovery. Why are more people not doing this in our "fat society"?

I don't know where my eventual weight will stablize at; could it be 125 pounds; the weight that I was at 25 years old?

I went into a store and tried on some really young clothes. Guess what; they fit. They even looked good. I caught a look at my nearly naked body in the mirrors of the change room and it has abbs!! The abbs finally show after all my stretching and crunches. I guess they needed to lose some puffiness to finally show up and this happened with my change in diet. It really does not look like a 62 year old body. My, my.

NOW HEAR THIS ALL YOU POOR FOLK WHO ARE TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT AND STARVING YOURSELVES. You do not have to do that. You just have to change your diet. You cannot just eat "whatever" however, and you will have to cook "real food". But guess what; it can taste good and you can have enjoyable meals and EAT ALL YOU WANT!!!

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.