Quitter Chronicles: Installment #5 : Early Impressions

A few days ago at work, one of my coworkers offered me one of those Danish butter cookies that come in the blue tins.  When I turned it down, she said, “Too fattening?”  I replied, “No, I actually don’t eat sugar anymore.”  She laughed at me and kept saying she was sorry, as if I’d made a terrible choice to amputate all joy from life.  In my heart I retorted, “No, I’m sorry for you.”

With the exception of some small mishaps wherein I had to eat infinitesimal amounts of sugar in my mother’s mashed potatoes or accidentally ate a chocolate chip in an otherwise sugarless Lara Bar, I have been successfully avoiding refined sugars for four months now.  At home, the only sweeteners I use are dates, molasses, honey and maple syrup.  Away from home, I’m careful to avoid any sweets, and generally try to avoid eating any savory foods that might contain sugar. 

Here are some of my early impressions of this shift in my diet.

Weight loss.  I lost ten pounds in the first three months.  This was not my goal in cutting sugars out of my diet.  I never felt that I was overweight, and didn’t feel the need to get rid of any extra pounds.  But the weight loss was the natural result of reduction of sugar in my diet as well as increasing the quality of the foods I eat, and subsequently reducing the quantity.  I feel more nourished and satisfied with less volume, simply because I’m no longer feeding the insatiable appetite for sugar.

Mood improvement.  Before I cut out refined sugar, my life was a daily emotional roller coaster, and sugar was my anti-depressant.  I’d feel good after meals, but feel lethargic and moody a while later.  I’d eat some chocolate or a muffin to perk myself up.  These days that sugar roller coaster is much less pronounced.  I do still like to have snacks between meals, but I don’t experience the same extremes of lethargy and emotional lowness that I did before.

Energy.  Because I get more bang for my buck with food – meaning that I get better quality nourishment even with smaller quantities of food – I have noticed that I have more energy.  Not only do I no longer have that energy roller coaster of sugar highs and lows, but my body is being fueled by better fuel.  I have a steadier stream of energy throughout the day.

Change of taste.  Four months in to this refined-sugar free life, I shudder to think of the days when an open bag of marshmallows was a temptation.  The idea of eating a handful of candy corns makes me a little nauseous.  The other day I ate a very sweet banana and felt it was overwhelming.  My tolerance for sweetness has decreased, and things I would have considered inedible months ago are now wonderfully tasty – Ginger tea with only a little honey, for example.  If you combine this reduced tolerance for sugar, which leads to finding certain foods nauseatingly sweet, with the fact that I feel better and have more energy, maybe you can understand why I felt bad for my coworker who showed me pity when she learned that I don’t eat sugar.

My relationship with food.  I never thought of my eating habits as a relationship before.  But this experience has forced me to get to know my food in a way I never realized was possible or could be important.  Instead of just arbitrarily eating whatever is in front of me, I now carefully choose foods based on ingredients.  Sugar is so ubiquitous that I’m quite limited in what I can buy, but I’m finding more and more wonderfully decadent and delicious options that are easy to make at home from simple, whole ingredients. 

Pain.  Unfortunately, there has not been any perceptible change in my pain levels resulting from this change in diet.  I initially embarked on this adventure to see if it would help to mitigate my chronic pain problem.  It hasn’t.  But I can honestly say that it’s worth it anyway.  The other benefits (listed above) have improved my general outlook to the degree that even if the physical pain remains the same, my ability to live with that pain has improved.  Cooking healthy, nourishing foods has become a fun hobby that can distract me from pain.  Having more energy means I can bear up better under the stress of working and living with pain.  Being healthier means my body is stronger and more resilient, even in pain.  Having steadier and more positive mood means that pain doesn’t bowl me under as frequently as it used to. 

So for now, even if my original hopes remain unfulfilled, I’m going to stick with this crazy diet.

Festive Smoothie

Back in the day, when I ate anything and everything, eggnog was one of those things that did me in this time of year.  I'm not a big fan of most Christmas traditions, but eggnog I could drink all year if you made me.

This isn't eggnog, but it's tasty and festive enough to pass in my book.  I found the recipe on one of my favorite sources for healthy, refined-sugar free recipes.  I only tweaked it a little bit, because I wanted to use kefir, and I didn't have all the spices on hand.  Here's what I got:

Gingerbread Smoothie

1 banana (frozen or not)
1 cup homemade kefir* (I bet homemade yogurt or any kind of milk would do, too)
1 Tbsp blackstrap molasses
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg

Throw it all in food processor or blender and blend til smooth.  

I actually found this to be a little sweeter than I wanted.  Maybe next time I'll cut down on the banana or molasses. 

*One of these days I will find time to post about the wondrous world of kefir. 

Mint Chocolate Covered Patties

Today was a super painful day.  I had a bad night after my chiropractor appointment yesterday; kept waking up with a stiff / numb / sore arm and neck.  Then I overslept - which was so nice.  But oversleeping can destroy my back.  I usually live to regret that extra hour or so.  Today I slept in a full three hours!  So nice and cozy, but so dangerously bad for my day.

Before lunch I wrestled my snow tires (complete with rims) out of the basement of my landlord's barn and packed them into my car.  Later I scrubbed the bathroom floor and everything else.  The pain was really distracting and terrible, even as I sat and wrote a leisurely letter to a friend in Europe.  This idyllic snowy December day was kind of a nightmare.  

What's the solution to a nightmare day? 

Chocolate.  Dark chocolate.  

These tasty treats contain no refined sugars!  In fact, check out the short list of healthy ingredients: 

     The patties consist of: Dates, walnuts, cocoa powder, and coconut oil.
     The chocolate contains: Bakers Chocolate, coconut oil, maple syrup, and peppermint extract.

Yes, making these tiny nuggets of joy ruined my back even more.  But at least I was able to rest a couple of times, and at least my food processor made short work of some of the steps.  Find the recipe here.  (Her photography is much better than mine.)

So so yummy.

Celebration

I don’t think there are many of you out there who actually read this blog, so maybe it’s silly to apologize for such a long silence.  I’ve been a little busy with work and Thanksgiving, and I’ve been feeling pretty blah about things as I’ve continued to live with a pain problem that seems to have no real solution. 

But in the interest of attempting to be positive in these shortening days, with the approach of winter and the continuation of chronic pain issues, let me just fill you in on some of the big accomplishments of the last few weeks that are worthy of celebration.

I changed my timing belt.

That’s right.  On my car.  A friend from work helped me do it.  It took us 8 ½ hours, and then another hour or so the next day to fix a slight oil leak resulting from mis-aligning a gasket on the valve cover. 

I was in a ton of pain through the whole process, but I learned a lot and managed to save a few hundred dollars by doing the labor myself.   This was a big confidence builder.

I’m perfecting a bread baking routine.

My sister gave me a really simple, no-knead bread recipe.  It’s so easy that I’ve baked a loaf of bread every few days since I got over the initial inertia.  And the bread tastes great, toasts well, and keeps long enough that even as a single lady I can eat it all before it gets moldy.   It’s also simple and easy enough that I don’t mind sharing it!  I’ll share the recipe here eventually. 

Baking your own bread is another one of those things in life that builds confidence and makes you feel connected to reality in some way.  People have been baking bread in their homes for thousands of years, and it feels good to join the ranks.  It feels even better for it to be a simple, relatively painless process for someone like me who struggles with low-energy and high-pain. 

I bought a really nice food processor.

That’s right.  I splurged.  The old food processor that my sister gave me just wasn’t cutting it.  It couldn’t handle certain heavy jobs like pureeing dates.  If I’m to continue to avoid refined sugar, dates are going to be a big part of my dessert life.  So I bought a beast of a machine – from the Cuisinart Elite collection.  This thing can do anything. 

I contributed to Thanksgiving dessert over-indulgence.

Using my new food processor, I added to the glut of pies and desserts at Thanksgiving this year.  I made a Vegan and Refined-Sugar-Free Chocolate Cream Pie, some No-Bake PumpkinCookie Balls (with butternut puree instead of pumpkin), and some Almond-DateTruffles.  All turned out even more delicious than I’d originally fantasized. 

It’s a big deal for me to contribute to Thanksgiving feasts.  I normally leave all the work up to my much more capable brother and mother.  This year I knew I’d need to bring my own sugar free desserts if I was going to get anything sweet.  And it turned out to be another little victory in my battle against pain and lethargy.  Yeah, it hurt to do all the work, but some things are worthwhile.

I’m getting kefir grains!!!

I’m so excited about this.  I caught my new chiropractor (more on him later, maybe) showing off some kefir grains to the receptionist, and he ended up offering to give me some of the grains when I go to see him next.  I’m so excited to try to make my own kefir.  Once I figure it out, I’ll fill you in on how it goes. 

Squash Puree

This is a laborious process, but I think it’s worthwhile, since it’s a great thing to do if you have any plans to do any baking that requires pumpkin or squash puree.  Rather than buy the canned stuff (which I admit requires far fewer steps), you can get yourself a few butternut squashes.

Cut the squashes (any winter squash, really) in half, take out the seeds, and bake – open side down – in the oven or microwave until tender.  Then scoop out the flesh.  After it cools a little, use the food processor to puree it until smooth. 

Freeze in small containers for later use.

Ok, you’re right, it’s a lot of work.  I’ll admit that doing this little project hurt my back a lot, and was probably not worth it.  But the squash was free, and I have a lot of plans to make pumpkinny recipes this winter.  

This Means War

Up till today, the only evidence I saw was poop.  Little poops on top of the stove, or around a banana.  I put out traps.  So far, 12 confirmed kills.  

Yes, I'm keeping track.

What irks me is when the bait is gone from the trap, and there are little poops around the trigger, but no carcass.

The other night, I cleaned up the kitchen really well, wiped down the counters with bleach, and put all food items in the fridge or in sealed containers.  Today I baked a cake, and when I reached for my rubber spatula, I noticed strange contours that didn’t used to be there.  I was puzzled for a while.  Then I figured it out.

Such a shame ...

The half-teaspoon measuring spoon had been gnawed useless, too.

Let the games begin, my little friends!

Peanut Butter Treats (bwa ha ha!)

 

Homemade Yogurt!

As I mentioned in my Granola post, I had a lot of stomach trouble when I lived in China, and yogurt and granola did a lot to help.  Over there, the yogurt I bought was very simple, plain, and not as falsely creamy as what you buy here in the States.  I found it really hard to adjust to eating American store bought yogurt when I got home.  In fact, I never did get used to it again, because I started making my own.

The extensive pile of ingredients; complicated, I know...

Look at the ingredients list on most of the yogurts you can buy at a supermarket, and compare it with my ingredients list below.  It’s kind of astounding how many additives a lot of store-bought yogurts contain.  You don’t need to eat all that.  True, homemade yogurt has a different flavor and texture, but you’ll find that you’ll grow to prefer it to all those sugars and thickeners and artificial flavors.  If you need to sweeten it, add honey and fruit or something.  Or, do like I do and eat it with granola, which goes perfectly with it.

My double boiler

Homemade Yogurt

This is a very simple process, don't be intimidated!

First think ahead about these things:

I find a double boiler system is the best way to avoid scalding the milk as I heat it.  I just use a large pot of water and put my 3 qt saucepan in it.  (A saucepan with a spout would be ideal, minimizing the amount of milk you lose when pouring it into the jars.  It took me a long time to finally cough up the money to buy a good spouted pan, but it's going to change my life, I can tell.)

It’s very tricky to do this without a thermometer; I recommend buying a meat thermometer so you can accurately measure the temperature of the milk as you heat and cool it.

You are going to need to keep the yogurt warm for several hours.  It needs to be kept at 90° to 100° for 4 to 8 hours.  Sometimes a low setting on the oven works – I have an oven thermometer and have marked my oven’s temperature dial at approximately 100°.  I have also used my microwave as a steam cabinet, placing the jars of yogurt in there with a couple of cups of boiling water.  With this method, you’ll have to reheat the water every 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the ambient temperature. (Unplug the microwave to avoid accidentally nuking the cultures!)  I generally do the microwave "steam cabinet method" in the summer, and use the oven in the winter.  I’ve also dreamed up a scheme to use a styrofoam box and a medical heating pad, but I haven’t gotten around to that yet.  And, I believe there are machines sold for this purpose, but I feel it’s more fun to be inventive!

Inside the microwave become "steam cabinet"

You’ll need some kind of heat resistant container with a good lid to make the yogurt in.  I find glass jars are perfect.  I use old pasta sauce and pickle jars, maybe about quart size.

Ingredients:

Milk *

             Yogurt containing live cultures **

            For the milk:  Choose your volume ~ what you use is approximately what you get.  I generally make a gallon at a time; it keeps well and usually lasts me 2 or 3 weeks.

For the yogurt:  A few tablespoons of plain yogurt** per large jar

Jars are ready for the warm milk

  *  I find whole milk works best and produces the thickest, creamiest result

**  I have found that Dannon’s Plain Yogurt works best.  With each subsequent batch of yogurt, I just use a few tablespoons from the previous batch.  The yogurt cultures need to be live to work.

Method:

In saucepan / double boiler, slowly bring milk to 180°.  (You'll have to stir frequently / constantly as you approach 180°.  I generally start paying close attention around 130°.)

Remove from heat and let cool to around 110°.  (I find this takes way too long if I just leave it on the counter, so I dump out the hot water from the bottom pot, refill it with cold water, and cool the pot of milk down.  It takes a couple of times, but it cuts out like 20 minutes of waiting.)

Pour into jars and add a couple of tablespoons of starter yogurt per jar, stir and seal.

Place in “incubation.”  Keep at 100° for 4 to 8 hours.  The longer it stays at 100°, the thicker and tangier it will be.  I once left mine for 12 hours by accident, and it was glorious!

My favorite breakfast!

I happen to think this yogurt is marvelous.  It’s also simple and healthy.  Pair it with the granola, use it in smoothies, or eat it by itself or with fruit.  It’ll change your life. 

Savory Zucchini Quick Bread

Oddly enough, I’m finding that it’s been hardest to find savory snack options that don’t contain refined sugars.  Sweet things are easy; you can use honey, molasses, maple syrup, or dates to sweeten a lot of things.  Dried fruit or a handful of nuts can be a great snack.  But when you’re craving something salty, your options are limited – especially if you’re trying to avoid salted nuts because you already eat too many nuts as it is.  Crackers, yeast breads, flat breads, etc, all can contain sugar. 

Desperate, I did a Google search for savory quick breads, and I found a few that really piqued my interest.  Among several really tasty looking options, I found this recipe for a savory summer squash bread.  It turned out to be ideal on a lot of levels.  Number one, there was no sugar in the recipe, so there was no need for substitutions.  Most of the ingredients are things I usually have on hand, and summer squash is generally easy to find.  I also found that this recipe could be tackled in clear steps, which was ideal.  I was in a crap-ton of pain the day I tried it, so I was able to pause a few times to rest on the floor before moving on to the next step.  (Oftentimes recipes are kind of time-sensitive, and you have to move efficiently through certain stages or everyone will die; those recipes tend to be stressful and painful for me, since I can’t stop and rest when I need to, and I end up pushing through till I’m half-delirious with pain.)

The original recipe called for only all-purpose flour, but I decided to use half all-purpose and half whole-wheat, because I’m a hippie wannabe but not experienced enough with whole-wheat flour to know if using it exclusively would ruin my life.

Three tasty savory mini-loaves.

I would warn you to be careful if you’re doing this in a single loaf pan.  I used three mini loaf pans, which makes me think that trying to use all the batter in one 9 x 5 pan would produce an ugly, bulging monstrosity.  The batter does rise a little bit, so use your brain skills. 

Savory Zucchini Quick Bread

¼ cup olive oil

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup finely ground yellow cornmeal

2 tsp baking powder

1 ¼ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp salt (additional ¼ tsp for draining the squash, see note below)

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp ground black pepper

2 eggs

¾ cups butter milk*

2 cups (about 1 pound) shredded zucchini / summer squash**

2/3 cups finely crumbled feta cheese

* It’s always annoying to have such small quantities of buttermilk in a recipe, because you usually have to buy it in bigger packages.  I just put a bottom-full of white vinegar in the measuring cup and fill the rest up with milk, thus making my own buttermilk.

Shredded squash waiting to be squeezed in cheesecloth

**Shredded zucchini can be very moist, so I used a cheesecloth to squeeze as much of the liquid out of it as I could.  I sprinkled some salt on it and let the shredded squash sit for a few minutes before squeezing it.  I also cut the salt quantity for the batter down from ¾ tsp to ½ tsp, because I added this extra salt to the zucchini to extricate some of the fluid.  

Method:

Mix dry ingredients and set aside.

Mix eggs, buttermilk and olive oil in a separate bowl; whisk until smooth.

Use a rubber spatula to fold in the shredded & drained zucchini and the feta cheese into the egg mixture. 

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture and stir / fold until the flour becomes incorporated.  Don’t over mix.

Dump the batter into oiled / sprayed loaf pan or mini loaf pans (or muffin tins!), leveling out the batter and flattening.  Bake at 350° until golden brown or until toothpick comes out clean.  (About 30 min for mini-loaves, 60 min for full loaf, much less for muffins...) 

As always, I froze most of mine for later.  This bread is delicious and makes a great snack – lightly toasted is amazing!  I bring it to work and toast it in the toaster oven for a tiny bit of time.

Ropes & Stones

After only five visits, she gave up on me.

Actually, that might be putting it a little harshly.  She didn’t exactly “give up on me.”  She just said she was out of ideas and didn’t know how to help me, and that I could schedule more appointments, but all she could do was try to massage the knots out of my shoulder blades ~~ knots that she said were like ropes and stones buried beneath the skin of my upper back ~~ knots that didn’t go away after five weeks of physical therapy like she expected ~~ knots that bucked her off when she dug her elbows into them, throwing her off balance.

You may remember a recent post in which I wrote about the emotional roller coaster of searching for remedies for my chronic pain.  One thing I can say about this particular ride: at least it was short.  It took a year for the spine specialist to advise me to give up – actually, his words were “to throw your hands up,” and “get on with your life.”  At least this physical therapist only needed five weeks to realize she was in over her head. 

If it sounds like I’m totally discouraged and depressed, I’m really not.  While the pain can be frustrating and debilitating at times, I’ve really pretty much gotten used to it.  I mean, it’s been there every day for twenty years or so.  Continuing to live with it is far from the worst thing that could happen. 

Anyway.  That’s my update.  If you ever need to borrow a rope, I always keep a few on hand in my shoulder blade region.  Just need to figure out how to get them out…

Homemade Granola!

When I was living in Southwest China, I was sick like two-thirds of the time.  Between bacteria and spices, my stomach was almost always unhappy in some way.  Breakfasts of granola and yogurt turned out to be a small sort of savior.  I figured out how to make my own granola out of ingredients I could find in Chinese markets.  My oven was literally about nine inches wide, so instead of toasting the granola in the oven, I used a large wok (frying pan).  

After returning to the States, I had to tweak my “recipe” a little, but I have continued to enjoy this breakfast just about every day.  In fact, I love it so much, and eat it so often, that I sometimes get miffed when I have to meet someone for bagels or go to a diner for breakfast. 

I always used brown sugar and honey to make my granola.  But when I decided to give up refined sugars, I considered using molasses in some way.  Everything I read about molasses is positive – it’s high in nutrients, and is a great natural, raw sweetener.  Brown sugar is considered by many to be unrefined, but I thought I’d try my granola "molasses style" to see if I could make this tasty, healthy breakfast any tastier and healthier. 

 

Granola is very easily tweaked, so go nuts changing around the proportions and ingredients. 

Molasses Granola:

2/3 cup oil

2/3 cup molasses

1/3 cup honey

2 lb rolled oats

1 – 3 cups of various nuts, dried fruit, seeds to suit your fancy. 

(I like to use raw pumpkin seeds, raw sunflower seeds, and raw slivered almonds.  I avoid using dried fruit simply because I don’t like the chewiness mixed in with the crunchiness.  You can always add dried or fresh fruit when you eat it anyway.)

Put the oil, molasses and honey in a large frying pan / wok.  Heat on medium to high heat until it starts getting a little bubbly. 

Add oats and stir until coated.  Lower heat to the lowest possible.

Add nuts, seeds, etc, and continue to stir the mixture for about 20 – 30 minutes.  It’s important to keep the granola moving in the pan to allow everything equal access to the heat and to avoid burning.  This is tedious.  The closer you get to 30 minutes, the toastier and crispier your granola will be.  (I usually quit after 20 to 25 minutes, because this is a super painful process for my back.)

Remove from heat and let cool – stirring every 5 or 10 minutes so it doesn’t all harden together.  Transfer into pretty airtight containers (glass jars, zipper bags, or a resealable container).  All of the ingredients have a long shelf life, so this stuff keeps for a long time. 

Serve with milk or yogurt.  (I like to eat mine with my homemade yogurt which is quite tangy and goes really well with the sweetness of the granola.)

Non-Molasses Version:

My original recipe contained

2/3 cup oil

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 lb oats

1 – 3 cups of various nuts, dried fruit, and/or seeds. 

Banana – Sweet Potato – Chocolate Pudding

Ever have one of those days when you arrive home after a painful and exhausting day at work with little energy to fix a meal and only a random assortment of foods in the fridge?  Well, it happens to me all the time.  But for once, I resisted the temptation to find take-out on the way home, and I improvised with the contents of my fridge.

For dinner I had boiled eggs.  I figured it would be easier to clean up afterwards if I cooked them in their shells. 

“Dessert” was really part of the meal.  It was sweet, for sure, but you can’t shake your head disapprovingly at these nutrient rich ingredients.  I had a baked sweet potato, some bananas, and a cupboard full of baking necessities.  Here’s what I did:

Banana – Sweet Potato – Chocolate Pudding:

1 baked sweet potato – peeled and diced.

1 (or more) banana

a tiny bit of milk

4 Tbs cocoa powder

I whipped everything together in the food processor, added the cocoa powder toward the end, and waited till it gave me a nice pudding-like consistency. 

Who says you can’t have dessert for supper?

Energy: An Unrealistic Luxury

Very seldom do moments of inspiration and energy coincide with opportunities to get things done around the house.  In the morning as I go through my routine preparing to head off to work, I notice that the bathroom sink needs to be cleaned or the beans in the cupboard rearranged.  I make a mental note to do the work when I get home, but at the end of the day I am drained and want only to lie on the floor and listen to Elliott Smith until bedtime.  Another day passes and the sink is still dirty and the cupboard in chaos. 

If this goes on long enough, the little tasks accumulate.  Each moment in the apartment I am haunted by the mocking sneers of tasks undone.  Weren’t you going to take out the compost?  Shouldn’t you have dusted the sills?  Look at all the crumbs under the toaster! 

Some things I have learned.  One of them is this: Energy is an unrealistic luxury in a life of chronic pain.  Sometimes you just have to do stuff anyway.  Other times you need to let yourself off the hook.

I’ve found that some tasks around the house really only take a few minutes, and if I can just get them started despite the pain and lethargy I feel, they get done rather quickly.  I can wipe down the bathroom sink in a minute or so.  Once it’s clean, it no longer taunts me with accusations.  I feel a load lift from my shoulders.  Wiping down the kitchen counters and stovetop after washing the dishes keeps that voice silent.  I can vacuum while the clothes are in the washer, in such a small apartment that takes only a few minutes.

Other times, I’m just too discouraged, in too much pain, or too tired to do much more than brush my teeth before bed.  On those days, the dust and grime accumulate.  Sometimes I have the presence of mind to talk back to the heckling dust bunnies; sometimes it’s okay to leave work undone for another day.  Other days I let it get to me; I let it make me feel inferior to the women with spotless houses – like I am fundamentally flawed and weak – like there is no point in trying – like I’ll never be able to keep a nice house – like I ought to have a cleaning lady but can’t afford one – like I’m doomed to live in squalor forever.

Two days ago I scrubbed the toilet.  Today I took out the spray bottle and cleaned up the sink.  For now my head is above water. 

Ginger Honey Tea: The Beverage that Bites Back

I caught a cold from my germ-bag nephew, who rarely fails to pass on some kind of bug to me during our visits.  It was a perfect opportunity to pamper myself with orange juice, chicken soup, and one of my favorite things in the universe:  Ginger Tea.

I’ve actually never made this from scratch before.  When I lived in Southwest China, there was a restaurant that would brew up a pot for a few dollars.  At some point, I found a crystallized mix that worked rather well, but it was very sugary and left an uncomfortable sensation on my teeth.  So, this week, I decided to try to make of this glorious beverage from fresh ginger. 

Here’s how I did it; I bet you could play with the proportions quite a bit.

Ginger Honey Tea

1 – 2 fresh ginger roots; shredded, or finely chopped.

4 to 6 cups water

Honey

In medium saucepan, bring the water to a rapid boil and add the chopped ginger.  Return to boil before turning the heat off.  Let it sit and steep for a while.  I let it steep for 10 or 15 minutes. 

Pour into glass jars or teapot, being careful to strain out the chunks of ginger.  Add as much honey as you want, aiming for the desired sweetness.  I think I ended up using like 10 teaspoons.  It might take a lot. 

You can now drink as much as you like, or save it for later in the fridge.  You may find it packs more punch than you like, so feel free to add water to tone it down.  You can also add some hot milk to make a sort of Ginger Latte.  Lemon may go really well with it too.  The sky is the limit.  Play around with as many options as you want.

Quitter Chronicles #5: The Cleanse

 Ok, so the cleanse didn’t work out like I expected.

I had grand plans for this.  Initially, I wanted to go several days without any food at all, drinking only water, and letting all the icky stuff get flushed out of my system.  Then I would gradually start phasing in foods.  I would start with only fruits and vegetables, slowly adding starches, oils, dairy and meat.  The final stage of the process would be (after a few weeks) to begin eating sweet stuff again, but sweet stuff sweetened with natural raw sweeteners. 

On August 24, I ate my normal breakfast and lunch, but I skipped dinner.   I had every intention of going without food for at least five days before beginning to phase in simple stuff.  But on the evening of the 25^th, I caved.  I woke up in the middle of the night feeling super jittery and faint.  It seemed weird that I would wake up from slumber only to pass out.  After this happened a few times, I finally got up and stuffed my face with a handful of almonds, some cheddar cheese, and a spoonful of peanut butter. 

Boy was I glad I’d taken the preliminary steps of cleaning out my pantry of sugary stuff, because I guarantee you I would have gone for banana bread or something.  

So, at this point, it seemed silly and perhaps reckless to try to do an extended fast.  Instead of fretting about giving up on the harsh cleanse plan, I just began my refined-sugar free life on August 25.  I had eggs for breakfast that morning, and some tea with honey. 

Ricotta Pesto Pasta

It's good to have stuff on hand that I can prepare quickly when I get home from work.  I decided to make some cheesy-pesto "sauce" for pasta, and put it in the freezer in small baggies.  All I have to do is think ahead enough to defrost them before dinner, and I can cook up the pasta to have with it.  The finished product of this could use a little more salt, and possibly a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan.  I encourage you to play with this sauce and make it better.  If you come up with something awesome, let me know. 

I am an idiot, and I got mixed up, and I labeled these as "Pesto-Risotto" sauces.  Not risotto, ricotta

Ricotta Pesto

1 cup prepared pesto

4 cups Ricotta (fat-free or not, whatever you want)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

* Warm water from pasta (just enough to make the cheese mixture a saucy consistency; add this when you're serving it, not before you freeze the baggies.  It'll heat up the cheese mixture a little, and give it a saucy consistency.)

Mix the ingredients in a bowl.  Divide into freezer packages, or use it all at once.  Save some of the pasta water from cooking your pasta and add a small amount to the cheese mixture to get to a consistency that seems right to you.  Add hot, drained pasta to the mix and stir it up. 

Add salt and freshly grated Parmesan if you like, and let me know if you perfect this!