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Sunday, December 29, 2013
The Sweet Side of Christmas
It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.
We knew that, but did you know? ...
It came without gluten. It came without nuts, dairy, or eggs. Really it did!
Food is part of any holiday tradition. In our house, we love Christmas cookies and my husband especially loves all the Christmas candies. However, I knew this Christmas would be different. This is our first Christmas without gluten, milk, or eggs. I didn't want to give up our traditions. I wondered how I was going to pull off the sweet side of Christmas this year.
But it happened. Really it did! I found or adapted several cookie recipes to suit our family. We had purchased special allergy free chocolates for fall, but they were terribly expensive. I felt guilty every time I ate one! So for Christmas I decided to try a few homemade recipes. I discovered one for peppermint patties (oh yum!) which led to inspiration for nut free peanut butter cups. I even used a mish-mash of recipes to recreate Chex mix (can you guess what I replaced the nuts with?). I found & adapted a few cookie recipes to add to my repertoire too. Before I knew it, there it was...
The sweet side of Christmas. Tasty, delicious, & allergy free.
You see, it isn't the presents and it isn't the sweets. It's Christmas, and love for one another, and a Love like no other.
Sarah over at Sarah Bakes Gluten Free inspired me with her Peppermint Patties . They are delicious! My son doesn't care for peppermint, however, so I attempted to replicate his favorite Reese's Pieces. Here's my version...
Mock Peanut Butter Cups
Notes:
* The silicone ice cube or candy tray is nice to make fun little shapes, but I found them a pain to get clean. That may just be my experience though. Don't try the muffin tin without the liners either. Another huge mess!
This makes roughly 24 candies, but I had a different number each time I made them.
I'd like to be able to tell you how long these last, but the truth is we ate them all within 5 days.
We knew that, but did you know? ...
It came without gluten. It came without nuts, dairy, or eggs. Really it did!
Food is part of any holiday tradition. In our house, we love Christmas cookies and my husband especially loves all the Christmas candies. However, I knew this Christmas would be different. This is our first Christmas without gluten, milk, or eggs. I didn't want to give up our traditions. I wondered how I was going to pull off the sweet side of Christmas this year.
But it happened. Really it did! I found or adapted several cookie recipes to suit our family. We had purchased special allergy free chocolates for fall, but they were terribly expensive. I felt guilty every time I ate one! So for Christmas I decided to try a few homemade recipes. I discovered one for peppermint patties (oh yum!) which led to inspiration for nut free peanut butter cups. I even used a mish-mash of recipes to recreate Chex mix (can you guess what I replaced the nuts with?). I found & adapted a few cookie recipes to add to my repertoire too. Before I knew it, there it was...
The sweet side of Christmas. Tasty, delicious, & allergy free.
You see, it isn't the presents and it isn't the sweets. It's Christmas, and love for one another, and a Love like no other.
Sarah over at Sarah Bakes Gluten Free inspired me with her Peppermint Patties . They are delicious! My son doesn't care for peppermint, however, so I attempted to replicate his favorite Reese's Pieces. Here's my version...
Mock Peanut Butter Cups
- 1 package Enjoy Life chocolate mini chips or chunks
- 1 cup Mock peanut butter ( I make mine out of sunflower seeds, but you can also buy Sunbutter)
- A Mini muffin tin with liners or a silicone ice cube or candy tray
- Line muffin tin with liners if using.
- In a microwave safe bowl, zap chocolate chips for 30 seconds. Stir thoroughly. Repeat until chocolate drips off a spoon.
- Drizzle a shallow layer of chocolate into the bottom of each liner. Place in fridge for 10 minutes.
- Spoon a layer of mock peanut butter on top of each chocolate layer. Reheat the bowl of chocolate. Spread the chocolate on top of the butter.
- Refrigerate again for 15-20 min or until completely set. Store candies in the fridge.
Notes:
* The silicone ice cube or candy tray is nice to make fun little shapes, but I found them a pain to get clean. That may just be my experience though. Don't try the muffin tin without the liners either. Another huge mess!
This makes roughly 24 candies, but I had a different number each time I made them.
I'd like to be able to tell you how long these last, but the truth is we ate them all within 5 days.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Ingredients (Is that even food?)
Ingredients
Now let's take a second look at the food in your house. This time, we are going to take out anything in a box or a bag. Turn it around and read the ingredients. What is in your food? Is that real food in there? Kids are a great help at this. I tell my kids that if we can't pronounce an ingredient it probably isn't food. Let's take a look at some of the things that have been added to our food:
High fructose corn syrup - there is a lot of debate over whether corn syrup is safe or not. Here is what you need to know. It is essentially sugar. Sugar is a perk. It is NOT a necessary ingredient in every food
Words ending in "crose" - Sucrose, fructose, etc. These are all sugars. Again, they are not necessary. Are you noticing a lot of sugar in your non sweet foods?
Dyes - The ingredient list may include items such as Red #5 or Yellow #6. These are dyes that are added to improve the visual appearance of food. While food dyes have been approved by the FDA, some people, especially children, have adverse reactions to them.
Sodium Nitrate - This and many other chemicals are added to improve the appearance and shelf life of foods. Manufacturers want their products to be able to sit on the shelf for as long as possible. Food which spoils means a loss of money to them. To us, food which can spoil is a sign of fresh foods, of whole foods with as little processing as possible.
Any other strange words in there? Look them up. Find out their purpose. Is it really something you want to eat?
The food industry spends millions of dollars researching ways to change our food. Food that spoils cuts into their profit. They want that loaf of bread to last indefinitely. Let's face it bread was meant to be eaten the day it is baked. Anything left over two or three days should be dry and hard. French toast, that delicious breakfast concoction, was developed to use up day old bread that was too dry to eat without soaking.
My son recently had the assignment to grow mold on bread. Since we don't usually keep bread in the house, I grabbed a cheap loaf at the store. Cheap should mold faster, right? After a week, we still had no mold. We finally went out and bought a preservative-free loaf so he could finish his assignment. Just because we were curious we left the cheap loaf on the counter. It took over three weeks! You read that right. THREE! 3 WEEKS! For a product that, in it's natural state, should be decaying by DAY 3. So how long does your bread last?
The latest and greatest research in the food industry involves satiety. Satiety is the feeling of fullness or satisfaction we should get when we eat. However, it is in the interest of the food industry to suppress that satisfaction. They want you to still feel thirsty after drinking a bottle of their product. Remember the slogan "you can't eat just one"? There is a whole slice of the industry dedicated to making sure you eat the whole bag. This lack of satiety leads to overeating because we can't tell when we are full.
Young children are especially easily manipulated because they are still learning what an appropriate serving size is. Their bodies tell them to eat until they are full, but their food is filling them. This is one aspect of whole foods eating that continues to amaze me. My two kids could polish off a loaf of regular bread at one meal and still be hungry. On whole foods, their servings are much smaller and they aren't still starving when the food is gone.
This week's challenge: read the ingredients listed on the foods in your pantry. Choose one item that you can do without or replace with a real food. I'd love to hear which food you choose to chuck.
Now let's take a second look at the food in your house. This time, we are going to take out anything in a box or a bag. Turn it around and read the ingredients. What is in your food? Is that real food in there? Kids are a great help at this. I tell my kids that if we can't pronounce an ingredient it probably isn't food. Let's take a look at some of the things that have been added to our food:
High fructose corn syrup - there is a lot of debate over whether corn syrup is safe or not. Here is what you need to know. It is essentially sugar. Sugar is a perk. It is NOT a necessary ingredient in every food
Words ending in "crose" - Sucrose, fructose, etc. These are all sugars. Again, they are not necessary. Are you noticing a lot of sugar in your non sweet foods?
Dyes - The ingredient list may include items such as Red #5 or Yellow #6. These are dyes that are added to improve the visual appearance of food. While food dyes have been approved by the FDA, some people, especially children, have adverse reactions to them.
Sodium Nitrate - This and many other chemicals are added to improve the appearance and shelf life of foods. Manufacturers want their products to be able to sit on the shelf for as long as possible. Food which spoils means a loss of money to them. To us, food which can spoil is a sign of fresh foods, of whole foods with as little processing as possible.
Any other strange words in there? Look them up. Find out their purpose. Is it really something you want to eat?
The food industry spends millions of dollars researching ways to change our food. Food that spoils cuts into their profit. They want that loaf of bread to last indefinitely. Let's face it bread was meant to be eaten the day it is baked. Anything left over two or three days should be dry and hard. French toast, that delicious breakfast concoction, was developed to use up day old bread that was too dry to eat without soaking.
My son recently had the assignment to grow mold on bread. Since we don't usually keep bread in the house, I grabbed a cheap loaf at the store. Cheap should mold faster, right? After a week, we still had no mold. We finally went out and bought a preservative-free loaf so he could finish his assignment. Just because we were curious we left the cheap loaf on the counter. It took over three weeks! You read that right. THREE! 3 WEEKS! For a product that, in it's natural state, should be decaying by DAY 3. So how long does your bread last?
The latest and greatest research in the food industry involves satiety. Satiety is the feeling of fullness or satisfaction we should get when we eat. However, it is in the interest of the food industry to suppress that satisfaction. They want you to still feel thirsty after drinking a bottle of their product. Remember the slogan "you can't eat just one"? There is a whole slice of the industry dedicated to making sure you eat the whole bag. This lack of satiety leads to overeating because we can't tell when we are full.
Young children are especially easily manipulated because they are still learning what an appropriate serving size is. Their bodies tell them to eat until they are full, but their food is filling them. This is one aspect of whole foods eating that continues to amaze me. My two kids could polish off a loaf of regular bread at one meal and still be hungry. On whole foods, their servings are much smaller and they aren't still starving when the food is gone.
This week's challenge: read the ingredients listed on the foods in your pantry. Choose one item that you can do without or replace with a real food. I'd love to hear which food you choose to chuck.
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