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Monday, January 1, 2018

To 2018!

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.


Dear Reader,

If we do have any readers now or in the future, hopefully you realize we never intended to be particularly consistent here. We have been busily sugarfree all this while, but so busy living it we hardly found time to document it! We don't feel a need to keep posting recipes. We prefer the written word ourselves, and the internet is full of recipes like ours now. It's wonderful! This blog was started as a vehicle for a health presentation, and while it doesn't accurately represent all our of our cooking aspirations, some of you enjoy hearing a bit of what we do.

Last year we had Sugarfree baby #7. I (Mom) have difficult pregnancies. At least I find it hard to get enough nourishment (or keep enough down) to supply myself and the darling creature inside of me. My body was sensitive to everything, and I ended up eating a diet that was entirely vegan, flour free, with all grains sprouted. Google Dr Christopher Herbal Legacy if you want more details of why I did this. I kept nearly all of my food down, and had my easiest pregnancy. While it was a lot of work to consume enough calories, he was my 2nd biggest baby, so I call it a success.

Well, after baby came and I found I could again tolerate all kinds of food, we continued to sprout our grains but also added sourdough, some meat, and dairy for those of us who tolerate it. We are of course sugarfree. Mostly. If just creeps in like a weed, so in 2018 the children were making New Years resolutions and one of my daughters wanted to not eat any sugar. We don’t really have any processed sugar at home, so that’s easy, but she wanted to avoid it outside our home as well. Which requires a lot of self control in the environments she is in. The other children thought that was a good idea, but weren't really interested until I offered $100 to do something fun with to anyone who wanted to join her. Then they all jumped right into the bandwagon!

We’re all Sugarfree right now, except the 6 year old who found daddy's powdered sugar at the top of a cabinet and has been sneaking it by handfuls. As a child my parents offered me to go off candy two separate years growing up for the same incentive I am offering, so the fact that I am not rising with inflation helps me feel the reward is small enough that the majority of the motivation will be internal. That is how I judge if an external reward in appropriate. If the effort required is far less than the reward itself is worth, the motivation is still internal, which is what I am going for. My kids could earn $100 in just a few days of piano teaching, so the money isn't the deciding factor. I feel great about that. I have nothing against a bit of worthy bribery.

We won't be offering any of our readers any financial reward, but you could promise yourself something! I did. I told the kids they could do something fun with their money. Fun for us would be buying books or going to a museum, but I bet you can think of something more exciting. The thought that my children might go without me has already kept me from eating a Lindt truffle that I could have eaten in peaceful solitude no one ever would ever have known about.

Here's to  a sugarfree 2018!

Monday, November 28, 2016

Crockpot Sourdough Rolls

1 cup sourdough start*
1 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon yeast (if desired)
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons honey
3 1/2-4 cups white wheat flour

Mix everything but the flour. Stir in the flour, then kneed until ingredients are well incorporated. Let rise until double. Form into rolls. Put directly into a crockpot on high for two hours or let rise until double again and bake at 475 for 12 minutes, lower to 350 for an additional 10 minutes.

*If you are not interested in cultivating your own sourdough culture from natural yeasts, mix one part water with one part flour and add yeast. Feed as usual.

Friday, June 24, 2016

Blueberry Jam

1 cup strawberries (or blueberries)
5 cups blueberries
4 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons lemon zest
sweetener to taste (1/3 cups apple juice concentrate, ¼ cup honey)
1/3 cup cornstarch
dash salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Mash fruit with lemon juice and zest, let sit 15 minutes. Bring to a boil. Once hot, add cornstarch mixed in apple juice concentrate. Heat for 15-20 minutes, adding sweetener after 10 minutes. Once thick, remove from heat and add salt and vanilla and can or enjoy immediately!

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Sourdough Artisan Bread

3 Cups Water
(1/2 Cup Sourdough or 1 1/2 T Yeast)
1 1/2 T Salt
6  C Flour, ww

Mix well. Dough does not need to be kneaded a lot, but needs lots of rising time. Put directly into the fridge and use days later or rise till double then form into a boule, rise till double again, cut an x into your boule, and bake on a preheated stone at 450 for 25 minutes (throw a cup of water into the bottom of your oven to make a crusty crust).  Makes 4 loaves.

Tortillas

3 cups flour

1 Tablespoon Baking pwd. 

2 tsp salt

1 cup hot water

1/2 cup applesauce
mix / knead together. Let dough rest about 5 min. fry in a little oil on a HOT frying pan.

To make it easier to portion out, I roll all the dough into little golf-ball size balls for smaller tortillas, and between golf ball and tennis ball size for larger tortillas.  I cook them on medium heat and on each side for about 30-45 seconds.

Banana Pudding


6 bananas
6 cups almond milk
½ cup flour
dash vanilla

Blend bananas, almond milk, and flour in a blender until smooth. Heat (or enjoy cold as a smoothie) until just hot and thickened. Add vanilla. Serve warm or cold.

Raspberry Shakes


Raspberry Shakes

3 bananas
1 C. raspberries
almond milk
apple juice concentrate
maple syrup
vanilla
dash salt