And, speaking of healing, I can have yeast and aspergillus again! That brings my allergies from nine to three food groups -- sugar, wheat, and eggs. Yes, these are still restrictive, especially not even being able to have a fraction of a gram of wheat or sugar, but the absence of six other food groups is massive. Hallelujah!
My new cooking fascination is 100% fruit concentrate -- yep, that frozen stuff in a can you use to make juice. Turns out it is a great sweetener like maple syrup. I learned about it from Fruit Sweet and Sugar Free by Janice Feuer. The cookies in it have the consistency of Chips Ahoy, seriously! They were fantastic. The cherry pie was pretty great, too. I did learn though, to keep the concentrate flavor in mind when baking. Let's just say that orange concentrate in zucchini bread had a pretty interesting taste.
Hard to believe I've been sugar free for two months now. And, I don't miss it. Well, okay, truth be told here, I do miss it when it seems everyone else can have it. After all, this is America where people enjoy HFCF in applesauce (blech!). Plus the convenience factor -- I mean, making practically everything by hand is time consuming. It is here that I have to remind myself that in hindsight being allergic to sugar is really good (wheat, too), and that I have my kitchen.
In my shoebox of a kitchen, I can make anything from lasagna to candy bars to lamb stew to donuts. I have been blessed with the ability to cook very well. And to be creative. For me creativity is a must and one of my sanities. I've meant other people on similar diets who are in a rut or struggle to use a cookbook, especially when almost every recipe requires a conversion of some kind. How? Personally I'm all for playing with my food. :)
