Please, pass the brownies...

I have a major league sweet tooth.  I could be quite happy eating sugar directly from the bag with a spoon.  When I bake brownies, I eat the entire pan myself in less than a day.  I've tried tricks like baking my brownies or cookies, and then freezing them, but it doesn't matter...I'll eat 'em frozen, two, three, four at a time.  I LOVE sugary treats!  If I ate all the sweets that I crave I would be a prime candidate for The Biggest Loser, would have a lot of rotten teeth, and probably wouldn't feel very good.  I'd also be a rotten role model for my son.  As a kid, I did eat spoonfuls of sugar...I would sneak into the kitchen and take a packed teaspoon of brown sugar at least once or twice per week.  I would have done it more frequently, but I didn't want to get caught, and was afraid of emptying the box too fast.  Shhh! Don't tell my mother!  Even today, I sneak into my own kitchen for the occasional spoonful, but not nearly as often as I used to.

Thankfully, I eat quite healthfully the majority of the time, and I have found a few ways to combat my sugar cravings.  I'd like to share my top three tips with you...

First, smoothies.  We make whole fruit smoothies quite frequently at our house.  We simply use fruit and fruit nectar.  I would skip the nectar, and use water or ice, but I don't like the texture as much - I have some texture sensitivity issues, but that's for another post...  For years I have bought strawberries in bulk when they are in season, washed them, and then frozen them.  But it didn't occur to me until very recently to do the same with other fruits!  By shopping the sales at my local grocery store, I've found that buying, prepping, and freezing the fruits and veggies myself, I can save quite a bit of money over buying them prepackaged and pre-frozen.  I've frozen whole bananas, in their skins in the past, but usually only when the bananas were overripe and only good for baking banana bread.  Now, I freeze just ripe bananas, nectarines, peaches, and more!  Peel and cut up your fruits into whatever size chunks your blender can handle.  Put them into freezer ziptop bags and toss them in the freezer until you need them!  So simple!  I try to cut everything in 1/2 inch chunks...

In the center of this picture, you can see (from top to bottom): strawberries, bananas, more bananas, nectarines and peaches (in the same bag), pineapple, and more strawberries.  On the right, a bag of frozen blackberries and raspberries.  On the left, in the foreground is a former hummus container that now houses garlic cloves in olive oil (did you know you could freeze fresh garlic? Just put it in olive oil first!), and on top a small container of lemon zest.  In the background on the left, a package of pita bread (2 packages for $2 at our local independent market!), and under that a container of leftover veggie noodle soup.

My second sugar cravings squasher is honey!  I choose raw, locally sourced honey as it not only helps my sugar cravings, but it also helps my seasonal pollen allergies (will post how at another time).  If I eat 1/2 teaspoon of honey every morning, I usually don't have such intense sugar cravings for the rest of the day. 

And, third, let's revisit that frozen fruit!  Next time blackberries, raspberries, or blueberries are on sale, grab a bunch!  Rinse them up, and lay them out on a cookie sheet or plate that will fit in your freezer.  Allow them to freeze through, and then gather them up into a freezer ziptop bag.  When a sugar craving hits, just grab a few of these frozen gems, and chomp away!  The raspberries are usually so intensely sweet that a tiny serving - just two or three berries - takes care of my craving!

MAIL CALL:  Junk mail today...a vitamins and supplements catalog.  As it wasn't any brand I'd ever heard of, I threw it in the recycling bin.  Reminds me though - I plan to head to the local health shop and buy some nutritional yeast, not because I feel a need to use it as a supplement, but rather because I crave the semi-cheesy flavor it imparts to some dishes (look for a "goldfish" cracker recipe next week!).

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?  At the dinner hour, we were at the home of one my tutoring students.  We all met to plan this coming semester for my student.  It was a great, and productive meeting, but I didn't plan for dinner tonight.  On our way to the meeting, I let JP get a slice of pizza, and before we left, I ate a bowl of multi grain Cheerios's cereal with vanilla rice milk.  Since tutoring starts back on Tuesday, I have been scouring the internet for make ahead meals, and crock pot meals.  

Next week, I will have posts for you on bullying, Facebook friendships and etiquette, a homeschool roundup, themed potlucks and cook-alongs, meal planning, and some poets and painters.