Gluten and Sugar Free Anzac Biscuits

I wanted to make some Anzac Cookies so I could teach the children about the meaning of Anzac Day. At least they can look back in ten years time and acknowledge that their sugar free mother did not deprive them of these!

I've tried lots of recipes and experimented to make them both gluten and sugar free and we definitely have a winner. 

AT LAST! HOORAY!

The recipe is originally from here. I adapted it to be fructose free. 

1 cup almond meal 

1 cup flaked almonds

1 cup desiccated coconut 
1 teaspoon Xantham Gum. (This is so your cookies do not turn out to be a crumbly mess)

1/4 cup Rice Malt Syrup. This is a great fructose free alternative to honey. It is available from Coles

1/4 cup butter

1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda

1 tablespoon water

Combine almond meal, flaked almonds, coconut and Xantham Gum.

Combine RMS and butter into a small pot and heat gently. 

Mix the bicarb and water then pour into the RMS pot and mix until it starts to froth.

Pour into the dry nut ingredients and mix through until combined.

Bake in a low pre heated oven 120 C for about 30 minutes until golden.

Notes:

These are sweet but not very sweet. If you have been sugar free for a while, these will be perfect. If you like a sweeter taste, just add more RMS.

Take out of the oven once they have browned a little. Cook them too long and they will taste bitter. I learnt this the hard way. The ones in the picture above are a little overdone.

These cookies are nice and crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. Like most gluten free baked goods, they are best enjoyed the day they are baked.

My Very Veggie Fritters Recipe

Before I became sugar free I was the baking queen.

There were always pikelets or brownies or muffins or something sweet cooking in my oven.

When I stopped eating sugar, I stuffed around with a lot of dextrose and stevia and all those other sugar substitutes. But you know what? I don't want to eat sweet food anymore so I don't make them. If I do, it's usually only out of guilt of depriving the kids of their Tiny Teddy's.

So I'm in the kitchen still (a lot) but you won't find my benchtops covered in choc bits.

Here is a recipe I developed for the Thermomix. This one made recipe of the day last week on the Thermomix Recipe Community (yeah such a show off I know!) you can find it here.

For those of you who don't have a Thermomix here is the recipe:

Very Veggie Fritters

1 Large peeled carrot 

1 Large peeled onion 
1 Cup uncooked peeled Pumpkin 
1 Large zucchini 
1 Large Free Range Egg 
1 Cup Plain Flour (Or Gluten Free Plain Flour) 
salt to taste 

Grate all vegetables either by hand with a grater or using a food processor. Add egg and flour and combine well, add salt to taste.

Heat Olive Oil and butter in a frypan. Gather mixture with your hands to make little patties. Cook on both sides until golden brown.

Serve with a little cream cheese, topped with grated cheddar cheese.

Makes a great party food. Top them with cream cheese and smoked salmon.

NOM NOM

The Post You Write When You've Been 7 Months Sugar Free

7 months has absolutely flown by and I have totally stuck with the program. In fact. I would go as far as to say that I love being sugar free! OMG! Who would have thought!

People say to me "Wow you have so much willpower", and it's funny because I don't feel that way. Being sugar free after so long really doesn't require willpower as such. I've broken the sugar addiction and now after so long I have just lost my taste for sweet things. I know right? Me. The one who'd eat a whole block of chocolate. I'd start with one square. One would turn to two. Make it a row. Now two rows. Shit. Half of it's gone. Might as well eat it all and get it gone. Remove the evidence. Oh look it never existed.

Trying chocolate over Easter had me gagging. Gosh that stuff is sweet. Quite unpleasant now. No willpower required.

Some more amazing things have happened during this journey. Here's a few

I am short sighted. I have needed glasses since I was 11.  I get a yearly checkup and the prescription for my eyes either always gets worse or stays the same. It's basically been a gradual decline in my eyesight since all those years ago. It never improves. Not in 23 years. Since being sugar free I had the first (slight) improvement in my sight to date!

When I was eating sugar I would put the kids to bed and literally collapse around 8.30pm. Hec sometimes I couldn't even stay up that late. I blamed that on having multiple children under the age of 5. Now being sugar free, I'm up until 11pm! Holy Crap! This gives me so much time for myself. I can't get to sleep before then. I'm buzzing. I'm full of energy! Turns out it wasn't the children after all making their mumma so exhausted! Sorry kids, I was wrong!

I feel calm. In control. I'm not thinking about food all hours of the day. There are no 3pm sugar cravings. That faint feeling I used to get when I was hungry doesn't happen anymore. Feeling "faint" used to hit me like a smack in the face. It'd have me running for the pantry and grabbing a bowl full of dried apricots so to avoid keeling over. Now hunger manifests itself as the odd tumble grumble, the feeling is gradual and I can feel it and it gives me time to prepare something.

The food we eat has changed. There is heaps of fat in the fridge that never used to be there. I'm enjoying eating it and it keeps me satiated. Food is tastier because it has more fat. It's yummy and I love it. Being satisfied with my meals means I'm not looking for my sweet treat.  

We bought a Thermomix and it's really made things easier to prepare. The Gluten Free bread I was buying was full of starch and sugar and a whole list of numbers. It was also bloody expensive. I now make my own with the Thermie. The kids crackers I was buying was full of sugar, vegetable oils (bad) and other assorted crapola. We now have homemade crackers thanks to the Thermomix. We now eat a lot less processed food. It's more time in the kitchen for me, but if it's better for my family then that's what needs to be done. 

It's taken 7 months to wean the children from their cereals. We got rid of the Nutrigrain first which was a big change for them. We kept the Cornflakes and Rice bubbles for a little while and now they've gone. Only the Weetbix and Oats get to stay. Apart from having much healthier and happier children we now have a shitload of free space in the pantry! Woah those boxes are big! I encourage the kids to snack on veggies. I make sure the crisper is full of carrots, snow peas, cucumber and celery to have as a snack instead of choosing fruit every single time.

Quitting sugar is guilt free eating. There is nothing to feel guilty about. Eat what you like. Just avoid sugar (obviously try and eat REAL FOOD as much as you can). It's just too easy. Really it is.

So I'm still me. This is just a better version of me and I'm sticking with it! 

Sugar can kiss my arse (which is now thankfully skinnier than it used to be!).

OMG Taryn. Where the bloody helluvya been!?

Holy Crapoly, it's been awhile since I've posted my last blog.

Here's why.

1. The children are getting older and I find it hard to write about them.

God knows there are a million and one things I could write about the kids, but they are getting older now and I really don't think this is the place to be putting it. So my posts ongoing will not be specifically related to any of the children. I'm not comfortable with it. It's just not right for me.

2. The blogging scene is changing rapidly and I don't fit in anywhere.

Mum bloggers are wonderful people. They are supportive. Lovely. Encouraging. But I felt like I never really fit in. I found myself trying to "keep up" with all the other bloggers in regards to how frequently they were posting. If all I did all week was cook dinner, watch Dr Phil (never happens) and ferry kids to and from school - there isn't going to be much to talk about. From now on when I want to post, I will. I will do my own thing. I may post weekly. Maybe monthly. Whatever goes, goes.

3. I've been busy re-inventing my life.

Since becoming sugar free, I've reworked the food we eat as a family from the ground up and it's taken a lot of time (and challenges along the way). It's kept me busy. Real busy. It's become my new passion. My friends and family think I've joined a cult. They have that worried look on their faces. But nevermind. I'm moving forward with it.  I want to be around for the children and piss them off until as long as I can manage it.

So I've just been doing other stuff and thinking too much about stuff generally. Just the usual. I'm still here. If you'll have me.