I can make/buy non sugar foods

So I don't know if I've mentioned the "diet" I'm trying to follow until my friend's wedding (12/26...) which essentially is a way of eating I'm hoping to maintain not only to reign in my baking excess but also to keep my tummy happy. Now in week 3 I'm finding myself making purchases I don't think I normally would. The deal is, M-F afternoon I cut out gluten, dairy and added sugar. The dairy b/c I'm lactose intolerant and everyone around me is probably thankful (insert smiley face), the added sugar b/c I eat way too much at one time but also b/c all that concentrated glucose and fructose is not easy for a body to handle (read...converted to fat...did I mention I need to fit into a bridesmaids dress?) and the gluten b/c that typically triggers my cravings for sweets. Not that weird b/c gluten foods contain sugars and thus my vicious cycle.

Like I said, I'm in week 3 and once I get out of work (cue huge sigh of relief), it's the weekend and I get all excited about eating gluten, dairy and added sugar (not that I'm going all out stuffing my face with them, I usually try to keep "fun meals" to one to two a day on the weekends and of course I am continuing to workout most days of the week). So I stopped by the store to pick up supplies for cheesecake and then I start wandering and see these

Ever had one? These are Caramel Wafers (ala Aldi's) but also known as Stroopwafels. It's like two waffles sandwiched around carmely jam and then strinky-dinked. So so good. If you ever run across, please try. You won't regret it. But anyway, so I picked that up and of course I'm making cheesecake which leads to all sorts of fun purchases (but instead of buying a whole box of graham crackers to make the crust I just bought the pre-made crust so I wouldn't have them lying around).

So now I have a huge peanut butter cheesecake with Reese's Cups (and extra Reese's cups) hanging out in my apartment. And typical me who eats sweets whenever and wherever would have no problem finishing this off, but one, I try to teach mindful eating and proper nutrition so eating this all in 2 days is a no-go, and not having sweets at all during the week has already impacted my tastebuds (or maybe I just made a terrible cheesecake...it would help to have a mixer, haha). But this cheesecake is really simple to make, it's from Betty Crocker and then I drizzle chocolate on top and stuck in some Reese's Cups. I might just wrap it really tight in plastic wrap and freeze for the family. That way I can still bake more fun stuff and not have to worry about sweets lying around with easy access. Haha, I think I have a problem.

I did make other food this week, I'm eating a lot of rice (which I love) and tofu (which I love even more), but it's nice to mix it up a bit.

Had dinner at Luca's in Keene the other day and they had this Cauliflower and Asparagus soup listed as a special so boy and I both ordered. It kind of reminded me of the creamy savoryiness of potato leek soup so did some google searching and wha-la. Had a bit of dairy in it, but not too terrible. Plus, it had a ton of vegetables (fiber, anyone?). And also a lot of sulphorous smell from the asparagus, haha. I don't have a fancy Vitamix of Ninja, but my dinky blender didn't do too bad. It was still a bit stringy and I think I roasted my vegetables too long (was a very dark mustardy green), but it's super tasty. Recipe from Closet Cooking. I made a half batch b/c I wasn't sure how it would taste. The asparagus is sold in 1# bundles so that was perfect and I used the other half of the cauliflower for the main meal...

 My weekday diet is on a similar vein to "paleo" (which I hate that term, sorry, but it doesn't make any sense what fits and what doesn't, I prefer following the "flexible real food diet" where there's room for anything but aim for majority whole foods). But I found this on a paleo page (of all the meats I'm trying, sausage is still my favorite...second of course to everything mom cooks). I found the idea on Paleo Cupboard- basically just take the vegetables you like (that are also roasting friendly)- I used

• the other half of my cauliflower
• parsnips
• carrots
• sweet potato
• red onion
• Brussels sprouts
• Bell pepper

Chop them up to similar baking sizes (especially for the root vegetables), about 1", toss in olive oil and spices (I did black pepper, sea salt and Italian seasoning) then bake for 10-15 minutes at 375F. Toss, then top with sausages (I found some hot Italian with no preservatives!) and bake for another 20 minutes (I sliced up the sausages).

The nice thing about this recipe, you could totally prep a ton of veggies and keep them in zip lock bags and then just make either every night or batch a bunch at a time. Nothing like roasted vegetables...nom nom

So happy baking/cooking, whichever ever direction it goes!