Well, two more weeks left of my weird, loop-holey sugar abstinence:
Pros:
No longer randomly grabbing at the meaningless foods in my path:
candy bowl proferrings
off-brand commercial cookies that don’t taste good anyway
dollars in my backpack for the vending machine
or that abandoned power bar left temptingly on the bench in the women’s locker room at the gym (embarrassed to admit I even considered it).
No longer randomly grabbing at the meaningless foods in my path:
Slowly peeling away from the “dessert as reward” system of thought
No longer getting that sugar-binge sweatiness. I know you know what I mean
Con:
I’ve been missing out on the homemade treats of my friends:
What I’ve learned:
This may be the end of wrapped sweets for me, a hard yet liberating decision. It may also be the end of my own baking…no loss, I was always a mediocre baker. However, a friend recommended that I make a once-a-week exception for the things made by friends–that I can still appreciate their talents and will probably appreciate the treat for the occasion it represents.
Weirdly, I’ve had little trouble saying no to most things–except for the Jiffy peanut butter. Last week I attempted to make my own PB, supplementing spices for the sweetness. The result? Definitely not a replacement, but maybe a nice addition to my snacking repertoire.
Unfortunately, the new method I was hoping I’d be able to share failed. I realize most students do not have a food processor, so I tried the Simply Recipes method of a mason jar and a blender. While this was perfect for chopping nuts, it failed utterly in the creaming stage. I’ll try to put up the 3 part failure video in the near future.
For now: Roasted peanuts + Chili powder + Cumin + Coriander + Garam masala = the rough-around-the-edges cousin of sweet little Jiffy.
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups roasted peanuts
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp coriander
- 2 tsp chili powder
- 0.5 tsp garam masala
- salt to taste…i used about .5 tsp
- 2 tsp neutral oil (optional) for that glassy effect
Wow!
Any reason you couldn’t take ready made peanut butter and just whip the spices in?
BTW, Whole Foods brand peanut butter in the plastic jar seems like a middle of the road texture/flavor between old fashioned Jiffy, and just ground peanuts or the ones that have all the oil on top, but it’s healthier than Jiffy.
xo
I think that would be easier and just as delicious. I think this guy did precisely that. I will have to try the Whole Foods brand soon, thanks for the tip!
That’s 3 of my 4 favorite C’s (the fourth, and probably my favorite, is of course, cinnamon), and I often reference that my draw to a food can be measured in how many of the C’s it has.
I second the Whole Foods peanut butter, and also Trader Joe’s has good peanut butter plus there is an option for unsalted, which I personally prefer. I don’t miss the sugar or salt, even though I definitely do when I eat the Simply Jif, which is Jif without added sugar or salt. You are supposed to refrigerate them, but I find it gets a little stiff if you do, so i usually don’t, which is okay at the rate that I go through peanut butter.
Have you ever tried playing with other nut butters? Pre-made peanut butter is actually cheaper than the nuts it takes to make it, but that is not the case for other nut butters. I’ve used homemade cashew butter and almond butter in dressings.
I made a sunflower seed butter a few months ago, and a pistachio butter a few years ago. And I can absent-mindedly finish 2 cups of almond butter in one sitting (there are witnesses), so I try to abstain from that. My life is consumed by making lists of things I can’t eat because I will eat it ALL ;-). I haven’t tried cashew butter yet, I’m interested!
Well, I made nut butters as needed to use as bases for dressings. Right now I’m not eating dairy, but I’m trying to play with fun veggie sauces, so I just made an almond based honey/garlic/lemon sauce for broccoli slaw. They almost make the dressings creamy.
A friend of mine and I made the cashew butter to mix with soy sauce, sesame oil, lime juice and I think some ginger and garlic as a rice noodle and veggie salad dressing.
I too try to avoid simply eating these things because it’s so easy to eat too much. It’s why I don’t bake much these days, even bread, because I can’t (read: can but shouldn’t) finish a loaf before it goes bad.
I just saw the post on that dressing. Sounds delicious! We’re gonna have to try that one.
I am all for homemade nut butters and yours sounds really good .Currently however I am hooked on the sunflower butter from Trader Joe’s. I’ll bring you guys a jar.
Love Ari’s Mom
Forgot to give you cheers for the junk sugar abstinence. Your body thanks you…and yes the sunflower butter has some cane sugar but not sweet at all.
We’ll see how bad the binge is when I go home in a week! I made a sunflower seed butter early on in the life of this blog…it had your maple syrup in it!
I have to try making this! I can see myself “accidentally” putting MSG in it… HAHA.
I would eat a spoonful of MSG right now, that’s how much I’m craving salty things.