Day 3

Breakfast

Pastry cases filled with greek yogurt, sliced banana, whipped cream and blueberry puree

LUNCH

Carrs water table biscuits with butter and quorn pepperoni
salt and shake crisps
2 biscuits

SNACK

DINNER

sausages (check no breadcrumbs or yeast)
mash
sweetcorn, peas, carrots gravy

BLANMANGE

Ingredients = cornflour, flavouring, natural colours - not fab but makes a nice snack or lunchtime pot
I made raspberry with 2 1/2 tbsp xylitol

Mum's 'green' soup

This looks like green slime from a swamp, so of course goes down well!

Ingredients

1 large potato cut into small dice with skin left on
1 medium leek, sliced
1 clove garlic, smashed
80g peas
1/2 tin chickpeas, rinsed
about 6-8 sprouts or 80g kale
1/2 tsp mixed herbs including thyme and oregano

method

Put everything into a saucepan and add 2 1/4 mugs water
Bring to the boil and simmer until everything is cooked - around 18 minutes
Allow to cool before blitzing to desired consitency

Choc chip cookies

ingredients

6 oz plain flour
3.5 oz coconut sugar
4 oz butter
around 60 gms sugar free milk chocolate

method

preheat oven to 150
cream the butter and coconut sugar together (you may need to break down some really hard lumps of coconut sugar, so be sure to check through!)
Add the flour and mix into a dough
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Put walnut sized balls onto a lightly greased baking sheet
Bake for 20 minutes (check 5 minutes before the end as coconut sugar can catch more quickly than refined caster sugar)
Cool on a wire rack

mini tarts

A great recipe for using up all those leftover things in the fridge. Don't throw anything away, not even a tablespoon of sweetcorn or the tiniest piece of chicken - they can all be used up in this recipe!

Ingredients

4oz plain flour
2 oz butter

Method

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add around 2 tbsp water and mix into a dough.
Roll out and cut 12 rounds to fill a large fairy cake tin
Bake blind for 15 mins at 180

Fillings

You can choose whatever you like. Today I made coronation chicken and an 'all day breakfast' one:

Ingredients for coronoation chicken

leftover cooked chicken, cut into tiny chunks
curry powder to taste
Natural yogurt - enough to make the consistency of egg mayonnaise
a dash of cream if you wish

Method

Mix everything together well

Ingredients for 'all day breakfast'

1 small hard boiled egg
6 thin slices quorn pepperoni cut into tiny chunks
tablespoon sweetcorn
enough natural yogurt to coat

Mix everything together

To assemble

Spoon a generous couple of teaspoons of the mix into a pastry shell. I topped the coronation chicken with chives and the 'all day breakfast' with snipped chives.

Day 2

Breakfast

Cinnamon porrage
yogurt (with propbiotic and multi mineral supplement)
Blueberry puree
Cup of cranberry and orange tea

Lunch

Left over tuna pasta
ready salted hoola hoops

Day 1 of V's candida diet

Breakfast

1 large Stewed apple with cinnamon
around 100 gms Natural yogurt with probiotic powder and multi mineral liquid supplement
1/2 cup milk

Lunch

Carrs water table biscuits with butter and quorn pepperoni
pack salt 'n' shake crisps

Tea

Chicken curry and Fried rice
pumpkin seed ryvita


Curry

ingredients

1/2 tbsp oil
1 small onion, chopped
few pieces of yellow and orange pepper
left over cooked chicken
2 tbsp ketchup, watered so you can pour it easily
1/2 tbsp curry powder
garlic granules
3 tbsp natural yogurt

method

Fry the onion until beginning to soften
add the peppers and cook until soft
Add the cooked chicken and heat through
Add the curry powder and garlic - mix thoroughly and fry for a minute or two
Add the tomato ketchup and simmer while you cook some rice
Take off the heat, cool for a moment and stir through the yogurt

Served with basmatti rice and 2 pumpkin seed ryvita - makes 1 decent portion

Eve meal

Creamy tuna pasta

ingredients
 1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion
few slices yellow and orange pepper, diced
garlic ggranules, thyme and oregano to taste
a small can tuna, drained
1/3 bottle passata
3 handful pasta shapes
3 tbsp cream
3 tbsp sweetcorn

Boil pasta and make the sauce:
Fry the onion, garlic, herbs and peppers until softened
Add tuna, passata, sweetcorn, bring to the boil then simmer until the pasta is cooked
Mixed everything together and stir in the cream

Makes 1 large portion for eating and 1 portion for leftover lunch

Day 11 of sugar free month

Breakfast: pear, natural yogurt and honey
Apple and mango juice

Lunch: 'picky plate' made up of sunflower seeds, ryvita, slices of cheese, lettuce, cucumber, carrot sticks, pear, plain crisps

Dinner: meal made from two left over dinners! Pasta bolognase topped with cheesy mash, served with broccoli and red peppers
chocolate chip cookies (sweetened with xylitol)

Day 10 of sugar free month

Oh dear! DD went out for the day with Grandparents and has just got in; let's just say she's a little crampy with her stomach...

Breakfast (at home)
Apple and natural yogurt with some honey
fruit tea

Snack: millionaires shortbread with marshmallows and pack of cola bottle sweets (sigh)

lunch: sausage, chips and baked beans and chocolate milk shake

Dinner: toast and marmite, shortbread biscuits, prawn cocktail crisps, capri sun

What a crap day. There are still some leftovers she's bought home with her. She has a party to go to on Sunday so can keep the rest of sugary stuff until then or eat it tonight. I personally feel it's better to eat a lot at once then stop eating it, rather than a little every day...

Day 9

Breakfast: apple, grapes and strawberries with natural yogurt

snack: carrot cake, dried bananas and mango

Lunch (at friends house) ham sandwiches

Dinner: left over lasagne, jacket potato and watercress
apple and mango juice

Day 8

Breakfast:
Chicken mayo on toast

Lunch:
vegetable soup (carrot, onion, potato, celery, barley) with bread
Apple and mango juice

Dinner:
lasagne: left over bolognase sauce with lasagne and cheese sauce
carrot cake

Day 7

Easter Day. DD was given sugary Easter eggs and started the day with them instead of breakfast
The arrangement was that during this holiday she would eat sugar free at home but if she went to friend's houses (there are two birthday parties and one sleepover already planned) or was given stuff it was ok to eat it:

breakfast: Easter eggs and boy did it show - within an hour she was complaining of pains in her stomach and being really hyper.

lunch: chicken, roast potatoes, yorkshire pudding, carrots, broccoli, green beans, sprouts, peas and gravy
pudding: carrot cake made with agave and cream

dinner: chicken in white sauce, mashed potato, broccoli and sprouts

Day 6

Not so good on the nutrition front. I haven't been feeling well so didn't get up until 11:45 and DD hadn't eaten breakfast. I didn't have much energy so here's what she had:

brunch: cheese and ham toastie

snack: apple and banana

Dinner: pasta bolognase: onion, garlic, mixed herbs, tin tomatoes, tomato puree, minced beef with pasta shapes

Hot chocolate sweetened with xylitol and a couple of sugar-free marshmallows

Day 5

Moods are improving, blood sugar stabilising. DD is quite tired, but in pretty good spirits! Today's menu hasn't been the healthiest and has featured an awful lot of bread! She had a friend here who is quite limited in food choices, so I had to do something that met DD's needs and also filled up the friend with food she likes:

Breakfast:
Mashed salmon and mayo on toast

Lunch:
ham and lettuce sandwiches, carrot sticks and pack of salt 'n' snake crisps
Cranberry and apple juice

Dinner:
3 pieces of toast - one with feta and sugar free baked beans, one with just beans and one with egg
Strawberries, cream and yogurt with oats and sweet freedom and a piece of sugar free chocolate grated on top

Day 4 of sugar free diet

Breakfast:
porrage with dried bananas and vanilla served with natural yogurt with some prune and pear spread mixed into it

Lunch:
ham, lettuce and cucumber sandwiches with pack of cheesy oat bakes
Smoothie made from melon, orange, lemon, peaches, apple and banana

Dinner:
Casserole made from chicken, roast potatoes, carrots served with dumplings
Carrot cake (made with agave) and cream

Day 3

Things are going well, although DD is grumpy and complaining of being 'bored'...

Breakfast:
Drop scones with mashed banana and natural yogurt and strawberries

Lunch:
Left over pasta from yesterday with watercress, lettuce and cucumber

Dinner:
Jacket potato, salmon and sugar free baked beans

Snacks:
blackcurrant dried fruit bars, toast and marmite, oatbakes

Day 2

Day 2 didn't start so well. DD had an unexpected sleepover at a friend's last night. She was brilliant at taking her own food for the midnight feast but this morning, when she asked for 'ham' on her toast, her friend thought she said 'jam'! SO she ended up starting the day with a sugar fix.

Never mind, you can always choose to start your day again at any point, right?

Here is the rest of her meals for the day:

snack:
dried mango and pineapple

Lunch:
hard boiled egg and grated cheese with watercress, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber and carrot sticks

snack:
chocolate porrage (oats, cocoa powder, cocoa nibs, sweetened with chopped dates) and a couple of slices of carrot cake

Dinner:
pasta with chicken, tomatoes, french beans, broccoli and carrots with a bit of cream mixed into the sauce

Bless her, she's really craving sweet things today and has been tearful and emotional; hence the chocolate porrage snack. Strong stuff this sugar, eh?

Day one of the sugar cleanse!

DD is now 11, so I give her more freedom with the foods she chooses to buy and eat. Unfortunately she came to me this week saying she felt she was getting addicted to sugar. What self awareness!

We agreed that she would go on a sugar free diet, starting today, so I thought I'd keep a record of what she eats.

Breakfast:

Pink grapefruit, some grapes and some millet and rice sugar free cereal.

Snack:

salt 'n' shake crisps and dried mango

Lunch:

chicken in white sauce with potatoes, carrots, broccoli, green beans, peas and sprouts ( all vegetables left over from Sunday lunch)

Dinner:

She's having a sleep over at a friends so will be eating sandwiches. In the oven is a carrot cake made with agave syrup for her midnight feast ;)

Sugar free baked chocolate cheesecake

As requested by Milla from Making Good, here is the baked chocolate cheesecake I baked for Yule. Note, my baking is very, erm 'robust' - you did indeed need a chisel to get through the pastry, I think next time I'll make a batch of shortbread and crush it up to make the base ;)

Ingredients

Pastry

• 6oz flour
• 3 1/2 oz butter
• 1 oz fructose (optional; I don't bother because we don't have a sweet tooth)
• grated zest of 1 orange
• a little water to bind

Filling

• 3 oz fructose
• 2 1/2 oz butter
• 7oz sugar free dark chocolate (we use plamil)
• 1 lb 2 oz cream cheese
• 2 eggs
  

Method

First make the base:

• Rub the flour into the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs.
• Stir in the fructose, if using and the grated rind.
• Gradually add water until you get a pastry dough.
• Knead for a moment and leave to rest.

While the pastry is resting, set the oven to 200 and make the filling:

• Melt the chocolate in a small bowl above a pan of simmering water.
• Meanwhile, cream the fructose and butter together.
• Take the melted chocolate off the heat, cool slightly and mix into the creamed butter and sugar.
• Gradually mix in the cream cheese and eggs in and stir until thoroughly combined and glossy.

Cook the pastry:

• Line a 7" loose bottom slightly greased tin with pastry - allow the edges to hang over because it will shrink.
• Bake blind for 15 minutes.
• Take the pastry out of the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 180 and pour the cheesecake mix into the baked pastry case.
• Bake for 30 - 35 minutes then TURN OFF THE OVEN, LEAVE THE DOOR CLOSED and LEAVE TO COMPLETELY COOL.

Chill overnight and enjoy the following day!

You can add a topping if you like. Shall I share what DH requested?

Ok then, I topped it with sugar free black cherry jam (St Dalfour brand) and then topped that with whipped cream. It became a kind of black forest cheesecake thing - which was extremely indulgent and looked like some kind of sculpture!

Sugar free date cake

My two have been crooning over this one! I've adapted it from a recipe I found on a packet of dates. It's chocolatey, sweet, sticky and indulgent...

Ingredients

• 125g soft butter
• 1 egg
• 225g SR flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinamon
• 75 mls milk
• 125g chopped dates
  

Method

• Preheat oven to 180
• Grease a 7" round cake tin or brownie tin
• Soften the butter with the back of a fork and beat it with the egg (the original recipe called for 125g soft light brown sugar in addition to the dates and you had to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy before adding the egg, as per a usual cake recipe)
• Add the rest of the ingredients, mix well and put in the prepared tin.
• Bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hours until cooked through.
  

Drop scones (scotch pancakes)

These are like scotch pancakes; yummy! DD enjoyed them stacked up with lemon juice and agave syrup, while DH liked them spread with chocolate icing. I always thought it was women who were chocoholics; but not in this house it would seem...

Drop Scones

Ingredients

• 8oz plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• pinch salt
• 1 tbsp fructose
• 2 small eggs
• around 1/4 pint milk

Method

• Mix all the dry ingredients together
• Beat in the 2 eggs and enough milk to make a smooth batter
• Drop tablespoons of the mix onto a hot frying pan
• When bubbles appear on the one side, flip them over and cook the other side

We decided these would benefit from some lemon rind and raisins too and they were really nice served warm with butter and strawberry jam.

This is what they look like just before you flip them over: