A wise man once told me how he cured himself of a Snickers’ addiction in an afternoon. All sweet treat lovers, take heed: the story goes like this. Having always had a taste for chocolate, the man became increasingly fond of Snickers. This predilection evolved, until there came a point that every time the man yearned for something sweet, only a Snickers could satisfy this craving – cakes and other chocolate bars no longer interested him. And the craving had become self-feeding. Not only did he crave them at his usual sweet snack time – around 4pm – but at all sorts of other moments in the day and evening. A rational type, one day, Snickers in hand, he totted up just how many he was consuming in one week and how much this sweet vice cost him financially. He realised he had to act. Continue reading
Tag Archives: pumpkin seeds
Quinoa with apple – the unexpected breakfast
When the richness of yoghurt does not appeal early in the morning, I use a couple of big spoonfuls of unsweetened apple puree to moisten some sort of cereal instead. Recently, tired of oats, I’ve been using cold quinoa, leftover from lunch the day before, or buckwheat flakes I buy from our local health food shop. Both are delicious.
But yesterday, in an untypical moment of self sacrifice, I finished the jar of apple puree on the children’s porridge. And so it was left to my culinary creativity to find a suitable replacement. As so very often the self sacrifice paid off, leading me to discover this gem of a breakfast. Continue reading
A word about sugar
I’m off sugar – white sugar, brown sugar, corn syrup, maple syrup, honey, the lot – and have been for quite a while. In doing so, I have become that awkward person at the dinner party, pitied by the other guests, who tuck in with relish and think why miss a delicious pud for the sake of a few calories, but I couldn’t feel better for it.
It hasn’t always been this way. A definite pudding instead of starter devotee until age 25, homemade brownies and pavlovas were two of my sweet party pieces and I was often seen replacing lunch with a bar of chocolate in the office. And though my desire for intensely sweet food lessened with age and increasing culinary sophistication (I stopped considering chocolate as a complete meal), I still enjoyed pudding and cake on occasion. Continue reading

