Something that has been truly hard for me is kicking out all the refined sugar from my house. Anyone who has met me knows I am a complete sucker for sweets. Embarrassing confession: I once had a sweet tooth so badly I dumped some sugar into peanut butter and chowed down. Today, I needed something sweet. It has been three days since I cold turkey (funny expression for a pescetarian) did away with refined and processed sugar, which has meant that I simply stayed away from all things sweet.
However, this is not just Sayonara to processed sugar in all forms. This is kicking out all white sugar and any other sugar that is specifically raw because these can gunk up your liver leaving it not so strong if HELLP syndrome settles in. Some things my mind jumps to immediately are honey, agave, and raw cane sugar. Whenever searching for recipes, I search by ingredients rather than trying to sort through a lot of recipes for one dish. The ingredients I knew I had in the kitchen to workout a dessert with today were:
A basket of peaches (Thanks, Pop)
Agave
Arrowroot (In place of cornstarch because corn products are to avoided for a happy liver)
When I searched these ingredients I stumbled upon Elana's Pantry. I am a little in love. Here is her recipe for Peach Crisp:
Peach Crisp
6 large peaches, sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ cup grapeseed oil (I actually used coconut oil because I didn't have any grapeseed oil on hand.)
¼ cup agave nectar
However, this is not just Sayonara to processed sugar in all forms. This is kicking out all white sugar and any other sugar that is specifically raw because these can gunk up your liver leaving it not so strong if HELLP syndrome settles in. Some things my mind jumps to immediately are honey, agave, and raw cane sugar. Whenever searching for recipes, I search by ingredients rather than trying to sort through a lot of recipes for one dish. The ingredients I knew I had in the kitchen to workout a dessert with today were:
A basket of peaches (Thanks, Pop)
Agave
Arrowroot (In place of cornstarch because corn products are to avoided for a happy liver)
When I searched these ingredients I stumbled upon Elana's Pantry. I am a little in love. Here is her recipe for Peach Crisp:
Peach Crisp
6 large peaches, sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons arrowroot powder
1 ½ cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
¼ cup grapeseed oil (I actually used coconut oil because I didn't have any grapeseed oil on hand.)
¼ cup agave nectar
- Place peach slices in a large bowl, sprinkle with lemon juice, vanilla, and arrowroot; toss to incorporate all ingredients
- In a smaller bowl, combine almond flour, salt, grapeseed oil and agave for topping
- Place peach mixture in a 3 quart baking dish
- Crumble topping over peaches
- Bake covered at 350° for 45 minutes, until peach juice is bubbling
- Remove cover and bake a few more minutes if topping is not yet browned
- Serve
It was delicious and quite satiating. I generally find myself a bottomless pit for dessert.. Maybe it was the almond flour, but this crisp was really filling. While I am on the topic of almond flour, I will say that it is a bit pricey for me, but it is really worth it in recipes like this. I try to use something as healthy and cost effective for more commonly made foods like bread or thickening sauce, but, wow, sometimes that almond flour make all the difference!
So, a big Thanks! to Elana's Pantry for providing our dessert menu while staying within our healthy liver, healthy pregnancy bounds!
How do you indulge your sweet tooth?
How do you indulge your sweet tooth?
1 comment:
It's been a while since I called round.
Happy New Year and congrats.
Do you mind if I make a point of two. People who have Celtic genes, in fact pretty much the entire globe with the exception of the Germanic tribes off the Steppe have profound problems processing certain sugars. It hinges on milk allergy. At least that's the one that's seen first manifesting in many many ways including chest infections and tonsillitis and general skin aggravations. But it's seen in other way too.
A craving for sugar, willing to spoon it from the sugar bowl neat. But the craving is for sucrose, however with it comes fructose and this can be really really bad. Usually white sugar has equal amounts, but brown and cane has a vastly higher levels of fructose.
One of the things as adults which can indicate an issue is an aggravated belly from yeast being fed by unabsorbed sugars.
Best of luck, and I hope everything goes well.
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