Banana & Cherry Slices

I've been considering cutting down my refined sugar intake. Or maybe cutting it out completely. I met someone else who is already doing this and it sort of re-enforced my thinking. So, when I went skipping (see my last post) and found 2 boxes or cherries, 6 bananas, and lots of oranges, I decided it was a good time to start some sugar-free baking. The recipe is incredibly simple and I really enjoyed these treats. They have a lovely subtle sweetness with more character than the sugary buns I had been baking. Now I'm sold on this sugar-free lark, and well on my way. Here's what I did.

I took the pips out of the cherries, squeezed the juice out of a few oranges and a lemon, and blended this all in a bowl with the 6 peeled bananas (like a lovely, thick smoothie). I added flour until I got a nice sloppy consistency, and I chopped up the other box of cherries and threw them in to get a nice chunky sweetness in the slices. I added a bit of oil and some nutmeg and cinammon. I poured the whole mixture onto a baking tray, thinly so it would cook within a reasonable amount of time.  Then I sprinkled some sunflower seeds on top for a laugh. And that's it. Let them cool and they're even nicer. Sugar-free and vegan. Beautiful.

- Dara

Plum, Kiwi and Apple Salad.

This is really tasty!

I think that this salad encapsulates what I want to do with this blog: change people's attitudes to food so that we eat consciously and flexibly.

This is the result of needing to use up fruit. I'm not a big fruit eater... As far as I'm concerned if you're hungry you eat food that will fill you up, (i.e. not fruit), if you're not hungry you don't eat. So when I eat fruit I prefer it in things to just on its own. Apart from apples; they're wonderful and great. Feel free to try to change my mind on this dismissive attitude to fruit - I'm trying to eat more of it.

Fruit is a blast of sugar (natural or no, it's still sugar). Sugar is a simple carbohydrate which makes your blood sugar levels disco disco, so it's really good to eat it with some protein so that your energy levels don't disco disco crash. Protein is more of a... erm... a tango. If we're sticking with the dancing analogy, then slow dances of protein and complex carbs are better for filling you up for longer, and for keeping your energy stable. The moral of the story is - eat nuts/seeds/cheese with fruit.

Right, so how to make this salad is:

1. Grate a load of apples and mix in some lemon juice. (Otherwise it'll go brown and icky.)

2. Throw in some sunflower seeds.

3. Cut up some plums and kiwis and mix them with the apple and seeds.

If there's any apple left over then it'll go really nicely with grated carrot to make a salad.