The title seems ominous for a baking blog doesn't it ?
No worries, I'm not shutting down and closing shop anytime soon. I've just been thinking about how much added sugar I'm consuming in my regular life. I'm not talking about when I indulge myself in baking, those are treats. I'm talking about the sugar in your coffee or tea, the sugar that's added to your favourite processed foods from crackers to cereal to salad dressings, the list goes on. I do pride myself on the fact that I believe that the best diet you can provide yourself is one that is made up of mostly whole foods and minimal processing, and for the most part I stick to that. But then again no one is perfect. I do enjoy some sugar in my coffee, my store bought salad dressings and the worst culprit sugar-free gum.
So as a personal decision, I'm going to try (being the operative word) and eliminate all my added sugar for the next 2 weeks and hopefully continue for a month. Naturally occuring sugars such as fruit and dairy sugars along with honey and agave syrup will be allowed of course but no refined sugar and especially no chemical sugars (sucralose, aspertame, sugar alcohols etc.)
I know I'm beyond crazy for trying this days before one of the biggest candy days of the year. I'm not saying that I have steel will power, but I'll try my best. Come Christmas though, it's game over.
Stayed tuned for some sugar free treats I have in the works along with the usual sugar packed ones I will feed to my willing friends, co-workers and husband.
The following recipe is a DIY of our favourite dish at our favourite chinese restaurant in Vancouver, Hon's . I neglected to take any pictures as we were too excited and just wanted to eat as much and as quickly as possible.
Pork, peppers and onions with black bean sauce
The original is made with prawns, but since I didn't have any I made it with pork. Chicken, beef, pork or prawns would work well in this dish.
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 pork tenderloin (1-2 lbs), chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 green pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 tablespoon black beans and garlic sauce*
1 teaspoon sugar
Heat oil over medium-high heat, add pork tenderloin and brown about 5 minutes. Add peppers, onion, black bean sauce and sugar. Stir to combine and continue cooking over medium heat until pork is cooked through and peppers are tender.
Serve over stirfried chowmein noodles with green bean sprouts or cooked brown rice. nom nom nom.....
* Sauce can be found at asian supermarkets such as H Mart or T & T Supermarket
