Ideas for yummy things to eat with no sugar at all please.

piegirl

Thu, May 05 2011, 5:31 am

[quote="shabbatiscoming"]

batmelech wrote:

Wow, so all you put into the meat is allspice (not really sure what that is but I will look it up)? Is there any sauce from that? or just water in the pot afterwards?

in the meat I put a little matza meal, a grated onion, allspice, salt, pepper. I make them small- they taste better like that.
allspice is a brown spice http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allspice
don't put so much water that it's like soup. I put like half of my(smallish) pot, like a pinch of allspice and salt (some people also put a drop of cinnamon. I don't really like that, but you can try it) the water turns brown. then add meatballs, and when those are cooked, add the peas, and by then, the peas puff up and most of the water has evaporated. it's not saucy, but it has some liquid left. you can make this with tomato sauce or paste if you happen to find some, skip the spices in the sauce except salt.
I usually serve this with rice, my mother prefers brown rice
it's really yummy.

mandksima

Thu, May 05 2011, 5:39 am

amother wrote:

try opening a sphardi cookbook.
in my mother's house, food had no sugar. no chicken with ready made sauces, no ready made salad dressing, nothing. ideas for chicken: lemon chicken is good- add some lemon juice, paprika, salt, pepper. you can make plain roasted chicken, grilled chicken salad, meatballs spiced with allspice, cinnamon, salt, and cooked with peas, roast, and if you want a sweet sauce for meat, try adding sauteed onions
dairy you can make mac and cheese, spinach quiche, broccoli quiche, mushroom quiche, eggplant parmesan, etc
parve you can make ratatouille, with whatever vegetables you have in the fridge, with a side of brown rice, quinua
snacks can be nuts, cheese, vegetables with chummus

I make that a lot too. Add shredded carrot, diced scallions and peppers, cucumbers and celery to diced cooked chicken with a mix of mayo, mustard and black pepper for the chicken salad. Serve on cut up lettuce with tomato wedges for a great light feeling lunch.

Also, stir fries are great with a little soy sauce, ginger, garlic. Add tons of veggies and small pieces of chicken breast.

EvenI

Thu, May 05 2011, 5:47 am

mandksima wrote:

I did this while gestational diabetic and as well went off white flour/potatoes/white rice. Basically, I would eat fruit with a few almonds or walnuts as a snack and the rest was real food. I did use a little bit of agave syrup in tea or in the pure cranberry juice I had to drink daily. No artificial sweeteners though as they are not healthy and they make you crave sweets. I'll tell you that honestly, after a few days of this eating, I didn't crave sweets.

For something occasional for desserts - cook up some apples, either like applesauce or baked in a dish with some cinnamon and a few raisins. Some freeze bananas and make an ice cream kind of dessert with nothing else. Could use pineapple (canned, no added sugar) and mango too.

Tomato sauce (when making your own) needs some sweetener to taste good. Either add a little bit of agave syrup or a few raisins. maybe use a little silan syrup (make sure no sugar has been added) but it is strong tasting and is better for marinades on meat, chicken and the like.

Some use a little apple juice concentrate in cakes. I suggest skipping the substituted desserts and go for whole foods.

Thanks for bringing this up. After I gave birth, I went back to chocolate because of the stress (Pesach!) but I desperately need to go back to the way I was eating. I felt so much better and I lost weight. It just takes work, discipline and motivation!

I strongly disagree with the bold, simply because I've made tomato sauce many many times and almost never with sugar. I do sometimes add some dry wine which enhances it.

shabbatiscoming

Thu, May 05 2011, 8:33 am

Raisin wrote:

I almost never put sugar in real food. Why does it even need it? Tomato sauce is never made with sugar and it tastes fine. Yes, I know some recpes taste good becasue they have lots of sugar, they also taste good without.

Cookbbooks like KBD are full of sugary recipes, other ones not so much.

when I say sugar I mean things like sauces for example on chicken. they all have sugars in them.

I dont have that cook book, so I wouldnt know.

suzyq

Thu, May 05 2011, 8:49 am

I also rarely put sugar on "real food." When I make chicken, I'll roast it - just with some olive oil, garlic, pepper, and paprika. Or with some condensed mushroom soup (don't think it has sugar) or smeared with onions, mushrooms and garlic. There is so much you can do with spices. I also make my meat similarly - lots of onions and garlic, the natural juices really come out and there is no need for sweet stuff like ketchup and cranberry sauce.

EvenI

Thu, May 05 2011, 9:16 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

when I say sugar I mean things like sauces for example on chicken. they all have sugars in them.

Do you mean sauces that come ready made in bottles and jars or sauces you make yourself? If you make them yourself, no need for sugar. If you mean you buy them, then don't. Maybe they do all have sugar in, but a lot of people, such as myself, never buy them anyway. Are you used to a style of cooking that uses lots of processed foods and sugar?

These are things I do with my chickens:

- Mix olive oil with curry spices such as coriander, cumin, curry powder, crushed garlic, diced onion, whatever else I have that goes and shmear it all over the chicken. Bake with a cover for about 1.25 hours.
- Smear lots of paprika all over chicken, place garlic cloves all around chicken and pour a modest amount of olive oil over. Bake with a cover for about 1.25 hours.
- Put garlic cloves all around the chicken, pour a modest amount of olive oil and dry white wine on. Bake with a cover for about 1.25 hours.
- Same as previous with a bed of carrot and leek peelings underneath or something like that. Bake with a cover for about 1.25 hours.
- Put garlic cloves all around the chicken, place mushroom slices all over, pour a modest amount of dry red wine all over. Bake with a cover for about 1.25 hrs.
- Fry onion rings, place under and over chicken, pour juice of an orange over and bake.
- Place prunes, apples and the like all around chicken and pour wine over and bake.
- Put rice, any diced veggies and crushed garlic in a baking pan, all mixed together, place chicken pieces on top, pour liquid all over, enough to cook rice and veggies, including water, optionally combined with tomato paste/soy sauce/wine, cover and bake.
- Fry chicken pieces coated in flour, remove from pot and put in orange juice, wine, chicken broth, cinnamon stick, honey (maybe you can't use honey, so you could try without or try silan (date syrup), add chicken back in and simmer until cooked through.

If you use mayonnaise and mustard, you have more possibilities. If you use soup mix and you have a sugar free apricot jam, you can combine onion soup mix and apricot jam. Then there's breaded chicken...

If you put tasty spices on and bake with a cover for about 1.25 hours, the chicken comes out succulent and flavorful.

shoshina

Thu, May 05 2011, 9:27 am

I drink fruit smoothies every morning which are sweet but have no actual sugar: frozen berries, banana, yoghurt, coconut milk. Tastes likes dessert but is full of vitamins and antioxidants so I find it sets you up for having a good day.

Almost no soups need sugar (although I find french onion soup hard to make without a sprinkle) so mushroom barley with strips of beef, pureed potato-leek, lentil with rice, etc. The other weight loss benefit of soup is it fills you up but is largely water.

Chicken: roast it whole dry rubbed with salt, with an onion and a lemon in the cavity. OR put pieces in a roasting pan with cut up onions and some beer or champagne, roast until brown. Crock-pot braises are great because they almost never want you to add any sugar-- but beware of bbq sauce!

Tamiri

Thu, May 05 2011, 11:24 am

Shabbat, I am not sure but I think maybe you are used to easy cooking. Utilizing readily-available sauces, dressings, mixes etc. So I think that now is the time to learn how to make things from scratch. Starting small, of course. It may take longer to prepare Shabbat meals (we've discussed this Very Happy

) but the result will be that you know exactly what is going into your body. I commend you on the no-sugar attempt and wish you hatzlacha raba. You are lucky to be in Israel, where fresh herbs, spices and fresh produce are so readily available (I'm not going to say they are cheap because nothing is so cheap anymore, but prices are reasonable.). If you are not acquainted with dill, parsley and cilantro, I suggest you go out and buy some and experiment using them as flavoring. Buy fine olive oil (not in the super; find a yishuv-type person selling quality stuff). Buy lemons. Buy good dijon. Buy dried basil, oregano. Buy ground cumin, a little turmeric (not everyone likes it). Buy a pepper mill and grind your own pepper. I imagine you have paprika; make sure it's good and fresh. Have some wine and balsamic vinegars on hand. You are just about ready to start cooking delicious, flavorful food that doesn't need sugar. Cooked chick peas with salt and ground pepper is a good nosh.
Things that are full of sugar, even if you don't know it: ketchup, tomato paste (sometimes you can find it without sugar/glucose listed but it's rare), all prepared salads (if I am not mistaken), all prepared dressings and sauces including pasta sauce, soup mix (if I am not mistaken), cereal (check the box), frozen convenience foods, frozen "fresh" fish (check labeling carefully: salmon, for example, in many cases has some sugar preservative added). Diet drinks are bad because they don't supress the sugar craving. Challa (I suggest you try and go with sourdough if possible because IIRC when I was baking sourdough, no sugar was added). All crackers and snacks (like Bissli, if I am not mistaken).
And that's just for starters....
Good luck!

ra_mom

Thu, May 05 2011, 2:14 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

mandksima wrote:

Wow, thanks for all of this. I already started this before Pesach. I was on no sugar and eating almonds and cashews as my snack. I lost a nice amount of weight in the first two weeks but the best part of not having any sugars was like what you said, that the cravings just went away.

When you say that you had real food other than fruits and nuts for snack, like what? Like for example, what did you season chicken with? I am used to putting on sauces and I know that they are LOADED with sugary garbage. What did you eat? Snacks I know what I can and will eat, its the real food that I am stumped about.

See these threads for some great ideas.
http://imamother.com/forum/vie.....sweet

http://imamother.com/forum/vie.....anata

ra_mom

Thu, May 05 2011, 2:17 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

amother wrote:

Wow, thanks. why are you anonymous? these are all great ideas.
I would love to make meat balls but what would I use to get the good taste? right now I have used tomato sauce but that would be out for me. How would I make that with out the sauce?

Mrs Bissli's meatballs in carrot sauce is delicious.
http://imamother.com/forum/vie.....balls
I replace the celery with fresh garlic. And leave out the soup powder but add more salt to taste. Really yummy.
If you want a smoother sauce, cook the carrots first, and then puree them in the water along with the sauteed stuff.