#snackaholic

Growing up, it was just my mom and I. Finances were always tight - I didn’t have name brand anything until I bought my own volleyball shoes in junior high - and I can remember more than a few Christmases that were a little skimp on presents. We may not have had a lot of money, but Mom made sure that what we lacked financially, she gave to me in experiences.

I’ve still yet to go to Disney World (shoot, I was lucky if I got to go to Six Flags!) BUT I have seen the world’s largest ball of twine and the country’s largest ketchup bottle!

Every summer, she would take a week off from all of her jobs to go on a random road trip with me. North Dakota and Pennsylvania were particular standouts. [Ask me why if you care to know.] Those few days every summer gave us sorely needed mother-daughter bonding time and it got me out of our blink-and-you-miss-it town, if only for a little while.

Welp. Couldn’t sleep last night so that blows. Start off my morning right though with some overnight oats again with raspberries. I also had some ginger tea. For lunch, the wife asked instead of salad if I could make that warm kale salad again. I totally forgot to write it down, so I recreated it and it turned out practically the same I’d say. I needed to use up the kale anyway so I’m glad we did that.

Now for todays adventures… I made some homemade jam- simple stuff. Just a half a cup of berries, microwave that, add in 2 tsp chia seeds- smash and mix together. Boom done. AAANNNDD!!! I MADE BREAD! For the first time ever. Sugar-free, egg-free, milk-free. It’s pretty dense but I think that’s because I wasn’t able to use sugar. My pastry arts sister told me that yeast needs sugar to feed off of. As long as it tastes good then I’m good with thick heavy bread. And damn does it ever taste good. Holy hell! Tasted it then tasted it with some of my new jam on it and man am I proud of myself. Never made bread- turned out great. Never made jam- turned out great. I think I’m going to make bread now instead of buying at the grocery store. Way less preservatives obviously and that means it’s probably wayyyyy better for you. 🍞

This sugar-free month of isolation has really broadened my cooking and baking ability. I think this shit runs though my veins from my mom or something. It is exciting to try new things when I have so much time to do it. And even better when I have my sister and my mom on speed dial for any newbie questions I have, though neither of them are sugar-free or vegan. So advice can be limited but always welcome.

Supper had a mind of its own. Attempted to make a vegan loaf. I made one once but never wrote down the recipe of course. So today it just became a sloppy gooey mess. I threw in a shit ton of oats to thicken it up and bright side bob- it worked! Just over salted it like I do all my food apparently. I gotta start measuring that shit out.

I think I’m too excited that I made homemade bread and jam. Can’t wait for tomorrow morning- Toast and Jam!! Only thing I gotta figure out now is what to have for snack tonight. Sugar free snacks aren’t too satisfying for me, but I think I got this. Wish me luck! 🌱 ✌️