What helps? An occasional moderate "cheat". Likely you'll laugh at my latest guilty concoction and tell me there's no "sin" to be found in it. I agree, and yet I know that I'm standing in my own private grey area--it's white enough to keep me from losing a lot of hard-won ground, but black enough to make me think I've indulged myself. Ready for a recipe?
Geo's Salvation Shake
In any proportions, blenderize the following ingredients, then drink with a defiant smile:
mashed and frozen banana
Adams' Natural Peanut Butter
Silk brand unsweetened soy milk
flax flour (optional)
Go ahead, laugh. I love this stuff. Peanuts are on my foods-to-avoid list and bananas don't appear on any of my lists, so that's why this is a cheat. At least I'm not making myself cheesecake or triple-whammy chocolate brownies. Or driving to Eliane's for a charlotte or an almond croissant.
My birthday's coming. Who knows what sort of cheat I'll come up with for that occasion!
Oh, and speaking of cheats and sweets, check out this amazing raspberry charlotte my wonderful friend Amy knit for me! She presented this authentic- and delicious-looking yummy to me at Knit Night last month, because she knows how devoted I am to the charlottes at Eliane's French Bakery and how I am suffering without them (poor, poor pitiful me!). There are only one or two things tastier than a charlotte from Eliane's and one of those is the love of a friend.
14 comments:
That is amazing--those raspberries even have little holes in the center. I love the photo of you devouring.
ps: I think Geo's Salvation Shake sounds deelish. I'm editing a neighbourhood cookbook--think I'll have to add your smoothie just to shake up the section with 7 variations on the "Ambrosia" theme. (You know the Ambrosia I'm talking about?)
pps: the love of a friend is tasty indeed. What's the other thing tastier than a charlotte from Eliane's?
If you have to ask, you'll never know. (Ambrosia, indeed!)
hee hee hee
Hilarious item and photo. What a friend!
That is SO great, Geo! And I have been eating a version of your shake but it has Ovaltine and skim milk with the banana and peanut butter. I honestly don't know what I woudl do without the grains, since they are the thing that squelches the nausea, but I also know that I was my most slim and fit when I went without grains (except the occasional brown rice or cracked wheat toast) when I lived with the family that religiously lived on the Zone diet. The charlotte is amazingly cool--what a totally creative and thoughtful gift! Is it scented? (that would be cruel).
Bluebell: I sincerely wanted to eat it!
Jamie: I hear you. Grains are the center of my (former) universe. No, thankfully, it's not scented.
Awww...I feel so special to have my charlotte be a featured item! I really do, it's made my whole day! I will be feeling warm inside for the rest of this blustery day.
I do love you, Geo. :)
pooh, I walked right into that one, didn't I?
I'm making a version of the shake tonight too. LWoG would take a kind of creativity I don't know if I'm gifted with. Honestly, sometimes coming up with any meal at all is demanding.
Amy: I love you too, and all the more because you are a charlottan!
Joh: Sorry, I thought you were baiting me. : )
Actually I was thinking more broadly than mere "ambrosia"--the solid love of a husband, in its many ambrosial and even its few less-than-ambrosial aspects, being my absolute number one pick of all tasty joys.
LWoG = life without grains? Yeah, it's definitely put a kink in my nose and cramped my style. Forget creativity; I'm worn out. Just pass the potatoes.
I was going to comment on this the other day, but got side tracked. All I can say is that you've got quite a bit of will power. good for you for taking care of yourself. also, I am currently on a no-sugar diet. a few of my coworkers and I have given up something that we are "addicted" to. so - sugar being my biggest weakness, I am steering clear of all sweets for the month of april. so far, so good. any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.
LYL!
EEPT
J'oga: Good for you! My advice is to try and also avoid all the hidden sugars in foods (it's astonishing how much gets packed in there without our even realizing it). Check out alternative sweeteners that are NATURAL--stevia and vegetable glycerine. Eat fruit in moderation, and focus on the less-sweet stuff like berries. Don't drink fruit juices. Pretty soon other foods will begin to taste differently to you, if you stick with it, and you'll find that you've been missing out on a lot of flavor by just depending on sugar. I hope you're convinced to keep it up--it's pretty amazing what a difference in your emotions alone (not to mention your sleep and energy) life without sugar addiction can make. Oh, I could go on forever. Are you sorry you asked yet? Call me and we'll talk.
As for congratulating me, I don't think it's necessary. It's taken major upheavals in my health (mental, physical) to convince me that I've got to get my planets into alignment. I'm investing too much in this healing process to quit now. Nixing sugar's the least of it.
That raspberry charlotte is brilliant!
Interesting, I've been doctor-ordered onto a similar diet meself. I work in an office where the boss equates food with love - gee, who does that remind you of? - and colleagues are always bringing in pastries from the two French bakeries in the 'hood, and sweeties from the chocolate cafe two doors down. What does it for me is having one or two small bites of something in a day - amazingly, that satisfies me deeply, now. And I have a hard time, philosophically, with cutting something out entirely.
That charlotte is AMAZING! How adorable, it is an exact likeness! Isn't it torture to know that Elaine's is right there...at the top of the hill...oh the danger!
We've often made your banana shake. Our other variation leaves out the peanut butter and adds in some honey--divine! Sometimes we add plain yogurt for some good bacteria, or oats for some sweeping.
Billy: I thought I had finally reached the "just a bite" point too, but this past week and a half I discovered afresh that my sugar monster is still alive and well. Seems he (she?) can stay dormant for months at a time and just when I think he's wasted away to a shrivelled so-and-so with no power over me, WHAMMO! I'm eating comfort foods and bingeing and blaming it on funerals. I am paying for my misbites now, and I'm a humbled believer that my sugar monster is pretty resilient and can kick my butt.
That said, it sure was nice to have a raspberry charlotte on my birthday this year. And a dark-chocolate-covered marzipan. And the next day an entire almond croissant from Eliane's all to myself. I'm still sick, but those items, at least, were worth it.
Carina: Flax is good for sweeping too, and it has a nutty yummy taste. I can't do oatmeal at the moment, but I'll file that away for future reference.
Carina: That reminds me--my husband loves to tell me, whenever we eat it, "Celery is Nature's broom!'
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