Ways A Dairy-Free, Hypoglycemic Stays Cool in the Summer

Welcome to Rhode Island summer. Down pouring, switching between raining and hardcore raining, day in and day out. Next week? Down to the 60’s, cloudy, some sun, a few showers now and again. The weekend? Hot. Hot and humid.

Gotta love summer.

One of my favorite parts of summer as a kid?

Ice cream.

(Okay, well it was one of my favorite parts of the other four seasons as well…But it’s a staple for summer.)

Not being able to eat ice cream is kind of a downer. I don’t just avoid it for the dairy (it’s a big reason though); I also stay away from it because of the sugar. In my opinion I don’t need to eat something that high in calories and fat and then 15 minutes later need to eat MORE to keep my blood sugar up. The sugar is the reason I don’t eat many substitutes, like almond milk or coconut milk ice cream. They’re really good if you get the right brands, but I run into the same issue because of the sugar.

So the Peanut Butter Queen (as I’ve been dubbed around here) went to work finding other ways to cool down. Frozen steak on the back works pretty well too, but it’s not as filling. (The Boy thought he’d try being funny at a Memorial Day cookout.)

1. Sorbet.

Preferably homemade sorbet or a decent store bought brand so you’re not taking in more ingredients than you need. But even with this, I have to deal with the sugar issues. Silly hypoglycemia.

Mango and peanut butter is my favorite.

2. Veggie Salads.

Cold vegetable salads are a great way to keep cool. They tend to have the exact opposite of sugary foods. Being full of fiber they keep you pretty full. Also, since you’re not cooking it at all, the veggies retain all of their nutrients. I usually dress it with just it with peanut butter, but I’m sure there are many other acceptable alternatives.

3. Fruit.

Fresh fruit and peanut butter are a match to be rivaled. My favorites are strawberries and raspberries. For anyone who loves chocolate and berries, try these with Dark Chocolate Dreams stuffed inside. SO GOOD. For strawberries, just core them, and fill them with whatever peanut butter you want.

4. Frozen Peas.

People think this particular dish is especially weird. I’m so sure why though. Frozen peas and peanut butter. (Or just frozen peas). I have yet to do it, but frozen grapes (as I’ve heard) are also quite tasty. I used to chow down on frozen peas when I was a baby, so I figured why not.

5. Cucumber.

There are two ways you can cool off with cucumber. A classic way and a Hannah way. The classic way is to slice it (peeled or not, your choice) and then soak it in vinegar with salt and pepper. The Hannah way, slice it and top it each slice with peanut butter. Either is acceptable and quite yummy.

These are pretty much my five favorite ways of staying cool (and healthy) during the summer time. I could probably think up more, but in all honesty, I just don’t want to. Plus, if it’s five it makes a nice alliteration with favorite.

Comments From The Boy

Monday will be 9 months for me and The Boy, though we’ve both stated how it feels like much longer (in a good way). Considering he says quite a few entertaining things, and I’m sort of strapped for a blog post this week (been lazy lately)… I figure I’ll take all of his wonderful little one-liners I’ve written down and post them to share. I hope you find as much entertainment in them as I have!

“Actually Sounds Appetizing”

A while back I made myself some oatmeal for dinner (surprise, surprise).

I started with my usual base (oatmeal and peanut butter) and then chopped up and threw in two golden delicious apples, along with just a little cinnamon. When I told him what I made, The Boy replied, “Actually sounds appetizing”

I simply replied with, “Everything else I cook is appetizing too. You’re just a whimp.”

Another time he asked me what I was doing, I told him cooking dinner. Before he even knew what I was making, he responded, “Ew.”

My Mango Sorbet

For a while during last summer, The Boy would get out of school around 11:15 then come to my house and we’d go off to find adventures.

It took him about half an hour to get to my house, so by the time he got there I would be eating lunch or in the process of making lunch.

The most memorable time was when I made my favorable mango sorbet.

This particular time, I chose to crush up some Peanut Butter Captain Crunch on top.

His reaction…

“Looks like a clump of butter with stuff crushed on top.”

Seriously?

Peanut Butter Jars

I was looking around on Amazon for kitchen things the other night, and I sent this link to The Boy and Pyro: Amazon: Rubbermaid Commercial Products

I sent a caption “I found the peanut butter containers.”

The Boy’s reply? “32. oz per meal?”

Isn’t he sweet?

Though…I guess it’s a valid question.

He may make a lot of jokes…But he’s pretty awesome sometimes too.

While my boyfriend is one of the first to make fun of me and has one of the biggest aversions to my food, he is exceedingly sweet.

The Washington County Fair comes around once a year for a week in August. Both of us had taken the day off from work so we could go enjoy a full day of fair funness. Plus, I wanted to see Casey James who wasn’t playing till 8:30.

This meant I’d be away from Hannah-friendly food for the majority of the day.

Let’s face it, think of fair food, what there could possibly be labeled healthy let alone fit my diet?

I only had to worry about my afternoon snack and my dinner, but dinner is kind of a major meal. I had packed a couple bars and also a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich for dinner. I had also figured I’d sneak a bowl of ice cream at some point during the trip (I was right, it was delicious).

We also decided to share some Dells. That big container was gone in...15 minutes? Yea about that.

Not being used to other people remembering my food issues, I found it incredibly charming when my boyfriend opened his lunchbox. He had packed accordingly:

A pack of raisins. A bag of peanuts. A peanut butter sandwich on Hannah-safe bread. And since he remembered that I like horseradish mustard on my peanut butter sandwiches, he brought along a small jar of dijon mustard. He said he hadn’t put it on the sandwich because he wasn’t sure if I liked that type, but brought it just in case.

His preparation came in handy. Trying to leave the fair we sat in his car for a good hour to an hour and a half with traffic not moving. The pack of peanuts worked as a good late night snack.

“I ran into some Hannah Problems”

On a random trip to Wal-Mart, The Boy bought me two jars of peanut butter. One was a large plastic jar of Planters all natural. The second happened to be a jar of Smucker’s Goobers. A glass jar.

Walking from the car to my house, I stuffed my arms to avoid making two trips.

I had seen how this was going to end once I’d stepped out of the car, but I chanced it anyways.

 

I shouldn’t have.

Bringing my key to the door, unlocking the door, opening the door, and down it goes.

My glass jar of peanut butter, gracefully fell met my stone step.

The Boy comforted me and then brought me upstairs (it had been a rough day and the broken jar was the last straw). As he left, I was left with the impression he went off to play airsoft with some of our friends. About an hour later he came back with a jar of Teddie all natural (unsalted because he remembered I don’t like salt) and a Welches Strawberry Jelly (because he also remembered I don’t like grape). As it turns out, he had drove to about 3 different stores around town looking for the Strawberry Smucker’s Goobers jar. Which, he couldn’t find.

His text to explain why he was going to be late to airsoft “I ran into some Hannah Problems.”

I could have been offended by it, but he’d worked to hard to being me what I’d wanted.

Somedays he makes up for all the jokes. :)

I swear, my blog is going to make my boyfriend famous.

A Weekend Trip and A Hannah-Friendly Treat!

1:30. 2:00. 2:42. 6:00.

This is my time schedule. 

For what?

For the day my month long count down ends. 

1:30 - The Boy arrives.

2:00 - We leave for the train station.

2:42 - Our train departs (hopefully on time).

6:00 - We arrive in NYC, awaited by my Aunt. 

We made plans to visit my Aunt and Uncle in New Jersey around the end of October. November 1st hit and the count down began.  

Well, if I'm going to be honest with myself (which seems to be the consensus of appropriate behavior) I should admit that the count down probably started when I thought of the idea. Say...Mid…September?

Early October?

Yea, that sounds about right.

Either way, I'm excited. 

I don't get to see this part of my family often. When we do get together, my aunt and I tend to spend our time getting lost during some adventure, shopping around, sight seeing, and usually double taking the sights because some how we managed to go in a giant circle without realizing it. Part of this may be due to our lack of knowledge concerning her (at the time) new GPS.

I haven’t seen my Aunt and Uncle since a couple of summers ago, and they will be meeting The Boy for the first time. They've never met a boyfriend of mine, but because this one seems to be sticking around for a while, I thought it might be nice. Another reason for me counting the days like a child does for Christmas or their birthday is because not only are we going to New Jersey, but also if weather allows, we'll be spending Saturday in New York City. Who knows what foods I'll find to munch on? 

My blog is all about adventures with food, and in America, what's one of the best places to do that? NYC.

How much food I’ll find to munch on, however, is a concern of mine. So soon after Thanksgiving, portion control is just regaining its strength. After not seeing a good and helpful friend for a few weeks, you tend to be a bit reserved at the chance of them leaving again.

Nevertheless, I’m keeping my thoughts positive and looking forward to the tasty treats. As well as working to keep up my will power.

So with my up coming travels, I figure I'll send off with one of my own (personal favorite) recipes.

Out of all the things I can’t eat, not being able to have dairy, is pretty rough for me.

Not because I’m a cheese fanatic or a glass-of-milk-a-day kind of person, I just really, really, really, love ice cream.

Yes, really.

Like eating a big bowl of chocolate ice cream a night for basically an entire year.

It’s not too hard to find alternative ice cream products. These days there’s coconut milk ice cream, soy ice cream, almond milk ice cream, and they’re all getting better at mimicking the creaminess and alluring texture of dairy ice cream.

Although I due indulge every now and then with those products (even real ice cream once in a while), I’m always careful of the type of food I put in to my body. I wanted a healthier option that would still sooth that ache in my taste buds.

Sorbet.

Obviously!

However, go take a drive to your local food store then read through a couple labels of the various sorbets. No, they don’t contain dairy. No, they’re not as bad. Yet, there are still a lot of unnecessary ingredients. Especially for a person like me, needing to extensively watch her sugar consumption. When companies make foods like sorbet (which is mainly fruit - a natural sugar) and then add even more refined sugar on top of that, those grams add up fast.

Take for instance Haagen-Dazs Mango Sorbet. At 150 calories per 1/2 cup, the ingredients include: water, sugar, mango puree, lemon juice concentrate, pumpkin juice concentrate (for color), carrot juice concentrate (for color), natural flavor, pectin (copied from http://www.haagendazs.com/Products/Product/2488). Each item in here isn’t so bad; none of it is particularly harmful. My point is… Why do we need all of it?

Granted, give Haagen-Dazs some credit. This list isn’t nearly as bad as it could be. Most of those are probably for color (as it says) and to help maintain it through shipping and all of that. But still… There are much simpler ways to do things at home.

So I did some research for what most people put into HOMEMADE sorbet. Turns out, if you want one specific fruit flavor there’s usually only that one fruit included. Homemade sorbet contains as little as your choice of fruit, some type of other sweetener (if desired), and…that’s about it. Throw it in the food processor and you’re all set.

But just fruit? That’s not much to enjoy…and just purreed fruit wouldn’t be too good for my blood sugar either.

So what could I possibly add?

Hah, of course! Peanut butter.

And along came one of my most personally adored dishes. It also happens to be a dish that supplies one of the highest numbers of comments and concerns for my mental stability. (I still haven’t figured out why though, it seems pretty normal to me?) I promise you though, if you like mangoes and if you like peanut butter, you will have a hard time picking between ice cream and this luscious sorbet.

The tang of the mango and the taste of peanuts complement each other well. They mix together forming a thickness like that of right-out-of-the-freezer-slow churned ice cream. Process it thoroughly, let it re-freeze for a sufficient amount of time, and you’ve got yourself a light dessert that feels anything but.

Mango and Peanut Butter Sorbet.

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen mango

2 1/2 Small Spoonfuls of peanut butter (for a yummy twist, use The Bee’s Knees Peanut Butter by Peanut Butter & Co.)

1/2-1 cup of your favorite cereal (I use either a type of cheerio or PB flavored cereal)

Directions:

1) Pour mangos into food processor and process till smooth. You will have to continue to push the mango down off the sides. Warning! The processor will be making a lot of noise to blend the mangoes!

2) Add peanut butter and process again till almost all of it’s blended together (feel free to add more or less peanut butter depending on your taste).

3) Place into a bowl and re-freeze until the sorbet has hardened.

4) Crush cereal and then use as a topping right before serving.

Okay, so I know you can't really see the actual sorbet due to the cereal. But I wanted to point out that the spoon, (which is stuck in the mango) is not touching the bowl. Yup. That handle ain't moving. Ahh, the strength of a thick sorbet!