Monthly Archives: December 2018

If you have issues with gluten AND sugar, wow. Sucks to be you!

And me, too!

One would think that in 2019, we’d have the sugar-free/gluten-free lifestyle covered as far as desserts and sweets go, but I’ve noted we’ve still got a long road ahead of us, and so I have come up with more than a few things that are sweet, but leave the gluten and sugar at the supermarket.

One such recipe is this little ditty, which I call Lazy, 4-Ingredient Chocolate Cashew Nibbles. And even though they are lazy, they have nuts in them, specifically cashews. So if you are not a fan of nuts, please take note.

This recipe requires melting some baker’s chocolate – the kind with NO sugar added whatsoever, that when you eat it plain, you’ll taste a whole lotta fatty-bitter melting in your mouth. Which I’ve done on occasion, being the chocoholic that I am. To sweeten things up, I use monk fruit and stevia, two zero-calorie, zero-sugar natural sweeteners that are NOT in the sugar alcohol family either.

You’ll want to gather:

First, grab your non-stick pan by the handle and put it on low heat. Add in 2 ounces of baker’s chocolate – this turned out to be 2 thick squares of the Dagoba…and no, I don’t always use the expensive stuff:

While the chocolate slowly melts, spoon out 4 tablespoons of cashew butter into a small bowl, and add in your stevia powder:

Then, add in the quarter teaspoon of monk fruit powder:

By now the chocolate has most likely melted, so just use a plastic or silicon spatula to scrape it all out of your non-stick pan and into the bowl for mixing together with all the other ingredients:

This almost looks like an ice cream sundae at this point before you mix it all together:

Next, get your silicon ice cube tray or candy mold ready for filling. I use a hybrid silicon/plastic ice cube tray that has silicon bottoms, which makes for an easy job of popping out the finished Nibbles:

Pour a little of your chocolate-cashew butter-stevia-monk fruit mix into the tray:

Some of the little compartments may remain empty, depending upon how big you like your Nibbles…note there are varying sizes in my tray, and that’s okay…

After you load up the tray with the chocolate mixture, let it cool for a few minutes, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours.

And this is something I’m always working on with all things homemade and chocolate: These little Nibbles will remain firm to a point. If you live in a hot second floor apartment and make these on a summer’s day, maybe not. If your house is cool, they probably will stay firm enough without refrigeration to serve as is. So, I usually just err on the side of caution and keep them in the fridge, where they will stay fresh for at least several days.

These are GOOD!

Enjoy,

Alison

My body parts are still up for grabs for profiteering by the mainstream US healthcare industry, where I’ve very often been treated as an open, bleeding wallet. I could swear that wellness has absolutely nothing to do with the whole deal. Thus, Songs in the Key of Big C‘s visual artistic statement: Body parts on display, no head. A centerfold. And no times listed.

The front cover was shot just after arriving home from a biopsy done on my left breast. I had lightly scratched it, it bled, and it looked partly inverted for the most part. Not good. The doc insisted on a boob-smashing mammogram. No, thanks. Enter my old standby during all those times I’ve not had “proper” healthcare coverage: the black salve treatment.

The back cover is my left breast with the bandage off, post-biopsy.

If that turns you on, I understand there are vacancies in the Trump White House.

As for the inner fold, well, I always wanted to be a centerfold! I’ve been told by a few kind souls that my “boobs were too small” to be a centerfold…but apparently big enough for the cancer to find one of them, so there you go…

As well, note that there are no times or years listed, except for a tiny little P-line on the disc itself to let people know this is a 2019 release. The absence of time references addresses the significant loss of time one experiences when dealing with and healing from maladies as soul-depleting as environmental illness and cancer, both of which I’ve lost years to. There was a time when I stopped watching clocks and constantly checking the time, which revolved around my fear of not having enough time to do everything I wanted to do, to know everyone I wanted to know.

Interestingly enough, it was when I was in the zone, producing music, that I lost track of all time as well. In that, there was a lot of healing, as hours over hours would pass without my realizing it. The fear was on the shelf – right where it belongs.

Enjoy the music, Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it, and Happy 2019!

Alison