Sweet Tooth

So things have been kind of depressing around here, food-wise.  Last night, while B and R were working on their Harry Potter jigsaw puzzle that B gave R for Christmas, they had a craving.  So R suggests ice cream, but B isn't supposed to be eating dairy now.  He wound up going out and getting Katz donuts from the nearby Giant Food store.  These are gluten and dairy free and actually pretty good!  You have to keep them frozen and then heat them in the microwave for 3 to 5 seconds.  They do a good job of satisfying a craving.  However, they come in a box, in a plastic sleeve, in a plastic tray.  The box can be recycled, the plastic sleeve is headed for the landfill and the plastic tray is supposedly recyclable but I know that most plastics don't get recycled.  Still technically it is accepted by our trash co as such.

But this made me realize that I have to have on hand snacky stuff, other than fruit, if we are going to stick to this thing.

So I'm brainstorming here:

Peanut butter cookies - I've made these before and posted about them.
Popcorn - maybe kettle corn to satisfy the sweet tooth?
Banana ice cream - I think we experimented with this a long time ago.  1 ingredient ice cream.
Popsicles - this mango-coconut version sounds good.  To make it zero waste, I'd have to buy mangoes, let them ripen, chop them up and freeze them.  Also, I need reusable Popsicle molds.  I used to have some a long time ago when the kids were little.

And I don't want to encourage eating tons of hard candy, but occasionally treating oneself to some of those hard candies that come in little tins might be just thing to lift B from feeling sorry for herself and her deprivation to maintaining a good attitude. 

Another thing also would be to have a soda for a treat.  I occasionally buy root beer in glass bottles, so that's another way to go.

There are other more complicated recipes that I need to try.  The nutritionist gave us a handout with lots of recipes for 'energy balls' or 'bars' that are supposed to be good for snacking or desserts. 

I think B might get into making these things.  She does like to bake.  So maybe that will transfer to preparing this stuff. In fact she latched on to one of the recipes for a breakfast smoothie, a kiwi-mint smoothie.  The nutritionist suggested it when B said that kiwi was one of her favorite fruits.  So B actually prepared everything last night so she could get up this morning and make this for her breakfast.  I went out and bought two mint plants because you are supposed to use fresh mint leaves.

Menu for today:
Breakfast:  Kiwi-mint smoothies
Lunch - lentil veggie soup (organic from the store) with little ham - red pepper-cucumber kabobs.  I got the ham over the counter.  Boar's Head which is gluten and msg free.
Dinner - chicken-broccoli pesto gf pasta and salad.