Grandma's Applesauce Fruitcake

I could never understand what all the fruitcake jokes were about — my grandma's fruitcake was the best thing I ever tasted! When I was a kid, she used to make it during the holiday seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas. At that time, she made the fruitcakes out of white flour, white sugar, sugar-sweetened applesauce, dried and candied fruits, and a light corn syrup sauce on top.

Later, she gave me the recipe when I was an adult and I was surprised at how easy it was for me to adapt it to suit my own tastes. To begin with, it had no eggs in the recipe, and no butter — so it was basically a vegan cake. And because it was made with 1 and 1/2 cups of applesauce, chances were good that it would be sweet enough for me without any added sugar.

The secret to making this fruitcake really great is storing the baked cakes in the freezer for at least two weeks, allowing them to "mellow." They can stay in the freezer for 2 or 3 months and taste even better. Grandma would thaw the fruitcakes first and then pour a boiled syrup she made out of light corn syrup and water over the top, which made them nice and moist.

I've found over the years of making my own versions that the syrup on top isn't really necessary, but if I want the cake to be more moist, then boiled water alone does the trick just as well! Here is my version of the recipe:

Grandma's Applesauce Fruitcake
250ºF oven
2 hours
2 loaf pans, greased and floured

STEP 1: Boil 5 minutes and then cool:
1 1/2 cups applesauce (I made mine using apples from our garden)
1/2 cup oil (olive or coconut)

STEP 2: Mix together:
2 1/4 cups flour (any mix of whole grain flours, like 1 cup rye + 1 cup wheat + 1/4 cup oat)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon sea salt, unrefined
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves

STEP 3: Add and mix:
1/2 pound dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 pound raisins
1/4 pound (4 ounces) dried apricots (unsulfered) 
1/2 pound walnuts, broken into pieces (these are even better when I soak them in distilled water first for about 6 hours)

STEP 4: Add the cooled applesauce-oil mixture (see step 1) and blend all together.

STEP 5: Spread the cake batter evenly between two loaf pans that have been greased and dusted lightly with flour.

STEP 6: Bake in a 250-degree (F) oven for two hours. (Check half-way through for burning and cover if needed.)

STEP 7: Cool the cakes in their pans on a rack, and then remove them from the pans. 

STEP 8: Wrap each cooled cake first in waxed paper, and then in aluminum foil, and then in plastic zip-lock freezer bags. Store in the freezer for at least 2 weeks. 

STEP 9: Remove from freezer, thaw, and cut into thin slices. (A serrated bread knife works well.)

OPTIONAL TOPPING: Boil 1/2 cup light corn syrup and 1/4 cup water, cool, and glaze cakes. (Other types of sweet syrups will work and so will just boiled water.)

This is a pretty versatile recipe, allowing you to substitute any kind of dried fruit, nuts, or whole grain flours that you want. The cakes look like bricks of gold and taste just as valuable. Cheers!

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Weight Loss Tips From Julia Ferre

In her new book, Food and Intuition 101, Julia Ferre gives a list of twelve tips for losing weight:

1. Plan meals. Be proactive, not reactive or compulsive.

2. Eat breakfast. Eat regularly throughout the day. Don’t let your body think it’s starving.

3. Satisfy sweet cravings with healthy carbs, such as sweet potatoes, winter squash, and grains chewed well.

4. Sit during the entire meal, at a table, without a television.

5. Drink water 15 minutes prior to the meal, to moisturize intestines and prevent overeating.

6. Take a bite, put the fork down, chew it, and observe how you much you like it. Pick up the fork and repeat.

7. Serve yourself a complete meal on an attractive plate, like in a restaurant.

8. Have a healthy dessert like fresh fruit, dried fruit, and nuts, or homemade goods.

9. Take a walk for 5 to 10 minutes after eating to stimulate digestion. Read the section on “Cravings.”

10. If you can’t take a walk, then get up and wash the dishes to stimulate digestion.

11. Enjoy your company. Feast on the interaction.

12. Say a blessing before eating, and smile if you notice your body is ready and starting to salivate.

This all sounds like really good advice to me! Therefore, I shall be incorporating it into my weight loss diet plan.

Incidentally, to my surprise, I found that her tips for gaining weight (page 200 of Food and Intuition 101) provided useful information for me too! For example, I could add to my weight loss plan:

• Eat larger meals less often during the day to decrease number of calories.

• Eat dry and hard foods such as salads and crackers because they’re harder to digest and they encourage weight loss.

• Probiotics before meals strengthen the digestive track, and digestive enzymes after meals can enhance assimilation.

In summary, I'm finding that this book is very useful as an exercise in strengthening my intuition and relationship with food. GOOD BOOK!  

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Weight Loss Tips From Herman Aihara

Herman Aihara offers some great information about "why people get fat and how to reduce fat" in his book, Basic Macrobiotics.

Here are his tips for avoiding obesity:

1. Restrict the intake of dairy and fatty animal foods.
2. Use vegetable oils in cooking.
3. Avoid margarine.
4. Avoid refined sugar.
5. Use very little honey, syrups, and other sweeteners — even natural ones.
6. Eat as little fruit as possible.
7. Eat whole grains, vegetables, sea vegetables, and beans. 
8. Reduce animal foods to 10% of total food; fish and shellfish are best.
9. Do not drink alcohol.
10. Use no drugs.
11. Get plenty of exercise, and try to work up a sweat every day.

Starting on page 64, he explains how carbohydrates (sugars and starches), protein, and fat are metabolized into energy, carbon dioxide, and water. Then he talks about pyruvic acid, which is created first when carbohydrates are broken down in the energy cycle.

In obese people, he says, there is a tendency for the pyruvic acid to stop before it can completely metabolize. A buildup of the pyruvic acid then occurs, which in turn inhibits the body from releasing stored fat, and converts the acid into neutral fats or glycerides, which are then stored in the body.

In his opinion, this halt in the energy cycle is caused by overeating simple carbohydrates, protein, and fat — especially processed carbohydrates, refined sugar, and fruit. (Interesting — I never really thought of fruit as being a simple carbohydrate!)

He explains how the only way to induce a change is to exercise. Exercise creates enough energy that changes pyruvic acid and completes the cycle, so that fat can be released. (Well what do you know! I never thought that exercising creates energy — I always thought that it used energy.)

Herman Aihara goes on to explain the two ways that fat is formed in the body (either the liver or the fatty tissue produces it) — but only the liver breaks down fat. So if you have a weak liver, you will tend to accumulate fat.

He also explains how other factors control the metabolism of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats in the body. All of what he says convinces me that his tips for avoiding obesity are very sensible! The bottom line is that exercise is very important. The cool thing is that it will give you more energy!

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Weight Loss Tips From George Ohsawa

In his book, Zen Macrobiotics, George Ohsawa includes "Obesity" in the section on "Specific Dietary Suggestions for Disease," page 143:

Obesity
Diet No. 7 with 30 to 60 grams of raw radish, plus a little gomasio (50) for one month or more.

At the beginning of the section, before he gives the directions for obesity, George Ohsawa reminds us — "Don't forget that the following specific, symptomatic directions are not necessary if you are following Diet No. 7 or if your case is not critical."

Well, my case is certainly not critical! But nevertheless, I want to keep the principles of his dietary suggestion for "Obesity" in mind as I design my own weight-loss plan. Diet number seven is one-hundred percent whole grains, which are the most yang of the plant-based foods. Grains are the most central to a balanced diet. Radish (such as the white daikon radish) is more yin than whole grains, but not as much yin as most other vegetables, and it's closer to grains at the center of the diet. Raw radish is more yin than if it were cooked. All of this gives me clues for what foods to choose if I want to lose weight.

Now, I realize that George Ohsawa's dietary suggestion for obesity is a temporary treatment that I would only use as a jump-start for losing a great deal of weight. So now that I'm down to the last twenty pounds of weight that I want to lose, I need something different for my diet plan, something more broader as I become more focused.

Note: 30 to 60 grams of raw radish equals about 1 to 2 liquid ounces, or 2 to 4 tablespoons, or 1/8 to 1/4 cup. Also, for a recipe for gomasio (50) see page 67 of Zen Macrobiotics.

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Designing My Own Weight-Loss Diet

Happy New Year 2013! Today marks the beginning of a new loop around the spiral, promising to be an even better and more interesting year than the last one! 

After reviewing the last two years of eating No More Sugar, I've decided that it's finally time for me to go on a specific weight-loss diet. I intend to custom-design a diet plan that suits my needs personally and I'll follow it for a year and a half, so that it becomes a habit. After I've developed my plan, I think I'll begin the diet sometime next month, perhaps on Valentine's Day!

Over the years of my life, I have gone on several weight-loss plans that were designed by other people to be used by everybody, no matter what their individual situation or condition might be — including a "ketogenic high protein diet," the Weight Watchers Diet, and The Diet Center plan. 

By the time I was out of college, I had had enough of all dieting! I decided that I wanted to concentrate on eating good, wholesome, and nutritious food and be done with weight-loss diets. And so it was the perfect time for me to find the book, Zen Macrobiotics, on the grocery store shelf!

I have lost a lot of weight slowly ever since I started practicing macrobiotics and now I want to lose the last 20 pounds of stored fat around my middle that was the first to accumulate on my body and will finally be the last to leave. And I am more than ready for it!

Cheers!

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Two Years Of No More Sugar

Two years ago, I stopped eating sugar. 

By sugar, I mean the white stuff — the granulated, overly processed refined sugarcane or sugar beets that's in a white powdery or crystalline form, also known as table sugar — and that's added to all kinds of food products to sweeten them up. 

I also mean all the variations of sugar, like "brown sugar," which is basically still white sugar only something has been added to color it brown, and "Sucanat" or "Rapadura/Rapunzel's Whole Cane Sugar" — a type of sweet flour made from dehydrated sugarcane juice, which is much less refined than white granulated sugar keeping all of its minerals, vitamins, and molasses, but is still missing all the fiber from the whole sugarcane.

I stopped eating anything that I thought probably had sugar in it, like muffins at the bakery, or cookies someone else made, or anything at a restaurant that was likely to contain sugar in it, whether it was obvious — such as ketchup or pastries — or not so obvious — such as pancakes or sauces.

Over these past two years, I still went on an occasional sweet-food binge (away from my standard macrobiotic fare) but binging no longer means something with sugar in it. Instead, I binged on something like a croissant (white flour and butter) and a cafe latte. Sometimes I sweetened my food with a drizzle of organic maple syrup, brown rice syrup, or agave nectar. I also experimented with other ways to sweeten my food, such as using various kinds of cooked fruit, sweet winter squashes, and even amazake from the grocery store. 

I also stopped eating dry, salty snacks like tortilla corn chips, rice chips, yam chips, potato chips, sesame sticks, etc. so that these overly yang foods couldn't make me crave sugar. 

By stopping the sugar and the salty snacks, I've also saved my poor digestive track from becoming dehydrated! I no longer get congested in my nose and sinuses, and I haven't had a single cold or flu bug!

So, what's next?

As I'm writing this and reviewing the kinds of foods that I've snacked on over the last two years, I'm realizing that the next step I want to take is towards achieving my ideal weight and overall health. I want to stop eating snacks between meals and desserts except for on very special occasions. More specifically, these are my favorite snacks that I'm talking about:

• Chewnami Sesame Bars made by Rising Tide Sea Vegetables (These are my favorite snack bars. They contain sesame seeds, kombu seaweed, brown rice syrup, and maple syrup — pretty simple ingredients — and they're delicious!)

• Jocalat organic chocolate bars made by the Larabar company. (These candy bars are comprised of finely ground raw dates and nuts, and organic chocolate that is cooked during the initial processing. Very very yin!)

• Camel Brand Halvah Natural Sesame Bars made by Noble Foods, Inc. (I first bought these two years ago as an alternative to eating sugar. It says on their label "The only natural halvah in North America. Contains no granulated sugar." Nevertheless, it only took eating a couple of these candy bars to see how extremely yin they are too, with their concentrated amounts of ground sesame seeds and malted corn barley syrup!)

• Organic maple syrup and butter on toast (My favorite toast is made with Vital Vittles "Real Bread.")

• Homemade cookies sweetened with organic maple syrup, organic brown rice syrup or Organic Blue Agave nectar.

• Traditional Spice Windmill Cookies by Heaven Scent Natural Foods (These are my favorite store-bought cookies, made of organic whole wheat flour and fruit-juice sweetened. They're delicious!)

• Amazake Rice Shakes (These delicious drinks are made up of cultured organic brown rice, rice koji, and nuts, such as almonds or pecans. Very sweet. Some day I was thinking of trying them out in my ice cream maker!)

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Holiday Pumpkin Carrot Onion Soup for Mom

Dear Mom, I made this soup for you twelve years ago while you were visiting us. Do you remember it? I dedicated it to you because you were my inspiration in creating it. At the time, my intention was to use some of the principles I had been studying in Macrobiotics. And the result was a delicious soup that made it into my box of favorite recipes.

Since then, every time I make the soup, I remember that wonderful visit in November with you. Thanks, Mom! (P.S. I also remember that we shared a couple of apples with the horse down the road that day!)

Now, each time I make the soup it is a little different than the one before. For example, today when I made it I used a whole large apple (instead of apple juice) and part of a Hokkaido pumpkin both from our garden, and a smaller onion, carrots, and garlic from the New Leaf grocery store. 

Sometimes, I like to allow the onion to brown a little before I add the carrots, for a rich, carmelized flavor. And so, here is what I have written on my recipe card:

HOLIDAY PUMPKIN CARROT ONION SOUP  *during Mom's visit 11/3/2000:

1. Saute in large sauce pan, over medium heat:
 
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 large onion, grated or minced
3 carrots, grated
1 to 3 teaspoons unrefined sesame oil

2. Continue to cook and add:

1/2 cup cooked mashed pumpkin
1 teaspoon unrefined sea salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice** (see note below)
dash of cumin
dash of black pepper
3 cups apple juice (or apple sauce) and water

**Note: Ingredients listed in Trader Joe's Non-irradiated, All-Natural "Pumpkin Pie Spice": Cinnamon, Ginger, Lemon Peel, Nutmeg, Cloves, and Cardamom

3. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, and cover. Cook for about 22 minutes longer.

4. Puree in a cuisinart, a blender, or use a hand blender in the pan, and then cook again for a few more minutes. (Add water if needed.)

When I made the soup today, I grated a very large apple from our garden and sauteed it after the onion and the carrots at the beginning. I used a little more pumpkin (about 3/4 cup), and then I used 3 cups of water instead of apple juice. I used only a dash of pumpkin pie spice and a little more of the cumin and pepper. Who knows, maybe next time I'll skip the pumpkin pie spice altogether and use fresh lemon peel from our garden?

Regarding the final step — there's something about pureeing all of the cooked ingredients together that raises the soup up to another, higher level. It makes it more special somehow. And yet, this soup would be equally as delicious, I think, if it were served in its more-chunky state!

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