So, like I mentioned in my black lentils and pumpkin yogurt post, I am sweetener-less until February at the least. But unfortunately, there comes a time in every girl’s life in which she cannot live without something like a cookie. There are a multitude of sugar free, raw dessert recipes online that are incredibly inventive and interesting. The problem is that these always seem to include either stevia, agave, honey or maple syrup, which I have also given up.
Let me quickly explain: My friend and I were talking about debilitating addictions, and how it feels to use something as a crutch, and watch it knock you down at the same time. He smokes, and I every too often go on a sweet bread or ice cream rampage. I end up feeling worse. Sugar makes you crash. And the gluten and simple carbs that are in most baked goods only make this worse. So apart from feeling bad about myself for eating too much junk, I also become physically tired and sad.
We talked about how we knew smoking and refined sugar binges were bad for us, but that knowledge wasn’t enough to make us stop. Our own health wasn’t as important to us, so to keep me from eating sugar, he promised me he wouldn’t smoke unless I ate sugar, corn syrup, honey, agave, stevia, or maple syrup, because he knew that I wouldn’t do it if it were to put his health and well-being in jeopardy.
So it’s been a week and neither of us has eaten sugar or smoked, and I do feel better. I don’t have that sudden awful sleepy-ness around 2:30 (the one that the 5 hour energy shots claim to get rid of), my skin looks better, my mood is better, and I have nothing to binge on but frozen mango pieces and apples, which isn’t the worst thing I could eat a lot of.
But last night the mango and the apples just weren’t doing it. So I made my own sweetener-free cookie recipe (soon to come), and this little raisin ball recipe. It’s so cheap, so healthy, and only makes one cookie (so it’s hard to overindulge), gluten free, vegan, raw, and best of all entirely sugar free.
Raisin Balls
Servings: 1
Cost per serving: $0.34 !
You will need
- Knife & cutting board
- Bowl & spoon
Ingredients
- 1 mini box of sunmaid raisins
- 1/4 t tahini
- 1/4 t vanilla extract
- a pinch of ground cinnamon
- 1 t almond meal/flour
To Make
- Chop raisins as small as you can get them then mash them into a paste with the flat of the knife blade
- Transfer into a bowl and stir in the rest of the ingredients, mashing it against the side of the bowl
- Roll into a little ball and enjoy!
