Natural sugar is still Sugar

This is the promised rant about sugar. But first, I'd just like to say that the Chocolate Rabbit is gone. Eaten. Whew.

I have a bit of a pet peeve about "healthy" recipes using tons of honey, maple syrup or natural sugar. It especially bugs me when these recipes claim to contain "no sugar" as though the recipe is some type of magical creation that is sweet without being bad for you.

It bugs me because all types of sweeteners contain lots of calories and very little nutrition. (The exceptions are the low-cal artificial ones--but that's a whole other rant about a whole other pet peeve.) Honey, turbino sugar and maple syrup are more natural and less processed, but not more nutritious, than sugar. But they still fill kids up, making them less hungry for foods that do contain lots of nutrition.

Having said that, a bit of sugar--or any other sweetener your family enjoys--in an otherwise healthy diet is just fine!

(In case you are wondering, I personally use "evaporated cane juice" because it is less processed and because I like the flavor.)

No-sugar Pumkin Pie

No, this is not a recipe! This is a story. But just in case you do want a recipe, I normally start with a great frozen whole-wheat crust (from the health food store). Then I just use the recipe on the back of Libby's Pumpkin (plain, not the pre-mixed pie filling). Only, I use non-fat evaporated milk and cut the sugar in half. ***Rant about types of sugar in the next post.***

So here is the story: I decided to bake a pumpkin pie for dinner the other night. I whipped up the filling, poured it in the crust, then baked it while we ate dinner. Finally, the timer beeped and my kids, my husband, and our ever hopeful dog all rushed into the kitchen all excited about the pie. I sliced the pie and put it on plates. A bit of pie fell off one piece and I popped it in my mouth.

Ugg! The pie was weird. I had left out the sugar.

I confessed to my family, I explained to them that it was very bad pie, and I apologized sorrowfully as I trudged to the trash can. The kids blocked my way. They still wanted pie. They were going to eat the pie: sugar or no sugar. And they told me not to "bad mouth the food." (That's a rule from Feeding the Kids.)

So, we put some low-fat vanilla ice-cream (get the brand) on top, and tasted.

My son said it was a "strong pie" and gobbled it up. My husband said he liked it better than regular pie. My daughter said she didn't like it, and yet she ate it. I was blown away. It tasted really terrible to me. Just goes to show that you can't always know what your kids will or won't eat!

Update on the Headless Chocolate Rabbit

The chocolate bunny from Easter is still with us. About a week ago, my daughter ate the neck and upper torso after lunch one day. Then, she left the bunny belly on the kitchen counter. I found it much less disturbing in this state, since it's less bunny-ish.

Then, yesterday, we saw a real bunny on the way to school. I am not sure if that triggered it or not. But when she got home from school, she ate some more. Now there is just a foot and leg section left.

Meanwhile, as I was cleaning under the bunny-box, I happened to take a look at the label. It hadn't occurred to me to do that before. I knew, after all, that a chocolate bunny has to be an Empty, right? Well, yes. It's an Empty. But I was surprised to see that the old (and I do mean old) bunny contained a surprising amount of calcium (8% DV) and iron (6% DV) per 1/5 bunny serving. It even contains 3 grams of protein. Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised, it is "milk" chocolate, after all.

That got me to thinking. I dug through my food label collection. (Yes, I have a food label collection. And what's so strange about that?) I found my pudding cups label. (By pudding cups, I am talking about those single serving cups of pudding often packed in lunches.)

And guess what? This is really unbelievable... per serving, the pudding actually contains less calcium (4% DV), iron (0% DV) and protein (1g) than the rabbit! Plus, the pudding contains partially hydrogenated oil. (Eww.) Granted, the pudding cup contains 100 fewer calories than a serving of bunny. But half a serving of bunny (that would be, let's see, 1/10th of a bunny) contains fewer calories than the pudding cup... and still has more nutrition. Next, time I am going to compare yogurt tubes to the bunny.

And that gives me an excuse to treat myself to a new label for my collection.

(Note: please don't send me angry e-mails! I am NOT recommending that you serve your kids chocolate bunny as a dairy serving. No. I am recommending that you NOT serve them pudding packs as a dairy serving... except as treats if they love them. And, you know, you could make your own pudding using the easy recipe in Feeding the Kids!)