The Perfect Pantry is celebrating its third anniversary by publishing lists of essential items for the cupboard, spice rack, and refrigerator/freezer. Mine could certainly use some help. The other day I threw away a spice bottle when I noticed that it had a date on it which included the year 1984. What a relief! Now I won't have to dust it after all.
I was happy to see Agave nectar on the cupboard list. This is my new favorite sweetener. I use it in my tea and stirred into bowls of hot cracked wheat flavored with cinnamon. It is a low-glycemic index food, has a light flavor, and is easy to mix into cold items, unlike granulated sugar. I am a recovering diet Coke addict, (no diet Coke or soda of any kind since Ash Wednesday this year!) and have transitioned to iced tea. Finding something to sweeten it with has been hard. I can eat baked goods with white sugar all day long, but using it in coffee or tea leaves a nasty feeling in my mouth. I think artificial sweeteners accustom you to a much cleaner feeling that is hard to give up.
Acres USA features a great interview in their articles archive with Dr. Arden Andersen titled "Let Food Be Your Medicine" which, among many other things, talks about aspartame addiction and relates it to alcoholism. Apparently they are both problems for people who have trouble metabolizing carbohydrates. I found the entire article so compelling that I re-subscribed to Acres USA after a 5-year-hiatus and ordered Dr. Andersen's book, Real Medicine, Real Health.
My friend Annie called yesterday to alert me that she had found a source for some fabulous sweet corn in Onalaska, TX. She had already canned some cut corn and some on the cob and creamed some for the freezer. Now she is ready to go back for more. This time I'll be going with her. Be on the lookout for the post I'm already planning of our trip; it's going to be titled, "North to Onalaska!" My last road trip with friend Susan was so much fun, I can't believe I get to go on another one so soon. Who knew that trying to be a Proverbs 31 woman could have such great perks? Deo Gratias!
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