Guest Post: Sugar; for Those Going Without Sugar

I'm on a bit of a blog break at the moment, so I have a couple of guest posts for you this week. Including this lovely non-toxic one from my great pal Gina, music blogger and human being extraordinaire.



If you're like me and 88% of everyone I know, that NYT article about sugar being toxic scared the jar of Nutella right out of your hand. You probably either just finished a processed sugar fast/are currently in the midst of a processed sugar fast/are about to start a processed sugar fast. Furthermore, said sugar fast did/is/is going to drive you insane.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

After six days of no pancakes, cereal, yogurt, whiskey and York Peppermint Patties, my fiance and I were ready to mainline some Pixie Sticks in a back alley just to get a fix...and I don't even like Pixie Sticks. In a desperate attempt to assuage the craving, I tried to take it back to the classic pre-Domino days: fresh fruit and hand-whipped cream. This dessert might be a little bit, well, cheat-y. Instead of causing you to accumulate a fatty deposit in your liver that heightens your chances for diabetes, it may instead straight up clog your arteries with heavy cream. This small detail is of minor consequence when you're considering breaking your own (kind of insane) self-imposed rules. Just please, please, please do NOT read the dietary information on the side of the heavy cream. This dessert is just so delicious and it's simply not worth the pain.

What you need for 2-3 servings:
Heavy Cream (roughly 10 oz) –avoid ultra-pasteurized if possible as it makes for difficult whipping
Fresh Kumquats
Fresh Strawberries
Fresh Mango, Bananas, Raspberries, etc. (optional)
Butter/Earth Balance/Butter-like Substance
½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1. Make the Kumquat Strawberry Sauce:
Slice 5-8 kumquats and cut up 5 or 6 berries. If you have some sad looking ones, this is a great place for them.
Throw some butter in a pan on low-med heat.
Once the butter starts simmering, add the kumquats and berries. Keep a slight eye on these, stirring every so often to keep things for sticking to the pan.

2. Make the Homemade Whipped Cream:
Chill the cream. If you have a metal bowl that can be thrown in the freezer, go ahead and do this too. It will make the cream easier to whip.
Pour the cream in the bowl.
Add 1/4-1/2 TSP of vanilla extract to the cream.
Make like Drew Barrymore and whip it! If you have beaters, use them because it will be easier. Start slow and get faster as the cream gets thicker. If you only have a hand whisk, that'll work too...and bonus: you'll feel better about yourself after burning off all those calories first.
The cream will get foamier and then start to look like something resembling the off-limits Ready-Whip of your youth. As it gets close, slow down. You don't want it to separate/become butter.
Once the cream is whipped, throw it in the freezer while you complete the final step.

3. Cut up Fresh Fruit:
Decide what fruit you'd like to use as your base. Just strawberries works very well, but it would also work well with mangoes, bananas, raspberries—whatever your heart desires, really.

4. Combine This Deliciousness:
Chop up enough to cover the bottom of your favorite bowl.
Pull the whipped cream out of the freezer and put a few hearty dollops on top of your fruit.
Finally, drizzle the sauce and cooked fruit on top.

Hooray! Now, you can stop shaking uncontrollably and having nightmares involving S'mores!