I Quit Sugar for Life (40 page)

These stuffing muffins are a novel way to do stuffing and don’t contain any dried fruit.

Christmas Eve:
Grease two 8-cup muffin tins with the oil, butter or ghee and line the tins. Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and saute the pancetta or
sausage until slightly browned. Transfer to kitchen paper to drain. Using the same pan (and the pancetta fat), saute the celery and onion with the butter until they caramelise. Remove from the heat
and stir in the pancetta or sausage, bread, lemon zest and parsley. Lightly beat the eggs with the milk, then pour over the top. Add the chicken stock a little at a time and mix gently. Keep adding
stock until everything is definitely moist (but not soggy). Season with salt and pepper, spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin tins and refrigerate overnight.

Christmas Day:
Preheat the oven to 200°C (gas 6) or pop into the oven if you are already cooking the ham in the final part of the ham’s cooking
process. Bake the muffins for 30–40 minutes or until cooked and lightly browned.

MAKES ABOUT
CUPS (90 G)

2 tablespoons coconut or olive oil

¾ cup (160 g) popcorn kernels

½ cup (115 g) butter

5 teaspoons ras el hanout (or 2 teaspoons each of ground cinnamon, cumin and cayenne pepper)

1 tablespoon sea salt

2 tablespoons rice malt syrup

In a very big saucepan with a lid, heat the oil over high heat and cook the popcorn (with the lid on), shaking the pan often. Once you hear the last of the kernels pop, remove
from the heat. Place the popcorn in a large saucepan. Melt the butter with the spices, salt and syrup in a small saucepan and pour over the popcorn. Stir thoroughly. Serve warm or cold.

NOTE:
If you’re making these for a party, prepare the popcorn the night before, cool and store in an airtight container.
The next day you complete the butter and spices stage.

MAKES

For anyone outside Australia and New Zealand, let me tell you about Anzac biscuits. They were eaten by our soldiers in World War I in lieu of bread
and were a rock-hard combo of long-lasting foods that could withstand the journey via ship to reach the troops: oats, flour, golden syrup, coconut and bicarbonate of soda. They had a crook
reputation for cracking a few teeth, so some of the wives and mums back home decided to finesse things a little. Today we make them to remember the fallen – and because they taste
great.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (gas 4) and line a baking tray with baking paper. Mix the flour, stevia, coconut, vanilla, cinnamon and oats in a bowl. In a small saucepan, melt
the butter and syrup together until the mixture starts to bubble, then stir through the bicarbonate of soda. Add the lot to the bowl and stir to combine. Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of the mixture
into balls and flatten on the baking tray. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on the baking tray on a rack to ensure they turn crispy!

PALEO:
Replace the flour with quinoa and the oats with ½ cup (50 g) of almond meal.

How to get kids on board the sugar-free, nutrient-dense train? Hmmm, a few things . . .

1. Try not to stigmatise sugar (rather than ‘ban’ it, just don’t have it in the house).

2. Take your kids to do the grocery shopping and have them help you find the best sugar-free, nutrient-dense options.

3. Get them involved in the cooking. Or the growing. Just get them fired up about good food!

MAKES