Giveaway

100 Spoonfuls

February 1, 2011 By Alex@Spoonful of Sugar Free

Wow. This is my 100th post. I know there are a lot of people out there who have written hundreds or even thousands more posts than me, but 100 is still a milestone.

I have learned so much throughout my short time of blogging, and have met so many great people. I’d like to thank all my readers for their support, and I hope to continue making great sugar-free recipes for you one spoonful at a time.

Now in honor of my 100th post, I am going to host a giveaway! The lovely Caitlin from CSN contacted me to offer won of my readers a $35 coupon to any of the CSN stores. CSN has over 200 stores online where you can buy anything from modern furniture, to cookware, to fitness equipment! I’m sure you will be able to find anything you want on this site.

There will be a few ways to enter:

Subscribe by email by typing your email address in the box to the right, add me to your blogroll.
Become a fan of me on facebook by clicking the button to the right (or to all you tweeters out there, tweet! I don’t exactly know how this works, but feel free to do it! )
Blog about me 🙂
Fun entry: send me a picture (or blog) about your favorite food! For more information, click here. ( I have been wanting to do this post for a while now, but I didn’t get quite enough pictures to do so. Thanks to everyone who did send their pictures!)

Please leave a separate comment below telling me each entry you did.

Giveaway ends in one week (February 8th). Good Luck!

Now here is a personal, somewhat ironic, story about me and the number one hundred.

I was in 1st grade I think, and the 100th day of school was approaching. 100 is pretty cool for a 1st grader. We were going to celebrate the day with stuff relating to 100. I can’t really remember what, maybe some crossword puzzles and math stuff. Anyway, everyone was asked to bring 100 objects. Can you guess what I brought?

100 sugar cubes.

Ha! I know. It was pretty neat, though, because I glued them together to form a sugar pyramid. Fun! Too bad I don’t have pictures to show you. This was in the year without digital cameras, so I have no idea where those lost pictures are…

Crazy for Agar Agar

December 13, 2010 By Alex@Spoonful of Sugar Free

I finally found it! I have been on a quest to find agar agar flakes/powder ever since Katie wrote about the wonderful pudding and creams you can make.

While I was playing in a tournament over Thanksgiving, I came across a wonderful Hong Kong Market. They sold anything imaginable there: spiky fruits, seafood, dried seafood, chopsticks, and even purple sweet potatoes (we’ll talk more about this one later)!!!

I scoured the aisles for agar, and I found it for a good price. At the health food store they were going to charge me $20 for a package of agar agar, but at the Hong Kong market I bought it for $1.50. Yeah, I definitely bought more than one pack!

Agar Agar Base

~This is the base you use to make any of the treats listed below!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon agar agar powder (if you are using agar agar flakes, use 1 Tablespoon)
2 cups of liquid (juice or milk substitute)
Optional: add ins like vanilla extract, cocoa powder, chocolate chips, fruit chunks, nuts, be creative!

In a saucepan, heat up the liquid (not boiling), then add the agar agar. Stir well and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until the agar has dissolved.

Next, pour the liquid into a container and place in the refrigerator. Let the agar base set for about 20 minutes until jelly-like.

Note: It does not thicken while heated. The mix only thickens if chilled. The first time I made this I expected it to thicken like regular pudding, so I kept adding more and more agar agar. When I put it in the fridge, it was rick-solid!

You can make Vegan Fruit-Sweetened Jello…

100_1288 — Orange Jello with fresh citrus. I made this by using orange juice as the liquid and adding fresh clementine chunks.

You can make Pudding…

100_1258 — Chocolate pudding. Made by making a vanilla-base and blending in cocoa powder after it was set.

You can make Whipped Cream…

100_1260 — Strawberry Cream atop Bitter Chocolate Cake for One. I made this cream by blending frozen strawberries into the agar base.

You can make Vegan Yogurt…

Meg made this wonderful vegan yogurt by mixing a probiotic capsule into the agar base. Brilliant, Meg! Can’t wait to try this!

You can make some yourself…

I am going to giveaway one of my packets of agar agar powder to one lucky winner, so you don’t have to score the aisles of every grocery store. Each packet contains 25 servings of agar. This will make about 13 cups of jello, pudding, yogurt, or whipped cream. Think of this as a Christmas giveaway 🙂

To enter:

Leave a comment telling me what you would make first with the agar agar powder
Become a fan of Spoonful of Sugar Free on Facebook, and leave a comment back here telling me.
Subscribe to me by email by entering your email address in the box to the right. Leave a comment here telling me you did.
Answer these questions for fun and more entries!
1. What is your favorite holiday treat?
2. How are you spending the Holidays?

The Giveaway ends this Friday the 17th. Good Luck! THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED.

Another Excuse!

November 8, 2010 By Alex@Spoonful of Sugar Free

This is kind of a repeat of my Hallow-Excuses Post…But I have yet another excuse for not making more of your wonderful recipes!

Excuse: I’m out of Town!

No, my little hotel room does not have a kitchen. Just a mini-fridge! Sometimes it is nice to not have to cook your own meals…but I prefer making my own food because I then know exactly what is going in it!

But, I’ll take it as it comes and eat some hotel food once in a while 🙂

and a banana from those 'great', free, hotel, continental breakfasts!

I was also extremely lucky to have a Whole Foods nearby to stop for a quick lunch or dinner. I love their hot and cold bars, and their warm soups do wonders on a chilly day (like today!). I just tried their Pumpkin soup, and I highly recommend it! It was a creamy, non-dairy soup that warmed my toes 🙂

On another note, Spoonful of Sugar Free now has a Facebook fan page! All of my posts will be linked to the fan page, so you won’t have an excuse to miss any of my posts 😉 I’m not being pushy or anything….

Look on the right to see the Facebook button. Please click on it to access the fan page. Or CLICK HERE.

Another page I’d like to bring you to is Udi’s Gluten Free Bread. They are giving away a year’s worth of free bread! Check out my entry, and sign up yourself HERE. I hope you like my “Bruschetta Burger Bagel” or “BBB.”

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

What do you usually eat on the road? I usually try bringing snacks, and sticking to proteins and fruits and veggies. I have an upcoming post planned to address this topic of eating on the road, so stay tuned!

Also, are you plugged into Facebook? Honestly, I rarely update my status, and almost never log onto it. I will start logging on more now because of the new fan page!

Happy Fall!

September 23, 2010 By Alex@Spoonful of Sugar Free

Hi guys! This is just a quick post to announce the winner of the CSN Giveaway, and to wish you all a happy fall (yes, today is the first day of Autumn!).

First off, the randomly selected winner of the $35 gift card to CSNstores.com is…drumroll, please…Krissy! Congratulations, Krissy! Have fun with with your winnings! (And that Proctor-Silex 12 Cup Automatic Drip Coffeemaker that you planned on getting 😉 ) Caitlin, from CSN, will contact you soon to give you directions to claim your prize!

Happy Autumn!

I must say that Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. The weather is perfect, the colors are beautiful, and fall produce isn’t too bad either 😉

I love apple and pumpkin picking, and the fresh, crisp smell of the autumn air. Breathe in the Beauty!

I have some fun Fall recipes coming up, too. Like cast-iron cornbread, fruit crisp, and apple pie! They are all sugar-free, of course! So stay tuned!