Jam and Thoughts on Going Sugar Free

Hello there! We went berry picking on Tuesday and I made some jam with half my berries. It turned out runny (drat!) but still very tasty. I think it is runny because I left one of the cups of sugar out. Maybe?

(pardon my incredibly dirty window)

It got me in the canning spirit and I went through my canning book and chose some recipes I want to make and can this year.
1. Strawberry jam (check!)
2. Pickles
3. Tomato sauce
4. Applesauce
5. Apple-maple butter

Of course, I haven't had any of my jam, since I am on my Sugar Free Challenge, Day 9. No sugar, artificial sugars, honey, or maple syrup. The only sweet things in my life have been fruit. I did have one little slip up yesterday. We went for ice cream and Ruthie only wanted the cone, not the ice cream. I mean, come on kid, I just spent $3.00 on that scoop. I wasn't going to let it go to waste...but after over a week without sugar, my body was very unhappy with adding it back in. I had a headache the entire day and huge water retention or something. It sucked, and it confirmed what I already knew, that sugar is bad bad bad for you. My challenge is ending tomorrow but I have a feeling I will be consuming much less sugar in the future. Except for chocolate. Let me tell you, there is a reason people add sugar to chocolate. I had a couple chocolate cravings, which I tried to satisfy with unsweetened chocolate. Blech. Disgusting. Although I have been enjoying berries with a drizzle of coconut milk and unsweetened chocolate as my dessert of choice.

I haven't been sewing much this week and I haven't knit anything in over a month now (maybe I should change my blog name?). We've been going on our summer adventures and enjoying the weather and the yard instead. But I do still need to get some dolls sewn for the shops that sell them, so that will be taking up my next few evenings, I'm sure.