Parmesan, oregano and chia crackers

I can't quite get over the fact that you can make crackers at home. I don't know why this is so surprising to me, but I lived for about 36 years not knowing it was possible. So it's taking me a while to catch up.

Orange Cocoa Balls

You're a tough crowd you lot. I'm very excited about some of the sugar alternatives I wrote about recently, but wasn't greeted with a long list of rapturous responses. Being mostly Kiwis, I'm thinking you're probably just excited on the inside. So. Keep up the excitement everyone...

The challenge with many of these sugar alternatives is how to swap them for sugar when a simple straight swap won't work. I see my experimenting with them in two ways. 1. -  using them in new and different kinds of recipes where other people have done the hard work or swapping in the new ingredient is an easy swap, and 2. - fiddling around with favourite, standard recipes to include the new ingredient but still getting the consistency right.

Savoury snack inspiration

With all this talk I've been doing over at The Cook's Sponge about eating less sugar, I've been thinking for a long time that we need to put together a list of savoury snack options. It's great to find some sweet alternatives to sugar, but really, it would be good if we ate a little less sweet sometimes. I've always thought that the key to eating less unhealthy food is to find some appealing healthy options.

Cashew Nut Butter

Hi Cook's Spongers, this might be a relief for you. Let's duck the question of sugar alternatives for the moment. I've discovered a great savoury snack. Actually "discovered" is not the word, and you probably all have a version of it that you use every day.

Muesli Bar

I had some great news about glucose for Cook's Sponge readers recently, but it was tempered somewhat by the news that glucose eaters really need to stop eating sugar - the two don't go well together. However, if you're doing the glucose thing, it is great news!