Cut the Sugar!

It's Thanksgiving...a time for yummy food, right?  Of course!  And this is one of my family's favorite times to indulge, and indulge we do!  I'm not one for cutting back on the holidays, but I do cook with organic ingredients and my one healthy aim is to cut the sugar a bit.  I'm shocked when I look at so many recipes and see the amount of sugar they call for in their recipes.  I find that I can often cut the sugar by at least half and no one even notices.
I made the Caramel Apple Pie that is on the William Sonoma website for us this year.  They called for sugar in the pie crust, sugar in the apples, sugar in the caramel sauces...wow!  That's a LOT of sugar.  So, I have left out the sugar in the crust and the apples and kept the called for amount in the caramel sauce.  On top of that, I use sucanat or rapadura and never use pure white or processed brown sugars, which are devoid of any nutrient value.  I do this because these sugars still retain their mineral content (see more here) and do not cause as significant a spike in the blood sugar levels.  My family enjoys the rich taste that sucanat and rapadura infuse into our foods, so I don't even buy white sugar anymore.
Hope you enjoy this simple holiday tip and have a very happy and yummy Thanksgiving!