Peppermint Fudge (AIP & Paleo Versions)

I won’t hit you over the head with the blatant fact that AIP during the holidays is rough stuff. If I could give you one word of advice it is ALWAYS have something delicious on hand so you don’t feel like you’re being deprived. If delicious equals fudge to you, than say FUDGE IT, and purse these babies up. I sneak purse food at really inappopriate times (i.e. conversations with acquaintances, on the train, as I’m paying for a hot tea at the cafe and stumble across it).

We had another amazing “Goodbye Chicago!” dinner at Publican tonight with two close friends. A bounty of pork rinds, three kinds of ham, oysters, porchetta, venison, and vegetables graced our lips. If there’s one thing I’ll miss about this city, it’s the food options. If there’s two things I’ll miss about it are the memories we have made here, friends we have met, and heck it’s where we got married, so Chicago will always have a very special place in my heart.

I have a funny confession, and this is to show you, no one is perfect. Not your everyday AIP blogger. Not your momma. Not your puppy (okay, yes he is). Back in October during my sister’s bachelorette party, I had one drink at dinner, which of course did more than take the edge off but gave me quite a nice little tipsy-tipsy since I never, ever drink. I had to get cash for a bar, so I ran across the street to use the CVS ATM, but I also was suddenly stricken with the munchies. I rationalized with myself that one Kind bar wasn’t going to hurt a fly. I can’t tell you how giggly I was buying the sulfite, soy-free one (I read every single of the 20 flavors packages to find the least offensive one… just imagine a tipsy girl doing this in a Manhattan CVS late at night) because I felt like such an OUTLAW. Well, I enjoyed my dang Kind bar (I used to eat them all the time a few years ago) and my first and only VERY-non AIP food to date and thought nothing of it. No reaction because I’m not allergic to any of the ingredients, I just choose to avoid that processed crapola as much as possible. Anyways, this story is getting stoopid long. Fast forward to present times, and I’m making this horrified Kind Bar divulgence to my husband, and his response was along the lines of a very sarcastic “wow, better go to confessional as soon as possible you horrendous human. you should be ashamed and disgusted with yourself.” His humor and frankly spot-on response put it all in perspective once again.

Point being: LIFE HAPPENS. That doesn’t mean you should stray from AIP for any ol’ reason. Heck no. It’s very clear that if you want maximum healing, you should give the elimination phase your ALL, 100%. Don’t half-arse it. It ain’t gonna work. But what this silly story does mean is that you don’t need to condemn yourself to decades of restrictive eating. It’s easy to become tunnel-visioned on AIP because we have all gone through years of worsening health with no improvements and then we change our diets and “Wow”! Food is miraculous. But so are social activities and good sleep. This is a lifestyle and not a diet, and I cannot stress that enough. If you are going to treat yourself to anything this holiday season, please let it be forgiveness (and this fudge, whether it’s made with chocolate or carob!) You are not perfect and neither is anything in this world. You are pretty damn smart and insightful though if you managed to find my blog in this midst of thousands and thousands of other food blogs that are hidden in the tomes of Google search results. Because that you means you love and respect yourself enough to further your health. For yourself, for your families, for your work, and your friends. You are to be ADMIRED! Sorry for my heavy hand with caps lock today. I’m just really excited to share my recipe.