Political Nutrition

Update! So, here's a tweak for those who enjoy a thicker fudgier brownier. As if that is possible. So borrowing from Alton Brown's technique on baking, here you go. Double the recipe, and lower the temp to 300. Same pan. However, use parchment paper to form a sling, meaning line the bottom and come up on the sides so the parchment hangs over about 2 inches. This will allow you to transfer the whole uncut brownie to finish the cooling outside the pan. Next change, beat the eggs with a paddle attachment on medium for 3 minutes first, then add all the dry ingredients. Then add the melted butter and vanilla. Finally, bake for 15 minutes, remove from the oven, set for 15 minutes, put them back in for another 30 minutes. Once removed from the oven, go ahead and let them rest for 30 minutes. Then using the parchment transfer to the cooling rack for 10 minutes. Now cut into 16 brownies. Eat one. Just one. Dare you. Original Post So let's keep this simple. Everyday it seems ...

Anyone remember Soylent Green ? Yeah. That's where my mind is going now. What the hell happened to America, land of bountiful harvest and innovation? I haven't been cooking too much lately, or experimenting much. Hard to afford the ingredients anymore. Organic was once a luxury, now it's a necessity. We are back to being hunters and gatherers. We have to hunt for real food. Real ingredients. And pay dearly when we find them. Just creating a simple wholesome patriotic 4th of July dessert has become all but impossible. Listen, when the label on the container of blueberries has ingredients... you're in trouble. Feeding billions of people is hard on a planet. But when we are literally destroying our planet in the process of daily existence, it's worse. Way worse. I only mention that old 70's shtick movie because it was so incredibly far fetched at that time, and I realize, we're not far off from all that insanity now. Humans have come a long way, made a lot ...

Seriously. I have had some success lately with chocolate and baking and well, dessert in general. But it was really gnawing at me that if you can make a flourless chocolate cake, then a low carb one should be a natural. Right? Make that gluten free too, grain free and sugar free as well... yeah, I know what you're thinking. Same here. Just wasn't happening. Always ends up more of a torte, and often while I can devour a torte, my friends and family are a bit overwhelmed with superdark chocolate confections. I just hadn't achieved that perfect balance, until now. Per DJFoodie's  recommendation, I took a recipe from Atkins ... which used sucralose, then I subbed in my go-to sweetener... Swerve . The thing about Swerve is that it acts just like sugar when baking, and doesn't make your stomach feel like a soccer team has taken up habitation in your gut. Best thing? Doesn't have the glycemic spike of many artificial sweeteners. They might be calorie free, but they can...

Low Carb Miller Holiday Waffles So I got a waffle maker for Christmas. Yay!!!!! Only where are the recipes? You know, that I can use? None. Only 3 recipes in the booklet, wheat and yeast and sugar. Ugh. I need Low Carb Waffles. That taste like the real deal! Plenty of coconut recipes out there, but I don't like working with coconut flour. Tends to come out dry and more like a cornmeal consistency. So I did some research. First, what's the difference between Pancake batter and Waffle batter? I don't know, but I do know how to make fantastic low carb pancakes. So I figured I'd start there and see what google says. Google says check the forums. So I checked the forums. Most people say the difference is in the oil and how you add the eggs. Ok. Seems the secret is in the eggs themselves. Separate them, and fold in the egg whites and you have waffles. Seems simple enough. Only what's this about oil????? My pancakes don't use oil. I cook them in butter. I...

So expecting a dark and stormy Saturday, I put on my baking apron and waited for the sun to disappear behind the angry clouds. And waited. And waited. But alas, it's another happy sunny day with no sign of rain. Yet. So what to bake? I've had a few somewhat snippy, possibly angry, messages lately from blog readers wondering why nothing new is coming out. My blog is dry. Just like my surroundings. So I promised myself, a new recipe for today. I just don't know what that is. It'll be healthy, that much I can tell you. Hubby asked "do you have what you need?" Of course I do.  It's just an idea of what to do with them I don't have. I was thinking Pecans though. I have a whole bagful. Fudge could be in order. Or not. Maybe I should go savory today. Big pot of soup. Or chile. Or some wild new salad combination. Nah.  I'm just really out of zip. I'm tired. It's sunny. I have no motivation. Hang on. I do have motivation. Today is the da...

Normally Saturday morning is Pancakes. All kinds. But today I was inspired to once again try to make a coffee cake. You know the one. With the stream of cinnamon sugar and a few nuts rolling through it along with a hint of apple? But creating that slice of deliciousness without wheat flour has been challenging. I've tried coconut flour.... eew. Dry as a bone. I tried whey protein... not so agreeable with me. So this time, I did a little of this and a little of that. The two ingredients you may not find in your pantry? Full fat peanut flour and Maca Powder. Both available from nuts.com which I freely admit to being addicted to. Love that place. And no, I do not receive any compensation for saying that. GGGFree Coffee Cake Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8 x 8 pyrex dish. 1 cup Almond flour less three tbsp  1 cup full fat Peanut Flour 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon 3 TBSP Maca Powder 2 teaspoons BAKING POWDER 1/2 cup sweetener. Use a natural granular that measures and bakes cup f...

Always trying to improve upon a necessary breakfast food, here's another tweak to the muffin. Some of the ingredients are not ordinary staples in your pantry, I understand that. But if you live a grain free life, and eat low carb foods, these are new pantry essentials that will turn a low carb diet into a fabulous new way to eat. Diet is an ugly word. It's restrictive. It is something you can go "on" and "off" which is awful for you. Just learn to use a few new kitchen essentials and you won't miss a thing. Except maybe corn. Cannot help you there. Remember, if you are unfamiliar with some of the ingredients, send me a note and I'll let you know where to find them! Now, muffins aren't fussy. So you can make these in a bowl with a mixing spoon, no fancy electric mixers or dough paddles required. Just a few minutes to whisk and stir. 1 cup peanut flour 1 cup less 3 tablespoons almond flour 3 tablespoons maca powder   2 teaspoon...

Sometimes competition gets the best of you. Sometimes you just need to prove you can. Whatever it is, you can. So, in my quest to be this all put together adult member of an ever increasing family preparing for the eldest of the next generation's marriage to another large family I somehow declared that during the chaos of the wedding weekend I would in fact bake a cake for my daughter's birthday. There was some nobility behind this. We don't eat traditional birthday cake and I certainly wanted to make things special. But then I realized that what we consider delicious and wholesome and healthy even may not be suitable for everyone else. That whole judgement thing started creeping in. What if my cake sucks? What if someone runs out to the nearest grocery store to get an emergency cake because they think mine is somehow fake cake? Well, I figured I better practice. Make sure my cake can be made quickly and easily amidst all the chaos. I know my muffins are good. And my la...

After a week of dipping fresh Strawberries in homemade chocolate dipping sauce, we were ready for something totally different. Still healthy of course, just different. Cookies. Buttery, sugary cookies. We also thought it was time to break out the new fruit extracts. When you first go low carb you discover that you can dress up anything with a good extract. Not artificial flavors and not sugary syrups. Just a little extract can change up a recipe in a heartbeat. Which is what you'll have many more of if you eat right. Lose the grain, lose the sugar... and ultimately gain your health back. The great thing about these cookies? You can change up the flavor of the cookie, and change up the flavor of the icing. Ultimately there's no end to the combinations you can make.  And they are the perfect recipe for a summer day, since they don't take long to bake. Plus, in the summertime when your children are home? You can get them to do the baking. Now mine are grown, but I b...

So I love all things Maple. Seriously. I would almost trade chocolate for maple sugar candy. Almost. It was a favorite treat growing up. Finding out you are diabetic is hard enough. Learning Maple sugar candy is out? Oh my goodness. But wait. What is this I have found on Amazon? Maple Extract? Can it be? Can I make something totally Maple and delicious without the sugar? It was a gamble to be sure. Especially with our current houseguest being a native Vermonter with his own affinity for Maple. But my daughter and I had our sights set on it. Well, truthfully, we figured out how to make a Maple glaze icing. You know the kind at the donut shop? We also figured out how to make a Cherry. And about 6 other flavors. What can I tell you, it was mother daughter bonding time. Fill a bowl with powdered sweetener, add a little cream, then divide into little dishes and add different extracts for flavor. The Maple was so good we wanted more. We just didn't have anything to glaze. She did sug...

So I'm not running a bagel shop and I don't happen to poppy seeds laying around. And thinking that's a good thing. I love a good bagel. But way off topic. Back to poppy seeds. I have none. What I do have are Hemp Hearts. The heart of the Hemp seed which tastes pretty much like a sunflower seed. Almost exactly actually.  Now I also have Lemons. It is Arizona after all. And today's a big day for the Millers. Our daughter comes home. Now among all the chaos this brings (suitcases, boxes, all the things she's accumulated over the last 5 years including a significant other and 2 bunny rabbits and all their belongings.. whew. yeah. But I realized the brownies I made the other day unfortunately flopped so I couldn't in good conscience offer them. I used cashew flour mixed with Almond Flour and that's a totpic for an all too different blog. So I decided I'm tired of Blueberry Muffins and my Mocha Java doesn't go well with the sugar free apricot p...

I had this urge for boston baked beans. No, not the kind in a can, the kind in a bag in the candy section at the store. I thought hmmm. How how how???? So I looked up recipes for them. And found a number of them. Very simple really. Cook some peanuts in sugar water. Except I don't do sugar. I Swerve . And Swerve I did. And they were crunchy and crispy and sweet and incredible. I know because my husband, who for those who aren't aware, is as physically fit as you can be. An athlete, he can eat anything. He says these are amazing. You will too.  So here goes. Use 1/2 cup Swerve per cup of raw spanish peanuts and 2 to 3 tablespoons water and a pinch of salt. Mix the Swerve, water and salt till blended (no heat), then, add the peanuts and heat the mixture till simmering stirring constantly. Keep cooking until the liquid is mostly evaporated, and then spread mixture out on a parchment lined tray. Bake for about 15 minutes in a 300 degree oven, remove and let cool fo...

Today's blog isn't a blog. Well, it is. But it's not my recipe. It's from a genius named Carolyn Ketchum who turns living a low carb diabetic life into a culinary adventure. Today I made her donuts. I was skeptical, sure. I mean donuts without flour? or Sugar?  So, head over here:  http://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/2011/07/chocolate-donuts-with-peanut-butter-glaze-low-carb-and-gluten-free.html That's where you will find the miracle recipe. She used a peanut butter glaze, so here's my chocolate glaze. Sorry, I'm a chocoholic. 1 oz unsweetened chocolate 2.5 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons Confectioners Swerve. Melt the chocolate and butter and stir until smooth. Add the Swerve and stir until creamy and pourable, and then pour it over the donuts.  I can't say enough about these. Except there's something so appealing about tonight's dessert being  tomorrow's breakfast. What could be better.

Can I just tell you how sick I am of people flaunting their cinnamon buns on Pinterest? If you are gluten, grain and sugar free it's really an impossible situation.  Oh sure I've seen others with their recipes that require you to soak your hands in oil to prepare the dough and others that ask you to do the impossible... like level 9 baking skills required... it's just not for me. I need something relatively foolproof. I'm not cake boss.  Let's not even talk about walking through an airport and the smell of those cinnamon buns following you everywhere to remind you that life is a bit unfair sometimes. But wait! It's the smell yes... but that smell is just old fashioned Cinnamon and butter. And HELLO? We can have cinnamon and butter. And Pecans too.  Hmmmm. I've made Cinnamon Bun Muffins and they were darn good. True. But then I made this awesome pound cake last week and I realized, a few tweaks here and there, I might be able to have somet...

Yeah, just to be different. No, it's not really tall. It's short. And fabulous. And quite a learning experience when going gggfree. For example, and this has nothing to do with it being gluten, grain or sugar free, never hold the batter bowl in one hand when pouring into the cake pan. Just saying, it could slip. And the batter could end up well, everywhere. Like I said, just putting it out there. It's true however that this is a seriously delicate cake to make. The cake is flourless, in a way. My grandmother would grind up the hazelnuts until they were virtually a flour. Me, I get mine at nuts.com already ground into flour. Then I buy another bag of blanched nuts to chop for the top. Hey, it's Easter Sunday and I don't participate therefore I can be as punny as I want to.  So. Start with a cake that is fabulously low carb and.. oh this is a biggie... it's Kosher for Passover too. How perfect.  Cake: 1 cup Hazelnut flour 1/2 cup Swerve 6 Egg...