Political Nutrition

Everyone has their favorite foodie blog to tell them what to eat and how to eat it. I've got one of my own that I write... does that make me right? Maybe. Maybe not. Here's the key. Don't just assume that because someone says it's fabulously nutritious and prevents every ailment in the modern world... well.. that it's true for you.  Take Kale. Nutritious? Probably. So are most plants to someone. For me, since it can promote blood clots, really bad idea to eat it. And stomach issues. If you're prone to any gastric issues... don't eat it. Oh wait... but it prevents cancer! Cancer won't kill you if you're already dead of a heart attack. In other words, not all super foods are super for everyone. And everything in moderation.  If you can tolerate Kale, great. Have it a few times a week at most. Not all day every day. Nothing is good for you in high doses, and the more nutrients a food packs, the less you need to eat of it. This isn't som...

I pulled out my grandmother's lemon bar recipe, courtesy of my sister who keeps all these things. One look gave me the heeby jeebies. 2 CUPS of sugar. And of course that wonderful butter pastry crust. So, absolutely not going with Almond Flour on this one. Sorry, but I could not fathom making a mockery of something my taste buds have always had a soft spot for. And hubby not liking coconut, which is of course the perfect choice, left me in a quandary. You can't make a half-assed Lemon Bar. So I went with the coconut anyway. Hubby's not the diabetic one, so he can live with it. I am only sharing this recipe because I've changed it enough that it isn't actually my grandmother's anymore, and I also assume... rather this is an educated guess... she got it from a cookbook anyway. Sugar Free Grain Free Gluten Free Lemon Bars This isn't in a cookbook yet. But if I ever publish one it will be cause these are that good. Really. Lemonlicious Lemon Bars G...

Brownies must be fudgy. They must be loaded with Chocolate. And they must melt in your mouth. If you are diabetic, well, they have to be sugar free and grain free too. Impossible. Well, as you know from my previous post, I thought so. But I managed a fair simulation of a good brownie anyway. Now I have Swerve. I'm not running a commercial here folks. I'm deadly serious. I have a sweetener, natural, no side effects, that allows me to have my brownie in it's most decadent form. That's it.  So, for anyone using my recipes, I highly recommend switching from the splenda to Swerve. Go back to equal equivalents to sugar in your recipes. The weight, feel, and baking qualities of sugar will come back to your confections. If you are not baking, use the Swerve confectioners to avoid granular texture. So new and improved here we go: 4 oz unsweetened chocolate, I prefer Ghirardelli but use Baker's if you like. 3/4 cup Butter (organic) or Ghee 3/4 cup Almond Flour,...

Hubby is/was a peanut butter cup addict. Could eat them by the bag full. So I wondered, how hard could it be to recreate his obsession? Considering peanuts are out, so no peanut butter, we needed something a little healthier. We went with Almond Butter, which if you haven't tried it is probably tastier than peanut butter. So this was a small batch, and would probably make about 15 candies in a mold. But he always complained about the little peanut butter cups. Said took more effort to unwrap then they were worth. So go big or go home, right? I pulled out some mini paper muffin liners. And went to work. Chocolate 2 oz cocoa butter 1.5 oz unsweetened cocoa powder  1 oz swerve sweetener (or your choice) 1/2 tsp vanilla Filling 2 tbs butter 1/4 cup almond butter 1 tbsp swerve (or your choice) Make the filling first. I did not do that and was fervently mixing the chocolate to keep it from hardening while I made the filling so bad idea. Melt the Almond Butte...

So you can't have a breadstick. So what. Here's something better. Cheese Crisps Take a handful of grated cheese, full fat, hard cheese is best. But any kind will work, except maybe Mozzarella. That won't work too well. So take a handful of cheese and place it in the middle of a hot skillet. Pat it down a little bit. Season it if you like with a bit of garlic or onion powder. so easy. Let it cook until the bottom begins to bind itself and brown. Now flip it over and finish cooking. Remove from heat, and while it's still soft, roll it (you can use the spatula if it's hot) and set on a paper towel so any excess oils can be removed. Wait a few minutes if you can, and enjoy your cheese crisp. It's fabulous.

If you don't know about my previous foray into truffle squares, you may need to visit my alter ego blog for a moment.  Murphy's Chocolate Truffle Squares Now with any fabulous new twist on a recipe, there's always a few transformations. For us the lightbulb went off with my daughter's upcoming return to college. She's been eating like a nutritional champ all summer. But what to do about those midnight cram session snacks? Or the flight back? What to snack on? Well, chocolate is always a good answer. Yes, even for us low-carb grain-free zealots. But this time all did not go as planned. So let's refresh shall we? Murphy's truffle square This is what we were aiming for, but on a grand scale. Full cookie sheet size, thicker bar, less chocolate since it's not supposed to be dessert. Yum. So we started with the Coconut Macadamia Crust. I added some chopped pecans for good measure. And a little almond butter too. Now I didn't use it the first t...

It was supposed to be a fun-filled relaxing weekend... extended of course with a few days off of work. Supposed to be. My dear friend Murphy showed up. First up, the concert we were all going to attend, The Airborne Toxic Event , a particular favorite of ours, turned out to be a 21 and over venue. We were going with friends, had everything arranged. Now our friends are somewhat known to TATE, and typically, we enjoy perhaps a personal meet and greet and maybe a chair or two in the SRO space. But. We didn't want to chance the youngest member of our party not being able to get in, so we did the responsible adult thing and opted out. After all, we'd just been to their show in Burlington a few months ago. Fabulous by the way. Event night rolls around. Sitting in the kitchen, having a light supper, ruminating on the fact that we should be elsewhere getting ready to have a blast... and my friend calls and says they can get us in, 21 or not... hop in the car and go! But hubby ha...