Tonights Experiment!

Bored with just beans and rice with our fahgeetas I found a recipe in a Taste Of Home magazine for Mexicorn Grits. We used polenta cause that's what we have.

Ingredients:
4 cups milk
1/2 cup plus
1/3 cup butter, divided
1 cup quick-cooking grits
2 eggs
1 can (11 ounces) Mexicorn, drained
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Mexican cheese blend
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions: In a large saucepan, bring milk and 1/2 cup butter to a boil. Slowly stir in grits. Reduce heat; cook and stir for 5-7 minutes. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs. Stir a small amount of hot grits into eggs; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Melt remaining butter; stir into grits. Add the corn, chilies, cheese, salt and pepper. Transfer to a greased 2-qt. baking dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Yield: 10 servings.

Spice List for the disinclined

Basic Spice List:
salt (I prefer cooking with kosher but certainly not necessary)
pepper ( I like fresh ground but again...)
basil
bay leaves
chili powder
cumin
garlic powder
garlic salt
onion powder
dried mustard
oregano
paprika
cayenne
red pepper flakes
rosemary
sage
thyme

For Baking:
ground allspice
ground cinnamon
ground cloves
ground nutmeg
ground ginger (crystallized and candied aren't as common in basic cooking but you purchase them if you wish)
With all of those, you can keep the whole counterpart instead of the ground, and grind your own when it's needed.

Lucifer Loaf

Coconut Pumpkin Bread
(aka Lucifer Loaf, not because it's a devil to make but because it's so good that you can't stop eating and obviously that's a bad thing eat a whole 2 lb loaf of bread in a 20 minute sitting, right?)
as found in the fresno bee paper who knows when.

1 1/3 cups oil
4 eggs
2 cups cook fresh or canned pumpkin
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 small packages instant coconut cream pudding and pie filling **
1 cup walnuts, coursely chopped

* preheat oven to 350* (#)
* beat together oil, eggs and pumpkin (##)
* sift together flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.
* add to pumpking mixture and pie filling. stir in nuts.
* divide batter between two greased 9 1/2 x 4 inch loaf pans. bake 1 hour and 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
* if loaves brown too quickly, lay foil or brown paper over the top until bread is done.

# I think 350 is too hot. My sides kept burning before the center was cooked. So I turned it down to 325 and it came out swell.
## I put the sugar and spices in at this point instead. Gives it a chance to dissolve and incorporate better, imho.
** good luck!

Nutritional Information
Makes 2 loaves, 12 slices each
294 calories, 17 grams fat, 36 mgs cholesterol,
219 mgs sodium, 35 grams carbs, 4 grams protein.
(I think that is per loaf. I hope it's per loaf. Dear god let that be per loaf.)

Solanine Green! It's made of potatoes!

Why no green potatoes? The green color is actually the chlorophyll, a natural plant pigment that is actually tasteless and harmless.
However, the green is a kind of warning because solanine is a potentially toxic alkaloid that develops in the same area as chlorophyll. So, potatoes with green are often higher in that alkaloid than normal potatoes. The bitter taste is the solanine. How much green does not determine the amount of solanine present because greenness differs for many reasons.

Why might potatoes be green? Light exposure is the most common cause - but age, temperature and variety can all be reasons. So, harvested too young? There will be some greening. Naturally thin skinned? There might be some greening. Therefore, some greening will happen without the threat of solanine poisoning.

If you are concerned still, peel the potato. The concentration of the alkaloid is greatest right below the peel. COoking or steaming them in water to at least 300 degrees will also help reduce the solanine present in the potato. Or throw it away and start over.

Food for Thought

I just spent a terrifying 20 minutes on this site finding out when all my spices were made.
It's strange because I just bought a few of them and they either didnt come up or they were made a long time ago. Weird.

And with all my spices, apparently 1997 was a good year to make them. 'Cause Dang.

Go. Be depressed.

-s.

Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie.

I highly doubt I'll be able to get every single smidge of my pumpkin fix in this year. I've been super craving it all year long. Even with the addition of the Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino at Starbucks AND the Pumpkin Pie Twister at Foster's (a west-coast Braums/DairyQueen/TasteeFreez) I'm still fearful I wont get as much as I crave.

I used to get pumpkin pies for my birthday cake when I was younger.
I think I'm going to resurrect that particular tradition soon.

With all the recipes I've been seeing online lately, like the super duper scrumptious looking Pumpkin Bread Pudding at Smitten Kitchen and a recipe for a pumpkin cake that I can't for the life of me remember where I picked it up, I should get a good head start on Pumpkin-Palooza this year.

I'm gonna start off with a pie that I found and tried and loved last year. I like that it combines another fall time favorite of everyone's -- Apple Butter.
It's an Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie, Enjoy.

1 cup apple butter
1 cup fresh or canned pumpkin
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
3 eggs, slightly beaten
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Sweetened whipped cream, for garnish

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Combine apple butter, pumpkin, sugar, salt and spices in a bowl. Stir in eggs. Gradually add milk and mix well. Pour into pie shell. Bake for about 40 minutes or until set.

Gimme Some Suga!

I'm going to go over the different sugar subsitutes there are on the market today. There are quite a few these days, which leaves many options for the diabetic baker. This is a good thing, because some sugars cant be baked with, and some are better for baking -- some are liquid, and some are sold only in bulk powder form.

Aspartame - (Equal, Nutrasweet, Natrataste(nutra?)
Aspartame is a natural protein sweetener. Beacause of its intense sweetness, it reduces calories and carbohydrates in the diet. Aspartame has a sweet aroma and no aftertaste. It seems to complement some of the other sweeteners by removing their bitter aftertaste.
Aspartame does lose some of its sweetness in heating and is therefore recommended for use in cold products. Some people who have PKU cannot use this sweetener because of the amino acidphenylalanine in the product. 24 packets = 1 cup sugar ; 1 packet = 2 tsps (see individual brands for calories)

Cyclamates - (Sucaryl, Sugar Twin (yellow box), Sweet'n'Low)
Cyclamates are not as sweet as saccharin and also leave a bitter aftertaste, Many sugar replacements consist of a combination of saccharin and cyclamates. Not recommended for pregnant or nursing women.

Fructose - Commonly known as fruit sugar, it is actually a natural sugar found in fruits and honey. Fructose tastes the same as common table sugar, but because of its intense sweetness it reduces calories and carbs in the diet. It is not affected by heating or cooling, but baked products made with fructose tend to be heavier. Generally found already in products (syrups, cereals, etc.)

Glycyrrhizen - Products containing glycyrrhizen are as sweet as saccharin. They are seen less because they tend to give food a licorice taste and aroma.

Saccharin - (Sweet & Low, Sugar Twin (blue box), Brown Sweet & Low)
The most widely known and used intense sweeteners. When used in baking or cooking, saccharin has a lingering bitter aftertaste. Normally found in the granular from, it is better for baking. Use the liquid forms in cold foods. Not recommended for pregnant or nursing women.

Sorbitol - (Sorbitol, Mannitol, Xylitol, Isomalt)
Used in many commercial food products. It has little or no aftertaste and a sweet aroma. Mostly found at health food stores in bulk form. A sugar 'alcohol'.

Sucralose - (Splenda)
A new low-calorie sweetener that is actually real sugar. Splenda doesn't have the bitter, artificially sweetened aftertaste. Plus, it's safe for diabetics and can be used for cooking and baking. May not work well in recipes such as certain cakes that rely upon sugar for structure, as it is in liquid form usually. Finished recipes may require refrigeration.

Acesulfame-K - (Sweet One, Sunnett)
12 packets = 1 cup sugar 1 packet = 2 teaspoons sugar.
Can be used in cooking and baking without losing sweetness. Sunnett is used a lot in commercial grade beverages.

Stevia - (Stevia rebaudiana)
Is an herbal that has been used by Guarani Indians in Paraguay to sweeten beverages and treat diabetes and blood pressure. In Japan stevia extract is commonly used to sweeten soda, candy, gum, ice cream, pickles and baked goods. Stevioside is the compound that gives stevia its sweet taste. It is 300 times sweeter than table sugar. Stevia is heat stable (follow package directions). Liquid and powder extracts of different sweetness available at health food stores. Use small amounts in cereals, hot beverages,yogurt etc. Too much can leave a bitter aftertaste.

Hope that helps some. I got most of my info from a book by Mary Jane Finsand. Almost all the products can be found in grocery stores these days. They have special little diabetic sections or over in the baking aisle. Health food stores would definitely carry these products and probably have more of a selection. FYI, I like to use Sugar Twin, Splenda, & Fructose.

Websites for Sugars
http://www.equal.com/
http://www.splenda.com/
http://www.sweetnlow.com/
http://www.sweetone.com/
http://www.nutrasweet.com/
http://www.natrataste.com/