Low-Carbing Among Friends cookbook, what are the recipes you've tried?

[crazywoman-n-wy]

Originally Posted by lgpars

Well I made the 24 hour chili and I have to say it was not for us. My husband nor I liked it. I sure hate to lose all those ingredients but not edible for us. Our southern taste buds must be different.

Linda, I have not tried that recipe, and looking at it, I am not likely to try it. I'm afraid I'd have the same "reaction" to it as you. Just doesn't sound "right" for my tastes. Also, I simmered my chili (really can't remember if i n crock pot or on top of stove) for a very long time (no where near 24 hours) a year or so back, and was not at all happy with the texture of the meat. I do like it simmered for several hours, but no where near that long, I found. When I first started reading the posts here about 24 hr chili, I remembered that chili, and cringed.
Sorry, but we all have different tastes. We just don't all like the same things. Nothing against the creators of the recipes, just so me things we don't like. Or some things we like that other's don't.

So sorry you wasted all those ingredients!!
I've gotten to where most of the time now, if I am trying a new recipe, that looks questionable to my really liking it, I make half or 1/4th the recipe the first (and sometimes last) time I make it. That way I don't have as much waste potential. I have very different tastes, and way too many things that others rave about that I can not tolerate!

[sjl330]

I made the sandwich bread and it's wonderful! I was really afraid too, lol. And I used the no-stick aluminum foil and it worked wonderfully!! No sticking at all! Now on to another new recipe!

[buttoni]

I've made Jen's Sandwich Bread and it IS good. I think I used my silicone sheet on mine. My husband particularly like that one!

[Linnylamb]

Igpars, so sorry you didn't like the chili. Hubby and I thought it was really good, but I think you are right that all of our tastes are different.

Crazywoman, I will say that I think the texture of the chili was a little dry and crumbly. I probably will not do quite 24 hrs. next time. I did want to try the recipe as written, though. I also want to point out to anyone trying it to keep in mind that newer crockpots tend to cook hotter/faster from what I understand. My crockpot is ancient and I like it that way! It still cooks low and slow very well.

[Linnylamb]

I made Jenn's banana bread yesterday! It makes a dense loaf that is indeed very moist and tasty. I added 1/2 cup of sugar-free chocolate chips. They were good, but not needed to make it good. If you want more of a chocolate flavor you might want to go to 3/4 cup.

Unfortunately I don't think I will be able to make this very often because I think I will have portion control issues. It's been several years since I've had anything with bananas in it and I used to have one every day in my low fat dieting days. I think my taste buds just went a little wild when they detected bananas. I don't think making them into muffins would stop me from overindulging either!

My batter was very thick, spreadable, not pourable. My food processor was too small, so I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer and it handled it fine. Probably would be even easier in the food processor as Jenn suggested.

One other note: Jenn says it makes a dark loaf and she is right on the money. It was a little darker than traditional banana bread (If I can remember that long ago!), but it was not over baked. Do take her advice and cover loosely with tin foil as directed.

[Linnylamb]

Hubby made Kent's diet cola buffalo wings P. 299 last night. We chose his deep fried option because grilling in 6 inches of snow was not quite an option. Also, this was a pretty simple cooking option.

We made them as directed (using Frank's hot sauce), except we didn't toss the wings back into the sauce at the end. I'm glad we served it on the side, because the tasty sauce was way too hot for me, even though Hubby reduced the cayenne to 1/4 tsp. Even a little too hot for Hubby who tolerates heat much better than I. Next time we will make it without any cayenne.

Even though I think our wings were on the large side, they were overdone at (the suggested) 12 minutes in the fryer. We did the second batch in 8 minutes and that worked much better. Of course, timing depends a lot on wing size, type of fryer, and how big your batch is. If you're a novice deep fryer like myself, you will probably want to make a few test wings to get the timing down.

I think Kent knows his wings! We will make again as these are a nice change from heroin wings and regular ole buffalo wings.

[libbysmom]

I made Kent's Chicken Enchiladas on Spanish Rice page 285. Very Good! Next time I am going to try it as a casserole with "rice" , then chicken and top with the enchilada sauce and bake.

For lunch today I made a grilled cheese pesto sandwich with Jenn's Sandwich bread pg 59. Excellent!!! The pesto was homemade that I froze in ice cube trays this past summer. I could eat this every day!

Before Christmas I made Lisa's Mexicali Meatloaf pg 245. I love the Mexican flavor of this!!!! In my oven 1 hour was a little too long and I thought it was a little dry, but when I defrosted frozen slices and re warmed them they were just perfect and I served them plain (no salsa or Cheese).

I love this cookbook! Thank you everyone for all your hard work!

[EyeDoc]

I just made the Bacon Cheddar Jalapeno Bread (page 182). The texture is more muffin-like than bread-like. Flavor is good, but the texture throws me off! It's definitely a bread to be enjoyed with soup or chili, but not sandwiches!

[sherrymyra]

I made the coconut flour donuts, page 261. I made them in a Babycakes donut maker. Pretty good. I will make them again. I put the dough in a plastic bag, cut a hole in the corner, and squeezed the dough into the donut maker. It made 8 donuts, i will make it be 6 next time.

[EyeDoc]

Originally Posted by sherrymyra

I made the coconut flour donuts, page 261. I made them in a Babycakes donut maker. Pretty good. I will make them again. I put the dough in a plastic bag, cut a hole in the corner, and squeezed the dough into the donut maker. It made 8 donuts, i will make it be 6 next time.

This is next on my list! I have the Babycakes Cake Pop Maker...figured I'd make donut holes.... Where they cakey?

[sherrymyra]

They were less cakey than I thought they might be. Not quite as dense as the little powder sugar covered store bought ones but close enough. I'm not sure but I think they could have been a little sweeter. But I thought they were really good.

[crazywoman-n-wy]

I've made Jen's sandwich bread twice now. I had a grilled cheese & ham sandwich with it for a late lunch/dinner today. (I've had them a couple of times lately.) Makes a good grilled cheese (with or without ham) sammy!!

Those chicken enchiladas sound good. Can you by any chance describe the red enchilada sauce? I understand if you can't. Making it as a casserole sounds good too!

[nekkidfish]

Originally Posted by crazywoman-n-wy

I've made Jen's sandwich bread twice now. I had a grilled cheese & ham sandwich with it for a late lunch/dinner today. (I've had them a couple of times lately.) Makes a good grilled cheese (with or without ham) sammy!!

Those chicken enchiladas sound good. Can you by any chance describe the red enchilada sauce? I understand if you can't. Making it as a casserole sounds good too!

I am so busy with work, I really want to make this bread though. Maybe somebody could make it for me and I could pay them for it?? LOL

HUGz! Jules

[crazywoman-n-wy]

Just an FYI: Because of all the almond flour in it (an I cut back on some of it & used some other subs), it has just a slight cornbread texture, more so than a "light bread" texture to my DH & I. Not enough to sub for cornbread tho. But we do like it! (As I said, I've made it twice now. And I had made one batch of the rolls before that.) As I said, just an FYI. I think I remember someone else commenting on that, but maybe not.
I don't notice that with the grilled cheese sammy's tho.

[nekkidfish]

Originally Posted by crazywoman-n-wy

Just an FYI: Because of all the almond flour in it (an I cut back on some of it & used some other subs), it has just a slight cornbread texture, more so than a "light bread" texture to my DH & I. Not enough to sub for cornbread tho. But we do like it! (As I said, I've made it twice now. And I had made one batch of the rolls before that.) As I said, just an FYI. I think I remember someone else commenting on that, but maybe not.
I don't notice that with the grilled cheese sammy's tho.

Well, I must have weird taste buds. I remember everybody saying the Floopsies have a cornbread taste, and I don't taste that at all!!

[crazywoman-n-wy]

I never tasted or thought that about the Oopsies at all. Never made the floopsies.
It isn't the taste at all! It is the texture actually. And I'm sure it doesn't seem that way to everyone! Like I said, it is NOT a cornbread substitute for us. Just vaguely reminiscent of cornbread texture. (Like I said, it's all the almond meal.) And I know I definitely have odd tastes!!!

[libbysmom]

Crazywoman, the Red enchilada sauce is Kent's as well page 313. And it is very good and easy. Onion, spices and tomato sauce. It calls for Splenda, but I don't care for sweet meats and left it out.

[Jennifer Eloff]

Linda - sorry the chili didn't turn out well for you. My sons and DH love it! It could be that I used all ground beef and I did add quite a bit of water, as that is what I always do. I also added black beans (cooked from scratch in the crockpot the night before).

EyeDoc - so glad you liked the Island Pork Curry. Hmm, I hear you on the potatoes - maybe rutabaga cooked and diced? I know my friend, Judy, uses it quite a bit.

Sandy, yay, you tried the sandwich bread!

Thanks, Peggy.

Jules, you need to check out the English muffin I'm about to post - great for busy people and I think I like it more than the sandwich bread for certain things.

Billie, glad you liked the sandwich bread. It's always good when something passes the Billie test. I like the sandwich bread toasted - not so much as bread really. You are right - it is not quite like bread-bread and has a slight corn bread texture to it, which disappears when toasted. I also like it as grilled cheese.

Libbysmom, that sounds SO good! Grilled cheese sandwiches with your favorite homemade pesto using the sandwich bread. I'm very, very sorry to hear about Libby. Is it the black dog? That's a very cute pic. I was looking at it earlier.

Linny - the wings sound nice. My DH is not so fond of wings. Waah, I like them very much!

Pat - nothing wrong with your 76-year old taste buds. I also spotted that Mocha Hazelnut Muffin recipe and figured it needed more sweetener. I asked Carolyn (as I was doing corrections for the 2nd edition of vol. one) before I saw your comment actually and she said it was fine as written but that I could put 1/8 tsp of stevia in if I like, which I did. She checked her notes so it was not a mistake on her part - she just likes things not too sweet. To my mind I'd need even more sweetener than that in the muffins - both flax and cocoa cut the sweetness. Anyway, optimal sweetness level is definitely different for everyone. Read the recipes, maybe taste the batter if you brave like that, and judge for yourselves. Some of the authors use sweeteners very sparingly, I noticed.

About the coconut flour donuts. Lisa said to add this in the new edition of Low-Carbing Among Friends, volume-1:

Helpful Hints: If making these in cooler weather coconut oil in the batter can cool, causing the batter to be too stiff. To fix that problem, either use room temperature eggs or warm the batter for 20 seconds in a microwave oven.

Sherrymyra, what is a Babycakes donut maker, by the way? You mean a donut pan or something more sophisticated?

[sherrymyra]

The Babycakes donut maker is an electric mini donut baker. Makes 6 mini donuts. Worked really well.

the dough was a little stiff but worked well when putting the dough in a baggie and cutting a hole in the corner to fill the donut maker.

[Jennifer Eloff]

Sherrymyra: That sounds like a really neat gadget and I like the way you improvised with the donuts. Good for you.

[EyeDoc]

I just made the Turtle Bars...sorry I don't have the page handy...

I like it, but don't like the "cooling effect" of erythritol. I came across the same thing with Lauren's Pumpkin Gooey Butter Cake. Flavor was good, but I don't like the cooling effect. I should have known better!

I might make this again (although it may be a while - over two sticks of butter in this recipe!), but I will have to substitute some Splenda for the erythritol. There are many other recipes to try first!

I'm gettin' the hang of baking with all these new ingredients. But, unfortunately, I'm starting to feel the same way as lgpars with respect to the cost involved and "wasting" ingredients. I keep telling myself to hang in there! As long as DH doesn't see the grocery bills...I should be OK!

[pinemeadows]

The 24 hour chili was not a hit at my house either. I wanted to make it exactly as the recipe said but we just chalked it up.

I have hundreds of cookbooks and doubt every recipe in those is a hit either...so no big deal.

Yesterday I made the cheddar jalapeno bacon bread - and it was just a little bit salty. Next time I will omit the extra salt. I enjoyed it a lot - and even sliced the squares in half to make small ham sandwiches for work today - they were delicious!

I always plan on making so many recipes on the weekends, but time just gets away from me!

[SCOTTSDALEJULIE]

Eyedoc. Most of us here use 2-3 sweetners instead of just E. It gives a synergy to the recipe. Next time try some liquid splenda, the E. and a tiny bit ofStevia. Julie

[Tilly]

Originally Posted by libbysmom

Crazywoman, the Red enchilada sauce is Kent's as well page 313. And it is very good and easy. Onion, spices and tomato sauce. It calls for Splenda, but I don't care for sweet meats and left it out.

Linda Sue has a recipe for red enchilada sauce.

[crazywoman-n-wy]

Originally Posted by Jennifer Eloff

.....................................

Billie, glad you liked the sandwich bread. It's always good when something passes the Billie test. I like the sandwich bread toasted - not so much as bread really. You are right - it is not quite like bread-bread and has a slight corn bread texture to it, which disappears when toasted. I also like it as grilled cheese.
..........................

You are right Jen! Billie is very hard to "please". I really don't mean to be so negative about things. Sometimes I post my dislikes tho, because I know I am surely not the only one out there who doesn't like something, and know how it feels to think you are the only one that feels that way. It is good to know that someone else doesn't like something too. Or in some cases when so many people rave about something, and people waste a whole recipe not realizing that not everyone likes a particular ingredient. (Did that make sense?)
Anyway, you are right, my taste buds are definitely different! I really wish I liked everything like a lot of people do. But I do have strange taste buds! It is not fun! And I've tried to like a lot of them, and just couldn't! My tastes have changed a lot over the years. Believe it or not I actually like a lot of things that I used to not like!! There are a few that I used to like really well, that I barely tolerate now. And I'm sorry, there are some things (most who "know" me here or other forums know some of them) that I just cannot understand how anyone would like them as they are so disgusting to me, yet others love them! But again we all have different tastes. I was talking to a friend here the other day, and one of those that I can't tolerate, she loves, & one I really like (eggs I think it was, can't remember for sure now), she can't. My sister & I have very similar tastes on some things, and others totally opposite.
Well, there I went again,,,,,, blabbering on. Please forgive me.

You are right Jen, tho I hadn't thought about it, when you toast the bread, much or all of that "cornbready" texture does go away. I too love it made into a grilled cheese sandwich!

[libbysmom]

Yes Jen, Libby is the little black cocker spaniel (with a summer buzz cut) in the picture. The sweetest little dog you have ever seen. Now she is gone, her "puppy" is grown and has his own new Buddy. I read your husband's story about Happy and his brush with the "law". I think you are as bad about dogs as we are. So glad you have another dog, but there are just some that hold your heart forever.

Keep up the great work with the recipes!
Leigh

[crazywoman-n-wy]

Originally Posted by Tilly

Linda Sue has a recipe for red enchilada sauce.

Tilly, I think I may have tried that once sometime back. I am really not sure now. And if I did, I don't remember if I like it! Guess I must not have disliked it. I do remember making one I found somewhere (probably that one), but again can't remember what I thought of it. Seems like it was just OK, but not sure. Oh, I would like a mind!

[libbysmom]

As much as I love so many of Linda's recipes (chili dog pie, just like stuffed baked potatoes, pound cake to name just a few I make all the time) I really liked Kent's enchilada sauce!

[litehousepat]

[QUOTE=Jennifer Eloff;15353146]

Pat - nothing wrong with your 76-year old taste buds. I also spotted that Mocha Hazelnut Muffin recipe and figured it needed more sweetener. I asked Carolyn (as I was doing corrections for the 2nd edition of vol. one) before I saw your comment actually and she said it was fine as written but that I could put 1/8 tsp of stevia in if I like, which I did. She checked her notes so it was not a mistake on her part - she just likes things not too sweet. To my mind I'd need even more sweetener than that in the muffins - both flax and cocoa cut the sweetness. Anyway, optimal sweetness level is definitely different for everyone. Read the recipes, maybe taste the batter if you brave like that, and judge for yourselves. Some of the authors use sweeteners very sparingly, I noticed.



Jen, Thanks for the info. I will use more sweetener next time. To remedy the sweetness in the batch I already made, I made a glaze with Ideal Sweetener & it took care of the problem!!

Pat

[Tilly]

Originally Posted by crazywoman-n-wy

Tilly, I think I may have tried that once sometime back. I am really not sure now. And if I did, I don't remember if I like it! Guess I must not have disliked it. I do remember making one I found somewhere (probably that one), but again can't remember what I thought of it. Seems like it was just OK, but not sure. Oh, I would like a mind!

You should see the notes I have around my house, Crazywoman. Somedays I think I need one to get out of bed! And just to let you know, I love reading what you have to say. You write a lot and put thought into your cooking and baking. Thanks!