mgaretz

Pulled pork (from frozen, pan fried) and fries.

Here is the report on peanut butter salted caramel with half sugar half erythritol/monk fruit blend. Spun yesterday afternoon on Lite Ice Cream. It was very smooth and soft-serve like consistency. Later that night (shown, with a banana) it was harder but still soft. This morning it was nice and solid but easily scoopable. It seemed a bit icy, but I only had one spoonful so I will see tonight. Now the taste was very sweet, which I did not expect. So I may have to adjust the sugars. The good news is that by blending real sugar with the erythritol I did not detect any artificial. "not quite right" sweetness. It tasted like all sugar.

Sirloin, cooked SV then seared, served with baked sweet potato with butter.

Ah.

Today I made an experimental version of my peanut butter salted caramel recipe with 50% sugar and 50% erythritol/monk fruit blend. Freezing now, will report tomorrow on how it comes out.

You can respin (on the original setting) if it gets hard after re-freezing, according to the manual (look in the recipe guide, second page in the middle under "What to do about leftovers"). I have definitely done this on my low/zero sugar experiments. Fine after the initial spin, then rock hard the next day. After a second spin then it stays soft from that point on. Note this is not the "re-spin" cycle which used if it's crumbly after the initial spin. This is a second spin the next day on the original cycle.

Somewhat eclectic dinner of egg salad, a bit of store-bought char siu and roasted Brussels sprouts done in the Ninja Foodi Grill (10 minutes!).

Really loving the thick pork loin chops on the NFG. I just put them on plain and they taste the best that way (salt and pepper after). Also cooked some squash and for the first time, carrots. Squash was in for about 1/2 the cook, carrots the whole time, but probably should have also been about half. They were yummy though. This thing cooks fast! Around 17 minutes for this 1.5" thick chop including pre-heat time.

Thanks Kim. It's not that I was feeling bad, just following the dentist's orders.

I don't typically make brown rice but I frequently vacuum pack and freeze leftover rice. Reheats easily in the microwave, boiling in the bag etc.

Meatloaf whole and served with steamed Brussels sprouts in butter:

It seems counter-intuitive, but the best results from the flour-egg wash-panko method is to start with dry chicken.

Egg salad and avocado. Hopefully the last night of soft food!

Had a tooth pulled on Thursday and can't eat anything too solid, so I have been surviving on a gruel of lentils, rice and carrots. Four days of it and I couldn't stomach another bite. So for the next few days it will be tuna salad (or egg salad) and avocado: Hopefully Thursday I can go back to "normal" food.

Panko shrimp, sweet potato tots, both made in the NFG on Air Crisp, with steamed Brussels sprouts in butter.

I respun this last night and then tasted it tonight. Still nice and scoopable with no hint of iciness. I am not totally happy with the taste compared to sugar. A blend of sugar fee sweetener and real sugar may be the answer.

Sirloin, cooked SV then seared, served with corn on the cob.

Second attempt at sugar-free chocolate. This time I reduced the amount of stabilizer by half (but it still thickened in the blender) and doubled the amount of glycerin. It spun very loose, like fresh churned. After freezing for 5 hours it had firmed up will and was easy to scoop but just a tiny bit icy. This afternoon I respun it and the texture is greatly improved. It's back in the freezer and we'll see wat it's like in 6 hours or so. The key so far seems to be a respin after refreezing. Pics, after initial spin and first scoop.

Pork chop, cooked on the NFG along with squash and some leftover store-bought coleslaw.

I made carnitas from a package (Del Real brand from Costco) and it was pretty good - pan fried it. Refried beans from a can, but the star was the "Mexican" rice. I started with frozen, vacuum sealed leftover rice, heated with part of a can of diced tomatoes with Hatch chilies, some tomato paste, water, sugar, garlic and cumin. Very nice!

Second update: After a day of freezing after the respin, it is scoopable, but just barely. I let it stand out of the freezer for 15 minutes and it was easy to scoop. Not up to my standard, so needs a bit of tweaking still. Taste and texture were very good - no iciness at all. So we're close.

Thought I would post my latest "air fry". Brussels sprouts done in the NFG on air crisp mode - 10 minutes at 390F with shake half-way. The sprouts were tossed in a tsp of peanut oil with some salt and pepper. Came out very good. The BSOA can do this too but tkaes significantly more time.

Update: Tonight it was hard after being frozen for day. I respun it on the light ice cream cycle (which seems to be running at a higher speed and for longer than the ice cream cycle - but don't quote me) and it was very good. Gelato-like texture. We will see what it is like tomorrow night after freezing again.

I think it only matters for the initial spin.

I am lactose intolerant and trying to lose some weight and keep it down. Not doing keto or anything crazy.