Low and lower carb ways of eating

[NulloModo]

Redfox -

Your greens recipe sounds pretty tasty. I haven't had bulgur, well, ever now that I think about it. I have used chickpeas a couple times while making an Indian style curried spinach dish. Personally, the extra carbs from the half a cup or so of chickpeas are well worth it in my opinion.

My LC cooking lately has been focussed a lot on baking. My favorite LC bread mysteriously dissapeared from the market, and I have been trying (unsuccessfully so far) to recreate it. However, I am learning a good bit about how the different elements of a 'bread' recipe work together in baking. This is the thread Troubleshooting My Buns if anyone has any suggestions on other ideas to try.

[NulloModo]

Ah, I have to announce success!

Check out my last post in the thread I linked above, I finally nailed the preparation of these Low-Carb rolls. Huge thanks to Scott123 for designing the recipe and offering lots of great tips/hints/advice.

The taste, texture, crumb, consistency is all very breadlike, and the rolls should come out to a net carb count of only 3.75 grams or so when the recipe used is used to make 4 rolls. Who says low-carb bread has to be awful?

[Maison Rustique]

Thanks--can't wait to try some buns!

[mrsadm]

* CARBQUIK BAKING MIX*

I have just started experimenting with this baking mix, a low-carb version of the old Bisquick. The manufacturer claims a proprietary method of making the flour low carb. From their web site:

"Carbalose™ is as close to real flour as you can get without being real flour.

How is Carbalose ™ made?

Carbalose™ is made through a unique process and contains Enzyme-Modified Wheat, as well as Plant fiber, Wheat protein and some unique conditioners, enzymes and emulsifiers. Carbalose™ does not contain any soy protein, sugar-alcohols, dairy, animal-originated, trans-fatty, or saturated fat products. Also, it is Kosher Parve certified by OU. Upon request, it is also available soy-free."

I made a Foccocia bread and while the dough was very sticky and required additional "flour" it came out quite nice and delicious. I also made the cranberry muffin recipe from the Ocean Spray web site, substituting Carbquik for the flour and Splenda for the sugar, and they came out beautifully. YUM YUM YUM!

I think this product may be a bit like Dreamfields pasta, where they claim a low net carb amount for the product, but one still has to be careful and not indulge too much in this food. However, for an occasional treat of bread, muffins, cakes, or whatever, it is a wonder product.

A lot of folks on lowcarbfriends.com are experimenting with this product and posting their results (both failures and successes). There is a company representative who monitors the forum and answers questions about the product. Here's a link if you are interesting in reading more: http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/bbs/showthre...threadid=255923

And here's the carbalose link:

http://www.tovaindustries.com/Carbalose/page1.html

P.S. I have no connection to this product, just wanted to make folks here aware of it. I plan to use it for more baking around the upcoming holidays and will report my experiences if anyone is interested.

[NulloModo]

That looks interesting, although I might be a little hesitant about that 'enzyme modified wheat' bit. The carbolose flour also apparently contains high protein wheat flour, which is just another name for high gluten flour, which at the end of the day, is still wheat flour.

[NulloModo]

Hey, wanted to update with my CarbQuick experiences.

After reading through 30+ pages worth of others results on LCF, I bought a box of the stuff.

So far I have made biscuits, pizza crust, gingerbread cookies, sausage gravey, pork gravey, and I'm sure some other stuff with it.

I have to say, that it does perform very well, and the taste is quite good. So far everyones results have said that it does not seem to cause weightloss stalls or gains, so, I am hoping that when I weigh-in this weekend that will hold true for me.

The one issue with the stuff is that baked good tend to be a bit dryer than they would be with real bisquick, so I am going to play around with adding some moisture retention agents, or maybe just more moisture, into my baking to find the balance.

[patti]

Nullo, I'm impressed with your stick-to-it-iveness and willingness to experiment. I've not been low carbing, and I need to get back to it, pronto.

I think I need to do induction again before I try any kind of baking mix. Did you find it at a regular supermarket?

[NulloModo]

No, I ordered it via Netrition. Supposedly Kroger's in some areas of the country are carrying it as well. I have been playing around a lot more with low-carb breads than I normally would, but I really want to nail down these recipes, and I am only 2 lbs from goal, so I need to start uppingmy carbs more for maintenance anyway.

[TheFoodTutor]

OK, reviving this thread for a cooking class I'm doing this weekend.

I'll be doing a low-carb themed class, and I'm looking for recipes for a low-carb cheesecake. Given that most of the ones online call for regular cream cheese, Splenda, eggs and a macadamia nut crust, I'm thinking that I'll spice things up with perhaps some different cheese, and I'll serve with light fruit compotes in small portions with a general carb count so that the client will know just how much he is splurging when having a bit of cheesecake for dessert.

Does anyone have any ideas? I will probably go all Splenda for the cheesecake, but use a little sugar for accompaniments, and go for strong flavors like espresso syrup or strong fruits to cut the Splenda taste.

I'll be keeping the whole meal to around 20-25 grams of carb, so that it will be a small splurge, but not diet-busting. Thanks.

[NulloModo]

Well, I generally just use regular cream cheese for cheesecakes, but use a ton of it in ratio to the eggs, and usually a stick of butter in there as well for extra richness. Macadamia nut crusts are good, but some pecans and black walnuts ground up as well give some great extra flavor.

I highly encourage you to use something other than just Splenda to sweeten the cake, we have to get the word about sweetener synergy out there ;). If you blend Splenda, Erythritol (or Xylitol, but Erythritol has no SA aftereffects, and is scientifically proven to be almost completely non-digestible), and a little Ace-K (I know Scott123 is fond of using Diabetisweet, which has some Ace-K in it, use this in small amounts) you will get a much tastier product, and it won't have any artificial aftertastes you would have to cover up.

I also don't recommend the use of any real sugar in the fruit compotes, but that is just me, I try to keep things as strict as possible when it comes to real sugar usage. You could keep it to low-carb legal fruits, like strawberries (eh, hard to find good ones now) or other berries. Actually, cranberries would probably be really good, you could do stew them with some more of the sweetener blend (a package of sugar-free rasberry jello helps thicken it considerably, but also adds a nice flavor tang, alternatively you could use xantham or guar gum, but I haven't really played with these) and then spread that overtop. I love cranberry/rasberry relish with clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, and a little bit of ginger. You could even incorporate a swirl of some of those flavors into the cheesecake batter and have something really over the top.

Also, there is a great new LC baking aid on the market: Polydextrose. It has all of the textural properties of real sugar, but it is 90% dietary fiber, and has only trace carbs. It is about 10% as sweet as sugar, so you still need to use other sweeteners, but it is awesome for getting baked goods to be chewy, moist, and have that feel of real sugar goods.

EDIT:

By the way, what is on the rest of the menu?

Edited January 14, 2005 by NulloModo (log)

[TheFoodTutor]

Beautiful ideas, NulloModo. I had thought of adding a bit of more flavorful cheese, hard cheese or mascarpone to give more oomph to the cheesecake, but the ideas on sweetener blending are great. I haven't used acesulfame-K yet, nor erythritol, but they sound really interesting.

Love the idea of cranberries, and I'm also thinking of a black cherry and red wine reduction with no sweetener of any kind added. We're starting with a nice green salad garnished with a bit of duck confit, and I'll use some crisped duck skin to give the salad texture and talk about various vinaigrettes to complement the greenery. Then, we'll have a horseradish-crusted salmon over some marinated cucumber with haricots-verts. The client said that she'd like to see a demonstration of risotto, which really doesn't fit into the meal plan or the request of a low-carb meal, but we'll show how to make a flavorful risotto with duck confit if that's what she'd like to do, just in very small portions. There isn't really a substitute for arborio rice in that, other than small diced apples, and that's still pretty high carb.

And then I suggested a cheese plate for dessert, with the alternative of low carb cheesecake, and they opted for the cheesecake. So, typical of low carb classes, it will be a splurge off the diet, but an opportunity for me to show cute things I know how to make, like parmesan crisps as a replacement for crackers in an appetizer.

Now I just have to hope that they don't starve themselves all day in anticipation that I'll be serving a splurge dinner, to offset the allotment of carbs that they'll eat. That's happened before, and it made me feel very bad about not having anything to whip out of my pocket for them to eat as soon as I got there. Maybe I'll bring some beef jerky or something.

[purplewiz]

Is there a site or a chart somewhere with guidelines on blending artificial sweeteners?

I ask because for Thanksgiving, I made a low carb nut crust pumpkin pie that called for only Splenda. While the texture was great, and the flavor wasn't bad at all, it was very.... Splenda-y. I'd like to make it again with a blend of sweeteners, but I don't know where to start to end up with about the same level of sweetness.

I know I could "experiment", but since there are only two of us the experimentation could take weeks while we consume them . I'd really rather get something close to start with, and tweak from there!

Thanks -

Marcia.

[NulloModo]

There are no hard charts yet as far as I know, although Scott123 has put together some basic ratios on another forum, I would copy the post if I could remember which one...

A lot of it is through trial and error and experimentation though. You want to use the most inoffensive tasting sweeteners in the greatest quantity, and use those which have known strong aftertastes as only accents, and that way none of the aftertastes get through, and the overall sweetening intensity is increased. Splenda and Ace-K apparently have a great synergy with each other, but some people find Ace-K to have a bitter aftertaste if used in too great of quantity. I like to use a blend of Splenda, Stevia, and Saccharin, but some people say they can still pick up the saccharin aftertaste, although I haven't been able to.

Then, you also have certain sweeteners where there is a lot of difference between brands. Some Stevia is absolutely wonderful, some is horrid, but you have to almost find out through trial and error. As far as sugar alcohols go I like Erythritol because it doesn't digest like other SAs do, and has only .2 calories per gram. Xylitol is a more traditional SA, but it is sweeter than sugar, so you don't have to use as much, and it doesn't effect me like Malitol does. If you are making baked goods and subbing out large quantities of sugar, and not using equal quantities of SAs, that is where the Polydextrose comes in. Sugar gives a lot of bulk and texture to baked goods, but granular splenda does not, nor does it retain moisture well, which is why a lot of LC baked goods have that 'mouth drying' quality. The use of Polydextrose to make up for the bulk lost in omitting sugar regains the original texture, and then you use your artificial sweetener blend to make up the sweetness.

One small caution with Erythritol: It has a slightly cool mouth-feel if used in quantity by itself, this is why it is good in blends. When I first started using it I made a batch of gingerbread with it, and while the texture and flavor were very good, they had a mouth cooling menthol cough-drop effect as well, which was sort of odd. I could imagine it could come in handy for something like mint desserts though.

FoodTutor - The rest of that menu sounds wonderful. I'd love to hear more about that Salmon, could you share a recipe?

[FoodieRD]

This is the perfect forum to tell you about a great new book- it's called Low Carb 1-2-3, written by Rozanne Gold (with nutrition work by me, Helen Kimmel) published by Rodale and in the stores this week. It is full of Rozanne's famous 3 ingredient recipes and are all low carb, low calorie and low in saturated fat. It's a companion to South Beach, Atkins, Sugar Busters, and all other healthy eating plans. My favorite recipes include Miso Chicken with Fresh Ginger, Pesto and Pistachio Sea Bass, and Chocolate Tahini Cups (no worries about sugar alcohols here!). I'll be doing book signings over the next few weeks in Cherry Hill NJ, Long Island, Boca Raton, and Atlantic City. Anyone know the proper way to let the rest of e-gullet know about the book?

[patti]

I don't really know the proper protocol, but there is a Food Media and News forum. I think you'd have to be cautioned against posting something that might be considered spam, but I'm not the person to ask about this. Maybe you could ask one of the forum hosts or site managers.

[Amuse Bouche]

It's good to see this thread! I'm currently in Phase 1 of the SBD, which said more "sensible eating" and less "diet" to me. I find dinner is easy, and breakfast is fine with eggs, but I have trouble with packed lunches, and I'd love some ideas. This week I made a salad with chick peas, chicken breast, cherry tomatoes, scallions, low fat goat cheese, and a little EVOO and red wine vinegar.

One thing I'm totally craving is homemade chocolate chip cookies. I know this wouldn't work for Atkins doers, but what do you SBDers think about making some with whole wheat flour, 70% chocolate, and maybe a mix of sugar and splenda with some walnuts thrown in? As a very occasional treat?

One of my non-egg breakfast ideas - best for mornings when I go to the gym and I want some carbs beforehand, is fat free refried black beans with a little low fat cheese mixed in, eaten with a spoon like cereal. It's excellent, and very filling.

[NulloModo]

Speaking of beans -

If you like refried beans, Black Soy Beans are very low in carbs. I buy Eden's Organic brand (find it at Safeway), and these can be refried in some bacon grease, have some cumin and chiles tossed in, and taste very much like refried pinto beans.

[TheFoodTutor]

The salmon dish is actually a very simple one that my boyfriend made for me as part of a tasting menu for my birthday last year. To make the horseradish crust, just grate fresh horseradish, mix with a little egg white and salt and schmear it on top of your salmon. Season your salmon otherwise according to your tastes. The cucumber is marinated in a little creme fraiche, dill and chives, with julienned carrots, and the green beans are just sauteed. He served it with a beurre-blanc with whole grain mustard and horseradish as well, and this is what it looked like:

It's very yummy, but make sure you don't overcook the horseradish, since it loses a good bit of bite if it cooks too long. If you need to, you can cook the salmon to just about the right temp and then put the horseradish crust on, searing it with a butane torch or under a broiler.

Edited January 15, 2005 by TheFoodTutor (log)

[TheFoodTutor]

I made my low carb cheesecake, and it turned out better than I had imagined it would be, mostly thanks to NulloModo's advice on blending sweeteners. Here's my recipe:

3 8 oz. packages cream cheese

3 eggs

2 T. sour cream

1 T. vanilla extract

juice of 1/2 lemon

4 packets Splenda

4 packets Sweet One (Acesulfame K blend)

2 T. xylitol

crust:

1/2 cup mixed nuts (almond, pecan, walnut, filbert)

1 T. butter, melted

1 T. oat bran (optional)

salt to taste

For crust, whir dry ingredients in food processor for 20 seconds. Mix crumbs with melted butter and press in bottom of 8 inch springform. Bake at 325 for 10 minutes. Cool.

Beat cream cheese in mixer until soft, then add the rest of the ingredients, adjusting sweeteners to taste. (If you don't want to taste it with raw eggs, check sweetener level before adding them. Do I have to tell you that?) Pour mixture into springform and bake for one hour at 325 in a water bath. Turn off oven and allow cake to cool for one hour before removing. Serve. I'd tell you to refrigerate the leftovers, but you won't have any, so make sure you hide any that you want to save.

I added the oat bran for texture and fiber, and it keeps the nuts from making nut butter when grinding them. The top of the cake doesn't brown, because there's no sugar in it, and the texture looks less appealing than a sugar cheesecake. If you must, you can sprinkle the teensiest amount of sugar on the top and torch it, and that makes a big difference in preparation. But it will still be great without it.

I served it with about a tablespoon of my low carb lemon curd and a squiggle of mango puree. Everyone who tasted it loved it, including non-low-carbers. I'd definitely do it again.

[scott123]

Is there a site or a chart somewhere with guidelines on blending artificial sweeteners?

←

Marcia, are you sensitive to sugar alcohols (i.e. the sweeteners used in the vast majority of sugar free chocolates)?

If you are okay with them, then you're sweetening formulation options are huge. If not, then your options are fairly limited.

I tend to run into a lot of people who are sensitive and also a lot of people baking for others that may/may not be sensitive.

Because of this I generally stay clear of the non erythritol sugar alcohols when I make recommendations.

For 1 cup sugar:

3/4 C. polydextrose

1/2 C. splenda (or more preferably, the liquid splenda equivalent)

2 T. erythritol

1 T. ace k (sunnett/sweet one)

Erythritol has some crystallization issues that prevent it from being suitable for all applications. For those times, it's either a good brand of stevia or succumbing to a little sugar alcohol use (xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, etc.)

[scott123]

4 packets Splenda

4 packets Sweet One (Acesulfame K blend)

2 T. xylitol

←

TheFoodTutor, I like your combination of sweeteners. The one suggestion I would make would be to decrease the ace K a bit and increase the splenda.

Ace K has a phenomenol synergy with splenda, but at the same time, it has a pretty wicked aftertaste. Because of this, it's good to keep it to very small amounts.

Next time, I'd suggest trying 7 packets of splenda and 1 packet of ace K. I think that works out to be a better ratio.

Also, cheesecakes don't tend to suffer too much from the lack of sugary texture, but for other applications, I highly recommend either increasing the xylitol (or other sugar alcohols, if you're not sensitive to them) or obtaining some polydextrose.

[TheFoodTutor]

4 packets Splenda

4 packets Sweet One (Acesulfame K blend)

2 T. xylitol

←

TheFoodTutor, I like your combination of sweeteners. The one suggestion I would make would be to decrease the ace K a bit and increase the splenda.

Ace K has a phenomenol synergy with splenda, but at the same time, it has a pretty wicked aftertaste. Because of this, it's good to keep it to very small amounts.

Next time, I'd suggest trying 7 packets of splenda and 1 packet of ace K. I think that works out to be a better ratio.

Also, cheesecakes don't tend to suffer too much from the lack of sugary texture, but for other applications, I highly recommend either increasing the xylitol (or other sugar alcohols, if you're not sensitive to them) or obtaining some polydextrose.

←

I like your advice, and it's very interesting to play with these chemicals. The sugary texture thing does seem to be an issue. I will probably continue to experiment on these, because I was very pleased with my first result.

As far as the final cheesecake, I was sensitive to the fact that I am not currently dieting, and my only artificial sweetener intake on the average day is one packet of Splenda in my daily coffee. As I'm sure you know, if you only partake of artificial sweeteners, you tend to notice them a lot less than someone who normally just eats regular sugar. What impressed me most about my finished cheesecake was that not only did I not notice any artificial aftertaste in the cheesecake, but 3 other people who don't eat artificial sweeteners regularly didn't notice any, either.

But then, cheesecake is pretty amenable to these sorts of manipulations, while more complicated, flour-like cakes, or even simulations of flourless cakes, could be more difficult. Using soy flour and artificial sweeteners to make, say, a german chocolate cake, would be a grand undertaking. Especially if you could keep it at a low carb count with a satisfying serving size.

Fun experiment, though, from the point of view of making one's kitchen into a laboratory.

[NulloModo]

I don't see Soy Flour being the way to go. Soy is just too dense and has too much fo a 'soy' taste to be an acceptable flour sub.

The best options for flour subs that I see out there right now are Wheat Protein Isolate blended with Oat Fiber, or this new CarbQuick stuff, but that is more of a bake mix and has leavening agents and whatnot inside as well. What would be dandy would be if the people who make CarbQuick would release the flour used in it as a seperate product, but apparently they don't think there would be a market for it.

[scott123]

I agree about soy. It makes it's way into a lot of commercial formulations due to it's cost. It also makes it's way onto george stella's show because it's widely available. From a taste perspective, though, it falls way short. Over and over I come across people that hate the taste of soy flour. Soy protein isolate, on the other hand, is supposed to have very little 'soy' taste. I haven't tried it, though.

As far as white flour substitutes, soy flour is the bottom of the barrel. Almond is superior, as it WPI/Gluten, carbquik (for some applications), insoluble fiber (wheat, oat, corn) and soluble (xanthan, guar, etc.). Even whey protein, which I'm not a big fan of is better than soy.

[ahr]

I’ve had some success in baking The Best Recipe’s “Rich and Creamy” cheesecake, replacing the sugar measure-for-measure with granular Splenda (the stuff in boxes), and replacing the graham-cracker crust with one of ground hazelnuts and almonds (and a dash of cinnamon, and, of course, butter).

I recently compared this recipe to the one appearing in Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Cookbook. Without violating any copyrights,

• The Best Recipe specifies 1 1/4 cups of sugar for 16 oz cream cheese, four eggs, 1/4 cup sour cream, and 1/4 cup heavy cream; whereas
  
• Atkins specifies twelve packets of artificial sweetener for 16 oz cream cheese, three eggs, and one cup crème fraîche or sour cream.
  

Since one packet of artificial sweeter equals 2 teaspoons of sugar, and 48 teaspoons of sugar equal one cup, Atkins calls for the equivalent of 1/2 cup of sugar vs. 1 1/4 cups for The Best Recipe for roughly the same amount of solid and liquid ingredients.

Can anyone correct my arithmetic or otherwise account for this factor-of-two discrepancy?

Edit: Added the eggs.

Edited January 20, 2005 by ahr (log)