Weekly Cooking (and related issues) Thread

[Liz]

Lo, carbers take note: this is a classic French dessert (supposedly a Swiss invention according to the French). Similar to cooked/thickened crème pâtissière but thickened with gelatin. It is very light, fluffy and delicious. Lighten the Bavarois with whipped cream when on the verge of setting up, before being molded. Add fresh berries at service.

SUGGESTED SERVING Place fresh raspberries between two
cheesecake disks, then top w/ berries. Add a thin chocolate
wafer at the bottom, if you're feeling decadent.

BAVAROIS CREAM
Ingredients •• 3 large eggs, separated, tbsp plain powdered gelatin •• sweetener equal to 1/2 cup sugar •• tsp vanilla extract / or scraped vanilla bean pod / or vanilla bean paste •• cup h/cream •• bit sweetener

PREP Add 1/4 cup cold water to small bowl and sprinkle gelatin on top. Set aside.

BATTER beat egg yolks and sweetener til pale and frothy. Beat egg whites to stiff peaks. Whip heavy cream, sweetener , to stiff peaks.

FINAL Warm up gelatin until it turns into a liquid, use a double boiler or carefully microwave. Add gelatin to the egg yolk mixture. Mix well. Fold in whipped cream. Fold in egg whites. Add vanilla. Spoon cream into glasses, or molds. Refrigerate 4 hours.

SERVE Serve with fresh berries.

[CottonBall]

Copied and saved! I have probably 40-50 butternuts in the garden and still a couple in the basement from last year.

[Liz]

I love that recipe b/c it's not your usual whipped butternut quash Thanksgiving recipe. You may also be interested in this Mexican recipe using butternut squash..... a Nigella recipe.

ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH ENCHILADAS
PREP Roast butternut squash halves tender flesh side down on parchmented sheetpan 400 deg 40 min. Let cool.

FILLING Mash roasted squash, 2 tb ea cr/cheese, chp cilantro, minced green onion, 1-2 minced canned chipotles in sauce, 1/2 tsp cumin, tsp adobo sauce; s/p.

ASSEMBLY Center 2 large spoonfuls on 6 corn tortilla (microed in damp paper towel 20 sec to soften); roll up. Bake seam-side down 8x8" sprayed baker. Blanket w/ can enchilada sauce. Sprinkle w/ grated mozz, cheddar, jack. Bake/melt 400 deg 15 min (enchiladas are bubbly).

SERVE w/ sides of guacamole or salsa, green salad. 1-2 margaritas wouldn't hurt.

[Yaelle]

I made Bavarois for my first wedding (to a chef)! We made all the desserts at our reception (which was a different date than the wedding) . Then when I went kosher I couldn’t eat them any more. Quite the shame.

Liz, I need your advice. Making vanilla buttermilk cupcakes for little one’s party on Sunday. The cake part is made. These cupcakes are better than ordinary vanillla cupcakes. And then tomorrow I will make a yummy fresh strawberry frosting for them. But I also had an idea.... from your idea, Liz. What if I mixed some mascarpone with puréed strawberries (drained a bit) and added a bit of sugar, and injected this cream into the cupcakes as a surprise filling?? Would kids like or hate? I might try a few and test them out.

[Yaelle]

Yes, there was too much emphasis on fat in the Atkins days, and lots of fakey packaged products. Plus our gut bugs are desperate for natural carbs like root veggies and plant fibers. We need our veggies and the gut bugs will make you crave them once you start making them an essential part of your diet. Root vegetables have way more fiber, even cooked, than insipid green salads. Yes, leafy greens have vitamins, so eat them, but you will find your cravings for the root veggies or just the more fibrous veggies. Mine prefer roasted cabbages to green salad.

[Liz]

Cupcakes w/ a surprise filling........kids’ll love it.

A great idea.

I just hope the kiddies appreciate your baking skills.

[greeneyes]

I never tried the original Atkins back then. I had a copy of the modified Stillman’s diet that appeared in Redbook, so that was my go to diet back then.

However, I did modify that diet for conformity to nutrition that I had learned in Home Economics, and that included more fruits and veggies.

To some extent the reporting on the Atkins diet that was done was somewhat misrepresentative-as if the phase 1 part was all that there was to it, and I think that Atkins made a lot of controversial comments just to egg it on and get more press.

In my opinion, it’s better to taper down the carbs over a period of time, whereas Atkins is more or less two weeks of cold-turkey. LOL

I did do that plan with my grand daughter a few years ago, but I did taper down, and didn’t have any “flu” like symptoms or other ill effects doing it that way.

The point was made in the old book that I looked at that everyone has different tolerances for carbs, and it reminded me of the allergy protocols they used to advise, wherein you eliminated entirely the most likely culprits and added them back one at a time to determine the impact.

If a person really liked Kale, Broccoli etc. they could have loads of veggies even in phase 1, but I don’t particularly like that stuff - so low carb is tough for me no matter what plan.

What’s my favorite veggies? Taters, Corn, and maters in that order. I like almost all fruits, so when I find a recipe that uses a low carb veggie that I actually don’t gag on, I snag it to use again.

Thanks again for the thread.

[Jamestown1630]

I always found it very easy to do only protein for the first two or three days; but I go into ketosis very quickly. After a couple of days, I found that I stayed in ketosis even if I added veggies, or drank a glass or two of wine.

I think you are correct, that it’s different for everyone. But I would never suggest that anyone try a ‘Stillman’ sort of diet for more than a day or two - you absolutely need some carbs, at least after the first day or so.

My favorite veggies on this diet are lettuces, cukes with the skin, cherry tomatoes, and the Pickled Brussels Sprouts that I think I’ve posted previously. I also do roasted eggplant with a tahini sauce.

[Jamestown1630]

I have an Autumn-Winter roasted root veggie recipe that I will have to post soon; I think I originally found it in one of Ina Garten’s books...

[greeneyes]

Yes, that’s correct - the plan in Redbook was modified to include the usual low carb veggies - lettuce, spinach etc.

I modified it even more. It was only supposed to be a two week loose the holiday gain type thing. But I used it one summer to loose about 40 lbs. after I had my 2cnd child, but I had about double the calories and 3 times the veggies. LOL

I took the kids to the pool every afternoon, and took only unsweetened ice tea to drink. No snacking. I would swim for 20 minutes and then my oldest daughter would swim 20 minutes and then it was my turn again.

Kept it off for a good long while, but gradually started gaining a few lbs. per year.

[Jamestown1630]

It’s difficult when you’re going through all that hormonal stuff; but I’ve found that it evens out over the long haul, even if you cheat now and then.

My husband lost 65 lbs. by being really religious on the South Beach sort of diet for a while. But he has now kept it off for years, even though he cheats about half the week, now. (Can’t keep an Italian man away from his spaghetti and lasagna, forever ;-)

It helps that he really likes meat; it’s harder for me, because I don’t really like meat; but I can go long enough to lose weight, and keep it off by being careful.

Everyone is different. I’ve tried low-fat, and low carb; the difference is that with low-fat I needed a lot of exercise - and had to carry around a lot more food! The low-carb way cuts down your appetite, and you just don’t want to eat so much after the first few days...

[greeneyes]

Low fat for decades - kept gaining weight, LDL too high, HDL too low, triglycerides too high, eventually started to become insulin resistant and felt like I was starving all the time.

Low Carbs - no longer starving, stopped weight gain, lipids and triglycerides went back to normal. Eating bacon, eggs, and butter again makes up for the lack of toast. LOL

[CottonBall]

Have you tried the enchiladas?

Thanks for the recipes. Butternut are so easy to grow, I went a little overboard with the number of plants I put in!

[Liz]

The butternut enchiladas are fab.......the flavor is punched up via the Mexican ing....and the luscious cr/cheese.

Here's a quickie......another great b/nut squash recipe..... so you can use up all those b/nuts languishing on the vine.

BUTTER NUT SQUASH TACOS
Stuff a taco shell w/ diced b/nut squash (or sweet potatoes), first sautéed, then stewed a few min in adobo sauce.

SERVE topped w/ fresh cheese (feta is fine), fresh cilantro, squeeze of lime.

[CottonBall]

Okay, I wasn’t sure because you said Margaritas help. Didn’t know if that was to cover up the taste or Texture. LOL

[Liz]

Margaritas amp up YOUR attitude adjustment level......doesn’t affect the taste of the enchiladas.

[Yaelle]

If you love roasted root vegetables, JT, don’t save them for the summer. They are mostly “free” in carbs because the fiber deletes the harmful effects. White potatoes do have additional carbs but they too are needed weekly or so for the gut bugs, especially when they are cooked and then cooled, as in potato salad, OR just baked, then cooked another way, like chopped and pan fried with breakfast (really fast when alreadycooked the day before). Cooked and cooled potatoes have a high amount of good resistant starch.

But seriously, your roasted beets, kohlrabi, etc. make awesome summer salads.

[Yaelle]

Ok, that sounds out of this world.

I made a roasted chicken Thurs and still have all the roasted sweet potatoes and onions I cooked under it. And we had tacos last night so I have tortillas. This is a great idea.

And the adobo sauce is a new/old love. I learned to love it in college, working with a lot of Philippinas. Now I know it can make a killer sauce just mixing the chilis in adobo with plain yogurt. (Or plain, like I have to do with the tacos!)

[Liz]

Yaele's killer sauce: mix chilis in adobo with plain yogurt.

Dying to try that...sounds delish.

[Liz]

PRODUCT ENDORSEMENT: Veggie Night out at PF Chang's
The Tempura Green Beans and yummy creamy dip are fab.
The Stir-Fried Eggplant in a Chili Glaze is a must.
They just menued Cauliflower Tempura in Gochujang Sauce.....so fantastic.
Say yes to Vegetable Spring Rolls w/ chili dip.

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I happened on this veggie/gochujang recipe. Find it at Whole Foods.

Butternut Squash w/ Sesame and Gochujang

ING med butternut squash •1.5 Tb sesame seeds •1.5 Tb veg oil • Tb gochujang • Tb reduced-sodium soy sauce•2 tsp esame oil•2 Tb sliced scallions •pinch Sea Salt

METHOD Combine sesame seeds, veg oil, gochujang, soy sauce, sesame sed oil; toss w/ 1/2" cubes peeled butternut squash. Roast in single layer on rimmed sheetpan 425 deg 15 min. Remove to counter; flip squash. Rotate sheetpan; roast 15 min (brown and tender). Toss w/ sliced scallions, pinch sea salt.

SERVE warm.