On Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:32:02 GMT, Gill Murray posted:



Oleg Lego wrote:
On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:00:10 +0000 (UTC), W. Baker posted:


In alt.support.diabetes Frank t2 wrote:

: "W. Baker" a ?crit ...
: In alt.support.diabetes jeremy wrote:
: : W. Baker wrote:
:
: I also make my own jams in the summer using special pectins and sweetening
: them when I open the jar with either aspertame or Splenda. I do this
: because these jams taste much better. I make sugared jams fo rmy husband,
: but i buy him bitter marmelade because I cannot get the Seville oranges
: and they are a pain to make anyway. I am a retired person adn have the
: time to do this. Others may well not be able to or can't afford the
: frequently high price of eh fresh fruit and berries. In that case, the
: Smuckers no sugar added jams can work. My philosophy in this area is to
: not deny the nice foods , but to find a way to have them while maintaining
: a controlled carb way of life.
:
: Wendy


: Wendy,
: How do you do this? I have Splenda and PLENTY of fruit in my garden,
: but I have never made jams for me, since the high content of fruit sugars
: has put me off doing it.
: If there is a secret, I would LOVE to know, as I miss jams on my toa-
: dooooh!
: I can't have toast either ...

: Frank

The jams are not no-carb by any means, but are ever so much better than
than the regular jams adn I can have a spoonful on a Wasa cracker as a
treat once or twice a week. I generlly make berry jams, as that is what I
can get fresh grown (and sometimes cheaper) near my country home in the
summer. I get the special pectin fo rno sugar aded jams and jellies (made

from strained fruit juice, rather than whole fruit smashed up) Two
I hope this helps.


One of my favourite "jams" is cranberry sauce (homemade, from fresh or
frozen cranberries). We had about 1 cup of it left over from
Christmas, and it lasted me almost three weeks. Next batch I make will
be with Splenda. I doubt the Splenda will act quite the same as sugar,
in preserving the product, but if I make small enough batches, that
won't be a problem.

Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, I make home-made cranberry sauce. The
canned jelly crap is just for kids and grandkids.

I very simply simmer the cranberries in the required amount of water (
on the package). I use orange zest for the orange flavor, without the
carbs of the juice. I use Splenda, about 2/3 the amount of sugar called
for. While it simmers I squish the cranberries against the side of the
saucepan It is a big hit with company, and they have no idea, it is
"healthy".

Interesting. I have always made it with just cranberries and sugar. I
don't think I have ever noticed an orange flavour component in any
cranberry sauce I have ever tried.

Except for that, I make it the same way.. simmer and crush.

--
Larry, T2, Saskatchewan, Canada.
DX 24 Aug 07. D&E
Metformin 2000mg, Ramipril, Simvastatin
Dx A1c 8.1 : Latest 5.1

In alt.support.diabetes Gill Murray wrote:


: Oleg Lego wrote:
: On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:00:10 +0000 (UTC), W. Baker posted:
:
: Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, I make home-made cranberry sauce. The
: canned jelly crap is just for kids and grandkids.

: I very simply simmer the cranberries in the required amount of water (
: on the package). I use orange zest for the orange flavor, without the
: carbs of the juice. I use Splenda, about 2/3 the amount of sugar called
: for. While it simmers I squish the cranberries against the side of the
: saucepan It is a big hit with company, and they have no idea, it is
: "healthy".

: Gillian

I do much the same, using th eorange zest and also add a few cinnamon
sticks and whole cloves ( which I remove before serving) to give it a
wonderful taste. Most of it usually goes with the many meals of
left-over turkey that I plan for , bu tsee no reason not to use it as a
jam. You coul dalso us it to top some cottage cheese for a different
breakfast taste.

Wendy-who just loves to find ways to keep eating her favorites wwithout
doing damage to her numbers:-)

Evelyn Ruut wrote:


"Janet Wilder" wrote in message

I have a very small freezer chest in the garage. It is not frost-free.
I put the frozen food into a big cooler then hit the freezer with the
hair dryer, held at least a foot from the walls. It melts the frost
and what it doesn't melt it loosens so I can just pry it off with a
butter knife.

The chest is on wheels, so when the ice is gone, I wheel it to the
outside and pull the convenient plug to drain the water.


Hi Janet,

From an old gal like me who waited all my life to get a frost free
anything, I can tell you the hair dryer is the hard way. Just set up
an ordinary fan so that it blows at the frosted up freezer. It is
amazing how fast it works. Back in my day we had to defrost regularly
and I would just sit a fan on a chair and point it at the fridge and it
would melt at a phenomenal rate. I could go and do whatever I wanted
while it melted. With the hair dryer you have to hold it.


What a wonderful idea! I do have a desk fan around here somewhere. The
air in the garage is almost always warm (we have two seasons here- warm
and hot) so I imagine it would work rather quickly.

Thanks.
--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

Evelyn...just wanted to tell you that your chicken marsala sounds
wonderful, just the way it is. Of course people can sub what they want
to sub, but your recipe will work very well for me and for hubby.
Thanks for posting it.

Cheri


Evelyn Ruut wrote in message
...

A terrific recipe

Evelyn Ruut wrote:



Janet it works even in the winter. Just make sure it blows directly
into the unit and you get some good air circulation. You don't need to
worry about real heat, just enough air circulation will make it work
well. I used to defrost my old fridge in about an hour that way. But
it would drip so much water I had a bunch of towels on the floor to
catch it! Crazy old memory!


This little freezer chest doesn't get much frost so it's not a really
big deal to defrost it and it has wheels to take it outside to drain the
water. But I do remember defrosting the freezer compartment in our
absorption refrigerators when we lived in RVs from 1996 -2005. The hair
dryer worked well there because I was able to take the ice off in chunks
and not have to deal with as much water and mess.



--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

Evelyn Ruut wrote:


"Cheri" gserviceatinreachdotcom wrote in message
. ..
Evelyn...just wanted to tell you that your chicken marsala sounds
wonderful, just the way it is. Of course people can sub what they want
to sub, but your recipe will work very well for me and for hubby.
Thanks for posting it.

Cheri

You will love it Cheri. It's one of my husbands favorite dishes.


I'm going to try it. We were just in a community theater play about an
Italian American family and I made home made canoli for our cast as a
gift. I still have the Marsala wine so I will try it this week.

--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

"Evelyn Ruut" wrote:
Is about the only wine I use in cooking. But I make sure I buy a cheap
one, like Cribari or so. The expensive marsala seems too bitter. I once
bought it when the other wasn't available and it literally ruined the
dish. --

It may have just been that brand or that bottle. I won't cook with any wine
or spirits that I won't drink. Cribari isn't bad, but I prefer Sicilian
Marsala. You should be able to get it for under $10 a bottle. I won't buy
or use anything labelled "Cooking Wine!"

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

Evelyn Ruut wrote:
Is about the only wine I use in cooking. But I make sure I buy a cheap
one, like Cribari or so. The expensive marsala seems too bitter. I
once bought it when the other wasn't available and it literally ruined
the dish.

It's Cribari brand. About $5 in the supermarket.

The cast loved the canollis but definitely not DM friendly. DH didn't
even try a little bite. I licked a bit of the cream from the bowl. I
can't handle the crunchy outsides or the chocolate chips. It took me 2
days to make them. One day to drain the cheese and another to mix it up
with stuff and then fry the tubes.

I made a nice ricotta cheese cake with the rest of the cheese. It would
work with a sugar substitute but it does have a little flour in it.
Brought that to the Temple for Friday night. Everyone loved it. I think
1/12 would have about 10g of carbs so a smaller piece, which would be
plenty, might be in some people's meal plans. Let me know if anyone
wants it.

--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

Nick Cramer wrote:
"Evelyn Ruut" wrote:
Is about the only wine I use in cooking. But I make sure I buy a cheap
one, like Cribari or so. The expensive marsala seems too bitter. I once
bought it when the other wasn't available and it literally ruined the
dish. --

It may have just been that brand or that bottle. I won't cook with any wine
or spirits that I won't drink. Cribari isn't bad, but I prefer Sicilian
Marsala. You should be able to get it for under $10 a bottle. I won't buy
or use anything labelled "Cooking Wine!"

The label on the Cribari does not say "cooking wine" though the legend
on the back label does say the wine is used in cooking. AFAIK, cooking
wine has added salt so it can be sold by grocery stores without a liquor
license. I never touch that stuff! The sodium content kills any taste of
wine.

What I do like for cooking are those little, cardboard 4 packs of
California wine. The little bottles have screw caps and fit nicely into
the shelves of my spice cabinet. Very convenient. a 4 pack lasts a
couple of years around here.

--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

Janet Wilder wrote:
Evelyn Ruut wrote:



"Janet Wilder" wrote in message


I have a very small freezer chest in the garage. It is not
frost-free. I put the frozen food into a big cooler then hit the
freezer with the hair dryer, held at least a foot from the walls. It
melts the frost and what it doesn't melt it loosens so I can just pry
it off with a butter knife.

The chest is on wheels, so when the ice is gone, I wheel it to the
outside and pull the convenient plug to drain the water.



Hi Janet,

From an old gal like me who waited all my life to get a frost free
anything, I can tell you the hair dryer is the hard way. Just set
up an ordinary fan so that it blows at the frosted up freezer. It is
amazing how fast it works. Back in my day we had to defrost
regularly and I would just sit a fan on a chair and point it at the
fridge and it would melt at a phenomenal rate. I could go and do
whatever I wanted while it melted. With the hair dryer you have to
hold it.


What a wonderful idea! I do have a desk fan around here somewhere. The
air in the garage is almost always warm (we have two seasons here- warm
and hot) so I imagine it would work rather quickly.

Thanks.

This is exactly what I do with the frig and freezer in the RV. The fan
works so much faster than the hairdryer, and you can play on the
computer while it is doing it's work, rather than stand there and hold
the hairdryer!

Gillian

Evelyn Ruut wrote:

Ricotta cheese as used in cannolis is a good ingredient for diabetics to
consider. There is a wonderful ricotta cheese pie that a grandmother
in law used to make with citron and chocolate chips in it. She made it
with a cookie crust and real sugar of course, but I see no reason why it
couldn't be adapted to a diabetic friendly version.


This one had on crust! No chips or candied fruits, either.

--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life

On Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:47:54 +0000 (UTC), "W. Baker"
wrote:

In alt.support.diabetes Robert Miles wrote:

: " Frank t2" wrote in message
: ...

: Sadly, I do. )
: Our current fridge is jammed with too much ice in the freezer ...
: Unfortunately, there's till quite a bit of protein in there, so I can't
: yet defrost ....
:
:
: Ohh, for my pre-diabetes days ....
:
:
:
: I had a styrofoam cooler I used whem I wanted to defrost my freezer.
: It kept the food frozen long enough.


I just put the food all very close together on the kitchen counter with a
thick pile of newspapers on to and I defrost using pots of hot water so
the food is not out of the fridge very long. This works fo rme even in
reletively warm weather..

When I lived under the flightpath to an airport we had double glazing
installed with a massive air gap (about eight inches) to keep out the
noise, in winter this made an excellent place to stash the food during
defrosting operations.

I must get mine done before the warmer weather returns, I use the same
technique, bowl of hot water, food wrapped in old newspaper in an
unheated part of the house, and watch out for next door's cat.

Last time this worked well except for the prawns which were glazed
with so much ice they semi-melted and resolidified into an unbreakable
block with little pink tails poking out.