Steve Pope wrote:

"Dan Abel" wrote

Both my nutritionist and my diabetes nurse are telling me that 1/3
cup of cooked pasta is a carb portion. Three carb portions are a
meal, depending on some other factors. A cup of cooked pasta means
no other carbs for that meal (no dessert).

Wouldn't it be simpler to just measure this in terms of
calories of carbohydrates, rather than relying on inexact
terminologies like "cups of cooked pasta" and "portions"?

It makes no sense to me to measure cooked pasta. What if you too much?
Throw some away? Too little? Cook more?

Volume measurement of pasta is tricky, because shapes vary. An ounce of
mostaccoli will take up more room than one of elbow mac.

The surest measure is dry pasta by weight. That also helps with the
above, because you know that it's going to 20whatever grams of carbs
per ounce of dry.




Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

Goomba38 wrote:

cshenk wrote:Not in my household nor my parents before me. Macaroni was a
class, but
it never EVER meant "elbow" shaped. My father in fact abhored that
particular shape!
We have always called each macaroni by name "ziti, rigatoni, farfalle"
and so on. Longer shapes are also always referred to by name "We're
having linguini" or "fettucini" or "spaghettini" and so on.
We never say "noodles" (too American, I guess?) nor did we grow up
saying "pasta" either shrug.

My brother's neighbour is italian and he calls all pasta macaroni. My neighbours
are Italian and usually refer to it generally as pasta or to specific types of
pasta ... lasagne, spaghetti, fettucine etc.

jmcquown wrote:

What a lot of people don't seem to realize is cooked pasta
freezes well.

Freezing cooked pasta strikes me as bizarre. Dried pasta
is already shelf-stable, stores indefinitely, and can be
cooked in any quantity; it's alread a convenience food.
Freezing it costs electrical energy without adding any
convenience.

Just my opinion...

Steve

Steve Pope wrote:

jmcquown wrote:

What a lot of people don't seem to realize is cooked pasta
freezes well.

Freezing cooked pasta strikes me as bizarre. Dried pasta
is already shelf-stable, stores indefinitely, and can be
cooked in any quantity; it's alread a convenience food.
Freezing it costs electrical energy without adding any
convenience.

I agree. I might consider freezing finished dishes with pasta in them,
but not plain cooked pasta.



Brian

--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)

Steve Pope wrote:
jmcquown wrote:

What a lot of people don't seem to realize is cooked pasta
freezes well.

Freezing cooked pasta strikes me as bizarre. Dried pasta
is already shelf-stable, stores indefinitely, and can be
cooked in any quantity; it's alread a convenience food.
Freezing it costs electrical energy without adding any
convenience.

Just my opinion...

Steve

It harks back to packing lunch vs. eating out. For example, I might not
want to eat leftover spaghetti with meatballs for lunch 3 times in a week,
but I can freeze the pasta and (whatever) sauce to take for lunch later.

Jill

In article ,
(Steve Pope) wrote:

"Dan Abel" wrote

Both my nutritionist and my diabetes nurse are telling me that 1/3 cup
of cooked pasta is a carb portion. Three carb portions are a meal,
depending on some other factors. A cup of cooked pasta means no other
carbs for that meal (no dessert).

Wouldn't it be simpler to just measure this in terms of
calories of carbohydrates, rather than relying on inexact
terminologies like "cups of cooked pasta" and "portions"?

I think that would be too complicated. People can visualize a cup of
cooked pasta. Some of these diabetics don't cook, and the people who do
the cooking may not be diabetic.

--
Dan Abel
Petaluma, California USA

Dan Abel wrote:

(Steve Pope) wrote:

Wouldn't it be simpler to just measure this in terms of
calories of carbohydrates, rather than relying on inexact
terminologies like "cups of cooked pasta" and "portions"?

I think that would be too complicated. People can visualize a cup of
cooked pasta.

I can't; I never measure cooked pasta by volume. I know what
2 oz of cooked penne looks like, but I'm not sure it's a cup.
Also there's a lot of variation in how densely one could pack
cooked pasta into a measuring cup.

Steve

Steve Pope wrote:
Default User wrote:

I don't like to eyeball it, because I often end up with a remnant
that's not enough for the purpose. I use a kitchen scale to weigh out
the pasta. It's easy and sure.

Yes, same here. When we're cooking for ourselves, we user 2
oz by weight of dried pasta per person in any of our standard
pasta dishes. Note that we include a lot of vegetables also
(squash, peppers etc.) so that makes a quite large bowl of
pasta per person.

Yep, that's how we do it. Two ounces per person, weighed on a not
terribly accurate but close enough kitchen scale.

Serene

jmcquown wrote:

Steve Pope wrote:

Freezing cooked pasta strikes me as bizarre. Dried pasta
is already shelf-stable, stores indefinitely, and can be
cooked in any quantity; it's alread a convenience food.

It harks back to packing lunch vs. eating out. For example,
I might not want to eat leftover spaghetti with meatballs
for lunch 3 times in a week, but I can freeze the pasta and
(whatever) sauce to take for lunch later.

That makes sense -- freezing something that is an entire dish
(pasta with sauce) for later convenience. It's just the
idea of freezing bare, cooked pasta that seems strange, relative
to cooking less of it to begin with, or if there is a small
amount left over just refrigerating it for near-term consumption.

Steve

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:14:18 -0500, Melba's Jammin'
wrote:

In article ,
blake murphy wrote:

On Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:59:41 -0500, Melba's Jammin'
wrote:

In article 4,
Wayne Boatwright wrote:

On Tue 22 Apr 2008 05:42:26p, BQ told us...


Now the only other issue I will have is converting a pound over to
metric,

28.5 grams. Hope you enjoy it. It's really tasty!

That's an ounce.

you a former dope dealer, barb? you're a woman of many facets.

your pal,
blake


Honey, you want me on your team when we play Trivial Pursuit, Jeopardy,
or Wheel of Fortune.

those ****s wouldn't know what hit 'em.

your pal,
blake

On Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:12:35 -0400, "cshenk" wrote:

"blake murphy" wrote

Yeah, don't get upset when you meet some of the knuckleheads g.

but who doesn't love knuckleheads? plus, they're so readily
available.

And entertaining at times too! One of the better ones: 'You'd be surprised
at how many females don't keep more than a day's worth of TP and tampons at
home because they rely on public rest room dispensers'

Had to admit, that one rant brightened my day. It did indeed!


that one had me laughing, too. dear god.

your pal,
blake

Dan Abel wrote:
In article ,
(Steve Pope) wrote:

"Dan Abel" wrote

Both my nutritionist and my diabetes nurse are telling me that 1/3 cup
of cooked pasta is a carb portion. Three carb portions are a meal,
depending on some other factors. A cup of cooked pasta means no other
carbs for that meal (no dessert).
Wouldn't it be simpler to just measure this in terms of
calories of carbohydrates, rather than relying on inexact
terminologies like "cups of cooked pasta" and "portions"?

I think that would be too complicated. People can visualize a cup of
cooked pasta. Some of these diabetics don't cook, and the people who do
the cooking may not be diabetic.

On my soap box:

My DH is diabetic. I weigh dry pasta on my kitchen scale. If the package
says it is so many grams of carbohydrates per 2 ounce serving, I'll be
able to tell exactly what damage the pasta will do and adjust the
serving size accordingly.

Cooking for diabetes is a serious science. I read all the package labels
and even have downloaded the USDA nutrition file so I can check
carbohydrate counts for myself when planning a meal with ingredients I'm
not familiar with, especially vegetables.

Of course most diabetics and their care-givers don't have a clue as to
how to count their carbohydrates because 1) the medical profession is
horrible at educating patients and 2) the American Diabetes Association
hasn't a clue that their dietary advice mostly works for type-1
diabetics who can cover all those nasty carbs with insulin. Your 45
grams of carbohydrates for a meal might be too many for some people.

Most type-2 diabetics get a diagnosis and a pamphlet along with a
prescription. Maybe a few get a meter, but most don't get educated in
how to properly use the meter testing their post-prandial blood glucose
readings to see how different foods effect their blood glucose. No
piece of paper with a "meal plan" is a substitute for one's own
metering. Trust me, I've been feeding and caring for this man for 22
years (and he's doing quite well)

A recipe for diabetics should not just substitute artificial sweetener
for sugar. A slice of white bread and a tablespoon of refined sugar have
exactly the same carbohydrate count. Carbohydrates are found in
starches, starchy veggies like potatoes, corn, peas, winter squash,
fruit and dairy products.

The best way to feed a diabetic is to minimize the carbohydrates in the
meal.

Rant over.

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

Serene wrote:
Steve Pope wrote:
Default User wrote:

I don't like to eyeball it, because I often end up with a remnant
that's not enough for the purpose. I use a kitchen scale to weigh out
the pasta. It's easy and sure.

Yes, same here. When we're cooking for ourselves, we user 2
oz by weight of dried pasta per person in any of our standard
pasta dishes. Note that we include a lot of vegetables also
(squash, peppers etc.) so that makes a quite large bowl of
pasta per person.

Yep, that's how we do it. Two ounces per person, weighed on a not
terribly accurate but close enough kitchen scale.

Serene

I weigh the dry pasta on my scale, too. We use 1 ounce per person. It's
plenty. It keeps the carb count manageable for DH's diabetes and the
calorie count down for me.

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

Janet Wilder wrote:

The best way to feed a diabetic is to minimize the carbohydrates in the
meal.

Nope. That is, that may be the best way to feed your particular
diabetic, but mine does best on a diet with plenty of whole grains,
veggies, fruits, pasta, rice, etc. He eats between 50 and 100 grams
of carbs per meal (no sugar, very low fat, 10-20 grams of protein
per meal), and between that and regular exercise, he's taken his
numbers down to normal, non-diabetic levels without medication.

Serene

Serene wrote:
Janet Wilder wrote:

The best way to feed a diabetic is to minimize the carbohydrates in the
meal.

Nope. That is, that may be the best way to feed your particular
diabetic, but mine does best on a diet with plenty of whole grains,
veggies, fruits, pasta, rice, etc. He eats between 50 and 100 grams
of carbs per meal (no sugar, very low fat, 10-20 grams of protein
per meal), and between that and regular exercise, he's taken his
numbers down to normal, non-diabetic levels without medication.


(That is, he used to be on medication -- several medications, in
fact -- but he brought his numbers into control and was able to go
off his meds.)

Serene