Wow, LTC, that is crazy! I have not experienced anything like that, and so far I’ve had 3 bags of noodles (2 spaghetti, 1 fettucine) and 1 of the rice purchased at different times, all from Netrition. They were all just like the first one you opened. They have a long shelf life and like you say, are not supposed to be frozen, but I can’t imagine even polar temperatures would harm them to that extent. Then again, given this bomb cyclone situation they were probably well below freezing for hours, maybe even a day or two. If that were the cause, however, why would the one bag be fine? Surely being insulated by the other bags wouldn’t be enough to keep it unscathed when the others are so busted.

Definitely send them back. Don’t waste one more second of time trying to redeem them because it probably won’t work anyway. Might as well cut your time and effort losses and get your money back. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were duds from the get-go, or at least excessively vulnerable to spoilage. It wouldn’t hurt to drop Zeroodle a line too. If they have any kind of decent customer service, they’ll be keen to explain what might have gone wrong and make it right. You can at least score a coupon or something for your trouble. I hate having to send things back, and wrestling with the box and dealing with big batches of things is the WORST. Since you can buy their products direct from their website, maybe they’ll offer to send you replacements free of charge, albeit probably not quite so large an order. 😉

Here’s their contact info: http://zeroodle.com/contacts/ Oh hey check it, they’re in Ontario. I wonder how long they lingered in Canada’s temps of the last two weeks because it’s been some North Pole madness up there.

Hiya Allie, yes, I am very much still interested in your Sicilian fish stew! I’m sure the many other seafood lovers in this forum are as well. Thank you for the reminder and I demand you post it pronto!

If this isn’t chili weather, I don’t know what it is. I’m making a big ol’ batch of ground turkey and soybean chili tomorrow, as a matter of fact. We got some gorgeous sharp white Irish cave-aged cheddar at Costco today and I’m itching to see how it holds up on a steaming hot bowl of spicy goodness. Definitely get the beans at WF. You’ll find that the canned soybeans can take a surprisingly long amount of cooking without getting soft, more than regular black beans, in my experience. Also since like all soy products they are flavor sponges with very little taste of their own, the longer they hang out in the mix with all the chiles and assorted spices, they tastier they get. I don’t usually eat it the day that I make it. I pack it up in the fridge overnight first and eat it the next day before portioning and freezing the rest.

Hi there,

Just to say linseed now in the online shop – would never have thought of it without this thread (also massive fan of chia seeds now) so Thankyou LtC and Esnecca for the tip.

Natalie – I made brocolli bread a while ago and frankly YUCK. Well, not that bad but maybe I had too high hopes for it. Anyhow, not repeated the experience since. Did you fare better the second time?

JackieM I didn’t bother. I’ve also, in the past, tried to make broccoli pizza dough. It was completely inedible. And I really like broccoli! I think I’ll give up trying to turn it into some kind of faux bread.

Natalie – me too, I liked all the raw ingredients but not the end result. Am over needing the bread texture now (watching everyone tuck into crusty white toast here and feeling unmoved even though I haven’t yet eaten today). And I was a loaf a Day woman in my prime!

Inka: I agree with you. I started low carb eating feeling like I was just handed a death sentance. Was determined to lose the weight and had resigned myself to a life of grilled meat , bacon and eggs, and veg.

Then lo and behold…..I found all these wonderful low carb websites that so many creative people have invested so much time into finding ways to duplicate just about anything you want to eat. The only one that still has not gotten a fully satisfacory replacement is pasta. And sometimes I just throw in a little high fiber/ reduced carb real pasta (about 1 ounce per person) into a bowl with pasta alternatives and that way I get some pasta chew in with the benefits of lower carb alternatives (zoodles etc).

Glad you are going to try to flax seed. Just be sure to get the golden….the brown is too strong tasting.

In addition to Buttoni, check out these 3 web sites….between the 4 of them they have amost anything you are looking for:

https://www.lowcarbmaven.com/recipes/
https://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/recipes/?fwp_seasons=winter
https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/?s=cake

articfox: sounds like karma to me….you were meant to do baking to today! Good luck. Please let me know how things turned out and if you need to tweek a bit to get exactly what you are looking for.

CURRIED CABBAGE “NOODLES” WITH SAUTÉED BEEF AND PEPPERS

This looks wonderful…..will be making this week for sure.

https://www.ricardocuisine.com/en/recipes/7022-curried-cabbage-noodles-with-sauteed-beef

INGREDIENTS

Cabbage Noodles
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
• 8 cups (680 g) green cabbage thinly sliced into long strips
• 2 tsp curry powder

Beef
• 2 tsp cornstarch…skip or use 1/2 tsp gluccommanen
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) water
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) low-sodium soy sauce
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) honey…skip or sub 1/2 tsp of sugar substitute such as Truvia, Monkfruit powder, or a few drops of
liquid stevia
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 lb (450 g) ground beef
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
• 2 bell peppers of various colours, seeded and diced
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill

PREPARATION

Cabbage Noodles

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, sauce the garlic in the oi until fragrantl. Add the cabbage and curry powder. Cook for 8 minutes, stirring constantly, or until the cabbage is al dente. Turn off heat and cover to keep warm.

Beef

In a bowl, whisk together the glucomannan and water. Stir in the soy sauce, honey substitute and curry powder.

In another large skillet over medium-high heat, brown the meat and onion in the oil. Add the bell peppers and continue cooking until tender. Add the soy sauce mixture and bring to a boil, stirring frequently.

Serve the cabbage noodles topped with the beef and garnish with the dill.

My maiden voyage posting a recipe on this wonderful thread! This fish
stew is very versatile, substitute the species of fish/shellfish of your
choice. It also successfully can be halved. It’s been in my repertoire
since the ’90’s, so I can’t recall where it originally came from, but I’m
sure I’ve adapted it to our tastes anyway! Enjoy!

SICILIAN FISH STEW

Olive oil, for sauteing
1 sm onion, chopped
1 leek, chopped
2 celery ribs, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 lge garlic cloves, minced
4 minced rinsed anchovies
Qt. frozen fish broth OR
2 bottles clam juice + 2 c. low sodium organic chicken broth
1 orange, juiced
strips orange zest, cut with wide blade peeler
1 1/2 c dry white wine
35 oz san marzano tomatoes with juice, pureed
1+ tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp saffron threads, steeped in broth
1 1/2 lbs firm fleshed fish, cut in 1 1/2″ cubes, i.e., tuna, sea bass,
cod, halibut, swordfish
1/2 lb. shrimp or sea scallops
3tbs chopped parsley
juice, 1/2 lemon

Preparation:

Saute onion, leek, carrot, celery and anchovies in olive oil til soft.
Add garlic and saute til fragrant.

Add broth (or clam juice + chicken broth), pureed tomatoes, wine,
orange juice, orange peel, thyme, saffron, red pepper flakes, salt
and pepper to taste (remember there are anchovies!). Simmer @
30 min. to develop flavor and til slightly thickened.

Poach fish in liquid 5-7 min, adding shellfish 1/2 way thru. Remove
from heat and add parsley and lemon juice. Serve!

Allie, you have been holding out on us….lovely recipe! I had just saved another one for fish stew on my computer that was similar but lacked the extra herbs and seasonings yours has. I like yours better. Would simply add monkfish to your list of fish options. It holds up well and has a lobster like taste, and is easy on the pocketbook. You just have to peel the membrane (like silver skin) off it. For this I wonder if you could just leave it on. Worth a shot.

For a more rustic version, what would you think about hand crushing the tomatoes and leaving them a bit chunky?

Gosh that sounds good. Will have to bump the other recipe and put this on the “to do soon” list.

I am assuming with 2 lbs of combined fish and shellfish that this is intended to feed 6-8 ?

Luv, monkfish would be great for the lobster notes, but not easy to find
where I am. I’m with you on squishing the tomatoes by hand. I think I
kept them chunky the last time I made it. Why dirty the food processor?
Because of the cost of ingredients, I save this recipe for a holiday lunch. To
the best of my recollection, I think it makes 7 servings. I’ll be very
interested to see what changes you might make if you try it!! Fresh thyme?
I’m happy to hear that it interests you 🙂 🙂 🙂 It’s very forgiving, and you can
certainly make a smaller pot by adjusting things, and you can always thin
it with extra clam juice, if necessary. Please report back if you give it
a try!

Allie

Will do….and don’t plan on changing a thing. I don’t buy a lot of fresh thyme because I just can use it fast enought. The cilantro and parsley I burn through. And the dried thyme works pretty well in most stuff. But now that I am thinking about it the one thing I do buy fresh for is steamed clams in white wine (love lots of garlic and lots of fresh thyme in that). Your recipe would certainly spending the money on even if half of the thyme went to waste. I moved to an apt building that gives me a south facing balcony and have big plants for herb pots for this summer.

As for changes…not a one. Sounds great just the way it is. My birthday is next month (oh yay…another year older! Beats the alternative as they say). Sounds like a perfect dish for dinner. Always do lunch out a favorite French resturants and do dinner at home. This sounds like just the thing.

PS: I used to not see a lot of monkfish here as well…but voila….my new favorite grocer is the Korean one 30 min away where I can get kabocha squash, seaweed for Esnecca’s salad, and the best and widest variety fish market I have seen around here. Love it. But none of the grocers have everything on my standard list so I do a rotation ….no way around it.

LTC I buy fresh thyme and freeze it and it works really well. I think it’s better than the dried stuff in fact I freeze lots but of left over herbs and most work well if you cook with them as opposed to using as a garnish.

Allie, that recipe carries me away to a seafood paradise. It is gorgeous! I’m going to the fish market you told me about with my parents next weekend. The soup will be first thing on the agenda once I’ve scored all the necessary fishies. I think I’ll steal the saffron threads from my mom to avoid having to pay the exorbitant cost, or I may sub with a teaspoon of turmeric for color if not flavor. I’ll steal their home canned heirloom San Marzano Redorta tomatoes too. Of course I’ll cut the amount at least in half but given what a huge batch of soup this is, I can afford to add the real thing, as long as it’s the great garden produce version instead of the sad pink, watery supermarket version. Scallions and shallots in place of onion and leek, fennel stalk and bulb in place of carrots, white wine vinegar in place of white wine, any number of herbs. I love the idea of thyme which goes so well in savory stews. Also tarragon. There isn’t a single fish that doesn’t thrive paired with tarragon. Such an exciting project! I can’t wait to dive in. 🙂

Verano, thanks for the tip. A bunch of fresh herbs now cost about what you spend on one serving of protien these days (unless you are getting lovely fish of course). I will be freezing my herbs going forward….no more hesitation about buying them only to use 1 tsp worth with no immediate plans for the rest. I bet that works great with rosemary as well. And the parsely and cilantro….those get used up anyway ( I add them to tossed salads if I have no other use for them before they go bad).

So I have just returned victorious from the health food store with my first packet of kelp noodles!
LTC I’m also now stocked up with golden flaxseed and other mysterious and exciting ingedients…am also going to try and bake the psyllium and flaxseed bread just to see what happens..!

LTC, you might consider investing in a really good dehydrator. With the amount and variety of cooking you do, I bet you’d get tons of use out of it. You will be amazed at the difference between freshly dehydrated herbs/spices and store-bought. The two bear no relation to each other whatsoever.

Inka, I’m so happy you’ve signed on for the great kelp noodle experiment too! I think it’s time for me repost my Shrimp Faux Mein recipe. When you’re in the mood for Chinese takeout, this guy will blow your mind. Phenomenal leftover too. Better the next day. It does cook in the dressing and get too soft by day 3, though, so you can’t make too gigantic a batch.

Shrimp Faux Mein

The all important softening trick: kelp noodles come out of the bag tangled up in a crunchy skein. Dump them out of the bag into a collander, rinse them and run you fingers through the clump to untangle it. Fill a large mixing bowl with warm water and add a tablespoon of baking soda. Swirl it with your hand until the baking soda is dissolved. Add the noodles and let them soak for 2 minutes until they relax. You can easily feel and see the difference. Dump them back in the colander and rinse again. Let them sit, draining until you’re ready for them.

4 oz shiitake or portobello mushrooms, trimmed and sliced
2 oz snow peas, sliced thinly lengthwise
2 oz broccoli, clover or alfalfa sprouts
2 oz pea shoots or sunflower shoots
1 cup of baby bok choy, julienned or sliced to your liking
2 cloves garlic (5 grams), minced
1 medium green onion (16 grams), white part minced and green tops chopped
1/2 lb medium or large cooked shrimp, peeled and deveined, then cut in half lengthwise
1 package (12 oz) kelp noodles
3 tsp toasted sesame oil
3 tblsp soy sauce
1 tblsp hot chili garlic sauce (I use Huy Fong brand which has no sugar, be sure to check the ingredients and nutrition panel before you buy any prepared sauces)
1 tsp dried ginger or 2 tsps fresh ginger, finely minced
1 tsp ginger juice (grate the ginger and squeeze it through a cheesecloth or paper towel into the dressing)
10 drops fish sauce (Red Boat is the only one I know of that is made properly without added sugars)
1/2 tsp brown miso

Combine soy sauce, two teaspoons of the toasted sesame oil, the chili garlic sauce, the ginger, the minced white part of the scallion, one of the minced cloves of garlic, the fish sauce and the miso in a small bowl. Whisk vigorously. Set aside. If you have a low carb thickener (I use a combination of guar and xantham gum which is instantly effective and has no taste whatsoever) add a half teaspoon of it and whisk. Let it sit for five minutes to thicken. This step is optional. I like it because the thicker sauce sticks well to the noodles and is more reminiscent of the texture of dressings you get in restaurants, but it tastes wonderful even without the thickening step.

Put the last teaspoon of sesame oil in a large pan, heat on medium and sautee the mushrooms. Lightly salt and pepper to help them release their juices. Once they’ve softened a little, add the snow peas and sautee for a couple of minutes. I like them still crunchy with a bit of that delicious raw peapod taste. If you prefer them softer, cook an extra minute or two. Add the garlic and sautee for a minute until fragrant. Add the bok choy and sautee until they begin to wilt but the ribs are still firm.

Add the shrimp. I often get them already boiled, but I’ve also used raw. You just have to cook them first and readd once you’ve sauteed the veggies. You only sautee them with the veg for a minute or so to heat them up.

Add the kelp noodles. Add the dressing. Add the sprouts and shoots. Mix everything together in the pan, being sure to distribute the dressing well throughout the noodles. I use one of those spaghetti claw things.The noodles will change color to the brownish red of the dressing wherever it’s mixed in thoroughly, it’s easy to tell when the sauce is well-distributed.

Serve topped with chopped green parts of the scallion.

This recipe works with any protein you’d like in place of the shrimp. I’ve made versions with chicken, thinly sliced flank steak, tempeh and crispy marinated tofu chunks.

Esnecca we have ‘spoken’ about dehydrating food before and I wonder if you could just remind me of the temperature you use. My fan oven goes to a very low temperature and I could use that.

LTC rosemary is great frozen and thyme just falls of the stem so none of that tedious ‘picking’ , I have experimented with ‘soft’ herbs like mint and basil and they do keep their flavour but not their texture. I wash the herbs and dry very well with paper towel before freezing. Try it you have nothing to loose!

It depends on what you’re dehydrating, V, but for herbs it’s below 100F. I have a dial so I turn it up just past 95F. Google tells me that’s 35C. Does your oven go that low? I dehydrated some blueberries and raspberries a couple of weeks ago and they were at 135F, which is a more manageable 57C. They both came out great, but the rapsberries were a revelation. Dry as a bone, crunch like chips, tart blast followed by intense concentrated raspberry flavor. Then it occurred to me to eat one dried raspberry with one dry-roasted macadamia nut and I can’t even describe the combination. Perfection in a bite. I went to some friends’ house for dinner that night and I actually a carried a baggie of the raspberries and macadamias with me and forced everyone to have one of each, popping both in their mouth at the same time. They’re used to my rapturous enthusiasms so they went along with it. They also recognized the greatness of the pairing. Or so they assured me while hustling me out the door. 😀

LOL. Those raspberries sound fabulous but I’m not a lover of macadamias but hey who knows. I’m not sure how low my oven goes because I’m away just now but there is a dough proving setting which I’m guessing is pretty low. Maybe we could have this conversation again when I’m back because I’d love to try the raspberries.

Oh, I have no particular love for macadamias. I have a particular love for low carb foods, though, and macadamias and pecans are as good as nuts get. Pecans don’t pair intuitively with raspberries, but macadamias are very buttery and white chocolatey so they seemed a perfect fit. Suddenly macadamias tasted like raspberry cocoa butter, which, by the way I’m going to make on purpose next. I have some unsweetened pure cacao butter on order. If I throw some macadamias and salt in a food processor and let it go for 10-15 minutes, they’ll turn to butter too. Then I can add the cacao butter and some dehydrated and powdered vanilla beans and process together. Then the crumbled up raspberries/raspberry powder. End result: sugar free, low carb, all natural and handmade to the fullest insane extent Raspberry Macadamia Nutella. I bet it would sell.

WOW! That sounds like magic!

Hi there, am fascinated by this, so literally raspberries on a tray in as low an oven as possible for a long time?

We have home grown raspberries (not til August though), so anything that gets a longer shelf life out of them I am up for, and also in my mission to get the kids into enjoying non-refined food in different ways (raspberry chocolate nut spread sounds divine!)

Okay, I just looked it up, V, and proofing temps are usually around 80F/27C, so it looks like you can get dehydrating at any time, yippee! As a general rule, I keep the dehydrating temps on the low end of the range. I’d rather it take forever than that I overdry. I haven’t made jerkies or meat/fish things, though. If I did, I would go for the higher temp range because of the pathogens that need cooking off. A good herb to start off with, if you happen to have any handy, is oregano. It’s startling how different hand-dried is from store-bought. Have fun!

Nice raspberry bushes you’ve got there, Jackie. It’d be a shame if something were to happen to them, like if they were to get stolen in the night by some deranged American lady in oddly stylish boots. 😀

It really is pretty much that easy to dehydrate a raspberry. Much to my amazement, I discovered that they remain intact, standing on their broad side and look only slightly smaller and darker than when they were fresh. Because they have that central hole, they’re already reliant on their chambered walls for structure. Those all remain in place while the water is sucked out of them. They became brittle and dry because they’re spread so thin. That’s why they crunch HARD. Like you can hear them across the room.

Temp on my dehydrator for berries is 135F. I’ve also done blueberries and blackberries at the same temp. Blueberries are more like tart raisins, wrinkly and chewy. Blackberries were too plump to get that raspberry powder effect, so they are crumbly on the outside, chewy in the middle. They also took the longest.

You can check them to figure out when they’re done, but we’re talking hooooours here, just to give you an idea. I think the raspberries were 12, blueberries 16 and blackberries I don’t even remember because it was some madness that I won’t be repeating.

Esnecca 😂😂 I’ll be taking precautions forthwith! Maybe train the puppy to sniff out stylish American boots? He’s certainly fond of British ones (chewing a speciality)..

maybe I’ll send you some once they’ve been dehydrated – imagine what customs would make of that?! 😂 great info, thanks, I could leave them overnight by the sound of it. Maybe just raspberries – we can get them dehydrated in supermarket here (daughter uses in baking). but this would be better and so much cheaper.

I had romantic dreams of kids plucking raspberries from bush but in real life they are scared of bugs and the great outdoors (at least when it’s our back garden they are).

Inka, you may way to try the flax seed bread as rolls or mini loaves….they will rise more and be less dense. The full loaf is a VERY dense loaf but thin slices make great toast. Good luck.

Esnescca, doing the dehydrator sounds like fun but I have come to a point where I have zero room in my apartment kitchen for one more gadget. I actually seleted this apt based on the kitchen size. It is supposed to have an eat in kitchen nook but I have line it with bookcase/shelving and a bakers rack FILLED with locking glass jars filled with various dried ingredients, cans of food and spices spices spices. Stuff hanging from hooks on the wall, stuff on top of the kitchen cupboards (mine don’t go to the ceiling). Suff and more stuff.

Maybe something to look forward to for the next kitchen. In the meantime, have been buying dehdrated raspberries from Trader Joe…they are fun popped into the middle of homemade sugar free chocolates.

The faux mein recipe looks wonderful and that is a dish I used to get a lot and really miss.

By the way….after my oat fiber konjac noodle debacle (Amazon is refunding the cost and not even requiring that I send the remaining bags back as proof….thank heavens) spend part of the day trying a bloggers recipe for homemade oat glucommanan noodles. She touted them as great for noodles and noodle dumplings. To me they were too puffy and fragile.

Going to try a second batch today leaving out her recommended baking powder and cutting down the amount of water she recommended putting in and see where that gets me. Will report back if it works.

Recipe below:

1 whole large egg
2 Tbs glucomannan powder
1/4 cup oat fiber
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon coconut flour
3/4 cups fat free chicken broth or warm water

LTC – Hi, just a quick note here this morning. I know that you have access
to great ingredients where you live, but your comments about dehydrated
fruit made me think to pass along this website, “nuts.com” to you.
I use it for too many things to mention them all, but definitely my source
for organic chia, organic unsweetened cacao nibs, and raw nuts. They
also have a large baking section. The customer service is flawless, and
the turn a round time is 24 hrs! Shipping charges are very reasonable
also, if you hit the minimum for an order. Also a ton of “superfoods” to
check out! 🙂 Will be leaving a message for you later on “after reaching
target…” when I get caught up on today’s posts!

xoxo
Allie

Thanks Essie I will be asking again when I actually come to dehydrate!

Jackie, dried fruits are so ridiculously overpriced I get a nosebleed just thinking about it. They often have added sugars as well, blueberries and raspberries included. Even the bulk bins at the organic coop and full of sugared fruits. The ones that are already enormously sweet like cherries and figs still have added cane sugar or fruit juice. People want everything to taste like a raisin, even fruits that aren’t the sugar bombs that grapes are. Bluberries are actually tarter dried than they are fresh. I think it improves them dramatically. The sugar-addicted market apparently disagrees.

My bestie in California has a golden raspberry bush in her back yard that her toddler son denudes like a swarm of locusts, bless his heart. I told her if she should ever have a bumper crop, I’ll take in all the surplus, turn it to crunchy sweet-tart magic and send them back to her. Well, some of them. Naturally there would be a percentage taken out for administrative costs and consulting fees. 😀

This year I intend to strip local farms bare of all raspberries when they’re in season, inexpensive and at peak freshness. A few days of dehydrating and I’ll have a stock of raspberries to keep OH and me stocked through the winter. I’ll powder some of them up to add to OH’s seed and nut not-oatmeal (almond meal, hemp hearts, whey protein powder, shredded coconut, oat fiber, sunflower seeds, chia seeds). When he adds almond or hemp milk and microwaves it, the raspberry should flavor the whole thing. It’ll be like those packets of quick-cook flavor oats onlyactually good for you instead of being a fake health food. Virtually carbless and high in protein, fiber and omega 3s, it’s far more filling than the gobs and gobs of steel-cut oats he used to eat.

I love this, Esnecca! I must confess to looking for a dehydrator online but have stopped short of buying it on the grounds I must try it out in the oven first, which goes down to just below 50 degrees centigrade so looks like I’m ready to go, subject to having some raspberries, that is!

Wow, thanks for the info on dehydrating. It’s not something I have ever thought to do, but I LOVE dehydrated raspberries and the flavour explosion on the tongue. I will definitely have a go at dehydrating some myself, plus blueberries. Not keen on them frozen and as I have them every morning for breakfast I am forever having to pop out to replenish my fresh supply (sadly from a shop, not a bush), so having some dried ones in the store cupboard would definitely be a bonus, particularly as the flavour is intensified.

Essie, just got a brain storm! We used to live in Easton, CT for 25 years
before moving here. There is an excellent raspberry field there that allows
for berry picking, on or about Labor Day. It’s a beautiful site, high on a hill,
and I’ve picked there on numerous occasions. Lots of wind in my hair,
and rarely anyone else around during the week. If you’re still in the area
come August, we should plan a road trip!

STOP: way too much talk of raspberries when they are out of season and not to be had. You all are making me hungry and pining for berry season.

I agree Luvtcook. To much raspberry talk!! I’d love some berries, but at 20 carbs per day for the next 7 weeks I’m sticking to green veg for my carbs. However I am treasuring up all this good advice for the future. I have a slow cooker oven on my range which I usually use to warm plates, but I’ll check the temperature that it works at and see if I can use it for dehydration.

Flavors “of the future” Luv. Take the shuttle to us when Labor Day rolls
around! 🙂 🙂 🙂

LTC, I commiserate with your overstuffed kitchen issue. Dehydrators are big too, so there’s hiding them away. I kept mine in my home office next to the printer because it was so huge there wasn’t even room for it in the kitchen. Maybe someday you can hook yourself up when you’re in a bigger place with your dream chef’s kitchen. I have to tell you, though, I have zero regrets despite all the awkwardness. Beautiful things come out of that great big nuisance of an article.

Thank you for the noodle dough recipe. I knew you could make them but I haven’t tried them yet. I wonder what the baking powder is supposed to accomplish? Was she maybe aiming for puffy to counter the tendency towards dense or slimey? I like that she spiced the mixture. How about adding some ground flax/pepitas/hemp for a more toothsome quality?

Allie, we’ve got a date. I would absolutely love to pick them fresh and dehydrate as many as my short my little legs can carry. OH would too. Do they only have raspberries or do they have blueberries as well? Because I’m so keen to get my mitts on those tiny little wild Maine blueberries to dehydrate them. I got a pint of them at the tail-end of the season last year and they were beyond the beyond.

You can eat raspberries at 20 grams or less a day quite easily, Victoria. Five raspberries nets a half gram of carbs. If you stick with greens as the focus, your daily numbers will rarely exceed 10, so there’s plenty of leeway for a little berry action if you so choose.

Report: macadamia nut, cacao butter, dried raspberry and vanilla butter is one the greatest culinary accomplishments of my life. Not an overstatement. Macadamias are by far the easiest nut I’ve ever buttered because its fat is expressed so quickly. It liquifies almost immediately. I added a pinch of Maldon sea salt flakes and vanilla powder and let the food processor run until it was creamy and even and practically pourable. I melted 1 oz cacao butter in the microwave and added 1 tbslp of soy milk powder and another .5 tsp vanilla powder. Stirred it all up and poured it down the hopper of the food processor while it was still running. When everything was combined and nicely emulsified, I ground up 9 raspberries to a fine powder, a sort of smashed the tenth one so it was a little bigger and crumb-like. Tossed those in the processor and pulsed a few times to distribute, then put everything in wee containers in the fridge to set for 24 hours.

I knew yesterday from my testing of the various stages that it was a knock-out, but y’all, even more magic happened overnight. I’ve never eaten anything like it. I didn’t add a single drop of sugar or sweetener. The raspberries add a single gram of sugar to the total batch. Same with the macadamias. That means functionally there is no sugar per tablespoon serving, but you’d never in a million years call it bitter or even NOTICE that it’s sugar-free. The cacao fat is soft and unctuous and warm and beautiful. The vanilla scents everything. The raspberry jumps up and slaps your face with its sudden rush of sweet-tart vigour.

This was a small test batch. I’m going to source better macadamias (these had a bit of a cardboardy undercurrent that made me question how fresh they were) and then I’m going to crank out Essie’s Macadamia Cacao Raspberry Butter by the metric ton. I hope my friends and family are prepared for next Christmas because I know what I’m giving them.

That sounds truly delicious, Essie.

I’ve never even tasted a nut butter, let alone one as unctous as yours, and am tempted to make some. But…..errr…..sorry, other than eating it by the spoonful, what would (or could, because if it’s as good as it sounds, I’m quite happy to do that) I do with it?

PS Better still, please can I be added to your Christmas present list? 😜

As far as having some around the house, it’s definitely a spoonfulls of creamy deliciousness situation. For guests, because I like to pretend I’m way fancier than I really am, I plan to serve it as a kind of dip with fresh and dried fruits and dehydrated flaxseed cinammon crackers. I am also going to make it the surprise in the center of white chocolate coconut truffles which I’ve never made before but will experiment with this weekend. I will also add it to my fella’s nuts and seeds faux oatmeal.

If you build it, they will come!

Essie, Jaques Torres had better look out for you.

Re the noodles and the baking powder: can only think she want to lean toward noodle dumplings (hense the photo) and not noddles for soup. I am going to give it a shot tomorrow without the baking powder and only add as much water as I absolutely need to in order to make it pliable. Stuff the first batch into my rices and squirted out 2 inch noodles for chix broth. Way to puffy and fragile.

Sound like we are both mad scientists with alchemy projects over the next few days.

Allie: berry picking sounds like heaven right now. Although we have warmer weather for a day or two, right back to true winter over the weekend. Nutty winter this year. Ah well.

That sounds like a plan, LTC. Clearly the water content is the big issue. It seems like a pretty loose recipe just at a glance. I wonder if adding a whisper of something like flaxseed meal would help firm it up. Maybe replace the coconut flour with something that doesn’t suck up water like nobody’s business? Then again, konjac is already a gelatinizing miracle so you’d think it would take care of those issues.

I secured more and better macadamias today. Much fresher and crisper. I’m going to make a new batch of the butter and then use it as the filling of itty bitty sandwich cookies. The outer pieces will be the simple cacao butter, soy milk powder and vanilla powder again only spread ultra-thin on a silicone mat and frozen solid. I’ll break off wafer-thin pieces, spread the macadamia raspberry butter on them and top them with another piece of the thin choc.

Let the mad science continue!

Wow Esnecca that Macademia nut recipe sounds so lovely. I’m storing all these cooking and recipe ideas up for when I move up from 800 calories. No room for much experimenting at the moment. Having said that I bought some almond butter the other day (it was organic from a farmers market and cheaper than I could make. When I talked to the maker about it she said she works with almonds all the time and uses the broken or slightly dented ones for the butter rather than waste them).

I find that the butter is much more satisfying than the equivalent nuts for the calories if I’m desperate for a little hit of a “treat”, so I imagine that your recipe will be even better. But I don’t trust myself yet to have “treats” available ready made, easier to have a total prohibition for now. I made some sugar free almond biscuits when friends came round the other day, and ate more than I needed because they were OK carb wise.

Hey there, not managed the entire recipe yet, but did have macadamia nuts as part of brunch today!

Also, the raspberries are in the oven, but it’s been a bit of a comedy of errors. Popped them in first thing yesterday but possibly the oven will only kick in at 50degrees as nothing seemed to be happening, which may be lucky cos I forgot them! Remembered about 10pmTurned it up to about 75, went to bed. Still unchanged this morning, so up to 100 but I was in garden when fire alarm went off! Mad panic, went in and turned them off and At that VERY MOMENT it turned off. About two hours later realised the plumber set it off, not the raspberries, so now they are back on and finally seem to be crisping up a bit.

Makes your blackberries seem easy, eh, Esnecca? Off to gym now, hope some progress made and not burnt to a crisp when I get home.

Have realised this somewhat slapdash approach may in fact typify my whole personality, but luckily I am OK with that 😂😂

Raspbeeries overcooked, ☹️ But at least it was doing something worthwhile that made me take my eye off them!

Starting to make a dehydrator look tempting, as I could tell they could have been amazing 45minutes previously!

What a shame, Jackie. Ovens are tricksy hobbitses. I love your positive attitude about it. Experiments go wonky all the time. It’s still awesome that you went you for it and now you know how your oven works at such low temps so your next foray will be a raging success.

Are the raspberries carbonized or could you still get some use of out them? They might still work in powdered form added to yogurt, say, or even a strong, savory dish like a curry. I had a curry with burned coconut once that was monster delicious.

‘Evening, All! Thanks to the gastronomical geniuses around here, my
interest in re-engaging in creative cooking has been peaked. I think
it’s time to seek additional fat + fiber options beyond avocado and
seeds and nuts. On the outer threads Essie was talking about defatted
peanut butter power (sugar free). Any ideas for sources, anyone?
Or recipes? I’m a very respectable cook, just haven’t done much of it
in a few years because prior to the BSD I never had the energy and
couldn’t stand long enough to have it be an enjoyable activity. Nothing
is fun when you’re in pain every day 🙂 I’m more interested in the savory,
not snacks or treats. Any ideas or recipes would be much appreciated!
My current fantasy is to find Essie and Luv together in a kitchen creating
a one of a kind meal, and the price of admission could be to offer my
skills as a sous chef, and chief stork for retrieving items residing on
upper shelves out of their reach! Oh yes, and tour guide to the
raspberry fields….Not sold yet? I can probably think of a few more…

Allie

You had me at “raspberry fields.” 😀 I’ve long had a dream of a big ol’ BSD party where we get together and indulge in a sumptuously low carb feast with a little something for everyone. LTC do I recall correctly that you’re in the northeast somewheres? If there’s any way to make this happen, we should get to work on it. Open invitation to all our BSD brothers and sisters across the world, it goes without saying. Just imagine coming the US and not having to deal with the horrors of making judicious choices in the post-apocalyptic strip mall landscape that is so hard to avoid here.

Here’s a reliable source for defatted peanut butter powder, Allie: http://www.holdthecarbs.com/low-carb-staples/low-carb-peanut-butter-powder . It weighs very little, so you get a lot more bang for your 2 Tblsp buck than you do with intact peanut butter. That same site, btw, is also my primary source for inulin (high fiber, natural sweetness http://www.holdthecarbs.com/low-carb-staples/inulin-fiber ), glucommanan/konjac powder (high fiber, instant thickener http://www.holdthecarbs.com/low-carb-staples/konjac-glucomannan-powder ) and these unbelievably delicious gems that, I discovered today, are AMAZING ground up with tamari almonds to make a butter: http://www.holdthecarbs.com/low-carb-baking-essentials/toasted-coconut-chips-unsweetened . They also sell the best coconut cream I’ve ever had ( http://www.holdthecarbs.com/low-carb-staples/coconut-cream ). It’s so lush and thick it’s basically like eating ice cream before you do a thing to it. No need to refrigerate it to solidify the cream and separate it from the water. There is no water. It’s all cream. This is the secret weapon in my chia pudding.

Esnecca, I chucked ‘em. I figured if they were going to be a treat they should be perfect. I am going to KOKO with them. Though that doesn’t mean I won’t get them wrong again. As anyone whose tried my Yorkshire Pudding will attest 😂

I “Esneccasized” dinner last night. Had some lovely chard that I rough chopped and sauteed very briefly. Topped with 1/4 cup of diced kimchi and put the lid on the pan to allow the chard to warm the kimchi but not heat enough to kill the probiotics. Was really good. Was surpised how spicy even that little bit of kimchi ended up making such a big pile of chard. Nice change from the usually squirt of lemon or dash of balsamic. Was great with a pork chop.

This popped up on my phone feed today….had to share with you: Kimchi Fried Cauli Rice link below

I am sure you have already made something nearly identical 100 times, but the pics were so pretty that I had to share. I will be having this in the coming week for sure.

http://nomnompaleo.com/2017/09/12/2017091220170912kimchi-fried-cauliflower-rice