Food Before and After Photos

[ms.sss 15,725]

3 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

This one’s for you @ms.sss

I think this is the last time I’m making it since I’m out of bananas 😂

I have been trying to combat my food waste lately by completely finishing items or not buying them at all 😩

Yummmer! I will imagine eating it and be satisfied.

P.S. I too like to use up every last scrap of leftovers/food. It makes me sad when I throw out perfectly good food into the compost bin. It's difficult to do though living with these people who have an aversion to the concept of leftovers! But i like the challenge of re-purposing "old" stuff into something new (also, I don't tell them that's it leftovers, Mwah-hahahhaha)

[BigSue 1,394]

31 minutes ago, ms.sss said:

Mine where crispy/crunchy all the way through. The kid did say though that they were a little on the "airy" side, but I attribute that to me over-beating the mixture prior to baking (i made the rookie mistake of leaving the kitchen and got distracted). Humidity may also play a factor?

Further to icing sugar vs. granulated sugar, like @lizonaplane alluded to, the texture/volume of the two kinds differ so 1 cup of icing sugar is not the same as 1 cup of granulated (1 cup granulated == 1.75 cup of icing, so yeah, its way sweeter if you do a direct substitute).

I may have to give myself a project and compare the diffs between icing vs granulated Swerve....

P.S. Unrelated, but another thing I do is to use weight for measurement when baking (well, except for liquids, where I use volume). I always have this URL in tab in my browser to look up conversions: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.

That's so weird! I've seen a lot of different recipes for sugar-free meringues using all different kinds of sweeteners. I've seen a lot that call for powdered Swerve, but I specifically looked for a recipe with granulated sucralose because that's what I had (way cheaper, especially if you buy the store brand).

There's a lot of variation in the ratios of sweetener to egg whites between the various recipes I've seen, so I've experimented with different batches to try to find the best combination. I've never had them come out chewy before. How much of the powdered Swerve did you use? I used 7/8 cup of granulated sucralose and 2 tbsp of powdered Swerve. If I'm using all granulated sucralose, I use 3/4 to 1 1/4 cup of that for the same quantity of egg whites.

If I'm making "regular" baked goods, I always measure by weight, but that doesn't work so well with some artificial sweeteners because they have extremely different densities. The granulated sucralose is very light, but it's designed to substitute with sugar on a volume basis (1 cup granulated sucralose = 1 cup sugar, even though it weighs much less). I think the substitution is off, though, and the sucralose is not nearly as sweet as the same volume of sugar.

[lizonaplane 1,613]

2 hours ago, ms.sss said:

P.S. Unrelated, but another thing I do is to use weight for measurement when baking (well, except for liquids, where I use volume). I always have this URL in tab in my browser to look up conversions: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.

Yes, I also use weight for baking and also cooking when possible. I wish more US recipes were developed that way. KAF is the best website! Their chocolate mousse cake with raspberries is AMAZING! I made it for Christmas Eve and then my brother requested it for his January birthday again.

I use weight when measuring for tracking purposes too - like when I add milk to my iced coffee I'll weigh it, or I'll weigh how many green Beans I'm roasting and the parmesan cheese I'm adding. (The 1 Tablespoon of olive oil is by volume and the salt and pepper are by eye). However, I just "guesstimate" what one third of it is each time I eat it, since eventually it all evens out if I'm the only one eating it.

[ms.sss 15,725]

Ok, are you sitting down???

So for the first time in over 2.5 years, I actually ate (wheat-based) pasta! And I didn't implode! LOL.

I know this doesn't look so very appetizing, but I'm pretty proud of my efforts, so I'm posting it anyway, so there!

Mushroom Ravioli with Parmesan Cream sauce!

I served myself 3, and ate 1. The fam fought a little bit about who would eat my other two (spoiler alert: Mr. won): approximating 100 calories for 1 (with 1 tbsp of the sauce)

Honestly, I don't know how the Nonnas do this regularly. From gathering all the ingredients to serving them on a platter, the time elapsed was SIX EFFING HOURS for 40 effing raviolis (but I was having fun throughout, so its all good).

And it took them less than 15 minutes to eat it all. I sort wished they took longer to eat it, geez.

I'm pooped.

[summerset 5,265]

Needs to be hot to taste good: mix of oats/millet, cinnamon Protein Powder, some dark chocolate and bananas.

[summerset 5,265]

Red lentil penne with a Tomato sauce:

[summerset 5,265]

Pasta salad:

[GreenTealael 25,439]

13 hours ago, ms.sss said:

Ok, are you sitting down???

So for the first time in over 2.5 years, I actually ate (wheat-based) pasta! And I didn't implode! LOL.

I know this doesn't look so very appetizing, but I'm pretty proud of my efforts, so I'm posting it anyway, so there!

Mushroom Ravioli with Parmesan Cream sauce!

I served myself 3, and ate 1. The fam fought a little bit about who would eat my other two (spoiler alert: Mr. won): approximating 100 calories for 1 (with 1 tbsp of the sauce)

Honestly, I don't know how the Nonnas do this regularly. From gathering all the ingredients to serving them on a platter, the time elapsed was SIX EFFING HOURS for 40 effing raviolis (but I was having fun throughout, so its all good).

And it took them less than 15 minutes to eat it all. I sort wished they took longer to eat it, geez.

I'm pooped.

[summerset 5,265]

Fruitbowl with almond butter that got too dry.

[Sophie7713 3,326]

Happy Spring! Happy Passover. Happy Easter to you and yours! Easter basket for Mom Smith in memory care. I really do miss my Ashers brand coconut and Peanut Butter filled Easter eggs this time of year! But, I'm transferring that craving into making a prime rib roast and bake potatoes for Sunday Easter dinner.

[Sophie7713 3,326]

😉

[WishMeSmaller 1,274]

My version of the sugar free meringues. This photo makes them look very brown. They are not nearly as dark in real life...and I turned the oven off at 1 hour ten minutes. They are tasty, but the “sugar” is still has a granular texture. I used granulated Swerve. Maybe next time I will try the confectioners sweetener. Also, I will use much less sweetener next time, (like half) as they are too sweet for my taste. I will still eat them, but less sweet will be better for my taste. I think hubby will gobble them up 😬😊

Thank you for sharing, @BigSue! 💕

[BigSue 1,394]

2 hours ago, WishMeSmaller said:

My version of the sugar free meringues. This photo makes them look very brown. They are not nearly as dark in real life...and I turned the oven off at 1 hour ten minutes. They are tasty, but the “sugar” is still has a granular texture. I used granulated Swerve. Maybe next time I will try the confectioners sweetener. Also, I will use much less sweetener next time, (like half) as they are too sweet for my taste. I will still eat them, but less sweet will be better for my taste. I think hubby will gobble them up 😬😊

Thank you for sharing, @BigSue! 💕

It makes me so happy to see other people jumping on the sugar-free meringue bandwagon! I think they make an awesome, healthy treat. I make them at least one a week (I've started buying egg whites in a carton to make them even easier). I had some issues with my first couple of batches, but I've made little tweaks with each batch and now they're coming out consistently well. I'm enjoying trying out different flavors. I made a batch with cheesecake flavoring today -- yum!

[WishMeSmaller 1,274]

dinner and dessert. I had to use the egg yolks from the meringues, so I made a sugar free custard. As always, I ate all of it 🐽🐽🐽🐽

[ms.sss 15,725]

32 minutes ago, WishMeSmaller said:

dinner and dessert. I had to use the egg yolks from the meringues, so I made a sugar free custard. As always, I ate all of it 🐽🐽🐽🐽

Oooohhhh this looks gooooooood