Monday's Experiment

Every so often I get a taste for something fancy. Today I cooked all the veggies in the freezer. I had a bit of this and bit of that. Then I attempted to make Hollandaise Sauce. It's one of the few things I have trouble with. I can make homemade bread, a souffle for an entrée or dessert but the Hollandaise eludes me. I have made a mock sauce that tastes similar without the problems that tend to happen with the regular version. So tomorrow you can clean your freezer, eat and then go shopping for more veggies.



Remember to use the whole fat varieties as the low fat ones have gluten in them. Also make sure sour cream is 100% sour cream. I like Breakstone's or Daisy. I made a small batch but this can be doubled, tripled, etc to fit your needs

Mock Hollandaise Gluten Free
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayo
1 teaspoon lemon juice- fresh squeezed is best
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

In a small saucepan, combine sour cream, mayo, and mustard. Turn heat on stove to medium low and heat mixture until warm. DO NOT BOIL . When warm, add lemon juice and stir until well blended. Add salt and pepper. Serve over veggies or poached eggs.

And Down it goes again.....

What is that? My weight. It's the middle of May and I've done nothing to my diet and exercise plan except remove wheat and gluten products. Oh and I no longer drink anything with saccharin or sucralose (Splenda)in it. I always liked Splenda but your body doesn't know what to do with it so it stores it. Your mouth gets the sweet taste which causes insulin to be released but there's nothing for the insulin to work on so it turns to fat.

So now I'm eating real ice cream, real sour cream and real butter. The lowfat/ reduced fat versions have wheat in them. They use a thickener to keep the mouth feel. Think of it as dairy gravy base. I'm also using stevia to sweeten things. I'm a diabetic so I don't eat sugar but if you're not a diabetic (or have hypoglycemia) then you should stick with plain old cane sugar. My Grandma calls that 'table sugar'.


I've been experimenting with recipes again and have discovered that making fried chicken with your favorite recipe and substituting corn starch or tapioca flour for the AP or whole wheat flour makes a very nice fried chicken. Just check the label of your spices for hidden wheat. Use plain spices instead of mixes or blends. You can mix paprika, salt, pepper and garlic powder without adding wheat but apparently the food industry cannot.

So back to the numbers. Numbers don't mean anything. It's what is happening to my body. My face is slimmer and my pants are falling down. I have more energy and my skin looks good. Soon I will have to go shopping. I'm looking forward to it.

The Great Gluten Free Bread Debate

I've been talking to some people I've met along the way in this journey of mine. They want to know which bread I prefer. The truth is, I prefer the homemade bread recipe my friend Amy gave me. It's awesome and I've been able to make some adjustments to it. I would love to share it with you but, since it's not mine to give, I cannot. So back to the bread you can buy. The top two favorites are Rudi's and Udi's. To keep the consistency and fairness, I bought 1 loaf of each. I bought the same variety (whole/multi-grain), at the same time, with the same approx exp date, and kept under the same conditions.

Then came the testing. As far as flavor goes, they're both pretty good. They both toast really well and when toasted hold up pretty well for butter and jam.

I tried a wide variety of combos and this what I've learned:

Grilled Cheese- Rudi's: crispy on the outside, mush on the inside. Udi's: crispy on the outside, creamy cheese on the inside.

Vegan Sprout sandwich: Hummus spread, Alfafa sprouts, seed cheese. Udi's: Held up to the hummus spread. Didn't crumble too much while I was eating. Rudi's: Hummus made the bread soften and get mushy. Sandwich kept crumbling while I was eating it.

Peanut Butter and Jelly (PBJ): Udi's: Held up well tasted good. Sandwich stayed intact bite after bite. Rudi's Held up ok. The taste was there but the sandwich started to fall apart after I had taken a couple of bites.

Bologna: Rudi's: Was okay until I decided I need mustard. This bread is just not good for adding anything wet to it. It crumbled almost as soon as I started eating it. Udi's: Tasted good. Held up to mustard and also to mayo.

Homemade croutons: I buttered and baked both breads and they both worked well in this instance
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I will try more combos but, for now, I can say that I like Udi's hands down every time. It holds up to condiments and also works great as toast or as a dipping bread for eggs or soup. I can use it either toasted or plain which allows it to be my wheat bread substitute.

Rudi's only holds up when toasted.