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What have you eaten today? (Low carb forum)

@DCUKMod @DJC3 basic question here from a previous non-cook. Straining? Me thinks I might need an idiots guide to production of clotted cream in the IP. Is it as simple as using a sieve, or is there some hitherto unshared complicated cooking process involved? Please assume absolutely no prior knowledge!
 
Goonergal said:
@DCUKMod @DJC3 basic question here from a previous non-cook. Straining? Me thinks I might need an idiots guide to production of clotted cream in the IP. Is it as simple as using a sieve, or is there some hitherto unshared complicated cooking process involved? Please assume absolutely no prior knowledge!
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@DCUKMod says no straining needed for clotted cream so it looks nice and simple. ( yoghurt recipes usually require straining through sieve or muslin cloth) I bought some little metal pots from Lidl a while back which are perfect for PIP ( Pot in Pot) recipes.
Will you have enough room in the fridge for more cream though? I’m beginning to wonder about mine - I keep buying more ‘just in case - -don’t want to run out’
 
Goonergal said:
@DCUKMod @DJC3 basic question here from a previous non-cook. Straining? Me thinks I might need an idiots guide to production of clotted cream in the IP. Is it as simple as using a sieve, or is there some hitherto unshared complicated cooking process involved? Please assume absolutely no prior knowledge!
Click to expand...

As @DJC3 says, definitely no straining for clotted cream. Straining is only to transform yoghurt to Grekk style yoghurt.

The clotted cream is really simple.

Heat cream In IP or I do it in a saucepan (I means I can clean up more as I go, and my forearms can't be burned on the edges of the inner pot - shorty person problem for me). If doing it in the IP, use the Boil setting, or if in a saucepan, with thermometer, heat to c82/83c.
Turn IP on at "Keep Warm".
Transfer heated cream to a container (I use a stainless steel bowl), put into the bottom of the IP (no water required)
Cover the pot - either IP lid or any other lid that fits - no pressure so no seal required
Ignore for 8-ish hours. I just do it overnight. It's not too time sensitive, except, I don't stop it before 8 hours.
Put container in fridge to cool (8-12 hours, but "until evening" works for me).
Either use from the container/bowl, or decant into "storage" container.
Try to put it back in the fridge if you're feeling strong. Alternatively, just eat!

I keep thinking I'll make it in little jars, but it hasn't happened yet.
 
My fridge is full of cheese! I'm really enjoying reading all the posts about cream (it seems very normal and seasonal which is just what I need at the moment). I wish I liked the stuff though.... :( I particularly hate it in hot drinks and I don't like it on berries. I use a little in savoury cooking and I did try eating the extra thick stuff with almond butter or melted chocolate but gave up on that when I found I was feeling nauseous for a few hours after.

Its amazing how an eleven hour night in my own bed has made a difference to all of us here - me, husband and dogs. I didn't hear a squeak from them until 9.30 this morning. Good news today... Mr C got a message to say the bickering over MIL's funeral has stopped. Not sure why or how this has been achieved but I'm glad she's going to have her wishes.

So, last night's bed test was 8.8. This morning's FBG was 8.2 and its still going down, two hours after breakfast it was down to 7.6. I'm really hoping for a 6.? within the next 24 hours! :) I'm getting carb withdrawal munchies - I hope they disappear soon - all the Christmas goodies aren't helping.

B: Chaffle with almond butter
L: Advent calendar cheese
D: Will be Camembert with roast garlic, cauliflower and broccoli
S: Pizza topping

I'm going to a girls' night in this evening at a friend's so I expect some Prosecco / red wine will be consumed. :angelic: Originally it was going to be a girls' night out but I swerved on that (I felt it wouldn't be right with my family situation ATM) so they kindly changed their plans to staying in instead. She knows I won't be able to have the planned icecream or pizza but she offered to order in a pizza for me with double cheese and black olives so I can just eat the topping. She's a thoughtful friend.
 
DJC3 said:
@DCUKMod says no straining needed for clotted cream so it looks nice and simple. ( yoghurt recipes usually require straining through sieve or muslin cloth) I bought some little metal pots from Lidl a while back which are perfect for PIP ( Pot in Pot) recipes.
Will you have enough room in the fridge for more cream though? I’m beginning to wonder about mine - I keep buying more ‘just in case - -don’t want to run out’
Click to expand...
There's always room for more cream. I've just used 1200 mls (2 large doubles) making
- 3 bottles of Low Carb Baileys
- 12 Creme brulee
- whites from the creme brulee is now in the oven in meringue form
- no cream involved, but salad dressing, sesame glazed walnuts and stuffing is also made.

Having a little break now. I made 12 creme brulee because I know there is no way I can ignore them until Wednesday. To be honest I'd start on the Baileys now were it not
1) I have to go to the Fort later for my last presents and M&S food order.
2) There's almost a litre of Jamieson's in it. Tastes good though even if it is still warm (only had a taste on a spoon to make sure mix was right)
 
@DJC3 - I've added the Red Cabbage recipe to CMT. I've made a change. The bacon I'm doing on saute on it's own, removing it and retaining to sprinkle on top when serving.
That's my "chefiness" emerging! Adds a bit of texture.
 
I make a lot of red cabbage dishes which i freeze in portions. Favourite at the moment is red cabbage with garllic, cinnamon, star anise, red wine and cranberries (with granulated sweetener to taste) and (Mr C's favourite) is cooked with ghee, smokey roast garlic,chopped fennel, lots of five spice and finished with sesame oil. Pre-diabetes i would add chopped apple or pear to it but haven't noticed a reduction in enjoyment since i stopped.
 
DCUKMod said:
Do Amazon deliver to your neck of the woods? They do sausage casings by the million. Or even eBay? I imagine a few metres of sausage casings would easily go in an envelope.
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I have tried in the past, with no success but after your post, I decided to try again. I had been looking on Amazon Pantry and assuming that if not there my search would be redirected to whatever part of the site had the sausage skins. WRONG! I did that same search, with only a tin of baked beans to show for it and then just did a general search and lo and behold, lots and lots. So I've ordered some, which should come in the first week in January. Thanks for the suggestion.

I decided, in the end, to make soup with the leftover lamb and Br sprout stew because the sprouts were actually so thoroughly cooked that they were disintegrating so I took out all the chunks of lamb, added some well seasoned chicken stock and mashed the sprouts (there was also some celery and onion, I realised) into the broth. Then I pulled the lamb into smallish pieces and fried them off in butter before adding it all back into the soup. I had the soup at mid-day and it was pretty good after all.

This evening it will be salmon (baked) with some cucumber and mayonnaise.

No 2 son ran out of supplies yesterday, so they came to me on a begging mission (no shops here on a Sunday) and relieved me of a bag of flour (totally unimportant), a litre of milk and half of my remaining tea bags so I needed to go to town this morning. Neil took me but there was nowhere to park anywhere close to either of the supermarkets and both supermarkets only have one trolley each which clip to a wheelchair - none in evidence at either. All the disabled parking spaces were taken up as well, mostly by cars not displaying a "disabled" badge. It happens all the time of course. Galling if you see a driver, with no passenger, jumping out of a car and walking smartly away to do the shopping. Not all disabilities are visible, of course, but if that is the issue there seem to be an awful lot of people with mental disabilities driving cars around here (and many of them seem to be huge 4 wheel drive affairs).

Neil will go in late this evening and see if he can get at least some milk for me.
 
Decided to leave last minute shopping till 2.30pm and it was a wise choice. People staggering out with loaded trollies said it had taken them an age to get around. I hardly queued to pay for my 5 items. Spent the morning baking spiced biscuits in shapes of snowflakes robins and reindeers. And put some edible glitter on. They are a favourite of son’s GF and her mother when they come over on Christmas Eve. Then started the breadcrumbs for stuffing. Will start the trifle later. Then cleared some laundry and cleaned bathrooms.
Skipped breakfast but did test one small robin biscuit.
Had chicken soup at lunchtime but didnt enjoy it for some reason. Only two big boys in this evening so they are having pizza, me probs an omelette.
I am so surrounded by food atm that I have little appetite. When I used to do dinner parties I used to feel the same when I sat down to eat. Of course that practice does not happen any more!
 
PenguinMum said:
I am so surrounded by food atm that I have little appetite. When I used to do dinner parties I used to feel the same when I sat down to eat. Of course that practice does not happen any more!
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Funnily enough that is exactly what I just said to OH! He is hungry and wants to know when dinner is likely to be. I’m really not hungry and feel exactly as you described - as if I’ve spent all day cooking for a dinner party.
My daughter who is hosting Christmas for 13 this year ( first time for her) has come down with the dreaded lurgy. Her oven is even more terrible than I anticipated, not only is the temperature inconsistent, there is only 1 oven shelf! I am doing pretty much all of the cooking here now and will transport round in relays to reheat in microwave. She did say she has 20 bottles of champagne though.....
 
CWC first thing.
Elevenses- leftover bacon and mushroom crustless quiche. I really can’t remember when I made it so I’m hoping it was still ok.
Dinner will be a DD recipe which I think will be like a coronation chicken pie. Obvs pastry is not like shortcrust but I think it’ll work well. Not sure when we’ll get round to eating it but I’m hoping leftover portion will work well on Boxing Day buffet table.
 
@DCUKMod I don’t have a thermometer, do you think it’d be ok to bring the cream to just under boiling and then put it in the pot? I’d like to put some on tonight.
 
Chook said:
I make a lot of red cabbage dishes which i freeze in portions. Favourite at the moment is red cabbage with garllic, cinnamon, star anise, red wine and cranberries (with granulated sweetener to taste) and (Mr C's favourite) is cooked with ghee, smokey roast garlic,chopped fennel, lots of five spice and finished with sesame oil. Pre-diabetes i would add chopped apple or pear to it but haven't noticed a reduction in enjoyment since i stopped.
Click to expand...
That's actually given me another thought. I knocked together a bramley apple sauce with sweetener and cinnamon yesterday. I'm going to use a bit more with the leftover pork tonight but still some leftover.
I added some to the LC cranberry sauce but what you've said @Chook the remains of the applesauce can go in the red cabbage. Another thought for you @DJC3.
Why is it by the way, that at this time of year the fridge is full but there's nothing to eat??
 
Annb said:
I have tried in the past, with no success but after your post, I decided to try again. I had been looking on Amazon Pantry and assuming that if not there my search would be redirected to whatever part of the site had the sausage skins. WRONG! I did that same search, with only a tin of baked beans to show for it and then just did a general search and lo and behold, lots and lots. So I've ordered some, which should come in the first week in January. Thanks for the suggestion.

I decided, in the end, to make soup with the leftover lamb and Br sprout stew because the sprouts were actually so thoroughly cooked that they were disintegrating so I took out all the chunks of lamb, added some well seasoned chicken stock and mashed the sprouts (there was also some celery and onion, I realised) into the broth. Then I pulled the lamb into smallish pieces and fried them off in butter before adding it all back into the soup. I had the soup at mid-day and it was pretty good after all.

This evening it will be salmon (baked) with some cucumber and mayonnaise.

No 2 son ran out of supplies yesterday, so they came to me on a begging mission (no shops here on a Sunday) and relieved me of a bag of flour (totally unimportant), a litre of milk and half of my remaining tea bags so I needed to go to town this morning. Neil took me but there was nowhere to park anywhere close to either of the supermarkets and both supermarkets only have one trolley each which clip to a wheelchair - none in evidence at either. All the disabled parking spaces were taken up as well, mostly by cars not displaying a "disabled" badge. It happens all the time of course. Galling if you see a driver, with no passenger, jumping out of a car and walking smartly away to do the shopping. Not all disabilities are visible, of course, but if that is the issue there seem to be an awful lot of people with mental disabilities driving cars around here (and many of them seem to be huge 4 wheel drive affairs).

Neil will go in late this evening and see if he can get at least some milk for me.
Click to expand...
The disabled parking problem is the same the world over - it just gets worse at Christmas. As you rightly say @Annb, it tends to be the owners of the large 4 x 4's who sprint across the car park. The invisible disability is going to exacerbate the problem as there will be a lot more badge holders after the same number of spaces and both battling the ones who shouldn't be there at all. I mentioned once before two wonderful ladies who shouted to a White Van Man parked in the last disabled space (no badge) - " Excuse me, don't you know it's illegal to drive if you're blind?" Puzzled look followed by What are you talking about, I'm not blind! "Really? We thought you had to be because there's sod all else wrong with you". Sadly it didn't make a blind bit of difference (no pun intended) apart from the laughter from the people nearby.

So far today, I've had 3 Dairylea triangles as well!
 
DJC3 said:
Funnily enough that is exactly what I just said to OH! He is hungry and wants to know when dinner is likely to be. I’m really not hungry and feel exactly as you described - as if I’ve spent all day cooking for a dinner party.
My daughter who is hosting Christmas for 13 this year ( first time for her) has come down with the dreaded lurgy. Her oven is even more terrible than I anticipated, not only is the temperature inconsistent, there is only 1 oven shelf! I am doing pretty much all of the cooking here now and will transport round in relays to reheat in microwave. She did say she has 20 bottles of champagne though.....
Click to expand...
I had that issue before we extended the house. With my brother next door I used to go through and use his cooker as well as mine. The solution to the problem (I later discovered) was to have cold starters and desserts which could be prepped in advance. Turkey was cooked and carved and put in a tray with gravy, stuffing and mostly cooked chipolatas etc on the stove top. Veggies into foil parcels for the oven with the roasties. Apart from the cold desserts there was always a Christmas Pudding that could be microwaved with what my father always referred to as white custard. Then there was the other solution- extend the house!
 
DJC3 said:
@maglil55 and @Chook thank you both for red cabbage suggestions. I’m hoping to be able to do one but couldn’t actually get a red cabbage today. Will try again tomorrow.
@Chook are yours braised or hob cooked?
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Both.... I slowly cook it in a big saucepan. I tried oven cooking it once but i felt i didn't have enough control over open cooking off the liquid at the end. I got four red cabbages in Lidl the other day, they were only pennies each and were huge. They were in with the loss leader veg display just inside the door. If i hadn't been so busy I'd have got more and made some red sauerkraut and normal pickled red cabbage. Just got to find the time to deal with them...
 
DJC3 said:
@DCUKMod I don’t have a thermometer, do you think it’d be ok to bring the cream to just under boiling and then put it in the pot? I’d like to put some on tonight.
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Give it a whirl. It'll work, or it won't.

You'll know when you wake whether it has worked, in general terms, because the top of the cream will have a skin/crust, but it will need to be well chilled before disturbing it.

If you are going to do it directly in the pot, just use the boil function on the yoghurt button. The downside is it's a very large pot to fit in the fridge, at this time of year, when there's so much conflicting for the space.

As MrB runs our kitchen like a commercial kitchen, we've had thermometers a long time. We have a fancy, can be left in the joint, in the oven as it cooks (and sounds an alarm when the safe temp is reached) one, but since I bought one of these, we hardly ever trouble the posh one.

The posh one displays the ultimate temperature a bit more quickly this this one, but to be honest, this (or one like it) is just so much more convenient.

https://www.nisbets.co.uk/hygiplas-easytemp-colour-coded-red-thermometer/cf913
 
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maglil55 said:
That's actually given me another thought. I knocked together a bramley apple sauce with sweetener and cinnamon yesterday. I'm going to use a bit more with the leftover pork tonight but still some leftover.
I added some to the LC cranberry sauce but what you've said @Chook the remains of the applesauce can go in the red cabbage. Another thought for you @DJC3.
Why is it by the way, that at this time of year the fridge is full but there's nothing to eat??
Click to expand...

Ah I have some apple sauce in the freezer. Good idea! Yes I have a fridge full but struggled to find something we could have for dinner.
 
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