Food Question

[Janine2203]

I hope I'm asking this in the right section as I can't seem to find a food question related forum (but that doesn't mean it isn't here)...hehe

I want to thicken my curried chicken tonight and have none of those aforementioned thickeners everyone talks about in their recipes...but I found some Green's Gravy Granules...here's the label info. for the chicken flavour.


Serving size is 1/4cup (60ml)

Energy 127kj (29 cals)
Protein less than 1g
Fat - total 2.5g
Fat - saturated 1.6g
Carbohydrates 1.3g
Sugars - less than 1g
Sodium 421mg

Can I use it????? (I'm on induction)
I know I'll have to figure the carbs in.

[Sherrie]

Hey Janine there is a section here: Cooking related questions, hints and tips (http://www.apinchofhealth.com/forum/vbb/forumdisplay.php?f=51) I will move it for you after you have seen this.

It doesn't seem to bad carb wise if your only having one serve and the actual meal isn't too carby. But once your out of induction and had a chance to look into other things to try I would ditch stuff like those granules. There is a lot of rubbish in them including MSG.

I don't know how it goes in a curry but I have heard of using egg yolks to thicken gravies, otherwise you have gums like xanthum or guar, plus possibly something fibrous might work. Also you could try thick creams, coconut creams etc and cook it down a little. Mashed cauli will help soak up the juices as well.

[Janine2203]

Okay I've seen it now...lol
nothing else carby in my meal tonight than the vegies, I figured it in.
Normally I wouldn't use a gravy type stuff but I have to have the vegies soft (which I don't like much as I prefer crispy in stir fries)...so I wouldn't use it after my teeth are in! LOL (it is very salty).

Oh and I wonder if you could change the forum title to Food and Cooking related questions. I'm not sure if I saw that title that I'd have asked about the gravy granules in there. just me probably :)

[Janine2203]

Sherrie, in your Hot Cinnamon Cereal recipe, it calls for Vanilla Protein Powder, where do I get it and can you give me some brand names to look for, I'm assuming I'll find it in a good health food store.

When you top this cereal with the butter, cinnamon and stevia do you melt the butter or just dot it over...I'm thinking it will be hard to sprinkle stevia over the top when so little would be needed of it! I don't have a sweet tooth especially so maybe I could leave the stevia out.

Also, I bought Linseed Meal, the store girl told me this was the same as Flaxseed? is it????

[Sherrie]

I havn't tried that cereal but I used to have one similar which was nice, that recipe was posted by one of our old members which I added to the breakfast thread to organise the recipes a bit.

You can buy protein powder from any health or body building type store. The powder you buy will be in a tub and using either whey protein concentrate or whey protein isolate. If you have trouble finding a vanilla flavour one then just grab a plain unflavoured whey protein concentrate and a few drops of vanilla extract to your cereal. I havn't bought a protein powder since I fell pregnant to my daughter a couple of years ago so I'm not too up to date with whats out there anymore.

Max's used to be popular but they seemed to have changed all their ingrediants and use aspartame now so I would not reccomend them. Optimum Nutrition have always been well priced and reliable, they should have a stevia based one too if you like stevia.

Whatever you do don't buy redback or lady bird brand because if memory serves me correct they are very poo quality.

Stevia, what you could do is maybe add it to the cream before adding to the cereal.

Yep flaxseed is the American term for linseed, theres another one for the glossary! :)

[Janine2203]

What are the abbreviations POH and PFC I keep seeing???

Just tried a tiny tiny tiny amount of powdered stevia in some cocoa.....wayyyyyy wayyyyy too sweet for me! don't know why I tried it, just to see I guess, I never sweeten my hot drinks!!!
Is the powder sweeter than the liquid???

[Sherrie]

Yes what the liquid is, is a dilluted form of the powder to make it easier to use. You would use a dropper and you would only need a drop or two to sweeten a drink. The powder is very hard to use for sweetening little things which isn't good because if you use to much you make thi drink bitter, was yours bitter?

How lucky are you not needing sweetener! This will make low carb very easy for you but you may have trouble reaching 20g at times.

[melvan]

POH = Pinch of Health
PFC = Protein, fat, carb

[Sherrie]

Will put that in the glossary too!

[Janine2203]

unsweetened coconut! I see this in recipes, now is the coconut we buy in the cake making aisle of the supermarket sugar free? or is it something we have to buy from the health food shop???

[Sherrie]

I havn't come across any that are sweetened yet but I am sure it pays to check the label before you put it in the trolley!

But as far as I know its pretty much only America who sweeten their coconut.

I buy organic desiccated coconut as the ones in the supermarket like dried fruits contain sulphur dioxide (bad for anyone with asthma).

[Janine2203]

well that's what I thought, "huh I've never seen sweetened coconut" but thought I better check! Might be one for our conversion list do you think?
Why would you even want to sweeten coconut?
Oh that reminds me, I was looking for coconut cream yesterday and found that the cream was higher in carbs than the milk. The one I bought is

Coconut Milk - Gat Nuoc Cot Dua (Thai), it's a 165ml small tin...

Carbohydrate - per 100ml 1.2g
Sugars - per 100 ml less than 1g

is that a good one??? I love the stuff but have never read the labels until now.

[Sherrie]

Yeah the count looks good. Ayam is a nice one too

[thecount]

In my opinion, the BEST vanilla on the market is the VITAL STRENGTH one.

They use good quality stuff and the price is just the same as everyone elses.

BTW, they also sponsor a previous owner of this forum - Jesper - and if you saw what he looks like, you would agree that the stuff is good!

Good luck.

[Sherrie]

Haha not critising vital strength at all but I don't think they are the reason he looks so good!

I just had a look at their WPI and its pretty clean, I think it might be the best carb count I have seen (I remember Goliath WPI was pretty low though), no aspartame, but what the heck is "nature identical flavouring" suppossed to be??? :confused:

Don't be sucked into their women's one it is horrible soy protein, very bad!!! :eek:

[Janine2203]

Got a silly question now, does paprika have a flavour????

[Sherrie]

It does have a flavour but I find it mild, apparently it depends on alot of things like climate, soil etc that it was grown in. Smoked paprika has a stronger flavour. The more bright and red the more mild it is. I like to use sweet hungarian paprika, I like the colour.

[Janine2203]

oh wonder if that's the one I got! McCormicks, Hungarian Style Paprika!

[thecount]

Haha not critising vital strength at all but I don't think they are the reason he looks so good!

I just had a look at their WPI and its pretty clean, I think it might be the best carb count I have seen (I remember Goliath WPI was pretty low though), no aspartame, but what the heck is "nature identical flavouring" suppossed to be??? :confused:

Don't be sucked into their women's one it is horrible soy protein, very bad!!! :eek:

Yeah, I know Sherrie.......Doesn't hurt to pump up a good product..