gudnis's Profile

Go to websites like the American Diabetic Association and look for recipes if you like. It's one way to help you indentify ways to deal with lower carb cooking.

The big thing is to learn just what are carbs, including such things as milk, which I certainly did not think of as a carb food, and starchy veggies. Fiber is your friend.

Once you do a bit of looking around you will probably be amazed at how you can cook easily for the whole family. Beans as fiber, lean ground beef, onions, tomatoes and seasonings and you can make a great chili that satisfies everybody. The diabetic will be a bit more conscious of portions than you are used to, but it really is not impossible.

Also, avoid soda, and juices. If a diabetic wants an orange soda, you learn to go for a whole orange instead. I tend to avoid diet sweeteners completely. They just make you think you want something sweet and you soon get used to not adding sugar at every turn.

There are loads of recipes online and learning to read nutrition labels will become second nature.

In my entire life, I have never encountered a leftover hard boiled egg.

Beeturia? Probably not a big deal. sorry to have to ask for more detail, but I have never heard of beets upsetting stomachs.

Do you cook them well? Peel the skin off after cooking? I am fond of beets and sometimes roast them, but you can certainly boil or steam. Tried borscht? Actually pretty good for summer soup as it works well chilled. You can also cook the greens if your co-op sends those along, too.

I'd be tempted to google for beet recipes.

I'd warm the pan a bit and then use a mix of a small amout of oil and lots of kosher salt to scrub away, using a copper "Chore Boy" scrubber or plain steel wool. Then clean with soapy water, rinse, heat to dry and re-season.

You can strip the pan with a good soak in Coca-Cola, or by burning it in a campfire, or even by putting it on the bottom rack of your oven and ignoring it for few weeks while you use the oven as normal. It can be scrubbed with a pot scrubber or even sanded if you like. After you have gotten it down to the metal, wash and rinse thoroughly. Use baking soda if you don't want to use soap, then put it on a burner at low heart to really dry it out. It will not take long. Then you can season the pan: coat it lightly with Crisco, turn it upside down and put in the oven at 400 or more for a couple of hours. A sheet of foil underneath the pan catches drips. Then cool the pan, coat it again, and put it back in the oven.
You can repeat this if it entertains you.

After that, when you cook, use grease to cook. Bacon fat, Crisco, oil or whatever. The first few times you use it, do something like bacon or fried chicken. Something nice and greasy. No need to overheat the pan when cooking. Cast irons holds heat. That is the point of it.

After you are finished cooking, drain the fat from the pan while it is still warm and pours easily, wipe with a paper towel or old, clean rag and throw in a good handful or so of kosher salt. Use the salt like scouring powder. No water. Just salt and the towel and elbow grease. Dump the salt and add more salt to make the pan nice and shiny with a little more scrubbing. Then carefully brush all the salt out of the pan and add just as few drops of fat and towel them around. Put the pan on the stove at low heat for a very short time to make sure it is dry. Store the pan until the next use. Getting all of the salt out is important because salt attracts water and you don't want that.

This is not a complicated as it sounds and will become second nature quickly.

If you need to store the pan for a long period, glom it with Crisco and scrape the Crisco off after storage and put the pan upside down in the oven to get the rest off.

The end result is a pan that puts teflon to shame and lasts for generations. Teach your grandchildren how to do this and they will be frying chicken in that pan while you are looking down from heaven and smiling.

For those who are complusive about their precious cast iron not holding up to use: Per Alton Brown: "It's cast iron. It doesn.t care."

If you have to buy new, Lodge is a good bet for not being terribly expensive, but the recommendation for a used one is good. Putting a used CI pan in a bath of Coca-Cola to cover it will strip off the old stuff, then wash with soap and water, rinse well and after towel drying, put it on the stove at very low heat to dry it out completely. Then proceed to season as per Lodge instructions.

A good dry rubdown with lots of kosher salt after use will remove stuck on stuff. DO NOT WASH IN WATER AFTER IT IS SEASONED. A lot of folks don't realize that heating up an iron pan before using it does all the disinfecting you need if you have scrubbed it well with salt..

I had a bunch of kids in summer camp once who hated washing dishes in the wooks, sterilizing at all that, so I showed them how to clean the CI dutch oven and they loved it. They even insisted on taking it on canoe trips.

Teflon sucks. Cast iron rocks.

It takes a little time for acquaintance, but it is a nice updating of the house. Placking a barrier under the rocks will take care of weeds.

I'd also like to see a bush-and-flower bed placed off center to slightly defocus the door.

8 inch and ten inch. The 8 inch is perfect for a batch of Jiffy Mix cornbread. It's a great way to get used to baking in a CI skillet. You preheat your seasoned skillet in the oven, add fat and then batter. The crust is a treat.

Do not be shy about buying used cast iron if you can find it at yard sale or thrift shop. I got a 10 inch skillet for less than $5. Clean, season and treasure.

Look up some web stuff on care and feeding and you will be amazed at how easy CI is.

Put it through an old fashioned meat grinder and make pork salad sandwiches with mayo, onions, celery and pickles.

Use some of the ground pork to make dumplings.

Merry Chriistmas to all. This year I feel quite lucky to be more and more conscious of the foods of Hannukkah. Latkes rule!