Would You Pay $299 for a "Healthy" Deep Fryer?: Conscious Cook: Blogs : bonappetit.com

Came across this article on Bon Appetit for the Actifry. I posted about this some time ago. The price is steep and there are a lot of mixed reviews on Amazon as this product has been available for a few years there.

Personally, I’m waiting to actually see this machine to determine it’s potential durability as that seems to be the biggest complaint.

But I have to say, if I could make “fried” foods without the fat, I think I may be in heaven!

Would You Pay $299 for a "Healthy" Deep Fryer?: Conscious Cook: Blogs : bonappetit.com

It's been a while - New lifestyle change

So it's been quite a while since I've posted on this site. I'm actually working on a new site that I hope to have up and running in the near future. Until that time, I'm going to make sure to post regularly again to this site.

I've recently decided to make a conscious lifestyle change and critically look at the food I've been eating and to make a positive change. When I looked at products in the past, I would try to incorporate them but soon gave up and went back to old habits. Now, I have the motivation for a positive change - hey, I'm even going to a gym 4-5 times a week!

Yesterday, I made a cabbage, celery and red apple salad which gave me a change from the usual salad and inspired me to continue along this change. While I'm still going to post recipes and food reviews, the focus will be on healthful options and I hope this will inspire others to change their lifestyles for the better as well.

Happy Eating!

The CNE - "food" with a side of hearburn and indigestion

OK - so I haven't been to the CNE for some time. I went this year with high expecations for food and hoping to discover some delicious treats.

I was sorely disappointed! The food building - having several different vendors selling everything from $.99 pasta (yummy - cardboard) to staples like H.Salt Fish and Chips (greasy, greasy, greasy) to dim sum (big mistake) failed completely to impress me.

The International Pavillion has a few food offers but nothing new and exciting. In the Arts & Crafts building there were a few artisan food vendors and they had some interesting offers but most of these I can find at Fair November in Guelph (without the price of admission).

The most interesting thing I found at the CNE this was lip balm labz. They offered lip balm (made on site) in any two of several flavours for a measly $2. It was a great deal and the lip balm is quite nice too. This company is not selling online yet, but hopefully, they'll be up and running soon - I can't wait to tell everyone I know about this site!

So all in all, while the CNE food experience was a bust, I was happy to find a Canadian company offering a good product at a great price!

Carmen's Hamilton - A place to forget (for the food anyway!)

I was recently at a wedding at Carmen's in Hamilton. The wedding was lovely and the bride and groom looked very happy.

The food however, was something else - and not in a good way. The first course was a typical Italian-style antipasto. I did not eat this course (not one of my favourites) but the people I was sitting with seemed to find it acceptable. Aside from the fact that it looked that it had been plated several hours prior, there was nothing inherently wrong with the first course.

On to the pasta course. I don't eat meat products myself, so I informed the server that I would like a vegetarian option for the meal. He had no problems with this (a good sign I thought). While everyone else at my table had the pasta with meat sauce (from looking at my husband's plate, I think it was invisible meat), I was presented with a plate of cooked pasta. That's it - cooked pasta - no sauce, no veggies, just PLAIN pasta. I was quite put off by this and one of the servers offered to bring me some tomato sauce. It was very mediocre but not the worst of it!

The main course came and I felt glad that I didn't eat meat - one person described the meat (beef, maybe?) as "like eating a flip flop". My hubby thought they took the sauce that comes in the cans of beans and poured it on the meat. My meal consisted of rice, veggies and some type of layered veggie dish with what I think was at one point brie cheese. The rice smelled like dirt and much to my dismay, tasted worse than dirt. The veggies were clearly cooked for people who did not have teeth and were unable to chew food - they were one step away from liquefying before my eyes. And the layered veggie thing consisted of eggplant, zucchini and cheese. I think it had been made several weeks ago and re-heated just for me! The eggplant was hard and impossible to chew, the cheese looked like "the food formally known as cheese" - hard and tasteless, and the zucchini was the only thing that seemed to hold up.
The desert was forgettable - some type of ice-cream substitute with what appeared to be strawberry Quik syrup.

Having not really eaten the dinner, I was hoping that a late night sweet table might offer some relief to my hunger pains. I was NOT relieved. There was pizza - barely eatable - greasy, oily, flavourless. There were a couple sweets - soggy and flavourless - just like the rest of this disastrous meal.

Future brides and grooms - BEWARE! Please think twice about this venue if you want people to actually enjoy the food on your special day!

Swerve - the BEST natural sweekener I have found!

I've been doing a lot of research on natural sweeteners on the market and when I came across Swerve, my initial impression was - yet another natural sweetener that requires some tweaking to work into my recipes. WOW was I wrong!

Swerve looks, tastes, and behaves like sugar! And I'm not talking "splenda"-type look/behaviour. When you look at the stuff, you would think it was sugar. The sweetness measures the same as sugar (cup for cup) which is a big attraction since many natural sweeteners require tweaking to get the same amount of sweetness as regular sugar. It has no calories and no bitter aftertaste (unlike Stevia which takes some getting used to).

I was so impressed by first look at Swerve that I decided to test it in several ways to see how it stood up to sugar.

Coffee - I like to have some sweetness in my coffee. It doesn't have to be very sweet but I always need it. Using Swerve in my coffee was just the same as using sugar - same amount for the same sweetness (minus the calories of course!).

Carmelizing - Ok, I KNEW this was pushing it. How could this possibly melt and carmelize like sugar? It was VERY close - so close, that Swerve makes and sells candied pecans that taste like they were made with sugar!

Baking - I decided the biggest test of all would be in baking. I made some muffins and used Swerve in place of the sugar. I was skeptical because heating some of these sugar alternatives (artificial and natural) can cause the properties to change in an undesirable fashion (I recall several years ago pouring an artifical sweetener in my coffee and it just kept losing it's sweetness when it was heated). Success!

Confectioner's sugar - YES - they even make confectioner's Swerve which looked and tasted just like the real thing!

THE BAD: The only drawback I found to Swerve is the price. One pound sells for $13.99 which is quite steep.

Hopefully, as this company gains a foothold, the price will decrease.

Of all the natural sweeteners I have tried, this one was by far, the BEST! If you go to their website, you can even request a sample to try for yourself.

Nekutli Agave Nectar

In my search for natural sweetners to replace sugar and artifical sweetners, I came across Nekutli Agave Nectar. This sweet nectar comes from the agave place which is grown in Mexico (and used in Tequila).

Nekutli Nectar comes in clear, amber, and raw. There are also numerous flavoured Agave Nectars available. The sweetness is intense. It's about twice as sweet as sugar and comes in a liquid form.

I found the light nectar to be the most neutral. It was the easiest to replace for sugar in recipes. However, I found the darker nectars often added a very pleasant note to the recipes and I would recommend them as well.

As far as bulk, I used about 1/2 cup Nekutli for every cup of sugar and I found this worked well but often, I needed to adjust other quantities to make sure the sweetness, amount, and moisture were taken into account.

Nekutli also has flavoured agave nectar - vanilla, raspberry, and amaretto, just to name a few. These became flavour enhancers for coffee on a regular basis for me. I also found they work well in smoothies and I even used the raspberry one for raspberry lemonade - what a treat!

The biggest challenge with Nekutli is the fact that I'm so used to powdered sugar and sweetners, it was difficult to get used to.

One other big bonus to Nekutli Agave Nectar is that it has a very low GI (Glycemic Index). Because of this, it can be a useful alternative for diabetics or anyone wanted to consume low GI foods. I recommend Nukutli as a sweetener - just remember it is a liquid so plan accordingly.

Stevia - Video Interview with Mark Blumenthal

Mark Blumenthal from the American Botanical Council talks about stevia and it's safeness for use as a sweetener.