Milestones (Amy's diary)

Thanks, Rob and LaMa, for the encouragement - I've come racing back in here again, because I thought I should clarify (in case I should happen to lead anyone astray) that the Last Hurrah is eating what I think of as "normally", which doesn't mean going wild and eating any old thing.
I'm still sticking to having a four-ounce block of butter as my week'sworth, and I still am not quickly finishing that open pack of Reisen's Deadly Caramels - maybe I'll have one in a day, or maybe two, or maybe none for the rest of the week. (It's going to last till the end of March. ) etc etc.
It's a Last Hurrah with nothing actually forbidden, before doing something quite restrictive, like cutting out all added sugars again (which worked really well) or cutting out (or down on?) bread/breadesque things.
 
Amy it sounds to be like you are just living normally. A last hurrah to me in the past was literally a good old binge where I would eat until I burst . The cake will keep . You could just make a good old coffee butter cream icing with sugar and butter and coffee flavour if you don’t want to get the cheese. I am looking forward to some cake on my mini holiday soon . Just a slice with mid morn coffee .
 
Dear friends, but in particular @Petal001 who gave me the recipe - the Odlums Coffee Walnut Cake is resting in its glory on the coffee table, and the guests are anticipated any minute! It took a good deal of the lovely will-power I have osmosed from being here with you all not to lick the spoon of the cream cheese frosting. (It should have been mascarpone, but the best I could find was cream cheese.) The cake itself of course is still uncut, so wish me luck!
Also on the menu - little savoury "impossible" pies - currently in the oven - and a few gingerbread biscuits, not yet in the oven, just as a make-weight. :)
 
It was indeed a lovely time! And everybody liked the cake very much, and I sent the last uneaten third of it home with the guests! ie taking temptation right out of my way - double triumph! :hurray:
I also didn't have a single one of the little pies - two grown men and an eighteen-year-old boy were in the group, and hoovered them all up, no trouble - so that was another source of unwanted calories that I didn't have to worry about! (Though they only come out to about 90 kcal per pie, not counting the vegetables.)
Thank you for the recipe! :) It was fun to make a cake which is more of a special-occasion treat cake, than the ordinary everyday sort of cake I usually make, when I do bake - which isn't all that often. (An "ordinary everyday" cake would be banana cake to use up over-ripe bananas, for example - fairly plain, and no icing at all).

Now to read a little, and see what's been going on with everybody over this quiet weekend.
 
aiminglow said:
And everybody liked the cake very much, and I sent the last uneaten third of it home with the guests! ie taking temptation right out of my way - double triumph! :hurray:
I also didn't have a single one of the little pies - two grown men and an eighteen-year-old boy were in the group, and hoovered them all up, no trouble - so that was another source of unwanted calories that I didn't have to worry about!
Click to expand...
:party::party::party:
That is SO GOOD! Awesome work.
 
Aiminglow, what do vegetarians eat? As I understood, you are able to have eggs and dairy, right?
Vegans are the ones who eliminate complete animal products, am I right?


Sometimes I do some vegan recipes, red lentil pasta sauce is my fav! I also love hummus! There are many great recipes in that area.
 
aiminglow said:
It took a good deal of the lovely will-power I have osmosed from being here with you all not to lick the spoon of the cream cheese frosting.
Click to expand...

Good for you not licking the spoon, and sending the uneaten portion of cake away! I'm impressed!
 
Thanks, @LaMaria and @Cate and @liza for your kind remarks about sending the cake away (and not licking the spoon during the frosting part). The advantage of having an eighteen-year-old male guest is that they can be pretty well guaranteed not to leave much uneaten, one way or another! :D (Please don't ban me from the site for stereotyping!!!)

@kittycat - yes, vegetarians allow themselves any animal product that doesn't involve killing the animal, whereas vegans hold back from eating any animal product at all.
So I eat eggs and dairy, as well as all sorts of fruits and vegetables (and fungi! and seaweed!) and things made from them, like... I don't know... tomato chutney. I don't eat things made from any kind of meat or other product of a killed animal or fish. This cuts out jellies, marshmallows and jelly-lollies, since many of them (but not all) are made from gelatin, which is an animal product.
Vegans would not eat any of the things I wouldn't eat, but also would stay away from eggs (including caviar!), dairy such as cheese or yoghurt, and also would not eat honey. There also some food processing which includes animal products - some wines are clarified with albumen from egg whites, etc, and some commercial bread-making uses animal products, such as feathers. A strict vegan would check which wine producers used which process etc.

Yes, there are stacks of great recipes. I don't know the pasta sauce you're referring to, but I do use lentils (of all colours) quite a lot - at least one meal a week will be pulse-based. And yay for hummous - which can be made in umpteen different ways as well. Falafel with hummous is down on my this-week's menu. :hurray:

Note for @Cate - I think I was posting on your diary when the question arose - I found the two errant mandarins! I'll stop reading and posting, and eat them right away! :)
 
aiminglow said:
including caviar!
Click to expand...
Caviar isn´t traditionally vegetarian either (because they usually kill the fish to harvest the eggs). Nor is real (ie traditional) parmesan (pamigiana reggiana), grana padano, manchego, Gruyère, pecorino Romano, gorgonzola, brie, Camembert, Roquefort... Because they all use rennet taken from the stomachs of slaughtered calves. So they´re on the level of marshmallows made with gelatin from bones and hooves. Or sugar made with bone char, which is common in some countries.
 
Yes they like to sneak meat into all sorts of places!! I had to laugh the other day as I was checking some cookie ingredients and it said "gelatin (pork)"
I both liked that they spelled it out so clearly their gelatin source but was also really grossed out at the idea of pork in cookies. Those were cookies that were easy for me to say no to haha
 
Also another thing we'll need to watch for now is things made with cricket flour! I was in a store the other day and saw some bars made with that and it would not necessarily be so easy to notice.
 
I actually like the idea of insect protein to reduce greenhouse gas but to put it into sweets is a bit odd. Unless they´re protein bars, I guess?
 
LaMaria said:
I actually like the idea of insect protein to reduce greenhouse gas but to put it into sweets is a bit odd. Unless they´re protein bars, I guess?
Click to expand...
Yes probably protein bars. Just good to be aware of if one is vegetarian and wanting to avoid animal products.
 
I've always been a label-reader, and yes, for sure I'll keep on with that.
The thing that most often has me sighing and putting a jar back on the supermarket shelf is fish sauce - or shrimp paste - much of a muchness! They turn up in so many otherwise desirable curryish things.
I rather like the preciseness of the "gelatin (pork)" label, though - I presume that's aimed at the Indian market, where often beef is right out, but pork is acceptable. I don't think any widespread religious prohibition applies to crickets, but yes, vegetarians and vegans had better check the labels on their protein bars etcetera. :)
 
liza said:
cricket flour
Click to expand...
That's a new one to me, but if it tastes good it should be high in protein. I have eaten insects and insect dishes from time to time, just for the novelty, can't say they ever tasted great. In Mexico City I was in a restaurant once that specialized in insects, probably some of the better I've eaten, but still more novelty than an impressive cuisine. I am not vegetarian, so no problem there for me, my wife is a vegetarian, but she will eat fish. She refuses the bugs, but not so much on vegetarian grounds as the gross factor.
 
alligatorob said:
...if it tastes good it should be high in protein.
Click to expand...
Not entirely sure about that as a nutritional rule of thumb, Rob! :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top