Progress on the Cookbook

For those of you who have asked how is the cookbook coming...here's an update that I shared with my ASU professor.  You can look to purchase your own copy of the cookbook by next summer!  Stay tuned!

Chocolate Mousse Pie - one of the featured recipes in the cookbook

Fall, 2013 – Semester Review

The completion of this semester has brought with it much awareness of the work involved in writing a cookbook.  I have accomplished much this semester in determining the contents of the cookbook, but I had no idea how much work that would actually entail. 

Last semester I collected many recipes that I thought would be worth adapting for sugar free, gluten free, low carbohydrate, high fat recipes.  This semester I culled through that collection and experimented with them until I found recipes that Alexx and I agreed were “cookbook worthy.”  Many of these recipes took multiple trials to get to the point where we felt they met our flavor standards.  Some of them never made the cut (for example, barbeque chicken lost out to crab stuffed chicken) and some passed our flavor standards but didn’t pass the glucose test.  (Turkey noodle soup was one of Alexx’s favorites, but his glucose rose over 30 points when tested.  Our standard mark is no more than a 20-point increase.)

One of the great awakenings I had about the way I cook brought me a greater appreciation for cookbook authors.  I hate to measure.  When it comes to adding spices and fats, I like to eyeball it.  Of course, when creating or revising a recipe, I have to be able to duplicate what I have done, so that means measuring.  I also need to measure so I can be accurate with my nutritional information.  I have learned to be more disciplined in measuring ingredients for the purpose of the cookbook, but I don’t enjoy it.  Part of the fun in cooking for me is free forming on the creation.  Alexx, however, much prefers that I am measuring and recording how I make something.  In the past when he enjoyed something, he’d often comment, “I guess I’ll never get this again, will I?”  I’d laugh and agree as I often couldn’t remember what ingredients I used, let alone how much of them.

I also learned from developing these recipes that I have been stocking a big variety of ingredients.  Although it’s fun to have everything that any recipe ever calls for on my shelves in the pantry or refrigerator, it really isn’t necessary in order to achieve great flavors.  There are many benefits to using fewer ingredients: it’s easier and faster to cook, it uses less dishes, it’s less expensive, and most importantly for cooking in the motorhome, few ingredients take up less space! 

This semester I created a blog to capture many of my discoveries and shared them with people I met in my travels as well as family and friends.  I had hoped to create a blog for all 15 meal plans, but half-way through the semester, I found organizing the cookbook by 15 days of meals was not really user friendly.  The posts gave my readers ideas for different recipes, but no one except us seem to desire a fully planned meal for a day, let alone 15 consecutive days.  Given that discovery, I will still offer recipes for 15 breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, and desserts in the cookbook ; however in addition to the full day of meal planning, the recipes will be organized by their categories.  I am also adding a category of side dishes which will include salads, vegetable dishes and breads.  This way the cookbook user can choose more than one side dish if they wish.  For instance, they might want to make a big salad to accompany an entrée one night, but the next night they might prefer a vegetable dish and some nut bread.  We found that we didn’t always want to choose the original side dish that I had planned for the cookbook.  I might have planned a bean side dish for one entrée, but that week we may have found asparagus to be on sale or more available at the farmers’ market. 

The recipes that have made the final cut follow:

Breakfasts:

1.       Green Eggs and Ham

2.       Basted Eggs with Sausage

3.       Chocolate Chip Pancakes

4.       Shrimp and Veggie Omelet

5.       Veggie/Chorizo Hash and Eggs

6.       Creamed Tuna on Crackers

7.       Poached Eggs on Veggies with Sausage

8.       Chili Relleno Casserole with Eggs

9.       Beefy Blankets

10.   Lox and Egg Crackers

11.   Veggie Seafood Quiche

12.   Granola

13.   Cheesy Egg Scramble and Bacon

14.   Lox and Cheese Omelet

15.   Shrimp and Pepper Crepes

Lunches:

1.       Chicken Enchilada

2.       Shrimp and Walnuts

3.       Boca Burger

4.       Curried Salmon Cakes

5.       Tuna Salad Salad

6.       Peanut Butter and Bacon Wraps

7.       Hot and Spicy Chicken

8.       Turkey and Cheese Wrap

9.       Hamburger Sliders

10.   Shrimp and Avocado Salad

11.   Chili and Cheese Toasty

12.   Hot Soup and Egg Salad Wrap

13.   Tuna Melt

14.   Chicken Satay

15.   Jerk Chicken Salad

Dinners:

1.       Grass Fed Cheeseburger

2.       Herbed Catfish

3.       Crabby Chicken Rolls

4.       Grilled Blue Steak

5.       Spicy White Fish

6.       Kung Pao Chicken

7.       Chili Relleno Casserole

8.       Paprika Salmon

9.       Shrimp and Egg Casserole

10.   Stuffed Meatloaf

11.   Cajun Seafood Pasta

12.   Chicken Lavosh

13.   Corned Beef Sandwich

14.   Korma (Chicken, Beef or Lamb)

15.   Perfect Pork Tenderloin

 Snacks:

1.       Almond Buttered Apple Slices

2.       Stuffed Jalapenos

3.       Cottage Cheese & Granola

4.       Butter Clam Bisque

5.       Berries and Whipped Cream

6.       Cauliflower and Ham Soup

7.       Smoked Oysters and Crackers

8.       Red Pepper Soup

9.       Nutbread, Cheese and Lunchmeat

10.   Cheese and Crackers

11.   Cottage Cheese and Fruit

12.   Cheese and Lunchmeat Wraps

13.   Berry Smoothie

14.   Popcorn and Peanuts

15.   Sardines and Crackers

Side Dishes:

1.       Lovely Lettuce Salad

2.       Peas and Peanut Salad

3.       Cranberry Gelatin Salad

4.       Bacon Blue Wedge Salad

5.       Sautéed Peppers and Onions

6.       Cauliflower Mash

7.       Stuffed Mushrooms

8.       Veggie Glop

9.       Green Beans and Walnuts

10.   Cauliflower Patties

11.   Asparagus and Pepper Stir Fry

12.   Brussels Sprouts and Cheese

13.   Easy Yeast Bread

14.   Squash Muffin Bread

15.   Cinnamon Bread

Desserts:

1.       Chocolate Hermit Cookies

2.       Frozen Custard

3.       Strawberry Crème Pie

4.       Toffee

5.       Cheesecake

6.       Pumpkin Chocolate Bars

7.       Chocolate Mousse Pie

8.       Chocolate Chip Cookies

9.       Sugar Free S’mores

10.   Best Brownies

11.   Pavlova Berries

12.   Ice Box Cake

13.   Lemon Bars

14.   Fruit Crumble

15.   Chocolate Layered Squares

The nutritional information has been calculated for seven meal plans which include 42 recipes and appear in my blog: DiedreCooksLoCarb.blogspot.com.  In addition to five days of meals there are two special posts: “Cooking Out with Friends” and “Special Holiday Meals.”  This was a very time consuming task using a free calculator program online as provided by Sparkpeople.com.  Up to this point, my process has been to create the recipe, then enter it for nutritional evaluation, and then write it into the blog.  This tedious three-step process will be reduced next semester as I have purchased the Cookin’ software program by DVO Enterprises, Inc.  This will allow me to enter the recipe once and automatically generate the nutritional information, post it to my blog, print it on recipe cards and save it as a pdf version for publication purposes.  This should make the organization of the cookbook much simpler if the software indeed does all that is promised in the marketing material.

Winter, 2014 Semester Work Plans

My proposed work for next semester will be to finish entering the remaining 10 meal plans which will include 60 more recipes and writing the “stories” that go with the meals as I have done with the blog posts.  Since I have already created the recipes, this should not take as long as generating the first seven meal plans.

I will need to ensure standard formatting of the meal plans for the cookbook so all meal plan recipes will need to be entered into the Cookin’ software.  I will also need to review and edit the recipes and stories for accuracy and continuity.  I will need to capture pictures for all of the recipes that I do not currently have recorded.

I will also create shopping lists for the cookbook.  There will be quick reference shopping lists for a five-day meal plan (in case the user opts to use the cookbook the way we use it) and one large shopping list to help the user see all the ingredients that are needed to prepare the 15 meals.  This will especially be helpful for the people who need to conserve space like those who cook in motorhomes.  I plan to use the large shopping list to help me plan “a place for everything” when I’m loading the RV for our annual trip and then as a reminder when I am running low on an ingredient.  Not having a lot of space means I need to shop more often; consequently lists will be set for five-day meal plans.

Finally, an index will be written that organizes the recipes and major ingredients alphabetically for easy reference.

For the most part, I have included only recipes that meet Alexx’s nutritional needs as have been determined by his physician.  However, sometimes we stray from her guidelines when Alexx is really hungry for a particular food (examples of rice, peas, and Culvers Frozen Custard come to mind).  In those instances, we have included that food in a small enough amount that he can tolerate it based on his glucose test.  There are also a number of foods that could be included in the meal plans but are not, because they are foods Alexx doesn’t like.  This cookbook will primarily serve our needs, but it is creating interest for others who are curious about seeing the success Alexx is having with this meal plan.  To that end, I will also include Alexx’s testing results for each meal plan as well as his long term A1c levels over the two years of writing this book.  At this point, his improvement has been significant, moving from 12.1 before starting the lo-carb, high-fat approach to eating to 6.1 within three months and then 5.6 after six months. 

The overall intent of this cookbook is to encourage people to seek a healthy meal plan that works for their unique needs and tastes.  Many people have expressed interest in Alexx’s story of having to dramatically change his diet and how he manages the change.  Does he miss the foods that he enjoyed for so many years – the Dairy Queen Blizzards, the candy bars, the huge plates of pasta, and the terryaki rice bowls?  Yes, of course he does.  But he also recognizes the importance of managing his glucose with meal planning that works for him.  We are excited about this cookbook as a tool to help us with that management and hope that others may benefit from it as well.  It is my intent to have a finished copy of the cookbook by the end of the Winter semester.

###