Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I just figured those things were for saturday or sunday evening.  I have
breakfast for dinner a lot.

There is nutrition for each recipe, calories, protein, net carbs, fat,
cholesterol and sodium... but the one thing I *really* miss with these
recipes is a serving size.  A 6-7 pound roasting chicken makes 5 servings,
but how many ounces of chicken does that represent?  What was the calorie
count, etc. based on?  This was especially true with the cinnamon walnuts,
because there were 12 servings in the pound and I just couldn't wrap my
mind around what 1-1/2 ounces looked like.  1/2 cup?  10 walnuts?  Something
like that would have been very nice, up in the serving section.  Since I'm
not a calorie- or carb-phobe it's not major, but when you've got Atkins
guests they get wiggy about exactly how many walnuts they can *have* for
3 carbs.
  

    
I'll try to tackle these comments/questions in order! 
First, yes, it *is* possible to burn and dry out food in a slow
cooker, but you really do have to try hard and really overcook it!

Second, we did include the side dish section to give people something
to serve with their slow cooked entrees. We discuss this chapter in the
section called "About This Book," where we also discuss the chapter
called "Double Duty Recipes" (those that yield enough leftovers to make
another dish--and we provide recipes for those dishes). Our side
dishes tend to be quick to prepare, and give everyone a taste of
something fresh or crunchy, in order to contrast nicely with the slow
cooked foods. It IS an unusual addition for a slow cooker book.

Not all slow cooked recipes are to be cooked for 8 or 10 hours. Eggs
will simply be overcooked in that amount of time. However, they do make
a great light lunch, or brunch dish, and some of our recipe intros
explain that. Low-carbers who are sick of regular old eggs at breakfast
might enjoy eggs at dinner or lunch. similarly, some of the
appetizers, dips, etc .are not cooked all day long. This is great for
parties, because you can use your slow cooker, let the appetizer cook
on its own, thereby freeing up some of your time and also your
stove/oven, etc. 

Complete nutrition information is given for each recipe, and how we
come by that info is discussed in the "About This Book" section as
well. I tried to give amounts for the portions when practical, but in
general I figured that people could "eyeball" the portions when
dividing up the recipe. FYI, an ounce and a half of nuts is a "good
handful," no matter what type of nut (according to my friend who is a
dietitian for the International Tree Nut Council). I might change this
for the next book if we got lots of comments about it, but in general,
when I look at a dish I can divide it into 4 or 6 servings without too
much trouble, although I do see that this might be a problem when it
comes to a roast chicken. Good point. We researched the yield on roast
chicken and found that the meat yield is around 35% of the starting
weight of the whole chicken (not much!--lots of loss/bone, etc.)
Therefore, when I calculated the yield on a 3 1/2-pound young chicken I
used 1.25 pounds of meat (roughly 35%, rounded up a little), then
divided that into the portions. For larger chickens the process is the
same. I tried to use a chicken weight in the middle of the given range,
so for a recipe that calls for a 6-7 pound chicken, I'd use 6 1/2
pounds, for a 5-7 pound chicken, I'd use 6 pounds, then take the 35%
figure and go from there. 
Does that help?

Incidentally, Kim and I are quite sensitive to portion sizes, as many
of the low-carb cooksbooks we've reviewed seem to give tiny portions of
food. We wanted to make our portions reasonable, yet enough to be
satisfying. We did consider, however, than in many cases the
slow-cooked entree would *not* be the entire meal, and our portions
reflect that. In other words, we assumed that a side dish, salad or
something else would accompany the entrees in most cases.
  

    
Many thanks for the compliments on the recipes.  It is always great to
hear from users that the recipes taste great.

With regard to questions on shorter cooktimes for certain items, it is
important to note that certain ingredients respond very well to slow
cooking, but not very well to the all day cook time.  These include
eggs, nuts, some appetizer items (like stroganoff meatballs) and
dessert items.  There are certainly many recipes that can be put into
the slow cooker in the morning while you are heading to work and when
you return your house will smell divine and dinner will be finished. 
One of my favorites for this type of cooking is mexican pot roast.  A
green salad with avacado, scallions and grape tomatoes and dinner is
done.

I prefer to save the 3 - 4 hour recipes for weekend lunches or
suppers.  I often use some of the seafood recipes for entertaining on
the weekends (tapenade swordfish with tomato sauce) and creamy
blueberry french toast casserole is a perfect addition to any brunch.  
 
  

    
I threw together the Texas Chili and boy, does it smell good! Perfect
day for a nice bowl of chili.....anybody esle slow cooking today?
  

    
Was thinking pretty hard about the corn beef recipe as we LOVE corn
beef... but we don't drink, so we don't have wine in the house.
Typically we'd use a substitute of vinegar and sugar, but of course
that's a no-no with the low carb thing.

Thoughts?
  

    
Actually I had a similar comment to make.  (I just picked up the
cookbook yesterday, so haven't had time to do more than look through
it.)  Several of the recipes call for a small quantity of white wine -
but a lot of low-carb households aren't likely to have white wine
around, as many white wines are relatively high in carbs.

I would also note that the format of the recipes makes it hard to see
at a glance the most important piece of information I'm looking for
first: what kind of meat do I need for this recipe, and how much. 
There did not seem to be much consistent pattern about how the
ingredients are listed, and the meat info tends to be a bit 'buried.'

Also in the 'very minor quibbles' department - I think the Double Duty
Recipes section is a wonderful idea, but it might be too easy to miss
the fact that, for instance, the 40 Clove Garlic Chicken recipe is in
that chapter rather than with the other chicken recipes.  An easy fix
would be to have a little note somewhere near the chicken recipes: "See
Also (these recipes on these pages.)

So far, the recipes look great, and a lot of really interesting
choices.  I'm really dying to make the rum and molasses baby back ribs,
next time a worthy occasion comes up!

(p.s. I would note that there is now low-carb teriyaki sauce available
on the market, and if I were to make the teriyaki chicken, that is
what I would go for, or make my own teriyaki sauce using Splenda.  I
really don't feel the need to give the purveyors of high-fructose corn
syrup any of my business!  The eventual carb count per serving may be
minimal, but I and many low-carbers I know would far rather spend our
carbs on things that have nutritional value.)
  

    
I was delighted to get my hands on this cookbook!  Thank you!  

I work two jobs and go to school part-time, so you can see I do not
have a lot of time to cook let alone take care of healthy eating
habits.  

A couple of years ago I sold the old harvest gold crockpot at a yard
sale.  Finally replaced it a couple of months ago with a nice new white
slow cooker and I can hardly wait to give your recipes a try.  

Although, I haven't tried any of the recipes, I can honestly say that
all of them are very appealing to me (with the exception of the one
with tofu. don't do tofu - aCk-AcK-ACK! It is the only one.  Honest!). 
Spring break is next week and I am hoping to start in the habit of
trying these recipes. Want to start some new habits for Spring quarter.
 I am not sure which recipe to make first. However, the white chili,
egg casserole, blueberry French toast, Mexican pot roast and several of
the hot dips keep calling my name.  

What I have noticed about the recipes is that most of the ingredients
are basics that I keep in my cupboard, freezer and items that I
normally buy anyway.  Easy.  

Thank you again.  This is a great book!  
  

    
I've got a few comments for Nitpicker (how apt!?). Not to worry,
neither Kim nor I take offense and constructive criticisms! The more
discussion the better!

First, we consider wine a flavorful ingredient that is totally worth
the carbs. Its contribution to flavor isn't easily  matched by any
other ingredient. In most cases very little wine is used (and in some
cases, such as the corned beef, nearly all the liquid is discarded and
not consumed, and little is absorbed into the meat) and therefore the
carbs it contributes are quite minimal. In addition, sweet white wine
is generally not used in cooking (rather, for after-dinner sipping and
the like), drier white wines are not as carb-y. Nevertheless, we can
appreciate that not everyone has wine around, nor wishes to include it.
When it's used in small quantity, it can just be eliminated from the
recipe. 

As for the format of the recipes, cookbook ingredient lists are most
properly written when the inredients are listed in order of use.
Therefore, the meat or other main ingredient should never be listed
first unless it is used or prepared first. This is not OUR preference,
but rather convention in cookbook writing and editing. Sorry it's
confusing, but most cookbooks that are written professionally (as
opposed to recipes sent in by consumer, etc.) are written in this way. 

Finally, thanks for the nice comment about the recipes. Do try the
ribs, they're really special. When we put this book together last year
many low-carb products were not yet on the market. If you find a good
substitute for something we've used, that is lower in carbs, by all
means use it and consider yourself ahead of the game!!
  

    
In response to the corned beef question and the use of wine in the
recipe, you could easily substitute chicken broth or even water. 
Non-alcoholic beer is another good option.  In the corned beef recipe,
the wine is simply used to season the meat as it slow cooks, so the
recipe is very forgiving.  A recipe like beef bouguignon would not be
so forgiving as the red wine is an integral part of the dish.  If you
decide to go ahead with the dish and there are any leftovers, the
corned beef and onion hash recipe that follows (double duty) is really
fun and yummy with eggs for a big breakfast or easy dinner.
  

    
Another note on wine, very small bottles (caraffes) of Paul Mason
Chablis are available at most markets and they make a great pantry item
(for cooking only).  Another option with wine is to buy a bottle and
freeze it as ice cubes to use in cooking.  One ice cube is about 2T. 
Freezing keep the integrity of the wine better than fridge storage.  If
you use wine in your cooking often, the Paul Mason option works great.


As Kitty mentioned, many of the recipes call for a small amount of
wine (2T).  This amount is just enough to accent and compliment the
dish.  We find that wine really adds a pleasant dimension of flavor to
slow cooked dishes and food in general.  The science behind this is
that wine contains acids which heighten the flavors of the dish.

Fran McCullough, cookbook author and low-carb devotee, lives in
California and wine is a part of her lifestyle.  I couldn't agree more.
 Most of the sugars in wine are lost in the process of producing the
wine, they become alcohol as the result of fermentation.  Yes, all
wines do contain some residual sugars to keep the wine balanced, but
those sugars are minimal.  As Kitty mentioned, unless you are drinking
a sweet dessert wine, white zinfandel or Arbor Mist, you needn't worry
about the carbs in a small glass (4 -6oz) of white or red wine
especially if it is drunk in conjunction with eating.  One of my
favorite low carb treats is a small glass of good red wine, butter
roasted almonds and a small piece of great tasting cheese.
  

    
(part-time winemaker, here) Regarding residual sugar in wine:  dry
wines will have very little residual sugar - 0.1 to 0.2 percent,
semi-sweet wines usually range from 1 to 3 percent and of course,
dessert wines will be higher.  In fact, some of your better labels may
even tell you what the RS percent is or tasting notes from your
favorite winery will often list the RS.     
  

    
Thanks for the expertise on the wine, rosebud! That should help
alleviate some concerns. All in all, however, keep in mind that we're
not talking about drowning our low-carb food in wine...just a little
bit does the trick in most cases!
  

    
Not that there's a right or wrong answer here, but could you guys talk
to us about your philosopy regarding Carbs? I think you've both
mentioned working modified programs and I think we'd be interested in
learning more about them and what you take into consideration when
listing carb counts for your book(s).
  

    
I enjoy cooking with wine, so it was nice to see your additions of
wine in the recipes.  
  

    
Is there any difference between "slow cooker" and "crock pot?" I'd been
thinking that both terms referred to the same appliance but am now wondering
if I'm mistaken.
  

    
"Crock Pot" is a trademark of Rival. Slow cooker is the generic term. 

Kleenex, tissues
Levi's, jeans
Crock Pot, slow cooker
  

    
> any difference between "slow cooker" and "crock pot?"

We once had a bean pot electric thingie that was a really slow cooker;
hanging a light bulb inside it would have probably been faster.

Great book, BTW!  I'm working my way through it now and marking recipes I
want to try.  A question; on page 7 it says "we advise you to skim or pour
off the fat after the dish has cooked and before serving".  In my experience
that's easier said than done; our 6-quart crock is very heavy when full, and
hard to skim.  What we mostly do in cases where there is enough fat to worry
about is fish the first meal's contents up with a slotted spoon, then let
the crock cool, refrigerate it, and the next day remove the solidified fat
on top.  If there's a better way, I'd love to hear it.  Full disclosure: I
am not a low-carber, but I am a low-cholesteroler who likes slow cooking
(albeit faster than said bean pot, which needed about 24 hours).

Which leads me to a second question about low-carbing in general; how
difficult is it to reconcile with other restrictions such as cholesterol?
  

    
Thanks for the good suggestions regarding wine. *My* personal problem
with wine is that I like it a little too much...and that I am a
confirmed cheapskate...so I'll buy a big box, for instance, instead of
the mini bottles, or too much of the good cheap stuff from Trader Joe's
(I live in California too!) and then it's all to easy to drink too
much of it when it's hanging around the house.  Of course, for weight
loss purposes (since alcohol has calories independent of carb count),
it's better to control portions anyway....so the mini bottles are
something I should try to get more often.

If convention calls for the ingredients to be listed in a certain
order, it seems to me that a simple way to make the key ingredient
stand out would be to either separate it by spaces, bold it, or print
it in a different color.  I've also seen recipes where the key
ingredient(s)  is/are called out in some fashion at the beginning of
the recipe.  Of course, not all recipes have key ingredients that are
that clear-cut, but when you're talking about a pot roast....

I guess this occurred to me as a nitpick, not just because I AM a
confirmed nitpicker (too many years working in publishing didn't help),
but because meat stresses me out.   I do not mean that I don't like
meat - I love it, and I am all for eating it, and believe it to be
healthy.  (While of course acknowledging that we need to be mindful of
what goes into the meat we eat, how the animals are treated, what they
are fed, etc.  That's the reason I started the "Ethical Carnivore"
topic over in the lowcarb conference.)

No, the reason meat stresses me out is that I don't fully understand
it - what the different cuts are, what alternate names are used for the
cuts, etc.   [Seems to me I could use a really good reference book on
meat - any suggestions?]  So when I look at a recipe I first and
foremost seek to understand what cut of meat I'm going to need - and,
not incidentally, how much I might expect to pay for it.  Because I'm
always struggling with this, it's nice to have that info stand out when
I look at a recipe.  (And in fact, it's also nice to know about
possible substitutions - which I note that several of these recipes do
mention.  When you go to the store looking for X, but you notice that Y
is on a fantastic sale, well, my inclination would be to figure out
some way to use Y.  But I don't like dragging cookbooks to the grocery
store!)
  

    
<ronks> slipped.  I would count myself among the many who had high
cholesterol on a low-fat diet, and whose cholesterol normalized on a
low-carb diet, even though I eat eggs and red meat, and plenty of both.

You are certainly welcome to the lowcarb conference for a more
complete discussion of this, but  the short answer I would give is that
cholesterol levels don't seem to be directly linked to dietary
cholesterol intake - witness the many people who go on low-cholesterol
diets and continue to have high cholesterol.  It has been hypothesized
that abnormal cholesterol profiles actually result from other factors,
most notably, hyperinsulinemia.  So a low-carb diet, which normalizes
insulin levels by controlling blood sugar, can actually improve your
cholesterol profile.  And recent studies have tended to bear this out.

Of course, to control hyperinsulinemia/insulin resistance, the other
two crucial factors are to exercise more, and to eat less in general. 
Low carb diets, when followed faithfully, tend to allow you to be more
satisfied with smaller portion sizes, for a variety of reasons.  Many
people who are new to low-carbing eat much larger portions for a while,
and then gradually find that their hunger levels are controlled much
better and that they naturally eat less.
  

    
Great comments about wine inclusion on a low carb diet, and also about
meat. Again, regarding the layout of the recipes, etc. it was
completely out of our hands as authors. To be completely honest, we
didn't really like a few things about the typestyle and book style
itself, but that's another topic.... I agree that some recipes are
harder to read than others; we hope you'll be intrigued enough with our
recipe/ideas that you'll stick with them until you find the meat or
other key ingredients in the ingredient lists! 

Okay, about our "carb philosophy"....not sure we actually have
something as "big" as a philosophy, but we did discuss in the beginning
of the book how we arrived at our nutritional information. Basically,
I use a well-regarded nutritional analysis program that I update
regularly, using information from product labels. That way I can be
sure that the program is using the same ingredients that we actually
cooked with, to be the most accurate. Obviously, as many people have
mentioned, portion size is still important in low-carb diets, in order
to achieve weight loss. Neverheless, both Kim and I feel that because
of the drastic reduction of starchy carbs such as potatoes, rice, etc.
that our entree portions may need to be a tad larger than typical in
order to provide satiety to the eater. In other words, if we're
skipping the bready stuff, we need to make up for it somewhere in order
to feel full after a meal!

While working on the book Kim and I arrived at what we felt were
important ingredients to keep including, regardless of carb content, in
order to maintain good food flavor and recipe "integrity." Wine is one
of those foods, as are real onions (although we do use dehydrated
onions at times), and sometimes carrots and beans. For example, to us,
chili contains beans (unless it's Texas Chili, which I made yesterday
BTW, and it was as delish as I recall from our testing days). So, our
chili recipes contain beans, as you'll notice. Beans are relatively
high in carbs, but also contain fiber and in our opinion, they're
crucial in chili! Others may differ in opnion, of course. So you'll see
throughout the book that our personal preferences show through, as
does our carb "philosophy." 

Neither of us strictly follow Atkins or South Beach, although we've
both done the initial phases of them and lived through it just fine. I
guess I'd summarize our low-carb status as: keeping the obvious carbs
way down, but allowing small amounts of some carbs that we consider
personally or "culinarily" curcial. For me, I need milk/dairy, and now
that the low carb yogurt is on the market, I'm happy. I was in major
milk withdrawal and decided to let myself have 1 cup of skim milk per
day. I personally don't care for the low carb milk for drinking,
although it does make a good ingredient in some other things. 



In 
  

    
Now that I've given some info our the thinking behind our book, I
would like to add (to nitpicker's point) that in many cases our noted
portion sizes are not large, but farily normal. Many low-carbers do
experience decreased hunger and do seem satisfied with smaller
portions. Our recipes, as we note in the beginning of the book, are not
necessarily low in calorie, and with "richer" food one can eat a
smaller amount and be happy with it! Getting to eat these types of
foods is one of the great benefits of low-carb dieting, according to
Kim, and I'd have to agree!
  

    
> I personally don't care for the low carb milk for drinking,
although it does make a good ingredient in some other things. <

Any experience with unsweetened soy milk as a subsititute?
  

    
> cholesterol levels don't seem to be directly linked to dietary
> cholesterol intake

Opinions vary on that.  My doctor thinks it matters, and I have seen a
decrease in blood-serum cholesterol levels after following a low-fat diet.
I'm not really looking to debate the issue; I find that dietary fat matters,
I'm acting on it, and I wonder how it can be reconciled with a low-carb
diet.
  

    
I have done some work with unsweetened soy as a base for smoothies,
but find it truly benefits from a dash of splenda, a pinch of kosher
salt and a smidgen of vanilla.  Soy is definitely an acquired taste
that most people do not embrace unless forced to because of an allergy
or a desire to improve one's health (cholesterol reduction).  Obviously
a vegan would always opt for soy milk, but a vegan diet is rarely
low-carb due to the typical inclusion of grains and fruits.

With regard to using any type of "milk" in a slow cooker.  It should
always be added towards the end of cooking.  The long slow cooking will
cause the milk to seperate and look quite yucky.
  

    
Meat induced stress is quite normal.  Different cuts of meat vary in
price, purpose, nutrition etc.  The same cut of meat might have
different names depending on the grocery store and the geographical
region.

Some self-education might be helpful here.  I swear by my very basic
Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (red & white check) when it comes to
meats.  My book is at least 10 years old, but I often use it as a
reference when trying to figure out what to do with a cut of meat that
I picked up on sale.  Another idea is to talk to the butcher at your
market, people who cut up meat for a living generally know what to do
with it and how to cook it.  I am lucky to have a former chef working
as a butcher at my local grocery store.  He is a huge asset to me when
I am perplexed by a cut of meat.