Conference turris::cooks

    
    I also have a problem with sugar and other foods but always feel
    very comfortable being served the "regular boring" things like
    fresh vegetables and a salad with the dressing on the side and meat
    served without gravey.  This way I can enjoy the foods I can eat
    and the evening is not ruined.  I panic when faced with a 
    casserole.  Not that it doesn't look edible, but if I'm not
    sure what's in it, I have to pass it up "just in case".
    
    Serving steamed vegetable, rice, or roasted potatoes may sound
    boring, but you can set a colorful table and have an enjoyable
    evening with people who don't have to worry about their food.
    
    Hope this helps.
    

    Use color contrasts to make the table look bright, but keep
    all dressings and gravies and dips on the side.  Serve plenty
    of veggies in the salad.  A tossed salad does NOT have to be 
    dull!  Start with a few types of lettuce.  Julianne some 
    peppers, a few different colors.  Add some radishes, cut into
    circles.  If you can find ripe tomatoes, use some of them, in
    hearty chunks.   Add greenhouse cukes, leaving the skins on,
    and perhaps something exotic, like raw kohlrabi or snow peas
    or whatever.  Cut some carrots in, too.  I usually put onions
    in, both scallions and red salad onions, but often pass them
    separately if I have guests who might not care for them.  Pass
    other toppings in a condiment dish - olives, salad pickled peppers,
    bacon bits, etc.  Get a few types of dressings - our grocery store
    has a whole raft of diet types which are delicious.  Have vinegar
    and oil available - perhaps a nice flavored vinegar.  Boring? HAH!
    
    Remove all fat from inside the turkey.  Remove all the skin
    except the skin on the top.  Leave a slight overhang of
    skin, plus enough to cover the stuffing.  This will reduce
    the fat in the turkey greatly, which will be good for all of
    your guests anyhow.
    
    Make gravy using defatted drippings and/or broth.  Whisk in
    flour, season with lots of herbs, whisk in some nonfat or low
    fat milk.  Much better for you than the usual fatty gravy.
    
    Bake potatoes instead of mashing them.  The turkey will be in the oven
    far longer than baked potatoes take, anyhow.  Then she'll know
    what's in that potato.  You can serve all the fixin's on the
    side. Maybe she'd like some yogurt and/or some chives with hers.
    Get good potatoes - deluxe baking ones, not the watery type that
    are better mashed.  I always use Idaho's, since they taste better
    than any other type for baking.
    
    --L

    Here is a recipe that I found might be the answer for dessert. It
    was created by Mrs. Charles Burrows, and is formulated for people with 
    diabetes. This prize winning desert wins with all health groups.
    
    1 cup old-fashioned oats
    1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
    1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
    1 package sugar substitute than equals 2 teaspoons  - 
       **Note: Not aspartame "equal" brand
    2 tablespoons unsweetened apple juice concentrate - thawed
    2 tablespoons cold water
    1 .025 ounce packet unflavored gelatin
    3 ounces boiling water
    3/4 cup lowfat plain yogurt
    1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
    2 packets sugar substitute, = to 4 teaspoons sugar
    6 ounces whole unsweetened frozen stawberries [DO NOT THAW]
      Fresh stawberries for garnish
    
    Preheat oven to 325 degree F.
    
    In small bowl, combine oats, walnuts, cinnamon, butter and one packet
    of sugar substitute. Press mixture into bottom and sides of 9-inch
    glass pie plate.
    
    In glass measuring cup, soften gelatin in apple juice concentrate
    and cold water. Add boiling water and stir until gelatim completely
    dissolves. 
    
    With electric blender, combine gelatin mixture, yogurt, vanilla
    and two packets of sugar substitute for 30 seconds, on medium speed.
    
    Add frozen strawberries, blend on high speed until strawberries
    are pureed and mixture is smooth, about one minute.
    
    Pour yogurt mixture into cooled pie plate shell. Refrigerate for
    two to three hours or until firm.
    
    Garnish with fresh strawberries.
    
    Serves 8.
    

    My thanks to all who gave me some ideas for last Saturday nite's
    dinner.  It turned out to be a very "memorable" evening.  The wonderful
    turkey I diligently stuffed and prepared ended up catching on fire
    in the oven! The disposable roasting pan my mother-in-law gave me
    evidently had a leak, so all the drippings leaked, my potholder
    broke apart and left a chemical smell, the turkey was ruined, to
    say the least.  
    
    What I did end up with was rice pilaf, spaghetti squash with garlic
    and tomatoes (wonderful!), green beans almondine, a terrific salad,
    and stuffing.  I had some various cheese and crackers and stuffed
    mushrooms for appetizers.  
    
    The problem came when I realized not only did I lose a turkey, but
    I could not use the oven that nite either.  The drippings/oil were
    cooked solid, and I couldn;t remove  most of it.  The self-cleaning
    process would have taken four hours, so I sent hubby to the store
    to pick up the pre-stuffed, ready to cook whole chickens.  I thought
    they'd already be cooked and all I would have to do was reheat in
    the microwave, but of course, nothing went right; it was completely
    uncooked, the directions for cooking in the microwave were totally
    out of wack, so instead of eating at 6:00 like I planned, it was
    almost 8:00.  
    
    One good thing was the Strawberry Yogurt Pie was delicious.  You
    didn't say how long to cook the crust, so I guesstimated on this,
    but everyone (dieters/non-dieters) enjoyed.  Thanks for the recipe!
    
    The evening was topped off when our new coffemaker decided to take
    a fit and liquid went flying everywhere and anywhere, so it was
    instant coffee for all!
    
    I'm glad the evening is over; however, all enjoyed the conversation
    and our new kittens, so not all was lost!
    

    Wow!  Sounds like the kinda luck I would have had!!! ;-)  I try
    to look on these kind of events as great stories to tell!!!  Sort
    of like my Thanksgiving this year when my uncooked Apple pie slid
    off the rack and down the front of me!!!  My boyfriend came into
    the kitchen to find me sitting in the floor crying...  all covered
    with apples!  I think it was all he could do to keep a straight
    face but he knew better than to start laughing at that moment!!!
    
    Lesa