I've never had either Splenda or Stevia. Stevia is recommended by plenty of health gurus. Has anyone tried it and can tell what it's like?

I do very little cooking. I get things I can eat without preparation, except for fish or vegetables, which I usually steam. As a non-cooker, I never have need of sweeteners. The desserts I talk about here are from restaurants or far-away shops, which is good, because I'd likely be dead if I ate these things regularly. But they make for joyous moments and happy memories.

Another great dessert is Italian cheesecake. It's made with ricotta rather than cream cheese. It's softer, moister, much less fatty, and has more of a dairy flavor than cream cheese cake. It's delicious. I get it at good Italian restaurants or bakeries like La Bella Ferrara. Ask for it the next time you visit an Italian restaurant. They don't all have it, and some of them will try to talk you into cream cheese cake. Once, some wise-guy waiter told me "this is an Italian restaurant, so it's Italian cheesecake." But you'll taste the difference after one bite.

Im trying to make the perfect heathy cinammon bun made from whole sprouted flax grains.

kinda hard and failing so many times.

I suck at bakery big time.

I almost found the perfect cinammon bun in store one time. made by "Tall grass" locally heathy to manitoba(bullshit). had everything i was looking for. sprouted(low GI)whole grains, gluten free, brwon sugar except the fricken thing was lathered in margarine.

ughhhhh...... when is there ever going to be a healthy cinammon bun I can buy?

Surprisinly here's the kicker I discovered. Heathy grains and fats don't make me fat.

I went eating through 7 slices of the best sprouted grains and nada, zip, no fat acumulation.

Its only when theres impurities that theres trouble.

I assure you finding heathy bread is very hard.

Its isn't a simple trip to the nearest box store and definetly a little harder than going into a heath boutique

As far as sweeteners go, Splenda works pretty well in most things that get baked. It's all right for cold items, such as cheesecake, too.

From my experience, NEVER try to bake "Stevia in the Raw". The other variations of stevia you can buy aren't pure. It turns quite bitter when baked.

Oddly enough, last night, my cream mixture set up rather fast. Much faster than I expected. In fact, I did have a few tiny hunks of butter showing up here and there.

Oh, and I found a picture from 2009...

Addition: oddly enough, it didn't store in my webmail client's SENT folder. We will have to wait for Talula, or Monday, before I can share it.

Btw wanted to add that apparently there are some grains I can tolerate better than other.

Barley is a no no however raw rye or oatmeal seem to work with my stomach.

Its good to discover which grains or foods one is prone to sensitivity in the gut

thanks for advice with stevia Paolo, didn't know finding the right stevia could be troublesome for baking

I found it:

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af2 ... CN2107.jpg

River's notorious creation from 2009!

Best butter I ever had, to bad I was making whipped cream.

River

Paolo wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2013 12:35 pm I found it:

http://i1015.photobucket.com/albums/af2 ... CN2107.jpg

River's notorious creation from 2009!

Looks like something from my childhood, when I spent summers in the village with grandparents.

On the bright side, I didn't know it was so easy to make butter. Those old hand operated butter churns must have tough to use.

No one's mentioned frozen desserts yet.

When I was a kid, we never had ice cream at home, but on the road (my father loved to drive, and we took long drives most week-ends) we stopped for Carvel's and Howard Johnson's. Neither of these would be considered top end now, but they were eagerly anticipated treats back then. This was fun with the family food, not gourmet eating.

At Carvel's, I'd get chocolate cones. On a summer afternoon, I had to lick with skill to avoid drips from the twisty mound of "custard." Then I'd crunch my way through the wafer cone. Tom Carvel was still alive and did marvelous TV commercials - marvelous because he so obviously lacked the polish of a professional announcer, which made him sound genuine in a way that was rare on the small screen. This might have been the first "reality TV."

Howard Johnson's with its orange roof was off so many exits of the interstate highway system. (Thank you, Dwight Eisenhower!) The food wasn't great, but the menu was unique. I loved Mint Chip ice cream in cones or bowls. My father ate fried clams - his love for those clams kept me in Mint Chip. These were not everyday foods. They were the sort of thing found at amusement parks and on boardwalks.

Of course, neither Carvel's nor Howard Johnson was high quality, but I never noticed back then.

The best ice creams I've ever had were Haagen Dazs and Dove. I know Haagen Dazs includes egg yolks in its recipe, which ordinary ice creams don't. Whatever the reason, its smooth texture and vibrant flavors are extraordinary. There used to be a Haagen Dazs shop near me, but it closed. (The Day the Earth Stood Still.) Dove makes the Dove Bar - ice cream on a stick for adults - thick dark chocolate over rich ice cream. Sure beats popsicles!

And how could I forget Italian Ices? The ice has to be ground just right, then mixed with sweet syrup. Served in a little paper cup, you wind up with a sticky hand and sticky face, but it's so worth it. They sell these in pizzerias and vending carts. Nothing better when out walking on a hot summer day.

Riverwind (imported) wrote: Sun Mar 31, 2013 1:44 pm Best butter I ever had, to bad I was making whipped cream.

River

I remember that pic, wasn't there a EA vote over what the heck that thing was?