The foodie mom, deconstructed!

Happy Valentine's Day!

(I will be back next week with more recipes!)

My mission...

It's official! Home-cooked meals can extend your life up to 20 years. The trick, however, is to cook foods that are good for you!

In the past year, I have been on a mission to lower the fat and sugar in my family’s meals. My experimentation with substitute ingredients has not always been successful, and sometimes, the results have been downright awful! Throughout it all, I have learned a valuable lesson: Sometimes, there just is no substitute for the real thing!

During the Cold War and the implementation of the space program, many foods and ingredients were reduced to powder. (Remember Tang?) Add water, shake, and you have a form of sustenance. And while those products may have indeed allowed us to survive while hunkered down in a fall-out shelter during a nuclear attack, or during a trip into space, many clearly could not be used during normal times as substitute ingredients. They just tasted incredibly bad, and pretty much ruined the recipes I tried to incorporate them into!

Of course, at the core of my research were sugar substitutes. I quickly learned that sugar provides a unique and satisfying texture to many baked goods. Some of the sugar substitutes simply did not. Quite a few baked desserts wound up in the trash can! But when used in other ways, for example, in soups or sauces, sugar substitutes offered more positive results.

While I played in my kitchen laboratory, that old mantra, “It’s about portion size, stupid!” kept playing in my head! It was dismissed when I realized that sometimes, I simply want to indulge! I cannot, and will not, deny my love for French Silk pie, Pain au chocolat, and other luscious desserts and pastries!, Do I have the willpower to limit portion size? Sure. But when I indulge in my gastronomic pleasures, I don’t want to think about portion size, calories, or fat or sugar content. I just want to enjoy.

I am convinced I can sacrifice fat or sugar in other dishes to make up for the damage inflicted by my ultimate pleasures. So I began to deconstruct my recipes: Identifying ingredients that may be of concern, and finding acceptable alternatives. While this is not a new approach, it ties into my belief that good cooks experiment! Ultimately, however, it is up to you to determine what tastes good, and what flavors and ingredients are unnecessary. No two palates are the same. When deconstructing recipes, I followed three basic tenets: Food must taste good. Food must look good. And food must never have the texture of dog food!

The best approach to following my recipes? Begin by trying the original. That will allow you to clearly evaluate the impact of suggested substitutions. I welcome your reactions and suggestions when trying substitutions I have suggested. My only request is that you actually try the alternative, and report the results, good or bad!

Who is the Foodie Mom?

Jane Kaiser has been cooking for her family since she was 10, when she was shipped off to a cooking class after she politely declined her mother's offer of charm school. She refined those skills while cooking and entertaining for her family, and worshiping at the altar of the Food Network.

In another life, Jane was an attorney and journalist. She has provided writing services to a wide range of organizations, including law firms, accounting firms, healthcare and insurance organizations, Fortune 500 corporations, and civic/trade organizations.

She is the author of a book on public relations and marketing, and has also written for such publications as the Minneapolis Star, the Kenosha News, Twin Cities Magazine, Virginia Lawyers Weekly,Illinois Legal Times, Wisconsin Opinions and the Wisconsin Law Journal.

Jane holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in journalism and education from the University of Minnesota, and a law degree from St. Louis University.

The foodie mom, deconstructed!

Friday, February 14, 2014

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