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Originally Posted by Mama Lu
Sandi, that's great! I know a lot of people are like your husband and don't like Ottawa. It is very much a company town. However, I remember what it was like in the 1970s, when it just seemed grey. I'm always impressed by how good it looks these days, particularly the parkways and walking areas. I'm a bit prejudiced though, because I have family there, and my daughter attends the University of Ottawa. If you're in the market area, I really like Ma Cusine for cookware. It's expensive, but fun to browse. I find that Domus, which is nearby, has too many gadgets and not enough pots.
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I think he just doesn't like big cities, we both suffer from claustrophobia so when we go shopping and a store is crowded neither of us do well (I do better because I had to get used to it in Los Angeles), plus I have SLE (Lupus) and I get sick very easily, I'm just now getting better from a trip to the local grocery store a couple days ago that left me with ear infections, sore throat and nasty sinus issues. I can't believe how many people sneeze and cough into open air without covering their mouths... It contaminates everything =/
DH has to go in to the Office one day this week, so I am trying to find sources for shirataki noodles and DaVinci (or equivalent) near his work (Elgin) so he can go buy me some. As long as I can tell him where to go and what to get he is great =)
I do appreciate the advice on kitchen gear, I am having a difficult time equipping my kitchen, I need a number of things that I just can't find, or if I do find it's a cheap substitute that won't last long or do the job as well. I will be checking out Ottawa for kitchen gear as soon as weather and health permit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mama Lu
If I can help with suggestions on where to get things or Canadian equivalents for low carb, give me a shout. I don't know if you've tried Sugar Twin as a sweetener. It's sodium cyclamate, which is banned in the US, but most other countries allow it. The liquid is 0 carbs, which comes in handy. Also, if you're looking for "American" process cheese for cheese crisps, Kraft Extra Cheddar slices (1 g of carb each) work very well
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Cheese crisps I make in a non-stick pan with finely grated cheeses, in the states we could get real american cheese at Costco that was truly cheese, not a "processed cheese product" and it was so incredibly good, I will look for this Kraft Extra because I would like to have some for other things if it is comparable to the real stuff I used to get.
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Originally Posted by Mama Lu
If you're looking for more esoteric sweeteners like erythritol or for other low-carb goodies, you may have to order from Low-Carb Grocery in Toronto. Right now I'm saving up for a big order, because the postage to Nova Scotia is quite high.
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I don't have much of a sweettooth, I never have really.... But I absolutely LOVE baking so I make stuff just for the fun of it and DH is happy to be my guinea pig and eat it all... Well almost all.... I have granular and liquid splenda, xylitol, erythritol and I ordered some brown sugar substitute from the low carb grocery but they sent me the wrong stuff so I am waiting to hear if they got the brown in stock or if I will have to accept a refund instead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mama Lu
I loved your Revolution Roll tutorial; I wouldn't have thought to use convection, and it worked really well. I couldn't find those cool silicon egg rings, but I did get four English muffin rings for $6, which I greased thoroughly. The Western Creamery cream cheese that I got is the spreadable kind, so it is a lot wetter than block cream cheese. My rolls were also pretty thick, because I only had the four rings. They looked great after 1:20, but when they'd sat cooling on the parchment paper for a bit, I realized they were actually runny in the middle, so I put them back in the oven without the rings for another 20 minutes. Next time I'll add a little flax or hazelnut meal to stiffen up the batter a bit. However, split they made perfect sausage muffins (and now I know not to put them in the toaster--the smell was nasty and they shrunk.
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I am SO happy that you found it helpful, I went through many different methods and catastrophes before I finally hit upon a method that works well all the time and gives uniform results.
The thicker the roll is the longer you will need to bake it, if it is markedly thicker I would turn the oven down to 200 and cook for 1 hour 45 mins to 2 hours, you want to dry them out evenly so the outside isn't over dry while the inside is still wet. If they are just a bit too soft in the underside center you can simply flip them over and let them dry out on a counter somewhere instead of baking them again, but this only works for slight moisture not underbaking.
Oh and I am not sure who well adding flax to them would help, my experience is that it just weighed the batter down but if it works out for you then I would love to hear about it!
I got my egg rings at Dollarama, I would be more than happy to send you some if you can't get them locally, seriously I would be very pleased to do so, just PM me and we can work out details