No.  I get a little magazine-type thing in the mail (it's been my last
issue for a year or so now) and I do read that, but there's yet to be
a recipe I could use without tweaking.  

Huh?  What ingredients are used in recipes for diabetics that aren't
"normal?"

Not any more.  When I was pregnant and had GD, I ran out and bought all the
diabetic cookbooks I could find.  I'd say about 90% of the recipes in them
were not appealing to me just in reading them.  Most were for desserts and I
don't eat desserts to begin with.  The rest called for really weird
ingredients that I didn't normally eat.  Like canned biscuits.  I can't tell
you how many things I made with canned biscuits, cut in quarters and dropped
into the food to bake.  They didn't bake.  They just wound up being
partially baked, gooey little triangles that ruined what otherwise might
have been an edible dish.

I have since been given countless diabetic cookbooks as gifts.  In one, I
saw a recipe for some sort of appetizer using canned beans.  I can't
remember what it was now, but 2 T. was a serving and it make a freaking ton!
Why would I want something so large if I'm only going to eat 2 bites of it?
And I don't normally eat appetizers anyway.  In that whole batch of books
that was the only recipe that sounded remotely appealing and/or didn't have
massive amounts of carbs.  Most had more carbs per serving than I can safely
eat in a meal.

The last one I was given had one recipe I would actually eat.  It was for
tostadas.  But I mean...  Really!  How hard is it to make a tostada?  One
only needs to look at a tostada and recreate the layers of food on it.  I've
been making them on my own for years and never once used a recipe.

In my opinion, those books are a complete waste of time and money.  I
collect cookbooks.  I particularly like the older ones.  I can get ideas in
there for foods that are not commonly served any more.  Often combinations
of vegetables.  I also have a lot of cookbooks for people with allergies and
uncookbooks for raw vegan recipes.

One thing most newer cookbooks have going for them is that they give the
nutritional breakdown for the recipes.  So it makes it easy for me to see if
I can eat it and if I can, how much I can eat.  If the book doesn't give
such information, it is easy enough to figure out how many carbs is in the
dish.  If it has beans, rice, pasta, potatoes, etc., I figure I can usually
safely eat a cup of it.  Might not work for everyone but this usually works
for me.  If it has a thickened sauce, but no other carbs, I just do the math
to see how much flour, cornstarch or whatever is used in my portion.

But mostly I do not use cookbooks at all.  I get most of my recipes online
these days.  It's a lot quicker than having to flip through a bunch of
books, trying to remember where I saw that recipe I liked.  My favorite site
is allrecipes.com.  I can usually find what I am looking for there, or
something close to it and the recipes are all rated.  I've never had any
complaints on the 4 or 5 start rated recipes there.

Grandpa Chuck wrote in message ...

Most diabetic cookbooks are useless IMO. If you mean by *normal* that
you're using sugar, flour, etc., no I don't use them. I substitute nut
flours, carbolite, flaxmeal, artificial sweeteners, and things like
that. I hope you and Laurie had a good Christmas, Chuck...and a very
Happy New Year to both of you.

Cheri

the diabetic cook books that i have received say that a portion is 16
when i would divide the item into 6 servings

then the book brags about how good it is for diabetic diets

i use regular recipes and use portion control too

I have only looked at them, in the bookstore, and have yet to find one
that seems to be written by someone who actually knows what carbs are.

That's a good idea too, but there are many recipes out there that you
don't have to watch nearly as much. For example, I found one on
alt.food.diabetic, posted by Jennifer, that consists of chicken
breasts, canned diced tomatoes, onion, black olives, garlic, oregano,
red wine, and feta cheese. It is absolutely delicious, and doesn't
spike me at all.

I have done this dish several times now, and have added or substituted
other ingredients. I have added zucchini and eggplant (at different
times), and have seasoned it with tarragon and basil, which I prefer
over oregano, and have used white wine.

I have also varied the amounts of ingredients. The recipe is said to
make 6 servings, but I make it for 2, and my wife looks forward to
this dish; says it is really wonderful. (I do all the cooking around
here),

So, have a look at alt.food.diabetic, but watch out for those that
mean well, but offer dishes with huge amounts of processed carbs.

I do low spike and portion control.
I also have learned a few delicious substitues for spiking items in my
foods..simple things like replace potatos in mashed with cauliflower...sugar
with splenda etc.

KROM

Diabetic cookbooks typically have recipes with too many carbs per
portion and very small portions.

The recipe writers appear to know little or nothing about the great low
carb alternatives that most people on alt.food.diabetic know first hand
and can tell you where to buy them, what they cost and how they affect
their bgs.

What I appreciate is info like the following:

Lettuce wrapping breadless sandwiches

Learning of decent soy pastas and where to buy them.

Learning to julienne-slice zucchinis to substitute for pastas and noodles.

Tasty ways to prepare string beans, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower,
brussel sprouts

Soy beans and other substitutes for high carb beans in chili.

Tasty ways to use tofu to add protein to vegetable dishes.

Great products like Carbquick where I can actually eat pancakes and not
 spike.

Ways to make a pizza that won't spike you, etc.

I've read several of them along with several low-carb books.  From
these and numerous other sources I've picked up ideas and techniques
that I use in creating diabetic-friendly recipes that work for me.

It's true that many of the authors seem to miss the main point of
controlling carb intake although a few come up with good ideas.

Just as there's no one "perfect" meal plan or diabetic diet, there's
no ideal cookbook. Each of us needs to work out what is best for
ourselves. But reading and sharing ideas is nearly always helpful.

I'm toying with the idea of publishing a recipe collection myself. But
I'd like to avoid the Yet-Another-Diabetic-Cookbook syndrome. That's
why I've been listening to, and questioning,  diabetics for some time
now.

So, what information would folks like to see in such a text?

------
Pete Romfh, telecom geek and amateur gourmet.
Houston, TX, USA

"Grandpa Chuck" <GrandpaChuck@B4me.org> a écrit ...

Dana Carpender was favoured earlier in the year and
was mentioned a few times, IIRC.
She is active in another forum.

Does anyone have any of her books and can comment
on its good & bad points, please ?

It seems to me most "diabetic" recipes do use normal ingredients -
flour, potatoes, rice, etc. - stuff I can't eat.

I use some unusual ingredients - flax meal, almond meal, DaVinci syrups,
stevia.

But most of my food is meat, fish, cheese, cream, yogurt, eggs, veggies,
fruit, nuts, herbs - just normal foods.

I mostly Google for recipe ideas.  I also read the afd and asdlc
newsgroups and a couple web boards for ideas.  I rarely take recipes as
they are unless it's a completly unfamilair food, rather I experiment a
lot.  Some experiments work better than others though!

I calculate the nutritional info myself for recipes and save the good
ones.