Mothering Sunday Café

I still have a real head full of snot (aimed toward TX, of course!) and my tummy has not been happy. I was pretty nauseaous yesterday with diarhea. Today its just the running to the bathroom, the nausea seems to have cleared. Like GD, I think I slept most of the day Saturday.

Do I smell coffee?

Noooooo!!! 🙁

I can’t have mint anyway. Well, I’m cheating and taking mint-flavored Mylanta, but only because the alternative is cherry which makes me gag.

I know I can’t eat chocolate, but can I have chocolate milk?

Hmmm, chocolate milk….doubt it…but I’m not an expert on that…. :(((

GD, if you can’t have (or don’t like) mint, just leave it out. I made rasberry tea, and put fresh sprigs of mint from my pot gardens, but you could certainly leave it out! KH! I’m glad someone else watches that crazy Andy Z… my hubbs think’s he’s a nut case!

I love mint but it was one of the things the doctor specifically told me to stay away from.

I have a craving for chocolate milk, though….

*Wanders outside and suddenly, startled, turns towards the east*

WTH??? Is that SNOT that I smell in the air?????

*Sighs and once more dons Snot Suppressant Suit to repel snot warfare attacks*

GD, aren’t there chocolate substitutes? Like carob isn’t really chocolate, right? I wonder if you can have something like that?

Good morning, Everyone!!! Mr. WWM is taking his turn at cooking tonight. And so I plan to go upstairs and work on my little bug jar baby quilt.

It looks like it could rain here today, but sadly we know that it’s an evil trick. Actually, those could very well be clouds of snot. There was another huge wild fire in Midland yesterday, but in another area. We are under a red flag warning today for high fire possibility due to the high winds that are expected today. Blah…..

Ehhhh, what the heck is carob?

Oh 🙁

Here’s some info on carob:

Carob as a Chocolate Substitute

Guest Author – Deborah Markus

Back when I was single and smug, I used to say that life was too short to waste on carob.

That was before I married a man who recently developed an adult-onset allergy to all things chocolate. And before I found some wonderful friends who have severe and unpleasant reactions to caffeine.

Now I believe in knowing what my options are; and for those who, for one reason or another, can’t enjoy chocolate, carob can be a tasty possibility.

Carob is made from the edible seed pods of the evergreen that bears its name. Unlike chocolate, it contains neither caffeine nor theobromine, which makes it a safe treat for both people and their pets.

Weighing against these advantages is the fact that carob isn’t chocolate with all the bad stuff taken out. It’s a different animal altogether. It can have the same harshness of a low-quality dark chocolate without the redeeming chocolaty texture or taste, and sometimes echoes with a faint aftertaste.

So it shouldn’t simply be substituted for chocolate. A carob chip cookie isn’t going to be the same beast as a chocolate chip one. Carob’s distinct flavor needs something strong to back it up; white sugar and flour aren’t going to hold their own well with it.

If you’re going to make carob cookies, sweeten them with honey or brown sugar. Use oats or oat flour — you need the body and flavor they’ll lend. A peeled chopped apple and a teaspoon of cinnamon stirred in with the carob chips will give you a cookie that can proudly hold its own against any chocolate competitor.

Carob also comes in powder form. This can be used in place of cocoa; but, again, remember that you won’t get exactly the same flavor or texture. Be prepared to do a little experimenting to get something you like.

Are candies made from carob a healthier substitute for chocolate?

Answer Don’t let carob confections, often found in health-food stores, fool you. Although carob powder is lower in fat and naturally sweeter than cocoa powder, fat is added to turn carob powder into candy, so its total fat and calorie counts are usually the same as in chocolate. The difference: The cocoa butter added to chocolate bars is rich in stearic acid (a saturated fat which has been shown not to raise blood cholesterol levels), while any type of fatmay be added to carob — including artery-clogging palm kernel oil and coconut oil.

Title: Chocolate Substitute

Yield: 1 Serving

Ingredients

3 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa

-Powder

1 Tbsp Sugar

Instructions

Use 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa plus 1 tablespoons sugar to substitute

for 1 ounce

semisweet chocolate.

1 T baking chocolate = 3 T cocoa + 1 T oil

1 Square baking chocolate = 2 T baking substitute