Product Review: XyloSweet by Xlear

Photo linked from Amazon.com

We use Xylitol and Truvia in our kitchen -- we actually prefer Xylitol.  It looks like refined sugar, it has worked well for us in baked and cooked items.  When we were first introduced to Xylitol, we bought the Now brand.  We liked the results -- but it's pricey, especially when baking.  Using a teaspoon here and there for some of our Japanese stewed dishes isn't too bad, but when you start using cups at a time, that $11 - 2 lb. bag goes fast!

This past Christmas we made Candied Pecans.  We used the last of our Now brand Xylitol for our sample batches with nice results -- they ended up looking like Glazed Pecans.  Knowing we had to produce a lot of pecan batches, we decided to try the Xlear XyloSweet Xylitol to save some money.  It's Xylitol in pure form and we've used the Xlear Nose Spray.  This was a mistake.  Well, let me say first, using this XyloSweet in things like our Chicken Hekka seemed to work just fine -- you really don't use much.  However, when baking our Candied Pecans, the XyloSweet batch starts to burn within the first 15 minutes and when the glaze dried it looked like our glazed pecans but 5 weeks old!  The batches made with the Now brand turned out perfect.  We were able to bake the pecans the full hour, no burning and the glaze was beautiful -- even after a few days.

So, for that reason, we do not recommend this brand.  Spend the extra money for another brand like Now.

Product Review: Happy Pho's Vietnamese Brown Rice Wrappers

These brown rice wrappers were pretty good.  Not as soft as the regular white ones...kinda chewy even after wetting them twice.  Definitely a healthier alternative to the regular white ones.

Side note: we purchased a pack of 6 of these on Amazon.com before we decided to phase out grains...we'll probably use them once in a while, maybe give away a couple packs and hold the rest in the refrigerator for Paleo cheat days or Dukan Consolidation Days (not a cheat...well, depends on what you put in your wrap).

Wetting brown rice wrapper

We've worked with the regular Vietnamese white rice wrappers or bánh tráng in the past, it can be tricky to work with but once you've made a few, it's pretty easy.  With the white rice wrappers, you can usually hold with both hands and roll the egde in the water, almost like a pinwheel once or twice and it'll be wet enough.  With these brown rice wrappers, I ended up "rolling" the wrappers 2-3 times in order to soften them enough.  One of our Vietnamese friends taught us how to use these wrappers while at a Vietnamese restaurant.  

After a little practice you'll find the right amount of firmness and gentleness required to handle these delicate wrappers.  

We have one recipe to post -- made a couple rolls using some leftover rotisserie chicken we had for the male half of this couple.  Like sushi, you don't have to use only traditional ingredients in these wrappers.  Be careful not to use items that are too wet or your wrapper will end up ripping.  You can make a Korean wrap using korean banchan or prepared vegetable dishes, soba noodles if you're not on the Paleo diet, etc.  I've been thinking about making some poke rolls for the male half of this couple soon too. 

Enjoy!

Product Review: Victoria All Natural Marinara Sauce

Photo from the Victoria
Fine Foods Website

For the male half's birthday, we made a Baked Rigatoni.  We had a ton of baking to do that night so making our own Mushroom Marinara was out of the question.  The other night, luckily I happened to take a peek at the marinara sauces at Costco expecting to only find sauces loaded with junk stuff but was quite happy to find Victoria's All Natural Marinara Sauce.

It's Dukan friendly on PV days and Paleo friendly!

We decided to use the sauce as is although we were tempted to add some balsamic vinegar and fennel seeds to add some additional flavor...we really wanted to get the true taste of this marinara the first time around.  A note about balsamic vinegar, most websites will tell you balsamic vinegar is not Paleo friendly, but many still use it in moderation...that's the key, in moderation.  We would have used about a teaspoon for one jar...I think that qualifies as "in moderation" :-)

We both enjoyed Victoria's All Natural Marinara Sauce.  For us, it had that slight tang/zest to it...still debating whether or not to adjust the flavor with balsamic vinegar.  It's definitely a nice alternative to making your own when you don't have the time.  We'll be stocking up on this sauce and hope Costco continues to carry it.

We'll be using the second jar for Christmas...our first attempt at making a zucchini lasagna!  Oh and the recipe for our Celebration Baked Rigatoni meal will be posted soon after Christmas.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas if you're celebrating Christmas :-)

Product Review: Nasoya Fettucini Noodles

It's been a while since we've used tofu shirataki noodles.  The male half of this couple didn't mind eating it when we first started the diet, but I recently asked him about it and he said he prefers not to eat them.

As mentioned in a previous post, being Asian, we grew up eating Shirataki noodles...in Japanese dishes, not in pasta.  Never even considered using it in a pasta dish nor did we realize it's low cal, etc.  Since it was colder here in the islands, decided to try No Recipe's Spaghetti Meat Sauce Recipe (with a few changes) this weekend.    Recipe will be posted after I doctor up the photos.

Over the past month we've noticed a second brand of shirataki noodles at our local market...Nasoya's Fettucini noodles.  Decided to give it a try with the spaghetti sauce (of course I make whole wheat spaghetti noodles for the male half).

Here's how we prepared it...

Rinsed the noodles, then boiled in salted water for a few minutes.

We definitely like the taste better.  It's still got sort of a crunch to it, just like regular shirataki noodles do, but we are almost positive it doesn't have any other taste to it which is nice.  (I made the male half of this couple try one noodles to give me his rating).

We're definitely buying this brand instead!

Miracle 01409 Miracle Shirataki- 6x7 Oz (Google Affiliate Ad)