Diabetic Friendly Frosting from Granny’s Test Kitchen

Another Granny’s Test Kitchen experiment was conducted today – this time with cream cheese icing. We’ve got a wedding coming up soon and our favorite little diabetic is one of the junior bride’s maids. Karen plans on serving cupcakes which makes calculating those carbs easy. But what about the frosting?

Well, Karen has opted for cream cheese icing and did a trial run today. The wedding is outdoors and we want to test for stability at room temperature and see how it keeps in the refrigerator over the course of a few days. Anyway, I’m really excited! Can you believe that this icing has just under 4 grams of carbohydrate per 2T? In case you’re rolling your eyes and thinking “So?” let me point out that commercial frostings have upwards of 20 carbs for the same amount. Even if you get the whipped variety, we’re still talking 14 or 15. So less than 4? That’s a HUGE carb savings!

So how is this possible? Well, I guess because cream cheese icing is made predominantly from cream cheese rather than sugar. It’s not incredibly sweet which is actually a nice change from the norm. Also, it’s light and fluffy so a little goes a long ways. Are you sold yet? If so, here’s the recipe.

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
¼ cup butter, room temperature
¼ t. vanilla
½ c. powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter together with an electric mixer until smooth and a little fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and whip about 7 minutes or so.


By my calculations, which have been independently checked by Gaines as well, 2 T has approximately 4 carbs. To determine this, I calculated the total carbs in the batch using The Calorie King Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter (2008 edition). I then measured out 2 level tablespoons of icing and weighed them on our scale that I first adjusted to account for the weight of the little glass container. Using the .04 reading, I determined that 2T is about ⅔ of an ounce. As the whole batch weighed in at 12.125 ounces total and contained 72 carbs, ⅔ of an ounce (2T) contains just under 4 carbs.

Please Note: I use "carb" to mean gram of carbohydrate.

Granny’s Test Kitchen Debut – Modified Mud Drips Anyone?

I’ve come up with another crazy idea but have refused to let my adult onset ADD get the better of me this time. So instead of starting a whole new blog, I’m going to use this one – at least for a while. My latest brainstorm is Granny’s Test Kitchen, a site filled with cooking and baking advice. Now, if you know me personally (this is Crystal, not Karen!), you might think this is a joke. Well, at least on the cooking advice front. But I’m serious!

This has all come about because I’ve been trying to modify recipes to be diabetic friendly. A few months ago, our (then) 8-year old grandchild was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. No fun. Anyway, it is really difficult to come up with kid-friendly meals and snacks that are low carb. Hence my new hobby.

So today I decided to see what would happen if I made an old favorite with half the sugar. First I looked up all the ingredients and calculated the potential carb savings to make sure it was worth the effort. Then I proceeded to the kitchen and a short while later, Voilà! – reduced-carb mud drip cookies!

Interestingly, my testers both said the cookies were plenty sweet and one even said he thought they actually tasted sweeter than usual. How is that possible? Anyway, although they passed the taste test with flying colors, the consistency isn’t quite right – the mud drips are a little soft and sticky rather than dry and firm. So I guess I have to make another batch with a further adjustment. Oh darn!

So there you have it – the first recipe modification from Granny’s Test Kitchen. I’m sure I’ll be doing lots more!

Homemade Gifts for All

I've come across the best homemade gift site! It has ideas and links for gifts that can be made for all ages and occasions. Very cool and definitely worth a look! So check out Make Homemade Gifts today. And think about starting on those Christmas presents now, ok?

April Fool’s Day? NOT!

This is April 2nd. Is Mother Nature a day behind on the April Fool’s Day joke or what? And we’re supposed to get 5-7 inches of the stuff. In April? Are you kidding me? Well, we need the snow pack up high so I guess this is a good thing. But in April?

Shower Power Works Like Magic!

Ok – truth time here. I have unedited before and after photos of how great Shower Power works. I’m almost too embarrassed to show these but feel I must so everyone can see that it isn’t just hype – Shower Power really is a great product!

The first photo is obviously the shower before cleaning. I hated to let it get this bad but didn’t want to clean it until after the Shower Power arrived. I hate getting in there with a scrub brush and cleanser - it’s no fun and the fumes are awful. Then I had a bunch of delays getting to the PO and the Shower Power sat there waiting for me for a couple of weeks. So that’s my excuse for this totally disgusting shower!

With Shower Power, you just spray it on, let it sit a minute, wipe it off with a sponge and rinse. If you have a lot of soap scum built up, you might need to do it twice initially. It also works on mineral buildup and mold. As you can see, not everything is totally removed – the caulking in this shower needs to be replaced as there staining underneath it. But all in all it did a great job don’t you think? Please Note: There’s some weird shadow thing going on with this picture. In real life there’s no orangey-tan discoloration across the shower floor – it’s evenly white.

So if you want to experience the magic of Shower Power for yourself, go to the Shower Power website and order some. Remember – you can’t get it at the store. I know the shipping is a little spendy but it’s worth it! In fact, to take some of the “Ouch!” out of the shipping charge, I ordered a refill to go with my spray bottles. So what are you waiting for? Get your Shower Power today!

By the way – while this might sound like a sponsored post, IT IS NOT! I really do love the stuff this much!

Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day?

Karen found a cool video online that shows how to have homemade bread every day without kneading. From the authors of Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, it shows just mixing the ingredients and placing them in the refrigerator and then using some each day to make fresh bread. So I tried it and I’d like to report on my experience.

First, a little background info for the sake of context. I make almost all the bread we eat and have for years. It really isn’t too much trouble beings I have a bread machine. Well, actually, now I have two since Karen brought home a second one several months ago. Anyway, I use the machines for kneading and the first rise. Then I form the dough into round buns, raise them again and bake. So I’m not really doing the hard work although I do know how having done so plenty of times prior to the advent of the bread machine. So I’m an experienced, regular bread maker and not someone who is new to the idea.

Now for my report –

I measured and mixed the ingredients and it was not nearly as easy as it looks in the video. I actually had to resort to mixing with my hands to get the dry and wet ingredients fully incorporated. I don’t know how they did it so easily, as it was way too dry when I tried it. But I finally got it mixed and then put it in the refrigerator.

The next day, I took out a chunk as directed, formed a loaf and let it rise. It didn’t get very big but the final loaf was delicious! Really, really good. Too good in fact for middle aged folk who shouldn’t pig out on carbs. As the days went by, however, the quality of the bread seemed to diminish. They say you can keep it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days but it was getting iffy by then – I would say 4 days is the max.

But the question remains – was it easier? For our purposes, no. The container takes up way too much refrigerator space and the bread is great with dinner but wouldn’t work that well for sandwiches on a daily basis. So I’m back to my old ways and will reserve the healthy five-minute bread for special occasions.

Go Green at Suite101

I’ve been busy the past week publishing articles on Suite101. They’re having a couple of contests, one of which is for Go Green articles. Along those lines, I’ve written about free ways to save water and create an Eco friendly home. So if you’d like some Go Green tips, check them out!