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Joining You from South America

L

Lynda Lee

New member
Hello all you brilliant cooks out there.

I was hunting recipes that don't require margarine, or butter, and came upon this site.

I'm a Canadian living and working in Caracas, Venezuela, love to cook and entertain—both of which are getting more and more difficult here with the shortages we suffer. Hence, I will look forward to lots of ideas from all of you.
 
what oils or fats are available to you? or what is the reason for no butter or margarine?
I use olive oil for most recipes and transfat free shortening for things that require solid fats.
and welcome,
Nan
 
Politics messes everything up.

Oh, it is a L-O-N-G story—all of which has to do with the politics of this government. The government wants total control so it is working hard to destroy private enterprise and take everything over for their own use. Consequently the consumer suffers because production is on the decline and the government controls the ability of private enterprise to import rare materials or products because it controls the availability of dollars.

Anyway, it's a long story, and we've had to be very creative at times when there weren't eggs, milk, sugar, chicken, flour, toilet paper, and a host of other things that come and go. Right now, margarine is gone. If nothing else, some of these shortages will drive us to becoming more creative cooks. :)
 
Oops, forgot to answer part of your question. We have oils available: Corn, olive, sunflower, canola, all of which helps.
 
Lynda Lee said:
Oh, it is a L-O-N-G story—all of which has to do with the politics of this government. The government wants total control so it is working hard to destroy private enterprise and take everything over for their own use. Consequently the consumer suffers because production is on the decline and the government controls the ability of private enterprise to import rare materials or products because it controls the availability of dollars.

Anyway, it's a long story, and we've had to be very creative at times when there weren't eggs, milk, sugar, chicken, flour, toilet paper, and a host of other things that come and go. Right now, margarine is gone. If nothing else, some of these shortages will drive us to becoming more creative cooks. :)
Click to expand...

Hi Lydia!

We welcome you to SpicePlace. Good thing you can get canola and a few other oils. There are a host of recipes that are interchangeable with the type oil you use. If you can not get margarine that is OK, it just is not that good for you anyway. You may try experimenting with recipes and substituting oils with types you can obtain. In some of the newer recipes that omit much of the oil and use a smaller amount now call for say apple sauce to help keep the batter moist. You will find many new ideas and recipes here!

You are brave to stay in Venezuela, cripe:eek: I am afraid I would not hang around there very long with all that is happening there!

CCCathy
 
Hehehe. I have my moments. If it weren't a divine calling, I might be inclined to buy a ticket and head north too! It's a beautiful country with some very wonderful people—that makes it more a pity.

Yes, I am experimenting. I tried a recipe this afternoon that substituted yogurt for shortening and milk (cookies) but they were too cake-like and soft for my taste. I may try to leave out the eggs and see if I can get crisper cookies (or use a little butter or oil so they won't be hard as rocks!!!!!!!!).
 
Hello Again Lynda,

Sorry I spelled your name wrong on my previous post, I have a dear friend Lydia and thought of her as I saw your name and it stuck o-o-ops!:eek:

Your cookies sounded like they would be good biscotti hee-hee! Not a totally bad thing if you like dunking them into coffee or milk! Just add a tsp. or so of Almond extract and wa-la Biscotti!

Do you have availability to honey and any type syrups? What have you found to substitute sugar if need be? Is ther an abundance of sugar cane growing in Ven.? How about fresh fruits and veggies? What are some of the most prolific crops?

I know Venezuela has got to be absolutely georgeous country. And I am sure, as you pointed out, many beautiful people there as well! I guess you just have to take the good with the bad in a situation like that! Hopefully you will not be put into any grave danger with the political disheval, at least nothing worse than learning new recipes to cope with the lack of proper cooking ingredients!

CCCathy
 
Hehehe, no problem. I didn't even notice the name!

Actually, you're right. I ate a few of the cookies last night and thought that they did resemble biscotti. I only baked half the dough and since I didn't like the result much I didn't know what to do with the other half. Maybe I'll shape it like biscotti and do the whole baking twice thing and see what happens.

Yes, we can get honey here—very expensive so I wouldn't use it a lot. Splenda etc. are available here too, but since these kinds of things are imported, the price is out of sight for the average Venezuelan. A lot of people ask me for my recipes so I try to make things they can make on their own. (No peanut Butter cookies—PB is $17.00 for a six oz. jar.)

Other syrups? Also imported, so don't use maple syrup etc. much. There is sugar cane here but because of government interference and getting dollars for equipment and rar materials, production of just about everything is way down which sometimes results in no sugar to be found anywhere. Lots of fresh fruits and veggies though many of these are imported from Colombia, Chile, and other parts. This country relies on oil, so about 85% of everything else is imported.

Yes, I hope the worst I have to fear is having to be creative in the cooking area. I've already warned the cats that they might have to use shredded paper in the litter box if I can't get litter (also imported and expensive). They weren't impresses and I have a feeling I wouldn't be if I had to clean that out of the litterbox.
 
Silly kitty cats, I am sure they will adjust! It won't hurt them a bit, I worked a few yrs at a veterinarian hosp. and often times after surgery we filled the litter boxes with shredded paper to keep the kitties from getting litter into their incision areas (esp. if they had just been declawed) so I know for a fact they will adjust to the new kitty box litter:D Cats can be so spoiled!

Too bad the oil that Venuzuela has been blessed with has turned out to be crude oil (Ha-Ha) you could have used the other type to at least cook with!:p

I won't make any political judgements, but I sure hope something drastic happens to make Ven. turn around and get better for one and all!!!
 
Good to know about the kitty litter—you ARE a fount of useful information!

If we could eat oil, we'd be in good shape. The only cheap thing here is gasoline (6 cents a liter). We'd all be rich! I pray that things will turn around.

I just took the cookies-turned-biscotti out of the oven. They look like the real thing. After I pay the electricity bill I will test them with a cup of coffee. Stay tuned.
 
Were you able to find some almond extract for the dough? I wonder....can you get chocolate bars? Or cho. chips? You could melt some choc. in a small vessel and drip choc. onto your cooled biscotti (If it turns out good enough to put choc. on that is) and they will be authentic looking enough!

Too bad I couldn't trade you sugar, eggs and butter for gasoline! :) Our gasoline is slowly inching it's way higher and higher and the price of milk and everything else has finally started coming down since the last high gasoline prices pushed our food costs over the brink of normal:( I rejoiced to see milk return to a normal $2.00 per gallon it had gone to $4.00 per gallon! Never having been one to drink much (I always saved it for the children) I now indulge again and hope I will be able to continue to do so. I get my calcium from a tablet form called Caltrate! When milk went so high I made a decision to start drinking and enjoying it more if it ever came back down! So wa-la I now indulge as often as I can, although it has got to be 2% so I don't turn too awful rotund hee-hee!!!
 
It worked! They turned out just like biscotti. I thought about putting in almond extract but the dough was very solid and I wasn't sure I could get it distributed well enough. The original recipe has vanilla in it anyway, but if I use this one again, I put almonds in it plus the extract (I have a bottle I brought back with me from Canada). What I like best is not having to use shortening, or margarine, or butter—just yogurt—at least that part is healthier (we won't talk about the sugar, though the recipe calls from brown sugar which is a little better.)

Yes, we have good baking chocolate here and since this recipe is quite "plain" in taste I might zip it up a bit by dipping in in chocolate. Chocolate chips too!

Me too—1% milk I think ours is, but it seems to have a little more "body" than that sort of watery blue stuff we can buy at home. Everything now settles comfortably around the middle of my body (maybe I should forget the chocolate on the biscotti—or maybe not!).
 
Lynda Lee said:
Everything now settles comfortably around the middle of my body (maybe I should forget the chocolate on the biscotti—or maybe not!).
Click to expand...

No kiddin! You have that "full-figured girl thing" starting too=oh my!!! BUT>>> Don't fret go ahead and dip 'em in chocolate at least we will be keeping good company with the likes of Jane Russell:D and Marilyn Monroe;):D
 
Hi Lynda- and welcome to EPI!

I hope you'll enjoy us here- we're a fine bunch of folks who always enjoy meeting others and making new friends... smiles- kevin (chubbyalaskagriz)
 
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