Sugar Free Trials

Yesterday was my last day at the assisted living facility I've been working at, but not the end of cooking for seniors. I am keeping my job at the bakery instead, not only because I prefer it, but because it will better prepare me for a future as a pastry chef in a very upscale and snazzy old folks home. We specialize in gluten-free and vegan desserts, as well as the tasty originals, techniques I did not learn in culinary school, and things that will prove to be very valuable in my specialized industry.

But the biggest thing is sugar free baking, something I am just starting to explore, both in the bakery and at home.

Last night, after my last day, I started a new first. My first experimental recipe using xylitol instead of sugar. My boss, and bakery owner, is excited to also start experimenting with xylitol, and since I am the head (and only) baker, I get to do all the recipe development.

My first trial, using things I had on hand (since I didn't want to run out the the grocery store, again), ended up being a loaf of banana bread/cake. I adapted it from a recipe in the only known xylitol cookbook, Sweeten Your Life the Xylitol Way by Karen Edwards (available on amazon), for Banana Cake, baked it late last night, and tried the first slice this morning for breakfast. Not too bad for my first try! And it is definitely sweet.

I will share all my trial sugar free recipes, whether they use xylitol, stevia or no substitute. I doubt I will be experimenting with the harsher chemical sugar substitutes such as aspartame (Equal and NutraSweet), and try to stick with a natural approach.

Xylitol can be substituted for sugar, 1:1. It will not caramelize or feed yeast, but is otherwise a very useful and easy alternate. I have read that xylitol is very deadly to dogs, more so than chocolate, so be very careful to keep your stash and xylitol baked goods away from your K-9 pals!

Banana Loaf Cake
adapted from Sweeten Your Life the Xylitol Way by Karen Edwards

2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon butter, melted
1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about one medium-large banana)
2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, seperated
1/2 cup xylitol

1. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.
2. In another bowl, mix together the melted butter, mashed banana, yogurt, vanilla and egg yolk.
3. In a large bowl, beat the egg white with electric mixer until soft peaks form, then add the xylitol and beat until peaks are stiff but not dry.
4. Gradually fold dry ingredients into beaten egg whites alternately with banana mixture, and stir just until batter is smooth.
5. Pour into and spread evenly in a greased 8" x 4" loaf pan, and bake at 350 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely. 
6. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

Portion Size

The thing that shocked me the most when I first began working with the elderly was the portion size of their meals. Maybe it's because I belong to the super-size-me generation, that portion sizes really were that tiny 60 years ago, or maybe when you get old you just eat less. I suppose the baby boomers and the next aging generations will tell us more, but I suspect it is a combination.

 

The elderly folks (that I work with) don't do much, so their caloric needs are much less than that of an active adult. They get up, they shower, they use their walkers to shuffle to the dining room for breakfast, then to the TV room until lunch, then back to the TV until dinner, maybe a game of scrabble, then to bed. A day in the life of a senior at XYZ assisted living revolves around meal time.

Everything is smaller: appetites, plates, bowls, bagels

The entree plates we use at the old folk's home are not a common size. They are in between the sizes of a small hors d'ourve plate and the (present) standard dinner plate. Paper plate size. The perfect size to make a little portion still fill it up and look like an adequate meal, which it is.

Old people can be very particular. The current ones came from an age where food was not in abundance, where they ate everything on their plates, when they couldn't get any ingredient on the planet like we can today.  Many of them get very overwhelmed by the amount of food I sometimes load onto their plates, so overwhelmed that instead of working away it it and eating what they can, they don't touch it. So my ignorance to their preferred portion size results in their skipping of a meal. Respect their portion control. Use a small plate, give them one scrambled egg for breakfast, half a sandwich for lunch, I know it doesn't seem like much, but it's enough.

I've got a list of my "big eaters" and my "small eaters". The big eaters get a whole sandwich for dinner! The smaller or half-portion eaters get, well, a half sandwich. Even the so-called big or "good" eaters eat much less than your average American these days. It becomes very apparent when I feed the staff- their plates are often 1.5 to 2 times larger than the "good eaters." I'm not saying that all non-seniors eat too much, we are much more active in our youth and have higher metabolisms (especially in Boulder, Colorado), and require more calories.

Their little appetites are another reason seniors should be fed nutritious foods; they are only going to eat so much, so there is a much smaller opportunity for them to get all their required nutrients. It is recommended that seniors take a multivitamin, and most do, in addition to their other numerous pills and medications.
...but that's a topic for another day.

The one thing most of my seniors don't skimp on is dessert. I send out the daily menu and receive half orders for the entree, salad and soup, and double orders of dessert! But I like to believe it's because they love my baking.