Meet Everyday Agave author...
Anne Astle
"Anne Astle is a homemaker who loves to cook. Her dessert creations are well-known among her peers and have won baking contest awards."
Anne is the mother of six (so far!), whom she educates at home. Her favorite pastime is indeed cooking and baking. Her favorite recipe in the cookbook is the Peanut Butter Pie. Learn more about Anne and her experience with agave in her blog below.
Agave Notes & Tips from Anne...
[2008.11.25] The Holidays are probably not the time to discuss counting calories, but after the Holidays, if you are interested in keeping track of your food intake, check out www.myfooddiary.com. For a monthly fee, this on-line tool calculates calories, nutritional information, water consumption, and more based on your log entries detailing the food you eat. Your logging diligence is rewarded as the tool produces nice reports and graphs reflecting your diet in ways you have probably never seen it before. I have started using this tool and have found it very insightful. There's also a forum where members can encourage one another by sharing before-and-after photos, exercise tips, and recipes.
[2008.04.06] It’s 12:00 o’clock, do you know what your blood glucose number is? In all seriousness, undetected blood sugar problems are a cause for concern. With type 2 diabetes on the rise it is important for all adults to periodically test their blood glucose levels. We recently had a friend over for dinner. Before dinner, she expressed that she thought she might be having a blood sugar problem. One hour after we indulged in our Texas sized barbeque meal complete with dessert, we tested her blood sugar. Her blood sugar tested at 365! Considering that your blood sugar shouldn’t be over 140 one hour after a meal, her number was shocking. Blood sugar monitors are relatively inexpensive. The test strips are the most costly part of testing your blood glucose levels. CVS pharmacy has there own line of glucose monitors with test strips that are half the cost of name brands. It is a small investment to make. Test your blood glucose 1 hour and 2 hours after eating a high-carbohydrate meal. You may be surprised what you find. Testing your blood glucose when you wake up in the morning before you eat is important, also.
[2007.11.06] I was first introduced to agave nectar by my mother-in-law who has diabetes. I have had gestational diabetes twice and was excited to find a low-glycemic sweetener that tasted great and didn’t raise my blood sugar over the recommended limit. In my search to incorporate agave nectar into my family's diet in the place of white sugar or artificial sweeteners I found there was no agave nectar cookbook showing people how to use agave. That began my 2-year project developing recipes that would show people how to use agave nectar. Agave nectar is neutral in flavor and is easily incorporated into any recipe that calls for sugar. I wanted to develop familiar recipes with ingredients that are easy to find. We all indulge in the occasional dessert. Now it is possible to not compromise flavor to satisfy our sweet tooth. “…I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.” 3 John 2