I wouldn't swear to it but I don't think instant potatoes will thicken sauces, unless you use a lot of it... You can usually find potato starch or flour any place they sell Bob's Red Mill flours.. Or you could make your own... Have you ever let cut potatoes sit in water for a while and you end up with some white stuff in the bottom of the pot... That's potato starch... If you carefully drain most of the water you can use what's left to thicken gravy... But that's only if you have a lot of potatoes and aren't going to make much gravy... lol If you have a juicer you can make enough to thicken just about any amount of liquid... About five pounds of potatoes will give you about a 1/2 cup of potato starch... Wash and peal the potatoes and run them through the juicer... Put the juice in a jar then let the 'juice' sit until the starch settles to the bottom, slowly pour off the 'water', add fresh water, shake it up a bit and let it sit some more... Repeat that a few times until the water stays clear... Leave a little water in the jar ( about 1/2 the amount of starch ), put the top on and keep it in the refrigerator until you need it... If you're going to keep it for any length of time refresh the water every few days... Use it the same way you use corn starch. Rita

Buttermilk is usually the acid ingredient in a chocolate cake and the acid ingredient is absolutely necessary. You need to use a dairy alternative PLUS an acid. For instance, if you want to use almond or rice milk add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice per 1-cup of the milk alternative. -Grainlady

Some want to scream and shout for the sake of hearing themselves scream and shout I believe. A friend's daughter went to a doctor who told her to go with the "if your grandparents didn't eat it, don't eat it" type diet. However the doctor also cautioned a few things. First, white flour and sugar are the whipped puppies in todays diet planning, however granny and gramps sure ate a lot of it and 200 years ago they ate it too. The interesting thing he said was apples and many fruits for the most part are *out*! Why? Granny and gramps ate apples, but not the bastardized hybrids we have available today. Same thing was specified with grapes. Think about chicken and turkey. Nowhere near what they were even 50 years ago to say nothing of 200 years ago. Another interesting one was go ahead and drink coffee if you want, just don't drink decaf. Reason is what they do to it to decaffeinate it. Rice an potatoes are basically out in most weight-loss diets anyway but there too, not what they were before. And so on. So if you *truly* wanted to abide by such a diet, I'm not sure what you actually could eat. Even much of the home grown items would be out since they're genetically modified. I tend to think that moderation is still a good guideline. I doubt any doctor or nutritionist will say a pat of butter will kill you and sometimes the treats are important. Even many diabetics can have a sugar treat on occasion. People die. Period. Someone can get hit by a butter truck and one could blame butter I guess! Like I said before, much depends on the purpose of a changeover. Could be other alternatives than cutting it out completely.

Try this one, it's rich, but good! Flourless Chocolate Cake with Cassis ________________________________________ URL: http://www.RecipeCottage.com/cakes-chocolate/flourless-chocolate06.html ________________________________________ Flourless Chocolate Cassis cake with Creme Anglaise Serves 12 2 c half and half 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise 1/3 c sugar 4 large egg yolks 10 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate 3/4 c unsalted butter 1/2 c creme de cassis 1/2 c cocoa powder 5 large eggs 1 c sugar 1/4 c whipping cream 6 tb plus 3/4 c creme de cassis liqueur 8 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped Bring half and half to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Whisk sugar and yolks in bowl. Gradually whisk in half and half mixture. Return to saucepan; stir over medium low heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, about 5 minutes. (Do not boil) Strain sauce. Cover, Chill until cold, at least 4 hours. Preheat oven to 350. Butter 9 inch springform pan with 2 3/4 inch high sides. Line bottom with parchment, Dust pan with flour, tap out excess. Melt chocolate and butter in heavy medium saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly, whisk in cocoa and cassis. Using electric mixer beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until mixture lightens and triples in volume, about 6 minutes. Add chocolate-butter mixture and fold together. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until top forms crust and tester comes out with very moist crumbs attached, about 40 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack for 5 minutes. Press down on crusty portion of cake to even. Release pan sides from cake. Turn out cake onto rack. Peel off parchment and cool completely. Icing Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Add chocolate and 6 tb cassis; Whisk until smooth. Let icing stand until cool but still spreadable, about 15 minutes. Place cake on plate. Ice top and sides. Chill 1 hour. Simmer 3/4 c cassis in heavy small saucepan until reduced to generous 1/2 c, about 5 minutes. Cool. Spoon creme anglaise onto plates forming pool. Spoon reduced cassis decoratively atop sauce and swirl with knife. Place 1 slice in center of each plate. Here's another one that we like, super easy too! Passover Flourless Chocolate Torte Makes 10 servings: 8 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semi\-sweet chocolate, chopped (I used chips) 1 C. (2 sticks) unsalted kosher for Passover pareve (non\-dairy) margarine BUTTER IS FINE 8 large egg yolks 1 C. plus 1/3 C. sugar 5 large egg whites paper doily fresh raspberries (optional) raspberry sauce (see recipe) Preheat oven to 350 degress F. Line bottom of 9 inch springform pan w/ 2 3/4 inch high sides with parchment or wax paper. Stir chocolate and margarine in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Cool until lukewarm. Using electric mixer, beat yolks and 3/4 cup sugar in large bowl until pale and very thick, about 4 minutes. Add chocolate mixture in 2 additions and beat until well blended. Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites in another large bowl until foamy. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar and beat until whites are stiff but not dry. Fold 1/3 of whites into chocolate mixture. Fold in remaining whites in 2 additions. Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake torte until crust forms on top and tester inserted into center comes out with some moist batter and some moist crumbs still attached, about 55 minutes (top may crack). Run small sharp knife around torte to loosen. Cool in pan on rack (torte will fall and crack). Remove pan sides. Invert torte onto platter. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead and covered with cake dome and stored at room temperature.) Grind 1/3 cup sugar in blender until fine powder forms. Place doily atop torte. Sift ground sugar over doily; gently remove doily. Garnish torte with raspberries, if desired. Serve with raspberry sauce. ( I sprinkled powdered sugar over top instead of grinding my own.) Raspberry Sauce: 2 12oz. packages frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed with juices 1 C. sugar Puree raspberries with juices and sugar in processor until smooth. Transfer mixture to strainer set over bowl; press on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids in strainer. (can be made 2 days ahead and refrigerated)