Calculating Carbs??

[Homercidal]

My SIL is staying with us for a short while, while her mom is recovering from a serious condition. SIL is diabetic and special needs. We have to calculate carbs for her insulin.

Problem last night as I dug into the process of figuring out how many grams of carbs in a serving of "Green Bean Casserole". The problem is that a couple of things had a serving size of 1/2 C. Other things were by weight, and they got distributed amongst the whole batch.

For the life of me I could wrap my head around how to get 6 ounces of french fried onion into a 1/2 c serving after it was spread thoughout the whole mixture.

I'm sure it must have to do with a percentage or something, but last night I finally had to look it up online. I feel like I should remember how to this fairly simple math problem. I need to understand this, because my wife asked me how I'm going to figure this out and my only response was, "It's pretty simple math!"

It's pretty simple, right?

 

[ACbrewer]

You handle it just like you would if you were adding 1/2lb honey and 2lb of DME to a batch of beer that you knew was 5.25 gallonsand OG of 1.049 already.

so you take the carbs per serving fo each ingredient, total that. Figure out how much one serving is and how many you have in the whole thing and divide.

Example.
French oninon rings at say 3 servings with 10g each =30
beans at say 5 servings and 3 carbs each =15
soup at 2 servings and 20 each is =40

total is 85. Servings in the casserole = 1/2 cup, or 5 for the whole thing so that is 17 grams per 1/2 cup serving.

 

[ericbw]

Another way to look at it is by weight based on the serving size.

If the onions have 10 grams per serving, and a serving size is 1 ounce, and you add 3 oz, that's 30. If you end up with a casserole that's 5 cups, and you eat 1/2 cup, that is 1/20 of the total (30 divided by 12 = 2.5). So there are 2.5 grams FROM THE ONIONS in each 1/2 cup serving.

Like AC said, add up the total for each ingredient, and then divide by the number of servings in the dish.

And for ****'s sake, man, she's diabetic - fresh green beans sauteed in butter and topped with slivered almonds. Mushrooms if you must. I know it's not as delicious as green bean casserole, but it's probably lower/better carb.

(I've been working on low carb for a few months and hate it. But I'm healthier for it. If you stick to whole foods and fresh vegetables, the carbs and fiber balance out better. I would prefer to eat a sandwich made with 2 slices of challah and pizza in the middle. With a Coke to wash it down. I feel for people who have to really calculate that carefully to keep it all level!)

 

[Homercidal]

You handle it just like you would if you were adding 1/2lb honey and 2lb of DME to a batch of beer that you knew was 5.25 gallonsand OG of 1.049 already.

so you take the carbs per serving fo each ingredient, total that. Figure out how much one serving is and how many you have in the whole thing and divide.

Example.
French oninon rings at say 3 servings with 10g each =30
beans at say 5 servings and 3 carbs each =15
soup at 2 servings and 20 each is =40

total is 85. Servings in the casserole = 1/2 cup, or 5 for the whole thing so that is 17 grams per 1/2 cup serving.

Right, but the beans and soup were 1/2 c. serving, and the onions were 1.5 tablespoons. 3 cups total in the whole mixture. Milk was 3/4 cup.

How much milk and onions end up in each 1/2 C. serving?

I put the 3 cups total into the entire batch along with the appropriate number of cups of beans and soup and milk. I couldn't figure out how to divide it up so that I could get the correct carbs per 1/2 c.

Now that I am thinking of it, it seems pretty simple. I must have made a conversion error last night.

 

[ACbrewer]

Right, but the beans and soup were 1/2 c. serving, and the onions were 1/5 tablespoons. 3 cups total in the whole mixture. Milk was 3/4 cup.

How much milk and onions end up in each 1/2 C. serving?

I put the 3 cups total into the entire batch along with the appropriate number of cups of beans and soup and milk. I couldn't figure out how to divide it up so that I could get the correct carbs per 1/2 c.

Now that I am thinking of it, it seems pretty simple. I must have made a conversion error last night.

Honestly, there is no way of knowing how much you get in each, unlike beer, lumpy food (like soup, stew and Casserole) are subject to local areas of variation.

But in principle everything should average out, which is what we have to assume evenness, and that local inconsistencies average out over the serving.
So I've pulled a recipe on this from All recipes and I will now work through it for you - BTW, you add EVERYTHING up first, and then work out how much each serving is. 12 servigs(recipe link http://allrecipes.com/recipe/151595/campbells-green-bean-casserole/)

2 (10.75 ounce) cans Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup
+1 cup milk
+1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
+8 cups cooked cut green beans
+2 2/3 cups French's® French Fried Onions

grams of carbs (using total, buy some are dietary, and others are sugar not sure which need to be counted)
soup 47g each x2 =94grams total
cup of milk 12g
pepper 4/4g/tsp *.25=1.1 gram
beans 7g *8 cups =56grams
Fried Oions - ok this is a bit of work. The nutrition on this is measure in containers at 48 tbsp. per container.... which is 1 cup iirc. so for that I get 2 and 2/3 container (for this recipe) or 72g/container*2 2/3 =192g

ok, so 94+12+1.1+56+192 = 355.1 grams per batch.
355.1/12 (servings per batch) is 29.... ok 30grams per serving

Did you follow that? Post your recipe and I can work it out with the help of the internet.

But this is really just like working a beer recipe from scratch....

3lb of light malt at 46points each
plus 1 lb of honey at 40 points plus
3 gallons of juice at 1.050 per gallon

so that is 3*46=138
and 1*40 =40
and 3*50 =150
totoal of 328 sugar points. then this is in a 5 gallon batch of ... malted honey cider? let me see a pyment? ... or something.
is 328/5 = 65.6 or and expected OG around 1.065

 

[Homercidal]

Another way to look at it is by weight based on the serving size.

If the onions have 10 grams per serving, and a serving size is 1 ounce, and you add 3 oz, that's 30. If you end up with a casserole that's 5 cups, and you eat 1/2 cup, that is 1/20 of the total (30 divided by 12 = 2.5). So there are 2.5 grams FROM THE ONIONS in each 1/2 cup serving.

Like AC said, add up the total for each ingredient, and then divide by the number of servings in the dish.

And for ****'s sake, man, she's diabetic - fresh green beans sauteed in butter and topped with slivered almonds. Mushrooms if you must. I know it's not as delicious as green bean casserole, but it's probably lower/better carb.

(I've been working on low carb for a few months and hate it. But I'm healthier for it. If you stick to whole foods and fresh vegetables, the carbs and fiber balance out better. I would prefer to eat a sandwich made with 2 slices of challah and pizza in the middle. With a Coke to wash it down. I feel for people who have to really calculate that carefully to keep it all level!)

I tried agian just now and it seems pretty easy to figure out.

I know what you say about eating healthy. This was more for my daughter, who loves Green Bean Casserole (Who don't?) but we felt my SIL could afford a small treat. She's already taking insulin, so as long as we figure the correct amount, she is ok. We try to limit sugars and things, but still give treats, especially when others are having something good.

Luckily she is extremely unpicky. She's happy eating a giant salad. Problem is she knows she shoulnd't eat whatever she wants, but is unable to stop from eating whatever she can scrounge when someone isn't looking. I had to put a door on the pantry and screw it shut at night. She's been known to have really high sugar in the morning when she sneaks out at night to steal from the cupboard.

 

[ericbw]

I just re-read your first post and I understand better now! I sort of glossed over "special needs" thinking it referred to her diet needs. Now it makes sense that YOU have to know what's in the food you're giving her.

Great work figuring out how to make it healthy and work in the good stuff!

 

[Homercidal]

And now it looks like MIL is going to have an even stricter diet when she gets home.

Can't wait for Thanksgiving! /Sarcasm