Textures

Experiment with mouth feel.

The three food textures at The Gourmet-O-Matic tm are:

Crunchy
Chewy
Creamy

Crunchy:

To add crunch to a food, try the following:

Almonds
Banana Chips
Bean Sprouts
Brittles - e.g., peanut, cashew, macadamia
Cashews
Cereals - e.g., flakes, granola
Chips - e.g., potato, other veggie chips
Crackers
Croutons
Hazelnuts
Macadamias
Other Nuts
Peanuts
Pepitas
Pine Nuts
Pistachios
Pomegranate Seeds
Pretzels
Pumpkin Seeds
Sunflower Seeds
Taco Shells
Toffees
Walnuts

Chewy:

To add chewiness to a food, try the following:

Candied Ginger
Chewy Grain/Fruit Bars
Dried Apples
Dried Apricots
Dried Cherries
Dried Cranberries
Dried Dates – especially pieces which tend to be even drier than whole/pitted
Dried Figs
Dried Hibiscus Flowers
Dried Kiwi
Dried Mango
Dried Nectarines
Dried Papaya
Dried Peaches
Dried Pineapple
Dried Pears
Dried Goji Berries - aka Wolfberries
Fruit Leathers - e.g., apricot, strawberry, raspberry, grape
Other Dried Fruits
Prunes
Raisins

Crunchy - Chewy

As a group, legumes offer a crunchy resistance when first bitten and then add chewiness.

To add crunch and chewiness to a food, try the following:

Black-eyed Peas
Chickpeas
Corn Kernels
Fava Beans
Granola with dried fruit
Green Lentils
Green Peas
Lupini Beans
Other Beans - e.g., azuki, black, kidney, lima, mung, pinto
Other Lentils - e.g., black, brown, red, tan
Other Peas - e.g., snap, snow, split, sugar, yellow
Pigeon Peas
Soybeans (edamame)
Tempeh
Yellow Lentils

Creamy:

Creamy dressings and relishes are made by adding and then blending or stirring:

fat-free yogurt
fat-free cottage cheese or
fat-free tofu

Fat-free products are recommended to cut fat and Calories.