Autofood: The Self-Service Trend

"Self-check-out also puts grocery store clerks out of work, which makes me feel a little bad."
Back in the 1940s, the Automat ruled the land. You know those vending machines where you push the button to rotate your food choices past, then slide a plastic door aside to get your (e.g.) tuna salad sandwich? Imagine that, but a whole entire cafeteria.
 
I wonder if we aren't heading back in that direction. It seems like self-service is creeping into many areas of our food service industries. The benefit to the companies is obvious: you can hire one teller to work one register, or one teller to cover six self-serve registers. The benefit to consumers is… somewhat less obvious.
 
Example One: Grocery store self-check-out
At first, I loved this idea. No longer would I be trapped in line behind a dozen people with tons of food piled atop their carts! I could just breeze through self-check-out! I am reasonably tech-savvy, and not easily cowed by machinery and computers and things that go "beep." I took to the registers easily. I am proud to say, I can look up produce and use coupons without a hitch.

But here's the thing: it doesn't really save you that much time. If the register is open, you can switch over if your express line is going slowly. But if the lines are about equal, it's faster to have a checker ring up your purchases. Because you have this efficiency: you can be paying while the checker is ringing up your groceries. When you do self-check, you have to perform both actions, and you can't do them at the same time.
 
Self-check-out also puts grocery store clerks out of work, which makes me feel a little bad.
 
Example Two: Jack in the Box Kiosk
I live in a rural area. There's never anyone in line ahead of me. Why would I use the computerized kiosk to place my order? It's dumb.
 
But it turns out you can buy my loyalty for the price of five mini churros. That's the carrot they dangle before you: use the kiosk, get the churros. And dang, those things are delicious!
 
Example Three: Coinstar/SBC Coffee Kiosk
Coinstar, in conjunction with Seattle's Best Coffee, has rolled out a small number of self-serve coffee kiosks. They grind and brew your coffee fresh, which is nice. I have tried it two or three times. I feel dumb standing around waiting for my coffee - at least at a Starbucks you can chat with the barista while you wait for your drink. 
 
These are a good example of something that's only great when I'm the only one using it. As soon as you start having a line (of people who can't figure out how to use the machine) I'm done.
 

Are You Eating Food Colored With Crushed Bugs?

Spoiler alert: Almost certainly!
Of course, as we all know, all of our food contains crushed bugs by accident. The FDA has very strict guidelines for how many insect parts are allowed per unit for every food sold in the United States. Bugs are in our food, and there is nothing we can do about it.
 
But Starbucks recently made a change to their menu that, while positive from a rational point of view, has a lot of people squicked out. They recently announced that their Strawberries and Creme Frappuccinos will not be colored pink using artificial dyes like Red 40, which has developed a bad reputation in health food circles. Instead, these Frappuccinos will receive their perky shade of pink thanks to cochineal, which is an all-natural dye. 

Problem? Starbucks' PR department apparently didn't think so. But they failed to account for the irrational loathing most people have for the thought of eating crushed insects.
 
Many foods are actually colored with cochineal or carmine. These food safe dyes come from the crushed bodies of a South American scale insect called Dactylopius coccus. This tiny insect sucks the sap of the prickly pear plant, and protects itself by covering itself with a big blob of white wax. 
 
The cochineal insect has been used for thousands of years as a dye. The ancient Aztecs used to kill the insects by boiling them, leave their bodies in the sun to dry, then grind up their bodies and use the powder to dye their textiles. Our modern processes have changed little over the eons. 
 
Cochineal is safe, natural, and comes from a renewable resource. The cochineal insect is easy to breed and raise, and it consumes prickly pear, which is considered a nuisance plant and invasive species in many parts of the world. Cochineal is an important cash crop for subsistence farmers in Mexico who harvest the insects and provide them to the American market. 
 
By comparison, the two artificial red dyes which are most commonly used - Red #4 and Red #40 - are derived from coal tar. Their production creates a lot of industrial pollution. And many people feel that Red #40 may be responsible for health and behavioral problems, particularly in children. These claims are relatively unsubstantiated, but the red dyes are bad enough that the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is calling for them to be banned.
 
The list of foods containing cochineal and carmine is long. Because there are no specific labeling requirements, it can fall under the all-purpose "Natural coloring." The best advice is to try not to think about it!

Try the new Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal

I recently had the privilege to join a BzzCampain (I’m a BzzAgent) for the new Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal. Since I love oatmeal, I was extremely excited to try this cereal. In fact, my kids and I often eat cereal for dinner when we have those busy on-the-go days when you get home and just can’t muster enough energy to cook a full meal.

What first caught my eye was the statement that Quaker Oatmeal Squares “fuels you up to conquer the morning and take on the day.” So many cereals I’ve tried in the past left me feeling hungry an hour after I consumed them. I don’t have to time to stop and eat in between meals, so this statement immediately attracted me to the cereal.

The Quaker Oatmeal Squares come in three distinct flavors, which include cinnamon, brown sugar and golden maple. All three are delicious, but I am partial to the cinnamon flavor. I love both the smell and the taste of cinnamon. I should also mention that these little squares hold up well when doused with milk. I hate those cereals that become mush before you even get halfway through eating it.

In addition to tasting amazing, Quaker made sure the cereal promoted good health. You’ll find that the oatmeal squares contain soluble fiber and whole grains. If you haven’t had the pleasure of trying this cereal, head to the Quaker Oatmeal Squares Facebook page and request a free sample.

I also found that this cereal makes a great snack. I simply pour the squares in a snack-size plastic zipper bag and take it in the car. My girls can munch on it in between church activities and sporting events.

Leftover steak quesadilla recipe

Great meal all year round



We love to barbecue steak during the summer months. It takes a lot of work, so we make extra and freeze it to use with other dishes later on. One of our favorite recipes is steak quesadillas. This is done slightly different than when we make our chicken quesadillas, but tastes equally as delicious.

You will need the following ingredients to make steak quesadillas:
  • Leftover steak
  • Flour tortillas
  • Non-stick cooking spray
  • 1 small onion
  • ½ green pepper
  • 1 tsp. olive oil
  • 8 oz. pepper jack cheese
  • 4 oz. diced tomatoes
  • Sour cream
  • Chives


Follow these steps to make steak quesadillas:

Step 1:
Dice your onion and green pepper. Fry these up in a pan with 1 tsp. of olive oil. Stir frequently and watch for the onions to become translucent.

Step 2:
While the onions and peppers are cooking, cut your leftover steak into bite-sized pieces. Some people like to do strips, but I prefer small bites.

Step 3:
Spray a frying pan with non-stick cooking spray. We use the olive oil spray. Lay 1 flour tortilla on the pan.

Step 4:
Sprinkle some of the onions, peppers, steak bits, diced tomatoes, and pepper jack cheese on top of the flour tortilla. Immediately top with another tortilla.

Step 5:
Cook the quesadilla for 5 minutes on each side.

Step 6:
Place the steak quesadilla on a plate and slice it into quarters with a pizza cutter. Serve with sour cream and chives.

Tips:

  • If you skip using the diced tomatoes inside of the quesadilla, you can serve the steak quesadilla with a side of salsa.
  • Swiss cheese also tastes great when melted over the steak. Feel free to substitute the pepper jack cheese for the Swiss cheese.
     

5 Slow Cooker Tips

Lessons I learned the hard way

 

1. Plan ahead
I'm not accustomed to planning my meals ahead of time. That's just how I roll. But that had to change with the slow cooker.
 
I instituted "Slow Cooker Sunday," which is a bit silly I agree, but it helps me plan ahead. "Tomorrow is Slow Cooker Sunday," I'll think, "I need to get to the store today to buy meat."
 
2. Watch your amounts
Speaking of meat, I have learned that a four pound pork roast makes an awful lot of pulled pork. It's delicious, don't get me wrong! Easy, too: just cook the pork roast in the slow cooker for six hours, fork it apart, add a bottle of barbecue sauce, let it cook for another hour, then go to town. 

 
But for one person? One person who doesn't have access to a working freezer? Yeah. I'm still tired of pulled pork, and that was two months ago.
 
3. Chicken should always be boneless and skinless
I prefer chicken thighs to chicken breast meat. More tender and flavorful. And cheaper, too! You can also knock about a dollar off per pound if you buy chicken thighs with the skin on and bone in. 
 
But guess what? Disgusting things happen to bone-in skin-on chicken in the slow cooker. The skin slips off and becomes a slimy travesty. And the bones themselves aren't a big deal, but the little knobbly cartilage bits and tendons are very bad. Very bad indeed. They separate out and float away, lurking in every possible mouthful.
 
Do yourself a favor: spring for the boneless, skinless thighs. It's well worth the extra cost.
 
4. Simmer sauces are awesome! Pre-cooking is not.
I didn't get a Crock Pot in order to spend a lot of time cooking food. I always skim a recipe and if it requires you to do anything more than slice stuff up and throw it in the pot, I skip it. If I wanted to cook, I would be cooking.
 
A friend turned me on to "simmer sauces." Here's the idea: you blop a bunch of chicken thighs in the slow cooker, cover them with sauce, and cook it on low for 6-8 hours. So far I have done this with barbecue sauce, spaghetti sauce (for chicken cacciatore), and two different brands of Tikka Masala curry sauce. Delicious!
 
5. Simmer off the water
I have a big problem with my crock pot stuff turning out super watery. I guess my onions are too juicy, I don't know. But most of the time, taking off the lid and cooking it on High for an hour simmers off the extra water and solves the problem.
 

Hostess Donettes

Delicious and nostalgic, all at once!
When did these change, from "Donette Gems" to "Donettes"? I found traces of the name Donette Gems online, which reassures me that I am not insane or mistaking one product from another. But I found no answers as to when the "Gems" was dropped.
 
I suppose it makes sense. You don't really need both "Donette" and "Gems" in the same name. Gems implies something small and precious, but so does Donette. It seems redundant to call these small doughnuts both names, particularly since there was no such thing as a regular old Donette. It isn't as if they needed to distinguish Donettes from Donette Gems.

 
Only occasionally are you able to find Donettes in a vending machine. They are the stuff of convenience stores and gas stations, much like rotating hot dogs and fountain drinks. Donettes come in three varieties: powdered, chocolate covered, and crumb cake. Of the three, crumb cake is far and away my favorite, even though it is the second messiest to eat. 
 
The #1 messiest is, obviously, powdered. Who eats these? And how? It's impossible. They are slightly too large and far too dry to eat all in one bite. You have to bite it in half, an act which sends a cascade of powdered sugar down across your shirt. God help you if you cough when you're eating it, choking on the powdered sugar. It gets everywhere.
 
The chocolate covered ones are pretty good, but a bit waxy for my taste. However, they have the advantage of not leaving crumbs all over the place. Although they make up for this by leaving your fingers oddly greasy, which can be off-putting.
 
What I like about the crumb Donettes (technically named "Crunch") is that the crumb coating has a coconut flavor to it. It's like a Chik-O-Stix, plus a doughnut. The crumbs are an unfortunate side effect. But it's fun to pour the last of them from the wrapper straight into your mouth. (Not that I would ever do something as unladylike as that. Oh my, no.)
 
You can buy these doughnuts in their full size versions. These assortments are usually found at grocery stores, although sometimes the better class of convenience store will stock them. They frankly just aren't as good as the smaller version. Something about the larger size throws the ratio of flavors off. And they seem crass at that size, whereas the smaller ones are snack size. The little ones are all about road trips and morning commutes and dead-end jobs where the fluorescent lights buzz in the employee break room. Delicious and nostalgic, all at once!

Cheese Makes Everything Better

When I was young, I struggled tackling my vegetables. I would swallow them without chewing, attempt to hide them in my napkin, or toss some to the dog and hope he would eat them before anyone noticed. I suppose that is relatively normal for kids – to dodge the vegetables. Yet, my mother…the good mom that she is, wanted me to eat vegetables and be healthy. So, she opted to find ways to make vegetables more appealing – add some cheese.

Honestly, you smother any vegetable in cheese, and I would eat it. I would still probably eat it now. My mother used cheese to trick me into vegetable eating. And it worked. I have loved cheese since I was little – I can eat sliced cheese, melted cheese, queso, cheese sticks, blocks of cheese, shredded cheese…pretty much cheese in any form or fashion. The downfall to this is that cheese is not the most healthy option. Veggies = great. Cheese on veggies, makes the healthy factor go down a few notches.

For those of us attempting to scope out healthy alternatives to our diets, many people would recommend removing most cheese from our diets. For someone like me, that isn’t realistic. I love cheese and removing it, will only make me want it more. I will be at the grocery store at 2am snatching up Doritos and some jalapeno cheddar dip. So, my only option is to limit my cheese intake or tap into the most healthy cheese options I can.

Fortunately, most brands offer low fat cheese options. Kraft offers a fat free cheddar cheese option (shredded). If you are like me, tapping into these healthier options simply allow you to enjoy having it in your diet. For me, that is important. The easiest way for me to stick to healthy eating, is to allow myself to feel as “normal” as possible.  I dodge most cheese options – I will avoid adding cheese to a salad or a sandwich. But there are times where a little cheese is all that I want. And thanks to Kraft, Weight Watchers, etc., a little cheese is what I get.

Mystery Meat, Vegetarians, and Fake Chicken

How Does Quorn Stack Up?

I saw the headline recently about the hamburger meat with the scientific term “slime” that was being served in our schools. The little I read made me seriously consider what kinds of mystery meat I’ve been eating at other cafeterias, and also made me ponder how healthy meat is in general.

While I’m not necessarily going to jump on the vegetarian bandwagon, I might try to eat fake chicken, which was reviewed in the New York Times as an alternative for people who don’t eat meat for humanitarian (animaltarian?) reasons, as well as for health reasons due to the bacteria often found in chicken raised within the United States.

The writer’s opinion is that the fake meat consumption--even fake chicken--is far preferable to the consumption of real meat by people because of cruelty to the animals raised for food. Obviously, this point is truthfully difficult to argue with.

Most meat-eaters stop and pause to think about how the meat substitutes will taste in comparison to the real thing.

My own image of fake chicken is of a rubber chicken being used for practical jokes, but writer/reviewer Mark Bittman’s description of imitation chicken doesn’t mock the idea of imitation chicken at all. In fact, Mark Bittman is one of the first writers that I’ve actually read who manages to describe an artificial meat in such a way that it actually makes the meat product sound like it might taste good.

Apparently, the particular “fake chicken” that he is referring to is made from mushrooms and is known as “Quorn.” Since I’ve been lucky enough to have tasted mushroom steaks and other mushroom delights, I was able to imagine that mushrooms could be somehow made to taste like chicken. The description of the chicken by Mark Bittman, however, didn’t go so far as to say that Quorn tastes exactly like fake chicken, but that it could quite possibly taste like chicken if it were mixed with the right mixture of ingredients, say in a stir-fry or in fajitas.

Mark Bittman was fortunate enough to taste-test the chicken in the Hague, Netherlands with a Dutch chef who touted the product and prepared it for him. I’m not sure that the Quorn would taste quite as well when prepared by an inexpert chef. That said, anyone wanting to try out the Quorn should check out the website here.
 

Grilled Cheese Sandwich Additives


Who doesn’t love a good grilled cheese sandwich? It was one of the first things I taught my daughter to cook on the stove. Although grill cheese sandwiches are delicious plain, there are so many ways you can jazz them up.

1. Use mayonnaise instead of butter: When I was younger I had a friend who always cooked her grilled cheese by spreading mayonnaise over the bread slices instead of butter. I found that this method adds flavor, but does an even better job of keeping the grill cheese from sticking to the pan.

2. Add meat: I love breaking up two slices of crispy bacon and placing it in between the two slices of cheese. The grilled bacon and cheese is heaven to me, but my grandmother prefers adding a slice of ham instead of bacon. I suppose almost any meat could be added to a grilled cheese sandwich.

3. Use Velvetta: There is no rule that you have to stick with American cheese when making a grilled cheese sandwich. My father always picked up my sister and I on the weekends. He really only cooked about six different types of food back then, and one of them was Velvetta grilled cheeses. I still like to make these sandwiches today.

4. Add vegetables: If you need a way to get your kids to eat their vegetables, then try hiding them inside the grilled cheese. Tomato slices, cooked spinach, and avacado all taste great when heated in between your cheese and bread. I have even heard of parents placing bits of cooked brocolli in their child’s grilled cheese so feel free to get creative.
 

It’s No PF Changs, But Delicious None The Less

A completely fat free recipe is quite the challenge; unless you are opting to each a couple veggies and some water. For me, as much as I love vegetables, that combination does not sound appealing. So, although I do seek fat free options and recipes, low fat recipes seem to be far easier to locate.

Recently a friend allowed me to flip through one of her cookbooks. I came across a lettuce wrap recipe that sounded very appetizing and not too harsh on the waistline. Yet, there were quite a few things about the recipe that needed tweeking for my taste. So, I bought the ingredients and conquered a new healthy recipe. Fortunately, I wear and advocate for the Bodybugg; and this system allows me to enter my food into a computerized system, tracking my caloric, fat, sodium, calcium, etc. intake.

With that being said, I am aware that this recipe is less than 300 calories with very minimal fat – reality is, you can alter the recipe as you see fit as well…which will likely change up the nutritional facts a bit. If you have ever eaten at PF Chang’s and tapped into their lettuce wraps, you know the joy that can come from these little asian styled heavenly wraps. Now, you can enjoy them in the comfort of your home.

Here’s the ingredients you will need: ground turkey, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, cabbage, Chinese five spice powder, and lettuce. These are the primary ingredients – the remaining ingredients are at your discretion. Mainly this is your vegetable selection. The original called for water chestnuts and mushrooms, neither of which make their way into my kitchen. So, I chose carrots, celery and onion.

First and foremost, cook up the ground turkey. I personally opt for Jennie O turkey (extra lean) as it is low in fat and in calories. While cooking, dice (finely) your vegetables that you will plan to use. As for the cabbage, you can tap into a head of cabbage or opt for the “coleslaw” pre-made version. Once diced, sauté the vegetables and the cabbage until they are cooked to your liking. Once cooked, combine the turkey and the vegetables into the same pan/wok. Stir in the hoisin sauce (about 2-3 tbsps), lite soy sauce (1 tbsp), and the five spice powder to taste.

Once mixed, you will prepare your lettuce. I have made these twice – once with iceberg lettuce and once with butter lettuce. Looking back, butter lettuce is a much better choice; it is more durable.  Take your pieces of lettuce, scoop in the mix, and enjoy. You can always add dipping sauces on the side if you would like additional flavor and a few extra calories.

Like I said, this is a great healthy option. Not fat free, but far better than many of the other meals we could be choosing. Change this recipe up; add cashews or snow peas…whatever strikes your taste buds.

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