November is Peanut Butter Lovers Month

My grandmother used to keep a giant jar of Peter Pan peanut butter next to her bedside. Every night, after she took out her false teeth and climbed into bed with the newspaper, crossword puzzle, and any other reading she would have for the evening, she would spoon out a large tablespoon heaping with the creamy confection and enjoy it while she relaxed.

My family and I lived in the basement of her home—which was its own apartment in and of itself, complete with a bathroom, kitchen, living room, and two bedrooms—on and off throughout my childhood, and I would often sneak up the stairs and crawl into bed with her. She’d move aside the papers and offer me a spoon of peanut butter, and I’d sit there in bed, wearing my five-year-old Ninja Turtles pajamas, contentedly licking my peanut butter off my spoon as she watched the news or did her puzzles. She would usually doze off and I would plea, “Grandma, don’t go to sleep!” She’d mumble that she was just resting her eyes, but then a few moments later she’d be snoring, and I would either cuddle up with her and sleep, too, or come back downstairs when my mother would come for me.

That’s why I love peanut butter. And I’ve been starting a peanut butter tradition with my daughter, too. At least once each week, we settle into our oversized armchair—a chair that I specifically chose for cuddling her when she was only a few months old, and that I tried out holding her in my arms just to make sure it was perfect before we bought it and its matching couch—and each enjoy a whole spoon of peanut butter as we watch a film. This week, that film is going to be The Rescuers Down Under, and I know that my little girl is going to eat all of her peanut butter quickly—she doesn’t savor it like I do!—and then ask to finish mine, too. Of course I will let her, just like I did last week.

Are you a peanut butter lover? How do you celebrate your love for the yummy goop? Which kind is your favorite? Are you partial to smooth or crunchy? (We love both in our house, though we are partial to the natural kind that must be stirred in order to be enjoyed, as the oil settles on top.) Whether it’s with chocolate, on top of crackers, spread on a muffin or toast, or otherwise, be sure to enjoy yourself some peanut butter this month in honor of this tasty celebration.

Delicious Florida Lychee Fruits

I keep hearing about it, everywhere from cooking shows to POM glasses. What the heck is it, though?

Lychee (pronounced “li-chee”) is a tropical Chinese fruit that is a member of the soapberry family. It’s dark pink and super bumpy, resembling large raspberries. Since the fruit has become so popular, the plants are now grown all over the world. In the U.S. Florida is considered the lychee growing capitol. Lychee fruits grow from an evergreen tree and are known for their sweet, juicy flavor.

Each fruit is oval or heart-shaped. It has a hard outer shell, or rind, and a firm, white interior that is eaten. They are often used in making different types of jams, preserves, or jellies. When canned, however, the fruits are known to lose much of their flavoring; hence, most lychees are eaten raw in order to experience their full flavor. Lychee syrup is also made in order to produce lychee martinis.

Lychee puree is also often sold, either in health food stores, specialty shops, or online. This smashed fruit is considered delicious on ice cream, in smoothies, or mixed in with other drinks, such as cocktails or even hot cocoa. Dried lychee fruits, which are similar to raisins, are also frequently sold as a snack food. These can be added to salads for a touch of sweetness.

Drinkers of POM products may be familiar with lychee tea. This sweet beverage is refreshing and mild, without the cloying taste of many sweet teas. The juice of lychee is also often either enjoyed alone or mixed with other products.

Other lychee products include candies, such as gummy treats, and flavorings. Flavored honey is a common lychee food that many people enjoy. Sauces, syrups, and even gel cups of lychee are also sold.

In addition to alcoholic beverages, many other lychee recipes exist. Baked lychees can range from breads to cakes, while lychee pancakes are also a tasty treat. Stuffed lychees made with ginger, cream cheese, and macadamia nuts can be a real crowd-pleaser, especially on special occasions. For picnic fare or a more laid back setting, lychee fruit salsa is a yummy option. Lychee dip, doughnuts, and roll-ups are just a few other lychee recipes that many people consider to be delicious.

Before using a fresh lychee in a recipe, chefs should be careful to fully peel and pit the fruit. The fruit can then be stuffed with any desired ingredients—from meat to cheese to candied nuts—thinly sliced to be used as a garnish or topping, or served in any other way desired.

Things to Make with Jerusalem Artichokes

Though Jerusalem artichokes are lovely flowers to look at, they also make a delicious meal. The sunflower species, native to areas as north as Maine and south as Texas, are also known as sunchoke, earth apple, and sunroot. The tubers are often considered an invasive species, or at least a weed, as they are prone to take over one’s property. They are grown for their friendly appearance as well as their culinary use. If you’d like to employ Jerusalem artichoke tubers in a recipe, here are a few ideas you may wish to start with. When buying tubers to cook, be sure to selected the smoothest ones you can find.

Raw Tubers: For a nutty treat, some people enjoy eating these plants plain. Be sure to thoroughly clean them first.

Savory Soup: If you love cheesy potato soup like me, try an alternate version with these root plants. If you don’t like cheese or want something with a little more kick, you can do what we do in our house: forgo the cheese and instead sauté the potatoes with a mixture of olive oil, brown sugar, garlic, cayenne pepper, and onion powder. Then cook them in the soup per the recipe.

Mixed Herbs: Check out this delicious recipe from Jamie Oliver featuring sautéed Jerusalem artichokes with garlic and bay leaves. The photo alone looks mouth watering!

Potato Substitute: Use these artichokes in a similar way that you would normally cook potatoes in order to create a sweeter, nuttier dish.

Chicken and Artichokes: If you prefer a meatier dish, try roasting some chicken along with these plants and some other choice vegetables.

Salad Topping: Dice up the artichokes or thinly slice them to use on top of a salad. For more prominent use within a salad, try this recipe that calls for arugula to be combined with the artichokes.

Pan-Fried Artichokes: Fry up your artichokes for a savory side dish.

Artichoke Chips: Fry up some thinly-sliced artichokes for a zesty treat. Serve with dinner or as a snack.

Vegetarian Meal: Use Jerusalem artichokes as a base with beans as a simple vegetarian supper dish.

Do you grow Jerusalem artichokes, or do you use them in recipes? Feel free to share your ideas and experiences here. It should also be noted that these tubers can cause gastric pain or flatulence in some people; consuming large quantities of them when first trying the foods is not recommended.

Holiday 2010: CLIF Bar Releases Seasonal Flavors

Ever bite into an energy bar while out hiking? Ever reach for a CLIF bar in particular? These delicious natural yummy energy bars were the stake hold of founder, Gary. Evidentially, sometime in the early 90’s Gary was out on a 175 mile bike ride one day and bit into “another” energy bar and thought “I could make a better bar than this.”

Th

is moment is what Gary now refers to as “the epiphany”. The illusive CLIF bar originated after two years of dinking around in his mother’s kitchen with all sorts of ingredients. The name of the bar comes from his Dad, Clifford (not the big red dog). Clifford and Gary apparently trumped around in the Sierra Nevada Mountains when Gary was a youth. Gary also refers to his father, Clifford as his childhood hero.

CLIF bar has 5 aspirations. On the site they describe these as: “Sustaining our Planet”; declaring their desire to saving the planet even as the company grows bigger. The second is “Sustaining our Community”; by honoring one of the Ten Commandments (Love Thy Neighbor) they hope to be a good neighbor and give back to the community. The third aspiration is “Sustaining our People”; they seek to create a harmonious workplace for their employees even in a 9-5 situation. The last aspiration, “Sustaining our Brands” ties in with the idea that they aim to create a product that people actually need and would want to eat never compromising the quality of their product.

Much to the delight of your taste buds. For this holiday season of 2010, Gary and the company behind the popular CLIF bars released three brand new seasonal flavors: Cranberry Orange Nut Bread, Iced Gingerbread, and Spiced Pumpkin Pie. I recently spotted them at my local Whole Foods for only $1.19 a piece! That’s quite a bargain for an all natural energy bar or afternoon pick-me-up. Every CLIF bar contains at least 70% organic ingredients.

From a nutritional standpoint, you’ll be eating anywhere from 4-6 grams of fat per bar. Though the bars only contain (up to) 1.5 grams of saturated fat. All contain a decent 9 grams of belly filling protein. For those on a low carb diet or watching their carbohydrates, the count is anywhere between 43 and 45 grams depending on the bar.

When describing the Cranberry Orange Nut Bread energy bar, clifbar.com says “Crunchy walnuts add a nutty bite to this seasonal blend of cranberry and citrus flavors. Iced Gingerbread is my personal favorite and the one I reached for immediately when I saw them at Whole Foods. According to the site, “An indulgent spicy ginger treat for the holidays.” Spiced Pumpkin Pie is described as, “The goodness of pumpkin pie, wrapped up in an all-natural snack.”

With such delicious sounding names and descriptions, I would urge you to try all three! 

Apple Desserts or The Great Apple Experiment

I just baked an amazing cake. With no hands. Well, with hands and a spoon, but no no mixer, even though the recipe called for it.  Apple Cinnamon Cake.  Yummy.

 

You won’t find the recipe in a Martha Stewart cook book- the Apple Cake (which I renamed Apple Cinnamon cake) is straight out of “Betty Crocker Cookbook” which I have used to cook with since I was a kid. The cake is tremendously fattening- there isn’t a calorie count listed, but I am guessing that each serving size (of course there are only four for my 13 x 9 in. pan, right?), there are 1,500 calories. Which is why I didn’t eat as much dinner as I thought I would. My apologies to the cook.

This isn’t the first apple recipe I’ve tried. I had an entire box to play with. Since I am not as firm of a believer in “An apple a day keeps the doctor away”, I didn’t eat an apple a day, so decided to instead try out a few desserts.

The first apple dessert I tried was “Apple Crisp.” It was good, but not nearly as delicious as I remember from when my Grandma baked it in my childhood. The recipe was also in the fantabulous cook book, but I think I would have preferred the “Baked Apples” which are basically the same recipe, but not nearly as fattening.

Next, I tried apple muffins. I have to say that my berry muffins are truthfully much more tasty than the apple muffins I baked.  The recipe, also from “Betty Crocker Cook Book”, called for cinnamon, but when I bit into my first muffin, I could barely taste the cinnamon in it. The recipe didn’t call for any vanilla, but after eating the cake today, I came to the conclusion that the recipe really needed more cinnamon and should have had vanilla as an ingredient.

 

I have yet to bake an apple pie, and am not yet convinced that Betty Crocker is the way to go for my very first apple pie. I don’t want to use a ready-made crust and I need a flaky crust that my imaginary customers would keep coming back for. It is, afterall, the great apple experiment and I have to keep my standards high. If you know of a good recipe that you are willing to share—I know how secretive people get about their pie recipes—please let me know.

Pic from Flickr by selma90.

Mistletoe: A Festive Parasite

I'm sure you have heard of mistletoe, that cute little sprig that hangs overhead to garner kisses during the holiday season.  But did you know that it's actually a parasite?

Mistletoe is a hemi-parasite, which means that it both draws sustenance from the host plant, and uses photosynthesis to feed itself.  (The chlorophyll it uses for photosynthesis is responsible for the plant's festive green color.)

Parasitic plants are somewhat rare, with about 4,100 species in existence according to Wikipedia.  (Out of about 350,000 total plant species in the world.)  Mistletoe parasitizes the stems and branches of other plants, particularly trees.

There are two main species of mistletoe, one which is native to the eastern United States, and one which is native to Great Britain and Europe.  Both varieties are harvested for use in holiday decorations, although these days plastic mistletoe is far more common than the real stuff.

Mistletoe is spread by its seeds, which it produces inside tasty, sticky berries.  Birds eat the berries and then pass the seeds through.  The seeds, which have a sticky coating, stick to the branch and help keep the seed fastened tightly until it can sprout and attach itself to its host. 

Because of this stickiness, mistletoe berry juice has been used to catch birds.  Hunters chew the berries into a paste, then pull them into a sort of taffy-like collection of glue-y strings, which are then wrapped around a tree branch.  When a bird lands on the branch it gets caught in the "bird lime," and can easily be plucked from the branch and killed.

The European mistletoe has a similarly close (but less fatal) relationship with the Mistle thrush.  The Mistle thrush is omnivorous, but it particularly likes mistletoe berries.  It will stake out a mistletoe tree, and defend it against other birds.  In exchange, the Mistle thrush's favorite species of mistletoe is spread almost exclusively by the Mistle thrush.

(The Mistle thrush habitually calls before a bout of bad weather.  This habit led to the Mistle thrush's original name, "Stormcock.")

Although mistletoe is damaging to its host tree, it rarely kills its host. Only a heavy infestation of mistletoe is enough to kill a healthy host tree.  And despite its somewhat unsavory eating habits, mistletoe turns out to be an extremely important species for the woodland ecology.  It attracts birds, provides shelter for birds and insects, attracts pollinating insects, and provides food and shelter for a wide range of animals.

Mistletoe is quite poisonous.  According to French legend, this is because mistletoe was growing on the tree that was cut down and used to crucify Jesus.  Because of its perceived role, it was doomed to roam the world as a homeless parasite, a sort of plant version of the Wandering Jew.

Many cultures have a whole host of myths around mistletoe, including the Druids, medieval Europeans, and Norse mythology. Today, we are familiar with mistletoe mainly for the holiday kissing tradition. 

Technically, each time a man kisses a woman beneath the mistletoe, he is to remove one of the berries from the sprig.  When all the berries are gone, the kissing has to stop.  However, keeping mistletoe hanging all year long is said to prevent house fires.  (Which is a great excuse, if guests point out that your holiday decorations are still hanging at Valentine's Day!)

Photo credit: Flickr/kqedquest

Magic Diet Powder Poised to Take Over The World

According to an article in SlashFood, the magic diet crystals of Sensa will soon be offered for sale in Canada, Mexico, Britain and Germany.  Watch out, world: our crazy-ass fake products are coming for YOU!

According to the manufacturers of Sensa, if you sprinkle these magic crystals on your food before you eat it, it will heighten the smell of the food.  According to them, the more strongly a food smells, the faster you feel full.  Presto, you eat less, and lose tons of weight with no effort!

(Oh America, your love for schemes that promise to make you lose weight with no effort is so embarrassing sometimes.)

So we have two things here:

1.    Is it true that a strong-smelling food makes you full faster than an equivalent, but less strong-smelling food?
2.    Does Sensa really make foods smell stronger?

I trust you will not be terribly surprised to learn that the answer to both questions is, "Probably not."

Of course, there is a very strong link between our sense of smell and our appetites.  For example, the other day I drove past a Krispy Kreme that was in full production mode.  When the smell wafted in through my car windows, I became suddenly, powerfully hungry for doughnuts.  This is why movie theaters pop popcorn while you're walking through the lobby.  (Then store the popcorn in big black trash bags, to be hauled out and dumped into the glass-fronted dispenser as needed.)

The reverse is true, as well.  If you have ever lost your sense of smell due to a cold, you know that it makes food a lot less appealing.  Most of the taste of a food is actually the smell of it, and without the ability to smell food, you lose a lot of enjoyment in your meal.

However, the transitive property (if A = B and B = C then A = C) is not applicable here.  It doesn't follow that foods which smell more strongly fill you up faster. 

What is at work is, clearly, the placebo effect.  Few things respond as well to the placebo effect as overeating.  After all, this is a condition which (barring physical causes like a thyroid problem) is entirely psychological.  Psychological trickery is therefore quite effective.

In fact, any practice which encourages mindfulness in eating is effective in weight loss.  At least at first.  Many people can attest that just counting calories, looking at your food and having to calculate how much is there, weighing things on a scale, or writing down everything you eat, is enough to trigger you to eat less.  (Unfortunately most of us soon fall back on our old bad habits of cramming whatever is closest to hand into our faces.  Myself included.)

Second, the claims that Sensa makes food smell more strongly.  This is not only immeasurable, it is (given Sensa's ingredients: maltodextrin, silica, artificial and natural flavors) utterly preposterous.  Salt is a known flavor enhancer, but there is no known smell enhancer.  And if there were, it certainly isn't maltodextrin.

Photo credit: Flickr/Dawn Endico

Ice Cream Truck

I love ice cream. Ever since I was a small girl, I remembered my mother taking me to get yummy ice cream from the ice cream truck during the summer. My mother would also take my younger sister with us too. I always remembered the huge ice cream truck coming around my neighborhood during the short summer months. After school when I was dismissed from classes, my mother would wait for me near the entrance of my local elementary school. We would then walk home since we lived only a few minutes from the school. At the time, we lived in a small apartment in the Green Lake area of Seattle. It was a very beautiful neighborhood overlooking the stunning view of the water. There were many childhood pastime memories of my father taking me to the park to play Frisbee and having picnics for lunch. It was lovely.

I lived in a nice neighborhood with many nearby children whom I attended school with as well. During the hot and sunny summer weather, I would always count all my change in my pink piggy bank to see if I had enough money to pay for ice cream. My parents would always add a small change of allowance into my piggy bank every week. It was very nice and generous of them. Every single day during the short summer months, I would always wait outside my front patio hoping that the ice cream truck would finally come. I knew that the ice cream truck came near my neighborhood by hearing the ice cream “bell.” It always played this kid nursery rhyme music sounding like something from “pop goes the weasel.” As soon as I heard the music play, I rushed downstairs with a few change of coins in my hand with my mother and sister. I had also noticed that many of the neighborhood kids rushed to the ice cream truck scene too.

The ice cream truck always had this nice man that worked behind the counter of the truck. I called him “the ice cream man.” I always called him “the ice cream man” because I never knew what his name was. I was always excited about getting ice cream and thanking the man behind the ice cream truck. Going to the ice cream truck each day to pay for my ice cream and eating it in wonderful delight was always a childhood memory of mine. I will never forget that. I still do see the ice cream truck driving around during the short summer months by my neighborhood to this day. It is a wonderful idea that ice cream trucks to this day are still driving around in certain neighborhoods to bring ice cream to kids and people. Don’t you think? I always see crowds of children with their parents waiting for the ice cream truck to arrive on the neighborhood complex. Watching that scene had brought me back to my childhood memories when I was a young girl with my mother and sister waiting at the “ice cream truck.”   

 

Why is an Arm of the FDA Working with Domino's?

The US has the dubious distinction of being ranked number one in the entire world in terms of our size. (The leanest nations are consistently South Korea and Japan.) While some consider any ranking for the US as a victory, I’m not so sure I agree. That’s why it’s more than a little surprising to see company’s continually pushing unhealthy, fatty products that they somehow manage to label as food.  The NYT has a story today about a “great” (please note the irony quotes) new company called Dairy Management.

 

If you are like me, you may be curious as to why dairy needs management. The Dairy Management company keeps hard-working dairy cows in business by creating an increased need for dairy products such as cheese.  Currently, Dairy Management is partnered with Domino’s pizza and has “invented” new menu items and an entire “line of pizzas”—strange enough in and of itself—with an incredible 40% more cheese. 

 

As much as I like cheese (and the hard-working dairy cows), I think this is a bit much. Cheese is not quite as healthy as I used to think it was due to high amounts of saturated fat. Saturated fat causes heart attacks and contributes to the size of our nation’s waistlines—mine is no exception.

 

The really “sucky” thing about Dairy Management is that it is actually part of the Food and Drug Administration and “has worked with restaurants to expand their menus with cheese-laden products” under both the Bush and Obama administrations.

 

Which kind of makes me wonder what the FDA is really about.  I understand the (possible) initial reason for trying to increase the amount of dairy consumption in kids due to bone density issues, and I like the “Got Milk?” commercials as much as anyone else does, but I truthfully see little value in the federal government working with Domino’s and fast food restaurants to get even more fat on their menus? Aren’t Americans unhealthy enough?

 

As the NYT observes, and I wrote about HERE, Michelle Obama has made childhood obesity her little pet project; while she may not have known about Dairy Management and their close work with the restaurant industry, if she really wants to instigate change, she is going to have to open her eyes to the reality of what is going on in regards to the FDA. (There are other programs run by the Ag Department marketing an assortment of meats to Americans.)

 

I don’t know about you, but I think it’s time for the FDA and the Ag Department to get out of the business of marketing fatty foods to the American public.

The Disgruntled Food Critic: Advice for Fast Food Restaurants

Sometimes food criticism benefits from a steady, effete voice. Other times it's all about the fun of unpretentious eats on the road. But on a few, rare occasions, somebody just needs to be a jerk about it. Enter The Disgruntled Food Critic. Today, let's talk about fast food purveyors and some ways they could stop sucking and start doing their job right. It's not about making that junk healthier or even higher quality. That's not the point and everyone knows it. I expect dogs to bark, rain to be wet and fast food to allow my inner child to smother my outer adult with all the flavors he only craves because he lacks experience or insight. So, I'm not here to complain about how greasy, salty or just plain heartburn-inducing fast food is. With that caveat out of the way, let's dive in.

Burger King

Alright, BK. This new breakfast menu business? It's gotta stop pronto. I'm not just saying this because your new commercials are about as annoying as possible, I'm concerned because you seem to be in the middle of an identity crisis. If you hadn't figured it out by 1985, the only thing you do well is right there in your name: Burgers. I've always believed that, of all the fast food joints out there, you've got the least egregious excuse for a hamburger. Tender, savory and pleasantly charred, a Whopper beats the hell out of anybody else's meatwhich. But your fries? Your chicken products? Even your freaking milkshakes? They're all substandard. What makes you think you can do breakfast? My advice, just let people buy your regular menu at 7:00 A.M.

 

Taco Bell

Despite the fact that your products are all some variation on meat, cheese, lettuce, tortilla and regret, I've always appreciated the fact that I can get approximately 10 pounds of your food for about three bucks. That's why it's such a damn shame that freaking Jack in the Box is beating you at your own game. They sell two heartburn tacos for 99 cents that are every bit as good, if not better, than yours. Step it up, Bell. And by "step it up" I mean keep the same recipe and sell three tacos for 99 cents. I know you can pull it off because there can't be more than a nickle's worth of actual product in any given hard shell on your menu.

 

Jack in the Box

Just because you're kicking ass in the taco department doesn't mean you're off the hook. What's this malarkey about panini? All of a sudden you're too classy to be seen with a bleached bun and a slab of ground chuck? You're on the West Coast for crying out loud. You wanna do something the other outfits don't do? Slap some pineapple or avocado on a Jumbo Jack and call it a day.

 

McDonald's

We get it. You're the Michael Jackson circa Thriller of fast food. You don't need to pretend to be more slick and friendly than you are. I come to you for a corporate burger with a funny sauce on it, maybe some composite chicken inexplicably shaped like Bolivia and a gummy shake that tastes like a Martian's second-hand impression of chocolate. I don't give a toss about Angus burgers or freaking apple wedges. Shit, I'd be happy if you just started covering other things in Mac sauce. You might consider pulling in the 10,000 people who have somehow never eaten at a McDonald's by Mac-sauceing exotic meats, like venison, bear or alligator. It'd work and you know it.

 

Wendy's

You've fallen on hard times. It's not a good decade to be from the Midwest. People are put off by your square burgers, limp fries and complete inability to market yourself as anything but a bastion for old people and eccentrics. Your best bet is to just continue adding more bacon to whatever's left on your menu that doesn't have pig parts. Maybe even play up the whole flyover aesthetic and start serving regional delicacies like deep-fried brains and Burgoo.

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