Computer Viruses and Real Viruses Spread by Chocolate

My computer hard drive crashed last week. I was going to write about some home made Christmas gifts I've made in the past and what I'm planning on doing this year, but I have been so busy messing with my computer that I never got around to writing about it.  I did get all my Christmas gifts done since I haven't had to mess with email or blogging, so I'll post some photos as soon as my new hard drive comes in.

For my "professional blog," I recently wrote about restaurants in my area that are serving on Thanksgiving day.  It's a popular topic because a lot of people don't want to cook for the holidays.  I wandered upon Golden Corral's buffet and they are bragging about having a "Chocolate Wonderfall" (which is a chocolate fountain).  According to a friend, they've been advertising the heck out of it on TV too.  I've never seen the ad, but I believe him.

Am I the only one disgusted by this?

I have a chocolate fountain. I've used it at a few parties and brought it a dessert function once with some friends at school. I'm not really against chocolate fountains and they can actually be quite healthful.  A serving of chocolate covered fruit is better for you than a big old piece of chocolate cake or a cream puff. 

I have been to a Golden Corral once.  I'm not really a fan of buffets.  For one thing, I don't eat that much and I don't eat meat, so I never eat my "money's worth."  The more disgusting issue with buffet service is that I always think of who went to pee and didn't wash their hands before serving themselves,  or who just picked their nose.  I'm constantly scanning for someone putting out fresh food or a station that isn't self-serve.  Most of the time, hands don't touch the actual food.  That's good.   I just bring hand sanitizer and wash  my hands after touching the utensils. 

I know I'm paranoid, but virus shedding kids (admit it, kids are viral vectors this time of year) and their probably equally sick parents serving themselves is bad enough.  I can't imagine what kind of viral load that chocolate fountain has at the end of the night (hopefully they clean it everyday).  I can see kids taking a bite and dipping their berry in again, even though it says you're not supposed to.  Maybe licking their finger multiple times and putting it back in.  Worse case: putting their mouth under it.  Kids don't know any better, but yuck.

I've never seen the actual fountain, so maybe it's back far enough so kids can't get to it and you'd have to scoop out a bowl for your kids.  It looks like you'd have to dip it with a long skewer, so maybe you couldn't put your head under it or lick your finger and put it under the flow.  I don't see how they could prevent double dipping.    The thought of it doesn't make me want to visit Golden Corral...ever.  It actually made me gag just thinking about it.

Sharing viruses.   What a lovely way to spend a lovely holiday in the middle of cold and flu season.

Thanksgiving Done Healthy: Apricot Brussels Sprouts

A bushel of Brussels Sprouts

I've talked about Brussels sprouts before.  I bring them up again, because they are something we have at Thanksgiving, even though they're normally the slimy fish head ones and nobody really eats them.  It reminds me of my Thanksgiving as a kid.

I was, surprise, a picky eater.  We went to my aunt's house for Thanksgiving every year, and I loved it. She lived on a "farm" with turkeys, chickens and goats.  I think she had a cow at one point.  I loved playing with the chickens and the turkeys.   One year, some of my out of state family came a few weeks before Thanksgiving.  We went to visit my aunt early so we could see them.  I chased the turkeys around and played with their softball (they thought it was an egg, I remember my aunt remarking how incredibly stupid they were for sitting on it like it was an egg).  Then we went home.

A few weeks later, on Thanksgiving, I noticed that one of the turkeys was missing.  I normally only played with the animals on Thanksgiving, so I never remembered from year to year how many turkeys there were. I asked and was told, in a nice way, that he was in the oven.  Once I realized what this meant, I cried.  My aunt apologized and said that was just the way things were on a farm.  Where did I think turkey came from?  To be honest, I had never really thought about it.  We got ours from Kroger.  They weren't fun to chase at Kroger.

That Thanksgiving, and for a long time after, I would barely eat anything my aunt cooked.  I didn't care if it was a vegetable tray.  I assumed my aunt had murdered whatever it was on the plate.  I never liked to play with her animals again.  I assumed they were just there to be lunch.  I remember asking, "Did this come from a store or from your yard?" before I ate anything (for some reason, I still thought food from a store was different than food from her lawn). 

We started bringing a dish to Thanksgiving and I'd eat that.  My mom was no murderer.  That's a tradition I carry out today whenever I go to someone's house for a big dinner party.  Even though I'm no longer a strict vegetarian or a vegan, I know I'm still picky.  I always mention my diet to people, but they normally make something I don't like anyway.  It's not their fault.  Besides, I don't expect non-vegetarians to think of things like beans, broth or gelatin being non-vegetarian.  They just don't.  It's not being hateful to serve me pan gravy or mashed potatoes cooked with chicken stock, because they didn't think about it being non-vegetarian. So, I always ask if I can bring a dish (if appropriate), or just shut up eat what I can.  I can always eat something else later.  There's no sense in making a scene and ruining their dinner.  My diet is not really their problem.  Especially on Thanksgiving.  People have Thanksgiving traditions that are bigger than my dietary constraints.

If I were bringing a dish to Thanksgiving dinner this year, I think I'd bring these Brussels sprouts.  We sometimes make a dish with green beans and apricot sauce for Thanksgiving.  It's divine, but I love green beans.  I decided to try the sauce on Brussels sprouts, something most that people don't give a fair shot.  It's delicious and I think the apricot bits would be tempting to even Brussels sprouts haters.

The crunchy roasted Brussels sprouts and the bits of apricot are divine.

Apricot Brussels Sprouts
4 ounces dried apricots
1 cup orange juice
1 bushel of Brussels sprouts

1. Roast Brussels sprouts (here is how).
2. While they are roasting, place the apricots and orange juice in a sauce pan and simmer until the apricots are tender.
3. Puree the orange juice and apricots until smooth.  If you want chunky sauce, as pictured, remove 3-4 apricots and chop them.
4. Remove the Brussels sprouts to a serving bowl and toss with the apricot sauce. 

Easy! Great tasting too.  These would be a much bigger hit than those slimy ones.  Since I roasted them first, they still have that roasted flavor, with a hint of sweetness from the apricots/orange juice.

I think I'm kind of obsessed with Brussels sprouts.  I found a stalk of Brussels sprouts at the store the other day for just $3.79.  The stalk keeps the sprouts fresher, so they store longer.  They're easy to remove from the stalk.  You just twist them and pop them off. 

Another recipe for Brussel sprouts that I've tried recently is cheesy Brussels sprouts.  I subbed them in a green bean dish my mom makes for Thanksgiving.  She puts a can or two of french cut green beans in a casserole dish and pours heavy cream in the casserole dish until it covers the bottom.  She sprinkles it with a generous amount of Parmesan cheese, mixes it all together and bakes until it's brown.  I used Brussels sprouts instead of green beans, and it was heavenly. It would be a Thanksgiving hit for sure.

Yup, I'm having Brussels sprouts this year.

Cold Weather Comfort: Vegetarian Lasagna Soup

Lasagna in a bowl and a cheese crisp

I've went off my whole foods diet a little with Halloween. I ate more than my fair share of candy and cupcakes.  However, I'm sworn off unhealthy foods until Thanksgiving.  I think I should eat whatever I want to on the day of a holiday, so all bets are off on Thanksgiving day.  I'll write more about that later.  Now that the weather is getting cooler and fresh, local produce is harder to find I think it's soup season.

I saw a recipe for a soup that was supposed to taste like lasagna in a bowl.  Yum!  However, the soup was made for meat eaters (it was mostly meat, pasta and tomatoes).  I modified it and made it vegetarian and cut back a bit on the pasta.

I think modifying recipes is one of the things you need to learn to do when you're trying to eat healthier.  You can't be afraid to experiment in the kitchen, and soup is an easy thing to experiment with.  A lot of people still act shocked when I tell them I didn't use a recipe or that I modified a recipe.  A friend said, "You might as well just throw some crap in a bowl if you're not going to go by the recipe exactly."  Well, I agree with her.  You might as well throw some crap in a bowl.  What's the worst thing that is going to happen? You'll waste a few ingredients? The best thing?  You might end up with an awesome dish.

My problem is that since starting this blog, I've had to write down what I do.  Which is good, I guess. It means if I make something good I can repeat it.   For this soup, I just made a soup of what I normally put in my lasagna.

Instead of the goupy cheese the original recipe had on top, I made a crispy cheese "cracker."  I like a crunch in my soup.  I love goldfish crackers in soup, but they don't fit a healthy diet.  When I was a junk food vegetarian, I lived on goldfish.  I always had a bag around.  Straight Parmesan cheese "crackers" satisfy that goldfish craving nicely.  It's not the wheat I loved, but the crunchy, cheesy, saltiness.

My onions are big because I pick them out, but I like the flavor. I'm weird.

The first time I made this soup, I made it without the pasta.  I found adding just a little bit of pasta gave it more body (it mostly disintegrated and just made the broth more substantial). You could leave the pasta out entirely if you wanted to be gluten free, and it would still taste good.  I cooked my soup in a crockpot.  I love crockpots for soups.  The pasta would hold up better in a regular pot.


Vegetarian Lasagna Soup

2 tsp olive oil
3 cup chopped onions
2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 chopped bell pepper
1 cup of chopped broccoli florets
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes (try to find one without sugar added, they do exist)
2 bay leaves
6 cups vegetable stock
1/2 c. finely chopped fresh basil leaves
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1 handful of crushed lasagna noodles
2 cups of spinach

1.  Add everything except the noodles and the spinach to your pot or crockpot.  It's that easy to make soup. Really.
2. In a crockpot, cook on low for 3-4 hours.  In a regular pot, you probably only need to cook it for an hour or so.
3. Throw the noodles and spinach into the pot in the last 30 minutes for the crockpot or the last 15 minutes in a regular pot.  
4. Remove the bay leaves before serving.
5. Top with a cheese cracker (below).  You can also toss in a tablespoon full of cottage cheese before serving if you want even more cheese.  Ricotta will work too, but cottage cheese is a little healthier and much better at satiating you.  For the amount here, it won't matter much. 

Cheese "Crackers"
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

Flat mounds

1. Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.
2. Mound the cheese in 4 separate areas. Flatten the tops so the piles look even.
3. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, until starting to brown.  
4. Because of the mozzarella, these won't get "hard" like crackers, but I like them for soup.  If you want a harder cracker, straight Parmesan will crisp up. (just use a whole cup of Parmesan). 

This is how brown they should be.

It really does hit the lasagna spot, and look how healthy it is.  As with everything, these nutrtional values depend on the products you use.  I read the labels on a bunch of broth and canned tomatoes when I was at the store last.  The carb and calorie content varies widely between them.  Some of the canned tomato brands are loaded with corn syrup or other sugars.  I used my own stock (vegetable stock is easy to make), but canned tomatoes are one thing I buy.  There's no sense in making your own if tomatoes aren't in season, and not all canned tomatoes are loaded with junk.  You just really need to read the labels.

Nutrition Facts for Vegetarian Lasagna Soup

---

Amount Per Serving (serves 6)

Calories:  192

Total fat: 10.7 g

Protein: 9.3 g

Total carbohydrate:  17.5 g

• Dietary Fiber: 3.3 g
• Sugar: 3.9 g

Nutrition Facts for Cheese Crackers

---

Amount Per Serving (serves 4)

Calories:  105

Total fat: 8 g

Protein: 8 g

Total carbohydrate:  1 g

Crochet Adorableness

Owl iPhone Case - My third recent project

This is not food related, but this is my blog so I'll post it if I want to.  

I started to learn to crochet last year, but I got bored because all I knew how to do was make scarves (I only made 2).  I really want to do animiguri, but someone told me you shouldn't attempt that until you become really good at scarves.  Boring.

Me and my elephant hat, this is the second hat that I've made.

Since the weather has been cold, I decided to try make myself a hat last week.  How hard can that be? It's actually way easier than a scarf to me.  Working in the round is more intuitive to me than working in rows and I can finish a hat in an hour or two.  I did a few projects and I thought I'd share some photos (I have a half-finished Angry Birds hat too, I'll add it later).

Besides, it's hard to make a scarf look dorky.  I love rocking dorky things.  I volunteer at a zoo, so these goofy hats are awesome for the cold weather.

This was the first hat I made.  It was supposed to be an owl, but I think it looks more giraffe like.

I didn't use a pattern for any of these, but I did look at photos on pinterest.  I'm not even sure I would know how to read a pattern if I tried.  I looked up a few hats, but got lost so I just went for it.  I'm going to try again, so maybe I can write some of my own.  I think the cell phone case (though, it needs some modifications - it's a bit too wide) is quite adorable and I couldn't find a pattern for anything like it.  I saw a photo of one on Pinterest (here it is), but I didn't really like the style.  I liked the concept.  I'll work on it, but since I'm new to crochet I'm not sure I'm even qualified to write a pattern.

You've Got Peanut Butter in My Chocolate: Low Carb, Gluten Free Reese's Brownies

Peanut butter and chocolate? Yes!

I used to love marble peanut butter brownies when I was a kid.  Peanut butter and chocolate just go together.  When I started thinking about what kind of healthy holiday treat I wanted to make for Simply Sugar and Gluten Free's holiday recipe sharing session, I thought about brownies.

I attempted this recipe with a cool product that was recommended by a friend who is on Weight Watchers, Bell Plantation's PB2 Powdered Peanut Butter.  It's a pretty good find, but it didn't work well with this recipe.  I've been using it in smoothies and it's awesome for that.  The brownies in the photos were made using the PB2.  The recipe uses normal peanut butter, since I normally use regular peanut butter for these brownies. The PB2 didn't bake quite as well as regular peanut butter, so it's not as pretty.  Still tasty!

It comes in chocolate peanut butter too.  That's my fave.

The reason PB2 is so cool is that it's only 45 calories a serving with just 5 grams carbs.  Regular peanut butter is 188 calories and 6 grams of carbs.  That's a big difference in calories.  That being said, sandwiches with it are not quite the same.  I have a problem with weird textures, and this is weird.  You're supposed to mix it with water and turn it into "peanut butter," but I can't stand it.  For the same reason,  it's not good on celery.  It was ok in some cupcakes I tried it in, but not stellar.  I thought it would work well in this prep, but it was just so-so.  If you're really looking to shave calories, it might be worth trying.  For me, I think I'll reserve it for smoothies.  It tastes great in those, especially the chocolate and peanut butter variety.

Everyone has a low carb brownie recipe, but to keep this within the theme of the gluten free holiday, I made them low carb and gluten free using almond flour. It gives the brownies a nutty flavor.

Freshly ground almond flour.

Let's talk about making almond flour.  It's one of my favorite flours, because it's so easy and I always have almonds in the freezer.  If you have a fancy blender, it only takes a few seconds to make a batch of it.  If you have a food processor or coffee grinder, it might take a little longer, but you'll get something useable.

Making almond flour really is as easy as putting some almonds in the blender and blending until they become flour.  You have to keep an eye on it.  If you blend too long, they'll become almond butter (also delicious).  I use a Vitamix.  Since it gets hot, I use frozen almonds to make my flour.  I find the results are better, and they don't go as easily to almond butter.  After grinding the flour, I always push it through a strainer to be sure I have any big pieces or butter out.  After straining, it comes out almost as fine as processed almond flour.  You'll notice you still get some nut pieces (you can see them in the brownie photos).  You wouldn't get those with commercial flours.  You could process your flour twice, or in smaller batches, and eliminate those, or just enjoy the nut pieces.  I'm lazy.  I enjoy them.

Because of the almond flour, peanut butter and eggs, these things are protein packed!  It's like eating a delicious protein shake.  Each 2 by 1.5 brownie is about 5 grams of protein (a normal 2 by 1.5 brownie has 2.7 grams).  A person of my size requires 44 grams of protein a day, and I don't get even half that on most days.. That means I should an entire pan of these, right? No?  Oh well, worth a shot.

Low Carb, Gluten Free, Reeses Brownies
1 stick of butter, melted
1 cup of stevia mix for baking (Fructevia)
3 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1/2 cup dutch cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder (optional)


Peanut Butter Topping*:
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoons stevia mix for baking (Fructevia)
1 tablespoon almond flour
1 egg

The consistency of the batter.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 8 by 8 pan with parchment.
2. Mix butter with cocoa powder, vanilla, almond flour and salt.  If you're using baking powder, add it now.  If you add baking powder, your brownies will be more cake-like.  They'll be denser and moister if you don't. Please note that baking powder is not always gluten free.
3. Beat eggs with stevia until doubled.
4. Mix chocolate mixture with eggs until just combined.
5. Pour into prepared pan.  Spread out evenly.
6. To make peanut butter mixture, combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix until smooth.  *Please note, when I used powdered peanut butter, I used 4 tablespoons.  You also need to add water to get the right consistency (it should be the consistency of brownie batter).   
7. You have two options.  You can spread the peanut butter mixture evenly on top of the brownie mixture (pictured). If you want them to look marbled, drop the peanut butter mixture by spoonful about 2-3 inches apart.  Use the back of a spoon or knife to "swirl" the peanut butter mixture into the chocolate.  *I couldn't get the powdered peanut butter to marble like regular peanut butter (it doesn't get as creamy) so you may be stuck with layering if you use it.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes.  
9. Cut into pieces.  I cut mine into 20 small pieces, but I like a bite sized brownie.
   

These use powdered peanut butter.  Low calorie, but not quite like real peanut butter.

Nutrition Facts for Peanut Butter Brownies

---

Amount Per Serving (makes 20)

Calories:  140

Total fat: 12 g

Protein: 4.5 g

Total carbohydrate:  2.5 g

• Dietary Fiber: 1.7 g
• Sugar: 0 g

If you use the powdered peanut butter, one serving is 119 calories, with only 2.2 grams of carbs.  If you're eating a small serving, it doesn't really cut that much out, so I saw go for the gusto and use the real stuff.  If you're eating Panera Bread sized brownies, it might make a difference.

It's probably worth pointing out that a regular brownie of similar size (a small one, not Panera Bread size) is 243 calories, 39 carbs and 10 grams of fat.  That's not even for a peanut butter covered brownie.  We have more fat here, but I bet it's mostly because of the peanut butter (2 tablespoons of peanut butter has 15 grams of fat).

Get Steamed: Steamed Banana Pudding

Yum, but not good for dieters because bananas are full of natural sugars.

I had 2 overripe bananas sitting on my counter, ready to go bad.  I didn't feel like a smoothie (I bought them for that purpose, but it's too cold).  I don't like eating overripe bananas raw.  I hate throwing them away.

So, I googled for quick banana recipes.  I found a few, but this warm pudding sounded just right for a cold night.  I modified the super easy "sexy banana" recipe I found on Modern Paleo Warfare (original) to make it dairy free.  It's not low calorie or low carb.  Bananas are calorie and carb dense.  Every banana has 27 grams of carbs and 118 calories, so it's hard to find a low carb banana recipe.  Bananas are one of the few fruits people trying to lose weight should avoid.

Moist and kind of bread like, similar to spotted dick.

Since I'm just trying to eat whole, healthier foods, bananas are fine with me.

Steamed Banana Pudding  

(makes 2 servings)

1 egg

2 large bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup of almond flour

3/4 cups of coconut milk

cinnamon to taste

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a blender.
2. Pour the mixture (it will be runny) into greased ramekins. It doesn't rise much so you can fill them almost to the top.
3. Bake at 200 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
4. Turn out of pan like you would an upside down cake.  You can top with whipped cream.  There actually is a dairy free whipped cream that's only 1 carb per serving, but a serving is much smaller than pictured in the photos.

I think next time, I might throw in a handful of chocolate chips.  That would be divine.  

Fresh out of the oven.

Nutrition Facts for Steamed Banana Pudding

---

Amount Per Serving (makes 1)

Calories:  485

Total fat: 31.2 g

Protein: 15.4 g

Total carbohydrate:  40 g

• Dietary Fiber: 9 g
• Sugar: 19 g

Dual Tone Spooky Cakes: Quick Halloween Idea

This bundt cake looks a little a ghost.

I used to make rainbow cupcakes when I was a kid, similar to these.  We would get bowls of cake mix and dye them colors and make a big mess, but they'd turn out cute anyway.  I was reminded of this the other day when I surfing the web and saw a black and orange cake.  The author made black cakeballs and put them in the middle of a cake pan.  She then covered the balls with batter and baked it.  It made very neat circles in her cake.  Mine are more random, but I think they look sort of oozy and spooky.

This is a simple half/half dual tone cupcake

For these, I separate my cake batter and dye each part a different a color, but you could use separate cake batters too.  In the cupcake, I dyed one half of a vanilla cake batter orange and the other half black.  For the bundt cake, I used one of those "12 cupcake" devil's food mixes for the black, and a whole white cake mix separated in half.  I dyed one half green and the other half orange.  The cupcakes require a little finer hand.  You spoon one color into your cupcake pan, then put the next color down.  You can swirl them if you want.  If you use a piping bag, you can get intricate layers by piping a small amount in the middle of your paper cups and piping the same amount of the next color on top of that layer and repeating (that works well with rainbow cupcakes).

The cake is a lot easier, even if you want to make intricate layers, but it's the same concept.  You can do as many layers as you want, or just make one black spot in the middle, etc.  This would be a fun activity for kids.  The rainbow ones are awesome for Easter.

The icing for the cupcakes was just a can of icing dyed orange.  For the bundt, a regular icing wouldn't be drippy enough.  I made a glaze and dyed it in two colors.  Here's the recipe for the glaze.

Check out that owl platter. Isn't it adorable? I love Halloween.

Bundt Glaze:
4 ounces softened cream cheese
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
2 cups powdered sugar

1. Blend all the ingredients together in a food processor, mixer or blender.  I normally start out with 1 tablespoon of milk and add to my desired consistency.
2. If the glaze is too thin, add more sugar.  If it's too thick, add more milk.

Once you blend it, you can separate it, dye it your colors and drip it on in whatever pattern you want.  You have to wait until your cake is cooled or it will all melt off and not look pretty at all.

Sodas Make Kids Aggressive? This Study Sure Makes ME More Aggressive

If you've turned on the news tonight, everyone is talking about a study that says soda makes kids go crazy!  It actually says 15 percent of teens who drank little or no soda reported violent behavior toward a partner, compared to almost twice that number among those who drank 14 or more cans per week.

This means soda is making kids go crazy, right?  Not really.  I think this study is really flawed.

First of all, the kids who drank the most soda drank five can per week or more.  That's almost every person I know.  Secondly, they only asked minority kids and the data was collected via a survey given to the kids:

“The new study was based on answers to questionnaires filled out by 1,878 public-school students aged 14 to 18 in the inner Boston area, where Hemenway said crime rates were much higher than in the wealthier suburbs. The overwhelming majority of respondents were Hispanic, African-American or mixed; few were Asian or white.”

I don't understand why they didn't have a more robust sample, which included rich, white soda drinkers.  Would the data be the same?  How can it be a "marker" if they didn't even sample a random group?  I also wonder how well kids keep track of how much soda they drink.  It would have been slightly better designed if they asked the kids to record what they drank instead of recalling their past consumption. 

Scientists flash around "correlation doesn't equal causation" a lot.  That's akin to asking, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?"  Does soda cause kids to become violent or do violent kids drink more soda for other reasons?  The study doesn't tell us that. 

For example, maybe kids with overall poor diets also drink more soda and it's their overall diet that causes them to be aggressive.  Even poor sleeping habits can cause kids to be aggressive and pick up caffeine.  Maybe kids with less educated parents (who allow them to drink more soda) are more violent.  Maybe kids with less parental supervision (who wouldn't be there to tell them not to drink soda) are more violent.  Maybe kids who are already depressed and bullied drink soda to self-medicate.   You see where I'm going?  Is the soda the cause or a result?

I hate when poor studies like this get picked up by the media.  It's a pet peeve of mine.  This study shows us nothing.  It's cocktail party trivia.  Yet the media touts, "sodas cause kids to be aggressive."


What could be bad about the media getting people to drink less soda?  I believe that sugar and caffeine are bad for kids (they're bad for adults too), but this study doesn't prove it.  Would getting rid of soda make America healthier? Probably.  However, I don't think we should aggrandize claims that aren't true, even if the end result is positive.  That's why the true things get ignored so much.  The media hops on this and that, and then when something real comes up, people ignore it.

I always say that if it comes from the media (or Dr. Oz), it's probably not true.  If it is true, it's probably only 10% true.  The media either doesn't know how to read journal results or, the reality, likes to report the most sensationalized version of journal results.

It just makes me mad, so I guess sodas make me more aggressive too.

Once you Pop, You Can't Stop: Pumpkin Popovers

Delicious and halfway healthy

It's still fall so I'm still all about the pumpkin and squash. Popovers are an eggy bread, similar to Yorkshire pudding.    They've been around since the 1800s. Yorkshire pudding was one of the first breads developed when wheat became popular.  To me, they taste highly reminiscent of French toast. They're called popovers because the steam from the eggy bread causes the crust to rise over the pan, hence they "pop over" the pan.

French toast has 36 carbs.  Popovers have the same amount of carbs as a dinner roll (both have 14 grams of carbs).  It's still not low carb, but it's a decadent treat that would pair well with a low carb meal.  To me, a popover is a lot more filling than a roll, and it has more protein.

I have made them with Atkins flour mix (you could probably use CarbQuick too, but I have no experience).  I think they turned out better than some breads.  Atkins mix tends to make really dry breads, but popovers are already moist because of all the eggs.  My Atkins popovers didn't pop as much as ones using regular flour, but they did pop a little and tasted great.  Just sub the flour in the recipe below for equal parts of Atkins mix.

For my recipe, I ground my own wheatberries in my Vitamix.  I feel like I get the consistency of white flour that way, but the fiber of wheat (less net carbs).  I'm probably deluding myself.  You can use wheat flour, but they will pop less.  They will probably pop more with conventional flour.


It amazed me the first time I baked a popover.  It seems like they don't have any leavening ingredients.  How the heck do they rise?   Unlike quick breads or yeasted breads, it's the steam that makes them rise. When you make this batter, you'll notice that the batter is thinner and runnier than most breads.  The liquid content of the batter produces lots of steam.  Eggs act as part of the liquid, but that's not the only reason there are so many eggs.  The egg protein also acts an emulsifier, protecting the batter from tearing when it stretches.  The egg protein and the gluten in the dough act like a balloon, stretching and filling with the air from the steam.  The middle of a popover is air, so it's mostly hollow.    Eggs help create a nice brown crust on top too. 

Knowing that, you can see that gluten is important in making the pop of a popover.  That is why low carb or gluten free popovers taste ok, but don't pop as high.  The gluten helps create the "balloon."

This is what a popover pan looks like

Heat is also important, as it develops the steam.  I use a specialized popover pan.  It looks like an elongated muffin pan separated with rods.  Those rods allow lots of space between the popovers so heat can move freely around them.  You can also use ramekins or regular muffin pans.  Just be sure not to fill whatever pan you use more than 1/2 to 2/3rds full of mix.  These things will make a mess in your oven.  I put a cookie sheet under my popover pan just in case.

Pumpkin Popovers
3 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup pumpkin
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease your popover pan, ramekin or muffin pan.  Use whatever kitchen oil or spray you like best.
2. I always put my pan on top of the oven while it's preheating.  They pop better if the pan is warm, but I haven't really found much of a different between setting my pan on top of the oven and "preheating" the pan as some recipes suggest.
3. Put all of the ingredients in a food processor, mixer or blender (I use a blender) and mix until smooth (easy).
4. The pumpkin popovers don't pop as much as plain popovers, so fill your cups 2/3 full of mix (should make 6 if you're using a popover pan).
5. Bake in the oven for 50 minutes. Remove the popovers and pierce each in the top with a knife to allow the steam to escape. 
6. They should be easy to remove from the pan, and they are best served warm.

Want plain popovers?  Alton Brown has the recipe I always use as a base. These can made sweet, savory or whatever.  A little cinnamon in them makes them taste almost exactly like French Toast.  I bet cinnamon  would be good in these pumpkin ones too.

Plain popovers pop even more than this.

Nutrition Facts for Pumpkin Popovers

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Amount Per Serving (makes 6)

Calories:  150

Total fat: 8 g

Protein: 6 g

Total carbohydrate:  14 g

• Dietary Fiber: 1 g
• Sugar: 2 g

Halloween Costumes: The Same but Much Less Awesome

This costume is from the 1950s. I'm not that old.
But, most of my costumes where this type.

I work a Halloween event year that requires me to judge a kid's costume contests.  Last night, as I was saying to kids, "I was [character] when I was younger" I suddenly realized that kid's costumes haven't changed. 

This will be telling my age, but I saw all sorts of characters from my youth last night.  There was a Strawberry Shortcake, several Star Wars characters, Yoshi and Mario and a My Little Pony.  Most others were classic characters like Spiderman and other superheros, the Wizard of Oz, cowboys, army men, police, zombies and aliens.  There were a few modern characters.  No Hannah Montanas so far this year, but she was popular a few years back.  There was a Commander Cody, some of the Incredibles.  It just seems like modern characters don't stand the test of time.

Some of my memorable Halloween costumes as a kid were some of the same costumes I saw last night.  The first costume I remember was either ET or Casper (I can't remember which came first).  I haven't seen anyone as ET in a long time, and I don't think Casper would be popular these days.  I was Firefly, the My Little Pony, one year.  I was Princess Leia.  I was Scooby Doo (I see a lot of Scooby Doos today).  One year I was a punk rocker.  Rockers are common today, but I was inspired by Jem and Holograms (I was truly outrageous).  I'm sure no little girls have even heard of Jem today.  I can't believe the Ninja Turtles are still popular.  I wanted to be Michaelangelo, but mom said it was for boys.  That still makes me mad. 

Then vs Now

The biggest difference I see is the quality of the costumes.  The costumes we used to wear were far from creative.   Most of them were the plastic masks with the plastic "apron" costume that had the show logo plastered across it.   Kids today wear makeup rather than masks.  The My Little Pony I saw was not exactly like the one pictured.  She had a wig with a unicorn horn and purple makeup.  If kids of my day had had Angry Birds, we would have had plastic masks.  The Angry Birds this year were wearing makeup and feather hats.

Back in the day, I remember not being able to see well out of those hard plastic masks.  At the end of the night, the mask would have made an imprint in your face.  The string would have cut into the back of your head (or broken).  In general, those aprons would rip or tear before the night was over.  We didn't care.  We had candy.  We expected to walk in horrible, painful costumes for it.  That's probably why kid's are such pansies today.  Seriously, you have to be able to see to cross the street? Please!  You want to be comfortable on Halloween? Whatever.  We had to work for our treats.

You guys may steal my generation's costumes, but you'll never steal our awesomeness.  Strawberry Shortcake isn't quite the same without the plastic mask.  Ok, even as a kid I called BS on Strawberry Shortcake.  She's a human (kind of).  I'm a human (kind of).  Why do I need a mask to be a human?  I wore the costume anyway, but even I knew it was weird.  I guess it was easier than keeping a wig and hat on kids.  We were still awesome.

This is what a REAL costume looked like.

Build Me Up Buttercup, Squash Broke My Heart

That's a weird looking pumpkin.

To try to be a little bit healthy, I've decided to sample all the winter squash I can find this year.  Someone told me they all taste the same.  Doubtful.  The local grocery is full of them this time of the year, and they come in all shapes and sizes.  They had one that weighed almost as much as I do.  I'm not sure what variety it was, but it was larger than most jack-o-lantern pumpkins and bright green.  Since they were charging by the pound, and it was more squash then I'll probably eat my lifetime, I passed.

I did buy a few other varieties.  One was buttercup squash. Most squash are low fat and good sources of vitamin C.  Buttercup has vitamin E and some B vitamins too.  It's a low calorie, filling food.  The downside is that each cup has 14 grams of carbs.  It's a bit sweeter than other winter squashes.  Most of the recipes I've found for it call for dousing it with even more sugar.  That's one way to make a healthy food bad.

Buttercup squash should be firm, heavy for their size and have an even cream color.  The ones at my store were quite large, probably about twice the size of an acorn squash.  They look green, squatty pumpkins. 

Buttercup squash taste similar to acorn squash, but are a bit earthier and creamier.

Seriously.  All this work for that?!

I have to be honest.  My experience with this squash was not that great.  I found buttercup squash to be almost impossible to cut into and peel, or at least not worth the effort.  Acorn squash is hard to cut too, but once you cook it, you can easly remove the flesh.  I found this one was even difficult after it was cooked.  I spent a few minutes cursing the squash, but finally got some flesh out.   After all that trouble, there wasn't much flesh.

Maybe I'm a lazy cook.  I preferred the creaminess of buttercup squash to acorn squash, but I think I'll stick to butternut.  It's creamy too, but has more flesh and less problems.

Simply prepared

I roasted it simply with some butter and a bit of cinnamon.  I left the sugar out.  It was good, but not really worth all that effort.  I did have some leftovers.  I think I'll make them into a soup and see what that tastes like.  The creamy nature of this squash should lend itself to soups really well.


With just the butter and cinnamon, 1 cup of buttercup squash has 116 calories, 3 grams of fat, 22 grams of carbs and 4 grams of sugar and 7 grams of fiber.

Broken Glass and Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes

Bloody glass cupcakes

One of my guilty pleasures is Martha Stewart's living.  I don't think I've ever done one of her arts and crafts or even made a recipe straight out of there, but I love to look at it anyway.  Her Halloween edition has always been one of my faves.  This year, I saw her broken glass cupcakes and had to emulate it.

Similar to Martha's

I can't find them on her website.  Her website is notoriously hard to navigate.  The article in the magazine (the Halloween edition with "Mothra" on the cover) just had a photo of the cupcakes, and not even a how-to.  I went to the website to find out how she made her sugar glass, but no such luck.  I swear, you can search for the exact recipe title on her website and not find something.  She is pimping a new book on holiday crafts and baking, so maybe it's in there.  Who knows.  This is why I rarely visit the website or make anything she has in her books.  I did a Google image search for Martha Stewart broken glass cupcakes, and the ones pictured to the right look the most like them.  The shards of glass were clear and the "blood" was coming out of the cupcakes.  They're ok, but they don't look gruesome enough for me.

Sugar glass is easy to make, and lots of fun (but it can be dangerous), so I went to town.  Sugar glass is basically just a hard candy, spread out.  Since it's supposed to look jagged and broken for this, it's super easy. I have a low-cal version of a cupcake recipe too, but we'll do to the sugar glass first.   You can make sugar glass just as many ways as you can make sugar candy, so no recipe is incorrect.

Sugar Glass 
3 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cup clear corn syrup
Red food coloring

You can tell my sugar wasn't heated smoothly,
but dirty glass works for this.

1. Before you start, get everything together.  Sugar glass comes together pretty quickly and once you start pouring, it's over in a second.  If you're making broken glass, get a baking sheet ready (either spray it with some cooking spray or rub it down with some oil or butter).  If you're going to do something more elaborate like a mold or form, get the materials you need ready.  For my prep, I also got the food coloring and a paint brush.  You'll need to spray a spatula and some spoons with some cooking spray too, to help you smooth out the glass.
2. Combine all the ingredients except food coloring (unless you want solid red glass) in a sauce pan and cook on medium heat until the mixture reaches 300 degrees on a candy thermometer.  If you heat the liquid too fast, the sugar won't be as clear but it's not that big of a deal in this prep.
3. Poor the liquid on the prepared surface and quickly spread out. This is the dangerous part.  Remember this sugar is 300 degrees! Don't touch it.  Use your tools to spread it out, but work quickly.
4. While the sugar is still a little wet, splash or paint the red coloring on to resemble blood drops. You should have the "glass" spread out and painted within a few minutes.
5. Let cool.
6. Crack into shards (this is the fun part).
7. Decorate as you wish.

Easy Vegan Cupcakes
Let's talk about doctoring up a cake mix.  For these, I used a whole can of pumpkin in a chocolate cake mix instead of the oil, water and eggs. So, you just take the dry cake mix, mix in the pumpkin and bake.  People love it, and it's an easy way to make a cake mix vegan.  Just make sure your cake mix is vegan.  Most are. Store bought icings are mostly vegan too, but read the label.  Let's be honest, these mixes and icings aren't animal or vegetable foodstuffs.  They're mostly fakey fakey processed ingredients and oils. But enjoying them every now and again won't kill you, just don't eat the whole dozen yourself.  

I think I stole the pumpkin idea from Hungry Girl (I saw it on a talk show), but it tastes better to me than a regular cake mix anyway.  It only works well with chocolate cake mixes.  You can barely taste the pumpkin in a chocolate cake mix.  Pumpkin and chocolate go well together anyway.  If you use pumpkin in a white cake mix, you'll have pumpkin cake.  It's good too, but people can tell it's pumpkin.  In chocolate, I normally get, "This tastes like something, but what is it?" 

According to Hungry Girl one cupcake made this way has 181 calories, 3.5g fat, 37g carbs (eep), 2g fiber and 2g protein.  I just think they taste better that way (they seem to be richer).  

You can make a homemade cake and icing and decorate it too, but I'm going to be honest again here.  If I'm going to make a cupcake for kids or people who I know will care more about the decoration and icing than the cake, I'm not going to go to all the effort of making the cake taste like the best cake ever.  It's like the time I slaved over a stove for hours making homemade pasta sauce one week, got rave reviews.  A few weeks later, I didn't have time so I brought in Prego ... also got the rave reviews.  Seriously, most people don't care, and if the cake is a box cake, I'm less likely to eat it all.

I'll have some healthy food next week, and maybe some unhealthy ones too. I'm thinking about making more Halloween treats.  I have several Halloween events to go to, and sometimes I like to bring snacks.  We'll see.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls: Fall Faves

Unhealthy, but delicious

 It's fall, so I'm probably going to get a little unhealthy here.  I've been personally trying to avoid carbs and sugar, but those are required baking for friends around this time of the year.  With the holidays season coming up and my favorite goofy holiday, Halloween, it's hard to avoid carbs and unhealthy things.  At least if you do the baking yourself, from scratch, you're less likely to eat too much (that's what I tell myself anyway).

There was a pumpkin recipe contest at a local festival this past week, so I threw in my hat with some delicious pumpkin cinnamon rolls.

Here's a tip about cinnamon rolls.  They are almost always softer right out of the oven.  The main reason is the sugar in the cinnamon filling.  Sugar is hygroscopic, so it sucks moisture out of the dough.  My favorite way to combat that is just covering them in more butter and sugar (icing), or popping them in a microwave for 10-15 seconds.  Yum!  If you're looking for a lower calorie way to combat hard rolls, just use plain cinnamon and butter for the filling.  The rolls will still be good, but less sweet.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls
Dough
1 cup pumpkin puree
2/3 cups milk
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
1 package yeast
2-3 cups flour
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tsp salt

Filling
1 stick melted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup white sugar
2 tsp cinnamon (sometimes I use more, I like cinnamon)

Cream Cheese Icing
4 ounces cream cheese
1 stick of melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 cups powdered sugar
1-3 tablespoons milk

Carmel Glaze
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Pinch of salt

The dough

1. Prehat over to 350 degrees.
2. Heat pumpkin, milk, salt and butter on stove until all are warm and butter is melted. It should be warm to the touch, but not hot (lukewarm)
3. Add pumpkin mixture, yeast, egg, pumpkin pie spice and 2 cups of flour to mixer bowl.  You can use a stand mixer or bread machine or just do it the old fashioned way.  I use a stand mixer.  Adjust flour until you get a dough that is smooth and somewhat sticky.  Knead that dough for about 6 minutes (with a dough hook or bread machine, this is easy).
4. Cover dough and let rest until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).  Prepare filling while you wait.
5. To prepare filling, just mix the melted butter and sugar together in a bowl and mix well.
6. After dough has rested, roll out into a 15 by 10 inch rectangle. 
7. Spoon or brush filling on the rectangle.

   

   Roll the dough (this is for smaller rolls)

8. Roll the rectangle up tightly.  If you prefer more, smaller cinnamon rolls, roll along the 15 inch end.  If you prefer larger, thicker cinnamon rolls, roll on the 10 inch end.  Along the 15 inch should make 12 rolls.
9. Cut the cinnamon rolls, the width depends on your tastes.  I normally make mine 3 fingers wide.  Use a serrated knife for best results (some people use dental floss or string, but being careful and not exerting too much pressure with a serrated knife works).
10. Place either on a baking sheet or Pyrex dish.  Some people like to bake their cinnamon rolls so they touch (like in a Pyrex dish).  Personally, I like mine to be separate and round.  I normally bake them on a baking sheet and spread them apart while they rise and when they bake.
11. Let the rolls rise for 1 hour, until doubled.  At this point, you can also put them in the fridge and let them rise overnight.



Roll size.

12. I sometimes brush the tops of cinnamon rolls with egg yolk, but I don't always. It makes the top shiny.  If you're planning to use a lot of icing, this is a wasted step, but sometimes I just want a drizzle.  For the pumpkin ones, I skipped this step.
13. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the center of the cinnamon roll reaches 190 degrees and the tops are golden brown.
14. While they cook, you can make the icing. I used two icings (one is just an accent drizzle).
15. Cream cheese icing: mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla, lemon, milk and 2 cups powdered sugar in a food processor and mix until creamy.  You can add more milk if it's too thick and more sugar if it's too thin.  I like my icing drippy.
16. Caramel drizzle icing: Heat butter, sugar, milk, vanilla and powdered sugar on stove.  Cook for about 8 minutes, until the sauce is a caramel like consistency (about 235 degrees or so).

    

    These rolls are touching, obviously.  They don't form perfect circles.

17. When cinnamon rolls are finished baking, let them cool a little bit before icing.  They should still be warm when you ice them.  I poured the cream cheese icing all over first, then drizzled with the caramel.
18. Enjoy (just not too much, these are very unhealthy).

 

These rolls form more perfect circles

Nutrition Facts for Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls (It's bad)

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Amount Per Serving (makes 12)

Calories:  486

Total fat: 22 g

Protein: 5.4 g

Total carbohydrate:  73 g

• Dietary Fiber: 1.4 g
• Sugar: 47 g

On the other hand, a Cinnabon is 730 calories and 114 grams of carbs.  Those Pillsbury canned cinnamon rolls are much better.  They are 145 calories and 23 grams of carb.  A McDonalds cinnamon roll is 340 calories and 52 grams of carbs.  

You could cut the calories considerably by limiting the icing.  With no icing, it's just 304 calories, 18 grams of fat, 32 grams of carbs (7.5 sugar and 1.4 grams of fiber).  Since it's still not healthy, where's the fun in that?

RIP Steve Jobs

When I was a little kid, I begged my mom for a computer.  We had one (just one) in school and I would play with it whenever I had a chance. My mom didn't even really know what a computer was, She just know they were expensive.  She got me a subscription to 3-2-1 Contact (I used to watch PBS all the time and I LOVED that show) in hopes that it would be enough.   I used it write BASIC all the time and then try to run it through the computer in school.  Can you believe a kid's magazine used to actually teach to code?

For Christmas that year (sometime in the late 80s, 87 or 88), I got a shiny new Tandy 1000HX: the cheapest thing Radio Shack had.  I was so excited.  It probably took her 10 years to pay it off.  I played with that computer all the time.  I was a giant dork, and I named him Edgar.  Don't ask me why my mom let me watch Electric Dreams at the age (I was probably 8 or 9, which seems old for a first computer these days). 

The Tandy HX was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.  It didn't have a hard drive, it ran MS-Dos and Deskmate disks (word processor and some other things).  It could do a lot, but everything was command line.  It had a huge manual (actually it had several) that I would read all the time to find out what I could do.  I used to accidentally format that damn DOS disk ALL the time.  My mom would cart me down to radio shack and they'd put it back on the disk for me.  I eventually learned to make backups (and I still have one).  Aside from those disks, I had a few games. I used to play Kings Quest all the time, and the guy at Radio Shack told my mom Leisure Suit Larry was a kid's game so my niece and I would play that.  We soon found out it wasn't a kid's game.  We neglected to mention it to my mom.  Even in the 80s kids were doing bad things on computers without their parents having a clue.  Leisure Suit Larry was my Grand Theft Auto.

Eventually, I got a piece of crap of laptop from a pawn shop.  I don't even remember kind of computer that was, but it had a hard drive.  It had an external modem with it and could log into GEnie.  I used to play on the BBS a little, but most of the people were older and, while I thought it was cool, it was kind of boring.  My next computer (many years later) was an Internet ready Packard Bell. Seems like this was around 1995, and I wanted to sign up for Prodigy.  I had seen ads on TV.  They needed a credit card, and my mom didn't have one (this was before debit cards were credit cards too).  So, I researched and found about CompuServ.  They would take a check.  We paid for dial-up by the hour (yes, people used to do that), so I could only get on a few minutes a day.  Whenever I could I would be on CompuServ CB chatting with people.  People who I would never talk to in real life.  I never talked to much of anyone.  I would read at recess, only had a few friends.  Online, I got to tell everyone what I thought!  And so, it started.  Soon I would be designing websites and earning  money for college, writing for the web and developing databases for the state.

If it weren't for people like Steve Jobs, I don't know what I would have become.  I don't credit Steve alone, but he dominoes he put into motion have touched almost every part of my life.  Even more directly, I use an Apple product everyday.  I can't even begin to express how much he's touched my life.

Fifty-six is too young.  Thank of all the innovation he had left to give. I don't mourn most celebrities, but you were different.  Sometimes I didn't agree with your business tactics, but I always agreed that you were an visionary and almost everything you did (was he responsible for the Newton?) changed the way we looked at technology.

Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

No one wants to die. Even people who wanna go to heaven don’t wanna die to get there.