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

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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

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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

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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

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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