with imagination, i’ll get there…

I want to share this article because Laura makes some fantastic points about misleading food labels and gives great information about how to read them properly.

There will be many people trying to get their eating and weight under control right now–that is probably the most popular New Year’s Resolution…right?

This information could help you and make you a little more aware of what you are eating. Pay attention! That’s what is it truly about!

Misleading and Confusing Food Labels by Laura Crooks

In our quest to eat healthier foods and take care of our bodies we might rely on food packaging labels.  This can be dangerous to our health and undermine our efforts thanks to unregulated and misleading food labels.  The labels can be misleading, confusing, and pose as healthy food imposters.

Food packaging labels are created by companies whose sole purpose is to entice us to buy their product.  Their misleading information implies we are getting health benefits that may not exist.  They may print unsubstantiated health claims, or use pictures of desirable foods to make us think that is what is in the box, or they use cleverly crafted phrases which are not lies, but are also not as honest as they seem at face value.  We are led to believe that fruit snacks are real fruit; they may have a bit of real fruit juice in them, but they are candy.  Frozen dinners with real vegetables may have a bit of powdered vegetable in the sauce, generally not what we think of from the packaging.

Each company can create their own seal of approval or they may purchase the right to use one.

Here are some common food labels and what they mean (or don’t mean!):

100% organic is a USDA regulated term.  The farmer must pay to have the government inspect and certify their farm.  These foods are grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, without hormones or antibiotics, are not cloned or genetically modified.(Remember that smaller farms may follow sustainable, 100% organic procedures but not pay the large assessment fees to be able to label as 100% organic.)   Organic means that 95% of the ingredients are 100% organic.

Made with organic ingredients means that at least 70% of the ingredients are 100% organic.   all natural – This label means that the product is free of preservatives and additives.  It does not mean that the product is good for you or healthy.  Arsenic and lead are all natural, but we try not to eat much of them! low fat – This label means there is less fat than in the regular version.  It does not specify how much less fat, nor does it necessarily mean lower calorie.  Low fat products often have more sugar, added to boost the flavor removed with the fat.

good source of calcium – This means there is at least 10% of your suggested amount of calcium present.  Is 10% enough for you to consider it “good”?

carb free – This means the product has no carbohydrates present.  I have seen this label on fresh meat; the meat is protein, it never was a carbohydrate product, but the label catches our eye.

made with – This label is often followed by something healthy such as real fruit or whole grains, such as “made with real fruit”.  The label itself only means there is at least a drop of the named product present.

0 trans fats – This label is tricky, it does not mean there are NO trans fat in the product.  It can be legally used provided there is less than 0.5 grams of trans fat per serving.  The company only has to adjust their serving size to one with less than 0.5 grams to  meet this labeling requirement.  If you eat more than one serving you are adding up your amount of trans fats.  If fully or partially hydrogenated vegetable oil are in the ingredient list the product has trans fats present.

cage free (usually referring to eggs or chickens) – This means the chickens were raised indoors but not in cages.  Forced molting and beak cutting are allowed.

free range – This term makes you think the chickens get to roam outside all day in green pastures.  It means the chickens are allowed access to the outside but there is not regulation on the duration of outdoor time nor the quality of their outdoor space.  They could have spent a total of 5 minutes outside in dust.   Beak cutting and forced molting are allowed.

humanely raised – This is a totally unregulated term and can mean whatever the manufacturer wants it to mean.  They would like you to picture a clean, healthy living environment!

100% wheat – Your squishy white bread is 100% wheat…it is totally refined wheat flour.  Look for 100% whole wheat for the more nutritious type.  If the ingredient label does not say 100% whole wheat as 1 of the first ingredients  consider it to be refined white flour with some caramel coloring added to make it look brown.

less sodium – This means the product now has less sodium than it once did.  It does not mean it is low in sodium or good for you.

wholesome, nutritious, selected, and country fresh – These claims have no regulated meaning and can almost anything the manufacturer wants.

So how should we make informed choices?

Check the product’s serving size. Is that small bag of microwave popcorn a single serving or intended to serve 3?   The calories and fats need to be tripled when you eat the whole bag intended for 3.  How many servings are in that 24 ounce soda?

Check the nutrient labels. Each serving should provide less than 5% of sodium and saturated fats, regardless of the label saying it is reduced fat or has less sodium.  Aim for more fiber per serving and less sugars.

Read the ingredient labels.  Ingredients are listed in descending order; the first item listed is the most prevalent.  Ingredient lists may not use the most common term for each item.  For example, sugar can be found as: agave nectar, beet sugar, brown sugar, cane juice crystals, corn syrup, corn sweetener, dextrose, evaporated cane juice, fructose, fruit juice concentrate, glucose, high fructose corn syrup, honey, invert sugar, malt syrup, maltose, molasses, raw sugar, sugar (sucrose), sorghum syrup, turbinado sugar.

Reading product labels with our eyes open to the fact that manufacturers are more concerned with us spending our money than with our health may help you see some of their labeling for what it is.   Look for these labels in the store and read the fine print on the package.  Reading ingredient lists and nutrient information may help you make better nutrition decisions as well.

Some of the most nutritious and healthiest foods do not come with labels.  Have you ever noticed how fresh, whole fruits, vegetables, and meats do not have pictures or labels?  Make the wisest, healthiest decisions you can.

About Laura Crooks: I am an RN, speaker, and certified wellness coach living in Pittsburgh, PA with my husband and children (plus the bunnies, leopard gecko, and hamster!). I help busy women create solutions so they can enjoy reduced stress, losing weight, balancing personal-professional-family time, and making time to exercise.  My services include individual and group coaching, speaking, and wellness programs.  For more information please visit www.YouBloomWellness.com .

when stars align…

Use top-quality ingredient and assemble the ingredients before starting:

You can’t expect a first-rate product using second-rate ingredients. Be sure your ingredients are fresh and of the finest quality. If your recipe says the ingredient must be room temperature, be sure it is room temperature before proceeding.

Baking Powder and Baking Soda: Check expiration dates of Baking Powder and baking soda, replacing if necessary. For testing purposes, baking soda should bubble when added to vinegar and baking powder should bubble when added to hot water. Be sure to mix baking powder and/or baking soda into the flour before adding to the wet ingredients; this distributes everything evenly so your cookies won’t end up with large holes.

Eggs: Check your “use-by” date on your egg carton. Check out Sell Date of Eggs (Sell Date of Eggs – Date Codes on Egg Cartons).

Flour: Don’t substitute flour types. If your recipe calls for all-purpose flour, that’s what you need to use. Cake flour and bread flour will not behave the same. Learn about the different types of flour. When a recipe calls for all-purpose flour, it means the bleached variety.

Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and sweep a spatula across the top to level it off. Don’t use the measuring cup as a scoop or it’ll pack the flour and you’ll end up with more flour in the cup than intended.

Nuts: Smell and taste nuts before using. Oils in nuts can turn rancid quickly. Store any leftover nuts in the freezer for longest shelf life.

Butter: Make sure your butter is at room temperature, otherwise it won’t cream properly with the sugar. Set it out at least one hour in advance. It should be pliable enough that your finger can leave a mark in it, without being soft and greasy.

Don’t try to microwave your butter as it will just end up too soft. If you don’t have an hour’s lead time, increase the surface area by cutting the butter into small pieces or shredding it on the large holes of a grater. It will then come up to temperature in approximately 10 minutes.

Shortening: Check vegetable shortening before using. Shortening, especially new trans fat-free brands) can go bad, introducing off-flavors to your cookies that you worked hard making.

Sugar: The type of sugar your use in your cookies can promote spread in baked cookies. To understand this, you need to know that sugar is a tenderizer which interferes with the formation of structure. Sugars with a finer granulation promote more spread (probably because they dissolve sooner and only dissolved sugars tenderize). Powdered sugar (confectioner’s sugar), when it contains cornstarch, prevents spread in cookies despite its finer grind.

by the presenter…

My 600-hour adventure in esthetics school. Read about the project, or catch up with weeks 1-7.

I’m making vocabulary flash cards for our Chapter 11 test, and thought I’d pass along this book learning, from Milady’s Standard Fundamentals for Esthetician, Chapter 11: Product Selection and Ingredients, page 242-243:

Methyl paraben — One of the most frequently used preservatives because of its very low sensitizing potential, this ingredient is one of the oldest preservatives in use to combat bacteria and molds. It is non-comedogenic.

Parabens — One of the most commonly used groups of preservatives in the cosmetic, pharmaceutical, and food industries, parabens provide bacteriostatic and fungistatic activity against a diverse number of organisms, and are considered safe for use in cosmetics.

Just in case you don’t get it the first time (is that “safe for use in cosmetics,” then?), both definitions are repeated in the glossary at the chapter’s end on page 248. Although it doesn’t spend much time clarifying this position, when Milady’s says “safe,” what it means is “will not cause your client to break out in a heinous, litigation-inspiring rash.”

True enough. A Google search reveals parabens, sold in crystalline powder form by the ton on Asian import sites like Made-In-China and Alibaba. The product descriptions, such as they are, emphasize the antiseptic, antibacterial properties.

What doesn’t fall under the Milady safety umbrella, or come up in the sales pitch: The fact that parabens are also endocrine disrupting chemicals.

We’re now exposed to a whole mess of these endocrine disruptors every minute of every day (see NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof’s recent and fantastic op-ed on the issue, plus the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics’ helpful summary) and the scientific evidence is mounting that all this of exposure may increase our risk for breast cancer and testicular cancer, and damage the developing brains and reproductive systems of babies.

Not surprisingly, the industry disputes this research. “The simple fact is that the Parabens are 100,000 times weaker than natural estrogen in the body,” reports The Personal Care Products Council on their safety website, adding that “Parabens have been shown to be 10,000 times weaker than the most potent phytoestrogens and 100,000 times less potent than estradiol, the estrogen produced naturally by the body. Most scientists agree that there is no endocrine- disrupting effect from the use of Parabens in cosmetic and personal care products because their action, if any, is so weak.”

Despite Milady’s, despite the Personal Care Products Council, Miss Jenny tells me that she tries to avoid products that contain parabens. We’re on another Sephora field trip, and I’m browsing facial cleansers. “You’re better off without them,” she says, steering me away from Clinique.

But when I ask her why, Miss Jenny looks away, to some distant point above the cash registers. “It’s not a big deal,” she says, more hastily this time. “You can’t ever get away from them entirely anyway.”

[Photos: Made-In-China]

Wow.

This meal was delicious. When I got home from the gym the smell of it was wafting through the garage, making my mouth water. I was hoping that was our dinner, hoping more than anything else that that delicious smell was destined for my stomach.

And my stomach was ever so grateful for the food. It needed it, and my taste buds seriously enjoyed the meal as well. That meal hit the spot in my stomach and the pleasure pathways in the brain. DELICIOUS!!!! Definitely going to make that one again. And thank goodness, cause we were sure due for a winner!

Despite this amazing culinary experience, this dish does not have many vegetables, in fact, it has none, and it’s only fruit is olive, so it’s not a balanced meal. I am tempted to next time try it with a few big chunks of carrot just to see if it can carry it. You never know…

Oh, and it was easy to cook, just a one pot affair with no maintenance. Love that. But this is where good pots and pans come in handy. You really need a heavy based pot for it for the oven and polenta is best done in a heavy based pan. This helps control the sticking to the bottom thing that is so common with thinner pots and pans. I really do love my pots and pans. Go you good things. Love how easy and even more pleasurable they make cooking.

This video is provided by Idea Girl Consulting Youtube Channel.

The New Writers Handbook 2007 Authors and Contents Part One took me about six hours to make. I had one Hell of a time trying to find the authors pictures?

It shouldn’t be that way!

They are saving the files under 123xyz martin pic.

Do they have any IDEA how many PHILIP MARTINS there on the net?

I had to look up his blogs, and thankfully Philip has a bio on his Great Lakes Literary site.

But a lot of the authors in this first section were invisible on the internet.

They won’t be when I’m finished creating a marketing campaign for these authors and their publishers.

People will look them up, find out who is who and my next project will be what books they have written, all in one file.

But it’s a series of projects that are taking me hours and hours to do.

In the future though, when a reader wants to know about the author of a book and the titles they have written, it will be an easy find, here on my site.

It’s all a part of my strategy, remember I said I planned to revolutionize the way books are being marketed and how publishers look at the sales quotas?

I’m working on an add campaign to rock the book sales market, because I know there is an untapped market out there, and I want to find my niche, build it and they will come.

Just as the baseball diamond movie states.. build it and they will come. LOL

I know I have BIG dreams, but I’ve got loads of imagination and years of sales experience.

This little plan of mine should work.

If it doesn’t, at least we will know who our favorite authors are , what they look like and what books they have written.

That way when we finish a book of theirs that we enjoyed, we can google their name and see, oh goody!

You’ve got another book for me to purchase and read.

Part of my final project for my Nutrition class was to write a paper on any topic relating to nutrition.  I chose to write about obesity in America as I feel this is one of the biggest problems (no pun intended) facing many of us today.  I’ve modified my paper to be more blog-friendly AND because it’s so long I’ve highlighted many of the important points for those of you who don’t have time to read the whole thing.  Please at least scroll through it and read the sentences that are in bold, italic or underlined.

There is an epidemic in America that kills millions of people every year.  It is  widespread, causes death in a variety of ways and effects every person in the country.  The government both helps and hinders finding a cure. A main staple of our collective diet is one of the main culprits. And most Americans seem unaware that this killer not only effects family and friends, but very likely could be the cause of their own death. Additionally, most people do not realize they have the ability to not only prevent, but reverse the hold this killer has on America.

The umbrella terms for this killer are overweight and obesity.  But when someone dies from one of it’s many causes more often than not the mourning family is told their loved one died due to Type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, stroke or cancer. All of these diseases and more are directly related to overweight and obesity.   65% of adult Americans are overweight and 30% are obese.  In other words, imagine ten of your favorite people.  More than half of them have a high risk of death due to overweight and a third of them to obesity.  Unfortunately, it probably is not difficult for anyone reading this to easily name several family members or friends who are overweight or obese.  Some people may even have a difficult time naming someone who is not overweight or obese.

One way overweight and obesity is measured is by calculating B.M.I. (Body Mass Index). According to the National Institute of Health a person with a B.M.I. of 19-25 is within a healthy range.  People with a B.M.I. of 25-30 are overweight and people with a B.M.I. of 30 and above are considered obese.  While calculating B.M.I. is a helpful tool to determine a persons’ basic healthy weight range, it should not be used as the final word in overall health.  A person can have a B.M.I. within the healthy range and still suffer from the previously named diseases.  However, to be clear, an overweight or obese person is much more likely to suffer from the myriad of problems caused by carrying extra weight. In fact, according to the American Obesity Association, obesity is associated with an increase of all causes of death.

Overweight and obesity effect people from every socioeconomic group in America.  No one is immune from its reaches, even children.  While low income, lesser educated families are the most likely groups to be overweight or obese this problem reaches high income, highly educated people as well.  Blacks are 51% more likely than Whites to suffer from overweight and obesity and Hispanics are 31% more likely.  Also, there is an increased instance of this problem in the South and Midwest, but overweight and obesity effect every corner of America; even school age children.  About 30% of children are overweight and about 15% are obese.  Again, think of ten of your favorite kids and chances are three of them already have had negative health effects from being overweight and at least one of them suffers from obesity.  Overweight and obese children can have such health issues as asthma, Type II diabetes, hypertension, growth problems, sleep apnea and a negative social stigma or self image.

So what causes overweight and obesity?  Without exploring this question we cannot begin to work on fixing this epidemic in America.  Unfortunately, there is not and will never be a miracle cure for obesity regardless of what you see on TV or read in the news.  In fact, deceptive advertising is one of the biggest problems facing people who are trying to achieve or maintain a healthy weight. Overweight and obesity is caused by many things, but the most common factors we hear are culture, behavior, emotion, genetic and physical/ chemical.  I will briefly explore these factors, but will also bring to your attention some very surprising contributors as well.

Culture and behavior are major players in this problem.  Many Americans currently want the most “bang for their buck”.  In other words, we have become accustomed to going for meals that let us eat the most amount of food for the least amount of money. Not only that, our plates are actually bigger!  Bigger plates need to be filled with more food and therefore our idea of portion size becomes completely distorted. And we frequent fast food restaurants, frozen or ready-to-eat meals and buffets.  These food sources are virtual mine fields for most people who have not been educated about what healthy foods or portion sizes actually are, and very few of us have been truly educated on this topic.  Often, people think they are eating healthy meals when in fact they are not.
Emotion is certainly a factor as well.  Everyone has their own comfort foods and some people have a problem not gorging themselves when they are unhappy or stressed.  Overeating is a method people use to cope with problems, similar to alcoholics or smokers, and definitely contributes to the problem.

Genetics and physical activity are also contributors to overweight and obesity.  Some people are more likely to gain weight easily due to their B.M.R. (Basal Metabolic Rate).  B.M.R. is the way a persons body expends energy (calories) and is effected by age, body composition and genetics.  People with a high B.M.R. or metabolism burn calories more easily than people with a lower B.M.R. or metabolism.  Physical activity directly effects the bodies’ B.M.R. in all people.  The more active a person is the more calories they burn, which coincides with a lower body weight.

Americas idea of a healthy diet and body weight is skewed by many things, but deceptive advertising is among the biggest causes.  U.S. food manufacturers spend literally billions of dollars on advertisements every year.  Most people do not realize how often they are duped by questionable health claims due to lack of education on which foods are truly healthy and which have just been advertised as such. For example, a label can advertise “may help prevent osteoporosis” because it contains calcium and vitamin D.  However, it does not mention that there are only small amounts of those nutrients in the product so a person would have to consume several servings (and therefore significantly more fat and calories) to gain anything from it.  Another good example of deceptive advertising is bread labels.  Brand X Whole Wheat or Multi-grain Bread may actually consist more of high fructose corn syrup (i.e. sugar, which turns into fat in the body) and preservatives than it does actual wheat or grain.  Often, in cases like this, the wheat or grain has been so refined that it has little or no nutritional value at all.

For this reason it is important for everyone to educate themselves on how to read a nutrition label. Pay attention to the serving size and number of servings per container.  You may be consuming two or three servings at a time without realizing it.  Also look at the fat, saturated fat, calories, sugar, sodium, protein and fiber. Generally speaking, you want lower numbers for the first five on that list and higher numbers for the last two. Another important area to pay attention to is the ingredients list.  On all labels, ingredients are listed by the amount in the product from highest to lowest.  So if you pick up that Brand X Whole Wheat Bread the ingredient list should say whole wheat grains, whole wheat flower, water, etc, etc, etc.  If high fructose corn syrup is listed as one of the first five ingredients, just put the bread down and step slowly away.  I encourage you to visit www.mypyramid.gov to find out what your daily nutritional needs are.  The nutritional labels on food products are all based on a 2,000 calorie per day diet, but that obviously does not fit each of us.  It’s a really quick, easy exercise that may very well put your entire diet in a different perspective for you.

Another factor to consider is the fact that most of the published studies regarding a products’ nutritional value are funded by the manufacturers of that product.  Not surprisingly, these studies find high nutritional value in said product 92% of the time versus a lower percentage of positive results when the study is funded by a non-profit organization.  This is important.  Go back to the beginning of this paragraph and re-read it. Consumers are almost completely unaware of this and many other examples of questionable health claims and trends.  Another example of a disturbing health trend is the fairly recent (since about World War I) practice of making meat or animal foods the main ingredient in every meal of the day.

One of the main staples of the American diet is meat.  While most cultures all over the world have increased the level of meat consumed, America is one culture that has taken it to drastic levels.  Whereas in the past meat was harder to come by and therefore only eaten a few times a week at most, the last few generations of Americans have increased consumption to eating meat or animal foods at every meal.  Animal foods are the only places in nature where cholesterol is found.  High levels of cholesterol result in cardiovascular disease, the main killer of Americans.  While cholesterol is an important part of every cell in our bodies, we produce enough of it that we do not need outside sources to meet our bodies’ needs.  Animal foods are also related to weight gain as they contain high levels of fat for the amount consumed. Another factor to consider regarding increased meat intake is the environmental effect.  Animal processing plants are a larger contributor to global warming than any other factor. And the negative health effects of eating animal foods filled with hormones and antibiotics is grossly under reported.  Overall, evidence points towards increased meat intake as a cause of overweight and obesity.

In addition to increased consumption of animal foods, most Americans regularly eat food from fast food restaurants.  Much of the food served by these establishments are highly processed, high in fat and saturated fat and contain little or no nutritional value when all factors are considered. And although many fast food companies have taken the initiative to provide consumers with the nutritional data of their food, few people are aware of this or are not educated about their personal daily nutritional needs so they have no way to know how much fat, calories, etc. per meal is too much.  Therefore, the average fast food patronizing consumer has no idea that a typical meal of a cheeseburger with fries and a soft drink probably meets at least half (or more) of their daily allowance of fat, calories, saturated fat and sodium.  Even worse, many people are led by questionable advertising to believe that any food from a certain restaurant is a healthy alternative to the typical fast food meal.  The most obvious example of this is Subway, which often advertises the health benefits of eating there as part of a low fat diet.  Most consumers are not aware that a meal from Subway can have about the same nutritional profile as a meal from McDonald’s. It is this lack of education about how to make good eating decisions that is another contributor to the overweight population in America.

The only way to prevent overweight and obesity is to educate people on the causes and prevention of these killers.  In preparation for this paper I conducted a very basic survey of family and friends on www.facebook.com to get a general idea of how knowledgeable people are on the subject of obesity.   My first question “Do you know what your B.M.I. is?” netted surprisingly positive results from the people who answered.  Most knew about what their B.M.I. was and only a few did not. Interestingly, a few people commented that they have a negative feeling about calculating/ knowing ones’ B.M.I.
My second question, “Do you know what the #1 cause of death in America is and the cause?”, came back with some interesting results.  Almost everyone who responded knew that it was something related to the heart, but no one knew the cause.

Based on this response from my relatively small group and studies done by the C.D.C, American Obesity Association and the U.S.D.A. this seems to reflect the general level of knowledge Americans have about the negative health effects of overweight/ obesity.  The U.S. government spends billions of dollars every year researching new cures for some of the most common causes of death such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer, yet spends only a few million on educating the public about the fact that all of these diseases are caused at least in part by overweight and obesity. If Americans were as bombarded with advertisements regarding truly healthy eating habits instead of commercials and products making false or questionable health claims, we could be a much healthier society.  A healthier America would result in billions of dollars less spent on health care, reduced unnecessary deaths and a positive impact on the environment.  The many benefits of working towards a thinner population are too many to name and while it will take a change in society norms, it truly is our only option to stopping this killer epidemic.

taking off the gloves…

spiked…

low fruit…

Tonight’s recipe was the Australian Gourmet Traveller’s version of Vietnamese caramel salmon.

I have previously enjoyed this dish in other forms, especially Bill Graingers version of it in which he dices the salmon into large cubes and has a stronger sauce than this recipe.

So, tonight involved cooking rice, making a mixed lettuce salad and of course cooking the salmon. The sauce for the salmon was a demi glaze.

And all of that was fine.

But what wasn’t fine was the recipe adding water into a pan of stuff which included two different oils. We all know oil and water don’t mix. But we decided to follow the recipe and of course huge splattering occurred, splattering oil all over the section of the kitchen with the cooktop and splattering the husband. NOT HAPPY.

Lessons learnt today: I prefer Bill Grainger’s caramel salmon to Australian Gourmet Traveller’s version; oil and water STILL don’t mix; and hot oil with water added to it will splatter everywhere, making a huge mess and will burn your skin if and wherever it hits it.

Recipes down 17, 42 to go.

Now I’m not a fussy person when it comes to the food I eat, but prawns are just not something I love. It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that they don’t impress me, they’re kind of a nothing. If they’re good prawns and perfectly cooked that’s good, I’ll enjoy them just like most people, but ones that are overcooked have a certain taste and texture which I just don’t enjoy, so I usually give them to the hubby as he loves prawns.

So, there are 4 (from memory) prawn recipes in the book. Prawn and pea linguine was the first that I’ve tackled. I must admit I was disappointed. The cream sauce was plain and boring. It needed garlic and perhaps onion, it just had no real substance to it. The dish was lacking. The peas were good, the pasta was good and the prawns, well, they were given to the hubby…

I was just thinking, I could retackle this one and try and improve it, see how it goes with garlic and onion in it, but honestly, it was that plain and boring that I don’t think I’ll bother. Maybe I’m used to my own cream sauces now which have more substance to them, but whatever it is, I was left with the sour taste of an expensive dish that didn’t live up to it’s price ticket.

I’ve now made quite a few more things. Many of them good and a couple just average. Let me explain:

Pearl barley, apple and proscuitto salad was good, but I really felt like it was missing something. For the serving that I did- half the recipe, the price of the ‘fancy bacon’ didn’t really equate to the overall taste. I felt ripped off with this one and am reluctant to try it again, though I think merely adding some honey and mustard seeds and more red wine vinegar to the dressing would make a difference. And I also think some onion in the barley as it cooks.

On the other hand, the pancetta, pea, lentil and mint salad was amazing. For something so simple it was awesome. The saltiness of the pancetta was a wonderful contrast to the lemon juice over the lentils and the sweet tang of the mint garnish. I really really enjoyed this one and am keen to make it again.

Broccolini with hazelnut dressing was interesting. I must express my frustration at getting broccolini. I went to 4 different fruit markets, 3 of them twice over the period of a few days and two supermarkets in my attempt to find broccolini. I’ve never found it difficult to source before, but it was a no go this time. So I admit a substitution of the closest vegetable-broccoli. The recipe called for black olive tapenade and I made this by hand, a process of finely chopping various things that I thoroughly enjoyed. The result was  broccoli, perfectly cooked with a slightly salty dressing. It was quite surprising. And it wasn’t until I was writing my impressions onto the page that I realised I had missed the hazelnuts. I have left over dressing, so I’m going to add some broccoli onto the side of tonights caramel salmon and add the hazelnuts this time so we get the full experience.

So far with the salads the book has proved interesting. Expensive. Pancetta and proscuitto are not cheap. Neither is verjuice or creme fraiche, though again I admit a substitution as we haven’t actually been able to find creme fraiche. My research taught me that half natural yoghurt and half cream would be a fair and the closest substitution, so this is what we went with.

And I’m almost sad to say that we have worked through most of the salads already. Only 2 to go and 5 down. One of the ones remaining is a mussel salad. Interesting….

frosting…

What is more festive and in the holiday spirit than a  candy cane inspired cupcake?!?  These were yummy and were a big hit!  Seeing as it’s the end of the school semester and my time was really crunched, I relied on an on-line recipe and other than a few tweeks here and there, it was great!  I’ve had a subscription to Cooking Light (where the recipe is from) for a while, and I have never been disappointed with their recipes, especially their baked goods.  So, recipe is behind the cut.  Enjoy

June Taylor products are hot, hot, hot. Sizzling hot.

Seems everywhere I turn, I’m seeing them in a magazine, on a newsflash, or on my doorstep.

I can explain that last one. I ordered three of JT’s products because, as it has been well documented here and there, I can’t seem to stay away from gourmet items.

I ordered Quince Butter ($14), Candied Bergamot Peel ($12) and Rose Geranium Syrup ($18) after spotting June Taylor’s products in the Food 52 Shop (both a hallowed and dangerous place for people like me.)

I wanted to make something using all three products, but after tasting each of them, I realized that was too ambitious, even for me.

Sometimes chefs have the tendency to wrap too many flavors together, when really, less is more.

So I settled on the quince butter and the bergamot, combined with sweet potatoes. I’ll save the syrup for another post. It needs something simple to let its unique flavor shine through.

Roasting sweet potatoes is one of the easiest preparations, so that’s where I started. I wanted to make a sauce from the quince butter and then top the mixture with the bergamot peel.

Pretty straightforward. Simply peel the sweet potatoes, and cut them into 1-inch rounds.

Layer them in a buttered baking dish, preferably one that can go from oven to table, like this pretty Emile Henry.

The bergamot orange (which is yellow in color, not orange) is small, very acidic, and used mainly for its essential oil (in the peel) in everything from perfume to confections to tea — Earl Grey tea, specifically.

I steeped 1 bag of Earl Grey in a small amount of water, making a strong tea, in essence, to enhance the sauce, thinking it would tie the quince butter and bergamot peel topping together.

The tea went into a small saucepan with the quince butter and some real butter. There is no butter in fruit butters coming from a jar. They’re called “butter” because the fruit is cooked down to a thick puree that can be spread, like soft butter.

Wanting to keep the flavors from becoming too muddled, I resisted the temptation to throw in a bunch of spices, although you certainly could. You could throw in some booze, too, and normally, I would have, but it was early and I wasn’t thinking straight, so I didn’t.

I did throw in a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg because, well, I couldn’t resist the urge completely.

The quince butter, tea and real butter boil together just long enough to thicken and meld together. I really should have added some brandy or Grand Marnier; what was I thinking? Instead, I tarted it up with a splash of apple cider vinegar.

The thickened fruit butter mixture is spread over the sweet potatoes and then the pan goes into the oven.

You should know that the sauce is sparten on purpose. You could increase the quantities a bit if you want lots of sauce after roasting, but again, I was showing restraint, still wanting the flavor of the sweet potatoes to come through.

I promise this need for restraint will pass.

While the mixture is bubbling away in the oven, I chopped the bergamot peel — finely — with a knife. I tried to use my mini-food processor, but I was only successful in knocking off the sugar coating. The peel resisted the blade. Guess I wasn’t the only one resisting today.

A chef’s knife and a little elbow grease soon made mincemeat out of the tough, fragrant peel.

To add a bit of texture, I chopped some toasted pecans to sprinkle on top along with the chopped bergamot.

Now the dish can go to the table, in its pretty baking dish, for everyone to ooh and ahh over. Visually appealing, yes, but for me, it’s the taste that deserves cooing.

From the earthy sweet potatoes to the tart quince butter to the unique taste of the bergamot, this dish brings a little sophistication and a lot of complex flavors from just a few, simple, expensive, gourmet products.

But you’re worth it, aren’t you?

Roasted Sweet Potatoes
with Quince Butter and Bergamot Peel

Serves 4 or 5

1 Earl Grey tea bag
1/3 cup boiling water

2/3 cup June Taylor Quince Butter
1 tablespoon butter (+ 1 teaspoon for buttering pan)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Pinch of nutmeg

2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch rounds
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1/3 cup chopped toasted pecans
2 tablespoons finely chopped bergamot peel

Heat the oven to 375º F. Steep the Earl Grey tea in the 1/3 cup boiling water and set aside for 5 minutes. Discard tea bag and pour tea into a small saucepan with the quince butter, real butter, vinegar and pinch of nutmeg. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

Butter a large baking dish with a teaspoon of softened butter. Lay the sweet potatoes in a single layer, fitting in as many rounds as you can.

Pour the reduced quince butter mixture over the top and spread evenly with a spatula. Cover with foil and place in the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the potatoes are almost but not quite fork tender. Remove the foil and continue roasting for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are fork tender.

Remove from oven and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Now sprinkle with pecans and bergamot peel and serve.

NOTE: Let’s just say, for example, you don’t have June Taylor’s products on hand, but you like the idea of this dish. You can substitute the quince butter with apple butter, and the candied bergamot peel with regular candied orange peel.

Since moving to my new residence in Surbiton, I’ve struggled to find as many good local food shops in close vicinity, so it’s fantastic that there have recently been some farmers markets in my street, Maple Road. The local shops (listed here: http://www.mapleroadsurbiton.co.uk/) sponsored the market, which included a number of great stalls – mostly food – but also some flower and arts stalls.

Some that I visited included:

• Norbiton Fine Cheese Company (which will come as little surprise)
• Simons Free Range Eggs (pretty straightforward proposition)
• Allingham Farm (which had a good variety including non-traditional) 
• SussexWay Traditional Meat (where I got a nice belly of pork)
• Corte dei Signori (got some great extra virgin olive oil)

I was thoroughly happy with what was on offer and even managed to get some mutton, which is hard to get hold of. I also tried a new cheese from the Norbiton Fine Cheese Company. It’s good to know as well that you’re dealing small local businesses, which helps to mitigate the feeling that all my money goes to Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.

Though I’ve not yet heard whether the markets are going to continue, SussexWay Meat’s website suggests they are going to continue to be regular – on the 3rd Saturday of each month at Maple road – here’s hoping!

Went to 1st Mondays at Canton the first of December with my sister and my aunt. 

Such a great place to shop and spend the day.  It would take several days to actually see it all; we just spent one.

One of our traditions when shopping in Canton is to make our first stop at Grandma’s Kitchen for some hot chocolate and a sausage biscuit.  They are very close to homemade and delicious.

Sometime during the day, my sister has to get a funnel cake.  This year, all three of us got one.  Mmmm.

Then, before we leave, my sister (again) has to stop by the Bavarian stand to buy a paper cone filled with cinnamon glazed pecans. 

I tried them for the first time this year.  After my first bite, I dug for my wallet and bought a cone of pecans and a cone of almonds.

The pecans were still warm.  I ate everyone of them.  The almonds were saved for home, where my grandson promptly took them over as his own.

He has good taste.

It’s a good thing that we do so much walking at Canton when we go.  Especially since so much of our time is spent eating.