Tonight we had enchiladas for dinner.  I was all prepped and organised, I’d made the sauce and done all of my prep as I had to go out and would only get back in time to eat.  Then I got the tortilla wraps out.  Disaster!  They’d gone off.  I knew that mum had made flour tortillas once before so it had to be doable and set off to google a quick recipe for tortillas.  I found two that looked good (love recipes with pictures!) and since they were both the same recipe with very different ratios I sort of took a stab at somewhere in the middle and made it up as I went a long.  With hindsight I’d use double the fat if I make these again and cook them for no more than 20 seconds each side.  As it was these tortillas were very stiff, when I tried to make an enchilada with one it cracked into six pieces.  No worries though, dinner became Layered Enchiladas!  But first here is the basic recipe for tortillas.

Makes 6 dinner plate sized ones, probably 8 smaller

250g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1tsp baking powder
50g lard or butter(I used 25g lard*)
100ml warm water plus extra as needed

- Mix together the flour, salt and baking powder in a medium sized bowl. 
- Rub in the lard or butter using your fingers. 
- Add the water and mix well.  Add water 1 tbsp at a time mixing between additions until a soft dough has formed. 
- Turn out onto a lightly floured worksurface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth. 
- Put in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rest for 15-20 minutes. 
- Turn out and lightly knead for a minute. 
- Divide into equal portions. 
- Cover any balls of dough you are not working with. 
- Heat a dry frying pan on the hob. 
- Roll out the ball of dough until paper thin.  Aim for a circle but tidy up the shape by stretching the dough out into shape with your hands.  This requires elbow grease.  When I say paper I mean it!
- Pick up and carefully place flat in the very hot frying pan. 
- Cook for 20-30 seconds each side.  Just scare it with the frying pan, don’t leave it or it will dry out too much. 
- Place the cooked tortillas under a tea towel in a warm place. 
- Repeat for each ball.

*Lard has a bad reputation but can actually be better for you than than butter.  I think it has less saturated fat and less cholesterol but I’m not certain just how much better it is.  Either way it doesn’t deserve the bad rep. it has.

Vegetable oils like soy, corn, cottonseed and canola are polyunsaturated fats. These fats are very unstable (because they have several double bonds that are easily broken, making it easy for free radicals to attack), especially when heated so they go rancid quickly. Humans have only been consuming these oils for about 100 years whereas butter, lard, beef tallow, coconut and olive oils have been consumed for thousands of years.  It is interesting to note that we didn’t develop epidemic rates of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity until we stared eating vegetable oils and decreasing our intake of animal fats.

Vegetable oils are generally high in omega 6 fats and low in omega 3 fats so if we eat a lot of them (which we do in America because everything is made with them) we get too much omega-6 and not enough omega-3 causing our fatty acid profile to become unbalanced.  Omega-6 and omega-3 fats compete with each other for absorption which means that a diet high in omega-6 fats will deplete the body of omega-3 fats.  This imbalance leads to inflammation, pain and disease.

The vegetable oils you buy at the store are most likely already rancid when you purchase them and products containing these oils are also already rancid.  We can’t tell they are rancid because deodorizers are used to disguise the rancid smell.  Heating these oils causes even more damage to these delicate oils which translates to more free radical production and inflammation in the body.

Another serious problem with vegetable oils is that, unless they are from an organic source, they are genetically modified.  Allergies have increased significantly since we have been eating genetically modified foods and these foods can also contribute to infertility and other problems.

The best fats to use are butter, coconut oil, olive oil, lard, beef tallow and palm oil, with small amounts of flax and sesame oil.  These fats promote health in the body and have nourished and strengthened humans for thousands of generations.

Annette Presley RD LD CPT, Chief Nutritionist for Liberation Wellness

Annette has been a registered dietitian for over 17 years and discovered several years ago that every thing she learned in school was wrong and the nutrition advice we dispense in this country actually causes heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity.  She is now dedicating her life to getting the truth out so people can live a truly healthy life.  She is founder of Find Your Weigh online at findyourweigh.com.

Une soupe aux rondeurs généreuses pour réchauffer les longues soirées d’hiver

Pour deux portions en plat unique.

1/2 coeur de chou frisé
1 carotte
1 poignée de lardons
1/2 oignon
1 gousse d’ail
1 feuille de laurier
1 branche de thym
1l de bouillon de volaille
Graisse d’oie ou de canard

Faire chauffer un large volume d’eau salée. Emincer le chou en fines lanières. Le blanchir dans l’eau bouillante pendant 5mn. Cette opération est censée faciliter la digestion du chou.
Eplucher et tailler la carotte en rondelles un peu épaisses.
Hacher oignon et ail. Les faire blondir dans la graisse d’oie. Ajouter les lardons puis la carotte et le chou égoutté.
Couvrir de bouillon de volaille. Ajouter le laurier et le thym. Saler et poivrer généreusement.
Faire mijoter à feu doux et à couvert 40mn environ, jusqu’à ce qu’une rondelle de carotte piquée sur le couteau retombe toute seule.
Servir accompagné de pain grillé frotté à l’ail.

All I really wanted were a couple dozen eggs and the butcher down the street has free-range chickens and eggs so I always try to buy them there, but as I stood there looking at the meat I couldn’t help but feel kind of repulsed by the sight of it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love meat and I eat meat, just not a lot of it; but now, after having gotten so much of it off the farm by killing it and portioning it myself, seeing it sitting in the butcher’s doesn’t seem to make it all that fresh and yummy.

Hold on a sec, this has nothing to do with the eggs I went in for in the first place, or the fat that this is supposed to be about.

One of the more important things that we divvy up amongst the families when we kill a pig is the fat, which is then taken home to be rendered. First of all, nothing is wasted, and I mean nothing. And secondly, pork fat is still used a lot here in cooking, baking and snacking. Yes, I said snacking. I’ve read that the Germans have a similar culinary delight called Griebenschmalz, but what my wife used to do before I introduced her to vegetables was simply to slice a piece of bread and slather it up with cold, homemade lard. She didn’t even bother with the little crunchy bits!

So staring me in the face at the butcher’s was a lot of unpleasant pieces of meat, but for some reason the cold, white stare of the pork fat sitting there seemed irresistible. So, here I am now in the kitchen finishing up with my rendering of pan upon pan of fat not only for the quart of fat it will produce but also for the small pieces of “škvarky” or as the Brits call it, “cracklings”. I’ve no idea what this is in American English to be honest, something akin to “pork rinds” I imagine. Hey, I grew up at a time when lard was on the out and no one used it except my grandmother in her awesome Angel Food Cakes. I’ve come to find more recently that it’s a great substitute in my Bran Muffins etc. whenever there is a call for shortening. It’s basically the same thing, no?

So what was it about those slices of white pig fat that was so enticing? I’ve no idea. Maybe the purity of it and the knowledge that within about 30-40 minutes of slicing and slowing frying, I could have something pretty simple and natural to cook with (or let others snack on) and I cannot fry eggs in anything other than pig fat, no way. And as for the “simple and natural” side of the argument, it seems that more and more, some of the old ways might have been the better ways, at least in terms of health.

And if you’re interested in how to do it yourself (it’s better than buying it), then here’s a quick run-through on how. Don’t forget to Eat Wild.

Gotta go, I’m making Avocado Soup with home-made chicken broth, and my wife is home so I think I’ll surprise her with some škvarky!

Soriana handmade soap

Liquid Oils : soya, linseed, canola, corn

Solid oils : pig fats (at 50.8%)

Water : solo 10oz

Lye : 5.29oz

Paprika for the orange color, cardamom for the spice

Fragrance : orange and vanille

HPS at 225F

Fragrance oil :

The name of Soriana because I had found the lard there, the purest to date that I could get my hand on around here.

I have also decided to use the minimum of water required here to see how the soap would beheave in the HPS.  Usually we would use the maximum of water, to preven the soap to burn.

Soriana handmade soap

Lard! I hate lard!

This may sound as sacrilegious as an Exxon exec owning an electric car, but I often despise patronizing bars. I have a love-hate explanation: I love craft brews. I hate paying $6 or $7 a pint.

“Then come to Brouwerij Lane,” my beerloving pal Matt suggested. The Greenpoint beer store pours its growler-ready draft beers on premise by the pint ($4) and the half pint ($2), creating a low-cost tasting station. “It’s like permanent happy hour,” he said, joyous words that echoed in my ears as we convened at Brouwerij Lane (78 Greenpoint Ave., at Franklin Ave., Brooklyn, 347-529-6133).

Though more store than saloon, Brouwerij contains a smattering of tables and, most crucially, a bathroom. We secured a corner table and tiptoed to the taps. A chalkboard listed the night’s intoxications, ranging from North Coast’s dark, cockles-warming Old Rasputin and Heartland Brewery’s sweet, spiced Imperial Smiling Pumpkin Ale. Tasty, but we thirsted for fresh-hop brews. August and September signal harvesting season for hops—the flower cones that provide beers’ bitter, floral flavors.

And though most hops are dried and packaged, just-plucked hops form fall’s fleeting delicacy: fresh-hopped beer. It’s grassy and vibrant, greener and livelier than super-bitter bombs such as Stone IPA or Bear Republic Racer 5.

Heart palpitating, drool forming, I dove into a Southern Tier Harvest Ale.

It drank citric and piney with just the slightest caramel jolt. By contrast, Matt’s Victory Harvest Ale was assertively malty and earthy, and the Two Brothers Heavy Handed Wet Hop was light in carbonation but heavy on the tongue. Paying but $4 a pint, we quickly and economically drank ourselves into a David Hasselhoff-like stupor.

Unlike the Hoff, there were no hamburgers to scavenge off the floor; instead, we debated the best food to cure beer munchies.

I voted for area Mexican star Papacito’s (999 Manhattan Ave. betw. Huron & Green Sts., Brooklyn, 718-349-7292), which makes Baja-quality fish tacos. Matt was atwitter after reading a rave review: “The [bacon] combination we found most persuasive was a weirdo appetizer at Polish newcomer Karczma, which features a bread dip called ‘peasant lard’—a pool of molten fat dotted with smoky bits of bacon.”

He paused for a moment, letting the words marinate in my mind, then added, “I want lard, and I want it now!” Now, Matt’s as keen as I am for culinary adventures, eager to trek to Brooklyn and Queens’ hinterlands for, say, a slice of clam-crowned pizza or extra-spicy chorizo. I mostly trust his taste. But lard and bread seemed as appealing as another Bloomberg term.

“I’m watching my girlish figure…” I begged, pointing to the beach ball between my nipples and waist as soft as Wonder bread. “Lard,” Matt commanded, a dining dictator issuing his final directive. I meekly agreed. Bellies sloshing with a fresh-hop sea, we bounded up Greenpoint Avenue to Karczma (136 Greenpoint Ave. betw. Manhattan & Greenpoint Aves., 718-349-1744; Brooklyn). It looked like the Wild West invaded Poland.Wooden booths were complemented by wagon wheels and a faux well. Farm implements were strewn willy-nilly, providing ample weaponry should we be overrun by the brains-craving undead.

Using our tastily pickled gray matter, we ordered a banquet of Polish brews, beer-roasted ham hocks, stuffed cabbage, kielbasa, pierogies and peasant-style lard. “I enjoy that one very much,” assured the waitress, wearing a frilly dress. Matt beamed with I-told-you-so pride. His smile broadened as we tore into kielbasa that was split and griddle-crisped to a snappy, fatty crunch.The pierogies were plump and tender, swollen with mashed potatoes. The cabbage was as tasty as limp leaves wrapped around a meaty lump could ever aspire to be. However, the ham hocks were a brown slurry of bone, skin and swine. For once, I understood my girlfriend’s vegetarianism.

Matt gamely gobbled a couple chunks.

His smile sagged like 70-year-old cleavage, then skipped town upon the lard’s arrival. Thin-sliced brown bread was served alongside a cool ramekin containing what resembled chunky pomade. I sunk my knife into the thick spread, smeared it across bread and took my first and last bite.The lard was as slick and flavorful as Crisco. The bacon nibs were rubbery speed bumps. In car terms, peasant lard was a clunker.

“Seconds?” I asked Matt, whose face was lard-colored.

“Shut up,” he said, reaching for his crisp, palate-cleansing pilsner.

After a visit to the Ithaca farmer’s market on Saturday, I made some awesome bacon chocolate chip cookies!  This time, however, I substituted lard for half of the butter.  Besides giving a slightly different flavor, the lard kept the cookies a little more structured (like Crisco does) than butter alone.  The bacon was also very delicious, especially with 60% Ghiradelli chocolate.

A few days ago, I also made a pumpkin semifreddo.  The backstory is that I don’t have an ice cream freezer, but I really wanted to do something with pumpkin creme anglaise.  So, after making the anglaise, I beat two or three eggwhites and sugar to a meringue and folded in about half to two-thirds of a cup of the creme anglaise.  This gave a lighter but spiced and definitively pumpkin flavor and froze very well; it was not crystalized at all.  I plated it with an apple cider reduction and salted pumpkin seeds.  Not only did they make for great presentation, but it was a tasty combination!

This past weekend my sister, her fiancée, and I threw a Halloween/Día de los Muertos party.  We set up a little altar with candles, calaveras, and saints, and made some Mexican food to go along with the theme.  I made a Tamal de Cazuela, which is a Mexican tamal casserole dish.  The casserole is made by layering masa with a filling of choice and then more masa in a dish, and baking it in the oven for about an hour.  It is kind of like a Mexican lasagna.  You can make a Tamal de Cazuela with basically any combination of vegetables and meats that you would like, as well as green or red sauces to go along.  It is much easier to make than tamales, which are individually wrapped in corn husks and steamed.  Emma and I actually made a Tamal de Cazuela last year for our Dia de los Muertos episode.  I honestly had not realized that I was repeating the same dish until recently.  The dish just makes perfect sense for familiar gatherings- its comforting, delicious, and easy to serve.

The secret to the Tamal de Cazuela is the ingredients of course.  For the party I made two different kinds; one with chicken and guajillo sauce, and one with Queso Oaxaca and roasted poblano peppers.  The masa requires corn flour that is specially prepared to make tamales.  I bought mine at a Mexican panaderia on 110^th and Lexington, but you can find it at most Latin food markets.  I also used Flying Pigs Farm Lard, which in my opinion makes a huge difference in flavor.  Lard is a healthier fat than butter or vegetable shortening, and if bought from sustainable farms, has incredible flavor and quality.  For last year’s dish, Emma and I had opted to use olive oil as the fat for the dish. Either one is fine.  For the chicken filled casserole, I bought a whole chicken and made a broth from scratch, along with some carrots, onions, celery, and aromatics.  I then shredded the cooked chicken to use as the filling, and used the broth to flavor the masa as well.  All of these little steps might seem trivial, but they make a really big difference in flavor.  The recipe that I used for the party was from Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen.   If you want another good recipe, check out last year’s Kitchen Caravan episode.

We had our neighbors and their children over for dinner last Sunday and made a great Mexican meal! It was really nice to share this experience with others who are excited about the project. My friend Kristi even made Creamy Lime Pie (D10) from the book to complement the meal, but also to not make anything that I haven’t made yet (since I would probably be tempted to count it without actually cooking it). I made Oaxacan Black Bean Soup (LHS7) and Red Chile-Braised Chicken with Potatoes and Greens (MD1). I also made poached chicken for the kids who didn’t want Mexican food and Kristi brought pasta with parmesan and carrots. In all there were 5 kids, aged 3, 5, 6, 8, and 11. Only the 11 year old wanted to try the “adult” food but I’m happy to report that she liked everything. The other kids were happy with their selections and all enjoyed the pie
Let’s start with the soup. This recipe was both easy and fabulous!! It’s a definite keeper. Just simmer black beans with water, fennel (since I couldn’t find avocado leaves), chorizo (only 4 oz. for 6 servings so I would count this as a healthy dish too), and onion. Once the beans are fully cooked you purée the soup with an immersion blender (truly one of the best ever invented kitchen tools!) and season with salt adding more water to get the consistency that you want. The soup is served with fried tortilla strips and crumbled queso fresco. The soup had a great smooth texture with the wonderful earthy flavor of the black beans. I was also really surprised at how much flavor a relatively small amount of chorizo added. It added a nice meaty spice to the dish that was subtle but a wonderful contribution. The queso fresco and the crunchy fried tortilla strips provided a nice flavor and texture contrast.

You can also add optional shrimp which would be cooked in the soup at the end. I had, in fact, intended to do this but I shopped for the meal early in the week and thought I would go out the day of and get the shrimp. Of course when the day came I didn’t think about it until I didn’t really have time to run out again. But really, unless you’re doing the soup as a main course, I don’t think you need them. I do sense that I’ll be making this soup again so at some point I’ll have to go the shrimp route to see what that adds.
Next was the Red Chile-Braised Chicken. I have to say that I really like dishes that are prepared all in one pot. This is probably because complete meal planning has never been my forte. For most of my adult life I’ve thought that if I’ve remembered to take fish or chicken out of the freezer for dinner that I would be done. It’s only after that fish or chicken is ready to eat that usually John will say “So, what are we having with this?” So one-pot meals have always appealed to me in that the meat and the veggies are all taken care of in one dish. In my defense, I am starting to get better at meal planning. I made a pretty big leap in this area over lent when I gave up meat. I knew I had to plan more than one thing for each meal and that has carried over. That and we’re trying to eat less meat in general (reading Michael Pollen’s books have convinced me that for the most part the veggies should be the center with meat as a side complement) so I’m trying to make sure that we have good sides.
What was I talking about? Oh yeah, Red Chile-Braised Chicken. I had John quarter the whole chicken for me (he really is better at poultry deconstruction than I am) and the pieces were browned in oil and set aside. Then you make the flavor base which in this recipe was EF10 Essential Sweet-and-Spicy Ancho Seasoning Paste. I have made this once before with the simple red mole enchiladas. The paste is combined with broth to make a sauce and the chicken, potatoes, and greens (in our case, collards) are cooked in the sauce. This is then all served together. This, too, was excellent. The chicken was moist and the sauce had a very nice spicy, earthy, tangy flavor. I am also a fan of greens; I feel so healthy when I’m eating them. And when they’re smothered in a yummy sauce, so much the better My only complaint was that the potatoes were just slightly under cooked. Instead of halving them I would try quartering them the next time.

I’ll just make a couple of notes about the Creamy Lime Pie, made by Kristi. She made all of the substitutions of the more authentic ingredients: shortening instead of lard in the crust, all-purpose flour instead of masa harina and creme fraîche instead of Mexican crema. Here’s how I would rate the result. I think the crust made with lard was a little more flaky. The filling, however, tasted just as I had remembered mine tasting. That said, her pie didn’t firm up in the oven and after exceeding the cooking time waiting for it to firm up, we took it out (also, the crust was starting to get a little too brown). But by the time we cut it into pieces, though, it had firmed up and so was fine. There was also a little bit of a lag between preparing the filling and getting it into the oven, so maybe that had an effect. She made the filling at home and we cooked it chez moi so that it would be warm for serving (as recommended by Rick).

To date, I have only been a lodger three times. Twice in 2005 and once in 2006 I moved into someone else’s home and shared their space. The first time was, in all honesty, a bit of a nightmare. The next two times were much, much better. However, my experiences in this area have led me to not want to become a lodger again. I first lodged with a married couple; both were in their mid-fifties when I moved in with them in early 2005. It was never going to be a permanent arrangement, just for a few months. At first things went well. The couple seemed easy going enough and I was made to feel fairly welcome. But soon things changed. The woman of the house seemed to think that I should treat her almost as a mother, even though I was paying £65 ($107.57) a week for room and board. After telling me I could come and go as I pleased and, perfectly reasonably, asking me to let her know if I ever wasn’t going to be back to eat so she wouldn’t waste food, she started wanting to know where I was going when I went out, who with etc what time I would be back and so on. At mealtimes when I didn’t eat as much as she wanted me to she would say ‘Get some more’ and act as though I had insulted her when I politely refused. If I ever wasn’t going to be back for a meal and I called or text to let her know she would try and talk me out of my plans and try to get me to eat back at the house. I started to feel more and more uncomfortable of this and other things where I gradually felt less and less welcome in their house. After a few months of her calling me ‘Little Lord Fauntelroy’ behind my back I finally left after lying in bed one night listening to her telling her husband that I had been stealing her hair conditioner, which I hadn’t. With that lesson under my belt I had no plans to lodge again. However, in the autumn I got a job on a newspaper. To take the hassle out of finding somewhere right away I moved in with family friends until I could find somewhere more permanent. Though nervous, I had no reason to be, as I had known the people I moved in with for a long time. This experience was much better than the last and restored my faith in ‘lodging’. But, I left after eight weeks as I decided to quit the job, though that’s another story entirely. The next position I had lined up was only a temporary one, for three months, working for a charity. I had hopes it might turn permanent, but it didn’t. Anyway, I lodged with a woman then recently widowed. The city was too far for me to commute to so I again took lodgings. My new landlady had a few students also lodging with her and I took a room for one night a week as my position with the charity was for only two days a week. I did not see my landlady very much, but she was friendly enough whenever I did. The job with the charity came to an end and so I no longer need the room and to date that has been my experience of lodging. What I think is difficult about it is the feeling of invading someone’s space. Lodging can be very good, but only if you get along really well with your landlord and/or landlady. If you don’t get along with them, frustrations and resentments on both sides can soon grow. In my experience to date, despite the good lodging experiences, it is much better to either try to rent a flat or bed-sit or if these are beyond your means, a room in a shared house as at least then you all have an equal share in it and really can come and go as you please. Thanks for reading.

Assalamu aleykum Här är 10 saker du kan göra för att få Allahs kärlek .
av Sheykhen dom kallar doktor av hjärtan ingen annan en Ibn Qayyium (må Allahs Barmhärtighet va över honom)

Idag i moskén hade jag och Ebrahim liten påminnelse och han pratade om just dessa 10 saker fast gick djupare i det..
så ville dela dena youtube grejen med er för Sannerligen är det kunskap som kan i praktik nytta oss alla med Allahs tillåtelse.

Var väldigt trött idag kändes som halva mitt face somnade under min påminnelse vet inte hur det blev men inshaALlahAlhamdolilah det blev säkert bra Ebrahim MashaAllah var mycket lär rik och något som vi alla behöver.
i dag fredag är det efter magrib och efter isha igen tror jag..
shyekh abdul hamid och bror jakob al qods om tålamod i islam och min väg till islam.

må Allah göra oss av dom som ständigt har hans kärlek och hans nöje över oss amin Allahumma amin.

dax att sova mina Syskon
Mvh salam aleykum //Abdul Samad Abu Samaka bin Hajar

I FINALLY FOUND IT!!! I may have not blogged about this before but I went through a period of time where I craved for gan mien soooo much so I googled up recipes for kolo mee and well, guess what I found!!! The heavenly kolo mee recipe by studentonabudget!!! My gosh I was soooo excited, so happy, so touched (‘cos finally can eat gan mien in Australia T_T), so emo etc wtf.

BUT! I was basically thrown back to hell after being in heaven for that few minutes – because I found out that I’d need lard for the ingredients. And no, I can’t substitute it for any other oil/animal fat/vegetable fat/whatever ‘cos it just won’t taste the same!

At first I was hopeful. I thought I’d be able to find them as long as my will is strong and my heart is determined (wtf). But most of the supermarkets I visited disappointed me. Well, I found duck fat and ducks are not pigs are they. =( So I thought oh well, maybe I’ll have to try oriental stores instead since Asians are more likely to cook & consume unhealthy food compared to the angmohs, hahahaha. But everytime I asked the owners of the stores if they sell lard, they look at me like I’m a crazy woman asking if they sell cow dung

In the end, I had NO CHOICE but to buy a block of animal fat from the supermarket WTFFFF. The result of my first gan mien attempt? FAIL. I think the animal fat was a mixture of lamb fat/duck fat/chicken fat/pork fat that I felt sick at just the thought of it. But I finished my plate nonetheless. /digs throat and vomits

Several months later…… I was browsing through the cheese and dips area in IGA one evening and suddenly, my instincts told me to look at the 38th item from the left on the top row and I just couldn’t believe my eyes ‘cos the 4 sweet letters on that white innocent tub spelt L-A-R-D.

This time, the dish tasted sooooooo much better although I still can’t find the perfect noodles to imitate the real thing.

Gan mien lovers overseas or in Semenanjung who crave for a bowl of goodness now should IMMEDIATELY RUSH OUT TO GET YOUR TUB OF LARD AND START COOKING!

A zillion thanks to studentonabudget once again!

I love my lard.

This year's Thanksgiving Pie

My good friend C's cute kid in the pumpkin patch, because I just couldn't get there this year!

This is the time of year when pumpkin patches are on the mind.  Alongside the highway, on the way to the ferries, the large pumpkin fields of Mitchell’s Farm are full of parents and children in search of the perfect pumpkin.

These aren’t the best eating pumpkins, truth be told.  These are carving pumpkins.  You know, for jack o’lanterns.  Pretty much the only part of these pumpkins that gets eaten is the seeds (I mean, you can make allll sorts of delicious things – like roasted pumpkin soup, or stuffed roasted pumpkin, or grilled pumpkin spears, or ricotta pumpkin agnollotti – but what I’m saying is that these pumpkins mostly seem to get used to make hallowe’en decorations).  Mmmmmmmm … roasted pumpkin seeds!  Delish!  I like them with a little bit of olive oil and seasoning salt on them.  Alternatively, a little olive oil, some garlic powder, salt and pepper.  You scoop out all the gooey stringy insides of the pumpkin and pick out the seeds from the pulp.  I like to roll them around in a paper towel or a dish cloth to get the majority of the pulp off before tossing them with the oil and seasonings.  Some people rinse them to get all the goo off, but I like how it adds to the pumpin-y flavour and caramelizes a little.  In the oven on cookie sheets at 350 for some random period of time equal to how long it takes for them to get toasty and Bob’s Your Uncle! (where does that saying come from anyway?).

What I really love pumpkins for, in case no one picked this up from my Brandied Fruits post the other day, is pumpkin pie.  God love a good pumpkin pie!  For true pumpkin pie, made from scratch, you’re supposed to use sugar pumpkins, not the big, tough old things that people use to create ghoulish artwork every October 31st.  Of course, I am usually in a time crunch when I make pumpkin pie because it seems to be a holiday thing and the meals it goes best with are those that involve a lot of oven-intensive dishes – turkey, candied yams, stuffing, roast vegetables and the like.  So the pie almost always gets short-shrift.  Horrific, if you ask me.  It also means I almost always … okay … always use canned pumpkin.  Nothing wrong with that actually.  Just make sure to just use the pure pumpkin, not the instant pumpkin pie filling pumpkin.

I’m not one to buy my pastry pre-made.  I pride myself on my ability to make a great pastry.  So that’s what I do.  I used to use the recipe off the back of the Fluffo box (vegetable shortening – though lard is also good), but either I have somehow invented that in my own head, or they changed the recipe this year.  Either of these things is possible.  In any event, I can’t share my fail-safe perfect pastry recipe here with you.  Not yet.  I am in an ongoing heated competition with some other pie-makers and this competition will continue until I am, once and for all, named the Supreme High Best Piemaker.  Until then, top secret baby. Top Secret.

I will share one of my favorite pumpkin pie recipes with you though.  It’s not mine, but I often rely on it.  It’s from the Silver Palate Cookbook and it’s awesome.  Go here to read the whole thing. I frequently use this recipe as a base for my own variations.  I will tell you this tidbit – if you switch out the ground ginger for fresh ginger, and if you add a couple tablespoons of molasses and a few spoonfuls of maple syrup, instead of the brown sugar … mmmmmmmmm.  I should also add that although I like this recipe because it is not hugely sweet, I often use even less sugar than it calls for.  I tend to do that.  I like to taste the fruit, or vegetable as the case may be, in my pies.

Pumpkin Pie should always be made Deep Dish.  Why?  Because then the slices are bigger.  Duh!  Like most custard based pies, it’s tricky to make a pumpkin pie that doesn’t crack in the oven and most recipes you will find are not for a deep dish pie.  The key is to start it out hot (425 – 450) for the first 10 minutes, like you would with a cheesecake, and then turn the heat down to 325 and cook it slowly over a long time.  Watch it though.  Don’t leave it in too long.  It’s okay if it’s still ever so slightly shiny and wet looking in the middle, so long as a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out mostly clean.  Don’t worry – they always set.

This pie stayed in the oven a tiny bit too long, which is why you see a cracks and some brown spots on it, but it still tasted yummy!

I prefer my pumpkin pie still warm out of the oven and smothered in fresh whipping cream.  Maple whipped cream is good.  If you make some candied pecans, or even pralines, and crunch them up as a topping for the pie, that’s good too.  Because pumpkin is a vegetable, I like to tell myself that it is a healthy meal choice and I definitely enjoy my pie for breakfast.

This last Thanksgiving, I made two pumpkin pies (one for each Thanksgiving dinner I went to).  My kid had a bite of my pumpkin pie – his first.  Then he proceeded to eat half of my piece of pie.  Then he had a whole piece to himself.  He is definitely my child.

B.

Abud-Darda (må Allah vara nöjd med honom) rapporterade: Allahs sändebud (frid över honom) sade: “Den som följer en väg i sökandet efter kunskap, kommer Allah att göra vägen till Jannah lätt för honom. Änglarna sänka sina vingar över den som söker kunskap, är nöjd med vad han gör. Invånarna i himlen och jorden och till och med fiskarna i djupet av oceanerna söka förlåtelse för honom. överlägsenhet lärd över de hängivna dyrkare är liksom den fullmåne till resten av stjärnorna (dvs i ljusstyrka). De lärda är arvtagare till de profeter som efterlämnar varken dinar eller dirham utan endast den kunskap, och han som förvärvar den, faktiskt har fått en riklig portion. ” “
[Abu Dawud och At-Tirmidhi].

Allah Den Barmhärtige låter oss veta i Koranen.

“Och säg:” Min Herre! låt min kunskap växa!”(20:114)

“Är de som vet lika med dem som inte vet?” ‘(39:9)

“Allah kommer att upphöja i grad de av er som tror, och de som har beviljats kunskap.”(58:11)

“Det är bara de som har kunskap bland sina slavar som frukta Allah.”(35:28)

Mu `awiyah (må Allah vara nöjd med honom) rapporterade: Allahs sändebud sade,” När Allah önskar bra för någon, skänker han honom att förstå Deen.”
[Al-Bukhari och Muslim].

Kommentar: Kunskap och förståelse för Deen (religion) här står för förståelsen av Koranen och hadith, religiösa förelägganden, och kunskap om lagligt och olagligt. Denna Hadith belyser hur utmärkt kunskap är, och det faktum att det är ett tecken på Guds hjälp till den person som innehar den och verkar på det

I’ve admitted it, I’m fat. Not just fat, but I feel like I’m 10 pounds away from being carted out of my apartment by a fire brigade and a fork lift. I was once much, much skinnier, muscular, had a jaw line and could walk to the door without being winded, but those days seem to be over.
That’s why I’ve decied to tell the world…that I, Nolo, am a fat f*&k.  Yeah, I censored a naughty word, but screamed something similar when I couldn’t fit into my favorite suit tonight.  So starting Monday, October 19th, 2009, I’m going to blog what I eat, how I felt, any exercise, or any other stupid thought that comes through my head.

By Independent Consultant, Michelle Glasshappy

I was online looking for tasty food recipes, when I noticed that all of the food recipes advertised themselves as healthy. But I thought, “what about unhealthy food ideas? At least those taste good!” So here are my 10 patented unhealthy food ideas.

1. Butter Chip Cookies. Instead of chocolate chip chunks in those cookies, you can replace the chocolate with pure cocoa butter. Or even better, actual butter! In fact, if you can isolate pure saturated fat, then I’d suggest using that for your cookie chunks.

2. Tasty Raviolis. I call them tasty raviolis because they lack marinara and cheese. Instead, they contain cookie dough and lard filling.

3. Meat Salad. Take all your favorite red meats, chop them up, and mix them up into a lovely blend of animal flesh. You have to have dressing with that salad. So I’d top it off with some fresh bacon grease.

4. Ice (Meat) Cream. Most people like their ice cream to be purely dairy. But I like mine to be purely meat. That’s why you should collect all the excess grease (the cream of the meat) from all the various meats you cook with, and freeze it up. Make sure you add plenty of sugar. Mmm….yum.

5. Soda Pop and Wheaties. Normally, you would pour some kind of low fat milk into your cereal. But my suggestion is that you let your kids use soda pop instead. My suggestion to you, the parent, is that you use some kind of hard liquor. Avoid beer, especially wheat beer and wine, since those might actually be good for you.

6. Fish without Omega-3. Omega-3 is not a very tasty fat/oil. Avoid it at all costs. If your fish contains any amount of Omega-3 fatty acids, don’t throw it away. Cook it throughly and make sure you remove excess oil that contain Omega-3. If you can, just burn the fish to a nice carcinogen crisp of pure carbon blackness.

7. Pop Salts. Don’t like your Pop Tarts tasting merely sweet and tart? Well, the answer is quite simple. Just pour salt generously on each Pop Tart serving.

8. Speaking of salt, I’d like to suggest that you use it generously with anything and everything. Don’t hold back. There’s a reason why we have salt receptors on our tongue. Use them, and reuse them.

9. Try replacing your vegetable oils with meat oils. Don’t even think of using butter. Just go for pure beef tallow.

10. Pick your vegetables wisely. If you get potatoes, please remove their skins. You just want the pure starch interior. Use green vegetables very sparingly, as they can easily rob your food of its good and tasty flavors.

To familiarize yourself with the good and bad fat

Saturated fats:

These “bad” fats are solid at room temperature. They are found mostly in animal foods (meats, poultry, dairy products) and in some vegetable products, such as coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and vegetable shortening. Saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, as well as many other cancers and diseases. The liver uses saturated fats to manufacture cholesterol, so it’s important to restrict intake of saturated fat for this reason as well. Saturated fats should make up less than 10% of your total fat intake.

Trans-fatty acids:

These unnatural fats are created through a process called hydrogenation, which transforms unsaturated fats into saturated fats. But you won’t see the words “trans-fatty acids” on food labels. Instead, look for “hydro-genated” or “partially hydrogenated” oil among the ingredients. Margarine, shortening, crackers, baked goods, and junk foods are typically high in hydrogenated oils. Trans-fatty acids extend the shelf life of products, but they do nothing to extend the life of the people who eat them. In fact, trans-fatty acids appear to play a role in causing breast cancer. They also interfere with the body’s ability to utilize the good essential fatty acids, raise the level of bad cholesterol, and lower the level of good cholesterol.

Polyunsaturated fats:

This group contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which have both good and bad qualities. The omega-3s (also called linolenic oils) are found in flaxseed, hemp seed, walnut oils, and cold-water fish, such as salmon, tuna, and herring. Omega-3s protect against cancer and cardiovascular disease. Omega-6 fatty acids (also called linolenic oil) are found in vegetable oils, such as corn, safflower, and sunflower oils. In small amounts they can lower total cholesterol levels, but in larger amounts they can lower levels of the “good” cholesterol (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), and they are associated with an increased risk of cancer

Mono-unsaturated fats:

This category includes the fats most often recognized as being healthy: olive oil, peanut oil, or any other fresh, unprocessed oil.

Any fats, even the healthy ones, can turn toxic if heated. Erasmus notes that “Frying once or twice won’t kill us, but after ten, twenty, or thirty years of eating fried foods, our cells accumulate altered and toxic products for which they have not evolved efficient detoxifying mechanisms. Un-toasted sesame oil and olive oil are the most stable of the unsaturated oils and therefore may be heated more safely than other unsaturated oils, which include safflower, corn, and canola. These three commonly used oils are treated with sodium hydroxide and phosphoric acid, and are deodorized, bleached, and heated at high temperatures, all of which makes them unhealthy and likely to be carcinogenic.

Fat and Toxins

Dietary fat, especially animal fats, often contain pesticides hormones, fungicides, and other carcinogens. Food animals are fed large amounts of dangerous chemicals to make them fatter faster. These chemicals accumulate in the animal’s fat, then are ingested by people. Because these toxins have an affinity for fat, women’s breasts are a prime gathering spot for them. Thus, animal fat carries a double danger for women.

Fat and Estrogen

Given the compelling evidence that heightened exposure to estrogen is associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, the link between high fat intake and breast cancer is even more convincing. Estrogen has an affinity for fat. As a woman’s fat intake increases, so do her levels of estrogen.

Recent study findings illustrate this concept well. At the University of Southern California, researchers found that women’s estrogen levels are lowered by up to 23% when their intake of dietary fat is lowered to 10 to 20% of their diet. Significant reductions in estrogen were also seen in diets that contained 18 to 25% of calories from fat.

Scientists have also looked at fat intake, estrogen levels, and incidence of breast cancer among women who eat either a vegetarian or a vegan diet (no animal products at all). Fat intake is typically much lower in these women, so you would expect to ice lower estrogen levels as well. Research findings bear this out. One study of pre-menopausal vegetarians showed estrogen levels 23% lower than in non-vegetarians, while another study of postmenopausal vegans revealed that they had estrogen levels up to 40% lower.

Similarly, obesity is a risk factor for breast cancer, and overweight women have higher levels of estrogen than thinner women. That’s because fat cells produce estrogen from the hormone androgen in the body. The higher the percentage of body fat, the greater the production of estrogen.

Some scientists say the relationship between dietary fat and breast cancer risk is so strong, if women reduced their fat intake by 50%, the risk of breast cancer could be lowered by about 250%. Tips on how you can greatly reduce your intake of bad fats and still eat foods you enjoy can be seen in my other article.

Related book :Ms Yvonne Lee Best Selling Breast Care Book! It describes and details breast care techniques from every corner of the world. The book is endorses by more then 80 well known doctor and surgeon from 28 countries.

This article is not designed as a substitute for personal medical advice but as a supplement to advice for those wishes to understand more about her condition.

by: Annabel Cruz

About The Author

Annabel Cruz is a researcher that studies Natural healing by combining both Western and Eastern ways. Feel free to use this article on your website or ezine as long as the following information about author/website is included. And we provide best pueraria mirifica information on the site.  http://www.bestpuerariamirifica.com

Handmade soap using the funnel technic

What a beauty!!  Why is it called a funnel soap?

Well simply put : funnel is a process that uses a funnel to pour the soap to be, in its container (here for instance, I am using an old wooded wine box I got at the local liquor store).

Yesterday, this soap was made with :

Soya oil

Corn oil

Lard

Red and Chocolate mica colors

Fragrance : spicy fall (smell like a pumpkin pie…)

Method used here : CPOP (cold process oven process)

Divide the soap mix into equal quantities (use a scale for this).  Mix colors in one and leave the other plain.  I did not have a regular funnel here and instead I used an old cylinder pipe, with very small opening at one end.  I used chop sticks taped on each side of the pipe and lay it upright over my container.  After assuring everything would not move, I started to pour both mix into the pipe at the same time, in very small quantity. 

Usually I use the HP method (hot process method) but with this one, I really wanted the soap to retain the color of the mix and to fade away between layers, something HPhas a tendency not to do.  HPwill kind of show the colors in separated layers without too much of fading between.  My personal taste here.

Here are two pictures of my handmade soaps : one is the funnel one using the CPOP method and the other is one using the HP method.  Not much difference here but still, the fading and blending is more soft in the CPOP one.

CPOP funnel soap

HP handmade soap : tourbillon

By the way, I did the tongue test this morning (stick the tip of your tongue directly on the soap and see if it hits you with a very small pinch of electrical power.  If you do not feel anything but just the taste of the soap, it means that the lye inside the soap has completely melted into the soap and it is safe to be used directly on your wonderful skin.  If you get a pinch of very small voltage, do not use it right away.  Wait a few days for the lye to disappear into the soap) and the funnel handmade soap is ready to use : NOW!

meat from a turkey leg

Sunday cooking usually involves Turkey or some kind of poultry, duck, etc…

It is tradition that I still carry over the years, as each Sunday in my family, my mother would serve a big chicken at noon, with all the trimming : mashed potatoes with butter and cream and of course one or two veggies from the huge garden outside.  During the winter months, because we had snow covering the ground big time, we would have the roots vegetables : parsnip, carrots or canned corn instead of the fresh ones.

the dressing over the turkey leg, before baking

So yesterday been Sunday in my part of this planet, and always using the fat of my land, I served this beautiful bird with : Basil pesto, Tomato pesto and glazed with my homemade lamb fat, full of spices and oh the aroma in the kitchen when all of this was baking, a sin right here, just a big sin!

tomato pesto, lamb fat and basil pesto

In case you missed it, you can Youtube it.  Last week on “The View,” Barbara Walters took Savannah’s darlin’, Paula Deen, to the woodshed about the lard laden recipes in Our Paula’s latest cookbook for kids.  First, Happy Birthday Sugah to Barbara Wawa who turned 80.  Yes, 80 years old not pounds, on September 25.  And, the former “Today Girl,” looks terrific.

But, Barbara, sweetheart,what say let’s “Decriminalize Lard” during the holidays.  I think it could be a culture thing.  Pigs have been in the New World since Hernando de Soto and the other Spanish explorers brought the bacon.  However, Barbara’s people were from Boston and of course that’s where they banned indulgences such as the joyful celebration of Christmas.  So, no joy, no Christmas, no Christmas lard cookies.  They got plenty o’ nuttin.’  Just flatbread and switches.

Defending Paula’s honor and celebrating Barbara’s birthday, Southernness googled the combination of “lard, molasses and pecans” and turned up this great holiday recipe at www.cooks.com for:

KICKED UP TOLL HOUSE COOKIES

Ingredients

1/3 cup butter flavored Crisco
1/4 cup lard (may substitute Crisco if you're a Puritan)
3/4 stick butter
1 cup white granulated sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 Tablespoon blackstrap molasses
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon allspice
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons rum (up yours, Puritans)
1 teaspoon vanilla1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup chooped pecans
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Pinch of salt
2 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup oatmeal


In a mixer, combine Crisco, lard, and butter, and whip until light.  Slowly add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy.  Stire in the spices, baking powder and salt.  Add the two eggs and mix only to combine.  In a separate bowl, add hot water to the brown sugar along with the baking soda.  When dissolved, add this to the sugar and spice mixture to combine.  Add the oatmeal.

Slowly stir in the flour, stopping occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Stir in the rum and vanilla.  Limit your mixing of the dough to about one minute once the flour has been added, in order to avoid a tough cookie.  TOUGH COOKIES SHOULD BE AVOIDED.  Stir in the chocolate, pecans and raisins.

Using two spoons, drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets and bake in pre-heated 375 degree oven on the middle shelf until cookies are lightly browned along edges and barely golden on top.  this will take about 7-10 minutes depending on the size of each cookie and the temperature of your oven.

These holiday treats are so GRAND, maybe they should be called TOLL PLANTATION HOUSE COOKIES.

Happy 80th Birthday to Barbara Walters,  Love Y’all to Precious Darlin’ Paula Deen and Happy SEMISEPTCENTENNIAL Christmas Y’all,

Ben South

Southernness