Bacon cookies... yum

I know... two posts within a day!  But it has been a busy day!  Between the book shopping and chicken stock making... I decided to make cookies for my neighbors who are wonderful enough to mow my lawn.  And, cookies always seem to be a nice thank you.  

So, I decided to make bacon spice cookies with some left over bacon fat that we had stored in freezer.  It looked like a interesting recipe and I thought that since we were well stocked on bacon fat that this might be the time to use up some of the collection.  OK, so it is a multi-functional cookie. :)

The BF voted them yummy but would like some chocolate in them sans spice.  So, I will have to play with the recipe and chocolate.

Here is the recipe.  It isn't a BACON flavor - rather a nice smokey spice cookie - some what like gingerbread with a smokiness.

Bacon Fat Spice Cookies

• 1 1/4 cup flour 
• 1/2 cup sugar 
• 1 teaspoon sea salt 
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cloves 
• 1/2 cup bacon fat 
• 2 tablespoons molasses 
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 350F.

Combine flour, sugar, salt and spices in a food processor and pulse to mix. Add bacon fat, molasses and egg, pulse until mixture forms a soft dough. Make into small balls, about a tablespoon of dough, and place them on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Flatten balls slightly - with your hand or a fork.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 min, until they are browning around the edges. Cool and store in a airtight container up to 1 week.

And if you still have a lot of bacon fat left over, like I do, you can season your cast iron pans.

Since I was heating the oven anyway for cookies - I put some bacon fat on the cast iron pan and stuck it in the oven while the oven was heating up and some of the time the cookies were baking.  It doesn't turn rancid, at least it doesn't for us. But, then again, I use the cast iron pan for everything and wash it with soap (shock!).   :)

Great Find

One day while awaiting the BF's release from work  (when we use to ride share and I would finish up but could not leave the doofy 'burbs), I wandered into the local library to look at cook books.  Now, the local library has books that are outdated or whatever that they sell in a little corner for $1.00 or less.  And, wandering through the collection I found a old new york times recipe collection book that has proven to be wonderful. 

I realized while perusing this book that all the recipes called for butter and real ingredients.  Which is basically what I am looking for - old recipes - ones where people cooked real food. 

So today, the BF and I went to the local used book store and we ended up buying 3 old cookbooks.  One of the books called "The June Platt Cook Book", looks brilliant and I can't wait to cook from it.  Written in 1958, Ms. Pratt's preface is brilliant.  Here is a bit that I think aligns with what we are trying to do:  "Methods and equipment have changed considerably in the past few years; some of the changes I agree with, others I ignore.  Purchase the best ingredients - and hope you can afford them - for good olive oil, vinegar, cheese, cream, and fresh eggs make all the difference....Seek out a first-class butcher, fishmonger, green grocer....when you cook with wine, brandy, or a liqueur, use the same quality that you would serve at table." 

Another entertaining thing about this cook book is that she has a random mini history lesson just before each section.  For example, in the soup section, the preface has a bit about Louis XIV having such a fondness for soup that he required four different soups at each meal. Who knew? I guess he really liked soup.

So, if you have a local used bookstore and a bit of time,  I highly recommend looking at old used cookbooks. 

New Page :)

Just to make things difficult, I put up a new page. We've been getting lots of questions on what we eat.  Since we don't eat pasta or rice, what can we possibly be eating?

Well, there are a lot of foods that are low in carbohydrates and are not processed junk.  So I put up a page on what we eat / don't eat - and why.   It's a work in progress so feel free to comment. 

Since I have family in from India, I haven't posted as often as I would like.  Part of the reason for the new page is for them.  Both my cousins have diabetes and hypertension - such a constant part of Indian life now.   And I was telling them about our food choices and how much of a difference it has made in our lives.  Not just weight related - although both of us have lost quite a bit of weight; health wise we are both in better health now than when we started on our primal journey.

LOL. I love the words "primal journey" - doesn't it sound like a trip to somewhere exotic?  And in some ways, it is.  It is a trip to a new and healthier me. :)  Ah, now I sound like an advert.

Chicken Makhani

Butter Chicken - aka - Chicken Makhani is the BF's favorite dish.  It works really well as a stew-like dish.  Since we don't eat grains, this is one of the few Indian dishes that translates well into a low-carb meal.  I shred up the chicken after it has cooked up so that it has a bit less liquid/curry.

I like to buy a whole chicken and cut off the meat.  This gives me the bones to use for making stocks and it is very economical.  I freeze the bones, wing, skin - whatever I haven't used for the curry in a ziplock bag.  Then, when I have collected enough chicken bones - we have a chicken stock making day.  A nice weekend event. :)  Last go, we ended up with 24 cups of chicken stock for the freezer.

Chicken Makhani

• 2/3 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1/4 teaspoon ground bay leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon chili powder (cayenne)  - or less as it is quite spicy
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 4 green cardamon pods
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon crushed garlic
• 2 cups canned tomatoes
• 1 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/4 lb skinless, boneless chicken, cut up in chunks
• 6 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 4 tablespoons cream (optional)
• 2 medium onions, thinly sliced

In a large bowl, mix almonds, yogurt, chili powder, ground spices, garam masala, ginger and garlic. Add tomatoes and salt, to bowl and mix. Add chicken, mix well and set aside

On medium heat, melt butter in a large pot (a stock pot works well). Add onions and cool slowly until browned, about 10 - 15 min, stirring frequently. Add chicken mixture and cool until chicken is done, stirring occasionally.

Once its all cooked up, if you had placed any bones, pull them out. Take two forks and shred the chicken if you wish. Add the cilantro, mix well.

If there is still a little too much liquid, cook on low heat until you have the desired thickness. Once it's at the consistency you want, add the cream if you wish.  This gives it a richer taste.

Notes:

1. Yogurt: The best yogurts for this are thick, either Greek style or full cream like Brown Cow (which I prefer for Indian food).   
2. Ground spices:  I tend to grind all the ground items together in a coffee grinder and then dump it into the curry, which makes all the spices uniform. 
3. Chicken: If you are cutting up a whole chicken for this dish, save off the wings or the leg bones and cook them in the curry, pulling them out before serving. 

This dish went over really well with the family last weekend and if you are having a lot of people it is a pretty frugal meal for a large crowd.  And, if you make rice for your carb eating guests - there is even more chicken for you!

Got Milk?

I love milk... now.  As a child, I wasn't a big fan of milk and so when I grew older I choose not to drink it except for in my coffee (...ummm... coffee! ).  I didn't understand how the BF could possibly have drank a gallon of milk over the course of a day in the 'time before me'.  He told me he would buy milk by the gallon fulls and finish it off without it going bad.  And, here I am having a 1/2 pint go bad over a two week period.  LOL.   I just didn't get it.

Then I had real milk.  OK... not REAL milk, which is non-pasteurized and non-homogenized (http://www.realmilk.com/).  But, it was my first experience with milk not from a grocery store.  Where the cow is pasture raised and the milk is low-heat vat pasteurized and non-homogenized.

Blue Marble Farms was providing samples at the green city market. And, well, everyone loves free samples, right?  So, into the queue I go.  Thinking, yeah, yeah, it's milk... but .. the line is only a few people versus the 10 or 20 there earlier ... so... what the heck.  OMG. It was so good!

Blue Marble was forced to close. And, I haven't found another farmer since, who has meet my expectations of milk and cream.  However, these guys are my current vendors for milk products:

• Traders Point Creamery for yogurt and chocolate milk (they don't sell cream because they keep it all for their ice cream)
• Kilgus Farms for cream.  And while I would prefer to buy Kilgus farm's chocolate milk, they only make 2%.  Why?  oh, why?  Fat is good for you! Just not on you. :)
• Castle Rock - but they aren't sold at the local store or at the farmer's market, so it is only when we go to Green Grocer that I am able to buy their products 

So here are some stats on milk and why grass fed is SO much better for you, the environment, and the cows. You choose what you want to buy - but for me - it's grass fed all the way.

for you:

• tastes better
• better omega 6: omega 3 fatty acids as you can see from the graph below which I got from here 
• you are trying to get more omega 3 than 6, as omega 6 is fairly easy to get in our high-processed food world.  the ideal ratio is 2:1, most Americans are getting 15:1 as a best case scenario. here is a pretty good on line ref:  Omega-6 / Omega-3 essential fatty acid ratio  or University of Maryland Medical center 
• omega-3 have been proven to:
• reduce inflammation 
• help prevent chronic diseases, such as 
• heart disease 
• arthritis
• high blood pressure
• asthma
• IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease)
• It may also help with cognitive and behavioral health. And with normal growth and development, as there are such high concentrations of omega-3 found in the brain. 

• less likely-hood of antibiotics (most grass fed animals do not need antibiotics, all grain fed cows need antibiotics because cows are not suppose to eat grain)
• higher amounts of:
• conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) - enhances immune function and possibly reduces body fat
• Vitamin E - an antioxidant, helps with immune functions, help prevent heart disease, cancer, eye disorders
• Beta Carotene - immune functions, reproductive health, antioxidant

Cows:

• grass fed cows have a life expectancy of 10 to 12 years, versus 2-3 yrs for conventionally (usually CAFO's - Confined animal feedlot operations) *
• healthier animals
• no hormones or antibiotics

* life expectancy info: Garnsworthy, P.C., The environmental impact of fertility in dairy cows: a modeling approach to predict methane and ammonia emissions, Animal Feed Science & Technology, 2004. 112: 211-223.

Environment:

• since the cows are eating grass, you do not have the issues that are involved with grain fed
• no run-offs of pesticides or fertilizers into the water
• no need to ship food to the animals
• decreased soil erosion and increased soil fertility (all that manure is left on the pasture to fertilize the grass - unlike CAFO's where the manure is collected (one hopes) and shipped - although from what I have read, it appears that most CAFO's just leave the cows in the muck. yuck!)

Dinner for a thousand mothers...

OK.  So, it was only 5 mother's and the families...but you get the idea. :)  We had about 14 people, with 1 baby (so no food for her, yet).  Which is a lot of mouths to feed...and so much fun.

So, I was pretty good on the prep work and getting loads of things done up in advance. And, I even have 2 pictures!  But, completely lost track of time and never did get a picture of the great bounty.

Dunch (dinner/lunch) was a wonderful success, which is a good thing since we are having another this saturday. Yikes!

Appetizers were meatballs in tomato sauce, cheese plate and some grapes.  Easy breezy, as you can do up the meatballs the day before and then heat them up just before company comes. The same with chopping up the cheeses (I didn't want to leave any knives around because of the little ones - 3 munchkins under 5! so, no sharp objects)

Since we had some people who didn't eat ham, I had also made Chicken Makhani.  Roasted potatoes, roasted green beans, marinated bell peppers (the lovely ones above which were just going into the oven at the time I took the pictures). The BF was lovely enough to make a great salad with dressing.  And, my mum brought over both plain white rice and a lemon rice.  So, quite a feast.

And, then desserts...  yes, no pictures. :(
The BF's mum brought  Pineapple dessert (it so needs a better name!) which was eaten so fast that I didn't even get more than a bite.  Chocolate cup cakes with white sugar frosting, which I had made for the kids but were a hit with the adults.  And, a flour less walnut cake.

So... slowly I will put up recipes. If there is one that you want right away - let me know.  This is for the sib with the cupcake kids.

The cupcake kids were eating their respective cupcakes, with the tray too temptingly close.  Apparently, the one on S's plate wasn't enough and he stuck his finger in a cupcake on the tray.  The BF''s mum very nicely said that if you stick your finger in the cupcake it is yours.  Hence, both boys started sticking their fingers into the remaining cupcakes. LOL . Lucky cupcake kids' dad was so quick or they would be taking home quite a lot of cupcakes. :)

Chocolate cup cakes with white sugar frosting

--- Cake ---

• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (do not use imitation vanilla as it will turn it bitter)

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. (or you can do what I do, dump them all together and give it a good stir. Then when putting it into the mixer, just stir a bit more. While it isn't as perfectly blended - it works. )

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl (yes, another bowl - thank god for dishwashers!) - combine water and vanilla. Add the water mixture in thirds to the butter mixture - alternating between the water and flour.

So 1/3 water, mix, 1/3 flour, mix, 1/3 water ... etc until blended well.
Put in cupcake paper liners or in a cake pan (8" or 9"). Bake until done. Cupcakes were about 20 min.  Cake is supposedly 30-35 min - but since I haven't made the cake version, I don't know how accurate that would be.

--- Frosting  ---

• 1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 pound (3 1/2 cups) confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 to 5 tablespoons heavy cream (can use more or less based on the consistency you want)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I can't recall if I put any in - umm... I think I forgot)

Cream the butter (you can either use a wooden spoon and do a lot of work - or use your mixer and do a quick job. However, if you were like me - you just used your mixer and the beater is now in the wash). Add 1 cup of sugar and the salt - mix some more. Alternate adding sugar and cream until all the sugar is gone. Once you have the consistency you want - add the vanilla.

Mizuna

We have been eating a lot of salads lately and I found this lovely green.


I had forgotten what the farmer had called it, until today on a random read of Gastro's blog on Radical Roots CSA.

If you get a chance to try out this green, I highly recommed it. A nice spicyness like Rocket/Arugula, but not so strong on the pepper flavor.

Very pretty and lasts ages in the fridge. (well, we are at 1 week and counting... which on greens is impressive!)

Say what?

Yesterday, I had a "driveway moment".   I was listening to NPR/WBEZ and this piece came on when I got into the garage and I just couldn't believe Ms. Storey could even state "A full-calorie soft drink has 90 percent water and a diet soft drink is 99 percent water. Water is the most important nutrient that we have".  Ummmm... really? You are going to imply that drinking soda is as good as drinking water?

And, in response to the question if people shouldn't be concerned about the nutritional content of soda.  Storey said "Well, I don't think it's nutritionally unsound. There are some studies that show that particularly with children, children who have been exercising may not drink enough water to get back to the hydration point that they need to be at. So with a little bit of flavoring and a little bit of sweetness, they will drink enough then to get back to where they need to be."

It's not nutritionally unsound? It is ok to replace water with soda so that children are hydrated?

WTF?!?!?

ok... done with rant.  Ah, much better now.

Over the top lunch....

I was planing on having company this weekend but ended up under the weather.  Allergy season. :(

However, the grand plan was to have a wilted watercress salad (fresh from the farmer's market), beef pot roast (mint creek) and chocolate cake (flour-less, of course).

So, I made up the cake on Friday.  Set up the beef in the fridge to thaw out.... and generally got ready for Saturday dinner.

Saturday morning - I just couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't think. Eh! The ruin of all my plans.  Thankfully, my friends are very accommodating and were willing to reschedule.  But, Sunday - I had to deal with the beef roast.  So, very late, I get to cooking... and we ended up with a lovely lunch.

As you can see, the cake was already broken into by the time I got to taking pictures. :)

And the pot roast came up lovely.

Almost makes going to work on a Monday bearable.

The wonderful thing about pot roast is that it tastes brilliant the next day.  This was a great flavor combo - the warm roundness of the pot roast, the acid and bacon and pepper flavors of the salad, and the sweet finish of chocolate.  So, here are recipes and if you want a wonderful evening dinner or a over the top, make you feel good lunch....

The BF's sister gave him a cookbook for Christmas holidays (and, well, I've basically taken it)  No surprise there!  I'm sure he is happy enough - getting the rewards and hardly any of the work. :)  And, I have been enjoying this awesome cookbook.  If you have a bit to spare, I highly recommend adding "From the Earth to the Table: John Ash's Wine Country Cuisine" to your cookbook collection/stash/stack. (I do not get money from this.. I just really love the book. I will at some point put up a list of cookbooks that I just think are brilliant -- but that is for another day. )

Pot Roast:

• 3 pounds tri-tip (aka: triangle tip, sirloin tip) or bottom round of beef
• 4 tbsp olive oil (I used bacon fat)
• 4 cups sliced onions ( I've done as little as 1 cup to as much as 5 cups -- depending on if you have leeks or not)
• 1 cup leeks
• 1 1/2 cups celery (sliced - supposedly diagonally - I'm a random chopper when it comes to stews and roasts because it cooks down and no one will notice the lack of perfection)
• 1 1/2 cups carrots (sliced, diagonally -- *shrug*  -- and I tend towards more, but I like carrots)
• 1/4 cup garlic (slivered / chopped / some how made a bit small)
• 3 cups red wine (optional)
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (or more if you like heat)
• 4 cups beef or chicken stock
• 2 cups canned diced tomatoes (I use fresh when possible)
• 2 large bay leaves (broken up a bit)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tsp minced fresh sage or 1 tsp dried.
• 2 tsp minced fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried.  (if you can get winter thyme - the leaves are smaller but the taste is brilliant - and as a bonus, no mincing. )
• 2 tsp fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried

Note: if you are using one pan to brown everything and another to cook it, please mind step 5.  If you are doing everything in a roasting pan - no worries.  I tend to brown everything in a cast iron pan, then move all the ingredients to a dutch oven.  It doesn't have as much room as a roasting pan would - so the liquid ingredients get put in slowly over the course of cooking -- and in proportions to whatever I feel at the moment.  I max out at 5 cups of liquid in my dutch oven - so, if I'm using wine - it will be a bit more heavy handed than the stock. :)

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Season the meat (salt / pepper) on all sides. In a pan heat the oil / fat until hot. Put in the roast and brown - all sides. Once all the sides are browned, put beef on a plate.

Put in the vegetables (onions, leeks, carrots, garlic - but not the tomatoes) and cook over medium heat until they begin to color and the onions are translucent. Add the meat to the vegetables. Add liquids (wine, stock, canned tomatoes' juice), red pepper flakes, tomatoes, bay leaves, fennel seeds, thyme, sage, oregano, salt and pepper. Bring up the heat and once the liquid starts to simmer, cover and braise in the oven for 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

Once done, pull out meat and let rest.

in the mean time, thicken up the base by simmering. Cut up the meat, add the sauce, serve.

Salad - Wilted Watercress:

The recipe is from simplyrecipes.com which really didn't need any changes.  However, since we don't use much sugar - I tend to the less sweet and use honey over table sugar. But, you can sweeten it as much as you need/want.

• 2 bunches watercress (Try to get mature watercress, it will hold up better to the hot dressing)
• 3-4 slices bacon (save off the bacon fat for the dressing)
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar (less can be used - I'd start with a few tablespoons and add to taste)
• 4 teaspoons sugar (or less - I used a tbsp honey)
• Salt and pepper
• A pinch of ground mustard
• A pinch of sweet paprika 

Rinse thoroughly the watercress, removing old leaves and thick stems. Set aside in a serving bowl

Heat a small stick-free pan on medium heat and cook the bacon until done, several minutes on each side. Remove the bacon from the pan and put on a paper towel.

Keep the bacon fat in the pan. Add the cider vinegar and sugar/honey to the bacon fat. Stir to dissolve. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, add a pinch of ground mustard and a pinch of paprika.

Adjust acid/sugar to your taste.  If you are going to use the dressing the next day, use less vinegar as the bacon fat will pick up the taste.   if you are going to use it now... bring the dressing to a simmer. Pour over the watercress. Crumble the bacon over the top. Toss and serve.

Flour-less chocolate cake

This is the BF's favorite cake and each time I make it, it is a bit different.  It is adapted from the America's Test Kitchen version - but there isn't a link I can find for it.  If you like them - they do have a pay site: http://www.cooksillustrated.com/ - which is well worth the $40. Or, you can sign-up for ATK and get this season's recipes and info for free.

There is definitely a difference between making this in winter and in the summer.   In winter, the butter doesn't separate as much and so the overall flavor of the cake is creamier/richer.  And, if you have the AC on, I'm sure the same would be true in summer. :)  But, it was a beautiful evening on Friday and I had to leave the windows open.

You can add as much or little chocolate as you wish - I've apparently (by accident) made it with as little as 160 grams of chocolate and as much as 480 grams.  Note: 1 pound of chocolate is 453.60 grams.  For some reason, I can never remember this! :)  I use Green & Black 72% and 85% dark chocolate in a half and half consistency.  Pick your favorite chocolate and go for it!  Just know that the darker the chocolate, the less sugar it has.  So, make sure you love eating it straight before you cook it up. :)

• 8 large egg, cold
• 1 pound bittersweet chocolate
• ½ pound butter

Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and pre-heat oven to 325 F.

Line bottom of 8" spring-form pan with parchment and grease pan sides.  Cover pan underneath and along sides with a sheet of heavy-duty foil and set in large roasting pan.

Bring kettle of water to boil. You will be using this for the bath around the chocolate cake.

Beat eggs at high speed until volume doubles to approximately 1 quart, about 5 min - or longer.

Melt chocolate and butter in large heat-proof bowl set over pan of almost simmering water, until smooth and very warm (about 115 F), stirring once or twice (I stir pretty much the whole time, as I find that it brings a better consistency to the chocolate and stops the butter from separating too much)

Fold 1/3 of egg foam into chocolate mixture using large rubber spatula until only a few streaks of egg are visible; fold in half of remaining foam, then last of remaining foam, until mixture is totally homogeneous.

Scrape batter into prepared spring-form pan and smooth surface with rubber spatula.  Place spring-form pan into roasting pan and set roasting pan on oven rack and pour enough boiling water to come about halfway up side of spring-form pan.  (you can do it the other way around too...but the water does slosh around and can make a bit of a mess)

Bake until cake has risen slightly, edges are just beginning to set, a thin glazed crust has formed on the surface, and an instant read thermometer inserted halfway through center of cake registers 140 F, 22 - 25 min.

Remove cake pan from water bath and set on wire rack; cool to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate overnight to mellow. It can be covered and refrigerated for up to 4 days.

About 30 minutes before serving, remove spring-form pan sides, invert cake on sheet of waxed paper, peel off parchment pan liner, and turn cake right side up on serving platter. 

Sieve light sprinkling of confectioners' sugar or unsweetened cocoa powder over cake to decorate, if you want. I do when I'm doing this up for company... but as you can tell from the picture, the BF is just fine eating it after it has come up to room temp without the added prettiness. :)

Hope you had a happy Monday.

Plate of carbs

We don't eat out that often any more.  Not so much because we don't like to eat out but that we like eating at home so much better.

OK - in some ways I am a bit nutty about what we eat and it is much easier to know what we are eating if I cook it.  Most importantly -- I love to cook.

Anyway - we went out to brunch today.  It was good...but out of the 4 items on my plate, 3 of them were carbs/sugars.  And then we wonder why we gain weight? Have diabetes, heart disease and are getting sicker as a society?

So, here is a picture of brunch. Toast, potatoes pan fried, scrambled eggs with portobello mushrooms, spinach and apple smoked bacon and fruit.  The little white bowl has butter (yea! not crappy margarine or weird spread).   And, thanks to the lovely waitress (Grace, I believe?) who brought me cream for my coffee. YUM!

She was sweet enough to spend a little time with us discussing food, fat and how she prefers cream in her coffee as well.  I will at some point do up a post on why fat is good.

In the mean time, there is enough evidence now that carbs not fat is more dangerous to your heart. This Scientific American article (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=carbs-against-cardio) has some great points and if you have time it is a quick read.  The highlights?  In the past 30 years, Americans have followed the government directives to eat less saturated fat.  And since that time: "obesity rate(s) ... have doubled, diabetes has tripled, and heart disease is still the country's biggest killer."  The ooops? well.. apparently "investigators picked the wrong culprit".  Umm.... yeah. thanks a lot.

Now, I'm not saying we don't have good researchers or that scientist aren't trying to provide the best information available.  Having read Gary Taubes "Good Calories Bad Calories", I now know that the information provided by the public health authorities / goverment / media is based on a scientific bias to prove that fat is bad.  Read the book! Until then - here is a good synopsis of the scientific bias data in Taubes' book: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/07/gary-taubes-goo.html

How about some GMO's in your food?

I was surprised by how much of my food is already genetically modified (well, the stuff that I don't buy from the farmer's market).  I knew about corn, which is one of the things we have given up. Even the kitty cats! and they are both actually healthier for it.

In a study done on GMO corn/maize  "conclude[d] that these data highlight signs of hepatorenal toxicity, possibly due to the new pesticides specific to each GM corn. In addition, unintended direct or indirect metabolic consequences of the genetic modification cannot be excluded." Which even before I looked it up - sounded scary!  It was even worse once I found out it was "chemical-driven liver damage".

So aside from corn - we can now thank agri-business for - soybeans, canola, papaya, wheat, rice....the list is pretty long and unfortunately since it doesn't have to be documented... well, you get the idea. So, it is pretty cool - Wholefoods (AKA: whole pay check) has joined up with a few others to prevent GMO's from being our defacto food.  They have agreed to test, verify and label their products as non-GMO.  See www.nongmoproject.com, for a list of providers and additional info.

Here is a video about the history of how GMO (genetically modified organisms) were created. How it has been added into the food chain with us not being really aware of it and how "Whoever controls the seeds, controls the food." 

It is 88 min long... so watch it when you have some time. :)




Not to point out the obvious -- but what is with the commercials for this video?  did they think just because it's a food topic that stouffer's would be a good choice?? They didn't watch the video, did they?