Food Inc.

Bob and I had movie night the other night, and we watched Food Inc. It is a film about the food industry. Do you know where your food actually comes from? Do you know whats actually in your food?

The film features the heavy hitter of Food Journalism - Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan.

I recommend that everyone rent it, Netflix it, get it from the library, or On Demand. And check out http://www.foodincmovie.com/



From this film, I learned that Smithfield Farms is pretty much evil. They bully their employees and their animals. Sows breed in small, dirty crates. Many employees are illegal imigrants and given horrible jobs. Paula Deen is a spokesperson for Smithfield products. So, at my attempt at activism, I emailed Paula to express my disappointment for alligning herself with such a company.



Watch the film. Get involved.

I have joined a club that has 3million other members...

I have Celiacs disease!!!!! And I now get to cook, eat, and live Gluten Free. Bob gets to as well, since he lives with me.

For years I have felt tired, and crabby, and overall icky. Bloaty too. My doctor suspected Celiacs, because I had many of the symptoms. I started reading up on it and researching it and was shocked. The first book I read was Elisabeth Hassleback's "The G Free Diet" and I was amazed becuase I finally felt as if another person in the world knew how I was feeling.

As far as diseases go, its actually not a bad one to have. All I have to do is cut Gluten out of my diet. That’s it. No medication. No regular tests. Just a modified diet.

No Barley

No Rye

No Oats

No Wheat

Look forward to Gluten-Free recipes. And reviews.

There are about 400 GF blogs out there and I am happy to join their ranks.

Julie & Julia

Yesterday, after successfully reorganizing my closet, I rewarded myself by watching 'Julie & Julia'. It was awesome. I know that there are many people that have issues with books being made into movies, and as a sorta-librarian I suppose I should weigh in on that. Here's what I normally do: If the movie comes out before I read the book, and the previews appeal to me, then I watch the movie, then read the book. If I have already read the book when the film comes out, I usually skip the movie.

Anyway, Julie & Julia was great and inspired me as both a writer and a cook. The film tells the stories of both Julie Powell and her attempt to cook all of Julia Child's recipes in one year, as well as telling the story of Julia Child moving to Paris and learning to cook French food to have something to do during the day, then spending years working on her cookbook.

I recommend it highly.

Upsidedown Chili dog Nachos

In preparation for the annual chili cook-off (more on that in a future post) B practiced his chili. It was yummy. With the leftovers we made what has perhaps been one of my best creations.

lay some tortilla chips (we like blue ones) in a casserole dish. And cheese, leftover chili, and hot dog/brat pieces, and salsa. Then. top it with another layer of chips, and top that layer with cheese. Bake in the over for 5 - 10 mins

While in the oven, put salsa, sour cream, avocado, etc. in the bottom of a wide bowl.

When the cheese has melted over the chips in the oven, pull out the casserole dish and scoop the chips & etc. into the bowls. This way, you can use the chips as a scoop for the toppings (bottomings?) and you wont end up with plain chips on the bottom of the bowl.

Sassy Water

B and I are on a diet and are attempting to fight off flu, cold, infection, etc.

We are drinking this water, called Sassy Water which has come from the Flat Belly Diet Cookbook. Bob does not like the term 'sassy' so we have just started calling this 'flavored' water.

Take 1 cucumber and 1 lemon, wash the outsides, and thinly slice them. Toss them in a pitcher.
Toss in one or two sprigs of fresh mint leaves. Then, grate some fresh ginger into the pitcher. Fill pitcher with water, refrigerate, and enjoy.

It's really good, but ruins your life because plain water is just so boring after having 'sassy' water.

White Chocolate & Macadamia nut cookies

Bob went back to school this week, and to make it a little easier for him, I made him these lovely cookies.

 

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup melted butter

¼ cup brown sugar

¾ cup white sugar

2 large eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups white chocolate chips

1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

 

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

 

In one bowl, whisk  together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Add the eggs, and vanilla and whisk again. Whisk in the flour, then the baking soda, then the salt. Toss in the white chocolate chips and the macadamia nuts, and fold them into the dough so that they are distributed throughout.

 

Take an ice cream scoop and place equal spoonfuls of dough about an inch or two apart on a cookie sheet. Place the cookie sheets in the over for 10-15mins. Take out of the oven, and let them cool a minute or two on the cookie sheet. 

Pear & Apple Pie with crumb topping

My fridge is full of apples, pears, and peaches fresh from the farms of the Western Slope.  We have more fruit than we know what to do with! B & I had an end of the season picnic this past Friday with our softball team. I got up early Friday morning to make a pie to take, but after getting a look at it, B decided that it was not for sharing. I grew up in a family that believes that pie is an acceptable breakfast food, so this is what B & I had all weekend.

 

*Important note: Fruits give off gases, and the gases given off by apples do not mesh well with the gases given off by pears. Store them separately. We keep our peaches and apples in a basket on the bottom shelf of the fridge, and then the pears in a bowl on the top shelf of the fridge. If you keep pears and apples together, they ripen too fast.

 

Crumb topping:

½ cup flour

¼ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 tablespoons cold butter chopped into tiny pieces

 

Pie Filing:

I frozen pie crust

4 apples of any kind, peeled & cored, and sliced into bite-sized pieces

4 pears of any kind (feel free to mix types) peeled & cored, and sliced into bite sized pieces

½ cup brown sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 tablespoon cold butter chopped into tiny pieces

 

Make the topping by mixing all of the topping ingredients together in a Tupperware dish or covered bowl.  Cover the dish and shake the mixture. Set aside.

 

Put the apple and pear pieces in a bowl with the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter. Give it a good stir with a spoon so that all the fruit pieces are covered.  Put the pie filling into a frozen piecrust. Top evenly with the crumb topping.

 

Place the pie (in pan) on a cookie sheet (to prevent messy overflow situations) and place the pie in the oven @ 375 degrees for 40mins.