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FOOD FACTS & FINDS To join our mailing list and receive Food Facts and & Finds free via e-mail, click here, or go to the Contact section of our website. CLICK HERE to see back issues of FOOD FACTS & FINDS! Orange is the color of October: The amazing pumpkins, yams, and squash. But sugar is the treat that tricks our body.
GO TO Recipes: The Great Pumpkin
GO TO The Article:
GO TO The Puzzler:
RecipesThe Great PumpkinPumpkins are a righteous health food. Short on calories, salt, and cholesterol, and long on minerals (potassium and phosphorus) and vitamins (especially A and C). And did you know that our large orange friend, was once believed to help eliminate freckles and cure snakebites!
_________________________________ When you're gutting that pumpkin to carve, save the seeds -- which are thought to help reduce the risk of prostrate cancer. And these are great alternatives to give to the trick or treaters, so you don't have to throw more candy at them! This recipe comes from the www.pumpkinnook.com.
You'll Need Seeds from one pumpkin Salt to taste
To Begin Once you've separated out the seeds, wash free of their pulp, and then spread out on a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350.
Sprinkle over with salt and bake for about 20 minutes.
Finally You'll need to test them to know if they have enough salt, and to know if they are done. Taste one, and see if the inside is dry. At that point, pull them out and let them cool.
_________________________________ I love when this happens. There is very little I love more than opening that oven to see the golden crest of my bread bulging from the pan. At that point, it just wants to be eaten, and you have to fight the urge to dig into it right then and there!
You’ll Need: DRY INGREDIENTS 2 cups AP flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground ginger pinch baking soda pinch ground cloves
"WET" INGREDIENTS 1/3 cup vegetable oil 2 eggs 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup pumpkin 1/4 cup milk 1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup raisins
To Start Preheat oven to 350.
Mix all the dry ingredients together in one big mixing bowl. In another mixing bowl, beat together the oil, eggs, and sugar into a slurry. Fold in pumpkin, milk, walnuts, and raisins. Stir until smooth.
Then Put a thin smear of butter on your bread pans and dust with flour. Tamp them off to remove excess flour.
Pour in batter and bake for ~1 hour, until you get a dry fork.
Eating Instructions This is a perfect breakfast bread. It's not too vulgar sweet, and the pumpkin, nuts, and raisins are nothing but good for you.
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You’ll Need: DRY INGREDIENTS 2 cups AP flour 1 tsp baking powder Spices: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp allspice, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/2 tsp salt Pinch baking soda
WET INGREDIENTS 2 sticks butter, softened 1 egg 1 cup brown sugar 1 cup pumpkin 1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely crushed
To Start Preheat oven to 400.
Mix dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, cream butter, sugar, and egg together. Stir in pumpkin and vanilla until smooth. Fold in raisins and walnuts.
Next Drop plum-sized dollops of batter onto baking sheet and set into oven for 12-15 minutes.
Finally Eat them.
PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD You can make exactly the kind of cookie you want by playing with the amounts of flour vs butter, and the length of cooking time. Relatively more butter makes them more tender, while a bit more flour makes them more cakey. Less time in the oven makes them chewy, and more time makes them crunchy.
Now, this is going to take some experimentation, but what a great science project!
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Treat Yourself To A Healthy Halloween!
It’s in the drinks they drink, the snacks they eat, and the desserts they have afterwards. It’s even in foods not normally associated with sugar (sliced breads, hot dogs, catsup, etc). The role of sugar in health is only now being understood, now that we're reconsidering the old idea that eating fat makes you fat. Now we’ve discovered that the sugars in low fat food products can produce weight problems as well, and can even lead to the insulin instabilities that become diabetes. And the worst time of all in this respect is the Sugar Concentrate that happens at Halloween. I want to diffuse the inevitable nu-uh from the sugar lobby. True, sugar is not evil per se. True, it can be incorporated into a healthy diet – just like bacon, or wine, chocolate, or any other real food. And they would be quick to downplay Halloween's bolus of sugar, calling it the happy exception to the rule – sweets as a treat, nothing more. That might be true if our children were not inundated by sugar every day, making Halloween a punctuation mark on the end of a long candy road. But what can you do? We live in this culture. Kids will go to houses that produce handfuls of orange candy corn (what IS that, anyway?), fireballs, super-sweetened gummy things, and all the rest. It's a common moral dilemma. “Everyone else is doing it.” Although you cannot change the world, you can change your self. Start by making sure your own habits conform to what you think is right. Think of it like this, if you were the world’s role model, what would you do? This is the question to ask. As a role model for the world, given our present obesity epidemic and the sickness that falls on our kids, you might start by offering them something other than just pure sugar with orange dye in it. Here are some healthy alternatives. A Healthy Halloween First of all, before you even go out, make sure your kids eat something so they won’t graze through their candy (too much!) before they get back home. To think outside the candy bag, you might offer: ü Cheese sticks ü Juice box packages ü Small packages of nuts or raisins ü Peanuts in the shell, or put into a baggie ü Popcorn ü Grapes ü Peanut butter crackers ü Sliced apples, bananas, and not-too-sweet cookies. You can also substitute candy with non-food treats such as: ü Plastic rings ü Pencils ü Stickers ü Lose change ü Balloons ü Crayons ü Colored chalk ü Erasers ü Whistles ü Baseball cards ü Rubber toys
After trick or treating is over, always be sure to survey their haul, unless your neighborhood is absolutely trusted. Of course, toss anything that appears tampered with – if in doubt, throw it out. Look over the fruit and remove treats that aren’t age-appropriate. Then, allow your them only a few prize pieces that night. But what about the surplus that fills up a pillow case? You could make a little baggie care package for those who couldn’t go trick or treating – like grandparents, sick friends, or other adults. Trick or treating as a gift you child could give to someone! After Halloween is over, rationing is the key. Let them pick one treat to eat each day. You can put this in their lunchbox as a special surprise, or have it for dessert after dinner.
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The Harry S Mallisee farm, out beyond Plum PA, has been in the family for generations – they have the papers on display showing how the original Mr. Mallisee has been officially excused from Civil War duty to tend the farm. On a recent brilliant October afternoon, Grace, Dottie and I made the 20-minute trip to their farm to brave their three-acre corn maze. What a blast. The corn stalks, so much smaller from the road, spike up from their spindled rootlets into a bamboo-like grassy stalk before pointing 8 to 12 feet into the air. You really could get lost in there. By this time of the year, the day's sun had mellowed but had long since done its work on the topmost leaves, changing their deep pliant green into a stiff yellow husk like papyrus. These green-to-parchment soldiers stood all round, swollen ears jabbing out at 11:00 and 1:00. The corn, destined for cattle consumption, had silk that had long since turned to a graphite-colored frazzle. We walked, certain of our path, logical maze methods, and location for a good 45 seconds, before giving in to the (apparently) more reliable tactic of bumbling around and waiting on sheer luck to save us. Corn stalks, after all, look like corn stalks no matter where you are in the maze. Plus, we hadn’t brought our breadcrumbs to leave behind us. At first, we fancied remembering some portion of the maze, but laughed to face each successive dead end. Corn and more corn. We honestly had a blast, talking and walking through the staffs of corn. And it all worked out because we finally did find the exit, all relieved that we didn’t have to get airlifted out by the Dufus-o-the-Maze Rescue Squad. This is perfect fall exercise. And, for the really brave, you should bring several children and play hide-n-seek. Make bets on who'll get out first. The kids sprint around for about 20 minutes, trying to find the exit, then just hiding, watching, and running. It’s good for them, good for you, good for your relationship together. I don’t know how many calories I burned. It doesn’t matter. I don’t know how many steps I took, only that I was laughing with Grace and out of breath after we sprinted up the hill toward (finally) the exit.
We sprinted because there was a lot at stake! We had a bet when we started that the last one out had to clean the kitchen when we got back home, the 2nd one out had to vacuum the floor, and 1st place didn’t have to do anything. Well, Grace and I sprinted up that hill right to the end and -- it was a tie. Clearly the international rules of Maize Mazes, if they haven’t already, must specify somewhere that if you tie for first place coming out of the maze, all assigned chores fall to the lowly third place finisher, dragging up the rear. Grace and I decided this would be an appropriate set of bi-laws. We seconded our undeniably logical motion with the enthusiastic unanimity not normally seen in parliamentary procedure.
The impending maternal Veto dampened our spirits not one bit. We strolled over to the main building to get an apple for a quarter, a baby pumpkin for a dollar, and drove home happy. The Maize was amazing!
Read more about family fun, and movement activities you can all do together:
_________________________________ What is the "Poor Man's Miracle Food" as well as the Number 1 Vegetable!! Here are some hints -- no peaking at the end! It was discovered almost 500 years ago in the boggy Louisiana ground, although had been known by Native Americans long before. They were popular enough to become an item of trade and a staple childhood cure. In the Civil War, it was used as coffee! It's closely related to the Morning Glory. It has long been associated as a poor man's food. Plus, with our recent national affluence, its use has plummeted to 6 times less than what it was in the 1920's. And yet, it's a potent -- potent -- cancer fighter. It lowers cholesterol. It's the healthiest vegetable there is! The Center for Science in the Public Interest surveyed our vegetables to find it at the top of the heap, summing up more vitamins than any other by far. Just one cup gives you as much beta-carotene as 23 CUPS OF BROCCOLI!! They have more colon cancer fighting fiber than oatmeal. What is poor man's miracle? Let me give you a hint with a recipe that you can have as a dessert or even slice off for breakfast!
Grace wasn't convinced. "Sweet Potatoes?" As if I had said we were going to whip up a slug pie or something. Then we had our standard interchange: "You love sweet potatoes." Then she replied, "Dad, I don't LOVE sweet potatoes." So I quip, "Well, you just need more practice." She's not as fond of that line as I am.
But, the proof is in the pudding or, in this case, in the pie. Once it came out of the oven, cooled off, and she tried a piece, Grace gave in and grudgingly admitted the obvious differences between this and a sludge of slug pie. Pride, after all, isn't so hard to swallow if you're chasing it with Sweet Potato Pie!
You’ll Need: 2 large sweet potatoes 1/2 stick butter 1 large egg 1 cup brown sugar 1/4 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg 2/3 cup milk 1 tsp vanilla Single pie crust
To Start Preheat oven to 375. Cut sweet potatoes into thick disks and boil until done but not mushy (as if you were boiling them for mashed potatoes).
Meanwhile Add butter, egg, sugar, spices, milk, and vanilla into a mixing bowl.
When sweet potatoes are done, rinse with cold water for a while to cool them off. Then slide off the skins.
Finally Beat cooked sweet potatoes into mixture bowl. Pour into pie shell and bake for 35-40 until it is firm in the center.
Let it cool, and serve by itself or with a dollop of whipped cream on top (our vanilla rum whipped cream is awesome!).
There are a few great websites on sweet potatoes to check out if you need more health or recipe information.
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The Fat Fallacy Newsletter: Sensible Solutions for Health in the Real World!
September's Recipes: French Baklava & Algerian Couscous
September's "Just A Thought" Essay: An Ounce of Prevention
September's Interview Peggy Van der Swaagh & eating disorders
September's News Re-thinking Cholesterol -- AGAIN!! |
Below are three
wonderful recipes you can try (for your health, you know) using healthy
delicious pumpkin: pumpkin seeds, pumpkin bread, and pumpkin cookies!
Another
winner, if you want to give your kids something besides candy candy candy
for Halloween. These have a nice cakey crumb to them and they certainly
had a short shelf here at the Clower house! 
Our kids
bath in sugar.
