Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays to everyone! Be safe if you're driving and if you're not traveling, then stay warm and enjoy time with family and friends!

Edna Lewis

EDNA LEWIS

Edna Lewis was a busy woman. A descendant of freed slaves. she grew up on a subsistence farm and was a farmer, a seamstress and a celebrated chef in New York City. After she broke her ankle, Ms. Lewis took a few moments to sit still and write that cookbook that her editor wanted. The Taste of Country Cooking came out in 1976 and earned a spot on every cookbook shelf. Right next to that red and white checkered Better Homes Cookbook! LOL In the 1950's, Ms. Lewis was a chef in New York's Cafe Nicholson and was known for her comfort food that was made with 'flourish'. Ms. Lewis passed away in 2006, but she accomplished her goal as stated in an interview with the New York Times in 1989: "As a child in Virginia, I thought all food tasted delicious. After growing, I didn't think food tasted the same, so it has been my life long effort to try and recapture those good flavors of the past."

P. F. Chiang's

Phillip Chiang is a co-owner of the renowned P. F. Chang's restaurant chain. It must be a genetic thing because his mom, Cecilia Chiang, helped some friends open a restaurant of their own. She was basically financial backing and didn't really want to be actively involved, but when her friends pulled out of the deal, Cecilia was left with everything. She went ahead and opened The Mandarin on her own at 40 years old in 1961. The Mandarin specialized in Northern Chinese food which relied on fairly expensive ingredients. Cecilia grew up in Beijing and wanted to serve more traditional Chinese food rather than the cheap Americanized Chinese food that Americans were accustomed to. Business was slow until The Mandarin received a rave review from the San Francisco Chronicle. Heavy crowds forced Cecilia to move to a larger location. Regulars included Henry Kissinger, Julia Child and Jefferson Airplane.

Gluten-Free Fried Chicken

Looking for a gluten-free coating for fried chicken? Try mashed potato flakes! They'll add an extra crunch to your fried chicken. Even if you're not gluten-free, mashed potato flakes are worth the try!

Family Dinners

Where did the family dinners go? I do really believe that they are a cornerstone of the family and I do believe that a family NEEDS to eat dinner together. Of course, you do have those days or nights, but if you are running around kids EVERY SINGLE NIGHT ALL YEAR LONG, then you seriously need to reevaluate what your family values are. The family dinner is the perfect place to reconnect with everyone. Catch up on the teen drama. Hear about the latest teen gossip. Parents complain constantly that their kids never talk to them. The family dinner is their opportunity to do that because you can't hear your kids telling you about their school day when you are in crazy traffic and cursing the other drivers who clearly have no idea what they are doing.

Family dinners also save you money! Last night, my family had fried chicken and broccoli.

Chicken thighs (8 HUGE thighs) - $3.71
2 bags of broccoli - $2.50
Box of Shake-N-Bake - $2.50

Grand Totat: $8.71
That's $2.18 per person for a family of 4. The favorite around our town is Chik-fil-a. For a family of 4 you're going to pay at the very least $60 to feed everyone. Oh! That chicken dinner I cooked at home for only $8.71...it took only an hour to pull together. It's was pretty easy.

The family dinner...make time for it. It's important!

Thanks Steve!

Forget ice cream! I'd rather see this kind of truck! I know, crazy huh? I do love my veggies and the best thing to dip them in is ranch dressing. Mmmmm that yummy, creamy dressing that seemingly everyone loves. You can dip in it, drizzle it over a salad and even cook with it. It's all purpose and all yummy! But where did it originate? If you guessed Hidden Valley, then you're right!

Believe it or not, ranch dressing began with a plumbing contractor out of Nebraska named Kenneth Henson. Henson was 29 years old when he hopped up to Alaska shortly after World War II. Doing what he loved the most, he was the cook for his camp and enjoyed tinkering around in the kitchen. One of his little inventions was this buttermilk based salad dressing that his camp just fell in love with!

In the early 1950's, Henson moved right outside Santa Barbara with a new name (now Steve), a wife and a 120-acre plot of land that he built a ranch on. He and his wife opened up a dude ranch and named it...none other than...Hidden Valley. Henson whipped up some of that salad dressing that he served the folks in Alaska and his guests loved it so much that he would send them home with packets of "ranch" seasoning. In 1972, Henson sold the "Hidden Valley Ranch" brand to Clorox for a whopping $8 million and sold the dude ranch soon after. A 'shelf stable' version of Henson's delicious dip was created in 1983. Ranch is America's favorite dressing and has been a godsend for all parents who struggle to get their kids to eat veggies!

Pineapple!

Pineapple is the taste that screams summer and warm, tropical weather! It's sweet, it's juicy AND SpongeBob lives in one. Well, there aren't too many pineapples under the sea. They usually hail from the Philippines, Thailand, Brazil, Mexico and China. Hawaii is the only U.S. country that grows pineapples and they produce 1/3 of the pineapples for the world.  Pineapples don't grow from a tree. They actually grow from a bromeliad which is a plant family with about 3,170 relatives. Now that IS a family tree! It takes 3 years for a pineapple to mature. They are not just one fruit, but actually hundreds. Europeans tried to cultivate the pineapple, but they need a tropical climate to grow in. Pineapples are very perishable and they were a rare treat for early American colonists therefore they became a symbol of status and upper social class. Christopher Columbus introduced the pineapple to the Spanish in 1493 after he was introduced to this fruit sailing through the Caribbean. Pineapples quickly spread through all the ships has a source of vitamin C which reduces the risk of scurvy, a disease brought on by lack of Vitamin C and can be fatal.

The pineapple is the only edible fruit of the bromeliad family and the only source of bromelian which has many health benefits like cancer prevention, enhanced immune function, better digestion and improved healing. The pineapple is also a great source of potassium in which only 2% of adults meet the recommended intake. A diet high in potassium is linked to a 20% reduction in death from all causes. Pineapples are also 87% water so they are great for hydration especially on those hot summer days.

Although pineapples are not as common as watermelon on those hot summer days and may even still be considered to be more of a luxury, they are quite affordable and easy to prepare and make for great finger food. When buying a pineapple look for 'eyes' that are flat and large with yellow/gold around them. The further up the yellow/gold color goes, then the more evenly the sweetness is distributed. You want fruits that are heavy and have a slight give to them. A squishy fruit is no good. An old trick of my family's is to give a gently tug to an inner leaf. If it releases easily, then the fruit is ready to eat. Pineapples are one of those fruits that do not ripen after it's picked so buy one when you are ready to eat it. It's okay to leave out on the counter for a day or two and you may get a few more days if you set it in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge, but ultimately you should cut it as soon as possible. The best way I have found to cut a pineapple is to cut off the top and bottom first and then skim off the skin. When you just have a chunk of fruit, then you can slice it or quarter it into bit size pieces.

Pineapples are great in drinks and smoothies and even on pizzas or shish kabobs! They are perfect finger food go-tos for kids. It's summer time! Splurge a little and enjoy this fruit that is not only good, but good for you!

Tasty Little Snack

This is a family favorite! It only takes a few apples to fill a container and I usually buy different varieties. I can sit this on the kitchen table while the kids and I are chatting and close to the whole thing will be gone by the time we are done! Perfect snacking during homework time and they travel well in a ziploc bag in a cooler to the beach or on a long car trip. Give it a try! Always a hit and SO much better than chips!

How Much Do Know About Your Eggs?

With Easter right around the corner, focus is put on brightly colored Easter eggs sitting in Easter baskets nestled into plastic, green "grass". Believe it or not, there are many options in eggs these days as well as a heated controversy that is gaining rapid attention from large companies.

Traditional cages, cage-free and free range. What's happening?

Traditional caged chickens live their entire lives confined to a single cage about the size of a microwave. They lay an egg on a conveyor belt, they drink some water, they eat some chicken feed off a conveyor belt and that's about it until the next day. They can't really move. They can't really lay down. They can't stretch their wings. They can't dust their feathers. Their whole lives, which are slightly longer than if they lived in the wild, are confined to that one cage where their bones grow brittle and their feathers rub off against the sides of the cage.

Cage-free chickens live a more free lifestyle. They still don't see the outdoors, but they do get to stretch their legs and roam around in as much space as their particular henhouse allows. They get to lay their eggs in a nesting box where they can be semi-alone as their egg drops onto a conveyor belt underneath. The hen spends the rest of her day in a dust bath and later goes to perch up on galvanized steel perches. Hens do have a pecking order, so to say, so there are moments when fights break out between higher-level hens and their lower counterparts.

Free-range chickens live the good life. They are free to go out and play in the sun and chase bugs in the yard. Inside the buildings, it is a bit dusty, but does not have the alarming ammonia smell that is characteristic of chicken houses.  A 19,000 hen facility could easily fit 250,000 hens if it were a traditional, caged facility.

Although cage-free and free-range are better for the chicken in many ways, chickens can be mean to each other which lowers the mortality rate among the flock. There is also the issue with price. It takes more people to clean up the hens' area and to collect the eggs that are laid in places other than the nesting boxes. Although free-range chickens get to experience the outside, there are no regulations as to how much of the outside they get to experience - from a field or a small, covered porch. Finally, there is the bottom line...the more money that goes into raising hens, then the more costlier the eggs are going to be. I just paid .88 cents for a dozen eggs for Easter and got 3 dozen. Would I have gotten as many if they were $5 per dozen?

Sadly, many animals that we use for food are at the mercy of our wallets and I feel the American people are very wasteful when it comes to those animals and the meat that they provide. I think that we have sacrificed quantity for quality. Personally, I would rather have smaller portions of better animal products either that or go back to the days where some of the food was taken care of at home. I don't think I could butcher my own animals because I attach myself WAY too much, but eggs?...if I could get away with it from my husband...SURE I'd raise hens for eggs for my family! Our society has become very dependent upon fast food, super grocery stores and Starbucks.

Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs are a company that sets a great example of high standards. Click here to learn more about their farm!

So what do you think? Are you okay with traditional hen houses or would you pay the extra money for eggs and know that the chicken are at least a little more comfortable?

Bubble Gum Day

Happy Bubble Gum Day! 

Bubble gum goes back 9,000 years to the Northern Europeans who would chew birch for enjoyment or medicinal reasons. Ancient Mayans chewed "chicle" from the sapodilla tree to quench their thirst or to fight hunger. They had some strange rules to their chicle chewing. Kids and single women could chew all they wanted in public, but if you were a married woman or widow, then you would have to chew in the privacy of your own home. Men could only chew their chicle in secret. Kinda like how Moms enjoy their cupcakes sitting on the pantry floor in the middle of the night.

Back here on the North American front, Native Americans would chew resin from the spruce tree. In the 1840's, John Curtis boiled the resin down, cut it into strips and dusted it with corn starch making the first stick of gum. In the early 1850's, Curtis took his idea to another level and built the first gum factory in Portland, Maine. Not only did the resin become brittle the longer it was chewed, but didn't taste that great. Curtis changed over to paraffin wax. 

In New York, Thomas Adams was procuring chicle through the Mexican president, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Santa Anna was trying to develop a substitute for rubber. Although the rubber idea failed, the chicle made for a better chewing gum. In the late 1800's, gum was being sold across the country with chicle being the main ingredient until it was replaced with synthetic products in the mid-19oo's.

Then came William Wrigley Jr. He was a soap salesman. In 1891, he moved to Chicago and he would offer free baking soda with his soap as incentives for stores to stock his product. Well, soon the baking soda turned out to be bigger than the soap so then he started to offer free gum. In 1893, Wrigley launched two new brands of gum - Juicy Fruit and Spearmint. He relied heavily on self-promotion to move his product and in 1915 began going through the phonebook (remember those?) and sending everyone a free sample. He even offered sticks of gum to kids on their 2nd birthdays. 

Also, moving around in the gum circles was Frank Fleer who had been making gum since 1885. He was looking for something different and in 1906 came up with Blibber Blubber, but it was too sticky. Finally, an employee, Walter Diemer, successfully came up with a good recipe for bubble gum and an old friend was born - Double Bubble. 

Gum continues to be a childhood and adult favorite. It keeps our teeth clean, freshens our breath and even helps us stop smoking! Gums have come and gone. I remember Hubba Bubba that didn't stick to anything including hair which was great for those of us in the 70's with long hair. Then there was Freshen Up gum - "The gum that goes squirt" and Orbit - "Dirty mouth? Clean It Up!".  Double your fun with Doublemint gum? LOL So grab a stick and chew away and think of all the poor fellows who had to endure years of spruce tree resin and chicle!

Happy New Year!

Wishing you and your family a tasty new year!