Category: food

Food Pyramid to be Revised

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Department of Agriculture is revising the ubiquitous food pyramid for release early next year. The article’s subtitle reads “The revised pyramid will likely offer 12 diet plans; the current one offers only three” — I wasn’t even aware that the current one had three versions. And in addition to more variations, they have other changes planned as well:

For instance, sedentary men between ages 31 and 50 would be urged to quadruple their consumption of dark green vegetables and legumes, triple the amount of whole grains they eat and double their intake of orange vegetables. They would also be encouraged to cut their consumption of starchy vegetables such as potatoes and solid fats by half. […]

Though I’m a bit concerned that the food industry will meddle with the final result, the proposed changes seem to make sense so far. “Cutting consumption of starchy vegetables” — hmm, where have I heard that before? ;) Kidding aside, I think the reduction in solid (saturated) fats is probably also a worthwhile recommendation.

Low Carb Doritos Coming in May

Ashley Bischoff59 Comments

Well, we've just about seen it all now — low-carb beer, low-carb bread, low-carb cookies and now low-carb chips. Frito-Lay announced in a press release that they’ll be introducing low-carb Doritos and low-carb Tostitos in May. Known as Doritos Edge and Tostitos Edge, they’ll have 6g net carbs and 10g protein per bag (product packaging photo, nutrition label photo).

To create the new products, the company will use soy proteins and fiber to convert to a lower carbohydrate chip […]. This move will result in a 60 percent reduction of carbohydrates in both products.

Of all low-carb products, I think the introduction of low-carb bread made the most sense to me — after all, most people eat bread every day. But chips? Is there really a market for people who want to eat healthier yet eat chips on an everyday basis?

I do wonder how these chips will taste, though. Much like their low-fat counterparts, low-carb foods never seem to taste as good as the full-fat/high-carb versions. I suppose we’ll find out in May.

Cottage Cheese Omelettes — Not So Nice

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

As I often do, I made myself an omelette this morning. And, for the past couple omelettes, I’ve been making use of some crumbled Amish blue cheese that I picked up at Sam's Club last week. Formerly, I would use shredded sharp cheddar cheese, but that always felt like a stop-gap solution to me. And the blue cheese just makes such such a more flavorful omelette.

So, the blue cheese has been going well. And I remembered reading about an another omelette addition as well: cottage cheese. Apparently, the cottage cheese could add protein along with a pleasant creaminess to the omelette. So, I thought I’d give it a try.

After beating the eggs and adding them to the skillet, I soon added a few spoonfuls of cottage cheese along with a sprinkling of blue cheese. Soon enough, the omelette set up and I folded it onto my plate. Those first few bites were actually rather nice. The cottage cheese — still cold from just having come from the fridge — provided a sensation a bit like an eggy baked-Alaska.

However, it soon went downhill from there. The cottage cheese, still cold, began to assert the laws of thermodynamics as it sucked the rest of the heat out of the omelette. So, after those first intriging bites, the omelette soon became soggy and chilly. The omelette went from “Hmm, this isn’t too bad” to “Yikes, this isn't so tasty anymore.&rdquo.

Perhaps if I prewarmed the cottage cheese or even added it to the omelette earlier in the cooking process, it would be able to warm to the temperature of the rest of the omelette and the resulting dish wouldn’t have the omelette-stuffed-with-ice-cubes effect. In any case, I’m not so sure I’ll try cottage cheese in an omelette again anytime soon.

Recipe: Milky Way Peanut Butter Cookies

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

Among other gifts, Mike got some candy for Christmas, including some Fun Size Milky Way bars. In contrast to their peanut-filled cousins, Snickers, Milky Ways are relatively tame — mostly caramel and nougat. So, on a lark, I decided to check AllRecipes to see whether there were any Milky Way-based recipes. Sure enough, I found one: Milky Way Peanut Butter Cookies.

Since I had some free time yesterday, I decided to give it a shot. The recipe is fairly easy — just three steps — and the only thing to keep in mind is that the recipe needs bite-sized Milky Ways (a typo at one point mentions Fun Size, but the recipe’s reviews confirm that bite size is needed).

Milky Way Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 36 fun [bite] size bars Milky Way [If you have Fun Size bars instead, just cut them in half to create bite size.]

Directions:

  1. Cream together white sugar, brown sugar, butter or margarine, vanilla, peanut butter and the egg.
  2. Add in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
  3. Wrap 1 heaping teaspoon of dough around a bite sized Milky Way candy bar. Bake 13-16 minutes at 350° F (175° C). Let cool 5 minutes before removing from pan.

So, I mixed up the cookie dough and decided on 14 minutes cooking time (well, the directions said 13-16 minutes and 14 sounded like a good mid-point). And even though my oven doesn’t heat that unevenly, I swapped the two cookie sheets halfway through just to be sure.

I took out the cookies after 14 minutes and — as directed by the recipe — I let them cool for 5 minutes. It’s not that they were all that hot, but they needed those few minutes to firm up. And, as soon as the 5-minute timer beeped, I grabbed one and gingerly took a bite.

To my delight, the nougat/caramel had become warm and molten — similar in some ways but even better than a Caramello bar. The cookies turned out even better than I expected and I’m tempted to cookieify some Fun Size Snickers bars later this week :).

Sara Lee Debuts Low-Carb Bread

Ashley Bischoff73 Comments

Climbing onto the low-carb bandwagon, Sara Lee has introduced some low-carb breads. Though I’ve only found a press release on this (previous link), the write-up is pleasantly not as self-congratulatory as a regular press release.

The new line of Delightful breads will feature:

  • Sara Lee Delightful White Bakery Bread — A 20-ounce sandwich loaf that offers a 40 percent reduction in carbohydrates and a 44 percent reduction in calories compared with typical regular white breads. Each slice of Sara Lee Delightful White contains only 9 grams of carbohydrates compared with 15 grams for typical regular white breads and contains just 45 calories, compared with 80 calories.
  • Sara Lee Delightful Wheat Bakery Bread — The 20-ounce Delightful Wheat sandwich loaf also contains only 9 grams of carbohydrates and 45 calories per slice [the carbs may be even lower after subtracting fiber]. That compares with 13 grams of carbs per slice for typical regular wheat breads, a 31 percent reduction for Sara Lee Delightful Wheat, and compares with 70 calories per slice of regular wheat bread, a calorie reduction of 36 percent for Delightful Wheat.

Both varieties of Sara Lee Delightful breads are good sources of fiber and have no trans fat or artificial colors or flavors. And each slice is full sized, in contrast to some "light" breads that reduce the dimensions of the slice. Each loaf has tested favorably in consumer taste tests, even outscoring some leading full-carbohydrate breads. […]

I’ll reserve judgment on this one until I’ve had a chance to try it, but I’m pleased that they focused on creating a good-tasting bread and not just a low-carb-at-all-costs bread. And, to their credit, the bread also avoids trans fats, which can be rather tricky to avoid in baked goods. I’ve also found a picture of the packaging, which may make it easier to find this bread on store shelves.