Category: food

Jell-O Pudding Pops Live!

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

I was reading over a food-review of General Mills’s new cereal variety, Total Protein, when I came across something far more interesting later in the review: Jell-O Pudding Pops have returned! But first, a note on Total Protein — which I was tempted to try, actually — it's apparently “horrid” and the reviewer “would have thought they were stale had [she] not opened the bag seconds before”. So much for that idea.

But, back to the Pudding Pops. They last existed about ten years ago and haven’t been seen since — until now :). Considering that the confectionery even spawned online petitions, I’m surprised that it took this long. As it turns out, it’s not even Jell-O Co this time around; they licensed the Pudding Pop brand to Good Humor-Breyers who’s making the pops these days:

This is good news for Pudding Pop fans and for anyone who is looking for portable ice cream sans chocolate coating or cone. These actually taste richer and better than nonpremium chocolate-coated ice cream. In fact, this is one of the few products that I intended only to taste and ended up actually eating. […]

I last had pudding pops in the 80s. I was around ten at the time and I remember eating them with my brother on our patio outside our house back when we lived in Chadds Ford PA. Those were some fond memories — Pudding Pops made for a pleasant denouement to a hot July afternoon. And at $3.19 per 12-pack (per the review), I look forward to trying these again.

Nectarine Pie: The Music Video

Ashley Bischoff2 Comments

Josh Baugher passes along what’s essentially a music video for foodies. In Katy Bakes a Nectatine Pie, Katy goes through the steps of baking a pie, including commentary on the cooking process. Considering that it’s a Quicktime file (a .mov), it may have even been edited in iMovie.

To some, this may just be a pleasant diversion, but I really enjoyed it. In some ways, it was like watching an engaging movie but with the director’s commentary track playing as well. I’m only disappointed that I couldn’t find a reference to the recipe itself (especially since the pie-eaters at the end of the clip appear to be really enjoying it). The movie is hosted on The Amateur Gourmet blog, but I only saw it listed as a link in the sidebar without a proper entry to go along with it.

I was a bit dismayed at the use of shortening in the pie crust. Not that I’m surprised, really — shortening is a common ingredient in pie crusts — but shortening if full of trans fat. Trans fat is probably the worst kind of fat since it both lowers “good” cholesterol while raising “bad” cholesterol (even saturated fat doesn’t affect “good” cholesterol).

Now that the government is requiring trans fat labeling on foods (beginning in 2006), companies are all of a sudden reformulating their products to reduce their trans fats. In particular, I’ve noticed that there's a trans-fat free version of Crisco shortening now. But, I’m still skeptical — if a 2% increase in trans fat can really increase a women’s risk for heart disease by 93%, then I’d feel most comfortable with a shortening which actually had 0g trans fat, not just 0g trans fat per serving :-/.

Update 06/03: It appears that J.M. Smucker (the makers of Crisco) create the trans-fat free version by fully hydrogenating the cottonseed oil. And, much in the same way that partial hydrogenation turns oil into a semi-solid form, fully hydrogenating it turns it completely solid. So, they then add sunflower and soybean oils to soften it. I’m not sure whether fully hydrogenating an oil creates any trans fat, but if not, this trans-fat free Crisco may not be so bad.

Low Carb Potatoes?

Ashley Bischoff4 Comments

Low-carb eaters have mostly accepted the restrictions on bread and potatoes these days. But, I never thought I’d see the day where we’d be talking about low-carb potatoes. To be fair, they’re actually reduced carb potatoes (about a third the carbs of a regular potato), but that’s still progress.

Potatoes are among the banned substances on the Atkins diet, which advocates a high-protein, low-carbohydrate food regime. The new variety has yet to be formally named but has already been called the “spud-u-lite” by its inventors. They claim it contains a third less carbohydrate than normal potatoes and has an “exceptional” flavour.

The new breed is believed to have reduced carbohydrate levels because it has a lower density of flesh and matures over a shorter time. It was developed as a result of cross-breeding, but its low-carbohydrate properties were discovered by chance by researchers at the HZPC seed firm. A co-operative of potato growers in Florida is planning to mass-produce the variety for the American market but it is not known when the vegetables could be on sale in Britain. […]

I’m not sure how they’ll really taste compared to regular potatoes, or even when they might become available in stores. But, if I run across them at Super Target sometime, I’ll give them a chance. I’ve almost forgotten how to prepare potatoes but, come to think of it, a baked potato with sour cream and bacon chips could be worth the wait.

Quiznos Chocolate Bundt Cake

Ashley BischoffLeave a comment

I think the sandwich may be one of my favorite food groups (so tidy and yet delicious). And, after I helped Mike move out on Monday, he invited me out for lunch (he’s moving in with his fiancee in College Station). We went for Quiznos and that was just the meaty elixir I needed.

I selected a small Turkey-Bacon-Guacamole sandwich, with double meat. And, as I neared the checkout, I spied a stack of mini chocolate bundt cakes in a cooler. They’re no more than 4” in diameter and, well, in the shape of a bundt cake. I had tried one before, years ago, and it was a bit dry at the time. But, I decided to give Quiznos the benefit of the doubt that maybe the prior cake was just a fluke.

In any case, after eating my sandwich, I opened the plastic dome enclosing the bundt cake. I offered some to both Mike and Annette, but they declined citing shrunken stomaches on account of skipping breakfast that morning (yeah, I don’t understand it either). So, I broke off a piece and indulged.

To my pleasant surprise, it was distinctly better than the last one. While the last one was dry and almost airy, this one was properly moist and seemingly denser. And, the chocolate icing (about 1/8” thick) was chocolaty enough and smothered the top half of the cake. As a bonus, the icing pooled slightly in the hole of cake to form a chocolate nugget.

The chocolate cake was better than I expected and just what I needed after moving furniture all morning. And, judging by the unscheduled carbohydrate-induced coma nap later that afternoon, it had plenty of sugar in it (though Quiznos’ nutrition information is remarkably sparse in this area). I don’t think it’s something that I’d pick up with every Quiznos trip, but I might just grab one of their bundt cakes again sometime.

New Low Carb Studies

Ashley Bischoff1 Comment

New Scientist reports on two new studies on the health effects of low carb eating. As with previous studies, the participants lost weight without harmful effects on blood fats and sugars:

Stern’s year-long study […] was twice the length of any previous study. Half the patients followed the Atkins regime, limiting daily carbohydrate intake to just 30 grams. The rest tried losing weight through a conventional low-fat diet much richer in carbohydrates.

By the end, both groups had lost about the same amount of weight, between five and eight kilograms for the Atkins group and three and eight kilos for the low fat group. But the Atkins dieters lost almost all their weight in the first six months, then remained at a steady weight. […]

I found it interesting that the low carb eaters lost most of their weight in the first six months (and leveled off from there). Some news articles covering the studies stressed this point, as if to imply that low carb eating wasn’t effective. However, the participants kept the weight off for the duration of the study.

I was also pleased to read that the low carb participants showed lower levels of triglycerides — a type of fat in the bloodstream which may lead to obesity.

Compared with the low-fat group, Atkins dieters also had lower levels of triglycerides, potentially harmful blood fats which can trigger heart disease. Concentrations of beneficial high density cholesterols (HDLs) also held up better in the Atkins group. And these favourable changes remained till the end of the study, suggesting that there might be lasting benefits. […]

A second study run by Duke University Medical Center has similar findings to the first, though low-carb eaters lost about twice that (12 kg) of those in the study eating low-fat foods. However, a “substantial number” of the low-carb dieters also saw increases in their bad cholesterol — but I’m not sure to what degree that’s relevant since the article doesn’t elaborate on the phrase “substantial number”.