Trash or Something to be Desired

I am a sucker for any repurposing.  I am not vegan so I can’t use that as an excuse.

Anyway I kept seeing chickpea liquid being whipped into meringue instead of fodder for the waste bin.

I wanted to try it with cocoa and see if it tasted like a pudding. I added 3 teaspoon of cocoa and 1/4 cup powdered sugar with a little Cream of Tatar. Armed with my trusty hand mixer I was about to give up. After about 15 minutes this is what I had.

I slung that stuff into some martini glasses. Ha!

After about an hour in the refrigerator it had deflated a little bit.

I have to admit it didn’t taste like pudding. More like a chocolate meringue with a touch of heartburn.  Yes, I got heartburn from the stuff. Pudding would never do that to me.

Trash or something to be desired?
I guess it depends on individual preferences.

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Killer Biscuits

Beef In The News

I watched that horrible news release last night of the cattle at that meat plant being shoved with forklifts and not able to walk and stuff.

It was enough to make me want to turn vegetarian, but I am sure my hubby would not agree to that.

What is the world coming to?
Now they are recalling all that beef and it was sent to schools.
Much of it has already been consumed.

Poor cattle pushed and shoved and now to be in vain as the meat is thrown out.

It made me cry.

I know I could never be vegetarian however..I don’t think I could.

Peanut Butter Recall Update

Well my jar of tainted Peter Pan Peanut Butter has been recalled that I posted on here.

I never opened it but have an address to return the cap for a refund.

If you happen to have a jar of Peter Pan or Walmart brand Great Value PB that has a number on the cap starting with the numbers 2111 don’t eat it!

Throw it away and you can send the lid for a refund to-

ConAgra Foods
PO Box57078
Irvine, CA 92619-7078

I get more and more wary of food products daily.

We have been working more toward self sufficient ways. I never had that sort of upbringing as my mom didn’t cook much and dad was never a woodsy type guy.

My husband however was brought up that way. His family grew and slaughtered everything they ate. They even ground their own cornmeal and had a smokehouse and fresh eggs.

He tells stories of their milk cows getting out of the fence and eating wild onion and ruining the milk. They would wander for days until found and their sacks would be about to burst.

Like I said I can see me tied to a milk cow that needs daily milking. lol

I know we could make it this way only because of my husband ,and we are working toward being more self sufficient.

My husband is the one that taught me to can from our vegetable garden. He hunts and cuts wood and is that woodsy type guy my dad never was.

I have learned so much from him.

Thank you honey!

Peanut Butter Recall

Should I eat this peanut butter?
The cap starts with 2111 but without the dash.

Boy what is this world coming to? Now I’ll have to start making my own peanut butter as if I’m not already making enough of my own stuff.
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News Link

Food and Drug Administration investigators have been sent to a peanut butter plant in south Georgia after a salmonella outbreak that has grown to nearly 300 cases in 39 states since August. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta says it is believed to be the first salmonella outbreak associated with peanut butter. Doctor Mike Lynch of the C-D-C says about 20 percent of the 288 infected people have been hospitalized, but none has died. Officials say about 85 percent of the infected people said they ate peanut butter. Lynch says how salmonella got into the peanut butter is still under investigation. The Food and Drug Administration in Washington warns consumers NOT to eat certain jars of Peter Pan or Great Value peanut butter due to the risk of contamination. The F-D-A says the affected jars have a product code on the lid that begins with the number “21-11.” The agency says both the Peter Pan and Great Value brands are manufactured at a single plant in Sylvester by ConAgra. Great Value peanut butter made by other manufacturers is NOT affected. ConAgra says it is recalling products only as a precaution. It says none of its tests has indicated the presence of salmonella. The largest number of cases are reported in New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri. The illness also has been reported in Georgia.
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At least it is easy to make. Might even be fun since I’ve never tried it before.
1 1/2 c. unsalted roasted peanuts
1 tbsp. peanut oil

For smooth peanut butter:
Mix the peanuts with the peanut oil, and pour the mixture into the food processor.
Process the mixture until it’s very smooth.
Store your smooth peanut butter in a sealed container in the fridge. It will be good for 2 weeks.

For chunky peanut butter:
Take about 1/4 cup out of your 1 1/2 cups of peanuts and set them aside.
Mix the rest of the peanuts with the oil, and pour the mixture into the food processor.
Process the mixture until it’s very smooth, then stir in the peanuts that you had set aside.
Process a few seconds more to create the chunks in your chunky peanut butter.
Store your chunky peanut butter in a sealed container in the fridge. It will be good for 2 weeks.
Serves: 12

Food In The News

Food In The News

Spinach is the food in the news this week as all across the USA
grocery stores pull spinach from the shelves because of a
E. coli outbreak.

Link
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In my own personal news I must report that the Crabapple Liqueur that I was experimenting with has turned out awesome.

You know that wonderful warm feeling you get in your mouth and stomach when sipping a desert liqueur? I am heading to the ABC store on Wend. to get more vodka. I thought that with that wonderful color and taste
it would make wonderful Christmas gifts for the tee toddlers( Or is it totalers? What the heck we certainly look like toddlers on some Chritmas Eves), in my family.
Placed in pretty small clear bottles with a ribbon and maybe a copy of the recipe.

I ran the apples through my food processor rather than halving them and added the whole cloves instead of the cinnamon. I think I may have left it more like 4 weeks but refrigerated it after about 2.

Crabapple Liqueur

Many crabapples
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vodka
1 stick cinnamon (optional) — or whole cloves

Take a quart (or litre) mason jar, fill it with quartered crabapples, add sugar (lots of room between the quarters) and vodka. Toss in a stick of cinnamon or a few cloves. Place on its side (make sure you’ve put the lid on -tight-), rotate 90 degrees every day so that the sugar gets mixed and all crabapples get equally soaked. After 2 weeks, filter out the apples.

Food In The News

Monkey Meat?

Full Article Here

Scientists believe that HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, started out as simian immunodeficiency virus (or SIV), and jumped to humans decades ago when African bush meat hunters became infected by the monkeys they were hunting for food.

And then there is faith friendly food-

Link

I hadn’t heard of the idea of “Christian-raised chicken” before, and predictably, it strikes me as pretty stupid. If you’re that concerned about how your religious beliefs coincide with how your food is raised, shouldn’t you consider just, you know, not eating meat? I suspect that this kind of falls into the same category as halal meats, but without the long-standing tradition.

Even spiritually advancing food?

Link

And according to Nama Kirtan das, who brings the tubs of rice, soup, vegetables and dessert to campus Mondays and Tuesdays, it also brings you closer to God.

And then the world’s oldest person has died at 116 years, who always ate 3 meals a day-

Link

She always ate three meals a day and never smoked or drank hard liquor. “Only a small cup of wine with lunch and nothing more,” Irma told AP last December.

Food In The News

Does the dripping piece of chocolate on the right look like the virgin Mary on the left to you?

If it does then your not alone!

Candymakers Spot Chocolate Virgin Mary

Chocolate has become a sign to many as Martucci Angiano, a chocolatier to the famous, discovers drippings that look “Like A Virgin“.

Chocolate was the food in the news this week as another story arose.

A man in Kenosha, Wis. slipped into a vat of chocolate and spent 2 1/2 hours in the stuff.

Worker Trapped in Vat of Chocolate

Good he didn’t fall in head first! Gives the prase ‘Death By Chocolate” an even more horrid imaginative quality. Makes me shudder.

So with me being one to try and keep up with the times, I post a Hazelnut-Chocolate Torte . It’s a sign!

Hazelnut-Chocolate Torte- Betty Crocker

Serving Size : 16

6 eggs — separated
1 tablespoon grated orange peel
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 cups very finely ground hazelnuts (filberts)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Chocolate Butter Frosting — (recipe follows)
1 cup whipping (heavy) cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons grated orange peel
1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts (filberts)
CHOCOLATE BUTTER FROSTING
1/2 cup margarine or butter (1 stick) — softened
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate — melted and cooled
OR
1/2 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk (about)
1 tablespoon brandy, if desired
2 teaspoons vanilla

Heat oven to 325º. Grease bottom only of springform pan, 9 × 3 inches. Line bottom with waxed paper; grease generously. Beat egg yolks, 1 tablespoon orange peel and the cinnamon in small bowl on high speed about 6 minutes or until very thick and light colored. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; reserve. Wash beaters.

Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in large bowl on high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time; continue beating until stiff peaks form. Fold egg yolk mixture into meringue.

Mix 3 cups ground hazelnuts and the flour. Sprinkle about one-third of the hazelnut mixture over meringue; fold in. Repeat twice with remaining hazelnut mixture. Spread in pan. Bake 55 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes. Loosen side of cake from pan with metal spatula. Carefully remove side of pan. Invert cake onto wire rack; remove bottom of pan. Turn cake right side up. Cool cake completely. Wrap tightly and refrigerate at least 4 hours.

Prepare Chocolate Butter Frosting; reserve 1 cup for decorating. Beat whipping cream, powdered sugar and cocoa in chilled small bowl until stiff. Fold in 2 teaspoons orange peel. Carefully split cake horizontally to make 3 layers. (To split, mark side of cake with toothpicks and cut with long, thin straight-edged knife.) Spread 1 layer with half of the whipped cream mixture. Top with second layer; spread with remaining whipped cream mixture. Top with remaining layer. Frost side and top of torte with Chocolate Butter Frosting. Press chopped hazelnuts around side.

Place reserved 1 cup frosting in decorating bag with large open star tip (#4B). Or place frosting in strong plastic bag; cut off a tip from one corner of bag. Pipe rosettes on top of cake. Garnish with whole hazelnuts if desired. Refrigerate at least 8 hours. Cut with sharp, straight-edged knife. Refrigerate any remaining torte.

CHOCOLATE BUTTER FROSTING:

Mix margarine and chocolate in large bowl. Beat in remaining ingredients until mixture is smooth and of spreading consistency.

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Yield:
“1 Torte”

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Now I think I’ll go make peanut butter and Chocolate Moose Droppings. I’m way too busy for signs right now.