Three Food Headlines and Sad News
I found these four articles interesting and thought you might too.
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1. The Science Daily headline says it all:
Protein-Rich Breakfast Helps Curb Appetite Throughout the Morning
Nov. 14, 2013 — While Americans generally consume enough protein, they tend to eat a small amount at breakfast, moderate amounts at lunch, and the largest amount at dinner. New research presented today at The Obesity Society’s annual scientific meeting in Atlanta shows that eating high protein sausage and egg-based breakfasts curbed hunger throughout the morning, compared with a low-protein breakfast (pancakes and syrup) or skipping breakfast, in 18-55-year-old women.
“Eating a breakfast rich in protein significantly improves appetite control and may help women to avoid overeating later in the day,” said Kevin C. Maki, principal investigator of the study and a research scientist with Biofortis Clinical Research, a Mérieux NutriSciences company.
You can read the entire article at this link: Protein Rich Breakfast 11111
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2. From Mother Jones:
Science Says: Cocktails Could Protect You From Getting Sick
A team of researchers from Oregon Health & Science University trained 12 rhesus macaques—chosen
for the similarity between their immune system and ours—to drink a 4 percent ethanol cocktail. They vaccinated the monkeys against small pox and divided them into two groups: one that had access to the cocktails and one to sugar water. (Both groups were also given food and regular water.)
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The researchers discovered that like humans there were heavy drinkers and moderate drinkers and teetotalers, just like in humans.
The important take from the research is: “The moderate drinkers demonstrated an enhanced immune response—better even than the tee totaling control group.”
You can read the entire and very short article here: Cocktails 11111
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3. Most U.S. Families Still Routinely Dine Together at Home
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The world is not coming to an end and the United States is not going to Hades in a hand basket!
Despite what the hand wringers, the nannies, the government, and the food police think, believe, or say the family meal is not dead. From Gallup Research Polling comes this piece of interesting news.
According to Lydia Saad of Gallup:
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Slight majority says family eats together at least six days a week
PRINCETON, NJ — As families gather around the table this holiday season, Gallup finds that family dining is a part of everyday life for the majority of U.S. parents, and that it hasn’t diminished much in recent years. Fifty-three percent of adults with children younger than 18 say their family eats dinner together at home six or seven nights a week. The average 5.1 dinners that families share each week is down slightly from 5.4 in 1997, but unchanged from 2001.
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You can read the rest of this article and if you like numbers and statistics you can peruse them to your heart’s content by clicking here: Gallup 222222
4. Sad News
This is not food news. But thought you might find this story sadly interesting.
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From the LA Times: Detroit’s abandoned buildings draw tourists instead of developers
DETROIT — He’d heard stories of ruin and blight, but that didn’t prepare Oliver Kearney for what he saw:
Prostitutes roaming the streets at 8 a.m., rubble-strewn parking lots overrun with weeds, buildings taken over by bright pink graffiti, the message scrawled on blackboards in deserted schools: “I will not write in vacant buildings. ” He took 2,000 photographs his first day.
“No other American city has seen decline on this scale,” Kearney said. “It’s really a once-in-a-lifetime thing you’re going to see.”
And he saw it all on a tour. [Emphasis mine.]
Kearney, an 18-year-old aspiring architect, persuaded his father to travel with him from Britain to Detroit to participate in one of the city’s few burgeoning industries: tours of abandoned factories, churches and schools. Led by tour guide Jesse Welter, they crawled on their hands and knees to peek inside a train station closed long ago; they squeezed through a gap in a fence to climb the stairs of what was once a luxury high-rise; they ducked under crumbling doorways to see a forgotten ballroom where the Who held its first U.S. concert.
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The entire article is well worth your time to read. At the link there is also a video tour of what much of the once great Detroit looks like today.
When I worked for Harcourt School Publishers I was often in the Detroit area. I cried when I read the article and watched the video. Detroit Today
So sad.
Featured Recipe Salmon Eggs Benedict
I have had a love affair with Eggs Benedict from the very first time I ate it way back in the mid-seventies. I remember where I first ate Eggs Benedict. It was at the Wine Cellar. They had great food and really good ribs too. This was in the day when foods were actually prepared and cooked on site with fresh ingredients. Sadly this wonderful restaurant is no longer. It was a victim of a divorce.
Of course, I love eggs, so it should not be a surprise that I love this dish. And poached eggs are divine in their own right. I love their delicate taste.
Add to that my love of salmon and it is a no brainer that on special occasions I substitute the ham of standard Eggs Benedict with the delicate salmon.
Whether for breakfast, brunch, or dinner this is a wonderful dish to start out your New Year.
Planning
This is not a difficult dish to make. However, it does take a bit of planning and organization to get it all together at the same time.
This is a great dish to have two cooks. While you are making the sauce your partner can toast the muffins and start the eggs.
HOWEVER IT IS WELL WORTH IT TO TRY.
This recipe can be doubled. I have never been able to cut down the Sauce recipe for just two. So this sauce will yield far more than you will need for this recipe. The sauce makes enough for 4 or 6 people. It will stay fresh in the fridge for a day or two, maybe three.
This is what you will need for 2 people:
2 eggs
1 English muffin
Butter for spreading on muffin
4 slices smoked salmon
Chopped chives
For the Hollandaise Sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 egg yolks
8 tablespoons very cold unsalted butter *
Dash of paprika
* I keep the butter in the fridge till I need to use it.
Here is what you do:
Chop the chives. Set aside.
1. Make the Hollandaise Sauce first.
Cut the butter into 3 pieces.
Put the lemon juice and vinegar in a small bowl.
Add the egg yolks and whisk until light and frothy.
Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and continue to whisk until mixture begins to thicken.
Add one piece of the butter at a time whisking constantly until each piece is melted and the sauce has thickened. Season with the paprika to taste.
Keep the sauce in the bowl over the hot water, however, remove the pan from the heat while you finish the dish.
If your sauce breaks, that is it becomes too runny and begins to separate, it can be fixed by following the directions at the link below.
How to Fix a Broken Hollandaise Sauce
2. Next Poach the Eggs
Poach your eggs.
You can do that the old fashioned way by following the directions at the link below. You can also do a you tube search to see how to poach eggs. However, I find many of the videos too wordy and complicated. The link below has easy directions. You may want to read first and then look at a video.
Or…………
you can use an egg poacher like I do.
Heat about half an inch of water in the poacher pan until bubbles form.
Crack an egg into each cup and place in the pan when the bubbles start to form. Cover the poacher with the lid and cook eggs for 3-4 minutes, or to taste.
3. Toast and Butter Muffins
While the eggs are poaching place the muffins in a toaster or toaster oven and lightly toast then butter the muffins.
4. Finish the Dish
Top the toasted muffin with a slice or two of the salmon.
When the eggs are done gently slide the egg onto the salmon.
Drizzle some of Hollandaise Sauce over the egg.
Garnish with chopped chives.
Serve with some fresh fruit.
Bon appétit!!!
Cost
2 eggs
2 tbspn white wine vinegar $0.22
1 English muffin $0.25
Butter for spreading on muffin $0.27
4 slices smoked salmon $5.79
Chopped chives $0.30
For the Hollandaise Sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice $0.25
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar $0.11
3 egg yolks $0.57
8 tbspns unsalted butter $1.76
Dash of paprika $0.02
Total cost = $9.84
Cost per person = $4.92
Quote of the Day
Many years ago I resolved never to bother with New Year’s resolutions, and I’ve stuck with it ever since.
Dave Beard
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