Tasty Tuesday!

Molly's Birthday Cake
(there's nothing healthy about it!)


Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup ground hazelnuts (hazelnut meal)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 4 large eggs

• 2 cups (1 pint) heavy cream
• 1.5-2 (11 oz) packages bittersweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

Make cake layers:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 3 (7- or 8-inch, 2-inch-deep) round cake pans and line bottoms with rounds of wax or parchment paper. Butter paper and dust pans with flour, knocking out excess.

Whisk together water, cocoa, and espresso powder until smooth, then whisk in milk and vanilla.

Sift together flour, hazelnut meal, baking soda, and salt.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until fluffy, then add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and cocoa mixture in batches, beginning and ending with flour and mixing at low speed until just combined.

Divide batter among pans (about 2 1/3 cups per pan), smoothing tops. Bake in middle of oven until a tester comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes for 7-inch pans or 20 to 25 minutes for 8-inch (whole batter, in a 10 inch pan, coked for about 40 minutes) . Cool in pans on a rack 30 minutes, then invert onto racks, remove paper, and cool completely.

Make ganache while cakes bake:
Bring cream to a simmer in a 3- to 4-quart saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk in chocolate until smooth. Transfer ganache to a chilled bowl and chill, covered, stirring occasionally, until thickened but spreadable, about 4 hours. (If ganache becomes too thick, let stand at room temperature until slightly softened.)

Assemble cake:
Arrange 1 layer on a cake stand or plate and spread 2/3 cup ganache evenly over it. Top with another cake layer and 2/3 cup ganache, spreading evenly, then third cake layer. (Chill ganache if necessary to keep at a spreadable consistency.) Chill cake until ganache filling is firm, about 1 hour. Keep remaining ganache at a spreadable consistency, chilling when necessary.

Spread a thin layer of ganache over top and sides of cake to seal in crumbs, then chill 30 minutes. Spread remaining ganache evenly over top and sides of cake.Decorate the sides of the cake with hazelnut meal if there's any left over.

I adjusted my recipe from this original epicurious recipe:

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Ganache-Cake-105133#ixzz1L3VrCqW7

Tasty Tuesday!

Maple Walnut Granola

Ingredients:

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup flax meal
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/4 sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (Sugar Free still does the trick!)
• 1/4 cup apple sauce
  
• 2 table spoons molasses (or honey)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300 F.
Mix all ingredients in one big bowl, and mix thoroughly.
Put the mixture into a 9x13 baking dish. Bake, turning over often with a spatula, until mixture is golden brown. About 40 minutes in my oven. Store in an airtight container so that the granola doesn't get soggy.
Enjoy over yogurt, or mixed in with your favorite cereal. It may be too crumbly (not chunky) to eat on it's own.

Success in Tobacco Cessation Support

I've brought it up some time before, but I thought that I would mention my work with tobacco cessation efforts again. Before I go any further, here are some numbers from the CDC:

Cigarette smoking causes about 1 of every 5 deaths in the United States each year. Cigarette smoking is estimated to cause the following:

• 443,000 deaths annually (including deaths from secondhand smoke)
• 49,400 deaths per year from secondhand smoke exposure
• 269,655 deaths annually among men
• 173,940 deaths annually among women

Cigarette use causes premature death:

• On average, adults who smoke cigarettes die 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.
• Based on current cigarette smoking patterns, an estimated 25 million Americans who are alive today will die prematurely from smoking-related illnesses, including 5 million people younger than 18 years of age.

Yesterday we met with our weekly Tobacco Cessation Support Group - the only one available in the entire of Clark County, by the way - and we talked about how much money our patients have spent on cigarettes over the years, and how much money the tobacco companies have made off of this nasty addiction. One of our patient estimated that throughout his 43 years of smoking 1-3 packs a day he has spend over $313,000 on tobacco products (the class average was around $96,822). That's equivalent to a full price of a 3-4 bedroom house in Vancouver, WA. At current prices. Now, think about the 443,000 people (that's half the population of Portland, OR, by the way) who died from tobacco related illnesses every year - if each of them spent even a half of what this patient has on tobacco products, the tobacco companies have made themselves a nice chunk of change, don't you think? Let's say, $100,000 per person, times 443,000 people = $443,000,000 just from this year's folks. And, if they smoked more than that, $313,000 x 443,000 = $138,659,000,000 That's TRILLIONS of dollars! Just from one year's crop of smokers. It's incredible, and rightfully so it made our class participants rather mad. So, hopefully they'll take that anger and do something about it - more people need to know that there are folks out there making a huge profit from your bad health.

On a cheerier note, our clinic's Tobacco Cessation Efforts have not gone unnoticed. Over the last 9 months we have developed the only free Tobacco Cessation Classes and Support Groups in the whole county. We have been recognized by the Washington State Tobacco Cessation Resource Center as Tobacco Cessation Champions. We have referred over 350 patients to the Washington State Quit Line Services, which actually came out to over 30% of all Quit Line referrals in the entire state of Washington. That's something to be proud of. Hopefully we can spread the word even more, and get more people to kick their nicotine addiction once and for all.

Tasty Tuesday

Peach MANGO and Mascarpone Cheesecake with Balsamic Syrup

I cannot emphasize enough how much I've fallen in love with Epicurious.com - their recipes have yet steer me wrong. So, here's another gem from that delectable website. I substituted mangoes for peaches, because they have been on sale at the store and I've bought too many, and they were about to go bad. I had to use what I had at hand. The substitution was well worth it!

Ingredients:

Crust

• 7 whole graham crackers, broken into pieces
• 1/3 cup sugar (I used brown sugar here)
  
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced

Filling

• 3 (8-ounce) packages mascarpone cheese
• 1 cup sugar (I used a little less)
  
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large peaches MANGOES (about 1 pound), peeled, pitted, diced
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup sliced peaches mangoes

Directions:

For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Blend graham cracker pieces, sugar, and butter in processor until moist clumps form. Press onto bottom (not sides) of 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Transfer crust to rack to cool. Maintain oven temperature.

FYI: Adding sugar to the crust will add amazing taste to it, BUT, it's a lot harder to detach from the springform.

For filling:
Using electric mixer, beat mascarpone, sugar, and flour in large bowl until blended. Beat in eggs 1 at a time; add vanilla extract. Puree diced peaches in mini processor or blender until smooth. Beat peach puree into batter. Pour filling into crust. Bake until edges are raised and dry and center is softly set, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Place hot cheesecake directly in refrigerator. Chill uncovered overnight.

I don't know if it was due to faulty oven temperature or the substitution of mango, but my cake started to bubble and became covered with caramelized sugary, bubbly top layer; it also fell flat. I was nervous, but followed the instructions for any cheesecake and kept it in until only a 1-2 inch in the middle were wobbly, and the rest was firm. The cake ended up DELICIOUS, even though it's funny looking.

Boil balsamic vinegar in small saucepan until reduced to 1/4 cup, about 4 minutes; cool syrup. Cut around cheesecake; remove pan sides. Top with peach mango slices, drizzle with balsamic vinegar syrup, and serve.

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Peach-and-Mascarpone-Cheesecake-with-Balsamic-Syrup-235611#ixzz1Jqos7sEH

Toxic Sugar Facts

So, I've already had a post about the sugars in fruit juice that are slowly killing this nation. But, more and more validity has been given to studies done 2 years ago by UCSF's Robert Lustig, MD that he called "Sugar, The Bitter Truth". You can watch his presentation on YouTube.



For whatever reason, Dr. Lustig's research has only recently began getting more momentum. I suppose his lecture in December at UCSF has started causing ripples and waves throughout the medical and the health education communities. Even NY Times covered him in this story.

The point is, or the point that he's trying to make, is that we eat way too much sugar! Over the last 2-3 decades Americans had done a great job cutting out carbs or fats - everything you see is available in low carb, or low fat option. But few things are available in a sugar-free option.



Remember these? The High Fructose Corn Syrup commercials? Well, everything they say is true, so get the facts: HFCS is fine in moderation, and is nutritionally the same as sugar = your regular sugar is just as bad! What they fail to mention is that everything we eat lately has HFCS because it's cheaper than sugar, and because of the subsidies from the US government to the corn farmers. Cereal (including Special K), any deserts and sugary snacks, juice and soda, some English muffins, ketchup, some yogurts, salad dressings, soups, cough syrups, even some pet foods.... the list goes on and on. Again, sure, HFCS is okay in moderation, but how can you consume it in moderation if you don't realize that it's in most foods that you eat? Especially when you are a family of 2 living on $90 food stamp budget and shopping and the cheapest stores in town. Thank you Grocery Outlet for being there for me in low-budget times. But, also, thank you government for pumping up all my favorite foods with high fructose corn syrup.

On that note Dr. Lustig goes to address the myths that regular sugar is better for you. It is not! Furthermore, different kinds of sugars - glucose, fructose, sucrose - all are metabolized quite differently.

"This means we can eat 100 calories of glucose (from a potato or bread or other starch) or 100 calories of sugar (half glucose and half fructose), and they will be metabolized differently and have a different effect on the body. The calories are the same, but the metabolic consequences are quite different."

What fructose does, Dr. Lustig argues, is actually make you eat more and more. Unlike natural sugars (natural carbohydrates), like glucose found in vegetables, starches, etc., fructose and HFCS does not signal to the brain that your stomach is full, that your body is done eating, and does not need any more. This all has to do with hoq quickly your body is able to metabolize these sugars and really deserves a good listen to the guy's lecture.

The point is - we need to stop eating so much sugar. HFCS or natural sugar (remember the 100% juice with more grams of sugar than a coke?), it's all equally bad and may lead to the high levels of diabesity in the US. Yes, diabesity, which = diabetes + obesity, most often co-occuring conditions that I see in our clinic.

Think back to one of my previous posts - we like to think that regardless of sugar content juice is better for you. But what about this - do you want a can of poison, or do you want a can of poison with some vitamin C?

There's so much food for thought, I only hope that none of these articles are sugar-coating the even darker truth.

Tasty Tuesday!

Oatmeal Raisin Bars

Courtesy of Gluten Free is Life


I had the most delicious flourless oatmeal date bar today, and I wanted to look up a recipe that would do that bar justice. This one looked really good, and I may try a few substitutions when I actually make the bars.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups dry oats
• 3/4 cup flour - gluten free flour if choose.
  
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 1/4 cup sugar (I would skip this altogether; white sugar=devil!)
  
• 1/2 cup canola oil (or 1/2 cup of applesauce!)
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup raisins (or chopped up dates!)

I would add more cinnamon, and 1tsp of allspice.
I'm trying to find out how to use hazelnut meal instead of flour in this recipe but that will require actually trying to make the bars! According to the limited powers of google, it seems to be a 1:1 ratio for substitutions.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8-inch square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine ingredients until smooth.
3. Spread batter in prepared baking pan, and bake for approximately 25-30 minutes until bars are cooked all the way through.
4. Let bars cool completely in pan before cutting.

Juicy Sugar Facts

Today's post comes from a great website called Hooked on Juice.

I remember when my family first came to the United States, my sister, my brother and I went crazy with a few things that were now available every day to us which were only a treat before. Some of these things - bananas, gummy bears (my personal favorite 5lb bags from Costco), muffins, chocolate chip cookies, and lots and lots of juice. Oh, and I have quite a special place in my heart for Sunny D and Tampico! I don't think that those beverages even claim to be juice at all.

I remember always having in our fridge a giant jug of apple juice, orange juice and Costco sized containers of cranberry juice. Yumm! Healthy and nutritious, you say, WRONG! Full of sugar and corn syrup. Unfortunately what we never noticed is the high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients, the grams of sugar per serving, and not to mention the serving size! I always drank a pint glass, which is twice the 8oz serving size, dozing myself with as much sugar (if not more) than a coca-cola can!

Even 100% juice, full of vitamin C and natural (non corn syrup) sugars, will contain more sugar than one should be drinking. Cutting out these sugary beverages can be a great first step towards weight loss and improving one's diet. So, when your school or workplace replaced Coke with 100% juice in the vending machines, did they really do your health a favor? Considering that you could now be consuming even more sugar than you were before? Sure, the natural sugars in fruit may be better for you than a can of Pepsi or Cherry Dr. Pepper, BUT, why not eat a piece of actual fruit and drink some water? That's advice that even I have a hard time following, but it's definitely something to think about.

Here's a lovely table that I took from Hooked on Juice. Go to their website for more information.

12 ounces of >>>>>>>	Coca-Cola	Orange Juice	Apple Juice	Cherry Juice	Grape Juice
Total carbohydrates	40 g	39 g	42 g	49.5 g	60 g
Carbs from sugar	40 g	33 g	39 g	37.5 g	58.5 g
Sugar (teaspoons)	10 tsp	8 tsp	10 tsp	9 tsp	15 tsp
Calories	145	165	165	210	240