Economic Education

This is a bit of knowledge to save you a bit of jingle in your pocket ... oh who are we kidding - you cant buy anything with jingle anymore ...

EXPIRATION DATES EXPLAINED

Our local news decided to find out te truth about those mysterious dates on all the food products - do they mean just buy before this date? or that the food is actually garbage after that date?

well - it turns out that much of it is determined by your state (so you will have to do some checking for where you live - the information I have is for my state)

In our state expiration date are only required on product which might go bad within 90 days and products like milk & eggs have to have a date 30 days from the time they were put into the carton ...

the dates are just ESTIMATES ...

the state ag dept says that milk can last 7-10 days after the date, if refrigerated properly ... eggs can go weeks beyond their dates (I've gone up to two months)

packaged foods will last up to 1 yr past the date - as long as humidity & bugs don't get to it

if you keep it sealed in the cupboard it could go years beyond the self life

So why does water have a date?
How can water go bad?

a law in NJ requires all food and drink products have expiration dates on them - so it is easier for national brands to just date all the bottles instead of trying to route just some water to states that require it ... and even though this law has been repealed ...

retailers require it from the manufacturers - not only for "quality control" but also for "crop rotation" purposes

suggestions from the USDA for home canned food should be followed for store canned food as well:
1)Look - any mold? any bulges?
2)Smell - any off odors? does it smell "dirty"?
3)Cook - bring canned foods to a boil for 20 minutes before eating, this will generally kill the majority of bacteria although i might not the most serious
4)taste - if after cooking it still seems to have an off taste .... DONT EAT IT - why risk it?

(a hint from a prepper on youtube - if yu store salt for brining in your pantry, make sure you have it in plastic airtight containers (maybe even in ziplock bags within a big bucket - he lost all the cans in his pantry when humidity got to the salt and the salty air ATE - i mean it chowed down - the metal in the cans there too! and yes it will even eat the metal lids of home canned jars too)

Coming Face to Face with Childhood Wrongs

My son has gotten into making his own Trail Mix for snacks at school -- cereal ... raisins .... dried cranberries ... granola .... m & m's .... mixed nuts -- all put into zplock top baggies and carted off to school for that morning snack (they call it '3rd hr snack') that they need to bring from home as long as its healthy.

I was buying the premade trail mix and having the kid add some of the chex or mini-wheats or cheerios to it - what ever we had on hand that was opened that morning.

well that trail mix is kind of expensive, especially when I looked at the fact that I had everything but the nuts at home already just sitting there waiting for the next time I decide to make either "Red, White, & Blue bread" or "3 Kings Bread"-mystyle. All I needed were the nuts -- so this week we got the huge can of mixed nuts at Sam's instead of the Trail Mix.

So this morning we were throwing together his batch when he noticed that there were these HUGE nuts in there ... "hey mom what are these?" ....

~tick~
~tick~
~tick~

and I realized that I didn't know the real name of these nuts -- I explained that the name we called them wasn't acceptable anymore (not that it ever really was, but as kids it was the only time you were allowed to use a bad word and not get the soap in the mouth or the hand upside the head)

So here's my bit for education:

These are Brazil nuts
they come from .... South America (Peru - the main exporter , Venezuela, Columbia, Bolivia, and yes, Brazil - but not so much, go figure)

the seed is tri-cornered and hard to crack - if you've ever gotten a bag of Mixed Nuts for the holidays you know the average nut cracker has a tough time handling them - you really need a hammer to open them. And yes they are a seed - they are encapsulated in a coconut-like pod which contains about 15 of the 'Brazil nuts' with in it.

only one bee (the orchid bee) is able to pollinate the flower of the tree, thus producing the nuts (they use the sent of the Brazil nut tree to attract female bees - hey that's different from what we're used to, where there is only one female per hive and all males service her)

Interesting stuff.

Brazil nuts .... not N-Toes ... Brazil Nuts.

Okay so I won't get my own show

I have gremlins in my kitchen today.

It started out very promising with some decent dyeing .... and went down hill from there. The yellow over-dye that I applied to the coffee colored yarn & extra dark blue to the bright blue I didn't want ... didnt hold - I mean they took the color, it just didn't do what it was supposed to.

the yellow I over-dyed on the onion skin mostly washed off after it had cooled and the yarn will have a very marled look to it ... some areas taking color more than others ... it will be intereesting to see the effect to say the least.

but I will not get that deep blue to brown gradiant that I wanted to look like birds wings ... now instead of ravens it will look more like bluebirds ... sigh ... but the brown looks more bronzey than coffee brown.

well all this is too bad but I can live with it, really.

The one that really killed all 'semblence of sanity was supper ... I had a bright idea to use the left over beef fried rice with the extra green peppers I got for potato salad -- I was going to make 'oriental' stuffed green peppers .... I made one for lunch and they were realy good.

My family isn't a big fan of peppers so I had three left .... figured that a half a pepper each would be okay. But I found that my peppers - all of them - had gone south. Since they weren't going to take long to ddo, I figured I could start late so ~ crap ~

I tried to pull up my computer quickly to find an alternative ... so I settled on quiche, its quick, easy and refriderator velcro (as Alton Brown says) .... but I didn't have pie crusts, just had to use cresent roll dough instead ....

first tube was fine ... second tube had this 'bits' of what looked like plastic in them - I've ran acrossed it before but decided that this time I had better call and let them know. Wouldn't you know it - no live person, just some stupid prerecorded message that was of no help at all. Even when it said 'if you would like to leave a message please wait' was no help because it just had a message with the hours instead of a way of actually leaving a message. ~crap~

luckily I had some that I had just picked up before Easter before I decided not to use them after all .... well good thing I had them because I needed them. so they made the base for the quiche .... put the rice in .... scrambled and mixed the eggs .... poured them on top .... put the mess in the oven for 1/2hr - that should be long enough right, and we would still be eating at a decent hour. well I've learned to check things 1/2 way thru so crusts don't burn - good thing cuz the top of the crust was getting too brown, so I topped it with foil.

wouldn't you know it - the top of the crust was cooked but the yolk was still raw and settling on top ... crap .... so I thought well I'll transfer it into my glass pan and microwave it .... 5 minutes yolks will be cooked.

do you know what you get when you put wet yolks in a bread crust?? dough ... crap ... the bottom of the crust was nothing but gooey dough. alternatives came to mind ... and of course poor daughter had to choose this particular time to start giving me crap for calling her up to help brainstorm an alterenative.

sent her for pizza -- by the time the quiche got out of the microwave it would be done if needed, if not - quiche could wait till tomorrow. no pizza. she brought up egg rolls. not what I wanted and it would need the microwave to cook ... crap.

luckily the quiche got done ... the bottom crust was done .... and it tasted ....

like crap.

but we ate it -- I think everyone was afraid not to.

nope -- wont see me on the Food Network anytime soon.

damn hadn't thought of that

my youngest daughter came home and she greeted me with a kiss. sweet huh?

Well my eye is itching like I've been around cats -- turns out she had shrimp for lunch.

i'm allergic to fish ... just the little kiss was enough to start triggering an allergic reaction ... of course it took a bit.

I know my dogs food has a high content of fish ... so when she eats I have to wait quite awhile before she can lick me -- but this is the first time I've gotten a reaction from a quick peck on the cheek.

If I take benedryl for the reaction I will be passed out when hubby gets home with that yummy KFC tonight (I've had a craving all day) .... and it will hit me for the majority of tomorrow too -- i have a really wierd reaction to it ... its been known to knock me out for a full 48 hours off a normal dose, so I have to take the kid dosage.

I know we had taken the kids out for dinner once (thanks to hubby's boss who picked up the tab) and my daughter ordered shrimp ... she was sitting next to me and we had to make her sit as far as she could from me during dinner -- did you know waitresses really hate it when people move around after getting their food?

hopefully this will pass soon without a lot of side effects. i want my kids to be able to eat what they serve at school without having to make them stay away from me for several hours while it runs its course. but if this keeps up, I may have to ask that they not get shrimp.

What is so wrong with Spinach??

Okay so for supper i decided to make individual meat loafs for dinner - and I decided to also make some spinach.

So I cut up three peices of bacon and cooked it over med heat in my 2 1/2 qt cast iron casserole.
When the bacon was cooked I filled the pot to the brim with baby spinach. I let it sit for a while to wilt a bit and then tossed the mass to coat each leaf with the bacon fat and wilt it more.
Then I added more spinach so it reached the brim again and added a little water (maybe 2 T) and put the cover on and turned the heat to low.
I let it sit for a few minutes and then gave the contents a toss again. I tasted it and put in a bit of salt & pepper.

My problem was that the spinach got done sooner than the meat loaf (would have been great except the meat didn't cook all the way thru) so I let the spinach sit while the meat loafs cooked an extra 15 minutes.

Well, we sat down to eat and sure enough -- the spinach was a slimy mass .... but I thought it tasted great!

My kids on the other hand ....

Hubby informed me that I should never make spinach that way again -- apparently his family never had spinach growing up.

I happen to love cooked spinach (in small doses) .... it was always a treat on the table with liver & bacon.

On the bright side, the kids thought they were getting away with something because they could have a couple of tablespoons of spinach and they thought they were getting only a little bit - not realizing that it is packed full of vitamins & iron and only a little is needed.

Now if I had made it into a salad instead -- well then they would have wanted a large portion each!

Kids.

Well - DUH!

World leaders tone down menu over fears of hypocrisy - Times Online:

"Lobster, goose and foie gras have given way to pasta, mozzarella, spinach and sweetcorn. 'It does not look good if leaders discussing global starvation are seen to be dining lavishly,' an official of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said. 'At the last summit in 2002 we did not give enough thought to the menu and were open - unfairly, in our view - to the charge of hypocrisy.'"

Gee, I don't know what anyone would have been upset with that original menu --- oh yeah --- the UN are idiots.

how about this for an idea?

how about you guys do a little research and find out what it is the poor eat in each of your cities ... or even what it is that each country feeds their poor .... and eat that for one night?? Or for however long the summit is?

Oh -- because that would offend your pallets -- oh -- I'm sorry.

" ... The 2002 menu, published by The Times, began with foie gras on toast with kiwi fruit and lobster in vinaigrette, followed by fillet of goose with olives and seasonal vegetables and ending with a compote of fruit with vanilla, all accompanied by an array of fine wines ... "

Oh please ... that sounds like the typical NY dinner ... hell, NY has a $100 burger ... the UN is located in NY right?

So how did they change the menu exactly?

" ... This time the catering was scaled down. Leaders first ate vol au vent* stuffed with sweetcorn and mozzarella, followed by a pasta dish with a sauce of pumpkin and shrimps, and then veal meatballs and cherry tomatoes, with a fruit salad and vanilla ice-cream for dessert. The wine was a "straightforward but very acceptable Orvieto Classico" ...

.... Tomorrow the lunch menu features cheese mousse, pasta, green beans and pineapple with ice-cream, all washed down with a Nero d'Avola Cabernet from Sicily. On Thursday, the last day of the summit, delegates will be offered courgette tart, parmesan risotto, ragout of veal with sautee potatoes, and lemon mousse for dessert with a strawberry sauce, with Pino Grigio from Trentino as the wine ..."

Okay - that's better -- NOT. Although on the bright side the mozzerella cheese, according to the story, is made from buffalo milk instead of cow milk. So I'm wondering if they can make it with other types of milk too -- like goat .... llama ... camel ... oxen ... etc.

Now lets not forget where they are eating these meals as well .... it certainly is not going to be in some back alley someplace. It will be in some swanky restraunt.

So how much $$ does this cost? And how many people could that money feed??? That is the REAL question .... Feed My Starving Children makes/sends meals which cost $0.17 a meal

NOTE:
* from Wikipedia: A Vol-au-vent (French for "windblown" to describe its lightness) is a small hollow case of puff pastry. A round opening is cut in the top and the pastry cut out for the opening is replaced as a lid after the case is filled. Vol-au-vents can accommodate various fillings, such as mushrooms, prawns, fruit, or cheese, but they are almost always savory.

Going for a Loopy Ride

Okay ... I have an allergy.

Its a food allergy.

Its one that tends to go into food products without even thinking about it. And I didn't realize it was even in there for decades but just lived with the side effects not knowing I was being slowly poisoned by my snack foods.

I'm allergic to fish. Its pretty bad. I can't even go thru the fresh fish part of the grocery store without it triggering my sinuses to protect themselves. I can't kiss my husband if he has had seafood of any kind during the day. And I swear it has to be why I'm allergic to cats.

Well, we had those pork chops yesterday --- btw, its a great recipe, to bad I won't be able to make it for a while until I find one special ingredient, but you have to wait a bit.

I started breaking out in itchy patches about an hour after eating. Annoying as all get out, but figured it was from mosquitoes - after all I had been working outside that afternoon and I suppose I could have gotten some bites but these were soooo small. I put it out of my mind.

We needed to go to the store. We have a thing tonight and I need to make a salad to bring with us. I needed some sesame oil. my what small bottles they are for the price! I also picked up some more soy sauce since I nearly used mine up making the marinade for the chops ... oh and some Worcestershire (thank Gods for spell check) ... and couldn't find a single bottle of fish free stuff.

Here's the rub --- Worcestershire is made with anchovies ... they have to declare it on their labelling under the allergen act by the FDA. So all the bottles, no matter who the manufacturer is, has it labelled nice a big "Allergens: contains fish" or "Allergens: contains anchovies" which while more accurate would fool someone if they didn't know that those are 'fish' by another name (you would be surprised how many people don't know that).

Well, it was a slight allergy so I didn't think anything of it.

Then I had some UTZ 'Pub Mix' last night too. I am very careful to check for allergens in foods when I first get them. If you aren't familiar with it ... think "Chex Mix" with sweet bits and hot bits (its soooo gooood) .... anyways....I woke up this morning broke out all over!

My arms, my legs, my back, my scalp! Yes my scalp!

Only thing that stops the itch is benedryl. Benedryl hits me like a ton of bricks -- I just took it (a single pink pill) about 10 minutes ago and I'm already getting loopy ... you have no idea how tough it is to concentrate to type this.

On the weekends its no issue, I've got the older kids and hubby home to take over while I sleep if off all day ... ALLLLLL DAAYYYYY.

So I took a closer look at the labels. I've been enjoying this stuff for a few months with out much more than itchiness - but I checked the label anyways.

Sure enough it contains Worcestershire sauce. Now I have to admit I realized that Chex Mix used it ... and I should have assumed that UTZ did too ... but there is no declaration of 'fish' in the allergy section. They have nuts, sesame, etc. but no fish!

I'm going to call the UTZ company later (if I can stay conscious for that long) and ask them why it isn't listed since they use the sauce.

I have to admit that since it wasn't declared I had assumed that they were using the 'fish free' version of the sauce ... the FDA allows an allergen to not be declared if it meets two criteria, and it must met them both - not one or the other. and I'm sorry but I'm pretty sure that as a main ingredient to the food item it would not fit one of those criteria.

"Secondly, 21 CFR 101.100(a)(3) allows incidental additives such as processing aids to be exempt from ingredient labelling requirements,
when they are present in a food at insignificant levels and
do not have any technical or functional effect in the finished food."

okay I was wrong -- it doesn't meet either criteria.

Oh yeah ... they are getting a call.

I'm in the wrong business

Okay so daughter had a choncert at school yesterday and afterwards we went to 'Cold Stone Creamery' who moved into our area in the last year -- well okay we noticed it there this summer.

we got a bowl of ice cream - that is about maybe 2 cups (supposed to be 12 oz)? maybe less ... it was there "gotta have it" size; kids got the "love it" size (1 cup size)... anyways we could NOT believe the prices!

$5 for the 1 cup size and $6 for the 12 oz size -- so for our family we wound up spending over $30 on ice cream! Wouldn't have been so bad if it had actually been worth the money.
Don't get me wrong ... I'm not putting down the company ... I'm not a big Ice Cream eater - in fact other than strawberry and peppermint bon-bon I don't like it at all.

but out ice cream had chips of ice in it ... not crystals of ice - flat slabs on ice. It could have occurred during the mixing process as the gal (who put on a GREAT show, wish I had gotten video for you) had to dip the ice cream paddles in warm water to clean them.

It was really nice to see them work stuff into the ice cream, but the presence of the ice just pulled it all down for me .., well that and the Mint Mint Chocolate Chocolate didn't have as strong of a mint taste as I was expecting.

we got Strawberry Blonde for my older daughter and I got a taste of it -- that tasted like a strawberry cheesecake. I wasn't sure that the caramel would work with it, but it didn't taste bad (at least not the bit I got).

They have got to be cleaning up in the money dept.

Check out the graph

Fed takes boldest action since the Depression to rescue US mortgage industry

"The Fed's dramatic step came after an emergency conference call by governors on
Monday night. It followed the melt-down of the US chartered agencies -- Fannie
Mae, Freddie Mac, and other lenders -- which together guarantee 60pc of the
entire US home loan market. Fannie Mae's share price fell 19pc in panic trading
on Monday after Barron's magazine said it may need a rescue package"

Okay, but if you look at the graph they have on the page about the rise & fall of Fannie Mae, you will notice that it was completely strong until around November -- about the time the candidates started all their retoric of how 'bad' the economy was ... they CAUSED it. Think people. If you hadn't heard of it on the news all the time, would have ever thought the economy was bad? I mean other than gas prices?

Its like the food prices. Remember how every one said that the food prices were going to go up because of Ethonal? But people had been using ethonal for years without a problem ... until the news media latched onto it!!!

I remember in the 70's when President Carter (or was it Ford?) put a ceiling on milk prices to protect the consumer (especially the little consumer) ... I often wondered if it ever really helped people, but I know it hurt the farmer in the long run.

So what will this bail out do for the housing industry -- my guess is its going to still hurt people because now they have mortgages that they got during the inflated housing market but their houses weren't really worth that much .... lets just hope the banks don't get the bright idea to start asking for the difference in

good day....bad day

Good day: Hubby took me shopping at the grocery store. I know for a lot of people this seems rather mundane, everyday dread....but we don't go to the regular store very often so it is a real treat--especially if he lets me buy stuff I want.

They had Yoplait yogurt (all styles) on sale for 20/$10 (can't beat 20cents a container, no limit)...so we did a really good job at cleaning them out. My daughter stopped counting at 40 when she was putting them into the 'over flow' refridgerator.

He also let me get some Coffee Mate creme....Raspberry (I have got to do a review on this too)
and some International Instant coffee (orange something--I'll review that too)...and some barley for soup....and some canned soup they had on sale (trying to get the kids to eat more soup in their lunches)...and some rutabagas, turnip, & parsnips (they are hard to find at this store)...and they had Hamburger Helper/Chicken Helper on sale for 10/$10!

I love this stuff--it is a great launch point for meals. The box says it feeds 4 but I need to make enough to feed at least 8 (I have two teenagers and a preteen, plus there's hubby)....so I figure out what's in it and stretch it out.
Take the "Lasanga" that's going to be easy....an extra can of tomatoe sauce and a few wide egg noodles...viola supper for 8.
Or the "Chicken Fried Rice"....extra rice, as much chicken as I need, maybe an extra cup of peas...whammo-dinner for the family!
Then as I eat them I pick them apart....trying to figure out what they used for flavoring (being careful not to get anything with fish)....then when I'm out of the boxes I can figure out how to make it myself...and save the money.

Lets see we got chips & ginger-ale for flu season (best to have on hand ahead of time) and little samplers of coffee.
They are the cutest things...they were 10/$10 and are going to be perfect for a gift for my SIL. We figured we could get a couple of coffee cups from Dollar Tree, stuff them with a few of the samplers, put them in a nice basket and give it to her that way. I think it will make a nice gift...maybe I'll even include some Romance novels (I think she likes that smut....I know she wouldn't be into Bronte or Austin).

We ever worked outside with the dog on some basic obedience--she really needed it....we have let it slide the last month or so. She did really well.

Straightened out my cupboards so it would actually hold it all (couldn't believe all the stuff I had to find a spot for).

Bad Day:
While making the bed, the corner of my pillow knocked off a statuette I had in my window and it broke.
I was a beautiful statuette of two cherubs sitting on a bench; one had a basket and the other held a little birdie in its hands.
I kept it in the house because I was afraid that it would get broken outside (ha!) and I've been able to keep it fairly safe for the last 5 yrs. It has taken a couple of spills but nothing really happened to it.
This time...a feather pillow smash the sucker to smithereens!
Okay, technically it wasn't the pillow...it was the floor/wall as it fell. I totally lost one of the cherubs....she lost her head and her wings---insert joke here---there was not saving it. No just gluing it together.
It was a resin statuette and once they break they are ruined.
It was so hard to throw it out....it felt kind of like throwing out an heirloom even though it wasn't that old...but it had to go. [sigh] Somedays I miss my mom.
Hubby tried to make me feel better by telling me to look at Design Toscano for something simular (love them) but he doesn't know I just spent way too much at Herrschner's again....and I swore I wouldn't...swore it....looked at their pages and said 'nice but I can live w/o it' then placed too big of an order the next day figuring that most of it would be out of stock because the prices were so good.

I just got the shipping notice yesterday (the day after placing the order-very unusual for them) and I did get EVERYTHING I ordered. {sigh} not that I'm not happy....I just don't know how I'm going to hide it all from hubby.

I'll have to post some of the stuff I got later.

But good day/bad day.....lets hope the good day just keeps going.

Just in case you want to try it

Guidelines for slaughtering, meat cutting and further processing

Here's a link just in case you want to try a hand at cutting your own meat. But if not, check out the bottom of the page anyways...it has some interesting stuff down there on the best ways to cook your different cuts of meat.

A story everyone who eats meat should read

What's at Stake at the Butcher Shop Food & Wine

Read the story first,
Then run out and buy yourself a deep freeze.

Don't think you have room? They sell ones that are small enough to fit into a closet if its the only space you have---you'll thank yourself in the long run!

We have three BIG freezers going--only because we couldn't find one large enough. One for the half a cow, one for the whole pig, and one for the chickens and other frozen foods---we don't have a butcher for them so we have to get them pre-packaged...boo hoo....the butcher my folks used to go to would include free chickens with their order and boy were they good! The stuff you buy in the stores these days have been so injected with water that there's no taste left to them!

One year my uncle Adam brought down some meat he got during his annual hunting trip (he lived in Alaska) so we got Elk, Caribou, Mountain Goat, and lamb. GOOD STUFF!!! But it took quite a bit of onion to dull the wild taste--if you aren't used to wild game, they can have a bit of an "off" taste that will make you think the meat is bad when its actually not.

Invest in a deep freeze, I'm telling you---it will become your best cooking utensil in no time flat!

Make homemade pasta? Great. Freeze extra for a quick meal.

Work all week and get home late so fast food is your bud? Stop. Make a big meal once a week and freeze your leftovers (for up to 3 months) and heat them up in the microwave for some good home-cooked meals--the secret here is to cool the left overs in the refridge before freezing and don't squish them--use those freezable/microwavable firm plastic containers not freezer bags and add a little water before microwaving.

On a diet and buy those prepared meals? Stop. Its cheaper to make your own. Use divided microwavable plates and measure out your meals. Freeze them up and pop them in the microwave.

Gardener? Great. Vegetables love the freezer. Just parboil most of them before putting up. We have done corn, tomatoes (good for stews & sauces as they thaw mushy), carrots, peppers; dehydrate things like zucchini, egg plant, onions and then put them in your freezer to keep them longer--its a cool dry place.

Found a good price on milk? Buy extra and freeze it! Yes milk freezes and unthaws great(good for about 1 yr). Eggs will too, but I suggest taking them out of the shell and putting them into ice cube trays--if you do a lot of baking, pre-seperating them will be very helpful. Freeze them in the trays, pop them out once frozen and then put them in zip top baggies--they are good for 6 months.

Lost your power? If you do not open your freezer during the power outage a fully stocked freezer will be fine for about 48 hours, a low stock about 24 hours depending what you have in it.

And if they offer you one of those extended warrentees....it depends on what you get. If you get a free yearly check up, free repairs which incl. parts, replacement value for if they can't fix it....take it! If they don't offer that...you will have to figure how much it would cost to replace the freezer and the food in it, and whether it would be cheaper than buying the contract every year.

We don't have them on our freezers, but we do on our washer/dryer (nearly 20 years)...one we got at a scratch&dent sale, one we got second hand, the upright we bought at the big retailer....we've had to replace the big retailer one already...but the other two chest freezers are going strong!!

Product Review-Nonni's Gingerbread Biscotti

My kids and I absolutely love biscotti....be it with coffee, cocoa or tea...we love having a cookie that is made specifically dipping. We are however fussy...we want a cookie that can be dipped for a 1second count and come up nice and soft.

We have found some that need to be dipped as long as 5 seconds-that's an eternity in the cookie world-and we've even found some that in less than a second it is falling apart in your cup and leaving sludge in the bottom...yuk!

Now you have to understand that any cookie you dip into a liquid will leave some sort of residue, its just the nature of the beast...what I'm talking about here is having a glop of it fall off the cookie...or even worse, have the cookie break in half and you pull up the stub of the cookie...that is just sad.

If you don't know about biscotti now is a great time to go over a primer....just a quick over-view. First the cookie is made into a large loaf and cooked just long enough to firm it up; the loaf is then removed from the heat, allowed to cool slightly then cut again (generally at an angle) in slices like a loaf of bread; these slices are then place upon a cookie sheet and the cookies are cooked again at a low enough heat not so much to cook them as to dry them out. Once cooled the cookies should be firm but dry...nothing you would eat on its own...the cookies are made for dipping...literally.

Okay that said....

Nonni's Biscotti, Gingerbread Macadamia flavored cookies.
Found them at Sam's Club, $9.95/26 cookies (not cheap, but they are only out for a limited time), they come in a plastic container with a screw top lid.

Nutritional Info:
Serving Size: 1 cookie
Calories: 170//40 calories from Fat
total fat 4.5 gr....0 trans fat, 2.5gr saturated fat
14g of sugar
Protien 2gr
Calcium 2%
Iron 4%
(see its healthy!)

Okay single word: YUM

These are delicious! They are a light orangy tan color and look like they would taste more like pumpkin bread than gingerbread (which I always associate with a deep brown color); they have a fair amount of macadamia mixed within the cookie, though none on top; the bottom edge of the cookie is graced with a nice coating of white ganache-type frosting...its not gooey like regular frosting but not too firm like chocolate...although I wish it had been a little thicker, you can see the bottom of the cookie peeking thru but that's getting a tad too knit-picky.

Each cookie comes individually wrapped...very nice for putting into a lunch or keep the frosting from gooping up the others if they get warm in the summer...I find having them wrapped is really helpful with kids--they always have to look at each one to find the one that looks the most delicious to them. Also, being wrapped you don't have to worry about that stray cough or sneeze contaminating them all.

Each cookie is very uniform in size, as one would expect from mass produced items, each measuring 7" long and about 1" high and about 3/4" thick.

I would have enjoyed a bit more snap to the gingerbread, perhaps the addition of a bit of white pepper would have helped or maybe a tad more clove. The frosting was almost too sweet for the cookie itself and tended to over power and hide the taste at the ends where the cookies isn't quite as thick. Towards the center of the cookie once it reaches the uniformed thickness the frosting isn't quite so overpowering and the cookie taste starts to shine.

I did the one second dip test: dip the cookie in the warm liquid, count (one thousand-one) and take out the cookie, hold the cookie point side down over the cup to allow extra drippings to leave on their own for five seconds (no shaking or tapping allowed), then move the cookie into a horizontal position for 2 seconds before consuming.

This cookie did very well, although it dripped a little more liquid than I would have hoped. It soaked in just enough liquid to soften the cookie without becoming too mushy...in fact it was easy to find the drink-line on the cookie (biscotti are made for double dipping, triple and quad dipping even!). The cookie still has that cookie feel in the mouth without getting doughy or bready from the liquid...also as you hold it there is actually very little absborbage within the cookie above the dipline. If you have ever dipped a cookie and had the inside get soggy outside of the dipline you will know what I mean-its kind of like biting into a bruised orange-but that is not an issue here.

Overall taste: 8 out of 10
dipping ability: 9 out of 10
value: 4 out of 10 (if it hadn't been for the holiday season I would never have paid so much)
chances I will buy again: 6 out of 10...mostly due to price and seasonality of the product.

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Biscotti Etiquette

Okay I should say that I have seen several faux pas when people eat biscotti. So here is a little etiquette lesson.

It is okay to re-dip a biscotti after you take a bite...however if you are at a formal occasion, or one where you are in public you may wish to avoid this by breaking your biscotti into more managable bite sized pieces before you begin to dip.

Do not dip your fingers in your drink while dipping your cookie....and for goodness sake, if your liquid is low in your cup and you can't easily get to it with your cookie do not, repeat do NOT put your fist in your cup trying to get that last little bit. Don't tip your cup to reach the liquid either, that is just as bad. Small cookie or cookie piece, small cup....don't try to dip a small cookie in a large travel sized mug....that's too much like a Chihuahua going after a German Shephard...it just doesn't fit. And it isn't pretty!

Do not hold a cookie in one hand and drink out of your cup with the other....put the damn cookie down...if you are on the road and don't have a plate to put your cookie on---what the hell are you doing dipping a cookie while driving? WATCH THE ROAD!!!!

One dunk per cookie or cookie part at a time; don't plunge your cookie. I can not tell you how many times I have seen people pop their cookie up & down in their cup like it was a fishing bobber. Once...no reason to make waves and it will not make the liquid soak in faster.

Let the cookie drain. Don't shake your cookie, you will get a plop; don't try to hurry the cookie up to your mouth before the liquid drips off--you won't make it. It is best just to let the cookie hang over the top of the cup for a few seconds while you casually continue your conversation. Don't worry that the liquid will cool off...it is so concentrated in there - it would probably burn your mouth if you pop it in right away anyways.

Don't hold the cookie high above the cup. When holding the cookie to drain you should hold it just barely above the drink level yet high enough so that your fingers are above the lip of the cup. This way if the cookie does plop there isn't quite the mess to it; the more distance between the cookie and the liquid level the larger the splash area.

Always take a drink from your cup before you begin to dip. This will reduce the surface tension of the liquid and lower the level in the cup so that you are less likely to spill over the edge--unless you are a clutz.

Practice at home before you go into public. Watching a newbie try to eat an item is painful and eating etiquette just is not taught any more. Save yourself embarrassment--because, yes, someone is looking...and it might be ME!

I'm so evil. LOL.

Eight Healthy Foods You Can Eat

Okay so our local news station had a blip on the 8 best foods you can eat for your health (they advertised 10 but I only found mention of 8--I could have missed two)

In no particular order:

Beets: help with heart conditions and fights cancer

Dried Plums (aka Prunes): not just for the elderly, they are packed full of
iron

Red Cabbage: yes the favorite of families before the advent of
fast-food...it also helps with the heart

Beans & Barley: by beans they meant the dried ones used for soups...you
remember the old rhyme "beans, beans the magical fruit; the more you eat the
more you toot. The more you toot, the better you feel; so eat your beans
with every meal"? Seems its true but not for the gas...it helps your
blood.

pomergranites: full of antioxidents, it is great for your body as it fight
those cancer causing free radicals. Can be taken in either the fruit or
juice forms.

Cinnamon: lowers your blood sugar. So don't feel bad when you get
that hankering for the confort food of Cinnamon toast....boost your blood and
have that second peice.

Swiss Chard: I've always heard of it, but have never known what it was good for---it is great for your heart. It is a salad green....I will have to keep an eye out for it and give it a try now!

I will have to check on the stations page later tomorrow to see if they have the clip on their site to share with you all....or at least see if I can't find the rest of the info for these foods.

You can find more healthy foods on WebMD. I would like to add that green tea is healthier than black tea and the jury is still out on whether white tea is healthier than green...rinsing your mouth with green tea will help fight gum disease (at least according to my old dentist before she went to CA).