Nutella Party – the real scoop

Thanks to Mommy Parties, I hosted a Nutella breakfast party last week.

They provided me with some swag for all the moms in attendance, as well as breakfast ideas and tips for incorporating Nutella into your routine.

A few of the recipes were unappealing to me, but the one that grabbed my children’s attention was the breakfast waffle sandwich. Fresh strawberries, blueberries, and grated coconut sandwiched between 2 waffles smeared with the chocolate hazelnut spread – what’s not to like?  The kids were in heaven.

Also a hit? Nutella on croissants.

I was also given a set of tips for serving a healthy breakfast to your family, and how Nutella can help you achieve that goal.

Caution – honest opinion, coming up!

This is where I think the product goes astray. The marketing.

The literature says that Nutella is part of a healthy breakfast. ‘And what else is part of that breakfast?’ you may wonder. Well. Whole grain bread, fruit, 2% milk…you know, nutritious foods. So what does Nutella contribute to that breakfast? Apparently nothing, save incentive to eat it.

And I suppose that’s all well and good.

But you know what else will get your kids to eat that breakfast? No. other. alternatives.

I buy whole wheat bread in this house. Skim milk. Lots of fruit. And when you want toast, you eat whole grains. When you want a snack, you eat fruit. You want a bowl of cereal, you use skim milk. Period. I’m the mom, I’m in charge. I do the shopping and the preparing, and you do the sitting down and the eating. I am not a short order cook. I do not give you whatever you want. I give you what is good for you, and you can eat it or you can eat nothing.

This method has not yet starved to death any member of my family.

So is Nutella necessary? Not in a house where the parents are in charge.

Is it good? According to child testers, yes indeed.

But my hangup is this: a single, 2 tablespoon serving of Nutella has 200 calories and 11 grams of fat.

For 138 calories and 10 grams of fat I could have 3 strips of bacon.

For 190 calories and 1 gram of fat I could have an everything bagel.

See where this is going? Nutella is just not a good calorie exchange in my book. It’s also 5 Weight Watchers Points. Ouch. {No clue about the new Points Plus thing – sorry}

I’m not bashing Nutella – truly I’m not. If you’re into sweets, I’m sure you’d love it. My oldest daughter loves it, and would be happy to eat chocolate toast at pretty much any moment. And I do give it to her…on whole wheat bread, as a dessert. It’s far too high in calories and fat to be anything else.

Would I recommend Nutella? Sure. It was a hit with the sweet eaters in my house, and I am not overly restrictive on treats.

Would I call it, as they do, ‘part of a healthy breakfast’? Not a chance. Healthy comes from the other things in your breakfast, so do yourself and your kids a favor and learn to eat the good stuff without smearing it in chocolate.

It’s a good lesson.

***I was invited to host a Nutella party through Mommy Parties. They provided me with a large jar of Nutella to serve, as well as gift bags and lots of goodies to share with 10 guests. My opinions here are honest – I cannot be bought. Not for Nutella, anyway.***

Makeover Monday: Cinnamon Toast

My friend Rachel (she of the Fried Pickle fame) told me about a Cinnamon Toast recipe.  Capitalized purposely, because it’s supposed to be the cream of the crop.

I’m sure the rest of you already know about The Pioneer Lady, but if not, well, check the link.  Except check the link for The Pioneer Woman and not lady, because I have no idea who The Pioneer Lady might be.  Obviously I’m not a fan.

I’ve never read her website, for no reason other than my contrariness and general eschewing of everything popular and trendy.  But for the Cinnamon Toast I made an exception, and decided to try it myself.  Makeover the way we do toast?  I had to see if this was possible.

I’m including pictures, because I feel every blog post should have a picture, and especially those involving food. However, to be perfectly honest hers are much better and more detailed, so you might rather look over there.

Mixing together 1 stick of butter, 1/2 cup sugar, cinnamon (I rarely bother measuring) and some vanilla.  The end result:

Homemade cinnamon butter, essentially.

She then has you spread it onto un-toasted bread and pop into a 350° oven for ten minutes or so.  This is what it looked like at that point:

Next, crank to broil for a few minutes, and then you get this:

Cross section:

My take on this?

Well she says the absolute worst way to make cinnamon toast is to toast the bread, then spread with butter, then sprinkle on cinnamon sugar.

This has always been my method.

Her method?

Eh.

The bottom of the bread was not toasted, so it was soft and doughy.  You might like this, but I didn’t care for it.  The top being caramelized was kind of nice.  But was it 15 minutes worth of nice?  Not so much.

Plus it’s more than 15 minutes, really, since that’s only the cooking time.  You also have to consider the time you’re waiting for the oven to pre-heat.

It’s cinnamon toast.  With small letters.  I’m sure to someone out there, including that lady woman, it’s a big capital-letter deal, but to me, it’s just a quickie breakfast.  I don’t want to spend time with an oven for goodness’ sake!  We are not morning people.  We wake up 30 minutes before we have to leave the house and there is no time for this insanity.

What I will give her is that the vanilla is a nice touch.  I could be persuaded to make the cinnamon butter in bulk, and then spread that on my toast.  Well, the kids’ toast since I don’t do breakfast and I rarely eat sweets.  But whatever – that part is do-able.  The rest?  Over-complicating the matter, in this mom’s opinion.

So – how do you make cinnamon toast?

Carpe Diem

I mentioned Paula Deen a couple of weeks ago when I blogged about trying her Blackened Tilapia recipe.  What I didn’t mention is specifically why I fell in love with her.

It’s shameful, really.  I know I’ll feel you judging me through your computer screens.  But because really, I rarely care about trying to impress people, I’m going to go ahead and tell you.

It was her Lady’s Brunch Burger.

Sounds harmless, right?

Then quite obviously, you have no idea.  You haven’t clicked the link yet.  Go ahead – I’ll wait.

Because it is harmful indeed.  Sinful.  Artery-clogging.  Repulsive.

But tempting, too.  Intriguing.

When I saw her prepare this, I had two thoughts.  ‘ew, gross!’ and ‘I bet that’s really good.’

And not necessarily in that order.

So naturally, in the name of foodie exploration, the girls and I felt obligated to try this out.

Ours is a breakfast version, with a sausage patty, fried egg, bacon, cheese, and Krispy Kreme donuts.

And we report to you that it is quite good.

Not good enough to make us crave it, thank heavens.  We’d like to live a long life.

But good enough that we’re glad we tried it.  And if you’re brave, you should too.

You only live once.

Fried Pickles

My friend Rachel has been singing the praises of fried pickles lately.

If you’re now thinking ‘Fried pickles? Gross!’ then I completely understand.  This is exactly what I thought when I heard about them.

I was a holdout for weeks, but finally she sent me the recipe and I felt obligated to experience this culinary curiosity.

Wanna try yourself?

Rachel’s Yummy Fried Pickles

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon vinegar-based hot pepper sauce

3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon seasoning salt

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 cup cornmeal

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 32 ounce jar dill pickle slices

1 cup vegetable oil for deep frying

salt and pepper to taste

spicy ranch dressing for dipping

Heat oil to 365° Fahrenheit (180° Celsius)

In large bowl, combine eggs, 1/4 cup of the flour, buttermilk, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, seasoning salt, and garlic powder.

Drain pickles and dip in the liquid mixture

In a separate bowl, combine cornmeal, 2 cups of flour, salt, and 3/4 teaspoon black pepper

Next, dredge the pickles in the coating

And then transfer to the oil to cook

Remove the pickles when they reach a deep, golden brown color, and transfer to paper towels to drain (I used a paper bag)

When properly drained, dip into ranch dressing and enjoy!

I’m really not a big pickle fan, but I have to admit, these were tasty.  Much, much better than I had imagined possible.

And because my first recipe from Rachel turned out so yummy, more will be forthcoming.

Stay tuned!

Self Improvement vs. Carbohydrates

This is a constant struggle in my life.

Would I like to be healthier?  Look better?  Run faster?

Absolutely.

Am I willing to give up bread to make that happen?

Not a chance.

[If I were Catholic, the ultimate Lent sacrifice would be carbs.]

I tried Atkins once, about 10ish years ago.  It lasted about 4 hours.

I made it through breakfast [unhappily].  It came lunch time and I pulled out the lunch I’d carefully packed for myself, and I went out to a picnic table to eat (I was still gainfully employed at this point).  I spread it out in front of myself and gave a resigned sigh, and began to pick up a piece of celery or some other such nonsense…and then a co-worker came out and asked if I’d like to go out to the Spaghetti Factory and I was all ‘Heck-to-the-yeah’ and I pitched that crappy lunch straight into the rubbish bin.

So my wedding dress was a size 6 instead of a size 4, and I looked a bit meatier in my honeymoon bikini than I did in years past.  I was fine with that.  I had bread and pasta to console myself with.

This battle has not changed in years since then.  It just so happens that I love food.  And I especially love the carbohydrate kind of food.  I’m Irish and Italian and this is genetic – I cannot be blamed for it.  If I were ever on death row (probably for killing the man that tried to take carbs away from me) my last meal request would be something like mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, potato soup, fettuccine alfredo, angel hair pasta with pesto, and a huge loaf of crusty garlic bread.  And then I would have a little piece of heaven on earth before I got to the real place, because carbs?  Are a very good thing.

But this is an issue when I have my occasional ‘let’s not be such a big fat schlub’ kicks.  Because every regime you look at limits your carbs.  Atkins – 4 hours.  Weight Watchers – better.  I did this after Lilly and dropped the weight in no time.  At which point I resumed carbs as usual, and, um… yeah.

So I tried P90x, but hello? Did you know that they expect you to DIET as well as exercise for 4 hours a day?  What a load of crap.  The whole reason I exercise is so that I don’t have to diet.  If I can’t eat bread that is punishment enough – I’m not going to torture myself with yoga, too.

I know that when people find out I run they are sizing me up and inside they’re all ‘If she really runs that much then why isn’t she skinny?’  I’ll tell you why.

Car-bo-hy-drates.

They are my friends and I will not forsake them.

I don’t run because I like to run.  I haven’t enjoyed this since I was 22 years old.  I do it because I want to eat bagels.

I walk into Panera Bread and I breathe deep, knowing that I have reached the promised land.  I have a soup-and-sandwich combo with bread as a side item, and then there’s a very good chance I’ll have an orange scone for dessert.  And buy some bagels to take home.  And possibly a baguette.

And I am happy.

And yes, sometimes I look down and feel sad about my muffin.  But if I have to live with a muffin in order to eat, then so be it.

I just can’t relate to people with willpower.  People who are willing and able to sacrifice food for vanity.  People who are both spaghetti and muffin-less.

I envy their flat stomachs, for sure.  My pierced navel is no more, because a tummy full of Baked Lays doesn’t look so cute with bling.  But I don’t envy this enough to actually do something about it.

I’m contemplating an attitude shift, though.  Right now it’s in the early, ‘I really should do that’ stages.  It remains to be seen if I will actually act upon this thought.  Frankly, I’m sort of hoping a pile of money will fall into my lap before I have to make the decision.  Then I could afford a surgical solution, re-pierce the navel, and celebrate with a trip to Italy.

For now, it’s back to the treadmill to work off the lasagna I just ate.

Happily.

[The eating was the happy part. Not the treadmill.  The treadmill is a necessary evil.]

Blackened Tilapia Sandwich a la Paula Deen

My daughters have a thing for cooking shows.  Annie and I prefer the nerdy fabulousness of Alton Brown, whereas Catie leans toward the incessant perk and chatter of Rachael Ray.  We often meet in the middle with Paula Deen.

Blatant Paula Deen Cookware product placement

Besides being lovely to look at, she oozes southern charm in a casual way.  So often southern women are seen as prim and proper, but Paula knows how to throw down with the best of us.  I love her for this.

But also, I love her for her unabashed adoration of butter.  And mayonnaise, and bacon, and sour cream.  Me too, Paula – me too.

So recently we saw a show she did on budget meals.  Note: Paula Deen has no clue what a budget meal is.  In reality, it would involve something like rice and beans.  In Paula’s world, it’s a Blackened Tilapia Sandwich with Cilantro-Lime Mayonnaise and Mango Salsa.

Not even joking.

So she’s out of touch with reality, but whatever – the girl can cook.

Last weekend we made her recipe, and let me just say YUM!  This will definitely be in my rotation.

Where we parted ways with Paula:  I made homemade mango salsa (cannot believe she recommended store-bought. Blech!) and I also made ciabatta bread instead of using kaiser rolls.  Oh and I added garlic to the mayo because, well, I just like to eat garlic as much as possible.  It makes me happy.

My salsa:

Mangoes

onion

cucumber

red bell pepper

jalapeno

I’m not big on ‘measuring’ or ‘recipes’ so I can’t give you exact proportions.  I used one large mango, half of a large onion, half a cuke, half a red pepper, and half of a jalapeno.  Then I sprinkled in some lime juice and cilantro and called it a day.

The end result

Delish.  Now stick that in the fridge to gel while we assemble the rest of the meal.

The dressing is easy – just mayo, lime juice, and cliantro.  And garlic if you’re me.

And on to the fish.  Coat with melted butter (naturally), then blackened seasoning, then fry – about 3-4 minutes per side.

I used a non-stick skillet and didn’t add any additional butter to the bottom – the fish had plenty.

Doesn’t it look fabulous?

Yum!

I decided we needed a dessert for such a nice lunch, so I whipped up a lemon cake as well.

The girls felt it wasn’t flashy enough, so they added crystal sugar on top, and red raspberries and basil as a garnish.

Finally, time to dig in

Heavenly.

Not a budget recipe (sorry, Paula), but definitely a delicious one.  4 thumbs up from our home!

*Giveaway* The School of Essential Ingredients

I have just finished the most wonderful novel.  The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister.  Her first novel, and, in my humble opinion, an outstanding one.

This book is an easy read – in my case it took one evening.  It’s a light read – it likely won’t change your life.

But it’s also a profound read in many ways.  One of the most insightful books I’ve had the pleasure to happen upon in recent years.

I related to Lillian, who saw food as a means of healing.

I found myself in Claire, who lost herself in her children.

I longed for a love like that of Carl and Helen, who weathered a marital storm and because of that drew closer.

I ached for Tom, mourning his unthinkable loss.

I cook like Charlotte.  [garlic - hello, lover]

I am naive like Chloe.

And I have never before read a book so that so completely captured me in so many ways.  I was startled more than once to find that the exact words in my head had seemingly been snatched and copied, right there on the pages.

I was moved.

I am a foodie.  I love food from a place deep within my soul.  As far as completely personal hobbies go, I’m not sure I could name anything I do that gives me more pleasure than cooking.

And this book – oh, this book!  It so fully encapsulated the passion and sensuality of food, I am almost at a loss for words to describe it properly.

As corny as I know it sounds, this book touched something deep inside of me.  It stirred feelings that I’ve pushed aside for years.

It inspired me.

And I’d like to see if maybe it would inspire you, too.

I am giving away a copy of The School of Essential Ingredients.  If you’d like to win your very own copy, just leave me a comment with your favorite ingredient, food, recipe, family meal memory…  Whatever you’d like.  Share a foodie thought with me and you’re in!

Drawing will be held this Friday evening, September 10, at 8 pm EST.  Or whenever my kids get to bed.

And don’t be surprised to find lots of recipes here this month – I’ve been cooking up a storm.

In which I defend junk food

Oh yeah – I’m going there.  I know it’s not popular right now, but I am going there anyway.

Remember when I said I was contrary?

So everyone I know is on a health food kick.  A diet kick.  A Real Food kick.

This is fantastic for Jamie Oliver.  Fantastic for the authors who usher in the next big trend in eating, and the companies that peddle all the right foods.  It is even – possibly - good for America. 

I’m certainly not against healthy eating.  Bring on the apples!  I am, however, solidly against trends of pretty much any sort.  And in my very humble opinion, a lot of the food discussion we see and hear right now falls in to that trendy category.

This week alone, I have read over a dozen blog and/or Facebook posts regarding the sugar content of chocolate milk.

If you, too, have been told that chocolate milk contains more sugar than a can of soda, allow me to set the record straight.  It does not.

Does. Not.

I have compared chocolate milk from my local public school, Hershey’s, Nestle’s, Dean’s, and 2 store brands.  I’m taking the one with the highest sugar content and for an 8 ounce drink, it contains 25 grams of sugar.

Next up, the soft drinks.  Coke – 39 grams of sugar, Mt. Dew – 46 grams, Sprite – 38 grams.

To be fair, the cans of soda are 12 ounces, so let’s make it ‘even’ – or at least biased in the same way that I’m sure this study was done.  Highest sugar content milk vs. lowest sugar content soda.

8 ounce serving of chocolate milk – 25 grams of sugar

8 ounce serving of Sprite – 25 grams of sugar

Exactly the same.  Very interesting.

Oh, except the milk also has calcium, potassium, and Vitamins A, C, and D.

The soda – not so much.

Does anyone else remember a simpler time, when we didn’t panic over milk in school lunches?  Apparently that time was at least as recent as 2006, when this study was released showing that chocolate milk is actually good for you. <gasp!>

Is chocolate milk the best possible choice?  Probably not.  But equating it to soda, which contains so much phosphorus it literally sucks the calcium out of your bones, is just absurd.  Check out this WebMD article, which not only explains why soda is bad, it also explains why milk is good.  Who’d have thought that would be a novel idea?

Don’t fall for these lies, people!

I am all for watching what I eat.  I also believe that ‘everything in moderation’ are words to eat by.

In my house, I avoid artificial food colors.  They make my kids hyper and prone to meltdowns and they give me dizzy spells.  I avoid high fructose corn syrup.  I don’t buy Doritos, or ‘juice’ boxes, or candy.

My theory is that if it wasn’t a food 100 years ago, then it isn’t good for me now.  Real food, please.

And just so there’s no confusion, by that I do not mean REAL food.

But.  BUT.  I also don’t care if my kids eat cheese doodles, or cupcakes, or suckers.

Every day, day in and day out, they eat fruit.  They eat green, leafy vegetables.  They eat whole grains.  They eat fiber.  I add flax seed to my [homemade] bread.  I serve chicken more than beef. 

I make brownies with spinach in them, for Pete’s sake. 

And you know what?  They know about the spinach.  They love it, and they help me make them.

We have our own garden, and we eat the fruits and vegetables that we grow.  My daughters help me prepare our meals, so they know what they are eating.  And I tell them why carrots are good for them, so they know that what they put into their body is important.

In my house, that is enough. 

We are not an obese nation because we eat hamburgers.  We are obese because we eat double quarter pounders with super-sized fries and an extra large soda, and we do it several times a week.

Our children are not overweight because they drink chocolate milk at school.  They are overweight because we feed them cocoa puffs for breakfast, Lunchables for a snack, and park them in front of a television set or a video game until dinner.  Which is most likely more of the same high calorie, high fat, ready-to-eat junk they’ve had the rest of the day.

We are fat and unhealthy because we never tell ourselves no.

People are complaining about the nutritional content of school lunches, but let me tell you, the nutritional content of those 5 meals is government regulated.  The other 16 meals they eat every week?  Totally up to us.  And sorry to say it, but we are the ones making the bad choices here.

The bad choice isn’t drinking chocolate milk.  The bad choices are those other 16 meals a week.

A bad choice is blaming chocolate milk for our sustenance ills.

And if I dare say, another bad choice is jumping on bandwagons, nutritional or otherwise.

To put it bluntly, chocolate milk has been around for a very long time.  Thousands of years.  Far longer than we have been a fat nation full of fat children.  Somehow my parents, and grandparents, and great-great-great-grandparents were able to drink chocolate milk.  And you know what?  My children will continue the tradition.  If that’s the worst thing they pump into their little bodies, I will consider myself a smashing success.

And now I’m off.  A bowl of ice cream awaits.

Homemade Caramels

My friend Kris gave me this recipe well over a year ago, and I just got around to making them. 

Wow, was I missing out!

Let me start by saying I’m not a big caramel fan.  Or a sweets fan at all, for that matter.  But for some reason these really appealed to me, and I’m glad I finally tried them.  They are delicious and very easy to make.

Melt in the Mouth Vanilla Caramels

Makes about 2 1/2 pounds

1 cup butter or margarine
1 pound brown sugar
Dash salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan. Add brown sugar and salt. Stir until thoroughly combined. Stir in corn syrup and mix well. Gradually add milk, stirring constantly.

Cook and stir over medium heat until candy reaches firm ball stage. 248 on candy thermometer; about 12 to 15 min. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla. Pour into a buttered 9×13 pan. Cool and cut into squares.

This may say you can use margarine, but I wouldn’t recommend it.  I tried it that way the first time and while still delicious, it never hardened so it was more like caramel sauce.  Another alteration that I made was to line the pan with foil and lightly spray it with Pam.  This made the removal (and cleanup) a breeze.

The cooking part isn’t kid-friendly, as the hot sugar could cause serious burns. The wrapping, however, is a perfect chore for little hands.  My 7 year old cut small squares from waxed paper and wrapped them with a twist.

Interestingly enough, this evening on television Alton Brown (Good Eats) also made homemade caramels.  His recipe is different, and he sprinkled sea salt on the top.  Intriguing to me, since I’m much more of a salty-than-sweet girl.  I promptly went to the kitchen to dip one of our caramels in salt, and I’m happy to report that it was, indeed, quite delicious.

Alton also recommended that you use a pizza cutter, and I will definitely try that the next time.  I’m sure it would take much less time than my knife-cutting method did.

If you try these, please come back and let me know what you think!

Sound good? Find my recipe and many others at Foodista!

Caramel

Writer’s Workshop – What I hate about you

I’m going with Prompt #1.

10 Reasons why you’re better off without him….or her….or it.

1. You don’t love me the way that I love you.
2. You’re empty inside.
3. The good moments we spend together are fleeting at best.
4. You look good on the outside, but looks are deceiving.
5. You take more than you give.
6. You’re never around. You think once a year you can sweep me off my feet, but I require more than that.
7. I can’t afford you!  Good grief, you burn through my money in the blink of an eye.
8. After we’re together, I feel bad about myself.
9. You don’t care about making me feel bad, either. You just sit there and mock me, relentlessly.
10. You’re not loyal.  You cozy up with women all over the place and I’m supposed to just take it.

Wow.  I was planning on writing about someone something else entirely, but when I got going something else entirely just poured out.  I’m guessing some of you can relate.

photo credit: this is a thing

Die, Girl Scout Cookies. 

I need you dead and gone.

I literally ate 3 thin mints while on the treadmill today. 

My judgement has been compromised.

And I am ‘supposedly’ training for a half-marathon and participating in not one, but two fitness challenges as well.

Not. Looking. Good.

But my frozen Samoas only come around once a year, so how can I say no to that?

Clearly, I cannot.

And this, my friends, is the tale of why I will never again wear a 2-piece bathing suit.  Because I have the willpower of a…dang.  What’s the rest of that sentence?  A person with no willpower?

I’ll have to have a cookie while I think about that for a minute.