Tag Archives: food

Interesting Links, April 9, 2013

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Here are links I found interesting on April 9, 2013:

Easy Baked Brie

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A recipe for a friend.

Baked BrieBaked brie is one of my favorite appetizers — and something I like to make for guests when having a dinner or cocktail party. I made it the other night for dinner at a friend’s house; I did all the prep at home and baked it in her oven. It was the second time she’d had it and she asked me to write down the recipe. I thought it would be easiest to just share it here. As you’ll see, it’s very easy.

Ingredients:

  • Small round of brie cheese.
  • Pillsbury French Loaf1 package Pillsbury Crusty French Loaf (or similar). You should be able to find this in the refrigerator section of your supermarket.
  • 2 tablespoons apricot preserves.
  • 2 tablespoons sliced almonds.
  • Cooking oil spray for pan.

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Coat cookie sheet or pizza pan with a thin layer of cooking oil spray.
  3. Carefully open bread dough package.
  4. On a flat surface (or the prepared pan), unroll the dough. This can be difficult, especially if the dough is at room temperature. You want to get it started on the entire length of the loaf first, then unroll evenly. When you’re done, you should have a flat sheet of dough. Do not handle it more than necessary.
  5. Place the dough on the prepared pan.
  6. Unwrap the brie and place it in the middle of the dough.
  7. Spread apricot preserves evenly over the top of the brie.
  8. Sprinkle almonds evenly over the apricot preserves.
  9. Bring one corner of the dough up over the cheese. Repeat this process with the opposite corner of the dough and then with the other two corners. The cheese should be completely covered.
  10. If necessary, pinch to seal cheese inside dough.
  11. If desired, sprinkle a few more almonds on top for decoration.
  12. Bake at 350 until bread is well browned. Cheese should melt inside dough.
  13. Serve hot on a serving plate. When you slice into the bread, the cheese may melt out.

On Weight Loss and Metabolism

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It may not be scientific, but it’s what I’m seeing here.

As regular blog readers know, last summer I went on a diet and lost 45 pounds. That translated into four pants sizes (14 down to 6) and more than 20 inches (total) off my bust, waist, and hips.

I did all this in about four months — I started on June 15 and was pretty much off the diet food by October 15.

45 pounds was about 23% of my body weight. A friend, on seeing me in January for the first time in more than two years, said I was 2/3 the person I was. Not exactly accurate; I was closer to 3/4 the person I was.

My point: I lost a ton of weight in a very short time.

The Real Benefit

The benefit — other than looking great — was feeling great. I had (and still have) a ton of energy. I can walk faster, hike longer, and even climb hills without getting winded. And I have a theory about that.

When I was fat — there, I said it! — I was carrying around a lot of extra weight. My body had to adapt to carry that weight — it had to get stronger just to lift that extra weight off the ground and walk with it. When the extra weight disappeared, I still had the strength to carry it, but had nothing to carry.

Imagine being forced, every day of your life, to walk around with a backpack that gets heavier over time. After nine years, it’s 45 pounds. Because the weight was added slowly over time, your body has become accustomed to it and, although it’s not easy to carry, you can carry it because you’re used to carrying it.

Now imagine someone taking weight out of that backpack at the rate of 10+ pounds a month for four months. Your body still has the strength it needs to carry all that extra weight, but now it’s gone! How do you think you’re body’s going to react? It’s going to have all kinds of extra energy that it doesn’t need.

I’ve been putting that energy to good use since this summer by going on long hikes, getting out and about with friends, maintaining an aggressive travel schedule, and keeping active around the house, packing and moving my belongings into storage.

How Metabolism Fits In

Here’s where my theory gets a bit sketchy — mostly because I have no scientific evidence to back it up.

As we age, our metabolism slows down. I think that’s pretty much accepted as fact. Because most of us don’t reduce the amount of food we eat or eat smarter or better as we age, we gain weight. I’m pretty sure that — and normal female hormonal changes — are what caused me to pork up over the years.

After losing all that weight, I worried a lot about gaining it all back when I got off the diet — which required me to eat special food. But I certainly didn’t want to stay on the diet forever. So I weaned myself off the food and tried to eat sensibly.

Then the holidays came and I ate whatever I wanted to. And then I did some more traveling and I ate out a lot. And I spent a lot of time with friends, eating and drinking and having a grand old time.

At this point, I eat almost exactly as I did before I went on the diet. I should be gaining weight, right?

But I’m not. The weight is keeping off me.

And that’s where I think the metabolism is coming into play. I suspect that my weight loss and increased activity levels — because I now have more energy to keep active — has raised my metabolism. My body needs those calories and it burns them off.

What do you think? Does this make sense to anyone who knows about this kind of stuff?

Interesting Links, March 23, 2013

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Here are links I found interesting on March 23, 2013:

  • FAA to close 149 air traffic towers under cuts – This is, by far, the most objective article covering the airport tower closures. Full of FACTS, it presents both sides of the issue. Ifyou only read one piece about this topic, make it this one.
  • Unfit for Work: The startling rise of disability in America – 14 Million Americans now get a disability check because health issues (supposedly) make it impossible for them to work. These people are not accounted for as part of the nation's unemployed and payments to them exceed payments to people on welfare. I'm not the only person who sees this as a serious problem.
  • Some Toddler Foods Come With A Megadose Of Salt – I find this extremely disturbing — the idea of setting up children for a lifetime of craving high-salt food.

Root Vegetable Soup

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All natural, easy to make, and sweet as candy.

Root Vegetable SoupI know winter is over, but that doesn’t stop me from making soup. Soup, after all, is comfort food, and we can all use a little comfort now and then — some more than others.

Today’s concoction: my root vegetable soup.

I came upon this recipe a while back by accident. I was making some other kind of soup and simply put too many vegetables into it. The vegetable flavor overpowered the intended flavor — and it tasted good.

Here’s how I made it today.

Ingredients:

  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped.
  • 3 stalks celery, cut into 1/4 inch pieces.
  • 3 carrots, cut into 1/4 inch pieces.
  • 1 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and then cut into 1/4 inch pieces.
  • 1 large parsnip, cut into 1/4 inch pieces.
  • 1 medium purple-top turnip, chopped into 1/4 inch pieces.
  • Water

You can also add or substitute in leeks (which I forgot to buy), yellow squash (in addition to or in place of zucchini), and other root vegetables. You don’t want to add vegetables that would take away that sweet taste, like peppers. Ick.

Of course, a real root vegetable soup would exclude the celery and zucchini. But I wouldn’t put potatoes in, even though they are root vegetables.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that you can be as creative as you like here.

You can also make or buy pre-made meatballs to add to the soup during or after the cooking process. I admit I buy the pre-made chicken meatballs, sold in vacuum packs in the supermarket section when you can find chicken sausage, etc.

You’ll note that the recipe does not include any seasoning. I don’t think it needs it. The vegetables are extremely sweet and flavorful. You might try adding herbs like sage or tarragon if you like that flavor, though. I use salted butter and that’s enough salt for me.

Instructions:

  1. In a medium to large pot, melt the butter on medium to low heat.
  2. Add the vegetables. I added them one by one as I prepared them in the order listed above. Each time I added one, I stirred the pot to keep the vegetables covered with the butter.
  3. Gently sauté the vegetables for 5 to 10 minutes. Do not allow them to brown.
  4. Add enough water to cover all the vegetables.
  5. Bring contents of pot to a boil, then cover pot and turn down to simmer.
  6. If you’re adding meatballs, this might be a good time to do it.
  7. Simmer for about an hour, stirring occasionally, until all vegetables are tender.
  8. Serve hot and enjoy!

If you like a soupier soup, add more water up front. I like mine to be more of a bowl of vegetables with vegetable broth, so I minimize the amount of water. (You can always add water later; you can’t take it away.)

I also thought about pureeing the soup in a blender, but I don’t have a blender. (It broke last year and was never replaced.) That might be something to try once I settle down again and get a blender.