Guilty Conscience

Hope you all are having a FAB weekend!!!

So, this week, I cooked breakfast for the office in honor of a co-worker's birthday. When I was planning the menu, I'm ashamed to say that I went back to the thought of the common American. I wanted to make something fast, and something cheap. O-M-G where did this come from?! This is EXACTLY what Food, Inc. was talking about (didja see it yet???).

So I went to the store to find something fast, cheap, and something that would be enjoyed. So... here's what I picked up:





I was SHOCKED how cheap all this stuff was, and knew that it was all stuff my coworkers would eat, so I got it. I even looked at the ingredients in the store... and said to myself "well, it's something that I wouldn't want to eat, but my coworkers will like it"...

UNREAL. I called my sister on the way home in horror of what I bought. I felt so guilty even having the THOUGHT of making something for my coworkers that I would never think of eating. Ever. And this has nothing to do with CALORIES, people. LOOK AT THESE CHEMICALS!!!





Can you BELIEVE that High Fructose Corn Syrup is the SECOND ingredient in the drink?!

Well, to make a long story short, I decided to take back ALL OF THAT CRAP, and scour the internet for REAL FOOD recipes, made out of REAL ingredients.

I decided to make a crock pot egg casserole, made from scratch coffee cake, and cantaloupe. It made me feel better thinking that I wasn't feeding poison to my coworkers. Here are the recipes I used:

Egg Casserole

• 12 eggs
• 1 32 oz bag of frozen hashbrown potatoes -- partially thawed
• 1 lb of bacon cut into small pieces -- fried and drained (I substituted peppers)
• 1/2 cup diced onions
• 3/4 lb diced or shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp dry mustard
• salt and pepper to taste

Layer your ingredients as such (bottom to top):

1. potatoes
2. bacon (peppers)
3. onions
4. cheese
5. potatoes
6. bacon (peppers)
7. onions
8. cheese

Now, beat the eggs, milk, mustard, salt and pepper together. Pour this over the whole mixture. Cook on low for ten to twelve hours.

Coffee Cake

• Topping:
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
• 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Cake:
• 1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour (sift before measuring)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping--> In small mixing bowl, combine topping ingredients. Blend with fork until crumbly. Set aside.

Sift 1 1/2 cups sifted flour with baking powder and salt into a bowl. In a medium bowl, beat together beaten egg and 3/4 cup sugar and 1/3 cup melted butter. Add milk and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture and mix well.

Pour batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square or 9-inch layer-cake pan. Sprinkle topping crumb mixture evenly over batter. Bake at 375° for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cake tests done. Partially cool in pan on wire rack. Cut coffee cake into squares while still warm.

The finished products!









I'm happy to say that everyone really enjoyed breakfast, and no one ate any DEATH ingredients.

Until next time- keep in mind what your priorities are. Don't waver from them.

Namaste.

Read your ingredients!!!!!

I do not understand what is so hard about this. Why can't most of America understand that it is SO important to read what is IN THEIR FOOD?! Just because something is made by Kraft, for example, doesn't mean that it's GOOD FOR YOU!!! For Heaven's sake, people!!!

When I was on Weight Watchers, I was taught that Fat Free was the way to go. Knowing what I know now, that makes me sick!! It's amazing how deceiving food labels can be, and how so many people can fall into the trap. Fat doesn't make you fat- CALORIES make you fat. Sure, you can say 'oh well, a diet high in saturated fat causes heart disease, so fat isn't good' blah blah blah, but people, listen to me- if something is high in saturated fat, it is also high in calories. Fat is not the sole bad guy all you Weight Watchers fans... do your homework.

What's even WORSE, is the ingredients that make up your food. I would much rather eat a handful of nuts, like almonds, than a handful of Fat Free BBQ Pringles. Sure, each almond is 7 calories (thank you, Calorie King), so 14 would be, what, 98-ish calories, and 8.5 grams of fat (Gasp! Fat!! -rolls eyes). 14 Fat Free BBQ Pringles have 70 calories, and 0 grams of fat. BUT- check out the ingredients, taken from Pringles.com-- INGREDIENTS: DRIED POTATOES, OLESTRA (OLEAN BRAND), MODIFIED CORNSTARCH, MALTODEXTRIN AND RICE FLOUR. CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: SALT, BROWN SUGAR, SUGAR, NATURAL FLAVORS, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, ONION POWDER, DEXTROSE, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR (GLUTEN), GARLIC POWDER, PAPRIKA POWDER, CITRIC ACID, MALTODEXTRIN, PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED SOYBEAN OIL, MALIC ACID, PAPRIKA EXTRACT (COLOR), CARAMEL COLOR, SULPHUR DIOXIDE, POLYGLYCEROL ESTERS*, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES*, ALPHA-TOCOPHEROL ACETATE** (VITAMIN E), TOCOPHEROLS (TO PROTECT FLAVOR), VITAMIN A PALMITATE**, ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), VITAMIN K** AND VITAMIN D**.

Uh, yeah, I'll eat my almonds, thanks. It's all of these, what I call death ingredients, that will kill you!! Maltodextrin!? Monosodium Glutamate?! Olestra?! Partially Hydrogenated Soybean Oil?! Come on, people!! Read your ingredients!! Take a little time, and find a brand of, chips lets say, that is made with natural ingredients! It's not that hard. Take the chips that I buy- Meijer Baked Tortilla Chips. What's in them? Corn, Oil, and Salt. That's it! Take the time, and read your ingredients. Just because something seems to be healthy, like spinach veggi soft tortilla doesn't mean that it's not colored green by Yellow #5 and Blue #1.

I made a big scene at Meijer on Sunday. I was looking for coconut. I found a bag that said 'Sweetened Coconut'. I thought... 'ok, let's see what's in this bag here'. I didn't get past the first three ingredients before my mouth dropped open, I yelled "OH MY GOSH!!" and dropped the bag. The ingredients were ''Coconut, Sugar, PROPYLENE GLYCOL" and others . AHH! Propylene Glycol?! Yeah, that's lighter fluid, also used in anti-freeze. From Wikipedia:

Potential health effects
Eye : Causes mild eye irritation. Contact may cause irritation, tearing, and burning pain.
Skin : Causes moderate skin irritation. Contact with the skin may cause erythema, dryness, and defatting.
Ingestion : May cause gastrointestinal irritation with nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Low hazard for usual industrial handling. May cause hemoglobinuric nephrosis. May cause changes in surface EEG.
Inhalation : Low hazard for usual industrial handling. May cause respiratory tract irritation.
Chronic : May cause reproductive and fetal effects. Laboratory experiments have resulted in mutagenic effects. Exposure to large doses may cause central nervous system depression. Chronic ingestion may cause lactic acidosis and possible seizures.

Did you know that???

Read your lables, people. If you can't pronounce it, don't eat it.

Until next time, Namaste.