Archive for the ‘Fruit’ Category
Usually, since this is mostly a recipe blog, I don’t talk about politics. But, I feel this is a very important subject, and since it is about food, I feel it is appropriate. Normally, I make a “read more” link in my posts, but not this one. I want you to read the whole thing, right now.
- What is GMO?
- Is GMO Safe?
- GMO Corn Kills Bees
- Facebook Conspiracy
- Dr. Oz Censored on GMO
- Who is behind No on 37?
- Conclusion
If you live in California, and you are a registered voter, please remember to vote Yes on 37, the GMO Food labeling initiative. If you wish, you may read Prop 37′s text.
If you don’t live in California, then please take this matter up with your own representatives. Speak up on Facebook, Twitter, Linked-In, tell your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, people on the street. If you know someone who does live in California, please call them and urge them to vote on 37. What happens in California often cascades into other states, so we cannot afford to lose this one.
Update: November 7, 2012 – Prop 37 did not win, Monsanto did. However, you can still shop smart and not eat GMO foods by finding what crops have been affected. The GMO Database is not American, so I feel it may be a little more truthful.
What is GMO?
What is the big deal about GMO? GMO stands for Genetically Modified Organism. This does not mean something that would occur naturally, like two different plants making a new plant. This is about scientists taking DNA from one organism and putting it into another, so that host will acquire traits of the organism. Soybeans have been developed that express a crystalline insecticidal protein from Bacillus thuringiensis – got it? The soybean got a bacteria’s DNA – this would never happen in nature.
Is GMO Safe?
Which brings up the question, is this safe? What about allergens? What if you happen to be allergic to that bacteria? What happens when we consume a lot of it? Huh? The FDA considers GMO safe, but they thought Fen-Phen was safe, too, and a host of others we hear class action lawyer commercials about late at night. Sometimes, it takes a long time for side effects to appear. I don’t want my child to be a science experiment, do you want yours?
In Europe, GMO foods are labeled. As a matter of fact, some countries have even destroyed their Monsanto corn because it was invading non-GMO corn, and actually killing bees.
GMO Corn Kills Bees
Bees? Sure, bees make honey, but they are also responsible to most pollination of the plants on this planet. Without bees, there’s no pollination; without pollination, there’s no plants. We die. Read the Reuters article Mystery of Disappearing Bees. What is killing the bees? It’s GMO corn crops, made by who? Monsanto, of course.
Facebook Conspiracy
Today, November 1, 2012, I noticed that there was a No on 37 Like status on my Facebook news feed. It appeared as a new status. Researching it, I discovered that it was from October 22, 2012 – a full 10 days ago, but only 5 days before the election November 6, 2012. I did not notice any Yes on 37′s as “new” status on my news feed. Makes you wonder, huh?
Dr. Oz Censored
Dr. Mehmet Oz had a show about GMO foods on October 18, 2012. The show was censored in some parts of the country. These are actual posts on Facebook reporting it – I omitted names for privacy reasons.
Fox5 in San Diego pre-emptied the segment on GMOs with an old re-run of News Radio. Instead of important information vital to voters in California, we got to watch an actor (who is not longer alive, by the way) puffing away obsessively on a cigarette.
You should know that the Fox affiliate in San Diego that broadcasts your show broadcast a rerun of “News Radio” for the first half hour of your show. I’m assuming this is the part of the show that covered Gmo’s. The broadcast resumed to show your segments of 3 issues women should know about, BUT your usual wrap up at the end was replaced with blackness for about 1 minute. No sound. No picture. Did you say something else about GMO’S at the end? In light of Prop 37 on the ballot in California in November, it is pretty obvious you were censored by Fox.
Who is Behind No on 37?
Who is behind No on 37? The biggest contributor is Monsanto, who with $7,100,000.00 in contributions, brought us such horrors as DDT and Agent Orange. Monsanto said they were safe – obviously, they’re not. Who else is on the No bandwagon?
| Contributor | Amount |
|---|---|
| MONSANTO | $7,100,000.00 |
| E.I. DUPONT DE NEMOURS & CO. | $4,900,000.00 |
| PEPSICO, INC. | $2,145,400.00 |
| BASF PLANT SCIENCE | $2,000,000.00 |
| BAYER CROPSCIENCE | $2,000,000.00 |
| DOW AGROSCIENCES LLC | $2,000,000.00 |
| SYNGENTA CORPORATION | $2,000,000.00 |
| KRAFT FOODS GLOBAL, INC. | $1,646,000.00 |
| COCA-COLA NORTH AMERICA | $1,455,500.00 |
| NESTLE USA, INC. | $1,315,600.00 |
| CONAGRA FOODS | $1,176,700.00 |
| GENERAL MILLS, INC. | $1,135,300.00 |
| KELLOGG COMPANY | $790,700.00 |
| SMITHFIELD FOODS, INC. | $683,900.00 |
| DEL MONTE FOODS COMPANY | $674,100.00 |
Conclusion
I hope what I have written here is enough to get you to go to the polls on November 6, 2012 and vote YES on Prop 37. Even if you don’t vote for anything else, vote for this. Our children and our children’s children depend on you.
Did you just click on the link that said conclusion without reading the article? Well, here’s a second chance, with links to the various parts. Please be informed.
Posted in Fruit, News, Rants, Reconstructed, Reviews, Vegetarian | 
Tags: canola, corn, papaya, Rice, soy | 
8 Comments »
Recipes in this Post
There was a wonderful tip from America’s Test Kitchen that I’ve been doing for quite a while, only not as efficiently. To protect iced cakes from plastic wrap, I’ve been sticking the top with toothpicks. America’s Test Kitchen uses spaghetti noodles – they’re more plentiful, and easy to break for whatever length you want.
So, when I decided to make my pie today, and didn’t want it getting over burdened with plastic wrap, I took linguine noodles, stuck them in, covered my pie, and stuck it in the refrigerator. Now it won’t pick up any bad smells, or have any of it come off with the plastic wrap. There’s a bunch of other transport tricks at America’s Test Kitchen.
Spane liked the Balsamic Strawberry and Blueberry Trifle so much that he asked me if I could make it again. There were fresh raspberries and blueberries on sale at the market, but I didn’t want another trifle, I wanted a tart.
Posted in 4th of July, Desserts, Fruit, Holidays, Indulgences, Make Ahead, Memorial Day, Spane, Spring, Summer, Tarts |
Tags: blueberries, cream, cream cheese, raspberries, sugar, True Lemon, vanilla |
3 Comments »
Recipes in this Post
Finished Balsamic Strawberry and Blueberry Trifle with Lemon Cream
Finished Balsamic Strawberry and Blueberry Trifle with Lemon Cream
When thinking about making this Balsamic Strawberry and Blueberry Trifle with Lemon Cream, it reminded me of something that happened many years ago. I was asked to bring something to a 4th of July potluck. I was making a yellow cake and using strawberries and blueberries for filling, with a whipped cream topping. As I was taking the cake out of the pan, my cat Lazer startled me, and I dropped the cake on the counter. I went into bunch of little pieces. Well, I had a trifle bowl, so I scooped everything up, put in the bowl with the cream and fruit, presented it as Oops 4th of July Trifle, and called it a day.
This year, I wanted something along the same lines, but a little more fun. Strawberries and balsamic vinegar are perfect together. Strawberries and Mascarpone are even better together, but I didn’t want anything that thick. So I developed a wonderful lemon cream.
Posted in 4th of July, Cakes, Fruit, Holidays, Lunch, Make Ahead, Memorial Day, Mothers' Day, Spring |
Tags: Balsamic Vinegar, blueberries, cream cheese, pound cake, Strawberries, strawberry syrup, sugar, True Lemon, whipping cream |
3 Comments »
Recipes in this Post
Blueberry Muffin Pancakes with Powdered Sugar and Lemon
Blueberry Muffin Pancakes with Powdered Sugar and Lemon
A few weeks ago, I bought an electric skillet at the Goodwill Store. My parents always had one, and I thought it would be a good idea to have one, just in case Bertha was broken. Then, when Father’s Day came, I was reminded of the wonderful pancakes my father would make in the electric skillet on Sunday mornings. This morning, with fresh blueberries in hand, I continued the Boswell tradition by making pancakes in the electric skillet.
When I buy blueberries, I use some of them for pancakes, and the rest for making Blueberry Muffin Morning Cake. But, it’s getting hot, and I really don’t want to heat Bertha if I don’t have to. Why not combine the two?
You have to try these pancakes. Making pancakes from scratch is really easy. As a matter of fact, you can just put the dry ingredients together and put them in a sealed bag for later use. Then you only have to add the liquid ingredients.
Kiwi Lime Cupcakes
Recipes in this Post
Kiwi Lime Cupcakes
On one of my recent sojourns to the local grocery store, I found dried kiwi fruit. I immediately thought they would make a great decoration for St. Patrick’s Day cupcakes. When I brought Cheesecake Stuffed Chocolate Dipped Strawberries for my son’s third grade class field trip, one of the girls requested I make cupcakes the next time I brought a treat for the class. So, I’m making mini lime cupcakes with kiwi for Friday since St. Patrick’s day is on Saturday.
I had planned on making these Thursday evening, but decided to do them this morning. Why? Well, let me first say that I love my son’s curiosity and inventiveness. Yesterday, he was tinkering with the alarm clock and mistakenly set the clock ahead four hours. When I got up at what I thought was seven o’clock and drank coffee, it was not until I looked at the cable box that I realized it was only three o’clock. Since I had already had a half a cup of coffee, it was too late to try to go back to sleep, so I’m making cupcakes.
Posted in Cakes, Cupcakes, Desserts, Frosting, Fruit, Indulgences, Kids, Spring, St. Patrick's Day |
Tags: butter, cream cheese, Dried Kiwi, Eggs, Lime juice, Lime zest, powdered sugar, vanilla extract |
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Recipes in this post
Banana Bread
Banana Bread
At my son’s school they have something called “Second Chance Breakfast” for those students who either didn’t have time for breakfast at home, or who are hungry at the midmorning break. Spane has coined a lot of second chance items in our house, dry food for Rolo is “Second Chance Cat Food”, etc.
Spane and I like bananas, and we especially like them when they are just ripe, are firm and might have a little green still on them. I even have a banana slicing tool from Chef’n which makes slicing them a snap. Still, it’s hard for us to get through a small bunch of bananas without one or two going brown. Sure enough, one had gone brown, and knew that it was destined for banana bread.
Why do I call it Second Chance Banana Bread? Well, because it’s a second chance for the banana itself, and because the night Spane and I made it, I was very tired and fell asleep waiting for it to finish baking. When I woke up the house smelled of burnt sugar. The whole loaf was black on top. A little bit in the center had not burned, and we ate that. It was so good, Maria gave me three bananas she had that had also gone brown, so I could make a second loaf – and not burn it.
Posted in Cakes, Desserts, Fruit, Indulgences, Left Overs |
Tags: Bananas, cream cheese |
2 Comments »
