pumpkins

Pumpkins were once recommended for removing freckles and curing snake bites! Pumpkin flowers are edible. Pumpkins are 90% water. Pumpkins are used for feed for animals. Pumpkin seeds can be roasted as a snack. Native Americans used pumpkin seeds for food and medicine. In early colonial times, pumpkins were used as an ingredient for the crust of pies, not the filling. The name "pumpkin" originated from "pepon", the Greek word for "large melon." Pumpkins contain potassium and Vitamin A.

eggs

In the U.S. in 1998, hens produced 6,657,000,000 dozen eggs - that’s 6.657 billion dozen! After these eggs were laid, about two-thirds were sold in the shell and one third of them were broken - not by accident, but on purpose. Because after the eggs are broken out of their shells, they can be made into liquid, frozen, dried and specialty egg products.
The egg shell may have as many as 17,000 tiny pores over its surface. Through them, the egg can absorb flavors and odors. Storing them in their cartons helps keep them fresh!
Eggs age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in the refrigerator.
Occasionally, a hen will produce double-yolked eggs throughout her egg-laying career. It is rare, but not unusual, for a young hen to produce an egg with no yolk at all. It takes 24 to 26 hours for a hen to produce an egg; there is 30 minutes between each egg-producing cycle.
About 240 million laying hens produce about 5.5 billion dozen eggs per year in the United States.
Egg yolks are one of the few foods that naturally contain Vitamin D.

popcorn

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Popcorn pops because water is stored in a small circle of soft starch in each kernel. As the kernel is heated, the water heats, the droplet of moisture turns to steam and the steam builds up pressure until the kernel finally explodes to many times its original volume.
Americans today consume 17.3 billion quarts of popped popcorn each year! The average American eats about 68 quarts!
While the first breakfast cereal was made by adding sugar and milk to popped popcorn, a shortage of baking flours after World War II forced breadmakers to substitute up to 25% of wheat flour with ground popped popcorn. Over the years, popcorn also has been used as an ingredient in pudding, candy, soup, salad and entrees.
Popcorn’s nutritional value comes from the fact that, like other cereal grains, its primary function is to provide the body with heat and energy.
Microwave popcorn is the same as other popcorn except the kernels are usually larger and the packaging is designed for maximum popability.

Aztec food

Maize (also called corn) was the main grain of the Aztec empire. Maize has been domesticated for thousands of years, and it first came into use in Mexico, moving to the rest of the world from there. Mexico is still one of the world's top maize growing countries. Corn could be ground into flour and used to make tortillas, tamales and even drinks. Corn has transformed the world more than any other food. Today it's used not only in food, candy and feeding the cattle. It's even used in things like sticky tape and making boxes. Aztec food also included beans and squash. Maize and beans are still a main item of the Mexican diet, a healthy combination especially if you're not eating a lot of meat. To add to these three, the Mexicas ate chillies, tomatoes, limes, cashews, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peanuts, and of course chocolate. The Mexicas raised bees for honey, and turkeys for meat and eggs, also dogs and duck.  They hunted and fished, and used animals such as deer, rabbits, iguana, fish and shrimp for food.  Even insects, such as grasshoppers and worms were harvested.  These differen types of meats made up only a very minor part of the Aztec food. Large amounts of algae were collected from the surface of the Texcoco Lake water.  High in protein, this algae (tecuitlatl) was used to make bread and cheese type foods.  This algae is still used in Mexico as a fertilizer. The Aztecs often cooked food bundled in the Maguey plant leaves.  This dish is called Mixiotes, and it's still eaten in Mexico.  Different leaves are used because the Maguey population was suffering.
http://www.aztec-history.com/aztec-food.html

Traditional Mexican Food

You can get a good overview of the food from the Aztec peoples. Many of the dishes of the Aztec, and their diet are still familiar in Mexico today - maize (corn), beans, avacados, squash, chillies, and tomatoes. The tomatoes used today are different variety than they were before the arrival Europeans showed up. The nopal cactus has been used for food in a lot of dishes. We all know that chilli peppers make up most of traditional Mexican food. These and salt were so important to the peoples of central Mexico that special religious fasts involved avoiding them. Many of the meats eaten today were an addition from the Spanish. Much traditional Mexican food is made the same way, but with different meats. Common in the days of the empire were turkey and dogs.  At times hunters would also provide deer, rabbit, duck, and other birds.  From the sea came axolotl, a type of salamander, and acocil, a crayfish.  Acocil tacos are still eaten in Mexican restaurants. From the world of bugs, grasshoppers and the maguey worm are two creatures that were probably eaten by the Aztec peoples and are still eaten today.

http://www.aztec-history.com/traditional-mexican-food.html

Fats

           

In biochemistry, fat is a generic term for a class of lipids. Fats are produced by organic processes in animals and plants. All fats are insoluble in water and have a density significantly below that of water (i.e. they float on water.) Fats that are liquid at room temperature are often referred to as oil. Most fats are composed primarily of triglycerides; some monoglycerides and diglycerides are mixed in, produced by incomplete esterification. These are extracted and used as an ingredient.Products with a lot of saturated fats tend to be solid at room temperature, while products containing unsaturated fats, which include monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats, tend to be liquid at room temperature. Predominantly saturated fats (solid at room temperature) include all animal fats (e.g. milk fat, lard, tallow), as well as palm oil, coconut oil, cocoa fat and hydrogenated vegetable oil (shortening). All other vegetable fats, such as those coming from olive, peanut, maize (corn oil), cottonseed, sunflower, safflower, and soybean, are predominantly unsaturated and remain liquid at room temperature. However, both vegetable and animal fats contain saturated and unsaturated fats. Some oils (such as olive oil) contain in majority monounsaturated fats, while others present quite a high percentage of polyunsaturated fats (sunflower, rape).

All our fish are gonna be gone

If fishing around the world continues at this pace, more and more will be gone. Marine ecosystems will fall apart and there will be global collapse of all species that are fished. The scientists, who report their findings  in the journal Science, say it is not too late to turn the situation around. As long as marine ecosystems are still biologically diverse, they can recover quickly once overfishing and other threats are handled we just all have to work together. We must work quickly, Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia led this work. We are seeing the bottom of the barrel. When we get into trouble we are quick to change our ways. We still have rhinos and tigers and elephants because we saw a clear trend that was going down and we changed it. We have to do the same in the ocean. If we don't do something soon we're not going to have anymore fish also it doesn't help that we pollute our oceans.

Antibiotics fed to our animals that we eat!!!!!

http://www.pewhealth.org/reports-analysis/data-visualizations/record-high-antibiotic-sales-for-meat-and-poultry-production-85899449165

The same antibiotics used to treat sick people are also given to healthy animals in much greater number to make them grow faster and to compensate for overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. These practices are contributing to the emergence of drug-resistant superbugs that make infections more difficult and costly to treat. In 2011, more antibiotics were sold for use in meat and poultry production than ever before.The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Veterinary Medicine released today its third annual report summarizing 2011 sales and distribution data of antimicrobial drugs approved for use in food-producing animals. The Animal Drug User Fee Act (ADUFA), as amended in 2008, requires antimicrobial drug sponsors to annually report the amount of antimicrobial active ingredient in the drugs they sold or distributed for use in food-producing animals. ADUFA also requires that FDA provide public summaries of these sales and distribution data. The collected data helps FDA evaluate antimicrobial resistance trends and other issues relating to the safety and effectiveness of antimicrobial drugs approved for use in food-producing animals.
FDA cautions that several variables make it difficult to compare antimicrobial sales and distribution data in food-producing animals with such data collected for antimicrobials intended for human use. These variables include the number of humans versus that of food-producing animals during the data period, differences in physical characteristics (such as weight) between humans and the various species of animals, molecular weights and dosages of the different antimicrobials as well as other differences in the conditions of use of the antimicrobials.
In July 2012, FDA solicited comments from the public on a number of issues regarding the collection of antimicrobial drug sales and distribution data, including how FDA can most effectively compile and present its annual summary report. FDA believes it would be helpful to have more information on how medically important antimicrobial drugs are currently used in food-producing animals in order to enhance ongoing efforts to monitor antimicrobial resistance. These efforts are important to support the agency’s current strategy to protect public health and promote the judicious use of medically important antibiotics in food-producing animals. FDA extended the comment period to November 26, 2012, and the agency is now reviewing the comments. In particular, FDA is considering these comments as part of an ongoing effort to enhance the content and format of its annual summary report. FDA intends implement the updated format when it summarizes the data reported for 2012, and also plans to re-analyze and update prior year reports to conform to the new format.

Ginger hurts you?

Ginger has been shown to exert anti-inflammatory effects in rodents, but its effect on human muscle pain is uncertain. Heat treatment of ginger has been suggested to enhance its hypoalgesic effects. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of 11 days of raw (study 1) and heat-treated (study 2) ginger supplementation on muscle pain. Study 1 and 2 were identical double-blind, placebo controlled, randomized experiments with 34 and 40 volunteers, respectively. Participants consumed 2 grams of either raw (study 1) or heated (study 2) ginger or placebo for 11 consecutive days. Participants performed 18 eccentric actions of the elbow flexors to induce pain and inflammation. Pain intensity, perceived effort, plasma prostaglandin E(2), arm volume, range-of-motion and isometric strength were assessed prior to and for 3 days after exercise. Results Raw (25%, -.78 SD, P = .041) and heat-treated (23%, -.57 SD, P = .049) ginger resulted in similar pain reductions 24 hours after eccentric exercise compared to placebo. Smaller effects were noted between both types of ginger and placebo on other measures. Daily supplementation with ginger reduced muscle pain caused by eccentric exercise, and this effect was not enhanced by heat treating the ginger.

Sources: NY Times, Journal of Pain

Preserving

­Because food is so important to us, food preservation is one of the oldest technologies used. I­n certain cases, a preservation technique may also destroy enzymes naturally found in a food that cause it to spoil or discolor quickly. An enzyme is a protein that acts as a catalyst for a chemical reaction, and enzymes are fragile. By increasing the temperature of food to about 150 degrees Fahrenheit (66 degrees Celsius), enzymes are destroyed. A food that is sterile contains no bacteria. Unless sterilized and sealed, all food contains bacteria. Bacteria naturally living in milk will spoil the milk in two or three hours if the milk is left out on the kitchen counter at room temperature. By putting the milk in the refrigerator you can't get rid of the bacteria that is already there, but you do slow down the bacteria enough that the milk will stay fresh for a week or two. Milk is a big example since it spoils fast but their is always a way that we can slow the process. Fruits a big thing to we learned how to pickle and jar it up to make it last longer we have been doing this as long as we have been eating.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/food-preservation.htm

Bogart's Smokehouse

Best in BBQ Show

The pit master at Bogart’s, Skip Steele, who has worked smoke pits from Memphis to New York to Las Vegas, is making the case for “pit master” to be on par with “chef.” Or maybe even “mad genius,” to judge by the ’cue-linary wizardry he’s conjured since last February on an otherwise unassuming Soulard street corner. He smokes prime rib—repeat, he smokes prime rib—rendering a flavor and mouthfeel that are somehow rich and delicate all at once. As for your more quotidian rib slabs, why, those are finished off with an apricot-imbued glaze hit with a roofer’s torch. The baked beans are homemade and pit-smoked as well, and the chicken wings are a singular indulgence that the master himself doles out to customers waiting in the (fast-moving) ’cue-queue; they’re not on the menu (yet), so Steele passes them out gratis, one more reason why he’s made so many friends, and why his joint is tops in town. 1627 S. Ninth, 314-621-3107, bogartssmokehouse.com.

Potato salad

Potato salad is a side dish made from potatoes. It still varies throughout different countries and regions of the world. Potato salads are more classified as side dishes than salads for they generally  follow the main dish. Potato salads are oftenly served along with hot dogs, barbecue, hamburgers, roasts and cold sandwiches. This kind of salad is served during outdoor barbecues, picnics, and other  casual events or meals. Potato salads are definitely a popular menu choice of various chefs and cooks for preparing food for a large crowd, and since they can be made in large quantities easily, they can also be made in advance and kept in the refrigerator until it is their time to be served. You must never worry about it costing to much when going to the grocery store to buy whatever ingredients you need for you potato salad. The ingredients needed for potato salads are cheap. You do not have to worry about making it because it is very easy.

Caviar Burger

You can get caviar on just about anything at Petrossian in West Hollywood, and now you can even have it on a burger. Only those in the know request the beef burger topped with crème fraîche, a fried egg, butter lettuce and a sheet of Petrossian’s pressed caviar. At $75 a pop, it’s not an ordinary price tag either. Now this is very expensive and it doesn't even look that big. I wonder how these people know to ask for this is their a special rich club? I'm not a big fan of caviar but I might try this if offered but I would never spend that much money on that. It is a very interesting burger though no wonder its in Hollywood



http://www.zagat.com/b/restaurant-secrets-from-around-the-u.s?utm_source=taboola&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=desktoptopperformers#8

Epensive cocktails

Two years ago, Grant Achatz opened his über-exclusive, ridiculously expensive speakeasy below Aviary. We would normally call $20 for a cocktail highway robbery, but when mixologist Charles Joly painstakingly crafts each drink with flavor extracts from a rotary evaporator and innovative cocktail technology such as ice cubes that surround the alcohol, the Jackson is justified. If getting the dough isn’t a problem, getting into the bar might be. Guests who dine at Aviary or Next may be invited to enjoy an after-dinner cocktail in the basement bar, but there is also a secret number to text for reservations if you know who to ask.

Youth at work

A 14-year-old girl filed a job discrimination complaint with one of the EEOC's field offices a few years ago. Right after the girl was hired as a worker at a fast food restaurant in Wichita, Kansas, her store manager began to sexually harass her. The girl talked with other people that work their about saying something to the manager, but she was afraid. A month later, the Store Manager told the little girl he would give her a ride home. He took her to his house and sexually assaulted her. The Store Manager was arrested and pled guilty to a criminal charge. The manager was sentenced to eight years. After investigating the girl's job discrimination complaint, the EEOC filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against the company. The company and the EEOC settled in December 2002. The terms of the settlement included:
A payment of $150,000 to the employee; A requirement that the store write a letter of apology to the girl; A requirement that the store train all of its employees about sexual harassment; and A requirement that the store post signs explaining that workers have a right to a workplace free of sexual harassment.
http://www.eeoc.gov/youth/case3.html

Pound Cake

The name (Pound Cake) comes from the fact that the original pound cakes contained one pound each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour. No leaveners were used other than the air whipped into the batter. In the days when many people couldn't read, this simple name made it simple to remember recipes. A cake made of 1 pound of each of butter, sugar, eggs, and flour would have been very large and would have been able to serve multiple families. As years went by, the portions of the ingredients used were adjusted to make a smaller, lighter cake. However, the name of the cake stuck.


http://www.buzzfeed.com/justinabarca/food-facts-that-will-blow-your-mind

Twitching Shrimp

You want your seafood alive, and wriggling on the plate?? But you don't want it to suffer. Good news! In Japan and China, they have it: They make shrimp more pliable to the idea of being eaten alive by getting them drunk first. "Drunken shrimp" is a dish that  provides exactly what it says. The live shrimp twitching on your plate have been soaked in either sake or a Chinese spirit called baijiu, which is upwards of 100 proof and tastes a little worse than rocket fuel. This results in shrimp that are still moving on your plate. The alcohol is probably well appreciated, because eating the shrimp requires stripping off its shell and biting off its still twitching body, which is not something you want to happen to you when you're sober.

  http://www.cracked.com/article_20709_9-horrifying-foods-you-wont-believe-people-actually-eat.html#ixzz32JuCRgam

Special Cocktail

The sour toe cocktail you can make several different ways, in the liquid part can be whatever you like. Whatever helps you with what you're about to do. It doesn't matter a whole lot honestly, because even if your drink is so perfectly potent and greatly flavored, what you've made is not a sour toe cocktail until you drop a human toe in it. The Canadian bar that serves the toes doesn't want anyone getting anything more than head sick from their crazy drink. The digits are first drained of all bodily fluids and pickled. Yes, this means you won't die unless you choke on it, but it also changes its appearance from severed human toe to gangrenous severed human toe.

http://www.cracked.com/article_20709_9-horrifying-foods-you-wont-believe-people-actually-eat.html

History on Chocolate

The AZTECS TRADED for chocolate and DEMANDED it as TRIBUTE The Aztecs couldn’t grow chocolate, so they traded for it. The cacao tree will not flourish in the dry highlands of central Mexico. So the Aztecs traded with the Maya and other peoples so they can always have a constant supply of seeds for chocolate. In Maya lands south of their own, Aztec traders filled woven backpacks with cacao. Then these men hauled their precious cargo on foot to the Aztec capital city.The Aztecs also demanded cacao as tribute. Aztec rulers had their citizens and conquered peoples to pay a tax, also called “tribute.” Because cacao was so valuable, conquered peoples who lived in less dry areas they had to paid tribute with cacao seeds. Cacao cups, ocelot skins, feathers, greenstone beads, and many other goods were just a few of the items people could use to pay tribute.

   

Texas Where They Do It Big

http://www.atasteofkoko.com/texas-state-fair/
I thought this was very interesting. I have never been to Texas but now I think I might just have to. I wonder who came up with idea of frying a hotdog with French fries, yea I know their corndogs but  that's a breading this is actually French fries. This is like a whole meal right their. They also have fried butter who does that, that's just a heart attack waiting to happen.

Deep-Fried Coke

http://www.yummly.com/recipe/external/Deep-Fried-Coke-513324

The people in Portlandia pickle it, and the people from Food Republic deep-fry it. Honestly their is nothing they won,t batter and fry. When I heard that they deep-fried Coke I had to find a recipe. I found one by Denise Gee and Robert Peacock. Since Abel’s recipe is a secret, this comes pretty dadgum close to what he invented in 2006 — a concoction of fried Coca-Cola batter that sold 10,000 cups in just two weeks. Reprinted with permission from Sweet on Texas. I have never tried this one day I would love to make this but it seams so hard. Now a days people will fry anything I couldn't believe it until I saw it.

Servings: 6

Ingredients

3 eggs

2 cups Coca-Cola

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 to 4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

vegetable oil for deep frying

powdered sugar

Pure cola syrup

 

Directions: 

1. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, then add the Coca-Cola and granulated sugar.
2. Sift 2 cups of the flour, the baking powder, and salt and add to the Coca-Cola mixture. Mix while adding more flour, until the batter is smooth and not too thick.
3. Heat the oil to 375°F in a deep fryer.
4. Drop 1 1/2-inch dough balls into the fryer and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden. Remove them with a slotted spoon to paper towels to drain.
5. Sprinkle the fried Coke balls with powdered sugar while they are still hot, and douse with cola syrup.
6. Garnish with whipped cream and maraschino cherries, if desired, and serve.

Steakhouse Pizza

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2011/09/steakhouse-pizza/

Steakhouse Pizza

Prep Time:

1 Hour30 Minutes

Cook Time:

25 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Servings:

12

Ingredients

• 1 whole Recipe Pizza Crust
• 1 whole Skirt Steak Or Flank Steak
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• 2 whole Red Onions, Sliced Thin
• 3 Tablespoons Butter
• 4 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 2 cups Marinara Sauce
• 12 ounces, weight Fresh Mozzarella Cheese, Sliced Thin
• Shaved Parmesan Cheese
• 1/2 cup Good Steak Sauce (more If Desired)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Arrange rack in the bottom half of the oven.
Saute red onions in butter and 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar over medium-low heat until dark and caramelized, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
Combine marinara sauce with 2 tablespoons balsamic and Worcestershire sauce. Set aside.
Grill steak over high heat until medium rare. Remove from grill and set aside.
Roll out pizza dough until very thin. Top with marinara mixture and spread to coat dough. Lay caramelized red onions all over the sauce, then top onions with slices of mozzarella cheese. Bake pizza for 12-15 minutes, or until crust is golden and cheese is bubbly (but watch to make sure it doesn't burn.)
While pizza is baking, slice steak into very thin slices.
Remove pizza from the oven, then drape slices of steak all over the surface. Drizzle the top of the pizza with steak sauce (use squirt bottle if you have one) and top the whole thing with Parmesan shavings.
Cut into squares and serve immediately.

Posted by Ree | The Pioneer Woman on September 7 2011

There’s Cowgirl Food, there’s Cowboy Food…and then there’s Marlboro Man Food. Here is a dish Marlboro Man would eat on any day of the week and twice on Sunday. I thought this pizza looked very interesting I never saw a pizza like this before. I'm not a big fan when it comes to pizza but I might actually try this.

Beef with Snow Peas

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/10/beef-with-snow-peas/

Recipe

Beef with Snow Peas

Prep Time:

5 Minutes

Cook Time:

15 Minutes

Difficulty:

Easy

Servings:

8

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 pound Flank Steak, Trimmed Of Fat And Sliced Very Thin Against The Grain
• 1/2 cup Low Sodium Soy Sauce
• 3 Tablespoons Sherry Or Cooking Sherry
• 2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
• 1 Tablespoon Minced Fresh Ginger
• 8 ounces, weight Fresh Snow Peas, Ends Trimmed
• 5 whole Scallions, Cut Into Half-inch Pieces On The Diagonal
• Salt As Needed (use Sparingly)
• 3 Tablespoons Peanut Or Olive Oil
• Crushed Red Pepper, For Sprinkling
• Jasmine Or Long Grain Rice, Cooked According To Package

Preparation Instructions

In a bowl, mix together soy sauce, sherry, brown sugar, cornstarch, and ginger. Pour half the liquid over the sliced meat in a bowl and toss with hands. Reserve the other half of the liquid. Set aside.
Heat oil in a heavy skillet (iron is best) or wok over high heat. Add snow peas and stir for 45 seconds. Remove to a separate plate. Set aside.
Allow pan to get very hot again. With tongs, add half the meat mixture, leaving most of the marinade still in the bowl. Add half the scallions. Spread out meat as you add it to pan, but do not stir for a good minute. (You want the meat to get as brown as possible in as short amount a time as possible.) Turn meat to the other side and cook for another 30 seconds. Remove to a clean plate.
Repeat with other half of meat, allowing pan to get very hot again first. After turning it, add the first plateful of meat, the rest of the marinade, and the snow peas. Stir over high heat for 30 seconds, then turn off heat. Check seasonings and add salt only if it needs it. Mixture will thicken as it sits.
Serve immediately over rice. Sprinkle crushed red pepper over the top to give it some spice.



I thought this looked really good I actually would really love to cook this for my family. I think I'm going to get on this site even more. They have really good recipes and fast meals to cook. This recipe is really easy to make it only takes 15 min, that's what I'm talking about. Don't get me wrong I like to cook big meals in the kitchen but this recipe is great for on the go.

peanut v legumes

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-the-difference-between-a-nut-and-a-legume.htm




The thing that sets legumes apart from nuts is that they are from one certain family of plants, called either the fabaceae or leguminosae family. They also contain a lot of seeds. It's not uncommon for a pea pod to have half a dozen peas.  Most of legumes are "dehiscent," opening naturally along a seam on two sides. The pea pod is an obvious example of this. They contain seeds that are attached to their pods, rather than simply fitting within them. Legumes are known for having fruit that is high in protein, and they can make nitrogen in soil. That makes legumes good for use in crop rotations.
Looking only at these thing they have in common, it can be difficult to find out whether a peanut is a legume or a nut. It contains two seeds, the pod is indehiscent, and the seed is not attached to the ovary wall. Despite its name, a peanut is a legume and not a nut. This is why some people who have allergies to some nuts can still eat peanuts, and other people with peanut allergies can eat real nuts.

People Eat Bugs

http://www.followmefoodie.com/2012/10/beijing-china-eating-bugs-spiders-centipedes-on-donghuamen-night-market/
Eating Bugs on Donghuamen Night Market in Beijing, China
Entomophagy is eating insects as food. Many countries still eat insects and they provide a good source of protein, nutrients and minerals. Here in America we get these from other food sources, but if you compare the nutritional value of some insects to beef, chicken, or fish, the insects are better.
In the last year there has been an increased interest in the study of Entomophagy. People and even some chefs consider it a sustainable way of eating. It takes less energy and resources to raise insects than it does to raise animals, so there is a market that likes the idea for the future. I think its gross I hate bugs they scare me and if I found out they were in my food I would probably freak just saying.

Gourmet Malaga Tapas Tour

Gourmet Malaga Tapas Touris supposed be a very fancy tour around Spain to discover the real Spanish way of tapas. You stop at three different resturants and it's very private.  It takes up to three hours and lunch starts at twelve and dinner starts at seven. You also get more that eight different tapas and a drink at each stop.

Price:

1-3 people : 65€ per person

4 – 5 people : 55€ per person

6 – 8 people : 45€ per person

http://www.welovemalaga.com/product/gourmet-tapas-tour/#

Food Carvings

Most people think you only carve pumpkins but that is not true. You can carve just about any food you can think of to watermelons to potatoes their is all types of things you can do with it. You can make pictures, flowers, decorations for your table set up, or even a hat made out of a watermelon.  Their are types of cool things you can do with food you just have to have great creativity.




http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/new-ways-to-cut-the-watermelon

Curry

Indian chicken jalfrezi curry. The original curry predates Europeans’ presence in India by about 4,000 years.
http://www.slate.com/articles/life/food/2013/01/indus_civilization_food_how_scientists_are_figuring_out_what_curry_was_like.html

Curry describes a lot of spicy vegetable and meat stews from places as far as the Indian subcontinent, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean Islands. There is a big disagreement about what actually constitutes in curry. How and when curry first appeared was a culinary mystery.

The word comes from kari  meaning sauce in Tamil, a South-Indian language. The region has a wide variety of savory dishes, 17^th century British traders defined curry as onion, ginger, turmeric, garlic, pepper, chilies, coriander, cumin, and other spices cooked with shellfish, meat, or vegetables.

But the original curry predates Europeans’ presence in India by about 4,000 years. Villagers living at the height of the Indus civilization used three key curry ingredients—ginger, garlic, and turmeric—in their cooking. This proto-curry, in fact, was eaten long before Arab, Chinese, Indian, and European traders plied the oceans in the past thousand years. Curry has a big history back ground all around the world they different types of curry all made different, that doesn't mean their wrong or bad it just means their different.

Saffron

http://www.saffrongreenville.com/html/restaurant.html

Saffron is a restaurant and they have amazing spice Indian dishes.

Their Commitment

From traditional curries that are the embodiment of Indian food, to more exotic dishes for those who appreciate innovation and crave a truly international flavor,  they prepare everything to rave reviews. In addition, even beyond an unforgettable meal from their signature menu, Saffron offers guests something more: a unique and upscale dining experience characterized by warmth and beauty

Their vision is to simplify Indian cooking and bring you back to the basics with nutrition, quality, flavor, aroma and taste their  spice blends fresh ingredients and your imagination will transform your craving into simple and satisfying cuisine.

Gulf of Mexico Seafood

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2012/04/201241682318260912.html
Gulf of Mexico fishermen, scientists and seafood processors are finding a lot of mutated shrimp, crab and fish that they believe are deformed by chemicals released during BP's 2010 oil disaster. Their are also signs of malignant impact on the regional ecosystem are ominous: nasty mutated shrimp, fish with oozing sores, underdeveloped blue crabs lacking claws, eyeless crabs and shrimp, and people say BP's oil pollution has to be the cause. They are also catching them in Alabama and Mississippi. Their finding eyeless crabs, crabs with their shells soft instead of hard, full grown crabs that are one-fifth their normal size, clawless crabs, and crabs with shells that don't have their usual spikes. This is so scary to think about what if one day to you wanted shrimp and didn't even realize what you are eating?

Ketchup

The long history of ketchup in the Western world goes back to the early 16th century, when British settlers in Fuji were shown a sauce used by Chinese sailors called ke-tchup. Local recipes for ke-tchup varied, but the first recipe on record dates back to 544 A.D. The condiment maker said "take the intestine, stomach, and bladder of the yellow fish, shark and mullet, and wash them well. Mix them with a moderate amount of salt and place them in a jar. Seal tightly and incubate in the sun. It will be ready in twenty days in summer, fifty days in spring or fall and a hundred days in winter."
By the time the British discovered ke-tchup, the recipe had been simplified, amber-colored liquid made out of salted and fermented anchovies. The original ketchup wasn’t ketchup at all. It was fish sauce, pretty much identical to the fish sauce you can buy by the bottle in any Asian supermarket. When British traders headed back to England with a taste for the sauce, they tried to make it with beer. After awhile anchovies were taken out of the sauce entirely and replaced with walnut ketchup. Their is so much about ketchup.
http://www.fastcodesign.com/1673352/how-500-years-of-weird-condiment-history-designed-the-heinz-ketchup-bottle

Beaver Butts

I've found that the vanilla flavoring in your baked goods and candy comes from the anal excretions of beavers. Beaver butts produce a goo called castoreum, the animals use it to mark their territory. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration lists castoreum as a “generally safe” additive, and manufacturers have been using it a lot in perfumes and foods for at least 80 years. Castoreum is a chemical compound that mostly comes from a beaver’s castor sacs, which are between the pelvis and the base of the tail. Because of its close proximity to the anal glands, castoreum is often a combination of castor gland secretions, anal gland secretions, and urine. It's FDA labeled and manufacturers don’t have to list castoreum on the ingredient list and may say it's natural flavoring.

Expensive Pizza

If you where to lay flat all the pizza’s that Americans Eat in a day, they would cover more then 175 acres of property. That’s almost 350 slices per second!
Maze, London, a Gordon Ramsey Restaurant — $250
This pizza is topped with Italian onion puree with white truffle pasta, buffalo mozzarella, fontina cheese, pancetta, cep mushrooms, fresh herbs, and shaved with white truffle shavings that are added to the pie table side. The truffle is one of the things that makes it cost so much but since they come table side you can tell them how much you want so it don't cost to much.

Luis XIII, Salerno, Italy, a Renato Viola Creation  –  $12,000
This is the most expensive pizza. It takes 72 hours to make because the dough is given a long time to rest before the set up. It is topped with bufala mozzarella, three types of caviar, lobster from Norway and Cilento, and it is lightly dusted with hand picked grains of pink Australian sea-salt from the Murray River. Also three Italian chefs will come and make it for you at your own home.

The First Soup

http://www.cookingpanda.com/simplerecipes/the-first-soup-was-made-of-hippopotamus/
 6,000 Year Old Soup Recipe Reveals Unlikely Ingredients
Archaeologists have uncovered a 6,000 year old soup recipe which has a really unlikely ingredient, hippopotamus meat. The first soup was made of hippopotamus and it was seemed like a very popular dish at that time. Other ingredients in this amazing recipe are Sparrows, vegetables, lentils and lots of different types of spices. The word “soup” comes from the “Suppare” which is the Latin word for a type of dish consisting of meat and vegetables cooked in water. Since ancient times, the number of soup recipes has increased and now numbers in hundreds of thousands. Every country and civilization has their own soup recipe which defines their culture. From famous chicken soup to the exotic bird’s nest soup in Asia, soups are one of the major types of cooking, people love eating.
The archaeological discovery of this amazing recipe is an important leap in understanding how people started using utensils, fire, and creativity to produce cooking delicacies. Soup and recipes for it has been with us ever since and it is an important thing in order to understand ancient human lifestyles, thousands of years ago. Also how we look as soups now, they are only made out of our mother sauces and without them we wouldn't have anything.

Alex Guarnaschelli

http://www.foodnetwork.com/chefs/alex-guarnaschelli.html
 Alex Guarnaschelli leads a team of home cooks representing the East on the new series America's Best Cook. There are few American chefs, much less female chefs, who can say their staying in power in Michelin-starred restaurants. Chef Alexandra Guarnaschelli  she started her culinary journey in France and ended up working in some of the country’s top restaurants like chef Guy Savoy's three star kitchen. Chef Guarnaschelli is a judge on the popular prime-time series Chopped and is featured on her own shows, The Cooking Loft and Alex's Day Off, which launched in October 2009. She has appeared on Food Network’s Iron Chef America as both a challenger and a judge and competed on season 4 of The Next Iron Chef. In 2012, she bested nine rival chefs to win The Next Iron Chef: Redemption and joined the ranks of Kitchen Stadium Iron Chefs. Alex released her premiere cookbook, Old-School Comfort Food: The Way I Learned to Cook (Clarkson Potter, 2013), in spring 2013.

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French Toast

I was looking for a good breakfast recipe and I found this I've never heard of it before so I wanted to post it. It looks really good and I think everyone should try it. Its called French toast casserole it takes 15 minutes to make and it server 16 people. They serve it at a place called Creekhaven Inn, its a bed and breakfast place it looks like a really nice place to go.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Brown Sugar
• 3/4 cups butter or margarine
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 10-12 2" slices leftover French/Italian bread or croissant
• 10 eggs
• 3 cups milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon with melted butter in bottom of 11X17-inch baking dish or 13-inch round casserole dish; spread evenly on the bottom. Sprinkle with pecans.
2. Lay or squeeze together bread slices over top.
3. Whisk together eggs, milk, vanilla and nutmeg; pour evenly over the bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
4. In the morning, preheat oven to 350, Bake for 45-60 minutes until puffed and golden. Make sure casserole is fully cooked by inserting knife in center.
5. Serve the casserole with the syrup from the bottom of the baking dish spooned over each portion. Maple syrup may be offered on the side.

http://www.bedandbreakfast.com/listingrecipes.aspx?inn=223643&recipe=9070&gclid=cnun_q6x870cfahlogod9cmahg

Enchiladas

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spinach-Enchiladas/Detail.aspx?evt19=1
                       

1 tablespoon butter                                                    

1/2 cup sliced green onions                                                    

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach , thawed, drained and squeezed dry

1 cup ricotta cheese                                                    

1/2 cup sour cream

2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese                                                    

10 (6 inch) corn tortillas

1 (19 ounce) can enchilada sauce

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and onion; cook for a few minutes until fragrant, but not brown. Stir in spinach, and cook for about 5 more minutes. Remove from the heat, and mix in ricotta cheese, sour cream, and 1 cup of Monterey Jack cheese.
3. In a skillet over medium heat, warm tortillas one at a time until flexible, about 15 seconds. Spoon about 1/4 cup of the spinach mixture onto the center of each tortilla. Roll up, and place seam side down in a 9x13 inch baking dish. Pour enchilada sauce over the top, and sprinkle with the remaining cup of Monterey Jack.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until sauce is bubbling and cheese is lightly browned at the edges.

I saw this recipe and I just had to write about it like I said before I love all Mexican food but its so fattening but this actually is a lot more healthier than more.

Tamale

http://www.ehow.com/about_5081800_tamales.html?ref=Track2&utm_source=ask
The traditional Latin American dish called the tamale consists of cornmeal dough (masa) stuffed with a savory or sweet filling and wrapped in corn husks. Tamales date back to pre-Columbian Mexico but remain popular today. Back in the day women had to go to war with the men so they could cook these for them. Preparations of the tamale vary widely between regions and cultures; tamale fillings, wrappings, methods and traditions as sandwich preparations. They say their are thousands of varieties of tamales in Mexico alone.

Mexican

My favorite type of food is Mexican, I'm a big spice eater almost anything hot. That's also one of the place I would like to travel to. I want to try real Mexican food, not the fake Mexican here. I can't say any random plate is my favorite cause I like it all. I guess one of the real reasons why I want to try real Mexican is because I work at a taco bell and it's actually the first job I wanted and I got it and after working their for years I'm a little burned out. I saw this plate and I thought it looked very special it was made in Mexico city.




http://www.gq.com/entertainment/eat-and-drink/201309/authentic-mexican-food-recipes#slide=1

Globe Restaurant in Montreal

http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Fine+Dining+Globe/5616037/story.html
Mozzarella salad with pea foam, the hanger steak, and the lemon tart at Globe Restaurant in Montreal

I was looking for new restaurants to check out and I saw a picture of this wonderful looking steak.  I feel bad the place is so far away but one day when I do my traveling that is a place that I definitely want to go. I was looking in to the restaurant and noticed they only have 2 1/2 stars and I don't think that makes sense with the amazing looking food that they produce.

Swedish Meatballs

I thought this was a nice recipe you know everyone makes meatballs might as well make them fancy.
This recipe is great for dinner parties during the holidays or even just a nice snack with girlfriends. Serve with red wine or a cocktail, the presentation is gourmet. The total time needed to make this recipe is about 1 hour, including prep and cook time. This Swedish Meatballs recipe makes 8 servings. :
Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
• Kosher salt
• 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
• 1/3 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons dry sherry
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard powder
• 3 large eggs
• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1/2 pound ground turkey
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• Freshly ground pepper
• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 3 tablespoons lingonberry or cranberry preserves
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• Chopped fresh dill, for topping
• Fresh pickled cucumber slices, for serving

Bartlett Pear and Prosciutto Salad with Eiswein Vinaigrette

http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/recipes/salads/Bartlett-Pear-and-Prosciutto-Salad-with-Eiswein-Vinaigrette

This a Wolfgang Puck recipe its very light and it's sesonal.

                            

Bartlett Pear and Prosciutto Salad with Eiswein Vinaigrette

Ingredients

Serves:

                                          

      4                                           

2 tablespoon sice wine (eiswein) or other sweet white dessert wine                                                   

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil                                                   

1 teaspoon Champagne vinegar                                                   

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, preferably aged                                                   

tt Salt and freshly ground pepper

 4 ripe Bartlett pears —halved, seeded and cut lengthwise into quarter-inch-thick slices                                                   

1/2 pound burrata (cream-filled mozzarella) or fresh buffalo mozzarella, at room temperature, cut into 4 slices                                                                                                                                                                          

 4 thin slices of prosciutto

2 cups micro-arugula (1 and a half ounces)                                                   

• Method

1. In a small bowl, combine the ice wine, olive oil and Champagne and balsamic vinegars and season with salt and pepper. 
2. In a shallow dish, drizzle the sliced pear with 1 1/2 tablespoons of the dressing and toss to coat. Arrange the slices on plates. Set a slice of burrata on the melon and drizzle the plates with 1 tablespoon of the dressing. Drape a slice of prosciutto over the cheese. In the shallow dish, toss the arugula with the remaining dressing. Top the salads with the