Ammonia Burgers & Other Gross Food Facts

My journey towards a healthier lifestyle began many years ago when I decided that staying thin by being smart was better than staying thin by not eating.  I immediately bought a ticket and hopped on board the 'Fat Free' train.  I could never do Atkins, because I can't live without bread, but cutting out fat grams was a piece of cake - so to speak.  The sad thing is that I was genuinely trying to be healthy. 

I spent all those years worrying about how much fat was in my food but never really wondered what else might be in there.  A couple of years ago that started to change.  I'm not really sure what triggered my new awareness, but I'm definitely glad that it got triggered.  Each new article I read was followed by a slight shift in the culinary landscape of my kitchen. I felt enlightened.  I was happy to be re-educating myself about food.  A truly healthy lifestyle was out there, somewhere.  All I had to do was just make the right choices and I would find it.  It was like a little puzzle, but not a really hard one.  At least that's what I used to think.

I learned some things recently that completely blew me away.  For example, did you know that the FDA allows a certain amount of rat poop and maggots into our processed foods?  It's a very small amount, to be sure, but it's there.  By the time I learned this, I had already transitioned away from most processed foods opting instead for fresh fruits and vegetables so that I could prepare everything from scratch.  Still, it disturbs me to know what I consumed for so many years.

The other interesting tidbit that I learned was much more relevant to me.  I had no idea that much of the hamburger meat we consume - whether it's a fast food burger or a pound of meat purchased from your local retailer - has been treated with ammonia.  The largest producer of ground beef in the world is a company called Beef Products, Inc.  When processing ground beef, BPI uses parts of the cow that would normally not be approved for human consumption because of the extremely high risk of E-coli contamination.  BPI grinds these parts into the beef and treats the mixture with ammonia gas to kill the E-coli.  You can visit their website and read all about how safe this is.  After all, ammonia is naturally occurring, right?  Hemlock is naturally occurring, too, but I won't be serving it at my dinner table.

Am I the only one who didn't know this stuff?  How could I have known?  If I'd had a clue that this was even possible, I certainly would have done some research, asked questions.  But how do you know what you don't know?  How do you know that you need to ask if your hamburger meat contains ammonia or if there is rat poop in your processed food? 

Ok, readers.  Now it's your turn. Have you learned anything about food that drastically changed your eating/shopping/cooking habits?  Or do you just not care what's in your food as long as it's fast and tasty?  Feel free to comment here on this blog.  Anonymous comments are allowed - just keep it clean, folks.  You can also email me at auntdskitchen@gmail.com if you prefer.

I look forward to hearing your input and, hopefully, learning a few things.

Butternut Squash & Sausage Soup

Hats off to Brianne for inspiring this most awesome of dishes!  She mentioned her soup on Facebook and I became immediately obsessed with making my own.  She used a recipe from Emeril, which I immediately googled (for inspirational purposes only, of course).  Emeril is one of my favorite chefs and I've always found his recipes to be reliable.  Don't you hate it when recipes just don't work?  Me, too.  I've never had that problem with Emeril's stuff, though.  But I digress.  Enough about Emeril.  Back to the amazing soup I made.

After checking out a couple of recipes, I set out to decide what my version was going to look like.  I even dreamed about it the other night.  Yeah, I know.  That's weird.  At least I'll be able to sleep now since I finally made the soup.  Needless to say, it was a huge success.  It's also very low in calories.

Here's what you'll need:

1 butternut squash
4 cups of chicken broth
2 uncooked bratwurst or other bun-sized sausages
1 cup of 2% milk
2/3 cup of wild rice
Seasonings to taste (salt, pepper & Jane's Crazy Mixed Up Salt)

Peel the squash and remove the seeds.  I recommend a potato peeler.  The squash is hard like a sweet potato and peeling it with a knife turned out to be a bad idea.  Cut your peeled squash into small pieces and place them in a large stock pot.  Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. 

While the squash is boiling, cut the casing of your sausage and squeeze the meat out into a skillet.  Brown it just like you would hamburger meat.  When the meat is finished, drain it well on paper towels.

When the squash pieces are soft, use a potato masher to squish them up really well.  The squash gets very soft very fast so mashing it is quite easy.  Add the milk and stir to combine.  Reduce the heat to simmering and add the rice and the sausage.  Cover the pot and let it cook until the rice is ready.  When the rice is completely cooked, add your seasonings to taste.

You may have noticed that I provided (gasp) actual measurements this time.  I'm afraid that's an unfortunate by-product of Michael's new diet.  I can't keep up with the calorie count if I don't know how much of each ingredient I'm using.  I'm like a child forced to color inside the lines when I desperately want to scribble all over the paper.  Sigh.

The good news is that this recipe makes four decent sized portions, each of which weighs in at around 210 calories.  Michael decided that he could eat a whole pot twice a day and still have 300 calories left to play with.   Not.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Shrimp and Alfredo Sauce

Shhhh! Don't tell Michael about the shrimp.  He doesn't eat shrimp.  At least that's what he says.  The fact that he was eating shrimp the first time he told me that suggests otherwise.  Now that I think about it, that may have been the meal that won his heart.  It was fettuccine alfredo with shrimp and, when I made it, I had no idea that he didn't like shrimp.  Luckily, he quickly discovered how completely yummy shrimp is when smothered in alfredo sauce.  From time to time he still says that he doesn't eat shrimp, but I know better.

That original alfredo sauce was the traditional version - complete with all the fattening ingredients including, but not limited to, a whole stick of butter.  Yikes!  In support of Michael's efforts to be healthier in the new year, I sought out a low cal version of the alfredo sauce.  I have to admit that I had my doubts.  I mean, seriously, how good could alfredo sauce be when stripped of all the fat?  The answer is 'pretty darn'.

I found the recipe online and you can view the original here.  I say that because you and I both know that I didn't do exactly what she said.

Here's what you need for the sauce:

Milk

Chicken broth

Garlic

Salt

Butter (about half a tablespoon)

Grated parmesan cheese

Flour

The amount of broth should be half the amount of milk.  Combine them in your sauce pan and add the butter.  I grate my own parm, and I have no idea how much I used.  I just grate cheese until my fingers start cramping from turning the handle.  That's a standard amount for any recipe that involves grating cheese.  I suppose you can use garlic powder if you want, but I prefer the fresh stuff.  I recommend a bunch of it.  There's no such thing as too much garlic.  Add salt to taste and a little bit of flour to thicken the sauce.  Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat to let it cook slowly for a bit.  It's a bit thinner than the fattier version but the flavor doesn't suffer at all.

Almost Veggie Pizza

This makes for a super yummy (and relatively quick) dinner when you are in a hurry.  I tend to do my shopping after work on Fridays, which puts me at home a little later than normal.  The pizza is a fast, easy and healthy way to keep Michael from starving to death on shopping day.

Ingredients:

• 1 Pizza Crust (This one was store bought, but I often bake my own)
• Pizza Sauce (Ragu makes a really good one.  There is also a really good one at Earth Fare, but the name escapes me at the moment.)
• Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
• Fresh Veggies (I used mushrooms, green bell pepper, onion and tomatoes. Be creative and use whatever you find in the fridge.)
• Salami (You can skip the meat or use a different type if you want.)

Instructions:

Spread two large spoonfuls of sauce onto the crust.  Sprinkle a handful of shredded mozzarella evenly across the sauce.  Chop your vegetables (and the meat if you are using it) into bite-sized pieces and spread them evenly on top of the cheese.  Sprinkle another handful of cheese evenly across the top of the pizza.  Bake at 450 until the entire pizza is warm and the cheese is fully melted.

This is one of my most versatile recipes.  You can improvise as much or as little as you want.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!