We don't fully understand maple syrup. #shorts #throwbackthursday #science #SciShow

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4LoQjd_czyk

Smoked Pig Shots #shorts

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3_8FYPVTv3c

Easy Recipes?

 I found a really old post I wrote ...

Since I don't like to spend much time cooking, I came up with the following recipes that are easy to make.

Omelet in a Cup

1. 15 ounce porcelain cup.
2. 3 eggs, or 183 grams of "Egg Beaters" product, preferably Southwestern Style with Yolk.
3. 3 tablespoons of "Salsa Cruda." which is chunky salsa with almost no liquid.   i.e. tomatoes, onion, peppers.
4. A sprinkle of bacon bits (preferably store bought) or diced ham.
5. Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese.

I spent the weekend experimenting with how to make an omelet in the microwave, so as to avoid all that messy cooking.   I had a plastic device for making omelets in the microwave, but it didn't work that well.   The results were messy and uneven.

I also wanted to avoid all the oil that restaurants put in their omelets.   I used the "Egg Beaters" product to save on cholesterol.

Getting it to come out exactly right is a tricky process.   The most important rule with any microwave cooking is to not over cook.   I discovered that if I throw all the ingredients into a cup, except the cheese, and microwave the mixture on 10% power for 20 minutes, then I get even cooking and I avoid air pockets that will distort the shape of the omelet .   If you see the eggs bulging at all, then you are either overcooking or cooking at too high of a power.

By following this method, the omelet came out perfect, and a whole lot easier to make than a pan fried omelet.   How much salsa and meat you add to the mixture is entirely up to your tastes, but I added just enough salsa to make the mixture colorful, and just a sprinkle of bacon bits.   The more ingedients you add, the longer the cooking time.

This was really good with ketchup.   The result is a bit like scrambled eggs.

I didn't actually add the cheddar cheese, but if I had, then I would have waited until about 3 minutes before it was done cooking, and then added the cheese on top and microwave until the cheese melts.   If you add the cheese too early then it will become runny.

My one disappointment is that it wasn't that big of a serving.   The "Egg Beaters" product is not very high in calories, and without the extra oil and cheese that restaurants use, it ended up being a low calorie and low carb omelet.   This means that if I want it to be more filling then I need to either increase the amount of my ingredients, or make two omelets.

Best Tomato Soup

• 1/2 bag of extra wide egg noodles
• 2 large cans of tomato soup
• 1 large can of diced tomatoes
• 1 large can of tomato sauce
• 1 small can of diced tomatoes with peppers
• 1 small can of sliced (stewed) tomatoes
• Up to a large can of water, which is all that I have room for in a 6 quart crock pot.   I would like to experiment with being to add more water so that it is not so thick.   I am looking to into buying an 8 quart crock pot online.  

Combine all the ingredients and cook until the noodles are done.   Don't use too many noodles, otherwise the soup will come out too thick.

The Word's Easiest Chicken Tacos.

Fill a large microwave safe dish with taco shells, either normal length or extra long shells.   Place a single frozen chicken tender (i.e. Tyson) into each taco shell.   For extra long shells put two tenders end to end.   Pour a generous amount of taco sauce over each tender.   Sprinkle shredded cheddar cheese over each tender.  

Microwave for 2 minutes or until the cheese melts.  

It is really good.

I have had some good results using thick salsa instead of taco sauce.   The kind I buy comes in quart jars and is available at Wal-Mart.

Best Microwave Popcorn

You need a sturdy microwave popcorn bowl like this one.   Add 4 ounces of Orville Redenbacher popcorn and 2 ounces of healthy Canola Oil.   Microwave for 4 minutes.   Add seasoned salt.   This is much better tasting than bag microwave popcorn and better than some movie theater popcorn, both of which can be too dry.   Approximately 700 calories for the entire amount.   About 1/3 of the kernels will not pop.

Figs have tiny dead wasps inside them (but they're ok to eat)

Arbys

I was hungry, so I decided to go to Arbys drive through with some old coupons. My local Arbys will take expired coupons. I was going to get three Turkey bacon wraps, but they were out of Turkey and the only wrap available was buffalo chicken which I did not want. The cashier told me that the delivery truck failed to arrive. It looked like the lobby may have been closed.

So I used an old couple to get two bacon Swiss chicken sandwiches for $5. The newer coupons are $6 and I think that they have a special at that price anyway. I doubled the order and got 4 sandwiches.

I didn't see anyone at the Arbys except the cashier, who disappeared while my sandwiches were being made. I would be very disappointed if she was the only one working there and she had to make my sandwiches. The service was very slow by fast food standards and there was a long line of cars behind me.

I see this as a sign of the economy not doing well and maybe the restaurant or chain having financial difficulties. It is hard to understand since Arbys is usually busy.

However, I have to give the Arbys chain credit, because I ate one sandwich and it was very tasty. They know how to make good sandwiches.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

Are mangoes toxic? #shorts #science #SciShow

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/TKCj6-Ps7Ho

How This Guy Made the World's Hottest Peppers | Obsessed

There is too much of a good thing.

What even are beans? Are they vegetables? Why aren't they grains?

10 Things That Are More Popular Than You Ever Realize

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FY3nCRKtBHo&t=434s

I find myself wondering why instant coffee isn't more popular?  It was very popular in the '60s and '70s.

I like decaf coffee, but I drink real coffee in the morning.  Having to make two different kinds in the coffee maker is more trouble than it is worth.

What is Gruel? - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPi0RiAsegQ

The actual science of the "industrial seed oil" panic

I get frustrated with all the contradictory health information we hear regularly.  This video does a good job of talking about the science and the arguments on both sides.

Famine in 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNv6LSpOqok

Why modern sandwich bread is different from 'real' bread - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3sP2jwG9jc

1995 Clip: Julia Child on McDonald's French Fries

A Tudor Salad for May Day

Apparently, medieval people knew how to party.

Anzac Biscuits from World War One

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NEyzsxjc2w&t=794s

500 Year-Old Pizza VS Today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6XvMKdD2tY

How the Doughnut got its Hole

The $100 Billion Dollar Ingredient making your Food Toxic - Vegetable seed oils

On Mon, Jan 10, 2022, David wrote:

This 28 minute video is outstanding.  It is clear, understandable, interesting, and entertaining as well.

 

Anyone who cares about their long term health should find the information in this video to be of great value.

 

The $100 Billion Dollar Ingredient making your Food Toxic – Vegetable seed oils

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQmqVVmMB3k

 

Thanks for watching.

I just watched some of this video yesterday.  I had seen it already a few months ago. 

There are always going to be people with different views, but that doesn't make them right.

We should try to verify the claims.  Both times that I watched this video, I did some online research.  What I found was ...

1.  Consumption of saturated fat causes an increase in cholesterol levels, especially LDL "bad cholesterol".

2.  Consumption of unsaturated fat does the opposite.  (https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/fats-and-cholesterol/types-of-fat/)

3.  According to some studies, the type of fat and amount consumed have no effect on mortality.  A few studies say otherwise.

Just because heart disease and consumption of vegetable oils are correlated does not show causality.  Over time Americans became much fatter and consume higher amounts of salt, sugar, and deep-fried foods.

I think that the video possibly has a point about reheated oil from deep-frying possibly being bad.   There is some research showing that deep-fried foods are bad for us.  

The main point of the video is that oxidized oils are bad for us because they contain oxygenated byproducts.  However, I can't find any studies backing this up.  They claim that olive oil is bad because it is easily oxidized, but all the information on the Internet lists olive oil as one of the healthiest oils.  It has more antioxidants and other things that are good for us.    I'm using much more olive oil.  (https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/266258)  (https://www.oliveoil.com/high-polyphenol-olive-oil/)

Do I think that it is possible that we have been misled into thinking that unsaturated fats are good when saturated fats are really better?  Yes, but I can't find studies to back this up.  Just when I start thinking that there might be something to this, a study comes out showing that consumption of polyunsaturated fat lowers the risk of stroke.  This puts much doubt on the claim that polyunsaturated fats are bad.  (https://www.healio.com/news/cardiology/20211113/simple-food-swaps-may-lower-stroke-risk)

The American Heart Association lists the fats that they consider healthier:  https://www.heart.org/en/healthy-living/healthy-eating/eat-smart/fats/healthy-cooking-oils

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

How the US Stole Central America (With Bananas)

This Is The Secret To Ruth's Chris Steak House's Delicious Steak

Why Americans and Brits say 'cider' to mean very different things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R41YFcX8e4

Tribal People Discovering Cheesecake Will Make You Grin for Hours

https://youtu.be/9iYQxH2-VM8

It's so delicious that I cook it almost every day (video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiNtYiBt2oQ

Looks interesting.  I'm not sure about the heavy cream part.

The $100 Billion Dollar Ingredient making your Food Toxic

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQmqVVmMB3k&t=1521s

I don't trust just one source.  I would like to see more studies on this, and I will see what I can find out about the studies quoted in the video.

BLT salad

I make an interesting salad. I use 1/3 package of shredded cabbage. I use cabbage because it keeps much longer than lettuce. I chop a large apple and either a whole tomato or preferably 3 Roma tomatoes into small pieces.

I add a small package of bacon bits (which is a whopping 300 calories by itself) and a moderate amount of Italian dressing. It is like a BLT salad and it is really good. It is enough to make 2 small salads, but I eat the whole thing. I calculated the entire thing to be 700 calories.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

Buscuits

Occasionally I make biscuits.  It is clear that the "Grands!" style biscuits, which Walmart has their own cheaper brand of "Jumbo" biscuits, are the best tasting, and I do like them, but it is no wonder they taste good since they have 5 grams of sugar per biscuit.  This might not be an issue for most people, but I want to avoid too much sugar.  So I looked for alternatives.  The smaller biscuits are cheaper overall, not that cost is an issue, and they have 40% less sugar.  It takes 3 small biscuits to equal the weight of one large one, and the label confirms this by listing 3 biscuits as one serving, which has 40% less sugar.

It is the smaller size that is the problem.  The instructions say to "cook until golden brown", but if you do that then the entire biscuit wants to turn golden brown and they can come out too dry.  You can undercook them, in which case they come out white and soft and pretty edible, but I don't like the small size for putting jam or peanut butter on them.  

So this got me thinking.  Since it is just dough, I can make whatever size biscuit I want with them.  I tried combining pairs of biscuits into balls and these turned out like little dinner rolls.  The first batch I overcooked and they were slightly crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, and this was interesting.  In the second batch, I cooked them less and they came out like soft dinner rolls and these were pretty good.

On my third batch, I didn't want to go to the trouble of combining pairs of biscuits into balls, so I just baked the biscuits with one on top of another.  I combined two cans of ten biscuits to get ten double-height biscuits.  Not only was this easier, but I felt like this was my best result yet.  I had to cook them for 20 minutes, but they came out like slightly smaller versions of the Grands biscuits, and they were pretty good.  They aren't quite as good as the high sugar biscuits, but it is a tradeoff.

Even though the instructions tell you to use an ungreased cooking pan, I find it better to use cooking spray to keep them from sticking.  I also tried smearing a small amount of olive oil on the bottom of the pan and this works too.

--

Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Great

Chicken sandwich

I think this is a pretty good chicken sandwich from Sam's Club.  It is also convenient because you can take it out of the freezer and microwave it.  The procedure is to microwave the bun and patty separately for different lengths of time.  What I found easier is to microwave the patty for 90 seconds and then add the bun and microwave the entire sandwich for an additional 30 seconds.  It might be good to let it cool for a minute or two.

It is not super cheap, but it is no more than half the cost of a fast-food chicken sandwich with about the same number of calories.

I think that the chicken patty has a really good texture.  It is very satisfying to bite into it.  The flavor is spicy, and this put me off a little bit at first, but I got used to it.  It is also a little greasy, but not really any different from a comparable fast food sandwich.

The bun is slightly different than I expected.  It is a little smaller, denser, and sweet.  But it tastes really good.

Salad