Valentine's Day Sweets - Take Action

Image from The Center for Food Safety

The Center for Food Safety sent the following petition request in honor of Valentine's Day:

"As a Valentine to Consumers, 73 Companies Pledge Not to Use Sugar from Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Sugar Beets - Tell Hershey's and Mars to Sign!

Today the Center for Food Safety, along with environmental and corporate watchdog groups, launched the Non-Genetically Modified (GM) Beet Sugar Registry, documenting commitments from over seventy grocery chains and food producers including Organic Valley not to use or sell GM beet sugar. This call to halt the introduction of GM sugar beets into the food supply comes on the heels of public outcry over mercury contamination of our nation’s dominant sweetener – high fructose corn syrup – and on the eve of the year’s sweetest holiday – Valentine’s Day." More.

Take action by telling Mars and Hershey's to sign the Non-GM Beet Sugar Registry: Sign the petition.

Setbacks with Carnivores and Cupcakes

Image from FTD website.

We began Fresh Mouth one year ago this week.

Our experimental lifestyle change began the week after Patrick's birthday party. We waited to purge our cabinets of processed products so that we could indulge one last wish for a birthday cake with blue fondant and sprinkles.

Since then we've made tremendous progress. The kids are conscious of ingredients. Aidan simply opts out, about 90 percent of the time, of products with dyes and HFCS. He talks about "real" food and "junk food," and he constantly scans ingredient labels. He's more adventurous with food tasting. He does try.

Patrick doesn't opt out as much and actually tends to taunt me with news that he "reawwy drank blue Gatorade" at a friend's house or from the school cafeteria.

"I did," he says tilting his head to the side with a resigned grin.

"Nothing but chemicals and no value to those muscles," I say trying to appeal to his ego and a budding interest in being really "muscle-y."

But I think this is all actually ok. He has a choice. He knows it, and while he does eat Nerds from a birthday party or covet an insanely large lollipop at a local store, he is aware that these things aren't good for him. One afternoon when he was trying to goad me into a gumball aperitif after a grocery store run, he insisted, "I won't act crazy from the dye. I promise."

"Yes you will," I say.

"Yeah, Mom, you're right," he said after about three more attempts at begging.

He knows he gets cranky from the sugar or the dye or both. He does know it's not good for him. He's conscious.

Patrick tries new foods and even ate chicken curry with vegetables two nights ago. He only ate a little, but he tried, too.

So, all is blissful, right? Not so much. There are daily setbacks to Fresh Mouth. But this is a living, breathing, changing way of living and breathing and eating. It's organic in and of itself. Day by day. Meal by meal. Bite by bite.

So even this week we had setbacks. Dinner last night went like this ...

"I'm a carnivore. I can't eat vegetables," Aidan says when I dole out green beans.

"What?" Dirk says.

"Yeah, vegetarians eat only vegetables and not meat. Carnivores eat meat, no vegetables. I'm a carnivore. So, I can't eat vegetables. I'm not a vegetarian. I eat burgers."

Dirk looks at me, and I want to go under the table and stab my eye out with a fork.

"Are you teasing us, Aidan?" I ask.

He doesn't answer.

"Being a vegetarian does mean you don't eat meat. You're right. But being a carnivore doesn't mean you don't eat vegetables," Dirk says. "They're not mutually exclusive."

"I don't know about that," he says as if this were up for debate.

He eats a green bean. We move on.

And then Patrick ends the meal with, "Can I have that cupcake I got for my birthday?"

People you love the most can be the biggest life saboteurs, and a dear loved one who will remain nameless on this blog (you know who you are) sent Patrick the ultimate anti-Fresh Mouth birthday present - a gigantic cupcake box filled with candy from FTD. (See the saccharine photo above.) My Fresh Mouth jaw dropped when we opened the box.

"Woaa," Patrick said when we saw the contents.

"Yikes," Aidan said.

I let Patrick have one piece and put the rest out of reach.

When he asked for candy after dinner, I simply said no.

He cried. I held my ground. Sometimes the iron fist of insistence on a parent's end is the only way to go. I offered applesauce, and he opted for nothing else.

What does all this mean for a kid and food and eating in this era, in this country?

I read a line from a book of food essays today called Feed Me edited by Harriet Brown that said, "In modern-day America, feeding yourself is an act of bravery."

It's bravery. Certainly with mercury and salmonella and processed food and an endless barrage of bad choices, there is a need for biting bravely.

It's also about perseverance. Day by day. Bite by bite. Give kids and yourself the best you can. Every time. There are always setbacks and recipes for disaster. You just have to educate the carnivore and redirect the sugar fiend. A lot.

Swallow. Breathe deeply. Start over. And over. And over.

Nugget o' the Moment: "That's a long time, but Fresh Mouth is a good idea, Mom. It is." - Aidan when I tell him it's been a year since we started.

A Mother's Madness

High fructose corn syrup. Image from the Modern Forager.

About ten years ago, I read a book called NEWTON'S MADNESS: FURTHER TALES OF CLINICAL NEUROLOGY. It traces disorders and diseases in history. There's a bit about Dostoyevski's epilepsy and Newton's mercury-caused madness.

Mercury and madness.

I was looking at this book for a book club idea when I read a new study this week about mercury in high fructose corn syrup (HFCS).

Mercury and high fructose corn syrup ... it's madness.

According to a new article in the journal, Environmental Health, mercury was found in nearly 50 percent of tested samples of commercial HFCS. Another study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) detected mercury in almost one-third of 55 popular brandname food and beverage products where HFCS is the first or second highest labeled ingredient.

This means food produced by brands like - Quaker, Hershey’s, Kraft and Smucker’s. And the studies state that the average American eats about 12 teaspoons of HFCS a day. IATP’s David Wallinga, M.D., and a co-author in both studies says:

“Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are
calling for immediate changes by industry and the FDA to help stop this avoidable
mercury contamination of the food supply.” More.

There's a push to chastise parents who suggest that vaccines and diet increase the risk of neurological spectrum disorders. But these studies would certainly indicate that what we're putting in our bodies and our childrens' bodies is and can affect health, growth and development.

What says the Corn Refiner's Association? Of course, they challenge the studies:

“This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance. Our industry has used mercury-free versions of the two re-agents mentioned in the study, hydrochloric acid and caustic soda, for several years. These mercury-free re-agents perform important functions, including adjusting pH balances,” stated Audrae Erickson, President, Corn Refiners Association. “For more than 150 years, corn wet millers have been perfecting the process of refining corn to make safe ingredients for the American food supply.” More.

We're approaching our one-year Fresh Mouth anniversary. One year since we removed HFCS from our diet. There have been slips and instances out of our control when we ate it, but our goal is to eliminate it from our diet and avoid purchasing products with the ingredient. If ever there was a reason to remove an element from a diet, this would be a good one.

Nugget o' the Moment: "The American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended that minimizing any form of mercury exposure is essential for optimal child health and nervous system development. Current international food processing standards allow 1.0 μg mercury/g caustic soda and there is no standard for mercury in food grade hydrochloric acid." - from this week's study, "Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food productsugar."

Our Daily Bread

We are re-invigorated by the calendar change and committed to the New Year and Fresh Mouth.

If we teased that pork roll was the food of the gods at the end of 2008, we learned not to be facetious with Fresh Mouth. There was divine intervention for us. Not one of us indulged in this anti-Fresh Mouth fare. Fate dealt its hand, and we were ravaged by a stomach flu that left us unable to even look at the red packaged pork. We tossed all of it. I guess we'll have to try again in another 25 years ... or not.


Here's a great documentary called Our Daily Bread about industrial food production and modern farming techniques. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Nugget o' the Moment: "I ate a fish! Can you believe it, Mom?" - Aidan incredulous that he actually ate fish in lieu of chicken on a recent restaurant trip. "See how good it is to try new things," I said.



Martha's Pate Brisee
I've been making this for years, but just recently used a food processor. It took minutes to make and it's unbelievably good for sweet or savory dishes.

Ingredients
Makes one double-crust or two single-crust 9-inch pies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small
1/4 cup ice water, plus more if needed

Directions
In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter, and pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some larger pieces remaining, about 10 seconds. (To mix by hand, combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, then cut in butter with a pastry blender.)

With machine running, add ice water through feed tube in a slow, steady stream, just until dough holds together without being wet or sticky. Do not process more than 30 seconds. Test by squeezing a small amount of dough together; if it is still too crumbly, add a bit more water, 1 tablespoon at a time.

Turn out dough onto a clean work surface. Divide in half, and place each half on a piece of plastic wrap. Shape into flattened disks. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour or overnight. The dough can be frozen for up to 1 month; thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.

Warning: This One Is the Anti-Fresh Mouth

Have no fears! We're still on our program ... but we're indulging - if you can call it that - on an old regional classic. Read below. And realize this is a once in every 25 years kinda thing!

Pork Roll Fit for a God

The Christmas cactus mise-en-scene heightens the holiday anticipation, no?

If Greek Gods took roadtrips home for the holidays, they'd get a single whif of their Hellenic mothers' ambrosia from the turnpike and be right again. Food of the gods.

If native New Jerseyians took connecting flights in Memphis to Little Rock for the holidays, they'd lug pork roll in their packs and make right again. Food of the Garden State.

Pork roll - or Taylor ham as its known in some Jersey pockets - holds its place in our family as a deified delight. What makes it especially yen-yielding is its general unavailabilty. You want pork roll? You gotta go to Jersey. In parts farther north than New York, pork-parts products morph into Candadian bacon.

We used to drive to Acadia National Park in Maine as kids every summer, and we would stop on the way out of the stunning park at a local diner. My parents would ask us about the lush landscape, climbing expeditions and boating excursions looking for post-vacation recap confirmation. All four of us kids could only say with ungrateful disgust, "How can a diner not have pork roll sandwiches? Canadian bacon doesn't cut it." The only question we wanted to hear was, "Ketchup, salt and pepper, anyone?"

A food "developed" by John Taylor in Trenton, New Jersey in the 1850s, this is not just your stock pork "heat 'n' eat" dish. It has heart. No, not a heart, although you know the "don't ask, don't tell" policy about processed pork. But this is Jersey diner food through and through - the underdog with a bad wrap and a regular Joe appeal that no one can resist.

Slice a thick circular piece, score it with three distinct marks half-way through the diameter at about points twelve, four and eight o'clock, and pan fry the dickens out of it until the fat carmelizes the edges and makes them crispy and blackened almost purple. Then get firm, crusty kaiser rolls from the Hungarian bakery and place your fat-dripping portion into the welcoming absorbency of your roll's fluffy peaks. Douse in ketchup, indulge in only a little salt if you want to keep your daily intake in a single bite below 30 something percent and sprinkle with pepper.

Want some? You can order it from The Pork Roll Xpress. That's right. Just hop on. Don't ask questions.

This is a holiday stocking stuffer that's going to make its vacuum-packed self to the holidays with family in my purse. This cargo's too precious to check. We'll eat it with eggs, kaiser rolls, fruit and potatoes. I'm going to teach my kids how to enjoy it for the first time in extreme moderation. Ingredients? Pork, of course, however nebulous that may be. Some salt, sugar, lactic acid starter culture, sodium nitrite and nitrate. Hmmm. One piece. One piece.

Oh the fate of a summer cuke at Christmastime ... what next for our fair veg?

Nugget o' the Moment:
"I wonder what Cuke wants for Christmas?" says Patrick.
"What?" I say.
"Cuke? What does he want for Christmas?"
"Holy ... that thing is still here?" I ask.
"Of course. He sleeps on my desk," he says placing Cuke on the couch.

Our harvested cucumber is some sacred talisman preserved from the summer garden. No rot and still the same Sharpie face we originally drew.
"He's happy here. We grew a pet, Mom."
We sure did. And maybe he likes pork roll ...

Meats & Sweets: Eat Like a Wizard

Images courtesy of http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

My kids covet the food at Hogwarts. We watched a double header of Harry Potter movies last night and another one the night before.

Whenever the camera does a long shot of the Great Hall and the endless tables of confections and meats, my kids say in trance-like unison, "Oohh that looks so good."

"What looks the best?" I ask them.

"The chicken ... and the cakes."

Meats and sweets.

For all the Fresh Mouth zeal, effort and learning curve, we always come back to the meats and sweets.

Dirk and I don't fault the little guys for it. It's the roasted brown hues of the warm starch-saturated meals and the sheen of a perfectly plump and roasted foul that lure us right in there with them. And what child, let alone rational adult, could resist the temptations of a Halloween fete that includes cauldrons of swirling orange gems and sugar dusted towers?

When Aidan was a only a year, he would begin our dinners by reciting the Dumbledore line, "Let the feast begin." He would also imitate the exact open-armed fan of the hands and slightly tilted head nod of Richard Harris' stately Dumbledore. To this day, we don't sit down to a nice home-cooked meal without someone initiating this wizard call to eat.

The Harry Potter beef and buns culinary world isn't healthy, but it's tempting. In an essay titled, "Food and Drink in the Potter Universe," there's a list of the film's fantastical favorites that includes:

"Roast beef, roast chicken, fried sausages, stew, casserole, tripe (which McGonagall ironically offers Trelawney in PA), pork chops, shepherd's pie, steak, Cornish pasties, lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, steak and kidney pudding, steak and kidney pie, black pudding, sandwiches (chicken and ham, for Harry and Ron in CS5); bread, marshmallows and crumpets (Harry and Ron roast them over the common room fire during the Christmas holidays in PS12), baked pumpkin (at Halloween), roast potatoes, jacket potatoes, boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, chips, Yorkshire pudding, peas, sprouts, carrots, gravy, ketchup, custard tart, mint humbugs, ice cream, apple pies, treacle tart, spotted dick, chocolate éclairs, chocolate gateau, jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, and rice pudding. An impressive list of heavy, traditional British food. Only in GF14, when the delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang arrive, two non-British dishes appear on the tables: Bouillabaisse and "some kind of strange blancmange." More.

This kind of gastronomy could kill the less-than-magical Muggle, but in doses it's a dream. It's the warm, comfort food that a kid needs to battle the underworld. And it's exactly the same kind of food an elementary school kid needs to sustain the cold and the excitement of only 8 1/2 days before school ends for Christmas break. It's the time to eat like a wizard.

Our Sunday supper will include some kind of roast depending on what's on sale today at the store and these little treats:

Cauldron Cakes
Spice cakes from the film sold on the Hogwarts Express.

2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup softened butter or softened margarine
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ginger

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix eggs, sugar, butter,cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla in large mixing bowl on whip for 2 minutes.
3. Mix other solid ingredients and milk in gradually in the large mixing bowl.
4. Put batter in muffin tins (DO NOT FILL TO HIGH THESE CAKES SHOULD BE SEMI-FLAT). Bake 25 minutes.
5. Decorate with sprinkles and frosting if desired.
6. These cakes go well with honey.

Nugget o' the Moment: "The president-elect orders corned beef and cherry pie to go. Now there's a stimulus package. Manny's corned beef sandwiches are large enough to have their own electoral votes." - from "Obama's Lunch Love" on NPR. President-elect Obama orders this for lunch from Manny's Deli in Chicago. That's presidential food worthy of a wizard. I'm telling you ... meats and sweets.

P.S. Don't miss the Food Issue of the NYTimes Magazine from October. I'm late to reading it, but it's super.