Grandma, Can I Have Some BHT?

Today's food disappointment comes in the form of Grandma Utz's Handcooked Potato Chips. I normally make a great deal of effort to stay away from the snack machines at work but sometimes the call of salty fried potatoes is too much to bear and I cave. Armed with a dollar bill and resolve to not get anything with artificial ingredients, I headed to the kitchen. The two items I normally have to choose between are Frito's Corn Chips (corn, oil salt), and Lay's Original Potato Chips (potatoes, oil, salt). I don't like corn chips all that much and the potato chips looked juuuust far enough back in their row to be left dangling instead of falling within reach. So I perused the display again and saw them: Grandma Utz's Handcooked Potato Chips. Perfect! These should be just like the others, except the ingredients should read: "thicker potatoes, oil, and salt". Not so.

"Whole fresh potatoes, sliced and cooked in lard, with salt added. TBHQ and BHT added to help protect flavor. This is a Gluten Free Food."

Now before you go patting yourself on the back, Grandma, be reminded that ALL POTATO CHIPS ARE GLUTEN FREE. Why? Because potatoes do not have gluten. Unless you are still eating those crazy Pringles which have added wheat (and between 8 and 11 other ingredients in the "Original" flavor alone),  you don't need to worry about potato chips and gluten sensitivity. So that last sentence, "This is a Gluten Free Food", does not, somehow, make up for the fact that Grandma has used two preservatives in these chips. Let's discuss.

TBHQ

TBHQ stands for something that I can't pronounce, Tertiary Butylhydroquinone, and is a controversial additive in dog food. That's right, safety groups are concerned about feeding TBHQ to our pets in their daily meals (pets who, mind you, are genetically designed to scavenge for their food and digest all manner of "leftovers" after actual predators have had their way). From the Natural News website: "Consuming high doses (between 1 and 4 grams) of TBHQ can cause nausea, delirium, collapse, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and vomiting. There are also suggestions that it may lead to hyperactivity in children as well as asthma, rhinitis and dermatitis. It may also further aggravate ADHD symptoms and cause restlessness. Long term, high doses of TBHQ in laboratory animals have shown a tendency for them to develop cancerous precursors in their stomachs, as well as cause DNA damage to them. It is also suggested that it may be responsible for affecting estrogen levels in women."

BHT

Another tongue twister here, BHT is short for Butylated hydroxytoluene; it is most likely used in these chips to prevent the lard/fat from going rancid too quickly. BHT went out of fashion back in the 1970s due to health concerns - it may be toxic to both the nervous system and the liver.  Like many of our Grandma's, Ms. Utz must just be a little behind the times.

An All-American Plate: Burger and Fries

While it's awesome and healthy to have goals in life, it's important to make sure they are realistic. If, for example, you find yourself writhing in misery every time you think about going into work, finding a new job is a good and realistic goal. If you are a crazy dog, it is reasonable to set your sights on becoming a normal, well-adjusted dog. If, however, you are an oak tree, it would not make sense to hope that someday you will sprout wings and turn into a bird. Likewise, if you are a veggie burger, embrace your veggie-ness and don't worry about your meaty cousins. You're better than that.

Most grocery store veggie burgers, relentless in their quest to remind us of a juicy beef patty, fall pretty short. They are generally made up of a lot of processed soy and wheat with a token onion or some corn thrown in for good measure. Let's look at the Grilled Vegetable Boca Burger: 

WATER, SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, RED BELL PEPPERS, CORN, ZUCCHINI, GREEN BELL PEPPERS, ONIONS, WHEAT GLUTEN, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF ASIAGO CHEESE (PASTEURIZED PART-SKIM MILK, CHEESE CULTURE, SALT, ENZYMES), POTASSIUM SORBATE (AS A PRESERVATIVE), LOW-MOISTURE PART-SKIM MOZZARELLA CHEESE (CULTURED PASTEURIZED PART-SKIM MILK, SALT, ENZYMES), DRIED GARLIC, METHYLCELLULOSE, SALT, CARAMEL COLOR, DRIED ONIONS, AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT, NATURAL FLAVOR (NON-MEAT), SPICE, DEXTROSE. CONTAINS: SOY, MILK, WHEAT.

Note that the very first ingredient is water ("Boca Burgers: When You're Thirsty"), and the second is some processed soy thing. I'm also not sure why they needed to add caramel color since all the other stuff blended together is most definitely brown.

There are probably better brands of veggie burger available; I have read good reviews about Gardenburger varieties for those of you in a time crunch. However, for anyone who wants a truly fabulous homemade meal and has a couple of hours to enjoy their kitchen, these Cook's Illustrated inspired burg's are the way to go. 

Veggie Burgers

Makes 12; can be frozen for storage

Ingredients
3/4 cup dried brown lentils
2 tsp salt
3/4 cup uncooked brown rice
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 rib of celery, chopped
1 small leek, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 pound cremini mushrooms, sliced 1/4 inch thick (this adds up to a whole lotta mushrooms)
1 cup raw unsalted cashews
1/3 cup full-fat unsweetened Greek yogurt
2 cups Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
ground black pepper

Directions
Get to cooking the lentils and rice. For the lentils, add 3 cups of water and a bit of salt and boil them until they are very soft and about to fall apart, about 25 minutes. At the same time, boil your rice with 1.5 cups of water until the water has been absorbed and the rice is soft.

When the lentils are done, spread them out on a tray under some paper towels to absorb the moisture and let them cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes. When the rice is done, set it in a large bowl (you are going to end up adding everything else into this bowl) away from heat to also cool a bit. You want to get most of the moisture out of the lentils, so you may also need to pat them dry with paper towels.

While your lentils and rice are cooling, heat a bit of oil in a pan - we used our new big boy cast iron skillet - add the onion, celery, leek, and garlic. Cook about 10 minutes until it all begins to brown.  Spread them out on another tray under some paper towels to absorb moisture.

Using the same pan, add a bit more oil over high heat and throw in the 'shrooms. Cook the mushrooms until they are golden brown and have shrunk down considerably. Spread them out with the vegetable mixture and let it all cool off.

Next, you want to turn your cashews into a powder as best you can. You can use a food processor, magic bullet, coffee grinder (our choice), or just put them in a plastic baggie and smash them with something heavy. The method you choose may depend on what kind of day you've had.  Add the crushed cashews, the cooled lentils, the cooled veggie-mushroom mixture, and the yogurt into the large bowl of rice.  Mix it all together with your hands. Don't be afraid to get in there!

The idea for this next step is to blend/puree the mixture so it's nice and mushy. You can transfer part of it at a time into a blender or food processor but I think that creates more of a mess than necessary. We got out our immersion blender (is there anything it can't do??) and blended away.  Use it until everything looks pretty well mushed together. It should be kind of sticky and have a rough texture.

Add the panko one cup at a time and mix it together as you go. You might find you don't need as much as the recipe calls for to get a good burgery consistency, but 2 cups is a good gauge. Salt and pepper to taste.

Form patties out of this mixture. You should get 12, and since two people cannot eat 12 of anything in one sitting, you may want to freeze half of them. Cook or grill them up however you want! 

Sweet Potato Fries
Serves 2 hungry people who also have veggie burgers to eat

Ingredients
1 large sweet potato
2 Tbsp EVOO
freshly ground salt and pepper

Directions
Preheat your oven to 450F.

You can use peeled or unpeeled potatoes depending upon your preference. We "roughly peeled" ours, meaning we left some skin on. I recommend that.

Cut up the sweet potatoes into sticks. Chop off the ends if they are small or pointy, as this will make for burnt fry ends. Cut the potato in half around the middle (width-wise not length-wise), slice each half into rings 3/4 inch thick, and slice up each ring into sticks each about 1/2 inch wide.

In a bowl, toss the potato sticks together with the olive oil, salt and pepper. Use the pepper generously! Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place the sweet potato sticks on it gently. Be sure they are evenly spaced and not touching - this will affect cooking time, the amount of burning that goes on in your oven, and sogginess. Give them some room for goodness sakes! They will get smaller as they cook.

Put them in the oven for 13-15 minutes. You'll probably want to check them around 12 minutes to see how brown the underside is getting. When it starts to brown, it's time to flip the fries. Remove the baking sheet and flip each fry. You can do this by hand or perhaps with tongs, but beware they are hot. Put them back in the oven for about 10 more minutes, and try to keep an eye on them.

After their second round in the oven, the fries are done and ready to enjoy!

Shared on Fresh Bites Friday

I Can Make Hummus As Well As Sabre And You Can Too!

Hummus isn't typically one of those products that needs to be homemade to avoid processed added crap. Even store bought varieties tend to use just a few normal real-food ingredients; the four components essential to hummus are chickpeas, sesame, lemon, and garlic. But it's fun to make yourself, of course less expensive, and it's nice to know you are capable of whipping up something so delicious.

This recipe was inspired by the folks at Cook's Illustrated. I've modified some ingredient amounts for taste and to make enough to snack on for a week.

What You Need
A blender or food processor
1 cup dried chickpeas
2 quarts water
1/4 tsp baking soda
10-11 Tbsp tahini
4 Tbsp the best extra virgin olive oil you are willing to pay for
6 Tbsp lemon juice
2-3 garlic cloves diced or pressed
3/4 tsp salt
1-2 pinches cayenne pepper
1/2 - 1 tsp ground cumin, depending on your preference

What To Do
First things first, get to soaking those chickpeas! Put your dried chickpeas in a bowl and cover them by several inches with water. Cover the bowl and set it in the fridge overnight.

The next day, you'll see your chickpeas have absorbed a lot of the water, but they won't be as soft or as large as the canned kind so it's time to cook them. Put your garbanzo babies into a pot along with about 2 quarts of water and the baking soda. Bring it all to a boil and let it go for an hour. You can test them by eating one, and they should be very soft after the hour is up.

When they are done, save 1/2 cup of the cooking water and drain off the rest. Let cool 20 minutes or so.

Meanwhile, you'll want to prepare you blender and two small bowls. Into the blender, throw the garlic (2 or 3 cloves depending on your personal preference), salt, cayenne, and cumin. Add lemon juice and the reserved cooking water into one of the bowls. Mix tahini and olive oil into the other.

Once your garbanzos are not longer piping hot, dump them into the blender and blend with the spices. You'll probably have to stop the blender a few times and scrape everything back down around the blades. It shouldn't take too long until you've got a thick paste. Add the lemon juice and water mixture slowly. If you're very brave you'll be able to do this with the lid of the blender completely off. Again, you'll probably have to stop and stir and few times, but try to blend this for about a minute. Finally, add the tahini/olive oil mixture in the same manner. Blend about another minute.

Move your hummus into a bowl and let it chill in the fridge. Hummus is one of those things that tastes even more delicious if it sits for an hour or two and the flavors are allowed to combine.

Serving Suggestion
Hummus is great with pita chips, as a sandwich or wrap spread, and as a vegetable dip. My favorite way to enjoy it is with fresh carrots, peeled and cut into sticks.

Shared At: The Healthy Home Economist

Cheddar Cheese Isn't Orange And Other Food Truths

Cheddar cheese isn't orange. In it's natural state it is actually a very pale yellow color. If you look at the ingredient list of most cheddar cheese, particularly the pre-shredded variety, you will see something (usually annatto - at least it's not artificial) added for color. Nobody is completely sure who decided cheddar cheese should be orange. Wikipedia posits that in the 16th century, cheeses of superior quality all appeared darker yellow or orange, so makers of poor-quality cheese began adding deep yellow annatto to spruce up their paltry products. Read on for 3 other weird things that companies do to their food products.

Everybody knows Americans don't get enough fiber in their diets, right? Rather than promoting eating foods that are actually full of fiber, like fruit, vegetables, beans, or oats, many companies add fiber into their otherwise fiberless foods. But they can't exactly transfer the fiber from a black bean into a piece of fried chicken with some Frankenstein-like mad scientist setup, so they get it from somewhere else: trees. Cellulose is an ingredient often added to processed foods to up their fiber content. Cellulose is wood pulp, and in addition to adding dietary fiber and texture to foods like Aunt Jemima's syrup, the McRib sandwich, some shredded cheeses, and Nestle's hot chocolate, it also makes a really good wallpaper paste.

You know that nice sheen that coats treats like chocolate covered raisins, jelly beans, or sprinkles? It usually shows up on food labels as "shellac" or "food glaze", and it's totally natural! It's made from secretions of the female lac bug, similar to a beetle. It's also used as primer, wood finish, and high gloss varnish. Yum.

Here we are talking about cheese again. A Peaceful Plate is nothing if not a cheese-hound. Let's say you were John Sargento (or Jane, as the case may be) and you wanted to make some parmesan cheese. What would you do? Well, you'd start by acquiring some milk. You would curdle the milk by adding some type of acid like lemon juice or vinegar. Then you, JohnJane, would slaughter an unweaned baby cow and take out the lining of it's fourth stomach because it has enzymes you can use to turn your curdled liquid milk into a solid cheese. Maybe you'd sell the rest of the calf as veal so all is not lost. Kidding, stay away from veal. The enzymes baby cows produce in their stomachs is called rennet on ingredient lists. It is becoming quite commonplace to see cheeses using vegetarian and synthetic sources of these coagulating enzymes (some plants and molds produce similar varieties), but if you care about what went into your cheese you'd better read the label.

Shared at: Kelly the Kitchen Kop and Beyond The Peel

Say "No" To Fake Meat!

I love vegetarians (one in particular)! I have a lot of respect for the choice to give up meat, whether for personal health or animal well-being, but it's not yet the right choice for me. I still, and probably always, will believe that humanely raised animals or wild caught fish are supreme additions to a meal. The main argument I've heard against the idea is that humanely raised meat is too expensive. This is easily dismissed: eat less of it. Quality over quantity, people! Feature meat as the supporting actor rather than the star of your dinner, use it infrequently, and your wallet will be fine.

As great of a choice as vegetarianism CAN be for your body and for the planet, vegetarians are easily seduced (like the rest of us) by processed foods. Soy and wheat can be turned into many things, and there is no shortage of processed meat substitutes on the market for veg folk: Boca burgers, Morningstar patties, Tofurkey, and TVP (textured vegetable protein) to name a few. I've always disagreed with these types of food on principle. In fact, I recall turning my nose up at one of the first dinners Dan offered to share with me. He had prepared pasta with tomato sauce and used ground TVP in the sauce as a meat substitute. My feeling is this: pasta is delicious with no animal products whatsoever, but if what you really want is something that looks, cooks, and tastes like meat - for goodness sakes, eat some meat.

There is one dish that I've broken my own rules for, only because if I make it with meat half of the people in the house will be excluded from the meal. The dish is "Sausage" and Peppers with onions and crushed tomatoes over brown rice; I use these Italian-spiced vegetarian sausages. Can you guess the very first ingredient on the package? Wheat Gluten! The protein-component of the wheat berry, separated from the rest of the plant and mushed around until it has a kinda-reminds-you-of-meat-if-you-haven't-had-meat-in-five-years consistency. This dish is dead simple to make and, as it turns out, really tasty without any meat substitutes whatsoever. I have aspirations of making my own sausage-like substitutes with lentils and almond meal, but have not yet had a successful attempt.

Italian Peppers & Onions (&Vegetables)

2 onions, cut into large pieces
2-inch piece of ginger, chopped
4 cloves garlic
1 bulb of fennel, chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped

3-4 bell peppers, cut into long slices

8oz fresh shitake mushrooms, chopped

1 zucchini, chopped
1.5 cups black beans (either canned or re-hydrated)
1/2 cup chopped black olives

2 jars of diced tomatoes, preferably no salt added
1 cup brown basmati rice
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt & Pepper
Italian-ish spices like oregano, basil, sage, rosemary, marjoram, and thyme.

Start a pot of water boiling for the rice - 2 cups water for 1 cup rice. Bring the rice to a gentle boil, lid on but tilted, and simmer until the water has been absorbed which should be about 30-40 minutes.

Put a dollop of coconut oil (or other oil good for higher-heat cooking) in your pan.  Add the onion, garlic, ginger, fennel, and carrots. Cook on medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, until they start to get soft.

Add the bell peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, black beans, and black olives. You could substitute other veggies or beans here; we chose these because they were what we had on hand. Cook for a few more minutes, until heated through, or when the mushrooms begin to shrink and the peppers begin to get tender.

Add the canned tomatoes, red pepper flakes to taste, and about a teaspoon of whichever Italian-ish spices you have around. Salt and pepper as needed.

Those who would like to could easily add some all-natural meat sausages.  Serve over rice.

A Saucy Plate: What's in Honey Mustard?

I was driving into work this morning and one of the local radio stations was asking people to call in with bloopers about things they've done in a restaurant. Had I called in, I would have shared the story of That One Time I Lit A Napkin On Fire. In an effort to get to the bread faster, I threw the fancy cloth napkin off of the bread basket and directly onto a candle. The waitress had to come over with her tray to beat the fire out.

As I was saying, people were calling in. One woman said she accidentally poured the honey mustard sauce meant for chicken fingers all over her child's mashed potatoes thinking it was melted butter. Whoops! This started me wondering - what is in packaged honey mustard sauce?

I didn't hear the name of the restaurant in question, but let's look at the sauces of two places nationally known for their chicken fingers/nuggets: Chick-fil-A and McDonald's.

Chick-fil-A Honey Mustard Sauce
water
honey
sugar
distilled vinegar
modified corn starch
mustard seed
salt
garlic
spices
soybean oil
turmeric
natural flavors
dehydrated onion
sodium benzoate (a preservative)
xanthan gum
guar gum
molasses
corn syrup
caramel color
tamarind

McDonald's Tangy Honey Mustard Sauce
water
sugar
dijon mustard (distilled vinegar, mustard seed, salt, water, white wine, spices)
corn syrup solids
honey
soybean oil
distilled vinegar
modified food starch
egg yolks, and 2% or less of the following:
mustard seed
turmeric
spices
xanthan gum
salt
titanium dioxide
benzoate (preservative)
yellow 5
yellow 6

I am relieved to see that both honey and mustard make an appearance in both substances. Turmeric is used for coloring, which is a great idea since turmeric is an incredibly healthy spice with anti-inflammatory properties. It's bright yellow color makes it great for these sauces. So why did McDonald's have to throw in Yellow 5 and Yellow 6? I wish I knew. These artificial colors are both known carcinogens - meaning they are known to cause cancer. Titanium dioxide, another ingredient on the McDonald's list, was classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as a potential carcinogen because it has caused respiratory cancer in rats. Yes, it's used in minute substances in the sauce, and yes, that's probably okay if you only eat it twice a year. But what else is titanium dioxide good for? It's one of the whitest substances known to man, so it's really good at refracting light. This makes it a key ingredient in many sunblocks, and it's great as a protective coating for your car. Mmmm.

Not to pick on McDonald's. The Chick-fil-A list is better, but only slightly. What are those mysterious natural flavors? They are, by definition, some flavoring developed in a laboratory using things derived from natural sources. These natural sources could be anything - including tree bark - according to the USDA. "Natural flavors" could even mean MSG, which has to be listed by law but can be listed as a "natural flavor". MSG is known to cause adverse reactions in many people including headaches, chest pain, and numbness or tingling in the face.

Time for a real Honey Mustard Sauce recipe. I haven't tested this one out myself, but I believe Food Network chef Alton Brown and 50-some reviewers know what they are talking about!

Alton Brown's Honey Mustard Sauce
5 T medium-body honey (wildflower honey should work)
3 T smooth Dijon mustard
2 T rice wine vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth. This can be used as a dressing or a dip.

I Heart Mushrooms

I admit it. I have an unabashed love of mushrooms.  Oyster, portabello, shitake, porcini, even the common cremini. And that's only what you can (sometimes) find in stores! Some Baltimore locals, who are clearly better than I, have expanded upon the 'shrooms available to them by learning how to forage for their own.  In fact, an interest in mushroom foraging is blooming all over the country. I have not yet had the good fortune to meet any of these folks, but I have met more than a few at the other end of the spectrum: people who don't like mushrooms. I immediately recognize these people as inferior. Is it wrong to judge someone based on their food choices? Probably. What if they were similarly judging us mushroom lovers?

"How can they think a bowl full of pureed fungus is half as good as a Big Mac?" they would say.

Oh, but it is.

There are few foods more satisfying on a crisp Autumn evening than a well-done mushroom soup. In fact, as I write these words there is a large pot full of the little guys boiling on my stove. Their aroma is one of fresh, moist earth, verging on meaty; the smell is a bit salty. There are five varieties in my pot, each one beautifully unique and infinitely flavorful.

The recipe comes from the capable kitchen of Jamie Oliver, converted from the metric system for readers' convenience and slightly modified because we can't find all of the same ingredients easily in the States.

Ingredients
2 packages dried porcini mushrooms
A dollop of olive oil
600g fresh mushrooms (Pick up a few varieties in the produce section to equal 600g. I was able to get cremini, shitake, and portabello easily; I got lucky and found some fresh oyster mushrooms as well. The more exotic the better! Weigh them on the scale in the produce section if the weight is not listed or they are not packaged.)
1 bulb of garlic (6-7 cloves)
1 red onion
A bit of butter
1 handful of fresh thyme
4 cups vegetable stock
1 handful fresh parsley
2T mascarpone cheese
A bit of lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Directions
Put the dried porcini in a bowl. Heat up water just to boiling and pour it over the porcini, just enough to cover them. Set aside.

Chop the red onion, garlic cloves, and pick the thyme leaves. Throw all this in a bowl and set aside.

Slice, roughly chop, and rinse off the fresh mushrooms. Heat a dollop of olive oil in a deep pan (I used a wok-style pan), and add the fresh mushrooms. Cook for about a minute. Add the onion/garlic/thyme as well as a knob of butter to the pan. Stir this all around for another minute or two.

Meanwhile, strain the porcini liquid (but save it). Chop half of the porcini and leave the other half whole. Add all the porcini as well as the liquid to the pot. Bring the entire mixture to a simmer and let it cook for about 20 minutes, until most of the liquid has cooked off.

In a separate soup pot, combine the broth and the mushroom mixture. Once again, bring to a simmer and cook another 20 minutes, uncovered. After that,  break out your immersion blender and blend the soup until it's a good chunky consistency - not smooth. If you are lacking in immersion blender inventory, ladle half of the soup into a blender, blend, and put it back in the pot. Add parsley and mascarpone.

Important: This really makes the dish. When serving, combine a bit of lemon juice, salt, and pepper and spoon a little of this into the soup. The lemon brings out the best parts of mushroom flavor.

For more great recipes and healthy living ideas, check out Fight Back Fridays over on the Food Renegade blog.

A Humble Plate

Henry, our adopted dog, will eat anything.  I've caught him with chunks of lint he's theived from the laundry room trash. Rocks and mulch from the back yard are prized, crunchy treats. A dirty paper towel or a decorative silk flower arrangement?  He'll take both. Presented with an expanse of freshly mowed grass, Henry goes into "whale mouth" by dropping his bottom jaw and running it along the ground to fill it with clumps of the loose pasture as if he were a large ocean mammal gathering krill. He's most excited to go outside in the Fall because he knows a delightful temptation awaits in unlimited quantity: LEAVES. As with most dogs, Henry cannot be reasoned with.  Arguments such as "Rocks are not for eating," and "Here's a handful of your real food," fall on deaf (but cute) ears.

Not So Different

I was reminded of Henry's love of non-food substances when reading an article on artificial sweeteners at Food Renegade, and I realized that we humans are also guilty of an affinity for non-food.  It's not our fault, really.  Non-food is scattered among real food at the grocery store. It sits at eye-level, calling out to us from colorful, ergonomic packaging.  It says "I'll make you skinny!" and "I'll prevent heart disease and cancer and you'll live forever!"

Unfortunately, a lot of the products making these claims are working very hard to compensate for what they lack: real food.  Let's take an example. Dannon's Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt sounds like something that would be very good for you. I want to be "Light & Fit" and I would bet a lot of other consumers do, too. Yogurt is well-known for providing calcium, protein, and those active cultures that placate our digestive systems.  However, Dannon's contains the following non-yogurt ingredients:  modified food starch, fructose, kosher gelatin, natural vanilla flavor, aspartame, citric acid, potassium sorbate, caramel color, acesulfame potassium, sucralose, annatto extract, and sodium citrate. Blech.

Go Humble
Have you ever heard an apple announce that it's good for your heart?  Or heard a carrot rant and rave about how little fat and sugar it has? Old-fashioned oats don't feel the need to boast "100% whole grain", although that's exactly what they are. It doesn't get much lower-carb than broccoli, but you won't see weight-loss companies advertising the flowery green.

We need to forget about labels and their claims and eat as much "humble food" as we can.

Humble food is something your great-grandmother would have recognized as food. It probably contains ingredients that you can picture in their natural form. A good rule of thumb is that humble food is something you could make. Whether you choose to is a different story. You might have a paralyzing fear of bees (guilty!), so bee-keeping is not for you but you could make honey. You could press your own olives, juice your own grapes, and deep-fry your own potatoes.

Some things you probably couldn't make:

• High Fructose Corn Syrup
• Chemical sweeteners - e.g. Splenda, Aspartame, Saccharine, Stevia powder
• White Flour, Rice, or Pasta - i.e. wheat in which the bran and germ (the nutrient-and-fiber-rich parts) have been removed.
• Artificial colors
• Deli meat
• Feedlot beef - sure, you could raise a few cows given enough land, but confining them in a small concrete pen and pumping them full of corn, soy, and antibiotics would be hard for even the meanest among us.

Keep in mind that most real food is not found in the middle aisles of a grocery store.  It's found in the front as sustainably-farmed produce and in the back as pasture-raised meat and dairy.  Naturally, the shortest path from the front to the back of the store is straight through the middle where those boastful processed items are. Hug the perimeter, read the ingredient lists to look for things you could have made, and remember that rocks are not for eating!

An Adventurous Plate: Celery Root

There is a fabulous market in nearby Ellicott City once a month.  It's called the Second Sunday Market, and occurs on dates in accordance with it's name.  My first visit was earlier this October - I was attracted by the promise of "exotic vegetables" being sold by a local French restaurant and I was not disappointed! I left with a bunch of lovely golden beets and a handful of parsnips for roasting, but my favorite find was an oft-passed-up and underappreciated vegetable called celery root.

About Celery Root
The knobby celery root is not going to win any beauty contests, but like the very best ugly ducklings, it surprises us in the end.

A chef was presiding over the exotic vegetable stand and she so heartily recommended the celery root that I had to take it.  She encouraged me to take a pre-purchase sniff and I was overcome with the aroma, of all things, of celery.  Not of a watery, pale green stalk for filling space in soups, but of something much brighter. It smelled fresh, of the earth, and salty.  

About The Soup

I looked for a recipe to do justice to my celery root upon arriving at home and came up with a soup that looked promising: Butternut Squash and Celery Root Soup.  My recipe is below, followed more or less from whatwouldcathyeat.com.

1 butternut squash

1 celery root

1 large onion

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

6 fresh sage leaves

1 cup dry white wine

7 cups vegetable stock

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Peel and cube the squash and celery root.  Toss it in a roasting pan with a bit of the olive oil and a bit of salt and pepper.  Spread it in a single layer in the pan (use multiple pans if you are like me and don't own any giant ones) and roast it until it's tender and starting to brown, about 25 minutes.

Heat a bit more olive oil in the pot you want to make your soup in.  Sauté the onion, red pepper flakes, and sage until the onion is translucent, about 5 minutes.  Add the wine and cook until it's reduced by half.  Add the stock and the roasted vegetables and simmer the whole thing for about 10 minutes.  Let it cool a bit and use your immersion blender to smooth the soup.  Season as you like, I would recommend a bit of pepper but no salt as the celery root has a salty taste of it's own. 

I enjoyed eating this soup so much, I actually felt a pang of sadness when we finished the pot.  And an added bonus?  No trash!  Save your vegetable scraps for stock, enjoy a glass of wine with dinner, and there is nothing to throw away.

About The Bread

You may have noticed a slice of bread in the picture above, and it should not go without mention.  It was part of a fresh-baked black olive and rosemary loaf from The Little French Market, a restaurant also representing itself at Second Sundays, and it was good. Good with olive oil. Good with Earth Balance. Yummy in the soup. Great by itself.  

If you attend the market, make sure to buy a loaf; at least take the time to snack on a sample (although you won't be able to leave without buying more).  Be aware that the bread stand is not for the faint-of-heart, as local bees seem to have caught on to the wonderful fresh-baked smells and told all of their bee friends.  

The Simplest Plate: Applesauce

One of the simplest things that I know how to make is applesauce.  It's inexpensive, requires just a bit of time, and the taste far exceeds store-bought.  It is also highly relevant to my latest farmer's market find: seconds.

I attended the market as usual last week, perused the apple stand wondering if I wanted to spend $7/peck or $13/half-bushel.  I told the lady attending the stand that I wanted a lot of apples and I wanted a variety of different kinds to which she helpfully asked "how about seconds"?  Seconds are the ugly ducklings, if you will; the apples that aren't quite pretty enough to be on display, they might have a bruise or spot where they grew oddly, but when peeled and chopped they are just a delicious as those good-looking ducklings. A half-bushel and $6.50 later, I was on my way to sauce.

How To Make Applesauce

Things You Need:

• Apples
• A way to peel the apples; a paring knife will do.
• A big pot

Step 1:  Make sure it is Autumn or nearly Autumn and apples are in season in your neighborhood.  No sense in using grocery store apples that have traveled across the country - they just aren't as good. If it is not Autumn, wait.

Step 2: Acquire a lot of apples.  "Which apples?" you say.  There are so many kinds! Some types of apples are known for their sauciness - that is when you heat them up they not only soften, but they get mushy (like sauce) and fall apart.  Other apples, you may learn, are good for pies - they become soft but do not lose their shape.  Still other apples are best for eating straight out of your lunchbox.  While all these things are true, my grandmother's secret to good applesauce was to use many different varieties to get the best taste, and I stick to that. The fact is, all apples will get soft when you cook them and a well-applied blender can make your sauce smoother if necessary.

Step 3:  Peel and slice the apples into your pot.  I don't have enough storage space for any of those fancy peeling gadgets, so I stick to the old fashioned way and use a paring knife.  It took around 45 minutes to peel and slice the half-bushel.  It doesn't matter if the slices are even. [Note: I like to spread out on the living room floor for this part and have a guilty-pleasure TV show on like "Say Yes To The Dress" or "Grey's Anatomy".  "Jersey Shore" will work, too.]  Be sure to save the apple peels for your compost!

Step 4: Cook.  It's that easy.  Put the pot on the stove and cook the apples over medium-to-medium-low heat.  Stir them once in a while.  Mine cook for a total of about an hour, but they are done when they are soft enough to be mushed with the back of a spoon.  It won't hurt them to be cooked a little longer if you aren't sure. At this point, I use my immersion blender to make the sauce a bit smoother, but I do prefer it to be on the chunky side.  Be sure to enjoy a bowl of still-warm sauce!

Another Colorful Plate

One of my favorite "I Love Lucy" episodes is the one where Lucy breaks the news to Ricky that she is pregnant by preparing a dinner including baby peas, baby corn, etc.  As I recall, it takes him a few comedy-filled minutes to get the point, but what a cute idea.  (Don't worry mom, that's not where this post is going!)  I was reminded of it when chopping my farmer's market finds this weekend for a pan of roasted vegetables.

My favorite stand at the market houses a friendly, self-titled "farmer dude" who never fails to throw a little something extra into my bag.  He was advertising baby beets and baby sweet potatoes this week, so that's what I got along with some of their super-fragrant garlic.

Sunday Dinner:  Porcini and Wild Rice Soup with Roasted Vegetables
The porcini and wild rice soup was inspired by WeHeartFood.com.  To this recipe, I added several stalks of celery and used three chopped carrots in the soup instead of grating one on top.

As I said, the roasted veggies came fresh from the farmer's market.  The deep oranges and purples of the dish evoked thoughts of Autumn, and Dan agreed that it tasted quite good.

1 bunch of baby sweet potatoes
1 bunch of baby beets
5 cloves of garlic (I would have used the whole bulb if I didn't need it for something else)
1 leek
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (from the herb garden!)
1 lug of olive oil

Peel and cut the sweet potatoes into small chunks.  Cut the tops and bottoms off of the baby beets and slice them.  Peel and chop the garlic.  Chop the leek.  Pick the rosemary leaves from their stems.  Mix it all up in a casserole-style dish and drizzle with olive oil until glistening.  Salt and pepper if you wish.  Cover the dish with aluminum foil and cook at 375 for 45-60 minutes.  Check the dish periodically towards the end to see when the veggies get appropriately soft.

A Peaceful Plate Would Like to Recognize...
Lately, I've been giving one my co-workers - Gary, aka Garebear, aka Garie - a hard time about his particularly earth-toned diet.  I see him eat sandwiches often and drink a large can of Starbucks coffee energy drink most afternoons.  He came to work this past week with some fancy grape juice instead, made from wine grapes, and purportedly quite yummy. Way to go Gary!

"Fresh" Defined

Apologies for not posting in a while!  I have been cooking, farmers-marketing, and hanging with Henry.  Lots of inspiration has been coming my way for websites and services that I think would be really useful and successful and I've been focusing on those things a bit more than food lately.  This morning, however, I was "inspired" by what I saw when I pulled up to work.

I suspect that the word "fresh" in this instance means "not yet expired".  Being someone who learns best by example, I'd like to quickly go over what does and doesn't count as fresh food.

Fresh:
The tomatoes and bell pepper from my garden I used in yesterday's dinner.
The farmer's market watermelon slices I ate with breakfast.
Baby carrots in my lunchbox.

Gray Area:
Yogurt and cheese from the grocery store.
Packaged soy milk
Hummus

Definitely Not Fresh:
Soda
Juice from concentrate
Frito's corn chips
Fruit snacks
Sticky buns
Everything in that truck

Hot Days, Cold Drinks

I normally don't like to turn the stove on at all when it's hot out, but I broke my rule and we made some really delicious food this weekend. Dan made bean enchiladas from his favorite vegetarian cookbook, Rabbit Food.  They were AMAZING.  I don't know about copyright laws and whatnot, so I won't post the recipe here, but you should definitely get the book because they have some really good, simple, and easy to modify dishes.  He added one jalapeno pepper and some cheese to the book's recipe.  This morning I ate a cold leftover bowl of the enchilada sauce with a bit of the bean mixture because it was so good.  Hello, breakfast enchiladas!  I also grilled a piece of fresh rockfish and served it with a little Earth Balance, oregano, and lemon juice on top.  We had some leftover snap peas from our stir-fry last week, so I steamed those to go with it.  It was all quite good.

Iced Masala Chai
On to the topic at hand.  I love a good soy iced chai.  The problem is there are almost no places that make a good soy iced chai so I've resorted to doing it myself.  At almost anyplace you order it, if you ask you will find out it is made from a pre-packaged concentrate or worse, a powder.  If said place has "chai tea" as their menu item, don't even bother asking ("chai" is the Indian word for "tea", so this place is offering you "tea tea").  The secret to masala chai, literally "spiced tea", is to use a good loose-leaf black tea and incorporate really good spices.  I tried making my own spice mixtures for a while, but I had a hard time getting it right.  Fortunately, last year Dan and I were in Portland, Oregon and we hit the jackpot.  We were at a small cafe and I was served a delicious, fresh-brewed chai with a peppery kick.  Upon asking what spices were used we found out the spice mix was commercially available from Morning Glory Chai so of course we ordered some.

I follow the directions on the package.  What you are making is essentially the "concentrate" a restaurant might have except it's so much better.  As sweeteners, I use 1T agave nectar, 1T real maple syrup, and 1T honey.  Let it cool off, fill a cup 3/4 of the way with ice, put in about 2/3 chai mixture and 1/3 soy milk (adjust which alternative milk you use and the amount to taste).  This was so refreshing in the 100 degree heat!

White Sangria
Last weekend, Dan and I visited one of our favorite local wine stores.  I like it because every single time we go in they are pouring samples of yummy wine, and Dan likes it because it happens to have a great selection of craft beers, a win-win for us. The lovely folks that work there mentioned using "New Age", a particularly light and effervescent white wine to make sangria.  I had to try it!  Today at the farmer's market, I picked up some tiny local plums and ripe peaches.  We chopped those up, added a few chunks of frozen mango that hadn't made it into smoothies and poured in the full bottle of wine.  To that, we added about a shot's worth of Grand Marnier (any citrusy liquor will do, that is just what we had in the house), and about 1/4 cup of sugar.  After letting it sit in the fridge for a couple of hours, it has turned out absolutely wonderful! Serve over ice.

A Colorful Plate: Salad & Stir-Fry

I've read that the more colorful a dish is, the better it is for you.  Think bright red tomatoes, deep purple eggplant, and crisp green beans rather than red meat, white meat, or orange roughy.  They say brightly colored food packs a lot of nutrients that can aid in cancer prevention, and just generally make your body happier.  I'm not sure if those are true statements, but I'd like to share two colorful dishes Dan and I made yesterday.

The Big Salad

Eating hot food on a hot day is not something I enjoy, so in the summer I make a huge bowl of salad every week.  Most days, I bring a giant tub of it into work for lunch with a little olive oil & balsamic mixture as dressing.  I've gotten at least one comment that my salads actually look good which is high praise coming from a non-salad-eating co-worker!

I do have some tips for making a potentially mundane bowl of vegetables more exciting.  

1.  Go nuts!  Literally.  I sprinkle sunflower seeds and sliced almonds on top of every salad.  They add a lovely crunch and great taste.  If you are worried about calories, cut them out somewhere else.  These are too yummy to miss!  (Just kidding, sort of.  Another good idea is to throw some chickpeas or beans into the mix.  You get the earthy taste of nuts with less calories.)

2.  If the salad is a little boring flavor-wise, throw some fresh salsa on top.  Trader Joe's make a deliciously vinegary mild tomato salsa with a ton of flavor.  

3.  Chop it up.  For some reason, lettuce and most other vegetables taste better when they are chopped into tiny pieces.  This is why restaurants offer "chopped salad" on their menus.  All it takes is a few extra minutes.

In this salad: chopped up red and green head lettuce, cucumbers, spring onions, shredded carrots, green and orange bell peppers, organic grape tomatoes
Other things that are good in salad: red onions, arugula, fresh mint, fresh cilantro, chickpeas, black beans, red cabbage, broccoli

The Stir-Fry
The great thing about stir-fries is that you can throw in almost anything and it will taste good.  You need  a really big pan or wok to cook it all and a good knife for chopping, but that's about it. Whatever vegetables you have leftover in your fridge, whatever they had available at the farmer's market that week, doesn't matter because it will all taste good.  I'm a big fan of mushrooms, carrots, and sugar snap peas so those will be staples in mine if I have them.  Ginger, garlic, and onion makes a delicious base.  Ours turned out really well - light on the sauce, but tons of flavor!

Stir-fry tips:
1.  Don't buy a pre-made stir-fry sauce.  It's very likely whoever manufactured it put crap in there that you wouldn't eat if you knew what it was.  Peanut butter mixed with low sodium soy sauce (a trick I learned from You Blog What You Eat) makes a yummy and simple dressing.
2. Always add cashews!  They taste fantastic with the flavors of the veggies and spiciness of the peppers.  Add them at the very end because they just need to be heated up but not cooked.
3. Don't overcook the veggies.  5-7 minutes on medium to high heat is usually enough to get them crisp-tender.  Serve over rice or rice noodles.  We made brown rice to go with ours.

In this dish: zucchini, broccoli florets, crimini and shitake mushrooms, sugar snap peas, sliced carrots, ginger, garlic, shallots, hot green peppers, bell peppers, cashews, crushed red pepper flakes, and sauce: 1 cup vegetable broth, 1/4 cup water, 2T low sodium soy sauce, dash of freshly ground pepper, 1t sugar, 1 small scoop natural peanut butter

The NIBBLE Project

I have a problem.

It started at the office about 5 years ago.  A well-meaning co-worker brought in a bag of Hershey Kisses.  They found out I liked Hershey Kisses very much.  They brought in more, I ate more - dozens each day.  And the cycle began.

My addiction to chocolate in the office has become so bad that I start craving it the moment I sit down at my desk.  The candy supplier has changed, and the stash has evolved into milk chocolate M&M's, but the point is the same.

How can I [attempt to] write this blog about eating natural and healthy foods when I can't even follow my own rules?  My meals are pretty healthy and have lots of fresh, whole ingredients, but stressful time or boredom at the office is filled with artificially colored candies.  

That is why I'm beginning The NIBBLE Project.

N - Nothing
I - In my
B - Belly
B - Besides
L - Legitimate
E - Eats

I will do my best to break this habit and eat only what I bring in my lunchbox, or if I must have something, to make sure I recognize all of the ingredients in that item.  NIBBLE starts today.  I'll post periodic updates about how I've done and how much I miss my colorful little treats.

Goodbye, "Yellow 5"!


M&M's Ingredients:
Milk Chocolate (Sugar, Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Skim Milk, Milkfat, Lactose, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Artificial Flavors) Sugar, Cornstarch, Less than 1% Corn Syrup, Dextrin, Coloring (includes Blue 1 Lake, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Red 40, Blue 1, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 2)Gum Acacia.

A Peachy Plate: Smoothies!

One of my favorite things to make in the summer is a fresh fruit smoothie.  They taste so much better than whatever you might buy at Starbucks or [insert your nearest smoothie chain], they are healthier, and they are a great way to use local fresh fruit!

Strawberry season has more or less come to an end for us so I've moved on to peaches.  Today's smoothie was a peach and mango creation.  The trick is to put in mostly fresh fruit, a little bit of frozen fruit, and some liquid (I use soy milk or almond milk - whichever is handy).  I think yogurt would work in place of a milk, but make sure it is a limited ingredient yogurt.  It shouldn't have more than milk and cultures in it.

Mango-Peach Smoothie
(Note: I never measure smoothie ingredients, so these are purely estimates).

2 ripe peaches, peeled and pitted
1/2 ripe mago
5 or 6 pieces frozen mango chunks
1/2 c soy milk

The pre-blended fruit and the finished product in a reusable to-go cup!

An Improvised Plate: Quinoa Salad

Ah, Summer.  It's too hot to turn on the oven and life is too busy to spend that much time making food anyway.  Here's a recipe for one of our simple go-to's when the weather gets hot!

Quinoa Salad
- 1 cup Quinoa, cooked, any color.  Trader Joe's only has white quinoa of late (they used to have red also), and recently we found some black quinoa at Roots market in Clarksville.
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 can corn (or cooked corn on the cob if you have that kind of time), drained and rinsed
- Whatever veggies you like.  We use/have used the following: red onion, green onion, garlic, cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes, avocado, bell peppers, jalapeno peppers, pea shoots/broccoli sprouts/bean sprouts.
- A handful of fresh cilantro

Quinoa Salad Dressing
- 3-4 limes
- 1 Tbsp ground cumin
- honey, agave, or other sweetener of choice (nothing fake, please) to taste

Directions
Cook the quinoa just like you would rice - 2 parts water to 1 part quinoa.  Recently I made a double-batch of this stuff with 1 cup white and 1 cup black quinoa.  It will probably take 15-20 minutes to cook, so keep an eye on it and chop up your veggies.

The "dressing" here is the best part.  Squeeze your limes, use a juicer, or go with the Oprah method.  I'm a little embarrassed to say we use Oprah's way (about 1:30 in the video) since we do not have a juicer.  Be ready with a glass of water because the outside of a lime does NOT taste good!

Mix the lime juice with ground cumin and honey and continue adding honey until it's a little tangy but not too sweet.

When your quinoa is done, put all the veggies, corns, bean, and quinoa (it's okay if it is still hot) in a big bowl, dump the lime juice mixture over it and mix it all together as best you can.  Chop the fresh cilantro for garnish.

Here's part of our double-batch from the other day.  My favorite thing about this recipe is that you can improvise.  Use the veggies you have on hand, or whatever your local farmer's market is selling that day, and it will taste good.  If you love tomatoes as much as I do, throw in some extra (I do this in every recipe I've ever made).  If the crunch of a bell pepper gets you going - put them in!  Hate onions?  They're not necessary.  So enjoy this easy summer salad as a side dish or main course with your favorite flavors.

Froyo At Home

A couple of weeks ago, Dan and I spent a lovely afternoon around town and stopped for a bite of frozen yogurt at the closest place to us - a chain called Tutti Frutti.  My favorite is the Original Tart flavor either plain or with a few chocolate chips sprinkled on top.  Most of their other flavors are too sweet for my liking.  As we sat outside enjoying our cold treats, I wondered whether we could make frozen yogurt ourselves at home.

Thanks to Google and smartphones, we quickly learned all we needed was an ice cream maker and some simple ingredients (strained yogurt, sugar).  We raced around the corner to Target and chose the cheapest ice cream maker they had on the shelf - about $30.  On my next trip to Trader Joe's, I bought the biggest container of Greek yogurt I could find and we were set!

Basically put in as much yogurt as you want to eat and sugar to taste - the recipe we found called for 2/3 of a cup or sugar which seemed like too much so we used about 1/4 cup.  We've experimented with adding vanilla beans, agave nectar instead of sugar, and using 2% Greek, full fat Greek, and something called European yogurt.  The European yogurt had a certain tartness to it that we both really liked and the others were very creamy but missing some of the zip we were used to from commercial froyo.  The agave nectar sweetener is not something I would recommend as it made the yogurt fairly runny.  Adding vanilla beans gave the yogurt disappointingly little vanilla taste.  I have some ideas on how to get the flavor we are looking for and will update when we figure it out!

It was tough to track down, but I also managed to find the ingredients Tutti Frutti uses.  Nothing is on their website but the ingredients for Original Tart only are on their Facebook page - I imagine the other flavors have a lot more additives.  It's so disappointing to taste something yummy and then find out it is made from a powder!

"Pure Crystaline Fructose, Dextrose, Maltodextrin, Non-Fat Milk, Yogurt Powder, Micro-encapsulated Probiotic (Lactobacillus Sporogenes)"

The Wonderful World of Barley

Dan enjoys homebrewing when he can find a few free hours, and recently read about creative ways to use the mashed grains.  In the past, he had either filled up our kitchen trash can with them (sometimes not all the way cooled - hot trash does NOT smell good) or dumped them into my raised bed garden and our compost bin.  Side note: my grandmother used to dump her coffee grounds straight into her flower bed and always had the most beautiful plants!

So what did we decide to make?  Dog cookies!  It is getting easier to find quality dog treats in chain pet food stores, but I still like knowing exactly what went into these.  Considering the grains would have gone into the trash otherwise, it is certainly cost-effective.  Dan simply mixed together 6 cups grains, 6 cups flour, some peanut butter, a banana, an egg, and a lot of love.  The mixture has to be flattened onto one or two cookie sheets, pre-scored into squares or whatever shape your dog likes (the photo in the magazine indicated they used squirrel cookie cutters which I thought was hilarious), and then baked until they dry out.  Our 8 month old cute-but-very-bad rescue puppy is absolutely wild about them!

A word of caution: hops are poisonous to dogs, so make sure your grains have not come into contact with any.

Another word of caution.  You bake the treats in two stages.  Once at a high-ish temperature for an hour to get the mixture to solidify, then you re-score the cookies and put them back in the oven on a very low temperature for another 5-10 hours until they are crunchy.  Dan mis-read the last part of the instructions and thought they went back in for 5-10 minutes, so ours are a bit softer than they should be.  How dry and crunchy they get directly correlates to how quickly they will mold, so if you can store them safely I think the cooking time can be adjusted.

UPDATE:  Ours molded after about 5 days.  :-(

The Great Salad Dressing Debacle

My first experience traveling abroad was in July of 2009.  I went with a small group tour to Italy (with Gap Adventures - HIGHLY recommend them).  In Europe, it is much less common to find foods that are highly processed or contain artificial ingredients.  There are daily markets swarming with local people buying their fruits and vegetables.  Fresh bread is plentiful.  Meals are enjoyed outdoors, slowly, with good company and a glass of wine.  It was in a small town called Lucca that I was properly introduced to the tangy wonder that is balsamic vinegar.  Our group poured balsamic over our salads and we dipped our bread in it mixed with a little extra virgin olive oil. To this day that is the only thing I will put on my salads.

A couple of days ago I made the unfortunate mistake of forgetting my oil and vinegar mixture at home and was facing a dry salad for lunch at work.  Spying a bottle of Botlhouse Farms Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing in the communal fridge, I thought I would give it a shot.  A quick glance at the label showed a short list of ingredients so I poured it on.  Terrible mistake!  A flat, watery taste greeted my mouth with the first bite.  A more thorough look at the list of ingredients showed the number one item in this bottle was apple juice.  Are you kidding me, Bolthouse Farms?  If we as a society didn't use a salad as an excuse to pig out on fried meat, sodas, and fat-laden snacks, then salad dressing companies wouldn't take liberties like using APPLE JUICE as the NUMBER ONE ingredient in BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE to reduce fat.  

This, of course, led me on a tirade about how the entire salad dressing industry is a sham.  We don't need processed, bottled dressings full of artificial colors and unrecognizable ingredients.  Next time you eat a salad, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil over it, pour on the balsamic, and let me know what you think.