Author: Mark Linton

Breakfast this morning was two toasted pieces of Gretchen’s stone baked Italian bread with strawberry preserves and a glass of orange juice. I weighed in at 158 pounds.



<ins datetime="2004-01-19T13:45:00-05:00">I had an orange and a <a href="http://www.naturevalley.com/Products2.htm" title="Welcome to Nature Valley: Products">Nature Valley Oats &rsquo;N Honey Crunchy Granola Bar</a> for lunch after a three mile walk.</ins>



<ins datetime="2004-01-19T18:33:00-05:00">Dinner was a steak salad and a slice of Gretchen&rsquo;s whole wheat raisin bread.</ins>

Celery is native to the Mediterranean and the Middle East, and was used by the ancient Greeks and Romans as a flavoring. The Ancient Chinese used it as a medicinal.

The celery that we all buy in the local supermarket is Pascal variety, first cultivated in 1874 in Michigan.

Using a celery stick to garnish a Bloody Mary originated in the 1960s at Chicago’s Ambassador East Hotel. An unnamed celebrity got a Bloody Mary, but no swizzle stick. He grabbed a stalk of celery from the relish tray to stir his Bloody Mary and history was made.

Two billion pounds of celery are grown each year in the U.S…

California produces more than 2/3rds of the celery grown in the U.S. and Florida produces about 20%. [Food Reference]

Celery has about 6 calories per 8-inch stalk, making it a dieter’s staple. Although it’s loaded with latent energy, the amount we are capable of extracting from it is negligible thanks to the plant’s cellulose composition. Its ingestion can result in negative calories, but it is a fallacy to believe that effect has to do with energy expended in chewing. Though chewing might feel like a somewhat strenuous activity, it burns about the same amount of energy as watching paint dry. It is the bodily energy devoted to the digestion of the green stalks that exhausts calories…

Yet as enticing as all this sounds, the dietary bankroll built by this approach would be very small, probably amounting to no more than a few dozen calories a day. In a world where it takes 3,500 calories to work off a single pound of fat, feasting on celery would make only the merest difference…

But in defense of celery, we note that even if it doesn’t contribute mightily to a caloric imbalance which serves to work waistline magic, those who are eating it aren’t eating something else. Sometimes the key to a successful reducing plan is not so much the ingestion of “good” foods as it is the avoidance of “bad” ones. And it’s hard to sneak a chocolate bar into a mouth that’s busy chewing celery. [Snopes]

A new survey commissioned by The Association for Dressings and Sauces reveals some interesting facts about consumers and condiment sauces, including salsa, salad dressing and mayonnaise. In the recent survey of 1,000 Americans completed by Synovate, salsa and ketchup tied for the “favorite” condiment with mayonnaise, salad dressing and barbecue sauce close behind. Mustard was the most popular “second favorite” choice.

Salsa’s strength is in the West, where consumers are more likely to love salsa, be frequent users and to have some on hand at home. One in four of the people surveyed named salsa as their favorite condiment. Compared to consumers in general, those who prefer salsa to any other condiment sauce are more likely to be extroverts. It is not surprising, then, that they are more likely to turn toward social activities in their spare time. Salsa-lovers are the most motivated of any other group. If it’s true that you are what you eat, then salsa lovers have that hot and spicy “kick” that motivates them like no other! [Food Ingredients Online]

&ldquo;Ever wonder what the Founding Fathers drank? Using recipes favored by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Yards, a Philadelphia-based brewer, is recreating their beers of choice and offering them for sale in six-packs.&rdquo; <cite><a href="http://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1591417.html" title="NPR : Brewery Recreates Revolutionary Beer">[NPR]</a></cite>

…at least according to our government.

[A World Health Organization (WHO)] report recommends eating more fruits and vegetables and limiting fats and salt. It also suggests governments limit food advertising aimed at children and encourage their citizens to eat healthier foods…

[Health and Human Services special assistant for international affairs William] Steiger said in [a letter to the United Nations agency] that the WHO report did not adequately address an individual’s responsibility to balance one’s diet with one’s physical activities, and objected to singling out specific types of foods, such as those high in fat and sugar.

“The (U.S. government) favors dietary guidance that focuses on the total diet, promotes the view that all foods can be part of a healthy and balanced diet, and supports personal responsibility to choose a diet conducive to individual energy balance, weight control and health,” wrote Steiger…

“We doubt the secretary’s commitment to fighting obesity on any serious level,” said Bruce Silverglade, legal affairs director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “Government is part of the problem and government needs to be part of the solution.” [CNN]

Gretchen and I split an omelette this morning, along with two toasted pieces of her stone baked Italian bread with strawberry preserves, some maple venison sausage, an orange, and a glass of juice.



<ins datetime="2004-01-18T19:21:00-05:00">Dinner was shepherds pie, a small salad, and a bowl of frozen peach slices.</ins>

&ldquo;&lsquo;Varietal wines&rsquo; are those that are identified by the grape. Even though there are hundreds of wine grapes, <a href="http://www.greatwinemadesimple.com/" title=":: Andrea Immer ::">Immer</a> likes to call the most popular ones the &lsquo;Big Six.&rsquo; The whites are Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, while the reds are Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. These help make up about 80% of quality wine in the United States. Each is distinct, with it&rsquo;s own flavor, color, size and acidity.&rdquo; <cite><a href="http://www.fineliving.com/fine/practical_living/text/0,1663,FINE_8068_14283,00.html" title="FINELIVING: Need to Know: Wine">[Fine Living]</a></cite>

Breakfast was scrambled eggs topped with homemade salsa, a toasted slice of Gretchen’s whole wheat raisin bread with strawberry preserves that we got as a Christmas present, one of the oranges that my parents sent us, and a glass of orange juice.



<ins datetime="2004-01-17T17:33:00-05:00">I weighed in at 158 pounds this morning. Lunch was tortilla chips and homemade salsa and a half glass of wine. <strong>Tip:</strong> When buying chips for chips and salsa, choose little ones. Most of the calories are in the chip. With big ones, you will eat more chip for any given amount of salsa. Buy little chips and really load them up with that great salsa. We serve about one half-cup of salsa for each person when we have chips and salsa. When the salsa is gone, stop eating the chips.</ins>



<ins datetime="2004-01-17T19:59:00-05:00">Awesome&hellip; awesome dinner tonight. We had grilled marinated pork chops, rosemary roasted potato wedges with balsamic vinegar, homemade baked beans, a slice of homemade Italian bread, and two glasses of <a href="http://www.bolla.com/view_wine.asp?nWID=3" title="Bolla Wines of Italy - Open Up">Bolla Bardolino</a>.</ins>

My Pismo had been acting strangely for a few days. Perhaps I had installed and removed one too many questionable software utilities and something important was just plain screwed up. Anyway… I decided to reinstall Panther from scratch. I backed everything up and did a “Format and Install” then I restored from the backup. Just to make sure everything was really back, I went through and spot checked things. In the process, I rediscovered my archive of the now defunct Emazing Food Newsletter. The recipe here was the last one I got from them.

May 9, 2003

Grilled vegetable quesadilla

Sometimes I can prepare a dish that kills two birds with one stone. For example, these full-flavored snacks make a great party appetizer for adults or a fun meal for kids. Serves 2-4.

Ingredients:

• 4 large Flour tortillas
• 1 Green bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1 Zucchini, sliced
• 1 medium Red onion, sliced
• 1 Portabella mushroom, sliced
• ¼ cup Olive oil
• 1 cup Pepper jack cheese
• Spray oil
• Salsa
• Guacamole
• Sour cream

Step 1: Toss the vegetables with the olive oil. Grill until soft.

Step 2: Place ½ of the cheese on two tortillas. Top with the vegetables, the rest of the cheese and finally the remaining tortillas.

Step 3: Heat a skillet. Spray with the oil and add one of the quesadillas. Cook, turning once, until the cheese has melted and the tortilla is a light brown. Repeat with the second quesadilla.

Step 4: Slice into pie-like slices. Serve warm with sides of salsa, guacamole and sour cream.

Step 5: Eat!

Contributing Editor Nick Sundberg is the Chef at Browning’s and Wellinghurst’s at Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, KY. Nick has been supplying EMAZING subscribers with fine quality recipes since 1999.