Image via Wikipedia

To celebrate National Peanut Butter day (January 24), I decided to share some facts about peanuts that I gleaned from the National Peanut Board. I would also like to point out that renowned peanut researcher, George Washington Carver, spent a good amount of time right here in Iowa! Wikipedia tells us, “In 1890, Carver started studying art and piano at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa .His art teacher, Etta Budd, recognized Carver’s talent for painting flowers and plants; she encouraged him to study botany at Iowa State Agricultural College in Ames.When he began in 1891, he was the first black student, and later taught as the first black faculty member.

When he completed his B.S., professors Joseph Budd and Louis Pammel convinced Carver to continue at Iowa State for his master’s degree. Carver did research at the Iowa Experiment Station under Pammel during the next two years. His work at the experiment station in plant pathology and mycology first gained him national recognition and respect as a botanist.”

George Washington Carver Facts

• Dr. George Washington Carver researched and developed more than 300 uses for peanuts in the early 1900s.
• In 1916, he published the research bulletin, “How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it For Human Consumption.”
• Dr. Carver is considered “The Father of the Peanut Industry” because of his extensive research and selfless dedication to promoting peanut production and products.
• Dr. Carver’s research gained him much worldwide acclaim. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were a few of his many fans.
• For more George Washington Carver facts click here.

Peanut Nutrition Facts

• The peanut is not a nut, but a legume related to beans and lentils.
• Peanuts have more protein, niacin, folate and phytosterols than any nut.
• Peanuts have a higher antioxidant capacity over grapes, Concord grape juice, green tea, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli, carrots and many more.
• Peanuts and peanut butter contain over 30 essential nutrients and phytonutrients.
• Peanuts are naturally cholesterol-free.

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Here’s where I weigh in (pun intended) on the firestorm that ensued after Paula Deen‘s confession that she has known she has Type II diabetes for three years. Basically… so?

A good public relations decision for Deen would have been to have come clean three years ago about her diabetes. But is she really required to disclose her medical history? Do we know the health concerns of other celebrity chefs? Because she has diabetes, does that make it forbidden for her to cook anything other than “diabetic” food? I really fail to see the logic in all the “Shame on you, Paula Deen!” mentality.

Julia Child knew what was what. In addition to her rather famous quote above about moderation, she has also said, “The best way to execute French cooking is to get good and loaded and whack the hell out of a chicken. Bon appétit. ” Is Julia vilified because she advocated getting loaded? No. Is Keith Richards a “bad role model” because he plays the guitar with arthritic hands? Is he “promoting” an activity that may or may not bring on a physical affliction? (The answer to that is, or had better be, a resounding, “HELL NO!”)

The thing is… and this is a shocker… Paula Deen is NOT the only celebrity cook who uses ingredients that are less than healthy for you. Hell, I found a fairly decadent fettucine recipe in one of my Cooking Light magazines! Butter, half-and-half, (less fat) cream cheese and TEN strips of bacon! Cooking “light?” Indeed.

The Food Network, publishing companies, celebrity chefs… anybody who promotes cooking and food is usually doing so TO MAKE MONEY. Like it or not, we are a capitalistic society.

I’m not saying that a lot of her food isn’t bad for you. A lot of it is. She does really like butter and mayonnaise. But the bottom line is, Americans are fat because of the choices we make, and changes in our society that make physical exertion less likely than it used to be. Paula Deen cooks on television. She doesn’t come into our homes and shove pie down our… well… pieholes. We do that. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CONSEQUENCES OF WHAT WE EAT.

Deen has expressed dismay that more chefs haven’t come forth in support of her. That too is a public relations decision, on their part. Emeril Lagasse did speak out in support of Deen. He disclosed that although he does not have Type II diabetes, it runs in his family. “We in our household have been dealing with it [diabetes] for many, many years. In the words of Julia Child, ‘it’s about moderation.’” (See? Always listen to Julia!) Take a look at Emeril on Good Morning America:
Emeril Lagasse Talks Paula Deen, Diabetes, Makes Braised Pot Roast With Vegetables.

Related articles

• Paula Deen’s struggle with Type 2 Diabetes and redefining her image (annacelestejohnson.wordpress.com)
• Paula Deen wasn’t wrong to hide her diabetes (bazaardaily.com)
• Emeril Lagasse Talks Paula Deen, Diabetes, Makes Braised Pot Roast With Vegetables (shoppingblog.com)

Reblogged from Locally Grown:

Hello, Tens!  I know, I know, it has been way too long since we got visually and verbally busy with each other,and there may be a few of you out there who aren’t really familiar with what we have going on up in here. The rest of this paragraph is for you people.  This blog was originally fueled by disdain.  And frustration.  And a urge to share that disdain and frustration.  And a love for all things local.  Yep, I think that is about it.  It turned into so many other things, like a good way to piss …

Reblogged from WordPress.com News:

If you feel like it’s a chore to keep up with all your favorite blogs, you can now read posts from all the blogs you follow (even the ones that aren’t on WordPress.com!) in one convenient place on the WordPress.com home page: Your reader displays all the posts across all the blogs you follow in the order they were published, with the most recent content appearing at the top. You’ll see an excerpt of the introduction to each post, the first image in the post, and thumbnails of any other images that the post …

Image of A Day of No Takei
January 17, 2012

For 24 hours that began at midnight tonight, I will join Wikipedia and sites like Reddit in protest over pending legislation in Congress.

The bill is known as SOPA–the “Stop Online Piracy Act–backed by Hollywood and the music industry, but opposed by most of Silicon Valley. SOPA is aimed ostensibly at protecting copyrighted material, but as drafted threatens to choke off the Internet in much the way China does now–by killing the source of oxygen.

In its worst proposed form, SOPA would require U.S. search engines, advertising networks and other providers to withhold their services to certain “flagged” sites, so that users couldn’t find them and payment processors couldn’t fund them. That’s right: Someone ELSE would get to decide what YOU can and cannot see. This is a flagrant violation of free speech and free association rights, and it must not be allowed to move forward.

Pushback from companies such as Google and Facebook and ordinary citizens has stalled SOPA, with its backers promising to revise the bill’s more controversial aspects. But you know how these things go. With big industry behind the bill, it will take a massive public outcry to kill it. I can tell you this: If SOPA is passed in its original form, or even some of the suggested “compromises,” sites like YouTube would go dark immediately. Indeed, this very FB community we have built, and which I hope you enjoy daily, could be shut down by a single complaint of copyright infringement that “flags” it.

There are already laws in place to deal with copyright infringement within the U.S., but so far no effective law to deal with overseas sites. The answer, however, is not to impose censorship at home.

So that is why I’m going dark, for a day. Please share this message with your online friends, and help us stop unAmerican censorship of the net. If you’d like to send your senator a message, sign the on-line petition through the link on the left of this blog post.

I’ll see you all Thursday at midnight. Live long and FREELY,

–GHT (George Takei)

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• SOPA explained: What it is and why it matters (money.cnn.com)
• The anti-SOPA protest gains steam | Jon Talton (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• SOPA / PIPA Blackout (secondmode.wordpress.com)
• STOP SOPA Code Turns Any Site Dark to Protest Stop Online Piracy Act (mashable.com)
• WebHostingBuzz to Blackout on January 18th in Protest of SOPA and PIPA (prweb.com)
• Who, besides Wikipedia, is going dark and why (zdnet.com)
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• Why is there going to be a Wikipedia blackout and what is SOPA? (news.nationalpost.com)

Image by Caroline on Crack via Flickr

I still couldn’t believe this series was really named The Chew, though. It almost seemed like the name of a satire. So, I Google’d it. Sure enough! I don’t know where I’ve been since last September, but that’s when the show started… taking the place of All My Children. Hallelujah. Do people really even watch soaps anymore? (No hate-mail, please!)

The Chew stars Mario Batali, Michael Symon, Carla Hall, Clinton Kelly and Daphne Oz. From ABC’s website, “The Chew celebrates and explores life through food, with a group of dynamic, engaging, fun, relatable co-hosts who serve up everything to do with food — from cooking and home entertaining to food trends, restaurants, holidays and more — all aimed at making life better, fuller and more fun.  It is broadcast live, weekdays, from New York City.”

Take a look at it! I’m going to be a regular viewer from now on. Especially… if Bobby Flay is on!

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• WATCH: Clips From ‘The Chew,’ Premiering Monday (huffingtonpost.com)
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Madison County, Iowa (Image via Wikipedia)

I know this is veering off the subject of food a bit, but here’s the deal. I was doing a Google search for a quilt pattern called Quaker Town Crossing. My daughter is getting married in May! and I want to piece this quilt top and have it machine quilted for her. (At this point I’m hoping she doesn’t read my blog anymore). I found this photo on a website called Webshots by American Greetings… made by member Diandre5.

What’s the point, you ask? Why is it “Grandma’s Quilt?” Here’s the story. Many years ago, in 1996, I started up a little quilting group and asked Marianne Fons to come speak. I live in Earlham, in Madison County, Iowa and so does Marianne. In fact, they have a fantastic quilt shop in Winterset… not sure what it’s named, even though I go to Winterset pretty often. But, Marianne is half of the team Fons and Porter, so if you go to the southwest side of the square in Winterset and look for that name, you’ll probably find the shop!

But I digress. When we were cleaning out my foster mother/Grandmother, Alta Rorah’s home, we found several quilt tops. This was among them. I showed the quilt top to Marianne, who was very interested because she had never seen the pattern before. She did some research and couldn’t find the pattern anywhere. SO, she re-drafted the pattern, and featured it in her then-new quilting magazine, Sew Many Quilts (May, 1996 issue). My grandma, and her quilt, are immortalized. What better wedding gift to give my daughter?

If any readers have made this quilt, I would love to see their results!

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1. I blog about food because I like to cook.
2. And eat.
3. I was born in Des Moines, IA at Methodist Hospital
4. All three of my children were also born in Des Moines, at Methodist Hospital!
5. My first car was a 1966 Chevrolet Impala.
6. It doubled as a boat when necessary.
7. The best place I ever spent New Year’s Eve was Brussels.
8. I have two siblings, an older brother and sister.
9. I have road rage.
10. But, I’m discreet about it.
11. I love Keith Richards. His attitude, his dedication, his music.
12. My favorite kitchen tool is my Kitchenaid mixer.
13. I make killer chocolate chip cookies
14. I’ve seen the Atlantic Ocean from both sides.
15. I would fly to Belgium just for a waffle from a street vendor.
16. I could drink when I was 18, and was grandfathered in every year after that.
17. My favorite ice cream is strawberry.
18. I think Diet Coke is the best invention ever.
19. I’ve been kissed under the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
20. I’m a reformed Catholic (that is… Lutheran).
21. My children are all girls.
22. Their ages are 32, 26 and 11.
23. I wore Earth Shoes.
24. I like Spam. And Velveeta. Preferably, both at the same time!
25. I have driven a tractor.
26. I’ve had my gall bladder removed.
27. My very first friend was Leisa Porter.
28. She still is (my friend).
29. My childhood home is gone now.
30. I bake better than I cook.
31. I love the outdoors.
32. I was almost always outdoors as a child
33. I have freakishly small hands.
34. I’m part Irish, part Scot.
35. The first boy who loved me was Bill Connolly.
36. The Scot part of me is frugal; bordering on being cheap!
37. My childhood church was burned down.
38. It was a hate crime.
39. The church has been restored.
40. It is now a center for religious tolerance.
41. I’m a Baby Boomer.
42. Dwight Eisenhower was president the year I was born.
43. I once saw Robert Plant in the skywalk in Des Moines.
44. I’m an obsessive knitter.
45. I like tinsel on my Christmas tree.
46. If I could only have one food, it would be pizza.
47. My favorite movie is It’s A Wonderful Life.
48. I love the show Law and Order SVU.
49. At Christmas time, I have to drink Coca Cola in little glass bottles.
50. My first dog’s name was Boots.
51. I was scared of geese as a child.
52. They hissed at me.
53. I love photography.
54. My first driver’s license was paper.
55. My mother is an immigrant from Germany.
56. I’m rather independent.
57. Some people would call that, “stubborn.”
58. I know how to drive a stick shift.
59. I have helped bale hay.
60. And walked beans.
61. My father-in-law was an influential person in my life.
62. I love clocks and watches.
63. The first boy I kissed was Ronnie Zenor.
64. I don’t like shopping.
65. My first memory of cooking is stirring pudding on the stove.
66. I had an Easy Bake Oven.
67. I’m left-handed.
68. I prefer pencils to pens.
69. I once got a live rabbit for Easter.
70. I sewed many of my daughters’ dance costumes.
71. I have had photographs published in a national magazine.
72. My favorite place in the world is Paris.
73. I attended Drake University.
74. I really don’t like washing dishes.
75. I would rather dry.
76. Pet peeve is people who don’t know the difference between “it’s” and “its.”
77. I wish I could still buy Lemon-Up shampoo.
78. I love to polish metals – silver, copper… anything.
79. I think Gene Simmons is a genius.
80. I flunked high school biology.
81. I got an A in college biology.
82. I hang on to sentimental items.
83. I love jewelry.
84. I especially love sparkly jewelry.
85. My first real job was stocking grocery shelves.
86. I’m not fond of being on large bodies of water.
87. I don’t even like baths… would rather shower.
88. I’m a smart-ass.
89. My favorite scent is Joy by Jean Patou.
90. My daughter is getting married in my old childhood church.
91. One of my great-great uncles was a moonshiner.
92. In Missouri.
93. When I was younger I looked a lot like Drew Barrymore.
94. I took shop class in high school.
95. For two years.
96. I still have my stuffed puppy dog named Harry.
97. I was never in band.
98. I delivered papers on a blue Schwinn bicycle.
99. My favorite flower is the rose.

Image via Wikipedia

The ‘Terrible 10′: The Worst Aspects Of America’s Food Scene.

Interesting article. Although it might not be politically correct of me, I have to point out that Jack DeCoster’s egg farms are on this list. He has been a thorn in the side of Iowa for years.

Related articles

• Iowa International Food Festival 2011 (penguinpetes.com)