Food Reward Friday

This week's lucky "winner"...  Kirkland Signature Cashew Clusters!!

 

 

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WHS reader Brad Dieter mentioned these on Facebook the other day:

Nutrition tip of the day. Do not buy Cashew Clusters from Costco. You will eat an entire bag in one fell swoop. Sweet, salty, crunchy, and calorie dense, the perfect storm in Stephan Guyenet's model of overeating. I have n=1 data as proof.

n=1 quickly turned into n=6 as other people chimed in, including myself.  I can attest to the fact that Cashew Clusters are like crack.  Here's more evidence from their Amazon reviews:

"Addiction with less guilt!"  These things are SO freaking good!!!... I'm eating some right now and I am having trouble keeping my hand out of the bag long enough to write this review!

"Delicious".  I gave this as a gift to my girl friend... She loved it ! Heard there wasn't much sugar either. Seems the nuts were crispy and the clusters were very addicting, in a nice way. It lasted only for 6 days. [SG- each bag contains 4,800 calories]

"Buy these and you will be hooked for life!"  One word "NUMMY!"...  Very addicting.

Cashew Clusters are only about 11 percent sugar by calories, with the other 89 percent of calories coming from whole nuts and seeds.  They're probably a healthy snack if you can eat them in moderation.  Can you?

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Snacktime in My Kitchen

Here is a photo of all visible food in my kitchen:?

 

 

Along the back wall, we have glass containers of raw nuts, unsalted roasted nuts, grains, and legumes.  It's easy and attractive to organize your dry foods using inexpensive 2 quart Ball jars.  They also have the advantage of being moth-proof.  On the left, we have fresh fruit and a few onions.  On the far left in the background is our hand-cranked conical burr grinder, for occasional coffee (Skerton).

 

If I walk into my kitchen between meals, the only food available to eat without doing any cooking or reheating is unsalted nuts and fresh fruit.  There is no other snack food in the kitchen.  No chips, cookies, bars, popcorn, snack mix, candy, or anything else that's tempting and easy to grab and devour. 

 

When it's mealtime, we eat good home-cooked food.  When it isn't mealtime, we don't have anything available that we would eat without feeling genuinely hungry.  If we do feel genuinely hungry, fresh fruit and unsalted nuts make a satisfying snack.

This is the way of my people. 

What's the point?  Eliminating tempting food cues from our surroundings and creating small barriers to food consumption decreases the quantity of food we eat while increasing the quality.  Engineering a food environment that discourages eating for reasons other than hunger helps match food intake to the body's true energy needs, favoring leanness and health.

 

Baked Chocolate Cake Donuts with Raspberry Glaze

DONUTS! I wonder how many times I'll write donuts in this post? 

I finally broke down and bought a donut pan. Guys� that pan set me back about 8 buckaroos. Seriously, why did it take me so long? I highly recommend everyone gets a donut pan. SO worth the $8.  

My favorite donut shop ever, Top Pot Doughnuts, has a chocolate cake donut with raspberry glaze that makes me weak in the knees. That was what I wanted to make first, but Evan insisted I make plain ol' plain donuts with powdered sugar and cinnamon. So I did that, just to test 'er out. And when I discovered how freaking easy it is to make baked cake donuts with this pan, I went to the gym� because, donuts. And then, I made chocolate donuts with raspberry glaze. YES. 

I think my counts is at 10� or 11, if you count the 1 use of the alternate spelling "doughnuts." 

I love the chocolate and raspberry combo here. The glaze is sweet but also tangy and fruity, and pairs so well with the super rich chocolatey donut, which is tender and cakey. And also, the glaze is so pretty and pink! I should have made these for Valentine's day, huh?

Well� what are you waiting for? Go get yourself a donut pan! GO! 

Baked Chocolate Cake Donuts with Raspberry Glaze

Batter recipe slightly adapted from Joy the Baker

Makes 10 donuts

Donuts

1 cup flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup water

1 large egg

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature (runny, but not hot)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Glaze

1.5 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup raspberries (about 8 berries, fresh or frozen, thawed)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Half a lemon

Preheat oven to 325, with rack in top 2/3 of the oven. Coat donut pan with cooking spray. 

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. In a separate bowl, whisk together Greek yogurt and water, and stir in egg, butter, and vanilla, until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry, and gently fold with a spatula until combined (making sure to get all the dry ingredients mixed in). The batter will be a bit thick. 

Spoon batter into a ziplock baggie and cut the corner off one end, so you have a hole about the size of a nickel (or spoon into a pastry bag). I find this is the easiest way to fill the donut pan circles. Pipe a thick ring of batter into each donut circle. Bake for about 11-12 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean, and when you gently touch the top of a donut, it springs back. 

Let donuts cool in pan for a minute or two, then gently turn out onto wire rack. Repeat with remaining batter, depending on how many holes your donut pan has. 

Let cool completely before glazing. 

To make glaze: Add powdered sugar to a bowl, and mash berries through a fine mesh strainer, straining juice into powdered sugar. Add vanilla and a small squeeze of the lemon. Stir until combined. If it's too thick, add more lemon juice. If too thin, add more powdered sugar. 

Gently dip donuts into glaze, being careful when you pull it out to not break donut. Let glaze cool until hard/dry, about 30 minutes to an hour.  

Why Do We Overeat? A Neurobiological Perspective

I just posted a narrated Powerpoint version of my talk "Why Do We Overeat? A Neurobiological Perspective" to YouTube.  Here's the abstract:

In the United States, the "obesity epidemic" has paralleled a gradual increase in daily calorie intake.  Why do we eat more than we used to, and more than we need to remain lean-- despite negative consequences?  This talk reviews the neurobiology of eating behavior, recent changes in the US food system, and why the brain's hardware may not be up to the task of constructively navigating the modern food environment.

This is the same talk I gave at the University of Virginia this January.  I had a number of people request it, so here it is:

 

Why Do We Overeat? A Neurobiological Perspective

 

This is one of my favorite talks, and it was very well received at UVA.  If you find it informative, please share it!

 

 

Easy Peasy Split Pea Soup

I have a few things to discuss with you today: jury duty, TV shows, and the easiest soup ever. We�ll start with jury duty.


I had my first jury duty summons this week, and you guys� I loved it! Obviously it can be an inconvenience and burden to take the time off work, and blah blah blah� but man was it fun. I was on a panel, and got to spend a few hours in a court room for jury selection, with the judge, attorneys, and defendant. In the end I didn�t make it in the jury box, but it was so cool to see the process. I was a little bummed I wasn�t selected. Everyone else cheered when they were released. I was sad. I�m gonna go watch Runaway Jury now.


Ok, so� TV shows. Are you watching True Detective yet!? Holy moly. I seriously can�t handle Monday through Saturday, because I�m just dying for the next episode. I love everything about it. The acting is phenomenal (Matt McConahey and Woody Harrelson are amazing), the story line has me hooked, and the I love the look and feel of it. Also, House of Cards, Walking Dead, GIRLS: loving the latest of all three. Although, I must say, and I hate to admit this, but in the latest GIRLS, the beach house episode� Gah. I think I�m sort of a Marne when it comes to party planning and expectations and getting mad when extra people crash the party and I only have enough duck for four people. I get it. But it was pretty gross watching it� I�ll try to change, I will!


Ok, so now, on to this soup. All you have to do is add everything to a pot, boil it, simmer it, eat it. Seriously the easiest ever. Easy peasy� peas. Now, I enjoy the process of browning and caramelizing my base ingredients as much as the next gal, and if you have time and are so inclined, you can do that here. But, if you�re my fianc� (hehe, fianc�gets me every time) and your night for cooking usually consists of the taco truck or a frozen pizza, this soup is a really good start. Evan is a mighty fine onion chopper, and that�s basically all the skill needed for this recipe.

Oh yeah, and it tastes really good, too.

Easy Peasy Split Pea Soup

Slightly adapted from my sister, who slightly adapted from my mom, who slightly adapted from the recipe on the bag of split peas

1 bag (about 2 cups) dried split peas, rinsed
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 carrots, diced
6 pieces of thick cut bacon, diced
1 bay leaf
2-3 sprigs thyme
8 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
Pepper

Add all ingredients to a large pot, and bring to a boil. Turn heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for an hour, or until peas are tender and mushy. Add more water if needed. Serve with parmesan cheese and bread or crackers.

Post Valentine's Sweets for CBC's Weekend Morning Show

This morning I had the pleasure of presenting the following easy, yet impressive recipe for the sweet people in your lives on CBC's Weekend Morning Show with host Terry MacLeod.

(Photo by Karen Peters)

Chocolate Mud Puddle Cookies

3 cups walnut halves, toasted, cooled and roughly chopped
4 cups powdered sugar (Icing, Confectioner's)
1/2 cup +3 tbs unsweetened Cocoa (See Camino or Callebaut for Fair Trade)
scant 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
1 tbs good quality vanilla extract
4 egg whites

Preheat oven to320�F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.

Sift sugar, cocoa and sea salt.  Stir in the chopped walnuts, then add the egg whites and vanilla.  Stir until all combined.

Spoon the batter onto the baking sheets and leave plenty of room for the cookies to spread, about 6 cookies per baking sheet.

Bake until the cookies puff up.  The tops get glossy and then crack a bit, about 12-15 minutes.

Cool cookies on cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Boozy Honey Cinnamon Shakes

Boozy shakes, boozy shakes, boozy shakes for all! 

Before I talk about boozy shakes, let's talk about my day job. For work, I drink boozy shakes. And I also manage the content team at a B2B tech marketing agency. It's rad and I love it. Sometimes, I go to events and conferences about digital marketing, social engagement, new technology, and interactive media. Sometimes these events have food. And sometimes they have really, really good food. And drinks. I go for the food and drinks, I stay for the knowledge, ya know? 

This week I attended IN-NW 2014, which happened to be one of the best events I've attended, knowledge-wise and food-wise. And, what a stacked agenda! It basically looked like this:

• Top Pot Donuts and coffee
• People talking on stage
• Marination Mobile food truck
• People talking on stage 
• Snoqualmie Ice Cream Whiskey Milkshake happy hour
• Networking

WHISKEY MILKSHAKE HAPPY HOUR. Sign this girl up! I went through line twice. Or maybe three times, no one was counting. Oh�they were?

Whiskey and ice cream together is always a good idea. It's an even better idea when you're using amazing ice cream like Snoqualmie, which is local for us Pacific Northwest folks. They're family run, and use local ingredients and sustainable practices for their small-batch ice cream, which is really creamy amazing, and comes in a ton of flavors. I really only stopped by the milkshake table three times so that I could ask the Snoqualmie gals how to make these boozy beauties� and then of course, I had to sample each time, just to make sure. 

Honey, cinnamon, whiskey, and ice cream� come to mama. 

Boozy Honey Cinnamon Shakes

Inspired by Snoqualmie Ice Cream

Snoqualmie makes these shakes with their Honey Cinnamon Frozen Custard. Which I totally recommend. But, if you can't get your hands on it, then you can definitely recreate the awesomeness with vanilla ice cream. If you can find the Honey Cinnamon custard, just leave out the honey and cinnamon. 

1 pint (2 cups) vanilla ice cream

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 ounce whiskey

Extra honey & cinnamon for glass rim

Add all ingredients to blender or milkshake machine, and blend until thick and creamy. Add more whiskey as desired, party animal! Add about a tablespoon of honey and a pinch of cinnamon to a plate, and mix together. Dip rim of glass in the honey/cinnamon mixture until coated, then pour in the milkshake. Drizzle remaining honey from the plate over top of shake. 

Note: This post is not sponsored by or affiliated with Snoqualmie Ice Cream in any way and all opinions are my own, I just really like their ice cream!