How to Avoid Harmful BPA Plastics in your Food Supply

Personally I do not think the FDA is doing enough to control the use of  Bisphenol A (BPA), a common plastic used in baby bottles, water bottles, food packaging, other drink bottles and especially canned goods.

Should you be worried? The simple answer is Yes! And rightly so.

Canada is already on the band wagon disallowing said plastics to be used, why shouldn’t the good US of A not follow along, eh?!?

OK, now you ask, ‘why should I be any worried?’ Normally, I am not one to warn people like this, but as I lay down last night after reading an article on the subject of harmful plastics in our food while simultaneously catching the Food Network’s popular TV Show, “Food Unwrapped”, I watched the show whose topic was all things ‘orange’ and caught site of thousands of plastic bottles being filled with orange creme milk which were then fed to school children who readily drank the stuff. Yikes!

It lead me in deciding to write an article about this very subject. Immediately, I knew I should rethink what is even in my own refrigerator and what would I do to help avoid this plastic. Are these plastics well labeled that they contain BPA? No, not always…how so very nice for us unassuming consumers.

What is Bispherol A (BPA) and how does it harm us?

When the plastic bottles are exposed to boiling water for sterilization and even for pasteurization, BPA is released – and get this, can be released as much as 55 times than that of normal exposure of simply drinking from a plastic bottle that contains BPA, since the heat releases the toxins. Exposing the plastics to our dishwashers doesn’t necessarily make the cut either, as some scientists hesitate to say that this is safe, since the plastics are heated up so during the washing process.

And what does it do to our body? Frankly you really do not want to know – but it has been linked to many illnesses and diseases. Want to know a few? Obesity, diabetes, cancer, ADD, and premature onset of puberty just to name a few.

I quote, “The fear has been that exposure to BPA can cause birth defects and developmental problems. In addition, exposure to BPA has been blamed for a variety of other problems, including cancer, diabetes, obesity and attention-deficit disorder.”  – a recent article from the US News.com site (links below).

Now just think about the jump in numbers for ADD, diabetes, obesity and its correlation to the increasing use of plastics in our food supply. Hmmm, makes you think, yes? Well it should!

Here’s another quote from the NY Times: “While most of the focus is on products for children, including clear plastic bottles and canned infant formula, the chemical is also used in food-storage containers, some clear plastic pitchers used for filtered water, refillable water bottles and the lining of soft-drink and food cans.”

What seems to make the exposure or releasing of the harmful toxins greater is the heat. Scrubbing your plastic bottles makes it even worse as studies show.

Here’s another quote from the NY Times that shows you how wide its exposure hits our population…”The 2003-4 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found detectable levels of BPA in 93 percent of urine samples collected from more than 2,500 adults and children over 6.” WOW!!!! – Now you see why I was so concerned when I saw the multitude of kids drinking the orange creme milk from the plastic bottles. I am not saying that these plastic bottles that the kids were drinking from contained PBA – but do know those bottles were pasteurized with the milk in them…just saying.

How to Avoid PBA in your Food:

Start first of all to rethink how your foods are contained. Do you buy ketchup, mustard, mayonnaise, salad dressing? Most of us do… switch to glass. Most of these food items are available in glass containers. You just have to look for them on your store shelves.

What about storing foods already cooked? Well – rethink that too…Check the plastic containers and bottles on the bottom…”Any product made of hard, clear plastic is probably made from polycarbonate unless the manufacturer specifically states that it’s BPA-free. One way to check is to look for the triangle stamp on or near the bottom: polycarbonate plastics should have the numeral 7 in the triangle, sometimes with the letters PC.”  – NY Times (link below)

Rethink your canned goods as well….

Plastic bottles are not your only concern…rethink your canned goods in addition…Canned Goods you ask? Yes! “While much of the focus is on plastic bottles, most human exposure occurs through the lining of canned foods. Canned beverages appear to contain less of the chemical than canned foods like soup, pasta, fruits and vegetables, which are often processed at high temperatures. Virtually every canned product, even those labeled organic, has a liner with BPA. One brand, Eden Organic Baked Beans, says it uses a BPA-free can.” – NY Times (link below)

Now before you start throwing food away, simply rethink your future purchases. Switch to fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables. For storing your food, select glass, porcelain, and stainless-steel containers.

Some useful links to learn more that I think you may find of interest…

http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/080130/heating-plastic-bottles-releases-potentially-harmful-chemical.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/22/health/22well.html

http://www.thegreenguide.com/buying-guide/plastic-containers

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26723119/

Now that you have learned a little, to help yourself and your family more, do not be afraid to make your own soups, grow your own vegetables, eat foods in moderation and certainly always eat a large variety of foods ( i.e. don’t stick with the same thing everyday) – serve up fresh fruits and vegetables since, as studies continuously show us that these foods in particular can really help you staying as healthy as possible due to their phytochemicals and antioxidants contents being readily available.

And come to think of it, let people know about this issue, spread the word in anyway you can. The more you know, the more you are forewarned and can do something to help not only yourself, but all those you care about.

~Chef Maven

Best Chicken Soup Recipe for Colds and Flu

So you are under the weather huh? Has your family spread their sickly germs around and you are just waiting for your turn? Maybe you don’t live near your mother close enough to take advantage of her cooking and caring for you. Are you coughing? Can’t breath through your nose and you’re wheezing? Feel like a cold’s coming on or you know you got one bad?

Well continue to read and get this great recipe I have concocted which creates a few twists to your normal homemade chicken soup recipe made specifically to help clear your nasal passages, open your airways and to help you start to feel better as soon as you have your first spoonful.

Containing fresh garlic, onions, rosemary, jalapenos, red cayenne pepper, cumin, scallions – it is with these fresh ingredients that help shorten your cold and open your airways allowing you to breath, aids in making your coughs productive and take rest to start healing.

How this recipe came to being:

Recently, my partner’s son was in from overseas, and while my guy was preparing for his son’s visit, he went out and bought what seemed like the farm when in came to the amount of chicken he brought home. I never had so much frozen chicken in my house. And though we hadn’t had our first colds of the year, we started taking turns every week in making our versions of homemade chicken soup. We came up with many versions – all delicious, each having their own characteristics and variations of added seasonings.

What we learned is that homemade chicken soup regardless of how you make it, or what ingredients you put into it, hot chicken soup is always good for the body and soul especially when you are feeling under the weather.

Now we obviously know there are a lot of moms and grandmothers out there who swear (OK they don’t actually swear, well at least some of them don’t swear out in public – OK some of them do and you probably have seen those few moms on the Jerry Springer show, but I digress). But these mothers and mothers of mothers certainly promise that their chicken soup recipe is simply the best to help cure colds – one thing is for sure, mothers (including yours were right). Sipping hot fluids really do help thin out mucous sputum and help open up the nasal passages – and as there are a countless number of ‘mothers’ out there, there are certainly a countless number of different versions of chicken soup to help you during your colds…

There really are scientific results stating how hot chicken soup can shorten a cold’s duration while relieving symptoms – so what are you and I waiting for? Here’s my latest version. And if you are curious to read wikipedia.com’s comments on the history and healing properties of chicken soup – simply click…

My version with the added red chili pepper flakes and sliced jalapenos really help open up your airways and allow your nose to actually breath again while the fresh rosemary helps your lungs function. So shall we get started cooking?

The cooking process is rather simple, you will be adding the ingredients along with the chicken and water and allowing it all to boil then simmer for at least 90 minutes until the chicken is done. Then removing the chicken allowing it to cool so that you can remove the meat from the bones. Then cooking your noodles separately if you want to add them to your soup, then adding the last of the reserved veggies to your soup and returning the now-deboned chicken along with the noodles to the soup and serving it up to you and your family.

Ingredients:

• One large Soup Pot
• chicken pieces – I used three leg quarters (legs and thighs)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 stalks celery – diced (reserve one stalk)
• 2 jalapenos – diced (or more)
• 2 medium sized onions – diced
• 3 large carrots – diced (reserve one carrot)
• 2+ teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
• 1 teaspoon+ red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 4 tablespoons of FRESH rosemary, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 4-6 whole ‘cloves’ of allspice
• 2 large bay leaves – fresh or dried
• 6-8 cups of water
• 2 tablespoons of ‘better than bouillon’ chicken flavored paste (optional)
• 4 stalks of scallions – diced and added at the end.
• 2 cups dried noodles (optional & cooked separately near the end)
• chopped fresh parsley or cilantro added at end or to the bowls when serving.

Directions:

• Gather your ingredients and place your large stock pot on your stove or even use your slow cooker.
• Add olive oil to your stock pot (if you are using your slow cooker omit this step and simply add your ingredients to the slow cooker starting with the vegetables first, then add the chicken, then the water and turn it on)
• Remember to reserve one celery stalk, one carrot and all the scallions – you will be adding those last to the soup pot once your chicken has cooked and you have removed the meat from the bones and replaced it back into the soup – this keeps them slightly crunchy and adds color)
• Add diced onions, celery and carrots to the mix and turn the heat under pot.
• Allow the vegetables to sweat for 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• While vegetables are cooking, remove skin off chicken and separate legs from thighs.
• Add chicken to pot, add all remaining ingredients: garlic, spices, salt and pepper, jalapenos, etc. (except for one carrot, one celery stalk, scallions)
• Add water to pot enough to bring the water level to about one inch from the top.
• Allow to come to a boil, then lower heat and allow the soup to simmer for at least 90 minutes.
• Scoop out chicken. Let cool slightly so it is easier to remove meat from bones.
• While noodles are cooking (see next step) and chicken is cooling, add the reserved diced carrot, celery and scallions to the soup.
• When removing meat from the chicken bones, I like to keep the chicken in chunks.
• Cook noodles separately and when done drain and rinse noodles before adding to soup.
• Serve up in bowls to feed your cold and starve your fever!

Variations & Tips:

• You can easily allow this to cook for much longer of course, just remember, the longer you cook the chicken in, it might be a bit ‘drier’ despite it being cooked in the soup.
• Adding additional jalapenos or red pepper flakes at the end will bring up the ‘heat factor’ opening up the most stubborn of stuffed noses.
• Adding a squeeze of lemon juice to the bowl will also up the vitamin C content.
• You can ‘cheat’ with the chicken and buy a pre-cooked roasted chicken, remove meat from bones and ’start’ the soup with the bones only and adding the meat after 90 minutes. – This is especially helpful for those too weak and need a quick fix of chicken soup. Just be sure not to add any of the skin to the soup.
• By adding the jalapenos, red chili flakes and cayenne pepper in the beginning, the soup takes on a gentle heat mellowing out the spiciness of the jalapenos. I personally like to add more red chili flakes and sliced jalapenos into my bowl just before serving to make it extra spicy – it gets my nose passages to open up so fast, I simply love being able to breath again.

So share with us how you healed you and your family using my version of chicken soup.  Hope you are feeling better real soon!

Rosh Hashanah Dinner Menu – Happy New Year

This past Monday I made (with some help) a large and super tasty meal for my very first Rosh Hashanah Dinner. I may not be Jewish, but my guy is and we thought to make a nice meal for several of our friends, one couple whose wedding we had just gone to days before. So to keep the festivities going from their new wedding bliss, my guy and I sought out to create one heck of a meal.

I learned a lot including adding a few new dishes and appetizers to my arsenal of recipes, all of which came out wonderfully. I share them with you here. One thing that I found most interesting what that you eat certain foods to help start the new year sweetly – so that it is sweeter than the previous year. I am all for that. And certain foods are quite traditional as well such as pumpkin, pomegranates, honey, whole fish, just to name a few. Let me share with you some of the reasons as to why you eat these foods and the thoughts behind them.

By eating a head of a fish…yes, you make a large whole fish is “to help represent being ahead for the new year, and not ‘be’ the tail for the new year”…thankfully my guy’s brother is making this one..2) eating a new fruit or apple with honey, so help bring in sweetness to the new year and that your new year will be sweeter than the last year…3) also foods such as beets, pumpkins, spinach, dates, pomegranates.

One particular cool thing about the pomegranates is that they supposedly contain 613 seeds. Thus, Jews display their desire to fulfill God’s 613 mitzvoth (commandments from the Torah) by eating the pomegranate. ok I did not know that…

I will provide all the recipes in a separate post.

So our party menu is the following:

• Sliced apples dipped in honey (the honey was from a local farm and was incredible!) to start (tradition I’m told) all said with a beginning prayer for the meal/feast.
  
• Clear chicken soupwith special spices
• Spinach patties and leak with ground beef patties (new to me, my guy and I made these – and they were fantastic! You make them the night before and serve them up cold.
• Whole fish served in a creamy super light sauce with chopped tomatoes (will have to ask my guy’s brother for the recipe – it was amazing and looked incredibly pretty)
• Super Salad which resembles a Greek salad with fresh feta cheese, cucumbers, carrots, bell peppers, red onions, parsley, tomatoes with only fresh lemon juice and olive oil. This was mostly all vegetables and very little lettuce at all.
• homemade hummus – (already posted)
• homemade tortilla chips and toasted pita bread
• cilantro pesto (posted)
• zahatar and olive oil for bread dipping (posted)
• cilantro bean salad (my dish – posted)
• honey glazed carrots
• steamed green beans with then toasted almonds, garlic and drizzled olive oil (posted)
• Cilantro Basmati Rice (posted)
• A huge Roasted rib eye roast (posted)
• Yorkshire pudding and homemade horseradish sauce (ok this is totally me, but heck, give this wasp girl a break – lol)
• pumpkin pie and pecan pie from scratch
• Honey Cake (very traditional and kosher as well)
• then the usual wine, coffee lattes, turkish coffee, etc.

This was followed by followed by two days of cleaning…was it worth it all?… You betcha! You could tell everyone was so impressed (always love that factor, I admit!) – the food was super tasty, beautiful looking and was enjoyed by all…as it turns out, I did have left overs and have been making some interesting new dishes which I will share in another post….Chef Maven

Happy New Year!

White Pizza With Fennel Goat Cheese Rosemary And More Recipe

Homemade pizza dough is so easy, its not funny – so I share that here, then I share with you my latest pizza concoction that included fresh ingredients such as rosemary, garlic, goat cheese, parmesan and even sliced thin fennel creating a wonderful bright tasting pizza. It is also a nice flat bread you can use to supplement dinner with. As I type this recipe out, I think I might make more of this for tonight.

Ingredients:

The prep time could be less, depending upon how long it takes your dough to double in size. The first list is for your basic pizza dough, which you can then use to make your own pizza with your favorite toppings….I then list what I used for my fennel inspired white pizza.

Pizza Dough:

1 entire package of yeast
1 cup hot water 110 degrees
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-1/2 – 3 cups flour
1/8 cup of corn meal
cookie sheet
bowl
olive oil

Leah’s White Pizza with Fennel:

1 fennel bulb, sliced thin with reserved fawns set aside
2 tablespoons or less fresh chopped fine rosemary (I love rosemary, can never get enough, so I use about 3 tablespoons)
1 small onion
2-3 garlic cloves minced
kosher salt, fresh cracked pepper
red chili flakes (totally optional)
1/4 cup or more of parmesan cheese freshly grated
1/2 cup of shredded fresh mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup olive oil or less

Directions:

To make pizza dough, by hand or with mixer with dough hook, add yeast to bottom and add hot water to yeast, let yeast ‘bloom’ for five minutes.
Add olive oil, then flour.
Add flour and mix by hand or with electric mixer and start slowly at first. Add salt and mix again.
Line bowl and gently drizzle a little olive oil into bowl.
Turn out dough onto working surface and knead for four minutes.
Create ball and put into bowl, greasing the top of the ball dough with the olive oil.
Cover with clean dish towel and set in a warm spot in your kitchen to allow dough to double in size – anywhere from 30 to 80 minutes…
I usually place my dough in the oven with it turned off, it doubles very quickly this way.
Once doubled, turn out onto floured working surface, work with fingers or rolling pin, and roll out into a pie or rectangular shape.
You can also simply throw dough back and forth between hands to stretch out, then place on cookie sheet which is what I do.
Let Pizza Dough ‘rest’ to rise slightly for about 15 minutes for a nice spongy pizza dough if you would like, or not to create a thinner crispy crust.

Sprinkler corn meal onto cookie sheet and place pie dough onto cookie sheet. Top with your favorite toppings and cook in 450 degree preheated hot oven for 15-20 minutes.

To Make Leah’s White Pizza with Fennel:

After you have made the pizza dough, add crumbled goat cheese, shredded mozzarella cheese on top of dough.
Add thinly slice up onions and sprinkle over the pizza dough.
Add garlic, sliced fennel, salt, pepper, rosemary.
Drizzle with olive oil, then add parmesan cheese.
Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes or until pie dough is ready.
Cut into strips to serve as a side, or slices to serve up as a meal.

OK, Off I go to make more of this wonderful side dish…. so crispy and light.

Labels: goat cheese, how to make from scratch, rosemary and garlic, slow food recipes, white pizza with fennel