Hungry History-fighting fast food one recipe at a time

The way we eat today is not  the way our ancestors ate . What makes me sad is that the food didn't change  ,  we continue to have on hand the ingredients that were used in the past:  milk flour , sugar , vegetables, fruit. If the ingredients are still the same and are " at hand "  then what have  changed? We are happy when we buy cookbooks that offer us a thousand recipes, we  love to  look at recipe photo books ,we dream of meals already on the table and then we close the book and we have done nothing . What are we missing? Time ? The right cookbook ? The desire to cook ? The media teach us that it is NOT  important WHAT WE EAT but how we eat and how much time we spend eating , the media teach us that when we eat the goal is not how healthy or appealable the  food is , the goal is to eat fast and to spend less.  This blog ,through research and experimentation of real historical  recipes ,wants to restore true value to authentic  food and its  preparation .


Il modo in cui mangiamo oggi non e' piu' il modo in cui mangiavano i nostri antenati. Quello che mi fa sorridere e' che il cibo e' lo stesso, il cibo non e' cambiato, continuamo ad avere a portata di mano gli ingredienti che venivano usati nel passato, il latte la farina, lo zucchero, le verdure la frutta. Se il cibo e' sempre lo stesso ed e' a portata di mano cosa e' cambiato? Compriamo libri di cucina che ci offrono mille ricette , ogni giorno li apriamo guardiamo le figure sognamo i piatti pronti in tavola e poi chiudiamo il libro e non abbiamo concluso niente. Cosa ci manca ? Il tempo? Il giusto libro di cucina? La voglia di cucinare? L atelevisione ci insegna che non e' importante cosa mangiamo ma in quanto tempo mangiamo e quanto spendiamo per mangiare, i media ci insegnano che non e' il cibo l'elemento fondamentale in cucina ma il tempo che ci mettiamo e i soldi che spendiamo. Questo blog attraverso la ricerca e la sperimentazione di ricette autentiche del passato vuole ridare valore al cibo vero e ridare valore alle ricette del passato.

Sugar is sugar ! Natural sugar vs refined sugar and the recipe for my JUST FRUIT FROM NATURE Muffins

Today I want  to bake a few muffins for my kids' afternoon snack and I am out of sugar ! I run to the store and suddendly I stop in front of the SUGAR  isle. Sooo many products to choose from....! White sugar, brown sugar, refined,  un-refined, raw, agave, molasse, honey, dates sugar , pastry sugar, coconut sugar, organic sugar and so on. I grab the MOST  raw organic natural un-refined sugar pack  and I feel in heaven. I made a great healthy choice today! Or at least I think so......because in reality SUGAR is SUGAR regardless of the brand or the label .

 Pic from cbsnews.com

According to The Raw Facts on Sugar By JOHN STOSSEL:

" Some people claim brown sugar is better for you than white sugar. It's more "natural," they say.
"Natural" is such a good selling point. So is "raw." One woman said, "When I see 'in the raw' [on a sugar package], I assume it's less processed than white sugar.

"People who are grabbing that brown sugar because they think it's healthier are basically deluding themselves," Nonas said.
Sugar begins as sap in sugarcane plants, which are crushed to release what is called sugar juice. The juice is heated, which creates a thick dark molasses containing sugar crystals. They spin that in a centrifuge to remove the molasses. What's left is white granulated sugar. Brown sugar is brown because it has some of the molasses added back to the white sugar.
It's true that molasses tastes a little sweeter and contains a little iron and calcium, but only a little.
To get as much iron as I'd get from one slice of whole-wheat bread, I'd have to eat nine teaspoons of brown sugar.
"Brown sugar is not any better than white sugar. People should still reduce their intake of all sugars because they're basically empty calories," Nonas said.
And "raw " sugar is no better, Nonas added. "People are very susceptible to marketing. And just because something is natural doesn't mean it's particularly healthy for you," she said.
Raw sugar isn't even really raw. It's just slightly less refined, so it retains some of the molasses. But there's no real health real benefit from it. "There's no more nutritional value in raw sugar than there is in white sugar or brown sugar," Nonas said. "


so if all the sugar is bad for you what can I use to bake?

The only way to 100% ensure that your sugar is indeed natural is to get it from an unprocessed source delivered directly from nature. ( Bananas, apples, dates, coconut, pineapple, carrots) 

 

Graphic from http://www.sugarstacks.com/


Back to my  Muffins.........

This is the recipe that I am trying today, no processed, refined, empy calories sugar...JUST FRUIT FROM  the only true natural sugar source : NATURE.

Makes 12 large muffins or 1 loaf

Ingredients:

3 cups of whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large apple grated
2 brown bananas mashed
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 raisins
2 cups water
oven : 375F   Baking time: 30-45  minutes or until golden brown on top
combine all the ingredients in a large bowl.
Pour into muffin tins.

My house now smell incredible with the warm scent of these hearty  homemade  muffins

It's a wrap! Homemade flour tortillas vr. store-bought tortillas

Mexican dinner? Mexican party? Mexican Fiesta? No time to plan , no time to cook.Let's go to the store and grab a pack of tortillas!
It is easier   to go to the store and buy those soft, always fresh, never messy  tortillas than  make your very own tedious homemade tortillas. You grab a pack at the store, open it at home, warm it, wrap it around your favorite food  and ta-da you feel like you are ready to party , ready for the Mexico's white sand beaches........ and yet, when was the last time you had a store-bought tortilla that you wanted to eat plain, right out of the bag?
The only Mexican Fiesta you get from store-bought tortillas is the Fiesta of  unknown ingredients and components (ingredients of ingredients) that hold the tortillas together.

Store-bought tortillas are made with  more than 20 ingredients and more than 15 components (ingredients of ingredients)
On the other hand Homemade flour tortillas are made  with ONLY 4 ingredients.

Water, Flour, olive oil and salt


Yep..only 4 ingredients and no preservatives or binding agents.
I am looking at the label above and at the picture below and I am wondering.....do I want to eat tedious Real food or a Mexican Fiesta of unknown ingredients?

If your answer is I want to eat REAL food below is the recipe for homemade Flour Tortillas


Homemade Flour Tortillas  ( 8-10 big tortillas)
Ingredients
500gr. flour 

1 teaspoon salt
70-80gr. olive oil  

250gr.  warm  water

Directions
Combine into a dough  all the ingredients in a large bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead it  until it’s elastic.
Divide the dough into equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Set it aside  for  30  minutes.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the balls of dough out into very flat circles.
Heat  a nonstick pan to hot and cook each tortilla, flipping it over as it starts to brown and bubble

The tortillas keep well for a few days in a sealed plastic bag.

Get juiced up! Commercial orange juice is not fresh orange juice.

Orange juice is good for you expecially during cold season because it is rich in Vitamin C, so  you grab a bottle of orange juice at the store and you feel immediately better! You grab the most natural, organic bottle of orange juice, the kind that says "100% juice" "Fresh squeezed" "not made from concentrate" and you feel healthy than ever! But have you ever wondered why every glass has exactly the same taste?
According to Mercola.com :
" For industrially-produced orange juice, after the oranges are squeezed, the juice is stored in giant holding tanks and the oxygen is removed from them, which allows the liquid to keep for up to a year without spoiling. It also makes the juice completely flavorless. So the industry uses “flavor packs” to re-flavor the juice."
According to Food Renegade:

“Juice companies therefore hire flavor and fragrance companies ... to engineer flavor packs to add back to the juice to make it taste fresh. Flavor packs aren’t listed as an ingredient on the label because technically they are derived from orange essence and oil. Yet those in the industry will tell you that the flavor packs, whether made for reconstituted or pasteurized orange juice, resemble nothing found in nature"

According to Mrcola.com
It may come as a surprise to learn that what you find in a carton of 100% pure, not from concentrate orange juice is nothing like what you'd get if you squeezed an orange into a glass in your own kitchen. Instead, many popular orange juice brands use a chemical process to create juice that tastes and smells like oranges!

According to online encyclopedia
"A cup serving of raw, fresh orange juice, amounting to 248 g or 8 ounces, has 124 mg of vitamin C ^] It has 20.8 g of sugars and has 112 Calories. It also supplies potassium, thiamin, and folate.

Commercial squeezed orange juice is pasteurized and filtered before being evaporated under vacuum and heat. After removal of most of the water, this concentrated juice, about 65% sugar by weight, is then stored at about 10 °F (−12 °C). Essences, Vitamin C, and oils extracted during the vacuum concentration process may be added back to restore flavor."

So next time you have to the store grab a pack of oranges and an orange squeezer if you don't have one !!!!