When It Only Looks Like Food

I've long been a label-reader, although the products I buy regularly are probably getting overlooked.  For a while, I was very vigilant about getting whole grain bread without high fructose corn syrup.  Now, we make our own bread.  Natives of South America first developed a humble grass into the corn we know today over a span of 10,000 years, trading and passing seeds to other tribes further and further northward.  In case you didn't know, high fructose corn syrup was created in a lab.  I'm not opposed to bio-engineered foods that offer greater nutrition or have better resistance to pests (not greater resistance to pesticides).  But many things that have been done to corn have lead to numerous health problems, including obesity and diabetes.  Corn is subsidized by the government, and is now in many, many foods.  The less processed the food, the better your chances of not getting corn filler and high fructose corn syrup.  Corn can also be eaten indirectly, by eating livestock from CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations), where animals are quickly fattened up for slaughter in cramped quarters in a process called "finishing".  Such animal meat is fattier and higher in cholesterol than grass-fed and pastured animals and the methane these animals produce (because they have indigestion since that haven't evolved to eat corn) further affects the environment by breaking down the ozone layer, which raises the temperature of the earth, which leads to droughts in some areas and more severe storms in others.  In other words, eating natural, unprocessed foods is better for us all.

My husband recently brought home a box of Special K with strawberries that actually had strawberries in it!  It also had high fructose corn syrup.  Sigh.  Some other products don't even have real fruit, despite their appearance on the box.  The blueberries in blueberry muffin mix may be no more that oil and food coloring!  There's something to be said for making food from scratch.  At just over a dollar a POUND (which is much more than the pint at the supermarket), the 17 pounds of blueberries my family picked this summer will give us inexpensive and delicious nutrition for our own homemade blueberry muffins or toppings on our cereal.  I have never made cereal, but I've made various incarnations of hot grain cereals and oatmeal, as well as my own granola bars.  And I know exactly what's in them and can add more nutrition at will, such as omega 3 in the form of flax seed.  People with allergies or food restrictions regularly read labels.  The rest of us should follow, and make more from scratch.  Need more convincing?  Don't think you have time?  What goes into your body will build up.  Are you building a stronger, healthier you?  Or will the money you saved on cheap chicken and packaged meals cost you in hospital bills later?  Recently, a friend sent me this link about how food companies replace natural ingredients with artificial ones in order to, why else, save money.  How much is your health worth?

To show I bear no ill-will to corn, here is my own take on a very New England recipe: Indian Pudding.  I especially love this dish with local organic peaches, but any fresh fruit (and nuts) will do.  And, it's gluten-free!!

Gluten-Free/Low Sodium/Reduced Fat/Vegetarian

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Indian Pudding and Peaches

Taste of the New England

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Prep: 15 minutes  Cook: 1 hour (45 minutes baking)  Serves 6

2 1/2 cups low-fat milk

1/3 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup molasses

1/4 cup real maple syrup

2 tbs. butter

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cardamom

2 organic peaches (or other seasonal fruit of choice)

1 cup fat-free half-and-half

Contrary to the name, this dish is not Native American in origin aside from the cornmeal, which was more readily available to the pilgrims than wheat flour.  It’s also called “hasty pudding” and at least cooks faster than some 3 hour recipes I’ve seen.  With the molasses from the sugar trade not coming from North America or Europe, this dish was uniquely New England.  I’ve added maple syrup to make it more “native”, but couldn’t resist Indonesian nutmeg and Asian Indian cardamom (a relative of ginger).

Preheat over to 300ºF and grease casserole dish.  Pour milk into large sauce pan and heat on med-high until scalded but not boiling.  (Look for tiny bubbles around the edges of the pot.)  Whisk in cornmeal a tablespoon at a time, stirring well to prevent lumps.  Add molasses, syrup, and butter.  Reduce heat and cook 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the consistency of pourable porridge.  In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and spices together.  Slowly add cornmeal mix to eggs, whisking constantly so as not to cook eggs.  Pour mix into casserole dish and bake 45 minutes.  Wash, pit, and cut peaches into half-wedges, or bite-sized pieces, leaving skin on.  Serve pudding warm with fat free half-and-half and peaches.