Food for Thought Friday

Looking forward to Halloween but not the stash of never-ending candy that always lingers after the holiday?

Guard your kids' teeth and protect your own thighs by locating a local dentist participating in a candy "buy-back." Goodies are donated to military serving overseas and kids are rewarded with cash in exchange for their sugary treats.

To find a drop-off spot in your area, click here.

Food for Thought Friday

Cantaloupes, eggs, salad greens, sprouts....

There was a time when that read like a list of things you could only dream of getting your kids to eat. Now, that dream has become a nightmare for dozens of people across the country.

Each of those items, along with many others, have been recalled in recent months for contamination by listeria, salmonella or E Coli. It used to be that we were frightened of getting sick from food coming in from other countries (ie: China) or at your filthy corner bodega with the horrendous food safety rating. Now the threat hits much closer to home --  right in our own backyard (literally, in some cases). To date, more than 25 people have died from contaminated cantaloupe in the past month -- the worst case of food borne illness in the U.S. since 1985. Culprits of the sickening fruit were likely unclean equipment in the Colorado farm that processed it, and pools of water on the floor that served as breeding grounds for the deadly bacteria.

I'm a huge Farmer's Market foodie, and always assumed I was getting safer produce at such places, but sadly, that is not always the case. Just recently, the CDC came out with a report detailing outbreaks of salmonella at so-called "backyard farms." The eggs were traced to chicks purchased from a mail-order hatchery (sounds odd, but is actually rather common for urban chicken farmers). I've toyed with the idea of getting a chicken coop in my own backyard, though I think my neighborhood association (and my husband) would freak out.

Apparently, chickens can look and act completely healthy, yet still be carrying a variety of deadly viruses which they then pass on to humans through touch, or consuming their eggs or meat. Kids are especially vulnerable to such bacteria and often the effects can be deadly (this is the same reason why it's really important to wash your kids' hands after they touch farm animals or visit a petting zoo of any kind).

For now, I'll leave egg production to the professionals. I just hope they know what they are doing. Have these recent recalls changed the way your family eats? I'll admit, I've been hesitant about buying cantaloupe lately, even though the affected fruit did not apparently end up in Georgia. Unfortunately, we don't know about many dangerous foods until someone gets sick. Even when a recall is issued after the fact, it's too little to late for too many.

Food for Thought Friday

I'm so lucky that my kids adore fruits and veggies (please don't hate me!). I've never had to resort to hiding the nutritious stuff inside other things so they wouldn't realize what they were eating. But, I know many of you out there don't share my good fortune and meal time can be an agonizing battle of wills.

I recently came across a nifty little blog that aims to take a wide array of decadent desserts and and reinvent them in a healthier manner without sacrificing taste. (For some reason, this reminds me of that old Folgers coffee commercial and I keep replaying it in my head -- "Mr. and Mrs. Johnson don't know it but we've replaced the coffee they usually serve with our own Folgers mountain grown coffee....")

Anyhoo.....

I just tried a "cookie dough" dip that seemed too good to be true and yet, it didn't disappoint. None of my guests had any clue what it was actually made of. I'll give you a hint: You could call it chocolate chip hummus, but that just wouldn't go over quite as well.

So, if you want to coerce your kids into downing some veggies without twisting their arms to do it, try this on for size. Added bonus: It's gluten-free and can be made nut-free as well if you use sunflower seed butter. You can find this and other delicious dessert recipes at Chocolate Covered Katie. Mmmmmmm.......

photo courtesy: Chocolate Covered Katie

Healthy "Cookie Dough" Dip:

• 1 1/2 cups chickpeas (1 can, drained)
• 1/8 tsp plus 1/16 tsp salt
• tiny bit over 1/8 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup nut butter (You can get away with using only 3 T)
• up to 1/4 cup nondairy milk (Start with 1 T, and add more as needed)
• 2/3 cup brown sugar (easily can use slightly less if desired)
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 2 to 3 T oats (or flaxmeal) (You can omit, but also omit the milk if you do)

Add all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) to a blender or food processor, and blend until very smooth. Then mix in the chocolate chips.

Food for Thought Friday

Ever read the labels of most of the snack foods and birthday treats your kids ingest on a weekly basis? I try to make a habit of buying things with ingredients I can pronounce, though I have little control over what the kids get at school, on playdates or at other extracurricular functions.

Hats off to the Los Angeles Unified School District food services division which recently banned sulfites, artificial red dye #40, and yellow dye #5. In case you are wondering, Yellow #5 is actually derived from coal tar. Yes, coal, as in the stuff mined in West Virginia that has been linked to all sorts of cancers. This particular food dye has been banned in other countries and numerous studies have linked it to hyperactivity. Yet, it and many others are still approved by the FDA. Go figure?

So, the next time you see those disgusting and ill-designed ads for Kool-Aid that show the kids with multi-colored tongues, perhaps you'll decide not to drink and dye. Your kids may gripe, but they may just thank you in the long run.

The End of a Life but not a Legacy

In the coming days, papers, magazines, the web and every conceivable talking head will be consumed by the death of Steve Jobs. His career ups and downs will be delved into, dissected and analyzed. The privacy he guarded so fiercely will unravel a bit more. We'll hear interviews with his colleagues, competitors and fans and see photos of his spectacular progression from college-drop out to one of the greatest tech innovators the world has ever known.

But as fantastic as all that is, I am especially moved by his humble beginnings as the child of an unwed, single mom who was put up for adoption and despite many obstacles and setbacks, his drive and vision never seemed to falter. It's hard to reconcile Steve Jobs - the legend, with Steve Jobs - the man who once turned in Coke cans to earn a nickle and walked miles to get a hot meal at a Hare Krishna Temple after he dropped out of school. He famously founded Apple Computers at 20 in his parents' garage, only to be ousted when the company reached the $2 billion mark ten years later.

But these "setbacks" didn't actually set him back at all. Each time, he kept moving forward, finding a way to do what he loved and build upon his entrepreneurial gift again and again. After being fired from Apple, he went on to found Pixar, the venerable movie studio behind such hits as the Toy Story and Cars franchises.

In the end, even the most successful, seemingly iconic of us cannot escape death. Death is the great equalizer and while he certainly must have known it was inevitable sooner rather than later, in his case, Steve Jobs left a great legacy of how to live your life in the here and now. I hope that future generations learn from his amazing journey and strive to continue with their passions, even in the face of adversity. Sometimes, the greatest things in life are accomplished by accident.

In a commencement address Jobs gave at Stanford University, he talked candidly about his life and passed along some lessons that are worth repeating.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

His work and his words outlive him and I've no doubt his contribution to our current way of life will be reflected for decades to come.

Baby Love

I don't usually post things purely for sentimental value. But I just couldn't resist this one.

Amazingly, this is not a photo-shopped picture. It was taken in a NICU unit in 1995 when two twins were placed in the same incubator by a nurse who'd read it was beneficial for them to sleep together. Weighing only 2 lbs, one of the babies improved significantly after co-bedding with her sister. Today they are happy and healthy and the photo that originally ran in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette remains an indelible image.