Raw Onion & The Flu

Raw ONION on bottom of the feet to take away illness.
During the night, I started feeling good. I mean really good! I felt tingly, like my blood was being cleansed (it was). It was so cool!
My bedroom smells like a casserole, but it was totally worth it!
***Here is the deal:::
So last night Evan (11) was keeping everyone awake with his cough. I got up, went to the kitchen and sliced a purple, make me cry onion, at 3am. I got some snug socks and put it on the bottom of his feet. To boost my own immunity, I decided to try this too. During the rest of the night, I started feeling good. I mean really good! I felt tingly, like my blood was being cleansed. It was so cool!

This works in 2 ways.
1.) Onions are known to absorb toxins. In fact, during the days of the Plague in England, folks would keep chopped onions around to absorb toxins and clean the air. This helped protect them, against getting the plague.

NEVER SAVE AN ONION. It will absorb all the toxins in the air of your refrigerator. Eat that and you eat the toxins. Instead: Chop your left over onion, put it on a plate and keep it in your kitchen as a natural air purifier. I do this all the time! If someone is ill, place a chopped onion on the night stand, next to the bed. They’ll be better in the morning. I placed the remaining onion, next to Evan last night.

Onions are toxin absorbers. Thus why they are great internal mops for the body. Eat plenty of onions!

2.) The onion and garlic families are anti-microbial and anti-bacterial. Placing them on the bottom of the foot gives them access to your internal organs through meridians in your body. The onion can be directly delivered. Transdermal delivery (on the skin) is one of the best delivery mechanisms, as it will bypass the stomach acids and go directly into the blood. The bottom of the feet and the forearm are great places to put high powered foods and essential oils into the body. Sliced garlic on the bottom of the feet will work nicely too.

Evan woke up cough free and hopped on the bus this morning.

Happy kid. Happy mom.

body pH

Bacteria, viruses, mold, fungus, parasites & cancer thrive in an acidic body, but can not survive in an alkaline environment.
**Do you know the pH levels in your body? While this is one of the best (and easiest) indicators of great health, it is also the most under utilized. Optimal pH levels is 7.35, or close to this. While the pH of your saliva can vary greatly (depending on your last meal), the pH of your urine is often a reflection of the pH of your tissues. Test your 1st morning urine & again about 2pm. Your am urine will may be slightly more acidic, as you are throwing toxins off at night. If you are 4, 5 or 6…. your body is screaming something to you. Bacteria, viruses, mold, fungus, parasites & cancer thrive in an acidic body, but can not survive in an alkaline environment. You can bring your pH levels up by changing your diet. Add in plenty of greens & fresh green juices. If you are super low, you want to seek the guidance of a holistic health professional. You may want to consider sodium bicarbonate, chlorine dioxide (MMS), mineral rich salts and hydrogen peroxide drips, or baths. The book pH Miracle, by Dr. Robert Young is a great resource to learn about the pH of the body. I have books & books of these pH strips. They are cheap & tell you a great story about your current health! At The Raw Food Institute, we teach you how to dramatically flip your internal environment–with food. This creates, an abundantly radiant & healthy ecosystem inside of you…. ~Lisa Wilson

science of fudge

The Physical Chemistry of Making Fudge
Article #871

by Sue Ann Bowling

 

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This article is provided as a public service by the Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, in cooperation with the UAF research community. Dr. Sue Ann Bowling is an Associate Professor of Physics at the Institute.

 

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There’s a lot of physical chemistry involved in making old fashioned fudge. The recipe calls for combining and boiling milk, bitter chocolate or cocoa, and sugar together until the temperature of the syrup reaches 238 degrees F (114^o C), pouring the seething mixture into a bowl, cooling to 115 degrees F (46 degrees C), and then beating until the surface shine disappears. If you don’t follow the cautions in the recipe — wash down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush or cover the pan for a few minutes early in the cooking process; don’t scrape the pan; don’t disturb the candy until it’s cooled; don’t let anything, even a speck of dust, fall into the cooling syrup — you are very likely to wind up with a coarse, gritty mass instead of creamy fudge.

Sugar dissolves far less readily in cold liquids than in hot. There is no way that two cups of sugar will dissolve in a cup of milk at room temperature. Heating the sugar and milk mixture allows the milk to dissolve more and more sugar, and by the time the mixture is boiling, all the sugar is dissolved. The general principle is that at a particular temperature, a given solvent (in this case, milk) can dissolve only so much of a particular solute (sugar). When the milk has dissolved all the sugar it can hold, and there is still some undissolved sugar left, the mixture is said to be saturated. The higher the temperature, the more concentrated the saturated solution becomes.

Water (and milk) boil at 212 degrees F (100 degrees C) at sea level, but the sugar changes that. In general, a solid dissolved in a liquid makes it harder for the liquid molecules to escape. Consequently, the solution has to be hotter for the liquid molecules to get away at the same rate, and the boiling point rises.

In our fudge, the rise in boiling temperature is an exact function of the amount of sugar in the solution. Consequently, we can use the temperature of the boiling syrup to tell when enough water has boiled away to give the syrup the right ratio of sugar to water. For fudge and similar creamy candies, the syrup should boil at a temperature 26 degrees F (14 degrees C) hotter than the boiling point of plain water.

Some of the initial water in the syrup has now boiled away. Because the sugar couldn’t dissolve completely until the mixture was near boiling, the syrup reaches saturation very soon after it starts to cool. If you’ve done everything right, however, sugar does not come back out of solution. Instead, the syrup continues to cool as a supersaturated solution. The solid phase — in this case, sugar — cannot start to crystallize without something to serve as a pattern, or nucleus. However, if a single sugar crystal is present, the syrup will start to crystallize, the crystals will grow steadily as the syrup continues to cool, and the result will be very grainy fudge.

This is why most fudge recipes require that the sides of the pot be washed down early in the cooking process, either with a wet pastry brush or by putting the lid on the pan for about three minutes to remove any sugar crystals clinging to the container walls. It is also why the recipes specify that the sides and bottom of the pan should not be scraped into the bowl where the candy is to cool. There is too much chance of scraping in a stray sugar crystal.

As the cooling syrup gets more and more supersaturated, its tendency to crystallize becomes even stronger. Even a speck of dust can start the process if all the candy contains is sugar, milk, and chocolate. Using more than one kind of sugar can counter this tendency. Most fudge recipes contain either corn syrup (which contains glucose instead of the sucrose of table sugar) or cream of tartar (which breaks sucrose into glucose and fructose). The different sugars tend to interfere with each other’s crystallization and minimize the chance that the candy will crystallize too soon. They must be used in moderation, however — too much and the fudge will remain a thick syrup forever!

The final stage is stirring the syrup when it is lukewarm to promote crystallization all at once throughout the candy. Disturbing (stirring) a very supersaturated solution causes many crystals to form at once. Because they compete with each other for the dissolved sugar, none can grow very large. The result is the proper creamy texture of fudge and the change in appearance from shiny (supercooled liquid) to dull (a mass of very tiny crystals).

Low Fat Vegan Chocolate Mug CakePosted by: Lindsay

Low Fat Vegan Chocolate Mug Cake

Tomorrow is the official release date for my new book, Everyday Happy Herbivore– I can’t believe it’s here! Thank you all for your support, I’m so happy to be able to write these recipes for you.

Today, I’m sharing one last cookbook teaser with you..and boy is it a great one. This chocolate mug cake will go from flour to in your mouth in just five minutes. It’s a great single serving recipe and it’s super easy to make.

Chocolate Mug Cake – serves 1

Ingredients:
4 tbsp white whole wheat flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp nondairy milk
¼+ cup unsweetened applesauce
vanilla extract
dash cinnamon
2-3 tbsp vegan chocolate chips

In a small bowl, whisk flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and cinnamon together, set aside. For a really sweet cake, add more sugar. In another small bowl, whisk ¼ cup applesauce, nondairy milk, and a drop or two of vanilla extract together. Pour wet into dry, then add chips, stirring to combine. 

Add another 1-2 tbsp of applesauce, until the batter is wet and resembles regular cake batter. Pour batter into a coffee cup, and microwave for three minutes (at 1000 watts – if your microwave is weaker or stronger, please adjust accordingly).

Per Serving: 276 Calories, 4.1g Fat, 59.3g Carbohydrates, 7.8g Fiber, 31.6g Sugar, 8.3g Protein

microwave chocolate cake

1-2-3 Chocolate Microwave Mug Cake

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
2-3 tablespoons sugar (according to desired sweetness)
1 tablespoon flour
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, such as canola
3 tablespoons egg white or plain Egg Whites in a carton
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
optional:
1 teaspoon chocolate chips

*As a variation, substitute almond extract for the vanilla.
Also, you can change the chocolate chips to any flavor chips you’d like.

In a 1-1 1/2 cup microwave safe mug, blend cocoa, sugar, and flour together. Add milk, oil, egg white and vanilla. Stir vigorously for 2 minutes, (or until you’ve sung Happy Birthday 6 times!) making sure to get all ingredients incorporated. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top, if desired. Bake in microwave for 2 minutes. Check to make sure it is cooked on the bottom by lifting it a little with a spoon. If it is runny, cook 10 seconds more at a time until done. Do not overcook, as it will be rubbery. It puffs up and may overflow, but that is OK, it deflates somewhat as it cools. You want the texture to be moist and slightly undercooked. Let cool until just warm and serve with whipped cream squirted fresh from the can.
Serves one.

allergies

 

consider a hepa filter for bedroom. pollens through window. Signs…fatigue, itchy eyes, nose, roof of mouth, allergy testing…prick test..histamines then cause a bump…food sensitivities occur quite quickly after ingesting. Hives…itchy bumps that show up on skin driven by histamines.Variable size…very itchy, can come and go.Common cause of hives are not known and idiopathic…could be eniviromental allergens, sun screens, food, pets.

 

 

 

lowering blood pressure

special magneseum to lower BP

baking dictionary

A
Absorption: The amount of water a flour can take up and hold while being made into a simple dough, based on a predetermined standard dough consistency or stiffness; expressed as a percentage of the weight of flour.
Air Cell: A tiny bubble of air, created by creaming or foaming, that assists in leavening a dough or batter.
Allumette: Any of various puff pastry items made in thin sticks or strips (French word for “matchstick”).
Almond Paste: A mixture of finely ground almonds and sugar.
Angel Food Cake: A type of cake made of meringue (egg whites and sugar) and flour.
Angel Food Method: A cake-mixing method involving folding a mixture of flour and sugar into a meringue.
Apple Charlotte: A dessert of apples cut up and baked in a mold lined with bread slices.
Artisan Bread: Bread made by a skilled manual worker; usually referring to handmade breads made using traditional methods and with natural ingredients only.
Ash: The mineral content of flour; expressed as a percentage of the total weight.
Autolyse: A resting period early in the mixing procedure of yeast doughs, during which the flour fully absorbs the water.

B
Baba: A type of yeast bread or cake that is soaked in syrup.
Babka: A type of sweet yeast bread or coffee cake.
Bagel: A ring-shaped lean yeast dough product made from a very stiff dough.
Bagged: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is shaped and deposited with a pastry bag.
Baked Alaska: A dessert consisting of ice cream on a sponge cake base, covered with meringue and browned in the oven.
Baked Custard: A custard that is baked without being disturbed so it sets into a solid.
Baked Meringue: Any of various meringue mixtures that are baked until dry.
Baking Ammonia: A leavening ingredient that releases ammonia gas and carbon dioxide.
Baklava: A Greek or Middle Eastern dessert made of nuts and phyllo dough and soaked with syrup.
Bar: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is shaped into flattened cylinders, baked, and sliced crosswise into individual cookies; a cookie made by this method.
Barm: A sourdough starter with a thin, batterlike consistency.
Batter: A semiliquid mixture containing flour or other starch, used for the production of such products as cakes and breads and for coating products to be deep fried.
Baumkuchen (bowm koo khen): A cake made by adding one thin layer of batter at a time to a pan and browning lightly under a broiler after each addition, repeating until the cake is the desired thickness.
Bavarian Cream: A light, cold dessert made of gelatin, whipped cream, and custard sauce or fruit.
Beignet Soufflé (ben yay soo flay): A type of fritter made with éclair paste, which puffs up greatly when fried.
Biga: A yeast pre-ferment made as a stiff dough.
Biscuit Method: A mixing method in which the fat is mixed with the dry ingredients before the liquid ingredients are added.
Black Forest Torte: A chocolate sponge layer cake filled with whipped cream and cherries.
Blancmange (bla mahnge): (1) An English pudding made of milk, sugar, and cornstarch. (2) A French dessert made of milk, cream, almonds, and gelatin.
Blitz Puff Pastry: A type of pastry that is mixed like a very flaky pie dough, then rolled and folded like puff pastry.
Bloom: A whitish coating on chocolate, caused by separated cocoa butter.
Blown Sugar: Pulled sugar that is made into thin-walled, hollow shapes by being blown up like a balloon.
Boiled Icing: Italian meringue used as a cake icing.
Bombe: A type of frozen dessert made in a dome-shaped mold.
Boston Cream Pie: A sponge cake or other yellow cake filled with pastry cream and topped with chocolate fondant or confectioners’ sugar.
Bran: The hard outer covering of kernels of wheat and other grains.
Bran Flour: Flour to which bran flakes have been added.
Bread Flour: Strong flour, such as patent flour, used for breads.
Brioche: Rich yeast dough containing large amounts of eggs and butter; a product made from this dough.
Brown Sugar: Regular granulated sucrose containing various impurities that give it a distinctive flavor.
Buttercream: An icing made of butter and/or shortening blended with confectioners’ sugar or sugar syrup and, sometimes, other ingredients.

C
Cabinet Pudding: A baked custard containing sponge cake and fruit.
Cake Flour: A fine, white flour made from soft wheat.
Cannoli: Fried Italian pastries made in tube shapes, generally with a sweet cream or cheese filling (singular form is cannolo).
Caramelization: The browning of sugars caused by heat.
Cassata: An Italian-style bombe, usually with three layers of different ice creams, plus a filling of Italian meringue.
Cast Sugar: Sugar that is boiled to the hard crack stage and then poured into molds to harden. Also called poured sugar.
Celsius Scale: The metric system of temperature measurement, with 0°C at the freezing point of water and 100°C at the boiling point of water.
Centi-: Prefix in the metric system meaning “one-hundredth.”
Challah: A rich egg bread, often made as a braided loaf.
Charlotte: (1) A cold dessert made of Bavarian cream or other cream in a special mold, usually lined with ladyfingers or other sponge products. (2) A hot dessert made of cooked fruit and baked in a special mold lined with strips of bread.
Charlotte Ring: A metal ring used as a mold for charlottes and other desserts.
Chemical Leavener: A leavener such as baking soda, baking powder, or baking ammonia, which releases gases produced by chemical reactions.
Chiffon Cake: A light cake made by the chiffon method.
Chiffon Method: A cake-mixing method involving the folding of whipped egg whites into a batter made of flour, egg yolks, and oil.
Chiffon Pie: A pie with a light, fluffy filling containing egg whites and, usually, gelatin.
Chocolate Liquor: Unsweetened chocolate, consisting of cocoa solids and cocoa butter.
Chocolate Truffle: A small ball of chocolate ganache, served as a confection.
Christmas Pudding: A dark, heavy steamed pudding made of dried and candied fruits, spices, beef suet, and crumbs.
Ciabatta: A type of Italian bread made from a very slack dough deposited on pans with minimal shaping.
Clear Flour: A tan-colored wheat flour made from the outer portion of the endosperm.
Coagulation: The process by which proteins become firm, usually when heated.
Cobbler: A fruit dessert similar to a pie but without a bottom crust.
Cocoa: The dry powder that remains after cocoa butter is pressed out of chocolate liquor.
Cocoa Butter: A white or yellowish fat found in natural chocolate.
Common Meringue: Egg whites and sugar whipped to a foam; also called French meringue.
Complex Presentation: A style of plating a dessert consisting of an arrangement of two or more desserts plus sauces and garnishes.
Compote: Cooked fruit served in its cooking liquid, usually a sugar syrup.
Conching: A step in the manufacturing of chocolate, the purpose of which is to create a fine, smooth texture.
Confectioners’ Sugar: Sucrose that is ground to a fine powder and mixed with a little cornstarch to prevent caking.
Cooked Fruit Method: A method for making pie fillings in which the fruit is cooked and thickened before being placed in the pie crust.
Cooked Juice Method: A method for making pie fillings in which the fruit juices are cooked, thickened, and mixed with the fruit.
Cornstarch Pudding: A sweetened liquid, usually milk and flavorings, that is boiled with cornstarch to thicken it.
Coulis: A sweetened fruit purée, used as a sauce.
Coupe: A dessert consisting of one or two scoops of ice cream or sherbet placed in a dish or glass and topped with any of a number of syrups, fruits, toppings, and garnishes; a sundae.
Couverture: Natural, sweet chocolate containing no added fats other than natural cocoa butter; used for dipping, molding, coating, and similar purposes.
Creaming: The process of beating fat and sugar together to blend them uniformly and to incorporate air.
Creaming Method: A mixing method that begins with the blending of fat and sugar; used for cakes, cookies, and similar items.
Cream Pie: An unbaked pie containing a pastry-cream-type filling.
Cream Pudding: A boiled pudding made of milk, sugar, eggs, and starch.
Crème Anglaise (krem awng glezz): A light vanilla-flavored custard sauce made of milk, sugar, and egg yolks.
Crème Brûlée: A rich custard with a brittle top crust of caramelized sugar (French name means “burnt cream”).
Crème Caramel: A custard baked in a mold lined with caramelized sugar, then unmolded.
Crème Chantilly (krem shawn tee yee): Sweetened whipped cream flavored with vanilla.
Crème Chiboust: A cream filling made of pastry cream, gelatin, meringue, and flavorings.
Crème Fraîche (krem fresh): A slightly aged, cultured heavy cream with a slightly tangy flavor.
Crêpe (krep): A very thin French pancake, often served rolled around a filling.
Crêpes Suzette: French pancakes served in a sweet sauce flavored with orange.
Croissant (krwah sawn): A flaky, buttery yeast roll shaped like a crescent and made from a rolled-in dough.
Crumb Crust: A pie crust made of cookie crumbs, butter, and sugar.
Crystallize: To form crystals, as in the case of dissolved sugar.
Custard: A liquid that is thickened or set by the coagulation of egg protein.

D
Dark Chocolate: Sweetened chocolate that consists of chocolate liquor and sugar.
Deci-: Prefix in the metric system meaning “one-tenth.”
Demerara Sugar: A type of crystalline, brown sucrose.
Dessert Syrup: A flavored sugar syrup used to flavor and moisten cakes and other desserts.
Devil’s Food Cake: A chocolate cake made with a high percentage of baking soda, which gives the cake a reddish color.
Diastase: Various enzymes, found in flour and in diastatic malt, that convert starch into sugar.
Disaccharide: A complex or “double” sugar, such as sucrose.
Dobos Torte: A Hungarian cake made of seven thin layers filled with chocolate buttercream and topped with caramelized sugar.
Docking: Piercing or perforating pastry dough before baking in order to allow steam to escape and to avoid blistering.
Double-Acting Baking Powder: Baking powder that releases some of its gases when it is mixed with water and the remaining gases when it is heated.
Double-Panning: Placing a baking sheet or pan on or in a second pan to prevent scorching the bottom of the product being baked.
Drained Weight: The weight of solid canned fruit after draining off the juice.
Dredge: To sprinkle thoroughly with sugar or another dry powder.
Drop Batter: A batter that is too thick to pour but will drop from a spoon in lumps.
Dropped: A cookie makeup method in which portions of dough are measured with a scoop or spoon and dropped onto a baking pan.
Dutch Process Cocoa: Cocoa that has been processed with an alkali to reduce its acidity.

E
éclair Paste: A paste or dough made of boiling water or milk, butter, flour, and eggs; used to make éclairs, cream puffs, and similar products.
Egg-Foam Cake: A cake leavened primarily by whipped eggs; it usually has a low percentage of fat.
Emulsified Shortening: Shortening containing emulsifiers so that it can be used for high-ratio cakes.
Emulsion: A uniform mixture of two or more unmixable substances.
Endosperm: The starchy inner portion of grain kernels.
English Muffin: A yeast dough product made in the shape of a disk and cooked on a griddle.
Extract: A flavoring ingredient consisting of flavorful oils or other substances dissolved in alcohol.
Extraction: The portion of the grain kernel that is separated into a particular grade of flour. Usually expressed as a percentage.

F
Fermentation: The process by which yeast changes carbohydrates into carbon dioxide gas and alcohol.
Flaky Pie Crust: A pie crust that has a flaky texture due to layers of fat sandwiched between layers of dough.
Flat Icing: A simple icing made of confectioners’ sugar and water, usually used for Danish pastries and sweet rolls.
Flour-Batter Method: A cake-mixing method in which the flour is first mixed with the fat.
Foaming: The process of whipping eggs, with or without sugar, to incorporate air.
Focaccia: A flat Italian bread similar to a thick pizza dough.
Fondant: A type of icing made of boiled sugar syrup that is agitated so that it crystallizes into a mass of extremely small white crystals.
Fougasse: A regional French bread made in the shape of a trellis or ladder.
Four-Fold: A technique used to increase the number of layers in puff pastry or Danish pastry by folding the dough in fourths.
Frangipane: A type of almond-flavored cream.
French Doughnut: A fried pastry made of choux paste.
French Meringue: Egg whites and sugar whipped to a foam; also called common meringue.
French Pastry: Any of a variety of small fancy cakes and other pastries, usually in single-portion sizes.
French-Style Ice Cream: Ice cream containing egg yolks.
Fritter: A deep-fried item made of or coated with a batter or dough.
Frozen Mousse: A still-frozen dessert containing whipped cream.
Fruit Betty: A baked dessert consisting of layers of fruit and cake crumbs.
Fruit Cake: A loaf cake containing a high percentage of dried and candied fruits and, usually, nuts.
Fruit Cobbler: A baked fruit dessert with a pastry topping or top crust.
Fruit Crisp: A baked fruit dessert with a streusel topping.
Fruit Gratin: A dessert consisting of fruit plus a topping, browned under a broiler.
Fruit Pie: A baked single- or double-crust pie with a fruit filling.
Fruit Torte: A layer cake topped with a decorative arrangement of fruit.

G
Ganache (gah nahsh): A rich cream made of sweet chocolate and heavy cream.
Garnish: An edible item added to another food as a decoration or accompaniment.
Gâteau (gah toe): French word for “cake.”
Gâteau St-Honoré: A pastry consisting of a base made of short pastry and pâte à choux and a cream filling, usually crème chiboust or crème diplomat.
Gaufre (go fr’): French for “waffle.”
Gelatin: A water-soluble protein ex-tracted from animal tissue, used as a jelling agent.
Gelatinization: The process by which starch granules absorb water and swell in size.
Gelato: Italian ice cream.
Genoise: A sponge cake made by whipping whole eggs with sugar and folding in flour and, sometimes, melted butter.
Germ: The plant embryo portion of a grain kernel.
Glacé (glah say): (1) Glazed; coated with icing. (2) Frozen.
Glaze: (1) A shiny coating, such as a syrup, applied to a food. (2) To make a food shiny or glossy by coating it with a glaze or by browning it under a broiler or in a hot oven.
Gliadin: A protein in wheat flour that combines with another protein, glutenin, to form gluten.
Glucose: A simple sugar available in the form of a clear, colorless, tasteless syrup.
Gluten: An elastic substance, formed from proteins present in wheat flours, that gives structure and strength to baked goods.
Glutenin: See Gliadin.
Gram: The basic unit of weight in the metric system; equal to about one-thirtieth of an ounce.
Granité (grah nee tay): A coarse, crystalline frozen dessert made of water, sugar, and fruit juice or another flavoring.
Granulated Sugar: Sucrose in a fine crystalline form.
Gum Paste: A type of sugar paste or pastillage made with vegetable gum.

H
Hard Sauce: A flavored mixture of confectioners’ sugar and butter; often served with steamed puddings.
Hard Wheat: Wheat high in protein.
Hearth Bread: A bread that is baked directly on the bottom of the oven, not in a pan.
Heavy Pack: A type of canned fruit or vegetable with very little added water or juice.
High-Fat Cake: A cake with a high percentage of fat; distinguished from a sponge or egg-foam cake.
High-Ratio: (1) Term referring to cakes and cake formulas mixed by a special method and containing more sugar than flour. (2) The mixing method used for these cakes. (3) Term referring to certain specially formu-lated ingredients used in these cakes, such as shortening.
High-Ratio Method: See Two-Stage Method.
Homogenized Milk: Milk that has been processed so the cream does not separate out.
Hot Milk and Butter Sponge: A sponge cake batter in which a mixture of warm milk and melted butter is mixed into the batter.
Hydrogenation: A process that converts liquid oils to solid fats (shortenings) by chemically bonding hydrogen to the fat molecules.

I
Ice: A frozen dessert made of water, sugar, and fruit juice.
Icebox: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is shaped into cylinders, refrigerated, and sliced.
Ice Cream: A churn-frozen mixture of milk, cream, sugar, flavorings, and, sometimes, eggs.
Ice Milk: A frozen dessert similar to ice cream but with a lower fat content.
Icing Comb: A plastic triangle with toothed or serrated edges; used for texturing icings.
Instant Starch: A starch that thickens a liquid without cooking because it has been precooked.
Inversion: A chemical process in which a double sugar splits into two simple sugars.
Invert Sugar: A mixture of two simple sugars, dextrose and levulose, resulting from the breakdown of sucrose.
Italian Meringue: A meringue made by whipping a boiling syrup into egg whites.

J
Japonaise (zhah po nez): A baked meringue flavored with nuts.

K
Kernel Paste: A nut paste, similar to almond paste, made of apricot kernels and sugar.
Kilo-: Prefix in the metric system meaning “one thousand.”
Kirsch: A clear alcoholic beverage distilled from cherries.
Kirschtorte: A torte made of genoise, meringue disks, and buttercream and flavored with kirsch.
Kugelhopf: A type of rich, sweet bread or coffee cake, usually made in a tube-type pan.

L
Lactobacillus: A group of bacteria that are primarily responsible for creating the acidity in sourdough starters.
Ladyfinger: A small, dry, finger-shaped sponge cake or cookie.
Langue de Chat (lahng duh shah): A thin, crisp cookie. The French name means “cat’s tongue,” referring to the shape of the cookie.
Lattice Crust: A top crust for a pie made of strips of pastry in a criss-cross pattern.
Lean Dough: A dough that is low in fat and sugar.
Leavening: The production or incor- poration of gases in a baked product to increase volume and to produce shape and texture.
Levain: Sourdough starter.
Levain-Levure: French for “yeast pre-ferment.”
Levure: Commercial yeast.
Linzertorte: A tart made of raspberry jam and a short dough containing nuts and spices.
Liter: The basic unit of volume in the metric system; equal to slightly more than one quart.

M
Macaroon: A cookie made of eggs (usually whites) and almond paste or coconut.

Malt Syrup: A type of syrup containing maltose sugar, extracted from sprouted barley.
Marble: To partly mix two colors of cake batter or icing so that the colors are in decorative swirls.
Margarine: An artificial butter product made of various hydrogenated fats and flavorings.
Marron: French for “chestnut.”
Marshmallow: A light confection, icing, or filling made of meringue and gelatin (or other stabilizers).
Marshmallow Icing: Boiled icing with the addition of gelatin.
Marzipan: A paste or confection made of almonds and sugar and often used for decorative work.
Meal: Coarsely ground grain.
Mealy Pie Crust: A pie crust in which the fat has been mixed in thoroughly enough so that the dough does not have a flaky texture.
Melba Sauce: A sweet sauce made of puréed raspberries and, sometimes, red currants.
Meringue: A thick, white foam made of whipped egg whites and sugar.
Meringue Chantilly (shawn tee yee): Baked meringue filled with whipped cream.
Meringue Glacée: Baked meringue filled with ice cream.
Meter: The basic unit of length in the metric system; slightly longer than one yard.
Metric System: A measurement system based entirely on decimals.
Milk Chocolate: Sweetened chocolate containing milk solids.
Millefeuille (mee foy): French term for napoleon; literally, “thousand leaves.” Also used for various layered desserts.
Milli-: Prefix in the metric system meaning “one-thousandth.”
Modeling Chocolate: A thick paste, made of chocolate and glucose, that can be molded by hand into decorative shapes.
Modified Straight Dough Method: A mixing method similar to the straight dough method, except that the fat and sugar are mixed together first to ensure uniform distribution; used for rich doughs.
Molasses: A heavy brown syrup made from sugar cane.
Molded: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is shaped into cylinders, cut into equal portions, and shaped as desired.
Monosaccharide: A simple or single sugar such as glucose and fructose.
Mousse: A soft or creamy dessert that is made light by the addition of whipped cream, egg whites, or both.
Muffin Method: A mixing method in which the mixed dry ingredients are combined with the mixed liquid ingredients.

N
Napoleon: A dessert made of layers of puff pastry filled with pastry cream.
Natural Sour: see Sourdough Starter.
Natural Starter: see Sourdough Starter.
Net Weight: The weight of the total contents of a can or package.

No-Time Dough: A bread dough made with a large quantity of yeast and given no fermentation time, except for a short rest after mixing.
Nougatine: A mixture of caramelized sugar and almonds or other nuts, used in decorative work and as a confection and flavoring.

O
Old Dough: A dough that is over-fermented.
One-Stage Method: A cookie-mixing method in which all ingredients are added to the bowl at once.
Opera Cake: A layer cake made of thin sponge layers, coffee-flavored buttercream, and chocolate ganache.
Othello: A small (single-portion size), spherical sponge cake filled with cream and iced with fondant.
Oven Spring: The rapid rise of yeast goods in the oven due to the production and expansion of trapped gases caused by the oven heat.
Overrun: The increase in volume of ice cream or frozen desserts due to the incorporation of air while freezing.

P
Pain de Campagne: French country-style bread.
Pain d’épice (pan day peece): A type of gingerbread (French name means “spice bread”).
Palmier (palm yay): A small pastry or petit four sec made of rolled, sugared puff pastry cut into slices and baked.
Panna Cotta: An Italian pudding made of cream, gelatin, and flavorings; literally, “cooked cream.”
Pannetone: An Italian sweet bread made in a large loaf, generally containing dried and candied fruits.
Parfait: (1) A type of sundae served in a tall, thin glass. (2) A still-frozen dessert made of egg yolks, syrup, and heavy cream.
Paris-Brest: A dessert consisting of a ring of baked éclair paste filled with cream.
Pasteurized: Heat-treated to kill bacteria that might cause disease or spoilage.
Pastillage: A sugar paste, used for decorative work, that becomes very hard when dry.
Pastry Cream: A thick custard sauce containing eggs and starch.
Pastry Flour: A weak flour used for pastries and cookies.
Pâte à Choux (pot ah shoo): éclair paste.
Pâte Brisée: A type of rich pastry dough used primarily for tarts.
Pâte Feuilleté (pot foo ya tay): French name for puff pastry.
Pâte Fermentée: Fermented dough, used as a starter.
Patent Flour: A fine grade of wheat flour milled from the inner portions of the kernel.
Peasant Tart: A baked tart with a custard filling containing prunes.
Pectin: A soluble plant fiber, used primarily as a jelling agent for fruit preserves and jams.
Peel: A flat wooden shovel used to place hearth breads in an oven and to remove them.
Petit Four: A delicate cake or pastry small enough to be eaten in one or two bites.
Petit Four Glacé: An iced or cream-filled petit four.
Petit Four Sec: An uniced or unfilled petit four (sec means “dry”), such as a small butter cookie or palmier.
Philadelphia-Style Ice Cream: Ice cream containing no eggs.
Phyllo (fee lo): A paper-thin dough or pastry used to make strudels and various Middle Eastern and Greek desserts.
Piping Jelly: A transparent, sweet jelly used for decorating cakes.
Pithiviers (pee tee vyay): A cake made of puff pastry filled with almond cream.
Poolish: A thin yeast starter made with equal parts flour and water, plus commercial yeast.

Pot de Crème (poh duh krem): A rich baked custard.
Pound Cake: (1) A cake made of equal weights of flour, butter, sugar, and eggs. (2) Any cake resembling this.
Pour Batter: A batter that is liquid enough to pour.
Poured Sugar: Sugar that is boiled to the hard crack stage and then poured into molds to harden. Also called cast sugar.
Praline: A confection or flavoring made of nuts and caramelized sugar.
Pre-ferment: A fermented dough or batter that is used to provide leavening for a larger batch of dough.
Press: A scaled piece of dough that is divided into small, equal units in a dough divider.
Profiterole: A small puff made of éclair paste. Often filled with ice cream and served with chocolate sauce.
Puff Pastry: A very light, flaky pastry made from a rolled-in dough and leavened by steam.
Pulled Sugar: Sugar that is boiled to the hard-crack stage, allowed to harden slightly, then pulled or stretched until it develops a pearly sheen.
Pullman Loaf: A long, rectangular loaf of bread.
Pumpernickel Flour: A coarse, flaky meal made from whole rye grains.
Punching: A method of expelling gases from fermented dough.
Purée: A food made into a smooth pulp, usually by being ground or forced through a sieve.

Q
Quenelle (kuh nell): A small oval portion of food.

R
Regular Shortening: Any basic shortening without emulsifiers, used for creaming methods and for icings.
Retarder-Proofer: An automated, timer-controlled combination of retarder/freezer and proofer, used for holding and proofing yeast products.
Retarding: Refrigerating a yeast dough to slow its fermentation.
Reversed Puff Pastry: A type of puff pastry made with the dough enclosed between layers of butter.
Ribbon Sponge: A thin sponge cake layer with a decorative design made of stencil paste.
Rice Condé: A thick, molded rice pudding, usually topped with fruit.
Rice Impératrice: A rich rice pudding containing whipped cream, candied fruits, and gelatin.
Rich Dough: A dough high in fat, sugar, and/or eggs.
Rolled: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is rolled out into a sheet and cut into shapes with cutters.
Rolled-in Dough: Dough in which a fat has been incorporated in many layers by using a rolling and folding procedure.
Rounding: A method of molding a piece of dough into a round ball with a smooth surface or skin.
Royal Icing: A form of icing made of confectioners’ sugar and egg whites; used for decorating.
Rye Blend: A mixture of rye flour and hard wheat flour.
Rye Meal: Coarse rye flour.

S
Sabayon: A foamy dessert or sauce made of egg yolks whipped with wine or liqueur.
Sachertorte: A rich chocolate cake from Vienna.
Sacristain (sak ree stan): A small pastry made of a twisted strip of puff paste coated with nuts and sugar.
St-Honoré: (1) A dessert made of a ring of cream puffs set on a short dough base and filled with a type of pastry cream. (2) The cream used to fill this dessert, made of pastry cream and whipped egg whites.
Savarin: A type of yeast bread or cake that is soaked in syrup.
Scaling: Weighing, usually of ingredients or of doughs or batters.
Scone: A type of biscuit or biscuitlike bread.
Scone Flour: A mixture of flour and baking powder that is used when very small quantities of baking powder are needed.
Seeding: A technique for tempering chocolate by adding grated tempered chocolate to melted chocolate to cool it.
Sfogliatelle (sfo lee ah tell eh): A Southern Italian flaky turnover pastry with a sweet cheese filling.
Sheet: A cookie makeup method in which the dough is baked in sheets and cut into portions.
Sherbet: A frozen dessert made of water, sugar, fruit juice, and, sometimes, milk or cream.
Short: Having a high fat content, which makes the product (such as a cookie or pastry) very crumbly and tender.
Shortbread: A crisp cookie made of butter, sugar, and flour.
Short Dough: A pastry dough, similar to a basic cookie dough, made of flour, sugar, and fat. See also Short.
Shortening: (1) Any fat used in baking to tenderize the product by shortening gluten strands. (2) A white, tasteless, solid fat that has been formulated for baking or deep frying.
Simple Presentation: A style of plating a dessert consisting of a portion of one dessert plus optional sauces and garnishes.
Simple Syrup: A syrup consisting of sucrose and water in varying proportions.
Single-Acting Baking Powder: Baking powder that releases gases as soon as it is mixed with water.
Soft Pie: A single-crust pie with a custard-type filling-that is, a filling that sets or coagulates due to its egg content.
Soft Wheat: Wheat low in protein.
Solid Pack: A type of canned fruit or vegetable with no water added.
Sorbet (sor bay): French for “sherbet.”
Sorbetto: Italian for “sherbet.”
Soufflé: (1) A baked dish containing whipped egg whites, which cause the dish to rise during baking. (2) A still-frozen dessert made in a soufflé dish so that it resembles a baked soufflé.
Sour: Sourdough starter.
Sourdough: A dough that is leavened by a sourdough starter.
Sourdough Starter: A dough or batter that contains wild yeasts and bacteria, that has a noticeable acidity as a result of fermentation by these organisms, and that is used to leaven other doughs.
Sponge: A batter or dough of yeast, flour, and water that is allowed to ferment and is then mixed with more flour and other ingredients to make a bread dough.
Sponge Cake: A type of cake made by whipping eggs and sugar to a foam, then folding in flour.
Sponge Method: A cake-mixing method based on whipped eggs and sugar.
Sponge Roll: See Swiss Roll.
Spread: The tendency of a cookie to spread out and flatten when baked.
Spun Sugar: Boiled sugar made into long, thin threads by dipping wires into the sugar syrup and waving them so that the sugar falls off in fine streams.
Staling: The change in texture and aroma of baked goods due to the loss of moisture by the starch granules.
Stencil: A pattern cut from plastic or cardboard, used for depositing batter for thin cookies made in decorative shapes.
Stencil Paste: A type of thin cookie or wafer dough used to make cookies in decorative shapes and for making decorative patterns in ribbon sponge.
Stirred Custard: A custard that is stirred while it is cooked so that it thickens but does not set.
Stollen: A type of sweet yeast bread with fruit.
Straight Dough Method: A mixing method for yeast goods in which all ingredients are mixed together at once.
Straight Flour: Flour made from the entire wheat kernel minus the bran and germ.
Streusel (stroy sel): A crumbly topping for baked goods, consisting of fat, sugar, and flour rubbed together.
Strong Flour: Flour with a high protein content.
Strudel: (1) A type of dough that is stretched until paper thin. (2) A baked item consisting of a filling rolled up in a sheet of strudel dough or phyllo dough.
Sucrose: The chemical name for regular granulated sugar and confectioners’ sugar.
Sugar Cage: A lacy dome of hard or caramelized sugar.
Swiss Meringue: Egg whites and sugar warmed, usually over hot water, and then whipped to a foam.
Swiss Roll: A thin sponge cake layer spread with a filling and rolled up.
Syrup Pack: A type of canned fruit containing sugar syrup.

T
Tablage: A technique for tempering chocolate by cooling it on a marble slab.
Tart: A flat, baked item consisting of a pastry and a sweet or savory topping or filling; similar to a pie but usually thinner.
Tarte Tatin: An upside-down apple tart.
Tempering: The process of melting and cooling chocolate to specific temper- atures in order to prepare it for dipping, coating, or molding.
Three-Fold: A technique used to increase the number of layers in puff pastry or Danish pastry by folding the dough in thirds.
Tiramisu: An Italian dessert made of ladyfinger sponge flavored with espresso coffee and a creamy cheese filling.
Torte: German for various types of cakes, usually layer cakes.
Tulipe: A thin, crisp cookie molded into a cup shape.
Tunneling: A condition of muffin products characterized by large, elong- ated holes; caused by overmixing.
Turntable: A pedestal with a flat, rotating top, used for holding cakes while they are being decorated.
Two-Stage Method: A cake-mixing method, beginning with the blending of flour and high-ratio shortening, followed by the addition of liquids. Also called the high-ratio method.

V
Vacherin (vah sher ran): A crisp meringue shell filled with cream, fruits, or other items.

W
Wash: (1) A liquid brushed onto the surface of a product, usually before baking. (2) To apply such a liquid.
Water Pack: A type of canned fruit or vegetable containing the water used to process the item.
Weak Flour: Flour with a low protein content.
White Couverture: A confection consisting of cocoa butter, milk solids, and sugar. Sometimes erroneously called “white chocolate.”
Whole Wheat Flour: Flour made by grinding the entire wheat kernel, including the bran and germ.

Y
Yeast Starter: A type of sourdough starter made with a cultivated yeast.
Young Dough: A dough that is underfermented.

Z
Zabaglione: An Italian dessert or sauce made of whipped egg yolks and Marsala wine.
Zest: The colored outer portion of the peel of citrus fruits.

Protein

Protein is made of amino acids. The adult human body requires 20 different amino acids. Eight of these amino acids are called ‘essential amino acids’ because they must be obtained from diet. The remaining amino acids can be manufactured in the body using the eight essential amino acids as building blocks.

The eight essential amino acids are isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Meat is often touted as being a superior source of protein because it is a ‘complete’ protein, i.e. it contains all 8 essential amino acids but contrary to popular opinion (or misconception) meat is not a necessary source of protein, and is certainly not a ‘complete protein’ if the meat is cooked.

Cooking alters the meat’s molecular structure and the high temperatures of cooking (or pasteurization) needed to kill off the harmful pathogens in the decomposing flesh, coagulates and destroys much of the proteins in all animal products. Lysine, for example, can be destroyed by heat starting at temperatures as low as 110°F/43°C, with higher temperatures bringing greater destruction.

If that’s not enough, the longer an animal carcass is sitting around, whether frozen or not, the more amino acids break down. So for example, chicken which when raw is around 35% protein, is actually only about 18% usable protein (if you’re lucky) after it’s finished traveling to your home and has been cooked. Also if it’s not organic, chemicals can denature the amino acids in it as well.

It’s easy to get complete protein from plant foods! Some foods from the plant kingdom, such as soy and quinoa, have complete protein but ALL plant based foods have varying amounts of protein and the body will combine proteins from all sources, to make ‘complete protein’. This is because whenever we eat, our body deposits amino acids into a storage bank, and then withdraws them whenever we need them. So, it’s no longer considered necessary to eat complementary proteins together at one sitting, to make complete protein.

“All proteins are made up of the same amino acids. All. No exceptions. The difference between animal and vegetable proteins is in the content of certain amino acids. If vegetable proteins are mixed, the differences get made up. Even if they aren’t mixed, all you need to do to get the right amount of low amino acids is to eat more of that food. There is no ‘need’ for animal proteins at all.” ~Dr. Marion Nestle, Professor, Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, New York University.

OPTIMUM sources of protein are raw (i.e. all the amino acids are intact and useable) and plant-based and can be easily obtained from fruit, green leafy vegetables, other raw vegetables like mushrooms, plus nuts, seeds and sprouted beans, lentils and grains.

I have no ide…

 

I have no idea what to write for January!