I'd Eat That

[Schmidt Meister]

9 hours ago, DAKA said:

We find that we are eating about half what we used to...dinner out is actually 2 meals for us with "doggy bags"

S' OK, dinner out costs about double what it did 10 years ago   

Us too. And dinner out, very, very seldom involves a drive through anymore. We live in a small city and we only have 3 really good restaurants we can choose from and that includes a very nice barbecue/steak place. We actually order a little heavy so we can take home leftovers every time.

And you are totally right about the prices. But for the wear and tear it saves. I figure it balances out.

[Schmidt Meister]

This is our cole slaw recipe. We spent quite a while adjusting this recipe and we think it's awesome. We liked KFC's old school slaw mixture, but they have decided to modify their recipe over the years until it's to the point where it sucks, imo. We also like the slaw grated to a smaller piece than they used. After looking at multiple recipes in our families and on-line, we adjusted until we got here. We love it on hot dogs, my wife doesn't really like hot dogs but she does like them with this slaw. It needs at least 4 to 5 hours marinating time and is better after sitting overnight. When you first mix it up, the onion will be a little twangy but time mellows it out perfectly. If you like cole slaw enough to make it yourself, after the first batch you will know what adjustments to make to the onion, salt and pepper.

 Debra’s Awesome Cole Slaw

Yield: 5 cups

Ingredients:

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup milk

4 tablespoons lemon juice

3 tablespoons vinegar

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

grated cabbage - ½ large head (using food processor)

grated carrots - 2 med. (using food processor)

grated sweet onion - ½ med. (box grater - smallest grate)

 

Instructions:

 

Whisk together mayonnaise, sugar, milk, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk well enough to dissolve sugar.

Toss the cabbage, carrots, and onion into the dressing; mix well.

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to overnight before serving.

[Schmidt Meister]

Here's how we used the first of the cole slaw we made. Delicious.

Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

3/4 yellow onion

1 pork shoulder (3-4 pounds)

salt, pepper and/or garlic powder

1 can Dr. Pepper (not diet)

1 cup your favorite barbecue sauce

1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper

creamy deli coleslaw

bakery kaiser rolls.

 

Instructions:

Slice onion and place in bottom of crockpot.

Season the pork lightly with salt/pepper and/or garlic powder

Place in crockpot on low.

Pour can of Dr. pepper over it.

Cook on low 7-8 hours (if you're home turn the roast over after 3-4 hours.)

After 6-7 hours, remove about 1/4 cup of the liquid and set aside and pour the cup of the barbecue sauce on top of the pork.

Cook the last hour, either remove pork from liquid or leave in and shred pork.

Adding Dr. Pepper liquid back in if needed for the desired "wetness".

Serve on buns with coleslaw and additional barbecue sauce, if desired.

[Schmidt Meister]

[Schmidt Meister]

The Brain Needs Animal Fat

Why humans can't thrive on plants alone.

Georgia Ede in Psychology Today 3.31.2019

When you think of animal fat, what comes to mind? Unsightly blobs of cellulite? Artery-clogging strips of gristle to be trimmed off your steak and tossed into the trash? Or a sophisticated substance that contains within it the secret to human intelligence?

We think of fat as bad, the less of it we eat, and the less of it we carry on our bodies, the better, but this isn’t the right way to think about it. Fat is not just for insulation and energy storage, it’s also for nutrient absorption, cell signaling, immune function and many other critical processes. Many people think the main difference between plant and animal fats is that animal-sourced foods contain more saturated fat, but here are a few fun fatty facts that may surprise you:

*All whole plant and animal foods naturally contain a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fats.

*Some plant foods are higher in saturated fat than animal foods, with coconut oil topping the charts at 90 percent saturated fat. That’s more than twice the saturated fat found in beef fat (tallow).

*The primary type of fat found in pork is a monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) called oleic acid, the same fat found in olive oil.

For decades now, we’ve been told to avoid saturated fats, particularly those from animal foods, and to consume “heart-healthy” cholesterol-free fats from plant foods such as seeds, nuts, and olives. Public health officials say these magical plant fats are rich in important PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) that the human body cannot manufacture and therefore must be obtained from the diet:

*the essential dietary omega-3 is called Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA for short)

*the essential dietary omega-6 is called Linoleic Acid (LA for short).

What often goes unsaid is that both ALA and LA are found in a wide variety of both plant and animal foods, so it is rather easy to obtain both of these PUFAs, regardless of your dietary preferences, so long as you are including enough fat in your diet.

But here’s the rub: our bodies really aren’t looking for ALA and LA; they’re looking for something better. ALA and LA are considered “parent” omegas because they are used to manufacture the omegas we actually need: EPA, DHA and ARA, none of which exist in plant foods.

EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) is an omega-3 that serves primarily anti-inflammatory and healing functions

ARA (arachidonic acid) is an omega-6 often thought of as a “bad” fatty acid because it promotes inflammation. But ARA shoulders countless other responsibilities, and even promotes healing. [This intriguing, beneficial and much-misunderstood molecule recently stepped into my office for a long overdue therapy session. You can read a transcript of our conversation here.]

Introducing DHA

Our brains are extremely rich in fat. About 2/3 of the human brain is fat, and a full 20% of that fat is a very special essential omega-3 fatty acid called docosahexanoic acid, or DHA.

DHA is an ancient molecule so useful to us and our fellow vertebrates (creatures with backbones) that it has remained unchanged for more than 500 million years of evolution. What makes this particular PUFA so irreplaceable?

DHA’s job description is a lengthy one. Among many other functions, DHA participates in the formation of myelin, the white matter that insulates our brain circuits. It also helps maintain the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, which keeps the brain safe from unwanted outside influences.

Perhaps most importantly, DHA is critical to the development of the human cortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher-order thinking. Without DHA, the highly sophisticated connections necessary for sustained attention, decision-making, and complex problem-solving do not form properly. It has been hypothesized that without DHA, consciousness and symbolic thinking, hallmarks of the human race, would be impossible.

DHA plays a “unique and indispensable role” in the “neural signaling essential for higher intelligence.” - Simon Dyall PhD, Lipid Research Scientist Bournemouth University, UK

Professor Michael Crawford, a pioneering British scientist who has been studying essential fatty acids for fifty years, theorizes that DHA’s special configuration lends it unique quantum mechanical properties that allow it to buffer electron flow. This may explain why we find it in places throughout the brain and body where electricity is important: synapses where brain cell signaling takes place; mitochondria, where the electron transport chain is busy turning food into stored energy; and the retina of the eye, where photons of sunlight are transformed into electrical information. 

This is a truly miraculous molecule. Plants don’t have it because plants don’t need it.

The most rapid phase of development of the infant cortex takes place between the beginning of the third trimester of pregnancy and age two. If enough DHA isn’t available to the baby during this critical 27-month window, it is unclear whether the consequences can be completely undone. In fact we do see lower levels of DHA in people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, including those which manifest early in life, such as autistic spectrum disorders and ADHD.

“Similar to children and adolescents born preterm, patients with ADHD, mood disorders, and psychotic disorders also exhibit decreased frontal white matter tract integrity and reduced functional connectivity within cortical networks. Together these findings support the hypothesis that perinatal deficits in DHA accrual may contribute to diminished cortical circuit development observed in major psychiatric disorders” (McNamara RK 2015).

Plant foods contain absolutely no DHA

For those who choose vegan diets, it is important to know that plant foods contain no DHA. The omega-3 fatty acid found in plant foods like flax, walnut and chia is alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). Unfortunately, it appears to be rather difficult for the adult human body to make DHA out of ALA, with most studies finding a conversion rate of less than ten percent:

 

Note that quite a few studies find a conversion rate of zero percent.

 Whether this pathway can generate adequate amounts of DHA in all adults under all circumstances continues to be a topic of debate. Some scientists have advocated that DHA, rather than ALA, should be officially considered the essential omega-3 fatty acid. Even vocal advocates of plant-based diets such as the authors of the recent EAT-Lancet report acknowledge that it is unclear how much ALA one needs to consume to fulfill DHA requirements.

Indeed, it appears that the fewer animal foods we eat, the lower our DHA levels tend to be:

 

 

However, when it comes to children younger than two years old, the science is clear that this conversion pathway cannot and should not be relied upon to keep pace with the DHA demands of the rapidly growing body and brain. Therefore most experts agree that caretakers should provide infants and very young children with dietary or supplemental sources of DHA, as ALA alone is not sufficient to support healthy infant development.

DHA status and intake recommendations are based on blood levels, not brain levels. Unfortunately there is no way to measure brain DHA levels in living human beings, and it’s unclear whether blood levels reflect brain levels.

Bearing this in mind, it has been estimated that as many as 80% of Americans have suboptimal blood levels of DHA.

Include animal-sourced foods in your diet if you can.

The USDA has not established specific DHA intake targets for the general population; instead it recommends everyone consume at least eight ounces of seafood per week. The easiest way to obtain DHA is to include some fatty fish in your diet, but as you can see from the table below, there are other options. 

 

Minimize consumption of vegetable oils.

Nearly all processed foods, prepared hot foods, packaged snacks and convenience foods are made with refined vegetable oils such as soybean or sunflower oil. Most vegetable oils are extremely, unnaturally high in LA (linoleic acid), an omega-6 fatty acid that reduces the production and effectiveness of DHA within your body.  Excess linoleic acid can tilt your immune system too far towards inflammation and away from healing, so there are many reasons to minimize your consumption of vegetable oils. Your best plant oil choices are olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, or red palm oil. If you must include refined vegetable oil, canola oil and palm kernel oil are low in linoleic acid. Lowering your vegetable oil intake can increase the availability of DHA in your body, decreasing your need for dietary and/or supplemental DHA. The presence of high amounts of linoleic acid in the typical modern diet may help to explain why so many people appear to have low DHA levels despite the fact that most people do include animal foods in their diet already.

If you choose a plant-based diet, supplement properly.

Thankfully, vegetarian and vegan-friendly DHA supplements extracted from algae are available. [Algae are neither plants nor animals...discuss!] These supplements are more expensive and contain lower concentrations of DHA than fish or krill oil supplements (meaning higher doses are recommended), but may be important for maintaining healthy DHA levels, particularly in mothers and babies during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. Directly consuming seaweed and other forms of edible algae instead of taking algae oil extracts is unreliable because it's unclear whether the DHA within these fibrous foods can be released and absorbed by the human body; in other words, the DHA in edible algae may not be bioavailable. All baby formula in the U.S. is supplemented with DHA already, in an effort to mirror human mother's milk, which naturally contains DHA. If weaning your child before age two, be sure to include DHA in your child’s diet as food or supplements.

If you have psychiatric symptoms, consider supplementation.

There have been numerous clinical trials of omega-3 supplements in the management of psychiatric disorders. You may be surprised to hear that most of these studies have generated only weak or mixed results. There are many possible reasons for this, not the least of which may be that the amount of linoleic acid in the diet was not taken into consideration. In other words, taking a decent dose of omega-3s without also lowering your linoleic acid consumption (by avoiding vegetable oils) may not be very helpful. However, supplementation is widely viewed as safe, and some studies noted modest benefits at doses of (combined EPA+DHA) of 1000 to 2000 mg per day, particularly for people with depression. 

Unanswered questions.

I titled this post "The Brain Needs Animal Fat" because although DHA does exist in algae, algae are not plants, and we don't know if we can access the DHA within edible algae without special extraction methods. Prior to the availability of algae-derived supplements (which only became available recently), the only pre-formed DHA naturally bioavailable to everyone would have come from animal foods. For those who choose a vegan diet, I fully support and recommend algae-based supplements.

It is difficult to be sure precisely how much DHA we need, and both conversion rates and availability can vary significantly depending on age, gender, genetics, and dietary composition.

There are many questions left unanswered that go beyond the scope of this post and that may deserve a follow-up post. For example: if most land animals are extremely low in DHA, does that mean everyone needs to eat seafood? Are wild land animal foods higher in DHA than standard land animal foods we find in the grocery store? How do adults choosing plant-based diets know whether they can rely on their ALA conversion pathway? Could eliminating processed foods and vegetable oils completely eliminate the apparent requirement for animal-sourced DHA (or algae oil supplementation)? Does eating a low-carbohydrate diet affect the conversion rate from ALA to DHA? Should you get tested for omega-3 deficiencies, and if so, how? Are there any disadvantages to obtaining DHA from supplements as opposed to obtaining them from animal foods?

The bottom line about DHA.

Minimizing refined vegetable oils and other processed foods, and either including some animal foods in the diet or supplementing appropriately seem to be reasonable options that likely minimize our risk. 

One thing is clear. DHA is a wondrous fatty acid that the human body cannot function without, and it deserves our admiration and respect. While it is important for all of us, when it comes to building the brains of the future, it is precious and irreplaceable.

[crockett]

47 minutes ago, Schmidt Meister said:

The Brain Needs Animal Fat

Why humans can't thrive on plants alone.

Georgia Ede in Psychology Today 3.31.2019

When you think of animal fat, what comes to mind? Unsightly blobs of cellulite? Artery-clogging strips of gristle to be trimmed off your steak and tossed into the trash? Or a sophisticated substance that contains within it the secret to human intelligence?

We think of fat as bad, the less of it we eat, and the less of it we carry on our bodies, the better, but this isn’t the right way to think about it. Fat is not just for insulation and energy storage, it’s also for nutrient absorption, cell signaling, immune function and many other critical processes. Many people think the main difference between plant and animal fats is that animal-sourced foods contain more saturated fat, but here are a few fun fatty facts that may surprise you:

*All whole plant and animal foods naturally contain a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fats.

*Some plant foods are higher in saturated fat than animal foods, with coconut oil topping the charts at 90 percent saturated fat. That’s more than twice the saturated fat found in beef fat (tallow).

*The primary type of fat found in pork is a monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) called oleic acid, the same fat found in olive oil.

For decades now, we’ve been told to avoid saturated fats, particularly those from animal foods, and to consume “heart-healthy” cholesterol-free fats from plant foods such as seeds, nuts, and olives. Public health officials say these magical plant fats are rich in important PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) that the human body cannot manufacture and therefore must be obtained from the diet:

*the essential dietary omega-3 is called Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA for short)

*the essential dietary omega-6 is called Linoleic Acid (LA for short).

What often goes unsaid is that both ALA and LA are found in a wide variety of both plant and animal foods, so it is rather easy to obtain both of these PUFAs, regardless of your dietary preferences, so long as you are including enough fat in your diet.

But here’s the rub: our bodies really aren’t looking for ALA and LA; they’re looking for something better. ALA and LA are considered “parent” omegas because they are used to manufacture the omegas we actually need: EPA, DHA and ARA, none of which exist in plant foods.

EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) is an omega-3 that serves primarily anti-inflammatory and healing functions

ARA (arachidonic acid) is an omega-6 often thought of as a “bad” fatty acid because it promotes inflammation. But ARA shoulders countless other responsibilities, and even promotes healing. [This intriguing, beneficial and much-misunderstood molecule recently stepped into my office for a long overdue therapy session. You can read a transcript of our conversation here.]

Introducing DHA

Our brains are extremely rich in fat. About 2/3 of the human brain is fat, and a full 20% of that fat is a very special essential omega-3 fatty acid called docosahexanoic acid, or DHA.

DHA is an ancient molecule so useful to us and our fellow vertebrates (creatures with backbones) that it has remained unchanged for more than 500 million years of evolution. What makes this particular PUFA so irreplaceable?

DHA’s job description is a lengthy one. Among many other functions, DHA participates in the formation of myelin, the white matter that insulates our brain circuits. It also helps maintain the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, which keeps the brain safe from unwanted outside influences.

Perhaps most importantly, DHA is critical to the development of the human cortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher-order thinking. Without DHA, the highly sophisticated connections necessary for sustained attention, decision-making, and complex problem-solving do not form properly. It has been hypothesized that without DHA, consciousness and symbolic thinking, hallmarks of the human race, would be impossible.

DHA plays a “unique and indispensable role” in the “neural signaling essential for higher intelligence.” - Simon Dyall PhD, Lipid Research Scientist Bournemouth University, UK

Professor Michael Crawford, a pioneering British scientist who has been studying essential fatty acids for fifty years, theorizes that DHA’s special configuration lends it unique quantum mechanical properties that allow it to buffer electron flow. This may explain why we find it in places throughout the brain and body where electricity is important: synapses where brain cell signaling takes place; mitochondria, where the electron transport chain is busy turning food into stored energy; and the retina of the eye, where photons of sunlight are transformed into electrical information. 

This is a truly miraculous molecule. Plants don’t have it because plants don’t need it.

The most rapid phase of development of the infant cortex takes place between the beginning of the third trimester of pregnancy and age two. If enough DHA isn’t available to the baby during this critical 27-month window, it is unclear whether the consequences can be completely undone. In fact we do see lower levels of DHA in people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, including those which manifest early in life, such as autistic spectrum disorders and ADHD.

“Similar to children and adolescents born preterm, patients with ADHD, mood disorders, and psychotic disorders also exhibit decreased frontal white matter tract integrity and reduced functional connectivity within cortical networks. Together these findings support the hypothesis that perinatal deficits in DHA accrual may contribute to diminished cortical circuit development observed in major psychiatric disorders” (McNamara RK 2015).

Plant foods contain absolutely no DHA

For those who choose vegan diets, it is important to know that plant foods contain no DHA. The omega-3 fatty acid found in plant foods like flax, walnut and chia is alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). Unfortunately, it appears to be rather difficult for the adult human body to make DHA out of ALA, with most studies finding a conversion rate of less than ten percent:

 

 

Note that quite a few studies find a conversion rate of zero percent.

 Whether this pathway can generate adequate amounts of DHA in all adults under all circumstances continues to be a topic of debate. Some scientists have advocated that DHA, rather than ALA, should be officially considered the essential omega-3 fatty acid. Even vocal advocates of plant-based diets such as the authors of the recent EAT-Lancet report acknowledge that it is unclear how much ALA one needs to consume to fulfill DHA requirements.

Indeed, it appears that the fewer animal foods we eat, the lower our DHA levels tend to be:

 

 

 

However, when it comes to children younger than two years old, the science is clear that this conversion pathway cannot and should not be relied upon to keep pace with the DHA demands of the rapidly growing body and brain. Therefore most experts agree that caretakers should provide infants and very young children with dietary or supplemental sources of DHA, as ALA alone is not sufficient to support healthy infant development.

DHA status and intake recommendations are based on blood levels, not brain levels. Unfortunately there is no way to measure brain DHA levels in living human beings, and it’s unclear whether blood levels reflect brain levels.

Bearing this in mind, it has been estimated that as many as 80% of Americans have suboptimal blood levels of DHA.

Include animal-sourced foods in your diet if you can.

The USDA has not established specific DHA intake targets for the general population; instead it recommends everyone consume at least eight ounces of seafood per week. The easiest way to obtain DHA is to include some fatty fish in your diet, but as you can see from the table below, there are other options. 

 

 

Minimize consumption of vegetable oils.

Nearly all processed foods, prepared hot foods, packaged snacks and convenience foods are made with refined vegetable oils such as soybean or sunflower oil. Most vegetable oils are extremely, unnaturally high in LA (linoleic acid), an omega-6 fatty acid that reduces the production and effectiveness of DHA within your body.  Excess linoleic acid can tilt your immune system too far towards inflammation and away from healing, so there are many reasons to minimize your consumption of vegetable oils. Your best plant oil choices are olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, or red palm oil. If you must include refined vegetable oil, canola oil and palm kernel oil are low in linoleic acid. Lowering your vegetable oil intake can increase the availability of DHA in your body, decreasing your need for dietary and/or supplemental DHA. The presence of high amounts of linoleic acid in the typical modern diet may help to explain why so many people appear to have low DHA levels despite the fact that most people do include animal foods in their diet already.

If you choose a plant-based diet, supplement properly.

Thankfully, vegetarian and vegan-friendly DHA supplements extracted from algae are available. [Algae are neither plants nor animals...discuss!] These supplements are more expensive and contain lower concentrations of DHA than fish or krill oil supplements (meaning higher doses are recommended), but may be important for maintaining healthy DHA levels, particularly in mothers and babies during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. Directly consuming seaweed and other forms of edible algae instead of taking algae oil extracts is unreliable because it's unclear whether the DHA within these fibrous foods can be released and absorbed by the human body; in other words, the DHA in edible algae may not be bioavailable. All baby formula in the U.S. is supplemented with DHA already, in an effort to mirror human mother's milk, which naturally contains DHA. If weaning your child before age two, be sure to include DHA in your child’s diet as food or supplements.

If you have psychiatric symptoms, consider supplementation.

There have been numerous clinical trials of omega-3 supplements in the management of psychiatric disorders. You may be surprised to hear that most of these studies have generated only weak or mixed results. There are many possible reasons for this, not the least of which may be that the amount of linoleic acid in the diet was not taken into consideration. In other words, taking a decent dose of omega-3s without also lowering your linoleic acid consumption (by avoiding vegetable oils) may not be very helpful. However, supplementation is widely viewed as safe, and some studies noted modest benefits at doses of (combined EPA+DHA) of 1000 to 2000 mg per day, particularly for people with depression. 

Unanswered questions.

I titled this post "The Brain Needs Animal Fat" because although DHA does exist in algae, algae are not plants, and we don't know if we can access the DHA within edible algae without special extraction methods. Prior to the availability of algae-derived supplements (which only became available recently), the only pre-formed DHA naturally bioavailable to everyone would have come from animal foods. For those who choose a vegan diet, I fully support and recommend algae-based supplements.

It is difficult to be sure precisely how much DHA we need, and both conversion rates and availability can vary significantly depending on age, gender, genetics, and dietary composition.

There are many questions left unanswered that go beyond the scope of this post and that may deserve a follow-up post. For example: if most land animals are extremely low in DHA, does that mean everyone needs to eat seafood? Are wild land animal foods higher in DHA than standard land animal foods we find in the grocery store? How do adults choosing plant-based diets know whether they can rely on their ALA conversion pathway? Could eliminating processed foods and vegetable oils completely eliminate the apparent requirement for animal-sourced DHA (or algae oil supplementation)? Does eating a low-carbohydrate diet affect the conversion rate from ALA to DHA? Should you get tested for omega-3 deficiencies, and if so, how? Are there any disadvantages to obtaining DHA from supplements as opposed to obtaining them from animal foods?

The bottom line about DHA.

Minimizing refined vegetable oils and other processed foods, and either including some animal foods in the diet or supplementing appropriately seem to be reasonable options that likely minimize our risk. 

One thing is clear. DHA is a wondrous fatty acid that the human body cannot function without, and it deserves our admiration and respect. While it is important for all of us, when it comes to building the brains of the future, it is precious and irreplaceable.

 

One of my first girlfriends was a hardcore vegan. And she had major mental issues. Everything was out of balance. It took me a while to see past her big boobs when I was in my mid 20s.

One day she started demolishing my computer and my apartment because she was jealous when I was working on the computer. I locked myself into my home office and called the cops, in order to remove her. One of the best decision in my life. Was about to lose my ****, take her apart, and go to jail.

[Schmidt Meister]

8 minutes ago, crockett said:

 

On of my first girlfriends was a hardcore vegan. And she had major mental issues. Everything was out of balance. It took me a while to see past her big boobs when I was in my mid 20s.

One day she started demolishing my computer and my apartment because she was jealous when I was working on the computer. I locked myself into my home office and called the cops, in order to remove her. One of the best decision in my life. Was about to lose my ****, take her apart, and go to jail.

I will never, ever understand the vegan desire. I love veggies, almost every kind, and I have went without meat for several meals in a row or more. But I was designed to eat meat, our bodies need meat and I LOVE the taste. 

And as you have personal experience with it, we see that vegans seem to have a propensity to have mental issues. And even huge tata's cannot compensate for some of their mental rollercoastering.

[crockett]

22 minutes ago, Schmidt Meister said:

I will never, ever understand the vegan desire. I love veggies, almost every kind, and I have went without meat for several meals in a row or more. But I was designed to eat meat, our bodies need meat and I LOVE the taste. 

And as you have personal experience with it, we see that vegans seem to have a propensity to have mental issues. And even huge tata's cannot compensate for some of their mental rollercoastering.

 

I think its a loop. Many of them grow up with some form of a complex, often based on lacking parenting. They feel ashamed for eating flesh, for animals getting killed. Once they have been vegan, they show nutritional deficiencies and that will have an impact on your mental state eventually.

And today's society just amplifies this loop. All the woke media and crap in schools turn so many kids into overly sensitive people. There are guilty-trips (traps) waiting on every corner. A human mind that can't develop unaltered and unbiased will be a nightmare to deal with further down the road.

We see the consequences of the Stockholm syndrome on a national level these days. Many of those Democrats now identify with the beta male existence and victimhood. Being strong and masculine is now toxic. Hunting and eating meat is one of those topics they try to redefine. What used to be normal, is now the new minority. All part of de-evolution. Human kind became too "smart" for its own mental capacity.

[DAKA]

3 hours ago, Schmidt Meister said:

The Brain Needs Animal Fat

Why humans can't thrive on plants alone.

Georgia Ede in Psychology Today 3.31.2019

When you think of animal fat, what comes to mind? Unsightly blobs of cellulite? Artery-clogging strips of gristle to be trimmed off your steak and tossed into the trash? Or a sophisticated substance that contains within it the secret to human intelligence?

We think of fat as bad, the less of it we eat, and the less of it we carry on our bodies, the better, but this isn’t the right way to think about it. Fat is not just for insulation and energy storage, it’s also for nutrient absorption, cell signaling, immune function and many other critical processes. Many people think the main difference between plant and animal fats is that animal-sourced foods contain more saturated fat, but here are a few fun fatty facts that may surprise you:

*All whole plant and animal foods naturally contain a mixture of saturated and unsaturated fats.

*Some plant foods are higher in saturated fat than animal foods, with coconut oil topping the charts at 90 percent saturated fat. That’s more than twice the saturated fat found in beef fat (tallow).

*The primary type of fat found in pork is a monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) called oleic acid, the same fat found in olive oil.

For decades now, we’ve been told to avoid saturated fats, particularly those from animal foods, and to consume “heart-healthy” cholesterol-free fats from plant foods such as seeds, nuts, and olives. Public health officials say these magical plant fats are rich in important PUFAs (polyunsaturated fatty acids) that the human body cannot manufacture and therefore must be obtained from the diet:

*the essential dietary omega-3 is called Alpha-Linolenic Acid (ALA for short)

*the essential dietary omega-6 is called Linoleic Acid (LA for short).

What often goes unsaid is that both ALA and LA are found in a wide variety of both plant and animal foods, so it is rather easy to obtain both of these PUFAs, regardless of your dietary preferences, so long as you are including enough fat in your diet.

But here’s the rub: our bodies really aren’t looking for ALA and LA; they’re looking for something better. ALA and LA are considered “parent” omegas because they are used to manufacture the omegas we actually need: EPA, DHA and ARA, none of which exist in plant foods.

EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) is an omega-3 that serves primarily anti-inflammatory and healing functions

ARA (arachidonic acid) is an omega-6 often thought of as a “bad” fatty acid because it promotes inflammation. But ARA shoulders countless other responsibilities, and even promotes healing. [This intriguing, beneficial and much-misunderstood molecule recently stepped into my office for a long overdue therapy session. You can read a transcript of our conversation here.]

Introducing DHA

Our brains are extremely rich in fat. About 2/3 of the human brain is fat, and a full 20% of that fat is a very special essential omega-3 fatty acid called docosahexanoic acid, or DHA.

DHA is an ancient molecule so useful to us and our fellow vertebrates (creatures with backbones) that it has remained unchanged for more than 500 million years of evolution. What makes this particular PUFA so irreplaceable?

DHA’s job description is a lengthy one. Among many other functions, DHA participates in the formation of myelin, the white matter that insulates our brain circuits. It also helps maintain the integrity of the blood-brain barrier, which keeps the brain safe from unwanted outside influences.

Perhaps most importantly, DHA is critical to the development of the human cortex, the part of the brain responsible for higher-order thinking. Without DHA, the highly sophisticated connections necessary for sustained attention, decision-making, and complex problem-solving do not form properly. It has been hypothesized that without DHA, consciousness and symbolic thinking, hallmarks of the human race, would be impossible.

DHA plays a “unique and indispensable role” in the “neural signaling essential for higher intelligence.” - Simon Dyall PhD, Lipid Research Scientist Bournemouth University, UK

Professor Michael Crawford, a pioneering British scientist who has been studying essential fatty acids for fifty years, theorizes that DHA’s special configuration lends it unique quantum mechanical properties that allow it to buffer electron flow. This may explain why we find it in places throughout the brain and body where electricity is important: synapses where brain cell signaling takes place; mitochondria, where the electron transport chain is busy turning food into stored energy; and the retina of the eye, where photons of sunlight are transformed into electrical information. 

This is a truly miraculous molecule. Plants don’t have it because plants don’t need it.

The most rapid phase of development of the infant cortex takes place between the beginning of the third trimester of pregnancy and age two. If enough DHA isn’t available to the baby during this critical 27-month window, it is unclear whether the consequences can be completely undone. In fact we do see lower levels of DHA in people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, including those which manifest early in life, such as autistic spectrum disorders and ADHD.

“Similar to children and adolescents born preterm, patients with ADHD, mood disorders, and psychotic disorders also exhibit decreased frontal white matter tract integrity and reduced functional connectivity within cortical networks. Together these findings support the hypothesis that perinatal deficits in DHA accrual may contribute to diminished cortical circuit development observed in major psychiatric disorders” (McNamara RK 2015).

Plant foods contain absolutely no DHA

For those who choose vegan diets, it is important to know that plant foods contain no DHA. The omega-3 fatty acid found in plant foods like flax, walnut and chia is alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). Unfortunately, it appears to be rather difficult for the adult human body to make DHA out of ALA, with most studies finding a conversion rate of less than ten percent:

 

 

Note that quite a few studies find a conversion rate of zero percent.

 Whether this pathway can generate adequate amounts of DHA in all adults under all circumstances continues to be a topic of debate. Some scientists have advocated that DHA, rather than ALA, should be officially considered the essential omega-3 fatty acid. Even vocal advocates of plant-based diets such as the authors of the recent EAT-Lancet report acknowledge that it is unclear how much ALA one needs to consume to fulfill DHA requirements.

Indeed, it appears that the fewer animal foods we eat, the lower our DHA levels tend to be:

 

 

 

However, when it comes to children younger than two years old, the science is clear that this conversion pathway cannot and should not be relied upon to keep pace with the DHA demands of the rapidly growing body and brain. Therefore most experts agree that caretakers should provide infants and very young children with dietary or supplemental sources of DHA, as ALA alone is not sufficient to support healthy infant development.

DHA status and intake recommendations are based on blood levels, not brain levels. Unfortunately there is no way to measure brain DHA levels in living human beings, and it’s unclear whether blood levels reflect brain levels.

Bearing this in mind, it has been estimated that as many as 80% of Americans have suboptimal blood levels of DHA.

Include animal-sourced foods in your diet if you can.

The USDA has not established specific DHA intake targets for the general population; instead it recommends everyone consume at least eight ounces of seafood per week. The easiest way to obtain DHA is to include some fatty fish in your diet, but as you can see from the table below, there are other options. 

 

 

Minimize consumption of vegetable oils.

Nearly all processed foods, prepared hot foods, packaged snacks and convenience foods are made with refined vegetable oils such as soybean or sunflower oil. Most vegetable oils are extremely, unnaturally high in LA (linoleic acid), an omega-6 fatty acid that reduces the production and effectiveness of DHA within your body.  Excess linoleic acid can tilt your immune system too far towards inflammation and away from healing, so there are many reasons to minimize your consumption of vegetable oils. Your best plant oil choices are olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil, or red palm oil. If you must include refined vegetable oil, canola oil and palm kernel oil are low in linoleic acid. Lowering your vegetable oil intake can increase the availability of DHA in your body, decreasing your need for dietary and/or supplemental DHA. The presence of high amounts of linoleic acid in the typical modern diet may help to explain why so many people appear to have low DHA levels despite the fact that most people do include animal foods in their diet already.

If you choose a plant-based diet, supplement properly.

Thankfully, vegetarian and vegan-friendly DHA supplements extracted from algae are available. [Algae are neither plants nor animals...discuss!] These supplements are more expensive and contain lower concentrations of DHA than fish or krill oil supplements (meaning higher doses are recommended), but may be important for maintaining healthy DHA levels, particularly in mothers and babies during pregnancy and while breastfeeding. Directly consuming seaweed and other forms of edible algae instead of taking algae oil extracts is unreliable because it's unclear whether the DHA within these fibrous foods can be released and absorbed by the human body; in other words, the DHA in edible algae may not be bioavailable. All baby formula in the U.S. is supplemented with DHA already, in an effort to mirror human mother's milk, which naturally contains DHA. If weaning your child before age two, be sure to include DHA in your child’s diet as food or supplements.

If you have psychiatric symptoms, consider supplementation.

There have been numerous clinical trials of omega-3 supplements in the management of psychiatric disorders. You may be surprised to hear that most of these studies have generated only weak or mixed results. There are many possible reasons for this, not the least of which may be that the amount of linoleic acid in the diet was not taken into consideration. In other words, taking a decent dose of omega-3s without also lowering your linoleic acid consumption (by avoiding vegetable oils) may not be very helpful. However, supplementation is widely viewed as safe, and some studies noted modest benefits at doses of (combined EPA+DHA) of 1000 to 2000 mg per day, particularly for people with depression. 

Unanswered questions.

I titled this post "The Brain Needs Animal Fat" because although DHA does exist in algae, algae are not plants, and we don't know if we can access the DHA within edible algae without special extraction methods. Prior to the availability of algae-derived supplements (which only became available recently), the only pre-formed DHA naturally bioavailable to everyone would have come from animal foods. For those who choose a vegan diet, I fully support and recommend algae-based supplements.

It is difficult to be sure precisely how much DHA we need, and both conversion rates and availability can vary significantly depending on age, gender, genetics, and dietary composition.

There are many questions left unanswered that go beyond the scope of this post and that may deserve a follow-up post. For example: if most land animals are extremely low in DHA, does that mean everyone needs to eat seafood? Are wild land animal foods higher in DHA than standard land animal foods we find in the grocery store? How do adults choosing plant-based diets know whether they can rely on their ALA conversion pathway? Could eliminating processed foods and vegetable oils completely eliminate the apparent requirement for animal-sourced DHA (or algae oil supplementation)? Does eating a low-carbohydrate diet affect the conversion rate from ALA to DHA? Should you get tested for omega-3 deficiencies, and if so, how? Are there any disadvantages to obtaining DHA from supplements as opposed to obtaining them from animal foods?

The bottom line about DHA.

Minimizing refined vegetable oils and other processed foods, and either including some animal foods in the diet or supplementing appropriately seem to be reasonable options that likely minimize our risk. 

One thing is clear. DHA is a wondrous fatty acid that the human body cannot function without, and it deserves our admiration and respect. While it is important for all of us, when it comes to building the brains of the future, it is precious and irreplaceable.

What he said....

[Schmidt Meister]

Tomato Sandwich Etiquette

 

The tomato is among God's most gifted creations: It manages to be both fruit and vegetable; it can be made into entrees, sauces, toppings or pies; it can be eaten raw or cooked and it can be pronounced "tah-may-toe" or "tuh-mah-toe." It's a food group, all by itself.

It does show particular talent as the centerpiece of a tomato sandwich, better known around here by the scientific name "mater sammich."

Everyone knows how to make a tomato sandwich, right? There's not much to screw up, at least at first glance. In reality, there are some, somewhat hotly debated rules to making a tomato sandwich. Here's a handy list:

 

Don’t use tomatoes with fancy-pants shapes like ‘cherry’ or ‘pear’ in a tomato sandwich. You’re only wasting mayo.

Decide, to peel or not to peel. WWGD? (What Would Granny Do?) Although many purists frown on peeling, my Granny Smith handed them to me peeled and I will always have a special place in my heart for a skin’t mater.

Always use white bread. Don’t embarrass yourself by trying to make a tomato sammich with an uppity bread. This is where those high-end, ‘to-do’, and Yankee restaurants always mess up.

Mayo matters. Some swear by Duke's. Others might choose Blue Plate, Hellman's or Kraft. I wouldn't judge any of those choices. Personally ... and I hate to offend anyone here and I know all the purists will lose their gourds ... I prefer Miracle Whip. The old school tomato sammich rules say that Miracle Whip is not mayo; it is a sandwich spread and, in most Southerners opinion, doesn't have the pedigree required to mingle with freshly sliced tomatoes.

FYI: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that anything labeled "mayonnaise" contain a minimum of 65 percent vegetable oil by weight. Miracle Whip contains less than 65% which I prefer for most applications. Prove me wrong.

To toast or not to toast the bread. True Southerners will say that toasting is for BLT’s and some of those other sammiches that are too big for their britches. It's what most of my Aunts would call "showy."

Don’t do a tomato sammich without salt and pepper. Just don’t.

I read a blog post not too long ago by a woman who says her ex-boyfriend taught her to blot her tomato slices on a paper towel before putting them on the bread. That really creamed my corn. The beauty of a tomato sandwich lies in its inherent messiness. I'll repeat that so you can write it down: The beauty of a tomato sandwich lies in its inherent messiness. That’s probably why he is the ex-boyfriend.

 

As a side note, there are those with unrefined culinary tastes who will adulterate a pure tomato sandwich with lettuce, this habit should be discouraged wherever noticed. This is akin to putting avocado on anything. If you do it you could be labelled forever as a molester of tomatoes.

[DAKA]

12 hours ago, Schmidt Meister said:

Tomato Sandwich Etiquette

 

The tomato is among God's most gifted creations: It manages to be both fruit and vegetable; it can be made into entrees, sauces, toppings or pies; it can be eaten raw or cooked and it can be pronounced "tah-may-toe" or "tuh-mah-toe." It's a food group, all by itself.

It does show particular talent as the centerpiece of a tomato sandwich, better known around here by the scientific name "mater sammich."

Everyone knows how to make a tomato sandwich, right? There's not much to screw up, at least at first glance. In reality, there are some, somewhat hotly debated rules to making a tomato sandwich. Here's a handy list:

 

Don’t use tomatoes with fancy-pants shapes like ‘cherry’ or ‘pear’ in a tomato sandwich. You’re only wasting mayo.

Decide, to peel or not to peel. WWGD? (What Would Granny Do?) Although many purists frown on peeling, my Granny Smith handed them to me peeled and I will always have a special place in my heart for a skin’t mater.

Always use white bread. Don’t embarrass yourself by trying to make a tomato sammich with an uppity bread. This is where those high-end, ‘to-do’, and Yankee restaurants always mess up.

Mayo matters. Some swear by Duke's. Others might choose Blue Plate, Hellman's or Kraft. I wouldn't judge any of those choices. Personally ... and I hate to offend anyone here and I know all the purists will lose their gourds ... I prefer Miracle Whip. The old school tomato sammich rules say that Miracle Whip is not mayo; it is a sandwich spread and, in most Southerners opinion, doesn't have the pedigree required to mingle with freshly sliced tomatoes.

FYI: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires that anything labeled "mayonnaise" contain a minimum of 65 percent vegetable oil by weight. Miracle Whip contains less than 65% which I prefer for most applications. Prove me wrong.

To toast or not to toast the bread. True Southerners will say that toasting is for BLT’s and some of those other sammiches that are too big for their britches. It's what most of my Aunts would call "showy."

Don’t do a tomato sammich without salt and pepper. Just don’t.

I read a blog post not too long ago by a woman who says her ex-boyfriend taught her to blot her tomato slices on a paper towel before putting them on the bread. That really creamed my corn. The beauty of a tomato sandwich lies in its inherent messiness. I'll repeat that so you can write it down: The beauty of a tomato sandwich lies in its inherent messiness. That’s probably why he is the ex-boyfriend.

 

As a side note, there are those with unrefined culinary tastes who will adulterate a pure tomato sandwich with lettuce, this habit should be discouraged wherever noticed. This is akin to putting avocado on anything. If you do it you could be labelled forever as a molester of tomatoes.

Would just a few slices of bacon be  NO NO ?  

[Schmidt Meister]

3 minutes ago, DAKA said:

Would just a few slices of bacon be  NO NO ?  

Bacon is always okay. But then you are also entering the realm of the BLT, crossing the line between species, so to speak. 

[DAKA]

1 hour ago, Schmidt Meister said:

Bacon is always okay. But then you are also entering the realm of the BLT, crossing the line between species, so to speak. 

OK, but if you have the B and the L available...why not make the SUPREME TOMATO SANDWICH  (Oh and only DUKES...but that's a topic for another time)

[Schmidt Meister]

14 hours ago, DAKA said:

OK, but if you have the B and the L available...why not make the SUPREME TOMATO SANDWICH  (Oh and only DUKES...but that's a topic for another time)

I agree about the BLT. I still, and always will, enjoy the simplicity of the mater sammich, but a BLT is a grand sammich if the B & L are readily available, which they usually are at my house.

As far as Dukes goes, most of my family swears by it and would rather do without mayonnaise than buy something else. My wife prefers it since she moved from the west coast 20+ years ago. I love mayonnaise when we're talking deviled eggs or tuna fish but on hot dogs and hamburgers, I step away from the southern tradition and spread Miracle Whip and the love that it shares.  LOL.

[DAKA]

Miracle Whip on a HOT DOG or BURGER    sorry eeeccchhh  ...... GREY POUPON goes on those

But ....You pays yo' money and makes yo' choice    tis a FREE COUNTRY   (Used to be anyway)

[Schmidt Meister]

3 hours ago, DAKA said:

Miracle Whip on a HOT DOG or BURGER    sorry eeeccchhh  ...... GREY POUPON goes on those

But ....You pays yo' money and makes yo' choice    tis a FREE COUNTRY   (Used to be anyway)

I use French's mustard, I've never pouponed anything, lol. 

[Peng]

I put Ketchup on my tomato sandwiches.

[Schmidt Meister]

28 minutes ago, Peng said:

I put Ketchup on my tomato sandwiches.

I always say, to each his own, but you're the first person I've ever heard confess admit to that, my friend.

[Schmidt Meister]

Potlikker Or Pot Liquor?

Although many youngsters may be clueless, Southerners of a certain era know what potlikker is and that it was loved by most everyone. They've probably tried it with cornpone or cornbread, but important questions remain: Is it spelled potlikker or pot liquor? Is the cornbread crumbled or dunked in it?

In the 1930s, a time when lots of people would have eaten potlikker of necessity, great debates played out in major newspapers over just those questions. Here's how it happened, plus a little history of potlikker for any young'uns or non-Southerners out there.

Potlikker (I'm using this spelling because it was the version preferred by all the old timers I grew up around) is the juice left in the pot after cooking turnip or collard greens. My own preferences for eating potlikker would be with corn bread and not the sweet stuff that foreigners try to pass off as corn bread. Dipping corn bread should only be done by people who have ‘pinky’ fingers that automatically pop out to the side when they pick up food. Corn bread should either be crumbled into the potlikker remaining in ones bowl or potlikker poured over the cornbread crumbled or not.

In his book "The Best Cook in the World: Tales from My Momma's Table," Rick Bragg wrote: "It is the poor folks' version of the Italian wedding soup and a fine meal in lean times …. The broth from the greens, fortified with pork, was also an excellent meal for the sick, rich in iron, to get them out of bed and back in the mill or the field …."

Though claims of its curative qualities may be farfetched, potlikker is indeed packed with nutrients, for, during the cooking process, vitamins and minerals leech out of the greens, leaving the collards, turnips, or mustards comparatively bereft of nutrients while the vitamins A, B, and C as well as potassium suffuse the potlikker. In terms of how you cook your greens, there is, of course, a ridiculously large range of recipes and opinions. Some people like 'em sort of sweet, some people do shorter cooking, most use some pork, but some don't. Personally I'm big on a lot of bacon or pork of some sort, some chopped onion, a lot of long cooking, and a good bit of pepper. Longer cooking, starting with a pot full of water and cooking it down, begets more potent potlikker, and I like that.

Huey Long Jr., former U.S. Senator and governor of Louisiana, waxed poetic on potlikker in his 1933 autobiography, "Every Man a King."

He wrote: "Potlikker is the juice that remains in a pot after greens or other vegetables are boiled with proper seasoning. The best seasoning is a piece of salt fat pork, commonly referred to as 'dry salt meat' or 'side meat.' If a pot be partly filled with well-cleaned turnip greens and turnips (which should be cut up), with a half-pound piece of the salt pork and then with water and boiled until the greens and turnips are cooked reasonably tender, then the juice remaining in the pot is the delicious, invigorating, soul-and-body sustaining potlikker ... which should be taken as any other soup and the greens eaten as any other food. ..."

Long added that potlikker is typically eaten with corn pone, which is dipped into the liquid.

It was that last assertion that started a debate in 1931 that played out in public.

Food writer John T. Edge, now head of the Southern Foodways Alliance and author of "The Potlikker Papers," wrote: "I wrote my graduate school thesis about the Potlikker and Cornpone Debate of 1931, which began when Julian Harris, an editor at the Atlanta Constitution, published an Associated Press story about the sale of highway bonds by Gov. Huey Long of Louisiana. Long credited the sale to a supper of potlikker and cornbread, which he served the lead investors in a financial syndicate. In an editor's note, Harris, who crumbled his cornbread into potlikker, questioned Long's habit of dunking. In response, Long telegrammed Harris. And Harris telegrammed Gov. Franklin Delano Roosevelt of New York, who vacationed at Warm Springs, Ga. The debate was on."

It continued from mid-February to early March, during which the Atlanta Constitution received more than 600 letters to the editor on the subject.

The debate was renewed in 1935, again initiated by Huey Long during a famous filibuster. In 1989, Zell Miller, then lieutenant governor of Georgia, argued the proper name of the liquid in an article in The New York Times:

"In an article on Senate debates on food that ran on this page Feb. 10, mention was made of a 1935 filibuster in which Huey Long lectured his colleagues on the merits of potlikker. Due to an unfortunate consultation with a dictionary, that great Southern delicacy was referred to as 'pot liquor,' prompting the following communication from a regional authority on the subject:

Dear Sir:

I always thought The New York Times knew everything, but obviously your editor knows as little about spelling as he or she does about Southern cooking and soul food.

Only a culinarily-illiterate damnyankee (one word) who can't tell the difference between beans and greens would call the liquid left in the pot after cooking greens 'pot liquor' (two words) instead of 'potlikker' (one word) as yours did. And don't cite Webster as a defense because he didn't know any better either. Sincerely, Zell Miller, Lieutenant Governor State of Georgia."

[DAKA]

PASS...

[Schmidt Meister]

1 hour ago, DAKA said:

PASS...

I take it you're not a fan of turnips, collards and mustard greens, lol. I can understand. Most people who didn't grow up eating them, don't care for them. I ate more than my and your share when I was growing up and I'm always looking forward to the next time I have a huge bowl of turnips, cooked with the roots and a chunk of cornbread busted up in the bottom of the bowl to sop up the potlikker .... damn, I need to quit ... I just got drool all over the space bar on my keyboard, lol.

[Schmidt Meister]

We got this recipe from Lidia's Kitchen and it's a bit of an endeavor but these things are delicious and definitely worth making if you're having company and want to give them something special. Just like all of our recipes you need to make it your own by adding or subtracting spices or flavorings you enjoy. Very few recipes cannot be modified.

Stuffed Rice Balls

Ingredients:

For the ragu:

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

1 pound ground beef

½ cup chopped onion

salt and pepper

¼ cup grated carrots

¼ cup finely diced celery

one 14-ounce can italian plum tomatoes with juice, crushed

1 teaspoon tomato paste

½ teaspoon crushed hot red pepper

1 cup fresh or frozen peas

For the rice:

5 cups chicken stock, canned reduced-sodium chicken broth or water

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 cups short grain rice (carnaroli or arborio)

4 large eggs

2 cups grated pecorino Romano cheese

To coat and fry the rice balls:

2 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups fine, dry bread crumbs

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup olive oil plus extra for frying

 

Instructions:

 

Make the ragu (up to 3 days in advance): heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Caramelize the onions and then crumble in the ground beef. Season to taste. Cook, stirring often, until the beef is browned. Drain grease if necessary.

Stir in the carrots and celery and continue cooking until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, red pepper. Adjust the heat to simmering and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened, about 30 minutes. Stir in the peas and cook until they are tender, about 10 minutes for frozen peas and 20 minutes for fresh peas. The finished ragu should be dense and reduced. Remove and cool to room temperature.

While the ragu is cooling, make the rice. Bring the stock or water and 2 tablespoons olive oil to a boil in a 3-quart saucepan. Stir in the rice, return the water to a boil, then adjust the heat to simmering. Cook the rice uncovered, until al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain the rice and spread out on a tray to cool to room temperature. When the rice is cool, scrape it into a mixing bowl and beat in the 4 eggs and the grated cheese.

Take a handful of the cooled rice mixture and shape it into a small ball in the palm of your hand. Make a well in the center of the ball and drop in 1 tablespoon of the ragu. Work the rice so that it completely encloses the ragu, and re-form the rice into a smooth ball. Continue forming balls with the remaining rice and ragu.

Whisk the 2 eggs in a mixing bowl. Spread the flour on one plate and the bread crumbs on another, in an even layer.

Dredge a few of the rice balls in the flour to coat all sides. Tap off excess flour. Roll the rice balls in the beaten egg to coat, allowing any excess egg to drip back into the bowl. Finally, roll the rice balls in the bread crumbs, pressing lightly to coat evenly with the crumbs. Remove to a clean baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining rice balls.

Line a baking sheet with a double thickness of paper towels. Pour the vegetable oil and olive oil into a deep skillet. Insert a deep-frying thermometer into the oil and heat the oil to 375 degrees F.

Test the temperature of the oil by dipping a rice ball in. It should give off a lively but steady sizzle.

Carefully place about a third of the rice balls into the oil. Fry, turning as necessary with tongs or a slotted spoon, until golden brown and crisp on all sides, about 4 minutes. Remove to the paper towel lined baking sheet, keeping them hot in the oven if you like. Fry the remaining balls. The rice balls can be served hot or at room temperature.

[Schmidt Meister]

We found this recipe and we don't usually do things like this. But I couldn't stop thinking about it so we altered the recipe and made a batch. The picture is not mine. Mine were NOT that pretty ... but they were good. The original recipe just put chives in the eggs when they were done. We chopped and sautéed things that we like in omelettes and then added those to the eggs just before cooking them. It was very tasty and interesting. Maybe not worth the work ... more than once. I might would do it for company, but we avoid company, lol.

Bacon, Egg And Cheese Rolls

Prep: 10 mins.

Total: 20 mins.

Ingredients:

6 large eggs

2 tbsp. milk

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp. butter

Options: chopped onions, bell pepper, finely chopped tomato, any other options you might add to a omelet

12 slices bacon

2 c. shredded cheddar

 

Instructions:

 

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and garlic powder and season with salt and pepper.

In a nonstick skillet over medium heat, melt butter. First sauté any options you have picked until done to desired point. Add eggs and scramble to desired doneness and put in separate bowl..

On a cutting board, lay out three strips of bacon. Sprinkle the bottom third with cheddar and top with a large spoonful of scrambled eggs. Roll up tightly. Repeat with remaining cheese and eggs.

Return skillet to heat and add bacon roll-ups seam side down. Cook until crispy on all sides, then transfer to a paper towel-lined plate until ready to serve.

[Swampfox762]

57 minutes ago, Schmidt Meister said:

We found this recipe and we don't usually do things like this. But I couldn't stop thinking about it so we altered the recipe and made a batch. The picture is not mine. Mine were NOT that pretty ... but they were good. The original recipe just put chives in the eggs when they were done. We chopped and sautéed things that we like in omelettes and then added those to the eggs just before cooking them. It was very tasty and interesting. Maybe not worth the work ... more than once. I might would do it for company, but we avoid company, lol.

Bacon, Egg And Cheese Rolls

Prep: 10 mins.

Total: 20 mins.

Ingredients:

6 large eggs

2 tbsp. milk

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp. butter

Options: chopped onions, bell pepper, finely chopped tomato, any other options you might add to a omelet

12 slices bacon

2 c. shredded cheddar

 

Instructions:

 

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and garlic powder and season with salt and pepper.

In a nonstick skillet over medium heat, melt butter. First sauté any options you have picked until done to desired point. Add eggs and scramble to desired doneness and put in separate bowl..

On a cutting board, lay out three strips of bacon. Sprinkle the bottom third with cheddar and top with a large spoonful of scrambled eggs. Roll up tightly. Repeat with remaining cheese and eggs.

Return skillet to heat and add bacon roll-ups seam side down. Cook until crispy on all sides, then transfer to a paper towel-lined plate until ready to serve.

Sure Looks GREAT!!!

[NPTim]

1 hour ago, Schmidt Meister said:

We found this recipe and we don't usually do things like this. But I couldn't stop thinking about it so we altered the recipe and made a batch. The picture is not mine. Mine were NOT that pretty ... but they were good. The original recipe just put chives in the eggs when they were done. We chopped and sautéed things that we like in omelettes and then added those to the eggs just before cooking them. It was very tasty and interesting. Maybe not worth the work ... more than once. I might would do it for company, but we avoid company, lol.

Bacon, Egg And Cheese Rolls

Prep: 10 mins.

Total: 20 mins.

Ingredients:

6 large eggs

2 tbsp. milk

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp. butter

Options: chopped onions, bell pepper, finely chopped tomato, any other options you might add to a omelet

12 slices bacon

2 c. shredded cheddar

 

Instructions:

 

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and garlic powder and season with salt and pepper.

In a nonstick skillet over medium heat, melt butter. First sauté any options you have picked until done to desired point. Add eggs and scramble to desired doneness and put in separate bowl..

On a cutting board, lay out three strips of bacon. Sprinkle the bottom third with cheddar and top with a large spoonful of scrambled eggs. Roll up tightly. Repeat with remaining cheese and eggs.

Return skillet to heat and add bacon roll-ups seam side down. Cook until crispy on all sides, then transfer to a paper towel-lined plate until ready to serve.

:love: :love: :love: