Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! May you find great joy in the resurrection of Jesus Christ!

rBGH - the bovine growth hormone

This article on the bovine growth hormone rBGH is a MUST read.
Raging Hormones?

Highlights:
"15% of American girls are expected to begin puberty by the age of 7 (with the number closer to 25% for African American girls)"
Age 7. I can't believe this. It is sad and abnormal. This is not how we were created.

"Although the product [rBGH] is made in a lab, it’s designed to mimic a hormone that’s naturally produced in a cow’s pituitary glands. It’s injected into cows every two weeks to boost their hormonal activity, causing them to produce an additional 10 to 15 percent more milk, or about one extra gallon each day. And within the first four years of its introduction in 1994, about one-third of the nation’s cows were in herds being treated with this growth hormone."

"Canada isn’t the only country to bar rBGH. The genetically altered hormone has also been banned in the European Union, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. In addition, the U.N. agency that sets food safety standards, Codex Alimentarius, has refused to approve rGBH not just once but twice."
Are all these other countries just not taking advantage of a good thing? Not likely. It seems America is the one missing the boat.

"In case you think that the rising cancer rates have something to do with genetics, stop and think again. According to the Breast Cancer Fund, 1 in 8 women now have breast cancer. But only 10 percent of those cases can be linked to genetics. In other words, 90 percent of breast cancers being diagnosed today are being triggered by factors in our environment."
I think a lot of people do believe cancer is mostly genetics and there is nothing you can do about it. Cancer IS on the rise, its not just diagnosed better, there is simply more of it. There IS a reason why.

Much more good information in the article. Including what rBGH does to the cow. This is another example of money above health in today's food industry.

More of my posts on cow's milk:
http://bunontherise.blogspot.com/2011/03/milk-does-body-uh-not-so-good.html

Tasty Tuesday - Sweet Potato Pot Pie

I love, love, love (love, love) pot pie, but have not had one since going vegetarian years ago. I've seen this recipe before at 101 Cookbooks, but never made it since it calls for puff pastry and milk. Puff pastry was never on my grocery list as it contains enriched bleached flour and tons of butter. But one day I wanted a pot pie enough that I thought "What the heck?" Finding puff pastry to be near $4, I decided to forgo the pastry and make a pie crust instead for the topping out of whole wheat pastry flour, butter, and just a bit of vegetable shortening.

It was AMAZING, if I do say so myself. The sweet potatoes and corn blended to make a delightfully sweet, rich and creamy pot pie. Comfort food, for sure. I'm going to make this one over and over again.

The original puff pastry recipe is here. Below is my recipe, with the pie crust topping, and added black beans for protein.

For my carnivorous friends, feel free to add diced cooked chicken to the recipe. I bet that would work well.

Sweet Potato Pot Pie

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 1/2 to 3 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/4-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt (plus more to taste)
1 tablespoon adobo sauce from a can of chipotle chilies (or more to taste)
1 cup corn kernels, fresh, frozen, or canned
1 cup black beans (canned is fine)
2 cups cold low-fat milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 pie crust (recipe below)
1 egg white

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large pot over medium-high heat, add the oil, onion, garlic, sweet potato and salt. Saute, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the adobo sauce, black beans, and corn.

In a small bowl, combine the milk and cornstarch, then pour the mixture into the sweet potato pot. Leave the heat at medium-high for a few minutes to bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and cook until the filling starts to thicken, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and season with more salt to taste. Pour the filling into an ovenproof bowl or casserole dish.

Place the pie crust over the filling. Brush the dough lightly with egg white (this creates a golden crust).

Using a fork, poke a few holes in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape, and bake until the crust is deeply golden, about 15 minutes. Tip: Bake the potpie on a baking sheet lined with foil in case some of the filling bubbles over.

Basic Pastry Dough
This is adapted from my Mom's famous pie crust - made more healthy (sorry Mom!) I use whole wheat pastry flour and mostly butter instead of all shortening

For a single crust pie or a tart

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or AP flour)
4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-3 tablespoons ice water

Blend together flour, butter, shortening, and salt in a bowl with your fingers or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea sized) lumps of butter. For a single crust pie or tart, drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork (or pulse) until incorporated.

Squeeze a small handful of dough: if it doesn't hold together, add more ice water 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring or pulsing until incorporated. Do not overwork dough or pastry will be tough.

Gather dough into a ball and shape into a flattened round on a lightly floured surface. (At this point, the dough can be refrigerated for an hour or a day.) Roll dough 2" larger than inverted pan. Pastry is ready to use as desired.

Got Stains?

I've always known the sun was a powerful stain remover, but I was wowed this week.

As a teenager, I had white athletic shoes that we would wash in the washing machine, rub salt all over them while still wet and set them in the sun. When dry, they came out so white I thought I was going blind!

Fast forward, and we use the sun to get poopy stains out of our cloth diapers. We hang them out on a line to save on energy drying them, but the sun removes ALL the stains. No matter how yellow, no matter how old.

Recently we purchased a cute bowl with a suction cup on the bottom for Mary Abilene's foods. We put tomato based vegetable soup in it and it got the dreaded tomato stain on the suction cup. I scrubbed, I vinegared, but to no avail. Then it dawned on me - why couldn't the sun remove this stain too? Laid it out there, and POOF! No more tomato stain!

I find myself looking around the house for things I can set out in the sun. The blade of my food processor is stained yellow from turmeric. Out in the sun it goes!!

The before and after of my food processor blade

I just love it! I knew of the sun's ability to remove stains from clothes, but plastic!? Amazing! Look around at your own house. Challenge the sun for all of your stains. You'll soon find that bleach and other stain removers will have no place in your cleaning repertoire.