Day 18: The Mystery of the Rice Cake

One of my favorite low-calorie snacks would have to be the rice cake. The crunch and subtle flavor of simply puffed brown rice is a marvel to me. I stick to the lightly salted version but every now and then I'll stray to another variety like White Cheddar or Carmel. The White Cheddar isn't exactly what I would consider as a marvelous feat of cooking ingenuity. There has to be some other way to make an equally low-calorie food without using a dusting of highly artificial powdered cheese. Sure it offers a different taste but cows would simply be horrified that this product claims to originate from cheese. The Carmel kind on the other hand acts as a delicious dessert or snack. It is not as fakey as the White Cheddar and is representative of a caramelized sugar glaze. Quite appetizing indeed. My favorite way to enjoy a Lightly Salted rice cake is to sandwich two together with a layer of crunchy peanut butter, or to top one with shredded cheese and microwave it for half a minute or so. Well guess what I learned the last time I was cooking myself one of these bad boys. Let me start with the fact that the rice cake I did cook had a black burnt spot in the middle. Well right on the bag there is a disclaimer that says not to cook these in the microwave. That's right readers (?) this is a non-microwavable food! The problem is that I can't figure why the heck not. Let's investigate shall we? Ingredients: whole grain brown rice and salt....Definitely has no affect on its microwavableness (that's a new word of mine). The simple process of making rice cakes is based on the fact that rice subjected to the right combination of heat and pressure. So it must have something to do with the cooking process...I have yet to determine the actual reason. But I do know that rice cakes are a staple food in most other countries. Though they may not appear in the same styrofoam form as they do in America, the idea behind them is still the same. Well that leaves me with listing all the varieties that I have uncovered from the abyss of the World Wide Web.

Quaker is the only true company with a monopoly on these things. I'm sure there are the assorted organic producers and the generic store-brands but for the sake of time let's just say Quaker is king. They also offer bags of mini rice cakes that generally are denser and crunchier than the traditional-sized as well as Tortillaz which are composed of rice and corn.

-cheddar cheese
-caramel corn
-apple cinnamon
-chocolate
-ranch kettle corn
-sour cream & onion
-BBQ
-nacho cheese
-honey nut
-honey graham
-cinnamon sugar
-cracker jack butter toffee
-lightly salted
-peanut butter chocolate chip
-white cheddar
-salt free
-maple brown sugar

-chocolatey drizzle (mini)
-caramel drizzle (mini)
-chocolately mint (mini)
-cinnamon streusel (mini)
-peanut butter (mini)
-buttered popcorn (mini)
-white chocolately drizzle (mini)

-zesty guacamole (torillaz)
-cheesy nacho (torillaz)

RECIPE TIME!

Peanut Butter n' Marshmallow Crunch Cake

1 Quaker Caramel Corn Rice Cakes
2 Tbl. marshmallow creme (room temp.)
2 tsp. reduced fat creamy peanut butter (room temp.)
1/2 tsp. semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Day 17: A Favorite Fair Food: Funnel Cake!

Yesterday my mom purchased a box of Williams-Sonoma Funnel Cake Mix. I have yet to make it and report upon its quality and taste but I decided to write a bit about this tasty, fried and powder-sugared treat. Funnel cakes are originally associated with the the most prolific desert-makers of all time: the Pennsylvania Dutch. They are made by pouring batter through a funnel into hot oil (375-400 degrees) in a circular pattern and deep frying it until golden-brown. In Austria, a similar dish is served known as Strauben. A typical funnel cake, that is 6 inches in diameter, will count up to about 277 calories...which isn't quite as bad as I'd imagined. Some toppings include jam, maple syrup, and whip cream. But I prefer a hefty serving of powdered sugar over my golden-brown and delicious funnel cake. And in case you want to try one yourself here's a recipe from Mr. Alton Brown!

Ingredients
1 cup water
3/4 stick butter (6 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 cup eggs, about 4 large eggs and 2 whites
Vegetable oil, for frying
Powdered sugar, for topping
Directions
Boil water, butter, sugar, and salt together in a saucepan. Add flour and work it in until it is all incorporated and dough forms a ball. Transfer mixture to the bowl of a standing mixer and let cool for 3 to 4 minutes. With mixer lowest speed, add eggs, 1 at a time, making sure the first egg is completely incorporated before continuing. Once all eggs have been added and mixture is smooth, put dough in a piping bag fitted with a number 12 tip. Heat about 1 1/2 inches of oil in a heavy pan. Pipe dough into oil, making a free-form lattice pattern; cook until browned, flipping once. Remove cake from oil, drain on paper towels, and top with powdered sugar. Continue until all of the batter is used.

Day 16:Starburst Station

Starburst were introduced by Mars in 1960 in the UK as Opal Fruits. The four original flavors were strawberry, lemon, orange, and lime. Opal Fruits were introduced as Starburst in the USA in 1976. There are more varieties and flavors than you would think!

-Original-

-Sour & Sweet-
Sour Green Apple
Sour Watermelon
Sweet Strawberry
Sweet Blue Raspberry

-Sour-
Sour Tangerine
Sour Blue Raspberry
Sour Green Apple
Sour Strawberry
or
Sour Tangerine
Sour Cherry
Sour Grape
Sour Blue Raspberry

-Retro-
Psychideli-melon
Optimus Lime (like Optimus prime, Transformers are technically Retro)
Hey Mango-rena! (hey macarena!)
Disco Berry

-Baja California-
Limon
Strawberry Watermelon
Baja Dragon Fruit
Aztec Punch

-Tropical-
Mango Melon
Strawberry Banana
Royal Berry Punch
Pina Colada

-Berries & Creme-
Strawberries & Creme
Mixed Berries & Creme
Raspberries & Creme
Blueberries & Creme

-Fruit Cremes-
Strawberries & Creme
Mixed Berries & Creme
Peaches & Creme
Oranges & Creme

-Icy Burst-
Strawbrrry
Kiwi Snowberry
Blue Raspberry Freeze
Polar Citrus

Starburst also has Gummibursts: small gummy candies with a gusshy fruit-flavored filling...

-Original Gummiburst-
Strawberry
Cherry
Orange
Lemon

Day 15: Aerated Candies

One lesser known candy variety is the aerated kind. My favorite would be chocolate-covered honeycomb. Simply delicious! Cadbury makes a bar of this known as crunchie. It is good but I prefer the more homemade kind. The problem with the crunchie is that the air holes in the bar are a little more compact, making the overall consistency much denser. My favorite kind I get at a road-side fruit market in Beaumont. For one the chunks are much bigger than the crunchie bar. The chocolate coating is thicker but I don't mind. It's always fun biting the chocolate off first :P And best of all the consistency is much more aerated. The type of honeycomb used in candy bars is made from spun molasses and sugar.


Another tasty aerated candy is also made by Cadbury. These are the Aero and Bubbly bars. The original Aero bar is mint-flavored. The outside is milk chocolate and the bubbles inside are colored mint green. The bubbles in Aero give it an interesting texture, more fudgy than chocolatey. I recently learned that Aero bars are available in Bittersweet Orange. This Bar comes with dark chocolate bubbles with a layer of what appears to orange cream atop the bubbles but underneath the chocolate coating. Cadbury's Bubble bay is entirely milk chocolate, bubbles, coating, and all.

Day 14: Gummy Bear World

Welcome to the world of gummy bears! To start off with gummy bears and their counterparts are composed of sugar, glucose syrup, starch, flavouring, food coloring, citric acid, and gelatin. There are some gummy Bears made with pectin or starch instead of gelatin, making them suitable for vegetarians. Haribo gummy bears come in raspberry (red), orange, strawberry lime (green), pineapple (clear), and lemon (yellow). Candywarehouse.com also sells blue rasbperry (blue), grape (purple), wild strawberry (pink), wild cherry (red), banana (white), brown & while (cola), in addition to..


Crunchy Gummy Bears (covered in multi-colored non pareils)


Cinnamon Bears


Sugared Cinnamon Bears


Swirly Gummy Bears (Cherry Blast, Outrageous Orange, and Tropical Twist)


Chocolate-Covered and Yogurt-Covered Gummy Bears


Sour Gummy Bears


Mini Gummy Bears


Giant Gummy Bears (a whopping 840 calories, depending on the brand)

Day 14:Green Tea Party

Here are a variety of Green Tea Desserts!


Green Tea Cupcakes


Green Tea Tiramisu


Green Tea Roll Cake


Green Tea Pocky

Green Tea Pound Cake

Green Tea Mousse

Green Tea Mochi

Green Tea Macarons

Green Tea Kit Kat

Green Tea Ice Cream

Green Tea Cookies

Green Tea Opera Cake....
.
..
...
....Opera Cake is a type of French cake. It is made with layers of almond sponge cake soaked in coffee syrup, layered with ganache and coffee buttercream, and covered in a chocolate glaze. In this case the almond sponge cake replaced with a green cake.

Day 14:Mexican Food

Now I'm not a huge fan of Mexican food...unlike my mother...but if I'm choosing the restaurant I'm gonna go for Chipotle...Sure they've got the monster-sized burritos and the bitt too spicy meats But lemme recommend you my personal favorite. First ask for a bowl and make sure you're getting a bag of chips with this. You can use the ingradients in the bowl for your chip dip. Gives you a nice crunch. Oh and BTW I eat this bowl and bag of chips with my mother! Not on my own! That is way too much food for one person. Anyway...to the bowl ingredients!!!

-Rice (double the amount)
-Black Beans (half the amount)
-Chicken
-Corn Salsa
-Cheese
-Lettuce