Time for this week’s Thursday Things:
1. Marshmallow Sauce – Gosh that looks heavenly
Bon Appetit featured this sauce in their July issue within a story about ice cream and cold treats for kids this summer. Ice cream, sprinkles, sauces, and raw egg whites. In the marshmallow sauce, for kids.
1 large egg white, corn syrup, powdered sugar, vanilla; beaten together
2. Katie brought it to my attention that although Fritos may have a bad rap, they only contain 3 ingredients:
corn
corn oil
salt
And they have a pretty decent profile. I mean, it’s hard to mess up something with only 3 ingredients.
I’ll take that as an excuse to cook with Fritos more often.
You know, because Fritos are the next health food.
Scott loved the Corn Chip-Crusted Southwestern Salmon Cakes with Creamy Lemon Chili Sauce
3. Norton Identity Safe – With increasingly complicated password rules on so many different websites, it’s impossible to keep them all straight.
I sometimes lock myself out of sites because I have too many “failed attempts” with my password or password and username combination that doesn’t match.
Then I have to call the company, prove it’s really really me with the blood of my first born, and then 90 minutes later I can login and pay my cable bill.
Download Norton Identity Safe free – I downloaded it but haven’t played around with it yet
4. A two-part series (that’s two years old but bears repeating) from LA Weekly here and here on Words to Avoid when writing about food.
Included on their words-to-avoid lists:
foodie
delicious
gourmet
decadent
natural
food porn <— yes, avoid
Overall, I loved the lists but sometimes something really is delicious and I am as guilty as the next person of using the D word. I guess I’ll call it yummy next time. Kidding.
5. Not sure how I feel about this Misono Child’s Mini Knife
“Get your kids in the kitchen with their very own high-quality but safe Misono Child’s Mini-Knife. With a 50/50 balance it is suitable for right or left-handed chefs. It is sharp enough to cut through most foods, but has a smaller, more rounded blade that is more suited to the small hands of a child.”
A knife is still, well, a knife. Whether it’s smaller, or less sharp than other knives, it’s still a knife. Obviously kids need supervision when using anything from scissors to knives, but so far around here, at age 5, we’re sticking to spoons and forks.
6. My new storage cabinet has changed my outlook on life and my ahhhh, zen and tranquility quotient is sky high every time I look at it.
I find myself just blissfully staring at it and all the happy organization on the shelves. I’m in love with a cabinet. I’ll stop now.
7. Jessica of The Novice Chef wrote an awesome post about blogging from putting the time in to blogging to camera lenses to conferences to working with companies, she covered it and then some.
8. I wrote a 5-part blogging series that covers much of what Jessica said, and I’ll shamelessly link it up:
Blogging 101
Blogging 102
Blogging 103
Blogging 104
Blogging 105
9. Celery. Don’t throw away the leave – 6 uses for celery leaves
My issue is what to do with the actual celery. I had to buy celery for 1 recipe and used precisely half of one stalk. 12 more to go. Sure it was only $2.49 but what do you make with it other than ants on a log or use it as the base of a hearty fall soup. Because it’s not really soup season.
And no, I cannot juice it or put it in smoothies. It overpowers everything it touches for me. Sort of like cantaloupe (which I hate). If cantaloupe is used in a fruit salad, the whole salad tastes like it and is “contaminated”. Same with celery; I do like it, to a point and am all for creative uses but I just don’t know what those are.
10. Thanks for the Healthy Surprise Snack Box Giveaway entries
What are your Thursday Things?
Feel free to link up anything noteworthy you’ve made, done, seen, bought, or is especially fabulous.
Any thoughts about what to make with celery, if you have memories of how old you were when you started using kitchen knives, or if you eat raw eggs or think they’re safe for kids?
I’m at a loss with celery other than ants on a log and a base for soup, sauteed with onions. But I hate onions.
I have no idea how old I was when I started using knives, I know by age 8 or so because that was the age I would come from school, make brownies using a packet of Jif brownie mix, and would cut my almost-raw brownies with a knife. Guess I’ve eaten plenty of almost-raw eggs with my childhood knife skills.
In other countries, people don’t seem to freak out as much about raw eggs as we do in America. Orange Julius, some homemade Caesar dressings, mayonnaise, homemade ice cream or custards, and Hollandaise sauces may be made with raw eggs and people eat them. And the French eat unpasteurized soft cheese and the Japanese eat raw fish and the species has survived.
I used to drink orange julius’ with raw eggs as a kid all the time. We made them in home-economics class in seventh grade in a blender with raw eggs. Can you imagine making food in a school these days with raw eggs? Kids aren’t even allowed to bring in cupcakes or birthday cake anymore for their birthdays. Between the gluten, sugar and frosting, frosting has been replaced with fruit cups. And nothing with eggs, raw or cooked.
Raw eggs are safe if they’re from a small/organic/local farm, where the chickens have chicken-y lives… the dangerous contaminated ones are from the large-scale chicken operations. Same thing with raw chicken. The contamination comes from the practices of big agriculture. That’s why there is virtually no danger of salmonella contamination in the foods and regions you mentioned… they do it the way it has always been done, and the way it is supposed to be done. It is only in the U.S. that we have taken food to a frankenstein-capitalist experiment in how much can be produced and shipped thousands of miles.
i wish fritos made gmo-free chips!
i love them so much, but try (my best) to stay away from GMO.
love that marshmallow sauce!
what’s GMO? Kidding :)
So many comments….
I love roasted celery and hate it raw – when you roast it, I promise it is better, sweeter and not overpowering. I agree though about raw celery only being useful for ants on a log. And then, only as a vehicle for the peanut butter.
I stare at new purchases with a goofy grin all the time.
That marshmallow sauce….wow.
roasted like how you’d roast a sweet potato or brussels sprouts? guess I’ve diced it and thrown it in with other things that way but never just concentrated on the celery that way. It’s like the one time of year I have no interest in roasting. That could change next week though!
Your storage cabinet is SO beautiful!!! And I’m with you on celery. Sometimes I wish the stores would just sell a single stalk or two!!
they do it with carrots which are far more versatile than celery…they should do it with celery!
I actually *love* celery – mainly because sometimes I just like to munch and crunch on things, and it’s nice and light, perfect for doing just that.
You could always try dehydrating the celery and grinding it up to make your own celery salt!
dehydrating it…now that’s an interesting thought. Celery chips, huh. Won’t likely end up doing it but fun to ponder.
I did know Fritos only have 3 ingredients, because I’m always reading labels . I love that! I am not a fan of celery and like the leaves less than the stalks. Have you ever used pasteurized eggs? They sre all I use when baking, so I feel pretty comfortable using and eating raw eggs. I highly recommend them.
I’m pretty sure most eggs sold in regular groc stores ARE pasteurized and you have to go out of your way to find them to be non-pasteurized. I buy TJs eggs or the reg groc store’s eggs.
Actually it’s very tough to find pasteurized shell eggs. I even called Eggland’s Best to double check that theirs are not pasteurized, and they didn’t know such a thing even exists. The only brand I know of is Davidson’s Safe Eggs. They are supposed to be free of salmonella and other germs. Their website is http://www.safeeggs.com if you’re interested in learning more about them. But regular grocery store eggs are definitely not pasteurized.
thanks for the info!
Ick, no celery for me please. I don’t even like the smell. I never use it even if the recipe called for it. I guess my Thursday Thing would be my new running shoes and my package from Saucony is arriving today so hopefully new running shorts that treat me kindly (as in no chaffing in this summer heat)
hate hate celery also. And meant to comment on your shelf post, but since you mentioned it here, I have to say its SO beautiful and your collection of props and plates etc is so impressive. I would love to come play with my camera in your apartment!
Thanks. I’ve been buying more nice plates and props the past month or two…splurging on some Anthro stuff b/c this is my passion and I’d rather cut corners elsewhere in life :)
Celery idea: I make a chickpea salad and use it in sandwiches throughout the week for my lunches similar to this one (https://cleangreensimple.com/2011/04/chickpea-salad/). I know it says 1/2 stalk of celery but I usually dice up two of them and throw it in my chickpea salad. I agree with you on juicing..it definitely overpowers the whole juice so I’m not much of a fan. Love your new storage cabinet!
funny..I made some hummus and put that on the stalks! the chickpea salad idea sounds great!
I’m going to pretend I didn’t think of filling a bathtub with the marshmallow sauce.
I eat celery (and several other veggies) every day with a wee bit o’ dip. When they’re starting to go south, they get used in stir fries.
Exactly..I made a stir fry with them, did ants on a log, made hummus for them and still have so much. It’s the never-ending vegetable!
who knew fritos were basically a health food?
Good news for me!
my thoughts exactly!
Haha good point about Fritos. I guess if you’re gonna reach for a high-sodium snack…I think I’lll be sticking to my dry roasted edamame though.
My thursday things are moving and my yearly gyno appointment. I’m crazy for trying to maximize my day off from work like that, but hey. I’d rather use my remaining personal days for fun stuff!
good lucking with moving and your appt.
and dried peas (similar to edamame) are so good…so crunchy I almost break a tooth but gosh, love them :)
OMG that marshmallow sauce looks like pillowy, silky smooth heaven. And I had NO IDEA fritos were gluten free AND made with only 3 ingredients??! That’s crazy. All of those “baked” and “light” chips out there have all sorts of chemicals and crap in them, it’s nice to know the real thing has a more healthy + natural profile. Uses for celery…hmm…. i’m stumped. I really just like it smeared with a heavy dose of pb! just found a couple for you though… 1st one mixes cream cheese, blue cheese, dill, chives + paprika, and the 2nd one is a wild rice salad w/ celery and walnuts.
https://southernfood.about.com/od/appetizersandsnacks/r/bl40323u.htm
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/14/health/nutrition/14recipehealth.html?ref=celery
thanks for the links, you’re so sweet!
and “it’s nice to know the real thing has a more healthy + natural profile” — my thoughts exactly. Same with sugar not engineered sugar. We share the same thoughts on that, though :)
I love the look of the marshmallow sauce. I have to say I’ve made home-made marshmallows before, the first time was a disaster because I didn’t whip enough air into them but the second try I learnt from my mistake and it was well worth the effort !
good for you for making them at home! impressive!
Omg, that marshmallow sauce and fritos. Swooooon!
Love your new cabinet. I have black shelves that need doors!
And I love celery leaves! I’m disappointed when there aren’t many in a bunch. I’m guilty of the D word. I don’t care, lol. Everything I like is yummy or delicious. I can’t reinvent new descriptions of the same meaning, haha.
Ikea has my cabinet in black or really dark wood with doors. I honestly am so impressed with it for the price. Just sayin’ – if you ever need me to help you spend your money, I always have shopping tips :)
My Thursday things are putting the kids to bed early, a night off cooking (and cleaning up) and hanging out with my Husband. Simple!
that is worth its weight in gold…enjoy!