I have always loved Thanksgiving. For more than 25 years, several close families have joined with ours to create wonderful holiday traditions. Our typical celebration includes deep fried turkey, boozy cranberry sauce, my grandmothers award winning apple chocolate chip cake (recipes below), games after dinner and Sandy wearing his special "uglier than you can imagine" Thanksgiving pants. Mostly it was about friends and family gathering with our numbers growing every year as we would figure out how to creatively fit more people around the table. One fond memory from many years ago comes to mind. My daughters were probably 6 and 3 years old. We were taking turns sharing our thoughts about what we were thankful for. This was long before an activity like this would simply bring on heavy eye rolling from Lauren, but at the age of six, she embraced this activity with a gusto. She was thankful for rainbows and sparkles, family and love...she went on for several minutes with a fairly classic list of things that made a 6 year old girl feel happy. The other kids at the table followed her lead and the lists of things to be grateful for were getting longer and longer. Then it was 3 year old Alana’s turn. “Lani, what are you thankful for?” There was a moment's pause and the one word answer. “Soda” This year of course we will be putting our more than 25 year tradition on pause. My usual 30 people will be limited to 6 (this will ensure that there is plenty boozy cranberry sauce to go around.) I understand how hard it is to be away from friends and family during the holiday season. I also know how lucky I am to be in a quarantine bubble with my local immediate family. That beats soda any day. For everyone who is impatient and tempted to go to a larger gathering, please be smart. Hang in there for a bit longer. There is a light ahead. I know it is still dim, but it is there. In honor of Thanksgiving, I am reposting my food safety guidelines. There are some terrific links in here that you might want to bookmark for later. Food Safety Guidelines |
Thanksgiving is a holiday associated with lots of yummy leftovers so it's usually a good time to update my food safety post. If you watch the news you know that food contamination issues can happen all year round. This post will give you some safe guidelines for foods that you buy and cook. If you do a lot of eating out, restaurants are supposed to have their cleanliness rating publicly displayed. Check the bottom of the article for some great links on food storage guidelines; everything from egg safety and turkey leftovers to breastmilk storage. It is certainly not a sterile world. As soon as they are able, your baby will start putting anything that they can reach into their mouths. You can't even begin to imagine the phone calls I have gotten about icky things that some of my little patients have managed to get their hands and mouths on. Chap-stick, particles from an exploded hot pack, kitty litter, the little packet in shoe boxes that says do not eat. You name it, they lick it. So yes, the world is full of germs, and while I don't generally get too concerned about a little dirt here or a big sloppy dog kiss there, foodborne bacteria can be nasty, and we need to minimize any exposure. There were more than 300,000 reports of children under the age of five being impacted by tainted food last year alone. Infants and young children are particularly vulnerable to foodborne illness because their immune systems are not developed enough to fight off infections. This is especially important for infants under 6 months of age. Extra care should be taken when handling and preparing their food and formula. Here are some basic food safety guidelines. Wash hands for at least 20 seconds before food preparation. Soap is best. Hand sanitizer will do. Re-wash as needed after handling food that might carry germs. The most common offenders are poultry, meat, raw eggs. Make sure kitchen towels and sponges are changed and cleaned frequently. Sponges can go through the dishwasher. Cloth can get easily contaminated and then spread germs. Watch out for potholders or other cloth items that come into contact with raw food. Keep your refrigerator temperature at 40 degrees or colder. It is worth investing in an appliance thermometer so that you can keep track. All the science says that the 40 degree number is essential for keeping the bacteria from multiplying. Your freezer should be below 0 degrees. To ensure the safety of your frozen food, you need to be sure that it has been actually kept constantly frozen. One clever trick to make sure of this is to keep a baggie filled with ice cubes in the freezer. If they remain cubes, you are in good shape; if they melt and refreeze as a block of ice that means that at some point your freezer was not cold enough. This can happen in a power outage or even if the door wasn't kept tightly closed. I am sad to say that if there was stored breast milk in there that has thawed and refrozen, I would no longer consider it safe. Label things in your freezer and rotate so that you are using up older stuff first. Check the dates of baby food jars and make sure the lid pops when you open them. Don't put baby food back in the refrigerator if your child doesn't finish it and you used the "used" spoon to take the food directly from the jar. Your best bet - simply don't feed your baby directly from the jar. Instead, put a small serving of food on a clean dish. Add more as needed with a clean spoon. Remember that once saliva has come into contact with the food it is no longer sterile and some bacteria can grow quickly. Powdered formula is NOT sterile. Don't mix up more than you need in advance. If the infant is less than 4 months, I would mix it with boiling water and let it cool. Don't leave open containers of liquid or pureed baby food out at room temperature for more than two hours. Bacteria thrive in temperatures between 40-140 degrees Don't store opened baby food in the refrigerator for more than three days. If you are not sure that the food is still safe, remember this saying: "If in doubt, throw it out." See links below for guidelines on how long food stays safe. Make sure that foods are properly cooked. A food thermometer is the best tool for this.
For all of you "older kids" who will be baking this holiday season, watch out for the batter (I am a notorious offender.), Even one lick from raw food containing a contaminated egg can get you ill. ____________________________________________ Myth: Freezing food kills harmful bacteria that can cause food poisoning. Fact: bacteria can survive freezing temperatures. When food is thawed, bacteria can still be present and can begin to multiply. Cooking food to the proper internal temperature is the best way to make sure any bacteria is killed. Myth: vegetarians don't need to worry about food poisoning. Fact: Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet, but like other foods they may carry a risk of foodborne illness. Always rinse produce well under running tap water. Never eat the pre-washed 'ready to eat' greens if they are past their freshness date or if they appear slimy. Myth: Plastic or glass cutting boards don't hold harmful bacteria on their surfaces like wooden cutting boards do . Fact: Any type of cutting board can hold harmful bacteria on its surface. Regardless of the type of cutting board you use, it should be washed and sanitized after each use. Solid plastic, tempered glass, sealed granite, and hardwood cutting boards are dishwasher safe. However, wood laminates don't hold up well in the dishwasher. Once cutting boards of any type become excessively worn or develop hard-to-clean grooves, they should be discarded. Myth: Locally-grown, organic foods will never give you food poisoning. Fact: Any food, whether organic or conventional, could become unsafe with illness-causing foodborne bacteria at any point during the chain from the farm to the table. Consumers in their homes can take action to keep their families safe. That is why it is important to reduce your risk of foodborne illness by practicing the four steps: Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill. Some excellent resources for food safety tips can be found at: www.Stilltasty.com This is as great site for seeing how long food will last. I used it just this week to figure out if an open can of chickpeas was still good. (After a week, the answer was no) Enjoy your Thanksgiving! |
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Grandma Fuffy’s apple chocolate chip cake Beat together 3 eggs 1 3/4 cups sugar 1 cup oil (can make some of it apple sauce) sift together 2 ¼ cups flour (can substitute cup for cup Gluten free flour) ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda ¼ teaspoon baking powder Mix together wet and dry ingredients Add ½ cup of chopped nuts ( optional) ½ cup chocolate chips ( sometimes more seem to find their way into the bowl) 4 cups peeled and diced apples ( about 4 apples) this is the only pain in the butt part of this recipe, otherwise it is so easy cook in ungreased 9X13 pan in 350 oven if you use only oil it is about an hour, if you use some applesauce it is done more quickly, use a toothpick to check the center ******************************************************************* Cranberry Puree (8 servings) 1 pound of fresh cranberries 2 cups of sugar 3/8 cup of Marsala wine ½ cup of Grand Marnier 1/8 cup of Angostura Bitters Cook cranberries and sugar in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until cranberries are very soft, stirring frequently, about 20 minutes. Puree mixture in blender with half of Marsala wine. (The original recipe says that you should strain this mixture into a medium bowl, pressing to extract as much fruit as possible, although I don’t bother with this step as I think the texture with the seed and fruit bits is more interesting.) Whisk in remaining Marsala wine, Grand Marnier, & bitters. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (Can be prepared up to 5 days ahead.) Serve well chilled. (The amounts of alcohol can be decreased but not by more than ½ of what is called for; the less liquids added, the more jelly-like the puree.) Don't eat this cranberry sauce and drive!! |
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