Baked camembert with pears and cranberries is a luscious, elegant hors d'oeuvers. Serve this elegant appetizer accompanied with an assortment of crackers to your guest. Ingredients 1 sheet frozen puff pastry 1 large egg 1 tsp of water 2 tbsp of butter 1 large pear, sliced 3 tbsp of firmly packed light brown sugar 2 tbsp of dried cranberries 1 camembert cheese round (8 oz) Instructions 1. Thaw the puff pastry sheet at room temperature for 30 minutes. 2. Preheat the oven to 400 F. 3. Combine the egg and water in a small bowl to create a wash and reserve. 4. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. 5. Add the pear slices and brown sugar and saute until lightly softened, about 5 minutes and stir in dried cranberries. 6. Remove from the heat and allow the fruit mixture to cool slightly. 7. Unfold the pastry sheet onto a lightly floured surface. Roll to about an 11-inch square and cut off the corners to make a circle. 8. Cut the camembert in half horizontally through the middle using a sharp knife heated with hot water. 9. Place the lower half of the camembert in the center of the pastry sheet and top with half of the pear mixture. 10. Place the top of the camembert - cut side down - on top of the pears. Top with the remaining fruit mixture. 11. Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg mixture, then fold the two opposite sides over the cheese. Trim the remaining two sides about 2-inches in from the cheese then brush with the egg mixture and fold them over onto the ...
Monday, November 28, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Control Eating Carbs - How to Control Carbohydrate Intake
Control eating carbs, and you're on the way to a healthier, leaner, more muscular appearance. Sure, carbohydrates are necessary for your organism's survival. When our ancestors discovered agriculture, they relied on carb-rich food to be able to labor long days in the field. The early farmer was grain eater, and seems to have been constantly cooking bread. These days we lead considerably more sedentary lives than that old farmer. Yet, our love of carbohydrates has only grown--and so has our ability to process and refine carb-based foods. Unfortunately, if we don't manage to turn all those carbohydrates we eat into energy quickly, those carbohydrates turn into fat.
Carbohydrates
Carbohydrate-rich food is made out of complex carbon and hydrogen molecules. The cells in your body are designed to break these molecules down easily, transforming them into energy to help you talk and walk. They're also designed to be stored easily by the human body. In the past, when food was harder to come by than it is today, this served a useful evolutionary purpose. Nowadays, when we do considerably more talking than walking, our bodies tend to store more carbohydrates than we can ever hope to use up. The result? All those carbon and hydrogen molecules turn into blubbery lipids that end up lying in your arteries and just beneath the surface of your skin. In other words: the carbohydrates turn into fat.
Refined Carbohydrates Are Worse
Compounding the problem is the fact that most of the cooking people seem to like consists of refined carbohydrates. From pasta to puff pastries, these carb rich foods are prepared in such a way as to make the carbohydrates easier for your body to process than ever before. The consequences of being a big pasta eater is that your body will convert carbohydrates to energy, and unspent energy to fat faster than ever before. Unless you're a track and field athlete, you can't expect to eat big bowls of pasta every day and not gain weight.
We Love Carbs
Yet, food containing lots of refined carbohydrates just tastes so good! No doubt because of our hard-scrabble, survivalist past as a species, we seem to be conditioned to especially enjoy carbohydrate-rich cooking. Partially because these once-rare foods are now so easy to acquire, large numbers of Americans must now struggle with obesity. Weight loss has become a national obsession. The average shopper is now a guilty eater. What can help us stop eating so many carbs?
Do Diets Work?
Restrictive diets do help control your carbohydrate intake--as long as you stick to the diet. Unfortunately, we don't have any ingrained biological incentive not to eat those carbohydrates that our bodies love so much. Most people who wish to undertake a slimming down of their bodies via a carb-restricting diet don't end up sticking to the diet. They end up gaining back the weight they'd lost.
A More Permanent Solution
Hypnosis is a superior way to keep yourself from overindulging in all those carbohydrate-filled rolls, pizzas, and buttery baked potatoes. Instead of imposing artificial rules via a diet, hypnosis will teach your unconscious to moderate your intake of those foods naturally. After a period of regular self-hypnosis sessions, you'll be able to control eating carbs.
Monday, November 7, 2011
New Tracy Porter Cooking Video... Baked Brie with Puff Pastry
An old favorite of ours for a party or, quite frankly, just for us with a glass of wine! So good, in fact, I am happily noshing on it the next morning, and then again for lunch with a little salad. Fortunately, this is an easy enough thing to make and eat... you will want these ingredients available at all times. (Well, that is, if you are a crazy like me and love a stocked pantry and freezer and refrigerator.) I think pre-made puff pastry is an essential thing to keep in any freezer... endless in its uses. This is perfection with simple crackers and a bit of fruit... juicy pears, dripping down your hands... or if you can, fresh figs... even some dates are succulent on the side. If you don't like the idea of baking kitchen string into it, you can make a twist and pull it back onto itself as well. I just think the string is quite simple... that is, if only our kids were not stealing it all the time to tie up their power ranger toys!! I like removing the brie rind, though not a must at all. If in a hurry, don't bother. Surely you'll be taking all the leftovers of this to your bedroom for a snack later tonight... if there are any left! For full recipe... please visit us at blog.tracyporter.com
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