Three Things I Don't Understand - Dangers in the Kitchen

There are three things I don't understand that I read often today. And most of these articles or recipes are put out by people who are in some level, health authorities, though not all are.

The first one that I don't understand is recipes that use aluminum foil to cook their food in. I have found some neat recipes where you stick all the food on a piece of aluminum foil, then wrap the foil up and put it on the grill or in the rotisserie basket. Do people not realize yet that aluminum, especially when it is heated, could contribute to Alzheimer's? How many more health articles will it take before people stop making recipes this way? Or do they not read the articles that come out concerning health issues?

The second one is the plastic bag thing. Even using a plastic bag from the grocery store could give off BPA to the person using the bag. But what is even worse is that some company makes plastic bags to cook food in, especially in a slow cooker. Don't people realize how dangerous this is as the heat causes the toxins in the plastic to leach into the food? It's not just the BPA, as bad as that is, but there are other toxins as well, and as the plastic heats up, then the toxins are released and they can get into the cooking food.

The third problem I have is all the recipes I see (and I read a lot of recipes) that call for Canola oil. What is amazing is that many of these recipes come in books or booklets that have to do with healthful cooking. Although there are more problems than just the issue of saturated fat vs. mono-saturated fats, this whole issue of saturated fats being bad for you is Old School. I found this web page which goes over the things that are wrong with Canola oil.
http://www.shapingconcepts.com/blog/dr-oz-advice-canola-oil/

OK, I got it off my chest. Thanks for reading. Happy eating. Eat safely!

Iced Coconut Thai Chai Tea

I kind of winged this one. It was an experiment, and it seemed to work.

On our date night, my husband and I go to this Chinese restaurant, and one of the drinks is a Thai Chai iced tea drink. I was looking forward to going there one night because I had a craving for this drink. Well, we went to another restaurant, but I figured out how I could make a drink like that at home.

I made the iced tea out of Coconut Thai Chai tea bags that I had. I used a stick blender to make the foam. I added stevia for the sweetener. But it wasn't exactly like the one in the restaurant, although it was good.

After reading an article today about the 10 worst coffee drinks in this country, I decided to get out my Mr. Coffee Cafe Frappe machine and make some coffee. It was not impressive, but it was ok.

I got this idea to try to make the Coconut Thai Chai iced tea in it. Here is a picture of it. It even has the foam on the top, just like the restaurant.

I used stevia for a sweetener as well, instead of sugar. Here is the recipe:

2 Coconut Thai Chai tea bags

Water to fill the reservoir in the machine

Ice filled to the max line

Liquid stevia, to taste

About 1/4 cup Half & Half

   First, put a coffee filter in (make sure it is the right size for the machine). Tear open the tea bags and dump the contents into the coffee filter. Fill the reservoir in the machine to the max line (I have to be honest here. I didn't see the 'max line'). Fill the container with ice to the max line (should be visible on the container). Add the liquid stevia to the container. Add the Half & Half to the container. Turn the machine on (push the button on the left) and push the button in the middle. It takes a couple of minutes to warm up and complete the process. 

Here is a picture and link to amazon, of the Cafe Frappe machine:

I got mine a couple of years ago. I actually bought two of them; one for home, and another one for our cabin in Georgia.

This is the tea that I used, but, in looking for the link, the indication is that this is currently unavailable. Rats. Anyway, there were other teas out there that may have been similar.

I love this stuff and hope it comes back on amazon.

The links above are affiliate links. That means that if you click on them it will take you to amazon.com, and if you order anything while visiting that page using that link, I will get credit from amazon.com for your order. There is no extra cost to the customer. It is just amazon.com's way of crediting those who share their products on the internet.