Foods Born in St. Louis

St. Louis Originals

• Toasted Ravioli - invented in 1943 or 1944 at Oldani's on “The Hill”, a predominantly Italian neighborhood, though others also claim the invention. As the story goes, the delicacy was stumbled upon when a raviolo was accidentally dropped into the fryer by Chef Fritz. "Mickey Garagiola, older brother of Major League Baseball Hall-of-Famer, Joe Garagiola, was actually at the bar during the mishap and was the first to taste the accidental treat.
• Gooey butter cake - legend has it that in the 1930s a German baker got the proportions wrong (reversing the proportions of sugar and flour) and the rest is history - available at most area bakeries and grocery stores.  
  
  The St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission includes a recipe for the cake on its website, calling it "one of St. Louis' popular, quirky foods"; the recipe calls for a bottom layer of butter and yellow cake batter, and a top layer made from eggs, cream cheese, and, in one case, almond extract. The cake is dusted with confectioner's sugar before being served. 
• Pork Steaks - Pork butt sliced as a steak, often Bar-B-Qued - a cook at home favorite.  St. Louis is said to consume more barbecue sauce per capita than any other city in the nation. St. Louis-style barbecue sauce is described as a "very sweet, slightly acidic, sticky, tomato-based barbecue sauce.
• The Concrete - Ted Drewes Frozen Custard (Ice Cream) mixed with candy, fruit, and/or nuts. "concrete" - custard blended with any combination of dozens of ingredients, served in a large yellow cup with a spoon and straw. The mixture is so thick that a spoon inserted into the custard does not fall if the cup is inverted. A history dates back to 1929.
  
• Peanut Butter - In 1890, an unknown St. Louis physician encouraged a food products company owner, George A. Bayle Jr., to process and package ground peanut paste as a nutritious protein substitute for people with poor teeth who couldn't chew meat. Peanut paste was sold for six cents per pound.
• The Slinger -  Breakfast of champions.  The Slinger is considered to be a St. Louis late-night culinary original. It is described as "a hometown culinary invention: a mishmash of meat, hash-fried potatoes, eggs, and chili, sided with your choice of ham, sausage, bacon, hamburger patties, or an entire T-bone steak.
• Provel cheese - Developed as a shelf-stable cheese often found as topping for the next entry (St. Louis style Pizza), it's name may lead some to think it is a shorthand name for provolone.  It is in fact a processed cheese of cheddar, swiss and provolone. Provel is rarely used elsewhere.
• St. Louis style Pizza - A thin crusted pizza with Provel ™ Cheese, slices cut into rectangles instead of the pie-like wedges typical of many pizza styles.
  
• Brain Sandwich - a sandwich with sliced calves' brains on sliced bread.  Became popular in St. Louis after the rise of the city's stockyards in the late 1880s, although demand there has so dwindled that only a handful of restaurants still offer them.
• Gerber Sandwich - The Gerber sandwich originated at the locally famous Ruma's Deli.  It is an open-faced sandwich, with Italian or French bread, garlic butter, ham, and provel cheese. It is sprinkled with paprika and toasted.
• St. Paul Sandwich - an Egg Foo Young Patty served with Salad between bread. They're still available at a lot of St. Louis "Chop Suey" restaurants. 

Read more...

Limit My Binges!

Well, things are getting better..... I have been limiting the binges to 1 day a week ..... not perfect, but at least I am able to stop and get back on track.

I guess there are benefits to having a weekly planned binge.  The main one seems to be the lack of guilt over the binge.  But I don't know if this is the best thing to do.

Oh well, for now it is what it is..... onward and upward....downward

Read more...

What a year this has been

This year has been a great year and a hard year all in one..... and my weight has reflected that as well.

Sometimes when you have so much going on in your life it is hard to concentrate on yourself and especially your weight.  During the tough times, food can be a great solace and during the fun times it is such a reward. Eating has been both for me.
The outcome, naturally is not what I would like.  And of course now the holidays are coming just around the corner.  I have been slowing down a little on the food intake and plan to be reasonable during the holidays.  Wish me luck :)

Read more...

Drinking and Your Health

There is great debate about what effects drinking has on your health.  One of the warning about alcohol is that it is  metabolized extremely quickly by the body.  Unlike foods, which require time for digestion, alcohol needs no digestion and is quickly absorbed.   
Recently researchers found that women who had as little as one drink a day boosted their risk of cancer of the breast, liver, rectum, throat, mouth, and esophagus.   While other studies show that a drink or two a day can have a possitive affect on heart health.


While the experts disagree on some answers, they do agree that no one who has or had a problem with alcohol dependency should drink.  A friend of mine, who lives in Atlanta, was talking about  Atlanta alcohol rehab and the treatments available with someone who is experiencing difficulties in this area.


Treatment centers for drug and alcohol abuse have made great strides in the last few decades.  Atlanta drug abuse rehab centers in Georgia offers great programs and much needed follow up.  


The subject of addiction has long been of interest to me.  While I have never had any inclination to turn to drugs or alcohol, I do have an addiction that is just as strong.  It is my addiction to food.

Read more...

Will drinking milk help with weight loss?

Over the last couple of years we have been hearing about how drinking milk can help with weight loss.  I haven't really paid too much attention to it.  I am not a morning person at all and don't like to eat breakfast.  But I have been trying to make small changes and that is one of them.

This week I have been having a healthy cereal with milk.  I am somewhat lactose intolerant, so I had been using soy milk - that seems to effect me in the same way, so now I am back to good ole skim milk.  I am finding that I am well satisfied and less hungry throughout the day.



Here is what the experts have to say about milk:

Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana found that young, normal weight women who had 1,000mg of calcium every day – the amount of calcium found in about 1½ pints of semi-skimmed milk – lost about 6lb over two years.
 
Similar results have been found in other studies, too. Leading calcium expert, Dr Michael Zemel , analysed the diets of 32 obese adults and discovered that those people eating three servings of low-fat dairy products a day lost more than 10% of their body weight. In contrast, those taking calcium supplements or those who had little calcium or dairy in their diet lost only 8% and 6% of their body weight, respectively.

All the research suggests that calcium alone can help weight loss, but the effects seems to be more dramatic when it’s taken in the form of dairy products.

As for me - I say "drink up"!

Read more...

Do skinny girls think about food?

Do really skinny girls spend all their time thinking about food of very little time thinking about food? 

Looking at a pic of Courtney Love, I didn't notice what she was wearing or the bag she was carrying - all I could think about is if she ever thinks about food.

One of my really skinny friends does not like to think about food.  It can even make her nauseous.  And when she is at get togethers she hates hearing about food - she says it drains her.

On the other hand my friend, Susan, is slim and she constantly talks about food, reads recipes, and is basically obsessed with the calories and fats in foods.  She seems to have a fear of food, however.  She is so afraid of gaining weight.




It is also interesting in watching skinny people eat.  Sometimes it seems like they spend most of their time moving the food around the plate.   At a buffet my skinny friends tend to pile the food on the plate, take a bite or two and then push the plate away.

So what do you think?

Read more...