Peach Blueberry Crumble: Quark Whipped Cream

At this point I've posted about crumble so many times I initially was going to take a pass on posting yet another crumble picture.  Because I made such a large one I used 4 Tablespoons of flour to thicken about 8 1/2 cups of fruit. 

One of the tricks I have learned is that if you use a serrated peeler it works like a charm on Peaches so there is no need to poach and ice bath them, also using firmer fruit helps as well.

The real unique thing about this crumble was the Quark Whipped Cream.  Quark is now pretty easy to get Hawthorne Valley Farms sells it at the Market, Saxelby and Whole Foods do as well.   Quark is a thick sour cream like fresh fermented cheese similar to Formage Blanc.   It gives whipped cream a luxurious thickness and a sour tang, so much so I added some sugar and a splash of vanilla.  I didn't really measure what I was doing but an approximation would be 1/2 cup heavy cream , 1/4 cup Quark, 1 teaspoon Vanilla, 1 Tablespoon sugar and whisk!  Because the Quark is so thick it takes no time to whisk it together, unlike heavy cream which can take several minutes to get the right thickness, this is almost instant.

Adjust to taste, thinning it with more cream if it's too thick or sour for you or adding more sugar or vanilla. I always like the contrast of thick, rich, slightly sour juxtaposed to a sweet buttery crumble so try not to over do the sugar!  This is definitely a recipe to try, it would be awesome with chocolate cake.

See how thick it is?  Yummy.

CEO of Whole Foods Weighs in on Health Care and It's Not Good

Neil alerted me to an article on The Huffington Post about an Op Ed the CEO of Whole Foods wrote for The Wall Street Journal.

The article starts off with a quote by Margret Thacher:

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."

What? The thing about the non discussion hysteria in this country is that with a universal health plan like they have everywhere else in the developed world is actually facts, truth, statistics show it is cheaper than what the government actually pays now, because so many poor people who don't have insurance end up using emergency rooms in hospitals and then can't afford to pay the bill. An overwhelming amount of people declare bankruptcy because of medical bills in this country. Then there is the fact that this entire discussion is paid for my insurance companies and big pharms afraid that their bottom line will suffer, an overwhelming majority of Americans want and have wanted some form of universal health care for years. This insanity that has taken over the media lately is an orchestrated and paid for blitz by big corporations desperate to not lose their footing.

Ultimately as someone who grew up in Canada I don't see why given we all pay taxes that health care should be included in that. Shouldn't the government take care of it's people? Isn't it better t pay a few more dollars in taxes than to be forced into bankruptcy because you can't afford insurance or worse because the insurance you have won't pay for the treatment you need that will save your life? What is the fucking problem with these people?

The fact that Whole Foods is run by some right wing lunatic is admittedly surprising to me. I bought the lovey feeling let's help the planet and each other have better lives thing.

Can you believe he actually said:

"Recent scientific and medical evidence shows that a diet consisting of foods that are plant-based, nutrient dense and low-fat will help prevent and often reverse most degenerative diseases that kill us and are expensive to treat."

First of all I'd love to see the scientific research he's talking about that tell us that if we eat right we will never get cancer or heart disease or diabetes.

OK I'm waiting, Whole Foods you out reading this, please provide me with the medical research that will prevent me from ever getting sick or needing medical care.

Does eating Kamut prevent VD? Does Cranberry juice cure cervical cancer? Oh just drink some green tea for that sarcoma and it will go away....

Mr Mackey also admits that Whole Foods sells "a bunch of junk" because of course junk sells and your real concern mr mackey isn't the health of your customers or employees or the quality of what yuou sell, you concern is to make more money, increasing amounts of it, by what ever means necessary. Greed is good - wasn't that Regan's motto?

The argument about Canada or Britain's health care system is totally skewed, hysterical and one sided, as it always is in this country, when you can't provide facts give 'em fear.

What's better - getting the treatment you need and having to wait or not getting it?

Look at the map of all the countries with some form of universal health care.

Must make you proud Mr. Mackey to be included with Indonesia, Kahzakstan, North Korea and most of African as some of the few countries left who don't have it.

The point Mr. Mackey is that millions of people in this country have NO health insurance. What about them? What about people who have profound illness and can't work, what about them? What about the elderly? What about them? What about the poor, Mr Mackey, what about them?

Now that were quoting old Brits, dead or moribund, here's one I'm sure you'll love:

"Are there no work houses? Are there no prisons?"

Oh and as a Canadian can I please set the record straight, when you have a health emergency you are dealt with promptly. And the quality of care is world class. It wasn't until the introduction of aggressive American health insurance firms that Canada's health care began having cracks, you and your republican cronies have done everything you can to tear down anything that is good, that supports people not bigger profit margins for ever growing multinational companies.

As the CEO of a store that sells "healthy" products you are on the wrong side of this argument.

Thanks, though, it's been very enlightening to me, as an educated consumer I can now make the choice to shop elsewhere.

UPDATE

JOE.MY.GOD gives good update on what looks like could be a Whole Foods revolution, apparently I'm not the only person who is furious. This Mackey guy should be fired.

The Cost of Fiber

I know Eli's is a wonderful, upscale, upper east side, super posh food establishment, but 2.99 for 4 slices of bread just seems insane.

The learning point here is that many bread products will say high in fiber which is only true if there are 5 grams or more, otherwise it's not, in fact, of any significance. I saw one loaf of bread which said: "Now higher in fiber!" And when I looked at the nutritional information it had 2 grams. That's what you call deceptive marketing. Whole Foods used to carry The Baker's low crab bread which had 5 grams, but they no longer do. It cost around $4.00 for a whole loaf.

This is important because when a food item has a fiber count of 5 grams or greater you can then deduct it from the amount of carbohydrates to assess total carb load when you eat it, so if a slice of bread has 15 grams of carbohydrates it's carb impact is only 10 grams. This is very important information for people on diets or diabetics, because carbohydrates break down into sugar and will affect your blood sugar.

Bottom line is that the bottom line to producing a healthful high fiber loaf of bread should not break the bank. At this rate, if the average loaf of bread has 20 slices a loaf of Eli's "Health Bread" would cost $14.99. PLEASE, could we get real here? Yeah that's a great diet only buy food that is so expensive you have to starve yourself.

A discussion of GMOs

Just the other day my friend Jane sent me a newsletter from Whole Foods that had a questionnaire in it about how people feel about GMOs (genetically modified organisms).

Now today I see Tom Philpott from Grist has done an article on GMOs that basically says Monsanto et al., control all the information, so anyone who wants to get their seeds to do independent work, can't, or if they can they are afraid to speak out because they are afraid of losing their funding.

Right there that says everything I need to know, when there is no freedom of information or when the information is so closely gaurded then you have to wonder what the GMO makers have to hide?

Again, go see Food, Inc. it talks about Monsanto's business practices and those alone should turn any decent person off of wanting to support a corporation who has so willfully destroyed the lives of so many farmers.