Pink Slime, Voting.

We watched Jamie Oliver’s new Food Revolution programme from LA where so far he basically says it’s a programme showing how people in LA don’t give a shit. What worried me in particular was his demonstration on what is known as Pink Slime there is an article here http://tinyurl.com/3kefvgf
describing the use of pink slime. Basically meat remnants which are only fit for dogs (who have much better digestive systems) which has been processed in a centrifuge and then treated with ammonia to get rid of the possible salmonella or ecoli contamination, after that, it is ground and sold. Around 70% of the ground beef Americans buy in their stores or eat in burgers from fast food joints is, apparently, Pink Slime. Jamie did a very good demonstration on his programme and it is enough to turn your stomach. The answer is don’t buy any ground meat you haven’t seen made. You can also get some chuck and cut it in chunks then grind it in small quantities yourself. We have some ground beef in our freezer, I am seriously thinking we should chuck it out – we don’t eat much ground beef, but I think it will be a lot less now unless I find a butcher to grind it for me. There is an article about the first episode of the programme here http://tinyurl.com/3gxlk9d – we will certainly be glued to the TV on Tuesdays to see what success Jamie achieves.

I have just emailed Health Canada to ask them what the policy is in this country with regard to Pink Slime. I phone a local butcher department who was excessively vague about the whole business. Not sure if he didn’t know or didn’t want to give me answers. He didn’t even know the name of Health Canada.
We got our voting cards in the mail yesterday – we are not allowed to vote at the polling booth where we are working so we will be voting ahead of time at an Advance Voting centre which is open for three days. I am not very ‘up’ on politics of any kind, but it appears there is some kind of election taking place in the States too as we are being inundated with negative ads from both Canada and the US. Luckily ours will stop on May 2, but from experience the US ones will carry on for months yet.

As you know I am always looking for something different to do with vegetables. Here is one I got from WebMD yesterday.

Chinese Style Brussels Sprouts with Hoisin Glaze

By The Food Gal
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

Ingredients

2 tablespoons peanut oil or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
2 pounds small Brussels sprouts, washed, ends trimmed, then bulbs cut into halves
3 tablespoons mirin (Japanese rice wine)
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
7 to 8 tablespoons hoisin sauce
Toasted sesame oil

Instructions

In a large wok or frying pan on medium-high heat, add peanut oil. When oil is hot, add ginger and onion. Stir, and cook for about 2 minutes. Add garlic, stirring to prevent burning, about 1 minute more. Add Brussels sprouts and mirin. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring regularly, until Brussels sprouts start to become tender. Stir in hoisin sauce. Continue to cook for about 2-3 minutes more. Drizzle with a little sesame oil, and serve.
Total Servings: 6

Have a great day