Weight, RFN, Contest.

I have been reading a bit about the trainer, Drew Manning, who purposely gained weight in order to put himself in the same spot as some of his clients. He was on GMA the other day and said he was embarrassed in front of his wife since he had gained so much weight and had found he had a number of health problems which he hadn’t had before. The article says 70 lbs but on TV it said 80 lbs. Not sure which is accurate. I have often felt the trainers on The Biggest Loser, which I don’t watch very often, are inclined to be too tough on their teams. It will be interesting to see how Drew’s weight loss goes, he might find it harder than he imagines. He is not the first trainer to do this, mind you, an Australian trainer did the same thing. There is a video on the first website. I understand why he did this, but as someone who has been overweight all her life, I cannot conceive trying to put it on when I have been struggling all my life to take, and keep, it off. Matt, who is slim, never understood the problems until he married me, and even now, he doesn’t really understand, never having been overweight. Maybe Drew Manning has a point. I did read about an Australian trainer who did the same thing and he said he became addicted to sugar and fat foods.

Talking of nutrition and of course weight, I have just heard from our leader in Restore Family Nutrition, Michelle Luelo, who Told us the following "In The Kitchen Challenge" Posted this week is a bit of a contest. Asking people to send pictures of their families and groups cooking in the kitchen. I'm putting together the gift basket for the winning picture.” If you click on the link on this page to Restore Family Nutrition it will tell you all about Michelle’s contest. This is a picture of Matt and I taken in our kitchen some years ago when we ran a small catering business. Matt is so suntanned there it makes me look really pale, doesn’t it? If you have a similar picture with your kids and/or grandkids working together preparing food, that would be an ideal thing to submit.

I couldn’t resist this recipe because it looks so pretty. I used to make something similar but it had marzipan roses on it, which I made myself. I promised the Scotch Eggs recipe, I will do that one tomorrow.

Giant Chocolate Cake with Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache

By Dana Treat
WebMD Recipe from Foodily.com

Cake
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup plus 3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Ganache
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
¼ cup (½ stick) chilled butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup heavy whipping cream
¾ cup sugar
Edible flowers for decoration (optional)

Instructions

Cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 12-inch round cake pan with 2-inch high sides with nonstick spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper round. Spray parchment paper with nonstick spray. Dust pan with flour, tapping out excess. Sift 2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl. Sift cocoa into another medium bowl. Pour 1 cup boiling water over cocoa; whisk to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in large bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add butter to egg mixture and beat until blended. Beat in cocoa mixture. Add buttermilk and vanilla; beat on low just to blend. Add dry ingredients and beat on low just to blend. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 38 minutes. Cool cake completely in pan on rack. (Do ahead: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.)

Ganache
Place chopped chocolate, butter, and vanilla in medium bowl. Bring cream and sugar to boil in a medium saucepan, stirring to dissolve sugar. Carefully pour hot cream mixture into bowl with chocolate. Let stand 1 minute. Whisk until melted and smooth. Chill ganache until thickened and spreadable, about 1 hour.

Carefully invert cake onto large cake plate. Gently remove parchment paper. Spread ganache over top and sides of cake and allow ganache to set, about 1 hour. (Do ahead: Cake can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and refrigerate. Allow to come to room temperature before decorating with flowers.)

Adapted from Gourmet

Total Servings: 24

Nutritional Information Per Serving

Calories: 259
Carbohydrates: 35.4
Cholesterol: 52mg
Fat: 13.4g
Saturated Fat: 8.2g
Fiber: 2.5g
Sodium: 180mg
Protein: 3.8g

Have a great day