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Eating with Family and Friends

Movies, Popcorn, and the Oscars

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When you think movie, do you also think popcorn? A good percentage of movie viewing people do.

And what’s the biggest movie night of the year? The Academy Awards, of course.

Oscar has been around for a long time – the first Academy Awards ceremony was in 1929 – but the main snack food that’s associated with movies has been around a lot longer.

The Evolution of Popcorn

The puffy goodness we know as popcorn is a strain of corn (from maize) cultivated in Central America about 8,000 years ago and probably brought to New England from Chile in the early 19th century by North American whalers. People discovered that popping popcorn was fun and its appeal spread rapidly across the country.

By the mid 1800’s popcorn was widely available, especially at places like circuses and fairs. The invention of the steam-powered popcorn maker in 1885 meant popcorn could be made anywhere. Amazingly, the only place where it wasn’t usually available was in theaters, which typically had carpeted floors and theater owners didn’t want popcorn “dirtying” up the place.

Popcorn and Movies

Because of popcorn’s popularity, theater owners began to allow vendors to sell popcorn outside their theaters. During the Great Depression people looked for cheap diversions and movies were it and popcorn — at 5 to 10 cents a bag — was an affordable luxury.

Eventually theater owners began to lease their lobbies to popcorn vendors, but then figured out they could make more money by selling it themselves. Selling popcorn, candy, and soda from their own concession stands meant higher profits. Sugar shortages during World War II made sweet treats hard to come by so popcorn became the main snack. By 1945 over half of the popcorn eaten in the US was consumed in movie theaters.

Popcorn is still king. Americans eat, on average, about 13 gallons of popcorn a year. It’s cheap to make and allows for a huge price mark-up. You might pay $5 for a bag of popcorn, but it costs the theater about 50 cents. Plain popcorn doesn’t have all that much flavor, so yellow oil (it isn’t butter) and salt are added to make it tasty and make you thirsty. So, you buy a soda. No wonder movie theaters make an estimated 85 percent profit from concession sales, with those sales accounting for 46 percent of their overall profits.

Popcorn Recipes

On Oscar night – or any movie night — as you prop your feet up to watch the glamorous stars grab their golden statues, make sure you have a good supply of popcorn on hand. You don’t have to settle for the plain variety – unless you want to. There are some fantastic popcorn recipes with names like Bacon Bourbon Caramel Popcorn, Cinnamon Candy Popcorn (which is red, like the red carpet), Pizza Popcorn, Peanut Butter Popcorn, and Endless Caramel Corn.

For even more popcorn recipes to accompany your cheers, boos, oohs, and ahs on Oscar night, check out:

Food Network’s 50 Flavored Popcorn Recipes

19 Ways to Flavor Popcorn

27 Healthy Popcorn Recipes to Cure Any Snack AttackPopcorn Recipes

allrecipes Popcorn Recipes

Movies, Popcorn, and the Oscars, too!

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Popcorn and the Oscars

When you think movie, do you also think popcorn? A good percentage of movie viewing people do.

And what’s the biggest movie night of the year? The Academy Awards, of course.

Oscar has been around for a long time – the first Academy Awards ceremony was in 1929 – but the main snack food that’s associated with movies has been around a lot longer.

The Evolution of Popcorn

The puffy goodness we know as popcorn is a strain of corn (from maize) cultivated in Central America about 8,000 years ago. North American whalers probably brought popcorn to New England from Chile in the early 19th century. Popping popcorn was fun and its appeal spread rapidly across the country.

By the mid 1800’s popcorn was widely available, especially at places like circuses and fairs. The invention of the steam-powered popcorn maker in 1885 meant popcorn could be made anywhere. Amazingly, the only place where it wasn’t usually available was in theaters, which typically had carpeted floors. Theater owners didn’t want popcorn “dirtying” up the place (have you ever tried to vacuum up popcorn from carpeted floors).

Popcorn and Movies

Because of its popularity, theater owners began to allow popcorn vendors to sell popcorn outside their theaters. During the Great Depression people looked for cheap diversions and movies were it and popcorn — at 5 to 10 cents a bag — was an affordable luxury.

Theater owners began to lease their lobbies to popcorn vendors, but then figured out they could make more money by selling it themselves. Selling popcorn, candy, and soda from their own concession stands meant higher profits. Sugar shortages during World War II made sweet treats hard to come by, and popcorn became the main snack. By 1945 over half of the popcorn eaten in the US was consumed in movie theaters.

Popcorn is still king. Americans eat, on average, about 13 gallons of popcorn a year. It’s cheap to make and allows for a huge price mark-up. You might pay $5 for a bag of popcorn, but it costs the theater about 50 cents. Plain popcorn doesn’t have all that much flavor, so yellow oil (it isn’t butter) and salt are added to make it tasty and make you thirsty. So, you buy a soda. No wonder movie theaters make an estimated 85 percent profit from concession sales, with those sales accounting for 46 percent of overall profits.

Popcorn Recipes

This Sunday as you prop your feet up to watch the glamorous stars grab their golden statues, make sure you have a good supply of popcorn on hand. You don’t have to settle for the plain variety – unless you want to. There are some fantastic popcorn recipes with names like Bacon Bourbon Caramel Popcorn, Cinnamon Candy Popcorn (which is red, like the red carpet), Pizza Popcorn, Peanut Butter Popcorn, and Endless Caramel Corn.

For even more popcorn recipes to accompany your cheers, boos, oohs, and ahs on Oscar night, check out:

Food Network’s 50 Flavored Popcorn Recipes

19 Ways to Flavor Popcorn

30 Healthy Popcorn Recipes That Satisfy Every Snack Craving

Popcorn Recipes

How Long Can Your Turkey Safely Stay On The Table — And The Leftovers In The Fridge?

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Holiday Turkey Safety

The big meal is over and the back and forth to the kitchen for leftovers begins. We all know that leftovers can really bump up the holiday calories, but how do you tell if the leftovers are actually safe to eat?

Once Your Bird Is Cooked, Does It Matter How Long You Leave It Out?

It definitely matters – and the clock starts ticking as soon as the bird comes out of the oven, fryer, or off the grill.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the number of reported cases of food borne illness (food poisoning) increases during the holiday season.

You shouldn’t leave food out for more than two hours, any time of the year. To save turkey leftovers, remove the stuffing from the turkey cavity, cut the turkey off the bone, and refrigerate or freeze all the leftovers.

The Basic Rules For Leftovers

According to the USDA the mantra is: 

2 Hours–2 Inches–4 Days

  • 2 Hours from oven to refrigerator: Refrigerate or freeze your leftovers within 2 hours of cooking (taking them off the heat or out of the oven). Throw them away if they are out longer than that. Think about your buffet table – or even your holiday dinner table. How long does the bird, stuffing, and accompaniments sit out as people eat, go back for seconds, and pick their way through the football game and conversation?
  • 2 Inches thick to cool it quick: Store your food at a shallow depth–about 2 inches–to speed chilling. Are you guilty of piling the food high in storage containers or in a big mound covered with tin foil?
  • 4 Days in the refrigerator–otherwise freeze it: Use your leftovers that are stored in the fridge within 4 days. The exceptions are stuffing and gravy. They should both be used within 2 days. Reheat any solid leftovers to 165 degrees Fahrenheit and bring liquid leftovers to a rolling boil. Toss what you don’t finish.

How Long Can Leftover Turkey Stay In The Freezer?

Frozen leftover turkey, stuffing, and gravy should be used within one month. To successfully freeze leftovers, package them using freezer wrap or freezer containers. Use heavy-duty aluminum foil, freezer paper, or freezer bags for best results and don’t leave any air space. Squeeze the excess air from the freezer bags and fill rigid freezer containers to the top with dry food. Without proper packaging, circulating air in the freezer can create freezer burn – those white dried-out patches on the surface of food that make it tough and tasteless. Leave a one-inch headspace in containers with liquid and half an inch in containers filled with semi-solids.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Football, Food, and Beer

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football-food-beer-7-tips

 

It’s football season. With it comes fun, excitement, joy, angst, wringing of the hands, a whole new spin on vocabulary, and tons of food and drinks.

It seems that football is associated with nine main food groups: beer, wings, pizza, chips and dip, barbecued ribs, burgers, chili, sausage (especially bratwurst), and pulled pork. It’s a calorie bonanza.

When fans were asked in a national survey if game day calories count, 46% said their diet goes out the window when they’re tailgating or watching their team play. thirty-nine percent said calories count but that they still indulge in a few favorites on game day. No big surprise there.

7 Tips To Keep You Happy . . .

or at least your stomach and waistline happy — your favorite football team is responsible for your mental happiness (or anguish).

1. Be aware of what and how much you’re eating. Mindless munching is a calorie disaster. You’re shoving hundreds of calories into your mouth and it’s probably not even registering that you’re eating. Put a portion on a plate and eat it rather than a constant hand to mouth action off of a platter or open bowl. It’ll save you hundreds of calories.

2. Learn approximately how many calories are in a portion of your favorite game day food so you can make intelligent choices. That way you’re not denying yourself what you love, but if pulled pork has hundreds more calories than a grilled sausage and you love them both, would you choose one over the other?

3.  Save your calories for what you love and pass on the other stuff. You don’t have to eat something just because it’s there and it’s traditional football food. If you really don’t love guacamole why would you eat it? Salsa has a lot fewer calories.

4. Don’t be starving at game time (or for the pre-game tailgate). Have a healthy protein based snack (about 150 calories) before the game. Just don’t have a snack and then eat the same amount out of habit – then you’re just adding the snack calories to all of the others.

5.  Cut it down a little. Can you have 4 or 5 wings instead of 6 or 7? How about a slider instead of a burger, 2 pieces of pizza instead of 3, or ½ a grinder instead of a whole one? Put only 1 or 2 toppings on your chili instead of sour cream, cheese, guacamole, and a never-ending supply of chips or nachos.

6.  If you’re doing some shopping or cooking (or bringing food) for a tailgate or party, try making a slightly healthier version of your favorite food.

  • Fried chicken: Use crushed cornflakes for the breading and bake instead of fry
  • Nachos: Use low-fat cheese and salsa
  • Creamy dips: Use 2% yogurt instead of sour cream
  • Chips: Buy baked, not fried
  • Chili: Go beans only or use extra-lean ground beef or extra-lean ground turkey instead of ground chuck
  • Pizza: order thin crust instead of deep dish and stick with veggie toppings or plain cheese instead of pepperoni or meatball toppings

7. Beer. There’s huge variation between brands and types of beer. On average:

  • 12 ounces of beer has 153 calories and 13.9 grams of alcohol
  • 12 ounces of lite beer has 103 calories and 11 grams of alcohol

Different types of beer and malt liquor can have very different alcohol content. Light beer can have almost as much alcohol as regular beer – about 85% as much.   Put another way, on average:

  • Regular beer: 5% alcohol
  • Some light beers: 4.2% alcohol
  • Malt liquor: 7% alcohol

For an extensive list of the calories in many popular brands of beer, click HERE.

Do you know someone who’s off to college?

Freshman-15-ebook-coverGet my book for some easy, doable tips on how to eat well in dining halls and dorm rooms.  Available in print and as an ebook from Amazon and as an ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Is Your Coffee Giving You A Muffin Top?

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CoffeeMuffinTopGraphic

Are the calories in your favorite coffee the equivalent of the calories in a muffin – or your lunch — for that matter?

Calories and nutritional information for some Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts hot coffee drinks:

Calories and nutritional information for some iced and frozen coffee drinks:

Note: all info (with the exception of Burger King) is for a 16 ounce cup.

  • Starbucks Mocha Frappuccino with whipped cream, 16 ounces (grande): 400 calories, 15 g fat (9 g saturated), 64g carbohydrates.
  • Starbucks Mocha Light Frappuccino with nonfat milk, 16 ounces (grande): 130 calories, 0.5g fat, (0 g saturated), 28g carbohydrates.
  • Iced Caffe Latte with nonfat milk, 16 ounces (grande):  90 calories, 0g fat, 13g carbohydrates.
  • Dunkin’ Donuts Coffee Coolata made with whole milk, 16 ounces (small):  240 calories, 4 g fat (2.5 g saturated), 50g carbohydrates
  • Dunkin’ Donuts Vanilla Bean Coolatta, 16 ounces (small): 420 calories, 6g fat (3.5g saturated), 92g carbohydrates
  • Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Caramel Mocha Latte with milk, (large):       450 calories, 12g fat (7g saturated), 73g carbohydrates
  • Dunkin’ Donuts Iced Latte made with skim milk, 16 ounces (small):  80 calories, 0g fat, 13g carbohydrates
  • Baskin Robbins Cappuccino Blast Mocha, 16ounces (small):  400 calories, 13g fat (9g saturated), 65g carbohydrates
  • McDonald’s McCafé Iced Caramel Mocha, 16 ounces (medium) made with whole milk and whipped cream:  300 calories, 14g fat (8g saturated), 36g carbohydrates
  • Burger King: Iced Seattle’s Best Coffee Mocha, 22 ounces (medium):  260 calories, 3.5g fat (2.5g saturated), 54g carbohydrates

Wow—It Can Add Up

  • Say you have three grande (Starbucks)—or large (Dunkin’ Donuts)—coffees a day. Each is 20 ounces or 2.5 times the size of a traditional 8 ounce cup.
  • If you add 4 tablespoons of half and half and three teaspoons of sugar to each—which sounds like a lot but is very east to do—that’s 128 calories for what you add and around 5 calories for the coffee for a total of 133 calories for each grande/large cup of coffee.
  • If you have three of those daily that’s 399 calories a day or the equivalent of 145,635 calories a year.

What about the calories in some plain coffee or tea?

Hot or cold, you can have plain black coffee for a bargain basement 5 calories.  The trick is controlling the extras to avoid making your coffee just another sneaky calorie bomb.

  • Brewed coffee, grande (16 oz), black:  5 calories
  • Heavy cream, 1tbs:  52 calories
  • Half-and-half, 1 tbs:  20 calories
  • Whole milk, 1 tbs:  9 calories
  • Fat-free milk. 5 calories
  • Table sugar, 1tbs:  49 calories

Have your coffee and save some calories, too:

  • Ditch the whipped cream.
  • Swap half and half, full fat, or 2% milk for 1% or skim.
  • Watch the sugar:  ask for one pump instead of two of sugar free syrup, add non-calorie sweetener instead of sugar, or don’t sweeten at all.
  • Change the size of the drink that you order:  instead of a venti or an extra large, order a grande or large – or drop down to a tall, medium, or even a small-sized drink.
  • If you have a two a day (or more) habit – like a latte in the morning and a frappuccino in the afternoon – substitute a plain coffee or iced tea (easy on the milk and sugar), or even a latte with nonfat milk for one of those choices.
  • Order plain hot or iced coffee or even a hot or iced Americano (almost no calories for 16 ounces) and doctor it with non-caloric sweetener and skim milk.  You’d even come out ahead if you use controlled amounts of sugar and a bit of half and half. Or have an hot or iced brewed coffee with classic syrup:  a 12 ounce cup has 60 calories.