Baseball season is in full swing.  What accompanies a visit to the stadium – food, of course!

Oh, the food!  Oh the calories!  Hang on – this post is not about ignoring the good time food.  Of course, there are always healthy food options:  you can bring your own or be scrupulous in making healthy choices. And, there are now many more gourmet options available (but usually still loaded with calories). But honestly, do you think that most people really want to eat low calorie foods when they’re at a ballgame? No way.

So what do you do when you’re at these places with food vendors about every 20 feet hawking dogs, ice cream, and beer?

There Are Ways And Then There Are Ways

If you’ve got a will of iron, I guess you could ignore the food and drinks.  But if you’re like most people and you’re tempted at every turn, you can try to minimize the damage without taking out the fun.  If you know you’re going to be having a stadium or food court meal, do some thinking, planning, and learning.  The best choices are not always the obvious ones.

Do you need both peanuts and popcorn?  Can you make do with a regular hot dog instead of a foot-long?  Can you keep it to one or two beers instead of three?  Can you choose the small popcorn instead of the jumbo tub?

Make Your Best Choice

Here’s some info to help you make your best choice.  Just a heads up – we’re not talking about the most nutritious choice because given these foods, quality nutrition is not front and center.  You can, however, enjoy your day and make the best caloric choice (with a nod to fat and sugar content) and still eat traditional ballpark and amusement park food.

• Cotton Candy: Nothing but heated and colored sugar that’s spun into threads with added air. Cotton candy on a stick or wrapped around a paper cone (about an ounce) has around 105 calories; a 2oz. bag (common size) has 210. A lot of sugar, but not a lot of calories – albeit empty ones.
• Cracker Jack (officially cracker jack, not jacks): candy-coated popcorn with some peanuts. A 3.5oz stadium size box has 420 calories but does have 7g  protein and 3.5g fiber.
• Hamburger: of beef with a bun has about 490 calories — without cheese or other toppings which up the ante.
• Grilled Chicken Sandwich, 6oz., 280 calories – not a bad choice.  6oz. of chicken tenders clock in at 446 calories.  Barbecue dipping sauce adds 30 calories a tablespoon.
• Hot Dog: Most sold out stadiums can sell 16,000 hot dogs a day. A regular hot dog with mustard has about 290 calories: 180 for the 2oz. dog, 110 for the bun, zilch for regular yellow mustard. Two tbs. of sauerkraut adds another 5-10 calories, 2 tbs. of ketchup adds 30, and 2 tbs. of relish another 40. A Nathan’s hot dog racks up 320 calories; a foot-long Hebrew National 510 calories. Hot dogs are usually loaded with sodium.
• Pizza: Stadium pizza is larger than a usual slice, about 1/6 of a 16-inch pie (instead of 1/8) making it about 435 calories a slice.
• Super Nachos with Cheese: A 12oz. serving (40 chips, 4oz. cheese) has about 1,500 calories!!! Plain French fries look like a caloric bargain by comparison.
• French Fries: A large serving has about 500 calories. A serving of Hardee’s chili cheese fries has 700 calories and 350 of them come from fat.
• Potato Chips:  One single serving bag has 153 calories (94 of them from fat).
• Peanuts in the Shell: What would a baseball game be without a bag of peanuts? Stadiums can sell as many as 6,000 bags on game days. An 8oz. bag has 840 calories; a 12oz. bag has 1,260. Yes, they have some protein and fiber.  But wow on the calories.
• Soft Pretzel: One large soft pretzel has 483 calories – giant soft pretzels (7-8oz.) have about 700 calories.
• Draft Beer: A stadium draft beer, 20oz. cup (the usual size), has about 240 calories. A light draft saves you 60 calories.
• Coca Cola:  A 12oz can has 140 calories –- and close to 10 tsp. of sugar.
• Helmet Ice Cream: Your team’s mini-helmet filled with swirly Carvel, 550-590 calories.
• Souvenir Popcorn: At Yankee Stadium a jumbo size has 1,484 calories and a souvenir bucket has 2,473 calories.

The post Buy Me Some Peanuts And Cracker Jacks appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Morning coffee.  Coffee break.  Afternoon tea.  A nice cup after dinner. Many of us love – need – our coffee or tea.

A nice hot steaming cup of coffee or tea can hit the spot and a hot skim latte is a great snack – soothing, calorie controlled, and protein laced.  On the other hand, a giant hot coffee drink filled with syrup and whipped cream – often clocking in at 400 to 500 calories — might be soothing but sure isn’t great for your waistline.

Black Or Light And Sweet?

How do you like your coffee?  Black, light and sweet, regular?  Do you add sugar and pour milk until the color and taste is just right?

As you dump sugar and pour cream into mugs and those too hot to touch cardboard containers, have you ever thought about how many calories you’re actually adding to an otherwise very low calorie drink?  Probably not. They’re calories not usually measured and all too easy to forget.

What Do You Put Into Your Coffee Or Tea?

There are about two calories in eight ounces (a small cup) of unsweetened black brewed coffee or tea – doesn’t matter if it’s hot or iced. Not a bad deal.

What a lot of us don’t think about is how many calories are in the add-ins that we stir into our coffee and tea.

How much milk or half and half do you add to your coffee or tea? How much sugar? Bet you don’t have a clue.  We all do a freehand pour.  Try measuring how much you pour and you might be really surprised.

The Add-Ins

• Heavy cream, 2 tablespoons:  104 calories
• Half and half, 2 tablespoons (1/8 cup):  40 calories
• Whole milk, 2 tablespoons:  18 calories
• 2% (low fat) milk, 2 tablespoons:  14 calories
• Non-fat milk, 2 tablespoons:  11 calories
• Table sugar, 1 tablespoon:  49 calories
• Table sugar, 1 teaspoon:  16 calories

How’s This For An Eye-Opener?

Say you have 3 grande (Starbucks) – or 3 large (Dunkin’ Donuts) – size 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 that’s adds up to128 calories for the additives and around 5 calories for the coffee.  That’s 133 calories for each grande/large cup of coffee. Have three of those and you’ve added 399 calories a day from coffee (or tea).

Do that every day for a year and mathematically that’s the equivalent of 145,635 calories. Does that make you stop and think?

The post Is Your Coffee Or Tea Giving You A Pot Belly? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

If you have a thing for the fluorescent squishy marshmallow bunnies and chicks that were hatched over 60 years ago, you’re not alone. PEEPS, the number one non-chocolate candy for Easter, got its name – PEEPS – because it was originally modeled after the yellow chick.

Every year, PEEPS are the subject of lots of design contests (you’d be amazed what you can make out of peeps) and scientific experiments (some claim them to be indestructible). Just Born, the parent company of PEEPS, claims to produce enough PEEPS in one year to circle the Earth twice. Their website even boasts a fan club and a section for recipes.

Millions of Peeps

• Each Easter season, Americans buy more than 700 million Marshmallow Peeps shaped like chicks, bunnies, and eggs, making them the most popular non-chocolate Easter candy.
• As many as 4.2 million Marshmallow Peeps shaped like chicks, bunnies and other shapes can be made each day.
• In 1953, it took 27 hours to create a Marshmallow Peep. Today it takes six minutes.
• Yellow Peeps are the most popular, followed by pink, lavender, blue, and white.
• Chocolate covered and Chocolate dipped EEPS Chicks were introduced in 2010.
• Peeps seem to be almost indestructible and are famous for their two-year shelf life. Scientists at Emory University claimed that Peeps eyes “wouldn’t dissolve in anything.”  They tried to dissolve Peeps with water, sulfuric acid, and sodium hydroxide.  No luck.

Do You Like Your PEEPS Soft Or Crunchy?

People have definite Peeps preferences. Some like them nice and soft, others like to leave them out in the air to age to perfection and acquire a little crunch on the outside.

They’ve been microwaved (careful, they expand and can really make a mess in your microwave), frozen, roasted, used to top hot chocolate, and added to recipes. Because their outer sugar coating tends to burn, they don’t toast well on sticks like regular marshmallows.

In case you would like some PEEPS recipes, check these out!

What’s In Them?

• Inside a PEEP you’ll find sugar, corn syrup, gelatin, less than 0.5% of the following ingredients: yellow #5 (tartrazine), potassium sorbate (a preservative), natural flavors, dye, and carnauba wax
• They’re gluten and nut free but are not Kosher
• You can get sugar free PEEPS that are made with Splenda
• Five little chicks (42g, one serving size) will set you back 140 calories, 0g fat, 1g protein, and 36g carbs

The post PEEPS: Do You Love Them or Hate Them? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Jellybeans: do you think they should they should come with a warning label, “STOP NOW or you’ll keep eating until they’re gone?”

Seriously – it’s pretty darn hard not to love those little nuggets of sweetness that come in multitudes of colors and flavors and get stuck in your teeth!

The Birth Of The Jellybean

The gummy insides of the jellybean might be related to the centuries old treat, Turkish Delight. And their outsides bring to mind the colored hard candy coating, developed in the late 17^th century, for the Jordan almond.

The modern jellybean became popular during the American Civil War when Boston’s William Schraft encouraged sending candy to Union soldiers and the jellybean held up well.

Jellybeans were the first bulk candy. They were first sold by weight as penny candy in the early 1900s – bulk jellybeans for nine cents a pound.

Around 1930 they became popular as Easter candy because of their egg shape, which represents spring, fertility, and resurrection.

The Many Flavors And Colors Of Jellybeans

Standard jellybeans come in fruit flavors but there are a huge number of flavors available — some goofy, some sophisticated — like spiced, mint, gourmet, tropical, popcorn, bubble gum, pepper, and cola.  They also come in a sugar free version (seems weird, but true).

Whatever your flavor preference, Americans eat a whole lot of jellybeans – around 16 billion at Easter — enough to circle the globe nearly three times if all the Easter jellybeans were lined up end to end.

Handfuls Or One By One, And What Flavor?

How do you eat your jellybeans? Do you go for handfuls at a time or pick and choose your colors and eat them one by one?

• 70% of kids ages 6–11 prefer to eat Easter jellybeans one at a time
• 23% say they eat several at once
• Boys (29%) are more likely to eat a handful than girls (18%)
• Kids say their favorite Easter jellybean flavors are cherry (20%), strawberry (12%), grape (10%), lime (7%), and blueberry (6%).

What’s In The Hard Shelled Nugget Of Sweetness?

Jellybeans are primarily made of sugar and also usually contain gelatin (Jelly Bellies don’t), corn syrup, modified food starch, and less than 0.5% of citric acid, sodium citrate, artificial flavors, confectioners glaze, pectin, carnauba wax, white mineral oil, magnesium hydroxide, and artificial colors (takes some of the fun out of them, doesn’t it?).

Originally, there was just the traditional jellybean, which has flavor only in the shell. In 1976, the Jelly Belly (Goelitz) Candy Company introduced gourmet jellybeans. Unlike traditional jellybeans, Jelly Bellies are smaller and softer than the traditional kind and are flavored both inside and outside. Jelly Belly makes about 50 different flavors of gourmet jellybeans.

How Many Calories Are In Jellybeans?

Even though they may give you Technicolor insides, jellybeans are fat free.  On average:

• 10 small jellybeans (11g) have 41 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 10.3 grams of carbs
• 10 large jellybeans (1oz or 28g) have 105 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no protein, and 26.2g carbs
• 10 Jelly Bellies have 40 calories (4 calories a piece), or about 100 calories in a single serving (25 beans)

 Some Jelly Belly Jellybean Trivia

• Jelly Bellies were invented in 1976. They were the first jellybeans to be sold in single flavors and to come with a menu of flavor choices.
• It takes 7 to 21 days to make a single Jelly Belly jellybean.
• Very Cherry was the most popular Jelly Belly flavor for two decades until 1998, when Buttered Popcorn took over. Very Cherry moved back into the top spot by only 8 million beans in 2003.
• Some jellybeans do contain gelatin, but Jelly Bellies don’t. According to the Jelly Belly website, they are suitable for vegetarians although strict vegans may have issues with the beeswax and shellac that are used to give them their final buff and polish.
• Jelly Belly doesn’t use wheat, rye, barley, or oats in the basic recipe for Jelly Belly jellybeans but does use cornstarch as the modified food starch.
• Jelly Bellies have been certified kosher for the last two decades by the Kashrut supervision of KO Kosher Service.  Since 2007 all Jelly Belly products have been certified by the Orthodox Union. Teenee Beanee jelly beans and Just Born jellybeans are Pareve & O/U; Jelly Bellies are certified OU Kosher.

The post JellyBeans!!! appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

It must be St. Patrick’s Day when you spot green bagels and green milkshakes. But, there’s also corned beef and cabbage – and “Irish soda bread” with a cruciform, or cross, slashed on top.  Have you ever wondered why the shape of the cross is slashed on the top of the bread – and why it’s known as soda bread?

Soda Bread and Native Americans

The earliest reference to the chemical reaction that makes soda bread rise is actually credited to American Indians.  Centuries before soda bread became popular in Ireland, Native Americans added pearl-ash (potash), the natural soda in wood ashes, along with an acidic ingredient, to make bread rise.

Bread Soda or Bicarbonate of Soda

Soda bread became popular in Ireland when bicarbonate of soda, also known as bread soda, became available to use as a leavening agent.  Bread soda made it possible to work with the “soft” wheat grown in Ireland’s climate. “Hard” wheat flour, the main kind used in the US today, needs yeast to rise properly. “Soft” wheat flour doesn’t work well with yeast but is great for “quick breads” like soda bread.

According to The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, the earliest published recipe for soda bread was in a London magazine in 1836 – also later repeated in several US papers – that refers to a “receipt for making soda bread” found in a newspaper in Northern Ireland. The claim:  “there is no bread to be had equal to it for invigorating the body, promoting digestion, strengthening the stomach, and improving the state of the bowels.” Sounds like tasting good wasn’t a big priority!

In 19th century Ireland, making bread was part of daily life and most families lived in farmhouses where kitchens had open hearths, not ovens. Bread soda, which wasn’t perishable and was relatively inexpensive, meant that anyone who didn’t have an oven (most people in Ireland in the 1800’s didn’t) could make soda bread.

Buttermilk, a by-product of making butter, and the soft wheat for flour, the other components of soda bread, were commonly available. The bread was cooked on a griddle or in a bastible, a big cast-iron pot with a lid that could be put right into coals or a turf fire.

Brown or White, Cake or Farl?

“Plain” soda bread often appears with a main meal to soak up gravy, or at breakfast. It comes as both brown and white bread and in two main types, cake and farl.

Traditional brown Irish soda bread is basic table bread made from whole meal flour, baking soda (bread soda), salt, and buttermilk.  White soda bread, made with white flour, is considered slightly more refined than brown soda bead and is sometimes considered a more special occasion bread.

Cake, soda bread that is kneaded, shaped into a flattish round, then deeply cut with a cross on the top and baked in an oven, tends to be found more in the south of Ireland. People in the North of Ireland seem to prefer farl — although both can be found in the North and South, sometimes with different names.

For farl, the dough is rolled into a rough circle and cut all the way through — like a cross — into four pieces or farls (“farl” is a generic term for a triangular piece of baking).  It’s usually baked in a heavy frying pan on a griddle, or on top of the range or stove. It’s flatter and moister than cake.  Each farl is split in half “the wide way” before it’s eaten and is best when hot. It’s also allowed to cool and then grilled or fried as part of other dishes — especially Ulster Fry, a local breakfast where golden and crispy soda bread and potatoes are fried in reserved bacon fat and then served with Irish bacon, sausage, black pudding, tomato and egg.

What’s Spotted Dog?

There are regional variations of the basic soda bread recipe – even though some purists would say there should be no additions to the dough.

In Donegal, caraway seeds were traditionally put in the bread.  In earlier and leaner times when raisins or dried fruit were luxuries, a fistful of them or maybe even a little sugar or an egg — if either could be spared — would have been put into the white flour version of the bread during the harvest as a treat for the working men.

The non-traditional varieties of soda breads that are made with raisins, caraway, orange zest, and other add-ins are often called Spotted Dog.

Why Is There A Cross On Top?

Before baking, a cross is traditionally cut on the top of the soda bread loaf with a knife – often said to ward off the devil and to protect the household.

Legend and symbolism aside, there’s a practical reason for the cruciform shape to be cut into the top of the dough. Slashing the dough lets heat penetrate into the thickest part of the bread and allows the bread to stretch and expand as it rises.

Slashing a round loaf with a cruciform shape ends up dividing the bread into quadrants that can be easily broken apart (the breaking of the bread). But, since Ireland is a mostly Catholic country, the symbolism of the cross can also be interpreted as blessing (crossing) the bread and giving thanks.

One serving (74 g) of Irish Soda Bread with raisins and caraway seeds has 214 calories, 3.67g fat, 41.51g carbs, and 4.86g protein.

If you are interested in gluten free recipes for soda bread, check out the recipes for Soda Bread and Irish Soda Bread Buns from the Gluten-Free Goddess.

The post Why Is Irish Soda Bread Called Soda Bread or Farl or Spotted Dog? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Have you been known to invade the breadbasket with gusto as soon as it lands on the table?

Then do you mindlessly continue to munch before and during your meal either because you’re hungry or because the bread is there for easy nibbling or for sopping up gravy or sauce?

Butter or Oil?

Olive oil for bread dipping is giving butter some stiff competition.  Olive oil arrives green or golden, plain, herbed or spiced.  It can be plopped down on your table, or poured with a flourish.  Some restaurants offer a selection for dipping – and attempt to educate you about the variation in flavors depending upon the olives’ country of origin.

Butter can also appear in many forms.  It still may still arrive in shiny foil packets – what would a diner be without them – or mounded in  pretty dishes sprinkled with sea salt or blended with various fruits or herbs.

Don’t be misled by the presentation — butter and oil, although delicious, are high calorie, high fat foods. Certain oils may be heart healthy, but they are still caloric.

Who Takes In More Calories – Butter Or Olive Oil Eaters?

Hidden cameras in Italian restaurants have shown that people who put olive oil on a piece of bread consume more fat and calories than if they use butter on their bread. But, the olive oil users end up eating fewer pieces of bread than the butter eaters.

In a study done by the food psychology laboratory at Cornell University, 341 restaurant goers were randomly given olive oil or blocks of butter with their bread. Following dinner, researchers calculated the amount of olive oil or butter and bread that was eaten.

The researchers found:

• Olive oil users used 26% more olive oil on each piece of bread compared to block butter users (40 vs. 33 calories)
• Although the olive oil users have a heavier hand than the butter users when slathering or dipping their bread, over the course of the meal the olive oil users ate less bread and oil – the olive oil users ate 23% less bread over the course of a meal than the people who used butter
• Olive oil users took in 17% fewer bread calories:  264 calories (oil eaters) vs. 319 calories (butter eaters)

The Caloric Punch of Butter, Oil, And Bread

• A tablespoon of olive oil has 119 calories, a tablespoon of butter has 102 calories, one pat of butter has around 36 calories
• Butter and oil are all fat; olive oil is loaded with heart healthy monounsaturated fat, butter contains heart unhealthy saturated fat
• Bread varies significantly in calories depending on the type of bread and the size of the piece; harder breads and breadsticks are often less caloric than softer doughy breads
• Most white bread and a small piece of French bread average around 90 to 100 calories a slice; dinner rolls average 85 calories each
• If you’re eating Mexican food, bread may not appear, but a basket of chips adds around 500 calories

If you’re thinking of switching up your bread and butter routine when you eat at home, why not consider an attractive oil canister for pouring some extra virgin olive oil onto a plate for dipping your bread (or for dressing your salad or some vegetables).  Here are some very attractive ones at different price points.  All are available through Amazon Prime.

Cucina Italiana Ceramic Olive Oil Dispenser Bottle, with Set of 4 Bread Dipping Plates, Honey Yellow

One Quart Olive Oil Dispenser, Stainless Steel Olive Oil Can Drizzler with Drip-free Spout

Michael Aram Olive Branch Gold Olive Oil Dispenser

My posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy through one of the links you won’t pay a penny more but I’ll receive a small commission. I do not get compensated for reviews.

The post Are You Eating A Bread And Butter (or oil) Meal Before Your Actual Meal? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Movies and Popcorn – A Classic Combo

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 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 available was in theaters, which typically had carpeted floors. Theater owners didn’t want popcorn “dirtying” up the place.

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.   Popcorn — at 5 to 10 cents a bag — was an affordable luxury.

Theater owners began to lease their lobbies to popcorn vendors, but 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.

It’s 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.

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, Cinnamon Candy (red, like the red carpet), 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:

19 Creative Ways to Flavor Popcorn

11 Popcorn Recipes to Take Your Movie Night to the Next Level

50 Flavored Popcorn Recipes

The post Movie Night? Try Some (Flavored) Popcorn appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

“Be Mine,” “Kiss me,”  “Sweet Talk.” Candy hearts, originally called motto hearts but also known as conversation hearts and sweethearts, have been iconic Valentine’s Day treats since 1902. Which school kid doesn’t remember the brightly colored heart shaped candies with the stamped red sayings and slightly chalky taste?

Their manufacturer, NECCO, the New England Confectionery Company in business since 1847, sells more than 8 billion candy conversation hearts a year. (Unfortunately, NECCO, once the longest continuously operating candy company in the country, was sold in a bankruptcy auction in May 2018.)

How Did Candy Conversation Hearts Get To Be A Symbol Of Valentine’s Day?

Giving a gift of candy with a message inscribed on it can be traced back to the American colonists who gave homemade hard candy with messages etched into the surface to their sweethearts.

Years later, Oliver Chase, the founder NECCO, and his brother Daniel, who developed the process of printing red vegetable dye mottos on the candy, turned this tradition into a business.

The candy’s original shape wasn’t a heart, but a seashell shape called a “cockle.” A message was written on a colored slip of paper that was wedged into the cockle’s shell. NECCO started producing candy with mottos stamped on them in 1900, but the candy was in shapes like horseshoes and baseballs that allowed for longer printed sayings like “How long shall I have to wait?” and “Pray be considerate.” The candy called Sweethearts didn’t get its heart shape until 1902.

Sweethearts And Motto Hearts

The original candies with printed sayings were called “motto hearts.”  The sayings and flavors were updated over the years with new ones periodically added. Newer flavors have been strawberry, green apple, lemon, grape, orange, and blue raspberry and “newer” sayings included “Tweet Me,” “Text Me,” “You Rock,” “Soul Mate,” “Love Bug,” and “Me + You.”

NECCO continued to use their original recipe, process, and machines they used at the turn of the century. Putting out approximately 100,000 pounds of candy a day, it took about 11 months to produce the more than eight billion pieces — or about 13 million pounds – of colorful candy sweethearts sold in the six weeks before Valentine’s Day. The little hearts with messages accounted for 40% of the Valentine candy market, just behind – you guessed it – chocolate!

Although you’d be hard pressed to call them nutritious, they are fat free, sodium free, and a caloric bargain at about 3 calories apiece for the small hearts and about 6 calories apiece for the larger “Motto” hearts.

They Will Not Disappear

Unfortunately, NECCO did not produce their candy hearts this year (although you still may find some lingering on shelves). But don’t fear the total disappearance of candy hearts. According to Fortune, Spangler Candy Co., which took over the rights to NECCO’s brands, says the iconic candies will return in 2020. And, don’t go into candy heart withdrawal – Brach’s sells their own similar version of candy sweethearts.

The post What’s Valentine’s Day Without Candy Sweethearts? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

During the week before Valentine’s Day, about 1.1 billion boxed chocolates — that’s about 58 million pounds of chocolate candy — will be sold in the United States.

A pound of milk chocolate packs 2300 calories, 140 grams of fat, 270 grams of carbohydrates, and 31 grams of protein. Although a lot has been reported about the heart healthy benefits of chocolate, especially dark chocolate, it’s important to remember that it is still a high calorie, high fat treat. And, it has caffeine.

Isn’t Chocolate Good For Me?

Depending on the type and the amount, the answer is yes. Chocolate’s health benefits come from cocoa and dark chocolate has a higher concentration of it than milk chocolate. White chocolate, without any cocoa in it, is not really chocolate.

Chocolate, especially dark chocolate, contains flavonols which have antioxidant qualities and other positive influences on heart health. But typical Valentine’s chocolates are caloric and moderately high in fat, one-third of it the type of saturated fat that is not heart healthy. Extra ingredients like crème and caramel fillings can add lots of extra fat and calories.

And Then There’s The Caffeine

You’ve finished dinner – perhaps you’re stuffed to the gills – and some chocolate arrives along with the check. It could be those squares nicely wrapped in shiny foil or it could be some chunks of the really dark stuff artfully arranged on a plate.

Somehow there magically seems to be some room for the chocolate to fit in your already full belly. And, just maybe, this chocolate follows a chocolate dessert that tasted so fantastic that you wanted to lick the bowl. All of that was washed down by a wonderful cup of coffee.

Is it coffee or chocolate that’s keeping you awake?

Then you get home and sleep is just downright elusive. You wonder why you’re wide awake since you’ve been on the go all day.

Here’s a thought – it might be the caffeine found in the coffee, tea, and even some soda you’ve drunk and from the chocolate you nibbled (or devoured). There isn’t a huge amount of caffeine in chocolate, but perhaps enough – especially if you’re a chocoholic – to help tip the insomnia scales when it’s combined with a day’s worth of other caffeinated food and drinks.

Caffeine And Chocolate

Here are a few facts about chocolate and caffeine that most people don’t know:

Chocolate contains caffeine – not enough to give you a big time boost, but — depending on the type of chocolate, enough to register — especially if you’re working your way through some of those oversized bars or you’re a little kid stuffing in a bunch of fun-sized bars.

It would take about 14 regularly sized (1.5 oz) bars of milk chocolate, and fewer bars if they were dark chocolate (see stats below), to give you the same amount of caffeine that you’d get from an 8 ounce cup of coffee. Along with that little caffeine buzz you’d also be shoving in about 3,000 calories and more than 300 grams of sugar.  If you’re looking for caffeine, coffee seems like a better bet at about two calories for an 8 ounce cup (black, no sugar).

Something To Think About

The next time you find yourself reaching for those foil wrapped chocolate squares after dinner you might consider the caffeine if you want a restful sleep.

It’s also worth it to remember that getting kids (and some adults) to sleep on Halloween, Easter, and other chocolate heavy holidays might have a whole lot to do with both the sugar and the amount of caffeine in the chocolate candy.

Caffeine In Chocolate

• Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bar, 1bar/1.55 ounces:  9 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Bar, 1 bar/1.45 ounces:  20 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Kisses, 9 pieces:  9 mg caffeine

• Hershey’s Special Dark Kisses, 9 pieces:  20 mg caffeine

• Scharffen Berger Milk 41% Cacao, ½ bar:  17 mg caffeine

• Scharffen Berger Extra Dark 82% Cacao, ½ bar:  42 mg caffeine

• Dagoba Milk Chocolate 37% Cacao, ½ bar:  9 mg caffeine

• Dagoba Dark Chocolate 73% Cacao, ½ bar:  36 mg caffeine

Caffeine In Coffee

• Coffee, generic brewed, 8 ounces: 133 mg caffeine (range: 102-200; 16 ounces, 266 mg caffeine)

• Dunkin’ Donuts regular coffee, 16 ounces:  206 mg caffeine

• Starbucks Brewed Coffee (Grande), 16 ounces:  320 mg caffeine

• Coffee, generic instant, 8 ounces:  93 mg caffeine (range 27-173)

• Espresso, generic, 1 ounces:  40 mg caffeine (range 30-90)

• Starbucks Espresso, solo, 1 ounces:  75 mg caffeine

• Coffee, generic decaffeinated, 8 ounces:  5 mg caffeine (range 3-12)

If you are a traditionalist and just want a big old chocolate kiss on Valentine’s Day, here’s one already to go — just don’t eat it all at once or you’ll have a nice caffeine buzz!

Or maybe just a bag of pink chocolate kisses will do.

Or some gold milk chocolate kisses filled with caramel — yum!

My posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of the links you won’t pay a penny more but I’ll receive a small commission. I do not get compensated for reviews.

The post How Much Caffeine Is In That Piece Of Chocolate? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.

Even though professional football – as we know it – has been around since 1920, the first Super Bowl, the annual championship of the National Football League was held in January 1967.

Although not an official holiday, Super Bowl Sunday certainly has assumed the trappings of a holiday both in the US and in many expat communities. It’s the most watched annual television program in the US and ranks second (Thanksgiving is first) as the day for most food consumption. Over 20 million Americans attend Super Bowl parties and half of all Americans say they would rather go to a Super Bowl party than to a New Year’s Eve party.

It’s amazing how food has become associated with football — from tailgating to the food for the game.  Think of all the hand to mouth munching on chips, dips, and wings; a swig or two or three; a cookie here and there.  And then there’s the “real food” at halftime – or maybe there was pizza first followed by a selection of subs. By the end of the game do you have a clue about how much – or even what — you have popped into your mouth?

Super Bowl Food Facts

• About one in twenty (9 million) Americans watch the game at a restaurant or a bar.
• Americans double their average daily consumption of snacks on Super Bowl Sunday, downing more than 33 million pounds in one day.
• The average Super Bowl watcher consumes 1,200 calories. (Source: Calorie Control Council). Potato chips are the favorite and account for 27 billion calories and 1.8 billion fat grams — the same as 4 million pounds of fat or equal to the weight of 13,000 NFL offensive linemen at 300 pounds each. (Source: com).

• Nearly one in eight (13%) Americans order takeout/delivery food for the Super Bowl. The most popular choices are pizza (58%), chicken wings (50%), and subs/sandwiches (20%). (Source: American Journal). Almost 70% of Super Bowl watchers eat a slice (or two or three) during the game.
• The amount of chicken wings eaten clocks in at 90 million pounds or 450 million individual wings. It would take 19 chicken breasts to get the same amount of fat that you usually get from a dozen Buffalo wings.
• On Super Bowl Sunday Americans eat an estimated 14,500 tons of potato chips, 4000 tons of tortilla chips, and eight million pounds of avocados. Five ounces of nacho cheese Doritos equals around 700 calories. You’d have to run the length of 123 football fields to burn them off.  You’d have to eat 175 baby carrots or 700 celery sticks to get the same number of calories.
• According to 7-eleven, sales of antacids increase by 20% on the day after Super Bowl.

Super Bowl Party Calorie Saving Tips

• Stick with grilled meat, veggies, or baked chips rather than fried. Turkey, baked ham, and grilled chicken are better choices than wings and fried chicken.
• Plain bread, pitas, or wraps are less caloric than biscuits or cornbread.
• Go for salsa and skip the guacamole.
• Minimize calories by dipping chicken wings into hot sauce instead of Buffalo sauce.
• Try using celery for crunch and as a dipper instead of chips.

• Go for thin crust rather than thick doughy crust pizza. Choose the slices with vegetables, not pepperoni or meatballs. If you’re not embarrassed, try blotting up the free-floating oil that sits on top of a greasy slice (soaking up even a teaspoon of oil saves you 40 calories and 5 grams of fat).

• Try fruit for dessert.

• Alcohol adds calories and plays havoc with your mindful eating. Try alternating water or diet soda with beer or alcohol. That can decrease your alcohol calories (alcohol has 7 calories/gram) by 50%.

For your consideration (and amusement):

According to the DietDetective):

• Drinking six bottles of Budweiser beer means needing to do “The Wave” 4, 280 times
• One 16-ounce bowl of beef and bean chili (about 550 calories) with a few tablespoons of sour cream and shredded cheese (another 150 calories) means 73 minutes of cheerleading.
• Eating ten Lay’s classic potato chips with Kraft French onion dip means you have to dance to Madonna for 134 minutes
• Four Tostitos Scoops! Tortilla chips with guacamole means 122 end zone touchdown dances because each chip is about 11 calories and each scoop of guacamole is around 25 calories. One KFC extra crispy drumstick and an extra crispy chicken breast means 203 end zone touchdown dances. All of those dances could lead to some very sore quads.
• Five pigs in blankets (67.5 calories each) means taking over the job of a stadium vendor and selling food for 36 minutes.
• And the wings. Fifteen Pizza Hut Buffalo Burnin’ Hot Crispy Bone-in Wings with ranch dressing (100 calories per wing and 220 calories for 1.5 ounces of ranch dressing) means you’d have to do the wave 9,461 times.  The only upside is that after all those waves your arms would hurt so much you wouldn’t be able to pick up any more food!

Enjoy the food. Enjoy the game.

The post Do Football And Food Share Equal Footing On Super Bowl Sunday? appeared first on Eat Out Eat Well.