Mrs. Smith’s Peach Cobbler

Serving: 1/8 cobbler, 4oz
Calories:240 per serving
Calories from Fat: 70
Fat: 12%, 8g
Saturated Fat: 18%, 3.5g
Trans Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 8%, 200mg
Protein: 2g
Carbohydrates: 14%, 41g
Fiber: 4%, 1g
Sugar: 21g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 Points

Mrs. Smith says: Every Mrs. Smith’s cobbler is carefully crafted from the finest ingredients, with plump, sweet fruit packed inside our famous golden crust. You bake them fresh, filling your home with that unmistakably warm, appetizing aroma and a timeless sense of anticipation.

Abi says: Like almost every baked good ever produced, this cobbler filled our home with a sense of anticipation. Who doesn’t like fruit baked into its own little pastry coffin? Okay, probably a bunch of you. Also, I shouldn’t have used the word ‘coffin’ there, but that was the first thing I thought of, followed by ’straightjacket’, ‘thermos’ and ‘mummy wraps’. Hey, its Monday.

And just like Mondays, this fruit concoction disappointed everyone. Everyone being me and my husband, who are human beings. I am sure the cocker spaniel-sized raccoons that roam the Stanford Campus totally loved it.

A large part of that disappointment stemmed from the experience gained while making cobblers from scratch. The gist of it is that you take fresh fruit, slice it thinly or cube it, add spices and sugar as preferred, then pour it in a buttered baking dish and cover with a biscuit, pastry, or crumb topping. And bake. Baking is important.

The hardest part of it is the peeling and slicing, so you’d think that the folks at Mrs. Smith’s would have access to amazing degrees of peeling and/or slicing equipment and thus could whip together a passable cobbler is no time flat. But you’d be wrong. The peach filling here included three variants of corn syrup, a boatload of food coloring and a sense of being hoodwinked. Instead of an inside-out version of the delectable, this “cobbler” was akin to dumping a can of peaches into a tinfoil dish, adding food coloring and topping it with an untreated block of puff-pastry.

Each bite (and I admit, I only took three bites) was a harshly starchy reminder that this was not a dessert to be consumed by human mouths. However, if you have a family friend with a jaw wired shut and you’re looking for desserts that already contain tons of liquids and very few solids, this could work.

Personally, I just ate the ice cream and vowed never to never again trust Mrs. Smith with fruit. Or pastry.

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Amy’s Kitchen Mac n’ Cheese Kids Meal

Serving: 1 tray, 8oz.
Calories: 370 per serving
Fat: 20%, 13g
Saturated Fat: 35%, 7g
Trans Fat: 0g
Cholesterol: 12%, 35mg
Sodium: 26%, 620mg
Protein: 14g
Carbohydrates: 17%, 50g
Fiber: 12%, 3g
Sugar: 8g
Weight Watchers Points: 8 Points

Amy says: Mac n’ Cheese is a favorite with kids of all ages. We decided to offer it in our first “Kids Meals”. Macaroni with organic broccoli with cheese and a slice of focaccia bread. For dessert, there are two delicious “snacks” filled with honey-sweetened organic apples.

Stacey says: This being a kid’s meal I sought out the perspective of my 8 year old niece, Penny, making this a 4 cents review (her 2 cents and mine). This kid’s meal appeals to the one’s most basic need…the need for Mac n’ Cheese. Amy’s Kitchen does it right by combo-ing it with just-right accessories: broccoli, focaccia and little applesauce pies. The headliner of the show held it’s own with noodles that one could barely detect as “healthy” and a cheese sauce that tasted reasonably like what cheese sauce reasonably should taste like, though it could have been a bit less runny so as to stick to the noodles better. The genius of pairing a broccoli side with mac n’ cheese is that the runny sauce gets to do double duty as vegetable dressing as well, so no harm is done by food-touching, often a hot button issue for kids. Penny and I both would have liked a larger portion of broccoli.

Getting back to the food-touching issue, separating the little apple pie pillows into an inner removable tray shows the kind of attention to detail that makes all the difference in a successful kid meal. My preference would have been to have the focaccia bread also segmented into the removable tray, but Penny used her bread square as a sauce-mop so it was moot to her. The pies themselves were delightful; so tiny and charming the way anything miniature is instantly attractive. I felt the two tasty bites were a just right ending to a well planned meal, but Penny felt there should be more of them, she’d like 5 more, but the negotiator in her will settle for an increase of 2. As for the dénouement, Amy’s kids meals come with a spectacular prize - a temporary tattoo of a one-eyed dog, the wearing of which instantly makes you the coolest kid on the playground or in the conference room.

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Next Week: New Products from Hungry-Man

A couple weeks ago the friendly folks at Hungry Man’s PR department sent my former coworkers a box packed with their new ‘Wild Man’ meals. This is one of those times when I can say that I’m glad I started having all of the free food shipped directly to other reviewers. Sure, I’ll take free pizzas, but free Hungry-Man? No thanks

For those of you who (similar t enjoy Hungry-Man meals, you’ll be delighted to learn that we’re featuring them for all of next week. Yes, an entire week of Hungry-Man.

The new product line includes:

• Monday - Hungry-Man Country Fried Bison Steak: No need to haul out the skillet. Treat yourself to our country fried bison steak, with creamy gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans. That’s one pound of tastebud-pleasing food.
• Tuesday - Hungry-Man Salisbury-Style Ostrich Steak: Take one bit of our tender Salisbury-style ostrich steak and you’ll be one happy customer. It comes with mushroom and onion gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans. That’s one pound of tempting, terrific food.
• Wednesday - Hungry-Man BBQed Rattlesnake: This down-home dish is popular for good reason. You’ll enjoy rattlesnake patties in barbecue sauce, with mashed potatoes, and corn. That’s 1 pound of tongue-tingling, flavorful food.
• Thursday - Hungry-Man Boneless Wild Boar: Smokin’ sizzle! You’ll appreciate a home-made flair in our grilled wild boar steak strips, with onions and peppers in a zesty bourbon sauce, and mashed potatoes. That’s over one pound of fantastic food!
• Friday - Hungry-Man Sports Grill Beer-Battered Alligator: Enjoy favorite fan foods while watching your favorite team on TV. You’ll love our beer-battered alligator patties, and Cheesefries. It’s one-pound of yummy, winning food.

Meals like these make me wonder just how much market research Hungry-Man does before launching a new product line. Can you see yourself purchasing a box of beer-battered alligator patties and Cheesefries?

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Kozy Shack Ready Grains – Maple Brown Sugar Flavor

Price: $2.50 (for pack of 2, with coupon)
Serving: 1 bowl, 7oz.
Calories: 190 per serving
Fat: 3%, 2g
Cholesterol: 5%, 15mg
Sodium: 8%, 180mg
Protein: 7g
Carbohydrates: 11%, 33g
Fiber: 28%, 7g
Sugar: 21g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 Points

Kozy Shack says: Since 1967 Kozy Shack has been dedicated to providing wholesome, natural and great tasting products to our consumers. In continuing that tradition, we are pleased to present Kozy Shack Ready Grains, a ready to eat all natural multigrain cereal.

This unique and healthy cereal combines three whole grains: oats (steel cut oats, and rolled oats) brown rice, and barley that deliver a creamy texture and truly satisfying taste.

Can be enjoyed HOT or COLD any time, any where!

Daria says: I was first introduced to Kozy Shack products by a coupon some months ago. I’d never purchased them before, and tried their sugar-free tapioca pudding. It is truly excellent, as far as packaged tapioca pudding goes; just the right balance of sweetness with nutty tapioca granules, and its calorie count is very reasonable. I’ve been a fan ever since that coupon came into my life.

I found another Kozy Shack coupon recently in the newspaper, and took the plunge on breakfast. Kozy Shack has continued their line of great puddings in the Ready Grains product. To me, after heating for 30 seconds, stirring, then heating 30 seconds more, this had the texture of a warm, slightly runny oatmeal-maple pudding. Which is not a bad thing! I wouldn’t choose this for breakfast every day, but it is an interesting change for sure.

Ready Grains Maple Brown Sugar is quite sweet, and the natural flavor listed in the ingredients is most likely a real maple flavor – this Maine girl knows her syrup when she tastes it! The brown sugar also comes through nicely and thankfully the list of ingredients is short. Lowfat milk is first, second comes a number of different grains: steel cut oats, brown rice, pearled barley, and rolled oats. (Pearling does remove the fiber from the barley, but it results in a smooth texture). Water, inulin (an insoluble fiber) and eggs follow, then more starches, sugars, and flavorings. No high-fructose corn syrup is present, and the only item that indicates that this was made in a factory is modified food starch. That and carrageenan (a natural thickener from seaweed) contribute to the pudding texture. Kozy Shack’s ingredients are natural, and their tasty products reflect that.

The convenience of this product rates it highly in my book, and the natural ingredients boost that rating. I would buy this again, probably not this week, but definitely before my other coupon expires. They have three other flavors: original, apple cinnamon, and strawberry, and calorie counts for those flavors vary. However, if you are not a lover of the texture of pudding, you might want to think twice about this product.

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Kashi Tuscan Veggie Bake

Price: $3.19 (or free because I had a coupon for a free meal)
Serving: 1 oz.
Calories: 260 per serving
Fat: 14%, 9g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 29%, 700mg
Protein: 7g
Carbohydrates: 14%, 42g
Fiber: 32%, 8g
Sugar: 8g
Weight Watchers Points: 5

Kashi says: All Natural Tuscan Veggie Bake. Yellow squash, roasted eggplant, red onion, and sweet potato. Zesty basil tomato sauce with sun dried tomatoes served inside Kashi seven whole grain noodles.

Samantha says: Kashi, what happened? I love your pizza, cereal, and tasty granola bars and then you come out with this?!

First, the cooking time on this meal is a little long and complicated to be taking over the office microwave-a total of 11 minutes! Bake for 5 minutes at 50% power, heat an additional 3 minutes at full power, let stand in microwave for 3 minutes. I don’t know about anyone else’s office politics, but taking over the microwave for 11 minutes leads to your name being dropped at the water cooler around here.

I took the fully cooked and rested meal back to my desk, carefully peeling back the plastic sheet. It looked like any other frozen “lasagna” based noodle frozen meal-square with sauce on top. It smelled good. The veggies had the “fire roasted” lines. The red sauce was plentiful and thick.

I have to say I was excited to try this meal. I have heard wonderful things about Kashi frozen meals “texture, flavor, nutritious!” and I love everything else they make. Oh this had texture all-right. I took my plastic fork and cut my first bite of the noodles and veggies, placed it in my mouth. The meal was pleasant and flavorful. I could taste the fire-roasted and the intense tomato sauce. Then I began to chew. All I kept thinking was “What is that hard pebble feeling in my mouth?” I turned over the box and read the label among the ingredients, all the way at the bottom, “brown lentils”. I am a big lentil fan, love to cook with them and eat them…however I prefer mine fully cooked, not in crunchy, partially cooked form.

Just seconds later there was another strange texture, chewy and yet soft. This I discover is the eggplant. I am not convinced eggplant should be anywhere near a microwave, but there it was, sandwiched between two whole grain noodles. The noodles were a bit chewy for my taste. The most surprising part of the entire meal was the mysterious white, cream sauce I found in the meal. I went back to the ingredients to investigate. I believe it was the “cannellini beans” in some form. Not too sure.

Overall, I was not impressed by the Kashi Tuscan Bake and feel let down. I gave it two stars because I am full, but will not be purchasing this one again.

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Lean Cuisine Spaghetti with Meatballs

Price: $2.25 (on sale)
Serving: 1 meal, 9.5 oz.
Calories: 260
Fat: 8%, 5g
Cholesterol: 8%, 25mg
Sodium: 23%, 560mg
Protein: 18g
Carbs: 12%, 35g
Fiber: 20%, 5g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 Points

Lean Cuisine says: Roasted and seasoned meatballs in a chunky tomato sauce accented with basil and mushrooms. Served with a side of spaghetti.

Adina says: First off, I’d like everyone to take a very close look at the box. And count the meatballs. And then count the meatballs that were on my plate. And then read my letter to Lean Cuisine, which I believe to be a really nice letter considering I was cheated out of a meatball, those bastards.

Dear Lean Cuisine,

Please do not ever ever EVER false advertise how many meatballs there are in a meal to dieters. We pore over those pictures, counting every single mushroom and thread of noodle and dash of basil before committing ourselves to yet another disappointing and unfulfilling lunch. And do not think we won’t notice once we start eating because WE DO. I always do a visual comparison before eating your meals in three fell swoops. This is your first warning – do it again and be prepared to suffer (like being force fed your or something equally as maniacal.)

Love,
Adina

My second complaint is when I went on the Lean Cuisine website to copy the description of the meal, I read this “review”: This spaghetti is almost as good as mine! (SMILE). I love everything about this…SHANNON R. ARDMORE, PA.

Dear Shannon,

Your spaghetti must really suck.

Love,
Adina

Seriously, who says that? People don’t buy Lean Cuisines because they are GOOD. They buy them because they are small and encourage you to count every single calorie you put into your body so that when you gorge on ice cream later that night you don’t feel as guilty. Nobody thinks Lean Cuisine pasta tastes as good as authentic homemade pasta. That is crazy. I am 100% convinced that Shannon from Ardmore, PA is the brain child of one of the LC web developers named Howard. I hate you Howard for underestimating me.

All this aside (and I realize it is a lot of “all”), the meal itself was not bad. The meatballs were meatbally – not as tasty as their half cousins, but no one can beat those damn Swedes. The pasta was a little overcooked but I actually think that was my fault. I wouldn’t necessarily call the sauce “chunky” but it was flavorful and red so what more can you ask for.

The problem with this meal is that I definitely have expectations for any meal called “Spaghetti and Meatballs”. And that expectation is that it is going to be a heaping pile of steaming hot spaghetti and giant delicious meatballs covered in a blanket of parmesan cheese. I think any food loving person would agree – Spaghetti and Meatballs is not the kind of meal you eat only one serving of. It is the kind of meal you eat until you want to slip into a food coma and die. And so even though this was a tasty enough meal and in all honesty I’ll probably buy it again despite the false advertising the Shannon, it made me feel depressed that I wasn’t sitting at my mother’s kitchen table, gorging myself on homemade food.

So I gave it a three. Because it made me sad.

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Hot Pocket Burglar

The Associated Press is reporting that a Delaware man broke into an apartment and stole Hot Pockets and frozen chicken wings.

More interesting than the fact that this guy a) tried breaking into six apartments, b) broke into an apartment with people in it, and c) stole Hot Pockets, is that he stole $82 worth of Hot Pockets and chicken wings.

Who has nearly $100 worth of Hot Pockets and chicken wings in his home freezer? Apparently, people in Delaware.

Maybe there’s a Hot Pockets black market out there? Should I worry that some frozen food thief is going to follow me home from the train station one day?

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Duncan Hines Oven Ready Chocolate Chip Brownies

Price: $3.49
Serving: 1/12 of the pan, 1.4oz
Calories: 170 per serving
Calories from Fat: 70
Fat: 12%, 8g
Saturated Fat: 13%, 2.5g
Trans Fat: 1g
Cholesterol: 5%, 15mg
Sodium: 4%, 85mg
Protein: 2g
Carbohydrates: 8%, 24g
Fiber: 0%, <1g
Sugar: 14g
Weight Watchers Points: 4 Points

Duncan Hines says: First brownie that comes frozen and ready to bake. Packaged in convenient, oven-ready trays - no prep and no clean-up necessary. Ready to serve in just 30 minutes from freezer to oven.

Abi says: Sometimes when I’m at a conference or a non-food professional event someone will introduce me as a person who knows a lot about frozen food. This leads to the inevitable ‘So what is your favorite frozen food?’ question, to which I want to reply ‘I have a whole blog section about that.’

But last week, instead of telling someone about my favorite frozen food, I said flat out that there is not one acceptable frozen brownie on the market. And then I got looks that basically said “How many frozen brownies does someone have to eat to know that?”

I’ve thought a lot about this frozen brownie problem. Sure, it is dessert. And dessert in almost any form is going to be good. But judged against the vast pantheon of desserts on Heat Eat Review (yes, there’s a these oven ready items are a castrated version of real dessert. And it isn’t just the preservative-laden ones that you get from Wal-Mart. Even the Trader Joe’s ready-to-bake brownies leave a lot to be desired.

And these ones aren’t even brownies. These are blondies. They bake up golden brown into an enormous lazy-man’s cookie. Mmmmmm, lazy-man’s cookie. But looks aren’t everything: the dough in these falls flat, tasting barely decent fresh out of the oven and turning into something less than utterly delicious upon cooling. Weirdly, the most succinct review of this is on Wal-Mart’s website:

This product does not at all taste like brownies,it tastes more like a cheap cake that has been sitting around for weeks and has became [sic] stale.

Furthermore, the chocolate chips included are miserly smidgens of chocolate, each just big enough to remind you that there’s better chocolate in the world and right now you are not eating it.

Combining stale cake and lame chocolate into one medium-sized tray made a dessert that managed to stick around my house for days before being totally consumed. It was as though we all knew these brownies were spiked with something and thus avoided them at all costs.

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Eating Right Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Sandwich

Price: $2.00 (on sale)
Serving: 4 oz. (2 sandwiches per box)
Calories: 250 per serving
Fat: 11%, 7g
Cholesterol: 5%, 15mg
Sodium: 23%, 550mg
Protein: 11g
Carbohydrates: 12%, 35g
Fiber: 16%, 4g
Sugar: 3g
Weight Watchers Points: 5 Points

Eating Right says: Beef strips and fat free mozzarella cheese in a flaky crust.

Alex says: I did not have high expectations for this meal. In my book, it doesn’t have a lot going for it. It’s an Eating Right meal, it costs all of two dollars, and tries to take a delicious but terribly unhealthy food and put it into a nice, mass-produced, nutritionally sound package. I think that we should all know by now that in the frozen food world, this has “fail” written all over it. To fully expose the stuffed pocket of awful that is this meal, I will break it down into its components.

Let’s start with the beef strips. The list of ingredients tells me that there is indeed beef in this here sandwich, specifically “cooked beef strips ground and formed (contains up to 15% of a seasoning solution of…blah blah blah).” I’m sure this sounds terribly appetizing to you, reader. To make it sound even more appetizing, I will tell you that these beef strips resembled ham in both flavor and texture much more than they did beef.

Next comes the “fat free mozzarella cheese.” For the sake of accuracy, I’m going to rename this component “watery dairy-like substance.” As with any product of its sort, there was not nearly as much cheese in the sandwich as the picture on the box would have you believe, but I was pleasantly surprised with the quantity of quasi-dairyness inside. However, I very much value quality over quantity, and not even an industrial vat of watery dairy-like substance could make this any better.

Before having to put any of this food in my mouth, I had hope for the flaky crust. While microwaving the sandwich, the meal actually smelled of real, bona fide bread. Needless to say, I was amazed. After all, Hot Pockets don’t waft bread-scented air towards your nose while cooking, but I would rather eat a Hot Pocket any day over this. The crust was indeed flaky, but for lack of a better way of putting this, not in a good way. Not that I was expecting buttery, pie crust-y flakiness, but I would rather have flat, soggy crust than the unsettling dry blandness present here.

There is one more component to this sandwich: what’s missing. Everyone knows that a Philly Cheesesteak contains ample amounts of onions and peppers along with cheese and beef. You probably can’t see them in the picture, but the box depicts several pieces of onion in the sandwich. I had one dime-sized piece of onion in mine. What’s really missing, however, is the peppers. There may have only been one measly piece of onion, but its onion flavor was semi-present throughout the sandwich. Peppers never came anywhere near the factory.

In conclusion, this sandwich should in no way be used as a substitute for or facsimile of a real, or even semi-real Philly Cheesesteak. However, if you’re after a sandwich with a watery cheese filling with beef strips that seem like they’re not all wrapped up in a scarily dry, flaky crust, this sandwich is for you.

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Healthy Choice meets Waiting for Guffman

The new Healthy Choice ad campaign (which is costing somewhere between $90 million and $100 million) features actors from the oeuvre of Christopher Guest (This is Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show).

Sorry, I’ve been trying to include the word ‘oeuvre’ on this website for a long time.

Anyways, I’ve seen a couple of the ads and thought “Wow, these are brilliant.” and “This doesn’t make me want to eat Healthy Choice foods. At all.”

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Quaker Quakes Caramel Corn Rice Snacks

I knew I wouldn't get through my second lecture of the day without a snack, but I had trepidations about going downstairs to the vending machine as it would most likely be faced with Still, I decided to go have a look and imagine my (pleasant) surprise, when I spotted Quaker Quakes Rice Snacks in Caramel Corn, a 100-calorie bag no less, for $1.00 (not bad for overly inflated vending machine prices). The package advertised Light, Crispy Crunch!

I opened the bag and was pleased to find a satisfying number of rice snacks inside; none of this "only a few small pieces for 100 calories" nonsense. Each cake tasted so much like caramel corn, with a delicate crunch and sweet flavor. Sugar is the second ingredient, so the sweetness is not surprising. One thing that surprised me, though, was the fact that they had 4 different types of sweeteners in the ingredients list - sugar, high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, and acesulfame potassium.

Maybe the combo of real and artificial sweetener makes it possible to have such a delicious caramel flavor for only 100 calories and 0.5 grams of fat. A 26 gram bag of Quaker Quakes Caramel Corn Rice Snacks also has 250 mg of sodium (10% of the RDA), 8 grams of sugar, and 1 gram of protein.

This is one low calorie snack that needs to make it's way into your shopping cart if you on the lookout for a healthier swap for your buttery, sugar-laden caramel corn. While, I like the sweet change of pace, I'm probably still a plain popcorn kinda girl at heart.

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Café Physique Food & Fitness Health Blog

If you struggle to maintain a healthy lifestyle or just don’t know where to start, Café Physique is a spot you can visit daily to get info on food & fitness from someone who lives by the More or Less Philosophy – Just do a little more of the good things & a bit less of the not-so-good things, and you’ll be on your way to achieving your healthy living goals. So, make yourself at home in this virtual café where you really can "have your cake and eat it too"...more or less.

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Back to Nature Honey Graham Sticks

Graham Crackers rock my World, but the partially hydrgenated oils found in some brands like , have left me looking for other alternatives. I usually opt for an "all natural" alternative, and after discovering Annie's All Natural Honey Bunny Grahams, I also realized that my graham cracker fix" could come in lots of different forms - graham bunnies, and now graham cracker sticks courtesy of Back to Nature Honey Graham Sticks.

The element that is most intriguing about Back to Nature Honey Graham Sticks is that one serving is 14 sticks that are the length of a long ice cube (that means longer snacking time!). They taste exactly like a graham cracker should - sweet, but not too sweet, with a nice crunch and light honey after taste. Each stick has a thin layer of sugar over the top that does not add much to the mouth feel, but does add a special element to the appearance.

Each box of Back to Nature Honey Graham Sticks contains 7 serving (31 grams each) which provides 130 calories, 2.5 grams of fat (4% of the RDA), no saturated fat, 160 mg of sodium (7% of the RDA), less than 1 gram of fiber (3% of the RDA), 11 grams of sugar and 2 grams of protein. The ingredient list is simple with no partially hydrogenated oils, artificial preservatives, flavors or colors. The only alteration that I would prefer is whole wheat flour. However, that would probably alter the taste, so I am content with the ingredients as they are!

I paid $2.29 for Back to Nature Honey Graham Sticks and I'm completely satisfied. If you prefer pre-portioned snacks, Back to Nature has got you covered, serving their graham sticks in mini packs as well. Whether you buy the box or the single serving packages, these graham sticks provide a delicious and wholesome alternative to the average graham cracker

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25 Facts About Bananas

Here are 25 facts about one of the world's most popular fruits:

The banana "tree" is not really a tree, but a giant herb. The banana is the fruit of this herb.

The cluster of bananas sold in supermarkets is a "hand" of bananas, while the individual bananas on the hand are called fingers.

The strings that go up and down the length of bananas are called Phloem Bundles. They help distribute nutrients to every part of the growing bananas.

The yellow bananas that are most often sold in supermarkets are sometimes called "dessert bananas" because they are soft and sweet.

Plantains are a type of banana that are not as sweet and are usually cooked. While not as commonly eaten in North America, plantains are a dietary staple in many tropical regions.

It is believed by many experts that bananas were the first fruit cultivated by humans.

Alexander the Great first came across bananas in India in 327 B.C.

Bananas were introduced to the United States at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Celebration, where they were sold wrapped in foil for 10 cents each.

Worldwide, bananas are the fourth largest fruit crop.

The average American consumes 28 pounds of bananas per year.

The banana peel is edible, though perhaps not very palatable unless cooked.

About 50 percent of people who are allergic to latex are often also allergic to bananas.

India is the #1 banana producer in the world.

The most popular banana cultivar in the world is the Cavendish. This is the banana most often seen in U.S. and European markets.

Before Cavendish, Gros Michel was the main banana cultivar exported on a mass, commercial scale. In the mid-20th century, Gros Michel was ravaged by Panama disease and is no longer sold commercially.

Panama disease, or Fusarium wilt, is a fungus that attacks banana plants. It was reported in Australia in the 19th century.

It is believed that the Cavendish, like the Gros Michel, will be devastated by Panama disease within 20 years and will no longer be able to be produced commercially. This would be a difficult blow to the banana industry.

Scientists are trying to develop a hybrid, disease-resistant banana.

Chiquita was initially called the United Fruit Company. In the 20th century, they played a controversial role in the politics of Central America, where they had vast holdings. The company earned the nickname of "The Octopus" in the region because they had their hands in so many political pots.

The CIA-sponsored 1954 coup that overthrew the democratically-elected Guatemalan government headed by Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán is believed to be a direct result of influence by the United Fruit Company, which had an antagonistic relationship with the Arbenz government.

In Uganda, bananas are such a big part of the diet that the same word, matooke, is used for both "food" and "banana."

The pejorative term "banana republic" was coined by American writer O. Henry. He used it in reference to Honduras, but the term became widely used in reference to any Latin American, Caribbean, or African country that was politically unstable, relied heavily on basic agriculture, and was not technologically advanced.

The banana split was invented in 1904 by 23-year-old David Evans Strickler, an employee at the Tassel Pharmacy soda fountain in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

The song "Yes, We Have No Bananas" was released in 1923 and became a huge hit. It refers to the banana shortage at the time.

In 2001, Britain recorded 300 incidents of injuries related to bananas. The majority of these involved people slipping on banana peels.

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10 Health Benefits of Ginger

Ginger has been used as a natural remedy for many ailments for centuries. Now, science is catching up and researchers around the world are finding that ginger works wonders in the treatment of everything from cancer to migraines. Here are ten health benefits of this powerful herb:

Ovarian Cancer Treatment
Ginger may be powerful weapon in the treatment of ovarian cancer. A conducted at the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center found that ginger powder induces cell death in all ovarian cancer cells to which it was applied.

Colon Cancer Prevention
A at the University of Minnesota found that ginger may slow the growth of colorectal cancer cells.

Morning Sickness
A of several studies has concluded that ginger is just as effective as vitamin B6 in the treatment of morning sickness.

Motion Sickness Remedy
Ginger has been shown to be an for the nausea associated with motion sickness.

Reduces Pain and Inflammation
One showed that ginger has anti-inflammatory properties and is a powerful natural painkiller.

Heartburn Relief
Ginger has long been used as a natural It is most often taken in the form of tea for this purpose.

Cold and Flu Prevention and Treatment
Ginger has long been used as a natural treatment for colds and the flu. Many people also find ginger to be helpful in the case of stomach flus or food poisoning, which is not surprising given the positive effects ginger has upon the digestive tract.

Migraine Relief
Researchthat ginger may provide migraine relief due to its ability to stop prostaglandins from causing pain and inflammation in blood vessels.

Menstrual Cramp Relief
In Chinese medicine, ginger tea with brown sugar in the treatment of menstrual cramps.

Prevention of Diabetic Nephropathy
A study done on diabetic rats that those rats given ginger had a reduced incidence of diabetic nephropathy (kidney damage).

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Restaurant Pick: Orean The Health Express

I'm proud to say that I'm from Pasadena. It's a fantastic city, complete with the Tournament of Roses Parade (I was even a Rose Princess), San Gabriel mountains, the legendary and beautiful Rose Bowl, and a jam-packed, grease-filled restaurant row.

KFC, McDonalds, Burger King, Roscoe's Chicken n Waffles, Carl's Jr and Taco Bell...they're all here in one city block. And nestled right between them is Orean: The Health Express.

Here's what Orean's is: vegetarian, lowfat fast food. AND IT'S TASTY. It's easy to miss on Lake Avenue. They opened their doors in 1988, and clearly don't have a budget for decor. There's no indoor seating, only three outdoor picnic tables, and hand-written signs.

It's a little ghetto.

But what's fascinating is their menu...how could this run-down looking shack offer some of the most flavorful, inexpensive vegan food in all of LA? There's not a drop of animal product on the premises, but there's a slew of fresh ingredients. I've fooled ice cream lovers into trying what they thought was a regular vanilla shake...made entirely of soy and hundreds of calories and fat grams less than the golden arches alternative. Then there's the favorite Big-O-Chilli Cheese Burger, or my husband's choice: the "Chick-un" Burger. I've tried most of the menu, including their interesting take on a Mexican favorite called the African Tostada, a corn tortilla with a mix of blackeyed peas, salsa, tahineh, lettuce, tomatoes and soy cheese. I'm addicted to their Philly Cheese Sandwich with Peppers and Green Onions and the Super Green Drink. The "steak" has a wonderful finish with melted soy cheese, and the drink works on a hot day.

Let's be real, it's not particularly healthy. No fast food is. But when you can cut over 75% of fat (all from vegetable fat), oil and calories from a fast food craving - this can turn into a habit. Everytime I visit my hometown, I stop by and bring home some goodies that get eaten quickly...

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Restaurant Pick: Healthy, Delicious and Raw in the OC

Every couple of months or so, an errand takes me into Orange County. It’s a trek, so I break up the drive with a stop at my favorite raw vegan restaurant: the magnificent Au Lac. I make excuses to head there now, because it’s impossible to find food like this anywhere else.

There's an ongoing rumor about Au Lac's Chef Ito, that he hasn’t spoken in 10 years. I can’t confirm this because every time I ask, he smiles and walks away. The staff tells me Ito puts all of his energy into creating the food – which feels like two restaurants in one. With raw selections, and an almost vegan traditional Vietnamese menu, the choices are endless.

If you choose raw, bring your wallet and don't be in a rush. Au Lac provides organic, raw, high quality, meticulously prepared food. It takes a bit of time, so enjoy slowing down and order a beer, or the healthy favorite Kombucha – a Chinese fermented, effervescent tea.

If you’re starving, order from the vegan menu which can arrive on your table within minutes. But if you’re patient and dedicated to raw, try the Raw Hand Roll. It’s a simple mix of avocado, pistachio meat, original sauce and spices wrapped in nori. It sounds overly simple, but it's incredibly memorable.

I always go for the raw Curried Rice. They use a soaked natural rice filled with broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, green olives, mushrooms and avocados with just a little bit of heat. You can’t go wrong with the “Taco,” which has crispy cabbage on the outside, a “cream” sauce made of pistachios, and added mushrooms, dill pickles, avocado, red bell pepper and coconut meat. Everyone recommended it, and I’m glad I listened because the combination of these ingredients makes for a hearty, filling, flavorful and healthy take on a Mexican dish.

My buddy insisted I try the Choconut Xtasy (pictured), even though I was stuffed thanks to their massive portions. But I ate the whole thing.

Anyone going to Orange County soon? We can use the carpool lane...

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