Brads Blog

This week’s Notable Blog is Neutronium Headband. I came across this blog a couple of weeks ago, and ended up subscribing to the feed. What I like about this blog is that it is obviously run by an individual, and has some good rants that I can relate to. I would recommend dropping by Neutronium Headband, and tell him Bradsblog sent ya!

This is one of those appliances that you don’t know how you made it before you had it. We normally use ours 3 or 4 times a week. We cook a variety of foods with it, but mostly rice and vegetables. It has a large capacity, but doesn’t take up a lot of room. It features a 75 minute timer so you won’t over steam your food. The two best things about this food steamer/rice cooker-whatever you want to call it, are that it’s not that expensive and it is easy to clean.

Several months ago, I traded in my old van in on a newer car. I picked up a 2004 Mercury Sable GS at a local dealership. This car had 11,000 miles on it and was a service vehicle, so it never had a real owner. I traded my van in for an amount I am too embarrassed to mention here. I was out the door for roughly $12,000 for this V6 car. I was happy. The air conditioner worked great. The ride is very smooth. It is a good car to drive. I can put all three kids in the back seat, including two car seats. I normally get around 18 miles per gallon, but when I went on a road trip I got over 22 mpg. The trunk has a LOT of room. In fact, my wife would rather take my car grocery shopping than her Honda Odyssey because she can fit more groceries in the trunk.

I recently attempted to jump on the Chitika bandwagon. Chitika is a newer ad revenue program, that many say pay better than Google Adsense. After I submitted my request to become a publisher, Bradsblog was rejected. The email they sent me had a variety of reasons why my site could have been declined, so I really couldn’t pin it down. I look at Bradsblog, and would think that I would be a good candidate. Then I look at other sites that do have it, and wonder how in the world they got approved and I didn’t. Their sites are newer and very improbable that they more page views than I do. Their content is very weak. The only thing I can think of is page views. In the online application, they ask how many page views I have per month. This is the “Honor System” question. Obviously, they probably wouldn’t want every small-time site throwing up their ads. I think that because I told the truth on my application about page views I was declined. Maybe I should re-apply, and then lie about it and see if I get approved.

I wanted to wish the readers of this blog a Happy Thanksgiving today. I hope everyone eats too much, lays around on the couch, then eats some more.

Tomorrow is Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. I’m not going out in that crap unless I have to. My wife might. There is a Black Friday Website that breaks down a ton of store and what their deals will be tomorrow, it’s worth a look. Anyway, be safe if you’re out on the roads today and again, Happy Thanksgiving.

BTW-
If you’re one of those Native Americans that are still holding a grudge and are boycotting Thanksgiving, all I have to say is “get over it”, and dig in!

Tonight I was watching Hardball with Chris Mathews. He began talking about Congresswoman Jean Schmidt and how the big ruckus began last week on the House Floor. Chris Matthews introduced his guest, Paul Hackett, as the man that ran against Jean Schmidt and lost. He also went on to describe how he is an Iraq War veteran and he will be running for the US Senate. He also called President Bush a “Chicken Hawk” while on active duty. I found it interesting the he mentioned calling the President names, because the main topic of conversation centered on name calling in politics and how it was inappropriate. I don’t see much difference between Rep. Schmidt calling another Congressman a coward, and a wanna be senator calling the President a “Chicken Hawk”.

He shot off on a tangent about George Bush running around snorting cocaine instead of fighting the Vietnam War. Finally, Chris Mathews had to call him on it. He cornered him about making baseless accusations about President Bush using cocaine, and basically said that because some people mentioned it, then it must be true.(His actual words were “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire”) After taking a bit of a beating, he finally confessed that it was a point well taken.

If this guy couldn’t get elected to the congress, what makes him think he is qualified to run for senate?

TVP(Textured Vegetable Protein) is a common food filler that you probably eat every day and don’t even realize it. Basically, it’s soy that is processed and dehydrated and has a spongy texture to it. Many food manufacturers use this because it is cheaper than meat, is healthy, and takes the flavor of whatever it is cooked with. I am going to do my own experiment with some. I went to my local Kroger store, and picked some up. I found in in the health foods aisle. The brand name is Bob’s Red Mill and cost $1.99 for a 10 ounce bag of it. I’m not sure what I’m going to put it in yet. Chili would be ideal, because I have some brewing in the kitchen right now and my wife is not much for my experiments. I will continue to update on my findings.

Storing TVP
TVP has a dry shelf life of a VERY LONG TIME! However, once you rehydrate it, you should keep it like it was fresh meat.

How Healthy Is it?
OK, let me break out my handy little nutrition label table:
Based on one serving(1/4 cup dry)

If you are curious to see what kind of foods you eat already have this in it, just look at the ingredients. I did this, the first can I pulled out of the cupboard was Chef Boyardee ravioli. It had it in there. I’d like to know what you find that has it!

I’m the kind of guy that is quick to point out a scam. I am the same way when it comes to deceptive marketing. If I see a commercial advertising a free toaster with credit application, I’m throwing a flag.

When I saw the commercial by Phillip Morris promoting their website designed to help people quit smoking, I was skeptical. I knew there were deals cut with the tobacco settlement years ago, but I figured you would go to the website, and get bombarded with cigarette coupons and other ads. However, I was surprised when I went to www.phillipmorrisusa.com and found nothing like I expected. I didn’t spend too much time on the site, but while I was there I did not notice any subliminal ads.
So, with that, I must apologize to the Marlboro man for assuming he had tried to rope people back into the habit that he so ruthlessly helped start.

I was reading on Consumer Scribbler, and learned that last month Congress sold out to the Food Industry lobbyists by relaxing what is allowed to go into “organic” food and still be considered “organic”. I will list the chemicals/additives that are now allowed. I sure would like to hear the arguments for this. Besides politicians getting paid, I can’t make any sense of it. Anyway, here’s the list:
Alginates.
Ammonium bicarbonate – for use only as a leavening agent.
Ammonium carbonate – for use only as a leavening agent.
Ascorbic acid.
Calcium citrate.
Calcium hydroxide.
Calcium phosphates (monobasic, dibasic, and tribasic).
Carbon dioxide.
Cellulose – for use in regenerative casings, as an anti-caking agent (non-chlorine bleached) and filtering aid.
Chlorine materials – disinfecting and sanitizing food contact surfaces, Except, That, residual chlorine levels in the water shall not exceed the maximum residual disinfectant limit under the Safe Drinking Water Act (Calcium hypochlorite; Chlorine dioxide; and Sodium hypochlorite).
Ethylene – allowed for postharvest ripening of tropical fruit and degreening of citrus.
Ferrous sulfate – for iron enrichment or fortification of foods when required by regulation or recommended (independent organization).
Glycerides (mono and di) – for use only in drum drying of food.
Glycerin – produced by hydrolysis of fats and oils.
Hydrogen peroxide.
Lecithin – bleached.
Magnesium carbonate – for use only in agricultural products labeled “made with organic (specified ingredients or food group(s)),” prohibited in agricultural products labeled “organic.”
Magnesium chloride – derived from sea water.
Magnesium stearate – for use only in agricultural products labeled “made with organic (specified ingredients or food group(s)),” prohibited in agricultural products labeled “organic.”
Nutrient vitamins and minerals, in accordance with 21 CFR 104.20, Nutritional Quality Guidelines For Foods.
Ozone.
Pectin (low-methoxy).
Phosphoric acid – cleaning of food-contact surfaces and equipment only.
Potassium acid tartrate.
Potassium tartrate made from tartaric acid.
Potassium carbonate.
Potassium citrate.
Potassium hydroxide – prohibited for use in lye peeling of fruits and vegetables except when used for peeling peaches during the Individually Quick Frozen (IQF) production process.
Potassium iodide – for use only in agricultural products labeled “made with organic (specified ingredients or food group(s)),” prohibited in agricultural products labeled “organic.”
Potassium phosphate – for use only in agricultural products labeled “made with organic (specified ingredients or food group(s)),” prohibited in agricultural products labeled “organic.”
Silicon dioxide.
Sodium citrate.
Sodium hydroxide – prohibited for use in lye peeling of fruits and vegetables.
Sodium phosphates – for use only in dairy foods.
Sulfur dioxide – for use only in wine labeled “made with organic grapes,” Provided, That, total sulfite concentration does not exceed 100 ppm.
Tartaric acid.
Tocopherols – derived from vegetable oil when rosemary extracts are not a suitable alternative.
Xanthan gum.

Tonight I was shopping at the new Super Walmart not far from my house. We were browsing through the new grocery department when my son wanted to get Nestle’s Nesquik chocolate milk powder. We normally get Ovaltine, because I am sometimes a sucker for what I hear n TV. I told hm we drink Ovltine because that Nesquik is all sugar. I pulled the Ovaltine off the shelf, and compared it with the Nesquik that was in his hand. I was shocked. I was expecting there to be major differences between the two but there wasn’t. They both had the same amount of sugar!

I must admit, Ovaltine did have more vitamins than Nesquick, but not by much. A price comparison revealed that ounce per ounce, the Ovaltine was more than twice the cost. I was not able to come up with a nutrition label for he Ovaltine, but they aren’t that much different.
This is what DoctorYourself.com had to say about Ovaltine:

But the Doctor Yourself Tarnished Silver Award for this month’s STEALTH FOOD goes to OVALTINE! Yes, “Ovaltine,” the health food of my youth, can no longer be trusted: “Rich Chocolate Ovaltine” in fact contains not one but all THREE chemical colors: Yellow #6, Red #40, and Blue #1!