Two Front Teeth . . .

My being notoriously anti-stuff frustrates some of my family and friends at this time of year. Even the ones who don't find shopping recreational ask for a hint. When "what do you want for your birthday/Christmas/Channukah/solstice?" is asked plaintively, "I dunno" just doesn't cut it.

This year I have a better answer prepared. I would be delighted to receive recipes (your own, or adapted by you) for healthy snacks, drinks, or dishes. Not sure what qualifies? Check the Bite-Size Green site for examples, and to find gaps to fill. Let me know if I may give you credit; and if you have a couple sentences or a whole story to share for context, even better.

With an anthropological eye on the winter holidays, it seems as though people from every culture need to come indoors during the short, cool days, which creates the perfect opportunity to slow down, hang out with loved ones, tell stories, and share food. The relatively recent commercialization actually runs counter to this slow-food style celebration of community. So, if this request adds one more demand to your late autumn chore list, defer the task to any convenient time in 2010. The note telling me to expect a lovely surprise later will give me something to look forward to as the days grow long again.

Best Grape Soda

All through the warm months, limeade feels like the ideal refreshment, especially when mixed with seltzer. Light, sparkling, and snappy without being too acidic, this mixed drink graces the table nearly every day, March - October.

But as the weather cools, the dark, intense, anti-oxidant rich siren call of grape juice beckons. Undiluted 100% juice packs a big blood sugar punch, a little overwhelming. Recalling memories of the grape soda of my youth, I tried mixing my fresh seltzer half and half to craft a homemade soda. Perfect! Fizzy, with a clear, pure grape flavor - and not too sweet. Deluxe.

Yamalot

If yar whatcha eat, then I yam what I yam. Technically, I'm a sweet potato, marketed here as a yam. A tuber by any other name . . .

Autumn brings out my craving for orange foods - pumpkins, butternut squash, acorn squash, and the almighty yam, sweetest of potatoes.

A baked yam makes my favorite second breakfast (the mid-morning snack that prevents the wolfing down of a super-sized lunch). Generally, I throw a few yams in the oven whenever I need to bake something else at ~350 degrees. Scrubbed clean, stabbed to avoid explosions, and lightly oiled, they emerge ready for butter and salt. For the next few days, 30 seconds in the microwave provides the best fast food ever.

Homemade Soda Flavors

In our house, a 'mixed drink' means seltzer and fruit juice (sometimes with a little white wine, too). A soda comes in a can with either high-fructose syrup or the dreaded aspartame. While sodas make cameo appearances at home, they didn't seem worth buying Sodastream's make-your-own soda flavorings for.

So I was ambivalent when the Value Pack arrived with a set of 3 'flavor essence' bottles and a 12-pack of trial size flavor goo samples. Nearly half the full range of flavors offered for sale, our kit included: fountain mist (a Mountain Dew knock-off), lemon-lime, orange, root beer, energy (cringe), cola, pete's choice (a Dr. Pepper knock-off), cranberry-raspberry, and pink grapefruit. The non-diet choices contain sucrose rather than high-fructose corn syrup; and the diet versions use sucralose (Splenda) rather than aspartame. Small improvements. Sadly, the colas use phosphoric acid (the calcium leacher) like most brands do, rather than the tartartic acid alternative a few have tried.



So far, we've only tried the Pete's, which is a dead ringer for a fountain serving of Dr. Pepper and its imitators - same flavor, with the slightly syrupy quality that fountain drinks often have. On Thanksgiving, we'll keep all 4 bottles chilled, so that we can add a flavor to any liter on demand - a nice party trick.

For us, just breaking the bottled water habit was enough. For regular soda drinkers, however, a favorite flavoring or two could be the short route to kicking the habit of bringing pop home in plastic or aluminum six packs.

Homemade Soda, First Try

After entertaining ourselves with the Soda Club site's cute videos, we picked the Fountain Jet model and opted to pay a little more for the Value Pack, in order to get extra bottles and a second 110-liter fizz canister (I am always skeptical of value-anything options; but it was the more economical way to go, since we wanted the extras and shipping charges were waived).

The unit assembled easily, with one surprise - at 17" tall, it wouldn't fit in the spot I had planned, on a counter but under a hanging cabinet. Fortunately, it is cordless and can be set anywhere (even inside a cupboard) between uses.
Following the simple instructions, we filled one BPA-free water bottle to the fill line with tap water and popped it into the fridge to chill. Later we screwed the bottle into the Fountain Jet and pressed the button on the top of the unit until the buzzer sounded. Voila! Fizzy water. Taste? Exactly like the seltzer (or 'sparkling water') we've been buying from the grocery. After pouring the first mixed drink (seltzer and lime juice, the old standby refreshment), we capped the bottle and put it back in the fridge.
Next - we'll see how the fizz lasts, and try some flavorings.

New Old Soda Club

After years of buying seltzer in plastic bottles, lugging them home from the store, and filling up the recycling bin with the empties, we finally found a happy alternative. As often happens, today's system is an update of an old idea.


In years gone by, bars, soda fountains, hosts with the mosts used spritzers, or bottles with a squirt device attached to a small CO2 canister. The bartender took glass in one hand, spritzer in the other, and tried to fill the glass without soaking anyone. These devices brought Italian sodas, seltzer drinks, and egg creams into our food culture. Today the bottles are collectibles, and the mini-CO2 canisters hard to find in stores.
The update? A countertop appliance with a tall, multiple-use (60-110 liters) CO2 canister in the back and a bottle-holder in the front [see examples in the ad, above]. As far as I can tell, only SodaStream and SodaClub (same company, apparently) make them, and sell them primarily online. Ours arrived this week; and so far the only hard part was deciding which of the four models to choose, and whether to go bare-bones or opt for the Value Pack.
And so the saga begins . . .