Garlic Infused Oil, and Why Does Popcorn Pop?

Thanks so much for all your congrats on yesterday's post. I'm EXTREMELY excited about this job because I know it was created for me :) Nick and I celebrated last night with some gelato (you know, that "60 calorie gelato"...haha). We then watched the Bachelorette and I realized why I LOVE the show so much. It lets the world know that men can be just as petty, jealous, emotional, and pathetically "in love" as women! It's GREAT! These men are so vulnerable and with some alcohol, a bunch of guys, a lot of time, and a camera, their true sides really show and it's hilarious (and sometimes really sad). Do you watch the Bachelorette??

Experiments in the Kitchen

According to the FODMAPs diet (the diet I am on to help reduce my symptoms of IBS and fructose malabsorption) I am not allowed to eat garlic. This has been tough for me, but at the same time it's easy because garlic really does cause me to get bloated and gassy! It's crazy. What I can consume, however, is oil infused with garlic (because the part that I malabsorb is not the actual garlic flavor, it's the garlic itself).

So I decided to make my own garlic infused oil......



I wanted to make garlic infused oil for my popcorn (I love garlic-tasting popcorn). Typically garlic infused oil is made with olive oil, but olive oil is sensitive to heat and light (which is why it should be stored in a cool and dark place) and extra virgin olive oil (which comes from the highest quality, hand-picked olives) should only be used in cold dishes likes cold pastas, salads, or dipping oils. I chose canola oil because I wanted to use this to make popcorn. By the way, have you ever been confused about the different terms for olive oil? They are being re-regulated. Check out more information here.


So I chopped up two garlic cloves and dropped them into about 3 T canola oil. I let the chopped garlic sit in the canola oil for ~1 day (24 hours).

Health Benefits of Canola Oil

Canola oil is made from rapeseed. Is is a good source of the omega-3 fatty acid Alpha Linolenic Acid (ALA), which is converted (in very small amounts) to DHA and EPA (the same heart and brain-healthy Omega-3s found in fish). It bears a health claim that says it can help reduce the risk of heart disease due to it's very low concentration of saturated fat. It's also a good source of monounsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fat may help reduce your LDL (bad) cholesterol, but too much may also reduce your HDL (good) cholesterol. This is just another of the many reasons why my motto is "Everything in moderation". That includes healthy foods. But of course the term "moderation" means something slightly different when you are talking about healthy foods.

So, Why Does Popcorn Pop?

According to the book "Why Does Popcorn Pop", by Don Voorhees, popcorn has a moisture content of about 13.5%. Popcorn also contains a food storage layer (which is found in all whole grains) called the endosperm. This is a tough layer that can resist the buildup of steam pressure within the kernal when heated. It isn't until the kernal reaches about 400 degrees (approximately) that the endosperm ruptures and causes the kernal to expand to about 35 times its size. I don't know though, my popcorn typically expands about ten times its original size, not 35! What about yours?

It's truly amazing. Here is my popcorn (~ 5 T) with my garlic infused canola oil (~ 1 tsp).

BEFORE

AFTER!

Definitely not 35 times the size. Well, maybe, when you look at it as a whole. But each kernal isn't 35 times the size, that's for sure.


I definitely noticed a hint of garlic flavor, but not enough to suit my taste. Next time I plan on adding about four garlic cloves, instead of two. Nick will really love me then! haha

Coming Up

Tomorrow I am giving a presentation at a local business on "Eating Healthy On a Budget"! I'm pretty excited to get out and actually do some work! Tomorrow I will be posting some of the steps I take to be healthy and watch my calories/portions when I eat out. I may also be able to give you more information about my new job. We'll see.

Thanks for reading everyone, and have a great day!

New Garden and Summer SALSA

Last weekend (when I wasn't getting mad about marketing ploys) Nick and I finally started to create our fruit and vegetable garden! Yeah I know we're sort of late, but we've had so many other things to do with our new house, the garden kept getting pushed aside.

This is the area that we deemed "Garden Central". Just last weekend it looked like this.....


About an hour later, after we both contributed some serious muscle and sweat, it looked like this......



An about two hours later, it looked like this......



Tonight plan to till the soil then add a layer of pebbles, followed by a layer of topsoil, followed by a layer of gardening soil. We want to make the garden rise a bit so the water can fall off to the side (this will prevent puddling in our garden). We also want to make a walk-way somewhere in this area so we can get to our plants more easily. But first we have to kill the giant ant hill that we found. Yuck.

We had hoped to buy all organic soils, but after looking at the prices of the conventional vs. the organic soils we've decided to do about three-fourths organic, and one-fourth conventional soil. The man at the garden center also told us that the pesticides in the conventional soil will help our garden grow faster. Yeah, at this point we need any help we can get. We want to start small this year, so here is what we are planting:

Cucumber

Tomatoes

Zucchini

Pumpkin

Spinach

Cantaloupe

We'll also plant some herbs, such as cilantro, so I can make more of this:

Gina's FODMAP-Friendly** Summer Salsa
(** Contains zero garlic, onion, or avocado . To read more about FODMAP, check out this post)

If you choose to make this at home you can obviously (and should!) add garlic, onion, and avocado. I am not able to eat these because they contain FODMAPs.

1. Chops some fresh tomatoes

2. Add your favorite spices
(a dash of salt, 1/4 t cayenne pepper, 4 squirts of NuNaturals clear stevia (or one packet of your favorite calorie-free sweetener), 1 tsp cumin, 2 tsp ground pepper)



3. Add as much chopped cilantro and lime juice as you wish (it's really a guessing game)




4. ENJOY with your favorite chips! I love my salsa nice and chunky, can you tell? I chose some flaxseed chips, which contain whole flaxseeds. I am always sure to really chew these well because the beneficial fats are only released when the flaxseeds are ground by my teeth :)

Coming Up
Tomorrow I'm heading to Pittsburgh for an interview! I couldn't be more excited (I promise I will be posting about this soon.....). When I get back Nick and I will be celebrating our 4 year "dating anniversary". We plan to go to the restaurant where we had our first date (if I make it back in time). If not tomorrow night we will celebrate Saturday night.

On Saturday I will be posting a new frozen yogurt flavor....BLUEBERRY!

Have a great day/weekend, and thanks for reading!