Creamy Tuscan White Bean Soup – or How I Became an Immersion Blender Convert

Speaking of infectious recipes, I caught this one from my friend Noel, who served this delicious soup to us last weekend for a light and quick pre-theater dinner. I consider it more than payback for giving him my husband’s recipe for sauteed kale.

When he gave me the recipe, Noel insisted that I had to make the soup using an immersion blender, a kitchen gadget I’d been resisting buying for a long time. When I asked why it was so critical, he used those four words that can make anyone buy anything – “It changed my life”. Now before you think I’m a sucker for hyperbole, you need to know that Noel is one of the most understated people I know. So to hear him use these words – well, I knew the time had come to give in to the immersion blender trend.

So now I can say it too – My immersion blender has changed my life.

I wonder how I ever made pureed soups without it. Actually, now that I’ve used this, it’s clear that what I was calling pureed was pure grit compared to the silky texture I am getting with this little baby. And it’s not even one of the better immersion blenders, just the cheapest I could find a the last-minute, since I decided rather late in the day what to make for dinner. If this is the low-end of immersion blenders, I can’t imagine what the high-end blenders can do…

I’m already making a list of soups I want to make  with this thing – cauliflower soup being at the top of that list.  If you have a soup recipe that I absolutely must try, do let me know.  I just can’t wait to immerse myself in immersion blending again…

Creamy Tuscan White Bean Soup

This recipe is adapted from Short on Time: Fabulous Food Faster, a book in the Kosher by Design series by Susie Fishbein. If you’re long on time, and want a lower sodium content, you can use dried instead of canned beans – just increase the cooking time to 1 – 1 1/2 hours, and hold the puree till the end when the beans are cooked. Canned beans are higher in sodium than dried beans, although you can reduce the sodium content of canned beans by rinsing them well or using low- or no-sodium brands. (Eden and Whole Foods brands are no salt added beans; Goya also has a low sodium brand)

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 4 cloves garlic, sliced
  • 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • 1/2 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 4 – 15 ounce cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed well
  • 6  cups chicken stock, veggie stock or water (I also added a little water at the end to thin the soup a bit.)
  • 1 tbsp dry sherry
  • Sea salt
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • Fresh parsley or thyme for garnish
  • French bread toasts (recipe follows)

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onion and cook till translucent, 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and thyme and cook for another 2 minutes, being careful not to burn the garlic. Add the coriander, cumin and cayenne pepper and cook for another minute to allow the spices to start to toast and become aromatic. Add the beans, stock, sherry and 1 tsp salt. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup in the pot till smooth. Allow to cook another 10 minutes for the flavors to develop. Add more salt to taste if needed.  Stir in the butter. Serve garnished with parsley and with French Baguette Toasts on the side. Reheats well the second day, but you’ll need to add a little water or stock to thin it out.

French Baguette Toasts

  • 1 demi-baguette
  • olive oil
  • Salt and pepper.
  • Grated parmesan (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. Slice the baguette into 1 inch slices. Arrange on a cookie sheet. Brush lightly on one side with olive oil. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese (optional). Toast for 6-8 minutes in the middle rack of the oven.

Sauteed Kale with Garlic – An Infectious Recipe

Sauteed Kale with Garlic, one of Mr TBTAM’s signature dishes, has become the winter vegetable of choice in our household. We never tire of it. It goes well with almost anything – pasta, chicken, sausages, soups. We’ve served it at several dinners with friends, and always are asked for the recipe. Our friends Noel and Amy liked it so much they’ve started making it on a regular basis as well, and Noel served it back to us last week, individually plated and garnished with sautéed mushrooms.

That’s the hallmark of a great recipe – it’s infectious.

Mr TBTAM’s Sauteed Kale with Garlic

You can use chicken or veggie stock, and as little or as much garlic as you like. We use chicken stock and tons of garlic. And hot pepper flakes. 

Yield – 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 large bunch of kale
  • 2-3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2  cup chicken or veggie stock
  • 1-6  cloves garlic to taste, diced
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Hot pepper flakes to taste (Optional)

Directions

Wash kale and shake dry. Cut out center stem and then tear leaves into several pieces. Heat oil till hot in a large saute pan. Add garlic and saute over medium high heat  till soft but not brown (be careful!). Add kale and chicken stock, cover and lower heat to medium. Cook till kale is wilted (but not too soft) and still bright green, about 5 minutes or so.  Remove the lid, toss around while the excess stock cooks off, another minute or so. Season with salt and pepper. Serve piping hot.

Noel’s Sauteed Kale with Less Garlic and a Mushroom Garnish 

1-2 tbsp olive oil
Button or crimini mushrooms, washed, dried and quartered
Salt and pepper
Mr TBTAM’s sauteed kale with made with veggie stock and 1 clove garlic

Heat olive oil over high heat in a small saute pan. Add mushrooms and saute till browned nicely – don’t stir too much, you want them to brown. Season and remove from the pan to set aside while cooking the kale and garlic. Plate kale individually and with a scattering of mushrooms atop.

That Dear Old Dirty Town – Courtesy of Camera Awesome

I love these Upper Eastside NYC skyscapes I took with my new Camera Awesome iPhone app.

Camera Awesome is totally fun. It’s also free, easy to use and a snap to install on your Iphone. Take pics using either Camera Awesome or your iPhone camera app, then transform (“awesomize”) them, either setting individual components yourself or by using the various presets as I did. Then you can share your pics using Facebook, Twitter, SmugMug, Flickr, email, Picasa and Photobucket. Unlike most Iphone camera apps, Camera Awesome takes video too. That’s pretty awesome.

What’s not so awesome ….

  • Awesomized pictures saved to the iPhone camera roll interfered with iPhoto sync with my Macbook Pro. I had to delete the pics to sync. From what I can tell, you’ll need to email pics you love to yourself if you want to save them to your laptop. Then iPhoto crashed after I imported an awesomized pic. Hmm…. that’s a big limitation for those of us who store our pics locally rather than on photo servers like SmugMug.
  • Bait and Switch. While they tell you on the website that the app is free, once you’ve downloaded it, they continually tempt you with great options for awesomizing your pics only to tell you they are premium options costing $0.99 for every 9 presets. I counted 25 sets of 9, making the cost of the entire app close to $25 if you buy them all.  Starts to feel like I am being nickel and dimed, baited and switched with the “free” app. I’d be willing to pay $4.99 for it, but not $25.
  • Awesomizing = annoying. The whole”awesomizing” dialogue that occurs while your photo is processing is overly cute and gets increasingly annoying over time.
  • Can’t Undo? I couldn’t figure out how to “un-awesomize” a pic once it was done. (No “Revert to Original” option that I so love in iPhoto)
  • No support. The support link on Itunes just takes you to the app home page. I could not find support anywhere.

Bottom Line

Camera Awesome is a fun and pretty amazing little Photo app, but ala’ carte pricing makes the full package one of the most expensive Photo apps out there, and it doesn’t play well with iPhoto. Since I really don’t need the app, I won’t be purchasing any of the premium options. But if it were $4.99 for the whole package, I might consider it. (hint, hint…)

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More Camera Awesome Reviews

Grand Rounds – Take Two as Prescribed

Dr Rob has outdone himself and every other previous host (including yours truly) with not just one, but two versions of this weeks best of the medical blogosphere – the first a Super Tuesday (or is it Twos-day?…) the second version in rhyme!

Welcome to grand rounds, the best around the world of medical blogging!  

For those expecting a silly recitation of today’s posts in rhyme, this post will let you down.  But don’t be sad, as I have provided with an alternate version of grand rounds on my other blog, Llamaricks, which (if you hadn’t guessed) is not quite as dedicated to the serious side of things.  

In grattitude, may I offer this simple rhyme –

There once was a blogger profound

Who hosted a double grand rounds

Rounds one was politic

Rounds two was poetic

Dr Rob you amaze and astound!

Head on over for some great reading!

Inspiration for a Late Winter Monday

Spring is not quite here, and if the Groundhog has his say, won’t be for another couple of  weeks.  If you’re like me, you may find yourself needing a little inspiration to hold you till the daffodils bloom.

  • Jeff Zaslow’s Last Lesson – The Wall Street Journal reporter who brought us Randy Pausch’s Last Lecture himself led a life that teaches us all how to give our best at our work.  As his friend and eulogist Bob Greene tells us, what Zaslow teaches us is this –  “When you get your big break, it won’t be because you made the extra effort once. It will be because you made the extra effort every time.”  I’m tattooing that one on my brain.
  • Physician/Musician. Maryland Gastroenterologist Christopher Shih is also an accomplished award-winning pianist.  I’m writing this while listening to his beautiful rendition of  Brahms’ Variations and Fugue for Piano in B flat major on a theme by Handel.  You can listen to this and more at his website.
  • The Power of Habits – Can we rewire our brain and break behavioral circuits?  Charles Duhigg suggests that you can, and his own 30 pound weight loss  supports this . I’ve added his book to my reading list.
  • Finally, if you just can’t wait two more weeks to see the flowers bloom,  here is a video for you.

Pennsylvania Law Gags Doctors Treating Patients for Fracking Chemical Exposures

UPDATE – on  7/26/12 a  PA  Court rejected the portion of this law that forbids municipalities from limiting  natural gas drilling within their boundaries.

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A dangerous new law signed by Pennsylvania governor Tom Corbett takes away the rights of local governments to use zoning laws to regulate the location of natural gas drilling sites in their communities – even if those wells are adjacent to homes, schools, hospitals, parks or other public areas.

Even more concerning is a gag on doctors treating patients for suspected chemical exposure, all under the guise that the chemicals being injected into the ground are a “trade secret”  –

If a health professional determines that a medical emergency exists and the specific identity and amount of any chemicals claimed to be a trade secret or confidential proprietary information are necessary for emergency treatment, the vendor, service provider or operator shall immediately disclose the information to the health professional upon a verbal acknowledgment by the health professional that the information may not be used for purposes other than the health needs asserted and that the health professional shall maintain the information as confidential. The vendor, service provider or operator may request, and the health professional shall provide upon request, a written statement of need and a confidentiality agreement from the health professional as soon as circumstances permit, in conformance with regulations promulgated under this chapter.

The Pennsylvania Medical Society has already voiced frustration that the lack or research on the health effects of fracking chemicals has crippled doctors trying to take care of patients who live or work near fracking sites.

Uncertainty prompts me to write that as a doctor, I do not know what to tell Pennsylvania patients when they ask me if hydraulic fracturing—fracking—in their neighborhood or region might affect their health.

I’ve seen anecdotal stories in the media. I’ve read as much as I could find about how the hydraulic fracturing process works. But I’m still uncertain because we lack data and research on the matter.

My colleagues in the Marcellus Shale regions tell me that they are getting questions from patients every day, such as, “I’ve had well water for many years—should I have it tested now that there’s a gas well nearby?” and “I’ve had this rash off and on for a while; could it be related to the gas well they just finished a mile or so up my road?” or “A gas well was just finished near our house; my children play nearby and even though they’re not sick right now, how will I know if they get sick from it—even years from now?”

We have no definitive answers to these questions because we lack data.

By now gagging doctors who may discover health risks of fracking chemicals, Governor Corbett and his allies in the legislature are making sure that the public is kept in the dark as to the real consequences of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.

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UPDATE –

The Public Record – reports on this issue. Here is what one doc they interviewed had to say –

“I have never seen anything like this in my 37 years of practice,” says Dr. Helen Podgainy, a pediatrician from Coraopolis, Pa. She says it’s common for physicians, epidemiologists, and others in the health care field to discuss and consult with each other about the possible problems that can affect various populations. Her first priority, she says, “is to diagnose and treat, and to be proactive in preventing harm to others.” The new law, she says, not only “hinders preventative measures for our patients, it slows the treatment process by gagging free discussion.”

The Atlantic Monthly has picked up the story, with some insight into how the gag order made it into the law –

The provision was not in the initial versions of the law debated in the state Senate or House in February; it was added in during conference between the two chambers, said State Senator Daylin Leach (D), which meant that many lawmakers did not even notice that this “broad, very troubling provision” had been added. “The importance of keeping it as a proprietary secret seems minimal when compared to letting the public know what chemicals they and their children are being exposed to,” Leach told Mother Jones.

Virginia Senate is Wrong in Continuing to try to Mandate Sonograms Before Abortion

Great news, folks – Virginia’s governor has backed down on the forced ultrasound issue.

Facing an issue that could redefine his political legacy, Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) retreated from a measure that would require women to have invasive ultrasounds, performed by inserting a probe into the vagina, before receiving abortions.

“No person should be directed to undergo an invasive procedure by the state, without their consent, as a precondition,” McDonnell said Wednesday.

Not to be dissuaded, the Virginia Senate (115 of the 140 are men, by the way) turned around and amended the bill to mandate transabdominal sonograms instead.

Wrong move, gentlemen. Here’s why –

1. While transvaginal sonograms are invasive, transabdominal sonograms can actually be even more difficult to endure. In order to do the transabdominal study, one has to drink 32 ounces of water and sit and wait, sometimes up to an hour, until your bladder is full almost to overflowing. Then another person presses on your very full bladder for about 5-10 minutes to take pictures of your uterus. And in case you didn’t know, the urge to urinate with a barely filled bladder is one of the first and more common symptoms of early pregnancy.

2. Transabdominal sonograms are not as good as transvaginal sonograms . Transvaginal is far superior for confirming gestational age and excluding ectopic pregnancy in early first trimester pregnancies.  The law makes no sense clinically.

3. State legislators are ordering a medical test without a medical indication. And that’s bad medicine.

4. The issue of informed consent applies for any procedure, whether it’s vaginal or not. You cannot force a person as a condition of informed consent, to undergo a procedure without her consent.

Finally, the biggest argument of all –

5. Mandatory ultrasounds have little to no impact on abortion choice. In fact, they can have other than their intended effect, by reassuring women having very early abortions just how small the pregnancy is. Before 6 weeks, an embryo is not even visible within the gestational sac.  And on transabdominal sonogram, later but still early embryos will be even less visible, as will the heartbeat.

In one of the few studies of the issue — there have been none in the United States — two abortion clinics in British Columbia found that 73 percent of patients wanted to see an image if offered the chance. Eighty-four percent of the 254 women who viewed sonograms said it did not make the experience more difficult, and none reversed her decision.

That generally has also been the case in Alabama, which enacted its law, the first of its kind in the United States, in 2002.

“About half of women opt to view them,” said Diane Derzis, who owns the Birmingham clinic. “And I’ve never had one patient get off the table because she saw what her fetus looks like.”

In some instances, the ultrasounds have affected women in ways not intended by anti-abortion strategists. Because human features may barely be detectable during much of the first trimester, when 9 of 10 abortions are performed, some women find viewing the images reassuring.

“It just looked like a little egg, and I couldn’t see arms or legs or a face,” said Tiesha, 27, who chose to view her 8-week-old embryo before aborting it at the Birmingham clinic. “It was really the picture of the ultrasound that made me feel it was O.K.”

Enough. We are  spending our time and energy on fruitless attempts to limit access to a legal medical procedure.  If we were to spend a tenth of that energy working together to increase contraceptive use by both men and women, we actually might be able to reduce the need for abortions.

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Read the Va proposed legislation.

Dr Jen Gunter – Read Her Blog

Some of the most thought-provoking and intelligent writing about the recent attacks on reproductive rights are at the blog of Dr Jen Gunter, an Ob-Gyn who holds nothing back as she wields what she calls the “lasso of truth”, her words for evidence-based argument. Here are just a few recent must-reads from her blog, which I encourage you all to add to your regular reading list –

But Dr Jen is not just about reproductive rights. Here are some great posts she’s written recently on common gynecologic issues –

And finally, a doc’s honest appraisal of the weight issue and women –

This is what I love so much about blogging – it let’s docs in the know speak directly to patients without the filter and the hype of the media. We are our own media.

You go,  Dr Jen!

Laws Mandating Ultrasound Before Abortion Threaten Physician & Patient Rights

Part of me just shrugs my shoulders at the new laws being promulgated by state legislatures that require ultrasound prior to performing an abortion.

After all, in most practices, getting an ultrasound before doing an abortion is pretty much routine already. Doctors who do abortions don’t want to be surprised by an unexpectedly advanced gestational age, a uterine anomaly, an erroneous diagnosis or an ectopic pregnancy. Since most Ob-Gyns have an ultrasound machine in their office, the sono is fast and easy to do. Those docs who don’t have their own sono machines will refer out. And higher volume providers may employ a radiologist or sonographer to do the sonos in their practices.

So if we’re all doing ultrasounds anyway, what’s the big deal?

This is not about abortion – It’s about the practice of medicine and the rights of patients

The big deal is that patient and physician rights are being violated by legislators with an agenda that has nothing to do with the public health and everything to do with restricting access to a legal medical procedure.

We are not talking about a doctor ordering a radiologic test. We are talking about state legislators mandating that a patient undergo a medical procedure without her consent.

It’s not only invasion of privacy, and the physician-patient contract,  it’s assault on the patient. It’s mandating that “as a component of informed consent”, a woman undergo a procedure without her consent. (Amendments that require the woman to consent for the ultrasound were voted down.)

 

HC 462 – The Virginia Ultrasound Law

Abortion; informed consent.  Requires that, as a component of informed consent to an abortion, to determine gestation age, every pregnant female shall undergo ultrasound imaging and be given an opportunity to view the ultrasound image of her fetus prior to the abortion. The medical professional performing the ultrasound must obtain written certification from the woman that the opportunity was offered and whether the woman availed herself of the opportunity to see the ultrasound image or hear the fetal heartbeat. A copy of the ultrasound and the written certification shall be maintained in the woman’s medical records at the facility where the abortion is to be performed. This bill incorporates HB 261.

Do you see the legal precedent being made here?

Forget for a moment that this is about abortion.

Imagine instead that there is a law requiring you to get a chest x-ray before you can be treated for pneumonia. Or mandating that as a doctor, you order an MRI and show the patient the images before treating a headache. Or forcing a male patient to undergo a rectal exam before being treated for urethritis.

We’re not talking about whether or not these are things that are happening anyway as part of the current practice of medicine. We’re talking about a law requiring them to be done as a condition of treatment. The doctor must order the test and the patient must undergo the procedure. Or the doctor is breaking the law.

This is not just about abortion. Or women’s rights. Or Planned Parenthood.

It’s about the practice of medicine and the rights of our patients. It’s about physician-patient privacy and the authority of doctors to practice medicine without the fear of breaking the law.

All physicians and patients, whether they are male or female, pro-choice or pro-life, Republican or Democrat, should be outraged. Our medical societies and our patient advocacy groups  – every single one of them, whether related to reproductive care or not – should be fighting these laws, and engaging physicians and patients everywhere to fight back. Publicly and vocally.

With the passage of Virginia HB 462, eight states now have laws mandating that a woman have an ultrasound prior to an abortion.

How soon before it’s your state? Or your specialty? Or your practice? Or your body?

Writing that Works – Great Advice for Bloggers

Here are a few notes I took while reading Writing That Works, by Kenneth Roman and Joel Raphaelson. This book, written for business writers, and once recommended by famed ad exec David Ogeily to all his employees, also has some great advice for bloggers.

What to do before you start writing –  Put down first what you want the reader to do, next the three most important things the reader needs to understand to take that action, then start to write. When you’re done, ask yourself whether if you were the reader, would you take action on the basis of what is written.

A Paradox. Writing better does not mean writing more. It takes time to write well.

On length – Short sentences and short paragraphs are easier to read than long ones. And easier to understand.

Beginnings & Endings are important – Start with that single point you want your audience to take away. Conclude with a memorable way for them to do so.

Fact vs Opinion – Never leave your reader in doubt as to what is opinion and what is fact.

Finally –  The only way some people know you is through your writing. Your writing IS you.

The book has much, much more, including tips for writing and handling email, memos and letters. It’s very concise, a quick read, and would make a great graduation gift. A nice companion to my all time favorite writing book, On Writing Well by William Zinnser.
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More great advice on writing from David Ogilvy.

Turbo Scan – Amazing iPhone App

We’re on deadline for a grant application, and I needed to get my letter of commitment signed, scanned and emailed to the research office ASAP. The person in my office who has the scanner was at lunch.

TurboScan to the rescue! Print on letterhead, sign the letter, snap 3 quick pics of it with my iPhone4, let it process and then email the PDF to myself.  Less than 3 minutes.  Done.

TurboScan is not a free app, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s worth more than the $1.99 I paid for it.  (And no, I was not paid to write this post. I just love technology. And my iPhone, of course.)

Not Quite Rococo Torte – Another Gem From a Favorite Vintage Cookbook

Breadcrumbs in a cake? I’d never head of such a thing. But I had a few leftover baguette crusts in my freezer, and the memory of an amazing cake I’d made a few years back from this wonderful little vintage cookbook, Favorite Tortes and Cake Recipes by Rose Oller Harbaugh and Mary Adams.

If the authors were suggesting I use breadcrumbs in my torte, who was I to question? Besides, it was long past time to see what other gifts the book might have in store for me, other than the charming illustrations and typeface, which are a true delight.

I’m happy to report that Ms Harbaugh and Adams came through for me again, this time with a recipe for Rococo Torte with Mocha Frosting. A touch of cinnamon in the batter enhances the chocolate flavor of the not-too-sweet sponge-like cake that is filled and iced with just the right amount of mocha frosting.

What exactly is a Torte?

Ms Harbaugh and Adams tell us that tortes are “the cakes of European cooks”.  They are made light with eggs instead of leavening, with ground nuts, cracker or bread crumbs used in place of or in addition to a markedly small amount of flour. They can be filled with fruit pulp or whipped jellies, and extracts are used to flavor their whipped frostings.

Tortes are a favorite Passover dessert, since eggs rather than baking powder or soda create the leavening, and little to no flour is used. This rococo torte could be modified for Passover by substituting ground nuts for the flour and using ground matzo meal instead of breadcrumbs. (Alternatively, you can use ground nuts to substitute for both the flour and breadcrumbs.)

Why my torte is not quite Rococo

A bit of internet exploration yields evidence that the Rococo Torte recipe in my cookbook may hail from Hungary, where it is called  Rokokka Torta, and is made with a hazelnut filling and whipped mocha frosting. (Click the link to see a truly gorgeous torte!)

As I looked at the traditional Hungarian Rokokka Torta, I realized that I had used the wrong mocha frosting on my torte! The authors had actually suggested mocha whipped cream frosting, which is just what the Hungarian recipe uses. And indeed, there the right frosting was, on the same page of the cookbook as the frosting I had mistakenly made.

So it seems that my little torte is actually “not quite rococo”. But it’s simplicity makes it much less fancy than the traditional Hungarian torte, and it really is a delicious and lovely little cake.

NOT QUITE ROCOCO TORTE

  • 5 eggs, separated and allowed to come to room temp before using
  • 5 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp homemade bread crumbs (recipe below)
  • 3 tbsp flour (cake flour if you have it)
  • 2 squares bittersweet chocolate, grated or processed fine in the food processor
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • shaved chocolate for topping

Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. Butter and flour 2-8 inch cake pans. (I also lined the bottom with waxed paper.)

Beat egg whites till stiff. Set aside. Beat egg yolks till lemon-colored. Add sugar and beat well. Add bread crumbs and sifted flour and beat thoroughly. Beat in grated chocolate and cinammon. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Divide between two 8-inch cake pans and bake for 25-30 mins till done. Fill and cover with Mocha Frosting or Mocha Whipped Frosting (recipes below) Shave some bittersweet chocolate on top.

The cakes did not immediately drop out of the pan for me, even after running a spatula around the sides, so I slipped the spatula an inch or so under one side and then used my hands to remove the cake, which was light and yet remarkably sturdy. (Alternatively, you could use two 8 inch spring form pans.) Here’s what the bottom looked like after I removed the waxed paper –

and what it looked like filled and frosted –

MOCHA FROSTING

Although at first it seemed like it was not enough, this recipe makes exactly the right amount of frosting for this cake. I substituted Kahlua for the mocha extract.

  • 1/3 cup sweet butter
  • 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
  • 1 tbsp cocoa
  • 1/2 tsp mocha extract (I used Kahlua)
  • 1 tbsp strong coffee (I dissolved a tsp of instant espresso into a tbsp of hot water)
  • Sift sugar and cocoa

Cream butter thoroughly in electric mixer. Add sifted sugar and cocoa. Add mocha extract. Add coffee a drop at a time until spreading consistency (I used the entire tbsp of coffee).

MOCHA WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING

  • 2 tbsp confectioner’s sugar
  • 2 tbsp cocoa
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 pint whipping cream
  • 1 tsp mocha extract

Sift sugar, cocoa and cinnamon. Whip cream. Fold in sifter dry ingredients. Add mocha extract and whip till spreading consistency.

Homemade bread crumbs

Allow frozen bread to come to room temp. Slice into 1 inch slices and lay out on a baking sheet. Heat in a 250 degree oven till dry but not brown – about 15 minutes – turning halfway through so they dry evenly. Cool, then process in food processor till finely ground. Store in a tightly capped jar in the freezer till use.

Alternatives to Komen for Channeling You Dollars & Energy to Fight Breast Cancer

By now, you’ve heard that Susan G Komen For the Cure, which at first announced that it would withdraw its funding to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening programs, now appears to (but may not actually) have reversed that decision after an enormous public outcry.

Komen is not new to controversy.  Many have criticized their “pink-washing” campaign, which has promoted some very unhealthy products and brands in return for donations (Pink buckets of fried chicken? Really?…) But with this latest political move, they’ve gone too far for many of their supporters, some of whom say they will stop supporting Komen. Planned Parenthood, in the meantime, has raised record dollars since Komen’s initial announcement, topped off by a $250,000 matching grant from Michael Bloomberg.

I could go on and on about the controversy, but that’s not the point of this post, which is simply to answer the question I found myself asking – what should Komen’s former supporters do now? How can they channel their efforts to fight breast cancer if they are not going to give to Komen?

One option, of course, is to give to Planned Parenthood, The other option is to donate to one of the other charities on the front lines in the battle against breast cancer. Komen, after all, is not the only game in town.

Here are a few other places where your dollars will be put to good use fighting breast cancer. All of the following groups get high ratings from the American Institute of Philanthroy and/or Charity Navigator–

And if you’re not already donating to the fight against breast cancer? Well, maybe it’s time to start.