Last night Axes came home with a cut on his finger. I nearly fainted at the sight of my own child’s blood. I’m realizing that I am a pretty over protective mother if it has taken 4 years to really see my own child’s blood. I was in the middle of cooking dinner, and John came in and said Axes had cut his finger and daycare, and it was kind of bad; I should take a look. I looked at his finger and saw blood pooling at the top of the band-aid. I stumbled and had to sit down. I told John, “I can’t look at that”. He said, “You are his mother, you have to!” I finally gathered up all my courage and dealt with the situation. I had John hold the cut while I tried to call my mother. She wasn’t available! So I guess I really had to deal with it.

It wouldn’t be able to be stitched due to the nature of the cut, so John washed him up, I put another band-aid on tight, had him hold his hand above his head on the couch, and we put an ice pack on it. My mom called back later and said it sounded like I was doing everything right but said I could call the nurse line, because they may be able to put a pressure bandage on it. I waited another hour to see if it was still bleeding, and when it was, I tried to find the number for the nurse line. It was no where to be found.

What? No nurse line? What do I do? I guess I should just call the clinic. It did say they were open until 8. When I called, it said they were closed, but you could call another number for urgent situations. Was this urgent? I don’t know. Maybe that means nurse line. I called, and the woman who answered said should could page the on-call doctor. I said, “oh don’t know if you need to do that.” I explained the situation and said I’m just not sure if I need to bring him in. She kind of rudely said “While only you can decide that, all I can do is page the on call doctor, do you want me to?” “I guess so.” A very kind doctor called me 10 minutes later, listened to me, asked some questions, told me to wash out the cut, put ointment on it, and a band-aid on it. He said it would take a long time to heal. ETA: My Uncle Rick’s very wise advise is to spray liquid band-aid over the band-aid you put on . He says that is what they do at construction sites. You need to let it dry between coats. Thanks, Uncle Rick!

So in summary:

1. There are no nurse lines in State College. Apparently we have enough doctors that you can bother them about cuts.

2. You can handle it without your mother. And not even burn dinner in the process.

Here’s the recipe: (I revised it quite a bit from my Cooking Light meal plan, so I feel comfortable posting it here with credit to them for the inspiration)

• 4 ounces uncooked whole-wheat spaghetti
• 4 (6-ounce) bone-in center-cut loin pork chops (about 1/2 inch thick)
• 1 sliced fennel bulb (I also processed the fronds and added them to the sauce)
• 1/2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 tablespoons fresh Italian herb paste
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• garlic powder, salt, and sugar to taste

Heat large skillet to medium-high. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add fennel; sauté 5 minutes or just until begin to brown. Add curry powder and coriander; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Add wine; cook 30 seconds. Stir in herbs and tomatoes; bring to a simmer. Add garlic powder, salt, and sugar to taste. I added a few sprinkles of garlic powder, maybe 2-3 pinches of salt, and a whole tablespoon of sugar. What can I say, I like it sweet! Cook for 30 minutes until fennel has softened.

Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain.

While pasta is cooking, heat a large stainless steel skillet over high heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Add pork to pan; cook about 4 minutes on each side. (As a food scientist, I feel compelled to say, use a meat thermometer and cook to at least 145F. The USDA revised recommendations to  this new lower temperature in 2011).

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s been 2 months since the last post to my little site. I thought about ignoring that fact, or making a little joke, but I think I will just acknowledge it and move on.

It’s been very busy at Penn State. We lost a major asset to our team. Our Sensory Evaluation Center coordinator moved to Guam. Not kidding. Hi, Rachel! Keep posting the beautiful pics. We miss you! We’ve ran several tests, hosted events, and I continue to settle into the job. I am looking forward to start a new semester feeling a little more in control.

Our little family just returned from 2 weeks in MN. It was so wonderful to see so many friends and family, visit some of our favorite places, feel negative temperatures again. 🙂  But all good things must come to an end, and I was ready to get back into a routine. An updated routine, as I am ready to recommit to healthy habits in 2015.

I joined Cooking Light’s Diet Plan to lose most of the weight I regained- about 20 pounds. So far I really like it. They send you menus with shopping lists and recipes. It’s pretty slick, and there are some nice customization features. For instance, I was able to opt out of any recipes with fish or seafood. I wasn’t able to opt out of corn recipes, but I can usually just leave that out. You can even edit the shopping list to reflect that. I don’t follow the plan exactly, as I have been choosing my own breakfasts and lunches, but having healthy dinners all planned out is what I needed. I usually eat the same breakfast every day and the same type of thing for lunch, but I have been looking at their plan for ideas that strike my fancy. If anyone is interested in joining me as I recommit to my health, I’d love buddies- in PA and virtual.

To start the year off right, I created a super easy snack tonight that I liked but may not be for everyone.

Cinnamon Sugar Grapes

Mix cinnamon and sugar to your liking. Sprinkle on top of washed grapes. Enjoy!

On Tuesday night Axes’ daycare Child Space will turn into Wild Space for a Halloween Party. We’re pretty excited. I made chocolate chip cookies with Orange and Black morsels for the event. I adapted the Tollhouse recipe with hints from my good friend Catherine. I also subbed 1/3 whole wheat flour for all purpose and subbed in 1/3 agave syrup for the white sugar to reduce the sugar content and increase the liquid content to hydate the bran in the whole wheat. Axes has also declared that they are haunted. There is no food science principle behind that. Pure whimsy!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 package vanilla pudding mix
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup raw agave syrup
• 1 capful milk
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla paste
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (10-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Halloween Morsels

Follow package instructions, although I did only bake the first test batch for 10 minutes, as I like mine a little underbaked. I’ll bake them all the way for the event, though. I also find cookies turn out better if you refrigerate the dough overnight.

I’ve been an oatmeal lover for many years now. John Chilton is a true connoisseur, and we spent a few months scouting out the best place in Minneapolis for oatmeal. It’s Zumbro Cafe by the way. Any way when the recipe below appeared in my feed I was intrigued.

http://www.chelseasmessyapron.com/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-cookie-overnight-oats/#_a5y_p=2464768

We can’t use almond products in our household due to Axes’ allergy, so I needed to adapt it to suit our needs. Of course I decided to use some food science insights, as well.

So the first change was to use regular dairy milk. After working for a dairy co-op for 7 years, I probably would have used dairy milk even without the tree nut concern, as I prefer the taste. Since this was a sweet recipe, I used lactose free milk to reduce the amount of added sugar needed. The other major change I made from a food science perspective was to cook the pumpkin along with the pumpkin pie spice. Heat causes all sorts of chemical reactions to take place, and raw spices just don’t taste right. Cooking lessens their intensity and transfers some of the flavor molecules into the food matrix (melding or blending in laymen’s terms). Beyond that I’m fuzzy on the details, but I imagine the actual flavor compounds are changing, as well.

A comment on overnight oats before we get to the recipe. When you cook starch it goes through a process called gelatinization. This is why grains and flours are so magically different after you heat them. This process also makes them much easier for your body to digest. Ungelatinized starch is called ‘resistant starch’ and your body does not process the calories very efficiently, so overnight oats, which aren’t cooked, are a pretty great breakfast food if you are trying to lose weight. Some people really aren’t fans of overnight oats, though, so I also made a cooked oat version.

And a note about chocolate chips before we get to the recipe. I tested out a few different versions of chocolate chips, and I learned some things. In the overnight oat recipe a mix of mini and regular chips is nice to ensure that you get chocolate in every bite but still get the satisfaction from some regular chips. I like to get a nice big chunk of chocolate every once in a awhile. The other thing I found was that the chocolate chips had very different melt profiles depending on the brand. Hershey’s melted really quickly when tasted plain and behaved like a regular chip in the cold oatmeal recipe. Nestle chips on the other hand were very slow melting and extremely waxy in the cold oatmeal, but when you put them on top of the hot version, they actually held up and melted in your mouth rather than completely in the bowl. I consulted some other food science friends and a textbook, and I’m still not sure why. The chocolate expert in my department told me to check to see if Hershey’s had milk fat and Nestle didn’t, but they both had milk fat. It’s possible they have different proportions, though. Having worked in butter and spreads, my mind went right to fat crystal structure, but he didn’t think that would be the cause. If I find any more out, I will be sure to let you readers in on the mysteries of science!

Pumpkin Mix

• 1 can pumpkin puree (2 cups if you are using fresh)
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Mix pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice and heat on stove top or microwave until just heated (1-3 minutes on the stovetop, about a minute in the microwave). Can be refrigerated up to 5 days, and can be used hot or cold depending on your preference.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Overnight Oat Recipe

• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 cup lactose free milk
• 1 cup pumpkin mix (see recipe above)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 teaspoon or more raw agave
• 1 teaspoon Ghirardelli mini chocolate chips
• 1 Tablespoon Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate chips

Mix milk and oats and let sit in refrigerator overnight.

Mix salt and agave into pumpkin mix. Mix into oatmeal. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Recipe

• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup lactose free milk
• 1 cup pumpkin mix (see recipe above)
• 1 teaspoon or more raw agave
• 1 Tablespoon Nestle Dark chocolate chips

Microwave oats and water for 3 minutes. Mix all other ingredients together except chocolate chips. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Do not stir in, if you don’t want them to melt.

Okay, so what is a lagniappe? It is a bonus gift. A little something extra. I learned this wonderful word from one of my favorite author’s Gretchen Rubin. http://www.gretchenrubin.com/happiness_project/2013/12/a-lagniappe-for-you-that-is-a-bonus-gift-for-you/

So what is my little something extra for you? Well, one morning Axes found the pumpkin mix in the refrigerator and wanted to eat it. I didn’t think that would be very appetizing, but this child is as persistent, determined, tenacious, or sometimes stubborn as his mother. So I had to think quick. I mixed a little half and half and agave into it and created a delicious pumpkin pudding.

Pumpkin Spice Pudding

• 1 cup pumpkin mix (see recipe above)
• 2 Tablespoons half & half
• 2 teaspoons raw agave syrup

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Sprinkle with Hershey’s Special Dark chocolate chips if desired.

It’s taken me about 2 weeks to write this post for some reason, so I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do!

I have a pumpkin spice oatmeal recipe (2 ways) with a bonus pumpkin pie pudding recipe in the works, but it has been taking me far too long to post. A wonderful vacation to MN got in the way. I wanted to give my readers a little something, though. So here are my (not) award winning pumpkin spice cookies. I pulled out every trick I knew in the book, but alas I did not win the first cooking competition I ever entered with these beauties. Well, I didn’t use every trick, they were not the absolute tastiest cookies I could have made, as I wanted to make a healthier recipe. So how can cookies be healthy? Well they are a bit of an homage to this recipe:

http://www.landolakes.com/recipe/1557/chewy-molasses-sandwich-cookies

And I think ditching the frosting by incorporating the orange flavor into the cookie, reducing the salt (for the amount of flour called for), and using ~30% whole wheat flour counts as healthifying. Yes, I made that word up. 🙂 So here you go, not award winning, but pretty tasty if I do say so myself

Pumpkin Spice & Orange Zest Cookies

• 2 cups brown sugar (packed)
• 1.5 cups butter (softened)
• 1 cup honey
• 1 egg
• 1 T molasses
• 1 T orange zest
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 1.5 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1.55 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream butter and sugar with electric mixer until well blended and fluffy. Mix in honey, egg, molasses, orange zest, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine the rest of the ingredients and stir until well blended.

Using the electric mixer, mix the flour mixture into the butter sugar mixture in stages, adding about 1/3 of the flour mixture at a time.

Shape dough into balls, and roll in sugar. A mixture of yellow, red, and orange sugar adds a festive touch.

Place 1 inch apart on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Bake in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes until cookies begin to puff up and tops just start to crackle.

Axes and I carved our first pumpkin of the season last night.

It’s for the big pumpkin festival that will be taking place in State College this weekend. Anyone who wanted could get a free pumpkin to enter into the competition as long as you promised to bring it back carved. Thank you to the Vargo family for sponsoring this fantastic event. We had so much fun creating our special carving together and sharing an evening creating even more special memories. And this morning when I dropped it off, I got a participant ribbon. I am so excited to show it to Axes. They almost forgot to give it to me, but this Minnesota girl spoke up to remind them (I know, scandal!), because Axes will love it so much.

Now I come from the era where participant ribbons were invented (I think). And many people bemoan their creation, but I am not one of them. Because as the saying goes, a big part of life is just showing up. And in my opinion that is to be celebrated. We didn’t have to enter the event. And we probably didn’t have to return our pumpkin. What were they going to do? Come to my house? But we did. We showed up. And I’m glad that they gave us a little memento to remember it. And they didn’t give us all 1st place ribbons. Those are reserved for the winners.

And now I’m going to get on my soap box. I don’t even know why. This just reminded me of when people say that the younger generation was brought up to feel they were special. Well, I hope so. We all are! Every one of us. And if no one ever told you that you were special, I am so sorry. Please hear me when I say you are. Because believing you are special isn’t a problem. It is essential. The problem is when you start to believe you are somehow more special than anyone else. Because each and everyone of is as beautiful, special, and unique as the Jack-O-Lanterns I saw this morning. And one will win Best in Show tonight, but that just means it was the best for the criteria of that award. Given different criteria, it might have been another just as special pumpkin.

ETA:

I initially forgot to include my sweet & spicy recipe for this sweet & spicy post!

Sweet & Spicy Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

• Seeds from your carved pumpkin
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• salt
• 1 Tablespoon unsulphured molasses (I like Grandma’s)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic chili paste

Thoroughly clean your seeds. It worked well to get as much gunk off, and then soak them in water to help remove the rest.

Toss seeds in olive oil and salt. Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet.

Roast at 300F for about 35 minutes until golden brown.

Mix molasses and chili paste together. Toss roasted seeds in mixture to coat. Spray your sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Roast for another 5-10 minutes at 300F until a glaze forms on the seeds.

Enjoy!

Gifts from the universe, manna from heaven, gifts from God. Call them what you will, but if you stop and pay attention they are everywhere. It can be as small as a message that arrives in your inbox right when you need to hear it, or as large your father surviving a very risky surgery. It can be as obvious as a box of Minnesota apples from an unknown friend arriving at your doorstep at the end of a very long and stressful week, or as hidden as a small salamander crossing your path when you’re running back inside because you forgot your lunchbox and wallet when you left your house that morning.

Because while I do believe that while the universe is always speaking to us and delivering these gifts, I also believe that you have to listen and pay attention to receive them. In fact, they often arrive at moments when you least expect it or think that you are in a terrible situation. For example, when I was headed to Minnesota to be with my dad for his surgery, in my stressed state I sat at the wrong gate for an hour and only when it was time to board the plane did I realize my mistake. Well the universe delivered after that. Four kind gentlemen took pity on me and helped me book another flight, and I thought to myself, there must be a reason that I missed that first flight. So I paid attention. While waiting for the next flight, I met an amazing man (http://www.timvandergrift.com) who upon his first taste of wine, quit his day job to make a career out of wine. Maybe someday we will collaborate together. Whether it’s true that all this was meant to happen or not really doesn’t matter. It sure made the next hour a lot more pleasant. And while in the past I may have beat myself up for my stupidity, now I just believe that it was a gift from the universe.

Yesterday the now Dr. Nadia Byrnes showcased all of the data from her PhD dissertation. She did a wonderful job bringing it to life for all in the audience. Her mother and I were commenting on what a confident presenter she was. I said that she was like a professional athlete- always able to bring it to that next level when needed.

I was reminded of the final SSP presentation that I wanted to highlight. Jennifer Jo Wiseman talked about how she turned her data into theater. What an amazing idea. She showed pictures of events they’d hosted where each persona from a segmentation was highlighted at a different station with foods and materials for the participants to sample and explore. It brought the data to life for people who may not love numbers and statistics quite like we do. I thought that this was a truly brilliant idea. Some people really need a tangible experience to connect with an idea.

I use this concept in my own life. When I am struggling with an idea or concept, I will create a piece of art to bring it to life. Well maybe it is going a bit far to call it art. One of my favorite writers and a sensory fan Gretchen Rubin (http://www.gretchenrubin.com/) is writing a book about habits (one of my favorite topics), so she has been blogging about it for some time. She has written how sometimes what we think is a ‘treat’ or carrot really isn’t. This resonated with me, because it is something that I sometimes struggle with. I choose the momentary pleasure that isn’t so great for me in the long run, so I created this picture to illustrate the concept.

See I said art was stretching it. 🙂 But more recently, I did get inspired to create something a little more involved. Those who know me well know that I have been meditating for a few years now. If I could recommend one activity to add to your life, it would be meditation. I could go on and on, but that will be another post. I do guided meditation, and Deepak Chopra puts out my favorite series. I have several, but there is one that I love especially. In it he says, ‘Be bold. Rooted in the knowledge that you are as mighty as the universe itself. Full of love, joy, and power. You are stardust. A bright golden light.’ It just sticks with me and comforts me in times of trouble. It is very important to me to be brave. I was a very brave little girl, but at some point I lost some of that courage. When I feel it wavering, I repeat this line. So when I was decorating my new home and had a large empty space on the wall, it was time for my first painting.

The whole thing is covered in silver sparkles and the purple letters have at least 7 different kinds of glitter in it when you look up close, and it’s a little 80’s, but I absolutely love it. And when Axes saw the final version he said, ‘It’s perfect.’ What a sweet little boy. So don’t hide yourself or your data under a bushel, bring it to life and let it shine! You are stardust after all, and your data is pretty magnificent too.

One of my favorite mindfulness writers Rick Hanson (http://www.rickhanson.net/) writes about how we have a negativity bias. He says our brains are like velcro for negative experiences but positive experiences are quickly forgotten. This makes sense, he writes, as it protects us from harm. A negative experience can be dangerous or even deadly, but it can also lead us to unnecessarily ruminate or perseverate (my mother’s description of this habit I have) over non-dangerous negative experiences. Read his book Hardwiring Happiness to find out how you can take in your positive experiences more fully and learn to perseverate over your happy memories too. I highly recommend it!

So how does this relate to sensory? I’ll never forget the question I ‘missed’ during my first big interview for my job with Land O’Lakes. I had been doing okay most of the day, and then I got a real stumper.

My (now) friend Liz asked me ‘name a time that you were pressured to make a decision but decided defer until a later time instead.’

I racked my brain. Huh? That’s an option? People will let you do that? Thinking, thinking, thinking… ‘Wow. That’s a toughie. I’m having difficulty remembering a time.’

Liz- ‘It’s okay if you don’t have something. That is a really hard one.’

Oh thank god! ‘Yeah. It’s just that people don’t really accept that do they? When they want a decision, you usually have to give them one.’

Having the benefit of much more experience and perspective now, I actually think that is a really good question, and I think that I probably could come up with an answer now. I think it is important to consider that sometimes no decision is an option. Of course, you have to remember that no decision is still a decision with just as many consequences as any other option in front of you. Having said this, the fact still remains that there are certain people, who when they ask for a decision or switching gears back to sensory when they ask for data will absolutely not tolerate no for an answer, even if no is ultimately the best answer.

Okay how does this relate to the SSP conference? I’m getting there readers, I’m getting there. One of the themes of the conference was the emergence of a lot of really good rapid methods. Now I don’t know the motivation for the development of these methods, but I’m speculating a little here. One of the concepts that I followed in industry was the right tool for the job. We too developed some internal rapid methods. We used them for instances when we needed sensory data, but it didn’t make sense to use the tools that we already had.

People can only ask for what they have. So maybe someone requests what seems like an outlandish use of resources for a simple question. They need the data. If the only tool you have is an electron microscope, you’ve got to use it. Or maybe not. You’ve got Amazon Prime. You can order a magnifying glass and it will be here tomorrow. Win, win. Now someone else can use that electron microscope who really needs it, and your requestor will still get the level of data they need.

One of the new tools that I really liked was the development of rapid competitive assessment technique by Lauren Dooley and her colleagues at Kellogg’s. Rather than conducting a traditional drivers of liking study, they conducted 3 focus groups using check all that apply sensory descriptors. They didn’t get the same information as a true drivers, of course, but they were able to provide ‘clear product development direction and understanding of the general competitive category landscape.’ I can absolutely see instances where a technique like this would have been extremely helpful in my previous role. This is reminding me of Jeannine’s talk about when to break the rules and when not to. When is the rapid method okay, and under what business scenarios do you want the robust data? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

I have a few more SSP related posts planned too, so I hope you are enjoying them. Then we’ll return to updates on the goings on here in the Hayes lab. Today I am preparing taste solutions that will be used as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhanes.htm). It’s a very large study that seeks to understand the nutritional status of adults and children in the United States. One of the things I love about my new job is the wide variety of projects that I get to touch in a given month. It’s something new every week.

It always comes back to butter with me. My grandfather Elton was a champion butter maker, my own father was so happy when I took the job with Land O’Lakes. Grandpa Bakke passed away when I was very young, so I only have one clear memory of him- when he came to visit us in Buffalo at his last Thanksgiving. But I always knew that he was passionate about butter. The trophies were on our piano until Kyle went through his action figure stage and started breaking the tops off to play with them!

That passion for butter lives on in me, and when I tried a new butter from Wegmans, I was reminded of Suzanne Pecore’s SSP presentation on adding the 3 attributes of Balance, Harmony, and Blend to descriptive analysis panels (a quantitative sensory technique used to describe the sensory attributes of food products).

First off, a quick comment poll (ahem- lurkers too!)- who thinks they got the concept wrong? John Chilton (you need to specify when you are married to and work for a John) and I think this should be a spreading butter not a finishing butter. I wonder if they did any testing? Wider public- did you know that food companies spend a lot of time researching these things? When my job was product development, we would have spent the time to understand what the primary usage and secondary usages of this product would be? What other items you would use it with? What type of package you would want it packaged in? What the graphics should look like and on and on and on? All in conjunction with my primary work which would be- what texture should it have, what flavors, what aroma, what appearance…

And I will tell you- they got it all wrong. Sorry readers if you worked on this product. It might be because for me the primary application was spreading. Maybe it was wonderful on seafood or vegetables, but I am not going to use it that way.

So back to Harmony, Balance, and Blend:

I don’t have Suzanne’s definitions or incredibly useful graphics with me, but to define the concepts here are dictionary definitions:

Harmony- A arrangement of parts in agreement

Balance – A state of equilibrium

Blend – To mix smoothly and inseparably together

This butter had none of these. Harmony- The flavors were not arranged agreement. I think this can get at the character of the flavors. The developers had added a butter flavor. It was unnecessary. It covered up the delicious, subtle flavors of the actual butter. They also had added orange juice concentrate, but that made it too sour. Balance- There was way too much butter flavor and too much salt. They overpowered the other flavors. Blend- As I was picking up all the individual notes, it was clear the flavors had not mixed inseparably together.

I thought that maybe it was just an overall intensity issue, as this was intended as a finishing butter, and I was using it as a spread. So I mixed it with unsalted butter and low flavor olive oil. No dice, there was still way too much of that unpleasant, added butter flavor. I was going to need to start from scratch.

So here is Alyssa’s Orange Vanilla Butter Spread:

• 1/2 stick unsalted butter (Land O’Lakes actually sells half sticks 🙂 )
• 2 teaspoons low flavor oil (Extra light tasting olive oil or canola oil for example)
• 1 teaspoon orange peel
• 1/12 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (yes 1/12 not 1/2)

I tried the doctored Wegmans version and my version on Pumpkin Spice English Muffin halves for breakfast in a side by side comparison. I gave Wegmans the advantage by trying it first, and it was no comparison. Mine had that elusive Harmony, Balance, and Blend if I can toot my own horn, but then again, I had an extreme advantage. Working at Land O’Lakes, this is what I did day in and day out every day for almost 7 years. Yes, it was kind of limiting to have a small portfolio, but you can really become an expert at it. Also I was developing for a consumer panel of 1. The 1 being me. And I am a real expert at my own food preferences. 🙂

Having said that, I will put a plug in for my former employer and food scientists in general. 🙂 My ‘benchtop’ butter would not have a long shelf life. Flavor chemists correct me if I get this wrong, but I believe the terpenes in the orange peel will oxidize making those delicious fresh orange notes taste like pine trees after awhile. When you refrigerate my version, it’s still not very spreadable, but my good friends Ravin and Joe know just how to formulate and process butter and olive or canola oil to make it spreadable right from the refrigerator. So you can make it yourself, or you can use the wisdom of the experts. Your choice and either one is great! What a world we live in!

A note about this recipe. It is not quite as healthy as other recipes you find on my site. It is, however, high is something that John Chilton and I invented that shall heretofore be called the ‘Chilton ratio’. Chilton ratio = Deliciousness / Calories. High Chilton ratio foods can be paired with lower calorie foods to make them more palatable. This butter would pair nicely with a rye bread for example. Interesting fact- bacon is the highest Chilton ratio food known to man. Pair it with any food, and it is instantly delicious. Brussels sprouts = poster child of unpalatable food. Brussels sprouts + bacon = overnight food sensation.

Late breaking controversy to be addressed in the comments section- is there a higher Chilton ratio food? John Chilton points out that strawberries, while not quite as delicious as bacon, have a much lower calorie count. He fears maybe we got the equation wrong?!