It's Bad for You

New research says that eating pasta is good you, err duh!  I could have told them that, once when I was snowed in and could not be bothered to walk up the icy hill to the corner shop I only ate pasta all week, I lost nearly a stone.

I have lost count of the number of times new research tells me something normally considered bad for me is actually good for me, to site a few examples:

• Red Wine
• Pasta
• Eggs
• Saturated fat/red meat
• Butter
• Avocados

Basically everything is bad for you if you eat/drink too much of it, having a balance diet keeps you healthy and hopefully sane too.  That being said I am myself completely terrible for eating stuff that is definitely bad for me normally in the form of comfort foods.  Takeaways are very bad for me and ones that deliver are far worse. 

Tonight I am being good-ish, steak with steamed greens and instant bisto onion sauce.  The steak is seasoned with rock salt, black pepper and celery seeds fried using groundnut oil which good for you unless you suffer from peanut allergies then well very bad for you although apparently refined oil will not cause allergic reactions.

People seem to think food allergies is a recent thing however there is no evidence to suggest this because it was not until the 19th & 20th centuries that trade around the world had reached a level that you could go into most food shops and buy pretty much every food imaginable or nowadays buy it online.  Peanuts themselves were originally from South American/Brazil/Peru regions, so until mass production/transport came into effect not everyone had access to certain foods.  The chances are allergies have always been with us just waiting.

You would think traveling to other countries and eating the local cuisine is a good thing but Mother Nature has other ideas on the subject.  Of course now you can buy food from the other side of the world from the supermarket, the allergies come to you.

Next time you see research telling you that something is good for you, I suggest you take it with a pinch of  sea/rock salt.

Refined table salt is poisonous to the body and is responsible, in great part, to the onset of many terrible diseases including thyroid and metabolic dysfunction.

That sounds bad to me, oh wait...

Tequila Salt Lime (TSL) - Confectionary Alternative

Billionaire Bites Mexican Variant 

(Copyright 2016/Patent Pending)

Fudge Brownie Base with Tequila

For the brownie mix I buy (cheat) Betty Crocker’s fudge brownie mix (added ingredients needs 1 egg, 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, 2 tablespoons of water, 3 tablespoons of Tequila (San Jose))

Grease the tin with margarine and then put grease-proof paper into tin, the paper will stick to the tin.  Grease the grease-proof paper and dust the bottom of the tin with sieved coco powder.

Follow the instructions on the back of the packet (swapping water for Tequila as above).

Remove the tin from the oven place on a cool tray for about 10-15 minutes then put in the fridge for about 30 minutes to cool down.

Caramel Middle (Salted)

Next make the caramel using (after the 30 minutes has passed):

• 100g of dark brown sugar
• 100g of unsalted butter
• 397g Tin of Condensed milk
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of Golden Syrup
• 1 teaspoon of Fleur de Sea (Sea Salt flakes)

Put sugar and butter into a saucepan (medium sized) and put on the heat (a little above medium) stir until all the butter has melted.

Add the Condensed milk, Sea Salt Flakes and Maple Syrup.  Turn up the heat to max and continue to stir until it is boiling.

Turn it down a little just so that it keeps simmering.  Keep stirring until the colour changes from dark brown to more of a golden colour and has thickened takes a few minutes (lots of stirring).  Remove from the heat.

Take the tin of brownie mix from the fridge and pour the caramel on top, use gravity to get into the corners.  Put back into the fridge for about an hour, needs to be a little soft before you put the chocolate on top.

Chocolate Topping (Zest of Lime)

This next bit is entirely up to you on how you like your chocolate to taste but I used 450g of melted chocolate:

• 150g Swiss Dark Chocolate
• 150g Swiss Milk Chocolate
• 150g Swiss White Chocolate
• Zest of 4 or 5 limes

To melt the chocolate I break it into pieces and put into a pyrex clear mixing bowl and placed in a medium saucepan that contains water, then heat on maximum until all the chocolate has melted (turn it down if it begins to boild and stir all the time).  Stir in the zest last.

Remove from the heat take the pyrex bowl out of the saucepan and make sure the bottom is dry (so you do not get water on the caramel).  Remove the tin from the fridge and pour the melted chocolate on to the caramel, use gravity to get into the corners.

Put into fridge overnight.

Remove from fridge turn upside down on a plate or board, bash lightly so that it pops out. Turn right way up and cut into slices with sharp knife.

So far I have failed to cut them without cracking the chocolate but I am an ideas kind of guy finesse is someone else's bag:

Billionaire Bites Mexican Variant (TSL/Copyright 2016)