My Hummingbird Cafe

IMPORTANT FYI.

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE READ THIS. ESPECIALLY ALL YOU PANCAKE LOVERS. THANKS.

DEAR ABBY:

I recently made a batch of pancakes for my healthy 14-year-old son, using a mix that was in our pantry. He said that they tasted “funny,” but ate them anyway. About 10 minutes later, he began having difficulty breathing and his lips began turning purple. I gave him his allergy pill, had him sit on the sofa and told him to relax. He was wheezing while inhaling and exhaling. My husband, a volunteer firefighter and EMT, heated up some water, and we had my son lean over the water so the steam could clear his chest and sinuses. Soon, his breathing became more regular and his lips returned to a more normal color. We checked the date on the box of pancake mix and, to my dismay, found it was very outdated. As a reference librarian at an academic institution, I have the ability to search through many research databases. I did just that, and found an article the next day that mentioned a 19-year-old male DYING after eating pancakes made with outdated mix. Apparently, the mold that forms in old pancake mix can be toxic! When we told our friends about my son’s close call, we were surprised at the number of people who mentioned that they should check their own pancake mix since they don’t use it often, or they had purchased it some time ago. With so many people shopping at warehouse-type stores and buying large sizes of pancake mix, I hope your readers will take the time to check the expiration date on their boxes. Also, beware of outdated cake, brownie and cookie mixes.

PASS IT ON!!!!

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/p/pancakemix.htm

Fourteen-Year-Old Who Had an Allergic Reaction to Old Pan Cake Mix-Unproven!

 But Could Be True!

  

Summary of the eRumor:
A message with what the email says is a Dear Abby column.  It tells the story of a 14-year-old boy who had a severe reaction to what his mother determined to be pancakes made from an old mix.  The mother found a case on the Internet of a 19-year-old who died after eating out-of-date pancake mix.

The Truth:
This Dear Abby article was published in newspapers in April, 2006.  There’s no indication that Jeanne Phillips, who writes Dear Abby, authenticated the story, but if it is true, it may be describing an allergic reaction such as to mold, which could have developed in the pancake mix.  If so, it’s not a condition uniquely associated with pancake mixes but one that could develop in many foods and does not normally affect healthy people, only those with severe allergic reactions to various kinds of molds.

The woman in the article refers to a 19-year-old who died from eating pancakes from an outdated mix. That is probably in reference to a report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Forensic Section Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston.  It tells of an anaphylactic reaction in a 19-year-old who was known to have allergic reactions to a variety of substances.  He and his friends ate some pancakes made from a mix that had been opened and sitting on a shelf for approximately 2 years.  Two of the friends stopped eating the pancakes because they didn’t like the taste.  The 19-year-old continued eating, started experiencing shortness of breath, and later died at a nearby clinic.

Last updated 5/11/06

I found this email I received today quite amusing and interesting at the same time. I don’t know if the facts are true but I suspect they are. In any case, I’ve been using butter instead of margarine for years.

Pass The Butter .. Please.

This is interesting . .. .

Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten  turkeys.  When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put  all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get  their money back.

It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow coloring and sold it to people to use in place of butter.  How do you like it?   They have come out with some clever new flavorings..

DO  YOU KNOW.. The difference between margarine and butter?

Read on to the end…gets very interesting!

Both  have the same amount of calories.

Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams; compared to 5 grams for margarine.

Eating margarine can increase heart diseasein women by 53% overeating the same amount of butter, according to a recent  Harvard  Medical Study.

Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.

Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few and only because they are added!

Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavours of other foods.

Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years.

And now, for Margarine.

Very High in Trans fatty acids.

Triples risk of coronary heart disease.

Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol).

Increases the risk of cancers up to five times.

Lowers  quality of breast milk.

Decreases immune response.

Decreases insulin response.

And  here’s the most disturbing fact…. HERE  IS  THE  PART  THAT  IS  VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but ONE  MOLECULE away from being PLASTIC… and shares 27 ingredients with PAINT

These facts alone were enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

You can try this yourself:

Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it open in your garage or shaded area.  Within a couple of days you will notice a couple of things:

* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it  (that should tell you something)

*it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weeny microorganisms will not a find a home to grow.  Why?  Because it is nearly plastic.  Would you melt your Tupperware and  spread that on your toast?

Share This With Your Friends…..(If you want to butter them up’)!

Chinese Proverb:  When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.

Pass the BUTTER PLEASE

Dutchoven Cooking is alternative cooking by using charcoal as the heat source. The cast iron pot distrubtes heat evenly and picks up the juices to add flavor to the food. You can be creative and use left-overs thrown into the pot, or you can back a cake by following instructions on the package or recipe.

We’ve done some interesting things in our cooker. I put leftover seasoned pasta and vegetables from Birdeye, some stew meat (quickly browned on the stove first but you don’t have to do it that way), and a half of a package of french fries or potato barrels. Then I put in Italian seasoning and a large can of cream of mushroom soup over the top and baked it. It was so good. My husband freaked out the scouts at our home one time when he called that stew “Road Kill Stew”.