Sunday, January 22, 2012

Johnny's Cookies



These are a big hit around my family at Christmas and originally came from my grandmother Gertrude Kielty.

1 cup shortening (I use butter)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 cup sifted flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/4 cup thick sour milk (I use sour cream)
3/4 cup pecan haves broken into pieces
1 cup candied cherries (a small container) cut into pieces.
1 pecan half for the top of each cookie

Mix all the ingredients together reserving the pecan halves for the cookie tops. Drop small teaspoonfuls of dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Place a pecan halve on top of each cookie. Bake @ 400 degrees for about 10-11 minutes.

Makes 3 dozen cookies or so.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Zipfizz

Near the end of last year, someone at zipfizz contacted me to ask if I would consider reviewing their product.  Since this is not really the kind of product I would normally use, I was somewhat reluctant.  I agreed. 

It came in the mail, and got mixed in with Christmas.  It was basically their Multi-pack deal with an addition in the form of a zipdrive containing promotional materials.  So, nice water bottle, small free zipdrive, and some sample flavors of the energy drink mix. 

Everyone, you know me.  Good food, good tasting and hearty.  That's what I like.  Foods with names like eggs, butter, cream, meat, fries, rice.  Wholesome foods.  During an expedition in the desert, I might drink a 50% solution of Gatorade™ and water.  But Gatorade™ is this huge success story, a victory of the mind over the failings of the body.  In a crazy pinch on a bike ride or wicked hike where I need some real calories I might use a Honey Stinger™.  Typically, I am opposed to this kind of food.    Like Dr. David Agus, I am opposed to vitamins, prefer "a good fat diet, olive oil, canola oil, heart healthy eggs, cold water fish."  Real food.  Good food.  On a regular schedule.

Skeptically, I unwrap the package, look at the stuff.  Go to the web site and look at the ingredients.  A little scary.  There's a lot of what I call science ingredients. I notice a couple of foods I recognize, ginger root, ginseng, caffeine.  I mix it up.  Taste is good.   Generally good, a bit vitaminey. 

I have a formula for fueling my body during extreme activities, It's an extension of my normal diet. Nothing is quite as good as a pint of ice cream to overcome a major calorie deficit. Possibly, I will keep a few of these zipfizz around for those moments when I need an extra shot of caffeine.

If you like this sort of thing, zipfizz™ is probably a good choice.