The box describes “Carrot Flavored Pieces (corn syrup, enriched flour bleached [wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], corn cereal partially hydrogenated cottonseed and/or soybean oil, carrot powder, colored with [artificial color, yellow 6 and red 40] etc.) “, and this doesn’t even include the LONG list of other stuff in the mix. I’ve stopped… right there.
NO REAL CARROTS? Folks…I know to someone who went to a lot of trouble to get all those ingredients to taste like grated carrots…but don’t REAL carrots dehydrate?
I know for sure those carrot peelings in my sink and disposal find their own way to dry up if I don’t dispose of them in some way at clean up time. But more to the point I want real carrots in my carrot cake! I feel the benefit must be in there somewhere just to call it by its proper name and taste a carrot…”good for your eyes”, remember your mother telling you that?
My eyes are shocked by my own actions of trying to scan and copy the ingredient list off the side of the box so I could include it here. I was so appalled that I wasted so much black ink…my printer cartridge will probably die as a result of bringing you this news. I felt it was THAT important! But we have the link here.
Also it has made me clean out my pantry cabinet of all the other cake mixes that I was going to try and modify as part of our experiments during our Convertible Cooking exercises. My portion was going to report on the ”Tried and True”, the old faithful standby’s that I used for years and yet, I’m here to say it again, ”I can’t do it”.
I have been a Convertible Cook for less than two experiments and already my methods reflect this new awareness. The side panels on the boxes and bags say a very short list of what is contained INSIDE the package…Real food!
For example, the Tinky’ada Pasta Joy ready “Brown Rice Pasta” Penne that I added my homemade Pesto Sauce to after boiling for 15 minutes, clearly states for me, “INGREDIENTS: Brown Rice, Rice Bran and Water”. That’s it…and this package isn’t even the one that states “Organic” I haven’t been swayed that far yet.
But admittedly, I am having my eyes opened by my daughter’s education of all the food additives that create such awful reactions in her friend Leslie.
Diagnosed with Celiac Disease many years ago and now living in the “cleaner air” of the North Carolina Mountains
At “Earth Fare” and “Green Life” stores respectively, to secure the “Brand specific” items her life requires. Years of study and the resulted “ill-feelings” and “bad reactions” has made anything not grown in her own garden or made by her own hands to be considered with great care and caution… I couldn’t imagine it in my own life until now…carrots inclusive.
Bear with me as my shock subsides and my awareness grows…this Old Dog IS learning new tricks.
You might just call it a Mood Swing.
Rather than complain all the way through this I do want to tell people about the Organic “Annie’s Naturals” Mango Cilantro Marinade, I tried on my pork chops last evening…talk about a mood changer, it was terrific. I bought it quite a while ago because my family adores Mango anyway we can eat them even though we tend not to marinade anything…Good old salt and pepper folks, mostly…but boredom rules sometimes and I’m cleaning out my pantry closet. So…, I dropped my four boneless center cut pork chops into a dish with about 1/3 of the 10 ozs. (295mL) of marinade. Changed into my swimsuit and returned to flip them over to coat both sides generously and went for a swim.
After beginning my other dinner parts to cooking I preheated my fry pan to sear in the good juices being a bit nervous about burning the thick marinade in order to cook the pork through. Just before completing I added the leftover marinade from the dish into the pan with the pork chops and let it heat through.
The pork chops turned out amazingly tender and flavorful with not a hint of a burned flavor even though they were nicely browned and well seasoned. They made the meal.
I’m thrilled too that the money I spent on this bottle “Annie’s Naturals” will give me one or two more meals of this lovely fruity flavor. The ingredient list goes as follows: Water, “Mango Puree”, *Evaporated Cane Juice, *Soybean oil, *lime juice, *Distilled Vinegar, salt, Natural flavor, Xanthan Gum, *Spices, Cilantro Extract. *Organic Ingredients contain Soy Ingredients.” How ever it does admit it is “Made on equipment that also processes wheat”. Sorry, Gluten-Free people won’t be able to taste this marvelous product.
I am now hording another of Annie’s Natural’s for another time…probably to marinate grilled chicken. It’s Baja Lime. Wow…How cool does that sound?
Carol
Carol
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