Welcome to the Stanz FoodService Blog!
Breaking News: Peanut Shortage Aftermath
An especially dry summer, including the overwhelming drought in the Southwestern states, has contributed to a significant decline in the peanut crop, which is expected to affect the purchase price of peanut butter.
The estimated loss is a 13% decline, the smallest harvest since 2006. Most of the major manufacturers of peanut butter, such as ConAgra (Peter Pan), Jif, and Kraft (Planters) have confirmed that a price increase is indeed on the horizon.
General Food Service News
 Remember the colorful triangle which detailed your recommended daily amount of bread, milk, chicken, and cheese? The USDA has redesigned the food pyramid into MyPlate, a visual guide that is easier to comprehend by giving a realistic view of what people eat – namely, a plate.
Introduced back in June, MyPlate is gaining momentum not only in homes, but in schools as well. Easy to use, with its own website full of interactive tools, it takes the guesswork out of deciding a healthy and proportionate meal. Users can click on the different portions of the color-coded plate to see what types of foods are commended in that particular group. It's a more sensible approach to meal-planning that anyone can easily use!
In the Kitchen
Since we’re discussing peanut butter, what better way to forget your grocery worries than to whip up a batch of no-bake cookies? This recipe will yield around a dozen cookies. For richer flavor, remove 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder and replace with 1 cup of milk chocolate chips.
~ No-Bake Cookie Recipe ~
1 ¾ cup white sugar
½ cup milk
1 stick unsalted butter
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ peanut butter (traditionally smooth, but your choice!)
2 ½ cups quick-cooking oats (use regular for a firmer, chewier texture)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
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Measure your ingredients beforehand and set aside.
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In a medium-large saucepan over medium heat, add the butter. As it melts, add in the milk and sugar.
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Bring to a rolling boil. Once you’ve reached it, let boil for 1 full minute (time it, as too little time will result in cookies that won’t set.)
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Remove from heat and immediately add in the peanut butter, cocoa powder, vanilla, and oats (preferably in that order.) Mix briskly until it is well-blended.
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While hot, drop mixture by spoonfuls onto wax paper (buttered aluminum foil will work as well.) Let cool and harden - about 30-40 minutes, depending on room temperature. Enjoy!
Foods in Season
Check out the freshest offerings of the following fruits and vegetables:
Apples ~ If you can find them, sample heirloom varieties such as Cox's Orange Pippin, Ashmead's Kernel and Peck's Pleasant.
Cabbage
Grapes
Leeks
Okra
Oranges
Peppers
Pumpkins
Sweet Potatoes
Winter Squash
Ingredient Spotlight ~ Coconut Oil
Food, drink, or beautifying wonder? The coconut is a rare gem of Nature that provides benefits in many different ways, and one of the most widely used is Coconut Oil.
You can cook with it. You can moisturize your hair and skin with it. You can use it to make clean-burning candles. A natural product of many uses, one has to wonder what made it almost obsolete in grocery stores and pantries across America. The answer to that is the ‘saturated fat hysteria.’
Starting in the mid-1950s, proponents of healthy eating issued blanket statements regarding fats and their place in the diet. For the same reason that eggs fell out of vogue, coconut oil too lost its place in the food landscape because of its saturated fat content. What they failed to express is that there are different varieties of saturated fats. Coconut oil is a medium-chain fat that is most similar to human milk, and is immediately processed in the liver and broken down, whereas other saturated oils tend to stress the liver and pancreas.
Virgin coconut oil is extremely stable and resistant to free radical production (unlike many other commercially available oils) and is very mild in flavor, excellent for stir-fry, baking, and even popcorn!
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