Cool coffee treat

News flash: Caffeine can kill you. To find out how much you would need to consume to meet your end, go to http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-caffeine, put in your weight and enter.

So, if you're more than 70 cups of coffee short of your goal, you can try this nice, refreshing coffee drink and live another day. Isn't life grand?

Lori K's nonfat coffee cooler
Makes 3 glasses

Ingredients
Ice
4 rounded teaspoons Medaglia D'Oro instant espresso
4 rounded teaspoons Ghirardelli ground sweet chocolate
16 ounces nonfat milk

Instructions
Fill blender with ice to 24-ounce mark.  Add the instant espresso, ground chocolate and milk. Blend until ice is well crushed. Serve with large straws. About 70 calories per glass.

Broccoli mash is a smash

One of the most excellent by-products of the low-carb diets' popularity was the many substitutes that people came up with to replace the traditional sides of potatoes or rice. Mary Menz introduced me to this one in Sacramento, and it's called a mash. It really couldn't be easier. This mash is made with broccoli, but if you want something that looks more like mashed potatoes, use cauliflower. I am not wild about broccoli, but I like it this way.

Broccoli mash

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 pound broccoli, separated into florets

4 ounces cheddar cheese

1/4 cup of milk

Instructions

Steam broccoli in a bowl in the microwave for 2 or 3 minutes. It should be still be bright green, not over done.

Crumble the cheese into a food processor and add the hot broccoli. Process, adding milk as need until it is thick and fairly smooth. Serve immediately, or can be reheated in the microwave for a minute just before serving.

A cheesy substitute

Do you know what milk protein concentrate is? MPCs are created when milk is ultra-filtered through a process which drains out the lactose and keeps the milk proteins and other large molecules intact. And why should you care about that? Well, for one thing, since late last year, a lot of this foodstuff has been coming in from China, Ukraine, Poland and India, and has been ending up in processed cheese (go ahead, take a look at what's in that Kraft Single you're putting in your grilled cheese sandwich).

I don't think most of those countries have a good track record on processed food safety.

And the other bad thing is that by using MPCs, the price of real milk is affected and dairy farmers are taking it on the chin. So just say no to that easy melting processed cheese and enjoy the real thing.

Food allergies nothing to sneeze at

If you're planning to cook for a crowd (something I love to do), you might keep in mind that experts say eight foods account for 90 percent of all allergic reactions in people:

• milk
  
• eggs
  
• peanuts
  
• tree nuts
  
• fish
  
• shellfish
  
• wheat
  
• soy
  

Yes, avoiding all of these may limit your options, but it's better than sending someone to the hospital. Or have a substitute or two on hand for those with one of these common allergies.

Jim's cousin Cait says she forgot to order her usual gluten-free meal on her way from Ireland recently, and got a bagel, a mini-muffin and frosted mini-wheats for her breakfast. Luckily, she brought some food with her that she could eat.

What does raw hide?

Foodies, especially those who have lived in France and England, extol the virtues of cheese made from unpasteurized milk. Pasteurization does affect flavor, but it may be an effect that we can live with. According to research published in the November issue of the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, there’s a lot more in raw milk than previously thought.

"When we looked at the bacteria living in raw milk, we found that many of them had not been identified before," said Dr. Malka Halpern from the University of Haifa, Israel. "We have now identified and described one of these bacteria, Chryseobacterium oranimense, which can grow at cold temperatures and secretes enzymes that have the potential to spoil milk."

Debate continues to rage about the benefits and risks of drinking unpasteurized milk. Some people believe the health benefits resulting from the extra nutrient content of raw milk outweigh the risk of ingesting potentially dangerous microbes, such as Mycobacterium bovis, which can cause tuberculosis, and Salmonella species.

Pasteurization involves heating milk to 162 degrees for 15-20 seconds in order to reduce the number of microbes in the liquid.