's motd Tues Sept 14, 2010 - Corn

[Guest guest]

THE

"YELLOW TYPEWRITER"

Tuesday, 14 September 2010

And you're thinking to

yourself...What the heck is talking

about...a yellow typewriter? Okay, let me

explain. See, when I was a kid, I was introduced

to a starch I immediately fell in love with. Yep,

today we're going to talk about corn.

I remember watching my

mother eat corn-on-the-cob. Oh, she was so cute!

It was as if that ear-of-corn were a yellow

typewriter. She would begin eating at one

end then zip all the way down to the other end of

that ear-of-corn. I'm telling you...it was as

if she were clicking along on the keys of a

typewriter. As she finished "typing" out

one row of the corn, she'd go right back and begin

with the next row of "keys" on the cob. Shirley

used to make me laugh when she ate

corn-on-the-cob. I even began impersonating her

corn-eating technique with my own yellow

typewriter. LOL.

Now my brother, Lenny, couldn't stand the sight or

taste of corn. In fact, he wouldn't even allow an

ear-of-corn to sit on his plate! Oh, he could eat

cornbread or popcorn but not corn-on-the-cob. (So

I'd eat my ear-of-corn then have Lenny's, too!

LOL.)

I had my favorite ways of dressing corn on the

cob, too. I loved it with melted butter, salt and

pepper, or I'd slather on mayonnaise and roll it

in parmesan cheese. I've also rolled my ears of

corn in thousand island dressing and, let me tell

you, that's one tasty way to have corn-on-the-cob.

But I've learned my

lesson. These days, I have my ear-of-corn without

anything on it. And I may as well admit, I can

have corn-on-the-cob cold from the

refrigerator.

So where does corn come from? Well, it was

introduced to America by the Native Americans

many, many years ago. Native Americans called it

maize. They would grind their maize up

to make corn tortillas and they also made tamales

with maize. We still enjoy, a lot, different

versions of those foods today.

Now when most of us think of corn, the color

yellow immediately pops into our minds.

But corn also comes in blue, black and there's

even pink corn! (I'm going to have to

ask the produce manager at my supermarket about

pink corn.)

As I told you earlier in this message, corn is a

starch. Half-a-cup of corn off the cob or a

six-inch ear of corn will cost you one starch

portion on the FoodMover.

Corn is a great source

of many nutrients. It's loaded with thiamin,

(which boosts your energy levels), Vitamin C and

corn contains lots of dietary fiber. The

nutrients in corn even help keep your lungs strong

and your blood vessels clean and clear.

You can boil corn, you

can steam it and it tastes great cooked in the

microwave oven, too. But one of my favorite

ways to prepare corn is to grill it outdoors. The

grill makes the kernels all crispy and I just love

it that way. I also like to trim the

niblets of corn off the cob and use them in

casseroles and salads. Just remember to pay

attention to those portion sizes. See, I can

go crazy with corn. I ate six cobs in a

row once. (Oh my goodness, why did I even tell

you that?)

Oh yes, without a doubt, corn is my

favorite starch. So a big thank you to our Native

Americans for introducing the rest of us to

maize, that amazing...yellow typewriter!

Love,