ArcaMax

Can you run the grocery store gauntlet? Zola and I do it several times a week.

First a little background: British fighting men had a form of corporal punishment in which the accused had to run between two rows of soldiers who whipped and beat him as he passed by. The beatings were severe, and the victims often died as a result. That was called “running the gauntlet.”

Isn’t it nice that we live in a kinder gentler time?

Or do we?

American grocery stores have rows and rows of soft drinks and processed foods that can kill you. Not kill you right away, of course, but these foods can fatten you, sicken you and ultimately kill you. Processed foods take a huge toll on our bodies. According to Data Check Pro, here are the top ten grocery items in America...

Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com

Caramel Sauce

I never thought I’d be able to come up with a caramel sauce. It’s tricky to make, and my favorite caramel sauce recipe has sweetened condensed milk in it. That’s not something I eat anymore.

This caramel sauce recipe is fairly easy to make. You just need to keep an eye on it and use a large sauce pan even though the ingredients won’t be very deep in the pan. That’s the only way to get the butter and sweetener to caramelize. The first time I made it I used what I thought was a large enough pan, but it took too long to cook and eventually separated before it was finished. I had to start over. The inspiration recipe I used is from a woman named Maya Krampf. Her website is WholesomeYum.com. I’m sure she’d appreciate it if you check that out. My recipe is almost the same as hers; just a slight variation or two.

A couple of hints: You’ll want to serve this caramel sauce the day you make it. I served it about 30 minutes after I made it. It was still warm. As it cools it will thicken a bit more and that’s perfectly fine. I did refrigerate the leftovers and that’s not good. It turns back into a block of sweetened butter-ish stuff and it doesn’t reheat well. It separates when you bring it back up to a warm temperature.

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