So as we’ve all heard many times, this semester I’m in a Nutrition class.
This however is so cool, IMO (in my opinion, not Information Management Office hubby!) that I thought I would share it with all of you. I have already shared this with a three bloggy friends (Hi Jilly (yep the y is there), Lindsay & Stacy).
So today first off, I’d like to teach you about Canola Oil.
1. So back in the 70’s when there was a huge push to get away from Lard b/c it’s bad for you they pushed Olive Oil. But something about olive oil is expensive or something, not exactly sure they “something” so they came up with a different type of oil and called it Rape Seed Oil. Well a lot of people wouldn’t buy it, not only b/c it was expensive but b/c of the whole “Rape” being in the title. So eventually it came down in price, and it’s a lot like Olive Oil in that it’s “good” (unsaturated vs saturated fat) for you but they changed the name to Canola oil which is basically Canada Oil. Canola Oil now can be cultivated from either the Rapeseed or Field Mustard. The oil is suitable for human consumption but also suitable for use as biodiesel.
Originally Canola was bread naturally from rapeseed in Canada by Keith Downey & Baldur R Stefansson in the early 70’s. The name Canola was derived from “Canadian Oil, low acid” in 78. The word “rape” in rapeseed comes from the Latin word “rapum” meaning Turnip.
Then I was asked so I did a little more digging and found the answer. And yes I heard this too, that Canola oil is better for you than Vegetable Oil. Here’s the reason, Canola oil is a monounsaturated fat where vegetable oil is a polyunsaturated fat. Mono is better than Poly 🙂
And now you know, the rest of the story… hahah
So number 2 Keep Calm & Carry On
So have you seen this all over the bloggy world and etsy world and every other world? Maybe you knew what this meant but I sure didn’t. And I’ve seen so many of them. Well one day at work, my friend Autumn was having a bad day. On that same day, Jacin posted this one:
I thought it was cute and I printed it out for my friend Autumn who was having a bad day. Unfortunately by the time I got to her desk she had left for the day so I taped it to her name tag. I guess she gets questions on a continual daily basis about “What does that mean” so she googled it. Today I stumbled across another one that was Keep Calm & Study On (no idea where I found it…) so I forwarded that to her. She then emailed me back telling me about the constant questions. I told her I was sorry and she could take it down, I didn’t even know what it meant. But that’s when she told me she googled it so she could tell people and she told me too 🙂 So without further adu:
It was a poster introduced by the British government during World War 2. It was intended to raise the morale of the public. It was then re-discovered in 2000 and used as decorative items and you could use a wide range of products in there (Autumn)
So if you didn’t already know, now you do 🙂
And one last thing for your lesson today in the school of Nicole 🙂 Did you know you can make your own vanilla extract? Well I had heard this a while back, but when I saw it the other day on this blog, I just knew I had to go check it out. Hubby jumped on Amazon for me, he’s the amazon.com king! and found me some vanilla beans. They came in on the 17th, so that night we went home and started our vanilla.
Here’s what you need: a jar with a lid, vanilla beans, Vodka (the cheap stuff, safe the expensive stuff for drinking) and 2 months.
Yup, that’s it!
8 oz Vodka to 3 vanilla beans is the ratio to use.
You slice your vanilla beans in half basically before you put them in the jar. And don’t scrap out the good stuff in the middle… hello, that’s what you’re after 🙂
Then place them in the jar. I used a quart jar so that’s 2 cups or 16 oz so do the math…. 6 vanilla beans 🙂
Place your vodka in the jar and screw the lid on.
And ignore my ugly dirty looking jar b/c it really wasn’t dirty, promise! Anyway place it in a cool, dark place for 2 months giving it a shake every now and again.
That’s it. How easy!
{Now Stef started hers last night, she plans on documenting it all the way through, I’ll just show you my start and finished product so if you’d like to check out the whole process be sure to check in with her!}
Ok so now that I’ve imparted so much wisdom on you today, go forth my friends into your Saturday knowing you learned something already from your Friday 🙂
Well, you are a wealth of knowledge today! 😉 My mom had told me about Canola Oil and it's origin. Funny how info comes back around.
Thanks for the shout-out! I made more Vanilla Extract last night. I stopped at the liquor store yesterday during lunch to buy more vodka. I bought a 1.75L bottle. I don't use the “cheap” stuff because I don't like the taste. My recipe source didn't specify the type of vodka to use. I have 12 bottles “steeping”. I was really surprised how much it had “aged” in just 24 hours!
COOL! Thanks for the info! You should of ended your Canola oil talk with a big “EH” ha ha! And yes, we actually do say Eh! ha ha! Happy Friday! xo
Love your new blog format thingy up top – the new pic etc…
love your little tidbits of information!
I always wanted to know where the “keep calm” phrase came from too!
I agree, love the new header! Very nice!!
And thanks for sharing your Canola Oil info – interesting! haha!
And I'm VERY interested to see how the homemade vanilla extract works out! That might be something I'd attempt, if I could find vanilla beans!!
LOVE the new header, and the info re: canola oil which I had no idea about! I am also totally trying to make my own vanilla extract this weekend!
Well, you are a wealth of knowledge today! 😉 My mom had told me about Canola Oil and it's origin. Funny how info comes back around.
Thanks for the shout-out! I made more Vanilla Extract last night. I stopped at the liquor store yesterday during lunch to buy more vodka. I bought a 1.75L bottle. I don't use the “cheap” stuff because I don't like the taste. My recipe source didn't specify the type of vodka to use. I have 12 bottles “steeping”. I was really surprised how much it had “aged” in just 24 hours!
Thanks again for the shout-out!
Stef at TooMuchToDoSoLittleTime.com
interesting stuff
See, now I've done my 'learn something new every day'.
Thank you! 🙂