Fall is here, along with my hankering for some baked treats whose aroma conjure up images of leaf piles, apple orchards and sagging scarecrows in the pumpkin patch. Naturally I want to eat such fare without feeling remorse when I try to fasten my pants. Having not yet lost the baby weight for numbers three and four, I've had quite enough guilt and fashion sorrow of late.
Do not be misled.
Do not assume that because the recipe title includes the word "healthy", that it is.
I was appalled when I googled "recipe pumpkin breakfast", looking for muffins or some kind of breakfast-y goodness to serve the family on Halloween morning before school. Naturally there was a plethora of hits in the vast internet universe.
People are so ignorant - and I mean that in a they-just-don't-know-what-they-are-talking-about kind of way - that they think that because it is homemade, or they use egg whites, or it includes a bit of a vegetable or fruit, that it is somehow healthy.
Au contraire!
A CAKE, by definition, is rarely healthy. When it calls for "2 cups white sugar and 3 cups all-purpose flour", it ain't healthy! I am not prejudiced against cake. I eat cake on special occasions. And I don't eat it thinking I am doing my body some good! Add two more cups of powdered sugar to some margarine and you've got the beginnings of the frosting for the particular recipe that set me off. I found the abominable misrepresentation listed under "Healthy Pumpkin Breakfast & Dessert Recipes (Low-Fat)".
And then I started writing this post.
What bothers me so, is that some nice unsuspecting person is going to come along and think she is doing herself and her family a favor and feeding them healthy cake (such an oxymoron!), when she serves this. Sorry Honey! That it also calls for "unsweetened apple sauce, egg whites and pumpkin", does not a healthy cake make. Not any more than a mud bath will clean my toddler.
So, what are the evils of white flour and sugar? Stay tuned.
