Food Fight

Long-simmering controversies about cooking.

Is it fattening to snack just before bed?

Diet mavens insist that foods eaten after a certain time of the evening are all stored as fat. Many dieters succeed in part by banning all food consumption after supper. Because their activity level is lower at night than during the day, they reason, their metabolism also slows down.

Nutritionists argue that the timing of eating is not what matters. Your body continues to burn calories to support all of your organs and basic functions even when you are holding perfectly still in front of the TV or asleep in your bed.

What counts in weight control is balancing total calorie intake with total calories burned. According to the American Institute for Cancer Research (www.aicr.org), which focuses on the link between diet and cancer, studies have shown that calories eaten in the evening do not cause weight gain as long as total calories for the day do not exceed the number of calories burned.

The trouble for most of us, of course, is that those 10 p.m. bowls of ice cream or buttered popcorn aren't usually related to hunger or a shortage of food during the day. We think of them as something extra, and that's exactly their effect on us -- a little something extra (usually around the midsection).

Last Bite

The Day Ten Teenagers Came Over for Brunch

This didn't just happen spontaneously. The members of the high-school youth group at our church decided to spend one of their winter vacation days together, and our daughter invited everyone to our house for brunch. (She even remembered to tell us about it!) On the day before Brunch Day, a snow and ice storm made our driveway impassable, so on the appointed morning at about 11 a.m. a string of hungry teenagers trudged up the long hill to our house (one of them lugging his electric guitar and amplifier). One young driver was determined to get his old Volvo up the driveway and finally succeeded on the eighth try (with all of the other boys pushing).

This is what they ate:

One 9"x13" coffee cake
One loaf of oatmeal molasses bread
One pound of bacon
One pound of breakfast sausages
Three 10" skillet pancakes (total of 12 eggs, 7 cups milk, etc.)
About 2 gallons of fresh fruit salad plus 2 bowls of sliced strawberries for the pancakes
One pitcher maple syrup
3/4 gallon pineapple juice
1/2 gallon orange juice
One quart V-8 juice

There is no real conclusion to this story except to say that 1) it's a pleasure to watch hungry teenagers eat. The food simply vanished. And 2) it's nice to know that these kids appreciate the importance of food in friendships. We wish them many noisy, laughter-filled meals together.

By the way, here's the recipe for the coffee cake.

Apricot Ricotta Coffee Cake

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
8 ounces ricotta
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
finely grated zest of one lemon
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
one 10-ounce jar apricot preserves
1/2 cup slivered almonds

Cream the butter, ricotta, and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla, and lemon zest and mix well. Stir the dry ingredients together and add to the butter mixture with the milk, mixing just until batter is smooth. Put the batter in a greased 9"x13" pan. Empty the preserves into a bowl and stir (if they are very thick, add a few drops of hot water). Spread the preserves over the batter and sprinkle with almonds. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350°F, until cake tests done. Makes about 16 servings.