Dessert To Try

[Las Naranjas]

Melted butter and cinnamon sugar on bread can't have been very hard to come up with.

[Rui 'Trovatore' Pires]

I just never even heard of it, and I live in Portugal. Talk to me about Cozido à  Portuguesa, Tripas àâ,¬ Moda do Porto, Açorda, but not about those breads, cause whatever they are they sure ain't "Portuguese food". Especially since [insert Naranjas' post here].

[bspeers]

Ah, interesting.  I had the exact same reaction as Naranjas as cinnamon toast is fairly well known and popular over here.

While we're on exceptionally simple desserts, here's one for all who are allergic to chocolate or vegan and who still like peanut butter cups (or who would like them if they weren't allergic to peanut butter).

Take equal parts carob chips (a chocolate substitute that doesn't taste all that much like chocolate in most recipes) and peanut butter (or Tahini or other nut-butter/nut butter substitute if one is alergic to peanuts)-- usually 1 cup of each.  Melt the carob chips over a stove or in the microwave.  Make sure to add just a few drops (as much as a teaspoon at absolute maximum) to soften the carob, otherwise it will scald.  Too much water will absolutely ruin the taste.  Mix the melted carob with the peanut butter (or other similar substance) and throw in 1/4 as much syrup (1/4 cup in this case, of either maple syrup or sugar or what have you -- this will change the taste a lot, so choose a kind you generally would like with the other ingredients).  Mix it all up quickly before it hardens too much (this is a bit of a workout), until the whole mixture looks like one mass of one smooth colour (it may look a lot like very smooth shit, in fact).

Do not eat!  It is waaayyy better when chilled.  Cover the bowl of mixed sweets with plastic wrap or something and place in the fridge for a few hours.  Take out (it should be quite hard) and cut out squares or chips or blocks or whatever you want to eat.

The peanut butter version tastes a lot like reece peanut butter cups but contains no milk products or caffine.

This is easy, the only steps are melting and mixing, and it is less unhealthy than many comparable chocolate desserts.  Plus, it is a huge hit at things like bakesales because it is exceptionally rich. 

You can also add things like oats or nuts or just about any adornment you like once you get the (simple) recipe down.

[Mr Flibble]

Once I made Rice Krispie squares with Cadbury's Caramel and I put a pile of marshmallows in.
Its delicious when cooled but its gonna ruin whatever tray you pour it into if you use too many marshmallows.

[big brother]

Farlander, I wasn't talking about dieting as much as I was talking about people's irrational concern for their weight and losing it. It takes 3500 calories to build a pound of muscle or fat, so if you eat under what you burn, that will accumulate, resulting in weight loss. True.

My point was weight isn't really an indication of fitness. Let's say I'm eating 1500 calories per day, and burning 2000 calories by running on a treadmill (or doing cardio). I will lose about a pound of body weight per week. But here's the important thing, am I actually losing fat? Cardio is great for your heart and lungs, but it won't build muscle. As a result of my routine, I'm more likely to lose muscle than fat. Say I keep it up for a few weeks, and I lose maybe 10 pounds. Probably 7 or 8 of those pounds I lose will be muscle. As a result, even though I'm lighter, my fat composition is higher AND I'M LESS HEALTHY THAN I WAS BEFORE I EVEN STARTED THIS ROUTINE!

Weightlifting is the most effective natural way to lose fat.

[Nacho]

I agree. Sport is the best way to lose weight. There are other ways, but they ain't that healthy. But if you're too lazy a change of habits is better than nothing, IMO. 

[Pumaman]

I will lose about a pound of body weight per week. But here's the important thing, am I actually losing fat? Cardio is great for your heart and lungs, but it won't build muscle cardio. As a result of my routine, I'm more likely to lose muscle than fat. Say I keep it up for a few weeks, and I lose maybe 10 pounds. Probably 7 or 8 of those pounds I lose will be muscle. As a result, even though I'm lighter, my fat composition is higher AND I'M LESS HEALTHY THAN I WAS BEFORE I EVEN STARTED THIS ROUTINE!

Weightlifting is the most effective natural way to lose fat.

But weightlifting doesn't really benefit your heart or blood oxygen levels.
The ideal exercise regime is of course a balanced one consisting of some weights and some cardio.

[big brother]

Intense weightlifting will increase your heartrate and make you breathe harder. When you do both cardio and dynamic lifting, the "interference factor" can come into play, stunting muscular growth.

[Pumaman]

Intense weightlifting will increase your heartrate and make you breathe harder.

Intense weightlifting also has the potential to give you a hernia and end you up in the hospital

[Las Naranjas]

Bike riding is pleasant, saves you money and serves a purpose....except how farlander does it.

[Chicky]

Ahh yes, bike riding!

I ride almost all day everyday and mixed with a very low fat/cal diet i've managed to loose a stone in the last two weeks.

My bike's single speed set on a very low gear so it means loads of pedaling and well... check out the seat.

[Las Naranjas]

I lose weight when I don't ride my bike. Fat plays no role whether I ride or not, but I lose muscle mass when I don't ride.

[Nacho]

Bike riding is pleasant, saves you money and serves a purpose....except how farlander does it.

Haha! I can ensure that my way of riding a bike does not save money!  The best thing of all is that I'll probably set a business related with bikes, maybe a hotel for bikers/hikers with guided tours, so, it'll be usefull for something.

But it's very pleasant. I would need more than a post for explaining it, butI guess it must have something to see with pushing the limits. 

[PsychicHeart]

i ride my skateboard... i suppose you feel a little lighter afterwards. You end up with several bruises, but you feel a little lighter.

[SSH]

In my experience, getting married makes you put on weight.

[Nacho]

Because if you get too fat and unsexy, you get divorced...

[Mr Flibble]

I loose weight by cutting off muscle with a knife and draining blood.



What?

[Bluke4x4]

I lose weight by buying bunches and bunches of graphic novels (not manga, graphic novels like Batman or Earthboy Jacobus) and reading them on a treadmill. Eating healthy? Bah! Bring on the cane sugar!

[Fuzzpilz]

It is? I never heard of it. Are you sure it's not one of those "so-called-Portuguese-snacks" that get sold in foreign "Portuguese food" shops, or something, that few people in Portugal actually eat?

At any rate, I have to say, and I've been paying attention lately, the average portuguese person is many things - lazy, pessimistic, short-to-medium height (tall is rare, though we have extra-tall too - even rarer, naturally). Fat, the average person certainly isn't.

Presumably when TerranRich said "Portuguese", he did not mean "Portuguese", but "Americans of vaguely Portuguese descent". It's an odd tendency some people have.

As for myself, I eat somewhere near just about as unhealthily as a vegetarian can without actively trying to, and pretty much the only exercise I get is walking everywhere I can because I'm one of the three or so people in the world who actually like walking. I drink large amounts of Coke and consequently will probably die of osteoporosis within a decade or so thanks to delicious, delicious phosphoric acid.

I should probably change some of this, but I simply can't be bothered, and besides: I haven't outright exploded yet, so nothing I'm doing is harmful. Right?

Right?

[LGM]

I've been gradually starting to go to the gym more. I lift weights first, then walk half a mile, then run on this maching called the Elpitical. It's quite a workout.