Food Project

Sweet Potato Cupcake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Sweet potatoes

1 3/4 cups sugar 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 eggs

1/2  teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup vegetable oil 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cups warm water

For icing:

8 ounces cream cheese 

5 cups of confictionate sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

1/4 cup shortening

1/2 stick butter

1/2 cup milk

Directions:

-Pre heat oven to 325 degrees 

-In a large mixing bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

-Set the mixture aside.

-In a separate large bowl, mash sweet potatoes, until it forms a light texture.

-Pour in eggs into sweet potato bowl and whisk together.

-Then in that same bowl whisk in warm water, sugar, oil, and vanilla. 

-When all is mixed stir dry ingredients from the the first bowl.

-Mix everything  with electric mixer and then mix by hand.

-Scoop out cake mix and pour into cupcake holders.

-Place cupcakes in oven and let bake for 25mins or until fully cooked.

-take out when done.

Direction for icing:

-Mix shortening and butter in large bowl until creamy

-Add cream cheese and stir at medium speed

-Gradually add in sugar while speeding up mixer

-When mixture thickens, low down speed and add milk gradually

-Once mixture loosens add more sugar

-Pour in vanilla, taste test and add salt if necessary

-Repeat addition of sugar until all the sugar is gone and mixture is smooth and creamy

- Scoop icing into piping bag and ice cupcake when cool

This recipe is used to make about 24 cupcakes so it was double to get a total amount of 50 cupcakes. Each cupcake is about 260 calories with icing and 190 calories without. Whole foods in this recipe include sweet potatoes, water, eggs, and ground cinnamon. Processed foods are salt, sugar, vanilla , baking powder, flour, and oil. This food is a dessert and in being a dessert it is in fact sweet. It has a high count in sugar and saturated fat which can led to weight gain, diabetes, high blood sugar, acne, and high blood pressure, if eaten excessively. All of the processed foods come from all over the country and are sold in local markets. The whole foods like sweet potatoes and eggs are grown in state and come from gardens and farms. Each whole product cost $4.00 or less and since we only used a fraction of each product the cupcakes cost about $.30 each to make. Compared to fast food like bakeries that charge any where from $2.00 to $10.00 per cupcake you save a lot of money. The sweet potatoes where purchased from Produce Junction and all of the fruits and veggies they sell are always fresh and come straight from the farm. If I myself were to grow the potatoes, it would take a month of more for them to become ripe. Compared to buying them at the market it's more convenient to purchase them there then it would be to plant them for myself. Also with sugar it would be easier to buy sugar at the market then it would be to grow sugar cane and create it to its form that we use for cooking. Overall most foods we eat are not grown in state some not even in the country. Although it is healthier and energy efficient to make everything ourselves, its more convenient for people to buy something to purchase and eat within 15 mins which makes Americans fat and lazy.

Personal Analysis:

This unit I learned about the impact of food and the effect it has on society. Not just food that is considered healthy but food that is fresh and or organic. Less processed food is better because they have the freshest ingredients in them. The food I eat today is weird because its made of things that come from other things that are not directly from the source. In this unit  we learned about the Western diet, which consists of sugary desserts, meats, and salty snack, thinking about this I realized this is apart of my daily diet.Before this unit I didn't really pay attention to "if this food is good for me?" but after this unit I learned about our food system today I realized that most of the food I eat is not healthy for me at all. I think it would be smart for people to start reading the labels they put on food and pay attention to calories because if you over eat the amount of calories you burn you gain weight and build fat in your body. I realized that if you treat your body better you start to feel better.

Our food system today has many problems. Fast food is continuously growing, when it is particularly the reason why America is so fat. Fast food is cheap, fats and resourceful , while Organic more natural food is more expensive, time consuming, and expires faster. To change my own food choices I could be smarter to eat a piece of fruit instead of Mc Donalds fries. And remember not to eat desserts when you are stressed. I would be willing to make these changes because I know it I keep this up it will effect my health in the future.