On National Pie Day, showing kindness is as easy as, well, . . .
You woke up this morning thinking it was a typical Wednesday, another bump in the week as you plod toward the weekend.
Boy, were you wrong.
Rejoice! Today is National Pie Day!
Created by the American Pie Council (who else?), this is the day for us to celebrate this comforting treat.
You could head to the pantry and whip up a from-scratch pie (Annie Overboe showed us how to make the perfect pie crust on Nov. 19. You can watch the video at www.dailyherald.com).
If pie making doesn't fit in your schedule, stop by your favorite pie shop or grocery store and heed these suggestions from the pie council for performing random acts of pie-ness throughout the day.
• Pay it forward. Hand out pie slices to strangers and encourage them to do the same for others. Who knows? It could spread peace on Earth and goodwill to mankind.
• Be a good Samaritan. Buy an extra pie at your local grocery store and give it to the person behind you in line or donate a pie to a local PADS shelter.
• Community outreach. Reach out to new neighbors you haven't met and bring them some pecan pie -- it says you're thoughtful. Stay awhile to get to know each other over pie and fill them in on the neighborhood.
• Got a crush? Invite the "apple pie of your eye" for some pie and get to know each other better. Make it chocolate -- most Americans believe it's the most romantic pie. Before long, you might be calling each other "sweetie pie."
• Throw a pie potluck. Have everyone bring their favorite pie and exchange recipes. Encourage bakers to enter the National Pie Championship April 19 in Kissimmee, Fla. Entry deadline is April 1; find details at www.piecouncil.com.
Dinosaurs for breakfast: January means oatmeal for breakfast at my house, yet my sons routinely shun the warm bowls that I grew up eating (my dad worked for Quaker Oats back then).
I still enjoy starting the day with a bowl of hearty oats and love Quaker Oats' new Simple Harvest line enriched with wheat and barley grains and enhanced with nuts and dried fruit. When my sons do want oatmeal, they want the Dinosaur Egg variety packed with candied eggs that melt away to reveal green T. rexes and orange stegosauruses.
The candy eggs are a bit much for my healthful eating sensibilities, so I tried this the other morning: I removed all the eggs from the packet, stirred up the oatmeal, then topped with bowl with about a third of the eggs. The next morning, I prepared a packet of Simple Harvest and tucked a few eggs into the bowl. My boys ate it up and I sent them off to school knowing that they started the day with more fiber and less calories, fat and sugar.
Label alert: It's going to get easier for women to find some foods fortified with folic acid.
The March of Dimes and Grain Foods Foundation recently launched a new folic acid symbol -- the Folic Acid for a Healthy Pregnancy seal -- to appear on packages of grain products that are enriched with folic acid.
Folic acid, a form of B vitamin found in leafy vegetables, citrus fruit and beans, helps prevent birth defects. Since 1998, the government has required that folic acid be added to breads, cereals and other products that use enriched flour.
But many women still don't get the recommended daily dose of 400 micrograms of folic acid. The groups hope the new symbol makes it easier for women to identify products enriched with the nutrient.
Affairs of the vine: Enjoy more than 250 wines from the West Coast, Europe and around the globe and meet some of the winemakers from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday at the Union League Club of Chicago, 65 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago.
During the d'Vine Affair, a fundraiser for Catholic Charities, sommelier Robert Bransberg, who recently set up the wine program at Fahrenheit in St. Charles, and Patrick Fegan, founder of the Chicago Wine School, will present a wine appreciation seminar.
Tickets for the tasting and seminar cost $120. Register at www.catholiccharities.net/dvine or call (312) 655-7912.
-- Deborah Pankey