February 01, 2008
This Sunday: 30M pounds of snacks!
Super Bowl Sunday. It's about football, TV commercials and the eating.
So what, exactly, will you scarf down on Sunday?
In general, the Calorie Control Council says its research, along with that of the Snack Food Association, finds that Americans will eat 30 million pounds of snacks on game day.
Here's the breakdown:
* 11.3 million pounds of potato chips;
* 8.5 million pounds of tortilla chips;
* 4.1 million pounds of pretzels;
* 3.8 million pounds of popcorn;
* 2.7 million pounds of nuts.
The council says before you count real meals, the average armchair quarterback will consume 1,200 calories and 50 grams of fat.
Posted by Lisa at 08:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 09, 2007
Holiday Time: Ten Tips To Not Tip the Scale
1. Eat a little something before going to a holiday event, so you are not hungry
when you arrive.
2. If you are not hosting the party, volunteer to bring a healthy, tasty dish to
share.
3. Move away from the table. After eating the meal or sampling the buffet,
dispose of the plate and move across the room and away from the food.
4. Choose to eat small portions of the special foods that are served only
during the holidays. Pass on the everyday foods.
5. Beware of beverages. Choose calorie free beverages such as diet soda or
sparkling water in place of punch, cider, alcoholic beverages, or eggnog.
6. Keep healthful foods on hand. Keep the rich and sweet goodies tucked away for the special meal or party.
7. If you make holiday treats, do not let them linger on the kitchen counter.
Give them away as gifts or keep them in the cupboard so you are not
tempted to taste them every time you walk by.
8. Decorate your counter with a bowl of fruit and keep ready-to-eat veggies in the fridge.
9. Make an extra attempt at being physically active throughout the holiday.
10. Get plenty of sleep each night.
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November 20, 2007
Thanksgiving or Turkey Day?
Which is it? Is it about giving thanks or just about the food? When you go out to eat - is it about enjoying someone else's company or is it about eating every last bite of fettucini alfredo? We often put a lot of importance on food...perhaps a little too much. Of course, we need to eat to live, but we don't need to live to eat. Growing up, my grandmother would have us go around the table and say what we are thankful for...before we ate the turkey. What a great spirit. This Thursday is a day to give thanks. Take a moment this holiday week and write down something you are thankful for. Here are some tips to not overdo it on the eating part of the day.
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November 14, 2007
Be Food-wise This Holiday Season
Eat, drink, be merry and break some old and possibly dangerous food handling habits this holiday season with these tips from the American Dietetic Association.
Reckless Thawing
Old Habit: Thawing a frozen turkey or other main meat dish on the kitchen counter, in the oven or even under hot water in the kitchen sink.
New Tradition: To prevent the spread of harmful bacteria, frozen meats should be thawed — and marinated, for that matter — in a refrigerator set below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Or, if you are pressed for time, thaw a wrapped frozen turkey breast-side down in a sink filled with cold tap water, making sure to change the water every 30 minutes.
Holding Out on Hot Stuff
Old Habit: When preparing a cooked dish that needs to chill for storage or serving purposes, some home cooks think it’s necessary to wait until food cool before putting it in the refrigerator.
New Tradition: In the old days, placing hot food in a refrigerator could raise the temperature of the fridge and cause food to spoil. Not anymore! To ensure the freshness and safety of your freshly cooked food, place it in the refrigerator promptly after cooking…No need to wait.
Covered Dish Delivery
Old Habit: Bringing a homemade holiday dish to a relative or friend’s home.
New Tradition: Figure out how much time will pass from the minute you leave your door until your dish is eaten. If it will be more than two hours, pack a cold dish in a cooler and a hot dish in an insulated bag to keep both safe and bacteria-free.
Rocking the Gravy Boat
Old Habit: You probably know to bring gravy to a boil before serving it, but do you remember to boil gravy when reheating it, too? More than half of home cooks just reheat leftover gravy in the microwave until it’s hot before serving again.
New Tradition: To eliminate harmful bacteria, always bring leftover gravy to a boil on the stove before serving it.
Festive Floor-grazing
Old Habit: Thinking there is such a thing as a “five-second rule” or other guideline to determine how long food is safe to eat after it falls on the floor.
New Tradition: Sorry, there’s no such rule. If holiday treat topples to the floor, it’s never a good idea to eat it. In the spirit of "out with the old, in with the new," throw away any food that has touched the floor.
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October 22, 2007
Trick or Cereal Bar?
1. Set a good example by giving out healthy treats or treat
alternatives to the neighborhood kids. Healthy treats might
include:
-- Nuts and seeds, such as unsalted almonds, sunflower seeds, or
pumpkin seeds
-- Chewing gum
-- Pretzels
-- Sugar-free hot chocolate or apple cider packets
-- Cereal bars or fig cookies
-- Juice boxes
2. Treat alternatives could include:
-- Halloween costume enhancements such as funny glasses, stick-on
tattoos, or reflective safety stickers
-- Halloween party favors from a party store such as games and
toys, coloring tablets, stickers, crayons, pencils, erasers,
and costume jewelry
-- Coupons for the local yogurt store or juice bar
3. Give kids collection bags that fit their size. For kids under the
age of five, a small bag makes more sense and will keep kids from
bringing home more treats then they could healthfully eat in a
30-day period. For older kids, a larger bag may be OK, but say no
to oversized bags such as pillow cases, shopping bags, or plastic
trash bags.
4. Set limits to keep kids from eating too many treats in a day.
Allow children one piece of candy each day, then put the treat
stash out of their reach. That way they'll have to ask for it.
Some treats such as chocolate candy bars can be cut into smaller
pieces and frozen, providing bite-sized treats later in the year.
5. Arrange a buyout. Offer the child a nickel or dime for each candy
they will "sell" you. That way they can "earn" money to buy a toy
or game they want.
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May 05, 2007
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo - Quick and Easy!
Tacos al Carbon
Cooking spray
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced red bell pepper (about 1 medium)
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced onion (about 1 medium)
1 (1-pound) flank steak, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
8 garlic cloves, minced
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
6 tablespoons fat-free sour cream
Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add bell pepper to pan, and cook 4 minutes. Add onion to pan, and sauté 10 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Place pepper mixture in a large bowl; cover and keep warm.
Add beef to pan; cook 7 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Add to pepper mixture. Add chili powder, juice, oil, salt, and garlic to bowl; toss to coat.
Heat tortillas according to package directions. Spoon steak mixture evenly over 8 tortillas. Top each taco with about 1 teaspoon cilantro and 2 1/4 teaspoons sour cream.
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 2 tacos)
NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 371(32% from fat); FAT 13.1g (sat 3.8g,mono 5.7g,poly 1.7g); PROTEIN 29g; CHOLESTEROL 49mg; CALCIUM 164mg; SODIUM 608mg; FIBER 4g; IRON 2.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 36g
Spicy cabbage salad
Combine 6 cups thinly sliced cabbage, 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions, 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, 1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1 seeded and minced jalapeño pepper; toss well.
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February 14, 2007
Dinner For Two
Valentine's Day usually means big business for restaurants. But sometimes for diners it can be a lot of waiting or late night reservations. Why not stay in and prepare a fancy meal for two in the comfort of your own home.
Roasted Lobster Tails with Ginger Dipping Sauce
Sauce:
3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon water
3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon plum sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry
3/4 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger
Lobster:
2 (8-ounce) frozen lobster tails, thawed
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1/4 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Sliced green onions (optional)
Preheat oven to 425°.
To prepare sauce, combine mustard and water in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk. Stir in soy sauce, plum sauce, sherry, and ginger; set aside.
To prepare lobster, make a lengthwise cut through the top of each lobster shell using kitchen shears, cutting to, but not through, lobster meat; press shell open. Place the lobster tails, cut sides up, in a shallow roasting pan coated with cooking spray. Combine the oils and pepper, and spoon over the lobster meat.
Bake at 425° for 13 minutes or until the lobster meat turns opaque. Serve lobster with sauce, and garnish with onions, if desired.
Yield: 2 servings (serving size: 1 lobster tail and 2 tablespoons dipping sauce)
NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 194(23% from fat); FAT 5g (sat 0.8g,mono 1.4g,poly 2.1g); PROTEIN 27.6g; CHOLESTEROL 92mg; CALCIUM 86mg; SODIUM 1263mg; FIBER 0.2g; IRON 1.2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 8.3g
Snow Peas and Cherry Tomatoes
1 1/2 cups snow peas, trimmed
3 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon butter or stick margarine
1/4 teaspoon sugar
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Combine first 4 ingredients in a large nonstick skillet. Cook over medium-high heat 2 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates. Add the tomatoes, and cook for 2 minutes or until tomatoes are thoroughly heated. Remove from heat; stir in remaining ingredients.
Yield: 2 servings (serving size: 1 cup)
NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 88(28% from fat); FAT 2.7g (sat 0.9g,mono 0.8g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 3.8g; CHOLESTEROL 3mg; CALCIUM 53mg; SODIUM 170mg; FIBER 4g; IRON 2.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 13.6g
Bittersweet Chocolate Pudding with Raspberries
This recipe makes four servings, so there will be some left over for you to enjoy on February 15th. Use a vegetable peeler to shave pretty curls of chocolate from a white chocolate baking bar.
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Dash of salt
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/2 cup evaporated fat-free milk
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup raspberries
4 teaspoons shaved white chocolate
Combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk.
Combine milks in a medium saucepan; bring to a simmer. Remove from heat; add bittersweet chocolate to pan, stirring until chocolate melts. Gradually stir about one-fourth of hot chocolate mixture into egg mixture; add egg mixture to remaining chocolate mixture in pan, stirring constantly. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes or until mixture is thick and creamy, stirring constantly. Pour into a bowl; cover surface of pudding with plastic wrap. Chill. Top with raspberries and white chocolate.
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: about 1/2 cup pudding, 2 tablespoons raspberries, and 1 teaspoon white chocolate)
NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 276(30% from fat); FAT 9.2g (sat 4.5g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 7.9g; CHOLESTEROL 55mg; CALCIUM 174mg; SODIUM 143mg; FIBER 2g; IRON 0.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 44.5g
Posted by Lisa at 07:44 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 18, 2006
Give The Gift Of Health
This holiday season, consider giving friends and loved ones presents that encourage a healthful lifestyle all year long.
* Gift certificates to local gyms or exercise classes
* Exercise apparel such as gym shoes or running pants
* Yoga kit with video and yoga mat
* Pedometer
* A copy of the revised and updated 3rd edition of the American Dietetic Association Complete Food and Nutrition Guide
* Cooking class gift certificates
* Gifts for kids that encourage activity such as a jump rope, ice skates, bike helmet or dance classes
These gift ideas are examples of great stocking stuffers with benefits that will last long after the holiday season is over.
Posted by Lisa at 07:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 22, 2006
Happy Thanksgiving!
Does everyone have a plan for their holiday meal? Remember, it's all about portion sizes. Nothing is off limits. There's just no need to go back for a fully loaded plate or that third helping of potatoes. Have a little of what you like and be satisfied. Thanksgiving is the 4th Thursday in November. It's a day to remember why we're thankful. It's not a day to stuff ourselves to sleep.
“Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.?
- Erma Bombeck
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October 27, 2006
What’s scarier? Real goblins or candy goblins?
The scariest part of Halloween? Giving in to the endless opportunities to overindulge on treats. But you don’t have to fear. You can still enjoy one of the first of the fall and winter holidays, and stick to your healthy eating plan. That’s what these tips are all about!
BITE-SIZE YOUR TREATS.
With all the miniature and low-calorie candy bars out there, there’s no reason to totally deprive yourself of some sweets now and then. A small dose of chocolate can be a satisfying treat. However, if chocolate candy is a food you consistently overeat, it may be best that you stay away from it. If you feel you can maintain control, then just remember: watch your portions and stay away from those king-sized bars.
TRICK OR TREAT. MOVE YOR FEET.
If you’ve become the designated “candy giver? every Halloween, not only are you trapping yourself in a room full of tempting candy, you’re also missing out on getting those extra steps in. Whether you have children or not, Halloween is a great time to travel around the neighborhood and get in some extra exercise. Plus you’ll be able to check out all those creative costumes.
WORK AROUND CANDY LEFTOVERS.
Post-Halloween, parents thinking of looming dental bills will often bring their kids’ extra candy stash to work. To prepare yourself for those office chocolate stare-downs, remember to stock your desk with healthy snack alternatives. This will give you somewhere to turn every time you hear the words,“Want some candy??
TREAT YOURSELF. THE HOLIDAYS ARE JUST BEGINNING.
Don’t forget to celebrate. Focus on the fun of Halloween: helping the kids dream up costumes, lighting jack-o-lanterns and catching up with friends. If you indulged a little more than you planned, not to worry. Just get back on track, keep going and keep active. The holiday eating season is just beginning, so keep focused, make healthy choices and most importantly, forgive yourself for those small indulgences.
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January 25, 2006
Are you ready for some (Steeler!) football?
Super Bowl snack stats to whet your appetite
Super Bowl Sunday is one of the biggest days for home parties — and that will be especially true in Seattle this year.
• Unlike Thanksgiving or other sit-down-dinner holidays, Super Bowl entertaining is decidedly casual, with pizza, snacks, dips and frozen hors d'oeuvres the most popular. Food selection mostly revolves around two things: Can it be munched while watching TV, and does it go with beer or soda?
• "It's an athletic event we celebrate with eating," said Michael Sansolo, senior vice president of the Food Marketing Institute. "It's the event that gets more people around the TV than any other." Here are some Super Bowl food stats to crunch on:
11 million: Pounds of potato chips Americans munch on Super Bowl Sunday. They eat an additional 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips and 3.8 million pounds of popcorn.
— Snack Food Association (past figures)
18 people: Average attendance at a Super Bowl party.
— Hallmark's Party Express
36.6 percent: Increase in sales of frozen breaded mushrooms pre-Super Bowl. Sales of frozen shrimp rise 29 percent.
— ACNielsen
$237.2 million: Amount spent on soft drinks (diet and regular) at grocery stores during 2005 Super Bowl week.
— ACNielsen
1,200 calories: Amount the average Super Bowl watcher will consume while snacking. To burn that off , it would take walking for four hours or running an hour and 45 minutes.
— Calorie Control Council
30 percent: Increase in sales of processed-cheese loaves the week before last year's Super Bowl. Flavored snack-cracker sales jumped 68 percent.
— ACNielsen
2 million: Number of pizzas Pizza Hut expects to prepare on Super Bowl Sunday, a 39-percent bump over an average Sunday. Frozen pizza is also a top Super Bowl seller at grocery stores.
— Pizza Hut, ACNielsen
$11.8 million
Additional sales of beer (regular and light) during 2005 Super Bowl week.
— ACNielsen
30.4 million: Pounds of snack food Americans consume on Super Bowl Sunday, twice the average daily amount.
— Snack Food Association (past figures)
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December 30, 2005
A Happy and Healthy 2006
Whether you're watching a bowl game on TV, tailgating at the stadium or making the rounds of New Year's Eve get-togethers, start your year off right with a plan for this weekend's events.
First, decide which foods you can't live without and skip those you can. Second, choose smaller portions of high-calorie items. Fill your plate with vegetables, low-calorie dips and salsa or fruit salads. Enjoy your food choices by sitting down and savoring your meal.
Remember alcohol affects your appetite, so if you're drinking you may end up eating more than you planned.
And finally, rather than just watching all those games, what about getting some physical activity? Take the dog for a walk, go biking with the kids or play some football yourself. These tips can help you begin 2006 on the right foot.
Happy New Year and best wishes for a year of good health.
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December 14, 2005
Tips for Healthy, Tasty Holiday Food
Follow these tips to enjoy tasty but healthy holiday meals:
1. Leave the stuffing out of the chicken or turkey. Also, make sure you remove the skin and bake your main dish on a baker's rack so fatty juices drip off.
2. Instead of butter or oil, try fat-free vegetable or chicken broth to sauté your veggies. You can use broth to cream mashed potatoes, too. "Broth gives the potatoes tons of flavor. You could even throw in some garlic," said Tejal Parekh, a registered dietician from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center Orlando.
3. Use a fat separator to skim off the fat from roasting pan juices. To thicken gravy, use dry turkey-gravy mix for added flavor.
4. Instead of high-fat creams in staples like pumpkin pie and eggnog, use low-fat or fat-free versions of evaporated or condensed milk.
5. You can substitute brown sugar for white sugar and halve the amount you use in recipes.
6. You can substitute applesauce (the natural or low-sugar variety) for oil when baking. Use the same amount of applesauce as you would oil. (1 cup oil = 1 cup applesauce)
7. Instead of thick, fatty frosting on cakes, use confectioner's sugar instead.
8. Making that famous green-bean casserole? Either use low-fat or fat-free cream of mushroom soup or skip it altogether. Try green beans dunked in balsamic vinegar with some garlic for a new twist.
9. Toss and bake hearty veggies like carrots and parsnips in sweet (light) vinaigrette. Try Ken's Steak House Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette for extra sweetness.
10. Forget baking fat-filled pies. Try something totally different like fat-free angel-food cake with chocolate sauce and raspberries to top it off.
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December 11, 2005
Add Some Sweet To The Season
Are you looking for ways to add sweetness to your foods but without all the sugar? Seasonings that add the flavor of sweetness include allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, mace and nutmeg. If you add fruit, you'll get the benefits of their vitamins, minerals and fiber, too!
Try these ideas:
* Add ginger to a fruit glaze. Blend frozen raspberries with a pinch of ginger and a small amount of fruit juice concentrate and toss the glaze with fresh berries or sliced fruit.
* Add cinnamon to coffee before brewing.
* Top oatmeal with allspice, mace or nutmeg.
* Squeeze citrus juices from lemon, lime, orange or grapefruits over fresh fruit.
Adding sweetness doesn't have to mean adding calories. Be creative and see what family favorites you can sweeten up using allspice, cardamom, cinnamon or fruit.
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December 09, 2005
Holiday Indulgence Facts
Q: How many jumping jacks would you have to do to burn off one of these holiday beverages (8 oz)?:
• Eggnog
• Hot buttered rum
• Hot chocolate with whipped cream and chocolate shavings
A: 2,100 jumping jacks! That’s 35 straight minutes of jumping jacks!
Better alternatives
• Glass of wine
• Low-fat hot cocoa with light whipped cream
• Hot apple cider
• Skim cappuccino/ skim latte
Q: How many teaspoons of sugar are in the following dessert: pecan pie ala mode with whipped cream and a chocolate drizzle (800 calories)?
A: 24 teaspoons (or packets) of sugar! If you lose the ice cream, whipped topping and outer pie crust, you’re left with only five teaspoons sugar, which equals a savings of 19 sugar packets!
Better desserts
• Pecan pie and apple pie without the crust (395 calories)
• Baked apple with cinnamon sugar and nutmeg (120 calories)
• 3 chocolate covered strawberries (150 calories)
• 2 holiday cookies: sugar or gingerbread (150 calories)
• Fresh fruit salad (120 calories)
• 1 oz. dark chocolate (150 calories)
Q: How many minutes will you need to walk on the treadmill to burn off any one of these appetizers?:
• Potato latkes with sour cream
• Fried pork dumplings
• Quiche
A: 113 minutes walking at 3.5 mph.
(calculated for 140-pound woman to burn 500-550 calories)
Walk: 6.5 miles at a speed of 3.5 mph
Jog: 5 miles at a speed of 5.0 mph
Run: 4.5 miles at a speed of 6.0 mph
Better alternatives
• Cold Shrimp with cocktail sauce
• Crudités with salsa (or low-fat dip)
• Baked latkes with natural applesauce
• Chicken on a skewer
• Sushi
Posted by Lisa at 09:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 26, 2005
Tomorrow's Turkey
Turkey burnout is insidious. One minute your bird is beautiful and fragrant, floating majestically to the table, its crisp skin glistening. You could eat every last bite all by yourself. But in a twinkling--or, to be exact, after a couple of servings--the feast loses its luster. By the time the candles have been snuffed, the good china put away, and the wine glasses washed, what's left of your 20-pounder looks like just one more responsibility. Worse, the week ahead looms with the dreary prospects of turkey hash, turkey supreme, and turkey a la king. For a moment, you consider getting a really big dog.
Not to sound unsympathetic, but snap out of it! Strip that bird straightaway with a sharp knife, and quickly refrigerate the white and dark meat in separate airtight containers (for up to five days or freeze for up to two months). Don't labor over the bones and fatty "parson's nose," telling yourself you'll boil them down into soup stock--you know you won't be in the mood for that anytime soon. Toss 'em, and be done with it. Feel better? You should. You've cleared the slate for a fresh approach to this versatile, forgiving meat and stocked a ready-to-use supply.
Have you tried...
White Turkey Chili
1 tablespoon stick margarine or butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 tablespoon minced seeded jalapeño pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups chopped cooked turkey (about 15 ounces)
2 (19-ounce) cans cannellini beans or other white beans, drained and divided
2 (16-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles
1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Melt the margarine in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and next 4 ingredients (onion through garlic), and sauté 5 minutes. Add turkey, 1 1/2 cups beans, broth, and next 6 ingredients (broth through black pepper), and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.
Mash remaining beans. Add mashed beans and milk to the turkey mixture. Simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until mixture is thick, stirring frequently. Stir in chopped cilantro.
Yield: 11 servings (serving size: 1 cup)
CALORIES 217(19% from fat); FAT 4.6g (sat 1.1g,mono 1.3g,poly 1.6g); PROTEIN 19.6g; CHOLESTEROL 33mg; CALCIUM 82mg; SODIUM 462mg; FIBER 3.5g; IRON 3.2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 25.1g
Courtesy of Cooking Light
Posted by Lisa at 03:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 23, 2005
Tips for Turkey Day
Choose a few of the useful weight control-tips below to help you maintain your weight while still enjoying the good cheer and delicious food on Thanksgiving day and the rest of the holiday season.
Preparing for the Big Day
*Wear a tight-fitting outfit. This will make you less likely to overeat because it becomes too uncomfortable.
*Don't arrive starving. Eat before the big feast. A small healthful meal with lots of fiber (oatmeal, whole-grain sandwich, salad with beans) keeps you feeling full until dinner.
*Make time for exercise every day, especially on Thanksgiving Day.
*Establish some ground rules in advance of the meal that allow you to indulge but not pig out -- for example, only one sliver of dessert.
*Keep a food journal and write down everything that you eat. This is an incredibly powerful tool, especially when you are tempted to overeat.
*Start a new family tradition. Take a bike ride, go for a hike, or play tennis Thanksgiving morning.
Ready, Set, Go
*Enjoy higher-calorie food in smaller portions.
*Don't eat food just because it is there. Save your calories for the foods you love.
*Distance yourself from the hors d'oeuvre table.
*Munch on fresh fruits and veggies instead of high fat appetizers.
When the Feast Arrives
*Scan the buffet and carefully choose the foods you love. If they are high in calories like the gravy, just take a smaller portion. Take larger portions of the simply prepared foods such as baked sweet potatoes, steamed vegetables, and skinless white meat of turkey.
*Limit yourself to one plate of food, no second helpings.
*Eat slowly and savor every bite. Give the food a chance to let you feel the satisfying feeling of fullness.
*Eat what you like, just eat a little less of it.
Desserts, Desserts, and More Desserts
*Enjoy a small serving of dessert. Choose pumpkin over pecan pie and save a few hundred calories. Eat just the filling to take in fewer additional calories and limit trans fats.
Cheers
*If you drink alcohol, save those calories for a glass of wine with the meal.
*Skip the high-calorie, high-fat eggnog this year.
When You're Done
*At the end of the meal, drink a glass of water and push away from the table to help you realize that you are full.
*Follow the large meal with a leisurely walk.
Posted by Lisa at 10:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 21, 2005
Improve Your Turkey Technique
Almost everyone serves turkey or another main meat dish at their holiday dinners, but many of us don't cook it properly. Some surveys show that many home cooks do not consistently use a meat thermometer to check the doneness of meats - putting themselves and their guests at risk of food poisoning.
To keep holiday revelers merry, always use a meat thermometer to make sure meats are cooked to a safe internal temperature.
**Whole turkeys should be cooked to 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Check at the innermost part of the turkey thigh.
**If you're cooking a stuffed turkey, make sure the stuffing reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit before serving.
**Holiday hams and pork roasts should be cooked to 160 degrees Fahrenheit.
**Briskets and beef roasts should be cooked to at least 145 degrees Fahrenheit.
For more information on safe cooking temperatures, visit www.homefoodsafety.org.
Posted by Lisa at 01:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
July 04, 2005
All American Favorites
10 foods that make America great
From coast to coast, a menu full of homegrown delights
By Jon Bonné MSNBC
Hamburgers. Apple pie. Potato chips. Foods that helped shape our nation.
American food gets an unfair rap these days. With the rise of ethnic cuisines – whatever that means, in this great melting pot — and supermarkets full of salad bars and microwave dinners, it’s easy to forget how many extraordinary homegrown delights are still served on tables across the land. Foods with a sense of place. Foods, I don’t feel too bold saying, that helped make America great.
It’s time to celebrate a few.
Our list isn't meant to be comprehensive. We didn't include barbecue because once we started our accounting — from North Carolina pork to Texas Hill Country brisket — it became clear we’d need a long, separate list to give BBQ its due. And apple pie, while iconic, is a European import that spread everywhere in Johnny Appleseed's wake.
All these 10 express their origin, though. And each is worth a trip to hunt in its native habitat, from sea to succulent sea.
1) New England clam chowder (Massachusetts)
While no trip to Boston is complete without a proper bowl of clam chowder, it's not fair to hand this one to Massachusetts alone — or to pretend that chowder is any one thing.
The original etymology is thought to be French, from chaudière (cauldron), perhaps passed along by French fishermen who crossed the Atlantic in colonial times. In his book “50 Chowders,? Boston chef Jasper White traces the first recipe to a 1751 edition of the Boston Evening Post. However, that soup not only neglects to mention clams but fish at all. Its basic foundation was salt pork and onions, followed by spices and soaked biscuits.
Cod or bass were added in by the end of the 18th century, but not until the mid-1800s do clams begin to appear in recipes, and the milk — now considered an essential component — didn't appear until the 1860s or so.
The formula was cast by the early 20th century, though the creamy classic occasionally vied for competition with tomato-based Manhattan clam chowder. (Not, in fact, from Manhattan.)
The clam of choice is usually the Eastern variety known as a quahog (CO-hog), with a shell thicker than three inches; its meaty insides help give chowder a briny kick. Smaller clams of the same type, Mercenaria mercenaria, are better known as littlenecks or cherrystones and not usually used for chowder.
A proper chowder is deep and aromatic, with layered flavors atop a porky foundation. Between the Red Sox finally winning, and all that chowder, I'd warn residents of Boston to expect a flood of visitors who won't leave. And I'm not talking about Harvard students.
2) Pastrami (New York)
Reasonable citizens can disagree about which pastrami is the best in New York, and therefore the universe. Some praise the prototype at the ever-flashy Carnegie Deli. Others stake their money on the thick, hand-cut version at Katz’s. (While we appreciate the fervent West Coast partisanship of Langer’s fans in L.A. ... c'mon.)
What’s beyond dispute is that pastrami on rye is the Platonic ideal of deli food: two simple slices of good caraway-laced bread, an inconceivably high pile of warm sliced beef, perhaps a modest smear of mustard.
Pastrami is the very triumph of man over meat. It begins with a simple slab of brisket (or plate) — a cut that, unlike the simple grill-and-serve of more obvious hunks of cow, begs for transformation.
Then a dry cure: salt, undoubtedly a good portion of cracked black pepper, maybe some sugar and spice — which sits on the meat as it is smoked with eternal patience. New York meat expert Mr. Cutlets notes the Carnegie cures their pastrami for two weeks. When finally ready, whole pastramis are steamed for several hours before serving.
It’s an Old World cooking schedule, with a name derived from a Yiddish take on Romanian pastrama, and even older possible roots in Turkey. But it was New York’s Jewish immigrants who claimed pastrami as their own in the early 20th century, and made it a staple of culinary life in this greatest of food cities.
3) Shoofly pie (Pennsylvania)
Americans are suckers for fruit pies, but this Pennsylvania Dutch treat strips pie-making to its essential, tasty core. Crust, with molasses and crumbs. Nothing more. (Though James Beard insisted raisins were part of the mix.)
Its origins are slightly gooey. Author John Mariani found a first reference in 1926, while Linda Stradley posits that it’s an update of treacle tart, which was made with refined cane syrup.
In either case, the Amish — who enjoy both “wet? (crumbs on top) and “dry? (crumbs mixed in) versions — have claimed it as their own. Some might claim the dry is really more a crusted cake than a pie. We're not going to quibble, because either way, it tastes pretty good.
Those crumbs add texture to a dense, rustic molasses taste. In Amish country, you might be told the name refers to the constant need to shoo flies away from these toothachingly sweet treats and the pools of molasses that formed atop them.
Variations abound, incorporating chocolate or Steen's cane syrup. They're good too, though the original doesn't need much updating, save for a dollop of whipped cream on top.
Shoofly pie is perfect baked-good simplicity. It’s proof that sometimes basic ingredients are all you need.
4) Smithfield ham (Virginia)
Italians have their prosciutto, Spaniards their serrano. These are hams of character and substance, hams with history. So why are so many American hams just pasty hunks of flavorlessness?
Many Southerners never succumbed to such folly, and thank goodness. While you can find a proper country ham in smokehouses across the South, Virginia has a true ham legacy, housed in the small city of Smithfield, just across the James River from Newport News.
Smithfield's ham history traces back at least to 1779. A 1926 state law permits only a ham cured within the town limits to be awarded the name.
Over the decades, the town’s many smokehouses — Gwaltney, Luter’s, and so on — have been filtered into a single company, Smithfield Foods, which is to hogs what General Motors is to cars. As the only remaining game in Smithfield town, it holds claim to what’s arguably the closest American equivalent of Europe's protected food appellations.
Gone are the days of local pigs foraging in nearby peanut fields, even though it was long claimed the nuts provided the hams with a distinctive earthy note. Though modernity has made the dry-curing process more uniform, nothing can speed the six months needed to shrink these hams down to size and focus their flavors to salty perfection.
The flavors evoke a time when pigs aspired to something more noble than being the other white meat. In his own ham paean, the New York Times’ R.W. Apple noted that Smithfield ham “bears about as much resemblance to your pink, watery, run-of-the-mill brine-cured ham as a horse chestnut does to a chestnut horse.?
So if you find a Italian or Spaniard on a ham rant, serve them up a slice of Smithfield on a biscuit, or fry some up with red-eye gravy. It’s time to take pride in Americans' own little slice of hog heaven.
5) Po-boys (Louisiana)
In most American sandwiches, the more ingredients, the merrier. The French, by contrast, choose a few essential items, and a similar spirit seems to inspire the New Orleans po-boy. You certainly can find po-boys that are piled high inside, but some of the best are models of extraordinary restraint.
Food writer Pableaux Johnson calls New Orleans “a city powered by the po-boy,? and the Crescent City abounds with po-boys of every filling imaginable. Hot sausage? Of course. Soft-shell crab? No prob.
Whether it’s the fried oyster po-boy at Liuzza’s by the Track or one of the many unnamed concoctions at Guy’s, you’ll never run out of choices.
A few things remain constant: You want it dressed (lettuce and tomato), you want the bread same-day fresh and you want it served up with a minimum of fuss.
After all, this is workaday food, meant for hungry people of modest means. It’s often attributed to two brothers, Benjamin and Clovis Martin, who ran a restaurant in the city’s French Market. One apocryphal story has the Clovises serving up free sandwiches during a 1929 transit strike for those “po’ boys? on the picket line. Complicating that portrait, author John Mariani notes “poor boy? was a synonym for sandwich as early as 1875.
New Orleans is a city in constant struggle with modernity. Worried by the onslaught of Subway and Quiznos, members of the newly hatched New Orleans Po-Boy Preservation Society are fighting to ensure we don't forget their city’s loaved legacy.
If you’ve ever eaten a proper po-boy, you know it's simply unforgettable.
6) Fajitas (Texas)
Food, in the cowboy tradition, is usually more pragmatic than transcendent. Fajitas are a notable exception.
Unless you happen to live in Texas — and possibly even then — forget everything you know about the fajitas in your local sorta-Mex restaurant. Shrimp or veggie fajitas? Pretenders to the throne.
In 1984, Texas A&M lecturer Homero Recio traced fajita history back to the ranches of 1930s south and west Texas. He also surmised that his grandfather, an butcher in Premont, Texas, helped coin the term.
“We talked to my grandmother, who was from northern Mexico, and she said she had never heard the name in Mexico,? Recio recalls, “But she had heard it from her husband, who was in south Texas.?
According to Recio, the Mexican cowboys known as vaqueros often received throwaway scraps as part of their pay, including the cow’s diaphragm, which helps hold in the animal’s innards. In Spanish, faja means belt or sash; fajita would be “little belt.?
The diaphragm, which we now call a skirt steak, is covered with a tough membrane that allowed the vaqueros to grill it outdoors directly on open mesquite coals — the prototypical fajita.
Fast forward to the late ‘60s, when Sonny “Fajita King? Falcon started selling fajitas in Kyle, 20 miles south of Austin. Falcon spread skirt-steak gospel at fairs throughout the state, finally opening a Fajita King stand in Austin in 1978. The dish sprang to nationwide success after a restaurant at the Austin Hyatt Regency put it on the menu in 1982.
Fame can corrupt a food, and absolute fame dealt fajitas a double blow. First, the price of skirt steaks — formerly one of the best deals at the meat counter — has skyrocketed. Second, the term “fajita? has come to represent nearly any grilled tidbit, marinated and served up sizzling hot with tortillas.
If you want a true fajita, fear not. Beginning last fall, Austin newspapers reported that Falcon, who left the food industry in the early 1980s, was staging a comeback in Kyle, where he started his fajita legacy in 1969.
So forget the canned mariachi music, strawberry margaritas and fajitas you think you know. A true American delicacy awaits, just north of the border.
7) Chicago hot dogs (Illinois)
Even Windy City residents would have to admit the American tradition of this noble sausage began in New York, though St. Louis makes a strong bid as well. The first big Chicago connection to the frankfurter came during the 1893 Columbian Exposition, when vendors hawked endless quantities of sausages from their carts.
Though outpaced by New York and L.A., Chicagoans pack away their share of franks, over 20 million a year. And Chicago is a city where less is not, in fact, more — hence the perfect venue to take the wiener’s simple Coney Island styling and go nuts.
A proper Chicago dog needs be dragged through the garden, as you might tell your vendor: You take a Vienna Beef sausage, nestle it in a poppy-seed bun, then add mustard, relish, chopped onion, tomato, pickled peppers, a dash of celery salt and perhaps a pickle spear or two. Hold the ketchup. A hearty handheld meal.
As with any perfect food, exact ratios and sources and preparations are up for debate. And yes, we know New Yorkers allege that Chicago’s red hots are overladen, while the Second City loves to mock the Big Apple’s weenies as wimpy and wan.
We’ll save that endless battle (for pizza) and simply acknowledge that Chicago’s chock-full approach is a perfect summer reminder that sometimes there’s no place better to eat than the street. Except maybe at the ballpark.
8) Chile verde (New Mexico)
State flag? Sure. State bird? You bet. And since 1996, New Mexico has prided itself on having an officially proclaimed state question: “Red or green??
The reference, of course, is to chile sauce or stew. And while we don’t mean to take sides (I guess we’d order “Christmas,? a little of both) there’s something about New Mexican chile verde that not even chili-loving Texas can trump.
Chile peppers themselves (New Mexico’s state vegetable, needless to say) have grown there at least since explorer Don Juan de Oñate brought them in 1598 on his trek to extend the Camino Real.
Oñate was ultimately banned from New Mexico for abuses of power, but the pungent pods remained.
Whether you choose red or green, it’s from the same fruit — usually a robust form of the New Mexico chile like the popular "6-4," not the milder version formerly called Anaheim. Green chile is made from fresh pods, while red is made from riper, dried pods. Recipes vary, but garlic and onion are usually key, and perhaps meat if you're making a stew.
Fresh from the plant, green chile can be deceptively hotter than red. And with harvest due in about a month, it’ll soon be prime time for a bowl or two in New Mexico, where they understand that chile verde is so good, it should go atop nearly everything. Though we wouldn't say no to red.
9) San Francisco sourdough (California)
The use of a sour starter for bread predates not only San Francisco but most of European history. Yet its American genesis came during the 1849 California gold rush, when baker Isidore Boudin baked French bread in San Francisco and sold it to miners headed for the hills of what had not quite yet come to be known as the Golden State.
Rather than pack yeast into the wilderness, prospectors could take a bit of starter along with them and keep reusing it to bake their own bread. John Mariani writes that “it was because of the bread’s popularity among miners that ‘sourdough’ became a slang term for the prospectors themselves and, later, by extension, all Alaskans,? since the city by the bay was also a jump-off for the later Yukon gold rush.
The tang of a proper San Francisco sourdough is unmistakable, as is the thick crust and irregularly holed interior. Similar breads can be replicated anywhere, of course, but residents often claim the Bay Area possesses a climate unique to help the necessary starter bacteria flourish. (Indeed, some microbiologists finger a helpful culprit called Lactobacillus sanfrancisco.)
Astoundingly, the Boudin bakery still survives to this day — claiming to use a portion of the original “mother? starter that began it all. But other contenders abound, like Berkeley-based Acme Bread. L.A.'s La Brea Bakery even caused a stir when, in 1997, the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle picked its parbaked sourdough baguette over local offerings.
No matter. San Francisco has indelibly set the sourdough bar. Sit at the waterside Ferry Plaza, take an unadorned bite of the city’s original culinary trademark, and wonder why Americans ever settle for plain old white bread.
10) Olympia oysters (Washington)
Sometimes a food comes back from the brink. The Olympia oyster offers one of those happy stories.
At least it might.
Once abundant in Northwest waters, this little bivalve (Ostrea lurida) was sought out by native tribes and settlers alike. Native from southern Alaska to Baja California, they thrived in the shallow tidelands of the Washington coast. Timber ships in the mid-1800s regularly carried them south to San Francisco, ushering in the Northwest’s reputation as a shellfish haven; still more were shipped to Seattle.
Production soared by the 1890s, then fell off in the early 20th century as waste from pulp mills and other pollution dwindled oyster stocks. As harvest of the Olympia dropped by 90 percent, oyster farmers imported non-native species like Pacific and virginica (Eastern) oysters to replace them. Those larger oysters crowded out their smaller cousins, and predators like the Japanese oyster drill, a snail, did further damage.
In 1998, Washington began a dedicated program to reseed wild oyster beds with the Olympia. At the same time, commercial farmers in southern Puget Sound carefully began to raise and harvest the Olympia for commercial sale in their own beds — resulting in a curious twist: Eating the Olympia can actually help fund its return.
It’s not quite a success yet. Olympias are still being harvested in miniscule numbers, though a similar restoration is under way in San Francisco Bay and aquatic conservationists like the Blue Ocean Institute are optimistic.
The oyster itself is a diminutive gem, from the size of a quarter to a half-dollar, subtle and slightly sweet when eaten raw, with an occasional metallic bite at the end. It’s a less filling, more delicate experience than slurping down a meaty virginica or Kumamoto. But for shellfish lovers, it’s an experience not to be missed — one that nearly vanished forever into the muddy annals of American cuisine.
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May 06, 2005
Cheers to Moms on Mother's Day!
Attention all moms! Take charge of your health.
Seeking just the right present for mom on Mother's Day? How about a long, happy and healthy life as a mother, grandmother … or great-grandmother?
Here are the top nutrition concerns for women in their “mom years?:
Low intake of omega-3 fatty acids. There is evidence that omega-3s can help prevent stroke, blocked blood vessels and coronary heart disease. Omega-3s are found especially in higher-fat seafood such as salmon and albacore tuna and soybean and canola oils.
Low consumption of folate. Especially for women in their child-bearing years, folate can prevent birth defects and improve brain function. And as you age, folic acid can decrease the risk of coronary heart disease. Good sources include spinach, navy beans, strawberries, oranges, peanuts and fortified grains like cereals and pasta.
Low calcium intake. This can result in osteoporosis and bone fractures. Good sources include milk, yogurt, tofu, cheese, salmon (canned with edible bones), turnip greens, cottage cheese, broccoli and fortified cereals and juices.
Lack of fiber, which may be related to colorectal and other types of cancers, heart disease and constipation. For fiber, turn to apples or pears (with skin), bananas, dried figs, oranges, kidney beans, lentils, brown rice, whole-wheat pasta and bread, bran cereals and nuts.
Low intake of vitamin B12. B12 works with folic acid to keep homocysteine levels low, decreasing the risk of heart disease. Good sources are lean meats, poultry, seafood, yogurt, milk and eggs.
Lack of vitamin D. This can limit your body's ability to absorb calcium and can lead to bone loss. Good sources of vitamin D are milk, fortified cereals, eggs and salmon.
Help your mom take steps now to make healthful eating choices that are right for her at any stage of her life.
Produced by ADA’s Public Relations Team
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March 25, 2005
Easter Traditions
The National Confectioners Association offers the following bits of information about Easter traditions:
Chocolate eggs were first made in Europe in the early 19th Century and remain among the most popular treats associated with Easter.
According to the Guinness World Records the largest Easter egg ever made was just more than 25 feet high and made of chocolate and marshmallow. The egg weighed 8,968 pounds and was supported by an internal steel frame.
In the United States:
- Seventy-six percent of people eat the ears on chocolate bunnies first.
- Ninety million chocolate Easter bunnies are made for Easter each year.
- Sixteen billion jelly beans are made for Easter.
- Each day, 5 million marshmallow chicks and bunnies are produced in preparation for Easter.
- Easter is the second top-selling confectionery holiday, with Halloween in first place.
- Eighty-eight percent of adults carry on the Easter tradition of making Easter baskets for their kids.
- Red jelly beans are kids' favorite.
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February 14, 2005
For Chocolate Lovers
Aside from cupids, hearts and flowers, one thing is synonymous with Valentine’s Day. Chocolate.
Among South American tribes, chocolate was considered a food of the gods. For many people it remains just that. However, chocolate does contain fat and a number of calories.
The fat in chocolate is a combination of saturated and unsaturated fat and does not appear to increase blood cholesterol levels. A serving of chocolate contains about as much caffeine as one cup of decaffeinated coffee.
Research shows that chocolate contains antioxidants that may help prevent cholesterol from sticking to artery walls, reducing your risk of a heart attack or stroke. Chocolate also contains flavonoids, which are the same compounds that give red wine and tea their disease-preventing benefits. The darker the chocolate, the more antioxidants and flavonoids it contains.
Don’t forget the amount of chocolate you eat can make a difference in your calorie intake, so enjoy it in moderation.
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Valentine's Day: Good for your heart's health
Wining and dining has long been a Valentine Day's tradition, but now there may be more reasons to clink glasses.
The stuff of Valentine's day may be good for your heart in more ways than one - chocolate, red wine and expressions of love can in fact be good for your heart's health, latest researches show.
Chocolate, red wine and love can play a role in keeping the blood flowing throughout the body. However, experts are not yet sure as to how they exactly boost physical fitness.
"It seems a component in cocoa - flavonoids - can be heart healthful," says Susan Moores of American Dietetic Association in an online report.
"Flavonoids are antioxidants which also help lower the level of bad cholesterol and increase the amount of good cholesterol," says Moores.
Alcohol (in moderate amount) has a blood thinning effect and that was found to be effective against stroke and heart disease, says another researcher Cynthia Sass in the report.
"The evidence is also very strong that good relationships have health benefits," says Blair Justice, professor emeritus, University of Texas School of Public Health.
However, Dr Samir Parikh, a psychiatrist says "happiness and good health is not day specific. Any celebration or happy event, a social gathering or fun and enjoyment with friends and family can keep a person stress free and his heart healthy."
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