Tuesday Megalinks: Man, This is Huge

So, so many links this week, and we’re kicking it off with a special TONY mention: Time Out New York put out their annual Kitchen Report edition, featuring Chefs’ Secrets … Spilled (a.k.a. New York Chefs Tell it Like it is), Kitchen Quintessential (a.k.a. What it Looks Like Behind the Counter), and How it Works (a.k.a. From Start to Finish, How Your Food is Prepared in a Fancy Restaurant). Great stuff – especially the first piece.

Being Frugal: A Memorable, Yet Frugal, Thanksgiving
Lynnae pens a short post on the three best strategies for creating a good Turkey Day: plan ahead, focus on family, and prep the meal in advance. There’s more on this in a guest post at Frugal Upstate. Oh, and if you’re not sure about numbers …

Butterball’s Calculators and Conversion Tools
Here’s where you want to be. How much turkey should you buy? How much stuffing should you prepare? How long will Uncle Bobby be asleep on the recliner after dinner? All these questions and more, answered. (Thanks to Serious Eats for the link.)

CNN: America’s Healthiest Grocery Stores
Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are to be expected, but Food Lion? Safeway? Pathmark? Who knew?

Culinary School Guide: Top 100 Blogs for Foodies
Superb resource for blossoming cooks includes recipe sites, vegan blogs, ethnic food suggestions, and much, much more. Holy moly, you must see this.

Culinate: Rice and bean favorites - The ultimate budget meal
AUGH! CHG is featured in the same article as MICHAEL FREAKING POLLAN! Someday, we’ll be included in Pearl Jam liner notes, and my life will be complete. (Oh yeah – this article is about the many variations on rice and beans.)

Dark Roasted Blend: Creative Food Manipulation
Sent to me by my lovely friend S, this monster compilation demonstrates the many, many ways food can be manipulated into art. One look at the Hot Dog Mummies or Cthulu Squash, and I promise, you’ll be here for a minimum of 15 minutes.

Free From Broke: 6 Ways Eating Out Less Has Made Our Family Better
See! It’s good for the wallet, good for the tummy and good … for … the … *sniffle* … heart.

Free Printable Grocery Lists
SWEET. (Thanks to Being Frugal for the link.)

The Full Table: Freezer Cooking Co-op
With apologies to Robert Herrick:
Gather ye buddies while ye may,
And get ye beef a-fryin’
For the casserole ye freezes today
Tomorrow ye’ll be a-tryin’
(Thanks to Money Saving Mom for the link.)

Get Rich Slowly: The GRS Garden Project – October Update
JD and Kris have almost completed their experiment, and the close-to-final numbers are up: 54 hours and $318.43 spent, $606 worth of vegetables harvested. And we won’t even get into the sheer number of grapes this produced. Nice work!

Get Rich Slowly: Could You Eat Healthfully on One Dollar a Day?
Short answer: absolutely not. Long answer: is more complicated.

The Kitchn: Cooking Better With Less
For those who might not read The Kitchn, it’s a gorgeous cooking blog that’s always centered a little more on the upscale. But thanks to recent economic events, they’re refocusing more and more on inexpensive gourmet. And I for one, totally love it. Do see.

The Kitchn: Solo Eating – Tips on Cooking for One
Neat little compendium of tips and resources for the all the solo chefs out there. You’ve probably seen a lot of these, but there are a few standouts, like: use a ramekin. I never thought of that, honestly.

The Kitchn: What to Cook With Cheap Cuts of Meat
You know, I was going to start this paragraph off with, “Braise the Lord!” Then I realized what that implies, and decided against it. Anyway … read this.

Money Saving Mom: Baking Day – Parts 1, 2, 3 & 4
I wish I had the discipline to do this. I also wish I had Crystal’s handwriting.

Money Saving Mom: Ask the Readers: Food ideas for a road trip?
Read the post, peruse the comments, and you’ll never, ever have to ask yourself this question again. Also? Apparently? There are people who bring crockpots in the car. There’s a thin line between insanity and genius, and I think that straddles it.

My Dollar Plan: 16 ways to Save Buying in Bulk
Great googly moogly. A bulk post about buying in bulk. Bulky! I bulk it.

New York Magazine: Cheap Living 2008
Fellow Metropolitanites – take heed! This goes way beyond the usual “Spend less on diamonds” and “Substitute filet mignon for dodo eggs” advice that permeates so many Manhattan magazines. Like: did you know MOMA and The Guggenheim have free Friday nights? It’s true! Go soak up some free art, yo.

New York Times: Bake Sales Fall Victim to Push for Healthier Foods
What? NO! I’m all for healthy food, but delicious brownies have their time and place! Don’t hate on what I … uh, ate.

New York Times: Calories Do Count
Good ol’ fashioned 1980s-style calorie counting is back. Let’s just hope shoulder pads aren’t next. For extra fun, here’s Jezebel’s take on it.

New York Times: Food Storage as Grandma Knew It
Trend report! Americans are morphing their basements into root cellars for wintertime storage. I’d attempt this, but it’d mean I’d have to actually descend into my basement (a.k.a. where they got the idea for The Blair Witch Project).

Savvy Housekeeping: How to Make Cottage Cheese
Easy peasy and crazy delicious. (Thanks to Serious Eats for the link.)

Serious Eats: Recession Grocery Shopping - What Are You Doing Differently?
Extensive comment thread on what everyday foodies are doing to reduce their grocery bills. Pretty much your average frugality ideas, but with a neat, culinarily-aware twist.

Simply Recipes: Cooking on a Budget
Elise, proprietress of one of the interweb’s foremost food blogs, offers her ideas on wallet-conscious cooking. Again, notable for the bevy of comments.

Smitten Kitchen: How to Max Out Your Tiny Kitchen
Deb is a prominent cooking blogger.
Deb’s kitchen is 8x10 feet.
Deb’s oven won’t fit a full-sized cookie sheet.
Deb has a single 2-foot counter.
Deb prevails. Here, she shows you how.
(Thanks to The Kitchn for the link.)

Whole Foods: Gifts From Your Kitchen
FANTASTIC page full of food gifts for the upcoming holidays. From Citrus Salt to Maple Sugar Walnuts to Rosemary Olive Oil – it’s genius. And it’s really, really easy.
(Thanks to Money Saving Mom and Like Merchant Ships for the link.)

Wise Bread: How to Pinch Your Poultry Pennies
Note: this post is not about how to steal from chickens. Rather, it’s about how to save money when buying, cooking, and eating them. Just needed to clear that up.

(Photos courtesy of Leanne Wildermuth, Dark Roasted Blend, Jovela, and Flickr member Lucahjin.)

Veterans Day

Hey folks,

There's a massive edition of Megalinks coming soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to mention a site I read about on Jezebel. It's called the American Widow Project, and it's an online support group for the wives of soldiers who were killed in action.

If you get the chance, take a minute and read through these women's stories. They're deeply personal and more than a little heartbreaking, but wholly encouraging at the same time. And taken together, they're a solid reminder of the sacrifices military families make for their country.

If you'd like to help, there's a service board and an area for donations, as well.

Be back with more in a bit,
Kris

Cranberry Relish with Grapefruit and Mint. Also, Recovery!

The top 10 best things about being terribly, terribly ill:

1) Post-Sickness Sexy Voice. I sound like Kathleen Turner.

2) Clogging of ears blocks out low conversation, but also construction work going on next door.

3) DayQuil tastes like candy.

4) Beating Lego Indiana Jones on The Boyfriend’s Xbox. When you’re sick, this is about the biggest, best thing you can possibly accomplish. (Note: With the exception of not dying.)

5) Tea, 23/7. (The other hour is soup.)

6) Sympathy calls from Ma. I am a fully-functioning 31-year-old professional, and for the life of me, I will never stop craving those “Oh, my poor baby’s so sick” conversations. When she’s 107 and I’m 82, you can bet your ass I’ll be dialing her the second my arthritis acts up.

7) Not showering, or even changing out of my pajamas, and being totally okay with it.

8) Once you recover, coworkers offer a combination of “I’m so glad you’re feeling better,” and “Please don’t touch me. I have children to think about.” It's making me mad with power.

9) Catching up on Days of Our Lives for the first time since 1987. Stefan has been 60-years-old (and evil!) for two decades now. It’s a talent.

10) The first post-affliction meal. You know – the one you can actually taste.

That last point, coincidentally, brings us to today’s recipe: Cranberry Relish with Grapefruit and Mint. I found it on Epicurious after learning that both cranberries and grapefruits would be on sale at Key Food this week. (Score!) I figured it would be a nice change-up to canned cranberry sauce, a staple at our family Thanksgivings. I was right. (God, I love being right.)

This is good stuff, but perhaps not for everyone. Why? Well, in a word, it's TART. That's to be expected with cranberry sauce, but with the added grapefruit ... to be honest, I wasn’t even sure I liked it at first. Five bites later, I wanted more. So there you go.

And here you go.

It’s good to be back.

Cranberry Relish with Grapefruit and Mint
Makes about 2-2/3 cups (or 8 1/3 cup servings)
Adapted from Epicurious/Bon Appetit.

2 large pink grapefruits
1 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups cranberries (about 10 ounces)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint

1) With a peeler, slice off the peel off the grapefruits in big strips. (Make sure you get the peel only, and not the pith.) Chop those strips down further, into pieces that are 2-inches long and 1/8-inch wide (very, very thin). Believe it or not, you should have about a 1/2 cup of peel when you're finished.

2) Squeeze peeled grapefruits until you get about 1 cup of juice.

3) In a medium saucepan, mix sugar and 1 cup water over medium heat. Stir the mixture until the sugar dissolves. Add grapefruit peel. Jack up the heat. Once it starts boiling, drop the heat to medium-low and cook/simmer for about 15 minutes, until the peel is soft and lovely. 

4) Add grapefruit juice and all cranberries. Jack up the heat again. Once it starts boiling, drop the heat again and simmer about 10 minutes. When the berries burst, you know you're just about done. Pour everything into a medium serving bowl. Add mint. Stir. Stick in fridge until cold.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving
131 calories, 0.1 g fat, $0.50

Calculations
2 large pink grapefruits: 164 calories, 0.5 g fat, $1.00
1 cup sugar: 774 calories, 0 g fat, $0.32
2 1/2 cups cranberries (about 10 ounces): 109 calories, 0.3 g fat, $2.08
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint: 2 calories, 0 g fat, $0.60
TOTAL: 1049 calories, 0.8 g fat, $4.00
PER SERVING (TOTAL/8): 131 calories, 0.1 g fat, $0.50

Fat intake and Prostate cancer!

Prostate Cancer is a leading cancer threat to men in United States. And now, there are studies showing that a high fat intake can have a direct correlation to the risk of prostate cancer.

According to wikipedia, Prostate Cancer is "a disease in which cancer develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. It occurs when cells of the prostate mutate and begin to multiply out of control. These cells may spread (metastasize) from the prostate to other parts of the body, especially the bones and lymph nodes. Prostate cancer may cause pain, difficulty in urinating, erectile dysfunction and other symptoms.

Rates of prostate cancer vary widely across the world. Although the rates vary widely between countries, it is least common in South and East Asia, more common in Europe, and most common in the United States.

Prostate cancer develops most frequently in men over fifty. This cancer can occur only in men, as the prostate is exclusively of the male reproductive tract. It is one of the most common types of cancer in men. However, many men who develop prostate cancer never have symptoms, undergo no therapy, and eventually die of other causes."

The article from Newschief.com suggests that fat makes up about 35% of calories in American diet, while it's only about 15% in Japanese diet. This is probably a known fact to most American, as some of our daily lunch or dinner usually contain of fried food or fatty meat. It is exceptionally difficult for a lot of working people who simply go get fast food as daily lunch items.

There are of course things we can start to do. A high vegetables intake during the week can help lower the risk of prostate cancer, among which broccoli and cabbage are the best good to help protecting against the men threat. Also, tomatoes contain high level of antioxidant called lycopene - bright red carotenoid pigment and phytochemical that some preliminary research has suggested an inverse correlation between lycopene (consumption of tomato) and risk of cancer (which the kind of research is yet to get approved from FDA). One thing that anyone can prove is, however, a good amount of vegetables servings would be good to help reduce bad enzymes in our fragile body.

So, next time when you have to dine out, try to incorporate some tomatoes, broccoli or cabbage in your meal. Or, the best of all, try to reduce the amount of fat intake in your diet!

References:
http://www.newschief.com/article/20081109/NEWS/811090351/1011/LIVING02?Title=Prostate_cancer_affected_by_amount_of_fat_in_diet
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostate_cancer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lycopene

Healthiest Supermarkets!

Drum please......

Yes, the result is in, among all the big or small, chain or independent, modern or traditional groceries / supermarkets, 10 have been selected as America's healthiest food places to go!

According to msnbc.com, Health magazine asked several health experts to research and review food items, basing on freshness, taste, nutritional information availability, of the 35 largest food retailers across the country to determine which one can top the 10 healthiest grocery store list.

What a unsurprising No.1 winner is, yes, Whole Foods. With 279 stores in 38 states and Washington, D.C. Whole Foods has been the brand label that parallels to health food, organic food items and premium products. It is absolutely expected that Whole Foods will top the list without much competitions.

The other healthiest stores, from the No.2 spot to No.10, are:

Safeway (nationwide stores)

Harris Teeter (based in Southeast)

Trader Joe's (in 23 states and Washington, D.C.)

Hannaford (based in Northeast)

Albertsons (based in the West)

Food Lion (based in Southeast and Mid-Atlantic)

Publix Super Markets (based in Southeast)

Pathmark (based in Mid-Atlantic)

Super Target (based primarily in Texas and Florida)

As someone who lives in Houston, I am glad that at least Super Target makes it happen to grab the No.10 spot. Does it mean that Houstonian are not surrounded by healthy supermarkets? Absolutely not. We also have Whole Foods here. But honestly, is it possible to have Whole Foods to come down in price for its food items? They are definitely at a premium.

Guess health sometimes does come with "price"!

Reference: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27573342/

Acai Berry - the Super Food?!

You probably heard of it before! You probably read its ads everywhere! You probably have already tried it yourself! Yes, the "it" food is one of the "super foods" that everyone who watches Oprah Winfrey knows about - the purple Acai Berry.

According to PRWeb's article "Super Food For The New Year", Acai Berries "are found in the thick forests of the Amazon that grow in clusters atop the palm trees. The Acai berry is likened to be cross between raspberries and chocolate, thus giving a delicious and unique flavor. Their flavor makes them a good combination and ingredient for fruit smoothies, granola, fruit drinks, yogurts and ice cream. These small tiny berries pack a healthy balance of protein, carbohydrates, omega fatty acids, vitamin E and minerals making it to the tops list of nutritional super foods."

The major benefits of Acai Berry include:
- rich source of anthocyanins (a compound that is good for heart health)
- rich source of protein and dietary fiber
- high levels of omega-6, omega-9 fatty acids (help lower cholesterol level)
- strong antioxidant vitamin with anthocyanins (anti-aging effect)

Acai Berry has become so popular that you can easily find interesting sources about it. Here are couple videos from YouTube that show Acai Berry being featured in Fox and Rachel Ray shows:





So, are you ready for some super purple fruit - Acai Berries?

References:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/acai/berries/prweb1573734.htm
http://health.learninginfo.org/herbs/acai-berry.htm

Nutritional Scoring System

When I first started this blog, the first article was about Food Nutritional Quality Index. It is exciting to know that three of the many major food stores have launched the Food Nutritional Scoring System this year. And it is for sure that the strong debut of the nutritional scoring system is going to send a strong wave to all the stores nationwide.

The system is very easy to understand. Food are evaluated on their healthiness based on 30 different nutrient factors. A higher score means it's healthier and a lower score means, well, not that healthy for you comparatively.

The system was developed by a group of scientists. Dr. David Katz from Public Health at Yale University School of Medicine led the development. An independent company, a joint venture of Topco Associates and Griffin Hospital, called NuVal, is formed to help carry the system to the market.

With this new system coming to "shelf", we, as consumers, will be able to learn more about food nutritional value from each and every individual food item, besides the food label itself.

NuVal is working towards scoring 40,000 food products by September 2009.

Let's see next year this time, if you can find the food products in your grocery store score up and high.

References:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS158788+11-Jul-2008+PRN20080711
http://packagingnews.co.uk/equipment/news/856261/US-stores-introduce-nutritional-scoring-system/