CHG Favorites of the Week

Just a reminder, sweet readers – getcher entries in for our Cook’s Illustrated 30-Minute Best Recipe cookbook giveaway! The drawing is tomorrow at high noon.

Food Blog of the Week
Pennies and Pounds
I came across this blog for the first time yesterday, and so far, I like what I see. Good articles with lots of additional resources. Check it out if you’ve got a few.

Food Comedy of the Week
Foo Fighters’ Tour Rider
Dave Grohl and Co. were on Top Chef last week, no doubt because of their legendary-within-the-industry tour rider, which includes requests like, “Every lunch should include a Soup of the Day – please try to make it a vegetarian selection. Meaty soups make roadies fart.” Truer words, never spoken.

Food Organization of the Week
NFL Play 60
To sum, “NFL Play 60 is a health and fitness initiative created by the National Football League to inspire kids to play for 60 minutes a day and eat well … In addition to national reach through PSAs and online programs, Play 60 is also implemented at the grassroots level through NFL's in-school, after-school and team-based programs all with a focus on the importance of physical fitness and healthy lifestyles.”

Food Quote of the Week
"I like my coffee like I like my women. In a plastic cup." – Eddie Izzard

Food Video of the Week
“Suppertime” from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown
The animated version!



Extra Special Totally Unrelated Bonus of the Week
Sweet But Dark: 50 Ways to Kill a Twinkie
Actually, it IS kind of related! WOO! Super-cool pictorial post on the art of Twinkie-slaying. Beware, the vengeful Teddy Grahams…

Gluten-Free Diet!

I like bread, and I especially like wheat bread. I always believe that not only it tastes better, but also it is healthier! Well, after all these sugar-free diet, low-carb diet, fish diet, vegan diet, here comes another new diet that actually does not like to take wheat into account - the Gluten Free Diet!

So, what is Gluten Free Diet?

Well...from wikipedia, a gluten-free diet "is recommended amongst other things in the treatment of celiac disease and wheat allerg. It is a diet completely free of ingredients derived from gluten-containing cereals: wheat (including kamut and spelt), barley, rye, and triticale, as well as the use of gluten as a food additive in the form of a flavoring, stabilizing or thickening agent. Additionally, the diet may exclude oats. Some people for whom the diet is recommended can tolerate oat products and some medical practitioners say they may be permitted, but there is controversy about including them in a gluten-free diet because studies on the subject are incomplete."

Some people think that this gluten free diet can help weight loss?! Some believe that it is good for those who have gluten allergy but has nothing to deal with weight loss?! And, some said that gluten free products actually may have more carbohydrates or starches that may indeed go the opposite way if you want to loss some pounds?!

There is yet proved direct relationship between gluten free diet and weight control. But, for sure, companies are diving to come up with products that are gluten free to cater for certain demographics!

I like my wheat bread and I probably will pass on this one.

City Kitchen Chronicles: Recession Chic, Party Planning, and Me

City Kitchen Chronicles is a bi-weekly column about living frugally in Manhattan. It's penned by the lovely Jaime.

A few days ago, Gawker posted on how the headline “Party Like It’s 1929” needs to be retired. They easily found six examples from recent months, arguing – convincingly! – that the phrase has gone from clever to entirely overdone.

But maybe worse than that played-out headline is the played-out and downright troubling trend of “recession chic," a.k.a. richer folks playing poor, seemingly getting a kick out of making fiscal sacrifices. Because to the seriously cash-strapped, this can sometimes feel like a slap in the face .

In yesterday’s megalinks, Kris pointed out the latest offender, a New York Times Style Section piece chronicling a chi chi party planner’s quest to throw a shindig on a shoestring, for a mere $30 a head (which, naturally, was titled, “We’re Going to Party Like It’s 1929”).

$30 being my shoestring weekly budget, but I digress.

The problem is the idea that a $240 dinner party is a way of coping with the recession, as opposed to a luxury. And when you look at the writing of the piece, there’s some serious exotification going on. We see the chic party planner slumming it at K-Mart, or mingling with the unwashed hordes at a 99-cent store: “Politely nudging through the clogged aisles of the deep-discount emporium, the dapper Mr. Monn reminded me of a late-model Bentley stuck in rush hour on the B.Q.E.” Meaning that the other discount shoppers are what, exhaust-belching trucks and used cars?

There’s this novelty to “playing recession,” the Ooh, look how austere I’m being, but that wears off. Yes, the economic troubles are affecting everyone, and lifestyle change hurts no matter how it hits, but aside from ending up with an awfully condescending approach to cheap living, this article highlights a really trivial way to cut corners. And there are lots of people cutting a lot more deeply, way past 99-cent store Christmas ornaments and office paper snowflakes.

At Jezebel, they get things right:

I'm sure that Williams meant well, but the point is this: for many people across the country, a trip to the dollar store or Kmart isn't some amazing sociological experiment: it's everyday life. And to continue to publish crap like this shows, once again, that the Times, while reporting unemployment rates and layoffs on the front page, still doesn't quite get the plight of the average American when it comes to trends and styles. I suppose this simply speaks to a target demographic, which is understandable, but every "recession chic" article that goes up just reinforces the divide between those who feel that a $238.40 party is a steal and those who have to live on $238.40 on a weekly basis.

On a related note: this December, almost a year and a half at a new apartment, I’m getting my place in shape and inviting folks to my apartment. It’s not a dinner party, as chronicled in The Times, but aside from inviting guests to bring a bottle of booze, I’m on the look-out for ways to make a home inviting and a party fun, without going (even farther) into debt in the process.

Way #1 I’d diverge from the Times plan is not spending $80 on decorations. Way #2 might be shopping somewhere a little cheaper than grocery-delivery service Fresh Direct. Way #3 might be saving money (and my guests’ health) by baking my own cake, so that my main course wouldn’t have to be baked potatoes. The Prime Directive of frugal eating is, I believe, MAKE IT FROM SCRATCH, and yet, as an alternative to the hip, pricey, and honestly not-too-delish Magnolia Bakery cupcakes, the party guru... buys an angel food cake at Food Emporium? For $5? And that’s before the store-bought icing and coconut flakes...

Okay, I’d do just about everything differently, except for the dim lighting. (The brilliant folks at The Kitchn have come up with an alternative plan that stays super-cheap but drastically ratchets up the food.) But, maybe my priorities are in a different place. Maybe I would rather decorate with a string of Christmas lights and spend effort rather than cash to make good food. My disagreements with how the budget was allocated are not the heart of the problem.

But The New York Times is a newspaper, and it’s telling us that this is the way people are dealing with the recession... what do you think?

(Photo courtesy of A Different Voice.)

CHG Cookbook Giveaway!

Wednesday’s weekly article is coming a little later today, folks. But first, to celebrate the upcoming holidays, we’re giving away a copy of my hands-down absolute favorite cookbook in the whole world, Cook’s Illustrated Best 30-Mintue Recipe. Seriously, my parents are jealous of my undying, infinite love for this thing. I would have its children if A) it was possible and B) it would JUST ASK.

Anyway, to enter, here’s what you gotta do:

1. Leave a 15-50 word comment about what type of article you’d like to see on CHG in the near future. (Examples below.)
2. Type your first name (for nifty identification purposes).
3. That’s it.

From all the eligible comments, I’ll choose a winner using Random.org on FRIDAY AT NOON, so don't forget to enter before then.

To get you started with ideas, here are some examples of the types of articles we usually do, along with some links from the not-too-distant past:

• Cooking tips: Cheap, Healthy, Sick - 10 Easy, Nutritious Foods for When You’ve Contracted the Plague
• Experiments: Eating on $25 a Week - The Experiment
• Food economics: The Hour - How 60 Minutes a Week Can Save Hundreds of Dollars on Food
• Food issues: Angus Anguish - Is Angus Beef Worth the Money?
• General kitchen tips: Frugal Storage Solutions for the Small Kitchen
• Interviews: The Incredible Shrinking Dad: How One Guy Lost 108 Pounds (and Kept it Off)
• Just for fun: Life Skills 101: A Curriculum for Food, Finance, and Other Real World Basics
• Link compilations: Save Money on Seasonings: MYOM (Make Your Own Mix)
• Personal stories: 15 Reasons I Gain(ed) Weight (And Two Reasons I Didn’t)

Good luck!

Tuesday Megalinks

ABC News: 10 Foods That Bring On the Pain
Tomatoes are out to get you. Chocolate and cheese, too. (Thanks to Pennies and Pounds for the link.)

All Recipes: Cooking on a Budget Winter Edition
Faboo database for frugal, seasonal meals, by the O.G. site for populist gourmets.

Cooking Light: Lighten Up – Holiday Classics
Christmas is coming! Hannukah and Kwanzaa, too. And let’s not forget National Cotton Candy Day (December 7th), either. Here, CL has suggestions for everybody, whatever you’re celebrating. Bonus: the Sweet Potato Casserole looks particularly good.

Culinate: Home-cooking Hurdles – Time, money, effort, knowledge
Also: roommates, building layout, and dog. But enough excuses! Culinate explores the art of overcoming kitchen obstacles.

Elastic Waist: Holiday Rule #1 – There Will be No Dieting On the Holidays
FANTASTIC editorial about suspending the diet for national celebrations. Definitely read the whole thing, which ends with, “Enjoy the holidays, enjoy your family, enjoy the food. New Year's is close enough, and there's plenty of time for self-flagellation then.”

Epicurious: The Best Cookbooks of 2008
The year-end wrap-ups are just getting started, folks. Read this and beat the rush. Highlights: The Modern Baker, Fat, Real Food for Healthy Kids, and the #1 tome of the year, Fish Without a Doubt. Mmmm … doubtless fish.

Epicurious: Epicurious Predicts Top 10 Food Trends for 2009
Man, it’s all about economizing next year. By all indications, noodle bars (not sushi), value (not sustainability), and veggie gardens (not flower gardens) will be taking over the universe. But wait! There’s more!

Hotels Magazine: Experts Offer Top Food Trends For Hotels & Restaurants In 2009
Be on the lookout for more bistros, fewer hotel chefs, smaller portions, lots of in-season produce, and promotions galore. Thanks, economy! (Thanks to Eater for the link.)

Get Rich Slowly: GRS Garden Project – November Update
Spent: $318.43
Harvested: $606.97
With a 200% return and homemade jam for the rest of their natural lives, I’d call it a success.

Get Rich Slowly: Finding Good Wines at Great Prices - Expert Advice for Frugal Wine Lovers
For when Three-buck Chuck just won’t cut it.

The Guardian: The World’s Greatest Baking Tips
A total must-read for all bakers, in which journalist Dan Lepard consults 30 of Earth’s greatest for their best and brightest tips. Among the all-star line up contributors are Dorie Greenspan, David Lebovitz, and Chocolate and Zucchini’s Clotilde Dusoulier. Great stuff. (Thanks to Serious Eats for the link.)

New York Times: We’re Going to Party Like It’s 1929
I love the Times. I adore its restaurant coverage, and the attention it gives to food issues the world over. And I understand that their demographic tends to be wealthier than other newspapers. But man, this article hits all the wrong notes. In a nutshell, writer Alex Williams enlists one of NYC’s top party planners to create a dinner party for less than $30 a head. My beefs:
1) Most New Yorkers don’t have that kind of cash to spare.
2) She balks at potatoes, but blows the majority of her budget on décor.
3) Really? $30 per person, and it’s compared to the Great Depression?
In a country where women are feeding families of four on $40 a week, it's charitable to call the piece pretentious and tone deaf, but I'm curious about your reactions. Readers?

Slashfood: The Five Weirdest Things in My Parents’ Cupboards
In no particular order:
1) 100 hot dogs. (No buns.)
2) Five canisters of Crystal Light. (Gah.)
3) Lots of Curacao. (Hopefully not for mixing with Crystal Light).
4) Three jars of red pepper flakes. (They don’t like spicy food)
5) The vacuum cleaner. (Delicious!)

The Smarter Wallet: Quality Cookware to Help You Save Time and Energy in the Kitchen
SW delves into her five favorite pieces of mealtime equipment, then adds on a few techniques for good measure. It’s quick but substantive, the way I like my men. (WHAT?)

The Toronto Star: Comfort Me with Apple Pie
In these solemn times of economic woe, folks all over are turning to macaroni and cheese, meatloaf, and Ma’s cookbook to sooth their sorry bank accounts. Even in Canada. (Thanks to Slashfood for the link.)

Wise Bread: 12 Affordable Ingredients that Add Gourmet Flair to any Meal
From roasted garlic to Kalamata olives to shallots (a.k.a. God’s Onion), these are some pretty solid suggestions for perking up a humdrum dinner. And if you like it, you’ll love Touch of Class: 10 Thrifty, Healthy Ingredients to Improve the Quality of Your Meals.

(Photos courtesy of Searchviews, The Beeb, and Wikipedia.)

Diet Crushers!

Thanksgiving is a wonderful holiday. You get to see your family and friends, you get to catch up for all the things that happened in the past whole year, you get to taste some very delicious food, and you probably get to skip exercising for couple days.

Going through a diet or an exercise program isn't always easy, especially it is one of those great holidays like Thanksgiving that you want to celebrate to its fullest and that means diet is out of the door!

There are so many different diet crushers (or excuses) in our daily lives that can easily distract us from keeping up our daily diet and exercise routine.

HOLIDAYS: It's holiday season, and most of us will be having so much to celebrate within these two months. Many times, we may forget our diet or exercise program to accommodate holiday agenda. I believe enjoying holidays is absolutely acceptable, we only have to be cautious not to over-consume than our normal diet and try to stay active (like shopping/walking the mall) after a full delicious meal.

WORK SCENARIOS: It could be the pressure (especially the current economic situation that a lot of people are stressed about their work situation) that causes us to simply eat more than we want, or snack every now and then subconsciously. It could also be the idea of having to socialize with coworkers, or going out for happy hour that sometimes make ourselves less cautious on our diet program.

SPECIAL OCCASIONS: Hey, if it is a great occasion, say your birthday or your big wedding, celebrate it and enjoy it! I believe you should allow yourself to enjoy the moments. Just understand that you will get back to your diet program and you will exercise in a more rigid way later, go have some funs!

MOOD CHANGES: This is possibly the most strong crusher of all! You may get into an arguement with someone, you may feel frustrated of not seeing results, you may be tired of the idea of being fit and healthy, and you may just say "life is short" and diet and exercise are not your mortal. Remember, staying healthy is not something you want to do for other people. You don't stay fit to get people to look at you, you don't stay fit so someone will treat you better, you stay healthier and stronger is for yourself! Do it for yourself, enjoy the process and the outcome will come by itself

Of course, there are still so many crushers out there...however, as long as you are determined and you know what they are, you can easily conqur anything and diet is one easy piece of cake.

K.I.S.S.: Light Garlic Bread

Don’t you love when a recipe is simple enough for a first grader, takes ten seconds to make, and still comes out like you’d been consulting with a cadre of Iron Chefs for 12 years? I do. It's kind of my reason for existence, besides The Office, schlocky horror novels, and clever Evite responses.

The Ridiculously Good Yet Stupefyingly Uncomplicated thing's occured a few times over the course of the blog. First there was Nigella Lawson’s Easy Pea Soup, which made me crave peas for the first time in over three decades of life. Then, there were the lassis, which I prefer to any milkshake in existence (even McDonald’s Egg Nog variety, which is the pinnacle of fast food cuisine). Finally, there was Polenta Pudding with Blueberry Topping, which was so embarrassingly facile, I almost didn’t post it.

Now, it’s Eating Well’s Light Garlic Bread. Essentially, you boil four garlic cloves, mash them in a paste with a little salt and olive oil, spread it on some bread, and bake for five minutes. The results are … well, not astounding (I like to save that word for miracles and mid-air rescues), but really, really dang good. The bread is moist where it should be, crisp where it’s not moist, and crazy-garlicky without being overwhelming. And honestly, there’s something eminently satisfying about pulverizing things with a fork. Like, “You’re no match for ME, garlic! Now, off to save some kittens from a tree! (*flies away*)”

The kicker? It costs $0.80 to make, total. I don’t know why anyone would buy frozen garlic bread in the first place, but I’m pretty sure that’s a 300% savings. It makes it all the more satisfying.

So, I encourage you to embark on this mission. But if you do, a few notes:

1) Eating Well provided the nutrition data, so only the price is calculated here.

2) If you’re using a loaf of Italian bread, go with a third of it instead of half. They tend to be much larger than baguettes.

3) Seriously, a monkey could make this. You barely need thumbs.

Happy eating, folks.

Light Garlic Bread
Serves 4
Adapted from EatingWell.com

4 large cloves garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 baguette or 1/3rd loaf Italian bread, cut in half lengthwise

1) Preheat oven to 450°F.

2) In very small pot or saucepan, combine garlic and juuuust enough cold water to cover it. Turn heat to low. Once water starts simmering, cook for about 3 minutes. Kill the water and drain the pot. making sure to keep the garlic.

3) In a small bowl, combine garlic, oil, and salt. Mash 'em into a paste using a fork or spoon. (This might take a few minutes.) Spread the paste on the bread, as you would butter.

4) Bake 5 minutes. Serve.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving
113 calories, 2 g fat, $0.20

Calculations
4 large cloves garlic: $0.16
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil: $0.04
1/4 teaspoon salt: $0.01
1/2 baguette or 1/3rd loaf Italian bread, cut in half lengthwise: $0.60
TOTAL: $0.81
PER SERVING (TOTAL/4): $0.20