Jenny Craig's Moroccan Chicken and Orzo: Floppy Hats and Decent Food

When I went away to college in the cold tundra of Western New York, my parents bought me three cookbooks for the journey: Betty Crocker’s Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, a colossal and ancient compendium of Christmas dishes, and Jenny Craig’s No Diet Required: Recipes for Healthy Living. Betty’s book is still invaluable, the Christmas tome went for $3 in a Williamsburg stoop sale in 2006, and Jenny, well …

I owned No Diets Required for six solid years before ever cracking it open. When it finally happened, I was rewarded with two things: 1) pictures of decent-looking diet food, and 2) pictures of hilariously made-up white women.

Though published in 1997, the pictures of Jenny & Co. could have come from a Kentucky Derby party in the Reagan era. You’ve never seen bigger shoulder pads or floppier hats in your whole life, and the cosmetics are … prominent. But those are just the first few photos. There’s also Jenny on the Beach, Christmas Jenny with the Grandkids, and Jenny Enjoying a Warm Cup of Whatever. Even the more subdued pics are rife with bedazzled mom jeans and intricately embroidered vests, giving the whole affair a vibe of Country Weekend with the WASP Family. Good times.

Here’s the thing, though: when I finally got down to making it, the food was pretty good. No one’s ever going to mistake it for an evening at Le Bernardin, and the salsa recipe calls for a jar of prepared salsa, but still. For someone just learning to cook, it beats the crap out of Hot Pockets.

Located on page 150, somewhere between Cinnamon Chips and Lemon Sorbet Cups, is Moroccan Chicken and Orzo. I first whipped it up a few years ago, when “the kitchen” was still an unfamiliar place of burnt fingers and witchcraft. The recipe called for crazy ingredients like “turmeric” and “cumin,” which at the time, could have read “gorilla spit” and “googly googly goo” for all I knew. (Note: as it turned out, they were readily available in the supermarket.) The whole shebang ended up well, though, and it was a triumph for a culinary nitwit like myself.

Fast forward to 2009, and the dish still holds up. Granted, the spices had to be doubled along the way, but for a quick, one-pot weeknight meal, it doesn’t get much better. Warm and filling, it’s also stellar cold and aces for office leftovers.

In the end, I bow to Jenny and her big ol’ hat. They may look funny, but they know of what they speak.

P.S. Some of my spices come in bulk from the local Muslim grocer, so they might be less expensive than store-bought brands.

P.P.S. Jenny provided the nutrition numbers, so only the price is calculated here.

P.P.P.S. I knew I forgot something last night. I was too busy laughing my face off at 30 Rock (particularly A Blaffair to Rememblack), that I didn’t upload a picture. Until I can get to my camera, please make do with this picture of Tracy Jordan from his famous ‘80s novelty party video, “Werewolf Bar Mitzvah.”

P.P.P.P.S. Edited to add: the photo's been added as of 8:45 EST. Viva la France!

Moroccan Chicken and Orzo
Makes 5 1-cup servings
Adapted from Jenny Craig's No Diet Required.


1 cup orzo, uncooked
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 large clove garlic, minced
14-16 ounces chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces (1" or smaller)
2 teaspoons vegetable or olive oil
1-1/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1) Cook orzo in salted water until al dente.  Drain and set aside.

2) While orzo is cooking, get out a medium bowl. Add paprika, cumin, salt, turmeric, cinnamon and garlic, and stir to combine. Add chicken and stir until poultry is entirely coated with mix. 

3) In a large nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion. Saute about 4 minutes, until it's a little soft and translucent, stirring occasionally. Add chicken. Brown chicken, stirring occasionally, 6 to 8 more minutes. Pour in broth and raisins. Drop heat back to medium and let it cook for 5 minutes.

4) Kill heat. Remove skillet from burner. Pour cooked orzo into skillet. Stir until the whole shebang is thoroughly combined. Top with fresh cilantro and serve.

Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Price Per Serving
327 calories, 4.3 g fat, 2.4 g fiber, $1.18

Calculations
1 cup orzo, uncooked: $0.40
2 teaspoons paprika: $0.08
1 teaspoon ground cumin: $0.02
1/2 teaspoon salt: $0.01
1/4 teaspoon turmeric or 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads: $0.02
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon: $0.01
1 large clove garlic, minced: $0.04
14-16 ounces chicken breast: $1.99
2 teaspoons vegetable or olive oil: $0.07
1-1/4 cup chopped onion: $0.30
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth: $0.50
1/4 cup golden raisins: $0.45
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped: $0.99
TOTAL: $5.88
PER SERVING (TOTAL/5): $1.18

Veggie Might: Collard Greens and Black-eyed Peas for a Smokin’ New Year

Written by the fabulous Leigh, Veggie Might is a regular Thursday feature about all things Vegetarian.

Okay, y’all - we’re in for the winter haul, and we’ve been eating root vegetables for, what, two months already? If you’re like me, without a garden/basement freezer or the kitchen space to do any canning let alone store the jars, you may be longing to eat something green that’s in season. (Of course, I live in New York where I can get any flavorless fruit or veg any time of year, but I’m trying to avoid that.)

I bring you good tidings of great joy from down south! Collard greens are at their peak from now until April. Not only are they a nutritional powerhouse to help you kick start that healthy eating resolution, coupled with black-eyed peas, they are said to bring good luck in the New Year. I ignore the part about the ham hocks.

Collards are hearty, flat, broad greens in the cabbage family, a cousin to kale. Bursting with vitamins A, C, and K, they are traditionally slow cooked in broth until the leaves become tender. Couple them with earthy black-eyed peas, which are rich in calcium, vitamin A, and folate, and you’ll have strong bones, eyes, immune systems, and whatever K does. You will be super human in no time.

The classic Southern collards and black-eyed pea recipes call for a hog jowl or ham hock (aka pig’s “knuckle”): gross. I believe I’ve perfected a vegan version even my dad would enjoy. My secret? Vegetable stock and liquid smoke.

There are several brands of liquid smoke out there and much controversy about whether or not these products are worthy of consumption (I like Colgin, but haven’t tried Wright.). Well, speaking from a vegetarian perspective, I’d rather have a few drops of “chimney drippings” in my beans and greens than pig parts. Plus, it makes them so good!

More traditional recipes call for just water, ham hock, greens, salt and pepper. That’s it. Same for the beans. Since we’re leaving out the meat, we need a little extra boost. The vegetable stock and smoke add those extra layers. But, believe me, the flavor of the greens come through. Same for the beans.

Maybe the best thing about these two big pots of awesome is the potlikker. The broth from the collards is to be savored as much as the greens themselves, preferably by sopping it up with corn bread*. Buttermilk biscuits are a worthy second, and, if you absolutely must, you may use regular table bread.

Back in November, my office had a “multi-cultural feast” potluck, and I brought this dish. I was so proud of it, because I knew it was good, and I work with lots of vegetarians. I had so much left over. Be warned: a sloppy, drippy mess o’ greens is not meant for an office potluck. It’s meant to be shared with family and close friends who don’t mind potlikker running down your chin or theirs.

Happy new year, CHG family. May good fortune be yours all year long.

*I fall squarely in the no-sugar camp. Sugar is for muffins.

Collard Greens and Black-eyed Peas
Serves 5–6


COLLARDS
6 cups vegetable stock (or water + 2–3 veg. bullion cubes)
4 cups torn collards
1 large sweet onion, coarsely chopped
6 cloves garlic, crushed and coarsely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
2 bay leaves
2 tsp liquid smoke
2 tsp sea salt (probably less if you use bullion instead of stock)
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

BLACK-EYED PEAS
2 15 oz cans black-eyed beans
2 cup vegetable stock (or water + 1 veg. bullion cubes)
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 tsp natural smoke flavor
2 tsp sea salt (see above)
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1) Pour vegetable stock into a large soup pot. Add chopped onion, garlic, oregano, bay leaves, liquid smoke salt, and pepper. Begin to simmer.

2) Wash, remove stems, and tear collard leaves into pieces. Add to simmering broth.

3) Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low.

4) Cover for 10 minutes, then remove lid and simmer for 30 more minutes or until greens are tender.

Meanwhile…

5) Drain and rinse black-eyed peas and add to medium saucepan with vegetable stock. (Rinsing beans and using clean water or stock reduces flatulence; trust me.)

6) Add garlic, onion, liquid smoke, salt, and pepper.

7) Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer on low for about 30 minutes, adding more stock if necessary. Broth should become thickened.

8) Serve collards and black-eyed peas together with corn bread. Try not to die from happiness. It’s a brand new year with so many possibilities.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price per Serving
Five servings: 200.9 calories, 1.34g fat, $1.49
Six servings: 167.4 calories, 1.12g fat, $1.25

Calculations
COLLARDS
6 cups vegetable stock (or water + 2–3 veg. bullion cubes): 72 calories, 0g fat, $.78
4 cups torn collards: 44 calories, 0g fat, $1.51
1 large sweet onion, coarsely chopped: 91 calories, .5g fat, $1.59
6 cloves garlic, crushed and coarsely chopped: 25.2 calories, 0g fat, $.07
1 tsp dried oregano: negligible calories and fat, $0.02
2 bay leaves: negligible calories and fat, $0.02
2 tsp liquid smoke: negligible calories and fat, $.26
2 tsp sea salt (probably less if you use bullion instead of stock): negligible calories and fat, $0.02
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper: negligible calories and fat, $0.02

BLACK-EYED PEAS
2 15 oz cans black-eyed beans: 660 calories, 6g fat, $1.58
2 cup vegetable stock (or water + 1 veg. bullion cubes): 24 calories, 0g fat, $.26
6 cloves garlic, minced: 25.2 calories, 0g fat, $.07
1 medium sweet onion, chopped: 63 calories, .2g fat, $.97
2 tsp liquid smoke: negligible calories and fat, $.26
2 tsp sea salt (see above): negligible calories and fat, $0.02
2 tsp fresh ground black pepper: negligible calories and fat, $0.02

TOTALS: 1004.4 calories, 6.7g fat, $7.47
PER SERVING (TOTALS/5): 200.9 calories, 1.34g fat, $1.49 (5 servings)
PER SERVING (TOTALS/6): 167.4 calories, 1.12g fat, $1.25 (6 servings)

CHG Favorites of the Week

Food Blog of the Week
Eggs on Sunday
I stumbled over this beautiful blog last week in search of a pumpkin scone recipe. Needless to say, the scones came out wonderfully (though a bit too high in fat for CHG), and the rest of it looks just as tempting. If anyone tries the Breakfast Strata with Greens, Gruyere, and Sausage from December 21st, let me know. Because Weight Watchers may be temporary, but vicarious living through readers is forever.

Food Book of the Week
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
After finishing In Defense of Food last year, Ominvore’s Dilemma became a must-read. I’m about halfway through, and it’s a bit different from what I thought – the content is drier, and Pollan’s tone is more scientific observer than cultural commenter. Still, it’s freaking fascinating. 100% of soda comes from corn? “Free-range” chickens are kept in pens? Gah. I suddenly need a salad.

Food Comedy of the Week
“I Like Grapes” by Demetri Martin
Little. Green. Delicious. Inordinately weird. Bizarrely funny. Like Pavement mated with a precocious first-grader.

Food Quote of the Week
“The noblest of all dogs is the hot dog. It feeds the hand that bites it.” - Laurence J. Peter

Food Video of the Week
“I Like Food” by The Descendents
For punk fans with ADD (are there any other kind?), it’s a 17-second blast of culinary appreciation, courtesy of reader/newborn Holden L’s favorite band. (Seriously, that’s the whole song.)



Totally Unrelated Extra Special Bonus of the Week
100 Movies, 100 Quotes, 100 Numbers
This one may take a little while to load to YouTube, but it’s worth every second. For extra fun, see if you can name the movies as they go by.

I Have Seen the Enemy, and She is FABULOUS: How to Read Women’s Magazines Without Feeling Awful About Yourself

(This one’s for the ladies today. Sorry, guys. We’ll have much more manly things tomorrow. Here’s something to tide you over until then.)

Okay, I’m laying it out here. The next time I see a magazine photo with a “WORST BODY” caption slapped on a celebrity butt that looks exactly like mine, I’m going postal. Seriously, folks. I’m not running a marathon anytime soon, but an inadvertent glimpse of my glutes has never landed anyone in therapy, either.

It makes me crazy that I think like this. And it makes me even crazier that a female-targeted magazine – ostensibly for women, by women – MADE me think like this. (I didn’t even read the damned thing. I saw the cover at a supermarket.)

I’m not alone, though. It’s been empirically proven that perusing Cosmo, Glamour, Marie Claire, and celebrity-themed tabloids has a direct, negative impact on our self-regard. We think we’re catching up with Anne Hathaway, but really, we’re evaluating ourselves, consciously and otherwise, against the models. We look, we compare, and we envy. What's more, as a demographic, we pay billions of dollars in clothing, food, fitness, cosmetics, and surgery to emulate the famous, perfectly proportioned people we see on page 344 of Elle.

But here's the thing: women-oriented magazines can't hurt you if you have a realistic understanding of the insanity they promote.

So, in honor of the New Year, here’s a reality check; a few things to keep in mind next time US Weekly demands you go on a shopping spree. Or makes you doubt your appearance. Or causes you to curse Janet Jackson’s rack. (Which, by the way, was paid for.)

1. Cover models and actresses are paid to be thin and stylish. It’s in the job description, and in many cases, it IS the job description. Subsequently, these women spend a sizeable percentage of each day exercising, eating bird food, and reshaping their bodies for maximum profitability. While health and fitness are certainly important, the average American woman doesn’t have the time or money to dedicate five hours to them, daily.

2. Cover models and actresses can afford to be thin and fashionable. Jennifer Lopez has her own personal trainer. Designers trip over themselves to clothe Sarah Jessica Parker. Fully-prepared Zone meals are delivered to Jennifer Aniston everyday. Unlike the rest of us, these ladies have the thousands of dollars necessary to pay for door-to-door health services. And what they can’t buy? They can expect for free, since the publicity created by catering to a celebrity is invaluable.

3. Half of what you see is Photoshop. And it creates an unrealistic expectation of women’s bodies that’s dang near unethical. Check this picture of Faith Hill. And this one of Scarlett Johansson. And Beyonce. And Heidi Klum. And Jessica Alba. Then, check every single photo in the “Portfolio” section of this website (Eva Longoria, people!), or every single Vogue cover from 2008. These are gorgeous women, yet they’re tweaked so much, Barbie would blush. You know our beauty standards are out of whack when she has three inches electronically trimmed from her thighs.

(Oh, and one more thing: magazine staffs? Are just as unshaven, sleepy, and haggard as the rest of us come 5 o’clock on a Thursday. Case in point: this post from Photoshop Disasters.)

4. The other half is plastic surgery. That’s not Halle Berry’s original nose, Posh Spice paid dearly for those boobs, and (my beloved) Dolly Parton is nearly a cyborg (and dang proud of it). Even Marilyn Monroe was well-known to have had extensive facial work done. Though it’s promoted as a fix-all, the time, pain, and finances involved in cosmetic surgery aren’t realistic for us Jane Sixpacks. And half the time, who wants it anyway? Knives are scary.

5. Those models are six feet tall, 17-years-old, and wear a size 2. There are some things we can control about our bodies: what we eat, the frequency with which we move, and maybe the color of our hair. (My grays are persistent little buggers.) But our height, age, and bone structure aren’t among them. That Vogue pushes an 11th grade giantess as the accepted standard of beauty totally dismisses the 99.5% of the population existing outside those narrow parameters. In other words, look around, ladies. You’re not alone.

6. Magazine fad diets will make you miserable. Hear this: eating right and exercising is the only proven non-surgical way of dropping pounds for the long term. Detoxes, colonics, and Bill Romanowski’s Nutrition 53 shakes won’t do it, no matter what Life & Style says. All too often, there’s a massive disconnect between actual healthy eating and the “healthy eating” pushed in the glossies, which offer short term fixes when they should be looking at the big picture. This Marie Claire article does it right, and others should follow suit.

7. Body image articles are fall-backs to bump sales. Out of fresh ideas? No good gossip this week? Angelina and Brad have gone into hiding? Let’s slap up a collage of celebrity asses and grade ‘em! That’ll move copies, since we don’t have any actual advertisers this month!

Women's magazines aren't going away, and that's okay. On occasion, they're a welcome release from the grind. Still, it's important to regard them with a little bit of amused detachment. Essentially: don’t worry if you’re not the mirror image of Cameron Diaz. Odds are that image has been distorted anyway.

P.S. The easiest way to avoid this stuff? Don’t buy ladymags. It’s a glib suggestion, but it works.

Getting Started at Cheap Healthy Good: Whee!

Hey everybody! So, it seems 2009’s brought on a gaggle of new readers, along with a few old ones who’re newly concerned about their health. (Hi Mom.)

For kicks, and so y'all can get an idea of what the site is about (mostly the second thing), here are a few of our favorite health and weight-loss themed articles from the last few months:

• 15 Reasons I Gain(ed) Weight (And Two Reasons I Didn’t)
• The Booze of Summer: A Quick and Dirty Guide to Lighter, Cheaper Drinks
• Cheap, Healthy College Food: Tips for Frugal, Nutritious Dining in the Dorm and Beyond
• Dr. Veg-Love, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Seasonal Produce
• Eating Healthy While Clipping Coupons: The Dos and Don’ts
• Food Labels That Ate My Sanity
• Healthy Takeout on a Budget
• The Incredible Shrinking Dad: How One Guy Lost 108 Pounds (and Kept it Off)
• The Problem with Diet Foods
• Recession-Proofing Your Diet: Food Strategies for a New Economy
• Relax, Frugal Eater: A Measured Approach to Lifestyle Changes
• There is No Free Breakfast
• Understanding the Childhood Obesity Epidemic Parts I, II, and III

And of course, there are the recipe lists - cheap, healthy, and ludicrously extensive meal compilations for: beef, pork, seafood, party food, salad dressings, marinades, spice mixes, zucchini & eggplant, and pantry dinners. They should be a nice starting point for menu planning, and/or a good way to drive yourself methodically insane.

Welcome to the site, and happy eating!

Tuesday Megalinks: Cheezburger Kitteh Edition

We’re less than six full days into the new year, and there’s already been a virtual slew of the usual posts about eating healthier, saving cash, and dropping mad poundage. Here are a few of the best, along with a thought-provoking piece from Jezebel, a few solid features via the Chow team, and a sad g’bye bidden by Elastic Waist.

Casual Kitchen: 41 Ways You Can Help the Environment from Your Kitchen
Easy, extensive list of green tips you (Yes, you. The one over there with the snowman socks. I see you.) can implement without much effort.

Chow: Eat Your Lawn - A new wave of gardeners replants front yards with food
Lacking a backyard, some enterprising foodies are sowing seeds in their front patch of grass.
Upside: “Mmm …delicious peppers.”
Downside: “Hey you kids! Get off my string beans!”

Chow: The Raw Deal - As raw food goes commercial, purists cry foul
You ever notice that these kind of stories are always set in San Francisco? It's weird for a place that makes such good burritos. Anyway, in essence: hardcore raw foodies are turning their nose up at gourmet raw restaurants (which serve raw-style "lasagna" and "pizza"), claiming their menus are, quote, "a mimicry of something that was never truly ... nutritious in the first place." Nerd fight!

Chow: Whole Grains with Flavor
10 suggestions for adding more healthy grains into your diet, including quinoa, polenta, and millet. I presumed millet was a fish until a few months ago, so this is nicely timed.

Chow: Will it Save My Life? - From red wine to Kombucha, are superfoods actually healthy?
Acai, soy, green tea: they sound real nice, but do they actually work? Research and links abound, with mixed results for each superfood.

CNN: Lisa Kogan Throws a Party
Lord, I love this woman. Did you ever read someone’s writing and think, “If I knew him/her in real life, we’d be buds. We’d do our hair and stress about our extended families, and it would be AWESOME.” I have. (And have you ever felt weird and stalker-ish after writing something about your thoughts? I've done that, too.)

Elastic Waist: Thank You and Good Night
EW is checking out for the duration. If you haven’t had the chance to see this blog in its two years of existence, it’s worth the trip. You’ll be missed, Anne.

Epi-Log: 10 Links to Keep You Reading and Eating All Year Long
Oh, yay! Nice roundup of sustainable food and farming blogs, with a ton of resources, to boot. To boot!

Epi-Log: Dieter’s Diary – Time to Get Right
If you’re, like me, a newly-committed dieter … er, lifestyle changer … this is coming just in time. Siobhan Adcock’s pursuit of weight loss isn’t anything new, but her use of reader tips knocks it up a couple of notches over your everyday diet blog. Good stuff.

Frugal Village: Shopping at Salvage Grocery Stores
Like sunlight and decent landlords, salvage supermarkets are sorely lacking in Brooklyn, so I was fascinated to read this article. There’s a state-by-state list here, but be sure to peruse the FV post for a more thorough breakdown.

Get Rich Slowly: The GRS Garden Project Winners and Losers for 2008
The winners: berries, tomatoes, and fruit from trees.
The losers: the 2008 Detroit Lions. Not that they had anything to do with this. They just lost an awful lot.

Jezebel: Are We TOO Worried About Food Allergies?
Hm. I was all like, “What, are you kidding? Kids could DIE.” Then I read this sentence: “A bus in his child's school district was completely evacuated after a single peanut was found on the bus floor.” Methinks that might be a tad extreme. Some commenters agree. Some, not so much.

Kansas City FOX News: Waiter Receives $1,100 Tip After Having a Bad Day (video)
Single dad in pre-med program waits tables to get by. Starts out having bad day, until couple drops an $1100 tip on $80 bill. Single dad is elated. Hearts warmed everywhere. (Thanks to Eater for the link.)

The Kitchn: Salads and Other Side Dishes AND Snazzy Cocktails and Wines for Every Budget– Best of 2008
The fine folks at The Kitchn round out last year with this pair of monster posts. Take it from me: there’s nothing like gettin’ tipsy and eating salad. If nothing else, you’ll feel very French afterward.

New York Times: Forbidden Nonfruit
Superb personal story of one man’s coming of culinary age. Deprived of junk food as a child, Joshua Yaffa goes on a sugar binge not unlike Hunter S. Thompson’s psychedelic journey in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. The moral? Sometimes, it’s okay to have a Cheeto.

The Simple Dollar: Personal Finance 101 – On Ponzi Schemes and Other Things
While this is unrelated to food, it IS the clearest, most concise explanation of the Bernie Madoff debacle I’ve had the pleasure to come across. If you’re wondering why investors (including Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon) are so up in arms, take a look.

Wise Bread: Seafood on the Cheap AND Making the Most of Imitation Crab
Good lists as long as you keep the environmental sustainability of your fish in mind. For more info, check the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Guides. (Also, their pictures of penguins. But that’s more for fun.)

Wise Bread: Six Painless Ways to Cut Calories
Sure, “drink water” makes the list, but so does “try open faced sandwiches” and “drink a wine spritzer.” Any calorie-chopping post that acknowledges alcohol is aces by me.

(Photos courtesy of I Can Has Cheezburger and Photobucket.)

Semi-Southern-Style Cornbread: Ringin’ in the New Year

“The North thinks it know how to make corn bread, but this is a gross superstition. Perhaps no bread in the world is quite as good as Southern corn bread, and perhaps no bread in the world is quite as bad as the Northern imitation of it.” – Mark Twain

Happy New Year, sweet readers! Hope you all had a lovely break, and enjoyed the downtime with tons of Zima and old Bon Jovi videos. (Note: in other words, exactly how I spent New Year 1994.) In accordance with my nap schedule, posting’s been sparse here lately, but that’ll change starting today. See, we’re kicking off a flurry of 2009 posts with a bang. A sweet, corny bang.

Namely, cornbread.

Despite hailing from New York, I consider myself a cornbread enthusiast. (Or, in English, I loves me some cornbread.) In the bread pantheon, it ranks just above banana bread, but slightly below my beloved garlic bread. In fact, when I worked in Times Square, I’d often hit up the Columbus Circle Whole Foods and buy a hunk of the stuff to chomp on, oblivious to the number of crumbs I dropped into my bra. (Man, I liked having my own office.)

Anyway, as a Big Apple-ite, I’m pretty used to Northern-style cornbread, which is moist and puffy, like a cake or a muffin. Sadly, it tends to be full of fat and calories, which is somewhat of a downer.

Enter (per usual) Cook’s Illustrated. For a somewhat healthier snack, their Best Light Recipe Book suggests opting for a Southern-style cornbread. This variety tends to be drier and crumbier than its Northern cousin, and subsequently, less brutal on your thighs. To test it out, I made two batches this weekend.

My first batch (which came straight from the book) was decent, but could have used more moisture and sweetness. So, for Round #2, I doubled the sugar and added two more tablespoons of buttermilk. Then, I dumped in 1/3 cup of frozen kernels for kicks. Admittedly, the kernels themselves didn’t do much – maybe added a little more corn flavor, but that’s about it. On the other hand, the extra sugar and buttermilk were solid improvements. My second batch was a clear winner.

Should you try it yourself, hear this: this is definitely a low-calorie cornbread. But as those go, it’s pretty dang good, and will pair splendidly with (coming soon) today’s Serious Eats column on Tomato Soup with Roasted Garlic and Herbs. (Which? Is one of the greatest soups in the history of time and space. Susan at FatFree Vegan Kitchen knows the score.)

That said, welcome back, everybody. Let’s make this the best CHG year yet. (And as there’ve only been 1-1/2 so far, it should be easy.)

Semi-Southern Style Cornbread
Makes 10 pieces of cornbread
Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Best Light Recipe.

1 cup yellow cornmeal (Quaker suggested), divided
1/3 cup boiling water
3 or 4 teaspoons of granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
7/8 cup low-fat buttermilk (3/4 cup plus two tablespoons)
1 large egg
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
½ tablespoon flour
1/3 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen)
Cooking spray

1) Preheat oven to 450°F. Coat a 9-inch round cake pan or 8-inch square brownie pan with cooking spray.

2) To a medium bowl, add 1/3 cup cornmeal. Set aside.

3) In a small bowl, combine remaining 2/3 cup cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk it all together. Set aside.

4) Go back to the first bowl, with the 1/3 cup cornmeal. Pour water into it. Stir until it's thoroughly combined and stiff. Slowly whisk in the buttermilk until the mixture is lump-less. Whisk in egg and butter. Pour the flour mixture into the cornmeal mixture and stir until everything is barely moist. (If desired, before adding batter to the pan, stir corn kernels with flour in a small bowl until just covered. Then, add corn to the batter, stirring lightly until just mixed.)

5) Pour batter into pan. Bake 20 minutes or so, until it's risen slightly and top is golden brown. Remove from oven. Remove bread from pan. Cool on wire rack at least 5 minutes. Serve.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving
96 calories, 2.6 g fat, $0.14

Calculations
1 cup yellow cornmeal: 533 calories, 5.3 g fat, $0.45
1/3 cup boiling water: negligible calories and fat, free
3 or 4 teaspoons of granulated white sugar: 65 calories, 0 g fat, $0.02
1 teaspoon baking powder: 2 calories, 0 g fat, $0.03
¼ teaspoon baking soda: negligible calories and fat, $0.01
½ teaspoon salt: negligible calories and fat, $0.01
7/8 cup low-fat buttermilk (3/4 cup plus two tablespoons): 105 calories, 3.5 g fat, $0.44
1 large egg: 74 calories, 5 g fat, $0.18
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled: 102 calories, 11.5 g fat, $0.08
½ tablespoon flour: 25 calories, 0.1 g fat, $0.01
1/3 cup corn kernels (fresh or frozen): 51 calories, 0.4 g fat, $0.17
Cooking spray: 3 calories, 0 g fat, $0.02
TOTAL: 960 calories, 25.8 g fat, $1.42
PER SERVING (TOTAL/10): 96 calories, 2.6 g fat, $0.14