What about Soft Drinks and Juices?

            I classify dessert to mean any food or beverage in which the largest percentage of calories come from some form of sugar---natural or added. Based on my definition, soft drinks and fruit juices fall into the realm of desserts. If you considered soda and juice to be desserts, would you let your children drink them all day?

            It’s not “bad or wrong” to drink soft drinks and juices; the problem arises when you reach for them out of habit. You forget they have enough sugar to be considered a dessert yet very little fiber to digest or fill your stomach. Consequently, you still feel hungry after drinking them even though you have consumed many calories. If you want something with that many sweet calories and not a lot of nutrition, at least eat something with substance and chew it slowly and deliberately for the full taste, pleasure and satisfaction.

            For example, when you drink orange juice, some of the nutrition has been processed out and it has lost almost all of its fiber.  Because your body has nothing to digest, the calories are absorbed quickly but your stomach doesn’t feel full. When you eat an orange, on the other hand, you ingest all of its vitamins and minerals. Because you have to chew an orange, you’re also eating fiber; the fiber requires your digestive system to digest the fruit, and the digestive process makes you feel fuller longer

            In addition, soft drinks and fruit juice don’t give your body the water it needs. When you’re thirsty, your body is asking for the water it needs to assist with its chemical processes. Reach for water first, and serve water, not soft drinks, with your meals. Drink soda and fruit juice in extreme moderation because they add calories and a lot of sugar without any fiber.

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Simple cooking idea: When you have leftover chicken broth, label it, write down the amount, and put it in the freezer.  Thaw in the microwave when you need it.

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

You Can Find the Time to Cook (Part 4)

            Yes, cooking does take time, but it doesn’t have to be an all-day affair. Many of the best home-cooked meals are fast, fresh, and delicious, but if you don’t plan for them, even 30 minutes in preparation can seem like a lot of time. If you’re unable to cook every day, cooking at least twice a week would make a significant difference in receiving quality nutrients, ingesting fewer chemicals, and saving money.

            Don’t convince yourself you don’t have time. That quick meal costs you time, too, because buying fast food isn’t as fast as you think. Stopping at the store to pick up a ready-made chicken with the trimmings takes time; ordering pizza online, looking for specials, asking family members what they want, placing your order, picking it up or waiting for a delivery all take time.  You pay dearly for convenience.

            Once you decide that the benefits to cooking are worth your time and effort you will make a decision to cook.  After you’ve made that decision, all you need to do is take the time to plan cooking dinner into your schedule.  Then you can look at the sale flyers once a week, plan your menu, stock up on staples, and get your family involved.  Initially you will have to remember to do this, but once you have planned cooking into your schedule a few times, it will become second nature and you’ll wonder why you ever ate so many instant meals in the past.  

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Simple cooking idea: Cook shrimp quickly and briefly.  They are done when they turn pink.  If you cook them too long they will shrink and get rubbery.

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

How Will You Find the Time to Cook---Take Advantage of Timesavers (Part 3)

            When you start cooking a lot, you’ll get a feel for what ingredients you use frequently. I call them staples, and you’ll want to have them on hand all the time. You can save money and time if you buy these items only when they’re on sale and in large quantities so you won’t have to restock often. These nonperishable items---extra virgin olive oil, vinegar, salt, pasta, flour, rice, canned chicken broth, canned tomatoes, Dijon mustard, pepper, mayonnaise, honey---have a long shelf life and are the base of a meal.  If you stock these items, your shopping trips will be considerably shorter because all you need to buy are fruits, vegetables, meats, and dairy products for the day or the week. 

            

           Another time-saver? Get your family involved in cooking. People support what they help to create. Let your family choose the day, the food, and the menu. Have them check to see what’s in the pantry, then write the grocery list. Your children and spouse can help you cook, and they each can have a task. Young children can find ingredients in the refrigerator. They can wash the vegetables or put ingredients in a measuring cup. Older children can use the grater, peel vegetables, and be taught how to safely use a knife.

What kitchen chores do you give your children now? If you hand off only the unpleasant chores, they’ll learn to associate the kitchen with drudgery.   I realize that loading and unloading the dishwasher has to be done, but you also have to measure spices that smell great, cut up tasty ingredients that they can sample, and take interesting looking vegetables out of the refrigerator. If you get your children involved in the fun parts of the cooking process—not just the non-fun cleanup—they’re more likely to grow up looking forward to this task.

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Simple cooking idea: The smaller you cut your vegetables the quicker they cook.

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

How Will You Find the Time to Cook? Plan Time to Cook (Part 2)

            What would happen if you spent an hour once a week—when you’re not tired, stressed, or hungry—and planned your week? You can see ahead to the days you get home from work late, the days the children have to be driven somewhere, the days you’ll be extra tired.

            On the other hand, there are days when you can get home a bit earlier.  There are evenings when your entire family is in for the night and can eat together.  The key is to set an appointment in your date book to cook those nights.  Put it on the family calendar.  Make that appointment to cook and eat together as important as not allowing your children to miss a ball practice.  

            You could look over the sales for the coming week and take advantage of them; you could make a list of fresh ingredients to have in the house and go to the grocery store with the list. Having that list can save you a lot of time in the store figuring out what to buy. The list can also save you money and empty calories because you  won’t be as tempted to take home whatever goody grabs your attention.

            If planning your weekly meals sounds ridiculous, remember that food determines your energy level, stamina, and short- and long-term health. Without planning, you’re leaving your daily sustenance up to chance. Doesn't it seem more ridiculous to spend months planning a vacation that lasts only two weeks?  

            Planning to cook will “magically” give you the time you need just like planning the lunch date with your friend ensures that you get together.  With that time invested, you’ll eat better, save money, be less stressed, and eliminate the guilt that results when you grab something for your kids and leave your spouse to forage alone.

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Simple cooking idea: Use unsalted butter.  It allows you to control the salt content of your dish.   

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

How Will You Find the Time to Cook? (Part 1)

            I talk about the benefits to cooking dinner at home, but the fact remains that you’re busy and finding the time to cook is difficult.  The extra time will never magically open up for you as if you’ve been given more than 24 hours in a day.  The key isn’t finding the time to cook, but making time by planning it in.

           

            When you vacation, you normally plan to be away for a predetermined number of days and allot a certain amount of money to spend. Because you want to make the most of your time and money, you spend months diligently planning your two-week vacation.  In fact, you plan many things in your life---work projects, visiting your in laws; you even plan a birthday lunch for a friend.  The lesson is this: You can do all of those activities because you plan time for them.  The same is true for cooking.  You’ll have time to cook when you plan the time to cook.

            If you leave your daily meals up to the whim and immediacy of the moment this is what happens.  You

arrive home from work tired and the last thing you want to do is muster up the energy to make dinner.  

Not having a clue what to make at the last minute, you look in the refrigerator. By magic you hope to find something to throw together for dinner. Yet you don’t have fresh ingredients in the house because you didn’t schedule time to go grocery shopping. You’re hungry and the troops are hungry; your son needs to be at practice in 30 minutes and your daughter needs help with her math homework. Even a saint couldn’t cook under those stressful conditions. I don’t blame you for popping something in the microwave, ordering a pizza, or going to the drive-thru. Those options don’t require much decision-making or asking more from your worn-out body.

            However, there is a way to plan cooking into your schedule.  Stay tuned and I’ll talk about it tomorrow.

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Simple cooking idea: Do not eliminate all fat from your diet.  You need fat in order to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Real Food Has Fiber

            Mother Nature was brilliant when she created fruits and vegetables because she added fiber as part of the natural packaging. When you eat real food, you’ll never have to worry if you’re getting enough fiber because you’ll be consuming it automatically. In your busy life, you have many more fun things to think about than the quantity of fiber in your lunch.

            

          The fiber in food is what makes it take a while to cook and eat. Fast food and processed foods cook fast (and can be eaten fast) because they’ve been stripped of their fiber. Mother Nature created food with fiber for a number of reasons. Fiber makes you feel full so you don’t eat too much; it reduces your cholesterol levels; and it takes impurities out of your intestines quickly. That means fiber is necessary for proper elimination of waste and colon health. When you eat real food, you won’t have to count your fiber intake or use laxatives.

             

          Have you ever eaten sugar cane? It’s like eating sweet wood. To make white sugar, every bit of fiber is removed from the cane.  Unlike a piece of sugar cane, white sugar gives you nothing to chew or digest, it just melts on your tongue.  The body wasn’t designed to eat foods stripped of their fiber. Real foods have their fiber still intact.

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes.

Food Safety Tip: Be certain to put raw meat on the lowest shelf in your refrigerator; if it drips it will not drip onto cooked food.

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

At dinnertime create an atmosphere conducive to talking and sharing.

            Have you ever been on the phone listening intently to the caller when someone there with you starts to talk to you? If you take your attention away from the phone to listen to the person standing there, when you go back to the caller, you have to ask the person to repeat what was just said. You’d stopped paying attention! It’s impossible to listen to what two people are saying to you at the same time.

          

             If you listen to someone without doing anything else, you’re giving a precious gift. Nothing makes a person feel more important than your undivided attention. You’re also receiving a gift by enjoying that person’s facial expressions and eyes. Your attention also allows you to notice the person’s body language and learn more than what’s being expressed.

            

            During dinner if you have the TV on you can’t give your family undivided attention.  If you have the TV on just for background noise, why do you need noise in the background when others are speaking to you in the foreground? Do you think you’ll miss something important? If that’s the case, you still have part of your attention on the TV so you can catch that important bit of information. Cell phones and all other electronic devices fall into the same category as the TV. They distract your attention from the only important thing at dinnertime—reconnecting with your family.

           

          If you are going to the trouble of cooking for your family you want to create an atmosphere conducive to talking and sharing.  Eliminate all distractions and give your family your undivided attentions.  You and they

are worth it.  

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Food Safety Tip: Make sure your refrigerator is at 40 degrees or lower and your freezer is at 0 degrees or lower. 

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Meatless Meals Can be Marvelous

               Once upon a time, Americans believed if you didn’t get some form of protein with every meal, you’d be protein deficient. Many also held the notion that a chicken in every pot signified wealth and prosperity.

                Today, we’re past the point of having to prove our socioeconomic status by how much meat we can afford to eat. And we know that Americans get an abundance of protein. Not eating meat at every meal won’t create a protein deficiency in your body. Even vegetarians have sources of protein, so not to worry.

               A number of years ago, I became a lacto-ovo-vegetarian for a full year; I ate eggs and dairy products but no meat, seafood, or poultry. I tried that lifestyle not because of philosophical beliefs, but because I loved to cook and knew it would require me to cook even more foods from scratch. I loved every minute of vegetarianism and found countless delicious recipes. 

             Flavorful and nutritious meatless dishes are usually quick to fix and can be delicious.  It makes sense to know a few vegetarian dishes because almost everyone has a vegetarian friend. If you ever invite friends for dinner and then discover one of them is vegetarian knowing what to cook can be stressful.

             In Let’s Cook Tonight, I have included 10 lacto-ovo-vegetarian menus to solve the issue of what to prepare. Your meat-eating friends will love the taste and won’t feel deprived; your vegetarian friends will be pleased you honored their life-choice commitment.

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Food Safety Tip: A sponge holds in bacteria; if you use one wash it in the washing machine. 

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

A Word about Children in the Kitchen

     

            I didn’t have children, but since I love to cook, I often thought I would have taught my children to cook when they were very young.  I learned to cook when I was eight.  A mom of four who loves to cook told me she had her children in the kitchen as soon as they could stand on a box and reach the counter.  We naturally want to share what we love with our children.  I know some parents who assign one night a week to each child to plan, prepare and cook the family dinner.   

           

            My cookbook, Let’s Cook Tonight, is perfect for children because the recipes are easy to read, understand, and follow.  With traditional recipes, you often have to explain the terms and directions to your children.  With Let’s Cook Tonight’s recipes that won’t be necessary.  Just give them the cookbook and let them have fun.  Anyone mature enough to reach the counter and safely use a knife can cook. 

                       

            The point of the Let’s Cook Tonight Movement is to teach that cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes.  It doesn’t matter who actually does the cooking---mom, dad, grandma, uncle, little brother---as long as someone is ensuring that the family is eating real food cooked from scratch and served in an atmosphere of love.

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Food Safety Tip: If you have a habit of wiping your hands on a towel, make sure the one you use to wipe meat juices from your hands is not the same towel you use to dry your clean hands later. 

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Pass the yolks please.

        A friend told me that a fast food chain is now offering an egg white breakfast sandwich.  I am sure they mean well and may even have had requests for this, but I am confused.  The whole egg is one of nature’s most perfect foods, why would anyone want to stop eating the yolk which is the most nutritious and delicious part of the egg?  The yolk contains a wealth of vitamins, minerals, and complete protein.  Eggs are inexpensive, low in calories, and readily available.

        Egg yolks have gotten bad press in recent years because they contain fat and cholesterol.  We need fat every day to be healthy and it has never been conclusively proven that eggs present any health risk.  In fact, recent research indicates that eating eggs may lower your blood pressure (Medical Science Monitor, 2007).  Eggs are also high in choline a nutrient that aids the brain function of adults.  Maybe if we ate more egg yolks we would all be smarter.  If we were smarter, we would know to buy and cook real foods because they are better for us.   

        If your doctor advises you to avoid eggs then please do so.  If that is not the case, then eat eggs because they are a real food that is good for you.  Eggs are easy to cook and they make a quick, easy, nutritious dinner.  Have hard-boiled eggs on hand for a quick snack.  They’ll cure your hunger pains but not give you an insulin rush.  They are easy to put into a lunch bag and can be eaten out of your hand.     

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Food Safety Tip: Wash your hands when you change ingredients to prevent cross contamination.

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Use salt, with discretion, to increase the flavor of your food.

            In recent years, salt has gotten a bad reputation. Yes, your body does need salt to function; the problem arises when you consume too much of it. Consuming too much of anything, even water, can kill you.

Manufacturers liberally add salt to packaged foods as a flavor enhancer and preservative. If you eat many ready-made foods, then you’ll probably consume too much salt—a perfect example of why cooking for your family can be so important. When you cook your own food, you have 100 percent control over the amount of salt in your finished dish instead of being at the mercy of someone else’s choice.

            Don’t underestimate the effect of a bit of added salt. Many times a finished dish will taste flat in spite of the fact it includes a lot of fresh ingredients, herbs, and aromatics such as garlic and onion. When I wonder why a dish tastes this way, I realize I have yet to add salt. It’s amazing how just a little salt makes the taste of the other flavorings pop.

  

            When you buy and cook real foods, you have 100 percent control over the amount of salt you add to the dish.  If you have a health problem that requires you to limit your intake of salt, then please follow your doctor’s advice, eat less processed foods, and eliminate salt from the dishes you cook.  If you don’t have a problem, then use salt, with discretion, to increase the flavor of your food. It will enhance the taste and your enjoyment.

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Food Safety Tip: For food safety keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold---when in doubt throw it out.   

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Just how often should you eat?

There’s a common belief that smaller more frequent meals through out the day are more conducive to weight loss.  More frequents meals are easier to digest, ensure you don’t secrete too much insulin, and increase your metabolism.   

However, a study has shown, (British Journal of Nutrition, April 2009) that the number of meals did not affect weight loss as long as the total calorie count is the same.  Participants in the study ate the same number of calories.  One group ate them in six meals and a second group ate them in three.  Both groups lost the same amount of weight.     

Therefore, it goes back to the assumption I make whenever I write about how to eat for weight loss.  Use your common sense.  Your common sense will serve you better than any diet rules because it is based on your knowledge of how your body feels after you eat.

Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full.  If you over eat you are putting stress on the body because you are forcing it to process more raw material than it needs  The most important meal of the day is the one where you have the most hunger.  Your body will tell you everything you need to know about what to eat, when to eat and how much to eat.  You just need to stop and pay attention.  Eating out of habit is a bad habit.

Eat a wide variety of colorful real foods cook them simply and dress them lightly.  Keep salt and fat in your diet for health, satiety and flavor.  Enjoy salty snacks and sweets in reasonable amounts.  If you want to lose weight, eat less than you are eating now.  It really is that simple.   

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Food Safety Tip: Make sure your refrigerator is at 40 degrees or lower and your freezer is at 0 degrees or lower. 

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

I was having lunch with a friend and she ordered what I did---pasta with chicken and vegetables, but she asked the server to bring her plate without the pasta.  When I asked her why, she commented that she wanted to lose weight before her wedding so she could fit into her wedding dress. 

Her wedding is six months from now.  If she took it slow and easy and lost about a pound a week, she would be thirty pounds lighter by the wedding.  Thirty pounds would be great for her and she would be a knock out in her dress.  Research tells us repeatedly that the only way to lose weight permanently is to do it slow and steady. 

Unfortunately, my friend wants it off by tomorrow so she is depriving herself of her favorite foods because she believes she will lose her excess weight quicker.  She is trying the common practice of eliminating carbohydrates from her meals.  Eliminating carbohydrates will result in weight loss because total calorie intake is less not because those calories came from carbohydrates.  If you are eating fewer calories you will lose weight it does not matter what type of food the calories came from. 

If only my friend would eat everything carbs, snacks and fats and just reduce her total portion size.  Reducing quantity of food, and not entire food groups, will take the pounds off permanently.  I’m afraid that even if she loses some weight, she will eventually cave into her cravings and binge on the carbohydrates she has been denying herself.  That binging will result in guilt, negative self-judgment, and, of course, weight gain. 

I understand this scenario because I have done it too many times to count.  My answer---eat a wide variety of real foods, cook them simply, and dress them lightly.  Keep snacks and desserts in your meals for enjoyment just eat them in reasonable amounts.      

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Simple cooking idea: If you need to thaw frozen meat quickly, place it in the sink and let it sit in cold water.  Change the water every 5-10 minutes until it is thawed enough to handle.

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

The Book is Coming---Real Food with Real Flavor that’s Real Easy to Make

I didn’t write a blog yesterday because I was busy proofing the final draft of my cookbook, Let’s Cook Tonight: Real Food Real Flavor Real Easy. It will be in print the mid to end of June. If you fall into one of the following categories, Let’s Cook Tonight is perfect for you. 

People who don’t like to cook.  If you don’t like to cook you likely regard the cooking process as one big burdensome chore and prefer to pick up something ready to eat. Perhaps when your children were young, you cooked because you had to, but the minute they could fend for themselves, you again avoided it at all cost. Your kitchen became a room that just happened to come with your house.

People who don’t have the time to cook.  If you think that adding cooking into your schedule is not possible because you seldom get everything done now, then you fit here.  Perhaps you honestly believe that you could never find the time to cook unless someone magically gives you more hours in your day.  

People who don’t know how to cook.  If you honestly don’t know how to cook—you don’t understand cooking terms or techniques, you don’t know what comprises a balanced meal, and you don’t have a clue where to start—you fit this category. Perhaps you never took an interest in learning from your mother who did all the cooking, or you were too busy with your own activities to stay home long enough to learn. Or if your mother didn’t cook, you simply lacked a teacher and role model.

Let’s Cook Tonight will teach you how to make delicious, nutritious dinners using the least amount of thought work and time.  It gives you a simple blueprint to follow to have success in the kitchen.  Its motto is: Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Food Safety Tip: Foods left at room temperature contain everything bacteria need to thrive.  Don't leave food on the counter for more than two hours.

Copyright ©2010 by Let’s Cook Tonight, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Making your life easier in the kitchen.

Most parents want their children to grow up to be happy productive adults and most would do anything in their power to ensure that their children are healthy.  That being the case, then you will find it disturbing to learn that in the past 30 years obesity rates for children in the U.S. have tripled.  Obesity puts children more at risk for heart disease, diabetes and bone and joint problems. 

What has caused the disparity from wanting the best for children to the rising obesity and the subsequent health risks for children?  I believe the problem occurs because we take eating for granted.  We have forgotten how important nutrition is.  American affluence has made it possible to eat everyday without ever turning on the stove and we are paying a terrible price for that convenience. 

I am America’s Cooking Cheerleader™, and I am creating the Let’s Cook Tonight™ movement; a movement of men and women who are cooking for their families to improve their health, create quality family time, and save money.   I have written a cookbook that teaches you how to cook dinner using the least amount of thought, work, and time.  Most cookbooks are written for people who enjoy cooking.  I wrote Let’s Cook Tonight for people who do not like to cook, do not know how to cook, and who have no time to cook.  The result is a unique cookbook that is easy to read and understand; nutritionally balanced, complete dinner menus have been created for you, and you are given a blueprint that you can follow over and over again.

However, I don’t want to just sell you a cookbook.  Buying a cookbook to put on your shelf and never use won’t help either of us. I want you to come to use and rely on Let’s Cook Tonight because it makes your life easier in the kitchen and because you want to experience the tremendous benefits cooking provides.     

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Simple cooking idea: When your pasta is done do not leave it in the hot water or it will turn to mush.  Drain it, cover it and put it back in the hot pot without any heat.

  

Copyright ©2010 by Gigi Centaro. All Rights Reserved.

Food Safety (part two) Cross Contamination and Hygiene

Cross contamination happens when raw foods come into contact with cooked foods.  The obvious is cutting your salad ingredients in the same area you cut raw meat.  The bacteria from the raw meat will get on the vegetables.  It might be okay if you were going to cook the vegetables, but since you are eating them raw, you will be ingesting the bacteria from the meat.  The easiest way to prevent this is to wash your cutting surface thoroughly with hot soapy water and then rinse with clean water before you cut your vegetables.  Do not forget to wash your knife or any equipment you used to cut the meat.  Your hands are also a tool, so if they handled the meat wash them before you touch your vegetables.  Cutting the vegetables first would also solve the problem.

Your mother told you to wash your hands before you eat for a reason.  You touch so many things, even in your own home, that are not clean so don’t forget to wash your hands.  Wash them after you use the bathroom, before you start to cook, and when you change ingredients.  I know hand washing seems obvious, but it is easy to forget.  If you have a habit of wiping your hands on a towel, make sure the one you use to wipe meat juices from your hands is not the same towel you use to dry your clean hands later.  I prefer to use a kitchen washcloth to wipe my counters and sink down.  I just throw the kitchen washcloth into the washing machine with my whites and a bit of bleach.  A sponge holds in bacteria; if you use one wash it in the washing machine too. 

Here are a few more hygiene tips.  Do not put cooked food into containers that held raw food.  Be certain to put raw meat on the lowest shelf in your refrigerator; if it drips it will not drip onto cooked food.  Food safety is not difficult you just need to stop and think.  If you take a few minutes to pay attention you will never have to worry about getting sick from the food you make in your kitchen. 

   

Cooking is easier than you think and you and your family are worth the time and effort it takes. 

Simple cooking idea: When you put a lot of dishes into the oven at one time, the temperature will go down and everything will take longer to cook.

Copyright ©2010 by Gigi Centaro. All Rights Reserved.   

Food Safety (part one)---Time and Temperature abuse.

Every year 5000 people die from food born illnesses.  Food safety is not difficult and there are only three main hazards: time and temperature abuse, cross contamination and poor hygiene.  I will discuss time and temperature today.

Bacteria need food, warmth, and water to grow.  The perfect temperature for bacteria is 40 to 135 degrees so food on the counter contains everything bacteria need to thrive and if left on the counter more than two hours, it is at serious risk.  Dishes containing protein such as milk, eggs, meat, poultry, and fish are the most vulnerable.  

Nutrition 101

There are three essential nutrients for life---carbohydrates, fats and protein.  We need to eat these nutrients everyday along with vitamins, minerals and water.    Problems with nutrition arise when you exaggerate your food intake to favor only one nutrient.  For example, when you eliminate fats you eliminate taste, satiety, long-term energy, and the ability to use the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.  When you eliminate carbohydrate, you eliminate energy and fiber.  Nutrition is simple---eat all of the necessary nutrients at each meal and the food will taste good, you will feel full quicker and longer, and you will be getting all that you need to be healthy.

Even a saint could not cook under stressful conditions.

It’s been a long day and you are tired.  When you get home the last thing you want to do is muster up the energy to make dinner.  You are hungry and the troops are hungry; your son needs to be at practice in 30 minutes and your daughter needs help with her math homework.  Even a saint could not cook under those stressful conditions.  I do not blame you for ordering a pizza, or going to the drive-thru.  Those options do not require you to make any decisions, or ask anything more from your already worn-out body.

The Let's Cook Tonight™ Movement

American affluence and ingenuity has made it possible to eat everyday without ever turning on the stove, however, we are paying a terrible price for that convenience.  According to the Center for Disease Control, in the past 30 years, obesity rates have doubled for adults and tripled for children.  After smoking, obesity is the leading lifestyle-related cause of disease and death in the U.S. it leads to heart disease, diabetes, and some types of cancer.  It puts children at risk for heart disease, diabetes, bone and joint problems, and social and psychological problems.  Obese children are more likely to be obese adults.  A number of lifestyle changes have contributed to the increasing rate of obesity: people are drinking more sodas, skipping more meals, and eating out more at restaurants where super-sized portions have become the norm.