Fab and Delicious Food

Hi everyone!  Hope you’re having a great Friday!   I have an awesome magazine review for you today – it’s of the January/February 2010 issue of Cooking Light.  Thanks to Miranda at Time Inc. for sending me the issue to review!

I think all of you bloggies would absolutely love this issue, because the focus of the main articles is on real food and healthy eating habits!  And as a fun bonus, there is a whole article on oatmeal as well!  

The magazine starts out with a Note from the Editor.

The editor, Scott Mowbray, talks about how because of “farming, food processing, diet hawking and nutrition hyping,” we are not really sure what a healthy diet actually is, and therefore have to “think our way to a healthy diet.”  (16)  So the focus of the main articles in this issue of Cooking Light is on Rules for Healthy Eating and an interview with British Chef Jamie Oliver on how to make society healthier.   

The Cooking Light Way to Eat

This is described as 10 Rules for Healthy Eating in 2010, plus 50 small changes that can make a big difference.  So basically each rule is a general idea that is then broken into 5 specific ideas to put that rule into play.  Here are a few of the rules and tips:

Rule #5 is Eat More Whole Foods, and one of the tips is to “Make your own nut butters.”  I have definitely read about a lot of bloggers making their own nut butters, so I know this one is realistic!  (140-141)

Rule #6 is Start the Day off Well (which means eat breakfast in the morning), and one of the tips is that “Healthy savory leftovers can be a good option, too.  A piece of that veggie-rich pizza from the night before, or a slice of roast pork tenderloin tucked into 100 percent whole-grain bread, is a good savory option.”  (142)  I like this tip because this is something I’ll actually do sometimes when I don’t feel like regular breakfast foods - instead of oatmeal, I’ll have a slice of cheese pizza with an apple and some broccoli.  It’s still a pretty balanced meal, just not your typical breakfast type food.

Rule #9 is Be Portion-Aware.  When Makiko Itoh moved from Tokyo to New York, there was a vast difference in portion sizes of food.  Whereas in Japan she was used to homemade bento meals (a compact meal in a box), in New York, she adjusted to the much larger size portions of food, and gained weight in the process.  So she started cooking meals at home and making bento boxes, and began to share them on JustBento.com.  Itoh says that “Not everyone needs to bento (make a compact meal in a box), but a bento brain – deliberately and persistently conscious of portion sizes until right-sizing becomes automatic – is a necessary step toward healthier eating.” (145-146)

Can this Cocky, Young British Chef Really Make Americans Eat Healthier?

“Jamie Oliver believes that by teaching ordinary Americans new cooking skills, and getting them to share those skills with others, he can improve our national diet.  His idea caused a big fuss in the U.K.  How will it fare here?”

British Chef Jamie Oliver is going to have a reality series called Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, in which he goes to Huntington, West Virginia to teach people how to cook and eat healthfully.  Why?  Because “Huntington, statistically, is the most unhealthy town in America – meaning it has the highest rates of lifestyle diseases, obesity, diabetes, dental problems.  My goal is to get them out of the top 10 – or bottom 10 – within the year.” (164)

Mark Bittman, who writes the Minimalist column for The New York Times and is the author of How to Cook Everything, asked Oliver “Is it part of a bigger “food movement”?  Is there a food movement?  Oliver replied that “Cooking is not taught at school” and “we’ve almost dissolved the natural skill of being able to look after ourselves.  We need to create a movement so people can understand it really quickly and simply.  I’ve done that in England and called it “pass it on.” (162)

The “Pass it on” movement is where you teach one person how to make one specific (healthy) dish, who is told to teach four other people that same skill, and then those four people go ahead and teach four more people, and so on and so forth. (164)

Oliver thinks that if you teach people basic cooking skills, a lot of the nutrition problems in America could be fixed – basically because if you make food from scratch, you are able to control what goes into your food, unlike when you buy processed foods, which a lot of times are filled with sugar, fat, and additives. (164)

When questioned about the changes he was hoping for, Oliver responded that “It’s about empowering people with the skills they need to nourish themselves and their families, to feel that sense of pride, which is really as basic as making a panini or poached egg, and getting people reconnected with the simplicity of knocking a few ingredients together and making proper food (by which he means food from scratch). (164)

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution is set to debut on ABC this month.

The Power of Oats

For all you bloggies – a section on oatmeal!

It tells you the health benefits of eating oats, and gives two recipes for oatmeal: Banana, What Germ, and Oats, and Overnight Honey-Almond Multigrain Cereal.

It describes the different types of oats (Oat groats, Steel-cut (or Irish), Regular (or Rolled), and Instant)

And there are 18 options for oatmeal stir-ins, with 6 different categories (sweet, chewy, fruity, crunchy, adventurous, and even savory):

I think my favorite stir-in that they suggested would have to be chocolate syrup!  I’ll have to try that!  They also suggested peanut butter, which I still need to try, but I know most of you bloggies have already tried it and love it!  Other ideas included bacon and cheddar cheese. 

Chili Basics

This section tells you how to make the perfect bowl of chili, by adding flavor and heat with chiles, choosing the right cut of meat if you are making a meat-based chili, and how letting the chili simmer slowly can intensify the overall taste. (102)  There are also recipes for three different varieties of chili – meat-based, bean-based, and completely vegetarian. 

I definitely want to try all these chili recipes!  I love chili! 

Start with a…Can of Tuna

“This month’s convenience staple lends itself to a Spanish salad, a delicious panino, and a creamy sauce for chicken.” (94)

I love tuna fish!  We always have a cans of tuna fish in the house!  Usually I just make tuna fish sandwiches – I just mix the tuna with some mayonnaise and then put it on some bread.   Sometimes I’ll have tuna melts – tuna on an English muffin or bread roll or toast, with melted cheese on top.  And sometimes I’ll add tuna fish to my salads and have it with olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette.  But I think that’s the extent of how I eat tuna.  This section shows you that tuna fish can be used in other dishes as well.  There are recipes for Spanish-Style Tuna and Potato Salad, Sauteed Chicken with Tonnato Sauce, Tuna Noodle Casserole, and Tuna Panini.  Plus, it also tells you about the different types of tuna available at various price points, and to check the label to check sodium levels, since some may have added broth or salt.  (96)

Other Recipes

Here are a few more recipes I would like to try:

Quick Chicken Noodle Soup

This looks pretty simple to make, which is awesome because homemade is pretty much always better!  And the fun thing about this recipe is that they suggested using fusilli pasta for this soup, which just makes it look so much fancier!  But if you don’ t want to use fusilli, they also said you could use wide egg noodles, rotini, or even orzo instead.

Fresh Mediterranean Salad

It says that this dish only takes 15 minutes to prepare, and that it goes well with fish, chicken or beef and can be made ahead of time.  It looks like it would be light and filling at the same time.  I’ve never made a bean salad before, but this one looks pretty good! 

Upside-Down Fudge-Almond Tart

Okay, so this just looks amazing and it’s chocolate!  What else do you need to know?!  Just looking at the picture makes me want to make it because it looks so good!  Oh, and on the opposite page, it gives you tips on how to make the perfect chocolate tart.  You know, so you don’t mess up in case you’re making it for a special someone!   It is almost Valentine’s Day after all, and this one earned the title of Special Occasion Recipe.  But that’s not to say you can’t make this chocolate tart on any old day either or that it has to be for someone specific!  You could just make it for yourself!  Just don’t eat it all in one day, okay?!  But maybe that wouldn’t be a problem since it says in the description that the tart is decadent, rich, and intensely chocolate!  Hmmm…me thinks a small portion would be the perfect amount!

Hope you guys enjoyed the review!  Will let you know when I try some of these recipes! 

Have a good night! 

February 5th, 2010 | Tags: Cooking Light magazine, Magazine Review | Category: Magazine Review | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL