HEALTHY WHITE

Jumat, 04 Juni 2010

Top 10 Links of the Week: 5/21/10 – 6/3/10

Sweet readers! I missed last week’s links due to fun family things/receiving the most awesome meat thermometer in history. Subsequently, this week’s links are bigger than anything, up to and including certain Guatemalan sinkholes. Buckle up!

1) Forbes: Snake Oil in Your Snacks - Foods masquerading as drugs have become a $160 billion business.
Have you ever bought bread because it says “OMEGA 3!” on the package? Or yogurt that claims to help your immune system? Yeah, me too. But this spectacular article on the largely unsubstantiated health claims made by food manufacturers might convince you to shelve those products permanently. Absolutely required reading.

2) Men’s Health: 20 Worst Drinks in America 2010
Jaw dropping! The amount of sugar in one Dairy Queen Moolatte is roughly equal to that found in one dozen Bavarian Crème Dunkin Donuts. (Note: As is my understanding, these aren’t the caloric equivalents, in which other ingredients factor, but the sugar equivalents. It’s an important distinction.) (Still pretty shocking, though.)

3) Deadspin: The Public Humiliation Diet – a How-To
Hilarious dude’s take on a 60-pound weight loss. Surprising how many strategies line up with what’s proven to work (weigh yourself, eat quality sweets, etc.) Due warning: obscenity abounds, but it’s for a good cause.

4) Seattle Times: An unemployed restaurant critic finds a different kind of culinary satisfaction
He used to have a $1300/monthly expense account for restaurants. Now he’s on food stamps, happy with whatever comes his way. Ed Murrieta’s story is alternately moving, sympathetic, and lately, disturbingly relatable.

5) Jezebel: Famous Foodie Has a Problem with Feminists
Love Jez, hate this piece. Pollan might have a somewhat unrealistic view of a working class family’s day-to-day existence. (The guy teaches at Berkeley. What do you want?) But it’s glib, sensationalist, and dangerously misleading to interpret his message as, “Get back in the kitchen, broads!” Painting him as a lady hater misses the forest for the dang trees.

6) Get Rich Slowly: Get Your Kitchen Gadgets for Less at Your Local Restaurant Supply Store
Fortunately, NYC is crammed wall-to-wall with these things, where you can buy whisks, graters, knives, and pots for a fraction of what you would at Crate and Barrel. (Not to be confused with Cracker Barrel.) Checking your ‘hood for one will be worth the research.

7) Wise Bread: Bargain Shopping at Whole Foods – 12 Strategies for Success
Whole Paycheck (note: Whole Foods) is intimidating to a lot of us (note: everybody), but WB (note: Wise Bread, not Warner Brothers) has some excellent pointers (note: devious tips) on how to buy there without losing your shirt (note: Whole Foods does not actually hold topless contests).

8) stonesoup: How to Stock a Minimalist Pantry
A.k.a. What to Do With Your Kitchen When Space and Time are More Limited Than You’d Like. Eat your heart out, Bittman. (P.S. Obsessed with this blog lately. Look around if you get the chance.)

9) Chow: When Are Cheap Eats Too Cheap?
Apparently, there’s a lower limit to what fast food joints can charge for their goods. Because when you offer a double cheeseburger for less than $1, it’s not profitable anymore. Incidentally, what goes into a double cheeseburger that costs less than a buck? Do we really want to know?

10) Slashfood: The Bad Tip Follow-Up
What Can I Get You Folks, about restaurant etiquette, is Slashfood’s best recurring feature. Last week, it tackled The Bad Tip: should a waiter ever ask a customer why he got stiffed? I say … no, but I can be convinced otherwise.

HONORABLE MENTION

The Atlantic: Cheap Chickens and Industry Fat Cats
Think what you will about the immigration debate, but: the reason many of us can afford decent food at all is because illegals work tirelessly to give it to us for negligible money and zero benefits, while corporate interests make millions off of their backs and our paychecks. Wanna fix things? Start with the Chairman of the Board, who buys golden toilets while the rest of us scrounge for coupons.

Casual Kitchen: How to Master the Last Minute Meal
It’s 6pm. You’re hungry. You don’t know what to make for dinner. What do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?

Chow
Babies in Bars
Hey Stranger, Help Me Start a Business
Refrigeration Reformation - What should stay cold, colder, and coldest in your fridge
Link #1: Sweet Home Alabama, anyone?
Link #2: How to fund food startups.
Link #3: Learn to arrange your fridge for maximum efficiency.

Food Politics
The Bisphenol A saga heats up
Dismal Reports on Dietary Supplements
Food Politics: The Slaughterhouse Problem
Link #1: More on the canned goods controversy, and a neat tutorial from Slashfood on how to avoid the stuff.
Link #2: News flash! Gingko biloba, St. John’s Wort, and other supplements are more useless than a cotton spork.
Link #3: Problem - we have a lot of humanely-raised animals, and no place to make them into meat.

Jezebel: Your Fetus Can Taste Your Food
Ooo! Neat! A study found that, “Infants whose mothers ate a lot of fruit during pregnancy are more accepting of fruit when it is introduced to them during weaning.” Subsequently, eating produce during gestation could mean your baby will dig healthy foods.

The Kitchn: Bring Back Home Ec?
Come for the post, stay for the 76 comments. (Note: I took Home Ec in high school, learned very little, but think we need it anyway. Howzabout you?)

Low-Calorie Diet: 4 Healthy Foods You Thought Were Junk
Oh, beef jerky. You complete me.

Man vs. Debt: Eating Yourself Into Debt
If you’re wondering how much bad food can ultimately cost you, this should inform/give you a heart attack.

Money Saving Mom
Being Frugal in a High Cost of Living Area
Play the Drugstore Game
Link #1: Live in the big city without going broke! Read this!
Link #2: Good reminder why shopping at CVS, Walgreens, etc. can mean big savings.

Neatorama: Figs and Wasps
Do you really want to know about the wasps that live inside figs? Yes and no. On one hand, EEK! On the other hand, they need each other to survive. No harm, no foul.

New York Post: Crooks to cooks - Rikers has Top Chef con-test
Love this story about young inmates training to cook in a professional setting. The best rehab.

New York Times
Digital Meal Planning
Their Future, Made By Hand
Link #1: Nice review of the Emealz online meal planning system, which looks like it might be worth the dough.
Link #2: We’re here! We’re unemployed! We’re making you an empanada!

Politics of the Plate: Regional, Not Local, Sourcing May be the Solution to Our Broken Food System
Think local, eat regional. Makes sense.

Serious Eats
10 Tips to Take to the Farmers’ Market
How to Make Risotto
Studies Continue to Prove: Nuts, in Moderation, Are Really Good For You
Link #1: More tips for your weekly jaunt.
Link #2: surprisingly healthy, always impressive.
Link #3: Mmm … psmashios.

stonesoup: The Number 1 Mistake of New Vegetarians and How to Avoid it
In short: you gotta plan for this, yo.

AND ALSO

Serious Eats: A Pint With David Flaherty, Terroir/Hearth
This is my friend Dave! He is awesome.

Epic Win FTW: ATTACK!
Heh. Heh heh. Heeeeeee. Hee hee hee. Heh.

Thank you so much for visiting Cheap Healthy Good! (We appreciate it muchly). If you’d like to further support CHG, subscribe to our RSS feed! Or become a Facebook friend! Or check out our Twitter! Or buy something inexpensive, yet fulfilling via that Amazon store (on the left)! Bookmarking sites and links are nice, too. Viva la France!

Kamis, 03 Juni 2010

Veggie Might: Market Finds - Green Garlic and Garlic Scapes Pesto

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

New York City has a farmer’s market network that reminds me of an urban library system. The Union Square Greenmarket is the main library—the big one with the lions out front, where you can find everything but can be overwhelmed by choice. Then there are neighborhood branches scattered throughout the five boroughs that get less glory, but provide amazing service to the local communities.

My neighborhood market is perfect: between five and eight vendors, just enough variety to keep things interesting but never overwhelming, and prices that are competitive with—often cheaper than—the local groceries. For the most part, the farmers who frequent my local branch keep it simple—nothing too out of the ordinary. If I want wacky veg, I go to Union Square.

But every now and then, I get a surprise.

My last few visits I’ve been a skosh obsessed with something I’d never seen or tried before: green garlic. When I approached the table last Wednesday, I thought the giant green stalks with white bulbs were spring onions. That’s not what the sign said, so I asked the farmer. “Nope, green garlic,” he said with the slightest of smiles.

“How do you use it?” I asked. I’d already decided to buy it—might as well get the skinny from the source.

“Just like you would regular clove garlic, though you don’t have to smash this. Just slice it and eat it. It’s milder and sweeter than regular garlic.”

“Can you eat the stalks?”

“Yeah, but you’ll want to cook them—maybe sauté them like scallions.”

Brilliant. I love discovering new vegetables. That night I made green garlic mashed potatoes to raves. While prepping dinner, CB and I each tried a piece of it raw. It was strong at first bite, like garlic would be, but immediately became milder, though I don’t know if I would call it sweet. CB claimed, as I suspected he would, “Yeah, I could eat this like fruit.” Dude loves garlic.

I started putting green garlic in everything—eggs, stir-fry, salad, sandwiches—sautéing the stalks as instructed. As my obsession grew, my supply dwindled. Saturday, I went back and, to my great joy, found more green garlic and, this time, garlic scapes.

So pleased I was with my score, I practically danced all the way to brunch, demanding my fellow diners to “smell this—it looks like an onion, but you use it like garlic!” and “check it, scapes! They’re the shoots from garlic before it’s harvested!” I’m so much fun.

Taking inspiration from dearest A’s garlic scape exploits, an amazing black bean salad recipe from 101 Cookbooks that darling S made for me last summer, and the fact that I’ve read, like 15 pesto recipes in the past week, I created what might be the greatest dressing for bean salad ever in the history of bean salad: Green Garlic and Scapes Pesto.

Pesto means “to pound” or “crush”, as with a mortal and pestle. Most people know the classic Genoese pesto (basil, garlic, salt), but you can make pesto from any herb crushed with garlic and salt; in days gone by I’ve made pesto from cilantro, arugula, and stinging nettles.

Green Garlic and Scapes Pesto is my masterpiece. It is easily one of the best things I’ve eaten in a long time. Light enough to be a salad dressing, it would also easily stand up to pasta.

I tossed the pesto over 3 cups of black beans and served it on a bed of arugula. It was amazing—tangy, spicy, and garlicky but not overwhelmingly so. For as long as green garlic and scapes are available at my neighborhood market, this dish will be in heavy circulation.

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Black Bean Salad with Green Garlic and Scapes Pesto
Serves 6

pesto
1 bulb green garlic (white part only), chopped
1/4 cup garlic scapes, chopped
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
3 dried red chilies, chopped (or 3/4 tsp red pepper flakes)
2 tbsp almonds, chopped
2 tbsp lime juice
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tbsp agave nectar
1/2 tsp sea salt

salad
3 cup black beans, cooked (or 2 15 oz cans)
6 cups arugula or salad greens of your choice

Note: I used a food processor to make the pesto. If you have a mortal and pestle, I salute you.

1) Rinse, soak (3 hours or up to overnight), and cook (about 45 minutes) 1/2 cup of dried black beans, which will result in about 1 1/2 cups of cooked beans. - OR - Open a couple of cans of black beans, rinse well, and set aside.

2) Haul out the food processor. Coarsely chop all vegetables and nuts before putting them into the food processor.

3) Whiz together green garlic, scapes, parsley, red chilies, almonds, lime juice, olive oil, agave nectar, and salt until fully combined and the desired smoothness is achieved.

4) Toss together with black beans.

5) Serve on a bed of arugula or any salad green of your choice.

6) Text, email, facespace, tweet, or call everyone you know and tell them how fabulous your dinner is.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, Protein, and Price per Serving
147 calories, 9.3g fat, 2.2g fiber, 2.7g protein, $.63

Calculations
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans: 330 calories, 3g fat, 7.5g fiber, 7.5g protein, $.35
1 bulb green garlic: 4.2 calories, 0g fat, 0g fiber, 0g protein, $.30
1/4 cup garlic scapes: 8 calories, 0g fat, .75g fiber, .5g protein, $.32
1 tbsp fresh parsley: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $.02
3 dried red chilies: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $.02
2 tbsp almonds: 104 calories, 10g fat, 2g fiber, 4g protein, $.34
2 tbsp lime juice: 9.5 calories, .03g fat, 0g fiber, 0g protein, $.10
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil: 360 calories, 42g fat 0g fiber, 0g protein, $0.24
1/2 tbsp agave nectar: 30 calories, 0g fat, 0g fiber, 0g protein $.08
1/2 tsp sea salt: negligible calories, fat, fiber, and protein, $.02
6 cups arugula: 37 calories, 1g fat, 3g fiber, 4g protein, $2.00
Totals: 882.7 calories, 56g fat, 13.3g fiber, 16g protein, $3.79
Per Serving (totals/6): 147 calories, 9.3g fat, 2.2g fiber, 2.7g protein, $.63

Veggie Might: Market Finds - Green Garlic and Garlic Scapes Pesto

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

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Black Bean Salad with Green Garlic and Scapes Pesto
Serves 6