Spaghetti with spinach and garlic

Do you ever have those days where you need comfort food real bad? Today was one of those days for me. I’m not sure if I’m fighting off a cold or something but I have been off for the past couple of days — tired and headache-y.

One of my favorite comfort foods is a heaping bowl of steaming pasta. I knew I had whole wheat spaghetti, spinach, lots of garlic and Parmigiano Reggiano on hand so I whipped it up. While boiling the pasta, I sauteed the spinach in EVOO (2 of my friends asked me what EVOO was — extra virgin olive oil, duh!), three gigantic garlic cloves, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper. I topped the pasta with tons of nutty, melty Parm.

This dinner + a steaming hot shower + 3 consecutive hours of Grey’s Anatomy reruns on Lifetime + good night’s sleep = all should be well in the morning.

Newsworthy –

Have you heard about this backwards new regulation that passed last week? Only nine months after banning most fund-raising bake/food sales in NYC schools, a city panel voted on an amended regulation that would allow foods like Pop Tarts and Dortios to be sold in place of homemade goods.

Their reasoning? Homemade goods have no calorie count, no solid portion sizing or ingredient information which is important for kids with allergies. Ok, fine, that makes sense, but this is what they are allowing in place of homemade goods (according to The New York Times article):

To qualify as an approved item, a snack must meet 11 criteria developed by the city. For example, all products must be in marked, single-serving packages with a maximum calorie count of 200. Artificial sweeteners, like Splenda, are banned. Less than 35 percent of the item’s total calories may come from either total sugars or fat. Grain-based products must contain at least 2 grams of fiber.

The criteria led some foods not normally thought of as healthy to make the list. For example, approved items include two of the 21 varieties of Frito-Lay Doritos: Cool Ranch Reduced Fat, and Spicy Sweet Chili (1 ounce packages). The Cool Ranch variety contains three food colorings — Red 4D, Blue 1 and Yellow 5 — and two laboratory-produced flavor enhancers — disodium inosinate and disodium guanylate. The criteria don’t ban these additives.

In addition, the Spicy Sweet Chili Doritos appear to have only half as much as the required amount of fiber, according to the manufacturer’s Web site. (Could a new version have been reformulated for city use?)

The city has also green-lighted one of 29 types of Kellogg’s Pop-Tarts, the Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon (1.76 ounces), although the manufacturer’s Web site said the item has 210 calories. When asked about this discrepancy, the city sent over a copy of the nutritional facts for a different kind of Pop-Tart, Whole Grain Brown Sugar Cinnamon, which has 200 calories.

This is a disgusting development. It’s truly unfortunate that the panel has voted to allow highly processed, packaged edible food-like substances with tons of artificial ingredients in place of homemade baked goods made with real food: butter, sugar, eggs, chocolate, etc. I would argue that processed foods are a bigger contributor to obesity than some homemade brownies. And I’m not alone.

In “The End of Overeating,” Dr. Kessler finds some similarities in the food industry, which has combined and created foods in a way that taps into our brain circuitry and stimulates our desire for more.

When it comes to stimulating our brains, Dr. Kessler noted, individual ingredients aren’t particularly potent. But by combining fats, sugar and salt in innumerable ways, food makers have essentially tapped into the brain’s reward system, creating a feedback loop that stimulates our desire to eat and leaves us wanting more and more even when we’re full.

Come on, NYC. You’re supposed to be leading America in fighting the obesity epidemic. Hopefully parents with kids in NYC public schools fight this one.

On that note, Grey’s Anatomy calls. I am a huge McDreamy fan…that may be because Kevin just happens to kindasorta look like a blonde Patrick Dempsey.

Can you see it — the nose/mouth/chin?! What a handsome guy(s)! Kev may kill me for doing this, but oh well

Night!

Roasted asparagus with fried eggs

I’ve wanted to make roasted asparagus with fried eggs for awhile now. I was inspired by this Martha Stewart recipe. Rather than steaming and poaching, I roasted and fried — which, in my opinion, are the more flavorful options. This dinner was so simple, clean and delicious.

You need:

• bundle of asparagus
• 2 eggs
• freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• salt, pepper and EVOO
• slice of toast (optional)

Preheat the oven to 425.

Coat asparagus with EVOO, salt, pepper and Parm.

Let the asparagus roast in the oven for about twenty minutes. Halfway through cook time, flip the asparagus.

At that point, put your bread in the toaster and then heat your pan (medium heat) to fry the eggs. Coat the pan in a little EVOO, crack the eggs and sprinkle with salt and pepper. My foul-proof method for not bursting the yolk is to not touch the eggs at all until they are opaque — takes about five minutes. At that point, I flip the eggs, turn the heat off and let them stand for about a minute.

Finished product with a light sprinkle of Parm:

I overcooked the eggs a bit, but hey, it happens. Ideally, I would have had more yolk flow, but this was absolutely delicious as is.

The dish takes about 20-25 minutes total to prep and cook. I’m not even sure if I can call this a recipe since it’s so incredibly simple.

Mid-meal!

I am a big fan of this dish and I highly recommend you try it! It’s a great example of how “healthy eating” can be fast, cheap and delicious.

Newsworthy –

According to ObFo, both the House Committee on Education & Labor and Senate HELP Committee will meet this week to discuss child nutrition and obesity. Hopefully these hearings will mean real progress for Let’s Move!

I hope you had a good start to your week. I’m so happy it’s March — spring is so close I can taste it!

Refried redo

Tonight I made a refried redo. My little sister, Sara (well, no so little anymore, she’s going to college next year) told me that last night’s burrito looked “disgusting.” Gotta love sisters. Maybe it did look unappealing? I swear it is absolutely delicious — Kevin and my roommate Hannah can attest to this — they both love these burritos! Ideally I would have used fresh tomatoes and cilantro, but I don’t always have those on hand. I was aiming for an example of how to whip up something quick and interesting on a weeknight. Oh well. To each her own!

So here is an example of how to use last night’s leftovers in a different way — lose the tortilla and layer everything into a “burrito bowl” with tortilla chips to scoop it up.

Hopefully this looks more appealing!

I keep the avocado from turning brown by leaving the half with the pit in it as the leftovers (apparently the pit helps from browning). Also, since I was already using lime in the recipe, I made sure the avocado was covered in lime to keep it from oxidizing.

Another quick, simple and delicious meal on a weeknight. It’s so easy! The only thing you have to do is reheat the beans (even that’s optional!) and slice the avocado. It seriously takes five minutes.

Newsworthy –

Speaking of disgusting…

Have you guys seen this blog? It’s called Fed Up: School Lunch Project. “Mrs. Q,” a teacher, has vowed to eat the lunch served at her school for the entirety of 2010. The meals are seriously disgusting and I recommend taking a look at the blog. The national school lunch program is in serious need of reform. Hopefully the First Lady’s Let’s Move initiative can improve what America’s kids are fed everyday at school.

Here’s an example of how we can improve. Take a look at Wisconsin’s REAP program.

From REAP’s site:

“Connecting Children, Farms, and Food”

REAP’s Farm to School program is a grassroots initiative whose goal is to enhance Wisconsin schools’ existing meal programs by introducing fresh, nutritious, local and sustainably grown food to children. The program, like similar “farm-to-school” programs around the country, provide opportunities for children to reconnect with their natural world, strengthen links between the classroom and the lunchroom, and help establish a stable market for local farmers and processors.

This should absolutely be the model for the entire country.

Thoughts?

Let's Move

I ALMOST FORGOT!!

Michelle Obama officially launched Let’s Move, her signature initiative aimed at stopping child obesity in it’s tracks. Please check out the website and support the First Lady in this very important initiative!

Relaxing snack

Here is the never-ending lentil-quinoa soup. I still have at least three more portions in the freezer!

To relax after finishing my school work I made some green tea and snacked on a few small pieces of dark chocolate.

My “back on track” day:

• Breakfast: PBBT
• Lunch: Zucchini potato soup, roll and pear
• Dinner: Lentil-quinoa soup
• Dessert: Dark chocolate

I have been so dehydrated today. Blah. Hopefully I feel back to normal tomorrow.

Newsworthy –

Here’s Why Coke is Stronger Than Government

What do you think about Big Food and the food lobby?

More of the same

I know, I know…my meals are always more of the same! I at least started spicing up my PBBT with cinnamon (pun intended).

Is it weird that it takes me at least 30 seconds to decide which mug I want to use each morning?

Today, instead of watching the Superbowl, my girlfriends and I are going to cook lots of goodies. I don’t really like sports (sorry, Kev) and we decided that instead of going to a party and being forced to watch the game, we’d do our own thing. Guacamole is definitely on the menu. Maybe some nachos…maybe some chicken wings…maybe some prosciutto crostini with fig jam? They all sound like they go together right

Newsworthy –

ObFo has a post this weekend about an attack on Michelle Obama’s child obesity campaign. Basically, people are calling her out for possibly triggering eating disorders and violating her kids’ privacy by sharing with America how she became concerned about her family’s eating habits. These accusations are pretty outlandish and I think ObFo makes a great point:

The First Lady’s office has declined to comment on all the pre-campaign criticism, and rightly so. Why respond to criticism that’s based on not knowing facts about the campaign, or ignoring them? But beyond that, Mrs. Obama is telling a real family story about food and health. She’s describing how the family journeyed into epiphany on the relationship between food and health–and that’s the kind of epiphany that millions of Americans also need to arrive at–or we wouldn’t be in the middle of an obesity epidemic. Even better, the Obama epiphany occurred before the family arrived at the White House, when Mrs. Obama was just like plenty of other working parents in America–overstressed, juggling career and child rearing. It’s a good story to share. Mrs. Obama has spent months encouraging parents and families to make the kind of small changes that have big results–and whenever she’s spoken about it, she receives big lauds from her audience. Until now.

Over on Fooducate they’ve revealed that the FDA may be cracking down on “serving size” labeling. For example, why should a single serving bottle of Coke contain 2.5 servings on the label? At first glance, you’d think the entire bottle has 100 calories, but in fact it has 250. It’s deceiving to Americans and likely contributing to the obesity epidemic.

Also — really enjoyed this article on high school students in Brooklyn learning about the slow food movement.

Thoughts?? Enjoy your Superbowl Sunday — whatever you’re doing

An innovative idea…

…for the National School Lunch Program. Let’s get this all over the country, please!

Courtesy of www.ilunchbox.com.

The New York Times:

As students at Berkeley, Ms. Richmond and Ms. Tobey saw this trend coming. They interviewed dozens of teachers, parents and school officials in the Bay Area to learn more about the school meal business and to find out what kind of change might appeal to the school community.

“The teachers said they were embarrassed,” Ms. Tobey said. “They were teaching about nutrition in their classrooms and then the kids were going into the lunch room and saying, ‘Why are you serving me this?’ ”

So Revolution Foods adopted higher standards than the government requires for school meal programs. The meals are prepared fresh daily and feature foods free of artificial preservatives, colors, flavors and sweeteners. Every lunch includes fresh fruit and vegetables.

The breakfasts and lunches contain no high-fructose corn syrup or trans fats, the milk is hormone-free and the meats are from cattle that have not been given antibiotics or hormones. Whenever possible, the food is organic and uses locally grown ingredients. Nothing is fried.

Revolution Foods built a partnership with Whole Foods, the natural foods grocery store chain, and tapped into that company’s network of suppliers. Whole Foods also prepared and packaged the first meals Revolution Foods sold to an Oakland charter school as a pilot to see if the business could be viable.

Even before that project ended, other local schools began inquiring about the service, and the business quickly grew and attracted capital from investment firms with a social mission, including the Bay Area Equity Fund. Today Revolution Foods is serving more than 30,000 lunches a day, mostly in low-income communities, and still growing.

Under Secretary for Food Safety — finally!

I just read on the Marler Blog that the USDA has finally named an Under Secretary for Food Safety. Dr. Elisabeth Hagen will serve along with Tom Vilsack to monitor food safety in the US. Food safety has been a hot topic in recent years due to the horrifying number of recalls and foodborne illnesses and deaths.

Earlier this month, Bill Marler, an attorney who is famous for litigating foodborne illness/death cases posted this:

Marler’s Baker’s Dozen

1. Tattoo on a body part that you use everyday FSIS’s Mission Statement:

The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) is the public health agency in the U.S. Department of Agriculture responsible for ensuring that the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products is safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged.

2. Push for tax credits for workable food safety innovations for small, medium and large producers and support small and medium sized agriculture by growing local and regional markets for meat.

3. Meet with all major purchasers of meat, poultry and eggs (governments, ‘big box’ stores, fast food chains and retailers) and develop product specifications that mandate food safety and sustainability at a fair price.

4. Visit victims of foodborne illness outbreaks and bring along key FSIS staffers and industry leaders. Visit people like the parents of Abby Fenstermaker:

5. Develop uniform cooking, handling and labeling instructions that actually provide helpful guidance to the public (in contrast, for example, the suggestion to “cook thoroughly”).

6. Enforce a real zero-tolerance policy for E. coli O157:H7, non-O157 EHEC’s and all other antibiotic resistance bacteria on all meats.

7. Conduct meaningful sampling and surveillance at farms, slaughter facilities and retail to determine the real prevalence of all pathogens and provide that data to the public.

8. Post all Non-compliance Report (NR’s), product test results, other enforcement documents at manufacturing operations online in real-time (like restaurant health inspections are).

9. Create manufacturer quality certifications to aid consumers in making safe choices, and allow companies to capture price premiums for higher quality.

10. Increase food inspections. While domestic production has continued to be a problem, imports pose an increasing risk, especially if terrorists were to get into the act. Points of export and entry are a logical place to step up monitoring. We need more inspectors – domestically and abroad.

11. Make better use of our technology to ensure traceability of all food so that when an outbreak occurs authorities can quickly identify the source and limit the spread of the contamination and stop the disruption to the economy.

12. Improve surveillance of bacterial and viral diseases; First responders – ER physicians and local doctors – need to be encouraged to test for pathogens and report findings directly to local and state health departments and the CDC promptly.

13. Fire any FSIS employee that would believe and/or be quoted saying anything like:

“I have to look at the entire industry, not just what is best for public health.”

I am sure there are other ideas and even better ideas – If there was an Undersecretary of Food Safety I would suggest you email those to him or her.

Some bad news via Marion Nestle

I read Marion Nestle’s blog, Food Politics, religiously and am a big fan of hers (she also happens to be a professor at NYU!). Here is the bad news she posted about the other day:

What is likely to be the effect of yesterday’s Supreme Court decision on food politics?  Nothing good.

The decision to overturn limits on corporate campaign contributions will affect every aspect of society, food included.  I have long argued that campaign contributions are one of two major sources of corruption in government (the other is the way Wall Street requires corporations to report growth every 90 days).

If we want our congressional representatives to make decisions in the public interest, their election campaigns must be publicly funded.  When corporations fund campaigns, representatives make decisions in the corporate interest.   It’s that simple.

Those of us who care about creating a good, clean, fair, and sustainable food system will have to work harder now.  But I can’t think of any more important work to do to protect our democratic institutions.

What do you think about corporations and campaign spending?