There is hardly a house or an office without a microwave. However this great tool is just like the late Rodney Dangerfield, never getting its due respect. For example, people often assume microwaves are self-cleaning, however, they are not . Some interiors resemble a scene from CSI: Miami! Say, perhaps, that some guilty party had hot chocolate last night – famous for boiling over – making a full-fledged mess. However just by pulling out the revolving tray immediately, you can clean it later. But the worst villain in the microwave mishaps are those bags of seasoned popcorn we see in commercials. Besides the astronomical price of these bags, they can burn quite easily. It is not unusual for people to add additional minutes to the recommended time because they haven’t heard any pops, even though just 30 seconds more is adequate to burn our capricious kernels. Popcorn burnt in a microwave can leave a scent lingering in your nuke machine for weeks. If, however, you treat the microwave with common sense, your faithful helper will hasten your food prep chores.

I have probably used some dozen different models and sizes of microwave during my years of cooking. But not until the late 90’s did I really understand the full benefits. They became lighter and faster and a breeze to keep clean. I recommend you buy a good brand. Check Consumer Reports for recommendations. Read the manual thoroughly, and be aware of the microwave’s limitations. I have learned by experience things my microwave can do and things it should do. I love a bargain but I would not buy a used microwave not when a brand-new machine is so cheap. Those who merely take something out of a box and heat may need the larger with many more desirable functions.

BASIC LIST OF MICRO DON’TS

• Never place any kind of metal or foil lined item in the microwave!

• Melting chocolate is very tricky, as it will easily burn, leaving a terrible odor.
• Forget using the microwave for baking cakes and cookies, they need the heat to brown.
• Potatoes baked in the microwave just don’t taste like oven baked potatoes.
• Bagged microwave popcorn never lives up to its promise.
• The microwave is a poor choice for frozen quiches, as the crusts burn causing the quiche to become solid and inedible.
• Never cook meatloaf or hamburger patties in the microwave!
• Old fashioned oats shouldn’t be cooked in the microwave; because it needs stirring too often I highly recommend a double boiler.

GOOD THINGS TO DO IN YOUR MICROWAVE

• The microwave gets tea and coffee hot, and if they’re forgotten, there’s no pot to burn.

• Boneless chicken will defrost within 5 minutes (make sure to always carefully wrap the chicken first).
• Fresh vegetables out of the freezer will be ready in minutes – perfect for singles!
• Warm milk before you make your custard or bread pudding.
• Frozen muffins, wrapped well and microwaved for 30 seconds, taste like they are fresh from the oven.
• Use the microwave to plump raisins or sun dried tomatoes and to soften dried fruit.
• The microwave can be used to soften hard lumps of brown sugar.
• When cooking bacon in the microwave, lay it flat between two thick paper towels, these will absorb about 40% of the fat and will leave the bacon crunchy.
• Hate cold coffee? Microwave for 30 seconds and it’s hot again – just remember you put it there!

What are your DOs and DON’Ts for the microwave? I’d love to hear them!

She is a perfect homemaker. She never gains or loses weight and never ages. Her picture is on a thousand boxes of GM product in the supermarket and with a her famous red signature. But who is Betty Crocker really?

I first met Betty in my home economics class in high school where she taught me use to use Gold Medal flour for the rest of my life. When I married at end of the 50’s, my first book was a Betty Crocker Picture Cook-Book. During the next decade I would save all those coupons – those with red spoon – and when I saved the ample amount of them. I mailed away for my Betty Crocker’s Cookie Book which I still treasure today. I understand there many printings, mine was from the sixties. I never found another cookie recipe book quite this interesting.

Betty’s unrelenting influence had spread over three quarters of a century. She is the ageless icon for General Mills. Although Dorian Gray, the ageless model from the Oscar Wilde novel, stays young while his portrait ages, our picture of Betty seems to stay the same age but her face continues to change. From 1936 to 1986, seven different women were selected to represent this immortal General Mills homemaker.

Betty’s popularity has outlasted Martha Stewart’s without the vulnerability of greed, success and stock manipulating. Our Betty has none of those trappings to tarnish her lily white perfection. She is the ideal “Stepford Wife”. She is the missing housewife on Wisteria Lane. She is the image of good organization and impeccable domesticity. However: She lacks the experience of facing 5 o’clock traffic or a sick child with a 103 fever. She has a purely stress-free existence and has no idea how difficult it is to buy groceries on a budget.

So I say to you again, who is Betty Crocker, really?

Perhaps we should go back to 1921 and a bewildered staff at the General Mills. They were receiving many letters from customers seeking baking advice. Deciding if they put an actual name on these letters would appear more personal. But what and who?

They took the last name of retiring executive Crocker and decided Betty would make an ideal first name. Next they ran a contest among the female employee to find the perfect signature. For the next 75 years, this same signature has been the name
placed on General Mills products.

In 1924, The Betty Crocker School on the Air went on the radio, some 13 different actresses gave Betty her voice. Eventually it went nation wide and would go on for another 24 years. During the war years Betty Crocker and Eleanor Roosevelt were the two most famous women in the world. Being on the radio was enough proof for America to believe in her existence.

In 1936, General Mills gave our Betty a face, somewhat matronly and serious looking. It was drew on the features of several women to give her a universal appearance. This portrait led many women to believe our Betty was a real woman. Over
the next seventy years, Betty’s face changed seven times. After the second face appeared I think the ruse was probably discovered. Despite Betty’s changing appearance, as long as there is a General Mills, we are likely to see that red spoon and that unmistakable signature. Yes, Virginia there is a Santa Claus, but there has never been a living Betty Crocker.

APPLETON CENTRAL ALTERNATIVE SCHOOL Is Awarded THE GOLDEN WHISK AWARD!
As American schools are plagued with junk food sales and soda machines, the obesity rate among students is skyrocketing. The barrage of health warnings from legitimate medical sources are proving fruitless at altering school policy. It seems the fast food industry has replaced the family dinner and the cafeteria lunch. However, a school in Appleton, Wisconsin is taking charge of their local students lunchtime diet. In partnership with Natural Ovens Bakery, their lunches are non-chemically processed foods, low in fat, salt, and sugar. Fresh fruits and vegetables are served on a daily basis as well as fresh water through out the day.

But this dedication to a healthier lifestyle doesn’t stop in the lunchroom. Once they have created this environment, healthy eating is reinforced via the school curriculum. Teachers guide students to develop practical decision-making skills in choosing
foods and physical activities in order to develop greater self-sufficiency and behavioral skills.

To share their philosophy of healthy lunches with other schools Natural Ovens has created a “Roadmap to Healthy Foods in Schools” that helps guide your school to make healthy changes. They also provide a sample PDF preview of the materials included in this packet. This full roadmap package includes a 14 minute DVD explaining ACAHigh School’s lunch program and can be purchased online for $25.

More information is available at www.naturalovens.com.

I wholeheartedly applaud the efforts of bringing a better way of students whose benefits will be reflected long after they exit this hall of learning.

Your homemade preparations are only as good as your ingredients and nothing surpasses fresh herbs. For a fraction of cost of a commercially bottled 1 ½ oz cylinder, you can an equivalent amount of fresh herbs in bulk. Either buy bouquets at your local Farmer Market or try going to a store which sells bulk herbs and spices. Replacing them frequently insures you that your spice has its full flavor potential.

Only after burning countless servings of pudding, rice and oatmeal did I revert to a very old fashioned method of cooking. The double-boiler seems to have been forgotten in this new age of miracle cookware. Nothing else provides me with this watchful service. In the microwave, hot cereals cook poorly, and puddings and sauces are always subject to burning. While speed is not a feature of the double-boiler, you do save time by not scrubbing burnt pots.

Buy a large bag of lemons, or perhaps a neighbor has a lemon tree, and you will never be out of fresh lemon. Squeeze them all at one time. Place a small amount in a bottle and refrigerate. The remaining juice placed in ice cube trays thus providing you with fresh lemon juice any time needed.

Of all the advice given for disease prevention, none make more sense than the mere washing of the hands. Apparently, the short reign of bacteria destroying cleaning products has bit the dust. Today, it seems that ordinary soap and water have magical powers. Washing before eating is a must. However, it’s when we’re away from home that we have difficulty cleaning our hands before we pop those snacks or anything we ingest.

It’s helpful to have a big supply of wash & dries, damp washcloth with light soap in a plastic bag, or one of those bottles of alcohol-based cleaning compounds such as Purell.

If a survey was taken I sure that we would find that in our days away from home (no bathroom in sight) few have taken the time to wash their hands before placing anything in their mouth. I hardly think theres big line outside of the school bathroom just before lunch time. Yet, having a hand cleaner available to those students could cut down on many illnesses.

It is my practice to wash my hands as soon as I arrive home from being out. While cooking I wash my hands a dozen times mostly because they are sticky or covered with onion juice. Ever cut fruit with knife still holding the essence of garlic?

In course of the day you too have picked some unwanted hitchhikers: including bacteria, germs and even streptococcus. Washing your hands–it is cheapest form of disease prevention so why not use it?

Buy a step stool and store it close by the kitchen. Avoid nasty falls and sometimes undue embarrassment. With a step stool, you’ll never need to stand on a chair or a box to reach those high cupboards again. It will also come in handy for those times when you need to push smoke alarm release button which always seem to be ceiling level .

Cooking should be an adventure, not a chore of pure duty. Again, it comes down a matter of attitude versus necessity. If I am doing this because I must eat for food for survival or because this is something I am
required to do–I think I am going make it more interesting, even fun!

If you seek regulated food formulas, exact replicas of the picture in the book, or Martha Stewart perfection, I am probably not your best kitchen guide. However, if you are not afraid to stray from the Cooking Channel
fold and learn the true art of improvising then you and I are ready for MOON RIVER excursions in the kitchen.

After working in dozens of private home and being highly dependent on having brought all the right ingredients with me to complete my meals, improvising was second nature. When the store is miles away and you have to finish by five you get to figure something out.

For example, take the case of missing corn flakes. I convinced my clients that I would create the best Kentucky Fried Chicken substitute. For a long time, it was matter of crushing corn flakes in the food processor with some paprika, onion salt, and black pepper. But in one kitchen, the staple, Corn Flakes, was no where to be found. What was in her cupboard was Corn Tortilla Chips. Well they certainly didn’t need the added salt but they needed some super good crushing. Since I carried my own Cusinart with me, I dropped them into the processor with some paprika and pepper. I couldn’t find how much fat these chip contained, but coating one skinned drumstick was less than 3 chips. Only a little paprika was required. I never used crushed corn flakes on chicken again only because the tortilla chips were a lot more crunchy and certainly convinced my client this was indeed a KFC replacement.

There is only 1 member in my household residency but there is always a group of friends who allow me to employ their taste buds and who are ready to try anything.

You have to be bold and willing to mix anything that’s not tried before. You can be downright amazed. For instance, I make jam out of any form of fruit, be it dried , fresh, frozen, or out of jar or canned. I am addicted to homemade low sugar jam.

Like that morning coffee, something to satisfy that yearn for something sweet without resorting to a commercial cinnamon roll or a greasy donut. Homemade jam on whole grain toast is a nice thing to have with coffee. But there are calories to consider–always made in very small batches. Sure Jell goes in the pot when the fruit is cold, after one minutes of cooking, you stir in the sugar, in another minute, you basically have low sugar jam.

One day I thought about how sugar is the primary deterrent to allowing jam on your regular diet. So I stirred in about 4 tablespoons of Splenda. It was sweet and it did not effect the jelling effect. A word of caution: do this in a double boiler – jam burns in seconds.

This was a few examples of just trying something without a book in front of you or reading about it somewhere. Who know if you empty your crisper, you can probably make some incredible vegetable soup. Very cheap and easy to make broth comes from a turkey wing. Stripped steak bones can be roasted in the
oven and then used to make broth. Beef neck bones from your butcher also make good broth, but they are a bit pricey. However, if a can of broth costs $1 for 10 1/2 oz maybe its not so expensive after all. The best reason for these homemade broths is the lack of excess salt and MSG which are quite common in such products.

Running out of ingredients could force you into being creative. Getting indigestion from overeating of greasy foods needing to drop 10 lbs could also get you to take inventory and to see what in your cupboards or freezer. There just might be some great new food discoveries to be made. Need help? Need ideas? I am just a mouse click away. Go ahead and take the challenge to try something new!

WELCOME to Helen’s kitchen. This web site has been designed to give you sage and personally tested culinary theories and better skills for coping with your kitchen environment.

My goal is to ease America back to the kitchen basics. To bring this long dreaded task, whittled down, to earthly capability.

I witnessed the beginning of convenience foods and the gradual departure of home cooked meals and sit-down family meals. With each decade we’ve strayed a little further away from the stove. And cardboard cuisine has taken your place at the work counter. Salt, fat and sugar are their key ingredients plus a mountain of wrappers.

Results of kitchen absence and the increase of fast food suppers have resulted in more common diseases and unbelievable obesity.

Pop-tarts and sugar frosted oat circles may be swift but it doesn’t equal old fashioned oatmeal or smoothie with fresh fruit & protein powder. Weekends are a wonderful time for home made waffles topped with fresh fruit and light whipped cream or a giant omelet filled with a mountain of freshly sautéed garden veggies and a side of freshly grated potatoes browned in light olive oil. They can be prepared in the same time it takes to drive to a nearby restaurant, wait to be seated, wait for a cook to throw all this on a grill and for it to be served to you. Why not create some wonderful weekend memories from your kitchen? Besides the time you saved, you may even save a families from growing apart and becoming strangers.

As a private chef, my promise was to make wholesome entrees that contained no MSG or harmful additives which were often found in commercial versions. This required a lot of grocery shopping and reading labels. I walk down supermarket aisles virtually in my sleep. I shopped in all of them, from warehouse to local mom and pop to find exactly what my entrees called for. In warm weather I would take a picnic cooler. I reveled in local Farmers Markets, which are still my favorite place to buy. The fresh tomatoes at a farmers market cannot be topped anywhere on the planet. In these bounties of nature I would find needed inspiration to go home and begin cooking.

Since each household had everything in a different place in their kitchen, I simply carried small tools and roast pans with me. It was a school of learning of which no one would ever issue a diploma for innovated hard work and nutritional ethics My teacher was their kitchen. It was here I encountered dangerous
out-dated appliances and looked at the absolute disorganization of the ordinary kitchen. I had dogs under my feet, worn out cookware, dull knives, loose oven doors and carpets that you can slip on. I learned a great deal about how not to keep a kitchen. I went where no sane cook has gone before and few will venture that way
again. Join me each week on culinary journey to the places the cooking channel missed.

In 2001, I pulled some money out of the stock market and I bought a small older home in Sacramento with a square kitchen with 2 huge windows. Soon, I pulled out 50 year old wood cabinets, and old plumbing, creating new functional kitchen workspace with a pegboard to hang my kitchen tools adjacent to my stove A lifetime dream of being able to find things in a kitchen has at come true! I cook for fun and friends and I love every minute!

The San Francisco Commission on the Environment unanimously approved a 17-cent fee for each plastic or paper bag. SF stores would be required to charge for shopping bags.

Before it goes into effect, the fee must go through the typical long bureaucratic process we endure to get beneficial laws passed. A private agency will be hired to analyze the impact on city’s budget, the environment, and on low-income people. If approved by the Board of Supervisors and the mayor it would take another 6 months before anything positive would happen. To repeat a phrase from history “Nero fiddles while Rome burns.”

I notice customers are especially wasteful in those stores where you bag your own items. I hope the commission mentions this indiscriminate use in their report.

God forbid we be denied that plastic bag at the supermarket only to add it to next week’s trash pick-up. This story didn’t mention where these discarded bags end up. Only a fraction end up in those recycling barrels placed inside just the supermarket.

My suggestion for SF residents is to start saving grocery bags now and chances are you’ll never have to pay this tax. In the meantime, we in other cities should take a hint. Maybe we too are far too wasteful with these bags. For over 2 years I have carried canvas tote bags with me to the grocery store. In non-grocery store I remind the clerk I have my own bag. Those times when I have only one item like in a hardware store just say “No bag please” and they seem to appreciate this. Canvas tote bags can be found in thrift shops for a buck and that’s less than the cost of 6 plastic bags of the future.

Why wait for the government to legislate behavior that’s good for the environment? It’s not a big deal to bring your own bag to the supermarket or least reuse the ones you saved from your last trip. Currently, my grocery store gives a 6-cent cash reward for using your own bag. But asides from that: isn’t our environment worth a little cleaner appearance?

• I am a senior born before the birth of TV and Automatic transmissions.
• I spent my early years in rural Pennsylvania.
• Moved to San Francisco in the mid-fifties.
• Married, three grown children.
• I was active in local politics in the mid- 1970s
• Awarded Certificate of Commendation by City of Pacifica for outstanding civic achievement in 1973.
• Was a quiche vendor to Nordstrom’s Cafe.
• The same year, I began career as private chef.
• Moved to Sacramento in 1996, where my cooking activities increased.
• I was featured in a major news story on my work as a home chef in 1998.
• Appeared on KCRA TV in 1999 as the $100 chef.
• Received numerous ribbons at both state & county fairs.
• Was runner-up in Paul Newman cooking contest 1998.
• Published 6 issues of Woman’s Newspaper in 2000.
• Was a private chef from 1986 to 2004 in cities of Redwood City, Santa Rosa, Grass Valley, Roseville, and finally in Sacramento – in over 100 private kitchens in all.
• Today, I have only 2 clients, but I spend much time working on kitchen organizational ideas, new food experiments, how to better incorporate vegetables into exciting, good tasting meals, and dispensing information that you can understand and put to good use.

I am in favor of kitchen tools that offer me the most service in the least amount of space, and didn’t cost a fortune and also save energy. TOASTER OVENS fall into that category. Toasters have come a long way since that chrome 2-slicer I got as a wedding gift. Now, we have more toaster selection than this month’s crop of movie selections. Somehow word has leaked out to the makers of these hot numbers that we hate cleaning and that’s why they have provided us with a toaster oven with removable bottom rack. There is color choice: white, black and brushed chrome. They have made them high enough for a small chicken and wide enough for 8 cupcakes. They bake toast and broil. The only drawback to broiling is the sides may require more wiping down.

Whether you go for 4-slice size for 6-slice size, you enjoy them for baking yams, potato wedges or whole ones, small meatloafs, or fortified meat patties. They are small and cook food quickly. They come with timers and will shut themselves off. They come in many brands and models to suit every taste and kind of cook.

When I got bored with my old worn outdated old toaster model, I wandered down to my local Macys small electrics dept and examined the latest crop of toaster teasers. I was duly impressed as my choices were as varied as their price tags. Delongi toaster ovens begin at a sale price of $39 go to $99 with a 4 slice and 6 slice models. There were also models of Oster and Sunbeam in the same department. Nearly all of them came with removable bottom panels and handles on the sides. But the single Cusinart toaster model had the most appeal to me. It was a generous 14 wide inches and had plenty of depth. It was nearly big enough for many of your basic baking needs and features easy to clean inner sides. When you cut down my cleaning duties and give a product with quality construction, you have my attention and my reaching for my credit card. While they call them toaster oven, they are much more than a bread burner, they even motivate you
back to the kitchen which is a my primary goal of this website. Your local utility will appreciate your wise usage of the kilowatt hour.

Tell me of your uses and thoughts on this new improved tool for the kitchen.

As much as I have loved to cook and spend hours in my kitchen, I have also spend years writing satire and recording commentary on the state of the world or better yet the absurdity of our times. After years of writing letters to publishers in hopes of eventually someone would read my words , I ceased and allowed them to collect a little dust. So why not round out this new serious commintment with few light words of jest. This week’s subject is…… what happens at a grand opening of a supermarket which is appropiately named “Is this really grand?”

Have you ever wondered why all new businesses, stores in particular, always have GRAND OPENINGS? Why just once can’t we have a Sensational Start, Fabulous First Day, or a Bullish Beginning!

Webster and local entrepreneurs definitely have mixed messages as to the true definition of grand. There have been grand pianos and grand hotels, even a thousand dollars in cash has been grand. There are rare cases of grand reflecting dignified or admirable. Perhaps a duke or duchess would have this lofty status of grand. Could it be magnificent or splendid as in the description of the Titanic? I think not . . . However, if it’s large in scope or size or creation of extravagant outer show without any convincing proof of merit, you have the essence of today’s subject.

I found nothing grand about supermarket opening day, pushing my way through hoards of hungry predators loosely called customers who were seen scooping handfuls of loss leaders and attacking remains of germ-laden tortilla chips. Unwanted sale chickens were tossed onto other food displays. God only knows where all those unrefrigerated foul birds were eventually returned to! This store did not come with the usual number of check-outs . . . this mega-market had 13 check-outs.

Those old slow check writing days have been pre-empted by the wonderful speed of ATM cards. However, this cashier fresh out of school of propaganda plastic seems most eager to replace another piece of plastic in my overburdened wallet. “May I offer one of our Plucky rewards card!” I smiled and remarked, “My dear, my exit through your front door of this store will be reward enough!”

But wait a minute! I see strange lights in the sky. No! It’s not a spaceship or a new energizer flashlight battery shining near a strange collection of UWO’s (unidentified walking objects). They are earthen-controlled spotlights that are ostentatiously announcing another GRAND OPENING just unfolded to a persuadable populace!

In 2003, turkey fryers hit the market. In the same year, there were numerous fires and some pretty serious injuries caused by these boiling pots of oil. But never mind a few minor setbacks: turkey fryers were coming back to haunt every frozen turkey in America. So now comes the new improved turkey fryer at Home Depot, local hardware store, Wal-Mart and Raley’s supermarket just to mention a few. Mind you, this new improved model is electric; it comes with 4 sturdy legs, long tongs and asbestos gloves.

The ad I saw read “The new electric Turk’N'Surf makes frying fun. And, to tempt you further, we are offering a USDA grade A turkey for 25 cents a pound and 4 and half gallons of peanut oil for a only $29.97″.

Less than a week after Thanksgiving, they were mysteriously absent. Will these caldrons of catastrophe be reappearing at your local thrift store or perhaps at BIG LOTS with Jerry himself selling its praises? I’d love to hear your thoughts on turkey fryers.

“WHO’S KILLING All THE GREAT CHEFS OF EUROPE?” is a 1979 movie spoof starring George Segal, Jacqueline Bisset and Robert Morley. Morley is Europe’s noted gourmet food critic who has every gastronomical disease known to mankind–but he can’t stop eating. To save him, someone has begun killing off the great chefs of Europe. Bisset is the last chef on the list, but is saved from demise by an ex-husband.

Is it possible that we have no more great chefs worthy enough to be on such a hit list? Email me if you have a candidate chef you wish would just go away as he or she annoys you to no end.

Have you misplaced your morning coffee lately? Did you leave it by the phone or on the bathroom sink, or did the phone ring and you’re looking for car keys? It is fact that 90% of all lost cups of coffee are found in the microwave sometime later that day or the next morning.

The food processors versus the mandolin.

Getting acqainted with interior of your refrigerator.

The DOs and DON’Ts of microwave usage.

Amazing things you can do with fresh and frozen veggies.

Dear reader,

This site is place for you to express whatever is bugging you if it relates to subjects mentioned on this site.

When we write to major sites, our letters are seldom acknowledged and never answered. I assure you that your opinion is very important to me. I want you to be part of this new kind of web-writing. I have no loyalties to sponsors or restrictions. Anything within reason and correct language will be published in this space.

I want to hear your ideas about other websites, health news, and kitchen gadgets I may have missed. So e-mail with anything you feel I should know.

mailbag@savvykitchensolutions.com

Sincerely,
Helen Sue Dell
your culinary and kitchen advisor

Cookbook titles are so numerous it’s mind boggling. However, if you could only have one cookbook, the choice would be easy. Since 1931, the best selling cookbook in America has been revised over 24 times. It is “THE JOY of COOKING” by Irma S. Rombauer and her daughter Marion Rombauer. Rombauer self-published the first edition, and the book is now under the care of Bobbs-Merrill Company.

I have owned about 4 different editions; it has been my encyclopedic for culinary information. For someone returning to the kitchen after a long absence, this is an incredible guide to basic food preparation information. It gives background information on food traditions and origin of foods. It starts with entertaining and ends with jellies.

It’s like having 12 books in one because it is so thorough. Instead of high gloss expensive photos, you have small descriptive black and white drawings which show you what you need to know. The index is easy to understand and guides you to the subject you are searching for. It even features a wonderful section explaining calories and food nutrients.

Although the hardback copy rounds out to about $29, the book has also been published in paperback form and you can find it for as low as $12.99 in certain stores. It still amazes me that two women could create this recipe institution that has endured for over 70 years and that has never depended on the likes of FOOD NETWORK or E-Bay. It’s nice to know that some things have true enduring substance and this great book is one of them!

How we select our food choices will be reflected in the quality of the meals we prepare. Being aware of the freshness in our food purchases is an important part of food shopping. It is human nature to snatch up bargains. It’s something we are all guilty of doing.
When food is marked down it could be an overstocked item or simply old and in need of dumping. I do occasionally shop at a neighborhood “GRAVEYARD GROCERY"–my pet name for surplus food outlets. While canned good and sundries are perfectly acceptable, frozen foods and bread items may be just one step away from the undertaker. Bread can easily be moldy and it’s not noticeable until you open it at home.
But these grocery outlets are not the only markets that offer markdowns. Ordinary markets also offer big sales on particular products–usually in the meat and poultry areas. Chickens from another state and brands you don’t recognize need equal scrutiny. Chances are they have been twice frozen.
Freshness and the origin of a product should be foremost in the mind of the food shopper. Food safety makes grocery shopping a serious biz and it should never be treated like a garage sale.

It is one of key purposes of this website to introduce you to the wonderful world of fresh produce and the endless ways it can be incorporated into your family meals. Fresh produce shall takes inches from your waist and put more dollars in your wallet. From veggie pancakes to fruit-topped homemade waffles, veggies will surprise you with their amazing versatility! Tomato is my produce pick of the week. I have probably used tomatoes more than any other produce. It is not really a vegetable–botanically tomatoes are a fruit. Winter is not the best season of the year to flaunt the virtues of tomatoes but it is the time of the year when extra vitamin C is a plus.
The tomato is one of our best food values. Used in vegetable soup it enhances the other vegetables and provides an easy way to get the USDA’s 5 recommended daily Vegetables. You can find tomatoes in paste, puree, tomato sauce and many forms of canned tomatoes such as plum tomatoes, crushed and quartered. They are excellent in pasta sauces, chili, Swiss steak, home made pizza and salsa.
But the real bonus of tomatoes is their anti-oxidant content. Anti-oxidants are responsible for attacking the free radicals in the body which eventually can cause cancer. The most frequently mentioned is lycopene. However, what is not mentioned it the most lycopene comes from the cooked tomato and there is much less in the raw tomato. Forget raw tomatoes in the winter. So-called “ripe on the vine” tomatoes, while looking wonderful, are hard and tasteless under that blushing beauty. When summer comes you can truly enjoy what a genuine ripe tomato tastes and looks like at your local Farmers Market. Locations are listed on the Internet. www.farmersmarketlocations.com
For the interesting history of the tomato and other curious facts log on….www.tomato.org.

I challenge all readers to respond to my REALITY PROGRAM, which is simply returning to life supporting practices which are found primarily in our kitchens. Learning to love your kitchen is not directed at getting your cabinets and floors replaced but rather what is happening on top of them. Has your pantry become a jungle of boxes and cans and some have been there for months? Has your refrigerator collected its share of leftovers resembling super bowl souvenirs? Has the microwave become your sole cooking unit?

Well, not to worry. You are not alone in this hectic eat and run world. Whether it’s losing weight, becoming more fiscally responsible, or practicing tolerance towards our fellow human beings, returning to a working kitchen is a slow gradual program. Unlike TV Reality Shows, my living program, LEARNING TO LOVE YOUR KITCHEN, offers no cash, no fame or opportunity to appear in TV commercials–just a lot of pride.

It’s every food-consuming person’s opportunity to turn the tide. Eating and preparing wholesome food must be desirable and even enticing. I will be your guide with savvy and easy to follow instructions to make this task a walk in the park.

Are you someone who really hates anything to do with food preparation and who would much rather have a freezer-full of eat to eat meals or just go to Denny’s for Saturday breakfast? I can totally understand your dilemma. I have had a natural knack for cooking since my teens and enjoy this chore yet. I have two daughters with artistic talent who simply hate to cook. Perhaps, I write this for them as much you.

I think it begins with priorities. You have to decide what’s most important: Having money? Attaining fame? Being lucky in love? Achieving the family you wished for you? Staying healthy? Having caring friends? Earning and receiving respect? Having an active and probing mind? Understanding your role in the world and how your actions might influence and better the condition of the human race? These are the noble goals which of course seldom land on the front page of any newspaper. These are challenges each of us have. Whether any of them are important is a matter of personal choice.

I have chosen to use whatever knowledge I have acquired through my many years behind the stove in a valiant effort to initiate change. I am hardly a candidate for the Oprah Show or to be noted by Andy Rooney on 60 minutes. I only wish for a change in attitude.

Brainwashing you into the easy out of food preparation is multi-million biz which glamorizes the way their product is going to give you more time and glowing praise from the family. It began in 60’s and slowly went to over a hundred new ways to escape the toils of arduous meal making. But 40 years later, even those box dinners weren’t enough. Now it’s dinner under the arches and baked potatoes are being replaced with French Fries and meatloaf is now high fat burger with lots of ketchup and mayo. Sodas have taken the place of milk or juice.

There are soccer games, dance lessons and preparing for next weeks’ bake sale. Who’s got time for meat loaf and baked potatoes? Then you’re so busy you don’t have time for even fast food restaurant so you grab up a bunch of frozen dinner from the local market. They require only removing from the box and popping into an oven. They were on sale. So give yourself a good pat on the back. It was cheaper than making something from scratch. But did you read the label? Did you check the fat content? Are cookies and ice cream your best sources of dessert? Have you checked the salt? Do you know the sugar content of popular soups? Are you confused on what’s a serving?

After all–it takes times to interpret all these portions. I recently took time to read my potato chip label and I discovered that 15 chips were 160 calories and I had a 3 oz bag of these chips in front of me. This entire bag would equal 480 calories. If I were to wash down the excess salt with juice or soda I would be ingesting some 650 calories before dinner. I later discovered that 4 whole-wheat sesame crackers were only 116 calories and had much less fat. Having gained 6 pounds over months of December and January I was now beginning to understand just how easily this can happen. Reading labels is the key starting point in the race for a better life.

Once you have read those labels and decided that all these shortcuts you have been taking are actually harmful to your health and to that carefree old age you someday wish to enjoy, it is tantamount to putting money into investment for sound fiscal future. Carefully thought out plans will yield good dividends. You must decide if you and your family’s health are going bankrupt or it can still be averted. It’s all a matter of priority.

Allow me to be your guide in this journey back to the kitchen, back to the stove and back to the cookbooks–and most of all, back to that wonderfully fantastic taste of simple food prepared without your artificial assistants. It’s so much easier than you think! You really can learn to love your kitchen!