America’s Test Kitchen Seeks Your Questions

America’s Test Kitchen Seeks Your Questions: "Fans of America's Test Kitchen and Cook's Country, listen up: The staff of Cook's Illustrated's television franchises wants to hear from you.

The shows already feature questions from viewers sent in via mail or email, as well as the occasional visit by a local 'neighbor' on Cook's Country. Now, though, the shows are asking fans to call in their questions to a toll-free number, with the possibility of being featured on an upcoming episode."

(Via Edible TV.)

I watch all the shows put out by the Cook's Illustrated folks regularly, but I just don't ever have a question come up that I would think of sending in to them. As far as I'm concerned, there's no mystery in food that can't be solved through referring to my cookbooks or asking Google.

Of course, that probably misses the point these days. I'm guessing that really, no one honestly feels the need to ask a TV show or magazine a question that won't be answered for weeks. They just want the little thrill of getting their name out there to the world.

But even knowing that, I can't formulate any decent questions to submit. Good luck if you're more query-happy than I am.

Meals for the Week: Post Office A-Go-Go

I've been going to the post office every day for the past week or two due to the pull of a small, steady trickle of book sales via Half.com. My cookbook collection has been pared, and I've finally let go of some old textbooks from college that I had to admit I'll never read again. When we move again, maybe we'll have a box or two less than we might otherwise have to carry.

As far as cookbooks go, I've found there are only a few I use with regularity. For baking, I rely on King Arthur Flour's series of books and the America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. For meals, I turn to other books from the editors of Cook's Illustrated, as well as The Joy of Cooking. Sometimes I refer to How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, too.

But my celebrity chef books? My random, often bargain, cookbooks? They mostly gather dust.

Incidentally, Giada De Laurentiis's cookbook Everyday Italian has retained its value very well on the secondary market. Rachael Ray and Emeril Lagasse books are lucky to sell for 75 cents. Interpret that as you will.

Monday
Hot dogs
Baked beans
Coleslaw

Tuesday
Special anniversary dinner

Wednesday
Risotto with chicken and thyme
Salad

Thursday
Burritos
Tortilla chips and salsa
Slaw

Friday
Loaded baked potatoes
Biscuits
Salad

Saturday
Shells and spinach in cheese sauce
Salad

Sunday
Barbecue pulled chicken sandwiches
Corn
Baked beans
Salad

Thirst-Quenching Tips for Summer

An original article I wrote for the site Associated Content is now available for perusing. Check it out if you're interested suggestions on how to stay hydrated throughout the summer: Avoid Dehydration This Summer with Thirst-Quenching Tips

Here's a small preview:

After college, I moved from the temperate climes of Chicago, Illinois, where summer is more remarkable for its short duration than its intensity, to the heat sink known as Las Vegas, Nevada. Never before in my life had I stepped outside and suddenly understood how a chicken in a convection oven feels.

Temperatures in Vegas can rise to 110 degrees during the day. Thanks to its location in a desert valley, it can drop a full 30 degrees at night, true, but that's still a roasty-toasty 80. It all comes with a blasting wind that, rather than cooling you, just makes the heat more apparent.

Go read the rest!

Meals for the Week: Hawaiian Vacation

Well, not a Hawaiian vacation for us. My brother is gone traveling for the week, so it's just the two of us eating dinner most days. Even with reducing the amount of food I make, I'm still ending up with more leftovers than I would have expected. At least I don't have to make a new salad every night.

Monday
Honey mustard chicken cutlets
Potato salad
Salad

Tuesday
Hot dogs
Baked beans
Salad

Wednesday
Pork chops with applesauce
Macaroni and cheese
Salad

Thursday
Chicken wraps
Corn on the cob
Cucumber salad

Friday
Hamburgers
Roasted potatoes
Coleslaw

Saturday
Grilled bone-in chicken
Mixed vegetables
Biscuits
Slaw

Sunday
Spaghetti with sausage sauce
Rolls
Salad

Summer TV Gets Cooking

Summer TV Gets Cooking: "Here we are in June, with our favorite network series fading into memory as we stare down a summer largely full of reruns and bottom-of-the-barrel reality television. But it doesn’t have to be that way for TV cooking fans: Here’s a list of food-related shows set to premiere this summer that will keep your squawk box simmering through till September.

June Appetizers

Next Food Network Star: The competition is already under way, and at least one competitor has already slunk away in defeat. Will this year’s winner of Food Network’s popular show go on to rival Guy Fieri in popularity, or will we end up with another Amy Finley or Dan and Steve? Or will a runner-up again steal the spotlight, like Adam Gertler? Sundays at 9 p.m. Eastern on Food Network, premiered June 7."

(Via Well Fed Network.)

Incidentally, Food Network doesn't make it simple to discover what's new on their web site. I was going back and forth from a press release to each individual show's web page to determine premiere dates, and I only got Chopped included because I happened to be watching Food Network at the time and saw a promo for the season premiere.

What will I be watching this summer? We don't get IFC, so Food Party isn't going to happen for me. I could watch online, but having come of age in the slow Internet era, I still am prejudiced against Internet video. Truth be told, even with our fast cable connection, it still refuses to start or buffers and skips all lot half the time. I prefer the retro simplicity of the real TV.

I'm looking forward to more episodes of 5 Ingredient Fix. I continue to look out for occasional new episodes of Good Eats (Did you see the parsnips one this week? Now I want to try parsnips.) and America's Test Kitchen.

I'll definitely tune in to see What Would Brian Boitano Make? at least once, if only for the funny title and for curiosity over a figure skater trying to morph into a TV chef. Still, the quirky sense of humor evident in that title is making me think this one will be a Canadian rather than American hit, like The Surreal Gourmet. Too bad if that's the case.

Meals for the Week: Grocery Score

On Sunday, Scott and I made out like bandits at Albertson's. I'd collected a store coupon good for $5 off a $40 purchase, plus there were more coupons in this past week's store flyer good for doubling manufacturer's coupons. Add in a huge sale on mostly Kraft products combined with Kraft giving away tons of coupons in the past month, and we achieved massive savings.

Our receipt, which is about three feet long, rang up $107.90 in purchases (with every item except a small watermelon being on sale). After all our coupons, the total dropped to a mere $63.35. Between the sale savings and coupons, we knocked $152.94 off Albertson's regular (albeit inflated -- this is a regular grocery store, after all) prices.

I have more store coupons I can use at Albertson's, so I may visit again next week if I find another compelling sale. In general, I prefer Costco and Fred Meyer as they offer very good everyday prices in addition to good sales. It took me a few days to strategize the big Albertson's trip for taking maximum advantage of loss leaders, and I'm not keen on putting in so much effort regularly.

I am glad to have access to stores that don't play the typical grocer game of jacking up prices on most items while luring you in with a few huge sale items. I do feel envious of my relatives' access to Aldi, though, which hasn't made it to Seattle. The prices are rock-bottom, and it's just like shopping at the little grocery stores we frequented in East-Central European cities (which makes sense, as there are Aldi stores in Austria and Germany).

Monday
Spaghetti with sausage sauce
Garlic rolls
Salad

Tuesday
Barbecue grilled bone-in chicken breasts
Mixed veggies
Salad

Wednesday
Patty melts
Roasted potatoes
Salad

Thursday
Quesadillas
Corn on the cob
Cucumber salad

Friday
Pork chops and applesauce
Rolls
Salad

Saturday
Risotto with chicken
Salad

Sunday
Cincinnati chili
Spaghetti
Salad

Next on Oprah: A Grain of Salt

Next on Oprah: A Grain of Salt: "The big cover story in this week’s Newsweek is a look at the health information — apparently in most cases, misinformation — propagated by Oprah Winfrey’s signature television talk show:

In January, Oprah Winfrey invited Suzanne Somers on her show to share her unusual secrets to staying young. Each morning, the 62-year-old actress and self-help author rubs a potent estrogen cream into the skin on her arm. . . . According to Somers, the hormones, which are synthesized from plants instead of the usual mare’s urine (disgusting but true), are all natural and, unlike conventional hormones, virtually risk-free (not even close to true, but we’ll get to that in a minute)."

(Via Well Fed Network.)

I don't watch Oprah much myself. I lose interest in daytime television talk shows pretty quickly as they cover lots of topics I'm just not interested in to fill the many, many hours. I have watched the show occasionally, though. It just takes the magical coincidence of me having actually seen a promo for the show during a program I normally watch AND that promo trumpeting a compelling topic.

Dr. Oz is a pretty interesting guest. I've read recaps of his appearances on Oprah's web site for the "embarrassing" medical questions he's answered. It's not always 100 percent in sync with what I've read elsewhere, but it's generally good and interest-grabbing.

While the article and my post to an extent are kind of down on Oprah, I do in fact have a lot of respect for her and what she's achieved. She is generous to charitable causes and she empowers women. Spirituality and alternative treatments are important and often neglected by conventional medicine, too, though Oprah sometimes seems to take them to an extreme.

In truth, I wish Oprah had taken the time to speak to Newsweek for this article. While it raises valid points, it seriously suffers from a lack of counterpoints from Oprah's side. Guests who appeared on her show and gave bogus info or stayed silent while hearing it are allowed to simply give statements that distance themselves from Oprah and sort of pin the blame for their actions on her in the article without any challenge.

Summer’s Here and the Grilling is Fine!

Summer’s Here and the Grilling is Fine!: "Summer is coming fast, and that fact hasn’t escaped the folks behind the networks’ morning talk shows. Check out some of the tasty outdoor cooking recipes that were shared this past month, most with accompanying video clips so you can see exactly how the cooking’s done."

Click through to the story for all the links to summertime outdoor-eating recipes. Most would be relatively healthy eats, as grilling is generally a low-fat cooking method. Plus, there's a number of cold salads to check out, which are either healthy as-is or can be lightened up with low-fat substitutions.

With the hot weather, I'm surprisingly getting into the idea of grilling. I still don't relish the idea of burnt, charred bits on my food (it tastes like charcoal, yuck), but I like how fast my electric countertop grill cooks food without overheating the apartment.

I'm eying some bone-in chicken breasts to cook via this method. I like bone-in chicken, so that might actually get me to eat more than a couple bites of meat at a meal. The grill is also great for cooking the rare steak and the boys' pork chops.

I might even find a way to move the grill outdoors. Still, considering how quickly it cooks, that might not be necessary.

(Via Well Fed Network.)

Meals for the Week: Stocking Up

I'm doubling up on a couple meals this week to have extra in the freezer for later this month. I'm thinking I'll make twice as much burrito filling (also good for tacos) and double the chili (also good for hot dogs and eggs).

I have lots of boxed macaroni and cheese from a sale purchase at Costco, and I've been looking for ways to jazz it up. It's a little bland on its own. Hot sauce and mustard add zing; shredded cheese ups the flavor, too. This week, I'm trying to also make it healthier by stirring in frozen chopped spinach and replacing the skim milk and butter with evaporated milk.

By the way, assuming you're not a person who hates white, creamy sauces (you know who you are), you should definitely try fresh corn on the cob slathered with this artichoke sauce. I made it for artichokes initially, but having only prepared two 'chokes, we had a lot left over. Taking a cue from Mexican cuisine, we used it in place of butter on our corn later that week. Yum! Tangy and far superior to just butter and salt. It may be a bit lighter, too, as we use reduced-fat mayo and sour cream.

Monday
Asian-marinated pork chops (held over from last week)
Sesame noodles
Salad

Tuesday
Baked beans and smoked sausage
Mixed veggies
Garlic bread

Wednesday
Scrambled eggs and bacon
Cottage fries
Toasted English muffins
Salad

Thursday
Beef and bean burritos
Corn on the cob with mayo/sour cream/lemon sauce
Salad

Friday
Fried cheese
Potato salad
Salad

Saturday
Cincinnati chili
Spaghetti
Salad

Sunday
Grilled pork chops
Spinach macaroni and cheese
Salad