Newsletter: February, 2010

Happy New Year!!

First, I want to wish every one of my clients and prospective clients a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2010. Have you made your resolution(s) to eat healthier this year, lose weight, exercise more? Stick with it and you will achieve your goals.

Chef Shelley’s New Year’s Resolutions

I’ve been making small changes on an ongoing basis, so 2010’s “resolution” is to stick to the changes I’ve made over the past six months which include: eliminating all artificial sweeteners (going back to sugar, but “raw”/turbinado sugar); using rice milk instead of regular milk; eating more whole grain pasta; buying wild salmon instead of farmed; and eliminating all chemical household cleaners. It’s unrealistic to make a drastic change(s) and cut out everything at once. Baby steps will get you used to one or two things at a time where you won’t feel overwhelmed or a strong sense of deprivation. Once you’ve maintained the changes for awhile, they’ll become second nature. Chances are, in time you won’t miss them at all. I don’t.

Reading Food Labels/ Do You Know What You’re Eating?

As an avid reader of health and nutrition, the best advice I can share is to read food labels and know what’s in your food. Familiarize yourself with how to read food labels based on number of servings, how much fat, salt, sugar, etc. per serving, and what ingredients are actually in the food. The clever and colorful marketing we see is often deceptive to what’s really inside the package or the food itself.

For example, a package of Purdue chicken says “No steroids or hormones,” but the Publix package of chicken says “No steroids.” Does this mean they still add hormones? A couple months ago I had planned to make a wonton-filled appetizer. When I reading the ingredients of the wonton, I was shocked: … MSG, yellow dye, red dye. WHAT? DYE? The packaged Lipton chicken soup has MSG. I had never read the label before.

Every time I food shop, I become more diligent than ever in reading food labels and am surprised every time at what I learn. Continually reading and educating myself about more and more food products helps me make better choices for myself, my clients and my environment.

NOTE: While the above food choices and lifestyle changes are my personal choices, I do not preach or judge anyone else’s choices. My goal as a “healthy chef” is to educate others and let them make their own choices.

Food Science - What is it?

Have you ever really stopped to think how food is made? This is just one of the things that involves the study of “food science.” According to Wikipedia, examples of the activities of food scientists include the development of new food products, design of processes to produce these foods, choice of packaging materials, shelf-life studies, sensory evaluation of the product with trained expert panels or potential consumers, as well as microbiological and chemical testing. Food scientists at universities may study more fundamental phenomena that are directly linked to the production of a particular food product and its properties. Food science is a highly interdisciplinary applied science. It incorporates concepts from many different fields including microbiology, chemical engineering, biochemistry, and many others.

In my former career as a professional resume writer, I had a client, a senior marketing executive of one of the fast food chains. In my client interview, he described as one of his job functions working closely with a chemist. He explained that before they rolled out a new product (sandwich), they would conduct a focus group (group of consumers to give their opinions on the product for marketing purposes), and then take the information back to the chemist to have the flavoring “altered” on the product to suit the consumers’ tastes.

Basically, most of our packaged/canned food is “flavored” and “textured” in a lab. If you pay attention to commercials or product packaging, you will notice wording such as “new enhanced flavor,” or “richer taste” or something to that effect. Like me, you probably never thought about it. But basically the laboratory is creating the taste of the product to make consumers buy it. In dog food I particularly notice ads say “with the taste of chicken or beef” (key word is “taste”). Manufacturers put a chemical spray on dog kibble that tastes like chicken or beef to make it palatable for them.

A recent Oprah Winfrey show segment entitled “Food 101 with Michael Pollan” talked about how people like white meat of chicken more than dark, so therefore, companies have re-engineered chickens through breeding and diet (and also antibiotics) to grow bigger breasts. Also take, for example, fat-free and low-fat foods: to compensate for the less fat and less taste, some now have more calories and sugar than the full-fat versions. So by eating more low-fat, we’ve gotten fatter than we’ve ever been. To read more, go to oprah.com.

Ingredient of the Month – Chocolate

Chocolate comes from the seeds of the cacao tree and are called cocoa beans. The variety and origin of the cacao tree will greatly affect the taste of the chocolate. Making chocolate is a long process and every step can determine the quality. While there are many forms of chocolate, the three most common are: dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate.

White chocolate is actually not considered chocolate at all, because it contains no cocoa powder. It is made up of sugar, cocoa butter, vanilla and lecithin.

Milk chocolate is actually dark chocolate that has dry milk solids added. It contains a much less percentage of cocoa than dark chocolate. Most milk chocolate is about 70% sugar and milk.

Dark chocolate is really the only way to get the true flavor of the cocoa bean. It consists of cocoa mass with sugar added. Vanilla and lecithin are added in small quantities. High-quality dark chocolate is rated by a percent (usually 58-72%). The percentage is the amount of chocolate that actually comes from the cocoa bean. The rest is sugar. The higher the percentage number is, the less sugar the chocolate contains. That is why we get more health benefits from eating dark chocolate, because the benefits are in the cocoa.

TIP: Always eat chocolate at room temperature and slowly melt in your mouth.

I LOVE the sweet of chocolate mixed with a little “kick” from chili powder. (Lindt makes an awesome dark chocolate chili bar) The combination of sweet and spicy is wonderful. Here is one of my favorite, delicious brownie recipes:

Cherry Chipotle Brownie (Sundae)

(4 brownies - medium heat)

• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, plus extra for greasing pan
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 5 Tbsp. vegetable oil
• 2 Tsp. instant espresso powder
• 1 ½ tsp. chipotle chile powder
• ½ tsp. cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup chopped dried cherries

1. In medium saucepan over low-medium heat, combine butter, cocoa powder, vegetable oil, espresso powder, chile powder and cinnamon. Stir constantly until butter is melted and mixture is smooth. Transfer to refrigerator and cool for about 15 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 350 and grease 9 x 13” baking pan.
3. In large bowl, beat eggs and salt together until mixture is light in color and frothy. Slowly whisk in sugar. When sugar and eggs are combined, add vanilla. Add cooled chocolate mixture into the bowl and stir until just combined. Gently fold in flour, careful not to over mix. Slowly fold in cherries.
4. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bake for 22 minutes. Set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.

To serve:

• Vanilla ice cream
• Chocolate syrup
• Maraschino cherries

Cut into squares and place in shallow dishes. Top with scoop of ice cream, drizzle with chocolate syrup and garnish with cherry.

February Is...

• Bake for Family Fun Month
• Berry Fresh in the Sunshine State Month
• Canned Food Month
• Celebration of Chocolate
• Chocolate Month
• Great American Pies Month
• National Bird Feeding Month - In January 1994, Illinois 10th District Congressman John Porter read a resolution in the Congressional Record making February National Bird Feeding Month. The observance was established because it's one of the most difficult months in much of the U.S. for birds to survive in the wild.
• National Cherry Month
• National Grapefruit Month
• National Hot Breakfast Month
• National Potato Month
• National Snack Food Month
• North Carolina Sweet Potato Month
• Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month

Tips and Tricks

• Use a slow cooker to make fast and healthy meals while you are at work. Put all the ingredients in, set it to low and 8 hours later, you have a wonderful meal waiting for you without all the cleaning.
• Use an ice-cube tray to freeze pesto, wine, fruit juices, which you can add to sauces, gravies, ice tea, etc. as you need them.
• Store nuts in the freezer and they will keep much longer. Nuts have oil which over time can become rancid. Freezing them will prevent this from happening.
• Store in the freezer hard cheeses in wax paper, such as fresh parmesan-reggiano or romano-peccorino and grate as needed. They will keep for months.
• If you need espresso powder (I have yet to find it), buy espresso granules and put in a coffee grinder to grind to a powder.
• Use a toothbrush to clean your sieve and your garlic press. It will push the food out of the holes.