Always, Sometimes, Never

This week was "fats week" in most of the healthy cooking classes I coordinate. No, we didn't talk about how to lose weight, or measure how much fat content we have on our bodies. I spent a lot of time teaching, and my participants spent a lot of time learning, about lean cooking techniques and the differences among unsaturated versus saturated versus trans fats - which category do nuts fall under? what about cheese? which should I eat more often, chicken or lean ground beef? (answers: unsaturated, saturated, chicken). I've taught this lesson at least three dozen times over the past year and a half, and each time it is amazing to see how much of an impact the information on this topic has on people's idea of what "healthy cooking" means. This week as I was teaching, I realized that many of the readers of this blog might have similar sorts of questions as my participants, with regard to which fats we should or should not be eating - or what the difference among these fats even are! So, I decided it is time that I give you all the low-down on fats, especially oils vs. butter vs. margarine. Be warned, this post is long, but it may rock your world.


In order to give you advice on those three ingredients, I need to give some background info about the three different types of fats: unsaturated, saturated, and trans. Don't worry, this isn't going to be a chemistry lecture. In the healthy cooking classes I coordinate, we teach the fats according to a stoplight: green = unsaturated, yellow = saturated, red = trans. However, I like to think of the fats in terms of the frequency with which I should use and consume them: always, sometimes, never. Our bodies need fat (going on a no-fat diet will literally kill you), but there are certain types of fats that are better for us to have - certain fats we should always turn to, sometimes indulge in, and never let enter our bodies.


You should always turn to foods with unsaturated fat, which raises your good cholesterol (yay!). Found in: plants & fish! Avocados, tree nuts, peanuts, nut butters, oils (olive, canola, vegetable, soy, coconut), salmon, tuna, and other fish. 


You should sometimes eat food with saturated fat, which raises your bad cholesterol (sad...). Found in: animal products! Milk, ice cream, yogurt, cheese, butter, and meat* of any kind.
*Certain types and cuts of meat have less saturated fat than others, but the details of that can be saved for another blog post. All you need to know right now is that all meat has saturated fat in it, and that white meat (chicken, turkey) is leaner than red meat (beef, pork - the commercials say "pork, the other white meat" BUT the properties and effects of this meat are more similar to that of red meat...oh how the media tricks us).


You should try to NEVER eat foods with trans fat, which lowers your good cholesterol and raises your bad cholesterol (yikes! double whammy!). Found in: any product with the word hydrogenated* in the ingredient list (i.e. a lot of highly processed foods) and rare traces exist in meat & dairy products (like, really rare): Crisco, Land O' Lakes margarine, Ritz crackers, Fig Newtons, Pepperidge Farm Milano cookies, Nabisco Graham Crackers, Hostess Cupcakes, Drake's Yodels, Pop Tarts, Doritos, and my most recent (like, as of two days ago) discovery, girl scout cookies (tears almost welled up in my eyes upon this discovery).
*BEWARE: Even if the nutrition label of a product says 0g of trans fat, the product may contain trans fat. How is this possible? Well, food companies worked it out so that if there are 0.5 or fewer grams of trans fat in 1 serving of the product, they can "round down" and say 0g of trans fat on the nutrition label. BUT as soon as you eat more than 1 serving, you are consuming more than 0.5g of trans fat. So, read your labels! If you see the word "hydrogenated" then the product contains trans fat.


Some of you are probably thinking, "yea right, I'm not going to give up girl scout cookies! And Ritz crackers, I love those!". And okay, maybe the girl scout cookies are just one thing you won't say "no" to. But hear me out. All you have to do is google "studies on trans fat", or wikipedia "trans fat", and an amalgamation of information (based on long-term studies and years of research) will pop up, showing how trans fats are significantly (I can't emphasize this enough) correlated with coronary heart disease, and linked to other illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease, cancer, obesity, and depression. Think about the foods (if you can even call them "food") that I listed above...all of them are incredibly processed. Do you really want all that crap, in addition to the trans fat, in your body anyways? We know the Western diet sucks, and this is just another instance where you have the ability to really, truly, and actively avoid a certain ingredient, so that you can live a healthy and long life.  


So what does this mean for oils, butter, and margarine? I'm sure you've guessed by now: 
Always turn to oils when you need some sort of fat with which to cook. Whether it's sautéing veggies, cooking a piece of meat in a skillet, roasting some potatoes in the oven, or making scrambled eggs for breakfast, your first and most frequent choice should be heart-and-cholesterol-friendly oils (olive, canola, vegetable, peanut, coconut, grapeseed, walnut, hemp, etc.).
Sometimes turn to butter. When you're making a recipe that you know is a bit of an indulgence - something you only eat every once in a while, like buttery mashed potatoes, a quiche with onions sauteed in butter, or a chocolate cake made with 2 sticks of butter (not to mention the frosting...) - don't forgo the awesome taste that butter lends to these dishes. But these are sometimes foods. If you eat scrambled eggs every day, then use oil during the week, and on Saturday indulge in butter instead. If you like to sauté your vegetables for dinner (with pasta, rice, or as a side dish to meat), use oils as much as possible and every once in a while treat yourself with something like butternut squash roasted with butter and brown sugar. Again, butter is a sometimes ingredient.
Never use margarines or butter substitutes that contain the word hydrogenated in the ingredient list (partially hydrogenated and/or fully hydrogenated). Many butter substitutes, like I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light, have changed their recipe to omit hydrogenated oils because of the media hype around the health risks of trans fat. But you still need to read your labels. And honestly, anything you might want to use a butter substitute for - like spreading some on a bagel, or using some on top of a baked potato - are all instances where you're better off using real butter instead. Unless you slab on heaps of butter onto your toast, a teaspoon of butter is 100000x better for you than a teaspoon of hydrogenated margarine. 


So, go into your fridge, look at the margarine or butter substitute you might own, and see if "hydrogenated" is anywhere in the ingredient list. If it is, toss it out NOW. Go buy a pack of unsalted butter. Use that butter in moderation, and for everything else, use some oil. Remember: always, sometimes, never.

Casseroles and Cookies

Here are some incredibly useful words of wisdom: For busy work weeks, try to plan ahead - make one or two dishes on Saturday or Sunday, and then you'll be set for lunch and dinner throughout the week. This strategy recently became a mantra of mine, and it works very well. On the weekends I spend a couple hours making a big dish. During the work week I come home from a late night of work (at about 8:30pm) and don't need to fuss over the stove or with the oven. In fact, I don't really need to think. I simply take out my precooked dish, put it on a plate, microwave for a few minutes, and presto! dinner's done. Same concept as a store-bought frozen meal, except that you made the meal, so you know exactly what is in it (i.e. no unpronounceable ingredients). You all know I love to cook; but sometimes there just isn't time to do so every night of the week. That's why it's so important to plan ahead.


Here's another useful piece of advice: if you're going to take time on the weekend to make dinner for the week, then take a bit of extra time to also make yourself some tasty treats! Last weekend I followed my own advice by making a polenta & squash casserole, and butternut squash cookies (more delicious discoveries from Moosewood Restaurant Cooking For Health). I can already hear the skeptical groans. 


First, some of you are probably thinking, butternut squash...cookies? Do you eat pumpkin pie? How 'bout pumpkin cookies? Dude, same concept! Pumpkins are a type of squash. So why not use butternut squash? To be honest, I did not seek out the butternut squash cookie recipe. Fortuitously the casserole only used half of a butternut squash, and while I was deciding what to do with the remaining half, I came across the cookie recipe. I'm very happy that I did.


Second, those of you who read my last couple of posts may be noticing a polenta theme. Honest to goodness this was completely unintentional. But now that it's happened, aren't you glad that you're about to have a third recipe for which you can use the corn meal you might have purchased after reading my Keep It Simple or Make Use of Magazines posts? You're welcome. 


If you take away one message from this post, let it be this: plan ahead. Sure, there's a greater and deeper applicability of this statement to life in general, but right now I'm just talking about your dinners and meals. Plan ahead. Take the time you have on weekends to make your weekday life a little easier. In the words of Peter Pan, think lovely thoughts. Think casseroles and cookies. 

Polenta Casserole with Winter Squash & Greens

This makes 4 servings (2 lunches & 2 dinners!)

What you need: 

-1/2 butternut squash (about 1.5 cups mashed)

-1 bunch of kale, chopped

-3 cloves of garlic, minced

-2/3 cup whole grain cornmeal
-1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
-pinch of dried thyme
-1 1/4 cups grated cheese (cheddar, feta, or fontina...I used the latter)
-1 egg
-salt & pepper
-olive oil

1. Cut squash into quarters, remove seeds, roast in preheated oven (350 degrees fahrenheit) for 45 minutes to 1 hour (until you can easily pierce the skin with a fork)

2. Scoop out 1 1/2 cups of squash and mash with a fork

3. Cook kale: heat pan on medium, add olive oil and sauté garlic for about 1 minute, add kale, cook so that kale is still bright green, but reduced in size

4. Cook polenta: bring 2 1/3 cups water to a boil. Add polenta a little at a time, whisking constantly to prevent clumping. Once polenta is thick, add sun-dried tomatoes & thyme and cook for about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of cheese and stir for another 5 minutes.  

5. In lightly oiled 8x8 pan, add polenta (layer #1)

6. Next, add cooked kale (layer #2)

7. Combine mashed butternut squash, egg, 2/3 cup of cheese, and pinch of salt & pepper.

8. Add squash mixture on top of kale (layer #3)

9. Top casserole with remaining cheese

10. Bake in oven for 15-20 minutes (until cheese is bubbly and melted)

ENJOY!

What to do with the other half of your cooked squash:

Butternut Squash Cookies

Makes 40-50 small cookies

What you need (slightly modified from original recipe): 

Wet ingredients:

-1 1/2 cups cooked & mashed butternut squash

-1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

-1/2 cup olive oil

-1 egg

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dry ingredients:

-2 cups whole wheat flour

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-1 teaspoon baking powder

-1/2 teaspoon baking soda

-1/2 teaspoon salt

Extra add-ins:

-1/3 cup chopped walnuts

-1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

-1/3 cup dried cranberries, chopped (or raisins, if you prefer)

What to do:

1. In medium bowl, mix wet ingredients: butternut squash, sugar, oil, egg, vanilla extract

2. In another bowl, mix dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt

3. Fold dry ingredients into wet bowl, mix well

4. Add walnuts, chocolate chips, and dried cranberries

5. Drop teaspoonfuls of batter onto unoiled baking sheets

6. Bake in preheated oven (375 degrees fahrenheit) for 10-15 minutes

7. Let cookies cool on rack

YUM!

Make Use of Magazines

Let it be known that I am a proud recipient of Vegetarian Times (thanks Auntie Karen!), Bon Appetit (thanks Katy!), and soon to be Food Network Magazine (I received the December 2011 issue for Hanukkah and fell instantly in love...thanks mom!). It may sound nerdy, but every month I eagerly anticipate arrival of these magazines in the mail. I relish the time during which I can devour all the new recipes that lie beneath the beautifully photographed cover page, and in between obnoxious advertisements. Each issue is filled with page after page of new and intriguing recipes, and my eyes become glued to the glossy pages the instant I get my hands on the magazine. I guess you could say that food magazines are like a drug to me...I'm addicted, I like it, and there's no turning back. 

But sadly, a month is not nearly enough time for me to test out all the magazines' new recipes that cause my salivary glands to go into overdrive. Usually I only get around to trying one (maybe two) recipes from each magazine, at best. There are just so many recipes to try - not to mention all the recipes from cookbooks that I want to make. What is a girl supposed to do? I'm certainly not going to save almost a year's worth of magazines so that maybe someday I can make all the recipes...I do NOT have the space for all that paper! I recently clipped a number of "must-try" recipes, but that did not solve my problem of wanting to utilize my magazines more than I currently do. So this past weekend, I came up with a little challenge for myself: make recipes solely from magazines, all weekend long.  

I came up with the challenge when I realized that I'd be spending my monthly trip to DC cooped inside, basically all weekend long. My boyfriend had knee surgery on Friday and I was there to take care of him. So in preparation for my trip, I packed up my collection of January through March 2012 food magazines. One of the wonderful things about magazines is that they are SO much more portable than cookbooks. Sure, some of you tech-savvy people are probably thinking "why not just use an Iphone or computer"...well, I do not own an Iphone, and reading a recipe online requires putting my computer in the danger zone that is the kitchen - I sometimes do this, but I did not want to spend an entire weekend with my precious computer permanently stuck between the blazing stove and leaky sink. 

There was plenty of time for me to dissect the various magazines and choose some recipes for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night. I had time to kill in the airport, on the plane, and at the hospital (6.5 hours at the hospital, to be exact; and side note: the surgery was only 15 minutes of that 6.5 hours...). Obviously I asked my boyfriend what he wanted to eat - he was, after all, the recovering patient - but as he kindly reminded me, he will eat anything I cook for him. Reason #869584 why we're dating. 

I ended up spending the weekend totally immersed in my magazines. When I wasn't switching out ice packs or getting glasses of water to go with tablets of Vicodin, I was in the kitchen, cooking. Every meal I made was amazing, flavorful, and yum-yum-yummy beyond belief...my taste-testers can attest. Some recipes were more nutritious, some more complex, some more expensive, but they were all equally delicious. The challenge was a success! All the recipes I made for the weekend came from magazines (8 recipes, in case you're interested). And the end result (aside from leftovers) was my re-realization that food magazines are like an untapped gold mine. After this weekend I am resolved to no longer let my food magazines sit on kitchen shelves - read only once and begging to be used. Now, I will make use of my magazines...the recipes will not disappoint.

Friday Night:

Creamy Polenta with Sausage & Roasted Grapes

Bon Appetit, January 2012

The recipe says to cook the polenta in the microwave, which works really well, BUT make sure your bowl has enough room for the polenta to boil; my bowl was not big enough, and so I had a minor polenta overflow accident...woops! Also, this is a super easy recipe to make, now that you've bought polenta after reading my Keep It Simple post.

Saturday Night:

Baked Parsnip Fries with Rosemary

Bon Appetit, March 2012

As you can see, I added carrots...I highly recommend this addition!

Fennel, Roasted Red Pepper, and Goat Cheese Quiche

Vegetarian Times, March 2012

Ingredients, including my modifications: 1/2 fennel bulb (thinly sliced), 1 onion (chopped), 3 garlic cloves (minced), 1 cup jarred roasted red pepper (diced), 6 eggs, 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese, 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit and coat 9x13 inch baking dish with spray oil

2. Heat sauté pan with oil, add fennel & onion, cook for 8-10 minutes

3. Stir in garlic, cook for 30 seconds

4. Stir in roasted red peppers; remove pan from stovetop

5. Whisk eggs and cottage cheese; add cheddar & goat cheese

6. Stir veggies into egg & cheese mixture; pour into baking dish

7. Bake about 45 minutes (top should be browned, center should be cooked through and NOT runny)

Sunday Morning Brunch:

Leftovers!

Use sweet potatoes instead of parsnips in the "Baked Parsnip Fries with Rosemary" recipe. It makes great homefries!

Sunday Night Dinner:

Bucatini with Shrimp and Pesto

Food Network Magazine, March 2012

A few changes I made: used spaghetti instead of bucatini; used 1 package of basil, 1 package of mint, and about 1-2 cups of parsley instead of just basil and mint; used regular all-purpose flour to coat the shrimp instead of the "instant flour" called for in the recipe

Shaved Fennel and Apple SaladVegetarian Times, March 2012

Ingredients, with my modifications: 1/2 fennel bulb (thinly sliced), 1 Granny Smith apple (thinly sliced), [1 orange (sliced) not in original recipe], 1 lemon, olive oil, salt & pepper, fennel fronds from 1/2 fennel bulb (tops of fennel that look like dill)
Directions: combine fennel, apple, orange, and fennel fronds in a bowl; squeeze juice of 1 lemon into bowl, drizzle with a little olive oil, season with salt and pepper; keep in fridge before serving

DESSERTS!!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Food Network Magazine, March 2012

Rocky Road Brownies

Food Network Magazine, March 2012

From the "50 Brownies" Insert

Be warned, these are really hard to cut through because of the marshmallow topping!

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Fun Cake

Bon Appetit, March 2012