8.7.09
Warzywa azjatyckie ,staropolskie,zioła i ciekawe sałaty wszystko z uprawy ekologicznej
Warzywa azjatyckie ,staropolskie,zioła i ciekawe sałaty wszystko z uprawy ekologicznej -dostawy Wtorek i Piątek - Plac Wielkopolski stoisko 47 właścicielka Pani Pospieszna 601 172-500
22.6.09
Vinegar Can Help Your Blood Sugar and Weight
By Jack Challem
If you have a hankering for dill pickles, your body may be trying to do a better job of controlling your blood sugar and weight. But it's not the dill pickles that are so great—it's the vinegar used to make the pickles.
Back in the 1970s, apple-cider vinegar was one of the hottest weight-loss supplement on the market. But doctors and dietitians dismissed it. After all, no one could explain why it would work, even if it did.
But today, a small number of university scientists have found that there may be something after all to the weight-loss benefits of vinegar. It stabilizes blood sugar and insulin levels, reduces appetite, and helps people lose weight.
“Vinegar has a consistent history of use,” says Carol S. Johnston, Ph.D., a nutrition professor and researcher at Arizona State University, Mesa. “Hippocrates discussed it more than 2,000 years ago. When something is used for this long, there's usually something to it.”
Vinegar's effect on blood sugar would be enough to reduce appetite and weight. That's because controlling glucose and insulin levels reins in the extreme blood sugar swings that trigger hunger. But the latest studies on vinegar have found that much more is going on here.
Benefits in Diabetes and Prediabetes
In 2004, Johnston, a respected nutrition professor and researcher at Arizona State University, Mesa, reported that consuming a small amount of apple-cider vinegar could significantly diminish post-meal increases in glucose and insulin. That decrease would lessen a person's tendency toward diabetes.
Johnston and her colleagues wrote in the journal Diabetes Care that they fed 29 subjects a high-carb breakfast consisting of a white bagel, butter, and orange juice, providing 87 grams of carbohydrates. Some of the subjects were given 2 tablespoons of apple-cider vinegar or placebos a couple of minutes before the meal. A week later, the subjects were “crossed over” so everyone consumed a meal with and without the vinegar. The subjects fell into three groups: healthy, insulin resistant (prediabetic), and type 2 diabetic.
What Johnson found was stunning. All of the subjects had significantly smaller post-meal increases in glucose and insulin. The insulin-resistant subjects' insulin function improved by 34 percent, and those with diabetes improved by almost 20 percent. Even the healthy subjects had a healthier response to the carbs.
Reduces Appetite
Recently, a team of Swedish researchers reported the results of two more studies with vinegar. Elin Ostman, Ph.D., of Lund University asked a group of 12 healthy men and women to eat 50 grams (about 3½ slices of bread, and on other occasions she asked the subjects to consume different amounts of household white vinegar with the bread.
When the men and women consumed 2 tablespoons of vinegar, their expected post-meal increases in both glucose and insulin levels were far less than expected. More significantly, the subjects felt less hungry 30 minutes, 90 minutes, and two hours after eating.
In another study, Ostman tested the effects of a vinaigrette dressing (containing two tablespoons of vinegar and about ½ tablespoon of olive oil) on the post-meal glucose and insulin responses of 13 men and women subjects. This time subjects were fed 50 grams of either boiled potatoes or boiled-and-refrigerated potatoes, first without the dressing and then with the dressing.
The vinaigrette dressing decreased the post-meal increase in glucose by 43 percent and the insulin response by 31 percent. Ostman also found that refrigerating the potatoes increased the amount of “resistant” starch, which further reduced the glucose and insulin response.
Weight-Loss Benefits
In November and December of 2004, Johnston tested whether vinegar might lower cholesterol levels in 30 men and women. She asked the subjects to take 2 tablespoons of vinegar or cranberry juice (as a placebo) before lunch and dinner for four weeks. Neither the vinegar nor the cranberry juice affected cholesterol levels, but Johnston was surprised by an unexpected benefit.
People in the vinegar group lost an average of two pounds in four weeks, and some lost four to five pounds,” she said in a telephone interview. “In the placebo group, people essentially maintained the same weight.” What's even more amazing, Johnston added, is that people usually eat more in November and December (because of the holidays) than they usually do, so the weight-loss benefits of vinegar may be even more impressive.
The Science Behind Vinegar
The big question: Why would vinegar help people lose weight?
It's the acetic acid in the vinegar. According to Johnston, just about any form of vinegar—white vinegar, balsamic vinegar, vinaigrette salad dressing—will work as long as there's enough and it contains at least 5 percent acetic acid.
Other researchers have shown that acetic acid inhibits the activity of various carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, including amylase, sucrase, maltase, and lactase. Basically, it's a natural starch and sugar blocker. When these enzymes are blocked, sugars and starches pass through the digestive tract much the way that indigestible fiber does, Johnston explains.
Acetic acid also seems to help convert glucose to glycogen, which is stored as a reserve fuel in muscle tissue. This actually helps athletes during their post-exercise recovery. But in converting glucose to glycogen, there's less demand for insulin and probably more efficient use of it.
“These mechanisms are very similar to how the drugs acarbose and metform work to decrease glucose levels,” says Johnston. “But vinegar costs only pennies and is completely safe.”
A lot of cultures eat pickled foods as appetizers, and the timing is perfect at the start of a meal, she points out. “I happen the think that the benefits of the Mediterranean diet are related to the vinegar, not the olive oil.”
Scientific References
Johnston CS, Kim CM, Buller AJ. Vinegar improves insulin sensitivity to a high-carbohydrate meal in subjects with insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care, 2004;27:281-282.
Ostman E, Granfeldt Y, Persson L, et al. Vinegar supplementation lowers glucose and insulin responses and increases satiety after a bread meal in healthy subjects. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2005;59;983-988.
Leeman M, Ostman E, Bjorck I. Vinegar dressing and cold storage of potatoes lowers postprandial glycaemic andinsulinaemic responses in healthy subjects. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2005: epublication ahead of print.
Johnston CS. Strategies for healthy weight loss: from vitamin C to the glycemic response. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2005;24:158-165.
Ogawa N, Satsu H, Watanabe H, et al. Acetic acid suppresses the increase in disaccharidase activity that occurs during culture of caco-2 cells. Journal of Nutrition, 2000;130:507-513.
Fushimi T, Tayama K, Fukaya M, et al. Acetic acid feeding enhances glycogen repletion in liver and skeletal muscle of rats. Journal of Nutrition, 2001;131:1973-1977.
If you have a hankering for dill pickles, your body may be trying to do a better job of controlling your blood sugar and weight. But it's not the dill pickles that are so great—it's the vinegar used to make the pickles.
Back in the 1970s, apple-cider vinegar was one of the hottest weight-loss supplement on the market. But doctors and dietitians dismissed it. After all, no one could explain why it would work, even if it did.
But today, a small number of university scientists have found that there may be something after all to the weight-loss benefits of vinegar. It stabilizes blood sugar and insulin levels, reduces appetite, and helps people lose weight.
“Vinegar has a consistent history of use,” says Carol S. Johnston, Ph.D., a nutrition professor and researcher at Arizona State University, Mesa. “Hippocrates discussed it more than 2,000 years ago. When something is used for this long, there's usually something to it.”
Vinegar's effect on blood sugar would be enough to reduce appetite and weight. That's because controlling glucose and insulin levels reins in the extreme blood sugar swings that trigger hunger. But the latest studies on vinegar have found that much more is going on here.
Benefits in Diabetes and Prediabetes
In 2004, Johnston, a respected nutrition professor and researcher at Arizona State University, Mesa, reported that consuming a small amount of apple-cider vinegar could significantly diminish post-meal increases in glucose and insulin. That decrease would lessen a person's tendency toward diabetes.
Johnston and her colleagues wrote in the journal Diabetes Care that they fed 29 subjects a high-carb breakfast consisting of a white bagel, butter, and orange juice, providing 87 grams of carbohydrates. Some of the subjects were given 2 tablespoons of apple-cider vinegar or placebos a couple of minutes before the meal. A week later, the subjects were “crossed over” so everyone consumed a meal with and without the vinegar. The subjects fell into three groups: healthy, insulin resistant (prediabetic), and type 2 diabetic.
What Johnson found was stunning. All of the subjects had significantly smaller post-meal increases in glucose and insulin. The insulin-resistant subjects' insulin function improved by 34 percent, and those with diabetes improved by almost 20 percent. Even the healthy subjects had a healthier response to the carbs.
Reduces Appetite
Recently, a team of Swedish researchers reported the results of two more studies with vinegar. Elin Ostman, Ph.D., of Lund University asked a group of 12 healthy men and women to eat 50 grams (about 3½ slices of bread, and on other occasions she asked the subjects to consume different amounts of household white vinegar with the bread.
When the men and women consumed 2 tablespoons of vinegar, their expected post-meal increases in both glucose and insulin levels were far less than expected. More significantly, the subjects felt less hungry 30 minutes, 90 minutes, and two hours after eating.
In another study, Ostman tested the effects of a vinaigrette dressing (containing two tablespoons of vinegar and about ½ tablespoon of olive oil) on the post-meal glucose and insulin responses of 13 men and women subjects. This time subjects were fed 50 grams of either boiled potatoes or boiled-and-refrigerated potatoes, first without the dressing and then with the dressing.
The vinaigrette dressing decreased the post-meal increase in glucose by 43 percent and the insulin response by 31 percent. Ostman also found that refrigerating the potatoes increased the amount of “resistant” starch, which further reduced the glucose and insulin response.
Weight-Loss Benefits
In November and December of 2004, Johnston tested whether vinegar might lower cholesterol levels in 30 men and women. She asked the subjects to take 2 tablespoons of vinegar or cranberry juice (as a placebo) before lunch and dinner for four weeks. Neither the vinegar nor the cranberry juice affected cholesterol levels, but Johnston was surprised by an unexpected benefit.
People in the vinegar group lost an average of two pounds in four weeks, and some lost four to five pounds,” she said in a telephone interview. “In the placebo group, people essentially maintained the same weight.” What's even more amazing, Johnston added, is that people usually eat more in November and December (because of the holidays) than they usually do, so the weight-loss benefits of vinegar may be even more impressive.
The Science Behind Vinegar
The big question: Why would vinegar help people lose weight?
It's the acetic acid in the vinegar. According to Johnston, just about any form of vinegar—white vinegar, balsamic vinegar, vinaigrette salad dressing—will work as long as there's enough and it contains at least 5 percent acetic acid.
Other researchers have shown that acetic acid inhibits the activity of various carbohydrate-digesting enzymes, including amylase, sucrase, maltase, and lactase. Basically, it's a natural starch and sugar blocker. When these enzymes are blocked, sugars and starches pass through the digestive tract much the way that indigestible fiber does, Johnston explains.
Acetic acid also seems to help convert glucose to glycogen, which is stored as a reserve fuel in muscle tissue. This actually helps athletes during their post-exercise recovery. But in converting glucose to glycogen, there's less demand for insulin and probably more efficient use of it.
“These mechanisms are very similar to how the drugs acarbose and metform work to decrease glucose levels,” says Johnston. “But vinegar costs only pennies and is completely safe.”
A lot of cultures eat pickled foods as appetizers, and the timing is perfect at the start of a meal, she points out. “I happen the think that the benefits of the Mediterranean diet are related to the vinegar, not the olive oil.”
Scientific References
Johnston CS, Kim CM, Buller AJ. Vinegar improves insulin sensitivity to a high-carbohydrate meal in subjects with insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Care, 2004;27:281-282.
Ostman E, Granfeldt Y, Persson L, et al. Vinegar supplementation lowers glucose and insulin responses and increases satiety after a bread meal in healthy subjects. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2005;59;983-988.
Leeman M, Ostman E, Bjorck I. Vinegar dressing and cold storage of potatoes lowers postprandial glycaemic andinsulinaemic responses in healthy subjects. European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2005: epublication ahead of print.
Johnston CS. Strategies for healthy weight loss: from vitamin C to the glycemic response. Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2005;24:158-165.
Ogawa N, Satsu H, Watanabe H, et al. Acetic acid suppresses the increase in disaccharidase activity that occurs during culture of caco-2 cells. Journal of Nutrition, 2000;130:507-513.
Fushimi T, Tayama K, Fukaya M, et al. Acetic acid feeding enhances glycogen repletion in liver and skeletal muscle of rats. Journal of Nutrition, 2001;131:1973-1977.
6.6.09
101 Summer Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less
101 Summer Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less
The pleasures of cooking are sometimes obscured by summer haze and heat, which can cause many of us to turn instead to bad restaurants and worse takeout. But the cook with a little bit of experience has a wealth of quick and easy alternatives at hand. The trouble is that when it’s too hot, even the most resourceful cook has a hard time remembering all the options. So here are 101 substantial main courses, all of which get you in and out of the kitchen in 10 minutes or less. (I’m not counting the time it takes to bring water to a boil, but you can stay out of the kitchen for that.) These suggestions are not formal recipes; rather, they provide a general outline. With a little imagination and some swift moves — and maybe a salad and a loaf of bread — you can turn any dish on this list into a meal that not only will be better than takeout, but won’t heat you out of the house.
1 Make six-minute eggs: simmer gently, run under cold water until cool, then peel. Serve over steamed asparagus.
2 Toss a cup of chopped mixed herbs with a few tablespoons of olive oil in a hot pan. Serve over angel-hair pasta, diluting the sauce if necessary with pasta cooking water.
3 Cut eight sea scallops into four horizontal slices each. Arrange on plates. Sprinkle with lime juice, salt and crushed chilies; serve after five minutes.
4 Open a can of white beans and combine with olive oil, salt, small or chopped shrimp, minced garlic and thyme leaves in a pan. Cook, stirring, until the shrimp are done; garnish with more olive oil.
5 Put three pounds of washed mussels in a pot with half a cup of white wine, garlic cloves, basil leaves and chopped tomatoes. Steam until mussels open. Serve with bread.
6 Heat a quarter-inch of olive oil in a skillet. Dredge flounder or sole fillets in flour and fry until crisp, about two minutes a side. Serve on sliced bread with tartar sauce.
7 Make pesto: put a couple of cups of basil leaves, a garlic clove, salt, pepper and olive oil as necessary in a blender (walnuts and Parmesan are optional). Serve over pasta (dilute with oil or water as necessary) or grilled fish or meat.
8 Put a few dozen washed littlenecks in a large, hot skillet with olive oil. When clams begin to open, add a tablespoon or two of chopped garlic. When most or all are opened, add parsley. Serve alone, with bread or over angel-hair pasta.
9 Pan-grill a skirt steak for three or four minutes a side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, slice and serve over romaine or any other green salad, drizzled with olive oil and lemon.
10 Smear mackerel fillets with mustard, then sprinkle with chopped herbs (fresh tarragon is good), salt, pepper and bread crumbs. Bake in a 425-degree oven for about eight minutes.
11 Warm olive oil in a skillet with at least three cloves sliced garlic. When the garlic colors, add at least a teaspoon each of cumin and pimentón. A minute later, add a dozen or so shrimp, salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley, serve with lemon and bread.
12 Boil a lobster. Serve with lemon or melted butter.
13 Gazpacho: Combine one pound tomatoes cut into chunks, a cucumber peeled and cut into chunks, two or three slices stale bread torn into pieces, a quarter-cup olive oil, two tablespoons sherry vinegar and a clove of garlic in a blender with one cup water and a couple of ice cubes. Process until smooth, adding water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper, then serve or refrigerate, garnished with anchovies if you like, and a little more olive oil.
14 Put a few slices of chopped prosciutto in a skillet with olive oil, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and a bit of butter; a minute later, toss in about half a cup bread crumbs and red chili flakes to taste. Serve over pasta with chopped parsley.
15 Call it panini: Grilled cheese with prosciutto, tomatoes, thyme or basil leaves.
16 Slice or chop salami, corned beef or kielbasa and warm in a little oil; stir in eggs and scramble. Serve with mustard and rye bread.
17 Soak couscous in boiling water to cover until tender; top with sardines, tomatoes, parsley, olive oil and black pepper.
18 Stir-fry a pound or so of ground meat or chopped fish mixed with chopped onions and seasoned with cumin or chili powder. Pile into taco shells or soft tacos, along with tomato, lettuce, canned beans, onion, cilantro and sour cream.
19 Chinese tomato and eggs: Cook minced garlic in peanut oil until blond; add chopped tomatoes then, a minute later, beaten eggs, along with salt and pepper. Scramble with a little soy sauce.
20 Cut eggplant into half-inch slices. Broil with lots of olive oil, turning once, until tender and browned. Top with crumbled goat or feta cheese and broil another 20 seconds.
21 While pasta cooks, combine a couple cups chopped tomatoes, a teaspoon or more minced garlic, olive oil and 20 to 30 basil leaves. Toss with pasta, salt, pepper and Parmesan.
22 Make wraps of tuna, warm white beans, a drizzle of olive oil and lettuce and tomato.
23 The New York supper: Bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon. Serve with tomatoes, watercress or arugula, and sliced red onion or shallot.
24 Dredge thinly sliced chicken breasts in flour or cornmeal; cook about two minutes a side in hot olive oil. Place on bread with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.
25 Upscale tuna salad: good canned tuna (packed in olive oil), capers, dill or parsley, lemon juice but no mayo. Use to stuff a tomato or two.
26 Cut Italian sausage into chunks and brown in a little olive oil; chop onions and bell peppers and add them to the pan. Cook until sausage is browned and peppers and onions tender. Serve in sandwiches.
27 Egg in a hole, glorified: Tear a hole in a piece of bread and fry in butter. Crack an egg into the hole. Deglaze pan with a little sherry vinegar mixed with water, and more butter; pour over egg.
28 New Joe’s Special, from San Francisco: Brown ground meat with minced garlic and chopped onion. When just about cooked, add chopped spinach and cook, stirring, until wilted. At the last minute, stir in two eggs, along with grated Parmesan and salt and pepper.
29 Chop prosciutto and crisp it in a skillet with olive oil; add chopped not-too-ripe figs. Serve over greens dressed with oil and vinegar; top all with crumbled blue cheese.
30 Quesadilla: Use a combination of cheeses, like Fontina mixed with grated pecorino. Put on half of a large flour tortilla with pickled jalapenos, chopped onion, shallot or scallion, chopped tomatoes and grated radish. Fold tortilla over and brown on both sides in butter or oil, until cheese is melted.
31 Fast chile rellenos: Drain canned whole green chilies. Make a slit in each and insert a piece of cheese. Dredge in flour and fry in a skillet, slit side up, until cheese melts.
32 Cobb-ish salad: Chop bacon and begin to brown it; cut boneless chicken into strips and cook it with bacon. Toss romaine and watercress or arugula with chopped tomatoes, avocado, onion and crumbled blue cheese. Add bacon and chicken. Dress with oil and vinegar.
33 Sauté 10 whole peeled garlic cloves in olive oil. Meanwhile, grate Pecorino, grind lots of black pepper, chop parsley and cook pasta. Toss all together, along with crushed dried chili flakes and salt.
34 Niçoise salad: Lightly steam haricot verts, green beans or asparagus. Arrange on a plate with chickpeas, good canned tuna, hard-cooked eggs, a green salad, sliced cucumber and tomato. Dress with oil and vinegar.
35 Cold soba with dipping sauce: Cook soba noodles, then rinse in cold water until cool. Serve with a sauce of soy sauce and minced ginger diluted with mirin and/or dry sake.
36 Fried egg “saltimbocca”: Lay slices of prosciutto or ham in a buttered skillet. Fry eggs on top of ham; top with grated Parmesan.
37 Frisée aux lardons: Cook chunks of bacon in a skillet. Meanwhile, make six-minute or poached eggs and a frisée salad. Put eggs on top of salad along with bacon; deglaze pan with sherry vinegar and pour pan juices over all.
38 Fried rice: Soften vegetables with oil in a skillet. Add cold takeout rice, chopped onion, garlic, ginger, peas and two beaten eggs. Toss until hot and cooked through. Season with soy sauce and sesame oil.
39 Taco salad: Toss together greens, chopped tomato, chopped red onion, sliced avocado, a small can of black beans and kernels from a couple of ears of corn. Toss with crumbled tortilla chips and grated cheese. Dress with olive oil, lime and chopped cilantro leaves.
40 Put a large can of chickpeas and their liquid in a medium saucepan. Add some sherry, along with olive oil, plenty of minced garlic, smoked pimentón and chopped Spanish chorizo. Heat through.
41 Raita to the rescue: Broil any fish. Serve with a sauce of drained yogurt mixed with chopped cucumber, minced onion and cayenne.
42 Season boneless lamb steaks cut from the leg with sweet curry powder. Sear on both sides. Serve over greens, with lemon wedges.
43 Migas, with egg: Sauté chopped stale bread with olive oil, mushrooms, onions and spinach. Stir in a couple of eggs.
44 Migas, without egg: Sauté chopped stale bread with chopped Spanish chorizo, plenty of garlic and lots of olive oil. Finish with chopped parsley.
45 Sauté shredded zucchini in olive oil, adding garlic and chopped herbs. Serve over pasta.
46 Broil a few slices prosciutto until crisp; crumble and toss with parsley, Parmesan, olive oil and pasta.
47 Not exactly banh mi, but... Make sandwiches on crisp bread with liverwurst, ham, sliced half-sours, shredded carrots, cilantro sprigs and Vietnamese chili-garlic paste.
48 Not takeout: Stir-fry onions with cut-up broccoli. Add cubed tofu, chicken or shrimp, or sliced beef or pork, along with a tablespoon each minced garlic and ginger. When almost done, add half cup of water, two tablespoons soy sauce and plenty of black pepper. Heat through and serve over fresh Chinese noodles.
49 Sprinkle sole fillets with chopped parsley, garlic, salt and pepper; roll up, dip in flour, then beaten egg, then bread crumbs; cook in hot olive oil about three minutes a side. Serve with lemon wedges.
50 The Waldorf: Toast a handful of walnuts in a skillet. Chop an apple or pear; toss with greens, walnuts and a dressing made with olive oil, sherry vinegar, Dijon mustard and shallot. Top, if you like, with crumbled goat or blue cheese.
51 Put a stick of butter and a handful of pine nuts in a skillet. Cook over medium heat until both are brown. Toss with cooked pasta, grated Parmesan and black pepper.
52 Grill or sauté Italian sausage and serve over store-bought hummus, with lemon wedges.
53 Put a tablespoon of cream and a slice of tomato in each of several small ramekins. Top with an egg, then salt, pepper and grated Parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees until the eggs set. Serve with toast.
54 Brown small pork (or hot dog) chunks in a skillet. Add white beans, garlic, thyme and olive oil. Or add white beans and ketchup.
55 Dredge skate or flounder in flour and brown quickly in butter or oil. Deglaze pan with a couple of spoonfuls of capers and a lot of lemon juice or a little vinegar.
56 Make a fast tomato sauce of olive oil, chopped tomatoes and garlic. Poach eggs in the sauce, then top with Parmesan.
57 Dip pork cutlets in egg, then dredge heavily in panko; brown quickly on both sides. Serve over lettuce, with fresh lemon, or bottled Japanese curry sauce.
58 Cook chicken livers in butter or oil with garlic; do not overcook. Finish with parsley, lemon juice and coarse salt; serve over toast.
59 Brown bratwursts with cut-up apples. Serve with coleslaw.
60 Peel and thinly slice raw beets; cook in butter until soft. Take out of pan and quickly cook some shrimp in same pan. Deglaze pan with sherry vinegar, adding sauce to beets and shrimp. Garnish with dill.
61 Poach shrimp and plunge into ice water. Serve with cocktail sauce: one cup ketchup, one tablespoon vinegar, three tablespoons melted butter and lots of horseradish.
62 Southeast Asia steak salad: Pan- or oven-grill skirt or flank steak. Slice and serve on a pile of greens with a sauce of one tablespoon each of nam pla and lime juice, black pepper, a teaspoon each of sugar and garlic, crushed red chili flakes and Thai basil.
63 Miso steak: Coat beef tenderloin steaks (filet mignon) with a blend of miso and chili paste thinned with sake or white wine. Grill or broil about five minutes.
64 Pasta with fresh tomatoes: Cook chopped fresh tomatoes in butter or oil with garlic until tender, while pasta cooks. Combine and serve with grated Parmesan.
65 Sauté squid rings and tentacles in olive oil with salt and pepper and garlic; add chopped tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes break down. Serve over pasta.
66 Salmon (or just about anything else) teriyaki: Sear salmon steaks on both sides for a couple of minutes; remove. To skillet, add a splash of water, sake, a little sugar and soy sauce; when mixture is thick, return steaks to pan and turn in sauce until done. Serve hot or at room temperature.
67 Rich vegetable soup: Cook asparagus tips and peeled stalks or most any other green vegetable in chicken stock with a little tarragon until tender; reserve a few tips and purée the rest with a little butter (cream or yogurt, too, if you like) adding enough stock to thin the purée. Garnish with the reserved tips. Serve hot or cold.
68 Brush portobello caps with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper and broil until tender. Briefly sweat chopped onions, then scramble eggs with them. Put eggs in mushrooms.
69 Buy good blintzes. Brown them on both sides in butter. Serve with sour cream, apple sauce or both.
70 Sauté squid rings and tentacles in olive oil with salt and pepper. Make a sauce of minced garlic, smoked pimentón, mayo, lots of lemon juice and fresh parsley. Serve with a chopped salad of cucumber, tomato, lettuce, grated carrot and scallion, lightly dressed.
71 Press a lot of coarsely ground black pepper onto both sides of filet mignon or other steaks or chopped meat patties. Brown in butter in a skillet for two minutes a side. Remove steaks and add a splash of red wine, chopped shallots and a bit of tarragon to skillet. Reduce, then return steaks to pan, turning in the sauce for a minute or two.
72 World’s leading sandwich: prosciutto, tomato, butter or olive oil and a baguette.
73 Near instant mezze: Combine hummus on a plate with yogurt laced with chopped cucumbers and a bit of garlic, plus tomato, feta, white beans with olive oil and pita bread.
74 Canned sardines packed in olive oil on Triscuits, with mustard and Tabasco.
75 Boil-and-eat shrimp, cooked in water with Old Bay seasoning or a mixture of thyme, garlic, paprika, chopped onion, celery, chili, salt and pepper.
76 Make a thin plain omelet with two or three eggs. Sauté cubes of bacon or pancetta or strips of prosciutto until crisp. Cut up the omelet and use it and the meat to garnish a green salad dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
77 Sear corn kernels in olive oil with minced jalapeños and chopped onions; toss with cilantro, black beans, chopped tomatoes, chopped bell pepper and lime.
78 Cook shrimp in a skillet slowly (five minutes or so) to preserve their juices, with plenty of garlic and olive oil, until done; pour over watercress or arugula, with lemon, pepper and salt.
79 Liverwurst on good sourdough rye with scallions, tomato and wholegrain mustard.
80 Not-quite merguez: Ground lamb burgers seasoned with cumin, garlic, onion, salt and cayenne. Serve with couscous and green salad, along with bottled harissa.
81 Combine crab meat with mayo, Dijon mustard, chives and tarragon. Serve in a sandwich, with potato chips.
82 Combine canned tuna in olive oil, halved grape tomatoes, black olives, mint, lemon zest and red pepper flakes. Serve with pasta, thinning with olive oil or pasta cooking water as needed.
83 Pit and chop a cup or more of mixed olives. Combine with olive oil, a little minced garlic, red pepper flakes and chopped basil or parsley. Serve over pasta.
84 Cook chopped tomatillos with a little water or stock, cilantro and a little minced fresh chili; serve over grilled, broiled or sautéed chicken breasts, with corn tortillas.
85 A winning sandwich: bresaola or prosciutto, arugula, Parmesan, marinated artichoke hearts, tomato.
86 Smoked trout fillets served with lightly toasted almonds, shredded fennel, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of lemon.
87 Grated carrots topped with six-minute eggs (run under cold water until cool before peeling), olive oil and lemon juice.
88 Cut the top off four big tomatoes; scoop out the interiors and mix them with toasted stale baguette or pita, olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs (basil, tarragon, and/or parsley). Stuff into tomatoes and serve with salad.
89 Pasta frittata: Turn cooked pasta and a little garlic into an oiled or buttered skillet. Brown, pressing to create a cake. Flip, then top with three or four beaten eggs and loads of Parmesan. Brown other side and serve.
90 Thai-style beef: Thinly slice one and a half pounds of flank steak, pork shoulder or boneless chicken; heat peanut oil in a skillet, add meat and stir. A minute later, add a tablespoon minced garlic and some red chili flakes. Add 30 clean basil leaves, a quarter cup of water and a tablespoon or two of soy sauce or nam pla. Serve with lime juice and more chili flakes, over rice or salad.
91 Dredge calf’s liver in flour. Sear in olive oil or butter or a combination until crisp on both sides, adding salt and pepper as it cooks; it should be medium-rare. Garnish with parsley and lemon juice.
92 Rub not-too-thick pork or lamb chops with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper plus sage or thyme. Broil about three minutes a side and drizzle with good balsamic vinegar.
93 Cut up Italian sausage into chunks and brown in a little olive oil until just about done. Dump in a lot of seedless grapes and, if you like, a little slivered garlic and chopped rosemary. Cook, stirring, until the grapes are hot. Serve with bread.
94 Ketchup-braised tofu: Dredge large tofu cubes in flour. Brown in oil; remove from skillet and wipe skillet clean. Add a little more oil, then a tablespoon minced garlic; 30 seconds later, add one and a half cups ketchup and the tofu. Cook until sauce bubbles and tofu is hot.
95 Veggie burger: Drain and pour a 14-ounce can of beans into a food processor with an onion, half a cup rolled oats, a tablespoon chili powder or other spice mix, an egg, salt and pepper. Process until mushy, then shape into burgers, adding a little liquid or oats as necessary. Cook in oil about three minutes a side and serve.
96 A Roman classic: In lots of olive oil, lightly cook lots of slivered garlic, with six or so anchovy fillets and a dried hot chili or two. Dress pasta with this.
97 So-called Fettuccine Alfredo: Heat several tablespoons of butter and about half a cup of cream in a large skillet just until the cream starts to simmer. Add slightly undercooked fresh pasta to the skillet, along with plenty of grated Parmesan. Cook over low heat, tossing, until pasta is tender and hot.
98 Rub flank steak or chuck with curry or chili powder before broiling or grilling, then slice thin across the grain.
99 Cook a couple of pounds of shrimp, shell on or off, in oil, with lots of chopped garlic. When they turn pink, remove; deglaze the pan with a half-cup or so of beer, along with a splash of Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, rosemary and a lump of butter. Serve with bread.
100 Cook red lentils in water with a little cumin and chopped bacon until soft. Top with poached or six-minute eggs (run under cold water until cool before peeling) and a little sherry vinegar.
101 Hot dogs on buns — with beans!
The pleasures of cooking are sometimes obscured by summer haze and heat, which can cause many of us to turn instead to bad restaurants and worse takeout. But the cook with a little bit of experience has a wealth of quick and easy alternatives at hand. The trouble is that when it’s too hot, even the most resourceful cook has a hard time remembering all the options. So here are 101 substantial main courses, all of which get you in and out of the kitchen in 10 minutes or less. (I’m not counting the time it takes to bring water to a boil, but you can stay out of the kitchen for that.) These suggestions are not formal recipes; rather, they provide a general outline. With a little imagination and some swift moves — and maybe a salad and a loaf of bread — you can turn any dish on this list into a meal that not only will be better than takeout, but won’t heat you out of the house.
1 Make six-minute eggs: simmer gently, run under cold water until cool, then peel. Serve over steamed asparagus.
2 Toss a cup of chopped mixed herbs with a few tablespoons of olive oil in a hot pan. Serve over angel-hair pasta, diluting the sauce if necessary with pasta cooking water.
3 Cut eight sea scallops into four horizontal slices each. Arrange on plates. Sprinkle with lime juice, salt and crushed chilies; serve after five minutes.
4 Open a can of white beans and combine with olive oil, salt, small or chopped shrimp, minced garlic and thyme leaves in a pan. Cook, stirring, until the shrimp are done; garnish with more olive oil.
5 Put three pounds of washed mussels in a pot with half a cup of white wine, garlic cloves, basil leaves and chopped tomatoes. Steam until mussels open. Serve with bread.
6 Heat a quarter-inch of olive oil in a skillet. Dredge flounder or sole fillets in flour and fry until crisp, about two minutes a side. Serve on sliced bread with tartar sauce.
7 Make pesto: put a couple of cups of basil leaves, a garlic clove, salt, pepper and olive oil as necessary in a blender (walnuts and Parmesan are optional). Serve over pasta (dilute with oil or water as necessary) or grilled fish or meat.
8 Put a few dozen washed littlenecks in a large, hot skillet with olive oil. When clams begin to open, add a tablespoon or two of chopped garlic. When most or all are opened, add parsley. Serve alone, with bread or over angel-hair pasta.
9 Pan-grill a skirt steak for three or four minutes a side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, slice and serve over romaine or any other green salad, drizzled with olive oil and lemon.
10 Smear mackerel fillets with mustard, then sprinkle with chopped herbs (fresh tarragon is good), salt, pepper and bread crumbs. Bake in a 425-degree oven for about eight minutes.
11 Warm olive oil in a skillet with at least three cloves sliced garlic. When the garlic colors, add at least a teaspoon each of cumin and pimentón. A minute later, add a dozen or so shrimp, salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley, serve with lemon and bread.
12 Boil a lobster. Serve with lemon or melted butter.
13 Gazpacho: Combine one pound tomatoes cut into chunks, a cucumber peeled and cut into chunks, two or three slices stale bread torn into pieces, a quarter-cup olive oil, two tablespoons sherry vinegar and a clove of garlic in a blender with one cup water and a couple of ice cubes. Process until smooth, adding water if necessary. Season with salt and pepper, then serve or refrigerate, garnished with anchovies if you like, and a little more olive oil.
14 Put a few slices of chopped prosciutto in a skillet with olive oil, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic and a bit of butter; a minute later, toss in about half a cup bread crumbs and red chili flakes to taste. Serve over pasta with chopped parsley.
15 Call it panini: Grilled cheese with prosciutto, tomatoes, thyme or basil leaves.
16 Slice or chop salami, corned beef or kielbasa and warm in a little oil; stir in eggs and scramble. Serve with mustard and rye bread.
17 Soak couscous in boiling water to cover until tender; top with sardines, tomatoes, parsley, olive oil and black pepper.
18 Stir-fry a pound or so of ground meat or chopped fish mixed with chopped onions and seasoned with cumin or chili powder. Pile into taco shells or soft tacos, along with tomato, lettuce, canned beans, onion, cilantro and sour cream.
19 Chinese tomato and eggs: Cook minced garlic in peanut oil until blond; add chopped tomatoes then, a minute later, beaten eggs, along with salt and pepper. Scramble with a little soy sauce.
20 Cut eggplant into half-inch slices. Broil with lots of olive oil, turning once, until tender and browned. Top with crumbled goat or feta cheese and broil another 20 seconds.
21 While pasta cooks, combine a couple cups chopped tomatoes, a teaspoon or more minced garlic, olive oil and 20 to 30 basil leaves. Toss with pasta, salt, pepper and Parmesan.
22 Make wraps of tuna, warm white beans, a drizzle of olive oil and lettuce and tomato.
23 The New York supper: Bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon. Serve with tomatoes, watercress or arugula, and sliced red onion or shallot.
24 Dredge thinly sliced chicken breasts in flour or cornmeal; cook about two minutes a side in hot olive oil. Place on bread with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise.
25 Upscale tuna salad: good canned tuna (packed in olive oil), capers, dill or parsley, lemon juice but no mayo. Use to stuff a tomato or two.
26 Cut Italian sausage into chunks and brown in a little olive oil; chop onions and bell peppers and add them to the pan. Cook until sausage is browned and peppers and onions tender. Serve in sandwiches.
27 Egg in a hole, glorified: Tear a hole in a piece of bread and fry in butter. Crack an egg into the hole. Deglaze pan with a little sherry vinegar mixed with water, and more butter; pour over egg.
28 New Joe’s Special, from San Francisco: Brown ground meat with minced garlic and chopped onion. When just about cooked, add chopped spinach and cook, stirring, until wilted. At the last minute, stir in two eggs, along with grated Parmesan and salt and pepper.
29 Chop prosciutto and crisp it in a skillet with olive oil; add chopped not-too-ripe figs. Serve over greens dressed with oil and vinegar; top all with crumbled blue cheese.
30 Quesadilla: Use a combination of cheeses, like Fontina mixed with grated pecorino. Put on half of a large flour tortilla with pickled jalapenos, chopped onion, shallot or scallion, chopped tomatoes and grated radish. Fold tortilla over and brown on both sides in butter or oil, until cheese is melted.
31 Fast chile rellenos: Drain canned whole green chilies. Make a slit in each and insert a piece of cheese. Dredge in flour and fry in a skillet, slit side up, until cheese melts.
32 Cobb-ish salad: Chop bacon and begin to brown it; cut boneless chicken into strips and cook it with bacon. Toss romaine and watercress or arugula with chopped tomatoes, avocado, onion and crumbled blue cheese. Add bacon and chicken. Dress with oil and vinegar.
33 Sauté 10 whole peeled garlic cloves in olive oil. Meanwhile, grate Pecorino, grind lots of black pepper, chop parsley and cook pasta. Toss all together, along with crushed dried chili flakes and salt.
34 Niçoise salad: Lightly steam haricot verts, green beans or asparagus. Arrange on a plate with chickpeas, good canned tuna, hard-cooked eggs, a green salad, sliced cucumber and tomato. Dress with oil and vinegar.
35 Cold soba with dipping sauce: Cook soba noodles, then rinse in cold water until cool. Serve with a sauce of soy sauce and minced ginger diluted with mirin and/or dry sake.
36 Fried egg “saltimbocca”: Lay slices of prosciutto or ham in a buttered skillet. Fry eggs on top of ham; top with grated Parmesan.
37 Frisée aux lardons: Cook chunks of bacon in a skillet. Meanwhile, make six-minute or poached eggs and a frisée salad. Put eggs on top of salad along with bacon; deglaze pan with sherry vinegar and pour pan juices over all.
38 Fried rice: Soften vegetables with oil in a skillet. Add cold takeout rice, chopped onion, garlic, ginger, peas and two beaten eggs. Toss until hot and cooked through. Season with soy sauce and sesame oil.
39 Taco salad: Toss together greens, chopped tomato, chopped red onion, sliced avocado, a small can of black beans and kernels from a couple of ears of corn. Toss with crumbled tortilla chips and grated cheese. Dress with olive oil, lime and chopped cilantro leaves.
40 Put a large can of chickpeas and their liquid in a medium saucepan. Add some sherry, along with olive oil, plenty of minced garlic, smoked pimentón and chopped Spanish chorizo. Heat through.
41 Raita to the rescue: Broil any fish. Serve with a sauce of drained yogurt mixed with chopped cucumber, minced onion and cayenne.
42 Season boneless lamb steaks cut from the leg with sweet curry powder. Sear on both sides. Serve over greens, with lemon wedges.
43 Migas, with egg: Sauté chopped stale bread with olive oil, mushrooms, onions and spinach. Stir in a couple of eggs.
44 Migas, without egg: Sauté chopped stale bread with chopped Spanish chorizo, plenty of garlic and lots of olive oil. Finish with chopped parsley.
45 Sauté shredded zucchini in olive oil, adding garlic and chopped herbs. Serve over pasta.
46 Broil a few slices prosciutto until crisp; crumble and toss with parsley, Parmesan, olive oil and pasta.
47 Not exactly banh mi, but... Make sandwiches on crisp bread with liverwurst, ham, sliced half-sours, shredded carrots, cilantro sprigs and Vietnamese chili-garlic paste.
48 Not takeout: Stir-fry onions with cut-up broccoli. Add cubed tofu, chicken or shrimp, or sliced beef or pork, along with a tablespoon each minced garlic and ginger. When almost done, add half cup of water, two tablespoons soy sauce and plenty of black pepper. Heat through and serve over fresh Chinese noodles.
49 Sprinkle sole fillets with chopped parsley, garlic, salt and pepper; roll up, dip in flour, then beaten egg, then bread crumbs; cook in hot olive oil about three minutes a side. Serve with lemon wedges.
50 The Waldorf: Toast a handful of walnuts in a skillet. Chop an apple or pear; toss with greens, walnuts and a dressing made with olive oil, sherry vinegar, Dijon mustard and shallot. Top, if you like, with crumbled goat or blue cheese.
51 Put a stick of butter and a handful of pine nuts in a skillet. Cook over medium heat until both are brown. Toss with cooked pasta, grated Parmesan and black pepper.
52 Grill or sauté Italian sausage and serve over store-bought hummus, with lemon wedges.
53 Put a tablespoon of cream and a slice of tomato in each of several small ramekins. Top with an egg, then salt, pepper and grated Parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees until the eggs set. Serve with toast.
54 Brown small pork (or hot dog) chunks in a skillet. Add white beans, garlic, thyme and olive oil. Or add white beans and ketchup.
55 Dredge skate or flounder in flour and brown quickly in butter or oil. Deglaze pan with a couple of spoonfuls of capers and a lot of lemon juice or a little vinegar.
56 Make a fast tomato sauce of olive oil, chopped tomatoes and garlic. Poach eggs in the sauce, then top with Parmesan.
57 Dip pork cutlets in egg, then dredge heavily in panko; brown quickly on both sides. Serve over lettuce, with fresh lemon, or bottled Japanese curry sauce.
58 Cook chicken livers in butter or oil with garlic; do not overcook. Finish with parsley, lemon juice and coarse salt; serve over toast.
59 Brown bratwursts with cut-up apples. Serve with coleslaw.
60 Peel and thinly slice raw beets; cook in butter until soft. Take out of pan and quickly cook some shrimp in same pan. Deglaze pan with sherry vinegar, adding sauce to beets and shrimp. Garnish with dill.
61 Poach shrimp and plunge into ice water. Serve with cocktail sauce: one cup ketchup, one tablespoon vinegar, three tablespoons melted butter and lots of horseradish.
62 Southeast Asia steak salad: Pan- or oven-grill skirt or flank steak. Slice and serve on a pile of greens with a sauce of one tablespoon each of nam pla and lime juice, black pepper, a teaspoon each of sugar and garlic, crushed red chili flakes and Thai basil.
63 Miso steak: Coat beef tenderloin steaks (filet mignon) with a blend of miso and chili paste thinned with sake or white wine. Grill or broil about five minutes.
64 Pasta with fresh tomatoes: Cook chopped fresh tomatoes in butter or oil with garlic until tender, while pasta cooks. Combine and serve with grated Parmesan.
65 Sauté squid rings and tentacles in olive oil with salt and pepper and garlic; add chopped tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes break down. Serve over pasta.
66 Salmon (or just about anything else) teriyaki: Sear salmon steaks on both sides for a couple of minutes; remove. To skillet, add a splash of water, sake, a little sugar and soy sauce; when mixture is thick, return steaks to pan and turn in sauce until done. Serve hot or at room temperature.
67 Rich vegetable soup: Cook asparagus tips and peeled stalks or most any other green vegetable in chicken stock with a little tarragon until tender; reserve a few tips and purée the rest with a little butter (cream or yogurt, too, if you like) adding enough stock to thin the purée. Garnish with the reserved tips. Serve hot or cold.
68 Brush portobello caps with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper and broil until tender. Briefly sweat chopped onions, then scramble eggs with them. Put eggs in mushrooms.
69 Buy good blintzes. Brown them on both sides in butter. Serve with sour cream, apple sauce or both.
70 Sauté squid rings and tentacles in olive oil with salt and pepper. Make a sauce of minced garlic, smoked pimentón, mayo, lots of lemon juice and fresh parsley. Serve with a chopped salad of cucumber, tomato, lettuce, grated carrot and scallion, lightly dressed.
71 Press a lot of coarsely ground black pepper onto both sides of filet mignon or other steaks or chopped meat patties. Brown in butter in a skillet for two minutes a side. Remove steaks and add a splash of red wine, chopped shallots and a bit of tarragon to skillet. Reduce, then return steaks to pan, turning in the sauce for a minute or two.
72 World’s leading sandwich: prosciutto, tomato, butter or olive oil and a baguette.
73 Near instant mezze: Combine hummus on a plate with yogurt laced with chopped cucumbers and a bit of garlic, plus tomato, feta, white beans with olive oil and pita bread.
74 Canned sardines packed in olive oil on Triscuits, with mustard and Tabasco.
75 Boil-and-eat shrimp, cooked in water with Old Bay seasoning or a mixture of thyme, garlic, paprika, chopped onion, celery, chili, salt and pepper.
76 Make a thin plain omelet with two or three eggs. Sauté cubes of bacon or pancetta or strips of prosciutto until crisp. Cut up the omelet and use it and the meat to garnish a green salad dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
77 Sear corn kernels in olive oil with minced jalapeños and chopped onions; toss with cilantro, black beans, chopped tomatoes, chopped bell pepper and lime.
78 Cook shrimp in a skillet slowly (five minutes or so) to preserve their juices, with plenty of garlic and olive oil, until done; pour over watercress or arugula, with lemon, pepper and salt.
79 Liverwurst on good sourdough rye with scallions, tomato and wholegrain mustard.
80 Not-quite merguez: Ground lamb burgers seasoned with cumin, garlic, onion, salt and cayenne. Serve with couscous and green salad, along with bottled harissa.
81 Combine crab meat with mayo, Dijon mustard, chives and tarragon. Serve in a sandwich, with potato chips.
82 Combine canned tuna in olive oil, halved grape tomatoes, black olives, mint, lemon zest and red pepper flakes. Serve with pasta, thinning with olive oil or pasta cooking water as needed.
83 Pit and chop a cup or more of mixed olives. Combine with olive oil, a little minced garlic, red pepper flakes and chopped basil or parsley. Serve over pasta.
84 Cook chopped tomatillos with a little water or stock, cilantro and a little minced fresh chili; serve over grilled, broiled or sautéed chicken breasts, with corn tortillas.
85 A winning sandwich: bresaola or prosciutto, arugula, Parmesan, marinated artichoke hearts, tomato.
86 Smoked trout fillets served with lightly toasted almonds, shredded fennel, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of lemon.
87 Grated carrots topped with six-minute eggs (run under cold water until cool before peeling), olive oil and lemon juice.
88 Cut the top off four big tomatoes; scoop out the interiors and mix them with toasted stale baguette or pita, olive oil, salt, pepper and herbs (basil, tarragon, and/or parsley). Stuff into tomatoes and serve with salad.
89 Pasta frittata: Turn cooked pasta and a little garlic into an oiled or buttered skillet. Brown, pressing to create a cake. Flip, then top with three or four beaten eggs and loads of Parmesan. Brown other side and serve.
90 Thai-style beef: Thinly slice one and a half pounds of flank steak, pork shoulder or boneless chicken; heat peanut oil in a skillet, add meat and stir. A minute later, add a tablespoon minced garlic and some red chili flakes. Add 30 clean basil leaves, a quarter cup of water and a tablespoon or two of soy sauce or nam pla. Serve with lime juice and more chili flakes, over rice or salad.
91 Dredge calf’s liver in flour. Sear in olive oil or butter or a combination until crisp on both sides, adding salt and pepper as it cooks; it should be medium-rare. Garnish with parsley and lemon juice.
92 Rub not-too-thick pork or lamb chops with olive oil; sprinkle with salt and pepper plus sage or thyme. Broil about three minutes a side and drizzle with good balsamic vinegar.
93 Cut up Italian sausage into chunks and brown in a little olive oil until just about done. Dump in a lot of seedless grapes and, if you like, a little slivered garlic and chopped rosemary. Cook, stirring, until the grapes are hot. Serve with bread.
94 Ketchup-braised tofu: Dredge large tofu cubes in flour. Brown in oil; remove from skillet and wipe skillet clean. Add a little more oil, then a tablespoon minced garlic; 30 seconds later, add one and a half cups ketchup and the tofu. Cook until sauce bubbles and tofu is hot.
95 Veggie burger: Drain and pour a 14-ounce can of beans into a food processor with an onion, half a cup rolled oats, a tablespoon chili powder or other spice mix, an egg, salt and pepper. Process until mushy, then shape into burgers, adding a little liquid or oats as necessary. Cook in oil about three minutes a side and serve.
96 A Roman classic: In lots of olive oil, lightly cook lots of slivered garlic, with six or so anchovy fillets and a dried hot chili or two. Dress pasta with this.
97 So-called Fettuccine Alfredo: Heat several tablespoons of butter and about half a cup of cream in a large skillet just until the cream starts to simmer. Add slightly undercooked fresh pasta to the skillet, along with plenty of grated Parmesan. Cook over low heat, tossing, until pasta is tender and hot.
98 Rub flank steak or chuck with curry or chili powder before broiling or grilling, then slice thin across the grain.
99 Cook a couple of pounds of shrimp, shell on or off, in oil, with lots of chopped garlic. When they turn pink, remove; deglaze the pan with a half-cup or so of beer, along with a splash of Worcestershire sauce, cayenne, rosemary and a lump of butter. Serve with bread.
100 Cook red lentils in water with a little cumin and chopped bacon until soft. Top with poached or six-minute eggs (run under cold water until cool before peeling) and a little sherry vinegar.
101 Hot dogs on buns — with beans!
7 Ways to Build a Creative Attitude
1. Curiosity
Learning to ask ‘why’, ‘what if’ and ‘I wonder…’ are great questions t build into your life if you want to be a more creative person.
2. See Problems as Interesting and Acceptable
Instead of seeing problems as obstacles and unacceptable, see problems as natural, normal and fascination.
3. Confront a Challenge
Many creative ideas come from people facing a challenge or crisis. Instead of running from it, ask ‘how can I overcome this’? This will lead to creative ideas.
4. Develop Constructive Discontent
Creative people are often acutely aware of "what’s wrong" with the world around them; however, they are tend to be "constructive in their discontent," letting it motivate them to do something positive.
5. Be Optimistic
Creative people tend to hold the belief that most problems can be solved. By entering every challenge with that belief and optimism, you'll increase your chances of generating creative ideas.
6. Suspend Judgment
Hold off on judging an idea--no matter how off the wall. Reason? Because you NEVER know if that off the wall idea will lead to. The time for judgment is at the end of the creative process, as you evaluate the ideas you have generated...but even then, don't underestimate the value of one idea being a necessary stepping stone for another.
7. Persevere
Obvious. Stick with your ideas, even when things get tough. Some say this is what sets apart the great from the good.
Learning to ask ‘why’, ‘what if’ and ‘I wonder…’ are great questions t build into your life if you want to be a more creative person.
2. See Problems as Interesting and Acceptable
Instead of seeing problems as obstacles and unacceptable, see problems as natural, normal and fascination.
3. Confront a Challenge
Many creative ideas come from people facing a challenge or crisis. Instead of running from it, ask ‘how can I overcome this’? This will lead to creative ideas.
4. Develop Constructive Discontent
Creative people are often acutely aware of "what’s wrong" with the world around them; however, they are tend to be "constructive in their discontent," letting it motivate them to do something positive.
5. Be Optimistic
Creative people tend to hold the belief that most problems can be solved. By entering every challenge with that belief and optimism, you'll increase your chances of generating creative ideas.
6. Suspend Judgment
Hold off on judging an idea--no matter how off the wall. Reason? Because you NEVER know if that off the wall idea will lead to. The time for judgment is at the end of the creative process, as you evaluate the ideas you have generated...but even then, don't underestimate the value of one idea being a necessary stepping stone for another.
7. Persevere
Obvious. Stick with your ideas, even when things get tough. Some say this is what sets apart the great from the good.
20 Ways to Change the World
20 Ways to Change the World
Here are twenty things that you can do to change people’s lives, yourself, and the world. These are in no particular order.
1 - Adopt - Adopting someone is one of the greatest things you can do. You’ll change your life and someone else’s. Adopt a baby, a child, or a teen. By being adopted they’ll always know that there is truly kind people in the world and they’ll pay it back to society.
2 - Just Be Nice - This is something EVERYONE can do, you don’t need any money or any talent. Hold the door for someone, smile, or say hello. You will change someone’s whole day, week, month, year, or maybe even life. Then they’ll be nicer to others, which will just continue the cycle and you won’t even realize that YOU changed THOUSANDS of lives.
3 - Donate - Donate blood, food, time, money, or whatever you can. Donate online, help entrepreneurs in developing countries on Kiva, lend to people on Prosper, or just play the simple game on FreeRice.
4 - Be Positive - Bring more positivity into the world. It so simple but so effective.
5 - Listen - Listen to people, let them talk, learn about their lives, sometimes that’s all someone needs.
6 - Start a Business - Become a social entrepreneur with a company that donates a portion of your profits to charity, or employ those “at risk”. Don’t hire those who graduated from the most prestigious universities and had an easy life, hire those that struggled and triumphed through adversity. They’ll work the hardest because they know what it takes.
7 - Create Art - “Paint” the world. Create more music, paintings, writings, photography, or any other art. Art inspires, motivates, and changes lives.
8 - Get Vocal - Have a cause that you’re passionate about? Get out there and make your voice heard. Hold rallies, protest, write letters, write articles in newspapers, blog about it, or start a forum. Being silent isn’t going to do anything.
9 - Be a Great Parent - Teach your children about the world and how they can change it. Teach them that the possibilities of life are limitless.
10 - Pick Up Trash - No one seems to do this. Just pick up trash that you see lying on the ground. Every little bit helps.
11 - Talk - When you’re done listening, talk. Talk about their life, your life, the weather. Talk to strangers sitting next to you on a bench. You never know where it can lead.
12 - Be an Inspiration - Do something that people said you could never do. Take risks and succeed! This will inspire others to do the same and continue the cycle.
13 - Become a Teacher - Become a teacher with the true ambition of teaching children to succeed in school and in life. Teach from books but also teach from life.
14 - Become a Surrogate Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Whatever - Many children and adults who lost or were abandoned by a family member may desire to fill that void. Many children from broken families need help to break the cycle and statistics. Become a Big Brother or Big Sister, be someone they never had.
15 - Vote - Vote in your local elections and national elections. Choose a candidate that can truly follow through, not the one that promises all these grand plans that never seem to pan out.
16 - Don’t Be Judgmental- Too many people judge others on the way they look. You can’t judge a book by its cover. Someone may look completely different than you on the outside but be completely the same on the inside.
17 - Travel the World - Travel around the world and experience new places. Help the economies and people of foreign countries. Embrace their cultures and share your experiences of them with people you know.
18 - Dream & Do: Dream of a better world then go out there and create it. Dreams become reality with enough work and determination.
19 - Focus - Focus on one of these ideas or another one you came up with. Pour all of your energy into one idea until you succeed in changing someone, yourself, or the world. After you do that, then focus on another idea.
20 - Do Something With Your Life! - You don’t have to be a celebrity or a millionaire, just be an productive member of society.
Here are twenty things that you can do to change people’s lives, yourself, and the world. These are in no particular order.
1 - Adopt - Adopting someone is one of the greatest things you can do. You’ll change your life and someone else’s. Adopt a baby, a child, or a teen. By being adopted they’ll always know that there is truly kind people in the world and they’ll pay it back to society.
2 - Just Be Nice - This is something EVERYONE can do, you don’t need any money or any talent. Hold the door for someone, smile, or say hello. You will change someone’s whole day, week, month, year, or maybe even life. Then they’ll be nicer to others, which will just continue the cycle and you won’t even realize that YOU changed THOUSANDS of lives.
3 - Donate - Donate blood, food, time, money, or whatever you can. Donate online, help entrepreneurs in developing countries on Kiva, lend to people on Prosper, or just play the simple game on FreeRice.
4 - Be Positive - Bring more positivity into the world. It so simple but so effective.
5 - Listen - Listen to people, let them talk, learn about their lives, sometimes that’s all someone needs.
6 - Start a Business - Become a social entrepreneur with a company that donates a portion of your profits to charity, or employ those “at risk”. Don’t hire those who graduated from the most prestigious universities and had an easy life, hire those that struggled and triumphed through adversity. They’ll work the hardest because they know what it takes.
7 - Create Art - “Paint” the world. Create more music, paintings, writings, photography, or any other art. Art inspires, motivates, and changes lives.
8 - Get Vocal - Have a cause that you’re passionate about? Get out there and make your voice heard. Hold rallies, protest, write letters, write articles in newspapers, blog about it, or start a forum. Being silent isn’t going to do anything.
9 - Be a Great Parent - Teach your children about the world and how they can change it. Teach them that the possibilities of life are limitless.
10 - Pick Up Trash - No one seems to do this. Just pick up trash that you see lying on the ground. Every little bit helps.
11 - Talk - When you’re done listening, talk. Talk about their life, your life, the weather. Talk to strangers sitting next to you on a bench. You never know where it can lead.
12 - Be an Inspiration - Do something that people said you could never do. Take risks and succeed! This will inspire others to do the same and continue the cycle.
13 - Become a Teacher - Become a teacher with the true ambition of teaching children to succeed in school and in life. Teach from books but also teach from life.
14 - Become a Surrogate Father, Mother, Brother, Sister, Whatever - Many children and adults who lost or were abandoned by a family member may desire to fill that void. Many children from broken families need help to break the cycle and statistics. Become a Big Brother or Big Sister, be someone they never had.
15 - Vote - Vote in your local elections and national elections. Choose a candidate that can truly follow through, not the one that promises all these grand plans that never seem to pan out.
16 - Don’t Be Judgmental- Too many people judge others on the way they look. You can’t judge a book by its cover. Someone may look completely different than you on the outside but be completely the same on the inside.
17 - Travel the World - Travel around the world and experience new places. Help the economies and people of foreign countries. Embrace their cultures and share your experiences of them with people you know.
18 - Dream & Do: Dream of a better world then go out there and create it. Dreams become reality with enough work and determination.
19 - Focus - Focus on one of these ideas or another one you came up with. Pour all of your energy into one idea until you succeed in changing someone, yourself, or the world. After you do that, then focus on another idea.
20 - Do Something With Your Life! - You don’t have to be a celebrity or a millionaire, just be an productive member of society.
30.5.09
Yes we can!
Yes we can!
" to hasło nowego prezydenta USA. W wolnym tłumaczeniu oznacza po prostu „uwierzmy w siebie, w swoje możliwości". To dobre hasło na trudne czasy, a takie przecież nas czekają. Stanowczo lepsze niż popularne w Polsce „to niemożliwe".
" to hasło nowego prezydenta USA. W wolnym tłumaczeniu oznacza po prostu „uwierzmy w siebie, w swoje możliwości". To dobre hasło na trudne czasy, a takie przecież nas czekają. Stanowczo lepsze niż popularne w Polsce „to niemożliwe".
18.5.09
Culinary Atrocities as described by Andrew Hingston
Date: Friday, May 15, 2009, 2:04 AM
I am almost used to people putting cheese on their seafood pasta.I am naturally disheartened by, but accepting of the widespread preference
for White Zinfandel.
I can very nearly hide my smirk when people order fries with their spaghetti.But yesterday provided two new culinary "Kodak moments" that were priceless.First was the woman who doused her risotto in ketchup.Best was
the woman who doused her spaghetti Bolognese in mayonnaise.
Andrew Hingston
Answer from Anne Garvey
Is it called Spaghetti Bolognnaise, do you think?
Have you ever seen people devour Ramen noodles with the soup poured out and a whopping dose of mayo, jalapenos and deep fried smelt on top? Smelled reheated tomato and canteloupe stewed together?
Seen ketchup and tabasco and vinegar and fish parts on top of the chick boiled in the shell the day before it was supposed to hatch? (you wait until you hear the peeping before you drop it in the boiling water.)
(The topper though, is my late brother's favorite: a liverwurst and kimchee sandwich. Even he would probably forgive a dig at his expense about so lethal a combination!)
How about a cold, deep fried bologna sandwich with potato chips, peanut butter and mayonnaise inside?
A hamburger with peanut butter as the topping? A deep fried Snicker's bar with a Spam crust?
A crushed shrimp chip and peanut butter and sandwich-spread sandwich? (With a good dill pickle, of course!)
An olive and herring and strawberry cream cheese filling for a bagel?
A mango filled with mayonnaise, spam and deep fried honey bees? (and people wonder what has happened to the world bee population!)
Come visit our lunchroom in the Clinical Laboratories!
Then you too can wonder how it is we never had much luck putting together a cookbook, for local fundraising purposes...
Answer from Witold Z
I call it “Culinary Atrocities”
Liverwurst and kim chee sandwich does not sound bad,In Mke I had it with raw sliced bermuda onion and it was good,In Vietnam I had Banh Mi sandwich also liver pate topped with carrot or daikon salad and mayo and ciliantro.
I have seen people in PL douse pizza with ketchup,which I thought it was pretty bad,but Spaghetti Bolognnaise and Ketchup risotto is a new low.
I am almost used to people putting cheese on their seafood pasta.I am naturally disheartened by, but accepting of the widespread preference
for White Zinfandel.
I can very nearly hide my smirk when people order fries with their spaghetti.But yesterday provided two new culinary "Kodak moments" that were priceless.First was the woman who doused her risotto in ketchup.Best was
the woman who doused her spaghetti Bolognese in mayonnaise.
Andrew Hingston
Answer from Anne Garvey
Is it called Spaghetti Bolognnaise, do you think?
Have you ever seen people devour Ramen noodles with the soup poured out and a whopping dose of mayo, jalapenos and deep fried smelt on top? Smelled reheated tomato and canteloupe stewed together?
Seen ketchup and tabasco and vinegar and fish parts on top of the chick boiled in the shell the day before it was supposed to hatch? (you wait until you hear the peeping before you drop it in the boiling water.)
(The topper though, is my late brother's favorite: a liverwurst and kimchee sandwich. Even he would probably forgive a dig at his expense about so lethal a combination!)
How about a cold, deep fried bologna sandwich with potato chips, peanut butter and mayonnaise inside?
A hamburger with peanut butter as the topping? A deep fried Snicker's bar with a Spam crust?
A crushed shrimp chip and peanut butter and sandwich-spread sandwich? (With a good dill pickle, of course!)
An olive and herring and strawberry cream cheese filling for a bagel?
A mango filled with mayonnaise, spam and deep fried honey bees? (and people wonder what has happened to the world bee population!)
Come visit our lunchroom in the Clinical Laboratories!
Then you too can wonder how it is we never had much luck putting together a cookbook, for local fundraising purposes...
Answer from Witold Z
I call it “Culinary Atrocities”
Liverwurst and kim chee sandwich does not sound bad,In Mke I had it with raw sliced bermuda onion and it was good,In Vietnam I had Banh Mi sandwich also liver pate topped with carrot or daikon salad and mayo and ciliantro.
I have seen people in PL douse pizza with ketchup,which I thought it was pretty bad,but Spaghetti Bolognnaise and Ketchup risotto is a new low.
16 razy wzrosła wartość pensji Polaków
Puls Biznesu, pb.pl,18.05.2009 06:33
Od 1989 r. "żyjemy w kompletnie innym kraju. Mamy swobodę, wyjeżdżamy za granicę, uczymy się, inwestujemy pieniądze. Od 2005 r. powstało 1,5 mln nowych miejsc pracy. 16 razy wzrosła wartość pensji Polaków!" - powiedział dziennikowi "Metro" Michał Boni, szef doradców premiera i twórca "Raportu o Kapitale Intelektualnym Polski" oraz strategii dla Polski na kolejne 20 lat.
W wywiadzie udzielonym gazecie w 20 lat od upadku PRL i przejęcia władzy przez Solidarność, Boni dodał, że "mamy też cztery razy więcej absolwentów studiów wyższych. W 1989 r. takie wykształcenie miało 7 proc. Polaków, teraz 17 proc. To konkretne mierniki naszego cywilizacyjnego rozwoju. Wielki sukces naszej wolności, kreatywności, przedsiębiorczości".
A czego nie udało się zrobić?, pytało "Metro" - "Wieś ciągle nie jest w głównym nurcie przemian. Wiele osób nie nadążyło za transformacją i przeszło na wcześniejsze emerytury. Nadal mamy dysproporcje w rozwoju regionów. Szybko rozwijają się silne ośrodki. Ale różnice pomiędzy tzw. Polską B (wschodnie województwa) a resztą kraju to nie wynik transformacji. Nawet przez 20 lat nie da się odrobić zaległości z poprzednich kilkudziesięciu lat. Nie udało się nam również poprawić infrastruktury transportowej, a także skłonić społeczeństwa do brania większej współodpowiedzialności za otaczający świat".
Od 1989 r. "żyjemy w kompletnie innym kraju. Mamy swobodę, wyjeżdżamy za granicę, uczymy się, inwestujemy pieniądze. Od 2005 r. powstało 1,5 mln nowych miejsc pracy. 16 razy wzrosła wartość pensji Polaków!" - powiedział dziennikowi "Metro" Michał Boni, szef doradców premiera i twórca "Raportu o Kapitale Intelektualnym Polski" oraz strategii dla Polski na kolejne 20 lat.
W wywiadzie udzielonym gazecie w 20 lat od upadku PRL i przejęcia władzy przez Solidarność, Boni dodał, że "mamy też cztery razy więcej absolwentów studiów wyższych. W 1989 r. takie wykształcenie miało 7 proc. Polaków, teraz 17 proc. To konkretne mierniki naszego cywilizacyjnego rozwoju. Wielki sukces naszej wolności, kreatywności, przedsiębiorczości".
A czego nie udało się zrobić?, pytało "Metro" - "Wieś ciągle nie jest w głównym nurcie przemian. Wiele osób nie nadążyło za transformacją i przeszło na wcześniejsze emerytury. Nadal mamy dysproporcje w rozwoju regionów. Szybko rozwijają się silne ośrodki. Ale różnice pomiędzy tzw. Polską B (wschodnie województwa) a resztą kraju to nie wynik transformacji. Nawet przez 20 lat nie da się odrobić zaległości z poprzednich kilkudziesięciu lat. Nie udało się nam również poprawić infrastruktury transportowej, a także skłonić społeczeństwa do brania większej współodpowiedzialności za otaczający świat".
4.5.09
Trzy zasady kulinarno podróżnicze Witolda
Po pierwsze,nigdy nie jedz w hotelu,z wyjątkiem 5 gwiazdkowych hoteli ,nigdy nie pytaj w hotelu o dobrą restaurację,zapytaj raczej taksówkarza.Jeżeli zobaczysz w w knajpie jakiegoś turystę-uciekaj,bo nic ciekawego cię tam nie spotka.Zaryzykuj-zjedz kolację w miejscowej knajpie z lokalnymi bywalcami.Jedz potrawy,których nazw nawet nie potrafisz wymówić i nie pytaj,z czego zostały zrobione.Pij to, co wszyscy.
Po drugie,bądź otwarty na ludzi ,uśmiechaj się,gadaj.
Po trzecie,nie podróżuj w dużej grupie.Trzy ,cztery osoby to maksimum.
Po drugie,bądź otwarty na ludzi ,uśmiechaj się,gadaj.
Po trzecie,nie podróżuj w dużej grupie.Trzy ,cztery osoby to maksimum.
3.5.09
The 10 Dirtiest Foods Youre Eating
http://liujiaoourhealth.blogspot.com/2008/12/10-dirtiest-foods-youre-eating.html
1.Chicken
The dirt: Never mind cigarettes; the Surgeon General should slap a warning label on chicken. Recent nationwide testing by Consumers Union, the advocacy group behind Consumer Reports, notes that of the 484 raw broilers examined, 42 percent were infected by Campylobacter jejuni, and 12 percent by Salmonella enterides.
The latest USDA research notes similar Salmonella levels. Now add in the fact that we each consume about 70 pounds of chicken a year—more than our intake of beef, pork, or turkey—and it's a wonder broilers don't come with barf bags.
At the supermarket: Look for birds labeled "free range." Close quarters in the henhouse give bad bugs the chance to spread, as do high-volume processing operations. Free-range chickens, which are given more room to roost and are usually slaughtered in smaller numbers, present a potentially safer option. For example, Ranger chickens, a free-range brand sold in the Pacific Northwest, came up negative for Salmonella and Campylobacter in Consumers Union's tests.
At home: To help prevent foodborne illness, bypass rinsing your raw bird in the sink, and instead put it directly into a baking dish or pan. This shortcut reduces the odds of sullying counters and other foods, says Janet B. Anderson, R.D., director of the Safe Food Institute in North Logan, Utah. If you used a cutting board, clean it (and the knife) with a mild, dilute bleach solution. As for your heat treatment, cook breasts and other cuts until the temperature hits 180°F. (If it's a whole bird, take the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh.) "Poking the chicken or judging by juice color is risky," says Anderson.
2.Ground Beef
The dirt: Even a little ground chuck can make you upchuck. When USDA inspectors last tested hamburger meat, they looked at 563 sources nationwide and discovered Clostridium perfringens in 53 percent of the batches, Staphylococcus in 30 percent, and Listeria monocytogenes in 12 percent. Interestingly, the USDA found no trace of Escherichia coli 0157:H7, a.k.a. E. coli, one of the desperadoes of foodborne illness. Despite this finding, if slaughterhouse safeguards fail (and they sometimes do), E. coli could potentially pop up in your next patty.
At the supermarket: Choose ground cow that's been nuked. "Find a grocery store that sells irradiated ground beef," says Donald W. Schaffner, Ph.D., an extension specialist in food science at Rutgers University. The package will bear the words "treated by irradiation." Schaffner gives the safety of the treatment a glowing review: "The amount of induced radioactivity is 200,000 times smaller than the level of radioactivity naturally present in all foods."
At home: Add fresh oregano to your burgers and meat loaf. When researchers at Kansas State University mixed a variety of common household spices into ground beef to test their antibacterial properties, oregano tested as one of the best at wiping out E. coli. Use at least 1 tablespoon per pound of meat. Just as important, flatten your patties—thick burgers will char on the outside before the interior reaches the required 160°F.
3.Ground Turkey
The dirt: Potentially one of the foulest of the fowl. A USDA survey showed that the odds are better than one in four that your ground gobbler contains Listeria, Campylobacter, Clostridium, or some combination of the three. What's more, in a separate study by the FDA and the University of Maryland, 24 percent of the ground turkey sampled came back positive for Salmonella. And some of that Salmonella was resistant to antibiotics.
At the supermarket: Hunt for organic turkey. Most commercial turkey processors pump up their birds with antibiotics, a practice that may have encouraged the rise of resistant bacteria. Organic outfits, on the other hand, say no to drugs. When you reach the checkout, insist that the turkey be slipped into its own plastic bag and then placed in a meat-only shopping bag. This rule applies to beef and chicken, too: Otherwise, meat drippings might contaminate other groceries.
At home: "Change your mind-set about poultry. Start by thinking of it as being contaminated," says Schaffner. Immediately retire to the dishwasher any platter that has come in contact with raw ground turkey. (Use the hottest setting.) Serve cooked turkey burgers (180°F) on a clean plate. And wipe up any spillage with a paper towel instead of a sponge. "The sponge is the most dangerous item in the house because of the organisms potentially living in it," says Tierno.
4.Raw Oysters
The dirt: Oysters' power as an aphrodisiac is overblown, but their power as a diarrheic when slurped raw is not. These filters for ocean waste can contain the norovirus (a pathogen notorious for nixing ocean cruises), Campylobacter, and Vibrio vulnificus. University of Arizona researchers who studied oysters from so-called certified-safe beds discovered that 9 percent were contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. Still hungry? "We found E. coli in 100 percent of Gulf Coast locations, and in high amounts," says Lynn Joens, Ph.D., the study author.
At the supermarket: Buy from the same beds that a chef stakes his reputation on. Sandy Ingber, executive chef and seafood buyer for Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City, buys Blue Point, Chincoteague, Glidden Point, Narragansett Bay, Pemaquid, and Wellfleet oysters in the winter months. During summer, he buys Coromandel oysters from New Zealand. The reason for the seasonal shift: More than three-quarters of outbreaks involving raw oysters occur in the Northern Hemisphere's warm-water months.
At home: Very simple: Eat only thoroughly cooked oysters. If you must slurp, do so only after following the buying advice above.
5.Eggs
The dirt: Which is dirtier, the chicken or the egg? The chicken, by a long shot, or so it seems at first. More widespread pasteurization has reduced the rate of Salmonella contamination in eggs to only one in 20,000. But that still leaves more than two million hazardous eggs in circulation each year. Food poisoning linked to eggs sickens an estimated 660,000 people annually and kills 300. "Often, dishes made at restaurants are from pooled eggs," which increases the risk, says Schaffner. "It's really a matter of statistics. Eat an egg sunny-side up and your risk of Salmonella is one in 10,000. Eat an undercooked omelette made from a mix of 100 eggs, and the risk is significantly higher."
At the supermarket: Check the egg cartons. You're looking for one word—"pasteurized"—and four numbers—the expiration date. Then remove each egg and look for cracks; germs can enter after pasteurization.
At home: Ignore the egg keeper on the refrigerator door. Instead, keep the eggs in their carton and stow it in the coldest part of your fridge (usually the back of the lowest shelf). Then, after you crack one open, wash your hands. In her study of household food preparation, Utah State's Anderson reports that 60 percent of people failed to wash their hands after handling raw eggs. Finally, cook your eggs—thoroughly (or, if they're an ingredient in a dish, to 160°F).
6.Cantaloupe
The dirt: File this under "Who knew?" When the FDA sampled domestically grown cantaloupe, it found that 3.5 percent of the melons carried Salmonella and Shigella, the latter a bacteria normally passed person-to-person. Among imported cantaloupe, 7 percent tested positive for both bugs. And because you eat melons raw, the bacteria go right down your gullet. That's a big part of the reason why from 1990 to 2001, produce in general has sickened as many people as have beef and poultry combined.
At the supermarket: Dents or bruising on the fruit can provide a path in for pathogens. But don't think precut cantaloupe is safer. "I've been in several supermarkets where the produce was cut by personnel who didn't wash their hands after handling eggs and other items," says Anderson.
At home: Because cantaloupe grows on the ground and has a netted exterior, it's easy for Salmonella to sneak on, and once on, it's hard to clean off. Scrub the fruit with a dab of mild dishwashing liquid for 15 to 30 seconds under running water. And make sure you buy a scrub brush that you use exclusively to clean fruits and vegetables; otherwise it could become cross-contaminated.
7.Peaches
The dirt: Being pretty as a peach comes at a price. The fruit is doused with pesticides in the weeks prior to harvest to ensure blemish-free skin. By the time it arrives in your produce department, the typical peach can be coated with up to nine different pesticides, according to USDA sampling. And while apples tote a wider variety of pesticides, the sheer amount and strength of those on peaches sets the fuzzy fruit apart. On an index of pesticide toxicity devised by Consumers Union, peaches rank highest.
At the supermarket: Fill your plastic produce bag with peaches that wear a "USDA Organic" sticker. And since apples, grapes, pears, and green beans occupy top spots on the Toxicity Index, too, you may want to opt for organic here as well. Just know that organic produce also contains some pesticide residues, but in minuscule amounts.
At home: Wax on, wax off. "A lot of produce has a natural wax coating that holds pesticides, so wash with a sponge or scrub brush and a dab of mild dishwashing detergent. This can eliminate more than half of the residues," says Edward Groth III, Ph.D., a senior scientist with Consumers Union. Got kids? Play it extra safe, and wash and pare peaches, apples, and pears.
8.Prepackaged Lettuce
The dirt: Don't look now, but the lettuce on a burger could cause you more grief than the beef. Outbreaks of E. coli sickened 36 people in San Diego in September 2003 and sent 29 people reeling in eastern Washington in July 2002. In both cases, prepackaged lettuce was to blame. And according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, lettuce accounted for 11 percent of reported food-poisoning outbreaks linked to produce from 1990 to 2002, and "salad" accounted for 28 percent.
At the supermarket: Prepackaged salad mix is not inherently more hazardous than loose greens or a head of lettuce. It's the claims of being "triple washed" that lull consumers into complacency. "Just because something is wrapped in cellophane doesn't mean it's free of pathogens," says J. Glenn Morris, M.D., chairman of epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Maryland school of medicine.
At home: Rinse salad greens one leaf at a time under running water before eating. Beware of cross-contamination, too. "People know it's risky to put salad in the same colander they washed chicken in," says Anderson, "but they think nothing of touching a towel used to wipe up poultry juice, then making a salad."
9.Cold Cuts
The dirt: Germs don't take a number in the deli; cold cuts have been labeled at "high risk" of causing listeriosis by a joint team of researchers from the USDA, FDA, and CDC. While only 3 percent of the deli meats sampled contained Listeria at the point of purchase, the bacteria's rapid growth rate on cuts stored even under ideal conditions concerned researchers. Combine that with the fact that cold cuts are, well, eaten cold, and you've got trouble; Listeria thrives at refrigerator temperatures that stun other foodborne pathogens.
At the supermarket: Turns out the most likely source of Listeria-contaminated cold cuts is the deli slicer. Without regular cleaning, the blade can transfer bacteria from roast beef to turkey to pastrami and back. But aside from asking the clerk to stop and clean the slicer before handling your order, the best you can do is avoid delis that are obviously dirty and stick with those that are annoyingly busy. Meats that rotate through a deli quickly have less opportunity to bloom with Listeria.
At home: From now on, skip the sniff test and trash whatever meat you haven't eaten in a week. When you're ready to build your sandwich, slather on the mustard. Researchers at Washington State University killed off 90 percent of three potent pathogens—Listeria, E. coli, and Salmonella—within 2 hours of exposing them to a mustard compound.
10.Scallions
The dirt: Scallions play a bit part in most dishes, but a little goes a long way, as evidenced by the massive hepatitis A outbreak at that Chi-Chi's last October. Dirty scallions have also triggered small hep A outbreaks in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Other bugs known to have grabbed a ride on green onions include the parasite Cryptosporidium, Shigella, and the ever-present Salmonella. In FDA tests, U.S.-grown scallions carried Salmonella or Shigella in 3 percent of samples, nearly twice the number detected in imported samples.
At the supermarket: Forget trying to weed out U.S. or Mexican scallions. Given current labeling laws, grocers are under no obligation to list the country of origin of any produce item. More important, buy refrigerated scallions; room temperature can trigger a bacterial explosion.
At home: Turn on your faucet full force to blast away visible dirt. As you rinse, remove the outer sheath to expose lingering microorganisms, but realize that any step short of thorough cooking is only a partial solution. "More and more, pathogens are entering produce like scallions at a cellular level," says Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
1.Chicken
The dirt: Never mind cigarettes; the Surgeon General should slap a warning label on chicken. Recent nationwide testing by Consumers Union, the advocacy group behind Consumer Reports, notes that of the 484 raw broilers examined, 42 percent were infected by Campylobacter jejuni, and 12 percent by Salmonella enterides.
The latest USDA research notes similar Salmonella levels. Now add in the fact that we each consume about 70 pounds of chicken a year—more than our intake of beef, pork, or turkey—and it's a wonder broilers don't come with barf bags.
At the supermarket: Look for birds labeled "free range." Close quarters in the henhouse give bad bugs the chance to spread, as do high-volume processing operations. Free-range chickens, which are given more room to roost and are usually slaughtered in smaller numbers, present a potentially safer option. For example, Ranger chickens, a free-range brand sold in the Pacific Northwest, came up negative for Salmonella and Campylobacter in Consumers Union's tests.
At home: To help prevent foodborne illness, bypass rinsing your raw bird in the sink, and instead put it directly into a baking dish or pan. This shortcut reduces the odds of sullying counters and other foods, says Janet B. Anderson, R.D., director of the Safe Food Institute in North Logan, Utah. If you used a cutting board, clean it (and the knife) with a mild, dilute bleach solution. As for your heat treatment, cook breasts and other cuts until the temperature hits 180°F. (If it's a whole bird, take the temperature in the thickest part of the thigh.) "Poking the chicken or judging by juice color is risky," says Anderson.
2.Ground Beef
The dirt: Even a little ground chuck can make you upchuck. When USDA inspectors last tested hamburger meat, they looked at 563 sources nationwide and discovered Clostridium perfringens in 53 percent of the batches, Staphylococcus in 30 percent, and Listeria monocytogenes in 12 percent. Interestingly, the USDA found no trace of Escherichia coli 0157:H7, a.k.a. E. coli, one of the desperadoes of foodborne illness. Despite this finding, if slaughterhouse safeguards fail (and they sometimes do), E. coli could potentially pop up in your next patty.
At the supermarket: Choose ground cow that's been nuked. "Find a grocery store that sells irradiated ground beef," says Donald W. Schaffner, Ph.D., an extension specialist in food science at Rutgers University. The package will bear the words "treated by irradiation." Schaffner gives the safety of the treatment a glowing review: "The amount of induced radioactivity is 200,000 times smaller than the level of radioactivity naturally present in all foods."
At home: Add fresh oregano to your burgers and meat loaf. When researchers at Kansas State University mixed a variety of common household spices into ground beef to test their antibacterial properties, oregano tested as one of the best at wiping out E. coli. Use at least 1 tablespoon per pound of meat. Just as important, flatten your patties—thick burgers will char on the outside before the interior reaches the required 160°F.
3.Ground Turkey
The dirt: Potentially one of the foulest of the fowl. A USDA survey showed that the odds are better than one in four that your ground gobbler contains Listeria, Campylobacter, Clostridium, or some combination of the three. What's more, in a separate study by the FDA and the University of Maryland, 24 percent of the ground turkey sampled came back positive for Salmonella. And some of that Salmonella was resistant to antibiotics.
At the supermarket: Hunt for organic turkey. Most commercial turkey processors pump up their birds with antibiotics, a practice that may have encouraged the rise of resistant bacteria. Organic outfits, on the other hand, say no to drugs. When you reach the checkout, insist that the turkey be slipped into its own plastic bag and then placed in a meat-only shopping bag. This rule applies to beef and chicken, too: Otherwise, meat drippings might contaminate other groceries.
At home: "Change your mind-set about poultry. Start by thinking of it as being contaminated," says Schaffner. Immediately retire to the dishwasher any platter that has come in contact with raw ground turkey. (Use the hottest setting.) Serve cooked turkey burgers (180°F) on a clean plate. And wipe up any spillage with a paper towel instead of a sponge. "The sponge is the most dangerous item in the house because of the organisms potentially living in it," says Tierno.
4.Raw Oysters
The dirt: Oysters' power as an aphrodisiac is overblown, but their power as a diarrheic when slurped raw is not. These filters for ocean waste can contain the norovirus (a pathogen notorious for nixing ocean cruises), Campylobacter, and Vibrio vulnificus. University of Arizona researchers who studied oysters from so-called certified-safe beds discovered that 9 percent were contaminated with Salmonella bacteria. Still hungry? "We found E. coli in 100 percent of Gulf Coast locations, and in high amounts," says Lynn Joens, Ph.D., the study author.
At the supermarket: Buy from the same beds that a chef stakes his reputation on. Sandy Ingber, executive chef and seafood buyer for Grand Central Oyster Bar in New York City, buys Blue Point, Chincoteague, Glidden Point, Narragansett Bay, Pemaquid, and Wellfleet oysters in the winter months. During summer, he buys Coromandel oysters from New Zealand. The reason for the seasonal shift: More than three-quarters of outbreaks involving raw oysters occur in the Northern Hemisphere's warm-water months.
At home: Very simple: Eat only thoroughly cooked oysters. If you must slurp, do so only after following the buying advice above.
5.Eggs
The dirt: Which is dirtier, the chicken or the egg? The chicken, by a long shot, or so it seems at first. More widespread pasteurization has reduced the rate of Salmonella contamination in eggs to only one in 20,000. But that still leaves more than two million hazardous eggs in circulation each year. Food poisoning linked to eggs sickens an estimated 660,000 people annually and kills 300. "Often, dishes made at restaurants are from pooled eggs," which increases the risk, says Schaffner. "It's really a matter of statistics. Eat an egg sunny-side up and your risk of Salmonella is one in 10,000. Eat an undercooked omelette made from a mix of 100 eggs, and the risk is significantly higher."
At the supermarket: Check the egg cartons. You're looking for one word—"pasteurized"—and four numbers—the expiration date. Then remove each egg and look for cracks; germs can enter after pasteurization.
At home: Ignore the egg keeper on the refrigerator door. Instead, keep the eggs in their carton and stow it in the coldest part of your fridge (usually the back of the lowest shelf). Then, after you crack one open, wash your hands. In her study of household food preparation, Utah State's Anderson reports that 60 percent of people failed to wash their hands after handling raw eggs. Finally, cook your eggs—thoroughly (or, if they're an ingredient in a dish, to 160°F).
6.Cantaloupe
The dirt: File this under "Who knew?" When the FDA sampled domestically grown cantaloupe, it found that 3.5 percent of the melons carried Salmonella and Shigella, the latter a bacteria normally passed person-to-person. Among imported cantaloupe, 7 percent tested positive for both bugs. And because you eat melons raw, the bacteria go right down your gullet. That's a big part of the reason why from 1990 to 2001, produce in general has sickened as many people as have beef and poultry combined.
At the supermarket: Dents or bruising on the fruit can provide a path in for pathogens. But don't think precut cantaloupe is safer. "I've been in several supermarkets where the produce was cut by personnel who didn't wash their hands after handling eggs and other items," says Anderson.
At home: Because cantaloupe grows on the ground and has a netted exterior, it's easy for Salmonella to sneak on, and once on, it's hard to clean off. Scrub the fruit with a dab of mild dishwashing liquid for 15 to 30 seconds under running water. And make sure you buy a scrub brush that you use exclusively to clean fruits and vegetables; otherwise it could become cross-contaminated.
7.Peaches
The dirt: Being pretty as a peach comes at a price. The fruit is doused with pesticides in the weeks prior to harvest to ensure blemish-free skin. By the time it arrives in your produce department, the typical peach can be coated with up to nine different pesticides, according to USDA sampling. And while apples tote a wider variety of pesticides, the sheer amount and strength of those on peaches sets the fuzzy fruit apart. On an index of pesticide toxicity devised by Consumers Union, peaches rank highest.
At the supermarket: Fill your plastic produce bag with peaches that wear a "USDA Organic" sticker. And since apples, grapes, pears, and green beans occupy top spots on the Toxicity Index, too, you may want to opt for organic here as well. Just know that organic produce also contains some pesticide residues, but in minuscule amounts.
At home: Wax on, wax off. "A lot of produce has a natural wax coating that holds pesticides, so wash with a sponge or scrub brush and a dab of mild dishwashing detergent. This can eliminate more than half of the residues," says Edward Groth III, Ph.D., a senior scientist with Consumers Union. Got kids? Play it extra safe, and wash and pare peaches, apples, and pears.
8.Prepackaged Lettuce
The dirt: Don't look now, but the lettuce on a burger could cause you more grief than the beef. Outbreaks of E. coli sickened 36 people in San Diego in September 2003 and sent 29 people reeling in eastern Washington in July 2002. In both cases, prepackaged lettuce was to blame. And according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, lettuce accounted for 11 percent of reported food-poisoning outbreaks linked to produce from 1990 to 2002, and "salad" accounted for 28 percent.
At the supermarket: Prepackaged salad mix is not inherently more hazardous than loose greens or a head of lettuce. It's the claims of being "triple washed" that lull consumers into complacency. "Just because something is wrapped in cellophane doesn't mean it's free of pathogens," says J. Glenn Morris, M.D., chairman of epidemiology and preventive medicine at the University of Maryland school of medicine.
At home: Rinse salad greens one leaf at a time under running water before eating. Beware of cross-contamination, too. "People know it's risky to put salad in the same colander they washed chicken in," says Anderson, "but they think nothing of touching a towel used to wipe up poultry juice, then making a salad."
9.Cold Cuts
The dirt: Germs don't take a number in the deli; cold cuts have been labeled at "high risk" of causing listeriosis by a joint team of researchers from the USDA, FDA, and CDC. While only 3 percent of the deli meats sampled contained Listeria at the point of purchase, the bacteria's rapid growth rate on cuts stored even under ideal conditions concerned researchers. Combine that with the fact that cold cuts are, well, eaten cold, and you've got trouble; Listeria thrives at refrigerator temperatures that stun other foodborne pathogens.
At the supermarket: Turns out the most likely source of Listeria-contaminated cold cuts is the deli slicer. Without regular cleaning, the blade can transfer bacteria from roast beef to turkey to pastrami and back. But aside from asking the clerk to stop and clean the slicer before handling your order, the best you can do is avoid delis that are obviously dirty and stick with those that are annoyingly busy. Meats that rotate through a deli quickly have less opportunity to bloom with Listeria.
At home: From now on, skip the sniff test and trash whatever meat you haven't eaten in a week. When you're ready to build your sandwich, slather on the mustard. Researchers at Washington State University killed off 90 percent of three potent pathogens—Listeria, E. coli, and Salmonella—within 2 hours of exposing them to a mustard compound.
10.Scallions
The dirt: Scallions play a bit part in most dishes, but a little goes a long way, as evidenced by the massive hepatitis A outbreak at that Chi-Chi's last October. Dirty scallions have also triggered small hep A outbreaks in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee. Other bugs known to have grabbed a ride on green onions include the parasite Cryptosporidium, Shigella, and the ever-present Salmonella. In FDA tests, U.S.-grown scallions carried Salmonella or Shigella in 3 percent of samples, nearly twice the number detected in imported samples.
At the supermarket: Forget trying to weed out U.S. or Mexican scallions. Given current labeling laws, grocers are under no obligation to list the country of origin of any produce item. More important, buy refrigerated scallions; room temperature can trigger a bacterial explosion.
At home: Turn on your faucet full force to blast away visible dirt. As you rinse, remove the outer sheath to expose lingering microorganisms, but realize that any step short of thorough cooking is only a partial solution. "More and more, pathogens are entering produce like scallions at a cellular level," says Caroline Smith DeWaal, director of food safety at the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
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