blog archive for August 2008

I can remember when words like “cholesterol” and “heart attack” were said in the same breath as “egg yolks,” and experts warned if you ate more than a certain number of eggs a week, you could sit back and wait to feel chest pain.

As someone who had eaten her fair share of eggs, it didn’t sound right. But not wanting to take any chances, I became an less-yolk cook. I stopped eating my favorite sliced egg and tomato sandwiches, used one hard-boiled egg instead of five in potato salad and substituted egg whites for whole eggs in baking.  Chocolate chip cookies had a funny anemic look, and two-egg cakes lost their sunny appearance, but it seemed a small price to pay for the supposed health benefits. The sell-by dates on eggs were a joke. A carton of eggs could linger in the refrigerator for months.

In one of those about-faces so typical on the nutrition front, the latest news is that eggs have now regained a place on a healthful diet.  Of course, it’s not all right to wolf down four-egg omelets, but for healthy people, an egg a day is OK.

For dieters, eggs may help lose weight. In a study of people on calorie-controlled diets, those who ate two eggs for breakfast lost more weight and felt peppier than those who ate bagels, even though both groups ate the same number of calories.  A nice little bonus, which might explain the weight loss, is that the egg-eaters felt fuller longer, and by the end of the day, they ate fewer calories.   

I still can’t bring myself to make a cake that calls for a dozen eggs or a custard with eight yolks, but I’m back to eating egg sandwiches and baking two-egg cakes.

In the last couple of weeks I’ve done more than my share of hanging around airports and food courts. Although I know the country is on an obesity kick, it’s still hard to believe how much food some of those fast food places manage to pile on a plate and how many people manage to lick their plates clean. So it was no surprise to read the average American eats about two pounds more a week than he did in 1970.     

According to the USDA, which tracks consumption patterns, the nation’s dinner plates are not only overloaded, they’ve taken on a new look. The numbers have been sorted into food categories and except for cheese, which is being devoured, Americans are eating less dairy and more of everything else. People aren’t the milk drinkers they once were. They’ve cut down on whole milk but instead of substituting low-fat milk, they’re guzzling soft drinks and bottled water.     

Vegetable consumption is on the increase, but it’s still not enough to satisfy nutrition experts. Frozen and fresh veggies, especially spinach and tomatoes, are favorites, and canned vegetables are lagging. As for fruit, people are not munching on oranges and pears. Fruit consumption is up by about half a pound a week per person, but almost half is juice, and when shoppers stroll the produce aisles, their favorite picks are grapes, bananas and apples.     

The big draws in the meat department are chicken and turkey. Red meat, especially beef, is down but people seem to have gotten the message to eat more fish. Although Americans are not big fish eaters, fish and shellfish sales are picking up nicely.     

Fats have taken the biggest leap. Since 1970, fats and oils have increased an astounding 59 percent, about half a pound a person. People are using less butter and margarine, but they’re more than making up for it with cream cheese and sour cream. Since 1970, cream cheese (it’s fat not cheese) consumption has gone up 350 percent and sour cream is not far behind.     The Centers for Disease Control keep they’re own set of numbers and as you can imagine, they tell the same story another way. In 1980, 15 percent of Americans age 20 to 74 were obese and by 2007, that number had more than doubled.     

We’re kidding ourselves if we think fast food places are going to cut down on serving size. Maybe it’s time to bite the bullet and take another look at the boring advice health experts have been touting for years — variety and moderation. For Americans who have a hard time cutting down on serving size, it can take some getting used to, but it works.

By the time I got around to buying basil for the garden, it was late in the season and the plants were pretty much picked over. The stems were droopy, the leaves were sparse, and the soil looked like it could use a big drink of water. But since I cannot imagine a summer without fresh basil, I bought a flat and hoped for the best. I am happy to report that like preemie babies who grow up to be Olympic wrestlers, the basil I thought was near death has turned into tall and bushy plants — exactly right for making pesto.

After years of making pesto, you’d think I would have come up with the perfect recipe, but the truth is I measure leaves by handfuls and add oil until it looks right. For a reliable recipe, I suggest the one in Joy of Cooking (Scribner, 2006). (Process to a rough paste 2 cups loosely packed basil leaves, 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, 1/3 cup pine nuts, and 2 medium garlic cloves. With machine running, add 1/2 cup olive oil or as much as needed to make a thick paste. Season with salt and pepper.)

There are lots of great things you can do with pesto. Pasta tossed with pesto and some of the pasta cooking liquid is wonderful. Orzo mixed with pesto, white beans and red onion makes a terrific summer salad. Also, mayonnaise dressings (pesto whisked into store-bought mayonnaise) work well for potato and chicken salads, and the same mayo-pesto combo is good on sliced egg and tomato sandwiches.

To prolong the season, I’ve read pesto can be frozen in ice cube trays, transferred to plastic bags, and used one cube at a time. But I can’t imagine the flavor of a pesto ice cube dropped in a pot of minestrone is the same as a few spoonfuls of just-made pesto.
When the season winds down and the plants get hit by the first frost, I stop making pesto — until next year.

Looking for an easy menu for a summer party? Here's what I served this past weekend to a group of 12:

Kalua Pork

Tomato Phyllo Pie

Corn Muffins (OK, I cheated here and bought these ready-made from a local restaurant/catering business.)

Poached Pineapple Sundaes with Cinnamon Wontons

The best part about this menu was that everything could be made ahead, so I had plenty of visiting time with our friends. I started with poaching the pineapple at about 10:00, moved on to preparing the pork (which roasts for 3 hours), whipped together the Tomato Phyllo Pie, and finished with the salad. By the time the guests arrived, everything was ready. I even managed to get dinner served by 8:30--and that's early for me.

 My Very First Book of Numbers by Eric Carle (Philomel Books, 1974) could just as easily be called “An Introduction to Fruit” and is a great book for children.

The sturdy, coated pages are cut horizontally in half. The upper pages have anywhere from 1 to 10 black squares and the lower pages are illustrated with Carle’s playful drawings of fruit — 1 pineapple, 2 bananas, 7 strawberries, 10 grapes, etc. For older children, the idea is to match the number of squares with the same number of fruits. Younger children, not old enough to get the hang of it, will be captivated by the colorful pictures, which could be the reason you bought the book in the first place. My children licked the pages before we moved on to counting. The book is a fun way to introduce children to counting and eating fruit, two of life’s important skills.