A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

How to Properly Use a Knife

I love this little video because he tells you EXACTLY how to position your hands and your knife to cut properly and safely.  Well, with one little exception and that is that the knife top should always have contact with the cutting board. He does it, he just doesn't say it. Watch carefully.

And by the way, the name of both videos is "5 min" but the first is a minute and a half and the second is two and a half minutes, not five.

This is my snobbery at work.  It makes me crazy to watch the non-chefs on Food Network chop stuff. I thought Robin Miller was going to cut her fingers off the other day. She was sort of chopping with the knife completely lifted four inches off the board, plus it took her forever.  I know that Giada has been to culinary school but it sort of makes me crazy to watch her chop too.  But watching Emeril, Bobby, or Alton chop is like watching dance, it's a thing of beauty and goes by in a blur.

Here's another video that shows an actual dice and chop of several vegetables. It's not quite as smoothly done but a good primer. Notice how, again, once the dicing begins the knife keeps contact with the chopping board and the cutting goes in a rocking motion. 

I do have a bone to pick with them when they show mincing a garlic clove the same as chopping an onion.  My personal opinion is that that's a good way to cut your fingers. It's just to small. I make all the cuts all the way through to keep my fingers out of the way. Those horizontal cuts they made were scary, I thought!

But the video is very informative in general:

Cooking Joke of the Day: Thoughts for Food

While attending a marriage seminar on communication, Wally and his wife Carolyn listened to the instructor declare, "It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other." He addressed the men, "Can you describe your wife's favorite flower?"

Wally leaned over, touched Carolyn's arm gently and whispered, "King Arthur White Whole Wheat, isn't it?"

Doctor's Kitchen Monday: A New Year with Home-made Granola

It's a new year and although I did lose 15 lbs. last year it feels a hollow victory.  Does it really count if I lost and gained and lost and gained the same 10 lbs over and over and over again, barely inching my way down the scale throughout the year?  Maybe so but I really had higher hopes for the beginning of '08.  Sigh.  But such is life and there's no going back, only going forward.

The two things I'm really trying to tackle this month are the all important B and B's: Breakfast and Beverages. 

Let's start with soda.  I go up and down with my consumption but it's a constant battle against the addictiveness of Coke. Just love the stuff. If I have the choice between Pepsi and water, I'll choose the water, but if Coke is the choice, I'll drink it. The weird thing is I drink more of it at home than at work.  I'd think that would be the opposite but at work I'm moving around so much that I get dehydrated, know it, and crave water.  At home, nothing like an ice cold Coke. Right?  Okay, so I'm a product of effective advertising.

To fight my addiciton I've limited myself to an 8 oz serving a day and turned my attention to water, iced herbal tea, and Crystal Lite when I really need something flavored.  In the meantime I printed out this article and pasted in to the shelf above my desk and will read it every day and even change it out for articles in the same vein to keep myself reminded of just how healthy soda is. Not.

Take a look at this HEALTH BOLT: WHAT HAPPENS TO YOUR BODY EVERY TIME YOU DRINK A SODA --  and we wonder why diabetes is so rampant in our culture. Armed with that bit of depression I'm drinking lots of iced herbal tea today with lots of water tonight at work.

Moving on to breakfast I thought  long and hard.  One of the mistakes I've made in past January gung-ho moments is to think that I'm suddenly going to change everything about myself in one fell swoop.  From past experience I think I can safely say that's not going to happen so instead I think I'll try to work with my natural inclinations.  For breakfast, I like carbs mostly.  I can do eggs but in my least healthy moments I'm more of a biscuits & gravy and hashbrowns kind of girl.  Well those are out, obviously, but what I did come up with was granola.  I like cereal but it usually leaves me starving by lunchtime, which is no surprise since most commercial cereals are little more than sugar held together by refined flour.

I decided to make my own granola, which I happen to love. It's hearty, delicious, and if I make my own I can control the ingredients 1) to shape it to my tastes or whims of the week, and 2) which means I can control the sugar.  That's a win-win.

No Knead Bread: Take Two

After my first foray into the Mark Bittman No Knead Bread, I decided a couple of days ago to try it again now that the holidays are over and I had more time to concentrate on it.  The results were the same. I still like it. It turns out a decent little loaf of bread, although this won't be my go-to every day recipe.

Fudge and Fruit Bread: Another look at Christmas Desserts

I've already told you about the cream cheese cookie press cookies and the cranberry bread on the dessert table that was such a hit this year but one of the biggest surprise hits was the fudge.  Our family tradition is all about the peanut butter fudge. No one in my family even gives a flying flip about chocolate fudge, weird as that makes us, just peanut butter.  However, I was feeling a little lonely for MY favorite flavor and decided to make a go at it:  white chocolate maple.  Yum.

Thought I'd share a couple more pics from Christmas:

This is the kids all cracking up but I couldn't figure out why until Sydney signed to me that Suzanne (my sister) was making finger signs behind my head.  Duh.  I'm so slow on the uptake!

January 2nd, Already?

Where did New Year's Eve and New Year's Day go?  Oh yeah. I was at work!  Which wasn't too bad, by the way.  We had a full staff that night and threw together an impromptu party.  Of course we didn't think the night before to actually PLAN a party but I got up early that afternoon and made spinach dip and pulled some chips and salsa out of the pantry. Then when we got to work Steve found a couple of leftover 2 liter sodas and ordered pizza. The best part was having time to eat and relax for a few minutes around midnight. Yay!

So now we're up to Jan 2nd and guess what? I haven't already blown my diet yet this year. That's sort of a record for me but it didn't haven't much to do with self-control. Since I slept all day yesterday I didn't have time to stuff my face!  (There's always today since I don't work tonight.)

Back to the photo above. That is a little cherry pastry that I've been making for Gene for Christmas or New Year's mornings for several years. Out of all the holiday baking, it's one of the easiest and one of my favorites.  Plus I love watching Gene pick up the plate and fork and tuck into it even though he doesn't eat the whole thing at one time. It just tickles me the way he does it and how much he enjoys home-made sweets for breakfast with a cup of coffee.

Happy New Year