Eat Shrink And Be Merry

Made it! Two days down and 5 to go! So far, I’m not finding my meatless diet to be a problem at all. Today I visited three Toronto restaurants to do “location scouts” for our TV show: Meet the chefs, check out their kitchens, try their specialties and so forth. Our first stop involved eating a slice of decadent, calorie-laden, triple-decker carrot cake with cream-cheese icing. Wow. Is it possible to gain five pounds just from eating half a slice of cake? I swear I’m heavier now than when I woke up this morning…and it’s from this amazing cake. Then I feasted on authentic Italian cannelloni with homemade pasta, ricotta, spinach, tomato sauce and tons of ooey, gooey cheeses. Heavenly. My next stop was trickier as I needed to taste some deep-fried panzerotti stuffed with bacon and pepperoni without eating meat and without insulting the chef! I ate lots of dough and sauce and cheese and just “appreciated” the meat, nodding approvingly, but did not taste it. I was so full of carrot cake and cannelloni by that point, that it was hard to eat more than one bite anyway. Tasting food for a living is hard work, but someone has to do it

I wouldn’t say I’m craving meat at all, but I feel like I’m craving protein, if that makes any sense. Tomorrow morning I’m making poached eggs for sure (my absolute favourite breakfast). It’s also my dog Lexi’s favourite breakfast…only I call hers “pooched” eggs! And I never did get around to making that pot of vegetarian chili. Too tired. Is it wrong for a cookbook author to want their own personal chef?

Hey everyone! We’ve been meaning to tell those of you in Ontario that two of our frozen meal kits (formerly “Stir Crazy” and “Worth Every Penne,” now “Sesame-Ginger Chicken Stir-Fry” and “Mediterrean Chicken Penne”) are now available in the frozen section at Costco. Cool! We’ve had tons of great feedback on the meals, so thanks a million to everyone who took the time to write to us about them.

I heard that Costco was heating up and serving up samples this past weekend. Isn’t Costco great? I’ve said it a million times, but you gotta love a place where go to buy bulk toilet paper but end up with a new flat-screen TV instead.

Anyway, look for our snazzy new packaging and the name “Janet & Greta’s One-Pot Wonders.” We’ve also been working on frozen lasagnas with whole-wheat noodles (they’re great, even if we do say so ourselves!), soups, pizzas and dips. Maybe someday we’ll have our own J&G section at Costco! (Or not. Can’t hurt to dream big.)

Okay, so this vegetarian thing wasn’t bad at all today! For breakfast, I had my favourite Isagenix chocolate shake with a tablespoon of Salba mixed in. My mid-morning snack was my old standy, a peanut-butter-and-banana roll-up (whole grain tortilla slathered in peanut butter, insert banana and roll up)…simple and dee-lish. Lunch was very late as I was swamped at work. I had lemon-dill hummus with tons of cut-up veggies. Janet kindly gave me a dark chocolate nugget at around 2:30 pm. I sat at my desk working until 7 pm and was ABSOLUTELY STARVING by the time I got home at  7:15 pm. I quickly made my most favourite salad ever, my corn and black bean salad with mango and avocado, and proceeded to eat a giant bowlful. It never tasted so good! Looking back at my day, I think I could have consumed more calories, but I was honestly just too busy to eat.

Tomorrow is a challenge, because I’m in Toronto all day meeting with three “contenders” who’ll be starring in season 3 of our Food Network TV show. I’ll be sampling their dishes which include a) cannelloni…okay cuz it’s spinach and ricotta, no meat; b) carrot cake with cream cheese icing…no meat in there either, thank goodness, and c) deep-fried panzerotti…PROBLEM…it has bacon and pepperoni in it. Perhaps I’ll just smell it.

I’m thinking a big batch of vegetarian chili should help get me through the week, so if I get a chance, I’ll whip that up tomorrow night.

I’m so glad red wine doesn’t have meat in it, as I’m enjoying a glass right now (for its health benefits, of course). Until we meat again….

Being a carnivore my entire life, I thought it would be an interesting experiment to go a full 7 days without eating ANY meat. No chicken, no fish, no pork, no meat of any kind. I will not eat anything that once had a beating heart. (Do fish have hearts? Well, even if they don’t, I’m not eating them.) I’m not even going to eat artichokes, cuz they have hearts. So do hearts of palm, but since I don’t even know what hearts of palm are, I won’t miss eating those. Oh no! I just realized I often eat celery hearts and romaine hearts, too. This is getting complicated. Okay, let’s just say absolutely no meat for 7 days. I’m not quite ready to try the vegan thing yet, so I’ll be eating eggs and cheese and other animal products. As long as animals were not hurt in the making of the product, it’s fair game. But I won’t eat game, because that’s meat.

I’ll be reporting in daily so stay tuned! This should be interesting, as I’m pretty sure I haven’t gone one day in my life without eating some type of meat.

Chocoholics rejoice! Recently, one of our readers sent us a little treasure chest of chocolately treats so scrumptious, we’re still salivating just thinking about it. It’s called “Xocai–The Healthy Chocolate.”

Most people have heard that chocolate is not only good for the soul, but scientists have confirmed it’s also good for the heart (and more!) Dark chocolate is rich in flavanoids, the natural antioxidants credited with making red wine heart-healthy. We need lots of antioxidants to prevent disease, slow the aging process and generally, to be well.

But before you run to the grocery store and load up on Oh Henry’s and Milky Ways for “medicinal purposes,” be aware that it’s only the high-quality dark stuff that’s good for you. The more cocoa (the darker the chocolate), the more antioxidants. Sorry to burst your Aero bubble, but commercial chocolate uses a heating process that destroys most of the antioxidants in cocoa. Plus, the cheaper milk chocolate bars usually contain partially hydrogenated oils (trans fats), refined sugars (lots of it!), waxes, fillers, and preservatives. Can you say “cellulite?”

What’s so great about Xocai? Well, according to the manufacturer, they don’t use heat to process the chocolate. Instead they use a cold-pressed method that leaves the chocolate’s high antioxidant properties undamaged. Plus, the ingredient list is simple and clean: unsweetened chocolate, raw cane juice crystals, cocoa, lecithin, acai berry and blueberry powder. No fillers and waxes and trans fats, and only 3 g of sugar per serving. That’s next to nothing!

But it’s that super-high antioxidant content that has me going cookoo over this cocoa. It almost seems too good to be true. They say you’d have to eat three cups of blueberries to get the equivalent antioxidants found in one measly Xocai chocolate nugget! Who’da thunk? Plus, it’s melt-in-your-mouth dee-lish! One square, eaten slowly, is enough to satisfy even the most serious chocoholic, like myself.

Unfortunately, it seems you can’t get Xocai in stores. I believe it’s distributed via network marketing, so you’d have to find someone who sells it. You can go to Xocai.com to find out more.

Last night I was flipping through our second cookbook, Crazy Plates, trying to figure out what the heck to make for dinner for me and my Jack Russell terrier, Lacey Lou. (She’s on a raw food diet, but she loves it when I cook for her, too. Lacey demands variety!) After running the idea by my dog, I finally opted for Tuna Turner (grilled tuna steaks with a tropical fruit marinade), which I remember loving when Greta made it the first time in her “test kitchen,” which really isn’t a test kitchen at all, but her own kitchen). As I spread the book out to begin making the recipe, I noticed a short article in the margin that I had written way back in 1999 when CP was first published. Almost ten years later, it still made me smile. (Are we allowed to like our own work? Actually enjoy it? I’m not sure if that’s somehow against “the rules” or something. If it is, I so apologize for considering myself clever. I’ll never do it again!)

Anyway, thought you might get a chuckle out of it, too. It’s called “Twinkie, Twinkie, Little Star,” and it emphasizes the way that Greta and I feel about diets in general. (Our philosophy is “Dieting is only wishful shrinking!”)

Here’s the blurb:

After dieting for a while, you can get a little obsessed with the idea of eating. Every try singing to take your mind off food? Go ahead. Try it. Gumdrops keep fallin’ on my head…Ain’t nothin’ but a hot dog…the farmer in the deli… It just doesn’t work. And dieting doesn’t work, either–in fact, diets stink! They’re unrealistic and temporary, putting us in a voluntary state of famine. Funny that we’d starve ourselves to death, hoping we’ll live longer. And how about those diet programs with the boot-camp mentality? You know, they say you have to eat their food, they tell you what time of day to eat it, and that you have to eat all of it. This isn’t a diet, it’s living with your parents! No wonder 95% of diets fail. It’s time to forget about dieting and get on with living! Changing your eating habits doesn’t always mean eating less, it means eating better. Now that’s something to sing about.

We’re having another argument, only this time I know I’m right (for previous argument on the proper way to eat a banana, visit archived blog “Please help us settle and argument/bet”).

I can’t stand pump hairspray. I’m an aerosol girl! Yes, I’m concious of the environment and all that mumbo jumbo, but most aerosols no longer have those nasty PCBs or NBCs or XYZs or whatever they were called. Pumps are meant for shoes, not for hair. Whenever I borrow Janet’s pump hairspray, I end up with half of it on my body, all over my neck and arms, because the drops of hairspray are so big and heavy, which means I actually have to WASH MY ARMS if I’m wearing a tank top or take my silk shirt to the dry cleaner because it’s splattered in goopy-sticky hairspray gunk.

On the other hand, my wonderful aerosol can deliver an even, gentle, fine mist of tacky hair adhesive exactly where I want it: on my hair, not on my body!! Janet says aerosol hairspray’s “so stupid…it doesn’t even hold anything, so what’s the point?” Um. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be using it if it didn’t “hold anything.” I’m the queen of hairspray, after all, and, like my American Express card, never leave home without it (on my head).

A little aside here: I’ve always thought that if I was chosen as a contestant on Survivor, my one “luxury” item that I would bring along would be a can of hairspray. And why not?? I figure it’s a smart choice because it could serve several purposes: 1) hold my hair; 2) help start a fire; 3) could be sprayed in the eyes of other contestants who annoy me and 4) if I brought along the ultra stinky 1970’s “Final Net” hairspray, could act as bug repellent.

Anyway, please comment and tell me that I’m right and Janet’s wrong, and that aerosol is the only way to go, and that pump hairspray sucks.

Howdy! Just wanted to let you know about a really great website we came across recently. It’s called “Diets in Review” (www.dietsinreview.com) and it gives you the detailed scoop on just about every diet under the sun.

I love how comprehensive the reviews are, and how they quickly get to the gist of the diet so you can make an informed decision about whether or not this particular diet is right for you. Weight Watchers, Body for Life, The Cabbage Soup Diet, The Fat Flush Plan, Eat Right for Your Type, Master Cleanse, The Biggest Loser Club, Oprah’s 21 Day Cleanse–you name a diet, they dissect it and rate it. From the well-publicized to the much scrutinized, and everything in between, if you’ve been dying to know more about dieting, this site will be very, very helpful.

And the list of diets is extensive! Gosh, who knew there was an official “Dorm Room Diet” or a “McDonald’s Diet?” I was also intrigued by the names “Camp Carbaway” and “The Hallelujah Diet.” Pretty sure I won’t be signing up for “The Tapeworm Diet” anytime soon.

This month, we’re fortunate enough to be guest bloggers on their site! We’ll be posting some of our new video blogs each week. You can check them out at http://www.dietsinreview.com/diet_column/08/guest-blog-creativity-ensues-with-these-original-mini-diets/

I’m so lucky! The nice folks at Cuisinart were kind enough to send me some of their latest and greatest countertop appliances to “play with” in my kitchen and I have to say I’m totally impressed! You should see my new toaster, the Countdown Metal 4-slice Toaster. Not only does it look great on my countertop, but it toasts bread, bagels, waffles (whatever!) perfectly and has all sorts of settings, depending on how toasted you like your toast. The “cool” part is that is has a digital timer display that counts backward to let you know how many seconds it’ll take before your toast pops. The slots are wide and they’ll hold just about anything you want to toast. By the way, did you know a CD case fits perfectly in a toaster slot? I don’t recommend trying this stunt at home, but this toaster got me so excited about toast and toasting things, that I start grabbing all kinds of mostly edible stuff in my kitchen to see what would fit in the slots.

Anyway, here’s a picture of it:
http://www.cuisinart.ca/en/product.php?state=toasters&page=products&item_id=280&product_id=227&cat_id=15

If you’re in the market for a new toaster or need a snazzy gift for a bridal shower, I highly recommend it. And thanks a million to my new friend Michelle at Cuisinart for so kindly sending me a whole load of great products. It was like Christmas in July at my house as I opened box after box after box of Cuisinart stuff. Can’t wait to try the espresso machine!! I love coffee!! (It’s good for you, right?)

Think milk is the only food that gives your bones a boost? Well moooove on over, Betsy!

Though onions may bring a tear to your eye, it seems they might also bring you stronger, healthier bones! The super-brainy folks over at the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry have apparently identified—hot off the test tube—a compound in onions that inhibits the activity of osteoclasts. That’s scientific mumbo jumbo meaning “cells that break down bone.” (I’ll spare you the ridiculously unpronounceable lab name of the newly identified compound for now. Write to me if you’re in an upcoming spelling bee and need the new word in your repertoire.) Anyway, when animals in the study were given more of this onion compound, the more bone breakdown was inhibited. For crying out loud!

This is great news for women who are at risk for osteoporosis as they go through menopause. Fosamax, the drug typically prescribed to prevent excessive bone loss, works in a similar manner (by destroying osteoclasts so they don’t break down bone.) Potential negative side effects of Fosamax include irritation of the upper gastrointestinal mucosa, acid regurgitation, esophageal ulcers and erosions. Potential negative side effects of eating onions: onion breath!

By the way, bone-building isn’t the only reason onions have appeel. Their sulphur compounds are potent liver detoxifiers, and they contain loads of age-defying antioxidants, too! But did you know that the more an onion makes you cry, the better it is for you? It’s true! The more pungent and potent an onion, the stronger its antioxidants that’ll help prevent disease and keep you looking younger. Plenty of reasons to cry for joy!