Top 10 Links of the Week: 3/12/10 – 3/18/10

Lots of excellent links this week, many dealing with weird imbalances in food subsidies and how they affect health nationwide.

Which? Incidentally? I think we’re at a tipping point here. Media’s covering the subsidy issue more and more, and man-on-the-street awareness is slowly setting in. If the blogosphere is any indication, some substantial change will soon be in order, methinks.

But first … the links!

1) Zen Habits: The Simple Way to Stick to a Meal Plan
A soothing, calm approach to eating, highlighting the benefits of incremental dietary changes. Incidentally, I love this blog. It makes me want to listen to Sade and sip chai.

2) Salon: Hipsters on Food Stamps
This controversial piece has been making the rounds this week. Essentially, highly educated folks in their 20s and 30s are relying on food stamps to get by, but they’re buying organic produce and artisan breads with the assistance. Commenters are torn. Half are all like, “What’s the big deal? Would you feel better if they bought Big Macs?” The other half are all like, “What’s a kid with a MA doing on food stamps? Stop buying ironic t-shirts and get a job, beatnik!”

3) Food Politics: Michelle Obama to Grocery Manufacturers - Let’s Move!
MObama recently spoke to the GMA (note: Grocery Manufacturers Association, not Good Morning America), urging them to overhaul their practices for the good of the children. I try to keep this a bipartisan blog, but man, I love this lady.

4) Consumerist: How Oranges Cost More Than Coke
Adjusting for inflation, produce is almost 50% more expensive today than it was in 1978. Soda (or pop, for you Buffalonians) is 33% cheaper. Something is seriously wrong here.

5) New York Times: The Obesity-Hunger Paradox
Some of the poorest areas in America also happen to be the heaviest, with the South Bronx at the top of the list. Causes, consequences, and some really innovative solutions herein. Absolutely worth a read. (Go! Read it! I mean it.)

6) Casual Kitchen: The Worst Lie of the Food Blogosphere
The lie: “Food companies are evil.”
The post: provocative.
The discussion: smart, fun, even a little heated.

7) Civil Eats: 8 Steps the Department of Justice Could Take to Reform Farming
U.S. farmers reported a 35% drop in income in 2009. Agriculture megacorp Monsanto is expecting “gross margins in Q2 2010 of 62%.” It ain’t right, and the USDA and Justice Department are looking into their monopoly-esque practices. These eight ideas could help level the playing field.

8) New York Times: In Hard Times, Lured Into Trade School and Debt
You know those commercials for Le Cordon Bleu you see all over the Food Network? They’re actually for a for-profit college system called the Career Education Corporation. Students are charged $41,000 for a 15- or 21-month program that nets them jobs making $21,000 yearly.

9) Culinate: Culinary choreography - The importance of not being afraid to fail with cooking
Or, to quote Conan O’Brien’s commencement speech to the Harvard Class of 2000, “Fall down. Make a mess. Break something occasionally. Know that your mistakes are your own unique way of getting to where you need to be.” It applies to chicken, too.

10) Wise Bread: Cheapest Ways to Get Your Caffeine Fix
Need to stay awake, but don’t want to fork over $4.57 for a vente double mocha latte skim? This ingenious little list will keep your eyes wide open.


HONORABLE MENTIONS

Amber Waves: Guess Who’s Turning 100? - Tracking a Century of American Eating
Interesting piece on U.S. food trends since 1900. Plus, a bonus Boogie Nights reference, right in the blog title!

BoingBoing: London restaurant serves WWII rationing cuisine
Kitchen Front is a Brit eatery that recreates ‘40s food precisely, and then serves it up as dinner fare. The flavor is, uh, utilitarian at best, but the reviewer gives the place points for accuracy.

Chow: When Did “Cheeseburger” Become a Flavor?
Good question. Those Pringles cans freak me out, man.

Consumerist: This 1-Year-Old Happy Meal Has Aged Surprisingly Well
French fries age better than people. Both age better than Soylent Green.

Food Politics: Disturbances on the GM Front
GM meaning “genetically modified,” not “General Motors.”

Money Saving Mom: 31 Days to a Better Grocery Budget – Shop at More than One Store
The series continues. Log on and save mad cash.

The Simple Dollar: Litterless Juice Boxes – Do They Save Money if You Have Kids?
Short answer: yes. (As long as your children don’t lose stuff.) (Kids don’t lose stuff, do they?)


BLOG CARNIVALS

CHG was fortunate to be featured in two blog carnivals this week! Sweet.

• Canadian Finance Blog: Festival of Frugality #221
• Stop the Ride: Make it From Scratch Festival #159

AND ALSO

Ukraine’s Got Talent: Kseniya Simonova - Sand Animation
Wow. She’s doing that with sand. I couldn't do that with actual art supplies.



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Veggie Might: Vegan Rice Pudding or What Took Me So Long?

Penned by the effervescent Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about the wide world of Vegetarianism. Also, RIP Alex Chilton.

It’s an established fact, as long-time CHG readers know, that I’m a picky dessert eater. I have a long list of dislikes and flat-out hates that make me annoying when my girlfriends want to share tiramisu or strawberry shortcake.

My youth was spent turning up my nose at many of my grandmother’s and mother’s homemade offerings that didn’t involve chocolate chips or gelatin. I don’t recall if anyone ever offered me rice pudding, but I’m sure I would have refused the grainy white goop. The thing is I have no memory of it being a staple in my family’s dessert/snacktime repertoire.

Rice pudding has come lately to my attention via Indian restaurants. It’s warm, delicious, and simple, and but for the errant raisin, meets all my dessert criteria. Suddenly, I found myself craving it last weekend during the East Coast Monsoonami™, so for the first time, I made my it myself.

Jumping off from the “Rice Pudding” recipe in The Joy of Cooking, I replaced the whole milk with almond milk and used up the jasmine rice that had been hanging out in my pantry for far too long.

Though a bit time consuming, it’s criminally simple to make. It’s really just stirring; and I’m great at stirring. An hour later, I could barely wait for the fragrant, vanilla-scented porridge to cool before I dove in.

“What took me so long to make this?!” I said aloud to my dog. He looked at me with those eyes that say, “Whatever, lady.” I immediately ate two dishes. But it’s cool, since it’s pretty healthy for a dessert.

I still can’t believe my mother never made this for us when we were kids. Or maybe she did and I never ate it. Either way, vegan rice pudding is going into heavy rotation. Rice will never again last a year in this house.

~~~
If you dig this recipe, you may also dig

• Vegan Ginger Cookies
• Black Bean Brownies
• Wild Berry Betty

~~~

Vegan Jasmine Rice Pudding
Adapted from The Joy of Cooking
Serves 7–8

3/4 cup jasmine rice
1 1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp salt
4 cups almond milk (or other nondairy milk)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
dash of cinnamon
almonds (optional garnish)

1) In a large saucepan, bring salted water and rice to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer for approximately 15 minutes or until water is absorbed and rice is fluffy.

2) Add the almond milk and sugar to the rice and increase heat to medium. Stirring frequently, cook for 30–40 minutes until the mixture is thick and creamy.

3) Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

4) Pour into 7–8 ramekins and cover with plastic wrap if you don’t like pudding skin. Once the pudding has cooled, or if you want to serve it warm (as I do), garnish with dashes of cinnamon and almonds, as desired.

5) Take a taste, close your eyes, and try to imagine heaven being better than this. Just try.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Price per Serving
Serves 7: 161.8 calories, 3.1 g fat, .9 g fiber, $0.40
Serves 8: 141.6 calories, 2.75 g fat, .75 g fiber, $0.35

Calculations
3/4 cup jasmine rice: 450 calories, 0g fat, 0g fiber, $.41
1/4 tsp salt: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $.02
4 cups almond milk: 160 calories, 12g fat, 4g fiber, $1.99
1/2 cup sugar: 418.5 calories, 0g fat, 0g fiber, $.28
2 tsp vanilla: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $.04
cinnamon: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $.02
14 almonds: 104 calories, 10g fat, 2g fiber, $.04
Totals: 1132.5 calories, 22g fat, 6g fiber, $2.80
Per serving (totals/7): 161.8 calories, 3.1g fat, .9g fiber, $.40
Per serving (totals/8): 141.6 calories, 2.75g fat, .75g fiber, $.35

A Junk Food Tax: Reasonable Public Health Measure or Evidence of a Nanny State?

By now, you might have heard about the “junk food tax” or “fat tax.” No doubt, you’ve read a few articles and thought, “This is a wonderful idea!” or “Man, what are these people smoking?” At a potluck this past weekend, a few friends debated the notion, and reactions seemed to mirror those sentiments.

If you haven’t heard of the junk food tax, the idea is this: to help curb obesity, the government would add a tariff on to unhealthy foods, such as soda and pizza. While no concrete legislation has been passed (as far as I’m aware), the specter of the tax has ignited some debate. Will it really help our weight problems? Is it fair to tax people who can’t afford healthy food? Aren’t we capable of choosing what we eat? Where would it end?

I’m of two minds on this.

• When I consider the overall health of the nation, taxing junk food seems like a decent idea. Though education would ultimately be the best way of solving our obesity problem, it will take awhile. A tariff, on the other hand, is an immediate solution, and according to a recent study, might be more effective than subsidizing produce. Not to mention, the extra funds raised by the tax could go toward programs encouraging healthier behaviors. We tax booze and cigarettes, so why not junk food?

• When I consider me – just me – my answer is very, very different. I can control my own intake, and don’t think I should be punished financially for wanting the occasional Pepperidge Farm Mint Milano (a.k.a. What Cookies Must Be Like in Heaven).

I’m curious as to your opinions, though, sweet readers, and would love to read your thoughts. Based on the arguments, I’ll compose a piece for next week outlining the good and bad points of the idea in more depth, as well as the readers’ general consensus.

The comment section is open: What’s your opinion of a potential junk food tax?

(Needless to say, please keep it civil.)

A Quick and Dirty Guide to Lighter, Cheaper Drinks

Sweet readers, this originally appeared in July 2008, but I waned to re-post for St. Patrick's Day. There'll be a new one up later today. And also! A special note to Weight Watchers: A 12-ounce bottle of Guinness (not a can) is only two points! Drink up.

Top o’ the mornin’ to ye, my fellow Irish, part-Irish, and Irish-on-March-17th-only. I raise a pint of Guinness to you, since today, of all days, today calls for a drink.

Alas, alcohol is expensive, and certain beverages come with calorie counts you’d expect only from a Double Whopper. So, how can one quaff without ending up as nutritionally and financially bankrupt as 70s-era Meat Loaf? Read on…

CUTTING CALORIES

For starters, to chop your caloric intake, avoid these 13 drinks:
(Note: all serving sizes standard)

Regular Beer (140–180 calories)
Malt beverages (Mike’s Hard, Bacardi, etc.) (190-240 calories)
Melon Ball (~300 calories)
Sex on the Beach (~300 calories)
Mai Tai (~350 calories)
Rum and regular Coke (~350 calories)
Mudslide (~ 400 calories)
White Russian (~400 calories)
Chocolate Martini (~450 calories)
Hurricane (~600 calories)
Pina Colada (~600 calories)
Frozen Margarita (~700 calories)
Long Island Iced Tea (~750 calories)

And drink these 13 instead:

Bellini (~65 calories)
Mimosa (~80 calories)
Light Beer (95-110 calories)
Scotch, vodka, gin, or bourbon (~100 calories)
Red, white, or sparkling white wine (100-120 calories)
Bloody Mary (~110 calories)
Rum and Diet Coke (~115 calories)
Tom Collins (~120 calories)
Sloe Gin Fizz (~120 calories)
Vodka Martini (~125 calories)
Guinness (12 oz = 125 calories)
Mojito (~160 calories)
Cosmopolitan (~160 calories)

Once you’ve got that memorized, try these tips, some of which (nursing, drinking water) coincide nicely with the whole “save money” thing:

Plan ahead. Before going out, spend some time researching the nutritional aspects of certain beverages (and yes, the term “nutritional” is being used loosely here). Dottie’s Weight Loss Zone and Recipe Circus both have comprehensive calorie-per-serving listings that'll give you a good idea of what you’re guzzling. For even more information, check the source listing at the bottom of this article.

Know your ingredients. If you don’t have time set aside to research (and really … I understand), keep these in mind:

• To better your chances of scoring a low-calorie mixed drink, watch out for milk, coconut milk, heavy cream, Red Bull, Crème de anything, premade mixes, regular soda, lemonade, sugar, and full-sugar fruit juice.
• Instead, look for diet sodas, diet mixes, club soda/seltzer, ice, tomato juice, champagne, prosecco, cava, and fruit purees.

Establish boundaries. Give yourself a pre-set limit and stick to it. No more than two beers at a picnic, three glasses of wine at a wedding, etc. To make this strategy doubly effective, enlist a partner and help each other keep track.

Order a bigger drink. I don’t know about y’all, but I can knock off a standard-sized Cosmo during a commercial break. If that’s your situation as well, it might help to choose a larger, lighter beverage with less alcohol content. A 12-oz Beck’s Premier Light (only 64 calories) can take a full hour to imbibe, which contrasts nicely to those three-minute martinis. Speaking of…

Learn to nurse. Note: A beer, not a baby.

Hit the web. If you’re preparing drinks at home, look for websites that specifically cater to light beverage seekers. Hungry Girl is good for this, as are Cooking Light and the Weight Watchers boards.

Embrace agua. Sipping a glass of water between drinks will:
A) keep you hydrated,
B) keep you sober, and able to regulate your cash flow better,
C) chop your caloric intake in half, and
D) chop your spent dollars in half.

Flip a brain switch. Try to think of liquor as a treat (like ice cream or bacon) rather than an everymeal event (like water or vegetables). With practice, the distinction could become a habit, saving oodles of calories (and cash) in the long run.

Ignore peer pressure. Dude. Drinking is not a requirement for social events. If you like soda better, that’s completely fine. Get down with your teetotaling self.

CUTTING EXPENDITURES

Of course, price is another matter entirely. Unless you’re drinking it out of a king-size plastic flagon (Which … no judgment. Been there.) hooch costs add up quickly – especially if you’re sating a party. These tips should help to slash some costs.

Go bargain hunting. Look for happy hours, drink specials, and brunch menus with drinks included. Sites like Unthirsty and Happy-Hour are great resources, and folks in metro areas can Google some pretty decent city guides, as well. Always remember, though: if you can’t afford to tip the bartender/waitress, you can’t afford to go out.

Keep it simple. Mixed drinks are sometimes priced by their degree of prep difficulty and/or the amount of alcohol contained within. Fortunately, lots of lighter drinks are fairly unfussy that way. So, next time you’re deciding between a made-from-scratch Frozen Strawberry Daquiri and vodka with club soda, go with the latter.

Mix intelligently. Don’t use or ask for high-quality alcohol in mixed drinks. Stuff like Macallan is meant to be savored on its own or with very little enhancement. Combining it with lesser liquor misses the point.

Purchase wine wisely. According to studies, the vast majority of vino chuggers can’t tell the difference between a $6 bottle of Trader Joe’s Cabernet and a $50 jug of the upscale stuff. Ask the clerk for his/her best lower-range suggestions, and when in doubt, go for the less-expensive (but not bottom-of-the-barrel) brand. I find that Cavit, Fetzer, Indaba, Ravenswood, Yellow Tail, Veramonte, and Charles Shaw (a.k.a. Two Buck Chuck) are all pretty reliable, fairly economic labels.

Abandon your brand loyalty. Dropping your allegiance to certain labels opens up a whole new world of bargains and flavors. Why? Well, oftentimes, the stuff you like won’t be on sale, but a similar-tasting item will be. Give it a shot, and you might be pleasantly surprised. (Note: This doesn’t mean you have to forgo Smithwicks for Schlitz. It means that if there are two six-packs of similar Hefeweizens, and A’s on sale for $2 less than B, choose A.)

Buy in bulk. Almost without fail, alcohol is cheaper in bigger packages – beer especially. What’s more, certain wine and liquor stores give 10% case discounts, so don’t forget to ask the cashier. (Of course, some may argue that having so much booze lying around might tempt you to drink more often. If that’s the case, please only buy in bulk for gathering-type situations.)

Order online. Sites like Wine.com and My Wines Direct offer a wide selection of highly-rated, deeply discounted wines that can be shipped anywhere. Look for Clearance or Under $20 sections, and be sure to check RetailMeNot for bargain codes before purchasing.

Go beyond the norm. Beer barns, airports, Trader Joe’s, breweries, and wineries are just a sampling of the locales where intoxicants can be purchased at a less-than-soul-crushing price. Next time you pass one, step inside and consider.

Stay at home. If you’re really looking to get your drink on, consider inviting a few friends over instead of going out. Bars and restaurants make mad cash on alcohol, and tippling at either can cost you 500% more than if you set up shop in your own kitchen. If you do head out to an eatery, consider one with a BYO policy.

And that’s it. Readers, do you have any suggestions on either the health or cash front? What are your favorite low-cal drinks? How do you save a bundle when buying liquor? Bring it!

Sources for calorie information:
Calorie King
Divine Caroline
Dottie's Weight Loss ZoneFitSugar
Forbes
Glamour
Men's Health
Recipe Circus
Washington Post

(Photos courtesy of Guinness, Stuff Educated Latinos Like, and Wine and Words.)

Guest Recipe Post: Vegetarian Chili On the Fly

Katrina del Mar is a photographer, filmmaker, and 20-minute cooking specialist.

We’re hungry. There’s nothing to eat. What are we gonna do?

Five of us are upstate at a friend’s country house. One of us is a gluten-free vegetarian, and another is off sugar. I like to eat whole grains and real food, but I’m not a total snob. Oh, and the other people would be happy with a grilled American cheese on white bread with a donut for dessert.

We blew a bunch of money on lift tickets. We want to save money.

I go to the cupboard and I find a bag of brown rice; it’s almost empty. So, I dig further and find some lentils, some dried split peas, and some millet. Some taco shells. I find a can of black beans, another can of refried beans, a tiny can of tomato paste. I know we have some onions and garlic. In the freezer there’s a bag of frozen carrots. Rummaging through the fridge, I turn up some slightly withered hot peppers and some cheddar cheese.

I’m in business. It’s gonna be chili & rice.

I sauté half a sliced onion in some olive oil and add half a bouillon cube. (I use Rapunzel, it’s vegan. At some point I recommended it to my friends and thankfully, they have some on hand.) I put in the brown rice and some salt while I have the teakettle on to heat up some water. When the onions are soft and the rice gets kind of opaque I toss in the lentils, split peas, and the millet, and then the hot water. Plumes of steam hiss up and I slam a lid on it, dropping it down to a low simmer temp.

I get some help to slice the onions and hot peppers (which leads to an alarming contact lens situation later) and toss them into a pot with olive oil. I rinse off the black beans in a colander. We’re in company; it’s essential to not make the country cabin into a gas factory. I’ve been told it helps if you rinse off the beans. I find chili powder and cayenne in the cabinet. (I wish they had caraway seeds, it’s a great anti-gas agent!)

Once the onions and peppers are soft I toss in some crushed, coarse-chopped garlic. Following quickly are the beans, the tomato paste, some water, some chili powder, salt, and for the sneaky warmth of it, a cinnamon stick. Cover and simmer. You know what? Some refried beans go in. Not the whole can, I took a quick survey and everybody wants some refried beans just as they come, warmed up. That and the carrots, I’m gonna keep simple. They go into their respective pots for a warmup. I toast the taco shells in the oven a little bit so they are warm and won’t break apart.

At the end we have a ton of food. It’s pretty low rent but with grated cheddar melting on vegetarian chili, girl, we sure did like it. Also, since the food was already paid for, we have more money for snowboarding.

The chili took about 20 minutes. If you want this whole recipe to take 20 minutes, make quinoa instead of the brown rice.

The brown rice took about 45 minutes; that’s a pretty long wait but it’d still take longer to go to town, sit in a restaurant, look at menus, decide and then wait for the food. I bet.

On the Fly Vegetarian Chili
Serves 4 or 5

Chili
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 small hot red peppers, chopped
2 or 3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/3 14.5-ounce can refried beans (vegetarian, if possible)
1 14.5-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 small can tomato paste
A little water
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chili powder to your liking
1 cinnamon stick (or a little ground cinnamon)

Rice
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 bouillon cube (Rapunzel if you can)
1/2 cup brown rice, uncooked
1/8 cup lentils, uncooked
1/8 cup millet, uncooked
1/8 cup green split peas, uncooked
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Jack, cheddar, or Colby cheese, grated (optional)
Taco shells (optional)

See above for preparation directions. You should have just enough chili to feed everyone. There will probably be leftovers of the rice mixture.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Price Per Serving
4 servings: 433 calories, 13 g fat, 16.8 g fiber, $1.95
5 servings: 346 calories, 10.4 g fat, 13.5 g fiber, $1.56
For 1 taco shell add: 62 calories, 3 g fat, 1 g fiber, $0.21
For 1 ounce grated 2% cheese, add: 90 calories, 9 g fat, 0 g fiber, $0.25

Calculations
1 1/2 medium onion, chopped: 69 calories, 0.2 g fat, 2.3 g fiber, $0.93
2 small hot red peppers (hot): 36 calories, 0.4 g fat, 1.4 g fiber, $0.75
2 or 3 cloves garlic, chopped: 10 calories, 0 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, $0.10
3 tablespoons olive oil: 358 calories, 40.5 g fat, 0 g fiber, $0.56
1/3 can refried beans: 79 calories, 1.1 g fat, 4.4 g fiber, $1.29
1 14.5-ounce can black beans: 382 calories, 1.3 g fat, 29 g fiber, $1.29
1 small can tomato paste: 131 calories, 0.2 g fat, 7.2 g fiber, $0.89
1/2 cup brown rice, uncooked: 342 calories, 2.7 g fat, 3.2 g fiber, $0.54
1/8 cup lentils, uncooked: 85 calories, 0.3 g fat, 7.3 g fiber, $0.12
1/8 cup millet, uncooked: 95 calories, 1.1 g fat, 2.1 g fiber, $0.35
1/8 cup green split peas, uncooked: 85 calories, 0.3 g fat, 6.5 g fiber, $0.25
1/2 bouillon cube (Rapunzel brand): 25 calories, 2 g fat, 0 g fiber, $0.19
Kosher salt: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.01
Freshly ground black pepper: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.01
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder: 35 calories, 1.9 g fat, 3.8 g fiber, $0.20
1 cinnamon stick: negligible calories, fat, and fiber, $0.33
TOTALS: 1732 calories, 52 g fat, 67.3 g fiber, $7.81
PER SERVING (TOTAL/4): 433 calories, 13 g fat, 16.8 g fiber, $1.95
PER SERVING (TOTAL/5): 346 calories, 10.4 g fat, 13.5 g fiber, $1.56