sprinklefingers

A must read!
From Mark Bittman’s New York Times blog…

[click on the text to visit the post online.]

Of the two edges of the sword of America’s malnutrition — hunger and obesity — the latter is by far the more prevalent and deadly. In New York City perhaps 2 percent of children have “very low food security,” which might mean vitamin deficiencies, a day without food, a loss of weight, a month of being hungry[2]. Meanwhile, 40 percent of New York’s public school students are overweight or obese, and 2,000 New Yorkers die each year from obesity or overweight-related conditions. All of those deaths are preventable.

No one should belittle even a little hunger, but this why-do-we-even-have-to-talk-about-it comparison of it and obesity is germane because the city’s Health Department recently suspended expansion of the Breakfast in the Classroom (BIC) program, which serves free breakfast in the classrooms of 381 of 1,750 public schools. The program is ostensibly meant to ensure that hungry kids start the day with something to eat.

But the school system already offers every kid, all 1.1 million of them, regardless of income, the opportunity to have free breakfast in the school cafeteria. BIC simply puts that breakfast on every kid’s desk.

The Health Department reined in BIC after finding that roughly 20 percent of all kids might be eating two breakfasts: one before arriving at school and another at their desks, adding on average about 90 unneeded calories to their daily intake. Linda Gibbs, deputy mayor for Health and Human Services, explained that the city wants to make “sure that that no child goes hungry and that every child has access to a healthy breakfast,” but at the same time “wants to be cautious that our good intentions don’t inadvertently exacerbate the obesity issue,” noting the 40 percent figure cited above.

click the photo for a link to the article. you seriously don’t want to miss it.

no too long ago i decided to go on a ‘salad for dinner’ d-word, remember? and for the most part that’s worked really well. i haven’t started hating lettuce or anything, and late spring/early summer vegetables are continually popping up at the market - wonderful!

mark bittman and i must be sharing at least a portion of a brain because in his latest piece for the ny times he gets all salady. of course the graphics are stunning (as usual), and he includes a recipe for a raw kale salad! i love raw kale salad!

first, the graphics, straight from the ny times:

and then there’s this - a salad matrix!

and, finally, the recipe for raw kale salad:

now, most people refer to raw kale salads as ‘massaged’ kale. and i refuse to do so. here bittman says to ‘knead’ the kale, which is a heck of a lot more palatable than massaging it. so, let’s knead some kale!

Kale Salad With Raisins and Blue Cheese
straight from mark bittman of the ny times

Use kale, not chard; instead of cooking, chop and drizzle kale with 1 teaspoon each olive oil and sherry vinegar; knead until tender. Toss with 2 grated carrots, 1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 cup blue cheese and honey-garlic vinaigrette: 1/3 cup olive oil, 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar, 1 garlic clove and 2 teaspoons honey.

this is a great, great read on how mark bittman became a cook.

there’s seriously something about a man who cooks (and does it well) for his family.

my favorite bit:

And the crying need to figure out a career while being a responsible husband and father as newly defined in the early postfeminist years pushed me in ways that journalism school or even a newspaper job never could have. I was perfectly capable of showing up in the kitchen every day at five or five thirty, armed to cook, but I was equally perfectly incapable of showing up at an office every morning, armed to listen to a boss’s bullshit. I know, because I tried.

he sings the praises of it here.

and helps you put that pasta water to good use here.

did you see mark bittman’s soup stuff in the ny times this week? that guy! he’s too much!

he set up four categories for soup - creamy, brothy, earthy and hearty - and then gives us the building blocks to create our very own soups in those categories. it’s like an art project and dinner prep all in one!

bravo, bittman! (and thanks for the four additional bonus soups!)

ps: shout out to the ny times team of Yunhee Kim, Maggie Ruggiero and Deborah Williams for such beautiful soup shots!

pps: bittman’s cooking show the minimalist premieres on cooking channel today!

and he’s got good reason for it.

you can read his ny times opinionator post ripping apart mcdonald’s latest ‘wholesome’ menu addition here.

my favorite paragraph from the post:

The aspect one cannot argue is nutrition: Incredibly, the McDonald’s product (the oatmeal) contains more sugar than a Snickers bar and only 10 fewer calories than a McDonald’s cheeseburger or Egg McMuffin. (Even without the brown sugar it has more calories than a McDonald’s hamburger.)

oh, mark bittman. thanks for always looking out for us.

the thing i don’t get about buying oatmeal at a fast food restaurant (or at a coffee shop…i’m lookin’ at you, starbucks!) is that oatmeal is literally the easiest thing to make. like bittman says in his piece, it’s so easy that,  “in the time it takes to go into a McDonald’s, stand in line, order, wait, pay and leave, you could make oatmeal for four while taking your vitamins, brushing your teeth and half-unloading the dishwasher.”

i’ve posted about baked oatmeal here before. it is our go-to breakfast dish…even when company’s coming to join us. so easy. and so delicious. perfect for a crowd.

but! there are even easier ways to make oatmeal. if i’m not eating the above baked oatmeal, my favorite way to eat it is like this:

peanut butter & banana oatmeal
serves 2

you need:

• 1 heaping cup oatmeal (thick cut rolled oats or regular rolled oats, but not instant or steel cut.)
• 1 3/4 - 2 cups milk or water
• 1 banana, ripe, sliced into half-coins
• 1-2 T natural peanut butter
• 1/2 t cinnamon
• salt to taste - 1/8 t or so
• sprinkle of raisins or dried blueberries, optional
• sprinkle of toasted nuts for texture, optional

to make the oatmeal:
[you can use either milk or water to cook the oats. we prefer milk around here because it gives the finished oatmeal a richer taste, but you can absolutely use the same amount of water for a lighter version.]

1. in a small saucepan, bring the milk (or water) to a simmer.
2. stir in the oats and let cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the oats reach your desired consistency.
3. stir in the peanut butter (we like to use 2 T) and continue to stir until it is completely incorporated.
4. remove oatmeal from the heat and stir in the bananas, cinnamon & salt.
5. top with the raisins (or dried blueberries) and/or toasted nuts and serve.

again. so easy! so delicious!
you can easily double or triple this recipe and store what you don’t eat in the fridge. when you want breakfast, simply reheat the oatmeal with a splash of milk, top with dried fruit & nuts and enjoy.