Health for life

No time to waste! Let’s get right to it.

1) The Kitchn: 10 Things to Buy in the Next 60 Days to Save You Money
Supermarket are holding some huge sales right now, meaning you can stock up on food used all year-round. Butter it up, everybody.

2) Casual Kitchen: Organic Food, Chemicals, and Worrying About All the Wrong Things
ComPLETELY agree with Dan here. Sometimes, our fears are amplified so much by hype, we get distracted from the real issues. Case in point, pesticides.

3) 344 Pounds: Discrimination Against Fat & Obese People
Interesting viewpoint on prejudice leading to an even more eye-opening discussion thread.

4) Divine Caroline: 10 Sugary Cereals to Avoid
Marshmallow Froot Loops are 48 PERCENT SUGAR? Are you JOSHING ME? It’s one of those things you knew, but don’t really know until someone translates it into a stat like that. Yowza.

5) Public Radio Kitchen: What Not to Get the Cook on Your List
Um, not that we’re ungrateful. But … yeah. Lots of cluttery tools out there.

6) Chow: Best and Worst Recipes You Made From a Cooking Show
Oo! Fun, huge thread. Paula Deens Gooey Pumpkin Bars represent very, very well (with good reason).

7) Mama Says: School Lunches
A glimpse into modern cafeteria cuisine.

8) Jezebel: What Fast Food Really Looks Like
Ooo … reality bites. Entertainingly so.

9) Obama Foodorama: Huge BiPartisan Coalition Urges House to Pass Childhood Nutrition Legislation in Lame Duck
Damn right.

10) The Simple Dollar: Some Thoughts on a Plant-Based Diet
Updates on Trent’s vegetarian experiment. Insightful. A spreading trend, perhaps?

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Gawker: The Internet Has Killed Cooks Source
It will live to “edit” articles no more.

Obama Foodorama: Improved Nutrition Labels on Food Packages Coming Very Soon, Sebelius Says
We’ll see, Sebelius. Well see.

Plixi: The Windows at Barneys
I had a dream like this once.

stonesoup: Defrosting 101 – The Quickest and Safest Methods Without a Microwave
Behold: THE SUN! (Just kidding.)

THANKSGIVING

• Food 2: Thanksgiving on a Budget
• Jezebel: Social Minefield – How to Properly Feed Your Guests
• The Kitchn: Help Me Find a Green Vegetable Dish for Thanksgiving!
• The Kitchen: The Pie Guide – 22 Tips, Tools, and Ideas for a Perfect Pie
• Money Saving Mom – How to Host a Frugal Thanksgiving for Guests With Food Allergies
• Serious Eats: Harold McGee’s Top 10 Thanksgiving Tips
• Words to Eat By: How to Enjoy Thanksgiving Without Blowing Your Diet

AND ALSO

Gawker TV: Tina Fey’s Famous Friends Pay Tribute at the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor
Does Jon Hamm ever stop being so dreamy? Seriously now. Oh, also, Fey is my hero. (Well, her and Ina Garten. If they ever combined forces to produce Baoot 30 Rock, my life would be complete.) (P.S. Alec Baldwin as Jeffrey. It could work.)


Thank you so much for visiting Cheap Healthy Good! (We appreciate it muchly). If you’d like to further support CHG, subscribe to our RSS feed! Or become a Facebook friend! Or check out our Twitter! Or buy something inexpensive, yet fulfilling via that Amazon store (on the left)! Bookmarking sites and links are nice, too. Viva la France!

Man. If the links are any indication, its gonna be a good weekend. I can feel it, folks. Happy June.

1) stonesoup: the absolute beginners guide to the art of seasoning [5 ingredients | 10 minutes]
Man, this blog just keeps getting better. Today, it’s on seasoning your food well, and what to do if you under- or overdo it.

2) NY Times: Saving Time and Stress with Cooking Co-ops
Oo! I love this. It’s like a potluck, but in take-home Tupperware. Sure, there are drawbacks (one dastardly participant relied too much on Hamburger Helper), but cooking one meal for many, and then getting six meals back, seems like an all-around win. (Photo is from the piece.)

3) Casual Kitchen: On the Benefits of Being a Part-Time Vegetarian
The CK household cut their meat intake by a few meals per week, and the benefits have been totes faboo. Here, Dan explains why, what happened, and how you might embark on the same glorious path.

4) NY Times: Food is the Thrill at Some Bachelor Parties
Move over strippers, here come Bruschetta Chicken Dippers. Or something. Point is, engaged peeps are apparently forgoing traditional bachelor and bachelorette parties for full-on gourmet experiences. Is it because Americans are getting married at more advanced ages, thus reducing the demand for some chick/dude in spangled undies to flash her/his bosoms/pecs? Beats me. I just want some pork belly.

5) Get Rich Slowly: The Battle of the Bulge, and the Battle of the Budget
On the link between debt and fat, and how going cold turkey may not be the best approach for either. You’ve heard the message before, but never in so entertaining and thorough a manner.

6) Salon: The dark side of the farmers market boom
Are farmers heading to cities to sell their food, leaving their less affluent neighbors to make do with Wal-Mart tomatoes? Sounds nefarious. Salon explores.

7) Consumerist: Restaurants Want You To Spend More, But Wont Stop Selling Cheap Food
Oops. You know all those dollar menus and special deals that fast food joints offered during the recession? Now that our collective money situation isn’t quite so dire, restaurants are having problems weaning customers off the bargains and on to more profitable meals. Not so good for business.

8) CNN: McDonald’s Warned: Drop the Toys or Get Sued
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (or CSPI, presumably) might/is sue/suing over the inclusion of toys in Happy Meals. They claim tiny Buzz Lightyears and Shreks entice kids to choose unhealthy food. As an ex-McDonald’s employee, I can only say … I guess? I don’t recall. It was 1996. Bringing them up from the basement was a big pain in the tuchus, though.

9) Food Politics: Alaska Fishing Politics – Fish Processing
Marion Nestle is doing a blog mini-series on the fishing industry in our northernmost state. It’s more complicated than you think, and an interesting microcosm of our issues in the lower 48.

10) Chow: 9 Cooking Apps Worth Downloading to Your iPhone
Dunno if this applies much for the frugalists out there, but Husband-Elect would become Ex-Husband-Elect if I didn’t link to these apps. (He loves apps. Apps, apps, apps. It’s all I ever hear about. “Hey honey, did you get those apps?”)

HONORABLE MENTION

Eatocracy: 5@5 - Chef Eric Ripert
See? Hot, world class French seafood chefs make mistakes, too. (Photo from site. Also? Humina.)

Epi-Log: Volunteer Options for Food-Loving Teens
Hey kids! How are you spending the summer? Here are four food-type volunteering organizations that could use your free time.

Hillbilly Housewife: Spring Cleaning One Room at a Time – the Oven
I move to a new apartment every year specifically so I don’t have to do this. Then, last month, it caught up with me. The experience was … I don’t remember. I blocked it out.

The Kitchn: 10 Ways to Use Pesto Besides Pasta
You knew “sandwich spread” was gonna be in there, but the rest are pleasant surprises.

Serious Eats: Supreme Court Makes its First Ruling Genetically Engineered Crops
It’s a strike against Monsanto … I think.

Slashfood: Throw That Wrapper Away or Pay
Lawmakers in San Francisco might start taxing fast food customers for garbage disposal. It’s half environmental measure, half fundraiser for the city. But is it right?

AND ALSO

Cracked: The 10 Most Important Things They Didn’t Teach You in School
For MADs snotty younger brother, Cracked sure has some spectacular web pieces. This one is no different, with #10 and #9 being must-reads. (Due warning: Theyre profane must-reads, but must-reads nonetheless.)

Thank you so much for visiting Cheap Healthy Good! (We appreciate it muchly). If you’d like to further support CHG, subscribe to our RSS feed! Or become a Facebook friend! Or check out our Twitter! Or buy something inexpensive, yet fulfilling via that Amazon store (on the left)! Bookmarking sites and links are nice, too. Viva la France!

Before we get to today’s links, the results are in from Tuesday’s Ask the Internet question. We queried: do you include tax when you tip a restaurant server?

THE READERS HAVE SPOKEN, and between thread comments and Facebook replies, it came down to a single vote. A single vote! No kidding:

• Yes, I include tax when I tip: 29 VOTES
• No, I don’t include tax when I tip: 30 VOTES

Henceforth, you don’t have to include tax! (Unless you want to.) With that dilemma solved forevermore, let’s go to el linkage.

1) River Front Times: 20 Unholy Recipes – Dishes So Awful We Had to Make Them
Possibly the post of the millennium: St. Louis bloggers attempted 20 different vintage recipes of varying awfulness, from Vienna Sausage Shortcake to Pickle-Stretcher Salad to Asparagus-Macaroni Loaf. The results are the culinary equivalent of Kurtz’s death scene in Apocalypse Now. (Thanks to Neatorama for the link.)

2) The Atlantic: The Great Grocery Smackdown
Great piece on Wal-Mart’s new produce initiatives, which include more organics and locally-grown fruits and veggies. In a blind taste test, the author matches some of the megacorp’s products up against Whole Foods versions of the same things. The results are surprising and encouraging. A must-read.

3) New York Times: When Children Are Overweight, Changes for the Whole Family
Solid piece on how a family’s lifestyle changes when its trying to correct a child’s poor eating habits. While you should never put a minor on a medically unsupervised diet, these subtle switches seem to make sense.

4) Wise Bread: 7 Ways to Cut Your Food Bill Without Clipping a Single Coupon
Quick-but-thorough primer on the basics of frugal grocery shopping. Definitely check it if you’re new to the field. (Which I call “grocerologyiatry.”) (Im still working on the name.)

5) GOOD Magazine: The Emotional Quotient of Soup Shopping
This is super interesting, and probably emblematic of how food graphic designers work nowadays. Campbell’s just redesigned their label to appeal more to shoppers’ emotional reactions. Did you know, neurologically speaking, that we don’t give a crap about spoons? It’s true.

6) New York Post: My Personal Kitchen Confidential
Not Eating Out in New York blogger Cathy Erway saved $7200 over two years by cooking at home, avoiding takeout, and skipping restaurant meals. When you live here, it’s so, so, so super easy to blow all your dough on food. This is a valuable reminder that theres another way.

7) Re-Nest: How to Buy and Store Bulk Foods
As my storage is limited to whatever I can cram in an unplugged toaster, this wonderful post doesn’t apply so much to me. But sweet readers, with your newfangled “pantries” and “shelves,” might find it super helpful.

8) Jezebel: Jared Fogle and the Plight of the Celebrity Dieter
Subway’s weight loss poster boy has gained back 40 of the 200 pounds he lost. In the grand scheme of things, this is still a huge triumph: the guy lost 160 pounds and kept it off. However, advertising-wise, this means big trouble for Subway, much like Kirstie Alley’s gain was bad news for Jenny Craig. It’s a warped, twisted way of looking at dieting, but an interesting media discussion nonetheless.

9) The Simple Dollar: The Minimal Tip
Rounding out our discussion on restaurant tipping: have you ever given nothing? Trent has, and here, he discusses the reasons. (Honestly, it sounds merited.) Followed by a massive comment debate.

10) CNN: Jamie Oliver: Eat your chips, just not every day
Go for details on Jamie’s victorious TED plan for correcting childhood obesity in America. Stay for the accent. Roit!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Dad Cooks Dinner: Weekly Dinner Plans
A different way of attacking menus. I like.

Hillbilly Housewife: 5 Steps To Safely Disinfect Your Wooden Cutting Boards
Non-bleach secrets to purifying your chopping blocks. (Note: not with hellfire.)

The Kitchn:
Quick Reference – A Guide to Herbs and Spices
30 Gold Medal Tips that Pack Some Punch in the Kitchen
What’s the Deal With Reactive and Non-reactive Cookware?
This week’s highlighted posts include an excellent primer on jarred flavors, kitchen hacks galore, and a question that has puzzled pan purchasers since the beginning of time.

Money Saving Mom: What is Your Stock-up Price on Toilet Paper?
If you ever wanted to learn about price discrepancies across the nation, read this comment thread. Mine: $0.66/roll. It don’t get much better in BK.

The Simple Dollar: Optimizing Your Grocery List
There’s efficiency, and then there’s EFFICIENCY. These strategies fall into the latter category.

BLOG CARNIVALS

Hey! We made some blog carnivals this week! Check ‘em out yourselves for a cornucopia of craft and personal finance articles, from every corner of the interweb.

• Len Penzo: The Carnival of Personal Finance #244
• 11th Heaven’s Homemaking Haven: Make it From Scratch Festival

AND ALSO

Esquire: Roger Ebert – The Essential Man
A few years ago, film critic Roger Ebert lost his lower jaw to a series of cancer-related surgeries. Since then, he hasn’t had a bite to eat or a drop to drink. He’s completely lost his ability to speak. Yet, he’s living louder than ever, mostly through his blog, his movie reviews, and his prolific Twitter feed. This moving, revealing article chronicles a day in the life of new Ebert, and if it’s not too cliché, it gets a huge thumbs up.

Chicago Sun-Times: Roger Ebert’s Last Words
Heres Ebert’s response to the Esquire piece. Filled with astute observances, including but not limited to, “Low self-esteem involves imagining the worst that other people can think about you,” and "Resentment is allowing someone to live rent-free in a room in your head.” Win: Ebert.

Thank you so much for visiting Cheap Healthy Good! (We appreciate it muchly). If you’d like to further support CHG, subscribe to our RSS feed! Or become a Facebook friend! Or check out our Twitter! Or buy something inexpensive, yet fulfilling via that Amazon store (on the left)! Bookmarking sites and links are nice, too. Viva la France!

Come autumn, they crowd the produce aisle like so many tough-skinned soldiers, boasting their seasonal orange and green hues like a silent, immovable army. Thrown at an enemy, they will wreak havoc untold. Made into soup, they will be your best friends forever. Or even foreva.

What I’m saying is: You may fear them. You may love them. Either way, winter squash should be in your kitchen, and eventually your stomach.

So let’s learn a little more, shall we?

HEALTH QUOTIENT

Often overshadowed nutritionally by leafy greens and cruciferae, gourds pack some impressive wholesomeness of their own. Pumpkins and butternut squash are astronomically high in vitamin A, while acorn squash is a good source of fiber, vitamin C, potassium, and thiamin. All varieties are virtually fat-free and comparatively low in calories, with spaghetti squash being particularly lean.

COST

If you’ve ever purchased them pre-cubed or in the depths of summer, winter squash may seem prohibitively expensive. Happily, it is not always thus. Bought whole and in season, they’re pound-for-pound one of the most economical vegetables, ever. My local supermarket often hocks them at $0.69/lb., and will go even cheaper if they don’t think anyone is buying.

CULINARY USES

Soups, purees, risottos, quickbreads, chilis, stews, casseroles, roasted sides – oh, where to begin? There are so many wonderful options for cooking winter squash, it’s tough to choose any one to lect upon. So here are some general notes:

• Acorn squash, butternut squash, and pumpkin take particularly well to warm, autumn-y flavors and spices. You’ll frequently find them in recipes using maple syrup, cinnamon, nutmeg, apples, and pears, among other October-like foods.
• Since these kinds of dishes tend to be sweet, I find kids and picky eaters tend to dig ‘em.
• This doesn’t mean gourds don’t pair with other ingredients. You’ll find meals where they mix with ricotta, kale, pork, curry, and tomatoes, just to name a few non-fall foods.

We go into specific recipes in just a minute, but first, a word about…

PREPARATION

Here’s the rub. While almost everything else about winter squash is praiseworthy, they can be a hideous nightmare to break down. Last night, I had to beat a sugar pumpkin ON MY KITCHEN FLOOR to get it open. Forget peeling it. After a few college tries, my brand new OXO stainless steel y-shaped peeler crumbled like the mid-‘90s Knicks.

Okay, maybe I’m being a little harsh. Slicing up a spaghetti squash isn’t all that bad. And you can buy almost any gourd pre-cubed. Heck – most recipes even ask for canned pumpkin puree, which eliminates the whole hacking process.

But if you still want to buy the pretty in-store gourds, there are a few things you can do to make the cleaving process way, way easier:

• Halve your squash lengthwise, seed it, and roast it until the insides are easily scoopable. (50 – 90 minutes)
• Halve your squash lengthwise, seed it, and microwave it until the insides are easily scoopable. (10-30 minutes)
• Poke a bunch of holes in your squash, and microwave it until easily pierced with a fork. (If you should attempt this, MAKE SURE to poke many deep holes in your gourd and remain in the kitchen as it cooks. If the squash starts making noise, you risk explosion. Also, I’m not sure I would try this with a pumpkin.)

Obligatory warning: Though you’re still very much encouraged to try it, be super caul when chopping winter squash. Use a sharp knife and keep your eyes on your work at all times.

That done, let’s get to the food. Each of the following recipes has been cooked, loved, and featured on Cheap Healthy Good or in my column at Serious Eats. Enjoy!

VARIETIES & RECIPES

Butternut Squash

Everyone needs more orange in their diets. And if youve ever sipped a stellar Butternut Squash Soup (like the ones listed here), you know that its namesake gourd is the way to get it. Shaped like a 70s lamp base and delicious almost any way its prepared, butternut squash also make an excellent cudgel for defending against invading vikings.

Butternut Squash Apple Cranberry Bake
Butternut Squash Gnocchi
Butternut Squash Lasagna with Raisins and Pine Nuts
Butternut Squash and Pear Soup
Butternut Squash Risotto
Roasted Butternut Squash with Moroccan Spices
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

Acorn Squash

Classically prepared with maple syrup in rings or slices, acorn squash is a squat, deep-green vegetable that resembles a particularly verdant pumpkin. Clocking in at one or two pounds, they also make excellent free weights.

Classic Baked Acorn Squash
Curried Apples and Acorn Squash

Spaghetti Squash

Confession: I used to hate this stuff, believing it was merely a poor substitute for actual spaghetti. Oh, what a dummy I was. Adaptable to a plethora of different cuisines, the oblong, yellowish squashs versatility has made it a welcome meal base. Its a bit different from other winter varieties in that the flesh doesn’t come out in chunks, but as slim, pasta-like strings, making it much more fun to play with.

Spaghetti Squash Casserole
Spaghetti Squash Puttanesca
Spaghetti Squash with Ricotta, Sage, and Pine Nuts

Pumpkins

Ah, pumpkins. Nature’s ottomans. Bright orange, ridged, and ranging in size from a few ounces to half a ton, pumpkins are sometimes dismissed by Americans as mere Halloween decorations. But anyone who’s seen one decomposing on the neighbor’s lawn knows: there’s more to pumpkins than their nigh-impenetrable exteriors. These recipes all use canned pumpkin, but roasted, pureed fresh pumpkin would substitute nicely. (Check in Monday for a Pumpkin Butter recipe, too.)

Pumpkin Bread
Pumpkin Orzo with Sage (Vegan / non-vegan)
Pumpkin Turkey Chili

Other Squashes (Buttercup, Delicata, Kabocha, etc.)

Though we only hit on a few types here, there are dozens - maybe hundreds - of winter squash varietals available in grocery stores, farmers markets, and pick-your-owns worldwide. Kabocha and Delicata are more common gourds, but I encourage you to experiment with whats available. Roasted with olive oil, salt, and pepper is always a good way to start out.

Roasted Delicata Squash with Thyme
Roasted Winter Squash and Kale
Savory Buttercup Squash Pie

And that’s a wrap. Readers, what are your favorite ways to prepare winter squash? Do you know any other ways to ease the prep process? Why is the sky blue? The comment section is ready for your good words.

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If you enjoyed this, you might also give big props to:

• A Beginner’s Guide to Beans, Plus 42 Recipes
• Cheap, Healthy Leafy Greens: 246 Recipes for Cabbage, Kale, Spinach, Swiss Chard, and Beyond
• Cheap, Healthy, Sick: 10 Easy, Nutritious Foods for When You’ve Contracted the Plague