Top 10 Links of the Week 1 22 10 – 1 28 10

This week, we question authority, stand up to The Man, and discuss some lovely options for midday snacks. Tally ho!

1) Serious Eats: How Do You Eat for a Week for $50?
I think this thread might be longer than the Constitution. And the ideas are just as excellent. What, me exaggerate?

2) GMA: Grocery Bill Was Out of Control, but Year-Long Meal Plan Saves Texas Woman Time and Money
Leslie Chisholm, mother of four boys, started planning her family’s dinner a year in advance. It took some time, but she’s managed to reduce her grocery bill by half. Moms take note! (Note: it’s a video.)

3) Slashfood: What Can I Get You Folks – Using Your Coupon
“For whatever reason, coupon users tend to be among the most impolite diners,” says Slashfood columnist/waitressing vet Hanna Raskin. Here, she suggests ways to avoid being that guy. A solid comment thread follows the post. (Incidentally, when I worked in the food industry, the very best and very worst customers were almost always senior citizens.)

4) Jezebel: OK Helps Kourtney Shed Baby Weight with Photoshop Phony Diet
This whole piece is just emblematic of why I love Jez, but especially this sentence: “Since women have already learned from other magazine covers to loathe their ‘bikini bodies’ and that they should be wrinkle-free after 40, why not send the message that their bodies arent good enough mere days after theyve brought forth life?”

5) Jezebel: Whole Foods Employee BMI Discount Raises Legal Concerns
Whole Foods is giving discounts to workers in good shape. Normally, this would anger me, since it seems like discrimination. But here’s the hitch: if you’re trying to project a certain image with your business, does it make sense to encourage employees to uphold that impression? Hooters does it. (Note: This is a devils advocate kind of question. IMHO, its discrimination.)

6) The Kitchn: Quick and Light – 14 Ideas for Fresh and Easy Snacks
All of a sudden, I’m hungry for kale chips. And roasted chickpeas. And granola. And … you get the idea.

7) The Simple Dollar: Trimming the Average Budget – Alcoholic Beverages
For all this talk about frugal food, you don’t see booze mentioned very often. Trent attempts to remedy the situation with smart tippling strategies. As always, the comment thread is required reading. Drink up!

8) Coupon Sherpa: Recipe for Survival - 23 Ways Restaurants Save Money
Restaurants have taken some serious hits these last few years, so it’s logical they’re making cutbacks. Many are pretty reasonable, but a few border on unethical, e.g., the porcelain plates with bumps built in to make it look like you have more food. (Thanks to Simple Dollar for the link.)

9) Consumerist: You Ignore Calorie Info for Yourself, but Not Your Kids
Oh, man. So interesting. Parents buying fast food dinners for their kids saved 100 calories per meal when the nutritional data was posted on the menus (670 calories vs. 570 calories). Apparently, this can mean 10 pounds per year, ungained by children.

10) Serious Eats: Taste Test – Veggie Burgers
Morningstar Grillers: still the best! Even after all these years out of college, when vegetarian friends taught me they were totally the best!

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Boston.com: Weight Watchers Sues Jenny Craig
It’s like the ‘90s East Coast/West Coast hip-hop feuds, starring Valerie Bertinelli instead of Suge Knight.

The Kitchn: 6 Ways to Reuse Oatmeal Tins
As someone on an oatmeal kick of epic proportions, this will come in handy.

Neatorama: Brain Slug Cupcakes
Because sometimes, you just want a cupcake shaped like a brain slug.

New York Times: The New Old Way to Tote Your Beer
If you’re a serious microbrew fan, growlers are your best friends. They’re essentially gallon jugs that you can ill at local pubs/specialty stores. One of roommates does it, and it’s saved him quite a bit of cashola.

Serious Eats: Finally, a Heavy Metal Cookbook - Hellbent for Cooking
For those about to cook, we salute you.

Wise Bread: Frugal, Gluten-Free Living – Kitchen Tools That Stretch Your Budget and Time
Celiac folks! Look here! I swear its not weird.

AND ALSO

McSweeney’s: Benefits Not Provided by “Friends with Benefits.”
My most excellent and hilarious friend Tony got a piece in McSweeney’s! This is the link to it. Because that’s what we do here.

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!

Top 10 Links of the Week 4 30 10 – 5 6 10

So much good stuff going on this weekend: Mothers Day, beautiful weather (in NYC), and tonights Season 4 premiere of Friday Night Lights, the best hour-long drama on TV. 

But before any of that: Clear eyes! Full hearts! The links!

1) New York Times: For Corn Syrup, the Sweet Talk Gets Harder
HFCS has taken a huge publicity hit in the U.S. the last couple of years, and it’s being lected in sales. Less money is never a good thing for any business, so food manufacturers are taking steps to replace corn syrup with real sugar. Honestly, I don’t know how much better that is anyway, but HFCS admittedly kind of freaks me out. So … yay?

2) Almost Frugal: You vs. the Grocery Store
LOVE this post about combating supermarkets’ subtle ways of getting you to buy extra stuff. Think of it like a casino: go in with a plan, and you’ll walk out with your pants still on. (Um … you know what I mean.) (Thanks to Casual Kitchen for the link.)

3) Frugal Green Family: Considering a CSA? Weighing the Pros and Cons
For those of us still on the fence about a CSA share, this fabulously thoughtful post should seal the deal, either way.

4) Get Rich Slowly: The Savvy Shopper’s Guide to the Farmers’ Market
Need help navigating your farmer’s market? Go here. Do it now. Before you start cluelessly wandering your local produce gathering like a noob. Heh. Noob.

5) Surviving and Thriving: I glean ketchup packets. So what?
“Want to be considered weird, embarrassing or just plain cheap? Be frugal among people who aren’t.” In her new blog, MSN’s Donna Freedman discusses life as a frugalist, and why some people look at it weirdly (but probably shouldn’t). Good stuff.

6) Publix Penny Pincher: How to Make Your Cashier Love You
I first read the title as “How to Make Your Cashier Make Love to You.” Needless to say, it’s not about that. BUT, these simple supermarket tips will turn grocery shopping into a much more pleasant experience for everyone involved. Remember: Cashiers are people, too! (People who enjoy making love.)

7) HuffPo: A Table, Les Enfants! Dinner Is Served!
Neat piece about mealtime cultural differences between the author’s American family and French in-laws. At home, she’s always eaten quickly, mostly for fuel. Abroad, she parks her derriere and takes the time to enjoy the frommage. Tres bien.

8) stonesoup: 10 tips for optimum vegetable storage
Yes! This! Your parsley will never wilt prematurely again. (Photo courtesy of The Kitchn.)

9) Non-Meat Athlete: 7 Steps to Eating Less Meat Now
We all know that consuming less beef, poultry, and pork is better for our health and bank accounts. But how do we start? This guy knows. Oh, how he knows. (Thanks to Casual Kitchen for the link.)

10) The Atlantic Food: Among Dorms and Dining Halls, Hidden Hunger
Hey low-income college kids! Do you want an education, or do you want to eat? Unfortunately, more of you are being forced to make that decision. Fortunately, there are an increasing number of food programs being created to address the problem. Still, yikes.


HONORABLE MENTION

Associated Press: Expert: Surface area of Gulf oil spill has tripled
The AP piece is a few days old by now, but it’s still a solid overview of the Gulf catastrophe. This NYT article is newer, and explains how it might affect our seafood supply. What a mess, people.

Casual Kitchen: Meat Versus Miles - Why Less Meat is Better Than Going Local
Ideally, you can be doing both and still saving some cash. But slowly phasing meat out is a tad more effective.

Culinate: Gas vs. Electric Cooktops
I grew up on electric, and started using gas when I began renting. I will never switch back. And you can punctuate it. (Photo from Wikimedia.)

Food Politics: Where Do Farm Subsidies Go? Now We Know.
It’s your tax dollars at work. In the fields. For major corporations, mostly.

Get Rich Slowly: Getting Paid to Lose Weight with Healthy Wage
Is competing for a cash prize a good way to drop some pounds? Adam Baker is gonna find out. His Healthy Wage team has three months to lose, with $10,000 at stake.

The Kitchn
How Does a Food Lover Maintain a Healthy Weight?
Whipping Cream or Egg Whites: Soft, Firm, and Stiff Peaks - A Visual Guide
Link #1: Huge comment thread chock full of sweet suggestions.
Link #2: Ooo! My angel food cakes will be much happier now.

Money Saving Mom
Freezing Homemade Baby Food
Is Freezer Cooking Really Worth it?
Link #1: Looking to cut down on Gerber jars? Here’s how.
Link #2: Crystal’s first reason alone is enough to make me want to try this. Dishes are the scourge of humanity, people.

My Paper Crane: the dirty dozen cheat sheet
Need a super-cute graphic reminder of what organics to buy? This is your post.

NY Times: Farmers Cope With Roundup-Resistant Weeds
Dude. Nature ALWAYS wins. This could be very not good. Or just the opposite, if it’s publicized enough.

Serious Eats: Are There Foods You Can’t Keep in the House?
M&Ms. I will eat every one of them in a single sitting, lick the bag when they’re gone, and snort the air for chocolate dust particles afterward.

Simple Bites: Ten Ingredients You Must Have on Your Spice Rack
Guest poster Lydia Walshin runs down a list of her ten essentials, including a surprising #10. While I might add cloves, it’s a solid roundup.

This Mama Cooks: Healthy Comfort Food Weekly Meal Plan
It’s essentially a recipe roundup, but it’s a REALLY good recipe roundup. I want to go to here.


AND ALSO

The Seattle Times: Local boy with cancer turns into a superhero for a day
Favorite. Story. EVAH. 13-year-old Erik Martin is struggling with cancer, and loves superheroes. So, Make-A-Wish got most of Seattle together (seriously, it’s a cast of thousands) to turn him into one. I swear, this will warm your heart, kidneys, spleen, and every inch of your intestines. Go now!

Betty White SNL Promo
If you can’t catch FNL, go for SNL. The second take nearly made me cry laughing. St. Olaf, represent!



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!

Veggie Might Roasted Asparagus and Chickpeas – Not So Risky Business

Written by the fabulous Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about all things Vegetarian.

Hee! It’s April 8, and I swear I’m still a vegetarian. Now that we’re back to reality, let’s get right to the vegetables.

As Kris pointed out on Monday, it’s springtime for asparagus (and baseball). There is nothing else I want to eat right now (or watch on TV). Luckily, both are easily had.

Normally, I don’t mess much with asparagus. It’s so delicate and flavorful, I just give it a quick blanch or steam and leave it at that. This week, though, I had people over for supper, and I wanted to try something new…with them sitting in the living room waiting to be fed.

Remembering this great post on roasting broccoli over at Feast, ReadyMade’s new food blog, I envisioned serving a salad with roasted asparagus and chickpeas. Of course, sometimes what I picture in my mind doesn’t always translate to the plate.

My meal plan wasn’t that risky. Roasting is kind of foolproof: hot oven + oiled up veggies × 15–20 minutes = time to eat. The X factor was the cup and a half of cooked chickpeas I tossed onto the baking sheet with the asparagus at the last second. Who knew what would happen?!

I whipped up a green salad and a grapefruit/ginger vinaigrette based on this dressing (I skipped the zest and used a whole grapefruit, saving beaucoup time), while the oven worked its magic.

With the ding of the oven timer, everything was ready, and it all came together brilliantly. Including prep, the whole meal took about 40 minutes to prepare, making for a perfect weeknight dinner or quick weekend lunch.

The asparagus was perfectly cooked and the chickpeas were just a touch caramelized and almost chewy—a success. Combined with the salad and garlic toast, we had the ideal, light, spring meal. The asparagus/chickpea combo would also make a terrific side dish.

Both my Charming Dinner Guest and C from Beantown were delighted with the results of my hardly-what-you’d-call labor, and so was I. The salad on the plate was precisely the salad from my vision.

I think we can all learn a lesson from my little tale: risk + asparagus = reward.

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

• Steamed Asparagus
• Chlorophyll and Awesomeness Salad (Arugula and Asparagus)
• Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Brown Butter

~~~

Roasted Asparagus and Chickpeas
Yields 4–5 servings

1 1/2 lbs asparagus, snapped into pieces
1 1/2 cups (or 15 oz can) chickpeas, dried and soaked
2 tbsp olive oil
2 generous pinches sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

1) Preheat oven to 400°.

2) Wash asparagus and break of woody ends from spears. Then break spears into evenly sized pieces.

3) In a large bowl, toss asparagus and chickpeas with olive oil, salt, and pepper to taste.

4) Spread evenly on a baking sheet and place on the center rack of the oven for 10 minutes. Stir, flip, toss, etc. the vegetables and put back in the oven for another 5–10 minutes or until the asparagus is tender but not mushy and the chickpeas have started to caramelize.

5) Serve as a side dish or over salad greens with a light, springy dressing.

6) Bask in the praise you will receive.

Approximate Calories, Fat, Fiber, and Price per Serving
Serves 4: 168.3 calories, 6.9g fat, 6.8g fiber, $0.71
Serves 5: 134.7 calories, 5.5g fat, 5.4g fiber, $0.57

Calculations
1 1/2 lbs asparagus: 90 calories, .5g fat, 9g fiber, $2.50
1 1/2 cups chickpeas: 403 calories, 6g fat, 18g fiber, $.21
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil: 180 calories, 21g fat 0g fiber, $.12
sea salt: negligible calories, fat, fiber, $.02
black pepper: negligible calories, fat, fiber, $.02
TOTALS: 673 calories, 27.5g fat, 27g fiber, $2.87
PER SERVING (TOTALS/4): 168.3 calories, 6.9g fat, 6.8g fiber, $0.71
PER SERVING (TOTALS/5): 134.7 calories, 5.5g fat, 5.4g fiber, $0.57

Top 10 Links of the Week 1 8 10 – 1 14 10

First, thank you guys so much for your responses to Tuesday’s Ask the Internet question. They helped a lot, and I feel much more confident hitting up Crate & Barrel with a scanner gun. I think the Oxo company will be very, very pleased by the time we’re finished.

Second, Haiti’s been on a lot of people’s minds this week. If you’d like to pitch in, Epi-Log has a good rundown of donation sites for food relief, and Partners in Health is looking for any help they can get.

Third, my fellow compatriots of Team Conan, it’s time for the links.

1) Food Politics: Genetic Causes of Obesity – 1%
The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition just found that only 1% of us can blame obesity on genetics, thus obliterating my last excuse for not exercising. Of course, environment (where family plays a huge role) is still a significant factor, but it seems that most of us can no longer say we’re fat because our grandmas were, too.

2) Mark Bittman: A Sound Piece by Russ Parsons
Guest blogger Parsons proposes some ground rules for discussing large-scale farming in the new decade. Actually, these sound, forward-thinking ideas would help navigate just about any disagreement. Just replace “food” with “boss,” and you’re good to go.

3) NPR: Going with Whole Grains
Excellent introduction to the wonderful world of amaranth, quinoa, and farro. Includes cooking methods, recipes, and a nice narrative from writer Nicole Spiridakis.

4) The Simple Dollar
Trimming the Average Budget – Food at Home
Trimming the Average Budget – Eating Out
Trent recently did a breakdown of the average household budget. Now, he’s going over each budgetary area, post by post, and offering hints on how to trim expenditures. A neat series overall, with quite good entries on food.

5) Queen of Shake-Shake: Proof that God Exists – He Loves a Housewife Martyr
Heather bought AN ENTIRE SET of Le Creuset cookware off Craigslist for … are you ready for this? … I don’t know if you are … brace yourselves, because here it is anyway … $200. I’m still gasping three days later. (Thanks to Meredith for the link.)

6) Lifehacker: Make Your Own Snack Packs to Lose Weight
If you did everything Lifehacker suggested, you’d be ruling the planet by now. Here, they highlight a smart Parent Hacks post that could help you drop some pounds and save some dough.

7) The Atlantic: Cultivating Failure
Look, writer Caitlin Flanagan, your largely insane article does contain one or two valid criticisms of Alice Waters and the school garden movement, but insulting your readership right off the bat ("ACORN-loving"?) doesn’t do wonders for your argument. May I suggest not starting your next book, about the emotional lives of teenage girls, with “We all know an emotionally volatile and somewhat promiscuous 14-year-old space cadet”? Ed Levine has a full breakdown/takedown.

8) Food Network Humor: How to Make an Episode of Barefoot Contessa
The only thing that would have made this better is a stand mixer appearance. If you’re an Ina fan, definitely check it out.

9) Science Daily: Restaurant and Packaged Foods Can Have More Calories Than Nutrition Labeling Indicates
The title is pretty self-explanatory, but just in case, here’s a follow-up from the article itself: “Measured energy values of 29 quick-serve and sit-down restaurant foods averaged 18% more calories than the stated values. Likewise, measured energy values of 10 frozen meals purchased from supermarkets averaged 8% more calories than stated on the label.” Crap!

10) Boing Boing: “Cruel Kindness” – a 1967 UK Educational Film About Childhood Obesity
I’m a sucker for educational films (“Meat and You”), but the most interesting parts about this video are the kids themselves, who were apparently considered overweight in 1967. Maybe it’s a testament to our shifting culture, or maybe the film itself is a little skewed, but they look like pretty average compared to children in 2010. Is it just me?


via videosift.com

HONORABLE MENTIONS

Casual Kitchen: How to Feel Less Hungry on Fewer Calories – Hacking the Satiety Factor of Foods
What’s filling? What’s not? Break it down with Dan.

Dad Cooks Dinner: Rules for Losing Weight
Nine more basic tenets for healthy eating.

The Kitchn: 20 Recipes for Roasted Vegetable Roundups
I seriously need to stop reading The Kitchn, because I inevitably end up linking to half the dang blog. Anyway, it’s another great recipe roundup, this time on roasted winter veggies.

The Kitchn: Alton Brown on Eating at Home and Eating Light
Breakdown of and links to Alton Brown’s Good Eats weight loss ep.

New York Times: Michael Pollan Offers 64 Ways to Eat Food
The high priest of healthy eating is back with a new book. The Gray Lady gives us an interview/preview.

Re-Nest: Green Eating – Leon Seasonal Food Chart
In-season chart that as pretty as it is useful. So, very.

Serious Eats: Is Heirloom Wheat the Next Big Baking Trend?
Neat piece shows that how you cook something is often just as important as what you put into it (if not moreso.)

Serious Eats: What Kitchen Items Would You List on a Bridal Wedding Registry?
Adam Kuban and I are in similar situations this week! See how Serious Eaters responded.

Wise Bread: Sex Up Your Sandwich – Ideas for Budget-Conscious Brown Baggers
Please read the article, so you don’t accidentally sex up your sandwich in the wrong way. It could have some weird consequences.

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!