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TRENDS: Are You A Flexitarian?

November 24, 2007 at 10:32 am · Filed under Food Holidays & More

Cattle
Save the planet, order the bean burrito instead!		   According to the Vegetarian Research Group, about 3% of American adults are true vegetarians who say they never eat meat, fish or poultry. But at least 10% of adults consider themselves vegetarians, even though they eat fish or chicken occasionally. These are “flexitarians,” people who seek out vegetarian meals but will eat fish and/or chicken. More formally, flexitarianism describes the practice of eating mainly vegetarian food, but making occasional exceptions for social, pragmatic, cultural or nutritional reasons. Flexitarians may occasionally eat meat and/or other animal products.
Eating vegetarian doesn’t automatically translate to a healthier diet—there are plenty of high-fat, high-calorie choices, including pasta, bread, fried foods, sauces, cookies, cake and candy. However, the main point is that advocates consider it humane not to kill animals unnecessarily, for food. Equally (if not more) important these days is the looming global warming crisis and the desire of many people to live more “green” lives. Animal agriculture has a huge impact on global warming. While most people are aware of the effect of carbon dioxide on climate change, the most significant non-CO2 greenhouse gas is methane. Methane, produced by decomposing animal manure, is responsible for nearly as much global warming as all other non-CO2 greenhouse gases combined. Animal agriculture produces more than 100 million tons of methane a year; global meat consumption has increased fivefold in the past 50 years and continues to grow. You can do your part by choosing a bean burrito or Margherita pizza instead of the beef burrito or the pepperoni pizza, whenever possible.

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RECIPE: Turkey Melt With Chutney

November 24, 2007 at 10:24 am · Filed under Food Holidays & More, Recipes

Got leftovers? If you’re still looking at turkey, here’s an easy way to use it up and start Monday with a clean slate: A turkey melt. This recipe for a gourmet turkey melt is courtesy of Butterball. This recipe makes 8 servings.
Ingredients
– 2 cups cubed cooked turkey
– 1/3 cup finely-chopped celery (or make it
more exciting with fennel instead)
– 3 minced green onions
– 1/4 cup chutney
– 1/2 cup light or regular mayonnaise
– 4 split, toasted whole wheat English muffins
(see our review of Wolferman’s)
– 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar or Swiss cheese
– Optional: 2 tablespoons chopped fresh
cilantro
– Optional: Sliced tomatoes		   Turkey Melt
Make a turkey melt with that leftover turkey.
Preparation
1. Combine turkey, celery, green onions and chutney. Stir in mayonnaise to bind. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to use.
2. Preheat broiler.
3. Arrange English muffin halves on a baking sheet. Top with tomato, then add turkey mixture and top with cheese.
4. Broil a few inches from source of heat for 3 to 4 minutes until hot and bubbling. Serve with coleslaw.

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RECIPE: Fallwich, A Sandwich For Thanksgiving Leftovers

November 23, 2007 at 10:40 am · Filed under Food Holidays & More, Meat & Poultry, Recipes, Thanksgiving & Fall

Turkey Sandwich

Homemade Cranberry Mayo

New England Soup Factory Cookbook
[1] Make this delicious “Fallwich” with your Thanksgiving leftovers (photo courtesy New England Soup Factory). [2] Cranberry mayonnaise (photo courtesy Savory Experiments), which uses a 1:1 proportion of mayo and cranberry. [3] The New England Soup Factory Cookbook, which contains this recipe.

  

Here’s how to combine all of those Thanksgiving leftovers into a delicious fall sandwich or “Fallwich,” created by Marjorie Druker of the New England Soup Factory in Newton, Massachussetts. The recipe is a winner in this year’s The Ultimate Cranberry Recipe Contest for foodservice professionals, sponsored by Ocean Spray; and is published in the New England Soup Factory Cookbook.

It’s a delicious sandwich, even if you have to start from scratch, without leftovers.
 
RECIPE: FALLWICH, A THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS SANDWICH

Ingredients For 4 Sandwiches
 
For The Cranberry Mayonnaise

  • 3/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup whole berry cranberry sauce or relish (or more to taste)

    •  

  • Baguette cut into four 6-8 inch pieces, or 4 similar rolls
  • Leftover sweet potatoes, or 2 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed but not peeled
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
  • 4 individual size (8 inches long each) baguettes
  • 8 tablespoons cranberry mayonnaise)
  • 1-1/2 cups baby spinach leaves, washed
  • 1 pound leftover turkey or purchase roasted turkey breast, sliced
  • Cranberry sauce or 6 tablespoons honey-roasted cashews

    •  
    Preparation

    1. MAKE the mayonnaise: Whisk together the mayonnaise and cranberry sauce in a small mixing bowl, until well incorporated. If you need to make sweet potatoes:

    2. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F. Cut the sweet potatoes into 3-inch chunks. Place in a roasting pan and sprinkle with the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, stirring once or twice. Remove from the oven and cool to room temperature.

    3. SPREAD the both cut sides of each sandwich with the cranberry mayonnaise. Place the spinach leaves on the bottom slice of each baguette bottom. Layer the turkey breast, then the mashed or roasted sweet potatoes.

    4. SPRINKLE with the honey-roasted cashews and season with salt and pepper. Place the top slice of bread on each sandwich.

     
    FOR A BEVERAGE

  • Seasonal beer
  • Cranberry club soda or soda
  • Cranberry spritzer: cranberry or cranapple juice mixed with club soda

    •   

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    NEWS: Citrus Boosts Antioxidant Power Of Tea

    November 23, 2007 at 10:39 am · Filed under Beverages, Food Holidays & More

    Adding citrus juice or vitamin C to green tea could increase the absorption of the tea’s antioxidants 13-fold, suggests new research published in this month’s issue of Molecular Nutrition and Food Research. Although the results are preliminary, those wishing to hedge their bets may want to squeeze some lemon or lime into that cup of green tea. The researchers used a simulated gastric and small-intestinal digestion system to model the effects of citric juices and other additives (milk, soy) on the absorption of antioxidants from tea. The polyphenols in tea have been linked to a number of health benefits, ranging from a lower risk of certain cancers to weight loss and protection against Alzheimer’s disease.   Green Tea
    Add some lemon juice to your green tea for a bigger antioxidant hit.
    Green tea contains between 30% and 40% of water-extractable polyphenols, while black tea contains between 3% and 10%. However, according to the study, the catechins are relatively unstable in non-acidic environments, such as the intestines, and less than 20% of the total remains after digestion. Oolong tea is somewhere between green and black tea, and white tea has somewhat more than green tea. The four primary polyphenols found in fresh tea leaves are epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG) and epicatechin (EC). Bad news for those who drink black tea and like milk in it: Proteins in the milk’s casein counteract the effectiveness of the catechins. Better to switch from milk to a squeeze of lemon! Read more about tea in the Tea Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine, and about antioxidants in the NutriNibbles Section.

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    NEWS: Turkey Eating Contest Today

    November 22, 2007 at 8:33 am · Filed under Food Holidays & More

    Thanksgiving Turkey
    Eat me—entirely—in 8 minutes or less. Photo courtesy of iGourmet.com.    		   If you think you have some relatives who are big eaters, at the third annual MLE [Major League Eating] Chowdown: Turkey Bowl today, eight “professional eaters” will compete big-time, gobbling down entire 20-pound birds. The winner will eat his or her bird in eight minutes or less, or as much of it as possible. (Please—don’t try this at home!) Competitors in food contests are extreme athletes who train all year, working on jaw strength and stomach capacity. Contrary to assumption, contestants in national food competitions are not overweight. Surely, you’ve seen Takeru Kobayashi, the slender, six-time winner of Nathan’s Coney Island hot-dog eating contest—won this year by the normal-size Joey Chestnut. Both will be competing in the Turkey Bowl, along with six other top competitive eaters.
    The International Federation of Competitive Eating organizes about 80 eating contests a year in the U.S. alone, 100 total in 2006, including Canada, England, Germany, Japan and Thailand. The Turkey Bowl will be nationally televised today on Spike TV at 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.

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