Invention through sloth: a recipe for lazy people who really would like to eat a healthy breakfast but can’t manage it

Cappuccino oats.

We don’t stop hearing about oats — they’re full of fiber so they’re good for your digestion and your bowels, they contain beta-glucans that help cut cholesterol and spread the rise in blood sugar over a long period of time, they make you feel full for longer so they encourage weight loss, they are anticarcinogenic thanks to their phytochemicals — and the list goes on.

Confession to my mother and request for forgiveness

I try and eat my oats every day, really I do. It has always been one of my mother’s Golden Rules of Healthy Eating. But Mom, I have to tell you: sometimes I just don’t, because I’m absolutely, unequivocally not a morning person and I just can’t get it together to cook the oats the good old-fashioned Scottish way we might all prefer.

So Mom, to relieve this deep guilt I have lived with my entire adult life, I found the solution, though I admit more by sloth than by wit. It was one of those days when no one was to speak to me before noon. I decided to pour some dry steel-cut oats into a bowl and eat them dry, in order to avoid the risk of pouring milk all over the stovetop instead of into the pan it was meant for, and then adding oats and other necessary ingredients into the milk that was already running down the front of the kitchen cabinets (I have already experienced this and it is not a good way to start the day). I was absolutely incapable of giving them the loving care they so deserve.

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Bad Foods that Are Good for Weight Loss gives common sense, practical advice about “bad” foods that can actually be good for weight loss if eaten in moderation and in the right way.

Great info on everything to do with cooking: Cooking Up A Story

Tips on cooking up fresh pumpkin and how to choose just the right pumpkin. As Americans and Canadians probably already know from experience, the water content of European pumpkins is often quite different from that of the North American varieties, which becomes a real problem when you’re using North American recipes for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Photo courtesy of Michael Elliot.

Fortunately, farmers markets in the Lake Geneva region offer a wide variety of pumpkins, so you should be able to find the right variety so you can still make your family recipes. But I do forewarn you: pumpkin pie can be tricky, so it’s best to do a trial run before the Big Day.

And don’t forget to save the seeds. Larita’s pumpkin seed recipe is a bit too American, in that we tend to use more natural ingredients in Switzerland, but one could perhaps use Migros or Coop “Country Potatoes” seasoning and simply skip her American smoke flavouring. In this case, it would be best to leave out the other spices, since this seasoning is in fact a mixture of some of the same spices.

To launch the chasse or hunting season: Wild River Review – Wild Table

Warren Bobrow’s new blog is full of old-fashioned and traditional recipes with a modern edge, as well as tips on how to live the gentleman’s life in general. Try his pumpkin-filled pasta recipe.

For manifestos on the importance of buying local food, as well as traditional recipes and food ideas: The Slow Cook

Ed Bruske is really just a foodie who engages in the concerns of a hungry planet, so you will find a variety of food-related topics, as well as recipes. I particularly like his “I’m an Elitest” post, in which he addresses the “ravings of James McWilliams, the writer who argues that there’s something sinister about the local food movement,” because it gives you both sides of the story: Michael Pollan and Wendell Berry vs. James McWilliams.

For a homely English slant: Yummy Homely Food

Laure Moyle took a 3-month holiday, but has finally returned just in time for chocolate week. She creates original, yet somewhat traditional recipes, using traditional British ingredients. Since she grew up in France, they often have a touch of the French, and use the local ingredients she finds near her home in Sussex. Sometimes it’s nice to have simple, unpretentious, yet good quality, comfort food.

She puts a particular emphasis on getting Kids in the Kitchen.

MarketView is published every week or so so you can take a look at our list before you go to the market.  It should serve as a tool to help you make your grocery list and menus for the week before you go off to the market.

Amazingly, summer just left us a couple of days ago in the Lake Geneva region, so we still have an interesting mix of spring, summer, and fall fruit and vegetables. It is surprising what a variety of local fruit and vegetables are still available this late in the growing season.

Runner beans, squash, pumpkin, raspberries, mint, radishes and assorted herbs in mid-October!

Since we just skipped straight from summer to winter, we are still seeing a large variety of summer vegetables, so I’ve separated the list into categories.

Spring and summer fruit and vegetables

Aubergine/eggplant, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgette/zucchini, green beans, radishes, bell peppers of all colors.

Extra-sweet strawberries thanks to the long, hot summer.

Extra-sweet strawberries, corn, raspberries, blackberries (rarer than the other berries).

Rosemary, many varieties of basil, mint, dill, coriander, parsley, laurel, scallions.

Fall fruit and vegetables

Baby carrots, baby turnips, radishes of all types, new potatoes of all varieties, Swiss chard (blettes), Jerusalem artichokes (topinambur), parsnips (panais).

Jerusalem artichokes.

Rhubarb, grapes, apples, pears, plums, red peaches (pêches de vigne).

Wild greens of all types, mesclun (mixed wild salad greens), cabbage, beets, wild arugula rocket salad. Herbs of all types, but seeing the last of the mint.

Cepe mushrooms (bolets), truffles, and a wide variety of other wild mushrooms.

Leeks, pumpkin, squash of all types, cauliflower, broccoli.

Black truffles, or should I say "black gold"?

Flowers

Sunflowers in October in the Lake Geneva region!

October flowers in Lake Geneva region.

Barbie’s secret to weight loss was “don’t eat”: Is that your teen’s philosophy?

The 1965 Slumber Party Barbie came with her very own “How to Lose Weight” book. The main message was “don’t eat.” Along with this book came a bathroom scale always set at 110 pounds/49.9 kilograms, says Teen Beauty Tips. According to Malisa Morsman, “Barbie is the plastic equivalent of a 5-foot, 9-inch (1.75 m) woman with a 36-inch (91.5 cm) bust, 33-inch (83.8 cm) hips, and an impossibly small 18-inch waist (45.7 cm).”

Photo courtesy of Mental Floss.

Ken, on the other hand, came with his own milk and cookies, and no scales.

Unhealthy message to teenage girls that has persisted

Unfortunately, women of all ages gradually started to perceive Barbie’s body as ideal, and teenagers often follow, even now, Barbie’s 1965 instructions on how to lose weight. Some purport that Barbie is even responsible for the increase in eating disorders.

In Europe, a correlation has also been made between women of all ages who smoke and have eating disorders. Smoking cuts the appetite, and is used as a way to keep from eating.

Ironically, the problem often becomes not only of a problem of getting your teenage girl to eat properly, but also a problem of eating at all.

As for the boys, is the message still that he can eat milk and cookies to his heart’s delight?

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In a 6 October 2009 article, the Huffington Post says Americans have reason for their eternal, but ever-changing, plate fright. In the US, E. Coli, Salmonella, Norovirus and numerous other bacteria and viruses are found in food more often that we might think.

Peppery pourpier from the Lake Geneva region.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a non-profit, consumer advocacy group, often referred to as the “American food police”, says the leafy greens we are encouraged to eat every day can in fact be the most dangerous of all vegetables. Over the last 20 years, there has been some 363 outbreaks and 13,568 illnesses due to green leafy foods alone.

According to Dr. Steve Swanson of the US Centers for Disease Control, lettuce is only second to ground or minced beef in cases of E. Coli. Snopes gives a good explanation of how all this happens, and many suggest that we lay off pre-washed, bagged salads until more is know about exactly how greens are contaminated.

One thing is almost sure: one of the reasons salad is particularly more high risk than other vegetables is that we most often eat it raw. So wash your salad, and then wash it again. Don’t just spray it. Wash it in a basin or sink, and change the water several times.

The other high risk food is eggs, numbering 352 outbreaks in the US in the last 20 years, with 11,163 cases of illness reported.

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The Americans aren’t the only ones who have a Food Pyramid!

In our 9 May 2009 post A fun, interactive guide for teaching your children good eating habits, we referred only to the American food pyramid, because the US has a pyramid specifically aimed at children. But the Swiss have a food pyramid too!

Swiss food pyramid.

The Swiss food pyramid, published on 30 July 2007, is for the general population, and has quite a different slant from the new American pyramid that came out earlier this year (literally, because the new American one is vertical, while the Swiss one is horizontal, but the content also differs).

Differences between Swiss food pyramid and US food pyramid

The Swiss food pyramid does not follow the trend in the US and other countries of decreasing intake of saturated fats. In fact, it increases fat intake from 30 to 40 percent and lowers carbohydrates from 60 to 45 percent, says Med Journal Watch, saying that mother’s milk is high in saturated fat, and “fats have been said to be harmful for the heart, but the heart takes 60 to 90 percent of its energy out of fat.” According to Paolo C. Colombani, head of the Swiss food pyramid expert group, in an article in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, “the vast majority of published studies in the past fifty years have shown no adverse effects of saturated fats.”

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Summertime is diet time: an approach to changing your eating habits

Summertime is the best time to start changing your eating habits. Fruits and vegetables are tastier and cheaper in summer, so your tastebuds are satisfied, but with fewer calories and more fiber. You can take advantage of this time to start a lifestyle change that will not only help you lose weight, but hopefully change your way of eating for the rest of your life.

The Swiss seem to have understood some of the basic rules better than others, according to our 27 July 2009 article on the Swiss preference for fresh fruit and milk products.

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Is it safe to use mayonnaise in the summer?

Is it a myth that we should avoid using mayonnaise on sandwiches and in salads when they are not refrigerated and during hot months when we go on picnics and hiking?

Last July, the New York Times reported that the acidic ingredients, such as lemon and vinegar, contained in commercial mayonnaise may “actually protect against spoilage.” The August 2000 issue of Journal of Food Protection reported that lactic and citric acids served as natural preservatives by warding off bacteria.

The important safety factor for Europeans

The catch here is that these articles refer specifically to American-made commercial mayonnaises, which use pasteurized eggs and more acids than European ones. And let’s not even discuss homemade ones, for which we cannot control the safety of ingredients used, because they can vary so much.

In Switzerland and France, there is not a wealth of literature available on this subject. However, since most people prefer homemade mayonnaise to the supermarket variety, it is probably advisable to continue to avoid using mayonnaise in summer unless it is kept cool at all times. Better safe than sorry, unless you are a scientist capable of analyzing the acidity and testing that all ingredients are equivalent to those used in the U.S., or of determining the level of bacteria contained in the mayonnaise or mayonnaise-based dish before you eat it.

Guest blogger Christina Daub studied at L’Ecole du Cordon Bleu in Paris. She now lives in Washington, D.C. She is a poet, and teaches poetry at George Washington University and other writing workshops around the country.

It’s Independence Day, get out the grill!

Photo compliments of freedigitalphotos.net

With the fourth of July right around the corner, it’s time to clean the grill and get ready to barbecue. Whether you are using charcoal or gas, Independence Day just wouldn’t be the same without the smell and the sizzle of a big steak wafting through the backyard.

For my tastebuds, however, nothing beats the old-fashioned, three-legged charcoal grill, whose heat has been reduced nearly to embers and tinged with hickory chips I’ve soaked to add that delicious smoky flavor that enhances grilled food so well. Unfortunately, in Switzerland, unless you have a personal source of wood chips, you’ll have to use regular charbon de bois, or wood charcoal, which is usually a mixture of several different woods.

To get juicy, flavorful steaks, try slathering each side with mustard, Worcestershire sauce and soy, then let the meat sit while the charcoal reduces itself for slow cooking.

When grilling ribs (the pork variety), soak your wood chips in apple juice for about 30 minutes, then wrap them in foil, perforate it, and lay it on the coals. This gives a slightly sweet taste to the ribs which complements the saltiness of the pork.

Traditional or healthy accompaniments?

While the kids line up for hot dogs (in the Lake Geneva region, local pork butchers or charcuteries often make their own homemade frankfurters) and hamburgers (get the butcher to grind it for you fresh on the morning of the 4th), think about what you want to serve with your grilled delicacies.

Traditionally, there was potato salad, great lumps or cubes of potatoes swamped in mayonnaise, with perhaps a scallion or two to give it some punch. However, not being a fan of such cholesterol- and fat-filled fare, I have always opted for the healthier green salad, loaded with a variety of lettuces and pea shoots I can get by hitting the farmers’ market early enough. In Switzerland, there is an endless choice of greens, herbs and shoots at this time of year in any farmers’ market you go to.

A platter of just-cut, ripe red tomatoes (local if you can find them), sprinkled with salt and drizzled with high quality olive oil and a local full bodied red wine round out the meal. Until  dessert.

Dessert: a healthier version than in the old days

Photo used with authorization of Christine Koh

I have to say while the all-American barbecue meal totally sates me, I never pass up dessert, and this is one time of the year it’s really fun to use color in making dessert. There are a number of red, white and blue desserts I’ve come up with in the past, but everyone’s favorite seems to be what I call the “flag cake.”

This is a flat rectangular sheet cake that I cover either in white icing or whipped cream. On top, I create horizontal rows of raspberries for the red stripes of the flag and in the left corner, I intersperse blueberries so that the icing can shine through as “stars.”

For a lighter, but equally festive dessert, I layer yogurt with berries in parfait glasses, alternating the raspberries (you can also use strawberries or currants) with the blueberries in between the layers of yogurt. The kids seem to prefer vanilla yogurt, but for the adults I use plain, sweetened with a bit of honey.

Let the fireworks begin!

Photos compliments of Christine Koh and freedigitalphotos.net.