I’ve mentioned before that I absolutely love the Weight Watchers system. They encourage eating real food. They encourage eating in proper portions and they help with the science and math of losing weight. Losing weight, after all, has lots of calculation formulas. Since they make it simple, it becomes natural to look at ingredient labels and make decisions based on what you learn.

What I love most that it isn’t a diet. You can eat what you love, you just make better choices about what you eat.

Now they’ve created a new book called Eat! Move! Play! Weight Watcher’s new book actually has some great ideas about making the lifestyle change. Here’s some tips that I particularly love from the book’s section:

How to Make Healthier Choices

Instead of: Grabbing fast food or take-out when you’re rushed and don’t have time to cook dinner

Try: Picking up a rotisserie chicken and cooking frozen veggies you’ve been keeping on hand

Instead of: Indulging the munchies when your child is frustrated, upset, or otherwise out of sorts

Try: Suggesting that you go out and toss a ball or play croquet or badminton to blow off steam

Instead of: Letting bedtime arrive when it’s convenient for everyone or your kids are simply too exhausted to keep going

Try: Establishing a clear bedtime and introducing a consistent sleepytime routine with a bath, reading a story, or listening to calming music together

I really need to focus on the part about not just hopping out to dinner or to a fast food place because no one feels like cooking. You could just as easily go to your local deli and grab a cooked chicken and salad in just the same amount of time as grabbing a fast food dinner.

Here’s a sample recipe that I’ll share from the book.

Mexican Chicken Chili

Serves 10

Prep 30 minutes

Cook 1 hour 45 minutes

6 bone-in skinless chicken breast halves

2 tablespoons canola oil

3 onions, chopped

6 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup chili powder

3 tablespoons ground cumin

2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon dried oregano

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes in puree

1 (12-ounce) bottle beer or 1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon salt

2 (15-ounce) cans kidney beans, rinsed and drained

1.       Combine the chicken and enough water to cover in a large, heavy pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat, cover the pot, and simmer gently until the chicken is cooked through, about 12 minutes. Drain the chicken, reserving the cooking liquid. Cool the chicken, remove and discard the bones, and coarsely shred the meat.

2.       Meanwhile, place the same pot over medium-high heat and add the oil. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook 1 minute. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, brown sugar, cocoa powder, oregano, and coriander and cook until the spices are fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomatoes, beer, salt, and 3 1/2 cups of the reserved cooking liquid. Bring to a simmer; reduce the heat to medium low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, 1 hour.

3.       Add the beans. Simmer, uncovered, until the chili thickens, about 30 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and simmer until heated through.
Per serving (1 1/2 cups): 239 Cal, 6 g Fat, 1 g Sat Fat, 0 g Trans Fat, 44 mg Chol, 488 mg Sod, 26 g Carb, 8 g Fib, 22 g Prot, 103 mg Calc.

Reprinted from the book Weight Watchers Eat! Move! Play! With permission from John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Weight Watchers has come out with many delicious flavors over the years. I love the strawberry banana yogurt and sweet baked goods. Nearly guiltless treats are great to have on hand when you need a snack and you don’t want to add too many calories to your diet.
They’ve just added a couple more great flavors to their list. I’ve been able to sample a few, thanks to Weight Watchers. Here’s a look at a couple new yogurt and frozen treat items that might be of interest.

Weight Watchers Apple Pie Ala Mode Yogurt

This had an excellent apple and cinnamon flavor blend, with the mild tang of yogurt that you come to expect from Weight Watchers. Very smooth, very delicious. I think the Ala Mode is that vanilla flavor so it’s more like ice cream with bits of apple flavor throughout.

Weight Watchers Blueberry Pie Yogurt

Now, I should say that unless it’s blueberry muffins or pancakes, I normally stay away from blueberry products because too many blueberries at a time ruins the flavor for me. This was better than normal blueberry yogurt, in my opinion. The blueberry was there but toned down. It’s not replacing my love of strawberry banana yogurt, but it’s a good flavor.

Weight Watchers Strawberry Smoothie

60 calories, 1 gram of fat,  less than 1 gram of fiber

This is my favorite out of the entire group that I’ve tried. Strawberry yogurt on a stick, really, but it’s great. It’s soft when I’m ready to eat it. Kind of melts quickly so you have to eat fast.

I like the softness though. And the bits of strawberry throughout it is a real winner for me. Most certainly a frozen strawberry smoothie. I like the extremely low calories, and for your point counters, only 1 point for this bar. And it’s a good sized bar, too.

Last but not least, another ice cream delight:

Weight Watchers Dark Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream Bar

80 calories 4.5 grams of fat, 2 grams of fiber

I love chocolate, and this is a good dark chocolate. The raspberry was very flavorful, almost too much for me but others may like raspberry more than I do. I like that it has more fiber. Love the fiber.

Here’s the new news from Weight Watchers. Guess who has joined the team?

Jennifer Hudson! What a great person to be joining Weight Watchers and showing support.

By the way, following Weight Watchers yet? You should be. They share very healthy recipes and news, which I love.

Just when you thought that life couldn’t get any weirder, it turns out that you can now use food stamps at Whole Foods! Of course, this seems slightly off the mark, especially since food stamps are supposed to be used to pay for food as a necessity, and that necessity may or may not constitute organic brown rice.

Apparently, this acceptance of food stamps at Whole Foods is specifically geared toward the younger urban types who need a government subsidy to survive on a regular basis with their current lifestyle. For many people, they feel that this is a serious issue with a loophole in a government system, especially since many families in need currently survive off of their use of food stamps. Many of these young and hip food stamp users feel that their diet has improved dramatically from now being able to use food stamps at Whole Foods for items like freshly squeezed juice, organic honey, and soy products.

As it turns out, over 38 million Americans are currently using food stamps, which include single parents, the elderly, and working-class individuals. Still, many recent changes have been made to the food stamp program so that the restrictions have been lessened, and adults who don’t have dependents can actually collect food stamps. This opens a portal to younger single adults to become eligible for the use of food stamps to subsidize their current income. Supporters of this action feel that many younger professionals who are in college or recently graduated have to struggle with unemployment just like anyone else and are forced to live frugally.

Employees of some of these upscale grocery stores in urban areas, like Whole Foods, have also seen an increase in the use of food stamps recently as unemployment rates have risen. More and more people are using these food stamps to purchase organic foods, as surprising as that may be.

For a great selection of the Bunn commercial coffee maker, check out Bethany North’s website, The Coffee Bump

Photo by eL Bz

So my pans were dirty. I wanted tatertots. You can’t cook tatertots in the microwave.

You just can’t.

I just know.

Because I’ve tried. That’s how.

But did I want to wash a pan to cook tatertots in? Nope. Takes too long to heat the water, wash the pan and dry it. I’ve got a life, after all!

So I tried plan B. Which was to take tin foil (where I grew up, we called it tin foil, and yes, I know it’s made of aluminum) in a single sheet, place tatertots on the sheet, carefully move to the heated oven and sit it on the rack. When done, remove with pot holders to a plate.

Except when you hit the top of the oven with your arm. And then out of reaction you slam your wrist into the bottom of the oven.

Yeah. It hurt. Yeah. It was hot.

I’m not feeling a real burn yet. It’s more my wrist aches a bit from hitting the oven so hard. It got me thinking about burns though, so I looked it up.

Things I Didn’t Know About Treating Burns (For idiots who burn themselves)

1. Don’t use ice. Ever. Frostbite on top of a burn… not pretty.
2. Keep an aloe plant. My mom used to have one. Old reliable. Never had to buy aloe from the store.
3. The time to go to the hospital: Blisters underneath a blister, infection or black skin/hurts like doomsday.

Additional explorations into Chinese culture and cuisine has come down to figuring out a few basic breakfast meals. Many of the people from China depend on rice for a greater portion of their food, including for breakfast. Congee is a Chinese porridge made from rice instead of oats and grains in the West. It’s a simple Chinese recipe that fills you up quick, is healthy, and energizes you for the day. Made from a simple concoction of water and rice, and often flavored with sweet and savory toppings, it’s a versatile dish that’s a lot healthier than the packages of processed cereals found in your local Wal-mart.

Don’t get me wrong, I love cereal. It’s sweet and filling and I grew up on the stuff. I also know that by mid-morning, I’m usually hungry again, whereas the Chinese rarely eat snacks. They completely fill themselves three times a day, fueling their bodies as much as possible.

Chinese porridge is made from about three tablespoons of dried rice boiled and cooked in about 4 cups of water for a long time, usually about 50 minutes, until the rice is mushy and the porridge is thick. Topped with fish, bits of meat, or vegetables, while the base recipe is the same, the flavor can change with what you add to it.

Photo by indyz

Since my new favorite combination of flavors is the holy trinity of Chinese cooking, (spring onion, garlic and ginger), I plan to make this dish very soon. Since it takes quite a bit of time to let the congee cook, I have to wait for the weekend to attempt the recipe. I plan on stir frying the trinity, and perhaps topping with leftover bits of chicken or meat if it’s available.

For a simple Chinese recipe, it’s a staple tradition in the homes of many people across China and neighboring countries. Chinese porridge seems like an inexpensive, healthy dish and I hope to learn the secrets to making it taste great.

I don’t care what age you are, or where you are in life, but I firmly believe that learning how to cook and learning what to eat is important for everyone. Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution may just help a lot of Americans face the reality that is killing us every day. Food is important. Food needs to nourish and energize and most of the food that Americans eat doesn’t do that.

In the past, we would eat food to fuel our bodies and help us be strong. We would eat more when we needed more energy. Now, we eat much more and we get less nutrition and even less energy. It’s no wonder why Jamie is so passionate about this. It’s no wonder why TED and Chris Anderson is behind this. It’s no wonder why many Americans and people around the world are moved by this. I support it 110%.

Support Jamie by watching his Food Revolution. It’s on tonight at 9/8 central on ABC. Check your local listings for more information.

Do more to support Jamie Oliver by signing the petition. TED and others are supporting his efforts further by signing petitions, donating money, and volunteering their time. Sign Jamie Oliver’s Food revolution petition, support the efforts to save lives.

But don’t stop there. Join the discussion. Learn how to cook. Share what you know with other people. Grow a garden. Whatever it takes, small efforts make a huge difference.

I plan on offering more links and information about healthy cooking and gardening, tech that supports these efforts and much more in the future. Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll join me in the fight to save lives and to help America eat better.

So I put together a recipe I used to make stir fried rice. Plus I bookmarked a great stir fry sauce.

The more I cook Chinese food, the more I love the holy trinity in Chinese cooking. Ginger, spring onion (scallions) and garlic. Three ingredients that makes all the difference in a wide variety of food. I love the things I can do with this combination. Rice is less boring. Meats and tofu taste better. Vegetables are a delight. Sauces are more flavorful. It’s a mixture of savory, tart, sweet, salty and pungent. It’s a taste that will begin to seep it’s way into more and more dishes in my kitchen.

Photo by greekgod

Now that I’ve learned about the trinity, I’m on to bigger things. Like perfecting the fine art of cooking a great noodle. My last stir fry noodle batch came out rather… icky. I wasn’t happy with the results, so I’ve got to dig out some noodle recipes.

By the way, if anyone knows how to make “Poor Man’s Noodles”, send over a recipe. I had some in a Thai restaurant and I haven’t found a duplicate recipe yet.

Chinese cooking has become more than an obsession. It is now becoming another edition to the wide range of cooking in my kitchen. Much like a roast and potatoes, or spaghetti dinners, a stir fry rice is another great weekday meal.

Photo by waggaway

I’m looking at investing in a good recipe book for all the new recipes I find on the Internet. I prefer not to drag my netbook into the kitchen with high amounts of wet things flying about, or the possibility of dropping it from the counter. The kitchen isn’t big enough ( I complain, yet the Chinese probably have less space than I do in their kitchens, how do they do it?) for a netbook to sit atop a microwave, a valuable space for a cutting board or a mixing bowl.

So much to learn…

I got through obsessions a lot. There’s a subject or topic that I pick up that is something I will read and study and try to perfect until I know the ins and outs of everything.

This time, it’s cooking healthy. But there’s a catch. The food has to be good, because I’m a picky eater. The food also has to be filling. If I bother to cook or prepare food, I’m not about to go hungry doing so.

It also means being a bit frugal. I’m actually scouting for coupons, checking out grocery deals, and buying the sale products, too.

And I’m learning about Chinese cooking, and how to eat healthy on a Chinese diet. It’s actually going pretty well. I found great recipes for General Tso’s Tofu, which was fantastic. I also tried stir frying and I soon want to try different sauces and mixtures of vegetables and rice. I have a few noodles for this week.

Random comments on this recipe:

This was ABSOLUTELY THE BEST recipe I’ve found on this website so far! I’ve never had the real thing, but DANG!

Next time, I’m doubling the sauce, and adding all the veggies I can get my hands on!

Wow! This is the best recipe from Vegweb I have gotten so far, and I am always impressed with the stuff I find here. I did make some extra sauce, as someone recommended, and I was so glad. That sauce is amazing. I kicked myself for not picking up the shiitake mushrooms I was eyeing at the store, but the snow peas and green pepper were a lovely addition to the recipe. I used SG brown rice for the bottom. Man oh man, this stuff is pure heaven. I could go on for hours…

Photo by Climb3rChick

I completely agree. I made a double sauce one day, without making the tofu, just to top on rice. It was great and lasted in the fridge for about a week. I bought shiitake mushrooms for this recipe and forgot to use them. Maybe next time.

So you may be hearing a lot from me about cooking, the way Chinese and Japanese people eat, healthy food, frugal shopping and more.

One book I’d like to recommend is: Why the Chinese Don’t Count Calories by Lorraine Clissold. It’s a great book with recipes and secrets to how the Chinese eat, and why they are so healthy all the time. It does make a lot of sense to fill up on rice and noodles, eat soup at meals more often, and to center meals around vegetables, not meat. Let the meat flavor the veggies, not the other way around.