Catering for the Holidays

A reprint from NWI.com By Danielle Ziulkowski

About five years ago, Ed Kis and his family’s longtime catering company, Great Lakes Catering, received a special request. They were asked to create a stuffing made of mashed White Castle hamburgers to accompany their homemade turkey for a Thanksgiving party of about thirty guests at a home in Lake County, Indiana.

“There really weren’t a lot of White Castles near their home,” he explains, “and there were a lot of family members that loved White Castle, so they thought the kids would really get a kick out of it.”

It was the first and only time Great Lakes Catering made the specialty order in the combined 150-plus years of experience throughout the family. Well-known for their carving stations of pork tenderloin/cinnamon-apple sauce, prime rib/horseradish sour cream and turkey/cranberry relish during the holidays, the casual fast-food delicacy wasn’t exactly their first choice for pairing with the main entrée.

“Actually, it didn’t taste too bad,” Kis admits. “It was certainly the talk of the table and, of course, that’s what you want at a family gathering—talking and living in the moment.”

White Castle stuffing may not be the most mass-appealing of side dishes, but the message is clear—local caterers are available to meet your needs and, more importantly, allow you to sit back and relax as the invisible team behind the holidays does all the work.

Strack and Van Til boasts their famous chicken, but the fresh food stores are increasingly becoming a popular choice for catering. Frantic holiday party planners may choose from the twenty-four different deli party platters that feed between twenty and forty people. Platter choices include chicken wings, taco fiesta, sandwiches, seafood, meats, cheeses as well as fruit and vegetable assortments, to name a few.

Catering manager Brenda Wright says Strack’s platters make a delicious, hassle-free choice for any celebratory event. And with average prices around $30, the platters are light on the wallet. “We can accommodate any need you might have,” she says. “In today’s economy, people need to work to make a living for their families and we can be a big time saver for people.”

Kis echoes Wright’s sentiments. “Often at home parties, the host and hostess try to do so much, and by the end of the evening, they realize they didn’t enjoy themselves and didn’t talk to all the people.”

Strack’s cooked fresh-to-order packaged meals are another convenient, yummy option. The eight packaged lunch and dinner choices include combinations of: country style chicken; sides such as sausage and kraut, mashed potatoes and gravy, mostaccioli, and coleslaw; vegetables such as green beans, corn or garden salad; and bread and rolls with butter. The packages, priced $6.99 to $9.99 per person, come hot and ready to eat.

Lori Daly, a Strongbow veteran of thirteen years, suggests hosting a corporate holiday function at a co-worker’s home instead of the office for the cozy factor. And, if the holiday months are too hectic, mark your calendars for January instead. “December is, as far as catering, our biggest month,” she says. “A lot of people hold off until January when everything is a lot calmer and everyone doesn’t have to rush around.”

With a plethora of loyal clients coming back year after year for the turkey and more over the course of the company’s 72-year history, Daly believes reputation is the number one factor to consider when hiring a caterer. “Our clients always come back because they know everything is taken care of and they don’t have to think twice about it. You really have to trust the caterers, especially if they will be coming into your home and running the kitchen for the evening.”

Wishing to keep your guests in the dark about the hired help? Kis recommends adding your own finishing touches to the meal. Try adding spare pine branches from a fresh Christmas tree to a glass bowl filled with extra tree bulbs in the center of the dinner table. The accoutrements add a fresh scent for very little, if any, money.

Simply adding fresh herbs like basil or parsley to dishes of the catered meal will also fool your guests, Kris says. “Use your own imagination through garnish and dress up even the most common foods.” Dusting off the family heirlooms and combining mismatched china completes the personalized touch guests know the help can’t re-create. Or, so they think.

“If you don’t tell people you didn’t cook, they would never know,” Wright says with a laugh.

For those looking for a more traditional at-home holiday meal, caterers have it covered. Strack and Van Til offers complete prepared-from-scratch dinners at three different price ranges. Option one at $79.99 feeds eight people and includes turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, vegetable, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls and choice of pumpkin or apple pie. The $99.99 option adds appetizers into the mix, while the $149.99 option includes turkey and ham main entrees with all the trimmings. The homemade-like meals can be picked up at any of the sixteen stores regionwide or delivered throughout Northern Indiana and the Chicagoland area. They even come complete with heating instructions packed in the boxes, with attendant services for additional costs.

Wright has witnessed holiday catering grow over the past five years of her 25-plus years in the business, especially for two-income families. “We’ve become popular over the last few years for catering for people on a budget who want quality, top-of-the-line food and services at economical prices,” she says.

From start to finish, caterers handle more than just the food. Daly’s staff at Strongbow delivers the food/drink and necessary supplies (even table clothes and china), sets up, helps serve and even cleans up afterwards. They’ve handled on-premise and off-premise catering from small simple-order parties to large full-blown served catered events. Bartenders and chefs are also available by request. “We will come and just take over and do everything,” Daly says. “We run by the motto, ‘If you do go into someone’s home or office, it should be cleaner than when you got there.’”

Great Lakes Catering offers full-service event planning. Staff helps you design and prepare a menu and decorate if needed. Put together the perfect meal from different varieties of appetizers, salads, entrees, starches and desserts or take your pick between numerous choices of lunch or dinner packages. “We can do as much as you want or as little as you want,” Kis says. “You can groom each package to your party and work with your budget.”

Great Lakes Catering offers year-round services at homes, rental facilities and corporate settings from Chicago to South Bend and up into Southwest Michigan. Kis says he prefers to allow his employees to take the holidays off. However, pre-prepared dishes or full meals can be picked up or delivered prior to the holidays complete with heating instructions.

Local caterers have prepared and served to groups as small as twenty-five people to large events totaling in the thousands. “There is no group too small or too large for us,” Wright says. “We can accommodate any size group. Large groups do not scare us.”

Strack’s services are offered on all major holidays during the winter months, including Thanksgiving and Christmas. Pick-up and delivery of catered requests are available during regular store hours, including Christmas Eve until 6 p.m. Services, however, are not available at Strack stores on Christmas Day. In addition, bakery orders may be delivered in conjunction with deli party platters or packaged meals.

Whether you’re a party-thrower extraordinaire or you turn into a Scrooge at the thought of preparing even the daintiest of feasts—why not leave it to the pros? Backed by catering experts, you’ll be prepared for your next gathering in no time. Daly says, “Our job is to make you look good, not make us look good.”

To Eat Out or Dine In?

All across the country tonight, Americans will be asking one important question: What’s for dinner?

For an increasing number, the answer will be on a restaurant menu rather than their kitchen, according to a report released this week by Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Since mid-2009, consumers have been spending a bigger and bigger portion of their paychecks – now almost 4.5 percent – on dining out. Spending on grocery items, on the other hand, still takes a bigger slice of those paychecks but has remained basically flat over the same period.

Eating out rather than dining in may seem like a perplexing choice for people still trying to recover from the Great Recession, but a closer look at the financial and time pressures families are experiencing helps explain the trend. Shopping and preparing meals takes time – time that people simply don’t have these days. And if Americans do find a spare hour here or there, they’re likely to dedicate it to work so they can earn a little extra, writes Neil Dutta, an economist at Bank of America and co-author of the report.

On top of that, supermarket food prices are increasing at a staggering 6 percent a year, about 2.5 times as fast as the cost of restaurant meals, according to the report. It is becoming cheaper (on a relative basis, the report notes) for consumers to eat out. “It’s all about substitution, as prices at grocery stores rise, consumers will respond by making choices,” says Dutta.

One of the biggest drivers behind the increased food costs is the rising price of commodities like wheat and corn. Grocery stores tend to pass these price hikes directly onto consumers.  Restaurants too, have to deal with increasing commodity prices, but are better able to offset them by buying in bulk and cutting back in other areas – like wages. With youth unemployment hovering at 24 percent, it’s an unfortunate truth that restaurants are able to find younger workers who will do more for less.

To get a read on the relative value of eating out versus dining in, The Fiscal Times took a (virtual) trip to some large restaurant chains and compared the prices of meals there to the costs of preparing the same meals home. Admittedly, our methodology was highly unscientific. After all, we’re based in New York City and didn’t go hunting for the best deals we could find on groceries. We also didn’t factor in whether one meal or another would be healthier, or friendlier to the environment. But that’s part of the point: Eating right and finding the extra savings that could be had by comparison shopping comes with a time trade-off that many families can’t afford to make these days.

It's Apple Season

Over the weekend, we took a trip down to Sherwood to explore the nearly-ready-to-pick grapes and to load up on apples.  Lots of apples.  Lots of heirloom apples.  It's apple season again, and that means lots of salads, pies, and even savory sauces loaded with one of the most versatile cooking fruits.

Here in the Dine In 2Nite kitchen we are always looking for ways to incorporate something local or seasonal into our dishes... just a bit.  But for those of you who have a hankering for DIY apple applications, check out today's Oregonian Foodday article for some inspiration.

Isn't Sumac Poison? Not Sumac, The Spice!

Today's Dine In 2Nite dish is Sumac Crusted Skirt Steak.  Now you might be thinking "Sumac? I've heard of that.  Isn't it poison?" Well, no.  The poisonous plant (aka poison oak) is closely related to the non-poisonous sumac, but they are not the same.  Sumac, the spice, is a berry that grows on a bush that grows wild in Mediterranean regions, and is a common ingredient in Middle Eastern cuisine. I first encountered Sumac when I roasted lamb with the spice mix, zaatar (of which includes sumac along with oregano, sesame seeds, and thyme). With this recipe from Dine In 2Nite, I now have a reason to learn more about sumac, which provides the characteristic tangy taste to the zaatar that I love so much. According to Mediterranean cooking expert Paula Wolfert, sumac "is bitter, tangy, sweet, salt. In all very intriguing."

Sumac, a berry, has been used in the Middle East as a souring agent for centuries. However, according to Wolfert, unlike lemon juice or vinegar, which could accomplish the same thing, “sumac adds another dimension that lemon juice does not,” It also adds a lovely red ting to a dish.

Sumac is sold as dried berries and ground. Please be aware that you need to buy this from a store and must not pick the sumac growing on the roadside in places as some of those varieties are poisonous. Wolfert advises storing the berries in the freezer and the ground sumac in the fridge.

This spice is a fantastic tabletop condiment, to be sprinkled on such dishes as salads, baked chicken, hummus, boiled eggs and more to provide that extra zing. For cooking, Wolfert suggests adding some water to the berries, allowing the mixture to sit for a bit and then draining the berries. Using the sumac water will allow the spice's taste penetrate the dish (as opposed to just adding powdered sumac or sprinkling the sumac as a garnish). Sumac goes well with chicken and fish. Even though lemon or vinegar can't be substituted for it effectively, the reverse substitution -- sumac instead of lemon or vinegar -- can work wonders in kebabs, broiled chicken, fish, stews, salad dressing and more. Sumac can be used during the cooking process and then also sprinkled on top of the final dish.

Home Meal Replacement

The Home Meal Replacement (HMR) industry - of which Dine In 2NIte plays a part - was created by savvy retailers and grocers in the mid-90s to help them compete more effectively with the restaurant industry. This was in response to the fact that restaurant total annual sales had surpassed those of grocery retail. What started as an off-shoot of the deli and bakery departments has expanded to become an entirely separate entity within the grocery store. Now, in response to slowing traffic counts, restaurants are increasingly getting into the act to regain share of stomach and share of sales. And many of them are putting their own unique twists on the concept.

Livin’ Smart with Luby’s Culinary

As a recent article in Food Management magazine reports, Houston-based Luby’s Culinary services took a healthful approach when it developed and launched eight pre-packaged meal choices, selling them under the company’s Livin’ Smart wellness brand. Recipes were developed by company chefs and dietitians. The meals are made onsite, and are packaged with complete nutritional information. Each contains fewer than 600 calories and less than 30 grams of fat.

Luby’s has offered the Livin’ Smart line in two company-run noncommercial locations in Texas since November, 2009, and it has received rave reviews. The foodservice unit at Baylor College of Medicine was selling over two dozen a day, one month after the program was introduced. The entrees were so popular the company had to double production after only four days. Todd Coutee, division vice-president for Luby’s, told Food Management editors ‘Surveys show that customers wanted choices that were mobile, quick and healthful. Now, we’re finding some customers buying one at breakfast to have later as lunch, and some who buy them to take home for dinner.’

From Madison Avenue to the Mediterranean

While some foodservice operations provide all parts of the meal – entrees, appetizers, desserts – others choose to leverage their unique point of difference. Pera Mediterranean Brasserie in New York City is an upscale and Turkish-focused brasserie. It’s best known for serving Eastern Mediterranean classics such as shish kebab, lamb ribs and soujouk, a spicy Turkish sausage.

Recognizing the popularity of these specialties, the operation created the Pera Online Store. This mail-order program offers items that are prepared, flash-frozen and vacuum-packed in the kitchen of the Madison Avenue restaurant. It’s proven so popular the restaurant dedicates one line to lunch and dinner orders and a second just for preparing the mail-order meats. The selections range from Chicken Shish, Lamb Ribs, Pera’s signature Adana Kebabs and three more items priced from $6.95 to $13.95. Each package comes with tips from the culinary team for outdoor grilling and home broiling.

Bringing the Outback to You

Customers of Outback Steakhouse can ‘Live Adventurous’ without ever getting out of their car. Since 2007, the chain has been offering customers an online-ordering, curbside-delivery program that’s faster than an ostrich crossing the Great Victoria Desert. Full takeout menus are posted on the company website and offer everything from the iconic Bloomin’ Onion appetizer to a variety of entrees, sides and desserts. Consumers place their order online with the nearest Outback location and enter a desired pick-up time. When they head to the Outback, they are met curbside by waitstaff with their order.

Programs like these have proven so appealing to customers that many independent restaurants are following suit in order to compete with chains. Rosie O’Grady’s in Ferndale, Mich., started its curbside program last fall. 

It’s clear that foodservice operators have heard consumers’ cries for convenience, value, variety and flavor – and that they’ve delivered in a range of ways. But this does not mean that the retailers that pioneered the category are sitting back and letting restaurants take over the business of HMR.

Parmesan Crusted Chicken

The first time I looked into Parmesan Crusted Chicken, I landed on an unfortunate mayonnaise-based recipe from Hellman's (Best to those of us living in the west). Unless you are using artisan raised heritage birds (and, really, who is these days?), most chicken is a blank palate for flavor, and crusting is certainly a great way to get flavor into every bite.  Parmesan cheese is a great option for crusting.  It creates wonderfully deep, earthy flavors, with a saltiness, and a terrific crispy textural contrast to the protein inside.

Breading (or crusting) is nothing new.  In fact, the Romans left evidence of dredging meats in breading and frying them as far back as the 1st century B.C. Marcus Gavius Apicus, the James Beard of his time, very likely had much to do with the development of this, and many similar dishes.

Feast Portland is Coming This Month

The hub of the artisan food movement and the birthplace of industry legend James Beard, Portland, Oregon, is situated in the ingredient epicenter of the world with soil, vineyards, ocean, and pastures that produce one-of-a-kind food that makes this Northwest culinary hot spot one of the country's greatest food and drink destinations. Enter Bon Appetit Presents Feast Portland—a first-of-its-kind event premiering September 20–23 that celebrates the unmatched vibrancy of the Oregon food community by showcasing local culinary talent—from chefs and winemakers to farmers and distillers—and region-defining ingredients alongside internationally recognized industry professionals and experts. Co-founded by Mike Thelin and Carrie Welch, the festival aims to spotlight everything that makes Portland awesome, capturing the current energy driving America's food revolution, all while raising significant funds to help end childhood hunger. Oregon—despite its perceived food abundance—ironically ranks among the top five hungriest states in the nation.

Innovative festival events offer ample opportunity to both indulge and learn while interacting with local, national and even international industry elite—from large-scale tasting events like the Sandwich Invitational, Oregon Bounty Marketplace, Feast Portland Night Market, and High Comfort, to intimate sit-down dinners, hands-on classes, live culinary demonstrations, thought-provoking speakers, and industry get-togethers. Vitaly Paley (Paley's Place), Naomi Pomeroy (Beast), Andy Ricker (Pok Pok), Cathy Whims (Nostrana), Adam Sappington (Country Cat), Gregory Gourdet (Departure), Jenn Louis (Lincoln), David Machado (Nel Centro), Elias Cairo (Olympic Provisions), Philippe Boulot (The Heathman), Jason French (Nedd Ludd), Stephanie Kimmel (Marche), Ben Bettinger (Imperial), and Tommy Habetz (Bunk) welcome a roster of visiting chefs such as Duff Goldman, April Bloomfield (Spotted Pig), Eddie Huang (Baohaus), Nancy Silverton (Osteria Mozza), Seamus Mullen (Tertulia), Brad Farmerie (PUBLIC), Chris Cosentino (Incanto), Gabrielle Hamilton (Prune), Anita Lo (Annisa), Amanda Freitag, Hedy Goldsmith (Michael's Genuine), Lee Anne Wong, Matt Lightner (Atera), Paul Kahan (Publican), Daniel Patterson (Coi), Sean Brock (Husk), and Inaki Aizpitarte (Le Chateaubriand, Paris).

Tickets can be purchased at feastportland.com and on the festival's Facebook page, with individual event tickets starting at just $30 and an "All In" Festival Weekend Pass, available for those who want to experience it all, at $650. While thousands gather to enjoy Oregon's bounty, the payoff will no doubt be meaningful as all festival proceeds benefit national childhood hunger relief organization Share Our Strength and local hunger-related charity Partners for a Hunger-Free Oregon.

"With Portland and Oregon receiving worldwide culinary recognition and cementing their rightful places on the food map, a celebration embracing the region's rich history and incredible bounty seemed not only in order, but long overdue," said festival co-founders Thelin and Welch.

Thelin, whose expertise in culinary branding and business development is the focus of his Portland-based company Bolted Services, has masterminded countless food fetes across the country, including the Eater Awards, and also serves as a contributor on Cooking Channel. During Welch's ten-year career as a Food Network PR executive, the food-obsessed former New Yorker played an integral role helping to create the New York City Wine & Food Festival. She moved to Portland in 2010 and opened food-and-wine PR agency Little Green Pickle.

Sponsors and founding partners of the inaugural festival include national media partner Bon Appetit, title sponsor Travel Oregon, presenting sponsor Whole Foods Market, and regional media partners Portland Monthly and Seattle Metropolitan. Additional founding partners include Travel Portland, KitchenAid, Widmer Brothers Brewing Company, Stumptown Coffee Roasters, Key Bank, and Nicky USA.

"The spirit of Portland and this incredible new festival align perfectly with our mission at Bon Appetit, which is why we're excited to be a founding partner of what will undoubtedly be a one-of-a-kind event with a bright future," said Adam Rapoport, editor in chief of Bon Appetit.

"To complement the festival offerings, we worked with local chefs and artisans to create Trails to Feast, a series of culinary trip ideas to inspire visitors to add a few extra days to their itineraries to see where all our great ingredients come from. Oregon is still that magical place where you can meet and experience the people and the land that produce such abundance," said Holly Macfee, Vice President of Global Brand Strategy at Travel Oregon. "Combined with the state's vast natural beauty and wide-ranging recreational activities, it's clear why Oregon is fast becoming one of the country's greatest food and drink destinations."

Going Without Meat is Okay!

Here in Portland, we love our meat... but anyone who reads Mark Bittman, Michael Pollan, or Grant Butler knows, you can have a terrifically healthy lifestyle, and a positive impact on our world by reducing the amount of meat you eat.

Lots of bloggers have been promoting Meatless Monday or Meat-Free Friday for a while now.  One of our favorite meat subs are lentils, which are a cheap and versatile protein source. On nights when you are pressed for time, just throw some lentils in a pot, along with a bunch of onion and garlic, and about twice as much broth as lentils... then just let the whole thing simmer for about 15 minutes. Add some aromatic spices, steam some veggies, heat up some rice, and you've got a tasty dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes! 


Most people limit lentils to lentil soup, but these legumes have a lengthy list of uses. Here are some other things to consider doing with them...

- Mix cooked lentils into meatballs, meatloaf or burgers. Add a cup of lentils and a cup of water when browning ground beef or turkey.
- Add pureed lentils to chili, soups or stews to thicken.
- Toss cooled French or green lentils with vinaigrette and some chopped peppers and onions for a quick salad. Or add lentils to your favorite pasta salad.
- S ubstitute lentils for half or all the ground beef in your favorite pasta dish. In meat sauce, lasagna or stuffed shells, the texture is the indistinguishable.

A half-cup of lentils have 115 calories, less than half a gram of fat, and 366 mg potassium. They contain 9 g each of protein and fiber (about a third of your recommended amount of fiber), and 45% of your Daily Value of folic acid. Lentils are frequently included on lists of the world's healthiest foods.

Check out this great recipe in the Oregonian's Mix Magazine for Lentil Stew with Cumin & Pomegranate Molasses.

Kenny & Zuke's Owner on Being Diabetic

If you have not yet encountered his weekly column, Ken Gordon, who we Portlanders know as Kenny (of Kenny & Zukes), has been writing about his diabetes and the healthy choices he has been making as a result.  What started as a short series has since become a monthly column filled with insightful lessons on how a smart diet and healthy diet can fit in with anyone's life... including the owner of a pastrami-centric (read calorie-centric) restaurant.

Today's column is particularly interesting and offers some advice that I simply love: Stop Eating Processed Stuff! Here's an excerpt: "The first thing I did when I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome was to stop eating refined carbohydrates -- white flour, white rice, white pasta, etc. -- and sugar-sweet drinks (including fruit juice), cake and cookies and the rest. As in right away and completely. No large orange juice in the morning, no root beer with lunch. No sugary desserts, or rice -- other than a small portion of the brown variety -- with my Kung Pao chicken. And though I wasn't consuming a whole lot before, no fast foods or convenience foods (you know, in packages with more than about six ingredients). One of the best things you can do to improve your diet immediately." 

One of the reasons that Dine In 2Nite exists is to help people who really crave those processed foods by providing a healthier version made with REAL FOOD, from scratch.  So the next time you think about eating convenience foods, fast foods, or frozen meals, think about giving us a call instead.

Spices Are Both Flavorful & Healthy

Spices provide an easy and tasty way to punch up your food's nutritional values and flavor profiles.
Here are five seasonings we love using at Dine In 2Nite:

Curcumin (found in turmeric)
Ginger
Garlic
Cayenne pepper
Onions

These taste enhancers are especially helpful in protecting your heart and blood pressure, as well as your overall health.

Curcumin

You may not have heard of curcumin before, but you probably have heard of turmeric, the spice that is best known as an ingredient in Indian curry and yellow mustard. Turmeric has been my number one cardiovascular spice for years, and its yellow color comes from curcumin—a powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound that's been found to combat tumors and reduce the excess platelet aggregation that occurs in sticky, clot-forming blood. Curcumin also helps keep NF-kappa B, a protein complex involved in the body's inflammatory reactions, in check. Elevated NF-kappa B production has been linked to cancer as well as inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

Curcumin has an impressive list of positive research findings. In fact, two intriguing animal studies from the Journal of Clinical Investigation suggest that curcumin may offer a good deal more cardiovascular protection than previously thought. In one study, researchers at the University of Toronto found that curcumin blocks a wide range of biochemical reactions involved in cardiac hypertrophy (enlargement of the heart chambers), inflammation, and fibrosis. These are undesirable developments associated with heart failure. In another study, investigators at Japan's Kyoto Medical Center found that curcumin helps support healthy blood pressure in addition to preventing cardiac hypertrophy. They concluded that curcumin "may provide a novel therapeutic strategy for heart failure in humans."

Ginger

Ginger is sometimes called the smart man's aspirin. It's a potent blood thinner and anti-inflammatory agent, and it's the main reason I drink ginger tea on a regular basis.

Ginger is also a handy natural anti-emetic agent, which means it's good for dealing with nausea. I used to always bring it along when my kids were younger and we went fishing out on the ocean, as it's great for motion sickness. I'd just cut up pieces of fresh ginger root and boil them. The boys would drink down the brew and keep seasickness at bay.

Clinically, ginger is a great aide for treating the nausea that accompanies certain types of heart attacks—usually those involving the back wall of the left ventricle (the part of the heart that is fed by the right coronary artery). During a heart attack, the weakened heart struggles to maintain blood pressure. Stress hormones spike, and patients experience dread, anxiety, and fear—all of which stirs up severe nausea in about half the cases.  Some doctors routinely prescribe ginger tea when trying to treat nausea. Patients who are administered codeine or morphine can also develop nausea. Ginger tea generally helps in those cases as well.

Garlic

Like ginger, garlic is an excellent natural blood thinner. Garlic is also a fabulous anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial agent with a long history in folk medicine. Twenty-five hundred years ago, Hippocrates recommended garlic for infections, wounds, cancer, leprosy, and digestive disorders. During World Wars I and II, Russian army physicians frequently used garlic to control infection, pus, and gastrointestinal disorders. The success they had gave rise to garlic's nickname as “Russian Penicillin.”
Garlic is powerful medicine indeed. It is also considered useful (either by eating a lot of it or taking 1,000 mg a day) to fight Lyme disease. 

This seasoning also has a favorable effect on blood pressure. A recent Australian review of 11 studies in which hypertensive patients were randomly given garlic or placebo found that garlic can lower blood pressure as effectively as some drugs. On average, the mega-analysis turned up blood pressure reductions of 8.4 systolic points, and 7.3 diastolic points. The higher a patient's blood pressure was at the beginning, the more it was lowered by taking garlic. Reducing blood pressure on this scale can significantly reduce the risk of heart disease and heart disease-related death. Dosages taken by the subjects in the studies ranged from 600 to 900 mg over a period of three to six months.
Garlic is also a great vehicle for adding sulfur to the diet, an important and largely ignored mineral. Sulfur provides an essential raw material for muscle and connective tissue, enzymes that conduct countless chemical reactions, and compounds that protect us against toxicity and harmful oxidative stress.

Cayenne Pepper

Either as a powder or in its whole form, cayenne pepper is widely used to sharpen the taste of dishes (such as in Szechuan cuisine). However, it has also long been used as an herbal medication.
It can be ingested for relief from stomach aches and gas, and cayenne powder can be mixed with water and then gargled to combat sore throats. It can also be rubbed on the skin for temporary relief of arthritic pain or muscle aches.

The key compound in cayenne pepper is a pungent substance called capsaicin, which is the main active ingredient in a number of over-the-counter "hot creams" for joint and muscle pain. Capsaicin creates the sensation of heat through a thermogenic effect that raises body temperature and boosts circulation in the area where it's applied. Taken orally, it may help to burn calories and contribute to weight loss.
Over the years, patients have told me that capsaicin, available as a supplement, has helped alleviate angina and improve heart failure. I don't know the precise reason why, but I suspect it has vasodilating properties, which explains why it increases circulation (and temperature) wherever it's applied. It's also an antioxidant that is known to reduce lipid oxidation and decrease platelet stickiness.

Cayenne is a guaranteed winner to add to any recipe that needs a spicy pick-me-up. Just don't overdo it. Too much cayenne may be harmful to DNA.

Onions

Because they're in the same family as garlic, it's no surprise that onions have similar effects. They promote the dissolving of blood clots and also help normalize blood pressure. They're packed with sulfur and quercetin, two important flavonoid compounds.  The researchers suggested that quercetin may be worthwhile for people whose blood pressure is influenced by their salt intake.
Like cayenne, onions also have a thermogenic effect. And, while there aren't any studies to support it, that thermogenic effect may be why some patients have told me that eating a lot of salads with raw onions have helped them lose weight.

Cooking and Dining for Singles Can be Expensive

Living alone may have its benefits for some, but there are a lot of expenses that make it possible for a single person to spend around $350,000 more in their lifetime than if they were part of a couple or family.  While much of those expenses may be for big ticket items like housing & transportation, food costs can really add up too.

It's not that they are eating different amounts because they are single, but that the cost for smaller packages or portions is typically a much higher per unit cost.  There's no volume discount when it comes to eating for one.  Discount price club shopping rarely makes sense, and, to add insult to injury, the amount of time it takes to cook one meal or two is pretty much the same - so the "labor" or "time" cost is higher too.

That's what makes the idea of our Home Meal Replacement industry appealing to so many single diners.  There is a convenience factor as well as a reduction in waste - both on the financial and food sides.  Having meals delivered to their home, either in bulk for reheating, or via other efficient delivery systems that keep costs down, can be a fulfilling way take care of one self.

Another factor in single dining tends to be effectively skimping on quality and healthy food (which tends to cost more in most areas) and replacing it with cheaper, processed food, which rarely caries the same nutritional value or contains excess levels of sodium and lots of stabilizers and artificial stuff.  And we're not even talking about fast food or big chain restaurant food.

All of this makes our role as a personal chef dinner delivery service much easier when dealing with the enlightened, savvy single diner.

Ready Made Meals

I trust you've got an equivalent passion for connoisseur meals that I do. ready meals square measure a booming business because of the time-saving convenience they provide shoppers. Even throughout the our current/recent recession, restaurants did not experience a proportional slow-down as compared with the rest of the economy.

Yes, I might think about eating at a eating place as having a ready meal. However, ready meals show up all around America. Obviously, folks will notice frozen dinners within the food market, but several leading markets are adding slushy dinner solutions to their stores.

Why?

One recent study found that over 75% of operating professionals do not have a good handle on what they're getting to have for dinner as late as 4 p.m. that day.

If you've got ever stopped by the supermarket after work, you're seemingly likely to find long lines at the checkout proving this time. It appears we have less time and want to cook a meal, abundant less a healthy or nutritionally balanced meal.

The fast-food trade did not keep step with the eating place trade when it involves maintaining revenue throughout the recession.

Keeping Diabetes At Bay

At a routine doctor's visit 2 years agone, Atlanta healer Shane Blasko, now 37, got the news that some 1.9 million other U.S. adults hear once a year. "I was wasted," she said. "I was too embarrassed to tell anyone initially." Like most diabetes sufferers, Blasko was considerably overweight—at 5-foot-4, she weighed 260 pounds. Her doctor prescribed drugs to help management her glucose, and said, virtually flippantly, "You simply need to lose some weight." The doctor advised a class at an area hospital, but Blasko felt she required a lot of facilitate. "I'd been trying to turn on my own without obtaining anyplace."

After some false starts, she found Atlanta Endocrine Associates—part of Atlanta Center for medical specialty, Diabetes, Metabolism, and Nutrition. There, medical director Dr. Scott Isaacs, Associate in Nursing specialist and fleshiness specialist, offers Associate in Nursing intensive weight-loss program designed for folks with weight-related health problems, such as diabetes. In April 2010, Blasko started on the decision Free plan. She received low-calorie entrees and shakes, met weekly with nurses who helped her manage her medical problems and with nutritionists who schooled her a way to place together healthy meals, and she attended regular support groups.

The plan worked, big-time. By Feb, Blasko had lost 50 pounds. She no longer required meds to stabilize her glucose, or the drug she'd been on for top blood pressure; both were at traditional levels. "At my last checkup, my doctor told Pine Tree State I basically wasn't diabetic any longer," marveled Blasko, currently 100 pounds lighter than when she started. "I did not apprehend that was potential."
The end of diabetes?

You scan that right: Blasko basically reversed her diabetes. And, the general public with type a pair of diabetes—which afflicts 1 out of each ten ladies in the U.S.—could do the same, in line with Dr. Osama Hamdy, medical director of the fleshiness Clinical Program at the Joslin diabetes Center in Beantown. "We've been treating diabetes for forty years by adding a lot of and a lot of medications, with no huge improvements," Hamdy aforesaid. "But if you act early, keep the load off, and maintain a healthy fashion, you can place this disease in remission forever."

It's no secret that excess weight and diabetes go hand in hand, attributable to the powerful impact that pounds wear glucose. there is even a term for this unhealthy alliance: "diabesity." nonetheless the integrated focus on diabetes management and weight management found at centers like Isaacs's and Hamdy's is surprisingly rare.

"It's frustrating, Isaacs aforesaid. "Diabetes guidelines all say start with diet and exercise, but several treatment programs do not. Meanwhile, normal weight-loss programs ar utterly centered on diet and exercise, and no accommodations ar created for dynamic  medical conditions." when a diabetic loses weight, for example, her medication wants could change.

The cost of a cure

So why isn't medically supervised weight loss a key part of each diabetes program? For one factor, shedding pounds is hard; Isaacs aforesaid that many diabetes experts focus on meds because they do not see a lot of semipermanent success with weight management. Another major reason is value. "Insurance usually won't cover this sort of care, and lots of hospitals do not have the resources to supply it," Hamdy aforesaid.

Certainly, the value of treatment varies. Isaacs's program starts at $25 per week for classes, plus $80 to $100 weekly for food. The Joslin Center offers a 12-week program known as Why WAIT, that options a diet and exercise plan and prices $5,000. (YOU-Turn is a seven-day version followed by six months of weekly phone work and support.) typically these services ar covered by insurance, but that depends on the patient and her plan. Either way, the approach is definitely worth the cash, Hamdy said. "The prices of this condition ar huge. With the amount of individuals with diabetes approaching 20 million in the U.S., we'd save most if similar programs were enforced nationwide."

For former diabetics like Blasko, the payoff is obvious: "If not a penny of the program were covered, i might still say it was worthwhile. I most likely would have paid a lot of."