Category Archives: Food

White or Wheat?

America, we’ve flipped the balance! This year, for the first time ever (and by a narrow margin), sales* of wheat bread have surpassed sales of white bread in our country. Americans appear to be getting the message that whole grains are best and that wheat bread is healthier than white bread. Hurray for us!

But before we celebrate too heartily, let’s review a few important reminders that will help to ensure the wheat bread you are buying is actually a healthy one and not just white bread in disguise.

1 – It has to be 100% whole wheat (or whole other grain) bread, not just “wheat bread”. There is a huge difference between these two. Companies can label a bread as wheat bread even if it contains largely refined wheat flour (also knows as enriched flour). This is basically white flour in disguise – it doesn’t count as healthy.


2 – Beware the “whole grain” marketing hype. Calling it “Twelve Grain Super Health Nut Bread” does NOT make it healthy. Sorry marketers. A bread that states it “contains whole grains” or is “multigrain” is not necessarily a healthful choice. Net, claims on the front of the package aren’t very helpful and can even be misleading. So, instead….

3 – Let the nutrition label be your guide.  The only thing that matters is what’s really inside the package…and that information is found only on the nutrition label. Check out the first few ingredients – one of them should be 100% whole wheat. And one of them should not be sugar (or a pseudonym for sugar). Check the fiber content – you’re looking for at least 3g fiber/slice…there are brands with up to 6g/slice that are delicious.

Buying bread shouldn’t be difficult, despite the guidance above. Once you’ve done a little homework and found a brand that is healthful AND tastes good to you, you can simply and quickly buy that variety every time you shop. 


If you’d like to learn more, check out this article; it’s jam-packed (no pun intended) with even more info about how to choose a healthy bread.

*According to Nielsen Co. For the 52 weeks ended July 10, wheat bread sales increased 0.6 percent to $2.6 billion, while white bread sales declined 7 percent to $2.5 billion. White bread is still ahead in volume, but the margin is shrinking. Americans bought 1.5 billion packages of white bread in the last year, a 3 percent decrease, and 1.3 billion packages of wheat bread, a 5 percent increase.

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3 Kitchen Tools You’ll Love

I’m not a big gadget person. I like to keep things pretty simple, especially in the kitchen. I detest clutter (I mean really detest clutter) so I don’t always think gadgets are worth the space they take up in my cabinets. 

Have you seen some of the crazy things being sold on television? Do we really need the Egg Genie? Or pizza scissors? How about the hot dog toaster  – one gadget to simultaneously cook hot dogs and toast buns? Please.

Yet there are a few kitchen tools that I find myself reaching for so often, they are worth every square inch of space they require. There are more than three on my personal “must have” list, so I’ll share some more another day,  but here are three I don’t think I could (happily) live without.

1) A garlic press                2) A salad spinner             3) A citrus juicer



Let’s start with the garlic press. There are few kitchen tasks as tedious as mincing garlic. If you’ve ever found yourself mincing clove after clove with irregularly shaped bits clinging to your knife and praying you don’t cut off your fingertips, this is for you. This tool allows you to hack the ends off a clove of garlic, stick it inside, and press out perfectly minced garlic. Simply scrape out the fibrous outer layer that is left inside the press and toss the tool in the dishwasher. Brilliant.

The salad spinner is a relatively recent addition to my kitchen (and one my husband is amazed I actually use – it’s pretty big for my taste). But washing greens is so important in order to remove dirt and potential contaminants, and there is nothing worse than a salad made with the resulting wet lettuce. The leaves are soggy and the dressing won’t stick! A quick turn through the salad spinner (which is a job my 3 year old refers to as “pumping the lettuce”) crisps the greens right back up again. Just the way they belong.

The citrus juicer is one tool where simpler is better. There are fancier versions on the market, but the one I have pictured above is my favorite. It makes short work of juicing lemons, limes, or oranges. If you’re doing that job by squeezing with your hand today this is a worthwhile upgrade. You’ll get more juice and no seeds or pulp in your finished dish. This is another one you just throw in the dishwasher to clean.

So there you have it, 3 kitchen tools you’ll love. I’ll share another round of favorites soon.

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Kale Chips

Now before you click delete or navigate yourself right out of this post, hear me out. I was a kale chip skeptic. In fact, i was a kale skeptic altogether (just like you are, right?). Kale just looks so incredibly…well…healthy in a good-for-rabbits kind of way. Cooked kale can be a little bitter or even tough to chew if you’re not used to eating greens…so that skepticism may even be warranted in most instances. But not if that bunch of kale is prepared this way. This way it becomes one of the healthiest snack foods you can imagine. But not just healthy – it’s also salty and flavorful and crispy and just plain addictive. Reserve judgment until you’ve tried these. Please.

Why kale? It’s absolutely packed with health benefits and is often cited as a superfood (on lists of such things). If you want to read about all of its merits, check out this link from the World’s Healthiest Foods website – amazing stuff. But in a nutshell, it’s about the most efficient food on the planet for providing a host of nutrients for practically no calories. To get these health benefits, I’ve started to add kale to soups and stews and casseroles – all slow cooking methods with a ton of moisture –  which helps to break it down to a more “chewable” level. But this recipe? This takes it to another level altogether.  This method literally transforms kale from an uber-healthy green to a “pop in a DVD and kick back on the couch” kind of snack.

Betcha can’t eat just one.

Kale Chips

1 bunch fresh kale
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
freshly ground black pepper


1. Preheat oven to 300. Wash and dry kale. Remove hard center “vein” from each leaf with a sharp knife. Cut remaining leaves into “chip sized” pieces. Place in large bowl, drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat.
2. Spread kale pieces in a single layer on large baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
3. Bake for about 20 minutes or until thoroughly dried and crispy to the touch. Cool and eat.

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