February 7, 2007

Yikes. How about this weather, huh? And January was so warm; what happened?

Oh, well. Just six weeks till spring. In the meanwhile, I'll hide out at home, and write and cook...

Read on!

--Dana

I recently got this heartfelt plea from a reader:

This breath technique is used both in Body Flex and Life Lift (www.lifelift.com), and I have found it effective, and somehow oddly satisfying. Learn the breathing first, and then you can add stretches and isometrics to it. Warning: You will feel like a big old doofus doing this breathing at first. Ignore that feeling. Do it for fifteen minutes a day for a week, and see if your clothes get looser!

I wrote this article in 2000, the first year we were publishing, but it needed very little revision seven years later:

Don't look now! Just when you've really shaken that Holiday Five, here comes Valentine's Day! Surely you've noticed the heart-shaped satin boxes piled up at every grocery store, discount store, convenience store, and even truck stop. Yes, it's another all-American Junk Fest!

This is the best meatloaf recipe I've tried in a long time! It's got something of a French accent, which is why we call it...

Frenchified Meat Loaf

1 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound mild bulk pork sausage
2 slices low carb bread, whole grain, in fine crumbs
1/2 cup chopped onion, fairly fine
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup dry red wine
1 egg
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (spicy brown will work if that's what you've got)
1/2 teaspoon dried savory
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground dried rosemary

I made this the other day when I had a batch of truly wonderful chicken broth in the house. You'll see in the instructions I mention that the quality of your chicken broth is essential to this recipe. Use good, strong, flavorful (not just salty) broth, and the flavor of this soup will be balanced just exactly between chicken and cheese. Mmmm.

Cheesy Chicken Soup (or is it Chickeny Cheese Soup?)

6 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
guar or xanthan to thicken
3 cups frozen chopped broccoli (optional)