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Dollar for Dollar, the better choice is…real food
We are what we eat. More to the point, we are only as healthy as the health of that which we eat.
Stainless Steel cookware, and the Waterless Cooking method of preserving Mother Nature’s natural goodness, are two components of a heavenly marriage in the kitchen. But our long relationship to honest food didn’t begin in the kitchen, at the stove, in a pot or even at a grocery store. Food began where everything begins, in the soils of our ‘living earth’.
Similarly, a ‘diet’ isn’t about losing weight; it’s really about honoring and serving a body’s nutritive needs. The essential complex of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, fats & fiber of a healthy diet has evolved over eons. Our diet didn’t just ‘happen’. To believe today’s mega Agribusiness and it’s food outlets honors this complex balance of original nutrient value is, of course, pure fiction. Consider what tens-of-billions of annual taxpayer subsidies buys (80% of today’s agriculture subsidies are consumed by 4% of American farms):
Both piles cost us $20. At 18,585 calories, the pile on the left is roughly nine days worth of worthless fat if you ate nothing but. The produce to the right is about 2,500 calories of nature’s honest efforts to balance a body’s nutritive needs.
At a time when one in three school-age kids are overweight or obese, should our tax dollars
subsidize mega agribusiness – the primary product of which
is cheap, highly processed, nutritionally bankrupt junk.
There is a bill moving right now that can end the worst of the worst of these subsidies — and save taxpayers $28 billion over the next 10 years. Take action now. Contact Congress re: H.R. 2487: REAPS Act of 2011.
“Here’s an Easy One,” The New York Times, Jan. 15, 2011.
RELATED POSTS:
Waterless Vegetables: Quick Start Guide to Health
Veggie Wars
Veggies Wars (Part II)
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive
Veggie Wars – PART II
Last July a post entitled Veggie Wars included a video spoof featuring a formidable cast of Star Wars veggies fighting the good fight against ‘Darth Tator’ and the Evil Empire. A recent video (below) serves to remind us why we must continue to fight the good fight.
Revisit our Veggie War post as well as a revealing post of August 27, 2010 – Monday Mornings… a Story Behind the Numbers. These two (as with all posts on this blog) lend perspective to the following video produced by our local Oregon advocacy group, OSPIRG.
As health care professionals, both Lorie & I have witnessed first hand the unavoidable aftermath of unhealthy eating habits. We ARE what we consume. As this OSPIRG video notes, unhealthy eating habits are subsidized by an equally unhealthy, indecent yet cozy partnership of Corporate Enterprise and Governance (local, state and federal–the ‘Empire’ if you will).
Be on the healthy side of statistics: Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive!
The Fattening of America—Subsidized Obesity & Disease.
The People’s Congress of our founding fathers has long been co-opted by US Corporate interests, and this mutated governance continues to pervert the moral fiber of common decency. Our best interests will be well served should The People rise up, intervene, irradiate and re-regulate this Corporate malignancy—the unhealthy symptoms and consequences of which are costly and devastating.
Tools of the Trade
My dad appreciated quality craftsmanship and durability, especially in the tools he used. He taught the simple rules; for example, using the right tool for the job saves money, time and effort. It was a timeless lesson then, relearned several times in my youth as I tried to use a tool ill designed to perform the fix at hand.
There are good reasons for the wide variety of wrenches. Each wrench performs a specific fix better than another. This is by design. And so it is in the kitchen.
At our disposal are an array of cooking tools to use, each with an ideal purpose. I grew up watching both mom and dad as they cooked. They loved their Stainless Steel pots & pans. I inherited these utensils and still use them on occasion. Were mom and dad alive today, they’d truly appreciate the advances in Stainless design and performance.
But as dad would say, tried & true principles mature and remain:
- choose the right tool for the job
- care for your tools
- discern their unique value, precision and purpose
- learn, then teach with reverence and respect (for tool, and child).
With this notion in mind, care for and maintain your electric skillet and it will serve you for a lifetime. Stainless Steel is durable, resilient and unmatched for it’s ideal cooking surface and even heat distribution (no hot spots or scorch rings).
Follow manufacturer recommended use and care. Use a Stainless Steel polish to rejuvenate the outer mirrored beauty and inner satin finish. Avoid using sharp hand utensils on the cooking surface (wood is best for many earth-friendly reasons). Clean your skillet with warm, soapy water without abrasive pads, cleaners or cleansers (avoid bleach or salting the cooking surface directly–salt naturally ‘pits’ the satin surface of Stainless Steel which doesn’t effect performance but looks unappealing). The electrical controller will deteriorate over time (generally warranted for five years) and can be easily replaced. Most controllers last 10 to 20 years.
…a few thoughts on tools, as good today as they were 50 years ago. Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive
E.coli
Farmer Mario Walter mulches thousands of heads of leafy vegetables on his field in Nieder-Erlenbach near Frankfurt. After an outbreak of E. coli has killed about 30 people and sickened thousands in Europe, salads and other vegetables can hardly be sold in Germany
The infrequent outbreak of E.coli bacteria in foods is worrisome and, in a few cases, tragic. The ability to diagnose outbreaks has limited their scope, yet we have heard of the multiple deaths in Germany from this common bacteria.
What can we do at home? Our local newspaper provides a good summary of both outbreaks and preventions. …a good read.
Yet the image caption (above) says a good deal about something else–call it fear. Fields upon fields of perfectly safe vegetables are being mulched because consumers have avoided these mineral, vitamin & antioxidant-rich foods. Life has risks. E.coli is an infinitesimally small one as risks go. Be informed, of course, but don’t toss nature’s fresh goodness out impulsively. It’s clear industrial-sized agri-business and ranching practices have created an environment for the common E.coli bacterium to mutate into a hazard to be distributed far and wide. In so many ways, simple is better.
Our health is well served when we:
- shop local and eat foods grown or reared near by
- know and visit with your grower
- pay for true value–organic vegetables and free-range meats
- always practice sound, knowledgeable hygiene in the kitchen
- cook foods thoroughly
- rinse veggies (a 5-minute soak is good for many reasons)
- pay attention to how you & your loved ones feel.
A few thoughts from the families of the Waterless Cookware Blog.
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive.
I don’t have the time…
Healthy cooking doesn’t take more time, or effort, or money. Healthy meals are simpler than that; beginning if you will with recognition of unchallenged habits that keep healthy change at bay.
‘Simple’ is the primary ingredient of healthy family menus—the simpler, the better.
If you have yet to become part of the simple cooking community, here’s a blog we highly recommend: Cook With What You Have. “Herbs to the Rescue” is a healthy start.
Healthy meals are just a change away. ENJOY the change. Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive.
Healthy Food Matters – Mark Bittman
I’ve always enjoyed the critical musings, righteous outrage and sober teachings of Mark Bittman (New York Times Food columnist). Cooking with Mark is always about good taste, honest nutrition, and reverence for the organic green of food production and distribution. Whatever the menu, Mark’s aim is always a lesson in balance—serving a balanced meal for whole health, serving a balanced lifestyle for a sustainable Earth.
Cooking green isn’t just a recipe, it’s an attitude. In a previous post, we looked into our cupboards to revisit our food buying habits based on Three Principles of the Pantry: cook from scratch; cook what you have; revitalized your pantry.
Mark lives these principles, and stumbles in the face of change too. If you’re not familiar with Mark Bittman, take a minute to get to know him—he’s personable, entertaining, and a worthy guide for learning what & how best to cook for the health of body & planet.
Take these links:
- his introductory note to “The Food Matters Cookbook” is honest and, as you will see, illustrates a common attitude about healthy eating we all commonly share.
- more recently, Mark’s NY Times column: “Food: Six Things To Feel Good About.” He is purposefully withholding some of his ‘bittman’ spice.
As always, Cook healthy, eat honestly, thrive–use cookware designed to retain nature’s honest efforts—premium Stainless Steel Waterless Cookware, the ultimate in lifelong durability, beauty and performance.
The Maxam Family of Quality Waterless Cookware
Maxam is USA born and bred, and now a family of brands known world-wide as the finest Stainless Steel Waterless cookware you can own–Quality, Affordability, Durability, Performance:
- Maxam®
- The World’s Finest®
- Chef’s Secret®
- Precise Heat®
- HealthSmart®
- Wyndham House®
- Yorkville®
…a family of brands with 60+ years of waterless cookware craftsmanship and innovation. Maxam holds patent for the Steam Control System® (or vented knob) and first to aid stove top baking with the Thermo-Knob System® (internal utensil temperature control).
Maxam Cookware employs the highest American standards for material quality and fabrication in the industry–that’s a given. But what sets Maxam apart from all brands of Stainless Steel Waterless cookware is VALUE—the ultimate in cookware performance at AFFORDABLE price points (see A Lifetime of Value to more fully appreciate the value of these pots and pans).
The reason Maxam cookware sells for @ $250 instead of $2500 is simple and straightforward:
> NO Storefront Markups (stores cost money to operate & you pay for it)
> NO Distribution Middlemen (buy direct from Authorized Dealers)
> NO Demonstration/TV/Celebrity Markups (when you buy on-line)
The costs of doing business on-line are pennies compared to operating stores, hosting home or county fair demonstrations or paying for Wall Street marketing campaigns, celebrity endorsements, etc. Operating this Blog for example adds less than a $1 to cookware represented by our sponsor, ChoiceCookery. And yet ChoiceCookery.com reaches tens-of-thousands more buyers than any storefront or cookware demonstration.
High price is not a measure of quality; it’s a measure of marketing expense, shelf space, and outrageous profit margins. There’s no reason to pay the price. Shop around, become informed, and choose wisely:
- Buy from Authorized Dealers who will service you
- Buy on-line (avoid the mark-ups)
- Speak with dealers, ask questions
- Good representatives will ask you questions too
…about your cooking methods, family size, meal types and help you choose the perfect cooking utensils for you and your family. Contact ChoiceCookery and get to know the source.
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive.
Pantry Principle: “…dinners from scratch are a snap”
When last we saw Leslie Cole (staff writer for The Oregonian FoodDay section), she was on her way home with a stack of new cookbooks under her arm and a story to write. Her hunch was that good taste & nutrition shouldn’t take hours at the stove.
Her aim was to banish the tired, the empty and bland from weeknight meals, and do so in less than 20 minutes (revisit Cooks on the GO). What she discovered were some novel, time-saving and nutritious cooking strategies that quickly and easily relieved the rush and fret of weeknight family dining.
Three common principles in the ‘quick & easy’ cookbooks Leslie reviewed are these:
- Cook from scratch
- Cook what you have
- Revitalize your pantry
The backside of these principles, Leslie now reports, is common to many of us on any given weeknight as we look to our pantry for inspiration: “In their first six years of marriage, Dan and Leah Bader’s idea of a home-cooked meal was opening a jar of pasta sauce to pour over spaghetti.” But that’s not a pantry.
The Weeknight Menu: we all get stuck now & then on ‘What to cook tonight?’ Not to worry. Enjoy Leslie’s latest FoodDay article, “The Pantry Principle—thanks to staples on hand, dinners from scratch are a snap.”
The Pantry Principles: Leslie finds the three principles alive & well in Katherine Deumling’s lusciously informative website Cook With What You Have. Katherine’s practical approach to Good Taste will have you rethinking what you buy and put in your pantry (for all the right reasons).
Katherine’s latest March 8 blog (Winter Squash x 4) reminds us that at least four nutritious and easy meals have been resting in the potato bin since November—not the potatoes, but that Squash. Try Katherine’s simple and timely Onion and Squash Panade for example.
…or our Butternut Squash Soup in “Harvest the Nutrition of Fall Squash.”
Katherine’s Advice: revisit your pantry & review your buying habits—healthy foods don’t come in cans, and fresh foods don’t bulge your budget either. Fresh whole food is the best source of natural balance & nutritive complexity. Remember to use cookware designed to retain the wholesome goodness of nature’s honest efforts—Stainless Steel Waterless Cookware.
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive.
Waterless Vegetables: Quick Start Guide to Health
A healthy diet requires multiple daily servings of fresh fruits and vegetables. Natural foods fulfill complex bodily needs. ‘Complex’ because dietary supplements just don’t provide the natural food constituents essential for efficient and thorough digestive absorption of nutrients.
But fresh produce does! Known fact: to efficiently and thoroughly absorb vitamins, the body human requires a variety of minerals–minerals naturally present in fresh fruits and vegetables.
Today’s factory-farm fruits and vegetables contain substantially less nutrient value than produce grown in the 1930’s (80% less studies show). Retain as much nutritional value from the produce you buy and serve to your family:
> raw fruits & vegetables are best.
> boiled/baked fruits & vegetables lose 60% to 80% of nutrient value.
> Waterless Cookware retains 98% nutrient content–proven fact.
Value natural sources of Health and Vitality every day, served as part of a Balanced Diet (40% natural Carbohydrate, 30% protein, 30% fat). Here’s a few Waterless Cooking Tips:
General Directions
- Wash, remove blemishes, retain vitamin/mineral rich skin unless recipe calls for removal
- Loosely fill pan (too much empty space is detrimental)
- Freshen vegetables in water to revitalize moisture and garden crispness (5-10 minutes)
- Lightly drain (don’t allow to dry)
- Cover and cook over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes (create vapor seal)
- Reduce heat to low/simmer, continue cooking…
…for specific vegetable cooking times (& waterless cooking info): > visit ChoiceCookery’s Waterless Cooking Tips/FAQ’s.
RELATED POSTS:
Vegetables: the Minerals of Health
Nature’s Goodness: Honored and Retained
Is Organic Worth It?
Monday Mornings: …a Story Behind the Numbers
Eat Your Veggies?
Veggie Wars
Cook healthy, eat honestly, and thrive
Cookware Warranty: A Lifetime of Service
In this previous post we affirmed that users of cookware with a Lifetime Warranty can expect their cookware free of defect to last their lifetime > Are Cookware Warranties for Real?
We heard from several such users > A Lifetime of Value.
In A Lifetime Guarantee, we heard from a user with another perspective:
January 7, 2011
TO: Steve
FROM: Debbie
Hi Steve,
Defects? I don’t know about defects. My set is worn out. So in other words there is NOT a LIFETIME Replacement Guarantee if I am understanding you correctly. Is that it?
ChoiceCookery assured Debbie that a Lifetime Replacement Guarantee IS in effect such that if defect appears during her lifetime, the item is replaced for free. Otherwise she can expect her original cookware to provide her with a lifetime of service. We again asked Debbie to provide us with the manufacturer of her cookware so we could respond specifically.
Limited Lifetime Warranty:
Limited Lifetime Warranties exclude handles, knobs and electrical components (controller, cord or plug for example on electric skillets). Durable as they are, these attachments may fail or break over time but are generally available for most cookware brands manufactured after 1950. A reputable dealer will assist in locating the appropriate contact for specific brands.
100% Satisfaction Guarantees:
Cookware dealers offer Guarantees to support their confidence in the quality of manufactured products they represent. In a post to follow, we’ll look at the value of dealer Satisfaction Guarantees.
To wrap up warranties, we close with this follow up note from Debbie:
January 9, 2011
TO: Steve
FROM: Debbie
HI Steve,
I will look up the model number at home. My set is in almost perfect condition even after 30 years. Just some loose handles and some scratch marks on the inside bottom of the pans from spoons. I am at a point I feel the need to replace them but wanted to first check out the warranty.
Again, I will look up the model number this evening and get back with you.
Thank you in advance for your help
Debbie
…and Thank You Debbie for helping us appreciate 30+ years of trouble free cookware service.
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