Healthnut

What do you do when you want to realign a multi-billion dollar coffee empire so that each store has a better coffee experience? Introduce a smoothie. That's right, a smoothie. Starbuck's CEO Howard Schultz won't call it a smoothie, claiming it's "so much more than a smoothie". Enter "Vivanno".

The healthier cousin of the Frappuccino, Vivanno, was launched today and it's pretty good. Not the great savior Schultz has been talking about. The Vivanno is a blended mixture of one banana, milk, whey protein, fiber powder, and an optional shot of espresso. It comes in orange mango banana (includes Naked juice) and chocolate banana flavors. I opted for the chocolate banana and espresso shot. Again, I'm not sure why they don't call it a smoothie. I guess it's the same reason Subaru doesn't call the Forrester a "station wagon"--marketing. I'm not sure if this happens with all new menu items, but the baristas had no idea how to A) ring it up and B) make it. Not a great sign, but I was probably only the second person in Seattle to order one.

The Vivanno has two things going for it. One, it doesn't have that gritty texture you sometimes get with smoothies that contain healthy powders, and two, it means bananas can be added to Frappuccinos. Don't get me wrong, the Vivanno is a decent drink--it's just not very Starbucksian. It's not like you can't get the same thing at Emerald Smoothie or Jamba Juice. The Frappuccino is classic Starbucks and two years ago you could get fresh banana with that drink. The banana option lasted only a couple months and I've been craving it ever since.

The bottom line is that Starbuck's now has a decent smoothie. With the powders and the espresso, it has a nice kick without sacrificing flavor and I'd probably order it again.

--Spanno 

I love watermelon. Almost as much as I love sweet potatoes. And, when it comes to the backyard feast this weekend, I'm in charge of bringing the melon.

Although I can eat this sweet, fleshy melon on its own, I also like to put watermelon in salads. I've tried and loved Todd English's fennel, watermelon salad. This year, I'll be making grilled watermelon salad à la Cafe Panache. And, how much more fitting of a recipe do you need for one of the biggest grilling weekends of the year?

Ingredients:

2 large slices seedless watermelon, about 1-1/2 inches thick (cut from the center)
1 medium red onion, cut into very thin strips (julienne)
1 cup crumbled feta cheese
1-1/2 cups pitted kalamata olives, cut in half
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
12 to 16 ounces baby or tender spinach, stemmed, washed and dried
1 to 2 tablespoon finely chopped basil leaves, for garnish
1 to 2 tablespoon finely chopped mint leaves, for garnish

Directions:

1. Prepare the grill. If using a gas grill, heat it to medium. If using a charcoal grill, start the charcoal or wood briquettes; when the briquettes are ready, distribute them evenly under the cooking area for direct heat. Oil the grate.

2. Grill the watermelon slices for 2 minutes, then turn over and grill for 2 minutes, until slightly caramelized on both sides. Transfer to a plate and refrigerate for about 10 minutes, until slightly chilled.

3. Meanwhile, combine the onion, feta cheese and olives in a medium mixing bowl.

4. Cut the chilled watermelon into 1 1/2-inch cubes (discarding the rind), then add to the bowl, tossing lightly to combine.

5. Whisk together the oil and vinegar in a small bowl; add the salt and pepper. Pour the vinaigrette over the ingredients in the bowl, tossing to combine. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 3 hours to marinate.

6. To serve, divide the spinach among individual plates. Spoon the watermelon mixture over the spinach, reserving some of the vinaigrette to drizzle on the plate. Sprinkle basil and mint to taste on each salad and serve immediately.

Serves 4. This recipe is courtesy of The Washington Post.
--Sous-Chef on the Run

PS. If you love watermelon too, try out Bon Appétit's Watermelon-Cucumber Margarita, featured by KitchenMaus back in May. Delicious!

I have a slight addiction to cooking magazines. That is, if “slight” can be used to define two towering piles of magazines at work and at home. Some commentary on what issues are at the top of these stacks:

Everyday Food: Just recipes and food tips, no health, fitness or beauty advice included. One of my favorite sections is when they feature multiple recipes for one seasonal ingredient. Who but Martha could get me hooked on roasted beets and butternut squash? A recipe I have gone back to many times is Frozen Mocha Toffee-Crunch Terrine, which is easy to make and requires no baking. My constructive criticism (because I am sure Martha can take it) is that the nutrition information should be included up front with the recipe, not just in the index; and sometimes the layout of the recipes is in a paragraph format, which can be challenging to follow in the heat of cooking.

Cooking Light: With the largest number of recipes in each issue, they don’t think that cooking light means giving up important food groups such as dessert. The health information right at the bottom of each recipes to help you decide if it works for you. A few years ago, Cooking Light had a section on brining and this recipe for Orange-Brined Pork Loin has never failed me. Sometimes their ingredients veer towards the unnatural—Egg Beaters, non-fat cream cheese…and I find myself struggling to translate ½ cup of egg beaters into real eggs. The health and travel information can be a bit distracting, but they did name Seattle their healthiest city, so I won’t complain too much.

Cooking With Paula Deen:  My slight food snobbery (and here slight actually means “a small amount”) has been jolted with beginning to read Cooking with Paula Deen. Some recipes do make your heart slow down just by reading them, heavy whipping cream, cream cheese and butter, and this is in a salad? But you can’t go wrong with “Bacon Wrapped Pretzels.” I can’t find the recipe, maybe the Surgeon General got involved.

I also read non-cooking magazines for recipes (is that like reading Playboy for the articles?). A few of my favorite recipes include Orange Maple Pancakes with Orange Syrup from O, The Oprah Magazine. Who knew that syrup could be improved on? Oprah does!

Another favorite, this one from Sunset: I don’t fancy myself an expert on Mexican food, but I really like the taste of this Chorizo and the accompanying recipe for tacos that include potato, egg and cheese.

Next, I will tackle some of the classics: Gourmet, Bon Appetit—whose covers I have considered using as wallpaper—and some smaller titles, including EatingWell and Clean Eating.

But before then: what are some of your favorite cooking magazines and why?

What's 100 times sweeter than sugar, has no affect on blood sugar, no calories, is completely natural, and doesn't taste like chemicals? It's called stevia, and you're going to see a lot of it soon.

Stevia is plant in the sunflower family that is native to Central and South America. It's been used by local tribes for centuries. While other countries currently use stevia-derived sweeteners, it was only recently approved for consumption as a sweetener in the U.S.

Here are some stevia-derived products coming to a supermarket near you:

SweetLeaf Sweetener:  It has been on the market for a couple years as a "dietary supplement". The company claims it's the first stevia-derived product approved by the FDA as a sweetener. Look for the dark-green packets very soon.

Zevia:  Currently available in a few U.S. stores and online at http://www.zevia.com.

Truvia: A collaboration between Cargill and Coca-Cola. They plan to have packet sweeteners on the market by the end of the year. A Truvia-sweetened "diet" Coke can't be far behind.

--Spanno 

Let's say you need to drop 10 pounds. How do you do it? If you had a couple months you could eat less, workout more--creating a calorie deficit--and lose a couple pounds per week. This method is sustainable and healthy. If you wanted to do it quickly you could use sanitized tape worms, cut off an arm, or start a trendy "detox" diet.

MSN Health & Fitness has a great article about three trendy diets: The Martha's Vineyard Detox Diet, The Master Cleanse, and Skinny Bitch.

In a nutshell, The Martha's Vineyard Detox Diet and The Master Cleanse are both crap, despite what some celebrity with a nutritionist and a personal trainer says. Essentially you starve yourself, which slows down your metabolism and burns muscle instead of fat. And the whole "detox" thing is completely bogus.

The only somewhat reputable diet is Skinny Bitch, which is merely a vegan diet lacking in nutritional balance. It was written by a model who refers to readers as "fat pigs", so don't be surprised if you go on the diet and only lose self-esteem.

--Spanno

Touted as "the ultimate fluid to empower your body and mind", Perfect Water makes some lofty scientific claims. These include purification, re-mineralization, ionization, oxygenation,  and something called "microstructuring". Even their website is mum as to what that means. It reminds me of Brawndo: The Thirst Mutilator from the movie Idiocracy, but without all the over-the-top advertising.

As a straight "taste" test, Perfect Water excels in that it tastes like nothing. In a blind test between this and plain water we couldn't tell the difference. There's a slight mouth feel difference (thicker?) to Perfect Water, but after a few swigs it's not noticeable. There was also the way we felt after drinking it. Everyone got a slight oxygen buzz.

In addition to scientific claims, they make performance claims that can be demonstrated with three simple tests. We conducted two--the flexibility and strength tests. First was a simple toe-touch. We all got a baseline for how far we could touch our toes. After just one ounce of Perfect Water and a few seconds to let the oxygen distribute through our bodies, there was a slight improvement--an inch or two. Not a miracle, but a decent improvement. Second was the tip test, which is explained and shown here. This definitely worked as advertised. I'm not sure how it works, but it's pretty cool.

Bottom Line:
Perfect Water will probably make a good workout drink. Not only is it water, it might have some performance benefits. As with any product that makes performance claims, results will vary. With the extra oxygen, you might feel a little extra energy--I hit the gym for an hour after drinking half a bottle and I definitely felt livelier--a little more flexible, and possibly stronger since the more oxygen you can get to your muscles, the better they perform.

You can buy Perfect Water only from select retailers, including PerfectWaterz.com.

--Spanno

There has been a lot of talk about plastic lately. Namely the adverse effects it could have on your health. Without getting into the politics of the discussion, I thought I'd suggest a few kitchen brands and products that are plastic-free and can help wean your kitchen off of the synthetic  stuff.

Food Storage:  Pyrex and CorningWare offer plastic-free solutions to storing your food. Whether toting your lunch to work everyday, or simply keeping leftovers in the fridge for reheating, check out these two brands for non-plastic storage and reheating.

Water Bottles: Alfi, Thermos Nissan, and Sigg. Either lined with glass or made completely from stainless steel, these brands will keep you away from plastic drinking bottles.

Kettles: Why plug in a plastic teakettle, when there are alternatives? For example, this popular and affordable glass kettle made by Medelco. Or, check out stainless-steel alternatives.

Cooking Utensils: Head Chef and I are fans of flexible, plastic cooking utensils. But, we're a little concerned about having one of these melt in our food. So, we're starting to replace our plastics with bamboo and stainless steel.

Did I miss any non-plastic brands and products that you love? Let us know what your favorite non-plastic kitchen item is.

--Sous-Chef on the Run

Just days after People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PITA) announced a $1 million dollar prize for a commercially viable in vitro meat, Slate has called it "bogus" and a "publicity stunt". You can read the article here.

The problem, according to Slate, is that in order to cash in on the prize money, "they need to move 2,000 pounds of the stuff at supermarkets and chain restaurants spread out across 10 states during a period of three months. And the Franken-meat can't cost more than regular chicken."

A company would have to make a significant and successful investment in order to get paid. That's like your parents bribing you to get a decent job, but only paying you after you've had the job for three months.

To top it off, the test tube meat would need to be approved by the FDA in record time in order to meet the prize deadline of June 30, 2012. To put that time-frame into perspective, sucralose (Splenda) was discovered in 1976 and approved by the FDA in 1998.

I wouldn't expect to see animal-free meat anytime soon. Scientists have been working on lab-grown meat since the early 20th century. You can read more about this in Popular Science. They have a great article about test tube meat--from 1936.

--Spanno

Americans are lucky ducks. We have access to clean tap water every day and often take it for granted. But, during the last two days of World Water Week (March 16-22), you can make a donation to UNICEF and feel a little less guilty about your birthright.

When you order tap water at restaurants in select U.S. cities, Tap Project will donate your dollar to UNICEF for one child to have clean drinking water for 40 days. Last year, Tap Project was a huge success--earning over $300,000 in New York City alone. This year, dine out in your hometown and help children in the developing world get access to cleaner water.

--Sous-Chef on the Run