Sleepy Chicken can put you to sleep — permanently! Don’t try this ridiculous TikTok trend

Phil Lempert, who bills himself as the Supermarket Guru, is a long-time observer of the food scene. I regularly watch his podcasts and check his site (we also knew each other from our days of covering the same food conferences, etc.). I was stunned by one of his recent posts, about a TikTok food recipe called Sleepy Chicken.

Apparently, Sleepy Chicken has been out there for a while and is endangering anyone who tries it. It calls for marinating chicken in NyQuil and then cooking it for only 30 minutes.

*Sleepy chicken — put this recipe to bed, permanently.*

There are so many things wrong with this; the NyQuil can harm you when it heats up, apparently, and the chicken will likely be severely under-cooked, leaving open the possibility of salmonella and other food-borne illnesses that could kill you.

“Simply put, this is absolutely not a safe way to consume either chicken or cold and flu medication,” Eatthis.com reports a nutritionist warns.

September 29, 2022 0

Another spice to consider — Casa M Spice’s Cattle Drive packs a kick

I’m not sure why, but I seem to be hearing from a lot of new spice companies lately. I recently reviewed some offerings from Burn Pit and now I’m going to tell you a bit about Cattle Drive from Casa M Spice Co.

I asked to sample Casa M’s Cattle Drive because it’s marketed as low sodium. And it is, 30 mgs a serving. The company says of it, “Use to replace pepper on your table and add to anything you’d add black pepper to.”

*Casa M’s Cattle Drive and its nutrition info.*

The original formula, which I tried, is rated at two peppers, but it tasted more peppery, read hot peppers, to me than that.

Continue reading →

September 27, 2022 0

July 4th’s gone, but Labor Day is jsuta round the corner — here are some Labor Day side dish ideas

You can tell I’ve been holding onto this piece for a few months, 4th of July Sides from CookingLight.com. It’s early August as I write this and Labor Day is looming at the next big family cookout day, so why not take a look at some of these for that meal?

A simple approach, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil and wonderful olive oil. — *A simple side dish, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil and wonderful olive oil*.

As always, be careful about salt, fat and sugar content. Just because a dish makes it into a magazine that’s talking about “light” cooking, whatever that is, does not mean it is watching salt, fat or sugar content.

A recipe like Creamy Black Pepper Coleslaw has fat and salt in it. Not a lot you might say. But think of it as one part of your larger meal, the salt and fat can add up fast at a traditional American cookout.

I’m more likely to make sides with things I’ve grown during the summer, like tomatoes and green beans. Check out these side dishes I’ve written about in the past.

August 4, 2022 0

A new spice supplier? Come back soon for my review

Recently a company from neighboring Wisconsin (I’m in Illinois), Burn Pit BBQ, reached out to me about its barbecue sauces and spice mixtures.

I asked what they had to offer that was low-salt, low-sugar and low-fat and received the samples pictured here in return.

I’ve written about how difficult it is to barbecue healthy in posts like Why you have to read the nutrition label — a barbecue sauce comparison.

Here’s hoping some of these will help me in preparing relatively low-salt, low-fat, low-sugar cookout meals.

I’ll be trying these in upcoming weeks (actually, the hot sauce is going to my daughter who is a hot-sauce lover and she’ll give me her review to include).

Initial kudos to this company for making their products locally in Wisconsin and for being veteran-owned.

July 25, 2022 1

You eating breakfast more often? You’re not alone

Americans apparently turned to breakfast more frequently during the pandemic, according to a new survey from restaurant chain Denny’s. Sadly though, eating heart-healthy doesn’t seem to be figuring into most people’s breakfast preferences.

The survey reports that 52% of U.S. states pick bacon as their main breakfast food, followed by eggs for 26% and pancakes for 18% (see the graphic here for your state’s pick). None of those are practicularly health-healthy. I stick to Trader Joe’s high fiber cereal with banana for my breakfast, adding an occasional fat-free yogurt.

When I find myself eating breakfast away from home, I’ll try for a veggie omelet made with egg whites or whole wheat pancakes (which sadly still tend to be high in salt).

Fifty-five percent of Americans have been eating breakfast more frequently during the pandemic than before, the study found. Eat-at-home vs. out for breakfast was a close call — 48% prefer eating it at home while 52% prefer eating it away from home.

July 19, 2022 0

Get ready for summer with a cucumber salad

Cucumber salad is one of my favorite summer side dishes but it’s a great side dish year-round too. I make it when I see cucumbers on sale.

For recipes featuring different variations of it read my past posts such as, A funky summer take on a cucumber salad; Tomatoes and cucumbers — two fun summer salads; Cucumbers everywhere — here’s 34 recipes to use them.

And watch this video for another cucumber salad recipe:

April 14, 2022 0

McDonald’s salads are sneaking back onto menus

I’ve written a lot about all the low-salt, low-fat and low-sugar food items that have disappeared during the pandemic as processors and restaurants concentrate only on their highest volume offerings. McDonald’s salads were an early pandemic food casualty.

But I think they’re coming back. I recently stopped at a local McDonald’s for some diet Coke, really the only thing I’ve ordered there since they dropped salads and yogurt.

My order came with a flyer listing a ‘buy a salad, get one free’ offer at some local McDonald’s (presumably all owned by the same franchisee).

I checked my app for my local McDonald’s and see one salad, the Ceasar chicken, again available for order. The Southwest Salad is listed as not available.

Let’s be clear, there are many, many other lunch choices that would be healthier than a McDonald’s salad which is still loaded with salt. Healthier lunch choices would be things you make yourself so you can control the salt, fat and sugar content.

*My new tiny oil and vinegar bottles for eating out.*

But if you have to buy lunch at McDonald’s, the salad is the least unhealthy choice. Don’t use the dressings, there add even more salt. Carry your own in small plastic bottles like I used to do pre-pandemic.

Read my reviews of the new southwest salad and the new Caesar salad. Click on the embedded links in the salad names here.

March 9, 2022 5

A tasty and very simple-to-make sea bass recipe

Sea bass is usually an expensive fish, but if you get a deal on it (as I did buying in bulk at Costco), here’s a simple baked bass recipe that I found surprisingly tasty and quick to make. You can find the complete recipe on Food.com.

First, the ingredients, most if not all of which, you should already have handy:

1lb sea bass (cleaned and scaled)
3 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon italian seasoning or 1 tablespoon fresh parsley leaves
2 teaspoons fresh coarse ground black pepper [I found this a lot of pepper, adjsut accordingly]
1 teaspoon salt [omit this to stay low-salt}
2 lemon wedges
¹⁄₃ cup white wine vinegar (optional) or 1/3 cup white wine [I used white wine vingar, it made the dish].

To make the dish:

Preheat oven to 450F°.
In a cup, mix garlic, olive oil, salt, and black pepper.
Place fish in a shallow glass or ceramic baking dish.
Rub fish with oil mixture.
Pour wine or vinegar over fish.
Bake fish, uncovered, for 15 minutes; then sprinkle with parsley or Italian seasoning and continue to bake for 5 more minutes (or until the thickest part of the fish flakes easily).
Drizzle remaining pan juices over fish and garnish with lemon wedges.

I served my sea bass with a side if steamed carrots as you can see in my photo.

March 7, 2022 0

Finding new meal ideas can be as close as your local supermarket

Remember when supermarkets put out cards with recipes on them? These used to be pretty common at fish counters especially. Well, that function has moved online — you may find it helpful when doing your own weekly meal planning.

I recently got an email from the Jewel supermarket chain (which is owned by Albertson’s) about a meal planning option in its app. My first reaction was that it would feature high-salt, high-fat, high-sugar processed ingredients. But I was pleasantly surprised.

The app let’s you begin by putting in your dietary restrictions. It doesn’t;t include low-salt as one, unfortunately, I put in carb-conscious instead. Other restrictions I included were dairy-free, no nuts, no soy sauce, no eggs and no sulfites.

Continue reading →

February 8, 2022 0

Best diets for 2022? Back to basics

*A larger dinner veggie plate, very Mediterranean.*

Every year starts with a flurry of stories about diets and people making resolutions to lose weight. We’ve all gained Covid weight haven’t we, sitting around these past two years with no particular place to go?

I just wrote a post about the Mediterranean Diet, which constantly seems to rank at the top. So I wasn’t surprised to see this FoodNetwork.com piece rating it among the three top diets for 2022.

The D.A.S.H. Diet, a close cousin of the Mediterranean, is on here too. The third one is the Flexitarian Diet. This involves a “mix of mostly vegetarian foods, with the freedom to eat meat whenever you feel like it,” FoodNetwork.com reports. That sounds a lot like the first two to me. See what you think, just click here to see the complete article.

February 7, 2022 0

Category: Covid-19 cooking