Obesity and Unhealthy Food

[ZigZag]

So, this one is a spin-off from nevvie's thread on commercials. I thought it was a very interesting subject that perhaps deserved its own thread.

What do you think about the campaigns in America and other countries to fight obesity and what measures do you think still need to be made?

Michelle Obama won my eternal respect when she took childhood obesity as her own personal issue. It pains me to see the way the fast food market is targeting children and poverty stricken families.

Fast food companies like KFC are especially prevalent in parts of inner-cities where most families fall below the poverty line. They offer food that's laden with chemicals, trans fats and a whole source of other unhealthy things for an affordable price. Whereas healthier food options are more expensive.

Except, not really. I checked a grocery store's website. You can buy, with coupons, four packages of dried pasta for five dollars and the generic pasta sauce costs .59 cents. That can be a weeks worth of dinner for under ten dollars, less than a bucket of fried chicken with drinks and sides- which would be one nights dinner.

Also on the list: ten yogurts for five dollars, five ears of corn for two dollars, a bagged salad for 99 cents, a pound of apples, squash or peaches for $1.49, two bags of cut broccoli for $1.88, a pound of rice for $1.29, generic white bread for $1.79 and generic milk for $1.29.

It drives me crazy that the fast food industry says that you save money and time by buying their products when by shopping sales items and cutting coupons you can buy an easy home-cooked meal that takes maybe twenty minutes to whip up and cost so much less!

NOTE:
Links to healthy/easy/cheap recipes will be provided in this post. If you submit recipes, you are allowed to double-post if submitting more than one at a time. :)
Shepherd's Pie (http://charlie-bone.com/forum/showpost.php?p=159640&postcount=10)
Tacos/burritos/fish tacos (http://charlie-bone.com/forum/showpost.php?p=159651&postcount=11)
Minestrone Soup (http://charlie-bone.com/forum/showpost.php?p=159719&postcount=21) (pronounced min-a-strone-eeeeeeee)

[nevermore]

It's true. Grocery shopping is something of an art form, and that's why I sincerely believe that it should be a subject taught in schools. Most people don't know how to read labels to find out if 2 grams of fiber in breakfast cereal makes it healthy, and they also need to be taught to understand that the #1 ingredient in chicken should not be flour or corn, what a serving is, and how much sodium is far too much. Then there are little things like how to compare the price per ounce/gram, how to use coupons to their greatest extent, and what an "empty calorie" is.

I have done the math. I literally cannot afford to feed the members of my household things like processed frozen breaded chicken tenders, family meal deal pizza/chicken, etc. I mean, once in a while, yes. But how on earth people can afford to stuff their freezers with boxes of corn dogs, chicken nuggets, frozen pizza/lasagna/meatloaf, and instant mashed potatoes is beyond me. Yeah, maybe it takes an extra 15 minutes to peel, slice, and boil your own potatoes. Yes, maybe you have to thaw out fresh frozen chicken breasts (without breading!!) the night before (I buy it in bulk whenever it's on sale and shove the whole lot into my freezer--same for ground beef and fish) and cook them in an oven for 30 minutes rather than a microwave for 30 seconds but...

This is your body we're talking about. Is there really so little time in your life that spending 30 minutes to roast some chicken, steam fresh broccoli, and boil potatoes is out of the question?

I think another half of the problem is that families really are busy, and that a lot of the members of a household really don't know how to cook. My parents/grandparents all had me in the kitchen helping them as soon as I was big enough to stand on a stool and make myself useful. By the time I was 10, my mom (who worked full time) was used to leaving dinner directions on the kitchen counter for me, so that when I came home from school, I could have dinner halfway done by the time she came home. Schools need to bring back home ec. Parents need to be teaching their kids how to preheat an oven and set the timer so that casseroles can get shoved in at 5:30, or how to prep the veggies, or season the chicken/steak/fish, or steam the rice, so that when mom or dad comes home there's less work to be done, and less of an excuse to reach for the takeout menus...

[Leeny]

I think that it's ultimately going to fall on our generation and the generations after us to fix this problem. I think that it's the parents' responsibilities to feed their children healthy food, but it also needs to be the responsibility of the places that act in the place of the parents: schools. Schools simply need to serve better food in their cafeterias. I've heard a lot of people say that it's harder work to bake large quantities of healthy food, but that's too bad. It's something that they have to do. Pasta is not hard to make large quantities of, and it's healthy. If they were able to serve a nice baked chicken rather than fried, baked potatoes rather than french fries. Steamed vegetables. Having a good supply of milk rather than all soda. These things aren't difficult, yet schools don't seem to try and help this epidemic.

I also think half of PE classes should be in the classroom educating kids on proper portion size, teaching them how to read labels, et cetera. Then, when they get to high school, start teaching them how to feed children so they eat healthy. Serve kids their fruits and vegetables before the main course. Eat and drink healthy foods in front of them, et cetera.

If we implemented these practices into our school systems, I think within a couple of generations, we would have this epidemic fairly under control.


EDIT: completely agree with the above two posts.

[Tancfan01]

I know that at my school, we learn how to get the calories percentage.
We are learn how many calories a day we need and how important it is to stay in shape. I am not the skinniest person in the world, but I am definatly not the most out of shape. Before I learned about that sort of stuff, my eating habits were not good, but after that my habits were turned around. Learning about the stuff that is not good for u is definalty one of the most important things you could learn and every school should somehow fit it in were the kids learn it. We have a health class for a term a year so we each learn about it.

I know some people who don't care about there weight, that figure that they will just magically lose weight or that they will not get hurt doing that to there body. Every time we try to change there mind, they shut us out... its amazing that someone could just do that and still stand by it. Some of my family has suffered from obesity and things like that, so I think that is really what makes me not want to be like that and have a healthy life. I am still very young so I want to live it healthy not having the worry about my weight all the time.

EDIT: Also I think the reason for the obesity problem is one, yes people are very busy, second, people are now starting to rely on electronics for everything. Why boil potatos, like you said, when you can just stick something in the microwave and have it done for you. Also with electronics, people are spending way to much time on the computer and get absorbed in the action that they don't realize where the time went, and when they do realize it, they have less time then they would have had before if they had made healthy food. So they decide to just get some fast food or have it delivered to there house. And, since facebook has started up, people are no longer going to someone house to visit, because they can just talk to them on facebook, people are walking less, because facebook gives them games and stuff to do instead of that. I mean who really enjoys running, but it has to be done. Plus lets face it, if we don't exercise, eating healthy would pretty much be a waste of time. You would not lose near as much weight as you would by doing both.

[nevermore]

And that's a key point you make there, Tancfan. Thin doesn't mean healthy. Nor does heavyset mean unhealthy. Thin women have heart attacks because their arteries are clogged. Or have you ever seen the legs on jazz/contemporary dancers? They're not little twigs. They've got some junk in the trunk, but it's pure muscle! Same goes for girls in sports, and some people really are just more heavily built, with bigger shoulders, wider hip bones, etc.

I knew one family growing up in my neighborhood whose kids longed for home cooked meals because they only ever got fast food for dinner. They hung out at our house a lot, so my mom and I eventually started teaching the oldest girl how to cook. I'm not sure if anyone on this forum has that specific problem, but if any of you have busy families, and you know everyone would benefit from you knowing how to cook dinner for them once or twice a week, I am chalk-full of really easy (healthy!) recipes that can feed an army for very little money. Say the word, and I'll start posting them. :)

[ZigZag]

I'm a big, big advocate for PE classes being mandatory. The amount of children and teens who are overweight or obese has more than tripled in the past thirty years. Almost 60% of children in America are overweight or obese. In 2002 a study showed that 22% of preschoolers are overweight! And, yes, this is going to affect their life. An obese six year old has over a fifty percent change of remaining obese into adulthood.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the average child is watching about 3 hours of television a day. And the average kid spends 5½ hours on all screen media combined (TV, videos and DVDs, computer time outside of schoolwork, and video games). And 32% of children between the ages of 2 and seven and 65% of children between eight and eighteen have a television in their rooms.

Parents and schools need to get kids off their butts and away from screens. And they don't need to sign up for organized sports even (although many neighborhoods have free community teams). Is there a playground in the area? A park? Take your kids and let them run around with other kids. When I was little me and my friends had an absolute blast in the park. We didn't need someone to force us to play a game, we made them up ourselves. Tag, Mother May I?, Red Rover, Red Light Green Light, even just plain old catch or riding our bikes.

My parents had strict rules about television and computers when I was a kid. We got to watch one hour of TV a week and we could only use the computer for half an hour a day (except for school work). The rest of the time we had to find ways to entertain ourselves. And do you know what? We did.

Kids are really resourceful. They don't actually need a ton of bright lights and noises to stimulate them. I'm sure we've all heard stories of parents who buy their child a fifty dollar toy and he ends up playing with the box it came in. When they were one and a half my cousins favorite game in the world was running back and forth in the hallway. They did it for hours, giggling the entire time.

Not only does television limit kids exercise but I think it limits their imagination and learning process. Sure, their are tons of tv shows and computer games that do in fact encourage learning. (Operation Neptune Forever!) But what exactly do kids learn from Grand Theft Auto?

Back when I was little (someone get me a rocking chair already) my friends and I half lived in fantasy worlds. We were princesses and pirates and fairies and runaways. And that was all in one afternoon.

Also: reading. Kids need to read more. I hate that kids today don't read. Hate, hate, hate it. And most of what they do read is insipid stuff. Brain Twinkies is what I call them. Satisfying but of no nutritional value. Give kids books to read, and not just books like Gossip Girl and The Clique. Books like Roald Dahl (Matilda is still my favorite childhood book), Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, The Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter. There are tons of great children's books out there. Louis Sachar's Holes and Wayside School books are a particular favorite of mine. And of course, Charlie Bone.

ETA: I'm also ready to supply some great easy recipes if you guys want!

[nevermore]

Man, when I was a kid we literally got kicked out of the house. If my mom was cooking dinner or whatever, she'd point to the front door and say "don't come back for an hour!" We'd take the dog for walks, go kick around a soccer ball in the yard, ride bikes, play freeze tag, whatever. Plus, you work up an appetite so that when we were finally allowed in, dinner would be ready and you'd be diving in.

Also also, I am the master of creative meals. If there's "nothing to eat" tell me what's in your fridge/freezer/pantry, and I will tell you how to make it into a snack or meal. I used to babysit my siblings/their friends all summer long, and there would be those days at the end of our week's supply of groceries where I'd have three or four hungry kids staring at me, I'd open the fridge, find one can of tuna, a box of pasta, and some frozen peas, which would magically become enough food for everyone. (answer: boil the pasta, add the peas, tuna, and some mayo, and bam. tuna-pasta salad.)

It could make a fairly amusing game. :D

[ZigZag]

Me and my friends used to play restaurant. We'd each get a chance to make a dish and then we'd decide who's dish was the best. We started when we were little and all we could really make was sandwiches and cereal mixes, but I was granted the permission to use the stove and oven when I was about eight so that's when things got fun.

It's still a fun game, by the by. My friend Spencer hosts potluck parties sometimes. He's an event planning major and an awesome cook so he lives on that type of thing. It's the same idea. We all are given a theme or ingredient (say Moroccan or ginger) and we are each given a dish we have to provide (I do desserts usually, Spence does the main course most of the time) and we get free reign. And then we judge each other's food and decide who wins. Me and Spencer almost always cheat/go overboard and make multiple dishes.

[Myr49]

Nevvie or someone: make a thing so that people can post healthy inexpensive meals and any other thing we people need to know.

The only life skills my town teaches are driving and how to balance a checkbook I think.

[nevermore]

Ok! How about we can post our healthy meals, and then Zoe, a supermod, or myself can provide quick links to the recipes in Zoe's first post, so that readers can quickly skim the list of recipes we've shared so far? I'm right in the middle of multitasking, but I'll post a couple of recipes/tips later today :)

Edit: Ok, here's one that's really simple and delicious, and you can cut a lot of corners if you're a beginner in the kitchen:

-Shepherd's Pie (http://recipe.foohta.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/beefy-shepherds-pie.jpg)-
Ingredients:
Mashed Potatoes (either: peel, slice, boil, drain, and smash 1 potato per person, or cut corners with instant potatoes if you're still learning)
Mixed veggies (save time: use a bag of frozen mixed veggies (I like the kind that has peas, carrots, green beans, and corn)
1 onion, peeled and diced into bite-size pieces
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated (use a cheese grater!) (save time: you can use about 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder, too)
2 Tablespoons oil
2 Tablespoons flour
1 cup liquid (you can use beef/chicken stock, or even plain old water in a pinch)
Meat (such as: ground beef (I use 1/4lb--about as much as you'd use when making a hamburger), 1 chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces, or even leftover meat like shredded chicken, finely chopped steak/lamb, etc)

Method:
Make your mashed potatoes first and set them aside.
1) In a separate (biggish) pot, pour in your oil and over MEDIUM-HIGH heat (your stove has knobs for a reason. High heat =/= better food) add your meat, and DON'T TOUCH IT once it's in the pan. Set a timer for 5 minutes and BACK AWAY SLOWLY. Leave it alone. Don't poke it. Don't peek at it. Nothing. Once that timer goes off, flip it over, scramble it up with a spatula, whatever. (Why? Because we're allowing the meat to brown. All those little sticky bits on the bottom of your pan will make everything taste 100x better!) If you are using raw chicken: make sure that it's cooked through. Cut a piece in half and check that it's not pink in the middle. If it is, keep cooking until your next sample piece is white in the middle. Use the biggest chunks of chicken as your test-dummies
2) Add your onions. Cook them until they turn cleary-brown ("translucent" in the food world)
3) Add your flour. Stir it around until it turns brown (usually about 2 minutes)
4) Add your liquid, garlic and about 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let it get bubbly then taste it. If it needs salt or pepper, add more salt or pepper.
5) Stir in your frozen veggies.
6) Get a big rectangle baking pan (http://s3.amazonaws.com/tc-photos/33123/product/standard/707.jpg), and pour in the soupy veggie/meat/gravy thing you just made.
7) Spoon your mashed potatoes on top, and spread them around like cake frosting
8) pop it in the oven (set to 350F/180C) and cook until the potatoes get brown on top (30 minutes-ish)

nomnomnom! You made shepherd's pie! This is a good one to make if you have a kitchen buddy, because they can cook the mashed potatoes while you make the filling. Just another way to save time. :)

[nevermore]

Tacos! (http://www.terminaldogma.com/images/taco_large.png)
Delicious, easy, cheap. What more do you need?

Ingredients:
Tortillas (figure 2 or 3 per person) (note: you can buy hard taco shells on the international food aisle, or you can use soft tortillas to make soft tacos)
Ground beef (figure 1/4 lb (the size of 1 hamburger patty) per person)
Shredded cheese
Chopped up tomatoes
Chopped up/shredded lettuce
Salsa (or hot sauce, or none at all if you don't do spicy)
Spices (this is enough spice for 4 people. Adjust as necessary based on who's eating that night)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cumin (if you want it to taste like taco seasoning. You can skip this if you don't have it handy)
OR! (instead of all the spices, just use 1 tablespoon store-bought taco seasoning)

Directions:
Heat a big skillet on MEDIUM HEAT. Add your ground beef, your spices, and mix/chop with a spatula until it turns brown and smells so good you can't stand it anymore.
Put all your toppings (cheese, salsa, tomatoes, lettuce) into separate bowls with spoons for easy serving.

To make a taco: Take a tortilla. Add a spoonful of ground beef. Top with toppings of your choice.

BONUS RECIPES!
Make it a burrito (http://www.hardees.com/content/products/rb_menu/1lbBurritoNew_1.jpg)
Add beans (use canned pinto beans, canned black beans, or a can of refried beans)
Use a big tortilla
Follow taco recipe.
(note: guacamole, sour cream, spanish rice, black olives, etc are also amazing in burritos)
Nomnomnom! Burrito!

Make a fish taco (http://www.averagebetty.com/images/fish_taco420.jpg)
Dust off those fish sticks in the back of your freezer
Cook the fish sticks however the package tells you
Instead of lettuce, use cabbage
Instead of cheese, use sour cream
Use the same tomatoes
Use the same salsa
assemble like a taco.
nomnomnom! Fish taco!

[Duende]

My number 1 problem is laziness. Yes, I admit it. I am lazy. I could solve all of my problems by preparing a meal at home and taking it to work/uni. But when I leave for the station at 6 am, and generally run late for work even without making lunch... I generally cannot be bothered to make myself something. And on top of that, I'm really picky... whatevers available, you can bet that I won't feel like it.

So 9/10 I end up eating crap. I don't like it, but considering I only get about one short shift a week... or when I'm working, only a 15 minute break, you can bet I'm going to get a quick $2 serve of chips rather than waiting for a shop to make me a $7 sandwich.


Needless to say, since finishing school and starting uni (we're talking over a 3 and a bit year period here) I've stacked on a massive 15 kg.

[nevermore]

Have you ever considered packing your lunch the night before? I generally make up a big pot of whatever soup I enjoy eating, and divvy it up into tupperware bowls. It's so easy to just grab a tupperware on your way out the door, plus soup is about the healthiest thing on the planet (assuming it's not something like cream of broccoli/cheese soup :D). Pop it in the microwave at work for 2 minutes, and bam. Instant meal.

On even tighter days, I'd intentionally bring campbell's tomato soup because I could heat it up, pour it into a coffee cup, and drink it at work/in class. *sneaky* Granted, canned soups have a boatload of sodium, but for the sake of convenience, it's still better than a basket of fries.

[Myr49]

Nevvie thanks for the recipes, you rock! But anyway I also think that if anybody has any skills we should know type them up too if you can!

[Duende]

I've never made soup in my life :o

[Tancfan01]

Now that I think about it... I never have either. I am young, but I do a lot of the cooking, for my family, around the house. Something that everyone has to remember, eating healthy doesn't mean totally stop drinking soda and eating chips and stuff like that. It just means that, if you do eat them, make sure you can have a healthy meal or snack the next time you eat. I was looking it up and the internet, but you really aren't supposed toe eat after five o'clock! I couldn't believe it! I mean, my mom doesn't get home til around 4:30 and my dad usually gets home late, so eating before 5 isn't really an option. It doesn't really make a huge difference, but if you CAN eat before 5, that is the best time to do it. Also, what I do is, everytime I eat something unhealthy, I go walk outside for about 45 minutes.

Another tip for making yourself maybe eat a bit better is, when every you are up and can't sleep at like midnight and hungry, make a glass of warm water. It helps you feel full and it doesn't taste bad at all :)

[nevermore]

I used to love warm milk when I couldn't sleep... now I can't drink milk, so doing so would keep me up all night crying with a tummy ache. :( Now I sip herbal tea before bed. :o

I believe in all things in moderation... including moderation (as Julia Child said). Every friday night is junk-food night in my house. No holds barred. We get pizza and hot wings for dinner, chips, popcorn, candy, soda, whatever. You can eat whatever you want and no one will judge you. You want to have brownies for dinner? Have brownies for dinner. BUT, the other 6 days of the week we are total health nuts. There is no snack food in the house (unless cheese and crackers, apple slices, or celery sticks and salsa count), we eat vegetarian meals at least once a week (usually a pasta dish so no one feels starved), two nights a week consist of vegetable-based soups, and the rest are all chicken, stir-fries, stuffed veggies (we like stuffed bell peppers or stuffed zuchini), or sushi if I don't feel like cooking. But friday night... mmmm... :D

Soups are easy! And it's one of the healthiest things you can eat! It fills you up because it's full of fiber from all the veggies, it hydrates you and makes you feel fuller sooner because of the broth, and if you add some kind of protein (lentils, beans, chicken) and a starch (potatoes, corn, pasta) it's a complete meal in a bowl with hardly any calories. Someone should start a soup diet. :D I'll post some of my favorite recipes later.

Soups are healthy, easy to cook, and can feed an army for almost no money. You can't get cheaper than potatoes and onions! lol

TIPS!
The single, most important kitchen lesson you can EVER learn is how to handle a knife. It is CRUCIAL that you use a sharp knife. Did you know that most kitchen accidents happen because of DULL knives? That's because you have to push harder while you cut, and the knife is more likely to slip off the food and onto your hand! :eek: So make sure your knives are sharp. That said, I will leave the rest of the instruction up to this handy dandy 5 minute video I found (after scouring the internet for the last half hour), which will teach you how to chop. You can use this technique for most of your cooking, and this is the one that people either can do (safe) or cannot do (unsafe). While you watch this video, please notice how the tip of his knife never comes off the cutting board while he chops. If you are using your knife and it's making "clunk" noises, you are perilously close to cutting off a finger. Your knife should go "swish swish swish" not "clunk clunk clunk"
Learn how to chop and dice SAFELY (http://www.foodnetwork.ca/video/index.html?releasePID=S8f7Ot_6YRYmGYeu2DtK_v6euP_2 QEwA)

[Myr49]

Mmmm, soup. I like almost any soup! except tomato. I hate tomato. I don't know why either. My mom makes awesome chicken noodle soup. I wish i find the recipe

[ZigZag]

Oh, I love soup and actually it's really easy if you just keep those cartons of broth in your pantry. They make a great base and from there you can just add whatever ingredients you have on hand, cook it together and voila! Dinner is served!

And, if you have extra time, it's really easy to make your own broth. Just take the bones and meat of whatever type of broth you are planning to make, cover them with boiling water, and some spices (bay leaves, parsley stems, black peppercorns and thyme are the traditional ones but you can experiment to your heart's content.) This is made easier if you make a sachet out of them, just wrap them in cheesecloth and secure with twine so you can easily fish it out. Boil the stock until the flavor combines, skimming the fat that rises every now and then, and you have stock.

It's best to make huge batches of stock if you prefer the fresh stuff. Then you can just freeze the leftovers to have on hand.

EDIT: Nevvie is so, so, so right about her knife advice. A good all-purpose chef's knife is the best kitchen tool you can have. And yes: always keep your knives sharp. I sharpen my knife once a month, but for most home cooks it can be much less frequent. And you don't need to drop a bundle on them.

Is it totally embarrassing to admit how much my knife set cost? I use the Wusthof knives provided at my cooking school, which are often regarded as the best knives for cooking. My dad and I had a very big laugh when, explaining to a friend of his the quality of my knives he asked incredulously if they were better than Cutco knives. I explained that in professional kitchens there is a whole 'nother level of sharp past cutco.

My main one, the eight inch chef's knife, normally runs about $150 and it's a sight to behold. I have yet to have anybody see me using or holding this knife without their eyes widening and them saying something along the lines of "holy crap!" It's the kind of knife that is only found in movies involving deranged housewives who eventually use it to stab their husbands with. It is a scary, scary, scary knife that is very sharp. But it's wonderful because it makes such great and precise cuts. My whole knife kit costs somewhere in the five hundred dollar range at full price. By comparison a full cutco knife set, which is a five piece knife set plus ten steak knives, can be bought for under $150.

I also love my knives on a level that may approach serial-killer-like.

[nevermore]

also, for convenience/affordability, powdered (low sodium) bouillon is a great investment. You can add just a couple teaspoons of it to a big pot of water just to add a little bit of flavor base to a pot of soup (tastes better than plain water). I buy it from the bulk bins in my local grocery store and keep it in a jar in my spice cupboard, because I don't always have liquid stock in my pantry on days I need to make soup (ie the vegetables in my fridge will not survive another day) In a pinch, I've even been known to pillage packages of ramen noodles to steal the seasoning packets. :D Necessity is the mother of invention, eh?

Plus, you can crush up the unseasoned leftover ramen noodles and throw them in salads for an interesting crunch. Yum!

[nevermore]

Oh! I said I'd post recipes for soups, didn't I? I'll give you all a few of my favorites over the next day or two.

Minestrone Soup (http://hostedmedia.reimanpub.com/TOH/Images/Photos/37/exps21177_LW1177837D53A.jpg)

Ingredients:
6 cups stock (chicken, beef, vegetable, etc)
1 large can tomatoes, juice and all (any tomatoes. If using whole, mush them up with a spoon--or your hands--to break them into smaller pieces)
1 large can of either kidney, garbanzo/chickpea, or cannellini beans
1 cup small pasta (like macaroni, spirals, bowties, etc)
1 carrot, chopped into small pieces (cut a carrot into 4 long strips, cut each strip into little cubes)
1 rib celery, chopped into small pieces (like the carrot)
1 big potato, cubed (like the others)
1 onion... yep. Chopped into cubes
You can also add any other veggies past their prime (I use zucchini, summer squash, mushrooms, asparagus... experiment. Or, just use the root veggies and leave it at that)
a couple garlic cloves minced itty bitty (or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, or 1/2 teaspoon of that minced garlic in a jar)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (trust me. Doesn't make it super spicy, it just gives it a little extra something in the background)
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning (OR 1/4 teaspoon each of things like thyme, rosemary, basil, parsley. Try to use at least basil, if nothing else)
Optional: a generous handful Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Get all of your fresh veggies (EXCEPT THE GARLIC!) chopped and into a big bowl together.
In a large soup pot, heat up 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Dump the whole bowl of veggies in, and stir them around until the onions are translucent (cleary-brown). Now add your garlic.
After about 2 more minutes of stirring, dump EEEEEVERYTHING else into the pot (stock, beans, pasta, tomatoes, spices, etc). Let it all simmer over medium-low heat for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes fall apart when you poke them with a spoon. Now taste the broth. If you feel like it needs more salt or pepper or whatever, add more until it tastes right to you. Then? Voila! Soup! You can also garnish the soup with an extra sprinkle of Parmesan, just to up the ante a little bit. OR, if you can get a parmesan rind (usually very cheap from the deli section--just ask, they might even give it to you), drop the whole rind into your soup while it cooks and it will infuse the soup with parmesan flavor. Just make sure you don't serve the rind to anyone--bad eats. lol

TIP: You can also make this quite gourmet and elegant using fresh tortellini (http://www.tinyplace.org/tinyblog/postpics/tortellini.jpg) or ravioli (http://sp.life123.com/bm.pix/homemade-ravioli.s600x600.jpg)(they're usually refrigerated somewhere in your grocery store) instead of dried pasta. If you do, don't add your fancy pasta while the soup is cooking. Instead, lay a couple in the bottom of a soup bowl, ladle your lava-boiling soup over the pasta, and let it sit for about 5 minutes to cook the pasta through. Garnish with a pretty sprig of fresh basil and you've got a very impressive dish to serve to someone you love.

[Myr49]

Mmm... sounds good. I think I might try that with tortillini. I love spinich tortillini

[nevermore]

I got some very cute little mini rainbow ravioli (pink, green, orange and yellow ravioli--dyed with vegetable juices) a few months back from a farmers' market. I got a whole pound for about a dollar and cooked them in the soup like regular small pasta. It was like a party in that bowl! :D

[Myr49]

rainbow tortillini.. Hmm... (devilish laugh)

[Espionage]

Sadly, the extent of the harm we inflict on our bodies is not limited to our unhealthy food choices. Even the healthy ones are killing us. Pesticides on fruit an the big one: PLASTIC PACKAGING: are killing humanity. Chemicals in PLASTIC cause reproductive harm and this is the killer: cancer. Yes, plastic causes cancer. And that brings us to another evil of the fast food industry. Single serving. Why? Why are we this stupid? As Nevvie mentioned, yes fast food is more convenient, but this is your body? Such laziness is revolting. Also, note the pros and cons if something like bottled water.

Pros:
it's quick

Cons:
Costs LITERALLY 2,000x more than tap water ($2.00 vs. $0.02 per GALLON)
Plastic chemicals leached into water
tastes worse than tap water
bottling contributes to pollution of TAP WATER!

It is so messed up what people will do for convenience these days. Really.

[nevermore]

Oh for sure about the bottled water! I found out a few years back that most bottled water companies... ready for this? USE TAP WATER! You are literally paying for a bottle and little else. Maybe a few minerals added to the tap water to make it taste clean and pure, and a special label depicting a mountain, but for the most part, you're just as well off turning on your sink. :headdesk:

I've recently been seeing ads for single serving rice that cooks in a little plastic cup in your microwave for one minute. This makes me grind my teeth for several reasons. 1) Plastic toxins. 2) Microwave. 3) It's RICE! Rice for crying out loud! One part rice. Two parts water. Covered pot on simmer. 20 minutes. RICE! Too busy to use your own stove? BUY A RICE COOKER!!!!!! It will do aaaaaall the cooking for you and you don't. even. have. to. be. in. the. house. *explodes*

[Espionage]

RICE???? WHAT? Rice is like, the universal grain. I mean, I don't claim to be a culinary expert, but.... how hard is it to cook rice? Geezums! I bet that it was also loaded with preservatives as well...
As for the bottled water thing, here's some stuff I found out about companies:

DASANI and AQUAFINA are both tap water.... from chicago! I'm not kidding.... why ship tap water over here when we have SINKS for that purpose!

FIJI actually does come from Fiji... but it is the main profit source for a dictatorship and slaves are used in the places they make the bottles!

[nevermore]

Aw... but their bottles are so pretty... :rolleyes:

I mean, they are, but slave labor should not have to be responsible for making them. Ever. And it's not like I ever noticed a taste difference despite the prettier bottle, either.

[Myr49]

I don't see why they bottle water when you can put tapwater in a glass.I mean the bottle will just sit in the landfill for a million years!:mad::confused:

[Thirrin Vertigo]

One of the reasons why water is bottled though is to prevent spread of diseases that can come from drinking tap water that isn't clean.

You see, in some areas the water that comes from the tap is actually more likely to harm you than bottled. However, in some areas it is healthier. I know for a fact that the tap water at home for me comes from the local reservoir (which is 100m down the road from my house) and that before it goes through the types it is properly filtered and neutralised etc. etc. before it gets to the taps, however, when roadworks are being done near and around the reservoir, it tends to be that the water becomes unsafe and that is the point when we have to get bottled water. Before the reservoir started using filters it was unsafe to drink the tap water, but now it's safe because of proper filtration.

Solution for places with unsafe water? Get a filter, filter the tap water (boil it if you're dubious) and then it is safe to drink. Problem solved.

[ZigZag]

Also buy a reusable water bottle. They sell those klean kanteens everywhere, they are environmentally friendly reusable bottles that come in some seriously cute designs.

But Nev is definitely right about the filtered water thing.