Thermos STAT

The temps are Arctic frigid. You're wearing what seems to be five layers of clothing and you're still shivering. It's time to bring the heat - whether temperature wise or taste. It'll keep winter's icy chill at bay - hopefully.

One thing is certain during this frigid days  a hot meal is everything.We need fortification for those frosty drives to school and work. Ditch the boxed cereal. Think piping hot oatmeal or farina with a hot tea or hot coffee to wash it down. This is the time for a calories be damned breakfast of eggs, bacon and toast.If you still feel guilty, then go with poached eggs, they're not fried just boiled accompanying soy bacon. Sub in whole wheat or even pita for regular white bread. As long's as it's toasty and can keep you full and warm. Another hearty idea is a breakfast strata. This casserole type dish combines what we love about the first meal and the density of a dinner.If you've never made one before then go for the simplest recipe. The night before layer thick slices of white or whole wheat bread in a greased square baking dish. Beat four eggs and half a cup of milk along with oregano or thyme, Refrigerate overnight. The next morning preheat oven to 350, pop the strata into it Bake for half an hour and then sprinkled on shredded cheddar and bake for five more minutes. Cheese should be melted and the strata nice and puffy, Serve with strong hot tea or coffee for a body warming breakfast.

Always have a hot drink in the car during this weather.As much as you need bottles of cold water in the summer, you need either tea , coffee or cocoa. You can have a thermos or stop in at your favorite coffee shop.You'll also feel more alert too. Definitely go for a hot lunch. If you're worried about diet, then stick with a hot , light soup and plain tea. You can also add fire  Try a dish with heat. One favorite is pasta arrabiata or angry pasta. This is the perfect dinner dish too,Most of the recipes for it call for a quarter of a teaspoon of hot pepper flakes, but if you want real fire, then add half a teaspoon. Chili is another perfect lunch  or dinner. You can even make extra to create an  office meal for yourself. A pinch of hot pepper can do the job unless you want to go into alarm territory. Then it's time to get out the jalapenos.As for drinks, a hot after dinner  tea is always good, but you can make chai and spice it up with cinnamon . Mexican hot cocoa is not only hot but can be fiery with the addition of pinch of red pepper powder. You can also add this to any chocolate cake, cookie and cupcake recipe along with chocolate frosting to give it some sweet heat.

This is the time to bundle up and fortify yourself against these freezing days. Dress warm. Eat hot. It's the best defense against frost and frostbite.

Binge Faves

With snow and cold weather here , there's only one thing to do. Binge!!It's great to stay in all day and catch up with favorite shows and eating . What you binge on is up to you You can go healthy or decadent, that's up to you. Either way, just set out a bowl and grab the remote.

What would be a healthy binge? Veggies and fruit.,There;'s nothing as refreshing as a platter of bite size vegetables with some kind of dip.Some stores such as Acme and Stop ; Shop sell bowls of cut vegetables with dip. It's also easy to make your own. Go light with a tangy vinaigrette made with oil and lime juice instead of lemon.Add some cilantro and hot pepper for heat. You can also go for a creamy dressing. Mix tahini sauce  with lemon and a tiny bit of dark honey or chopped dates for an interesting dip. Tired of all the low calories. Then go full on healthy decadent with a homemade French dressing. It's combining  low calorie mayonnaise and ketchup with olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Longing for something crunchy? Get yourself an air fryer. This is a podlike mini oven that can crisp up fries and onion rings without all that oil. It's also good for cooking crunchy crispy  chicken tenders  and fish fillets, both the real deal and the soy kind. For those with a sweet tooth, try Crispy Green Crispy Fruit. These are  packets of air dried fruit  that are very low in calories but high in flavor and crunch. The apple  and pine apple pieces are the most addictive and are perfect for an afternoon of binge watching

Of course there is the decadent side of binging. You can make your own or order in sliders from White Castle.Have a side of fries with aoili mustard or go really calorie crazy with chili cheese one.You don't have to make your own spicy pot (although you're snowed in so why not)Open a can of
Hormels or Campbell's brand an zap it in the microwave.As for cheese, go for Kraft's Olde English. You can also buy Sargento's or Kraft's shredded cheddar mixes.Another fun binge food is pizza.Don't try to eat a whole twelve piece by yourself!That would be too bingeful!.Go with an individual pie.Stop & Shop sells single serve ones as does Red Baron. If you're not watching your weight, then finish with a hot fudge sundae. Of course there are chips and dip, but you can also splurge by making spinach dip. It's a pretty easy mix of sour cream, frozen or fresh chopped spinach and mayo. As for sweets, of course cookies. Get the Nestle or Pillsbury ready bake , bake ,cool and enjoy. Enjoy those with a soothing cup of tea or a liqueur spiked coffee.

If' it's a snowy day, stay in, Binge on your favorite programs and foods. Indulge yourself on this day off.

Your Blizzard Pantry Must Haves

Yet again there's blizzard coming to the East Coast, namely the New York City area.Unless you live in the sunny, summery Southern Hemisphere, this is snow season. That means one thing: a well stocked pantry  - and fridge.Be prepared for a  few days without the grocery store.

Grains are important in a winter pantry. Have boxes of favorite pastas on hand. These can be a main meal, or even go into soups . Also there's nothing like a hearty penne or spaghetti lunch or supper on a cold, snowy day. Rice is also a must have. It's good as a side but also can be incorporated as part of the main meal to give it more substance. Mix it with stew or even thin soups like tomato and minestrone.Barley and bulgur are also good to have in your winter pantry. Bulgur can also be used instead of oatmeal for breakfast as well.Oatmeal is another must along with farina. You can  get a box of the flavored packets or a canister of plain oatmeal  that can be used in baking bread and/or cookies.Should you also have flour? It will come in handy if you're planning on making pizza dough  or roux bases. A snowy day usually means baking so do have a bag of it along with other baking must haves such as baking powder and baking soda.As for the already baked stuff, it helps to have a loaf .Bread can be used in making sandwiches, grilled cheese and French toast.Grind it into crumbs for baked macaroni and cheese topping along with thickener for soups and breading veggies and meats.

Should you include canned meats in the mix? Yes! Canned tuna can be used for salads and casseroles along with that cold weather fave tuna melt. Get a few cans of tuna fish in olive oil. You can make a sunny salad Nicoise with it , a perfect meal to help imagine warmer climes.You may also want to stock up on the lower calorie salmon which is versatile to use in such hot dishes as croquettes and pasta sauce.Another must have is canned chicken which can easily be turned into chicken a la king. A winter pantry should have a small variety of canned vegetables too.You can also stock up on bags of frozen ones too. These can be made into sides but also salads if you have the odd craving for something cold. Corn can also be tossed into corn cakes and corn bread. Canned or frozen spinach can be turned into a dip for movie or football binging. Have a few cans of fruit too. You may want to finish a meal with a fruit cocktail or peaches as a side to pound or angel food cake. Dried fruit or fruit crisps are also good to stock up on. They're perfect low calories snacks when the boredom munchies hit.

Make sure your pantry is well stocked for the stormy,  snowy weather ahead. Have the basics. They'll go  along way when you can't make it to the grocery store.

The Restaurant And The Sea

There's no doubt that locavore restaurants are affected by their surroundings. If the bounty is abundant , then the eateries thrive. If not, they have to become creative and look  to other locally sourced ingredients. It becomes an incredible task if the source is environmentally challenged.

This is the case of San Francisco eatery, Angler, which was the subject of Tejal Rao's Critic's Notebook in yesterday's New York Times Food section. she interviewed chef Joshua Skenes, who opened this local restaurant in the waterfront Embarcadero area of San Francisco. Chef Skenes is redefining  the San Francisco fish house, thanks to a tightly edited menu. He has pointed out  he isn't the only one in the area. Many seafood lovers are being redirected to lesser known but just as delicious seafood options.Why is this? Blame it on climate change and the ocean's temperature changing because of it.In a published study from just last week researchers found ocean temps had broken record highs in the last few years. This changes everything, from the water's acidity to  breeds of fish heading towards colder waters.This is happening all over , especially off the New York City coast. The Dungeness crab, that lives in Northern California waters, has been infected with domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by ocean warmed algae.The levels are so high in the shellfish that there's a delay in catching them.

What's a seafood restaurant to do? Get creative  with other ocean bounty.It's not just chef Skenes who's exploring other catches from the sea but also chef James Syhabout of Commis in Oakland. The last serves seaweed rather than big ticket fish.Other eateries,like The Perennial ,owned by Karen
Lebowicz and Anthony Myint serves farmed sturgeon and trout, raised on vegan feed. As for Chef Skenes, he's getting into purple sea urchins at the Los Angeles branch of Angler as well as at the original. Purple sea urchins are multiplying at an eye opening rate, invading and decimating vital underwater kelp forests. There are enough of them to  satisfy customer's growing love of them. Their flavor is that of a sweet and salty custard when pureed and returned to their shells. Chef Skenes is also cooking petrale sole, that was once favored by Bay City locals. It's an ugly  flatfish with eyes on one side of its' head . That doesn't matter to him.He turns it into a filet of beauty, with almost jellied meat firmed up over a fire and lacquered with butter.  Jellyfish is also being served diced and raw with a dipping sauce.He also does amazing magic with a roasted beet and tuna tartare along with a radicchio with a dressing that sloppy and almost bloody looking. These dishes make diners forget about what's not on the menu, like the Dungeness crab.

Unfortunately, all seafood restaurants will be affected by climate change. Let's hope their chefs can become creative with everything the sea has to offer and not just favorites. This will definitely be the standard if we don't amend the damage we've done to our world.

Giving Old Spice Some Spice

One of the most needed artillery in any home chef's arsenal is a well stocked spice rack.These little bottles of flavor and fire, sweet and savory give oomph to even the simplest of dishes. Yet do you know when to toss them once they lose their spice? What do you do with all those unused bottles?

That's the question posed and answered by Jennifer Steinhauser in today's New York Times Food section. Ms. Steinhauer, who writes both about food and politics for The Times has explored a kitchen's most used area - the spice rack. We all have a plethora of them in our racks or cabinets (some of us more than others) and they can sit there for years.What she does recommend is pouring all your remaining spices into individual bottles of the same size (don't mix them). Create labels for them with painter's tape and a Sharpie.However here's a short guide  to let you know when to toss and when to keep. Ground spices such as cinnamon,curry cumin and nit meg should be thrown out after two or three years.Whole spices like cinnamon sticks and cloves can last longer between four and five years. The same goes for whole peppercorns. Dried ground herbs such as parsley, basil and oregano are only good for three to four years.

What do you do with all those spices? Ms. Sullivan suggests making a curry from Indian chef and cookbook author, Meera Sodha's Made In India: Recipes From An Indian Family Kitchen. It's a crunchy fun mix of cauliflower, cashews,peas and coconuts. The spices used are coriander , cumin and chili powder along with garam masala. There's also tomato paste and garlic along with green chile for fire.It's a great way of using these spices. The same can be said for turmeric which is also great in any curry. For sumac, the base in za'atar, she received inspiration from Cathy Barrow's latest book Pie Squared: Irresistably Easy Sweet and Savory Slab Pies. It's a sumac scented eggplant slab pie however Ms. Steinhauser nixed the dough and added the sumac to the eggplant.It's then baking it and simmering the cubes with tomatoes and chickpeas. Pomegranate molasses is used for a bit of sweetening. All spice racks have the herbes de Provence and Ms. Steinhauser used hers to season chicken breasts. along with salt and pepper. This recipe is a great way to use up rosemary, thyme and sage.

This is the perfect time to re evaluate your spice rack. Use up what you have in these recipes or others. Just don't let them sit there.

Can Hearty And Healthy Coexist?

Can a hearty winter dish be also healthy? is a plate full of sauce not only good tasting but good for you? There are cold weather recipes that are both filling but light.

It's not January with out stew. Who doesn't love a bowl swimming with gravy, veggies and some kind of protein?The only problem is that it can be rich with calories and fat. A safer, yet just as satisfying dish is a vegan stew. Try one that employs traditional winter root vegetables such as turnips and parsnips.Onions, carrots and potatoes round it out and give it a backbone.You don't need meat for flavor. Add a dash of cumin or turmeric instead Instead of heavy dumplings serve with brown rice.What's also great about this stew is that it translates very well into second day leftovers.Bean stew is another hearty and healthy chill chaser.Mix white beans  or cannellini with tomatoes along with white wine and olive oil. Season with both thyme and sage to give it some oomph.This dish might be even better with crusty hunks of Italian bread but go light with the Northern Italian grissini which are between only fourteen and twenty-one calories a breadstick.

Another hearty winter dish is pasta. Who wouldn't want a bowl swimming with spaghetti or gemelli, along with meatballs?. The last can be made with low calorie mushrooms or beans and have the same spicy flavor as the real thing.Not surprisingly pasta can be low calorie Instead of the usual whole grain wheat , think ancient grains such as quinoa and brown rice. These can be found in all forms including lasagna noodles.Even this calorie rich casserole can be made lighter.it can be made with quinoa and zucchini slices standing in for the pasta.Instead of ground beef and hard boiled eggs.Add red and green peppers along with spinach for color.You can also use cauliflower instead of the quinoa.Pizza  is another hearty dish, surprisingly and we all love one with a thick , yeasty crust , and topped with an overload of meat and cheese. Despite it being a great chill chaser it is loaded with calories. Lower those with subbing in a mix of cauliflower and beaten egg as the crust.Sub in low calorie mozzarella or the vegan cheese and top with healthy but tasty topping. Try oven crisped portabello mushrooms , seared  peppers and even roasted tomatoes. Craving meat? Then go vegan with soy pepperoni and bacon.

Hearty dishes can be light  in calories. They can be just as filling and delicious as their calorie rich cousins. Make them on a cold winter's day.

Mmmmm M and M's

One of the most classic American candies is M&M's. These little multicolored gems are just good on their own or in a variety of different dishes and treats.What is even more interesting is their history and their impact on the American culinary landscape.

M&M's made their debut in 1941 during the beginning of World War II. Forrest Mars Senior based them on the British candy Smarties when he saw soldiers eat them as a snack during the Spanish Civil War. The British version had only debuted a few years before in 1937. and were possibly based on the Moravian version first made in Holesov Czech Republic as early as 1907.Mars was the father of the famed Milky  Ways and Mars Bars  introduced in 1923 and 1932. The candy is nothing more than a chocolate pellet coated with hard panning, basically hardened sugar syrup. Those iconic M's? One  is for Mars - of course and and Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey's chocolate president  William F.R. Murrie. They candy was made with Hershey's chocolate which had control of all the rationed chocolate at the time.After receiving a patent for it ,Mars had the candy made in the posh neighborhood of Clinton Hill, in Newark, New Jersey. Their first customer was the US Army who saw the candy as the perfect foodstuff that wouldn't melt in the pockets of soldiers stationed in tropical climates. It was strictly  army food until the end of the war when it was finally sold to civilians. The iconic brown package came about in 1950 while the Ms came about in 1949.It was black at first and then changed to white in 1954.

Most of us grew up with the classic milk chocolate or peanut ones that came about in 1954. The eighties saw the candies go global with being introduced all over the world, from Australia to Malaysia. They even hit the UK where they 've been competing with Smarties.Holiday M&M's were introduced then too, with pastel candies imprinted with bunny, chick and egg symbols. The Christmas ones were colored with  red, white and green coatings, with the last one  being mint flavored. The M's were replaced with fir trees, bells and candles. The Nineties saw the ushering in of M&M Minis sold in plastic cylinders . The new century welcomed such new flavors as dulce de leche, caramel, and peanut butter.Also entering the candy scene was dark chocolate - a nice break from the milk along with white chocolate.There's also chocolate crispy and pumpkin spice that comes out in the fall. Fruit flavors have also crept into the M&M flavor mill as  well. There are coconut, orange,cherry cordial raspberry and even candy apple.! Newer flavors are birthday cake and pretzel - the last a nice mix of sweet and salty.Mars  also makes pecan pie and caramel which is sooooo addictive.

Everyone has a favorite M&M. What's yours? Mine are caramel and almond for now. That may change when I taste the dark chocolate ones again.