93 -

North Shore News

insures pro
nutrivion

Barbara
NeGreadie

Se
BUDGET BEATERS

ASK ANY. daily kitchen
mechanic, ‘‘What’s the
hardest thing about the
job?’ and they’! probably
answer, ‘‘Meal planning.
My cooking is just so
bloody boring.”’

I'd like to add to that. More
than ‘‘boring,’’ repetitive menus
may leave you with a problem
nutrition students used to refer to
as ‘‘Mal-nuts,’’ just as we used to
call our Foods and Nutrition
classes, “Food ’n’ nuts.”’

-In short, meal - planning must
insure proner nutrition.

For starters, everyone should

have at least five servings of fruit.

and vegetables each day. The
Kicker is that these ought to be a
huge variety — sorry, Harry, but
a daily package of. Delnor mixed
just won’t handle the job.

Of all the kitchen chores |
dislike, vegetable chopping has to
lead’ the list.: Anyone who tells me
to ‘‘just toss a salad”’ gets a funny
look. That salad is apt to take me
half an hour, while}. can put
together a crowd-pleuser casserole
in 10 minutes.

Last week, I gave you a few
favorite’ hot sandwich recipes.
And. 1 promised some easy,
make-ahead vegetable accom-
paniments. :

Many salads keep very well. A
typical exarople is- coleslaw, even
if prepared with bottled mayon-
naise. Any coleslaw made from a

dressing with uncooked or. partly -

cooked egg should be eaten im-
" mediately, if at all.

The addition of vinegar and
sugar'to a coleslaw mixture also
improves keeping qualities,’ pro-
vided everything is kept tightly

covered and very cold. So, the.

coleslaw you make on Sunday is
safe for Tuesday, under the above
conditions. Make extra.
Here’ are some other. good
keepers.
Vegetable Mix

This isn’t a salad. It’s the best -

all-purpose treatment for a busy
cook to ensure a fast salad, stir-
fry or hot vegetable dish. Tightly
covered and carefully refrigerated,
this mix is safe to keep on hand
for five days. Toss the last pieces
into a pot of soup or the casserole
at the end of the column,
t head caulifiower, cut up
Broccoli — an equal
trimmed snd cut 1"*
Carrots — 2. cups “4” rings or
slicks
3 peppers — green are cheapest
but other colors are attractive
Have.a. big pot of water boiling
hard on the stove. Put.a big col-
lander in your .sink and a pot of
mostly ice with water nearby,
Drop the prepared vegetables into

amount,

the boiling water and time one
minute from when the water
returns to boiling.

Drain fast and well. Plunge the
vegetables into ice and water, mix-
ing around. Let stand until
vegetables are icy. Drain well and
seal in a food keeper,

Refrigerate,

To serve; pick cut as much as
you need, either the whole variety
or just two — let's say broccoli
and carrots for one meal or cauli-
flower and pepper. Toss with ei-
ther of the dressings to follow or
use your favorite bottled. Add ex-
tras like a few olives, some onion
rings or chopped green oniciis.
Drain: a small tin of garbanzos
snd add. ;

The choice is wide but the point
is that you have a choice.

Vegetables prepared in this way
stir-fry in one minute.

. eoe

The reason for the success of
the blanching method above is to
kill enzyme growth, Every
vegetable continues to age while
growth enzymes are alive. The icy
bath stops cooking and seals the
bright color. Also, the heat climi-
nates many bacteria, moulds and

fungi that attack stored vegetables

even after careful washing.
Very few vitamins are lost in
the process. :
See Good keepers page 49

it’s simply

IF IT’S possible to be
fooled oby a. particular
food, then buttermilk has
created a few misconcep-
tions.

Some folks think buttermilk is
tich and fattening, I's time to
present the real story.

The name ‘tbuttermilk’* is ine
decd misleading, though quite
understandable Hf you look at its
origin.

Traditionally, buttermilk is the
whey or liquid left behind when
milk is churned into butter.

Today, this liquid is most
ofien dried and sold as butter-
milk powder or used in products
that incorporate ‘‘milk solids.”’

And buttermilk is usually
cultured with special strains of
bacteria added to ordinary low-
fat milk.

The milk is
then

first pasteurized,
inoculated with friendly

bacteria and incubated at room.

temperature for approximately
18 home.

As it ferments, these useful
bacteria convert lactose, the
natural sugar in milk, into lactic
acid. .

The acid, in turn, coagulates
some of milk’s protein, making
it thick and creamy.

This secmingly rich consisten-
cy is deceiving. In reality, but-
termiik has the same number of

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APPLEANCES

fooled by buttermilk

a treasure

Erqusitive

ANNE
GARDINER

SUE
WILSON

calories as the milk from which
it’s made.

Dairies differ in the milk they
use but the butterfat content is
clearly fisted on the label. {t's
usually 3.25% (homogenized
milk), or 2% (partly skimmed).

Ingeniously, dairizs choose
bacteria to create certain Mavor.
characteristics in their cultured
products. .

In this case, the bacteria are
carefully selected to produce the
characteristic favor of butter,
without its calories,

its acid content means but-
termiik keeps a little longer than
average milk, though it becomes
more tart as it ages.

if fe FREER f
i Gag

fa

* di e

Some people find buttermilk
thirst-quenching because of | its
acidic quatity.

Perhaps butermitk's greatest
fame in baking lies in biscuits
and pancakes. ‘

Hore the acidity serves it well.

While its characteristic tang
adds zip to the flavor, its acids
react with baking soda to pro-
duce carbon dioxide which lifts
biscuits as they bake,

Buttermilk makes.a wonder-
ful, tart, Jow-fat basis for cold
summer soups and creamy,
healthy salad dressings.

{ts acidity also enables it to
work as an effective and tasty
marinade. ‘

You can take the process of
culturing one step further by us-.
ing buttermilk to make your own’
creme fraiche.

Simply combine | tablespoon
(15 mL) of buttermilk and 1 ‘cup
(250 mL) whipping cream and fet
sit al room teniperature over-
night.

The bacteria in the buttermilk
thicken the mixture, creating a
clotted cream with a slight tart-
ness, .

You can't beat it
seasonal rhubarb crisp.

And it's prized by cooks for.
use in sauces as it doesn’t curdle.

it keeps well refrigerated for
at least two weeks. .

Don’t be fooled by buttermilk. :
{t’s a treasure in disguise.

atop. a

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