If you aren't dieting, the cold, crisp days of January are the perfect time of year to enjoy one of my favorite childhood lunch combinations: cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese. Although I've developed many recipes for tomato soup over the years, I'm always content with Campbell's condensed cream of tomato soup (in fact, the Soup-at-Hand version of that soup is always on reserve in my office in case of soup-related emergencies). I'm more particular about grilled cheese sandwiches though.

My grilled cheese doesn't have to be fancy but it must be made with real Cheddar and real butter and the bread, if white, has to be crusty and fresh. That said, I usually use whole grain sandwich bread at lunchtime. By the way, A is today's mystery letter but let's get back to grilled cheese, shall we? Over the holidays, I sliced a baguette into thin disks and made appetizer-sized grilled cheeses for the kids who attended our Christmas Eve soiree and these two-bite sandwiches were a hit with kids of all ages!

When making a grilled cheese sandwich, please remember that slow and easy wins the race; you can't rush a good grilled cheese. My preferred method is to keep the heat under a heavy bottomed skillet medium so that the inside of the sandwich becomes molten and the outside doesn't go beyond golden. If using a panini press, leave a cheese-free border around the edge so that the melted cheese doesn't ooze out and burn.

I've made grilled cheese sandwiches with sliced cheese and with shredded. You can get good results with either but I've found that for most home cooks, it's easier to shred the cheese than to slice it evenly.

Although I always dip my grilled cheese sandwich in ketchup (the soup isn't tangy enough for me), I can acknowledge that there are other good condiment options such as sun dried tomato pesto, branston pickle and Bengal chutney that can be spread right inside the sandwich before grilling to make a very tasty lunch!


Comments

Statistics reveal that many Canadians now use their grills year round. I wouldn't be surprised if part of this interest in winter grilling is that low-fat foods taste great when they're cooked over a flame.

Although the basic principles of grilling apply in every season, there are a few safety considerations that are unique to winter grilling that are important to keep in mind.

At our test kitchen we're always working out of season. That means that we develop turkey recipes all summer for winter publications and then grill all through February for summer magazine articles. (In the picture above that's recipe tester Rob Heidenreich and test kitchen manager Sabrina Falone's arm cooking up summer recipes last week).

After years of shoveling snow off the patio to spend the day grilling, we've become savvy and safe cold-weather grillers. Here are our tips for cold-weather grilling success:

1. Gas grills with higher BTU ratings heat up quickly even when it's very cold so if you're purchasing a gas grill and know that you want to use it in cold weather, opt for a unit with a BTU rating per square inch that is higher than 125.

2. If you haven't used the grill recently, check all gas lines, burners and jets for possible blockages. Insects such as spiders may pick these places to build cocoons for the winter and their homes will prevent fuel from flowing freely to the burners.

3. Avoid wearing scarves or wide-sleeved jackets that may dangle into the flames and catch fire. Instead, opt for snugly fitted sleeves and a turtleneck sweater or a fleecy neck warmer.

4. Although the garage may seem like a wind-sheltered, inviting spot to grill, the comfort is not worth the safety risk. Instead, set up the grill at least 10 feet away from the house to avoid the risk of a fire or an explosion that can result when grill flames and stray vapours from the gas furnace, water heater or the lawn mower's fuel tank meet one another in an enclosed space.

5. If necessary, brush off all snow on the grill to speed preheating and shovel the surrounding area to prevent a dangerously slippery skating rink from forming under and around your grill.

6. Position your grill out of the wind to conserve heat.

7. Many metals and almost all plastics get brittle in very cold weather so handle the knobs on the grill gently to avoid snapping them off.

8. To ensure that foods cook evenly and that cooking times aren't unreasonably lengthened in cold weather, make sure the lid of the barbecue is closed during cooking. Peeking too often will allow heat to escape and extends cooking time.

A final word for today's entry: M is your mystery letter for the day.


Comments

There are occasions when an insult is a compliment. For instance, if you (or pretty much anyone) were to call me a “skinny bitch” I'd be flattered and add your name on my list of favorite people.

I'm not the first to recognize this fact. The authors of
Skinny Bitch and Skinny Bitch in the Kitchen correctly recognized this fact and turned their knowledge into a successful book franchise.

What this example proves to me is that our culture has developed a rather strange connection to food. We love it and celebrate it with glossy cookbooks, $100+ restaurant meals and success stories such as the popular shows on Food Network Canada. Then, as evidenced by my blog posts so far this week, we spend just as much energy trying to avoid food and calories so that we can look and feel attractive.

The ultimate expression of this societal quirk was made obvious to me last autumn at the gala for the 2007 Toronto Art Fair. On opening night the convention centre was packed with stylish art lovers. Almost everyone in attendance was dressed fashionably and the group was generally thin and chic. Surprisingly, I found my dieting self (see Monday's post) drooling not over the catered canapés on offer but over many of the paintings. Food was a very prominent theme at this art fair which needed a 300 page catalogue to showcase all the art on display. From the ubiquitous fruit pictures (among the best were 2-foot square canvasses featuring bigger than life apples for $9,000 each) to a minimalist painting of a single sprinkle-topped donut which sold for $12,000, it was obvious that not only do the culinary arts now extend out of the kitchen and into the artist's studio but that there is a lot more money in selling pictures of donuts than the real thing!

You didn't think I'd forget to mention today's mystery letter, did you? I didn't. It's an L.


Comments

Late in December Dayna Boyer, the technatrix extraordinaire who magically makes these words and pictures appear on the Internet, passed to me a letter from a dieting reader who needed suggestions for cooking for one.

Anne Cotter's note revealed that she was frustrated that most diet-related cookbooks offered recipes for four and six diners. As a single person, she always had to divide recipes or deal with leftovers --something that she didn't find desirable given her love of variety and lack of fridge and freezer space.

After reading Anne's letter (hey, Anne's first initial, A, is today's mystery letter) I realized how right she was to complain about this feature in diet-style cookbooks. While I was dieting with earnest (see yesterday's post) I was basically preparing food for one. Now that I have only a few pounds left to lose, I am just eating smaller portions of the food I prepare for the rest of the family. And, when I think about most dieters I know, it's seldom that the whole family is eating diet food. More often, only one or two people in the household are dieting.

So, what can lone dieters do? Here are a few suggestions from my experience.

-Stick to very basic entrees such as a grilled skinless, boneless chicken breast, veal or turkey scaloppini sauteed in cooking spray. Finish these meats with small amounts of light cooking sauces, salsa or calorie-reduced salad dressing to add flavour.
-Buy 100-calorie packs of treats so that you can at least snack easily.
-Consult a book such as Going Solo in the Kitchen and use the seasoning proportions in the recipes but make the substitutions necessary to remove calories from fat such as using cooking spray instead of butter or oil and substituting light dairy products for full fat, etc.
-Making single-portion versions of most casseroles is fussy if you eschew batch cooking. So, if making your own freezer entrees isn't desirable, buy frozen or store-prepared, refrigerated light versions of casseroles from a grocery store and save your cooking energies for making faster-to-prepare foods like the ones mentioned above.

Do you have dieter's cooking tips you'd like to share? If so, please share them with us by clicking the Comments link below.


Comments

So how are you doing with your New Year's resolutions to get fit and get rid of your gut? It's difficult, isn't it? I truly can sympathize with what you're going through since I recently went through the same nightmare myself.

I planned ahead this year by losing weight before the holidays so that my resolution can be to keep it off. It's so nice to wake up to on Jan. 1 without dieting on your mind. (Here's something else to keep in mind: today's contest mystery letter is Y). I lost almost all of the 20 pounds that were making me sad and ugly. In fact, as I write these words, post Christmas indulging, I have only six more pounds to lose in order to meet my original goal. (That's them in the picture, cleverly disguised as butter).

I lost my weight much more quickly than most experts advise as being ideal for your health. I chose a super aggressive regime (less than 1,000 calories per day, and those calories had to come from low-fat foods and only a few complex carbs) because I knew two things about myself:
1. My resolve might be short-lived.
2. I couldn't avoid professional eating responsibilities and social events indefinitely.

I was lucky that I had a relatively easy-to-manage amount of weight to lose -- if I had many more pounds to lose, there's no way I could have handled the prolonged social isolation and lack of lattes. Realizing that rickets and similar diseases are something even thin people can't wear attractively, I took supplements such as potassium, calcium and vitamin B complex each day while dieting. Long term, I strive to get my nutrients from food sources. These were desperate measures I chose for fast weight loss.

Although I'm happily a loser, I'm not sure what advice I can offer to others who resolve to lose weight and get fit. The strategies that will work for each person are so individual. What I can tell you is that once you set your mind to losing weight, the hard part is over. And, once you start to lose, it gets easier. In fact, it feels freakin' fantastic to put on a pair of slim-fitting pants and feel like you rock them! So, stick to your goals -- you'll be glad when you see results.