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Sunday, November 1, 2009

NYC Day 1

Remember how I said I was swearing off chocolate? Well, that was before I went to the Lindt Chocolate store on 5th Avenue, just around the corner from my hotel. In a word: Yummy! No, it deserves four words: Oh-my-god-yummy.

And speaking of yummy, Manhattan is full of yummy healthy stuff. I put together this salad in Rockefeller Plaza and ate it next to the skating rink. I saved the Greek yogurt for later. I had a bite of Larry’s pretzel, and tonight for dinner, I had a little more onion roll than I would normally have had, but it was too delish to pass up. Heck, I walked for hours today!


Of course, my walking was nothing compared to the New York City marathoners. Holy crap. I admire anyone who can run 26.1 miles. Wait, admire is too weak. Training to run a marathon is beyond my comprehension. Losing weight is one thing. Conditioning your entire body to move at high speed for 3-4 hours is a whole other ball game.

It was much chillier here than the Weather Channel anticipated when I was planning this trip. I didn’t pack a jacket and so had to duck into H&M and buy a scarf and gloves.

The first time I was in NYC in 1991, we stayed at the Marriot Marquis in Times Square. It was the week before Christmas and New Year’s and our room was on the 42nd floor. This did not bode well for me, who is really afraid of heights. It also didn’t help that the elevator was glass. Oh yeah. Hell on cables. Anyway, I’d like to come back to NY (and not stay on a floor above 15 or so) and see the play “White Christmas,” one of my favorite Bing Crosby movies.

In anticipation of the Today Show tomorrow, I packed a LOT of stuff. In fact, an entirely separate suitcase filled with clothes that I no longer feel are appropriate. Why, you ask? I spent the day among beautiful women walking around in gorgeous clothes and fabulous boots and I feel incredibly intimidated that I packed a dress, a sweater, some jeans and ONE pair of boots – boots that I didn’t actually buy but wore on Oprah TWO years ago. They’re so, well, not what I saw on the streets today. Am I that out of the fashion loop? Sadly, yes I am. I like comfy pants and soft cotton shirts. No logos, no midriffs. Nothing that makes a statement except “I can breathe and have no panty lines because my pants aren’t skin tight.”

I realize this sounds paranoid, but more than a few of you will be watching tomorrow and I am – bottom line – nervous. I’ll be OK once tonight is over and I’m at 30 Rock in the morning getting prepped and getting used to my surroundings, but right now, anticipation, as Carly Simon sang, is making me late, it’s keeping me waiting.

The journey continues. I’ll be in touch.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

The Joy Fit Club = Me in New York on the Today Show

Some of you might remember that back in January I wrote about how I was one of several people featured in Joy Bauer’s new book, “Joy LIFE Diet.” Joy Bauer is a dietician and nutritionist and is regularly featured on the Today Show, especially twice a month when she inducts someone who has lost more than 100 pounds through diet and exercise into her Joy Fit Club. On Monday, I will be the latest inductee.

My segment will air during the 10 a.m. hour, called the “Fourth Hour” of the Today Show, but not shown in all markets at 10 a.m. For instance, in Pittsburgh it airs at 2 p.m. and in Minneapolis it airs at 11 a.m. I’m sure it will be on the MSNBC website at some point and I’ll post a link to it when I find it.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to the trip to New York. Weather looks nice for a big old walk around Central Park on Sunday and trying not to worry about saying something stupid the next day or forgetting my name. I’ve been on TV before, but man, those butterflies are relentless.

For those of you who haven’t seen the Joy Fit Club, the woman in the following video is Tammy, and she’s one of the most awesomely inspiring inductees ever. I don’t know her personally, but she is my hero. She lost 410 pounds and went from needing five liters of oxygen a day to race walking. But that’s not what makes her my hero. As you’ll hear her say, she lost her weight from the inside out. How many times have I said the same thing? It was only until I figured out what was going on inside that I could lose weight and keep it off for good this time. That Tammy and so many of you reading this GET THAT really makes me wish that kind of insight for everyone struggling with weight issues.

I LOVE Tammy's story. Like Matt Lauer said, “I don’t even know you and I’m proud of you!”



So…now you know why I’m going to New York.

HALLOWEEN UPDATE: Podunkville didn’t get the memo that Halloween is Saturday and so held its trick or treat night last night. This worked out perfectly for me because my daughter came up to stay overnight with the g-babies!

Larry and I took Claire and Luca out around our neighborhood while Cassie handed out candy at our house. Claire was a little skeptical at first. She can’t say “trick or treat!” but once she figured out that all she had to do was show the person who answered the door her plastic pumpkin and they’d put something (she didn’t know what) in it, she was all about walking around the neighborhood, even when it started drizzling.

This is Claire eating her first Kit Kat bar. So THAT’S what people were putting in my pumpkin, she’s probably thinking. Last night was dress rehearsal for trick or treating in her own neighborhood on Saturday. Larry and I will be there handing out treats so Cassie and Matt can show the kids off. A quick pat on the back for me: Two Halloweens in one year, and not ONE piece of candy will be consumed by yours truly. It helps that I bought Skittles (gag) and Starbursts (I cherish my fillings), and Cassie bought pretzels. But even if I’d bought my favorite candy in the world, I’m pretty sure I would have the courage to say no. Peanut butter Reese’s pumpkins vs. my waistline? My waistline wins hands down, especially if I want to fit into that tight black dress I’ll probably wear on the Today Show. Yikes!

Happy Halloween! I’ll be in touch from New York.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

As God As My Witness, I’ll Never Buy Hummus Again!

“Don’t buy dumb candy, Mom,” my daughter said while grocery shopping with me last Saturday.

“Dumb” candy? I get this harsh warning even after she ate some of the tastiest hummus she’s ever had? Hummus I made myself? …sigh…I get no respect. (OK, so I do, but I had to find a way to work hummus and Halloween into the same blog.)

“What exactly is dumb candy?” I asked.

Carlene rattled off a litany of things including Good ‘n Plenty, Almond Joy, Mounds, Mary Janes, 3 Musketeers (blasphemous!), Necco Wafers, and Smarties, which she retracted because, on second thought, she likes Smarties. Who doesn’t like a mouthful of artificially flavored sugar? Heck, I do! Seriously. I love Smarties. Heart them. I don’t eat them anymore, though. (But I secretly want to.)

I told her it was important that I buy Halloween candy that is not enticing to me (following Lori’s advice from last year) because it has to sit on top of my refrigerator for a few days (see last year’s blog, “The Scariest Day of the Year”) and, as Carlene knows, chocolate and me go WAY back.

So I bought three big combo bags filled with boxes of Skittles and Starburst – candy I just don’t understand. Or eat (which is the whole purpose, right?). All of it is perched on the top of my refrigerator, looking down at me like an owl, but I’m oblivious because I could care less. If they were Snickers, though, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I’d be head first in the bag.

Trick or treating is tomorrow here in Podunkville. Someone keeps forgetting to send our borough the memo that Halloween is the 31st. I can’t remember the last time kids in m town trick or treated on the actual Halloween day. Thank goodness my grandkids in Pittsburgh will trick or treat on Saturday night and I’ll be there to see them in their costumes! Whoohoo! And WHY will I be in Pittsburgh on Saturday night, you ask? (You did want to know, right?)

Well….

TEASER ALERT: I’m leaving Sunday morning, very early, for New York City where I’ll walk around Central Park, eat some ethnic food, stay in a hotel and work out on some awesome cardio equipment before wandering over to 30 Rock on Monday to be on the Today Show! I promise more info on that in a few days.

But for now, I want to talk about hummus!

I love hummus, but the kind that really floats my boat is from Trader Joe’s, and I don’t get there enough to keep it in stock. Tribe is OK in a pinch, but I really like TJ’s horseradish or roasted red pepper hummus. After a hummus dry spell, I decided to scour my cookbooks and the Internet for recipes. I conquered refried beans, after all. I figured I could do hummus.

I bought some tahini (slimy, gunky stuff that it is) and made my first batch of hummus a few weeks ago. Just some garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, horseradish…typical plain hummus. It was alright, but I knew I could do better. And I did. Last Saturday, I combined two hummus recipes – taking the best options from both – and made a nice spicy hummus that I’ll definitely make again. Here’s the recipe:

Sun-Dried Tomato Hummus

4-5 sun-dried tomato halves (dried, not packed in oil)
1 can chickpeas (15 oz or so)
4 cloves garlic
2 T tahini
3 T lemon juice
1/3 C fat-free Greek yogurt
¼ t each salt and pepper
1 t curry powder
½ t ground cumin
½ t ground coriander

Finely chop the tomato halves and set aside. Put everything else in a food processor and process until smooth. Add the tomatoes and put in the refrigerator for a few hours.

This makes about 1¾ C of hummus. I love it on toasted Arnolds Sandwich Thins or with homemade pita chips.

I’m looking forward to finding and perfecting more hummus recipes. Store bought be damned! Just like I will never buy canned soup ever again, hummus will not be on my grocery list unless it’s an emergency. Wait…whoever has a hummus emergency? I guess if anyone does it will be me.

Anyway, I’ve got a big ass jar of tahini and I intend to use it well. I’ve also got the rest of those sun-dried tomatoes sitting in my fridge. What to do, what to do….If you have any ideas, pass them on!

Happy Halloween, everyone! What did you buy to pass out to the trick or treaters?

Sunday, October 25, 2009

The Cost Of Eating Real Food

Thank you for all your insights to my question, Is Michael Pollan right that most Americans don’t care about eating whole foods given the paltry 27 minutes of cooking time spent, on average, every day. Now I’d like to pick your brain about the cost of real food.

In his book, “In Defense of Food,” Pollan writes: “Is it just a coincidence that as the portion of our income spent on food has declined, spending on health care has soared? In 1960 Americans spent 17.5 percent of their income on food and 5.2 percent of national income on health care. Since then, those numbers have flipped: Spending on food has fallen to 9.9 percent, while spending on health care has climbed to 16 percent of the national income. I have to think that by spending a little more on healthier food we could reduce the amount we have to spend on health care.”

I’ve written about this before, but it’s worth addressing on a regular basis. Real food – as in fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and meats (including healthy fish) – can be costly. Add in the organic component, and the prices are even higher. Pollan acknowledges that many people can’t afford to spend more on food, but argues that whole foods, while costlier than prepackaged processed foods, satisfy us longer and fill us up faster and with less calories, thus offering a savings in the end. I would also add that, being on a tight food budget myself, it is possible to buy healthy items like dried beans, canned or frozen fruits and vegetables, and staples such as whole grain flour to make homemade bread without breaking the bank.

Take, for instance, my homemade chili. Meatless, it requires tomatoes, broth, vegetables, beans and spices. I went to WalMart and added up the price of my chili versus the cost of one can of Hormel Chili. Up front cost for six 2-cup servings of chili is $14-$16, depending on whether you buy canned or dried beans. Keep in mind, this includes roughly $7 for the spices: chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper, which will yield at least 10 batches of chili, making the average cost for 10 batches of chili around $7.70-$9.70 each. The price changes very little if you make it with half the beans and add a pound of lean beef or ground turkey.

Each can of Hormel’s contains 2.5 cups of chili which, according to the nutrition label, is 2 servings of 1¼ cups each. Fat content is low – about 1 gram per serving – and the fiber content is high in both the vegetarian and meat-added versions. However, the sodium levels are ridiculous! There are 780 mgs of sodium PER SERVING in the vegetarian version and 1,250 mgs in the meat-added. Double that and that’s what’s inside an entire can of 2.5 cups. Like a guy said to me when he saw me reading the nutrition label, “That stuff’ll KILL ya!” Amen.

My chili makes 12 cups, which I divide into six 2-cup servings, each containing less than 300 mgs of sodium per serving. You’d need to buy 5 cans of Hormel at about $8 to equal the amount of chili I make for about $8. Nutrition and taste aside (I guarantee my chili is more tasty than anything you scrape out of a can), the difference is that it takes about two hours from start to finish to make my chili and about two minutes to make the Hormel. Which do you think more folks will go for?

The same math applies to spaghetti sauce, stew, and many of the other soups and casseroles I make. Up front costs can be stiff, but in the end, the quality, quantity and ultimately the value are much higher when I cook than when I buy pre-packaged and processed food.

Pollan (and many other nutritionists, food writers, and dieticians) includes in his suggestions for how to shop at the grocery store to “stay away from the center aisles.” I’ve never understood this piece of “advice.” Yes, I know a lot of non-nutritional foodstuff and processed foods hang out in the center of the store, but there’s plenty of it around the periphery, too.

Two words: Bakery and Deli. And god knows you can find plenty of junk in the dairy case (how do candy sprinkles in yogurt promote health?), the meat case (scrapple anyone?) and the produce section (dried fruit dressed up as candy…seriously?). The center aisles are full of good stuff if you know what to look for. Beans, canned and frozen fruits and vegetables, condiments, pickles, nuts, oils, spices, sauces…the list is endless. The real foods in the inside aisles are not only healthy, but they can enhance the taste of the real foods you find on the periphery. They can also be more economical.

Advising people to avoid the center aisles doesn’t teach anything. In the end, it just makes people more confused. Stop demonizing the center aisles. They’ve got a lot to offer.

I did a rough calculation of how much my husband and I spend on groceries and it works out to be about 12 percent of our household income, up a few points from the average. We spend about 6 percent on health care costs (insurance premiums and co-pays). That can change, of course, depending on unanticipated health issues, but right now, the numbers seem to support Pollan’s assertion that if we spend more on better foods, we’ll spend less on healthcare.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this debate. What does your food spending say about your overall health compared to the overall food spending and health of the average American?

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Cooking Like It’s 1965

I’m slowly making my way through Michael Pollan’s book, “In Defense of Food.” “Slowly” not in the sense that it’s complicated, but I like to read books like this when I’m riding my stationary bike and I haven’t done much of that lately since I’m taking advantage of the nice weather and exercising outdoors.

Many of you may know Pollan’s tagline: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (Full disclosure: I’m totally on board with that tagline.) “In Defense of Food” outlines the rise of nutritionism and nutrition science and how the food industry has turned many whole foods into processed pseudo-foods containing ingredients we can’t even pronounce.

The section I’m reading now is called “Getting Over Nutritionism” and how we can escape the Western diet. He writes: “A hallmark of the Western diet is food that is fast, cheap, and easy. Americans spend less than 10 percent of their income on food (as opposed to the Italians and French who spend 14.9 percent of their income on food and the Spanish who spend 17.1 percent). (Americans) also also spend 27 minutes a day preparing meals, 4 minutes on cleanup and 65 minutes eating. In 1965 the figure was 45 minutes of preparation, 21 minutes of clean-up and 68 minutes of eating.”

I’ll address the money and the escaping the Western diet parts in later blogs, but right now I want to talk about the amount of time we spend preparing meals.

I was a little surprised by how little time Americans spend, on average, in contact with their food pre-consumption. I mean, I’m not naïve. I know people consume a lot more fast food and prepackaged/processed food than they did in 1965, but seriously, 27 minutes A DAY for prep?

Even when I was 300 pounds I spent more time than that making food.

I know people are busy, and cooking is usually the last thing you want to do after a long day. But I also believe we make time for what’s most important. It’s not a stretch to conclude by Pollan’s stats that for most Americans, cooking for themselves, and in most instances, themselves and their family, isn’t that important. They may think it’s important, want it to be important, plan to strive to make it important, but 27 minutes doesn’t suggest much importance.

Absolutely there are days when I heat up a Boca burger, slap it in a pita, squirt on a little ketchup and call it dinner. Or I throw some yogurt and fruit in a bowl and call it breakfast. Or eat a string cheese, a handful of almonds, an apple and some carrots and declare it lunch. But those are the exception meals, not the rule.

It’s not like I’m a slave to the kitchen. On average, breakfast takes me 10 to 20 minutes to prepare, lunch another 10 to 20 minutes, and dinner about 30 to 60 minutes, not including cooking time. And I know a lot of you (based on the blogs I read) find ways to cut your prep time. Granted, sometimes my prep minutes include thawing and heating up meals I prepared ahead of time and put in the refrigerator or freezer. But the time spent in putting a soup or other recipe together is usually an additional hour or two a week.

Eating real food requires real cooking. Maybe people really can prepare three healthy meals consisting of whole and not processed foods in less than 30 minutes per day. If so, clue me in because I would love to know how that’s done. I made a tasty Swiss chard concoction for lunch a few days ago and it took 30 minutes start to finish. Not bad time wise, but 30 minutes is the same amount of time most people spend preparing their food for an entire day.

I’m really not trying to be heavy fisted and judgmental. I’m just trying to figure out how people eat. I mean, seriously, at my heaviest I spent more time in front of the stove than the microwave or on the phone ordering out. Not that that made me a saint. Good lord knows preparing cheesy potatoes takes over an hour to make and yet adds a pound or two to my waistline. My favorite pot pie recipe takes an hour to put together and includes all kinds of things I no longer eat. So time prep isn’t so much the issue, is it?

It’s about choice. Anyone can make a solid, healthy breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack in less than 10 minutes. But it takes a lot of planning ahead to make many of those healthy choices. They aren’t on every street corner and certainly not on every take-out menu or prepackaged package. Choosing to eat and preparing whole REAL food takes time.

So my question is: Is Pollan right? Do you think most Americans A) care; and B) want to try to find the time to make their meals? What will it take to get us back to 1965?

Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Best Seat In The House

As many of you know, I have three big dogs, each with their own favorite spots in our house.

Jake is a 12-year-old, 95-pound Golden Retriever (or as we call the breed, Permanent Adolescent) who prefers to sleep at the bottom of the stairs or in front of the front door or in the master bedroom right in front of the toilet – three of our most high traffic areas. We’ve tried to make other areas of the house more appealing, but he’ll have none of that. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks. At least not an old dog who’s taking a narcotic for hip dysplasia. He’s comfortable sleeping at the bottom of the stairs and in front of the door and in the bathroom, so whatever. We’re not going to argue with him.

Mathilda is a 9-year-old, 75-pound Beagle mix. Larry calls her “Butterball” because she’s 20 pounds overweight. Her diet has little to do with it, though. Mathilda has allergies, and every year for three or four months in the summer and fall, we give her steroids to control her itching. Without steroids (and believe me, we’ve tried everything), she cuts open her face and every other place her nails can reach. In the spring and early summer she sheds her weight…just in time to go back on steroids. It’s a nasty cycle, but she’s a happy girl nonetheless.

Mathilda’s favorite place to sleep is on my living room chair or the loveseat or the futon in Larry’s office. Rarely do we have to step over her, she’s considerate when we ask her to move (unlike Jake who just stares at us), and is low-maintenance in the area of demanding attention. She likes a good belly rub once in awhile, but prefers to be left alone most of the time.

Cooper is a 5-year-old, 70-pound Flat Coated Retriever (a breed developed many years ago as a mix between a Newfoundland and a Golden Retriever). Cooper sleeps anywhere Larry is and is always disappointed when I climb into bed at night. “Maybe tonight they’ll let me sleep here,” is what his eyes say just before we laugh and say, “Um…no.” We have a full-size bed and I’m a pillow pig. I tuck them all around my body. There’s no room for another being, especially not one that’s 75 pounds and sprawls out, not curls up, to sleep.

Each dog has their own idea of what constitutes the best seat in the house. We all have those favorite places, don’t we? Whether it’s in our homes or outside, there are those places that fit us like a glove. I thought about that that today as I sat on what is now my new best seat outside my home:

After switchbacking up the side of the mountain on a different section of the North Country Trail from last week, there was a bench. A lovely, sturdy wooden bench overlooking the forest. Not only did it lend itself as a place to rest and offered a spectacular view, it helped me appreciate, once again, my body and what it’s capable of. I never would have found or sat on that bench when I was 300 pounds. It physically could not have happened. And even though I have two bum knees, I got to the top of that mountain and, more importantly, down again. (As anyone with knee problems knows, climbing isn’t the hardest part. It’s going down that’s a killer.)

Knees willing (and I’ll do everything to ensure their viability), I’m going to visit that bench again next spring. I hope Jake will still be around, sleeping at the bottom of the stairs. I hope Mathilda will be in the process of shedding her weight. And I hope Cooper still thinks we won’t notice if he stays in bed with us. But I won’t count on any of those things. I’ll just sit down in the best seat in the forest, enjoy the view, and let life be what is.

More photos from the hike:

Me at the first switchback holding the trusty walking stick I found at the beginning of our hike. It was an incredibly difficult climb - partly because of the steep grade and partly because the fallen leaves made it hard to see the slippery slopes - but it was so physically and emotionally exhilarating.

Cooper went with us on the hike. How beautiful is he? And he has no clue.

My awesome hiking boots (Skechers!!)

The creek we crossed before our ascent.
Larry and Cooper on the bench...of course. Larry is Coop's BFF. I sometimes think Coop is Larry's BFF, too. Hmmm...

Friday, October 16, 2009

Pickled Beets Are The New Chocolate. Well, Kind Of.

So I said to my gynecologist I said, “What’s up with these four pounds I’ve gained since May?”

“You’re 46,” she said.

“Oh. So it’s nothing I’ve done?”

“Nope. It’s just your metabolism slowing down.”

“But I had such a flat stomach four pounds ago! Now four pounds are just sitting right here!” I said, squishing my fingers into the center of my paper gown.

“You can still have it. Give up that wine and chocolate you like and bump up the exercise and you’ll be back down there in a few months. But ask yourself, do you really want to do that?”

Well, yeah, I kinda do. The chocolate part, anyway. I won’t add more exercise, and I’m not even going there with wine. Not yet, anyway.

I went on a chocolate hiatus for a year and survived so I know I can do it. Chocolate was the one food I stopped eating entirely when I first started losing weight. Not that I had to, per se. Weight Watchers put no restrictions on what foods I ate. But I had to if I was serious about food discipline. I told myself, “Learn portion control with potatoes first, then move on to the hard stuff.” So I gave up chocolate for a year. Funny thing was, when I ate it again, it was like, “Eh, yeah, so?” It was still tasty, certainly. But I’d already lost 100 pounds and nothing, not even chocolate, was going to take that away from me. I was a Jedi Knight of food discipline.

I’m still a Jedi, but I’m not Luke anymore. I’m Yoda. I’m staring down a slowing metabolism, and unless I want to look five months pregnant for the rest of my life and be beholden to Spanx every time I wear a dress, I’ll give up the chocolate once again.

It’s not the taste I’ll miss as much as the ritual and comfort. When I unwrap the foil and pop a bit in my mouth, the taste and texture and the way it gets into the grooves of my teeth before melting is like passing a flower shop and the scent follows you for a few yards and you have a vague and pleasant memory of prom or your wedding or a special garden.

So what could possibly replace chocolate in this ritual? I’m in the process of interviewing food. This week, it’s pickled beets. So far they’re holding their own in the comfort sector and may be called back for a second interview.

You might recall a few weekends ago I made pickled beets. Hard to believe growing up in the upper Midwest that I’d never eaten them until last month. Pickled pigs feet? Of course! Pickled herring? Absolutely! I grew up on both. But I’d not had pickled beets until I saw how much my friend Pam’s little boy loved them when we went out for lunch one day. I tried one and it was love at first bite.

I scoured the internet for recipes and found Alton Brown’s. I’m in love with Alton Brown. So is my husband, but not in that way. Larry’s a biochemist science geek and adores those chemical explanations Alton has for everything while he’s cooking. I just think he’s cute...and the way he's holding that mixer? Booyah! Anyway...

I chose this recipe because Alton roasts the beets in rosemary and uses tarragon vinegar rather than cider or regular vinegar. Sounded interesting, so I made them. I wouldn’t know how they turned out for a week because they have to ferment, but Alton promised, “Patience will be rewarded.” And he was right. The beets are, in a word, awesome.

I’m not suggesting pickled beets taste like chocolate, but they give me a similar level of comfort and satisfaction. Strange, I know, but keep in mind, I was raised on saltine crackers, gjetost cheese and lutefisk. I have eclectically weird taste buds.

What I’m trying to say is: I discovered that the comfort of chocolate had become a rote act when it should be special. I won’t swap the calories of chocolate for the calories of a sugary vegetable. I won’t eat pickled beets every day, or any other comfort substitute to be determined. The deal is, I’m cutting out about 100 calories a day for the sake of my stomach. And for those times when I want a little comfort, I’m looking outside the chocolate box to find suitable alternatives, including non-food things like incense and candles. It might work. It might not. My metabolism may have the final say. But I’m going to try.

(Click here to watch Alton make his pickled beets recipe. Afterwards is a segment in which he talks about latex and then a demo of another beets recipe and an obnoxious but probably oh-so-delish beet greens recipe. Egg yolk, cheese, cereal topping…yeah, he’s evil that way.)

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