You Say it’s Your Blogday: CHG's Top Ten Recipes

WOO! We made it! A year ago today, CHG launched with a smile, a strategy, and a semi-sensical mission statement. While world wide web domination is probably a couple of years in coming, we've carved out a neat little niche in the highly competitive arena of health-and-frugality-oriented food blogging.So, thank you to everyone – all 158,126 of you – who’ve popped in over the last 12 months. I’ve really enjoyed writing for and learning from you. Y’all are aces.And! Thank you to the 1,551 websites, blogs, and people who’ve sent traffic this way, especially MSN Smart Spending, Get Rich Slowly, Paid Twice, Frugal Hacks, A Good American Wife, Money Saving Mom, English Major Money, Serious Eats, and Frugal Upstate. Three cheers.Also! Thanks to Jaime...

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Posted in: About Cheap Healthy Good

Zucchini Mushroom Crumble: a Day in the Life

I love food blogs. Oh, the actual meals are nice, but beyond that, I really dig learning about folks’ day-to-day experiences making them. It’s a neat little window into lives totally different from mine, and truly, kind of awe-inspiring. (Note: I would have said “amazing,” but am actively trying to abolish it, since it’s the most overused word in the English language. Gandhi? Amazing. Cat socks? Not amazing. Seriously, folks.)Take the fancier food blogs. They make something as mundane as dinner prep seem so idyllic, like there’s art in the air and deliciousness hovering over every well-tended garden. Really, some’re like reading an E.M. Forster novel:I took care to place the heavier, robin’s-egg-blue crockery upon a trivet made entirely of...

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Posted in: Mains,Sides,Vegetarian

Veggie Might: Pasta with Nettles, Sorrel, and Lemon (Stinging Nettles - Ouch! Mmm!)

Penned by the effervescent Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about the wide world of Vegetarianism.Interjections (Hey!) show excitement (Yow!) or emotion (Ouch!).They’re generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point, or by a comma when the feeling’s not as strong.My first trip to the CSA meeting place had me buzzing with feelings: curiosity (How does this thing work exactly? Will I meet the farmers?!), excitement (Sorrel, dandelion greens, and grape leaves! Oh my!), and anxiety (Ugh! My nemesis [Yes, even I, dear reader, have a nemesis.] might be there.).I fastened the basket to my handlebars and zipped down to the designated street on my bike. About halfway down the block, I saw a truck with a “Support Your Local...

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Posted in: Mains,Pasta,Sides,Vegetarian,Veggie Might

CHG Favorites of the Week

Food Blog of the WeekAapplemintSprinkled with beautiful pictures of exotic locales and colorful, tasty-looking dishes, Aaplemint, though infrequently updated, is worth a gander just the same. Kate’s food seems to specialize in out-of-the-ordinary ingredients, like jasmine and (for real) aloe. It’s a lot of baked goods, but there are other treasures here and there, as well.Food Book of the WeekThree Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin"The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take a tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea, you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything, even die." Wow, what a phenomenal book. Essentially, a lost, sick...

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Posted in: Links

Understanding the Childhood Obesity Epidemic Part III: Small-Scale Solutions

Earlier this afternoon, CHG posted the wide-scale solutions to the childhood obesity epidemic. Now it’s time for the personal solutions – stuff you can do everyday to make sure kids are growing up healthy.Also included are two things you absolutely shouldn’t do, because they need to be mentioned, too.SOLUTIONS – SMALL-SCALE1) Walk the walk. Kids learn behavior from their parents. If mom and dad don’t eat healthy or exercise, their children won’t either. Or, as Time Magazine's Lori Oliwenstein puts it, “If your daily diet revolves around bologna, potato chips and Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream eaten straight out of the carton, guess what Junior's going to start craving? And if you can name every celebrity from the past five seasons...

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Posted in: Health

Understanding the Childhood Obesity Epidemic Part II: Wide-Scale Solutions

Last week, CHG posted the first of a three-part series on our overweight kids, examining the causes and effects of America’s growing youth. Today, it’s all about the solutions, both on a mass and personal scale. We know some are already working, since according to Time Magazine, “for the first time in decades the increase in U.S. childhood obesity leveled off [in May].” And with more of these ideas implemented, it can only get better.Right now, we’ll examine the larger-scale solutions. The personal ones are coming later this afternoon. As with Part 1, if anyone has suggestions or comments, please pass ‘em along. I’d love to read/add.SOLUTIONS – WIDE-SCALE1) Philanthropic initiativesOf all the articles I read, the one organization mentioned...

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Posted in: Health

City Kitchen Chronicles: Kale Chips

City Kitchen Chronicles is a bi-weekly column about living frugally in Manhattan. It's penned by the lovely Jaime.Last night I got home at 10pm, after a reading of a new play and treating myself to a late dinner of Greek yogurt and raspberries at Whole Foods. (Oh, delicious unfrugal sin.) Once I got home I wanted nothing more (well, nothing that wouldn’t involve feats of teleportation or lottery-winning) than to check my email, read a few blogs (this is what I do without cable) and go the heck to bed. But even in my sleepy stupor, I knew what I had to do. I had few-days-old kale in my fridge, and nothing for lunch the next day. It was now or never.Of course, what sleepy (and apparently not-reading-my-own-blog-posts) me didn’t think about was...

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Posted in: City Kitchen Chronicles,Desserts and Snacks,Vegan,Vegetarian

Tuesday Megalinks: The George Carlin Edition

Oh, man. First Tim Russert, now George Carlin? If Springsteen goes next, I'm moving to Mars. Either way, as tribute to the most important comedian in American history, each of today's links will be followed up by a Carlin quote instead of the usual description.Broke Grad Student: Festival of Frugality #131 - Summer Savings Edition"Ever wonder about those people who spend $2 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backward."Casual Kitchen: Cooking Like the Stars? Don’t Waste Your Money“Whenever you see the word cuisine used instead of the word food, be prepared to pay an additional eighty percent.”Chow: Cooking With Summer Ingredients“Fussy eater is a euphemism for big pain in the ass."Consumerist: You Thought The U.S....

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Posted in: Links

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and a Very Barefoot Contessa Weekend

I'm writing this late Sunday night, as Jet Blue has stranded The Boyfriend and I in Virginia. Not that I mind. His mom, brother, sister-in-law, freakishly adorable nearly-two-year-old nephew, and freakishly adorable brand-new nephew are all here, and they're nifty people. We've spent the last three days in a whirlwind of swimming, learning the letter B, and eating our faces off. It's not a bad life, man.Off the six meals we've cooked so far, a whopping four have come courtesy of Barefoot Contessa. I LOVE INA GARTEN. This has been stated and restated in this blog, but the adoration/near-obsession can not be adequately documented, no matter how long/extensively I babble/type. The woman is a goddess in blue collared shirts. I am gigantically jealous...

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Posted in: Sides,Vegan,Vegetarian

Cherry Tomato Crisp: Subliminal Message Friday:

For now, this post marks the end of my forays into Marthaville (a.k.a. Stewartbrook, a.k.a. WASPington), as the Everyday Food cookbook was due back to the library today (last week). I gotta say (no, I MUST) that I really, really liked it. (Really.) I tried four (or five – maybe six) recipes from the tome, and all were blow-out, truly delicious winners (like the Celtics). I’m thinking of buying it myself and possibly gifting it to my sister (in lieu of her one true desire: Patrick Dempsey on a stick).Cherry (or Grape) Tomato Crisp happened last week (Tuesday, I think) after The Boyfriend and I worked out (attempted not to die) at our newly-joined gym (a.k.a. the Torturedome). We didn’t arrive home until after 9pm (6pm PST), and this was basic...

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Posted in: Sides,Vegetarian

Veggie Might: Organic Foods - When to Splurge

Penned by the effervescent Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about the wide world of Vegetarianism.Everyone knows that organic is the way to go, but let’s be practical. Organic foods can be pretty cost-prohibitive and, depending on your locus, hard to come by. Take a quick tool around the natural foods store or even a mainstream grocery chain, and you’ll see a huge price disparity between the organic and “conventional” produce. Shopping at local farm stands, farmer’s markets, and food coops are the wisest options—and very often the cheapest—but, what do you do in a pinch or when you live in an underserved area?I remember reading (or seeing on the tube) somewhere that fruits and veggies with inedible rinds are safer than those...

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Posted in: Buying Food,Health,Veggie Might

CHG Favorites of the Week

Blog of the WeekOpen Source FoodAfter the sad death of my beloved Tastespotting, it seemed like no other food porn would be brave enough to step up and fill the void. O joyous day – Open Source Food is giving it a shot. Will it be the Jim Belushi to Tastespotting’s John Belushi, or the Jake Gyllehaal to its Maggie Gyllenhaal? Only time (and a torturous metaphor) will tell.Food Book of the WeekEat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth GilbertReading this book is like watching a really endearing, albeit slightly self-obsessed friend rebuild her life after a nasty divorce. The first third of the novel takes place in Italy, where the author gains 23 pounds of pure pasta. Envious? Me?Food Comedy of the Week"Die Hard 12: Die Hungry" from the Ben Stiller ShowOh, long lost Ben Stiller Show – you deserved so much...

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Posted in: Links

Understanding the Childhood Obesity Epidemic Part I: Causes and Effects

About two months ago, CHG published The Ultimate Guide to Understanding the Food Crisis, a point-by-point (some would say CliffNote-ian) breakdown of a complex global issue. I enjoyed writing it and learned a lot in the process, so I thought I’d try another one.Today’s post tackles the childhood obesity epidemic. It’s a breakdown and summary of dozens of articles on the subject, specifically addressing the causes of, problems with, and solutions to our kids' ever-expanding bellies.Since it's a massive subject, this part will focus on causation and effects. Look out for the solution section next Wednesday, and please, feel free to contribute ideas and/or corrections.WHAT IT IS (in a sentence or two)For a variety of interconnected reasons, 32%...

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Posted in: Health