Time to laugh

Oils for Cooking and Drizzling

        This is an article from the New York Times.  Eating healthy can really add some years to your life so try some of these tips to stay healthy and be happy.

                                        Oils for Cooking and Drizzling

By TARA PARKER-POPE

For home cooks with a sense of adventure, experimenting with aromatic and flavored oils can transform a dish. But deciding which type of oil to use isn’t always easy.
This week, Martha Rose Shulman explains all in a primer on the various oils that can be used in cooked dishes and baked goods and drizzled on salads, fish and vegetables. She also singles out a few new favorites, including rice bran and wasabi oils, as well as tried-and-true varieties, like canola and extra virgin olive oils. Here’s her report, followed by five new recipes using oils from walnuts, peanuts, rice bran, coconut, wasabi and sesame.

• Nut and seed oils: Unrefined nut and seed oils are best used uncooked, in salad dressings ― usually in conjunction with a neutral oil like grapeseed ― and drizzled over foods. They impart the distinct flavor of the nuts and seeds from which they’re extracted, all the more so if they are made from toasted nuts. My favorites are walnut oil, dark sesame oil and unrefined expeller-pressed roasted peanut oil. These are also the most affordable of the nut oils ― others, like pistachio, hazelnut, pumpkin seed and pecan oil, are very dear indeed, a splurge for a drizzle.
• Flavored or scented oils: These drizzling oils are usually neutral oils (though olive oil is used for some, like lemon oil and pili pili) that are infused with highly flavored ingredients. The most extravagant of these is truffle oil, but you can get a great bang out of less expensive flavored oils like lemon oil, wasabi oil and porcini oil, all of which can be found in gourmet groceries and online. Lately I’ve been drizzling wasabi oil over simply cooked fish and grains; a little goes a long way.
• Cooking oils: When it comes to cooking oils, some of which I also use in salad dressings in conjunction with aromatic nut and olive oils, many people decide on those with the highest smoke points, the temperature at which a cooking fat begins to break down and deteriorate, which can have health implications as when fats break down they can release free radicals. Since I don’t do much high-heat cooking, certainly not a lot of deep frying, the smoke point isn’t particularly relevant to me. But if you do a lot of high-heat stir-frying, you should look for an oil with a high smoke point. Those that I would recommend are rice bran oil (490 degrees), grapeseed oil (420 degrees) and refined peanut oil (450 degrees).
• Rice bran oil: This week I experimented with rice bran oil, extracted from the germ and the inner husk of rice, which I had never used. It has a neutral flavor and worked very nicely in stir-fries. It is made up of primarily monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats (7 grams monounsaturated, 3 grams saturated and 5 grams polyunsaturated in a tablespoon). Although it’s more expensive than canola oil, I may find myself switching over to using it more often, as it is becoming increasingly difficult to find canola oil that is not made from genetically modified seeds.
• Canola oil: For now, I still use organic canola oil for much of my non-olive oil cooking and baking. Made from a traditionally created hybrid derived from rapeseed, canola oil is one of the healthiest oils, with the lowest saturated fat content of any oil (7 percent, as opposed to 15 percent in olive oil). It’s an excellent source of the omega-6 fatty acid linoleic acid and the omega-3 fatty acid ALA, important nutrients that must come from dietary sources. But I know from the many e-mails I’ve received from readers that many people shun canola oil. This is mainly a reaction to myths that have circulated on the Internet about its perils; they are based on the misperception that the oil is made from rapeseed, which contains high levels of erucic acid, a compound that can be toxic to humans. The canola plant was developed by natural crossbreeding from the rapeseed plant, and contains very low levels of erucic acid. On the other hand, genetically engineered canola plant seeds have been used for pest-resistant plants, and this is a problem for me.
• Extra virgin coconut oil: My interest in the oil was piqued last year when I read Melissa Clark’s excellent piece on it in this paper’s Dining section. This week I used it to very good effect in some baked goods. If you are looking for a saturated fat to substitute for butter, this can be a good choice, as long as the coconut flavor is welcome in the dishes that you use it in.
• Extra virgin olive oil: In my kitchen, extra virgin olive oil remains the king of oils. It falls into both the drizzling and the cooking groups. I don’t use it simply because it’s a healthy oil, high in monounsaturated fats and trace nutrients that probably contribute to its antioxidant properties; I use it because it is the traditional oil used in the Mediterranean cuisines I love. Readers have questioned the low smoke point of olive oil; this is not really a consideration for most of my cooking, because the dishes I use it in do not require a high enough temperature for it to matter. Indeed, the smoke point of olive oil is only relatively low, 375 degrees, the temperature oil needs to be at for deep-frying. But you should never waste extra virgin olive oil on deep frying in any case; if you do need a Mediterranean flavor, use extra light olive oil, which is considerably cheaper and has a smoke point of 468 degrees.

Here are five recipes in which the oil you use can make all the difference.
Radicchio or Asian Greens Salad With Golden Beets and Walnuts: A walnut-oil vinaigrette is a wonderful companion to bitter greens.
Rice Noodle Salad With Crispy Tofu and Lime-Peanut Dressing: Using unrefined peanut oil in the dressing complements the Asian flavors of this dish.
Whole-Wheat Ginger Scones: Coconut oil is the perfect nondairy fat to use for scones and other baked goods.
Oven-Roasted Salmon, Quinoa and Asparagus With Wasabi Oil: Seasoned oils like the wasabi oil I buy at my local specialty grocery can embellish a simply cooked piece of fish, a bowl of grains or steamed vegetables.
Seared Red Rice With Spinach, Mushrooms, Carrot and Egg: This stir-fry uses rice bran oil, whose high smoking point helps impart a nice seared aroma.

Mio

If you have not tried it yet your should. Mio is really tasty and good for you. I have even found that some stores like walmart and Giant have their own store brand which is the same thing but for less. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

How to get hired at Walmart

A manager at Wal-Mart had the task of hiring someone to fill a job opening. After sorting through a stack of resumes he found four people who were equally qualified. He decided to call the four in and ask them only one question. Their answer would determine which of them would get the job.

The day came and as the four sat around the conference room table, the interviewer asked, 'What is the fastest thing you know of?'
The first man replied, 'A THOUGHT.' It just pops into your head. There's no warning.
'That's very good!' replied the interviewer. 'And, now you sir?', he asked the second man.
'Hmmm...let me see 'A blink! It comes and goes and you don't know that it ever happened. A BLINK is the fastest thing I know of.'
'Excellent!' said the interviewer. 'The blink of an eye, that's a very popular cliché for speed.' He then turned to the third man, who was contemplating his reply.
'Well, out at my dad's ranch, you step out of the house and on the wall there's a light switch. When you flip that switch, way out across the pasture the light on the barn comes on in less than an instant. 'Yep, TURNING ON A LIGHT is the fastest thing I can think of'.
The interviewer was very impressed with the third answer and thought he had found his man. 'It's hard to beat the speed of light,' he said.
Turning to BUBBA, the fourth and final man, the interviewer posed the same question.
Old Bubba replied, 'After hearing the previous three answers, it's obvious to me that the fastest thing known is DIARRHEA.'
'WHAT!?' said the interviewer, stunned by the response.
'Oh sure', said BUBBA. 'You see, the other day I wasn't feeling so good, and I ran for the bathroom, but before I could THINK, BLINK, or TURN ON THE LIGHT, I had already s**t my pants.'
BUBBA is now the new greeter at a Wal-Mart near you!