Free Republic

When the nation's top nutrition panel released its latest dietary recommendations on Thursday, the group did something it had never done before: weigh in on whether people should be drinking coffee. What it had to say is pretty surprising.Not only can people stop worrying about whether drinking coffee is bad for them, according to the panel, they might even want to consider drinking a bit more.The panel cited minimal health risks associated with drinking between three and five cups per day. It also said that consuming as many as five cups of coffee each day (400 mg) is tied to...

How to make oatmeal that isn't sticky: Perfect oatmeal

Would you like some Campylobacter or E. Coli today? Raw milk in 26 U.S. states is now the best place to get it, since most readers of Science 2.0 are not going to have the opportunity to buy chicken from a street vendor in China. That raw milk is risky and has no benefit is not news. In 2012 the CDC showed it again but clamoring for raw milk got even louder. It is in the news again, as part of the naturalistic fallacy that infects mostly the anti-science hippie left and a minority of people on the libertarian 'government...

This week, it's Soup and "Bread" (It's freezing here; and Soup's my favorite thing to cook anyway!) When I first developed a serious interest in cooking, my favorite cookbooks were the original 'Laurel's Kitchen' and a Shaker cookbook whose name I've forgotten and can't seem to find cited anywhere. One soup recipe that has stuck with me and remained a favorite is the "Favorite Green Soup" from 'Laurel's Kitchen.' Here is an adaptation of it, a really great soup, very nutritious, with plenty of room for variations. (In our house, it has the undignified name of 'Green Slime Soup' because...

Hoping to shed its reputation for offering little more than dead-end jobs, Wal-Mart, the nation’s biggest private employer, is giving raises to nearly a half-million workers and offering what it says are more opportunities for advancement. Wal-Mart told The Associated Press that as part of $1 billion its spending to change the way it trains and pays workers, the company will give raises to nearly 40 percent of its 1.3 million U.S. employees in the next six months. In addition to raises, Wal-Mart said it plans to make changes to how workers are scheduled and add training programs for sales...

I live out in the sticks and can't find the major ingredient of hummus (i.e. tahini). Found several recipes for hummus using natural peanut butter. Made some and it is wonderful.Here's a link to the source for the recipe I used...recipe for peanut butter hummus.Ate it for dinner tonight with raw broccoli.Wow!

Mouthwatering photos of school lunches served around the world reveal even children in Ukraine, Estonia and Greece are treated to delectable meals each day. School children in America, meanwhile, aren't nearly so lucky. Whereas a kid in France might be treated to a juicy steak and a hunk of brie, the richest country in the world's youths are more likely to receive unidentified meat served alongside little more than a starch like white pasta, fries or a roll. The contrasts between America's school meals and those in far less fortunate economies are stark and suggest Michelle Obama's push for more...

Three restaurant guests sit around the table eating, when one of them flips over the tray and tosses it away. Waiter runs toward them right away, apparently eager to find out why he did not enjoy his meal, so he could try to rectify it. As the guest continued acting like a prick, another member of the restaurant teams came over to enquire how he could be of assistance. The guest quickly turned to a bully and threw plates and utensils in his face. Then out of nowhere, a young ninja girl showed up and utilizing a high kick, removed...

Following the footsteps of a public elementary school in Flushing, Queens, another public school in New York City has decided to go vegetarian. The Peck Slip School in lower Manhattan announced Monday that it will only be serving students plant-based meals due to its benefits not only for the kids but the planet as well, becoming the second non-charter public school in the U.S. to do so. […] The implementation of the vegetarian menu was done with the help of the Coalition for Healthy School Food, a non profit dedicated to getting whole foods into schools across the New York...

This week, we sat down with Lierre Keith, author of "The Vegetarian Myth" to learn about why Vegans are wrong. She can be found at http://www.lierrekeith.com/

A can of Coke could soon look like a pack of Marlboros, if one Bronx lawmaker has his way. Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz has introduced the “Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Safety Warning Act” — which would require tobacco-style health- warning labels on all sugary drinks, such a cola, iced tea and energy drinks. The labels would read: “SAFETY WARNING: Drinking beverages with added sugar contributes to obesity, diabetes and tooth decay.”

Not even two years after being rolled out by the New York baker Dominique Ansel, the cronut -- that’s a doughnut made with croissant dough, for those who might have been living under a rock -- has gone mainstream. Dunkin’ Donuts, the Canton-based breakfast food franchise, said Wednesday that it would make the “croissant donut” a permanent addition to its menu. (“Cronut” is a trademarked term.) Since introducing the item in November, Dunkin’ said it has sold 8.5 million of them, with about 3.9 million sold since mid-December, according to past news releases.

Check out the size of this goliath grouper gathering of the coast of Florida. That is a lot of really big fish. It’s definitely not news that the goliath grouper population in Florida has been steadily on the rise over the past decade. The multitude of groupers is the cause of great concern within the angling community, as there are no natural enemies of the patriarch of the grouper family.

New Orleans police need help identifying a man seen in surveillance photos stealing several boxes of filet mignon steaks from The Roosevelt Hotel. Police said the man pried open a locked gate and walked away with the boxes in an unknown direction. The theft occurred after 10 a.m. Feb. 9 at 130 Roosevelt Way. The steaks are valued at more than $1,500, police said...

(A little early this week, because I have a couple of busy days coming up.) Chicken Cacciatore In the memoir that Julia Child wrote in collaboration with her husband's great-nephew, the story of the revelatory meal in Rouen that started Julia on her life's work is recounted ('My Life in France', Julia Child and Alex Prud'homme, 2006). I believe that anyone who has become seriously interested in food and the art of cooking has had a moment like that: the one meal that made you realize that there was a LOT more to eating and cooking than you had previously...

It seems there’s a new headline every week touting a reason why drinking alcohol (in moderation) is good for health. (At this point, one would think that red wine was the cure for all disease.) But according to researchers from University College London, the benefits of alcohol consumption may be severely overstated. For the study, published in the British Medical Journal, researchers analyzed data on the drinking habits of 52,891 adults who were interviewed about their average weekly alcohol consumption, as well as how much they drank in one day. Researchers found “little to no” health benefits of drinking alcohol,...

Inspectors from the LA County Health Department visited the Metro Supermarket in Temple City on Tuesday, after being informed that the market was selling raccoons as food. Employees at the market declined to appear on camera, but did show entire raccoons, frozen, bagged, and selling for $9.99 per pound. The employees say raccoon is considered a delicacy in China. Customer Christina Dow was at the market, and upon seeing the frozen raccoons, filmed the scene on her cell phone. She shared the video on social media. “The way it’s packaged in the store, it’s so real, and it’s so fresh,...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin grocery shoppers may soon be able to sample mini-shots of hard liquor in an aisle near them. The Assembly’s government operations committee unanimously approved a bipartisan bill Tuesday that would allow retailers with liquor licenses to provide small shots of booze to their customers. The measure would allow shoppers to sample one half-ounce of hard alcohol, the equivalent of one-third a shot. Rep. Joel Kleefisch, R-Oconomowoc, says he sponsored the bill to level the playing field for distilleries and other liquor producers as they compete with breweries and wineries, which can offer samples.

She’s back! Danielle Lei, the entrepreneurial San Francisco Girl Scout who made international headlines in 2014 with her sales table’s location — in front of a medical marijuana dispensary — is back for another year and is already cleaning house. ~snip~ Lei reports selling a total of 208 boxes in about two hours Sunday — nearly doubling her four-day sales campaign total to 560. “That’s pretty cool,” Lei wrote The Green Cross. “ I would not have sold that many in four days if I did not sell in front of your store.”

Let's pretend it is 56 B.C. and you have been fortunate enough to be invited to a party at the home of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, a great social coup. Piso, after all, was Julius Caesar's father-in-law and a consul of Rome. What's for dinner? You need to prepare for pig. Archaeologists studying the eating habits of ancient Etruscans and Romans have found that pork was the staple of Italian cuisine before and during the Roman Empire. Both the poor and the rich ate pig as the meat of choice, although the rich, like Piso, got better cuts, ate meat...