Leftovers: Safe and Savory

While you're enjoying the abundance and variety of tasty foods during the next few weeks, don't put food safety on the back burner.

Here are a few things to remember to keep you and your loved ones free from food-borne illness:

• Care for your leftovers quickly.

Whether you choose to refrigerate your leftovers or freeze them, do so within two hours of eating. Food that remains on the counter at room temperature for too long increases the risk of food-borne illness.

• Store large servings in a few smaller containers instead of one large one.

This way the leftovers cool off faster, getting out of the temperature danger zone (40-140 degrees Fahrenheit), and they are also easier to grab-and-go because they are in smaller portions.

If you have leftover soups or sauces, store them in shallow dishes (about 2 inches high). This will allow them to cool off quickly.

• Reheat your leftovers sufficiently.

When eating leftovers like ham, soup, turkey, or potato casserole, make sure the food's internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit when reheated.

Sauces and soups should be brought to a boil and should also reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit.

If you choose to reheat foods in the microwave, make sure there are no cold spots where bacteria could be left to grow.

For more information on food safety visit: FightBac!

Christmas Message

Tips For Reducing Holiday Stress

The holiday season can be a major stressor in our lives. The holidays are replete with incidents of burnout, exhaustion, and fatigue due to the pressure that people experience. It does not need to be that way! This is a time of celebration and it is impossible to truly celebrate while under distress. The following is a list of ideas to help you avoid burnout. Be creative; come up with your own ideas for helping you and your family celebrate the season with minimal stress.

1. Plan Ahead - by planning ahead for all your activities, you eliminate excess time in the car, time in the shopping center, and time in the kitchen.
2. Make Lists - have several packets of Post-it Notes available and make a list for everything. For example, think ahead of what you want to shop for, be it food, gifts, or decor, and then make a list. Stick to the list, and you will be amazed at the time you save in the store.
3. Learn to Say "No" - when you feel like the demands placed on you are too heavy, do not feel guilty stating your limits.
4. Avoid Excess Noise - in times of stress, excess background noise could be making you more edgy than you are aware. When you feel agitated, notice the extra noise around you. Turn off the TV if no one is watching. Turn down radios, fans, and other electrical equipment that aren't necessary but are making background noise.
5. Determine What is Important - there are some things that are vital to your family celebration. By all means, make sure those things get done. However there are numerous superfluous things that simply don't need doing. For instance, if you don't enjoy caroling, don't feel that you have to spend time caroling to all the neighbors; simply don't do it!
6. Go to What You Want to - In addition to the aforementioned, do not feel obligated to go to every Christmas program and party. If someone is having a party that you simply don't have time for, tell them you won't be able to make it. Celebrate your freedom by choosing what you want to do and don't want to do.
7. No Need for Perfection - although we all want everything to be nice for Christmas, it does not need to be perfect. Enlist the help of your kids in may projects. For example, have them cut out the Christmas sugar cookies or put the decorations on the tree. Have them help you pick out gifts for the other children. Things won't be "perfect" but this WILL relieve your stress and help the kids feel more involved.
8. Get Away - whatever you need to do to "get away" for a moment, do it! Examples include: take a hot bubble bath, lie in a dark room with scented Christmas candles, send the kids out to play in the snow, listen to soft Christmas music while sitting in front of the Christmas tree, take a moonlit walk with your spouse in the snow... the list is endless!

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Exercise Tips

You work hard all summer long and into the fall to shed those few extra pounds you picked up last winter. You have an exercise program that works for you. You look good and you feel great. With energy to spare, you bound into the holiday season. The hustle and bustle of each day finds you telling yourself, "I'll exercise tomorrow. I just can't today." After a few weeks of this, you find yourself regaining that weight you worked so hard to lose. You also notice a decline in energy (energy that is desperately needed during this time of year!) and you are not feeling as well as before. Now you figure that there is no point to try to exercise or keep off the extra weight; you'll just wait until January 1st to make the resolution to lose those extra pounds...same as last year.

Does this sound familiar? If it does, you are NOT alone. One of the most important things you can do to maintain your weight is to maintain your physical exercise throughout the holiday season.

If you already have a daily exercise program, great! Make a commitment to yourself to continue it each day.

Here are ways to ensure success in continuing exercise despite the cold:

1. Join a gym so you can work out indoors.
2. Make use of the indoor gym facilities provided at BYU for all faculty.
3. Utilize the indoor swimming pool at BYU.
4. Layer up when exercising in the cold. Do not wear one heavy coat. The layers of clothing will absorb perspiration better. Also, you can remove layers when you begin to warm up during exercise.
5. Dust off that gym or treadmill that you have at home and make use of it.

If you do not already have a workout program established, this time of year is probably too hectic to begin a new regularly scheduled program. Most people who begin a workout program over the holidays typically find themselves feeling discouraged and unsuccessful. However, it is important that you get at least 30 minutes of moderate to intense activity every day. These 30 minutes do not have to be consecutive, but make it consistent each day and have fun doing it.

Some ideas:

• Go skiing or sledding with your family.
• Ice-skating is most enjoyable and gives you quite a workout.
• Do some heavy duty playing this season by vigorously building a snowman fort, snow fort, or having a snowball fight.
• Have a race to see who can make the most snow angels in a given time.
• Put on some jazzy Christmas music and dance around the house as you put up Christmas decorations.
• Power shop by walking as quickly around the stores as you can. Run your cart back to the store instead of leaving it in the parking lot.

Have a happy and healthy holiday season!

Healthy Holiday Cooking Tips

If Santa had to make a list of "naughty" food, we would find on it lots of the foods associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Although very delicious and fine if eaten in small quantities, these foods are highly fattening. Additionally, most of us do not stop at one small piece of fudge or a sliver of pie. Because we feel the necessity to indulge, we ingest countless unnecessary grams of fat and calories. That's when we gain weight.


Fortunately, there are many ways to cook and eat healthy during the holidays, while not having to gag down our food. Just by making some small changes and adaptations to our cooking, we can have delicious, healthy meals for all our holiday festivities.
One wise thing to do when cooking is to review your recipes and note the ingredients that are high in saturated fats. Then consider these ingredients and ascertain what their purpose in the recipe is. All ingredients in a recipe are needed for a purpose. What is the purpose of the ingredient that is high in unhealthy fat? Does this ingredient give the food its flavor? Does it add texture to the food, or does it act as a thickener? After determining its purpose, choose an adequate substitute for the high-in-fat ingredient. Each ingredient can realistically be replaced by another that provides similar taste and function. Here are some examples:

• Use bacon bits instead of regular bacon.
• Use light salt instead of regular salt.
• Use spices and herbs instead of regular salt.
• Use lean ground turkey instead of pork bacon.
• Use ricotta cheese instead of cream cheese.
• Use non-fat cottage cheese instead of ricotta cheese.
• Use non-fat cheeses instead of regular cheeses.
• Use egg substitute instead of eggs.
• Use 1 egg yolk and 2 egg whites instead of a whole egg.
• Use chicken or beef broth instead of oil for saute.
• Use applesauce instead of oil for baking.
• Use canola margarine instead of butter.
• Use evaporated milk instead of half and half or cream.
• Use nonfat yogurt instead of sour cream.
• Use whole wheat pasta instead of regular or egg pasta.
• Use 1/2 cup of whole wheat and 1/2 cup of bleached flour instead of 1 cup of bleached flour.

GIFTS

Gifts of food are normally high in fat. Be creative with your ideas for this year. Give gifts of healthy foods (breads, pastas, juices, or veggies). Give a favorite healthy recipe with ingredients for that recipe measured out. Give gift baskets that have a theme. For example, a basket with a breakfast theme could include: pancake mix, juice mix, hot cereal packets, and fresh fruit. Healthy, fun, and appreciated!

Healthy Recipe- Steamed Broccoli

Serves 8; each serving contains 30 calories, 0.1 gram of fat

• 8 cups broccoli florets
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped

In a large pot, add about one inch of water. Place steam basket inside pot. Add broccoli, cover and steam 2‑ 3 minutes. Remove from steamer to large bowl. Whisk together vegetable broth and next four ingredients. Pour over broccoli and mix thoroughly. Serve hot.