Diet drinks don’t cause diabetes directly. But, in an ironic twist, these beverages sometimes trigger greater-than-normal cravings for real sugar. Studies show that people who choose diet soda tend to dish up extra helpings of sugary foods to compensate. Doing so overtaxes the body’s ability to maintain a healthy weight and manage blood sugar, and it could lead to an increased risk of diabetes, says Mary Beth Robinson, a dietitian with the Texas A&M Health Science Center.

The healthiest drink? Good old water. If you must indulge your sweet tooth, Dr. Felicia Stone, host of the TLC show Honey, We’re Killing the Kids, says, “I’d rather see someone consume one daily soft drink (sweetened with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, or agave) than any drink with a non-nutritive sweetener. But there is no substitute for what we know works best: Eat less, drink more water, and increase daily physical activity.”

Diet Drink Debate The Saturday Evening Post

Quinoa Risotto Primavera

(Makes 8 servings)

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups cauliflower florets, cut in 1-inch pieces, stems well-trimmed
• 1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ½ cup finely chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
• ⅔ cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 3 ½ cups fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth, divided*
• ⅓ cup thinly sliced baby carrots
• ½ cup frozen baby green peas
• ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ⅓ cup chopped flat leaf parsley

*Using chicken broth gives this dish a rich flavor. I wish I could say “or use vegetable broth,” but in most commercially made vegetable broths, carrots dominate and the flavor overwhelms the sweetness of the vegetables. If you are vegetarian, try substituting warm water for the broth and adding extra cheese at the end for a better result.

Directions

1. Place cauliflower in food processor. Pulse until cauliflower resembles crumbled feta, about 15-20 pulses; there should be 2 cups chopped cauliflower to set aside. Use leftover to add to soup or salad.
2. In heavy, wide, large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes. Add shallots and cook until golden, about 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add quinoa and cook, stirring constantly, until grain makes constant crackling, popping sound, about 5 minutes. Carefully add 2 cups broth, standing back as it will spatter. Cover, reduce heat and simmer quinoa for 10 minutes.
3. Add cauliflower, carrots and ½ cup hot broth and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add peas and enough broth to keep risotto soupy, about ¼ cup. Cook 8–10 minutes, or until quinoa is al dente or to your taste and vegetables are tender-crisp, adding broth ¼ cup at a time, as needed. Risotto is done when liquid is mostly absorbed and mixture is slightly wet, but not soupy. Off heat, stir in cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with parsley and serve. Leftover risotto keeps for three days, covered in refrigerator, and can be served at room temperature as a whole-grain salad.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving

---

Calories: 120
Total fat: 4.5 g
Saturated fat: 1 g
Carbohydrate: 14 g
Protein: 5 g
Fiber: 3 g
Sodium: 280 mg

Quinoa Risotto Primavera The Saturday Evening Post

You can make it a meal by adding wild rice topped with lentils. Simply place warm rice on a plate and top with several heaping tablespoons of lentils heated with a bit of water or vegetable broth. Of course, you can always serve up some sides of any vegetable leftovers you have handy.

Grilled Salmon and Spinach Salad

(Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients

• 1 pound salmon, cut in four fillets

Marinade ingredients

• ¼ cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
• ¼ cup rice vinegar
• 1 teaspoon mustard powder or 1 teaspoon prepared mustard

Dressing ingredients

• 3 tablespoons orange juice
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
• ½ teaspoon roasted sesame oil (or regular sesame oil)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Salad ingredients

• 5 ounces baby spinach, rinsed clean
• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced thin

Directions

1. Whisk together marinade ingredients to combine well. In shallow dish, coat both sides of salmon with marinade. Cover dish and refrigerate for at least one hour.
2. Coat grill lightly with oil to prevent sticking. Remove salmon from marinade and discard remaining marinade. Place salmon, skin side down, on medium-hot grill. Cook about 6 minutes until skin is browned and crisp. Gently turn fillets over and cook additional 2-3 minutes until desired degree of doneness. Remove and set aside.
3. Combine dressing ingredients in food processor or blender and pulse or blend until well combined, about 1 minute.
4. Arrange salad ingredients on four serving dishes. Drizzle half the dressing on salad. Place salmon on top and drizzle remaining dressing. Serve.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving

---

Calories: 270
Total fat: 13 g
Saturated fat: 2.5 g
Carbohydrate: 20 g
Protein: 21 g
Fiber: 3 g
Sodium: 400 mg

Grilled Salmon and Spinach Salad The Saturday Evening Post

Friction. Clap your hands, stomp your feet, or give them a mini-massage. But you already know that one, so consider…

Yoga. Lie on your back with legs against wall, perpendicular to the floor for as long as comfortable. When leg muscles relax, blood vessels open up and circulation improves.

Aerobic exercise. Take a walk, ride a bike, or do jumping jacks—anything that makes you work up a sweat.

Still feeling frosty? Consider thermal bio-feedback, a natural therapy that trains patients to warm their hands and feet in about 20 sessions. For a referral, talk to your care provider or go to bcia.org.

How to Shake Off a Chill The Saturday Evening Post

My favorite filling is this savory combination of spinach, red onion, sweet bell pepper, and mushrooms, which you can make ahead, then reheat in a skillet, adding a splash of broth to prevent burning. A generous spoonful of prepared pesto stirred into the filling adds bold flavor.

Chickpea Crepes with Spinach, Mushroom, and Pesto

(Makes 6 servings)

Crepe Ingredients

• 1 cup chickpea flour
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons soft buttery spread, if using skillet

Filling Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• ¼ cup finely chopped red onion
• ⅓ cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 6 ounces (about 2 cups) Cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1 (5-ounce box) baby spinach
• 2 tablespoons prepared pesto
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. In medium bowl, whisk chickpea flour, oil, rosemary, and salt with water until mixture is smooth. Let batter sit 20–30 minutes to thicken slightly. Before cooking, stir to loosen any clumps.
2. For crepes, set non-stick crepe pan over medium-high heat until drops of water flicked into pan ball up and bounce. With one hand, hold pan up at 45-degree angle. Pour ¼ cup batter near top of pan, rotating pan as you pour so batter flows into 6- to 7-inch round crepe. Cook until crepe is golden on bottom, 1-2 minutes. Using large spatula, turn and cook until crepe is lightly golden on bottom, about 30 seconds. Transfer crept to large plate. Cover each crepe with wax paper. If using a regular skillet instead of non-stick crepe pan, coat hot pan with ½ teaspoon spread before first crepe and repeat as needed between crepes.
3. If not filling crepes immediately, cool to room temperature and cover plate with plastic wrap. Hold crepes at room temperature for up to 8 hours, refrigerate for up to 24 hours.
4. For filling, in medium skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. Add red peppers and cook, stirring, until onions are translucent, 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture looks wet, 5–6 minutes. Add spinach, stirring to wilt leaves. Cook, stirring often, until most of moisture has evaporated and filling is tender, 8 minutes.
5. If crepes have been made ahead, wrap them in foil and warm in 250°F oven, 20 minutes. To assemble crepes, in small bowl, mix pesto with 2 tablespoons warm water. Stir pesto into filling. Arrange a crepe on a plate. Spoon ⅙ filling over bottom half of each crepe, then gently fold crepe in half over filling. Repeat with remaining crepes and filling. If desired, garnish plate with some mesclun leaves and strawberries. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving

---

Calories: 170
Total fat: 11 g
Saturated fat: 1.5 g
Carbohydrate: 15 g
Protein: 6 g
Fiber: 4 g
Sodium: 400 mg

Chickpea Crepes with Spinach, Mushroom, and Pesto The Saturday Evening Post

So, you popped your cholesterol meds then tucked into a juicy steak. The pill can handle a little cholesterol surge, right? “At times, patients don’t think they need to follow a healthy diet since their medications have already lowered their blood pressure and cholesterol—and that is wrong,” says Mahshid Dehghan, Ph.D., study author and nutritionist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Eating well offers benefits beyond standard drug therapy.

In fact, researchers found patients taking drugs to prevent recurrent heart attacks and strokes who also ate a heart-healthy diet reduced their risk of cardiovascular death (by 35 percent), congestive heart failure (28 percent), stroke (19 percent), and new heart attacks (14 percent) compared to those with less healthy eating habits.

No License to Binge The Saturday Evening Post

Create and frame watercolor portraits
of the grandkids.
Click the image above or go to growcreative.blogspot.com for the tutorial now.

Wrap her favorite Bordeaux
in a sweater sleeve.
Click the image above or go to greylikesweddings.com for the tutorial now.

Fashion a quirky recycled bookmark and place it inside the newest book by her favorite author.
Click the image above or go to greenpaper.com for the tutorial now.

Repurpose blue jean cuffs into bangles.
Click the image above or go to michlinla.com for the tutorial now.

Make exfoliating sugar scrub cubes for a luxurious (and quick) shower treat.
Click the image above or go to soapdelinews.com for the tutorial now.

Spread a picnic lunch on this ombre blanket; when lunch is over, give the blanket to her as a gift.
Click the image above or go to inkmeetspaperpress.com for the tutorial now.

Pour wax into some pretty teacups
for candlelit dinners.
Click the image above or go to cupcakesandcashmere.com for the tutorial now.

Construct these little seed paper pots.
Click the image above or go to greylikesweddings.com for the tutorial now.

8 Easy Crafts for Mother’s Day The Saturday Evening Post

Beware. Your tech gear is costing you money while you sleep. Sure, the stuff looks innocent enough: cable box, HDTV, computer monitor, and sundry other electronic gadgets that consume power even when in “sleep” mode. While their energy-sucking ways may seem harmless, they cost you big bucks over time.

How much? U.S. households spend about $100 per year to power devices in low-power mode, around 8 percent of home electricity expenses, according to the government’s Energy Star program. Your water heater, lighting, air conditioner, and heater are the biggest energy hogs. The good news is that you can cut your energy bills without spending a fortune to do it.

First, you need to know which home appliances are the biggest power hogs. The P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt is an inexpensive electricity usage monitor that plugs into a standard wall outlet. Simply connect a suspected energy hog—an old refrigerator, for instance—to the Kill A Watt, which measures the appliance’s power consumption by the kilowatt-hour and shows the results on its LCD display. Priced at just over $17 online, Kill A Watt displays amps, volts, and wattage.

The twilight of the incandescent light bulb is upon us, and most versions of the venerable (and highly inefficient) bulb won’t be available in the U.S. by next year. Fluorescent, LED, and even new “hybrid” incandescent lights save energy and money but are sometimes hard to find for chandeliers, vanity lights, and other unique items. Measurements on bulb packages can be confusing when you’re unsure which size is right for your fixture. Light Bulb Finder is a free mobile app (Apple or Android) that helps you find the right energy-saving bulb. Enter your zip code, and it automatically determines the average electricity rate for your region. Then, scroll through images of lighting fixtures, and choose the type of incandescent bulb you want to replace. The app generates a list of recommended power-efficient bulbs and shows images and tech specs for each product.

Desktop computers and monitors are notorious energy wasters, particularly in home offices where tech gear is often left on 24/7. Many low-cost power-saving devices can stop the power drip and cut your electric bill. The Belkin Conserve Switch Surge Protector with Remote ($40), for instance, is a power strip with six switchable (on/off) outlets, and two additional outlets that are always on. The wall-mountable wireless remote works up to 60 feet from the power strip. To turn off up to six devices—a computer, monitor, printer, speakers, and external hard drive—simply flip the switch. The two always-on outlets are great for gadgets that need power 24/7, such as an Internet router or cordless phone.

And for the technophiles among us, there’s the amazing Nest, a programmable, power-saving thermostat you can install. The $250 Nest Learning Thermostat can cut your heating and cooling bill by up to 20 percent, the company claims. The Nest thermostat studies your heating/cooling habits and adjusts itself accordingly. For instance, if you raise the temperature in your home on a single occasion, Nest will ignore the change. But if you raise it two Mondays mornings in a row at 7 a.m., Nest will learn from your behavior and start making the change automatically. Created by a former Apple executive, Nest is sleek and stylish. And you can control Nest with your smartphone, PC, or tablet via a Wi-Fi connection.

More economical alternatives include the Honeywell Wi-Fi 7 Day Programmable Thermostat, which includes a free app for Apple and Android mobile devices. It’s more affordable at $100 to $120 online.

Of course, you don’t need new energy-saving light bulbs or power-cutting gizmos to reduce your utility bill (although they help). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers some simple suggestions, such as remembering to unplug mobile phones, tablets, and MP3 players once they’re charged. And remember to remove power adapters from wall outlets too. If you don’t, these insidious power drains will continue to cost you money.

Insidious Power Drains The Saturday Evening Post

Recipe and photo from So Easy: Luscious, Healthy Recipes for Every Meal of the Week, by Ellie Krieger. www.elliekrieger.com © 2009 by Ellie Krieger. Used with permission. All rights reserved.

Ellie’s 5-Minute Salad: Tricolor Salad 
with White Beans and Parmesan The Saturday Evening Post

Pasta Salad with Salmon, Peas, and Herbs The Saturday Evening Post

Stunning! Roseate spoonbill alights in the Florida wetland.
Photo courtesy Floridastock/Shutterstock.

America loves its birds. We spend a fortune on them—$4 billion a year just to feed wild ones and another $1 billion annually on feeders, birdbaths, and birdhouses. All told, 46.7 million Americans consider themselves birders, according to the most recent U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service survey. As astoundingly large as this number is, the activity continues to surge, growing faster than mountain biking or skiing. Bird watchers, ahem, birders (the preferred modern term) have their pick of well over 200 festivals devoted to birds each year.

[Want to test your bird knowledge? See how many bird calls you recognize in this audio quiz.]

What exactly is it about our winged friends that makes them so appealing? Well, they’re pretty, for one. “Everybody loves birds,” ornithologist John Fitzpatrick tells me. He’s director of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, popularly known as the Bird Lab, which is ground zero for most things avian in North America. “You don’t need to know a thing about them to enjoy them. They enjoyed birds in the days of the ancient Egyptians and in caveman days.”

Fitzpatrick goes deeper than your average backyard enthusiast. He’s helped discover seven species of birds in South America and is a central player in the ongoing controversy over whether the ivory-billed woodpecker, long believed extinct, has been rediscovered in Arkansas. But he gets the purely visceral appeal of birding: “Birds are colorful. They sing and fly and migrate so they join us in different parts of the world. They move enough annually so they mean seasonally different things for us.”

Another part of birding’s pull is social. “People want to share what they’ve seen with other people,” Fitzpatrick says. “That makes it a communal action. At Cornell now, we’re getting dozens of freshmen every year coming here because of the Bird Lab. Many of these are teenagers who are just superb birders.”

Take Luke Seitz, for example, a 19-year-old Cornell freshman who was an accomplished bird photographer and painter (lukeseitzart.com) before he went to college. When he was 16, Seitz graduated early from high school and landed a job on a whale-watching boat. He socked away money all summer to finance the first of several trips to photograph birds—in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina. He then volunteered as a guide at eco-lodges that cater to birders. Sometimes, he would offer one of his paintings in exchange for a few nights lodging. “Birding makes me feel like I have a connection to nature,” he says.

Just as important to birding’s appeal is the sheer joy of being out in the wild with a purpose—namely to track, record, and study wildlife. “Experiences are becoming more valuable than things,” says Courtney Buechert, a birder who has led the Christmas Bird Count in southern Marin County, California, since the 1970s. (His day job is CEO of Eleven Inc., one of the top ad agencies in San Francisco.) “People realized you can buy stuff, but other people can buy stuff too. Experiences are something that are uniquely yours.”

It doesn’t hurt that birding is a lot easier to get into than many other pursuits—you don’t need to be in great physical shape, invest in a lot of equipment, travel far, or wait for the right kind of weather. “I can do this anytime, anywhere I am,” says Buechert. “I was once sitting in a conference room having a meeting with a client and a red-tailed hawk came and landed on the railing. You’re talking about a bird that is a foot high with a can opener attached to the front of its face.”

Birding, like the environmental movement, is largely a product of the 20th century and has run parallel to the country’s rapid urbanization. In 1900, less than 40 percent of Americans lived in an urban setting, and birding—often done with a shotgun rather than binoculars—was still largely the domain of naturalists, artists, and egg collectors. More than a century later, nearly 80 percent of Americans are urban dwellers, and birding provides us a perch in the world of plants and animals.

Northern hawk owl: Day hunter can spot prey half a mile away.
Photo courtesy Luke Seitz/lukeseitzart.com.

To better understand the possibilities of urban birding, I drop in on Dominik Mosur, a 35-year-old Polish emigré who works as an animal care attendant at San Francisco’s Randall Museum and as a volunteer for the Golden Gate Audubon Society. In 2011, Mosur set a single-year record (what birders call a “big year”) by spotting 273 species in the county of San Francisco, everything from an American avocet to a common yellowthroat. He invites me to join a monthly bird walk that starts at the museum and meanders through the surrounding parkland.

We meet at the entrance at 8 a.m., a dozen early-risers led by Mosur and his Audubon colleague Brian Fitch. It is a crystal-clear autumn morning, but it also happens to be one in which Bay Area birds would share the sky with space shuttle Endeavour. (It is scheduled to fly, piggyback on a 747, over the Golden Gate Bridge and around the city on its final journey before heading to the California Science Center in Los Angeles.)

We spend the first 15 minutes sweeping the nearby trees and telephone lines, spotting an American goldfinch, a pair of pine siskins, and a young red-shouldered hawk, among others. But the action doesn’t really take wing until we arrive at a large patch of poison oak that occupies a spot near the top of Corona Hill. A Lincoln’s sparrow perches on a branch, and then someone spots a savannah sparrow. Mosur, excited, stage whispers, “It’s picking up.” A warbling vireo lands in a bush near a golden-crowned sparrow. “That’s a pretty good sparrow flock right there, even if it’s only three birds,” Mosur says, noting that each of the sparrows is the first of fall for Corona Hill. “Good variety!”

At that point, more and more people armed with binoculars and long-lens cameras start trudging up the hill. These late arrivals are what birders might call accidentals or strays. They are here to see the Endeavour.

The birders, unflappable, stay focused on their LBJs—little brown jobs. While most of the day’s visitors to Corona Hill will view but one flying object, our little group of birders tally 46 avian species and the Endeavour.

The walk unequivocally demonstrates one other facet of birding, which I call connoisseurship—not in the sense of ever-more rarefied taste, but in the sense of a densely layered appreciation for nuance and subtlety. Wine enthusiasts like to ponder the importance of terroir and to argue over whether the 2005 Bordeaux will be the match of the 1982s. Long-time baseball fans can expound on the details of the infield fly rule and debate which left-handed pitcher has the best move to first base. Avid birders, as I had seen, have the expertise and enthusiasm to differentiate between the Lincoln’s sparrow and the savannah sparrow and to get excited about it. They can deftly juggle the differences between the immature and adult plumage of hundreds of species or passionately discourse on the benefits of roof prism binoculars over Porro prism pairs; they can look at a bay full of rafting ducks, as Buechert did when 12 years old, and notice the one tufted duck among the thousands of locals, even though they have never seen one outside of a book before. Connoisseurship, I think, is a field mark of passion.

Bird Nerds Unite! The Saturday Evening Post

The robust marinade flavors are used in the dressing to give the salad a one-two punch. The result is so powerfully mouth-watering,
 it is sure to knock you out.

Grilled Thai Beef Salad The Saturday Evening Post

Tip: Customize this dish by adding either mild or hot peppers to obtain the amount of heat you desire.

South of the Border Beans and Rice

(Makes 8 servings)

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 16 ounces reduced-sodium vegetable broth
• 1 cup uncooked brown rice*
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• ⅛ teaspoon turmeric
• 1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained and rinsed (or use no salt added)
• 12 ounces corn kernels, no-salt-added canned or frozen
• 1 can (4 ounces) mild green chiles, diced
• 1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes, drained
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

*Unlike white rice, brown rice retains its outer layer of bran and its germ. This results in more fiber and nutritional value. Brown rice also has a mild nutty flavor, as opposed to the bland flavor of white rice.

Directions

1. In medium pot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add peppers, onion, and garlic and sauté for about 4 minutes.
2. Stir in broth, rice, cumin, and turmeric. Bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 45–50 minute or until rice is tender (do not stir during this time). Then gently stir in beans, corn, chiles, and tomatoes. Heat through and let stand 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.

Nutrition Facts

Per serving

---

Calories: 220
Total fat: 3 g
Saturated fat: 0 g
Carbohydrate: 42 g
Fiber: 6 g
Protein: 7 g
Sodium: 70 mg

South of the Border Beans and Rice The Saturday Evening Post

Check Your Meds

*Always consult your pharmacist and physician for personal recommendations. Dozens of other seemingly harmless medicine cabinet drugs have dangerous side effects that are amplified when mixed with other medicines. You can compare any meds you are thinking of taking together at nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginformation.html.

What’s in Your Medicine Cabinet? The Saturday Evening Post

Serve it with grill-roasted seasonal vegetables and freshly squeezed lemonade.

Grilled Chimichurri Pork Roast The Saturday Evening Post