Issue Date: March 5, 2006
Stir-fry without spatter
Short of using oven mitts, is there a way to avoid spattering oil when adding food to a stir-fry?
Lindsay Abazi, Stevenson Ranch, Calif.
Yes, there is: You can keep oil from spattering on your hands simply by using one hand to tilt the skillet away from you, causing the oil to shift to the back of the pan. With your other hand, add the selected ingredients to the front part of the skillet to begin cooking.
More stir-fry tips:
Choose a 12-inch skillet. Its large surface is ideal for stir-frying on a standard gas or electric burner. (Of course, you can use a wok with its burner ring instead.)
Start by turning on the exhaust fan, then heating the empty skillet over high heat. When the pan is hot, add 1 to 2 Tbs. of cooking oil (canola, peanut oil, etc.).
Make sure to stagger ingredient additions, otherwise you will end up steaming rather than stir-frying.
After adding ingredients with the pan tilted, set the skillet back in position over the burner. Depending on each food's moisture level, there will be some spattering, but at least your hands will be out of harm's way.
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Tired and wired: A sleep cure
Whether it's working parents getting a late start on bedtime routines, budding athletes revved up from evening sports practice, or teens blogging late at night, booby traps on the road to a good night's sleep are everywhere. Mary Sheedy Kurcinka, author of the new "Sleepless in America: Is Your Child Misbehaving or Missing Sleep?," offers some suggestions:
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How Much Sleep Do They Need?
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Age
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Hours per day
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Babies
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14-18
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Toddlers
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13
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Preschoolers
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12
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School-age
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10
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Adolescents
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9.25
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Kill the caffeine. That includes eating chocolate at night and drinking colas or lattes during the day.
Avoid evening roughhousing or exercise. Daytime exercise induces sleep later; active play within two to three hours of bedtime does not.
Respect naps at all ages. They are a great way for kids to meet their total daily sleep requirement (see chart at right) without upsetting evening routines. Even high schoolers benefit.
Wake up teens. Avoid perpetual jet lag from late nights and morning sleep-ins. Don't let teens sleep past 10 a.m., and encourage afternoon siestas.
Turn out the lights. Even the glow from the TV or computer screen may be enough to keep your child's motor running, so turn it off at least 30 minutes before lights out.
Develop a bedtime routine for younger kids. Reading quietly, followed by praying or storytelling in dim lighting helps to relax kids and signals that it's time to sleep.
Ann Pleshette Murphy is the parenting expert for Good Morning America and the author of "The 7 Stages of Motherhood"
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What's hot now in home improvement
While attending the recent International Builders' Show, I saw what is and what will be hot in the building industry over the next year. Here's a sneak preview:
Flat shower heads from Kohler (kohler.com) that you install like wall or ceiling tiles.
Wireless lighting controls from CentraLite (centralite.com) that let you control your entire home's lighting from anywhere -- even a fob on your key chain.
Revitalization of linoleum flooring called Marmoleum from Forbo (www.forbo.com). True, linoleum has been around for years, but installing it was an involved process. Marmoleum's new click-together material allows for quick installation.
What made me stop and say "huh" was a synthetic lawn. Imagine a lawn that is always green. You never water it. And the best part? You never cut it. SYNLawn (synlawn.com) makes this new material, which sells for about $4 per square foot. It comes in eight different varieties. And if you do buy synthetic grass, try to let your lawn mower down easy.
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Block that weight gain
One way to stop weight gain as you get older is to take supplements, suggests new research at Washington's Bastyr University and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Overweight or obese middle-aged men and women who took multivitamins, B6, B12 and/or chromium for a decade gained less weight than those who didn't use supplements.
For example, obese men who took at least 150mcg of chromium daily gained 75% less weight in 10 years than non-takers -- 3 pounds instead of 12 pounds. In women, the gap was even bigger: 3 pounds vs. 14 pounds. A possible reason: Chromium suppresses appetite, especially carb cravings in some individuals.
Scientific Sources
Chromium lessens weight gain
Nachtigal MC, J Altern Complement Med 2005 Oct; 11(5):909-15
Chromium suppresses appetite
Docherty JP. Psychiatr Pract 2005 Sep 11 (5): 302-14
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