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The Foodie's Fortune

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The Foodie's Fortune

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Roasted Winter Vegetable Salad

Roasted Winter Vegetable Salad

Ingredients

• 1 small red onion, cut into 1/2-inch wedges
• 1 small sweet potato (about 8 ounces), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1 parsnip, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1 small celery root (about 12 ounces), peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 1 small beet, peeled and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 ounce Spanish goat cheese, crumbled (1/4 cup)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425°. In a medium roasting pan, toss the onion, sweet potato, carrot, parsnip, celery root and beet with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper and roast for about 45 minutes, stirring once or twice, until tender and lightly browned in spots.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the vinegar with the lemon juice, mustard and the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil and fold in the parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Add the vegetables to the dressing and toss. Top the salad with the feta and serve warm or at room temperature.

** The roasted winter vegetables and dressing can be refrigerated separately overnight. Re-warm the roasted vegetables before serving.

Serving Sizes and Psychology

"Researchers infiltrated a fast-food Chinese restaurant and found up to a third of diners jumped at the offer of a half-size of the usual heaping pile of rice or noodles - even when the smaller amount cost the same."

Or, to trick yourself into eating and drinking less, try switching to a smaller plate and a taller skinnier glass!

Read more at Fox News.

Are we running out of chocolate?

It may not be new news, but that doesn't mean it's welcome news. Demand for chocolate is strong, climate change continues to bring problems, and two diseases are murderously sweeping through Latin America's cocoa tress.

Read more on HuffPost Food.

Pizza Hut's $10 Dinner Box

Pizza Hut shifts the deal from the best price for a single pizza to the best price for a variety.

Says chief marketing officer Kurt Kane: "“This uniquely positions us versus our competitors,” he said. “Historically, where people have defined value has been around trying to provide the lowest price on a single pizza and fighting it out on the price point. What we are trying to do is change the nature of that discussion and really turn it into a value conversation around what you get for what you pay.”

Read more at Nation's Restaurant News

Walmart Promoting Health With New Labels

Walmart will be adding bright green "Great for You" labels to about one-fifth of their products that meet standards set with the guidance of "a variety of government agencies, nonprofit organizations and health and nutrition experts."

Read more at the New York Times.

What's with this Pink Slime?

McDonald's will have nothing more to do with "pink slime" as Jamie Oliver calls meat trimmings with ammonium hydroxide added. Read more here.

However, Huffington Post's Rob Lyons thinks the real slime is Jamie Oliver, for scaring the general public since "treatment with ammonium hydroxide is a sensible precaution and was declared safe decades ago." Read his case here.

Sustainable Weight Loss?

From Nation's Restaurant News's interview with Subway's Tony Pace:

"We’re trying to avoid what I’d call health extremism: The whole notion that you have to be very prescribed down to the lowest level of calories isn’t really helpful to most of the population. So we’re showing things like the turkey BLT, which has 9 grams of fat. It’s flavorful, and you’re not in deprivation mode [when you order it], and that’s a much more livable way of eating.

It’s not some sort of extreme exclusion of all the foods you like to the extent that you think you’re depriving yourself of all the food you like. You just can’t sustain that.

Read more on nrn.com.

Starbucks Up, Starbucks Down.

The Huffington Post reports on the closure of the East Coast's first starbucks while in India, Starbucks makes a grand entrance with Tata Global Beverages.

Feisty Food Flavor Forecasts

"Out of the box is certainly one way of characterizing the combinations in the forecasts. Almond and ale, cayenne and tart cherry, green peppercorn and goat’s milk, and gram masala and pepitas are just some of the unusual melange of flavors that have been presented in the last few years. And 2012 is no different. Sweet soy, tamarind and black pepper, and blueberry with cardamom and masa rank among the most off-beat offerings."

There is so much creativity in flavor combinations! Read about the serious work McCormick does to predict What We'll Order, Eat and Cook.