Consuming more than one serving a common diet buster

In your cache of kitchen gadgets do you have a scale for weighing food? Are your measuring cups and spoons ever-handy for dishing out those suggested serving sizes on the nutrition label? For example, the one that says two tablespoons of salad dressing equals 1 serving?

We know that the amount of food we eat has a direct effect on our health and weight. Obesity has become a critical health issue for Americans. It's hard not to over-eat these days, though, as huge portions are busting the last notch on our collective belts and we confuse volume with value.

The one thing nutritionists, foodies, and diet gurus seem to agree on is that no matter what we eat, no matter which regimen we're following, it's how much that can make the difference between losing those 10 pounds or gaining them. Even here, however, things can be confusing.

''There is a difference between a serving size and a portion,'' said Randi Beranbaum, dietician at Tufts University. ''A portion is the amount you put on your plate. A serving is a measured amount for reporting nutrients.''

This matters, she and other professionals say, because typically, we put more on our plate than we need.

Serving sizes are not created equal. Federal agencies, professional associations, and food establishments have somewhat differing guidelines. The Nutrition Facts Label on your breakfast cereal, for example, was developed by the US Food and Drug Administration to help consumers balance important nutrients in a daily, 2,000-calorie diet. The FDA label is based on ''reference amounts,'' the volume of food consumed at one sitting as determined by FDA food surveys. Weights and volumes are expressed in standard household measures like tablespoons, cups, and slices, and the labels are designed to let consumers compare information about similar food products.

Within these guidelines, manufacturers still have considerable latitude in deciding what a serving is. The regulations say that ''if a unit weighs more than 50 percent, but less than 200 percent, of the reference amount, the serving size can be one unit.'' (Read all the regulations at www.fda.gov. Go to Reference Room, click on Code of Federal Regulations, then type ''nutrition labeling'' in Full Text Search.)

For example, look at the label on a can of Coca Cola. The reference amount for carbonated beverages is 8 ounces, according to the regulations, but the can says 12 ounces is one serving. Now, look at the 20-ounce Coca Cola bottle and the label will say it contains 2.5 servings: One serving is now only 8 ounces.

The United States Department of Agriculture goes about this differently. Its Dietary Guidelines for Americans, last revised in 2000, are depicted graphically in the Food Guide Pyramid. The guidelines put ''nutrient standards into food groups based on advice for a healthful diet.'' The controversial food pyramid is slated for updating in 2005. John Webster, of the USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, said, ''The Food Guide Pyramid was designed as a teaching tool, because people usually do not weigh their food and think of foods as items.'' In re-assessing the Food Guide Pyramid, Webster said ''it has become evident that consumers don't know what a serving consists of.''

Meanwhile, restaurants and bakeries get to determine their own serving sizes. We have all been to steak houses where individual, 12- to 16-ounce steaks are on the menu, or to restaurants where plates of piled-high pasta are offered as one serving. Doggie bags are part of the plan, but many people manage to down the entire platter. Depending on who is counting, the customer could have consumed three to six servings of meat or as much as 10 servings of pasta in one sitting in these establishments.

Then there are unpackaged items like bagels and donuts that vary wildly in serving size. A 4-ounce Bruegger's bagel, often purchased as a single serving, would be two servings according to the FDA, and four servings according to the USDA. Do we really have to do the math for a 670-calorie, 61/2-ounce coffee cake muffin that is considered one serving at Dunkin' Donuts?

People should learn to ''visualize a real serving,'' said Denise Barra, a licensed nutritionist. She referred to the visual from the American Dietetic Association to imagine ''a bar of soap for a serving of meat, a computer mouse for a medium-sized potato, a hockey puck for a bagel, and a tennis ball as a serving of ice cream.'' She recommended learning about serving sizes at home because ''we are adapting to super-size portions. ... We need to re-learn what it feels like to eat moderate-sized portions.''

''You and I have different caloric and nutritional needs,'' she said, ''but a standard serving is a starting point.''

Lexington brothers Andy Olson, 22, who is 6 feet, 3 inches tall and 175 pounds, and Alex Olson, 23, who is 6 feet, 1 inch and 230 pounds, were refilling their breakfast cereal bowls recently. They ate three and four times the serving size stated on the box - three-quarters of a cup, an admittedly small amount for these big guys. Being active, they probably would burn off the 450 calories they consumed.

Breakfast cereals, however, have a wide range of serving sizes, and a fortified cereal like Total can give you too much of a good thing if you don't pay attention to serving sizes. The idea that if 100 percent is good, then 400 percent is better doesn't work with some nutrients. Barra cited iron as an example: Men can end up eating several times more iron than their body needs when eating fortified cereals.

''Women have a higher need for iron and get rid of the excess on a monthly basis,'' she said. ''Men don't. If extra iron gets stored, it could eventually lead to health problems.''

While one serving size does not fit all, there is general acceptance of the FDA guidelines. Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy for the independent watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest in Washington, D.C., said, ''Serving sizes on the nutrition label are generally reasonable, and consumers have become familiar with them. However, serving sizes do need some tweaking.'' She used the example of ice cream, where the present serving size is an unrealistic one-half cup.

She cautioned that ''consumers should look at the serving size first. Most smaller bags of snacks, like chips or pretzels, are not single servings, and it is unreasonable to think people are sharing these items.''

Recently, Sean Martorano had his hand planted in a bag of microwave popcorn, while Greg Gibbons, his fellow service consultant at Boston Volkswagen in Allston, had hit bottom in a Cracker Jack bag. Both were aware that each bag contained more than three servings and conceded that, if forced, they would share. Still, pulling the Cracker Jack prize from the bottom of his bag, Gibbons said, ''If they intended 31/2 people to be eating this, wouldn't there be 31/2 prizes?''

These websites may be of further interest:

http://www.cnpp.usda.gov/ (US Department of Agriculture's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion)
http://www.fda.gov/ (US Food and Drug Administration)
http://www.eatright.org/ (American Dietetic Association)
http://www.dunkindonuts.com/ (nutrition information on all their products)
http://www.cspinet.org/ (Center for Science in the Public Interest)

In the Lime-light

MIAMI -- Ask any five people about Key lime pie and they will agree on one thing only -- it should never ever be green.

''Honey,'' said the slight waitress with weather-beaten skin at a little dive called the Crack'd Conch (where the choices for dessert were a slice of Doris's Key lime pie or the whole pie), ''if it's green, man made it green. One more thing,'' she added as she set the pie before us, ''you're never gonna find two Key lime pies that are the same.''

No kidding.

Whipped cream topping or meringue? Slathered over the top or a dollop? To bake or not to bake? Frozen or just chilled? If limes from the Florida Keys aren't available, will Persian lime juice, key lime juice concentrate, or key limes from Mexico do? The answers include ''absolutely!'' and ''absolutely not!'' What's a Northerner to do? The solution seems obvious: Taste all the pies you can.

The essential ingredient, of course, is Key lime, a tiny ping-pong ball that yields only a few teaspoons of juice. Sold in mesh sacks, Key limes are in season in Florida from April through November (but available year round from Mexico and Central America). When they're ripe, they're yellow, rather than green, and their tart juice can almost be sweet, making them perfect for baking pies.

Residents of the Keys insist there is something special in the coral rock and soil that gives their limes an especially astringent flavor and distinct aroma. In a blind taste test there was a difference.

Most Key lime pies have a pale yellow, almost white, custard filling made with lime juice (often a mixture of both Key limes and the more common Persian limes), egg yolks and condensed milk in a graham cracker crust. Some contain grated lime rind, others are made with milk, cream cheese, vanilla ice cream, or meringue. One lady, overhearing a request for a good pie recipe, offered her low-fat version made with yogurt, lime Jell-O, and (horrors!) green food coloring. Some folks add rum or chocolate chips or use a regular sweet pie crust.

Purists will argue endlessly over the ''classic'' pie. It's not unlike the thick versus thin clam chowder debate hereabouts. At The Key Lime Tree garden and gift shop in Key Largo, clerk Judy McGraw was mulling over a question about pies when all heads turned. McGraw whispered, ''you can start a war down here by asking about Key lime pie.''

Claims of ''best'' were dropping like ripe fruit from trees. Gift shop owner John McCarthy believes the petite citrus fruit contains detoxifying elements. He says ''old conchs'' (that's Southern for ''old salts'') will come into his shop, pop the top off a bottle of key lime juice, and gulp it down to cleanse their kidneys. Besides his pies, he also uses Key lime juice to make concentrate, shampoo, body lotions, and jellies.

Most Florida restaurants and bakeries have Key lime pie on the menu. The differences are often very subtle but when faced with a cloyingly sweet pie and fake whipped cream, you notice it. Miami Herald food editor Kathleen Martin says a good Key lime pie should balance sweet and tart ''just on the tart side of the meter.'' She thinks few palates could distinguish between a pie made with common Persian limes instead of Key limes, but her own pie is made with fresh Key lime juice, rather than bottled, when the fresh fruits are available.

One of the best pies -- one that has a creamy, light filling, just the right bite of fresh lime, and a dollop of real whipped cream in a thick graham cracker crust -- is made at Joe's Stone Crab Restaurant, Miami's big popular fish house, where an entire kitchen produces about 30,000 handmade pies a year. There, the bakers use both fresh Key and Persian limes.

If you have a hankering for a slice and don't want to leave your fireside, Joe's will ship one to you for $69 (a plane ride may be cheaper). While you're at it, get a mess of crab claws, too. The Blond Giraffe in Key West (a favorite of many Miamians) will also ship a pie for about the same price. Blond Giraffe pies have a high meringue topping and will stay frozen for several months.

Or, you can just start squeezing. Making Key lime pie is easy. It takes one-half to one cup of lime juice -- about 8 to 14 Key limes -- for a pie. If you find them, or some kind relative brings you some, get a few bags. You can freeze them whole and once thawed, the juice flows easily. Or, squeeze the whole lot and freeze the juice for 2 to 3 months. Putting together your own graham cracker crust is a snap and tastes better than the prepared variety. Key lime juice concentrate makes a fine pie (try ''Real Key Lime Juice'' from www.famousflorida.com).

Let the fresh lime smell make you dream of warmer days ahead, when the trees (never the pies) turn green.

Key limes are sometimes available at Wilson Farms, 10 Pleasant St., Lexington (781-862-3900). You can order them by the case. Most Bread & Circus stores carry Key limes. Products from Key Largo's The Key Lime Tree gift shop are available at http://www.keylimeproducts.com/. Search for Blond Giraffe pies at http://www.blogger.com/www.blondgiraffe.com, for Joe's Stone Crab pies at http://www.joesstonecrab.com/.

In Berlin, flavors of Turkey and Lebanon spice up the fast food

BERLIN -- Isn't it fitting that the country that gave us hamburgers and frankfurters
now consumes fast food from Turkey and Lebanon? Doener from Turkey and
shawarma from Lebanon -- tasty sandwiches using spiced meat carved from a rotating spit -- feed Berliners of all ethnicities.

Comfort foods accompany emigres the world over, and Germany is no exception.
What once was exotic fare is now to Germans what pizza and bagels are to
Americans -- just another fast food with personality.

Standing alone or tucked into little shops with windows opening to the street, imbiss, or snack stands, are ubiquitous in Berlin. Patrons can save their euros for the more expensive evening meals and get freshly made hot sandwiches, which are meals in themselves, for as little as 2.50 euros (about $2.70). Most imbiss have no seating; patrons stand at tall bistro tables. Seating means the establishment is required to provide restroom facilities. But how long can you linger when there's no place to sit?

At Winterfeldt Platz in the Schoeneberg district, Habibi's is known for its shawarma and falafel. Its engaging Lebanese owner, who has been in Germany for 12 years, makes no adjustments for the German palate. Layers of boned and skinned chicken are marinated in spices and pressed together. After steaming, the huge funnel-shaped concoction is slowly roasted, gyrating on a spit under intense heat. An onion sits atop it to add flavor. Young men carve thin slices of chicken from the spit onto flat bread.

French fries and pickles nestle against the chicken. After a dressing of tangy yogurt, the bread is wrapped around the ingredients. Habibi's is clean and lively. Fresh fruit juices, yogurt drinks, and desserts are also available. You will be full for no more than about $4.30. If you can, go on a Wednesday or Saturday before 3 p.m., when the market on the plaza in front is in full swing.

The friendly shopkeeper at the Istanbul Grill near the Buelowstrasse station has adjusted to German palates by adding more vegetables and sauces to his doeners, which in Turkey are mostly meat. Served on flat bread that closes around steaming ingredients, the doeners at the Istanbul Grill have a garlic sauce and use different herbs.

Step up to the window and ask for a doener or choose another of his Turkish specialties, like the lahmacun, a pizzalike snack sprinkled with spiced ground meat, lemon, and paprika. Nothing costs more than a few euros. Eat while you walk, or stand inside the shop.

How about a little curry with your wurst? Currywurst, Berlin's specialty, is a sausage served ''ohne darm'' (without the casing) or ''mit darm'' (in the casing).

It is sliced and served on a paper plate with a sweet, spicy variety of ketchup and generous sprinklings of curry and paprika. No currywurst meal would be complete without salty fried potatoes.

Berliners love their currywurst and line up for it outdoors at imbiss stalls all over the city. With their elbows propped on chest-high tables, diners stand and pierce their steaming wurst with a long, two-pronged fork.

Curry 36 is a family-owned business on Mehringdamm, a broad boulevard in the Kreuzberg district. Home to the largest Turkish community in Berlin, Kreuzberg is slightly off the tourist trail but is a lively neighborhood where funky antique and secondhand clothing shops line the streets. Weave your way around laundromats. Step into a baeckerei and take in the savories and sweets of a
neighborhood bakery. Delicatessens, mom-and-pop produce shops, and bars and cafes filled with students line the street. Curry 36 has won numerous ''best currywurst in town'' awards, and its famous sauce is homemade. The smell of frying potatoes and onions is an aromatic magnet. Serpentine lines at all hours attest to the popularity of this place. No problem for a hungry night owl: Curry 36 is open until 4 a.m. Take the U7 subway (called the U-Bahn) to Mehringdamm. Have your fill of currywurst, explore the neighborhood, visit Viktoria Park on Kreuzbergstrasse, where you can see a waterfall and climb to the top of the hill to view all of Berlin spread out below Karl Schinkel's imposing monument.

You can get some of the best fries and currywurst in town at the outdoor Fritz & Co. on the fashionable Kurfuerstendamm, known as the Ku'damm (roughly comparable to Boston's Boylston and Newbury streets). Here the potatoes are from organic farms, thick-cut, and still in their skins.
A sign says the wurst comes from happy pigs: free range and well fed.

Shoppers in fancy leather jackets share standing-room-only spots with workers taking a break. Many of the imbiss and outdoor cafes on the Ku'damm have conical heaters perched on tall stands.

Wurst is found on most menus across the city. Unlike American hot dogs that are completely encased in soft rolls, these sausages are eaten on crusty rolls called broetchen that barely surround the meat. You chomp your way through a few crisp inches before finding the bread. A smear of spicy mustard and a local beer complete the experience. After strolling around the city, rest your feet by taking a seat at a local cafe. The kartoffelsuppe, a hearty potato soup (again with wurst),
a slice of dark German whole-grain bread, and a beer are satisfying and won't leave you stuffed or with empty pockets. In your wanderings, don't fail to stop into a bar for a Berliner Weisse, the sweet concoction of draft beer spiked with a shot of raspberry or green syrup (traditionally served during the summer, but order it anyway). Don't let the garish colors put you off.

The food hall in the elegant Kaufhaus des Westens department store (nicknamed KaDeWe) on the Ku'damm is not to be missed. Spectacular displays tantalize with chocolates, smoked fish, cured meats, and a staggering range of mustards, interspersed with food bars that offer champagne and caviar or apple streudel. Teddy-bear jars of mustards, honey, and chocolate spreads evoke Berlin's mascot. Packages of dark pumpernickel rounds and tubes of sharp mustard all make wonderful, inexpensive gifts.

A visit to the new Berlin Jewish Museum, designed by Daniel Libeskind, is both an architectural and intellectual experience. The museum looks at Jewish life in Germany over many centuries, and though it does not dwell on the Holocaust, its memory is ever present. (Libeskind is the son of survivors.) The subway stop is Hallesches Tor.

Reminders of World War II are part of the city's landscape. The decapitated Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, with its ruined steeple, stands unreconstructed in the city's center; modern planners have made no attempt to smooth over the bullet holes in the magnificent Victory Column off the Tiergarten park. Be vigilant. Look up and down as you tour Berlin. You could easily miss a small, rusting plaque embedded in the sidewalk reminding you of citizens who were torn from their homes. The new Reichstag building, with its glass dome, is meant
to show that Germany is now a transparent democracy. It is worth a visit.

It is hard to believe Berlin was split by an unbreachable wall only 14 years ago. Today one moves effortlessly, unaware of crossing from east to west. From an outdoor cafe on the Unter den Linden in the former communist East, look through the Brandenburg Gate and watch a dramatic sunset of pinks and oranges settle on this new Berlin, a hub of culture and politics . . . and fast food.

Debra Samuels of Lexington writes about food for the Life at Home
and Food sections of the Globe.

Clay pots irresistable in design, function

What do a Romertopf Schlemmertopf, tagine, and donabe
(donabay) have in common?

They are all earthenware pots with covers, from different parts of
the world. The high-domed Romertopf and Schlemmertopf are from
Germany, the pyramid-shaped tajine (tagine) is from Morocco, and
the round donabe is from Japan.

Using clay pots is an ancient method for cooking. You can now find
the modern cousins of handmade pots in beautiful matte glazes of
brown and black from South and Central America on shelves in
gourmet kitchen shops and cookware Web sites. Are we only now
discovering what has been known for so long? Using clay is an easy
and healthful way of preparing food.

Clay is porous and a good conductor of heat. These pots also hold
the heat. They come in a variety of combinations of unglazed and
glazed, and the cooking methods vary accordingly.

Both the tagine and the donabe have glazed covers but the tagine's
bottom is completely glazed and the donabe's interior bottom is
glazed but the exterior isn't. Both pots can be put directly on a heat
source.

Once the food is arranged in the pots, there is little left to do. The
style of eating from these pots is communal. Diners sit around the
pot and take food from the casserole onto their own plates.

Abderrahim Ibouzir is the owner of the Morroccan Bazaar, 2302
Massachusetts Ave. in Cambridge. He remembers sitting on the
floor around a beautifully decorated tagine, Morrocco's traditional
clay pot cookware. With its distinctive conical lid and flat bottom, the
tagine would be set atop a brazier filled with hot coals in his family's
courtyard. Inside the pot, food was layered, pyramid-like, in
geometric patterns. Quartered potatoes, strips of peppers, and
olives were placed over a fish marinated with lemon, saffron, cumin,
parsley and garlic.

Abderrahim sells the decorative tagines, but not for cooking. For
that, he has terracotta - glazed tagines in several sizes that are lead-free.

Ibouzir loves cooking in tagines. ''You can cook anything - lamb,
fish, vegetables - in 30 to 40 minutes; an entire meal is made in one
pot. The steam surrounds the food and cooks slowly without
stirring. You can walk away and come back just when it is finished,''
he says.

The tagine can be used on top of a stove and brought right to the
table. In Morocco, the tagine is placed in the center of a large flat
basket with Moroccan bread served alongside. Sometimes the
smell of food will linger in the pot, even after cleaning, but soaking it
in water and baking soda helps eliminate the odor.

It is important to remember when using clay that you must heat the
pots gradually. They seem sturdy but are fragile and can develop
cracks if not handled properly. These pots need tempering before
being used. However unlike the domed German clay cookware, it is
only done once.

For the Romertopf (Roman Pot) and Schlemmertopf, you must
pre-soak the tops before each use before placing onto the bottom.
You must also soak the Romertopf's bottom as it is also unglazed.
The Schlemmertopf's bottom has a glazed interior and is therefore
not soaked and cleanup is easier.

The folks at the Romertopf company maintain that since both parts
of their pot are soaked, more water is absorbed into their secret
mixture of red clay creating more moisture and better-tasting
results. Both are designed for use in an oven, not a stove top,
though some can go in a microwave.

After soaking and draining, the food goes directly into the pot and
into a cold oven. The oven is then turned on and reaches the
relatively high heat of 425 degrees gradually. Food needs little extra
liquid as the moist environment created in the pot locks in the natural
juices and prevents loss of nutrients. Cooking times are also shorter.

Many are under the misconception that these pots are just for
cooking whole chickens or turkeys. Not true. They are wonderful for
stews, briskets, roasting vegetables, baking bread and desserts
and come in a variety of shapes and sizes.

Yes, food browns even with the lid on. For more crisping, the lid is
removed for the last 10 minutes.

Truth to tell, I have all of these pots. I find them irresistible.

Note: Make sure the pots you are using for cooking are lead-free.

The Japanese donabe is available at Yoshinoya and Kotobukiya,
both in Cambridge.

Lamb and vegetable ragout

1 1/2-2 pounds lamb chunks
1 medium butternut squash - cut into 3-inch chunks
3 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 tomatoes quartered
1 large onion, sliced
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup red wine (Merlot)
1/2 cup water or broth

1. Soak your clay pot according to manufacturer's instructions.
2. Drizzle 1 tablespoon oil over the lamb.
3. Mix spices and rub into lamb.
4. Place lamb, garlic cloves, and tomatoes in bottom of pot and
pour on red wine.
5. Cover with sliced onions and add the broth or water.
6. Cover with lid and place in a cold oven. Set the temperature to
425 degrees and cook for 45 minutes.
7. Add the potatoes and squash and drizzle with remaining olive oil.
Cook for an additional 45 minutes or until the meat is tender and the
vegetables are cooked through.
8. Remove lid and let brown for 5-10 minutes.

Adapted from Smart Clay Pot
Cookery by Carol H Munson

These breads go with the grain

BERLIN - Early each morning, the smell of fresh bread beckons Berliners to the tiniest of backerei (bakeries), where locals line up for a slice, a bun, or a roll to munch on the way to school or work. Loaves are tucked into bags and eaten later with hard cheese, strong mustard, and ham. Bread plays an important role in the diet here.

Dense, moist, slightly sour, and often seeded, a dark German bread is one of the country's most distinctive loaves. There are many varieties of vollkornbrot (whole-grain bread). Among those I cannot resist are the heart-shaped rolls made with multiple grains and seeds and a triangular-shaped loaf; I packed them to carry home.

Once they were eaten, I was inspired to re-create them. Like any recipe, things begin to make sense once the ingredients are deconstructed. First I came up with a seed list. I knew that I should begin with rye and whole-wheat flours.

Ludmilla and Igor Ivanovic, co-owners of Iggy's Bread of the World in Watertown, are deeply committed to wholesome breads.

Ludmilla Ivanovic says that Americans have embraced European-style coffee, and now, whole-grain breads, as well. Igor Ivanovic advises the home baker to ''be patient and not to be afraid of the process.''

He encourages experimentation. ''There is nothing as satisfying as the smell of hot bread from your oven,'' he says.

It is easier now than ever to bake good bread at home, especially with the wide availability of grains and flours. In general, whole grains are more healthful as they include the fiber and protein of the entire kernel.

Baking bread with multiple flours can yield wonderful results. Substitute whole-wheat flour for all-purpose flour in a recipe, cup for cup. And substitute denser grains, such as rye and bran, in half-cup increments, for some of the flour. Soy flour enhances the protein content of bread and tends to keep it moist. Oats give bread texture and a nutty flavor, as does wheat germ. A handful of sunflower and sesame seeds add protein and crunch.

Baking a loaf of whole-grain bread means lowering expectations - literally. Whole grains are heavier and do not rise as much as breads with more white flour. Dough made with whole-grain flour is also stickier.

Because homemade multi-grain loaves are more compact and dense, they are forgiving, and if you're not crazy about the results, there is always the toaster.

Today, bread machines do the hard work of kneading, and so can food processors and heavy-duty electric mixers. Many recipes explain how to assemble ingredients when using this equipment. Rapid-rise yeast, for instance, which also speeds the process, is often added directly to the dry ingredients, rather than to warm water for the initial ''proofing.''

Many home cooks who would never think of baking bread from scratch produce healthful loaves because of bread machines. ''I love the smell of fresh-baked bread, I can experiment with all kinds of ingredients, and it takes no time to put it together,'' says a Lexington resident, Norma Currie.

To those who feel that the authenticity may have left the process, Currie advises: ''Get over it.''

If you're starting out, choose an easy recipe. When you gain confidence, graduate to starters and sponges to make the dough rise to loftier heights. For now, perfection is not the goal, but rather a wholesome loaf and a positive experience.

Recipe
Multi-Grain Health Bread

A hunk of home made bread with a slab of smoked cheese, a bowl of hot soup and a salad - a great meal for a winter's day -- Wundebar!

Makes 1 loaf

1 cup white flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
½ cup rye flour
½ cup soy flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons yeast
½ cup warm water
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons butter
½ - ¾ cup sunflower seeds
additional white flour as needed

1. In half cup of warm water dissolve 2 teaspoons yeast and half teaspoon of sugar or honey.
2. In a large bowl mix white, whole wheat, rye, soy flours and sunflower seeds. Mix well.
3. In microwave heat milk and butter for about one minute. Remove from microwave and cool until the mixture is tepid. Add the yeast mixture, salt and honey. Stir lightly.
4. Add the liquid to the dry mixture and stir until blended. The mixture will be sticky.
5. This step can either be done in the bowl or on a flat surface: Add ¼ cup white flour to the dough and with your hand fold the flour in until incorporated. Add flour as needed by sprinkling on a few tablespoons and folding in. Knead for about six minutes until dough is pliable. Be careful not to add too much flour. It is okay if the dough is a little sticky.
6. Grease a large bowl with a little oil or butter. Place the dough in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise about one hour.
7. Punch down the dough. You can either make two smaller loaves or one large loaf. Shape the loaf(ves) into a round - this is called hearth shape.
Place on a baking sheet, cover and let rise once more, about one hour.
8. Pre-heat oven to 350°.
9. Mix egg white until foamy. Just before dough is ready to go in the oven, brush the loaf with the egg white. Sprinkle the seed mixture all over the loaf. Gently brush more egg white on top of the seeds.
10. Bake bread for 30-35 minutes. To check for doneness, pierce the bottom of the bread with a thin knife. It should come out clean.

Seed Blend

¼ cup oats
2 tablespoons flax seeds
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds

Mix all the seeds and oats together. Store in airtight container.
This mixture can be used to enhance breads, salads, cereals or yogurt. Toast for 5 minutes at 250° and toss on top of salads, cereal or yogurt.

If you want to make this Multi - Grain Bread in half the time follow this adaptation.

Use 2 teaspoons rapid-rise yeast instead of regular yeast.
I used water instead of milk and melted the butter in the microwave in a little dish.

Procedure:
Pre-heat oven to 150°. Turn off.

1. Mix flours, yeast, and salt in a food processor or bowl.
2. Mix warm water, honey and melted butter.
3. Turn on processor and add water mixture all at once.
4. Turn dough onto floured surface and add sunflower seeds and small amounts of white flour as above. Knead until seeds and flour have been incorporated
And dough is pliable. Shape into round or long loaf.
5. Place loaf on a baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 20 minutes in the warm oven. Remove from oven.
6. Heat oven to 425°. Brush top and sides of bread with beaten egg white.
7. Sprinkle seed mixture on top and sides of loaf. Brush again with egg whites.
8. Bake at 425° for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350° and bake for an
additional 30 minutes or until loaf is done.

These loaves can be sliced and frozen.

Homemade goodies a satisfying gift

There is something satisfying about making a gift of food. If you have time to bake and make the cookies everyone salivates for, great. However there are also wonderful recipes for snack mixes, granola, or spiced nuts that can be made in bulk in very little time. If you don't have time to cook, but still want to give something with a personal touch, you can hunt, gather, and pack to create a thoughtful gift.

Craft stores are loaded with packaging possibilities and glitter and glitz galore; there is something for every financial and time budget. Make the gift actually do double duty and last beyond the pleasure of the season. Containers can be anything from inexpensive Ball jars, French glass jelly jars, dishtowels, sand pails, coffee mugs, colorful plastic pencil boxes - all for just a few dollars apiece. Even festive, new dish towels can make great wrappers. Who needs paper? Troll through the cabinets. Remember those chartreuse linen napkins that've never been used? Now's the time to unearth them and wrap them around something.

High-quality cellophane bags, available at party and paper goods stores, are pretty and don't require any taping or tying. French ribbons with wire along each edge make bow-making a snap. Add a sprig of shiny stars cut from one of those $2 garlands and your gift sparkles.

No time to cook? Think outside the box. Put together a ''Snack
Attack Pack.'' This is an assembly project. Think in multiples. Hit
places like Costco, BJ's Wholesale Club, and Dollar shops.
Purchase fancy fruity water and individually wrapped foods that
come several to a box. Little by little, collect a cache of goods to be
distributed among the containers later. You'll end up with jars full of
a mixture of various candies, or wrapped cookies and crackers. A
glossy bag, lined with tissue paper, makes it a present.

So turn up the holiday music and get busy!


Homemade granola
Makes 8-10 cups

4 cups rolled oats
1 cup pecans, almonds, walnuts, or a combination
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1 cup sunflower seeds
11/2 cups dried fruits such as raisins, cherries, cranberries,
apricots, and figs
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix the oats, nuts, seeds, and coconut.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the oil, molasses, honey, vanilla,
cinnamon, and salt. Mix well with a wire whisk.
4. Pour oil mixture over dry ingredients and mix until they're well
coated.
5. Spread granola on a cookie sheet. Cook for 45 minutes, stirring
twice, at 15-minute intervals.
6. Remove from cookie sheet while still very warm and place in a
large bowl.
7. When mixture is cool, add dried fruit.


Picante spice mix
Makes approximately 3 cups

1 cup dried chives
1 cup dried parsley
1/2 cup dried red pepper flakes (or less)
1/2 cup dried onion flakes
1/2 cup minced dried garlic
1/2 cup dried oregano

1. In a large bowl, mix all ingredients well. (Caution: This mix is
spicy. Be careful when handling the red pepper flakes. In this
quantity, you can feel it when you inhale, so stand back from the
bowl.)
2. Buy glass jars for packaging the spice mix (kitchen ware shops
have great choices for just a couple of dollars) or use small
cellophane bags. Attach the following recipe ideas printed on a
card:

Pasta Picante

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan. Add 1-2 teaspoons of picante
spice mix. Toss with your favorite pasta or cooked vegetables.

Dip for Bread

Heat 4 tablespoon of oil in a pan. Add 1-2 teaspoons of picante
spice mix. Place in bowl and serve with fresh French or Italian
bread.

Dip for Vegetables

Make yogurt cheese by draining 1 cup of plain yogurt in a yogurt
filter (or a sieve fitted with a paper coffee filter). After several
hours, mix drained yogurt with 1-2 teaspoons of picante spice mix.
Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Use as dip for fresh vegetables.

Japan's lunchbox fare pleases eye, palate

FUKUOKA, Japan - ''Tadaima!'' (I'm home!) Yuriko and Satoshi
Kawasaki cry as they remove their shoes and tumble into their
house after a hard day at kindergarten. ''Okaerinasai!'' (Welcome home!)
replies 40-year old Misako Kawasaki. She empties their school bags and
brings their Ultraman and Hello Kitty lunch boxes into the kitchen.

Early that morning, Misako Kawasaki spent almost an hour
preparing their lunches. Having spent more than five years living in
Boston, she knows how crazy this must sound to Americans. ''I
could never give them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a piece of
fruit, carrot sticks, cookie, and a juice pack in a paper bag,'' she
says. ''The teacher and other mothers would consider me lazy.''

Instead, four times a week (''every day would be too much'') she
crafts exquisite, colorful lunches arranged artfully in cute little
lunchboxes. She turns tomatoes into tulips, hard-cooked eggs into
chicks, and rice into soccer balls, complete with roasted seaweed
cut into little hexagons.

A colorful, enticing meal is important in Japanese families. The
Japanese learn early on to ''eat with their eyes,'' Kawasaki says. A
elaborately crafted lunchbox or a multi-course dinner may not be a
sure sign of a mother's or wife's love, but it is seen as an indication
of her efforts, to be recognized by others as well as her family.

She's not alone: There are endless books and magazines exhorting
her and other Japanese moms to make these lunchtime treats for
their children. And close to half a supermarket aisle can be devoted
to supplies for the project. Choices, of course, get increasingly
sophisticated as the diner ages - and that includes husbands as well
as adult children living at home.

To that end, this mom spears glazed meatballs with ''Hello Kitty''
picks for the lunchbox, and cuts strawberries into the shape of a
fan. Her idea of a peanut butter sandwich would be to carve it into
the shape of a teddy bear.

At times these lunchtime art projects spill over into competition
among mothers and kids. And there is always some mild complaining.
''I am so tired of this I can't think about it anymore,'' says Eiko
Takahata. Her third child, Yoshi, is a middle school student who
prefers his mother's cooking even though lunch is provided at
school. Although Takahata no longer makes cute lunches, she still
applies many of the same aesthetics.

She opens the freezer and pulls out a package of frozen
Japanese-style vegetables - six individual portions in little foil cups.
With homemade rice, a pork cutlet, and pickles, she has nothing to
be ashamed of. By the time Yoshi eats lunch, the vegetables have
thawed, and who would know they weren't mom-made? In fact,
that's what the package says.

Prepared foods are everyone's secret: Tiger shrimp ($6 for four
servings), seasoned mini-hamburgers on buns ($5 for four),
seaweed salad ($2.30), and cheese croquettes ($4 for six) are not
cheap, but not prohibitive for middle-class families, especially
considering that women are working now, and after-school activities
are time-consuming.

Families may have only one meal a week together. There are
''kaginoko'' (latch-key kids), and some fathers so caught up with
working late and dining with colleagues that they're referred to as
''Sunday friends.''

In Japan, the best extensive displays of packaged foods are in the
lower two levels of the department store. These food halls are
bustling with shoppers and concessionaires hustling for the
consumer's attention.

''Come on, ma'am,'' says a gravelly-voiced vendor with a cloth band
tied over his brow. ''You couldn't make it any better! Don't you need
a break?'' The housewife joshes with him: ''Sure I can, but today I'm
doing you a favor!'' She tucks eight shrimp dumplings in her cloth
shopping bag.

Like many moms, this consumer probably goes food shopping on
her bike. She also takes food home to refrigerators with less than
half the capacity of a typical American refrigerator and limited
cabinet space. But the appliances will be the latest models.

And if lunch sounds elaborate, you should see what the Kawasaki
twins had for dinner on a recent weeknight: simmered vegetables
steeped in a traditional sauce; grilled mackerel; deep-fried ginger
chicken; spinach with a sesame-seed dressing; vinegared cucumber
and crab salad; a light broth with slivers of wild mushroom; crunchy
pickles; steamed white rice. Carrots were cut into cherry blossoms
and shreds of scallions were tied into knots. A simple plate of
steamed green beans with wisps of shredded ginger and a
sprinkling of black and white sesame seeds finished the meal.

And there were no other moms around to see what she had made.

KABOCHA NO NIMONO
(Japanese-style squash)

In this simple dish, acorn squash is simmered in dashi, a fish stock
made from dried bonito, available in Asian markets. Serves 4.

1 small acorn squash
1 cup dashi or water
2 to 3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon sake
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Pinch of salt

1. Halve the squash, remove the seeds, and cut the flesh into 2-inch
pieces. Peel off some strips of skin so the squash looks striped.
2. In a large saucepan, combine the dashi or water, 2 tablespoons
of the sugar, and the sake. Add the squash; bring the mixture to a
boil.
3. Lower the heat and simmer the squash for 10 minutes, or until it
is tender and the liquid is almost entirely absorbed.
4. Add the soy sauce and salt and taste for seasoning. Add the
remaining 1 tablespoon sugar, if you like. Let the squash cool.
Serve at room temperature.

Adapted from ''Japanese Family-Style Recipes''