Page C4, Wednesday, November 17, 2010 Carroll County Times

LIFE & TIMES

Cheat sheet Health reform

takes math Specialty care

out of meal to see changes
As the nation and the
state of Maryland move
Calculations for cooking turkey forward with the imple-
mentation of health- care
reform and the Affordable
ASSOCIATED PRESS You also can put the Care Act, the public will be
turkey in a sink of cold noticing changes to the
Thanksgiving is stressful water. Change the water
enough without also having every half hour, and plan for system of specialty care
to break out the calculator about 30 minutes per pound. settings. Evidence based
and suffer through math and best practices will be
class flashbacks. So leave the utilized in all settings, and
The brine prevention activities will
calculating to us and use this
holiday cheat sheet to make Never brine a turkey for be integrated into primary
your life — and cooking — a more than about 8 to 10 health care settings. Inte- Susan Doyle
little easier. hours. Much longer and the gration or blending of be- Carroll County
All serving estimates are meat will be too salty. Al- havioral health screening Health Department
generous to allow for plenty ways keep the bird refriger- will be an essential compo-
of seconds and leftovers. ated during brining. If the nent that needs to be in-
turkey is too big, an ice- AP FILE PHOTO corporated into all able practitioners to have
How big? filled cooler stored outside A turkey with thermometer is shown. However you practices. necessary information for
works, too. Historically, the common the proper management of
For turkeys under 16 roast your turkey, use an instant thermometer in- approach to health care has
serted at the innermost part of the thigh (without the diagnosis and plans of
pounds, estimate 1 pound The roast been specialized treatment care.
per serving (this accounts touching bone) to determine when your turkey is for persons with severe Screening is a quick, sim-
for bone weight). For larger Roasting temperatures done. The meat needs to hit 165 F for safe eating. problems who have already
vary widely by recipe. Some ple way to identify patients
birds, a bit less is fine; they progressed to disease who need further assess-
have a higher meat-to-bone go at a slow and steady 325 F. states. As health- care re- ment or treatment for sub-
And remember, a crowded The sides
ratio. But if your goal is to Others crank the heat to 400 form creeps up on us, there stance abuse disorders. It
oven cooks more slowly, so
have ample leftovers, aim F or 425 F for the first hour, plan ahead if your bird ■ Carrots: a 1- pound bag are certain things that we does not establish a diag-
for 1 ½ pounds per person then drop it down for the needs to share the space. makes 4 to 5 servings know. One is a paradigm nosis or possible treatment
whatever the turkey’s size. rest of the time. ■ 12-pound turkey: 3 to ■ Cranberry sauce: a 12- shift to focus on providing needs. Assessment, the
■ For 8 people, buy a However you roast, use an effective strategies for suc-
instant thermometer in- 4 hours at 325 F ounce package of fresh next step, gives us a look at
12-pound turkey ■ 15-pound turkey: 4 to cessful interventions. Two the bigger picture and is
cranberries makes about
■ For 10 people, buy a serted at the innermost part 4 ½ hours at 325 F is that planning will be based on the patient’s re-
of the thigh (without touch- 2¼ cups of sauce; a 16- critical as we move from
15-pound turkey ■ 18-pound turkey: 4½ to port of problems and other
■ For 12 people, buy an ing bone) to determine ounce can has 6 servings grant funding for specialty
when your turkey is done. 5 hours at 325 F definitive data, like drug
18-pound turkey ■ 20-pound turkey: 5 to ■ Gravy: plan for Ï cup care to integration of serv- testing. Brief intervention
■ For 14 people, buy a The meat needs to hit 165 F 6 hours at 325 F of gravy per person ices at the primary care focuses on increasing pa-
20-pound turkey for safe eating, though some ■ Green beans: 1½ pou- physician level. Grant
people say thigh meat tastes tient insight and awareness
The rest nds makes 6 to 8 servings funds have been the regarding substance use
The big thaw better at 170 F. ■ Mashed potatoes: a 5- county’s staple in the pro-
The following roasting The turkey should never and motivation toward be-
pound bag of potatoes vision of substance abuse
The safest way to thaw a time estimates are based on go directly from the oven to services in our community. havioral change. Referral
frozen turkey is in the re- a stuffed turkey cooked at the table. Like most meat, it makes 10 to 12 servings As those grants are to treatment provides
frigerator. You’ll need about 325 F. Reduce cooking time needs to rest at least 20 ■ Stuffing: a 14- ounce changed, transformed and those identified as needing
24 hours per 4 to 5 pounds of by 20 to 40 minutes for minutes for the juices to bag of stuffing makes disappear, we must take a more extensive treatment
turkey. turkeys that are not stuffed. redistribute. about 11 servings proactive stance in plan- with access to specialty
ning for our community’s care.
needs. Recently, Carroll County

Science tips to handling a holiday dinner Screening, Brief Inter-

BY MICHELE KAYAL
ASSOCIATED PRESS
As Americans we believe we can
have it all. But there’s nothing like
struggling to roast a Thanksgiving
turkey to shatter the myth.
“I’m afraid with turkeys — and
whole birds in general — life does re-
quire some compromises,” says
Harold McGee, kitchen science guru
and author of “Keys to Good Cook-
ing” (Penguin, 2010). “You’ve got two
kinds of meat on the same bird in the
same oven at the same time.”
Which means roasting perfectly
done thighs usually results in dry,
stringy breast meat. What’s a cook to
do?
Leave it to a scientist to crack that
code.
McGee’s suggestion? Chill the
turkey breasts with ice packs before
the bird goes in the oven. This is easy
to do. Turkeys should be brought to
room temperature before roasting,
but leave the breasts covered with ice
packs during that time.
“You put the bird in the oven with a
temperature differential already built
in,” McGee says. That way, the legs
and the breasts reach their different
(and ideal) temperatures at the same
time.
You also could brine the turkey
(which plumps the meat with mois-
ture before it goes into the oven). But
McGee says to beware the tradeoffs.
While brining will yield a juicy
breast, it also will give you over-
salted stuffing and pan juices. “It de-
pends on what you want out of your
turkey,” he says.
Basting
Trade off time again. The good
news is that basting slows the cook-
ing of the bird. This gives you a bet-
ter chance of catching the turkey at
just the right temperature. But it also
usually results in flabby skin, so kiss
that crisp skin goodbye.
Mashed potatoes
So long as you treat them gently, it
doesn’t matter what kind of potato
you use. “If you just mash them
barely, what you end up with are in-
tact little cells and clumps of cells
that are surrounded by a wonderful
mixture of butter and milk and what-
ever else you’ve added,” McGee says.
“If you break the cells open, that’s
when you release the starch inside
the cells ... . That’s when you get that
gloppy, sticky result.”
Nuke it
Thanksgiving green beans and
other vegetables will retain more vi-
tamins when cooked in the mi-
crowave, which McGee says quickly
breaks down the enzymes that de-
grade vitamins. But reheating is a dif-
ferent matter. Potatoes, for instance,
will rapidly taste stale after cooking,
McGee says, making them lousy can-
didates for reheating. Sweet potatoes,
on the other hand, do just fine.
Weigh, don’t measure
Get this: a tablespoon of table salt
weighs twice as much as a tablespoon
of kosher salt. So replace your meas-
uring spoons and cups with a scale.
And, while you’re at it, pick up a dig-
ital thermometer. “Especially on
Thanksgiving, that will help you get
the leg and breast meat done just
right,” McGee says.
vention, Referral and
Treatment is one of the
most highly rated initia-
tives to assist in early iden-
tification of substance
abuse issues and interven-
tions prior to development
of full disease. The goal of
SBIRT is to make screen-
ing for substance abuse a
routine part of medical
care. This means looking at
the whole picture of the
individual walking in the
door, not just the person’s
current complaint or prob-
lem.
Why is it important to
begin to use this approach?
Alcohol, illicit substance
use, and/or tobacco use
can complicate treatment
regimens for diseases like
diabetes or hypertension.
Practitioners need to look
at the use of these sub-
stances when treatment
measures are not effective.
In addition, depression and
domestic violence issues
can also interfere with
treatment effectiveness.
Screening questions at the
primary care level will en-
integrated behavioral
health questions into
health- care screenings in
all obstetric practices in
the county. This was done
in an effort to address the
number one preventable
cause of intellectual dis-
abilities and birth defects,
fetal alcohol spectrum dis-
orders. This initiative al-
lows practitioners to
perform screening and
provides them the oppor-
tunity for brief interven-
tion. Emphasis is placed on
education addressing the
fact that there is no known
safe amount of alcohol to
use during pregnancy.
Practitioners are promot-
ing Nine Zero, nine months
with zero alcohol.
Susan Doyle, RN, is the
Director of the Bureau of
Addiction Treatment Serv-
ices at the Health Depart-
ment. If there is a public
health topic you would like
to see covered in a future
article, please write to the
Health Department at P. O.
Box 845, Westminster, MD
21158.

Sides Swiss chard, spinach

From Page C1
Twice baked
sweet potatoes
6 sweet potatoes, even
in size and scrubbed
4 tablespoons brown
sugar
4 tablespoons butter,
room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese,
room temperature
and rice gratin
chard stalks, then dice
them. Heat 1 tablespoon of
fragrant. Add the chard
and spinach. Stir together
and cool for at least 10
minutes before serving.
bowl. The recipe can be
prepared through step 3 up
the oil in a large, heavy for 30 seconds to a You can serve this warm, to two days ahead. The fin-
1 pound Swiss chard,
washed and stemmed nonstick skillet over minute, just to blend the at room temperature or ished recipe will keep for
mixture. Season with salt three or four days in the re-
½ pound spinach, washed medium heat, and add the cold.
and stemmed onion.
and pepper, and remove frigerator.
from the heat. Advance preparation: The
2 tablespoons extra-virgin Cook, stirring, until ten- Beat the eggs in a bowl. blanched greens will keep
olive oil der, about five minutes. Stir in the chard mixture, for three or four days in the Source: www.nytimes.
1 medium onion, chopped Add the diced chard cheese and rice. Season to refrigerator in a covered com
2 large garlic cloves, stalks, thyme, rosemary taste with salt and pepper.
minced and a generous pinch of Transfer to the baking
1 teaspoon fresh thyme salt. Cook, stirring often, dish, and drizzle on the re-
leaves, or ½ teaspoon dried for about five minutes maining oil.
thyme until the vegetables are Bake 40 minutes until

½ teaspoon ground cin-
namon
¼ teaspoon ground nut-
Thanksgiving
1 teaspoon chopped fresh tender. Add the garlic and firm and brown on the top.
rosemary
stir for a minute or so until Remove from the heat,
3 large eggs

meg
¼ teaspoon ground gin-
ger
Salt and freshly ground
black pepper
Preheat oven to 375 de-
grees.
Place sweet potatoes on
sheet tray and bake for 1
hour or until soft. Remove
from oven and let stand
until cool enough to handle.
Split potatoes and re-
move the flesh to a
medium sized bowl, re-
serving skins.
In another bowl, add
brown sugar, butter and
cream cheese and the all of
the spices and mash with a
fork or rubber spatula.
Add the butter and cream
cheese mixture to the
sweet potato flesh and fold
in completely. Add the fill-
ing back to the potato skins
and place on a half sheet
tray.
Bake for 15 minutes or
until golden brown.
B uffet
½ cup (2 ounces) grated
gruyere cheese
1 cup cooked basmati
brown rice
Bring a large pot of
water to a boil while you
clean the chard and
spinach. Fill a bowl with
ice water. Strip the leaves
from the chard stalks but
B est W estern W estm inster C atering & C onference C enter
hold onto the stalks. Wash
the leaves in several rinses T hu rsday,N ovem ber 25 ,2010
of water. When the water 11:00 a.m .-3:00 p.m .
comes to a boil, salt gen- N ovem ber 20 & 21– 9-5 Sat., 10-4 Sun.
erously and add the chard BU FFE T IN C LU D ES:
leaves. Blanch for about V egetable • Fru it& InternationalC heese D isplay
two minutes, just until Shrim p Bisqu e • C aesar Salad •Tossed G arden Salad
Tu rk ey Breast w ith G ravy
tender. Using a skimmer
or slotted spoon, transfer
Saturday the 20th at 11:00 (w eather perm itting) Sm ok ed H am w ith a H oney D ijon Sau ce
Bak ed Penne Pasta topped w ith M arinara Sau ce
immediately to the ice
C arving Station:H erb R oast Pork Loin
water. Blanch the spinach C andied Sw eet Potatoes • G reen B ean C asserole
for 30 seconds, and trans- Bu ttered C orn • C ranberry Sau ce • Bak ed M ac n’C heese
fer to the ice water. C ornbread •A ssortm ent ofD inner R olls
Let sit for a few min- Pu m pk in Pie • Pecan Pie • C hocolate C ak e • C arrot C ak e
utes, then drain, squeeze C offee,H otTea,Iced Tea
out the water and chop
medium- fine. $24 .95 -A d u lt • $20.95 -Sen ior
Preheat the oven to 375 $12.95 -A ges 5 -12 • $6 .95 -U n d er 5
Please callto m ak e you r reservations
degrees. Brush a 2- quart 4 4 3-4 6 6 -237 4 or4 10-85 7 -19 00 ext 309 or 319
baking or gratin dish with
w w w.bestw esternw estm inster.com
440621

Source: www.foodnet olive oil.

work.com Trim both ends off the 429978 4 5 1 W M C D rive •W estm inster