Health and Fitness News

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Welcome to the Stars Hollow Gazette‘s Health and Fitness News weekly diary. It will publish on Saturday afternoon and be open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here.

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What To Cook This Weekend

I used to work a late shift on Fridays, didn’t get home until well after 9. Some of those nights, my wife would roast a chicken after work, and we’d eat it late, at just north of room temperature, with roasted carrots and a green salad and plenty of bread to mop up the drippings, sitting in candlelight, tired at the end of a long week. It was just so, so great.

Here’s how to roast a chicken, if you want to paint that picture for yourself. Here’s a particularly interesting recipe for roast chicken that contradicts some of those teachings. Here’s a terrific recipe for a roasted carrot salad. (Just make the carrot part and leave out the rest and you’ll be in clover.) Here’s the vinaigrette you could drizzle on your greens. And for bread? You could eat this meal with a fresh baguette or toasted white bread spread with oleo and still record a win. It’s forgiving. It’s Friday on a plate.

For some in our community, Yom Kippur begins this evening. It comes to a close Saturday night after sundown, after a full day of fasting and atonement. If you’re observing, I hope it’s an easy fast. Here are some ace recipes to break it.

Things I’d like to cook this weekend include these lemon poppy muffins to share with family or give to friends who aren’t expecting a gift. Also, a bowl of pasta with bread crumbs and anchovies, in the Sicilian tradition, and maybe some turkey chili to freeze against a meal next week.

André Soltner’s Roast Chicken

“I can only roast chicken the way I roast chicken,” the chef Andre Soltner told The Times’s Molly O’Neill in 1991. Mr. Soltner, then the chef of the celebrated Lutece in Manhattan, was explaining a controversial step in his recipe for the bird, which results in marvelously juicy, flavorful meat.

Ludo Lefebvre’s Roasted-Carrot Salad

Toasting the cumin for the carrots and the crème fraîche is very important, but don’t worry if you can’t find all the herbs for the garnish. Just one or two will bring pleasure.

Basic Vinaigrette

Ready in minutes and fine to keep in the fridge for weeks, it can totally change a salad. And it’s highly adaptable. Add garlic or tarragon in place of the mustard, or infuse it with other herbs.

Green Tomato Frittata

The acidic green tomatoes are nicely balanced by the neutral flavor of the eggs.

Lox Chowder

There is a recipe for lox chowder in Mark Russ Federman’s charming memoir of his family’s appetizing business on the Lower East Side of Manhattan: “Russ & Daughters: Reflections and Recipes From the House That Herring Built.”

Lemon Poppy Muffins

Buttery and soft, tart and sweet, they are soothing in their simplicity, while seeds add just a bit of crunch. This version gets a healthy dose of lemony tang thanks to an ample amount of grated zest and a zippy lemon-juice glaze.