When it comes to eating, baby boomer
Jesse Ziff Cool is good, very good.
But when she's bad, she's still slim.
Jesse Ziff Cool is buff; she has the arms that make a T-shirt look great. She radiates energy. And if that's not envy-inducing enough, Cool is in her 50s, the age when many women start to pack on pounds.
Cool, however, doesn't spend all her time in a gym. She's one of California's top chefs, with restaurants, a catering service and cookbooks to her credit. Like any chef, she samples new food products offered by purveyors, tastes as she cooks and dines out on her days off.
If you want to know how Cool stays so fit, she'll tell you it's not easy. She exercises with weights on a regular basis.
Just as important, Cool developed an eating philo-sophy that allows her to splurge on the foods she loves, while controlling the foods that could wreck her diet. She balances food for sheer pleasure with food for good health.
I think about it all the time, says Cool, who lives in Palo Alto and is the owner of the Cool Cafe.
Being a chef means I have to think carefully about food, calories in and calories out, says Cool, who describes a childhood with plenty of Miracle Whip.
Cool's formula for healthy eating is what she calls the 85/15 approach. Eighty-five percent of the time she makes conscious choices about what she eats.
For example, Cool restricts herself to small tastes of food when she's working in the kitchen. She occasionally keeps a food journal so she stays on track. When she's dining out, she eats only half the food on the plate.
But when the urge strikes, she cashes in on her 15-percent allowance, whether it's to indulge in two martinis and some chopped liver or a slice of dense, crusty bread slathered with butter.
It's no healthier to deny yourself a food you really want than to overindulge, insists the chef.
You have to try to enjoy what you're eating. If we acknowledge we make choices and take pleasure in our choices, we'll be OK,Ó Cool says.
She practices the same philosophy that guides her health when she serves her restaurant clients or develops recipes for her cookbooks, including the popular One-Pot Cookbook (Chronicle Books, 2006).
There's a balance between the rich and the simple, between high-fat creams and virtuous vegetables.
I believe if you eat high-quality food and appreciate what you're eating, you'll be satisfied with less, Cool says.
The following recipe is adapted from Cool's book, One-Pot Cookbook.
Mrs. Dent's Italian Sausage and Chicken Stew
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 (12-ounce; 375 g) package chicken-based Italian sausage, or 4 (3-ounce; 85g) sausages, cut into 1-inch thick slices
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size chunks
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch thick slices
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
4 to 6 garlic cloves, minced
2 very ripe tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons minced fresh oregano
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 cup thinly sliced fresh basil, divided
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated Asiago cheese, optional
In a large heavy skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausage and chicken and cook for 8 minutes or until lightly browned on all sides. Add the bell pepper, onion, garlic, tomatoes, red wine and 1/2 cup basil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the chicken is opaque throughout. Stir in the remaining basil. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon onto a large platter and sprinkle with the grated Asiago. Serves 6.
Each serving without the cheese has: 320 calories; 8 grams total fat; 14 grams protein; 6.5 grams carbohydrates; 52 milligrams cholesterol; 550 milligrams sodium (if seasoned with 1/4 teaspoon salt) and 1.5 grams dietary fiber.
Note: The sausage and chicken stew is excellent served over the saffron basmati rice recipe that follows.
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