"Lean Plate Club" news and stories

• Canneles, those brown, crisp pastries that require special molds and beeswax to do correctly, are the obsession of many a home baker.
  
• A glossary of words that resemble canneles, just to make sure you don't make any embarrassing errors.
  
• An assortment of tips if you plan on joining the ranks of the cannele home bakers. The best advice is not to get discouraged, as even sloppy canneles taste wonderful.
  
• Rianne Bius offers her pasta dish wisdom that goes, "something green, something roasted, something creamy, something toasted." Sounds like a winner of a dish to me. If you don't want to dream up your own concoction, here are two recipes that follow her rules.
  
• Local asparagus has arrived in the farmers markets around Portland and so it is time to celebrate that veggie. Why not try a Cold Soba Noodle Salad with Asparagus?
• The Lean Plate Club offers advice on how to incorporate more iron into the diets of vegetarians.
  
• Check out this brunch menu where everything can be made ahead of time. No rush when your guests arrive!

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I woke up yesterday morning with some achiness and a stuffed up head, sure signs that a cold was coming my way. My standard method of dealing with the moments when cold and flu season hit me is lots of orange juice and a large pot of chicken and rice soup. This is mostly because that's how my mom handled it when my sister and I were growing up.

According to Sally Squires, who writes the Lean Plate Club column at the Washington Post, chicken soup is supposed to help clear up a cold. Scientists have found that the steam from the soup bowl "helps soothe and open bronchioles." The carrots, tomatoes and garlic aren't bad for you either. She dug around a little bit more, to discover other natural ways to ease the effects of a cold or flu. In talking to the experts, what she learned is that honey, especially the natural, unprocessed is good. Cherry bark extract can also help and most natural food stores carry it (it is also one of the ingredients in throat coat tea). Mint and black elderberry can also help calm a cough.

However, time is really the only dependable cure for the standard cold or flu. Frustrating, isn't it!

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