An interview with Mrs. Obama, a Kitchen Garden tour, a lesson in healthy cooking... UPDATE:Videos are here First Lady Michelle Obama, Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, and Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass are all featured in a special episode of NBC daytimer "The Nate Berkus Show," which will air on Monday, Nov. 7. It's the first time all have been on the show. Host Berkus, an interior designer, took his crew to film at the White House during the October 5th Fall Harvest of the Kitchen Garden, according to an East Wing spokesman. (Above: Mrs. Obama and Berkus on the South Lawn)
Berkus has an "exclusive interview" with Mrs. Obama, and she'll talk about the Let's Move! campaign: "Nate joins the First Lady on the South Lawn for her only interview in daytime about how viewers can change the way their families eat – today!" notes the press release.
Berkus also tours the Kitchen Garden with Kass, and visits the kitchen for a lesson in healthy cooking from Comerford: "Cook a five star meal that’s fit for your First Family!" Check your local listings for showtimes.
Lots of White House Kitchen TV last week... Click here to watch videos of Kass giving Kitchen Garden tours last week, during a special media day at the White House. Comerford and two other chefs were featured on the"Today" show last Friday, thanks to losing a collective 75 pounds. Mrs. Obama'sforthcoming book, "American Grown,"is about the Kitchen Garden, and will be released in April of 2012. The 2011 Fall Harvest is included in the book, too. *Photo courtesy of NBC/The Nate Berkus Show
Longtime kitchen vets change their ways: A collective 75 pounds lost to date... UPDATE, Nov. 4:Chefs' weightloss storyfeatured on 'Today' show I was pretty surprised in July when White House Assistant Pastry Chef Susie Morrison first told me she'd lost 29 pounds, because she'd never looked like she was overweight. But apparently Morrison's chefs whites were camouflaging extra baggage; my older photos of her actually do show a big difference. Morrison is 44, and has been at the white House since 1995. She said she made changes to her eating habits and started running, inspired by First Lady Obama's personal habits and the Let's Move! campaign. In October, Morrison said she'd dropped one more pound, and was holding steady at a thirty-pound weight loss. (Above: Morrison looks very trim in this photo from Mrs. Obama's HealthierUS Schools reception in October; she's with Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses and wine steward Daniel Shanks)
Morrison had just finished giving a healthy cooking demonstration for school officials when she was discussing the vanished pounds. Since 2009, she's participated in many of the First Lady's nutrition education events, and the White House chefs have adopted DC's Harriet Tubman Elementary School as part of the Chefs Move to Schools initiative, so Morrison is literally teaching what Mrs. Obama is preaching.
It's had a personal impact. Over the last year, Morrison has become a devoted runner and just finished a 5K, right after the State Dinner for South Korea. She also bicycles and lifts weights. Morrison now snacks on fruit instead of pastry scraps, she said, and is in general mindful of her diet. Being a professional sugar master, surrounded all day by cakes, cookies, the legendary White House pie, and loads of other treats, is a dangerous thing for the waistline, but Mrs. Obama's example has changed her ways, Morrison said.
Comerford and Collick shed pounds too... Morrison isn't the only White House chef who has lost weight. A new AP story details other White House kitchen weightloss stories. A collective 75 pounds have been shed by Morrison, Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford, on staff since 1995, and Assistant Chef Adam Collick, a 25-year vet. (Collick, center, with Comerford, left, and Morrison in the White House kitchen)
The chefs work very long hours, and both Comerford and Collick added pounds over the years by tasting their way through thousands of White House menu creations, from the fanciest State Dinners to every day functions.
"We're preparing really good food so it's really very easy to just snack all the time," Comerford said.
Comerford, 47, and Collick, 46, were also caffeine addicts, inhaling loads of extra calories in energy drinks, soda, and for Collick, whipped cream and chocolate syrup-topped coffee. They're now avoiding that, drinking just two cups of coffee per day, plenty of water, and exercising, too. Mrs. Obama is their inspiration, they said.
Comerford has lost fifteen pounds, and said she wanted more stamina to keep up with her 10-year-old daughter, Danielle, a competitive gymnast, and to set an example with "smart food choices." The family sticks to a balanced diet of whole grains, low-fat proteins and plenty of vegetables but on the weekend all "enjoy a hamburger or equally indulgent meal." Comerford's husband is also a chef.
Collick has lost 30 pounds by cutting down on empty-calorie eating, and he limits desserts to a few times a week, he said. He also exercises for an hour most days.
Comerford has now made many TV appearances demonstrating nutritionally balanced meals, and speaking about the wonders of Mrs. Obama's Kitchen Garden, where the chefs get much of the produce that's used in the White House Kitchen. She's also teaching what Mrs. Obama is preaching. (Above: Compare this photo from last year with the photo above: The chefs look slimmer in the first photo. Assistant chef Tafari Campbell is at right)
Assistant White House Curator Lydia Tedrick is also included in the AP story; she's lost about 35 pounds in the last year, she said. She joined Weight Watchers and works out with her husband.
*Top and third photos by Eddie Gehman Kohan/ObamaFoodorama.com; second by AP
Design master has "exclusive interview" with First Lady... First Lady Michelle Obama, Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives Sam Kass, and Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford will all be featured on NBC daytimer "The Nate Berkus Show" on Monday, Nov. 7, the production company announced today. It's the first time all have been on the show. Berkus is an interior designer beloved by Obama pal Oprah Winfrey, who produces the show, and he took his crew to film at the White House during the October 5th Fall Harvest of the Kitchen Garden, according to an East Wing spokesman. (Above: Mrs. Obama in action during the event)
Berkus has an "exclusive interview" about healthy eating with Mrs. Obama: "Nate joins the First Lady on the South Lawn for her only interview in daytime about how viewers can change the way their families eat – today!" notes the publicity announcement.
Berkus tours the White House Kitchen Garden with Kass, and then visits the kitchen for a lesson in healthy cooking from Comerford. It's part of the pre-launch for Mrs. Obama'sforthcoming book, "American Grown."
The episode announcement has plenty of exclamation points:
"Nate makes a trip to the most recognized home in America to pay a visit to First Lady Michelle Obama in a daytime television exclusive! He joins the First Lady to celebrate the White House's "Fall Harvest Festival" and teach viewers how they can fill their homes, backyards and kitchens with healthy food for their families.
First up, a tour of the White House vegetable garden only for Nate's viewers with Assistant White House Chef, Sam Kass – get the inside scoop about what's on the First Family's dinner plates and how everyone at home can start their own gardens, too.
Next, the White House's longtime Executive Chef, Cristeta Comerford, spends time with Nate in the White House kitchen – learn how to cook a meal that's fit for the First Family! Then, Nate joins the First Lady on the South Lawn for her only interview in daytime about how viewers can change the way their families eat – today!" ##
A spotlight on locally sourced vegetables in a menu "conceived by" First Lady & Top Toque... In a video filmed today in the very busy White House kitchen, Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford talks about tonight's menu for the State Dinner in honor of President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea. The menu was "conceived by" First Lady Michelle Obama and Comerford, according to the White House. Click here for a full post about the menu. (Above: Comerford holds green and red lettuces from the Kitchen Garden, used in the second-course salad).
Comerford discusses local and regional sourcing for the ingredients--produce from Mrs. Obama'sKitchen Garden, Wagyu rib-eye steaks from an unnamed Texas cattle ranch--and gives a behind-the-scenes look at how she pulls together a lavish diplomatic event for more than 200 guests.
Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses is also in the video, and he talks about his decadent dessert, "Chocolate Malt Devils Food Layers." Click here for a postabout the place settings and East Room decor.The full guest list is hereand a video of guest arrivalsis here.
The Executive Pastry Chef is the White House ambassador for Oct. 3 celebration of locally sourced school meals and farm-to-table education... October is the first-ever National Farm to School Month, designated by a Resolution passed by the US House of Representatives in November of 2010. In Washington, DC, Oct. 3-7 is DC Farm to School Week, and Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses will join the kick-off celebration on Monday, acting as emcee for a Top Chef-style competition that will be held at 2:00 PM in the gymnasium shared by Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter High School and Savoy Elementary School in Southeast Washington. Yosses was on hand for last year's DC Farm to School Week celebration, when Senior Policy Advisor for Healthy Food Initiatives SamKass served as emcee, wowing a crowd of about 200. (Above: Yosses in the Kitchen Garden)
The week of activities includes a focus on locally sourced school meals and farm education, and is sponsored by the D.C. Farm to School Network, now part of the Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture. At Monday's celebration, Yosses will provide the live commentary as four local chefs engage in a timed battle to create seasonal salads using a pantry of ingredients plucked from DC school gardens and provided by Whole Foods Markets. Student-led tours of the school vegetable garden will follow. This is the third year of events.
Chefs Move to Schools: White House chefs and Tubman Elementary School Yosses, Kass, and White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford all have plenty of experience bringing the farm-to-table experience to students: For First Lady Obama's Chefs Move to Schools initiative, the three Top Toques have adopted Harriet Tubman Elementary School in DC. They have cooked with the students at the school, as well as hosted them at the White House. (Above: The First Lady looks on as Yosses shows a jar of White House Honey to kids during a cooking demonstration on the South Lawn)
Among other activities, Tubman students helped the First Lady harvest her Kitchen Garden in Fall of 2010 and plant it for Spring 2011. They also served as junior guest chefs for the President and Mrs. Obama's 2011 Governors' Dinner, joining the White House chefs to help prepare the meal. Thousands of school kids have now visited the White House for chef-led tours of Mrs. Obama's garden and healthy cooking demonstrations--including at the annual Easter Egg Roll. The chefs have also traveled around the US spreading the Let's Move! message.
The Top Toque talks about her high-pressure job, and says all kids should learn to cook...but reveals that she didn't plan to be a chef... White House Executive Chef Cris Comerford stars in a new video on the federal Kids.gov website, as part of a series on government careers. A native of the Philippines, Comerford, 48, has worked at the White House since 1995. On August 14th, she marked her sixth anniversary as head of the most high-profile kitchen in America: President Obama and First Lady Obama kept Comerford as their Top Toque on the advice of former First Lady Laura Bush.
In the new video, Comerford preps Italian eggplant ("a wonderful staple") from Mrs. Obama's Kitchen Garden as she discusses her "high pressure" responsibilities, talks about the importance of kids learning to cook, and reveals that in her younger days, she actually had no plans to be a chef. (Above: Comerford in action at the President & First Lady's 2011Governors Dinner in February)
It's high pressure working for President Obama... "My main responsibility as the Executive Chef at the White House is taking care of the First Family, foremost and all," Comerford explains onscreen. "Just their daily meals, and of course if they have any social functions, or State Dinners, or any kind of entertaining, we take care of everything in the kitchen."
"Definitely it's high pressure, because first and foremost, it's only for the President of the United States," Comerford says, laughing, and notes that she has to keep dietary restrictions as well as protocol in mind when foreign dignitaries visit the White House.
"There's a lot of things to learn," Comerford says.
Let's Move! and the Kitchen Garden... Comerford gets in a pitch for Mrs. Obama's signature Let's Move! initiative without actually mentioning the campaign by name. All kids should learn to cook, Comerford says. (Above: Comerford, center, with the First Lady at the veggie weighing station during the Fall 2010 Kitchen Garden Harvest. Assistant chef Sam Kass is at left)
"If you really make the food yourself, you could control the taste, you could control the fat that's in there, you could control the salt, you could control the sugar, and at the end of the day its very rewarding because it's your own hand that made it," Comerford says.
"Be hands on, work really hard," Comerford adds. "Help out your mom and dad in the kitchen."
She also discusses the wonders of Mrs. Obama's 1,500-square foot Kitchen Garden.
"We have harvested so much in that little garden," Comerford says. "And in the span of like 2 1/2 years, I mean there's like three hundred at least pounds of produce that we have harvested throughout the years."*
The road to the White House... Though she's been a professional cook since she was 23, Comerford says that being a chef was not in her life's plan--at first.
"I didn't know I wanted to be a chef growing up. It was definitely not on my top list," Comerford says. "I wanted to be a scientist."
Still, Comerford, 48, started to study food technology while attending the University of the Philippines. Her father, Comerford said, asked her why she didn't just go to the legendary Le Cordon Bleu to study. Though she'd been helping her mother cook for the family's eleven children at home in Sampaloc, Manila, Comerford says being a chef "wasn't what I was gearing up for."
"I just laughed at him," Comerford says of her father's query. "But it was very, very right."
"You should listen to your parents," Comerford adds.
She emigrated to the US before finishing her degree at the University, and went to work in hotel kitchens in Chicago, Illinois. The rest, as they say is history: Comerford is the first female and first minority to be Executive Chef at the White House.
*Note: The actual poundage of the vegetables that have come out of the very productive Kitchen Garden is actually closer to 3,000 lbs at this point, just for the record.
*White House video. Top photo by Pete Souza/White House. Kitchen Garden photo by Eddie Gehman Kohan/Obama Foodorama
Top Toque demos Kitchen Garden dishes from First Lady's 'Better Homes and Gardens' feature; Video & recipes... Live from New York City this morning, White House Executive ChefCristeta Comerford joined Matt Lauer in the Today show kitchen to demonstrate some of the White House Kitchen Garden-inspired recipes created by Better Homes and Gardens magazine for First Lady Michelle Obama'shistoric cover feature in the August issue (on news stands now). The nine-page spread includes photos of the picnic Mrs. Obama and BHG hosted in May for fifth graders from DC's Tubman Elementary School, as well as an interview with the First Lady. Mrs. Obama is the first public figure in more than four decades to grace the cover, and the feature includes online components, too (click here). (Top: Comerford and Lauer in the Today kitchen)
During her sixteen-year tenure at the White House, Comerford has cooked for everyone from Royalty to Heads of State to Hollywood stars, but cooking a healthy picnic for kids was a tough challenge, she told Lauer, and "inspiring."
"For chefs, kids are the hardest ones to please," Comerford said. "They're very blunt and honest. They will tell you if the food doesn't taste good. For us, that was our hardest audience ever."
Comerford demo'd a Chopped Green Salad with edamame and grapes, topped with Herb Dressing, made with orange juice; and Fruit Pocket Pies, made with fresh berries, fruit spreads, and whole grain breads. "Parents will love these," Lauer noted. The recipes are below; but for the record these were created by the Better Homes and Gardens food editors, not the White House chefs. The White House chefs cooked these for the First Lady's picnic photo shoot for the magazine.
The BHG feature is designed to inspire parents to create healthy, veggie intensive meals at home.
"This was part of the first lady's idea that families need to think differently about how they're feeding their children breakfast, lunch, and dinner," Comerford said.
She noted that "kids are very visual," and they find brightly colored fresh fruit and vegetables very appealing. Watch the video to see how easy it is to make the Fruit Pocket Pies.
Chopped Green Salad with Herbed Dressing
Ingredients 4 cups torn spinach and/or romaine 1 small cucumber, seeded, if desired 3 oz. broccoli florets, blanched and shocked* (1 cup) 3 oz. tender fresh green beans, blanched and shocked* ( 1 1/2 cups) 3/4 cup frozen edamame, thawed 1 1/2 cups halved green grapes 1 recipe Fresh Herb Dressing Lemon wedges
Method On a large cutting board, cut lettuce and cucumber into bite-size pieces. Add to a large salad bowl. Add broccoli, beans, edamame, and grapes. Toss gently to mix. Drizzle about 1/3 recipe fresh herb dressing over vegetables. Toss gently to coat mixture with dressing.
Dressing 1 cup orange juice 1/3 cup olive oil 1 Tbsp. cider vinegar 2 Tbsp. snipped fresh Italian parsley, basil, or thyme 2 tsp. yellow mustard 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
Method In a screw-top jar combine orange juice, olive oil, vinegar, herb, mustard and pepper. Cover and shake well. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate up to 3 days. Stir or shake well before using. Raspberry vinaigrette: Prepare as above, except substitute raspberry vinegar, and add 1/4 cup mashed fresh raspberries. Serve salads in small tumblers or cups with lemon wedges, if desired. Pass remaining dressing, if desired.
*Notes: Before chopping lettuce, wash lettuce and remove excess water from leaves by patting dry with paper towels. Salad dressing clings better to dry lettuce. For Shocking vegetables: Bring a saucepan half filled with water to a boil. Carefully add vegetables and cook 3 minutes (do not wait for water to return to boil to start timing). Drain in colander and immediately add to a bowl of ice water to halt cooking. Drain well before using.
Fruit Pocket Pies
Ingredients 3/4 cup fresh raspberries and/or blueberries 2 Tbsp. sugar 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon 6 Tbsp. smashed apple jam or apple butter 12 slices soft whole grain white or soft whole wheat bread 1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 lbs. of apples for Smashed Apple Jam
Methodfor Smashed Apple Jam 1. Peel, core and slice 4 pounds apples.
2. Place apples and 1/2 cup water in a 4 or 5-quart heavy-bottom pan over medium heat. Simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, until very tender. Remove from heat.
3. Mash apples with a potato masher or blend with an immersion blender. Return to heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes until the jam thickens and most of the liquid has evaporated, stirring frequently.
4. Transfer to a covered container. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Method for Fruit Pocket Pies 1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Wash berries and spread to dry on paper towels. Meanwhile, stir together sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
2. For each pie, spoon 1 tablespoon of smashed apple jam in the center of a bread slice. Top with 3 to 4 berries and another slice of bread. Gently press the top slice around the fruit. Trim crusts from bread using a serrated knife.
3. Bake pies for 18 to 20 minutes or until bread is lightly toasted and bottoms are browned. Transfer to a cooling rack. Cool at least 30 minutes before serving.
*Makes 6 servings
*Video from Today; recipes created by Better Homes and Gardens; photos by Better Homes and Gardens
An interview with Mrs. Obama, a Kitchen Garden tour, a lesson in healthy cooking...
