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Expert Q&A

	By Leanne Ely Leanne Ely, C.N.C., Certified Nutrition Consultant

I bought a stainless steel baster with a syringe attachment for my holiday turkey. How do I use it and do you have a good marinade recipe?

I would use this syringe-type baster for marinades. Using the syringe, you can infuse flavor into whatever it is you're cooking and preserve the moistness. I don't have one yet, but it's on my Christmas list!

Here's a wonderful marinade recipe from my book, Healthy Foods, that would work great with this marvelous contraption!

The Magic of Marinade
This all-purpose marinade can be used for just about anything. But stick with meat and poultry, OK? Even marinades have their limitations.

? cup olive oil
? cup tamari soy sauce
1 lemons, juiced
4 cloves garlic
3 teaspoons honey

Mix all ingredients together and use on whatever you are marinating -- just that simple! Use a big, ol' Ziplock bag and keep the mess to a minimum. Don't you DARE wash that icky old bag out again and use it! At this point, it's history. Toss it.

For chicken or meat, you'll want to marinate it for a few hours, even overnight in your fridge, although it depends on the cut, if there's a bone and all that. (NOTE: if using a baster/infuser gadget, marinating time can be less.) If you are cooking it indoors, try baking the chicken in a preheated 375 degree F oven till it's done. And that will depend of course, on what you have chosen to marinate and cook.

To grill (method of choice -- yum!), when the coals are white-ish and red at the same time, flop your chicken (or meat) on the grill and watch it like a hawk. If you're going to go through all this trouble to marinate your dinner, you might as well eat it without it looking and tasting like a charcoal briquette.

Yield: 2 cups

Per serving: 689 Calories (kcal); 54g Total Fat; (68% calories from fat); 24g
Protein; 33g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 12069mg Sodium
Food Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 2 Lean Meat; 3 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 11 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates

Serving Ideas and Marinade Guidelines

• Use a Ziplock bag (as already noted).
• Make sure your meat is getting exposed to the marinade. If necessary, divide it up the marinade and meat into two bags.
• About 1 cup of marinade will be enough for 2-3 pounds of cut up chicken.
• Never reuse marinade. Once it's been used by the meat or chicken, it's a bacterial nightmare.
• Remember not to stick the meat or chicken back in the marinade after cooking or it will get cooties.

NOTES: Variations on a theme- to make your marinade more twangy and with bigger Asian overtones (gosh -- that sounds so "food magazine," doesn't it?). Substitute sesame oil for the olive oil and rice wine vinegar for the lemon juice.

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