FAT

Once upon a time, America's breakfast kitchens filled with the aroma of sage-scented breakfast sausage. Today? Not so much. People think sausage is fatty. They think it must be unhealthful. They've convinced themselves that they don't have time to cook breakfast. Yet homemade sausage is actually relatively lean, especially compared to the commercial stuff. It's simple to make and impressive. It is many times better than store-bought, especially if you mix it up a day or two ahead of the time you plan to cook it, so the flavors can blend.

After watching a few minutes of the nightly news, you might feel pretty ungrateful about the 2007 holiday season that kicks off with Thanksgiving. There's plenty of senseless death, destruction and wasted potential to validate that point of view. And if you have suffered a personal loss of any kind, the season can seem like a cruel, monthlong game of charades. Who wants to paste on a smile and parade through the open-house circuit, making festive chitchat with people who might not understand the depth of your pain?

It's not easy to escape cravings when you're trying to lose weight. For many people, those temptations are wide awake when night falls, and Becky Hand knows what it's like to fight the munchies after dinner. "Those kids get to bed and there's downtime, and that's when I want to eat," says Hand, a registered dietitian at SparkPeo ple.com, a diet and fitness Web site. "It is not hunger at all - it is strictly a stress reliever." Many people tell Hand that they can stick with a healthful eating plan all day, but at night they're ravenous.

Picadillo is a popular Latin dish made with ground meat, onions, green bell pepper, tomato sauce and raisins. Using ground buffalo, now available in most supermarkets, adds a new dimension to this 10-minute, no-fuss dinner. Buffalo is a great source of lean protein, with only about 15 percent fat. There are probably as many variations of picadillo as there are people who make it. The success of this dish is the blending of sweet and savory flavors. Picadillo is usually served over rice.

For most of her career, Mo'Nique has championed the cause of big and voluptuous women. The Baltimore native and host of VH1's Charm School and of Oxygen's Mo'Nique's F.A.T. Chance has waged a campaign to improve the image and gain acceptance for plus-size women, who are often shunned and made the objects of ridicule. Here's how she's lived out her crusade: As a stand-up comedian, the 39-year-old has manufactured plus-size humor that pokes fun at those who have a problem with her curves or skinny women, including: Recently filmed episodes of Mo'Nique's F.A.T.

Tae-bo, Tae-bee, what's the difference?If there's one ideal that unites all Americans, it's the belief that every single one of us, regardless of ethnic background, is fat.It was not always this way. There was a time, not so long ago, when Americans did not obsess about fat. In those days, a man could be portly and still be considered attractive. The standards were also more lenient for women: Marilyn Monroe, whom nobody ever called skinny, was a major sex goddess.By today's beauty standards, of course, Marilyn Monroe was an oil tanker.

When it comes to Father's Day presents, it's pretty much a tie. Which means you either get him another tie -- does anybody really do that anymore? -- or you get him something he can really use. Like a cookbook, of course. There are plenty of cookbooks written by men, but we're also seeing more cookbooks written for men. And we can only say: Write on."A Man and His Pan" by John Boswell (Andrews Mcmeel, $16.95). Boswell's focus is the nonstick skillet -- specifically, a 12-inch saute pan. And he gets a lot of mileage out of it. Chapters cover the range (sorry)

BOSTON -- First of all, imagine a place women greet each other at the market with open arms, loving smiles and a cheerful exchange of ritual compliments:"You look wonderful! You've put on weight!"Does that sound like dialogue from fat fantasy land? Or a skit from fat-is-a-feminist-issue satire? Well, this Western fantasy was a South Pacific fact of life. In Fiji, before 1995, big was beautiful and bigger was more beautiful -- and people really did flatter each other with exclamations about weight gain.

Each day of the week offers a menu aimed at a different aspect of meal planning. There's a family meal, a kids' meal aimed at youngsters tastes, a heat-and-eat meal that recycles leftovers, a budget meal that employs a cost-cutting strategy, a meatless or "less meat" dish for people who may not be strict vegetarians but are trying to cut down on meat, an express meal that requires little or no preparation, and an entertaining menu that's quick.Sunday/FamilyPrepare your own juicy roast chicken today.

TELL ME something: Is it me or are some people just a lit-tle too sensitive these days?From the uproar caused by a certain column that ran here two weeks ago, you'd think I just passed nuclear secrets to the Chinese.To recap, the column was about a recurring problem faced by anyone who has ever joined a health club: fat guys in Speedos haunting the pool.The gist of it was that these fat guys weren't doing themselves a favor wearing these horribly unflattering swim trunks. And I asked them (politely, I thought)

A report released last week shows that obesity is harming the health of millions of Americans, including children and teens. The report, "F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America 2009," from the Trust for America's Health, says that 28.8 percent of Maryland youths ages 10 to 17 are overweight or obese - and thus at increased risk of a long list of chronic health problems such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis and some cancers....

I have never been a slender man. I'm also neither particularly tall nor particularly coordinated. Which is why my love for Pittsburgh point guard Levance Fields has expanded more quickly than my waistline ever did. (For more, go to baltimoresun.com/toydept)

Trader Joe's has lots of great holiday treats. If you're watching fat and calories in these last few days before Christmas, consider passing by the Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe's in favor of the store's low-fat Chocolate Meringues. While just one of the Joe Joe's has 150 calories and 8 grams of fat, you can munch four of the meringues for a total of 120 calories and 2 grams of fat. (The four meringues will give you a few more carb grams than the Joe Joe's.) Kate Shatzkin Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe's: Per serving (1 cookie)

Board certifies 36 county educators The National Board of Professional Teaching Standards has certified 36 Anne Arundel County Public Schools educators, giving them the highest teaching credential in the nation. Educators must complete a rigorous professional development assessment to achieve certification. With these 36 newly certified teachers, the county now has 160 certified educators, or 3.2 percent of its teaching staff, the highest in the state. michaelm_aacps@hotmail.com. Information: 410-643-5666.

I got my first recipe for magic brownies at a Weight Watchers meeting. I became so hooked on the little squares of chewy, chocolaty goodness that I began testing, revising and perfecting my own version. When mixed and baked just right, they come out moist, delicious and mind-numbingly good. The secret ingredient? Black beans. That's right, magic brownies are nothing more than a can of black beans pureed and dumped into a fat-free brownie mix. I also add cinnamon, which not only perks up the flavor but has been shown in studies to help lower LDL, or "bad" cholesterol.

Friends, good news from the financial front. Remember that pesky economic downturn we keep hearing about? Believe it or not, there's a place where people seem totally unaffected by job loss, stagnant wages and soaring fuel costs. A place where people don't obsess about paying bills or do a lot of hand-wringing about how to make ends meet. And do you know where this place is? The concession stand at your local movie theater. Oh, I wish you could have been there the other night at the Regal theater in Hunt Valley to see the great American economic engine roar to life.

I am confused about buttermilk in cake recipes. The recipes don't specify which type of buttermilk - whole fat or low- or nonfat. Will using low-fat or nonfat buttermilk change the taste? The recipes probably don't specify a fat level because most buttermilk is low-fat or nonfat. Originally, buttermilk was what was left after butter had been churned from full-fat milk. Since the fat became butter, the milk left behind was low-fat or nonfat. These days, most buttermilk is cultured, similar to yogurt.

How can I convert poundcake recipes that call for butter and shortening to just butter or I Can't Believe It's Not Butter? I tried to substitute ICBINB for shortening and my cake sank in the middle after rising. Using a reduced-fat margarine spread like I Can't Believe is always a bad idea in baking. Many have water or air added to reduce the calories or lower the amount of fat. That's probably why your cake sank. There are reduced-fat products that are formulated for baking; they should specify that on the label.

Bars of every make and model are causing gridlock in the supermarket aisles. There are energy bars, cereal bars, breakfast bars and snack bars. Still others are designed as a meal replacement. But buyer beware: Your favorite "healthy" granola bar may actually be a hybrid candy bar fueled by sugar, saturated fats and trans fats. According to calorie-count.com, a typical 1.5-ounce soft granola bar with chocolate chips contains 181 calories, 7.1 grams of fat (4.4 grams saturated) and 117 milligrams of sodium.

In O. Henry's stories of striving in turn-of-the-century New York, known collectively as The Four Million, filet mignon has a recurring role as a symbol of love and momentary luxury. The diminutive tail end of the tenderloin is the rare celebration meal for two starving artists, each secretly working in a laundry so the other can pursue a dream. In another story, a young lady who subsists mostly on weak Irish stew sheds a tear over her filet as she dines alone, fearing the well-to-do suitor who bought it is about to be proved disreputable.