Fat

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.

There are a couple of tricks to preparing ribs. I prefer spareribs to baby back, because they are a little fattier and don't dry out during long, slow cooking. But spareribs do need to be trimmed before the rub goes on. Still, that's not hard. First, cut away any excess fat or meat that isn't supported by a rib. You'll also notice there's a flap of meat that stretches diagonally across about half of the ribs. If you want, remove it; that way the meat will all be done about the same. (Cook the removed bit and the rest of the meaty scraps along with the ribs and you'll have a good griller's treat that will be done about halfway through the smoking period.

Scientists have discovered what could be the ultimate workout for couch potatoes: exercise in a pill. In experiments on mice that did no exercise, the chemical compound, known as AICAR, allowed them to run 44 percent farther on a treadmill than those that did not receive the drug. The drug, according to the researchers, changed the physical composition of muscle, essentially transforming the tissue from sugar-burning fast-twitch fibers to fat-burning slow-twitch ones - the same change that occurs in distance runners and cyclists through training.

Yogurt is made with milk that has "fermented and coagulated because it's been invaded by friendly bacteria," according to the definition in Food Lover's Companion. It's a good-for-you food that is believed to promote better digestion and help the immune system. The most versatile, for cooking purposes, is the plain stuff. It adds creaminess and tang, along with healthful nutrients, to sauces and dips. And if it's lunch you're after, it can be tailored to your tastes, with any number of mix-ins: honey, raisins and/or walnuts, for starters.

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.

The doors of Tony Hopkins Jr.'s white Dodge Charger open Lamborghini-style: They swing up, not out. The white car has four TVs for watching DVDs, exterior speakers mounted on the rear and 24-inch rims. But the 25-year-old Pasadena resident still has about a month's worth of customizing work left to do. This is not a car he'd give up without a fight. So it seemed natural that Hopkins slugged a would-be car thief and took his .380-caliber handgun when two men tried to rob him outside his apartment in the 8100 block of Elmberry Court on Thursday night.

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.

To such well-known threats to the health of the Chesapeake Bay as nitrogen from farm fertilizers and runoff brought on by suburban sprawl, add a less-obvious danger: bacon grease. Homeowners who dump fat down the kitchen drain account for a growing share of sewage system overflows throughout Maryland. Most are minor, but grease buildup in a sewer line was blamed for a spill of more than a half-million gallons into woods next to the Patuxent River in Howard County this year. Yesterday, officials gathered on the banks of the Little Patuxent in Ellicott City's Centennial Park to call on cooks to be more careful.

By definition, cheesecake is creamy, luscious, rich and decadent. But the Center for Science in the Public Interest put the Cheesecake Factory's 6 Carb Original on its 10 Worst Foods You Should Never Eat list. Calorie-count.com concurs, giving commercially prepared cheesecakes a D+. The culprit is saturated fat, which typically hovers at 30 to 50 grams per serving. An average person who consumes a 2,000-calorie diet with 30 percent calories from fat should consume about 67 grams in an entire day. Two ways to beat a failing grade?