You go, grill: KFC tests charred chicks

Signs of the Apocalypse continue to shower the land. And yesterday's news comes from one of the great grease purveyors in my lifetime, KFC. (I still think of it as Kentucky Fried Chicken, but I'm old.)

True to their former name, KFC has continued to fry just about everything on its menu, salad greens and pot pies notwithstanding. Yesterday, though, the company announced that it will test-market grilled chicken in six U.S. markets. Among the diverse set of markets is Colorado Springs.

Other test cities include noted fatties Indianapolis, Jacksonville, San Diego and Oklahoma City, andfitness fanatical Austin.

(In the 2007 Men's Fitness magazine ranking of America's fattest and fittest cities, OKC was 15th fattest, Indianapolis was 16th, San Diego was a surprising 21st, and Jax was 23rd. On the other side, Colorado Springs was 3rd fittest, while Austin was 21st.)

Those cities will give KFC valuable feedback on its test menu items, most notably its marinated chicken, which will contain 60 to 180 calories and 3 to 9 fat grams per chicken piece. The regular fried chicken pieces look like this:

• Wing (130 calories, and 8 fat grams) and Extra Crispy Wing (170 and 11)
  
• Breast (360 and 21) and EC Breast (440 and 27)
  
• Leg (130 and 8) and EC Leg (160 and 10)
  
• Thigh (330 and 24) and EC Thigh (370 and 28)
• Large Popcorn Chicken (550 and 35)

Add a serving of mashed potatoes and gravy (140 and 5), some mac and cheese (180 and 8) and a biscuit (220 and 11) to an extra crispy breast, and you've just downed 980 calories and 51 fat grams, or about half a day's calories and an entire day's fat grams.

Don't be fooled into thinking a pot pie is a healthy choice, as it contains 770 calories and 40 fat grams.

However, if the grilled chicken test works, you will be able to go to a KFC and get a reasonably healthy meal:

• A grilled breast (180 calories and 9 fat grams)
• Green beans (50 and 1.5)
• A small corn on the cob (70 and 1.5)
• Baked Beans (220 and 1) and
• Water (0 and 0)

Together, that's 520 calories and 13 fat grams, and quite a bit of food.

Last year, KFC eliminated trans fats from all its food, and it claims to also be working to reduce sodium levels in its food. Further, KFC has an animal welfare policy that seems to address concerns regarding hormone levels in chicken.

Let's hope the test goes well for them.

Do the Crazy Ivan at Mad Greens

Southeast Fort Collins hit the healthy fast-food jackpot earlier this winter when Mad Greens opened a franchise in a strip mall at Timberline and Harmony (it's nestled between a Chipotle and a Floyd's Barber Shop).

It's a perfect location for the suburban set who still equates healthy eating with salads (God forbid anyone really learn to eat or cook with tofu, Brussels sprouts or parsnips -- OK, I'll do that next week) and salads only.

You've seen the bumper sticker: "Eat Beef: The West wasn't won on a salad." Thank you, North Dakota Beef Commission. There's more to vegetarian eating than leaves.

That written, Mad Greens does leaves right. And, in general, you're probably going to leave the store with a better and happier stomach than if you'd ordered to triple greasy gut-bomb from Burger Nova.

A thorough perusal of the Mad Greens nutrition charts for salads and dressings reveals some interesting information, and it underscores that any consumer needs to be aware of the combinations s/he orders.

As with any salad, health-conscious diners need to be careful the dressing isn't adding most of the calories. And even though a salad may look heavy, combined with a lighter dressing, the heaviest salad might actually be the most healthy.

For example, the Crazy Ivan carries the most calories (572) on the menu, as well as 34 fat grams and nearly 43 grams of carbs. But a quick look at Ivan's ingredients reveals a cornucopia of healthy fats, fibrous veggies and good protein. In fact, adding chicken to another salad still won't get you to the same level as Ivan's protein mark, and you'd have to pay more. Eliminate the croutons, and you get rid of a bunch of the carbs and calories without losing protein or fiber.

The Crazy Ivan (sans the croutons):

• Salad Greens
• Beets
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Goat Cheese

Absolutely nothing wrong with that, and by removing the croutons, you can add back in some of the calories by ordering it with one of the olive or canola oil vinaigrettes. I'd recommend Port wine, lemon curry or balsamic.

On the flip side, if you're ordering one of the low-calorie salads (fewer than 200 calories) you might risk not getting enough calories to fuel your afternoon. Adding chicken to the Custer, the Van Gogh, the Nobo Seagaru, the Da Vinci or the MAD Molly Brown seems almost essential for a normal-sized adult.

Among the dressings, the ginger soy has the healthiest nutritional profile, but its pungent flavors might not work with certain dressing ingredients.

Sunset and Fine: Magazine stews up winner

As a magazine, venerable old Sunset continues to wobble along as it sees many of its sister lifestyle magazines founder and falter.

Founded in 1898 as a mouthpiece publication for the Southern Pacific Railroad company, Sunset still seeks to promote the Western lifestyle, despite the vast differences in living in Hawaii compared to, say, Tensleep, Wyoming.

Part of the magazine's appeal, even as HGTV and hyper-active home remodelers continue to turn lifestyle media into advertisements for Lowe's and Home Depot, continues to be its recipe sections. And one of the February entries rates as the best beef stew I've ever made (though I made it as a bison stew).

"Smoky Beef Stew with Blue Cheese and Chives" still has a few weeks of cold and windy winter that it can warm before we start moving out to the grill.

The ingredients, as I've already parenthetically mentioned, are negotiable to an extent:

• Carrots and potatoes are traditional beef stew ingredients, and tough to argue with in this classic because you don't want super-pungent root veggies distracting your taste buds from the smoky richness of the wine-based broth;
• Chipotle powder is nice, but I used a guajillo powder along with the pimiento ahumado;
• For the wine, I started with the Big House Red, a central California red with just the right strength to complement, but not overpower, the smoky spices and the bison. Of course, I had to sample the Big House, so I finished the stew by softening the potatoes and carrots in a Holy Cow merlot from the Columbia River Valley in Washington. (We're finishing that bottle and the stew at a reasoned pace.);
• Smoked bacon, such as Nueske's, is essential;
• Bison is just as good as beef, especially if you up the fat content with either extra oil or an extra slice of bacon;
  
• Canola oil doesn't get in the way of the stew, as a more flavorful oil might; and
  
• Don't forget the blue cheese; though the stew's great without it, the cheese pushes it over the top.
  

You should not deviate, however, from the preparation method or utensils. Browning the meat in a Dutch oven indeed takes time, but the resulting brown crust at the bottom of the pan starts to loosen when you add the smoked bacon. The roux that results ratchets up the entire sauce. And cook everything the amount of time requested. Stew ingredients need to hang out with each other for awhile before they're ready to commit.

I loved it. My wife loved it. These readers of Sunset loved it.

If you have a few hours on a cold weekend day, you'll love making and eating it.