Health hazards

Health hazards
Grilling makes mouthwatering food but also can pose some health hazards, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research.
Cancer researchers have found that grilling and broiling can produce some cancer-causing compounds, but that there are ways to reduce the risks.
Safe grilling measures include grilling vegetables rather than meat, marinating meats, trimming the fat, precooking, preventing juices from dripping and burning, and flipping hamburgers often.
Detailed information is available in "The Facts About Grilling." The free brochure is available by calling (800) 843-8114, ext. 06, 9-5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Or visit the Web site at www.aicr.org.
Presto, it's pasta
Though Ragu Express delivers a predictable out-of-the-box flavor, its convenience earned favorable reviews from Chicago Tribune staffers. The corkscrew pasta cooks in 31/2 minutes in the microwave and has a pleasant texture. They also liked the fact that each box includes six individual servings (six packets of pasta, six of sauce) instead of one giant one. Three flavors are available: classic meat flavor, traditional tomato, and sweet tomato and garlic. A box costs under $4.
Recipes wanted
St. Anthony Altar and Rosary Society is collecting recipes for a cookbook to be published as a fund-raiser. For information call Maria Orr, (330) 545-2942; Kathy Rimedio, (330) 747-2240; or Julie Pontuti, (330) 759-8827.
Food porn
The Center for Science in the Public Interest is 30, all grown up and targeting cheese as its next evil ... cheese.
According to the group, the average American eats -- get this -- 30 pounds of cheese a year! That's up dramatically from 11 pounds each in 1970. The CSPI says part-skim mozzarella is somewhat of a fraud because it saves only 1 gram of fat per ounce. The Web site -- www.cspinet.org -- recommends switching to reduced-fat cheese.
The group regularly nominates "Food Porn," examples of particularly decadent foods. This month it's Cheesecake Factory's Carrot Cake. The 6-inch-high slice weighing in at just about a pound has 1,560 calories and 84 grams of fat, 23 of them saturated.