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Nov. 24, 2025 - Dr. Oz Podcast
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Are Microwave Dinners Safe to Heat in Plastic? | Dr. Oz | S10 | Ep 39 | Full Episode
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In minutes, dinner is served.
But is the plastic on these microwave meals toxic?
We're at the Good Housekeeping Lab putting your favorite frozen foods to the test.
We are peeling back the truth on packaging and keeping you from getting sick.
Plus, forget turkey day tension.
We've got foolproof fixes for a stressless Thanksgiving.
That is a pretty good result.
Coming up next.
Are you ready for season 10?
Yeah!
I love you, Dr. Isle.
Middle of a frozen food aisle revival, a boom that has reached an estimated 53 billion in sales.
Let's be with a billion.
But is the way we're heating our microwavable frozen dinners a hazard?
A health hazard to our family?
Well, take a look at all these plastic pieces here.
I mean, they're all zapped, right?
Some of them a little too much.
This is a good example of that.
And it's not alone.
There are other ones that have been zapped the wrong way as well.
Plus, is uncooked food sneaking in that could make us sick?
So I've got a couple questions for the audience here because Claudia is joining me.
And Claudia's told that her sister, Patricia, at least she thinks she has.
And you say that, Claudia, that your sister uses microwave foods consistently.
Tell your story.
Defend yourself.
I am too busy.
I have three jobs.
I have no time to cook.
So I feel like I'm meal prepping.
It's convenient.
They taste good.
Perfect portion sizes and it comes with a dessert.
That sounds pretty good.
I mean, doesn't it sound pretty good, everybody?
So what's wrong with that?
That sounds pretty good.
I don't like that she's eating these foods out of this plastic on a daily basis.
She takes it out of the microwave and it's like gooey and it's melting and gross.
She needs to listen to me.
But the plastic's melting too, right?
I'm sorry.
The plastic's melting too, not just the food.
Yes, and it's pretty gross.
How many people are concerned about the plastic melting?
Yeah, a lot of folks.
So because so many people are relying on these microwave meals, the same concerns that both of you are bringing up for the good and for the bad, I decided to take a little trip to the Good Housekeeping Institute to investigate.
Is it safe to microwave our frozen dinners in plastic?
A lot of my staff eats frozen microwave meals, but after cooking them, they've noticed something strange happens.
These plastic containers seem to have gotten a little flimsier, and sometimes they even melt like this one, right?
So that got us thinking, what's actually going on inside there?
And is some of this plastic really melting?
To find out, I went to Good Housekeeping to run some tests.
They investigate all kinds of products.
Moisturizers, laundry detergents, lunch boxes, even sweaters.
So soft.
And products that get the Good Housekeeping seal of approval, well, they're good.
Betty Gold oversees all kitchen product testing and reviews.
She agreed to test two popular frozen microwave meals for us.
Lasagna and chicken nuggets.
So how do we know what to do?
So we read the instructions and yours starts out with one minute and mine starts out with four.
All right, I'll race you.
First, we heated both following the package instructions to a T. Enjoy.
Well, it's steaming, so this plastic seems intact.
Yeah, it looks pretty good to me.
I don't think it seems any flimsier.
Nor was the plastic on Betty's meal any flimsier.
On to the next test.
We thawed the meals.
So now we're gonna see what happens when we cook these when they've been sitting out for a while.
So like if you bought them in the store that day and got home, never froze them again.
Exactly, and they thawed to room temperature.
Again, we heated them following the package instructions.
Thawing is a very common human error we see with frozen meals.
These things are really meant to be cooked directly out of the freezer.
But the plastic does seem pretty much intact.
Yeah, mine too.
Doesn't feel too flimsy.
Feels like the structure is holding up.
And for the final test.
So now these have been thawed to room temperature and we're going to heat them for two extra minutes to show another common human error.
Oh my goodness.
I thought I heard popping in there.
Ooh, now that's popped corn.
Look at this.
The plastic melted.
A lot of the integrity is gone off this.
Yeah, it's very warped.
People really do this.
I think a lot of people really do this.
I think that a huge problem with frozen meals is that people cook them on autopilot without actually reading the manufacturer's instructions.
Man, look, this whole plastic is melted in dirt.
Oh my god, it's like liquid.
I'm worried about the BPA.
I'm worried that this plastic is melting and getting into my food.
Absolutely.
BPA is a huge concern for many consumers.
This is a chemical found in plastic that may leach into food when heated.
To find that an either container had BPA, Good Housekeeping sent them to an outside lab for further testing.
Maybe Murphy, executive editor of Good Housekeeping, is here.
Our team has joined forces to test how the plastic in frozen meals held up in the microwave.
So why is this testing more important now than ever?
Well, for the first time in years, there's been a real uptick in the frozen food market.
I mean, we all say we're busier than ever before, right?
And we heard it.
Convenience is absolutely key.
And honestly, there's just tastier, healthier options.
So we know we're eating these meals, right?
So let's make sure we're doing it safely.
All right, so you all saw that user error can be a problem.
The plastic covering on dishes can melt like this one did.
It's not hard to make it happen.
So why could that be concerning?
So what we're worried about here is BPA, because there's a lot of health concerns.
It could affect your brain health, you know, potentially your hormone levels, babies and utero.
There's even been some indications that it could raise your blood pressure.
And all of us seem to have some of it in our body in small amounts, but some of it's there already.
So we gotta look for sources.
So are you ready for the answers, guys?
The testing results.
They're anxiously waiting.
So Good Housekeeping sent off four plastic samples from the two popular brands we were testing, right, of these frozen meals to an outside lab to test for BPA.
Microwave meal A had none.
No BPA.
No BPA.
How about microwave meal B?
Melted plastic at all had?
None.
This is great.
Great news.
The only real danger for overeating your food is maybe you're going to burn the roof of your mouth.
But if you are concerned, I've got a couple key tips.
So first of all, never, ever, ever put plastic in the microwave that doesn't explicitly say microwave safe.
Don't put your plastic in the dishwasher, even top shelf, don't do it.
And before you store your leftovers in plastic, make sure that food is cooled.
Right.
All wonderful tips, easy to follow.
And while cooking your microwave meal, maybe safe in terms of the plastic, there's a whole nother issue we're going to tackle next.
Hidden food poisoning outbreaks happening because of common microwave misconceptions, including thinking a meal like this, look carefully, thinking that it's fully cooked, but is it?
Up next, the surprising microwave mistakes that could make your family sick.
Nice to meet you.
Amy Fisher was just 17 when she pulled the trigger.
It was a shot that sparked a media firestorm.
For their first time together, Mary Jo and her daughter, Jesse Buttofuco, open up about the day Amy Fisher changed their lives forever.
I finally cracked.
I had a mental breakdown.
Plus, how fitness trackers are helping you solve crimes.
They can save your life.
Tell cops where you are.
That's coming up tomorrow.
While the microwave shortens the time it takes to get a meal from the oven to the table, reports of food poisoning outbreaks have me and others concerned.
Could undercooked microwavable meals be making us sick?
Megan Murphy, executive editor of the Good House Giving, is back along with the chief of my medical unit, Dr. Michael Krupain, who was on the USDA National Advisory Committee on Meat and Poultry, especially where he provided guidance on how to better label frozen food.
So he's the expert on this stuff.
They have some common microwave misconceptions that, well, they can make us sick.
Things to watch out for.
Dr. Kupane, first of all, he says that all frozen meals are pre-cooked and only need to be warmed.
Might be a myth, a misconception, is it?
This is a big misconception, and this misconception is a big food safety problem.
And a lot of people have gotten very sick from prepared frozen foods, things like stuffed chicken or pot pies that are called not ready to eat, which basically means that they're raw.
So it looks like this is frozen chicken stir-fries.
Fine.
That's right.
So to speak.
That's what it says.
And you look at the package, that's a big problem, right?
Because this is actually a not ready to eat food, but it looks just like a ready-to-eat food.
How do you know it's not ready to eat?
Well, if you zoom in down here, it's really small and it's really hard to see.
I'll blow it up for you.
And it's really soft.
It's cooked this and made it that.
That's right.
Here it says, cook thoroughly.
And that's kind of the only clue you're going to get there.
So it doesn't say raw, it doesn't say anything.
It just says cook thoroughly.
So, but if you do what most people do is they treat it, they have a habit, right?
They buy something that they think is ready to eat and they just throw it in the microwave for two minutes.
But that would be a big dangerous mistake because it's raw, right?
So it doesn't have bacteria in it.
Cooked thoroughly is the only thing you're going to see that warns you about that?
That could be.
So what the big thing is, here, it says C-back panel.
You've got to look all over this box and you've got to find those cooking instructions.
On something that's not ready to eat, they're not a suggestion.
They're a requirement for safety.
All right.
Next up, and this is a big misconception, is that microwaves cook from the inside out, which is, frankly, I thought this was true.
I've heard this all along.
No, so microwaves cook from the outside in and the heat only really penetrates about an inch and an inch and a half.
So if something's really thick, ultimately that cooks via conduction.
The heat's gonna work its way in there.
So best practices for the microwave is lower temperature, longer time.
I know say it on there, I gather.
You'll know that.
You need to read instructions and it's and most people don't.
Okay.
Finally, biggest misconception that Dr. Coupe is going to point out to us is that if it feels piping hot, right, it might not be done.
That's right.
Who hasn't taken something out of the microwave and you take a bite and you burn your mouth and then you take another bite and it's freezing cold?
That's because the microwave doesn't cook everything evenly.
So like you like interval training?
You want to do interval cooking in a microwave.
So you want to cook something for a few minutes, take it out, stir it up, turn it over, put it back, make sure it's done.
And then if you're using a meat thermometer, if you're cooking meat, you want to put it in multiple places to make sure it's cooked all the way through everywhere.
You know, we take for granted the microwave because we use it so frequently, but these are three really big issues we got to address to make sure it's safe for us.
Otherwise, from what I could tell, it's pretty good, right?
Saves your time.
I know you're using a lot of it.
Keep using it.
By the way, Dr. Coupain's book is called What to Eat When.
It's coming out soon, so make sure to pre-order it.
And I want to thank Megan and the entire Good House Giving team for being the angels that they are.
We'll be right back.
Next job.
Whether it's your first time preparing a turkey dinner or you invite the chaos into your home every year, this Thanksgiving, everything is about to change.
I'm here with the team for America's Test Kitchen, and we are answering your calls on our turkey hotline.
We're giving you our foolproof food prep guide for a stress-free Thanksgiving.
You guys ready?
Keep talking, keep talking.
Crazy questions.
Turkey Hotline, how can I help you?
Ooh, you better take this one.
These are hard questions.
See that number in the bottom of your screen?
That's our America's Test Kitchen and Dr. Raj Show Thanksgiving Hotline.
And you can call today with all of your Turkey Day questions.
We are live.
We are answering right now as you are watching the show.
And they're busy and they're good.
And today we're giving you the complete foolproof prep guide to a stress-free Thanksgiving, revealing the results of our biggest Thanksgiving survey ever done.
Tackling everything you say causes you turkey day tension and giving you hacks, shortcuts, and new delicious ideas.
America's Test Kitchens, Julia Collin Davidson, Bridget Lancaster, and Brian Roof, who's over there, are all here.
So our team's joined forces to help America with everything Thanksgiving.
So explain to us how you did this crazy survey.
What were you looking for?
Yeah, so we surveyed hundreds of people across the country.
We asked them about their traditions on Thanksgiving, but also what causes them stress.
Is it going to the grocery store?
Is it menu planning because you need to please everyone around the table?
Or is it about timing on the day, when to put the turkey in, when to take it out, when to make the gravy?
So we asked those kinds of questions.
And we took the answers to those questions.
We created the foolproof prep guide.
So it's got tricks, it's got hacks.
It's going to take all the stress out of the holiday planning because people were able to identify exactly what causes them anxiety.
Don't you love this?
Thank you right there.
Find me some help.
Yes.
All right, we're going to start with the mini bag.
Yep.
Turkey.
Our survey revealed that 66% of you, two-thirds of you, buy a frozen turkey.
Hmm.
Fresh or frozen turkey.
As a culinary expert, which is better?
All right, so fresh and frozen, it's very confusing.
Let's start with frozen turkey.
So frozen turkey means it was butchered and then frozen immediately at zero degrees, which really preserves its flavor and texture.
Now on the other end of the spectrum, you have fresh turkey.
These are usually just a couple days old, usually from local farms or good local butcher shops.
Both of these are good options.
What you want to stay away from is this middle area.
I call this the gray area.
Stay away from the gray area.
So this is a turkey that is a couple days, if not weeks, old, and it was never chilled to zero degrees.
So it's not frozen and it kind of skirts the labeling issues, but it's not fresh.
It can be weeks old.
And it has deceiving labels like hard chilled or not previously frozen.
So you don't really know what you're getting here.
So fresh and frozen turkeys are both good options.
You know, you can never go wrong with frozen.
Yeah, if two-thirds of us are getting this, don't lament.
That's fine.
That's good.
A lot of what we're going to do today is allay some of your fears.
Get rid of them because it's not important.
Next, the foolproof way to thaw your frozen turkey.
80% of you say you thaw your turkey in the refrigerator.
Julie, is that the right thing to do?
Perfect.
Perfection.
A nice slow thaw is perfect for the meat.
It really helps it maintain its texture.
Now, thawing a turkey in the fridge takes time.
One day for every four pounds.
So your 12-pound turkey will take three days.
So here's the question.
What if you forgot to thaw your turkey three days in advance?
Which I know would never happen to any of you in the audience here, but if it were to happen, you're actually not out of luck.
Bridget's got a foolproof fix to quickly thaw a turkey without stressing out.
What is it?
It's so easy.
You've got a frozen turkey three days before Thanksgiving.
Just take it, put it in a bucket or a stock pot.
Oh, that's a big one.
And we're going to add water to cover it.
Nice cold water.
You just want to completely cover that turkey, submerge it.
If you have to take a dish and weigh it down, that's great.
Now this is going to sit for 30 minutes.
You're going to change out the water every 30 minutes.
Replenish it with cold water.
You don't want that water to get too hot.
And it's 30 minutes for every pound of turkey.
And just to be clear, we're keeping it cold so that the bacteria don't grow in there.
Is that the goal, Bridget?
That's exactly right.
We don't want any of those bad things to grow in there.
Perfect.
Okay, next, a foolproof, no brine, no-based turkey.
Which sort of catches me off guard.
Brian, why would I want a no-brine no-based turkey?
Is that the whole point?
Brining and basing is a little bit stressful during the holidays.
As you know, with brining, you have to submerge a full-size turkey like this in two to three gallons of salted water, then find room for that big tub of turkey in your fridge.
And during the holidays, there's limited real estate.
So instead, we're going to do a workaround and we're going to salt the bird.
Salt it?
Yeah, just use straight salt, no brine.
And we're going to apply one teaspoon of salt per pound of turkey.
And we're going to do it beneath the skin of the turkey here.
So we'll separate the turkey's skin from the meat.
And we'll get our hands up in there without being too graphic with it.
And we're going to add salt all up in there.
And then if you want to get deep in there without using your hand, you could use the handle of a wooden spoon.
But you just want to be careful not to tear the skin of the turkey.
Okay, now you have an example of what happens if you only use salt.
Are you ready, guys?
Oh, that is a pretty good result.
I never thought about the skin as a key part of this, but it does make it crispy because you're not messing it up with putting too much brine and stuff on it.
Exactly.
I love it.
It looks fantastic.
All right, next, our survey found 65% of you make your own gravy instead of buying it.
So we have a foolproof make-a-head gravy hack you can do a few days ahead in the holidays.
This is a major day of problem, right?
The gravy?
This is a game changer for me when I first learned how to do this.
So easy.
You can do this months in advance and you can put it in your freezer.
And also, if you're going to someone else's house, imagine showing up with a gallon of perfect homemade turkey gravy.
You're a rock star at this point, right?
So you can easy to do.
What you have to do is you have to start with turkey parts and you can buy them.
They're pretty inexpensive.
Wings are perfect.
You take some vegetables, you roast them, you make a broth, you make a turkey broth, and then you very simply add a roux and turn it into gravy.
And again, do this a month ahead of time.
Do it ahead.
You don't lose anything with freezing.
No.
Nope.
It's perfect.
So efficient time.
It's good.
I love you, Julia.
Jennifer Share, you got a gravy problem, I understand.
Gosh, Dr. Oz, I need some help.
I'm having people over for Thanksgiving this year.
So normally I do Easter, but this year I'm doing Thanksgiving.
And, you know, it's just lumpy, lumpy, lumpy.
Come on over.
Let's go to Bridget.
She's got solutions for everything.
You can take that with you.
She'll help you.
This is a stress-less fix for lumpy gravy.
Take it away, Bridget.
You know, a lot of the lumps in there are because the starch and the broth was combined too quickly.
So the flour, the cornstarch, it doesn't have time to dissolve.
So this is what you do.
You rip out your food processor.
Were you?
Of course.
You can also just change the name for yourself.
There's 500 things to do.
I'm going to call it gravy and dumplings.
Nobody will.
Oh, I like that.
Rebrand it.
Oh, that's a good idea.
There's a good one.
Yeah, that's actually very good.
So just put it in a blender or a food processor and puree it.
Lumps are gone.
This works with everything that's lumpy.
It's that simple?
It's that simple.
Take it out.
Because I want to add ones.
Like, would I just throw it in there too?
You would probably want to cook those, make them nice and soft, and then you could add them right in there.
So beautiful caramelized onions would be perfect in here.
So look at this.
Look how smooth that is.
That is lump-free.
All right.
My family's going to have good gravy this year.
You're going to have good gravy.
Next, our survey asked you, what's the biggest challenge when it comes to hosting Thanksgiving?
The overwhelming response was, it is hard to keep everything warm.
See that at the very bottom, 39%, right?
It's a lot of people.
So when we come back, the genius, and it is genius, Thanksgiving hack that will keep your side dishes warm until dinner.
Stick around.
Thank you, guys.
Thanks for listening, too.
Hydrogen peroxide.
From cleaning ears to cuts and scrapes.
Could the latest craze of drinking it put your health at risk?
We go undercover.
And you think this can help treat camper?
Of course.
Plus, oh, that is good.
Every Wednesday, it's the dish on Oz.
This is easy.
Two steps.
Simple.
It really brings the party to the table.
This week is Boozy Brunch Favorites.
This is the best thing you guys have made.
All nuance.
That's coming up on Wednesday.
We are live on the phones and Facebook Live, and you can contact the experienced America's Test Kitchen chefs with any Thanksgiving prep questions that you may have.
In fact, we partnered with ATK to do the biggest survey ever on how Americans handle Thanksgiving.
And using that information, we have created this foolproof prep guide to eliminate stress wherever you are feeling it the most over the holidays.
Now you told us the biggest stress of the holidays, at least one of them, is keeping everything warm.
See that at the very bottom there?
So Brian is a foolproof warmer hack.
It's to treat your cooler like a warming drawer.
Take it away.
Right, so a cooler is really just an insulated box.
It keeps cold food cold, but also keeps hot food hot.
So you could stack in casseroles and pies.
You want to line the bottom and sides with foil and maybe a bath towel or something, just so you don't have the hot dish touching the sides of the plastic cooler.
And you can put casserole upon casserole upon casserole and pies all the way to the top.
If you want to stack them, you want to put a piece of cardboard in between so you can build it straight up.
And it'll hold here, keeping warm for a couple of hours.
All right, so this morning at 8 a.m., we made this casserole, and it's been in there since we have not been heating it up.
I want a brave audience member to tell us if it's actually still warm.
Who wants to try this?
You up for it?
Okay, here, hold that.
Keep it on your lap because it's a little bit warm.
It should be a ferritus.
Okay, take that.
Now, are you ready?
I'm ready.
Da-da!
Doesn't that look good?
Now go ahead.
Are you ready?
I'm not interested in the taste.
I'm interested in the temperature.
Will it be warm enough to satisfy your Thanksgiving?
Oh, you blew on it.
Absolutely delicious and perfect.
And did you have to blow on it or was that showing off from it?
Well, that was, yeah, you probably don't have to blow on it.
It was delicious.
Not that hot, but right amount of hot.
Yes.
And you'd be happy serving it to your guests.
Perfect.
Oh, I love it.
Nice job.
Nice job.
All right.
Next biggest challenge when it comes to hosting Thanksgiving is oven space.
26% of you felt you just didn't have enough room to heat everything up.
Well, don't stress.
Julia is a foolproof space-saving hack.
It's a slow cooker.
I never thought of using this actually.
Take it off your lap.
Yeah, yeah.
Take it out of the oven, put it in your slow cooker.
This is an old catering trick.
And what you do is you put your mashed potatoes in here and then take little pats of butter and you push them down in.
And when it comes serving time, you can kind of stir them around.
It loosens up the potatoes and you get a fresh buttery flavor.
And you can put them in here for a couple hours.
I'm sorry, but you cook the potatoes in your eaten?
You can.
You can cook the potatoes in here, drain them, and then mash them and put them back.
Or you can make them however you do and put them in here just to keep them warm.
Oh, I love this, right?
Our survey found that 85% of you serve white potatoes on Thanksgiving, with an overwhelming 90% of you serving a mash.
So this is a tip you can all use.
May I taste?
Absolutely.
You know, the best part about America's Test Kitchen, really, you're efficient, you're thoughtful, you're practical, but mostly you really make tasty food.
Oh, thanks.
Good for you.
Yes, you work hard at it.
Oh.
All right, Yesi's here.
Now, unlike the mashed potatoes I just tasted, Yesi made mashed potatoes with unfortunately a little complication.
A very common mistake caused this.
What happened?
All right, well, this is a little embarrassing to say on TV because you would think mashed potatoes is easy, but I seem to always over-process it.
And it's gluey and just not working.
Goofy.
Not happening anymore because Chris's got a solution.
Come on over here.
And she has a couple of solutions.
This is a foolproof fix for gooey mash.
And when it's a gluey mash, one thing you want to be careful about, I'm understanding now, is how you brand your food.
That's exactly right.
Well, you don't want to over mash.
As you said, you probably over-processed it.
It's all about branding.
Why go with gluey mashed potatoes when we can make potato soufflés, right?
So take lemons, make lemonade, right?
I've asked you, why would you even name the food till you're done?
I love it.
Right?
Love it.
Who knows what it's going to turn out?
You thought this was mashed potatoes?
Maybe not, but the guests won't know the difference.
You could even call it a Cajun turkey if it turns out exactly burnt.
Exactly.
Cajun turkey.
So you've got mashed potatoes.
You've got a couple of eggs we're going to add right in there.
So easy.
And cheese.
Cheese makes everything better.
Oh, yeah.
And you just mix this together.
And in the oven, the egg is going to puff up and create these beautiful light, almost like little soufflets.
So you just mix it, scoop it into muffin tins.
No way.
Just like that.
Look at this.
Isn't this crazy?
Bake it right in the oven.
Now you're a superhero.
I just went from ordinary to extraordinary.
All right, exactly.
Nobody's going to want mashed potatoes again.
There.
Next, our survey found.
It is an upgrade.
Survey found that 80% of you prepare at least half your Thanksgiving Day meal in advance.
And Julia says there are two tools every foolproof food prepper needs, and they are.
They are.
Zipper lock bags, good for the freezer, and post-its.
Post-its?
Yeah, post-its.
Oh, post-its are your friend.
So, first off, Zipper Lock bags.
You can do almost all your veg prep ahead of time.
Pack into Zipper Lock bags.
If you're going to cook these down, say in stuffing or gravy or some sort of sauce, put it in the freezer.
You can cook them right from frozen.
You don't need to thaw them.
Or if you're going to serve them wrong like a crudeté, you can still chop them up and keep them in your fridge for a day or two.
Get all that knife work out of the way.
Is there any artwork to how you store them in the plastic bags?
Not really.
Not if it's going in the freezer.
Sometimes if you're putting it in the fridge and they're fresh veg, you might want to wrap them in a damp paper towel because that'll keep some moisture in the equation because you don't want things to dry out.
Otherwise, you put them in the fridge and go.
Yeah, and label it, obviously.
And what are the steps to fix this?
So this is the silliest tip, and I love it, and it saves me every year.
What you do is well before the big meal, you pull out all your platters and you figure out what's going where.
Okay, green beans are going here, turkey's going here.
I also put all the serving utensils out to make sure you have enough because you're always missing a spoon.
But then at that last minute, right, it's the 45 minutes before you're about to serve.
You're making gravy, you're trying to pull everything together, get people around the table.
The red zone.
Yeah, the red zone, right?
And everyone's asking you, what can I do to help?
And you're running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
Wouldn't you hate that, by the way?
Yeah.
How do I help?
Please.
I'm trying to get a meal here.
Right, and then you guys help me to ask me how to help.
Right.
But this is easy.
You'll say, see that platter over there that says stuffing?
Can you put the stuffing in that platter?
It makes it obvious and easy for people to help you, which is half the battle.
Use your partners.
Use your guests.
Up next, the foolproof make-a-head pie hack.
It will take the stress out of Thanksgiving dessert.
It's going to taste like it was made the same day.
You are going to adore this.
77% say they buy canned cranberry sauce and pass it off as homemade by adding whole cranberries and some orange zest.
Ready for this?
It's the dish on Oz, our brand new food series.
Make it tasty.
Dafty Oz and Friends.
We're serving it up every Wednesday in November.
The Dish on Oz.
67% of you make homemade pie on Thanksgiving.
Like dots on your pie?
Try toasting them in the microwave.
Do it in one-minute intervals for five minutes.
They're done when they're fragrant and taste toasty.
That's right.
67% of you opt to make homemade pie for Thanksgiving, but a make-a-head pie can turn into a fail really quickly.
Take a look at these mistakes you found on Instagram.
These are problematic.
This person says, well, says our pie looks more like soup.
Yeah, it wasn't properly wrapped.
That's not good.
It's all breaking down.
And this gentleman said it's totally fell in on itself, turning Thanksgiving into stress giving for this host.
I would definitely rename that one.
Yes.
What happened here?
Well, there's too much moisture from the freezer that sat on top of the pie, so it just slumped into itself.
There's not enough structure.
So you really have to take a little bit of care if you want to make a pie ahead of time to put it in the freezer.
All right, so we got a foolproof make-a-head pie hack.
Are you ready?
Yeah.
It starts like this.
Yeah, isn't that beautiful?
It is beautiful.
And who wants to make a pie on the same day as Thanksgiving?
So go ahead and make your pie, prep it, but then you want to wrap it.
You want to wrap it with at least one or two layers of plastic wrap.
And the pie is completely cooled before you do that.
I suspect that first pie was not cooled before they wrapped it.
So one more time.
We make the pie, we don't cook it.
Don't cook it.
You might have to pre-cook the filling.
But don't bake the whole pie.
All right.
And then you suffocate it basically in the different kinds of plastic wraps.
You're wrapping it up like a mummy.
It's like a mummy, so there's no moisture you can get in.
Right, right.
This is our enemy.
Exactly.
Then when you take it out, what happens?
Well, you put it in the freezer for up to a month ahead, two months if you're not going in and out of your freezer a lot.
But on the day of, you want to let it sit on the counter for about an hour.
And then you only have to add 10 more minutes of baking time to the original recipe.
When it comes out, it looks a little bit like this.
It looks a little bit like that, but brown.
Good.
Oh, out of the freezer.
Out of the freezer.
Out of the freezer.
In the oven, 10 minutes more than usual.
10 minutes.
And it's crispy still.
It's not moistened.
It's not beautiful.
It's not falling apart.
No.
Imploding.
No sunken.
Oh, I like this.
Thank you very much.
Finally, Julie has a bonus pie hack.
This is for a magazine cover worthy pie every time.
You're going to use a cooling rack, this is crazy, as a foolproof lattice.
Yes, yes.
You're going to use this cooling rack as a stencil for a little bit.
So take the cooling rack.
So this is pie dough that we've obviously rolled out.
You're going to take the rolling pin.
You're just going to press this pie rack in so that the tines of the cooling rack make indentations in the pie dough.
Now, let's see.
You press it a little hard.
There you go.
Oh, yes.
Yeah, so then you have a guide for how to make nice even strips.
And I'm actually going to use the side of the cooling rack to help guide me as I go along.
So you give nice straight strips.
Oh, I like this.
Yeah.
So simple.
Yep.
And then we've got, so our pie is almost done.
All right, so lay it across there.
I'm going to show you how to do a lattice.
All right, now unfold the three bit.
Yeah, unfold.
Now peel back the other ones that weren't peeled back.
So this guy and this guy.
Oh, I, yes.
Yes.
All these years later, I finally learned the magic.
It's easy.
It's like surgery.
It is.
No wonder you're so good at it.
All right.
I want to thank you, Julie, very much.
Love having you on.
Bridget, fantastic job, everybody here.
And the America's Test Kitchen crew.
Be sure to go to America's TestKitchen.com/slash Thanksgiving.
Guess what?
They're removing their paywalls today.
It's a special Thanksgiving treat.
Take advantage of this wonderful resource.
Get recipes, equipment, ingredient reviews, menu planning, shopping tips to help make the perfect Thanksgiving dinner.
We'll be right back.
Hydrogen peroxide.
From cleaning ears to cuts and scrapes.
Could the latest trays of drinking it put your health at risk?
We go undercover.
And you think this can help treat cancer?
Of course.
Plus, every Wednesday, it's the dish on Oz.
This is easy.
Two steps.
Simple.
It really brings the party to the table.
This week is Boozy Brunch Favorites.
This is the best thing you guys have made.
All nuance.
That's coming up on Wednesday.
Cereal was the food you would likely find in every single home.
But for some, the desire to start your day with a bowl of cereal has gone soggy.
Eliminated by the latest low-carb diet craze, because they're all over the place, right?
Replaced by grabbing something to go because it's fast.
Or even more extreme, skipping breakfast entirely.
But could a cereal actually help you with your energy, with your portion control, even your heart health?
Here to weigh in is registered dietician Christine Korpatrick, who's here on behalf of my trusted sponsorship partner, Grainberry with Onyx Sorghum.
Why have so many Americans abandoned cereal for breakfast?
Well, Dr. Raz, you're absolutely right.
Breakfast cereal has gone soggy.
It's because we perceive it to be too high in carbohydrates, too high in, you know, just sugar and low in nutrients and fiber.
So people think they're going to have their cereal, their blood sugar is going to spike.
So what Americans are looking for today is something that's going to energize them, keep them full until lunch, and provide their family with powerful and natural antioxidants.
You argue that there's a cereal available today that people ought to have on their breakfast table because it addresses all these issues.
What is it?
It's grainberry.
I am so excited about this.
I'm giving permission to everyone to eat this cereal.
They're all smiling already.
Woo!
They're happy already.
So grainberry is a high-fiber, antioxidant-rich cereal that is very high in resistant starch.
So resistant starch is important because it completely bypasses the small intestine, goes to the large intestine.
What does that mean?
It means that you're not going to get the blood sugar spikes.
It means that you're going to get better gut health.
It has all of those properties that regular cereals do not, that people are fearful of.
There's also a very powerful blend of unique and rare antioxidants in this, going to help with heart health because oats in the cereal help to lower cholesterol.
And then of course we have varieties for everyone.
We've got honey nuts, we have shredded wheat, we've got the bran, which is one of my favorites, we've got apple cinnamon.
So everyone in the family is going to be happy.
There's going to be a box for everybody.
So we'll do a taste test in a second because I know you want to hear about the taste.
But let's talk about antioxidants for a second.
Are they overstated?
How important are they?
I think they're very important.
So if I could just draw our attention to a metaphor here, because I think it is confusing for a lot of people.
So you look at this apple, and this apple is rotting and it's browning.
And what happens is you open up the apple, it ages, it oxidizes, it gets oxygen.
Unfortunately, that also happens to us in our body, right?
So we need something to neutralize those free radicals.
Antioxidants do that.
Free radicals cause disease.
They cause us to age earlier than we want to.
No one wants to do that.
So these antioxidants help to really go in as an army, in fact, and fight against these free radicals so we can avoid disease, so we can avoid all the things that we're trying to achieve to live longer.
So what's the ingredient in the cereal that gives you the antioxidant power?
Yeah, so onyx sorghum is the ingredient that gives it all the antioxidant power, the resistant starch, all the amazing benefits is coming from this particular grain.
You all know about onyx sorghum, right?
Yeah.
Oh, two people said yes.
I know you don't because, you know, when I first learned about this a couple years ago, I hadn't heard of it.
But it's important for you all to know because it's the key ingredient in the grain berry.
Here's why onyx sorghum is so important.
White and red sorghum are grains that have been growing in Africa for thousands of years before making its way to the States.
Fast forward to today.
And you can now find it growing tall, like corn, throughout Texas and the drier regions of the States.
It's used for animal feed and it's drought resistant, making it ideal for farmers.
But there's a newer variety that has piqued people's interest called Onyx Sorghum.
Now it's called Onyx Sorghum because of its color, which it gets as a direct reaction to the sun.
Onyx sorghum is a resistant starch, unlike regular starch, which the body breaks down as sugar.
Onyx sorghum is not digested.
So it acts more like fiber.
It helps control blood sugar.
Onyx sorghum is also known for its powerful antioxidant properties and high tannins.
A win-win.
Health benefits are one thing.
You gotta be healthy, but of course the cereal has to taste good.
So we asked a few of my audience members to try grain berry for two weeks and report back.
Diamond.
Yes.
Actually, first of all, tell me how you guys enjoy this cereal.
I mean, it was absolutely delicious.
It was just so easy to eat.
What did you actually make?
I take a bit of Greek yogurt and then I sprinkle some of the cereal on top with strawberries and I like to kind of make my own parfait.
So what I do is I use the cereal as a replacement for granola and it's great.
And Michelle, how did you enjoy it?
I enjoyed it as a snack to go.
It's so easy to take with you anywhere.
If I go hiking, I bring it or I bring it in the car with me and I mix the two cereals, the flakes and the apple cinnamon.
It's delicious.
It keeps me from getting hungry, which is perfect when you go hiking and you do any kind of exercise.
So I always like when things taste good, but I also want to make sure you feel good afterwards.
How did you feel today?
I was energetic.
I felt great.
I felt really good.
I felt like a whole new person.
Yeah.
Oh my goodness.
Really?
So energetic.
I am trying to make the transition into a healthier lifestyle and it was the perfect segue to get me there because I felt so light, but then it also curbed my appetite so that I could avoid the mid-morning snack.
Kristen, as you look at these cereals, what strikes you as a dietitian?
Yeah, I mean, really, the Onyx sorghum is the color that I'm seeing with it.
So color always rules in terms of nutrient density.
I always tell my patients when you're deciding on a fruit, a vegetable, or a cereal, color is going to be your indicator of healthiness.
So that was really what's striking me.
And also how you can use this above and beyond breakfast, right?
You took it hiking and as a snack.
It's like a replacement for breakfast.
Exactly.
You take it as a snack.
Exactly.
Yes.
Well, thank you for your honest thoughts on this.
Now, I want to talk about the personal part of this debate.
You know, my dad's a physician.
He's always emphasized the importance of breakfast for staying young.
He should know.
Here he is enjoying breakfast at age 93.
I'm sure he's especially happy because my mom probably brought it to him.
But this is also the case for Bob Harris, who was born the exact same year.
It must have been a good year, 1925.
And then he went on to found Grainberry in his 80s, in his 80s.
He's joined here with his son, Peter.
So, Bob, I'd just say take a few seconds and explain the personal side of this to you.
Why would you, in your 80s, start a company?
Well, my father had died at age 40 from heart disease, and my brothers were also quite young from heart disease.
So I worked with Texas AM University to develop Onyx, which is a very unusual ingredient.
It's a variety of sorghum.
And we added it to whole grain oats and whole grain wheat.
And grainberry cereals emerged.
And we think that it's a very healthy option for people to have for breakfast at any other time of the day.
Do you think you give your son a hard time?
Like my dad gives me a hard time all the time?
Yes.
Yeah, thank you.
I finally got an honest answer.
It's in the water.
Something was in the water in 1925.
But I have to say, he also gives me a hard time, which is a good thing, because we thank you.
He keeps you young.
So where can people find the cereal?
Many natural food stores across the United States as well as many mainstream supermarkets, most areas of the country.
All right, so for everyone at home, thanks to our trusted sponsorship partner, Grainberry, beginning tomorrow at 12 noon Eastern Time, be one of the first 1,500 people to go to drive.com to receive a coupon for a free box of Grainberry cereal or a Grainberry Onyx smoothie booster.
There they are, just like that.
You'll be able to get either.
That way, it's your choice.
Now, here's the thing: the studio audience, Bob, they're not so happy when they don't get anything.
So, we have a box of cereal.
How many little flakes are there in a box of cereal?
Truthfully, I've never counted them.
We could divide them up among the audience, several flakes to each.
How generous can we get?
Can we do better than that, Peter?
I would give, how about giving a box of cereal and a pouch of Grainberry Smoothie Booster.
To everybody?
Now they're happy.
The entire studio audience is going home with Greenberry Cereal and Granberry Onyx Smoothie Booster.
They'll be right back.
Enjoy it.
At least you're happy now.
Amy Fisher was just 17 when she pulled the trigger.
It was a shot that sparked immediate firestorm.
For the first time together, Mary Jo and her daughter Jesse Buttofuco open up about the day Amy Fisher changed their lives forever.
I finally cracked.
I had a mental breakdown.
Plus, how fitness trackers are helping to solve crimes.
They can save your life.
Tell cops where you are.
That's coming up tomorrow.
The medical mystery of the world's most famous painting.
And you will never look at the Mona Lisa the same way again.
This beautiful painting has captivated the world with that mysterious smile.
Now, doctors have added another layer of mystery to this work of art.
Megan, for my audience, is here.
So Megan, look at this Mona Lisa painting and tell me what strikes you about it.
I would say she looks kind of happy, but her face looks a little puffy.
Her skin is kind of yellowish.
That's really what sticks out to me.
Women are very observant.
How about the hands?
What do you think about them?
She just looks kind of calm.
Calm.
With her hands holding overlap.
So artists and doctors have long thought about this pain.
You're wondering, who is this woman behind Leonardo da Vinci's painting?
And it's speculated that Mona Lisa was the wife of a wealthy Italian merchant.
But some doctors have noted that she might have a form of heart disease, which you didn't pick up on.
It's very subtle.
But I'll put a little arrow up there by that right eye up there.
And there's another part, something on the left eye as well.
But on that right, I see a little lump where the arrow is, right?
That's something that comes up in hyperlipidemia.
When you have too much fat, it accumulates on the skin.
And, you know, it's possible.
Also, her hands are a little bit swollen, if you notice.
They're not quite as thin as you might normally have expected.
But now there's a whole new theory.
Doctors are saying maybe Mona Lisa had a thyroid problem.
Think about this.
Doctors of the Mayo Clinic noticed the following signs of an underactive thyroid.
First off, the neck is a little thick, right?
It's a little puffy in there.
Pretty typical.
She has a receding hairline.
Notice this arrow here I put to her eyebrow.
People who have thyroids that don't work well have thinner eyebrows, but they don't also go out all the way out to the outside of the eye.
It sort of stops in the middle part, just like Mona Lisa's, right?
And her smile is there, but it's a little mysterious, which makes it alluring.
But is it that way?
Because she has muscle weakness in her face, which also happens with hypothyroidism.
So we may never know the secrets of what happened to Mona Lisa, but I like the theory.
It is sort of interesting.
You guys think it's cool?
But it might teach you about yourselves as well.
If you look like Mona Lisa, think about your thyroid.
Together, change is happening, everybody.
Our journey's just beginning.
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