Keep calm stay-at-home moms, you don’t have to wait until the holidays to get a glimpse of some of Oprah’s favorite things. Oprah has taken to her personal Instagram account to share her latest obsession, the T-Fal ActiFry. The T-Fal ActiFry is a new multicooker that can turn your guilty favorites into healthful dishes. Whether it’s meat, vegetables, or grain, the ActiFry promises to cut the calories. Even Oprah admits that the multicooker managed to use only a tablespoon of oil while cooking an entire plate of French fries. See? Now if you can’t trust Oprah, who can you trust?

Below is an easy recipe that you can replicate with your T-Fal ActiFry.

Warm Asparagus & Green Bean Salad
Serve: 4 people
Ingredients
3/4 lb fresh green beans
1 bunch thin asparagus, about 3/4 lb
1/2 ActiFry Spoon extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon fresh dill, minced
1/2 lemon juiced and zested
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2 hard boiled eggs, peeled and diced
1 slice of ham, diced, optional

1. Wash and trim the green beans and asparagus, and cut into about 1 1/2 inch pieces.
2. Add the green beans and asparagus to the pan and drizzle with 1/d ActiFry spoon of extra virgin olive oil.
3. Cook for 12 minutes, until the beans and asparagus are crisp-tender.
4. Transfer to a serving bowl. Meanwhile whisk together the lemon zest, lemon juice, mustard, extra virgin olive oil and dill in a mixing bowl.
5. Toss the vegetables with the dressing. Season generously with salt and pepper, to taste.
6. Top each serving with diced hard boiled eggs and or ham as desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.

The post Making Healthy Meals With One of Oprah’s Favorite Things appeared first on Metro.us.

Details of the Texan’s date with Oprah on Thursday have leaked, most crucially that he confesses to using performance-enhancing drugs after decades of denial. This barely covers the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) allegation that Armstrong ran “the most professionalized and successful doping program in the history of sport”, but could still land the ex-cyclist in serious trouble.

The confession could cost Armstrong tens of millions of dollars in lawsuits from the Sunday Times to the US government, with a possibility of jail time for perjury. The former seven-time Tour de France champion has already received a lifetime ban from cycling and Olympic sports, lost his lucrative sponsorships and resigned from the Livestrong cancer foundation.

A gamble, but also a step forward. “Rebuilding Lance Armstrong’s reputation is the biggest challenge imaginable, but it starts now,” John David, CEO at David PR, told Metro. “He has supporters and if his story is believable, he has a chance.” David adds that appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s show, rather than hard news alternatives, will help as “she would not skewer him”.

Charity will be key; Livestrong has raised over $500 million for cancer sufferers and its patron continues to benefit from goodwill. Donations were “twice normal levels” after the damning report, the charity claims. Despite his resignation, Armstrong remains in close contact with Livestrong.   

Armstrong has also met with USADA chiefs to discuss co-operation with a wider investigation, naming corrupt officials, in exchange for a reduced ban that allowed him to compete in triathlon events. His first events in 2012 were a success and the ‘Ironman’ authority would not rule out a return to the sport.

Other drug cheats have returned to sport, such as baseball player Mark McGwire, now a coach. “It won’t happen tomorrow, but there’s a path back for him if he is smart,” says David.   
 

Paying the price:  What Armstrong could lose

US Justice Department: $50 million – value of sponsorship with Armstrong’s US Postal Service team, which it could pursue with fraud claims.
Prizes and bonuses: $16 million which authorities are now seeking – including $12 million to SCA Promotions.
The Sunday Times: $1.5 million from a libel case alleging drug use.

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“He had a private conversation with the staff, who have done the important work of the foundation for many years,” said Livestrong cancer foundation spokeswoman Katherine McLane.

“It was a very sincere and heartfelt expression of regret over any stress that they’ve suffered over the course of the last few years as a result of the media attention,” she said.

The apology came on the day that Armstrong was scheduled to tape an interview with Oprah Winfrey to air on Thursday — his first interview since being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.

The disgraced cyclist plans to admit in the interview to doping throughout his career, USA Today reported on Saturday. McLane declined to comment on whether Armstrong will admit to doping during the interview.

Armstrong has always vehemently denied using performance-enhancing drugs and has never been proven to have tested positive.

But an October report from the U.S. anti-doping body USADA cited Armstrong’s involvement in what it characterized as the “most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen,” involving anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, blood transfusions and other doping.

Less than two weeks later, Armstrong’s seven Tour de France victories were nullified and he was banned from cycling for life after the International Cycling Union ratified the USADA’s sanctions against him.

Armstrong, a survivor of testicular cancer, stepped down as a Livestrong board member in November.

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While Justin Bieber may still be making attempts to win back ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez, at least one influential personality thinks he should cool it — and maybe revise his previously stated plans to be married by 25, too. “I think 25 is too young, actually, I really do — particularly for you,” Oprah Winfrey tells Bieber during an interview. “Your whole 20s is about discovering who you really are. You owe that to yourself, particularly because of the business that you’re in [where there's] not a lot of self-discovery time because so much is already defined for you.” To Bieber’s credit, he at least seems to acknowledge her authority, responding, “You are Oprah and you’re telling me to not get married when I’m 25, so I should probably listen to you.”

A week after being cleared of of allegations that he’d had a sexual relationship with a minor, “Sesame Street” puppeteer Kevin Clash — the man behind the popular Elmo character — has resigned amid further allegations and an impending $5 million civil suit from a second accuser, according to the Associated Press. “Unfortunately, the controversy surrounding Kevin’s personal life has become a distraction that none of us want, and he has concluded that he can no longer be effective in his job and has resigned from ‘Sesame Street.’ This is a sad day for ‘Sesame Street,’” a spokesman for Sesame Workshop says in a statement. Clash’s initial accuser had recanted his statement, but then recanted his recantation, saying he had been coerced by Clash’s legal team.

Maybe the feminists had it wrong, at least according to Cameron Diaz. “I think every woman does want to be objectified,” she tells the Sunday Times. “There’s a little part of you at all times that hopes to be somewhat objectified, and I think it’s healthy. I’m a woman, I know how to handle myself. I know what I feel comfortable doing, and I know my sexuality.”

While his “Twilight” co-stars, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, have each other to turn to romantically, Taylor Lautner isn’t so lucky, and dating isn’t easy for the actor. “I do have to be more careful. I would be lying if I said that I don’t guard myself more than I used to, but I don’t want to be too guarded,” Lautner tells Look magazine. “If you have so many walls up that you can’t even make new friends or find new relationships, that would be a bummer.”

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In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, which aired last night, Douglas, 16, opened up about feeling bullied and isolated by her teammates at her Virginia Beach gym. She said they even sometimes used racial slurs.

“One of my teammates was like, ‘Could you scrape the bar?’” Douglas, joined by her mother, told Winfrey during the interview. “And they were like, ‘Why doesn’t Gabby do it, she’s our slave?’

“When she was 14, she said, ‘I’d rather quit. If I can’t move and train and get another coach, I’d rather quit the sport,’” Natalie Hawkins, Douglas’ mother said.

But the bullying didn’t necessarily end, even after Douglas more than proved her worth when she qualified for the 2012 London Games. During the Olympics, Douglas said she was shocked to learn that her hair, often pulled back into a bun, was a point of contention for Internet critics. She was lambasted for straightening her hair, which was seen by some as a failure to represent the African-American community. But, reported US Weekly, Douglas and her mother learned to laugh about such criticism rather than take it to heart.

Douglas went on to win two gold medals at the 2012 London Olympics.

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The Oprah Winfrey Network has announced an online sweepstakes in support of the new series “Oprah’s Lifeclass” and its online companion course.

The meet-and-greet with Oprah will happen at the O You! event in Atlanta, Georgia. Sign up for the online companion class here.

The first million people to sign up will receive a limited edition Oprah’s Lifeclass Journal. They can also be entered for a chance to meet Oprah at the event. Fifteen winners will get an all-expenses paid  trip to the event, flying first class and even joining Oprah on stage.

Good luck!

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And like the best scripted dramas, when it came time to wrap things up, Oprah chose a business-as-usual approach: no car giveaways, no A-list celebrity guests. Similar to the low-key ending of the Oprah favorite “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” — Mary surveyed her workplace, smiled, shut out the lights and quietly left in the final scene — Oprah’s final hour with her audience was just that: Oprah chatting with her viewers.

“You and this show have been the great love of my life,” she told fans gathered for the episode, which was taped at the Harpo Studios in Chicago on Tuesday. “I thank you for being as much of a sweet inspiration for me as I’ve tried to be for you. I won’t say goodbye. I’ll just say, ‘Until we meet again.’ To God be the glory.”

With that, she walked through the teary crowd and headed backstage, where she hugged her staff, picked up her beloved dog and said, “We did it, Sadie.”

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The Clinton Hill actor has fond memories of watching “The Oprah Winfrey Show” with his mother.

“My entire life was spent with Oprah,” said Heard, 25.

He is such a fan, he said, because he is inspired by how much she helps people, both with her fortune and dispensing free advice on the show. “She gives back so much,” he said.

Today, he’ll be watching ABC for her final show, armed with a few friends for moral support. “We’ll probably have some tequila, because Oprah likes her tequila,” he said.

But the viewing party will be more somber reflection than raucous celebration. “There are times when you just have to sit down and you have to take in what’s about to happen,” he said.
Another New Yorker, Betsy Whitney, told Metro she “crammed three co-workers plus my boss into my office” to watch Monday’s episode.

What will replace a daily 4 p.m. emotional void? No one had an answer.

“People rush home to watch Oprah,” Heard said. “They don’t rush home to watch anyone else.”

Our own TV critic Amber Ray will be live blogging the Oprah finale at 4 p.m., so drop by the homepage and share your memories, questions and comments on Oprah and her final show.

Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.

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Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, moved up four positions from last year to claim the top spot in Forbes’ annual “The Celebrity 100” 2011 list that measures power by entertainment-related earnings, media visibility and social media popularity.

Forbes rated the American singer-songwriter No. 1, estimating her earnings in the past 12 months as $90 million, but also noting her 32 million Facebook fans and 10 million Twitter followers.

“Lady Gaga beat Oprah this year because of her social media power,” Forbes editor Dorothy Pomerantz said. 

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Woods ranked sixth in the magazine’s annual “Celebrity 100” list of the most powerful people or groups in the entertainment business. He moved down exactly one spot after checking in at No. 5 last year. Nineteen athletes made the list, including LeBron James (10), Kobe Bryant (14) and Roger Federer (25).

Metro’s guest editor Lady Gaga held down the overall top spot, followed by Oprah Winfrey and Justin Bieber. Twitter followers and Facebook fans are factored into the rankings.

Despite not winning a tournament in 18 months, Woods still raked in $75 million in earnings. The next-closest athlete was Bryant, with $53 million.

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Hayden Panettiere and super-tall champion boxer boyfriend Wladimir Klitschko have broken up after a year and a half together, according to Hollyscoop. “While we decided to split, we feel great sympathy and respect for each other and will surely stay close friends,” Panettiere says in a statement.

Hat’s off for royal charity

Princess Beatrice is reportedly making the most of the infamy earned by the odd hat she wore to last month’s Royal Wedding, as she’s now auctioning the item off for charity. “She’s putting it up on eBay to auction it for UNICEF and for Children in Crisis,” Beatrice’s mother, Sarah Ferguson, tells Oprah Winfrey. As for the princess herself, she’s pleased with the reactions her fashion choice received: “I think it’s wonderful that it’s had a reaction; it is just a hat after all, and now it has got its own Facebook page and so many fans,” she tells Grazia magazine.

We almost had Hugh!

Hugh Grant was reportedly on the verge of taking over for Charlie Sheen on “Two and a Half Men,” according to Deadline Hollywood, but the British star pulled out at the last moment due to creative differences, sources claim. Grant was reportedly being offered $1 million an episode to star in the successful sitcom. Series creator Chuck Lorre only wants to move forward with a reboot of the show “if he can find the right actor and get excited about that,” sources say.

The post Talking points appeared first on Metro.us.

Welcoming single mother of two, Patricia, to an emotional reunion on her daytime talk show, Winfrey said their mother Vernita Lee kept the 1963 birth a secret and gave the baby up for adoption.

Winfrey, 56, said she was only 9 years old and living with her father when her mother became pregnant.

“Imagine my shock just a few months ago, at the end of October, when I found out I have another sister living just 90 minutes away,” Winfrey told viewers.

“For the most part, my life has been an open book. And on the show, I think I’ve seen about everything. And I thought nothing could surprise me anymore. But let me tell you, I was wrong,” she said.

Patricia, whose last name was not revealed, said she had been raised in foster homes since age 7.

Patricia first learned she was Winfrey’s half-sister in 2007, but kept it a secret because she feared there would be a media frenzy.

“[Patricia] never once thought to go to the press. She never even thought to sell her story,” Winfrey said.

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“A lot of people around me said, ‘You should hold onto “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Why would you give that up?’ Because it’s time to grow to the next phase,” Winfrey told journalists at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, Calif., on Thursday. “Whenever I have outgrown a circumstance or a situation, I move on regardless of whether I know what the future holds. I believed that even if [OWN] didn’t work, it was worth the risk.”

Winfrey exuded her trademark warmth and positivity as she spoke with critics, explaining that the network is “operating strictly from the point of view of how we’re going to serve [the audience],” a programming-first business model that isn’t the norm in television, she acknowledged [see sidebar for OWN’s early numbers]. “Obviously, ratings are important. They’re not as important to me right now,” Winfrey said. “We’re going to have some, you know, perhaps rocky times with the channel, keeping people there and keeping people motivated to continue watching. What I know is, just like that adage of ‘you build it and they will come,’ you serve them and they will come.”

Focus on positive energy

The name “Oprah” in itself is a huge draw, and giving her famous friends — BFF Gayle King, financial guru Suze Orman and sex expert Laura Berman, to name a few — OWN shows is a natural extension of the relationship fans have had with the talk-show queen over her series’ 25-year run. But the OWN programming philosophy is about much more than just likable hosts.

“The intention of this channel is to bring good energy, to bring your best self, to bring your best shows,” Winfrey said. “I have a sign [in my makeup room] that says, ‘Be responsible for the energy that you bring into this room.’ And I am very much aware of the energy that the television is transmitting all the time.”

Oprah Winfrey’s bestie, Gayle King, hosts a radio talk show that makes its television premiere on OWN this morning at 10 a.m. “We’ve been doing this on radio for the past four and a half — going on five — years, and so far, knock on wood, it’s been very successful,” King says of “The Gayle King Show.” “And what I don’t want to do is [screw] it all up TV. I want to figure out a way to capture the intimacy of what we do on radio and bring it to TV.”

OWN by the numbers

Viewers who made Winfrey a television institution over the last 25 years tuned in full-force for the Jan. 1 debut of OWN — 7.6 million people watched during its first day, a very impressive number. Ratings have dropped since initial curiosity in the network has died down, but Winfrey remains confident in her latest endeavor.

“You’re not going to get everybody,” she said. “But at this point in my life, I’m not trying to get everybody. I’m really not. I’m really only trying to get the people who want to hear it and who want to see it. And if you don’t, then I’m not talking to you, and that’s OK, because there’s a lot of people in the world. There’s room for everybody.”

The post Television on her OWN terms appeared first on Metro.us.