good morning. breaking overnight, the mystery deepens. ma lashian authorities this morning say the search operations for flight 370 now enters a new phase, covering sea and land with help with even more countries, the investigators focus on the pilots and the passengs on board that missing jet, nine day s after it vanished. it's not over yet. severe winter weather slammed the south, dropping pounding hail and heavy rain and, as the powerful storm rolls east, it's bringing with it the threat of tornadoes and heavy snow, which could blanket the nation's capital, all keeping dylan very busy. the united states takes down

russia in the paralympics and are proud to show off their medals, "today," march 16th, 2014. >> announcer: from nbc news, this is "today" with lester holt and erica hill live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. the welcome to "today" on this sunday morning. i'm erica hill. >> and i'm lester holt, alongside jenna wolfe and dylan dreyer. malaysia flight 70 has been missing for nine days this morning. >> it is, of course, our top story. this morning, investigators are taking an even closer look at the pilots of that missing jet. they are examining an elaborate flight simulator one of the plts had in his home. they are not, however, ruling out the passengers or the ground

crew. they are looking at everyone. today, an already vast search area, meantime, has grown significantly, as the malaysians are asking for help from more countries around the world. we begin with kerry sanders. >> good morning, erica. the search area is no longer concentrated just over water. they announced at a press conference this morning now they're looking over a huge land mass of 11 countries, mostly in central asia. for investigators who suspect the pilot and co-pilot may have hatched a deadly plan, new information may shoot that theory down as the airline has revealed the cockpit crew did not request to fly together. today, the u.s. navy has its pas and p-3s off the coast of bechlt rma.

the search will slow down. why? u.s. navy is flying its planes from kuala lumpur. if it takes three hours to get back to the grid, it takes three hours to refuel. with nine hours of total flight time that leaves three hours for searching. the best-case scenario would be finding the so-called black boxes. usually the flight data recorders provide answers n this case, if it is ever found, it may end up frustrating investigators. >> it only records information for two hours and then overrides itself. if this is a six or seven-hour event, we've lost all the good stuff. >> can you tell us what you were doing? >> it's now a criminal investigation. searching the home of the pilot and co-pilot. the pilot's home flight simulator was removed by police to see if, perhaps, the erratic route 370 took was first

rehearsed in cyber space. >> i think law enforcement officials are looking at those pilots' homes to understand their broader relationship, their e-mails, computer files. >> reporter: what remains unanswered is what route the plane followed. to track the path, officials are relying heavily on a technology that was never designed to locate an aircraft. the 777 has an antenna that automatically sends bursts of data. routinely that data is, by design, mechanical, how much fuel a jet is burning, engine temperature and performance. a team of clever technicians realized the pings also reveal how far the plane was from the or bchlt ich orbiting satellite. so, if this balloon were the satellite and the string were the signal bouncing to and from the plane, you can draw an arc as to where it might have gone. that's why the search area now includes 11 countries like

khazikstan. the first hour of flight, it appears it was attempted to shut down, which does add to the theory that it was a deliberate act. >> adds to the questions and theories. kerry, thank you. ntsb investigator, greg, good morning. >> good to see you, lester. >> you do that based on where the plane was last seen on radar, handing off between vietnam and malaysia. pilots make a final radio transmission. walk me through your theory based to that point. >> everything appears to be normal, two-way radio communication up until the last communication of the pilots saying okay, good night, something to that effect. there was a quintessential

shutdown of the transponders and the data just prior to that. if somebody broke into the cockpit, i find it hard to believe they would be able to accomplish all these things and get the pilots to do that in a very short period of time because the left-hand turn followed shortly after that communication. >> we learned the pilots did not ask to fly together that night. if you assume one of the pilots took this action, went rogue, they would have to overpower the other one. i know the united states, some pilots are certified to carry weapons on board. is that the case with international crews? >> that is not a universal policy around the world. i don't know what malaysia's policies are. of course, there are things in the cockpit that could be used as a weapon if you want to disable someone in the cockpit without their knowledge. >> pilots have to undergo a periodic medical recertification. is there anything psychological they have to go through to be certified to continue to fly

commercially? >> typically, there are a battery of tests when they first come on with with the airline, a profiling just to make sure they are psychologically stable to operate a large commercial aircraft but that is not necessarily part of recurrent training or all of these periodic medical certifications that pilots go through. >> greg, lastly, you have drawn parallels over the last several days to what's happened here to a silk airlines flight in the late '90s that went down over sumatra. it was later determined that the pilot purposely crashed that airplane. the problem a lot of folks have wrap i wrapping around why, if that was the case here, would a pilot want to fly six hours before dumping the plane in the water. it doesn't make sense. >> lester, when you look at some of the things we've seen just in society where somebody barricades themselves before they want to take their own life or they want to make a statement, this may not be the statement necessarily of somebody getting on a radio and

making a comment. it may be that for the fact that we are here, nine days into this and the world is still talking about this and following this drama, if you will. that's a statement in and of itself. so, we really have to rely on the criminal investigation to see if they can bear out the motivation of one or both of these pilot. >> all right. we'll keep asking the questions and searching for the answers. greg, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. the calendar may say there's only a few days left before spring, winter seems to be ignoring that cue. there's yet another big storm sweeping across the west and the south today, set to pound the nation's capital as well with heavy snow tomorrow. dylan is on top of all of this morning. good morning. >> good morning, erica. big rainstorm down through texas. take a look at this video, as the storms got severe. we saw two-inch diameter hail, golfball sized hail with some of these severe storms in north texas. it came down hard and fast and

even caused damage. you see the ominous looking clouds. it looked like there was going to be a little bit of rotation in this cloud but we have no confirmed tornadoes from yesterday. we do have a tornado watch in effect until noontime today in this red box here, right along the gulf coast states along with some real heavy rain as well. this whole system spreading to the east. this area of low pressure is going to start to move to the north and east. we have a slight risk of more severe storms. this time, a little farther east from new orleans through the panhandle of florida. heavy rain to the north of that and right along the northern edge, as it runs into some of that colder air, we could end up with some snow and that swath from st. louis right over into washington, d.c., where we could see some accumulating snow, perhaps as much as three to six inches in some areas. haegerstown over to southern new jersey, we should see one to three inches. erica? >> thanks. we'll get more of your national forecast coming up in a bit. residents of ukraine's

crimea region are voting on whether to split off from russia. it's a vote that has the united states very angry. nbc's chief correspondent is in ukraine, richard engel, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, lester. voting has begun here in crimea, this referendum. the people are deciding whether they will remain as part of ukraine or break away and join up with russia. the voting is taking place mostly in schools. voters we have been speaking to predominantly say they want to join up with russia. a lot of their motivation is economics. the economy of russia is stronger than the crimean economy and they hope that if the people here become russian citizens, they will also be entitled to russian state pension. this cannot, however, be described as a completely open, free and fair vote. there are russian troops on the ground. there are pro-russian militias that have taken over the streets, parliament buildings

behind me. the result could be announced fairly soon but it already seems likely that this referendum will pass and this peninsula, the crimean peninsula could become the newest part of russia. lester? >> richard engel, thank you. david gregory is moderator of "meet the press." >> good morning. >> richard just set up for us what's happening in crimea. for a lot of us in the united states, we know this is being watched closely in washington. why does it matter, though, to us here in the u.s.? >> i think the big question is about vladimir putin and how far he's going to go. the united states doesn't want actors around the world seizing territories that is independent sovereign territory, especially at a time when ukraine was trying to build democracy and move toward the west. we've seen this from russia before. it's only soured relations between the u.s. and russia further.

that's the consequence. we also have allies there in that part of the world, in the balkan region, in particular, that the united states is beholden to and sworn to protect militarily. >> there have been calls for president obama to be more involved here. as you point out, though, president putin does not take discussions well. senator john mccain penning an op-ed in the "new york times," calling on the president to be more forceful and more involved here. how much can the united states realistically -- how much sway do we have? >> it's going to become an economics war. i think that's where you have u.s. intervention here, targeting companies close to the kremlin. there also could be a response by russia that could impact u.s. businesses as well. that's part of the calculation. i think that's part of the effort. in the united states and western countries, like germany, put

more pressure economically on russia and get putin to think about that as he moves forward. if you're putin, you have to think about what you can do to destabilize making it hard for a fledgling democracy. >> we'll see what you have coming up later on "meet the press." thanks. time for our top stories. jenna has those for us. >> hey, erica. good morning, everyone. anti-government protesters have spent the last six weeks rallying in the city's square. the country's president says if they don't stand down he will send in security forces to remove them. at least 25 people have been killed since the protests began. firefighters are working to contain a brush fire in southern california, so charring 350 acres. no injuries so far have been

reported. fire officials expect to have the blaze under control by monday morning. david brenner known for his late-night visits on johnny carson's "the tonight show" has died. a family spokesman said the comics will read if this is a joke, i don't get it. he was suffering from cancer. he was 78 years old. 2005 to 2010, recalling nearly 900,000 minivans because the fuel pump cover can cause fire and injuries. honda says no injuries have been reported. any time you put two adults in a costume with limited vision, tempers were flare. battling it out on the court during their american east title game. off the court, their mascots were doing the exact same thing.

with albany and stoneybrooks, wolffie the sea wolf had to be separated, it got so bad. so off the court, no winners. on the court, albany one 69-60. >> great dane and wolffie the sea wolf. i'll give you two guesses who i voted for in that one. dylan is back with your national forecast. >> boston, sunny, but windy. windchills in the teens. here in new york city for tomorrow, st. patrick's day parade, clouds will work in. breezy. up 37. washington, d.c. and areas like delaware could end up with a couple of inches of snow, up to three to six in some areas through the night toni

good morning. 6:15 the time right now. if you're headed to the weecbea this morning, it's going to be really nice. we do have a high surf advisory in effect for local beaches where waves could get up to 14 to 18 feet later on today. otherwise right now waking up to clear skies and later on this afternoon it will be really nice. we're talking about what we saw yesterday, 70s and 80s for our inland valleys. even san francisco today expecting to get back to 74 degrees. do enjoy that. >> and that's your latest forecast. lester? >> dylan, thanks. it's a jungle for some amazon.com customers. the online shopping company is jacking up the price of its prime membership as ron mott tells us, some lawyer customers are not happy. >> reporter: revolting at changes in beloved products.

just ask coca cola or netflix more recently which tried to divide and conquer by dividing its dvds and streaming video. >> netflix is getting slaughtered by its own price hike. >> reporter: now it's amazon's turn in the pressure cooker. raising the cost of its prime membership for kindle e-books for the first time next month from $79 to $99 a year. on social media and from this delivery, sarcasm about paying mor more. reports out there, too, interesting. >> you know, it's like they have to make a profit also. they're getting you for shipping. >> reporter: the noise coming from wall street is mostly joyful. amazon stock has climbed since the announcement. >> if they could keep a solid chunk of their 25 billion prime customers, that's just an additional $20 on each one of those accounts.

that's going to add directly to the bottom line. >> reporter: amazon is in the middle of a battle for online video subscribers, comcast and hulu, owned by nbc's parent company and considering the angst amazon has senitirred up, music to some ears. ron mott. u.s. faces off with russia once again on the way, gold medal on the line. highlights from the dramatic showdown after these messages. b. one of our favorite things to do is going to the dog park together. sometimes my copd makes it hard to breathe. so my doctor prescribed symbicort. it helps significantly improve my lung function starting within five minutes. symbicort doesn't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. with symbicort, today i'm breathing better. come on, boy! [ female announcer ] symbicort is for copd,

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it's how edward jones makes sense of investing. ♪ celebrations are already under way in some cities. we thought why not get into the spirit with a little trivia? >> so jenna is going to put us to the test in the orange room, which we should be calling the green room today. >> i'll throw pink just to really mess it up. everybody is irish on st. paddy's day. how well do you know your irish? we'll find out right now. st. paddy's day trivia. these are easy questions. i knew none of them. st. patrick's day is celebrated to commemorate which of the following events, the day st. patrick was born, the day st. patrick found the first four

leaf clover or the day st. patrick died. >> it's either born or died. >> i love when everyone's answer starts with obviously. you are correct, it's the day st. patrick died. congratulations. you didn't win much. how about this one? what is erin go bragh. >> ireland forever. >> really. >> ireland forever. obviously. >> we're two for two. >> this is not going to last. for this next one, i want to bring someone special in. i want to bring in our plaza fan of the day. and this is stephanie iruzzi. >> that's very good. >> stephanie is going to read this one for you guys. we made it extra specially fannish. >> which american city holds the largest st. patrick's day parade, is it new york, chicago or boston? >> i couldn't imagine that better well read. >> i'm going new york.

>> i'm going to say boston. >> how about you? >> i'm going new york. >> it is n.y. n.y. how about that? stephanie that was fantastic. >> thank you very much. >> are you going to do anything crazy special today? >> it's my daughter's 10th birthday. >> happy birthday! >> we couldn't think of a better way to celebrate than here at the "today" show. >> stephanie, thanks for coming in. happy birthday to your daughter. >> thank you very much. still to come on a sunday edition of "today," we are going to cooking class to see how to whip up healthier meals without sacrificing flavor. look at the dream team there. we were in a competition and we may or may not have won. more right after this. ight ♪ oh, there's an energy crisis happening alright. a human one. and it's time to fight it. quaker's good energy is just what you want. it's how we help keep go-getters like you...

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good morning to you. it's so dark when we wake up in the morning now, but with a moonset like this one, i think it's okay. thanks for joining us. i'm kris sanchez along with meteorologist anthony slaughter, who has a look at your weekend forecast. >> we saw a spectacular day yesterday, kris. in fact the lovely weather will continue today as well and temperatures are going to warm very quickly back into the 70s and 80s like what we saw yesterday. right now as you mentioned, still dark as we're waiting on the sunrise. we don't have any fog to report of. by this afternoon it's going to be spectacular. if you're making plans to head to the beach, expect 70s there. we do have a high surf advisory so keep that in mind. otherwise 70s and 80s across the board today. really picture-perfect weather. we do have cooler weather

tomorrow. we'll detail coming up at 7:00. back to you. new this morning, an early morning house fire could have been way worse if not for the quick thinking of some good samaritans. the two-alarm fire happened at a home on the 1700 block of fordham way in mountain view. the fire department tells nbc that homes there range upwards of $1 million. take a look at this video shot by one of the good samaritans. you can see the flames coming from a house. a group of friends driving home smelled smoke and saw the fire, then acted very quickly. >> immediately called 911, and went, knocked on the neighbors' doors. went to the house that was on fire, tried to knock on it, see if anybody was in there. nobody was in there, gladly. we're very glad about that one. >> you can see some of the fire damage to that home, but luckily firefighters were able to contain the home in just moments. there were no injuries. the cause of the fire is just under investigation.

a law enforcement agencies were out in full force cracking down on drunk drivers. agencies are now wrapping up several overnight dui checkpoints across the bay area, including in san francisco and several cities in santa clara county. the chp says it made 430 drunk driving arrests statewide during st. patrick's day holiday last year. a 28% increase from the year before. and that does not include arrests made by local police departments. police say that before -- before you leave, it is worth repeating, have a designated driver. drunk driving deaths here in california have climbed steadily to more than 800 in 2012, which is up 15% in just three years. coming up at 7:00 on "today in the bay," raj mathai goes one on one with barry bonds. a rare and exclusive look into his new life and does he have any regrets. why he moves back to the bay area and whether or not he's

been unfairly targeted in the steroid scandal. he has some revealing answers for raj. that story and all the rest of the day's news coming up at 7:00. right now here's a bit more of the "today" show.

♪ >> we waited for two months to celebrate my daughter's 10th birthday on the "today" show. >> it's my birthday, too. >> don't forget about me. >> hi, everyone in louisville. we made it to the "today" show. >> hi, erica. >> celebrating spring break with the "today" show. >> how you doin "today" show? >> we're doing just great. good morning. welcome back on a sunday

morning. it's march 16th, 2014. great crowd on the plaza. some of the pictures our audience is posting. great to have them here. who was doing the wheelbarrow race? >> me and jenna -- >> lester -- whatever. that girl. >> dylan and i did it. we went one way and they went the other. if we both get down on the floor, are you going to use both shots? they only used one shot. >> we only have so much time. >> lester was in makeup. >> sometimes a guy wants to feel pretty. >> i'm going to leave that one alone. we do want to get you caught up on the morning's top headlines this hour. police are examining an elaborate flight simulator that one of the pilots of the missing malaysian airliner had set up in his home, this as they also say the search area for flight 370 has expanded dramatically eight days after that flight disappearance. voters in the crimean region of ukraine are going to the polls to decide if they want to

join russia or become an independent state in the ukraine. it's been called illegal by the eu. the eu is taking steps to increase sanctions against russia. bundle up. here we go again. another huge storm bringing hail, rain and even tornado watches to the south, on a clear path to the washington, d.c. area where it could dump several more inches of snow. still to come in this half hour, we'll take you to the largest pet trade show on the planet to tell you about the pet products you'll want to get your hands on right away. in our better you series, we're going to show you how to cook classic dishes with a fraction of the calories and fat. we actually did it here on the set. we know this is possible and you always, always need to have fun in the process. >> you look very focused. >> that, we did. these guys are like professional chefs. i know nothing. we had a lot of fun. delroy lindo from "believe" will stop by to tell us all

about the new show. first, exciting news from the final day of paralympic competition in sochi. on saturday, the u.s. defeated russia in the sled hockey showdown on the ice, taking home the gold. kristen dahlgren is back with more on the epic match-up. kristen? >> good morning, lester. somehow history seems to happen when russia and the u.s. take to the ice together. and this was no different. >> ten seconds remaining -- >> reporter: it was one of those olympic moments for the ages. >> american sled hockey team has done what no other sled hockey team has been able to do. >> reporter: back-to-back goals for team u.s.a., this time topping perennial rival russia. but getting here wasn't easy. sled hockey has been called murder ball on ice. players are strapped into sleds wielding ice picks. the fact they're disabled doesn't stop the hits. after all, these are players who have already proven they're

tough, like josh sweeney, a former marine, who scored the winning goal for team u.s.a. just five years after he lost both his legs in afghanistan. >> it took a lot to get here. and now that we're here it's almost unbelievable. >> reporter: so it's those stories that make this one so sweet. ♪ [ national anthem ] >> reporter: there are a lot of americans with new hardware after these games. >> this is going to be an extremely fast time. >> reporter: it was a sweep for team u.s.a. in the snowboard cross. >> i'm ecstatic, so stoked to be able to show the world what i'm so passionate about. >> reporter: then there's tatiana mcfadden born with spina bifida, the wheelchair racer just took up skiing about a year ago and now has silver. overall americans won 17 medals. as the paralympics come to a close today, it is in that spirit, an end to the games but not the inspiration. >> every day when i watch them

get to the ice, get dressed, take their stuff off, all of those types of things, it's incredible the price they have paid, and they deserve to win a gold medal. >> the paralympics can be game changing, not just for the athletes but for all of us watching. these were the most watched paralympics ever. ticket sales up 37% from vancouver. many more watched it on tv. >> such a cool moment. kristen, thank you. let's get a check of the weather from dylan. trying to figure this out. celebrating 90 years -- no one here is 90. >> together we're 90. >> together, so -- >> i'm her daughter, i'm 30. she's 60. >> that adds up to 90. we figured it all out now. math. we are looking at heavy rain down across the gulf coast states and even a tornado watch in effect there you see from new orleans right over into pensacola, florida, into the panhandle there. we're looking at the chance of possible tornadoes, large hail like we saw in texas yesterday and damaging winds along with

heavy, heavy rain. on the northern edge of this, we could see an icy mix and even some snow into missouri, illinois and indiana, into parts of western virginia, we could end up with a few good morning. 6:36 the time right now. waking up to clear skies across the entire bay area and the clear skies will stick around all day long. sunshine expected in san jose. back to 81 degrees in the south bay for today. you'll notice elsewhere still dark right now but once we get the sunrise, clear skies, even 74 today in san francisco. 80s for our inland valleys. that does include the north bay, east bay and also the south bay. have a good one. today's top spot features st. patrick's day, the 43rd annual st. patrick's day in washington, d.c., wrc, channel 4 down there, they're celebrating

a day early, but a lot of places are. all the irish culture will be on display with traditional irish dancers and floats cruising down constitution avenue. grab your lucky shamrock and check out the festivities and come here tomorrow and celebrate for the entire week. >> sounds like a plan. up next, pet lovers rejoice. we'll tell you the latest and greatest products in the ♪ ♪ ♪ your current deviled eggs, they got enough devil? the one-of-a-kind, creamy blend of sweet and tangy. miracle whip and proud of it.

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this morning on today's pets, an inside look at the greatest show on earth for pets. jill rappaport got back from the global pet expo in orlando. they were nice enough to fly you down there. we are lucky you are here to share the goodies with you. >> actually i drove with ruby. >> oh, you drove with ruby? >> yes. it was just announced that americans spent a record $56 billion on their pets last year. it's no surprise that the biggest pet trade show in the world was packed. and my ruby gave it a paw's up. it's the tenth annual global pet expo. oh, she's so excited. featuring everything your pet could ever want, need or dream of. this event is the super bowl of pet trade shows. 6,000 visitors from 100 countries, nearly 3,000 booths spanning 13 football fields. >> like a wow factor when you walk in here.

>> reporter: miles of aisles, catering to every creature imaginable. a smorgasbord of food and fashion. >> the turtleneck is all the rage. >> work it. >> reporter: along with the latest in tech and toys. a few of which sent my ruby into a tailspin. check this out, ruby, and he's very quiet. there were, of course, plenty of costumes. look, a hot dog for the hot dog! and tons of tantalizing treats. doggy breath? i don't think it's working yet. you got to eat it. you got to chew it up, sweetie pie. celebrity pets were on parade, like internet sensation and popular pomeranian tito. can i get your autograph, please? and for the average pet on the go, fancy strollers as well as stay-at-home options to keep fido fit. this year's show seemed to hit

all the right notes with the critics that really count. aside from what's new and what's hot, the event also showcased heart, highlighting service dogs and shelter pets. >> it's a really good message to put out to adopt and not shop. >> reporter: one food company is going one step further, making it a mission to help rescue animals. >> if every bag of food we sell, we donate to a dog in need. any time you feed your dog, you're feeding a shelter dog as well. >> reporter: good enough to win one of this year's coveted prizes. you actually won this year's best new product showcase award. >> you can't spend enough money on your pet. every pet you own deserves to have the best. >> reporter: for the pets themselves, at the end of the day, perhaps they only crave the basics, a bed, a bone and a good belly rub. >> you and ruby brought back a couple of your favorite

products. >> oh, yes. as a mother of five rescues, i brought back what i thought were genius items, and i also brought back a pet for rescue. isn't he cute? this is sherman, a standard poodle. he is sporting what is a very hip bandana. you can see this. >> a pocket. >> it is not a pocket. it's a water bowl. it's lined. >> i love it. >> isn't that fantastic? >> and that water felt very cold today. but had it landed on ruby, she would have been prepared. >> if you have a chow hound at home, this bowl, see the maze-like pattern, it forces animals to eat slowly and safely. >> my dog jake needs that. he inhales his food. >> and that can be dangerous. we have ruby, a fashionista and she hates what rain does to her hair.

a rain coat with a portable umbrella hat. >> he's chowing down. >> slowly and safely. finally for fido on the move, the ultimate toy. >> aim it away from lights and cameras. >> the canine camera. >> we'll go to break on that one. we didn't hit anything. we will be back. what you need to know about cooking some of your favorite meals, making them more healthy without sacrificing flavor. we're sharing everything we learned in our cooking class. but first these messages.

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it is day 16 of our "30 days to a better you" series. this weekend we've been talking about how to make delicious food without the guilt. yesterday we tackled how to lighten up your lunch. if you missed it, you can check that out on tips at today.com. today we're continuing our healthy food education by learning how to cook classic satisfying dishes with a fraction of the calories and fat. we visited joe cameron for a lesson. >> can everyone take whatever favorite dish we have, make a couple substitutions and turn it into a relatively healthy dish? >> totally. >> is it going to taste good?

>> it's going to taste amazing. >> we'll make a puffer deli out of celery root. it's super healthy and carb free. using a lean cut of meat, low-carb pasta, very little olive oil. >> how much am i going to save? a normal bowl of pappardelle, 850 calories. this one about 300. >> it smells amazing. >> it goes into the microwave. >> i did this. >> so we've done pasta. now we're going to do mashed potatoes. >> yum. >> wow! >> instead of mashed potatoes, we'll put in call -- cauliflower.

today we'll have a little contest. >> i win! >> erica and lester and my assistant, jennifer. >> the other good news is jenna is not competitive whatsoever. >> garlic and non-fat cream cheese. this will make it creamy. nut meg and parmesan cheese. it will be up to you and your team how much of these ingredients you want to add. on your mark, get set, go. ♪ >> i hate this thing! >> the winner is -- i can't believe i'm saying it, but it's jenna. >> mashed potatoes caloriewise, we're talking like 315 a cup. this right here 210. all right, guys. we have been to italy. we've got the pasta going. we've been to france. we did mashed potatoes. now we are going a little bit to china. a shrimp quinoa. what is it? >> it's an ancient grain. >> it's got protein in it and fiber. >> classic fried rice, there's always eggs in it. let's take out the cholesterol

so let's take out the yolk. all i want is the white. separate it. this is how you do it. flat surface over the glass bowl. there you go. i want to go in with the shrimp and the ginger and garlic. >> you want egg white so we save cholesterol, quinoa instead of rice? >> big savings. a lot of protein, a lot of different vitamins you would never get with rice. we've spent the past hour replacing some of our favorite foods, cutting the calories by more than half, pumping up the nutrition. so, should we eat? >> yes! >> please. >> here is to low calorie, high taste. >> and to dylan. >> and to dylan. >> cheers. >> i think we ruined it, because we all had five helpings. >> by the time we actually sat down we were so full. >> dylan was supposed to join us. that day of our class you had to go cover a winter storm. which you pretty much do every day. >> like there's been winter storms every day this year. >> luckily there were leftovers, which chef joe cameron brought

to the studio for us to try. good to see you again. >> good to see you guys. >> welcome to our kitchen. >> i love it. i love it. >> if you have a favorite comfort meal, say mac and cheese or eggplant parm, how do you figure out how to lighten it? >> there's so many ways to attack that question. the first thing you've got to do is get motivated like jenna, just jump into this type of stuff. one huge resource go to a cooking class, get a good kick start. another thing is be willing and open minded to change things, move pasta for celery root. move potatoes for cauliflower. the way we did. be open minded to all the possibility. >> you can make mistakes. it's okay to go out and make mistakes, try something else. >> absolutely. make mistakes. you were in cooking school with us. make as many mistakes as you want. we're going to be there. >> that's a good place to start. >> absolutely. >> you also really stress that it's helpful to have certain tools in your kitchen. >> absolutely. >> you brought some of your favorite must-haves with you

this morning. >> tools are the next step. if you have all the right ingredients, what are you going to do if you have a broken pan and a dull knife, right? if you have a cuisinart like this, i promise you, you'll eat so many more vegetables. this is great for grinding up the vegetables and the onions and not getting it all over your fingers. i love this. it's really good for purees. things like that, we did. >> doesn't take up your entire kitchen. >> tiny. >> the celery root still looks like pasta to me. >> i thought it was pasta. >> you thought that was mashed potatoes. it's actually mashed cauliflower. >> these tools change the complete dynamic of the food and make your brain believe you're eating something that you're used to. >> because it looks -- >> exactly. >> it also takes an amazing teacher. >> it does. >> you're a great teacher. >> we're coming back, by the way. >> yes. and i have to tell you, my kids love both of these. so, thank you. they were great. >> i'm excited to hear that.

>> you can find the recipes for all three dishes we learned to cook at today.com. just ahead delroy lindo is making believers out of all of us. he's here to tell us all about nbc's new show after these messages. with the quicksilver cash back card from capital one, it means unlimited 1.5% cash back on everything you purchase, every day. it doesn't mean, "everything... as long as you buy it at the gas station." it doesn't mean, "everything... until you hit your cash back limit." it means earn 1.5% cash back on every purchase, every place, every occasion, all over creation. that's what everything should mean. so consider... what's in your wallet? everything life throws my way. except for frown lines. those i'm throwing back. [ female announcer ] olay total effects. nourishing vitamins, and 7 beautiful benefits in one. for younger-looking skin. olay. your best beautiful. for younger-looking skin.

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in the new nbc show "believe," delroy lindo protects a young girl with special powers who just might change the world. good to have you here. >> thank you. >> first of all, congratulations. the show is a big hit right out of the gate. >> that's good to know. >> tell me about milton winter,

your character. >> in a nutshell, i am the main protector for bo, the young lady you refer to with the special powers. i'm her main protector. >> this show involves a lot of special effects. what's that like for you? is it harder for you to work with all that stuff? >> not really. first of all, i, myself, have not done a lot of special effects work in the show, but one of the interesting things about the show -- there are special effects, but that component of the show, it's grounded in reality enough so that it's not too fantastical. hopefully that helps audiences believe, no pun intended. >> it's relatable. >> relatable, thank you. >> you're still in the middle of shooting season one now. what has it been like getting to know your other castmates? >> unbelievable. you know they pay me to say that, right? >> that's fine. >> i get a lot of money. >> if you want to share, plenty of people available. >> mine, all mine. no. it's good. it's a very good set.

it's a very relaxed set. and i'm including the crew. i have to mention the crew, because the crew is a really good crew. they pay me extra. >> great to have you here. >> good to have you here. "believe" airs sundays at 9:00, 8:00 central here on nbc. we want to check in once again quickly with david gregory for a look at what's coming up on "meet the press." >> good morning. u.s. officials are very concerned that they haven't found the missing malaysian airlines jet as of yet. we'll cover that this morning, as well as the crisis in ukraine. i'll talk with president obama's senior adviser dan pfeiffer and two key voices from the senate just back from ukraine. comedian bill maher on what ails american politics, all this morning on "meet the press." >> all right. david, we'll see you soon. thanks. >> that's going to do it for us on this sunday morning. thanks for being with us. >> i'll see you back here later for "nbc nightly news." until then, so long everybody. have a great, great sunday.

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♪ greek yogurt proten bars. from nature valley. good morning, i'm kris sanchez. coming up, a quick-acting group of friends helps keep the damage to a minimum on this overnight house fire. what they saw and what they did. and soul searching for republican leaders here in the bay area as they plan to rebuild the party as support continues to dwindle in the golden state. >> what's the biggest misconception about you? and an exclusive nbc bay area interview. barry bonds gets personal with raj mathai. this is "today in the bay." good morning to you. looking live at a gorgeous sunrise. we see the bay bridge there and blue sky a