Quick Breakfast Recipe

My husband in all his cuteness for the past several mornings has gotten up craving cereal.  We try to avoid cereal in general due to the thousands of ingredients, processed junk, HFCS, other sugars, etc.  There are a few that we would recommend, but geez-they are just so expensive.  One of our favorites is Ezekiel cereal, but it just isn't worth the money in my opinion except when it is on sale so recently we have been making our homemade muesli.  I don't know about you, but my husband and I are both the kind of people that wake up really hungry and need to eat almost immediately.  I love muesli because you can throw it together quickly and it has very little sugar and a lot of nutritional benefits!  You can add in or take out pretty much anything you want-there is a lot of room to be creative here...

Homemade Muesli:

3 cups of old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cut almonds

1/4 cup raisons

1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

Mix it all together and eat it hot or cold with some almond milk (or your choice of milk).

Other ideas:  You can toast it up in the oven for a few minutes with some honey or maple syrup; add cinnamon; add in your favorite dried fruits, nuts, etc.; mash up a banana to add an element of fresh as well

Muesli tends to taste better when it has soaked in the liquid for a bit, but I eat it right away!  :)  Thanks mom for the recipe and idea.

Sangria Pie

Alright, alright.  I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there and confess that this isn't a healthy recipe.  Do I feel guilty?  Heck no!  What is a well balanced diet without a few special indulgences by the name of 'sangria pie' every now and then?  So now that we are all on the same page,  I would like to give enormous amounts of credit to a man by the name of Christopher Dean, also known as my sister's boyfriend.  He created this recipe and though not a formal, official chef- he is going to be a great one someday.  Now I don't drink cocktails or sugary drinks ever really, but Sangria is my exception.

My sister and Chris (aka the Beam Dean team)  came to visit me here in sunny Florida.  We went to Disney, grilled out, saw beautiful beaches, and took tons of pictures.  However, one of the things I most remember is the Sangria Pie.  It's amazing how food accounts for so many memories that I remember most. So here it goes; The recipe for Sangria Pie (ish, as best as I can remember):


Pick two or three fruits- I picked strawberries, blackberries, and peaches

Cut up the fruit into halves, or quarters depending on the size of the fruit.

Fill a tea pitcher with two bottles of a sweet white wine.  I used white, but you can also make it red wine sangria by using a sweet red wine instead.

You can stop and use only wine and fruit, or you can add triple sec, orange liquor, or another fruity liquor.  Start with a cup and add more to taste.

Add the fruit into the pitcher, stir, and soak for about 30 minutes to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Strain out the wine soaked fruit and refrigerate the liquid.  Drink a glass of Sangria to celebrate!

Add honey, brown sugar, or white sugar to your liking.  I used honey and brown sugar-just enough to coat the fruit.

Add the fruit mixture into a pie crust (first poking a fork into the bottom of the crust).  I used a store bought crust, but you can make one yourself, which I encourage!

Add an additional pie crust on top of the mixture and use your fingers to adhere the top crust to the bottom crust.

Brush butter on the covering crust and sprinkle with a tiny bit of sugar.  Make a few slits on the top and put in the oven for about 30-45 minutes, checking on it every now and then.  Cook time will vary depending on the pie crust cook times which you will find accompanied by either the recipe or the box (for store bought).

Allow to cool, cut a slice, and enjoy with a glass of your homemade Sangria!

I found that the more it sat the more the flavors absorbed and the fruit softened.  It is also awesome with vanilla ice cream on top!

I hope everyone enjoys this recipe.  It is worth a taste for a dinner party dessert or something to be shared with others!

Media and the Food Industry

I was running in the gym today and watching the Food Network Channel.  I treasure these times in my day, because we cancelled our cable to save money and gym time is the only time I get to see Giada de Laurentiis, one of my favorite chefs to watch.  However, today Cooking For Real was on and she decided to stay in the healthy realm of cooking.  I got excited because I could always use more ideas, but I quickly became rather offended that she would make such a claim on health with what she was cooking.  Didn't she know that she was on national television reaching thousands of people and claiming that this food was healthy?  Essentially she was attempting to teach the public to make healthy choices.  Instead, this woman misguided the public into making some decent swaps in the general direction of healthy, but I wouldn't call what she cooked particularly healthy.  This was the menu:

Kale Pesto covering whole wheat linguini with some chicken meatballs.
She supplemented with a drink called blackberry fizz or something along those lines.

Now to most people, this would sound relatively healthy.  However, this proves my point that society has taught us that making simple swaps like whole wheat pasta instead of white pasta will solve our obesity problem in America.  To be blunt-It will take a bigger change than that, folks.  She also subtly stated that chicken is healthier than beef, which is highly debatable and that fat consumption is the problem in America, rather than dealing with sugar intake.  She ended the show with sorbet instead of ice cream in her soda, liquor, and blackberry sugary syrup filled drink.  Come again?  Healthy?

Anyhow, while I love promoting health, I have no problems with pasta and blackberry fizz drinks.  It is just when you call it healthy when it really isn't-that I have a problem.  Lets not blame it all on this woman, though.  We, in America, do this all the time.  The Food Network Channel in general, the USDA, "health" magazines-we do things like grouping fruits and vegetables together, even though fruit is the source of a much greater amount of sugar than veggies.  Natural, yes, but sugar is sugar.  While whole wheat pasta has more nutritional value than white pasta, it is still flour and should be treated as that-a treat.  Sorbet is still sugary, and so is soda so why ruin a sort of, maybe healthy meal with a sugary drink?  While I sometimes swap chicken for beef, why not promote grass fed beef instead?  Why do people always equate beef as something unhealthy that makes you fat?  In excess, yes-but there is a place for a small amount of grass fed beef in a healthy diet.  And why are we blaming fat so much?  If you read nutritional studies, you will find that most authentic sources will put more emphasis on the bad effects of sugar in our diets and confirm that fat isn't as bad as we thought it was in the 90's. 

The bottom line:  Don't believe everything you see on TV, in magazines, or in media in general. If you are at all invested in your health, doing a small amount of research in nutrition journals (much more reliable source) will give you straight facts on how to maintain health. 

Boiled Egg Skillet

I have a confession.  It is sad, but true that I didn't really know the correct way to hard boil (or soft boil) eggs.  I eat eggs almost every morning, or every other, but I just haven't ventured into the world of boiled eggs.  While my mom and dad were in town, my mom taught me and I discovered that it is truly one of my favorite ways to enjoy my eggs.  Many times an overeasy egg can be too greasy or oily, and poached eggs are just a pain to make, despite the many claims that it is super easy to do.  While it is, I don't claim to make the world's best poached eggs.  Anyhow, this morning all I had in my fridge was rice, some frozen vegetables, and eggs.  So needless to say I threw it all together in a skillet and tada!  Out came a pretty awesome breakfast skillet!  I was impressed despite the lack of options in my kitchen and I will certainly put that recipe on repeat for the future.    I have been doing this a lot lately when I'm too lazy to pull out something creative, but all I do is pile about five things into one skillet, add spices, and my one dish meal is complete.  It usually contains some veggies, beans (or rice or another whole grain), and a protein of some sort.  As long as you think it sounds good, you can throw just about anything together with salt, pepper, and your fav spices and the dish is finished in minutes, more spectacular than you could have imagined.  This mornings spontaneous combination:

4 boiled eggs chopped up (put in cold water and boil for three minutes, peel, chop)
1/2 onion diced and sauteed
two handfuls of frozen haricot verts (obviously fresh is better, but frozen is all I had and they turn out better than you would expect)
a handful of frozen corn (again, what I had on hand)
brown rice
balsamic vinegar
soy sauce
pepper
olive oil

I hard boiled the eggs in a pot and sauteed the onion in olive oil in a skillet.  I then added the veggies and let it all cook together for a few minutes.  After warmed through, add rice and a minute later add the chopped eggs.  Throw in a few splashes of the balsamic and soy sauce, as well as pepper.  Taste and season again to taste.  Plate!

It really doesn't get much easier and it is something a little different than usual.  I love mornings of fun discoveries!

The Truth About Fruit

My whole life fruits and vegetables have been grouped in the same category nutritionally, as if they contain the same flavor and nutrient profiles.  As if they were equally nutritious for you.  Both contain excellent nutritional factors, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidents that are beneficial in helping to fight diseases in our bodies.  The biggest difference, however, is the sugar content.  Fruit contains a relatively high content of sugar that can prohibit weight loss, or health goals if you aren't careful.  Without being any sort of a dietitian or scientist, anyone can tell that fruit is sweet, and most vegetables are not.  So that leads us to another question... Is fruit as good for us as we think it is?

Candy bars and ice cream contain sugar and essentially no nutritional benefits so we call this junk food.  We would never put fruit in that category, because it contains a lot of nutritional benefits.  However, sugar is sugar and too much of it is, well...still too much-even if it is fruit.  So do you want to cut down on added sugar?  Besides the obvious junk and processed foods, you can kick it up a notch by limiting the amount of fruit you eat.  Perhaps you could even treat fruit as a dessert.  We need to stop putting fruits and vegetables in the same category, because calorically and nutritionally they are very different.  I am by no means saying that you should cut out fruit completely, but rather suggesting that the importance of fruit in a healthy diet has been skewed in the past.  Now if you are craving something sweet, then a piece of fruit definitely beats out a cookie every time.  That just doesn't give license to ignore that fruit is high in sugar just because its natural and has nutritional value.

As for dried fruit, the natural sugars are concentrated into a much smaller package so more sugar and calories are consumed in a small handful.  This is also something to keep an eye on.


Guidelines for Eating Fruit

1.  Aim for no more than 2 cups of fruit a day.  This is the portion recommended for an average sized person, consuming about 2,000 calories a day.  Since I am smaller, I would only consume about 1 cup a day.  A cup is about a fistful, or one apple, orange, etc.  So I usually eat 1 piece of fruit a day and less on some days.

2.  Skip the fruit juice and aim for whole fruits, or unsweetened frozen fruit.  Juice contains less vitamins and minerals, and usually contains way too much sugar.

3.  Find local fruit that is in season.

4.  Watch dried fruit portions.  1/4 cup-1/3 cup (depending on sugar content of particular fruit) of dried fruit equals about 1 cup of whole fruit.

5.  Substitute fruits for sweets and add sugar content of your fruit into your added sugars count for the day.

Again, I'm not suggesting that fruit is bad for you; Just that it should be eaten with more caution than we've been taught to eat it with-especially in the case of shedding those few extra pounds.

Suggestions not intended as medical advice, but rather for informative and entertainment purposes.

Have a wonderful day and post any questions!

Artificial Sweeteners preventing or causing weight gain?

Releasing in March, Diet Pepsi is embracing the new "skinny can".  In a recent Pepsi press release they state that this "taller, sassier, new skinny can" is coming out nationwide to celebrate "beautiful, confident women... In addition, to celebrate beautiful, confident women and offer refreshment across the country, Diet Pepsi Skinny Can is collaborating with 10 fashion boutiques in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Miami, providing them with a custom 'Skinny Can Fridge.'  Thirsty fashionistas will get a complimentary Diet Pepsi Skinny Can while they shop in stores including Jeffrey, Intermix, Fred Segal, and Dash."

Oh yes, nothing screams sexy fashion quite like artificial sweetener with a sketchy past, linked to disease and decreased thyroid function.  Whew! I can't wait!

Truly, though....I was never a huge soda drinker, but for several months of my life I went around promoting a product called Sodastream (a homemade soda maker) that uses Splenda instead of regular sugar or aspartame in many of their soda products.  I was selling soda, yes, while also writing this blog at one point.  Does this seem hypocritical?  Why yes it does and I felt like a goon.  Eventually I quit doing that and even though it was a gig only for the good money, I have found much peace about giving out health advice ever since.  All that to say... after I started selling that silly machine, I started drinking more diet coke.  Just a few times a week, but for a bit it turned into a daily habit.  Pretty soon I found that I started craving more sweets so I cut back, and I found that the cravings eventually evaporated.  Similarly, I grew up in the south drinking sweet tea (still my favorite!) so I began to use Stevia to sweeten my tea instead of sugar so that I would feel less guilty, but keep my childhood alive all at the same time.  Again, I began to crave sweet tea ALL the time.  Pretty soon my belly would swell up with water weight because I was drinking massive amounts of "sweet" tea and eating less real food, or perhaps eating more because I felt like I could?  Either way, neither alternative is good.  The solution?  During this 21 day vegetarianism, I also cut out artificial sweeteners.  Curbing those sugar cravings was always contingent on have some artificial sweetener in my diet, but for the past week I have had to rely on sheer willpower.  Is it worth it?  I did some looking around and my verdict is this:  It is worth it to cut out artificial sweeteners. 

Here are my reasons:

* Artificial sweeteners make you crave more sweets - I know this from personal experience, as well as multiple studies confirming its links to increase in appetite. 
* It contains all sorts of crazy man made chemicals and additives that may/may not lead to all sorts of diseases - Most studies indicate that this stuff is just no good overall.  Why risk your health?
* Let's face it-if we indulge in a calorie free diet soda, we feel like we can indulge elsewhere.  We try to fool our tummies into feeling full without the inconvenience of fueling with real calories-until that burger and fries comes in later for dinner.  Hm... I had nothing for lunch except that calorie free Diet Pepsi so I can splurge for dinner!  Oh wait-calories aren't inconvenient or even bad--consumed on a healthful (ya know-everyday?) basis, they link to longevity of life, weight loss, and overall healthfulness! 
* The healthiest people I know don't drink soda- I like to hang out with people who have qualities that I wish to attain.  When I hang out with other healthy people, they DON'T drink soda.  They drink water, tea, coffee (without Splenda), and more water.  If nothing else, this speaks volumes!  You look around and everyone is drinking soda so you think, "It couldn't be THAT bad, right?"  But why not be one of the rare few who cares enough to make a difference and change your habits?  Just a thought...

Will it help you lose weight?  Maybe yes-maybe no.  All I know is if you ask just about anyone-they'll admit that artificial sweetener is probably crap.  Those who tend to drink soda (diet or not) tend to also indulge in other unhealthy life habits. 

Organic versus natural sweeteners? Is Organic sugar better for you?  Are agave nectar or honey better?  They are more natural, yes, but not necessarily better.  It is still sugar so I stay away from it most of the time! Is high fructose corn syrup worse than table sugar?  They are both poison in my opinion and I think you'll find most dietitians would agree.  This is what I'm getting at:  We have trained our bodies to crave sugar habitually and we need to retrain them to crave the vitamins and nutrients that promote overall health!

I conclude with a video where nutrition meets humor:

http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/11043494/  ---click on link to view the video :)

Vegetarian Experiment

So I am a die hard meat lover.  I love my dark meat, light meat, fish, beef-all of it.  However I am in the middle of a 21 day vegetarian experiment, while enacting my slow carb diet (no breads, grains, etc.).  I am through week 1 of 3 and the first week still allowed an occasional egg in the morning and two cans of fish throughout the week to help ween me off.  On week three I plan on inserting a few exceptions like extra grains and a few helpings of meat to introduce us again as friends without sickness ensuing.  Why am I blogging on this experiment?  Truly, for my own benefit as this second week promises to be the most difficult.

Am I going to incorporate this into my life after 21 days?  Yes and no.  Throughout the course of this experiment (now one week down) I have learned a lot more about how much energy my body needs to fuel itself and how to cook veggies so that they are filling.  I will take this new found knowledge and increase my vegetable intake from day to day with a much better understanding of how to make them filling and yummy.  However, I will not be permanently eliminating meat from my diet.  I don't consume massive amounts to begin with for financial reasons, but this process of supplementing protein in place of meat has been a little draining.  Ultimately, I drink a least two whey protein shakes a day in order to stay full.  I am also eating a tbsp of peanut butter twice a day-the second time being right before bed to curb hunger pangs.  While I eat beans more than anyone probably should already, I have had to increase the amount of beans I eat to get more protein as well-up to about half a can per meal-ish.

Seriously, I am learning so much.  I have found so many creative ways to eat veggies and other filling substitutes.  Let me first say-no tofu for me and no soy milk.  One soy latte has the same estrogen content of a birth control pill.  We don't want that and there is NO WAY that is good for you.  I actually love soymilk, but this had to go after I found that out.  So lately, I've been drinking my protein shakes with almond milk and let me just say...I LOVE it!  It adds only a subtle flavor of the almond essence (remeniscent of the extract), but adds so much more depth than water.  Of course I get the original kind, unsweetened so one serving ends up being a whopping 40 calories.  It's a win win situation!  Instead of adding honey or stevia to sweeten things, I have been using a drop of vanilla extract and cinammon.  It's delish and I will keep it from now until the end of time.

Other interesting substitutions of note?

* Sweet potato fries.  I only allow this a few times a week as well, but all it takes is cutting up a sweet potato, putting the wedges in a 450 degree oven for about 20 minutes and removing, then consuming.  They are filling and very satisfying!

*  Squash/Zucchini/Carrot noodles.  If you peel squash and zucchini and a few carrots, you can saute them with some onions, mushrooms, garlic, fennel, & pasta sauce and it tastes phenomenal!  You can also make a sauce with olive oil instead of red sauce.

* Yerba Matte instead of coffee- known as the creativity ilixir of all time;  It's legendary stuff and has 85 mg of caffeine versus 135 mg in coffee.  It, however, does not have the jittery, harsh after effects that coffee has, but produces a pleasant increase in clarity and energy that doesn't crash!

I've also gotten better at making salads.  Start with spinach.  Then add one or a few of the following:

Veggies:
cucumbers, carrots
corn, peas
brussel sprouts
green beans
peppers
broccoli

Then add some legumes- chickpeas are great on salads, but I also love kidney, white, & black beans!

Next add some nuts.  I use blanched almond slivers.

Sometimes I saute everything but the spinach (so it stays big) and at the last minute put the dressing in the pan to warm it up, then pour it over the salad.  YUM! You can even add fresh garlic.  My dressings usually consist of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, or lemon juice.

Another essential in the vegetarian diet is salsa.  I start my mornings off with spinach (frozen and warmed up) and beans mixed together in a bowl and add salsa (usually somethin' with a kick!).  I might supplement it with a protein shake to kick the morning off with a boost.  Sound strange?  To me it resembles Chipotle or Mexican food.  Anyhow...I'll be back soon to post with more interesting improvements, substitutions and findings!

Have a wonderful Valentines Day!