Books! Past Present and Future.

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas! A popular gift to give and to get is always gift cards to places like Borders and Barnes and Noble. I really like them cause I can get something I want but might not normally spend money on. I thought as an After-Christmas post I would put up some of my favorite foody books I have read so far, ones that I am about to read over this break, and ones that I hope to read in the future. I figured it was timely because some of you might be looking for something to spend your gift cards on!

Books I Have Already Read

Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.

In this book Gary Taubes goes through a lot of research and studies to explain why we have the current nutritional dogma that we have in America. I really enjoyed it because although it is pretty heavy reading and quite sciency (for me at least) Taubes does not dumb down the info he is telling you at all. A lot of other authors, especially in what you see in the online and magazine circuit, will give you info that is based on real research but they sort of exaggerate or dumb it down to much so that it doesn't really make sense in context anymore. Taubes assumes his reader wants to know the research, not a watered down version of it, and really is through and backs up all of his statements. This book was harder to read on the subway and I found that I really had to dedicate my full attention to it. I would save this book for a vacation or time when you can really sit down an read it in big chunks. 

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan

This book is really popular so it might be old news, but it really deserves a shot out. In it Pollan takes you though four different types of food (I say types for lack of a better term) He takes you through highly industrial food based on corn, GMOs, and conventional American meat farming, Industrial organic farming (which is sometimes not that different from regular farming), "Beyond Organic" farming which is sort of what regular organic farming was supposed to be like before capitalism took it over (and which makes you want to drop everything and move to a farm like these), and hunting and gathering for food which sounds like a lot more fun than it actually turned out to be for Pollan. It was a really great read and definitely changes your perspective on food. If you are just going to read one book about food, this might be the one I vote for.  

The End of Overeating by David A. Kessler MD

This book is a great read for those of us who have trouble having "just one cookie". In it Kessler goes through the science of the chemically based cue and reward system in our brains that drive us towards foods that are super palatable. He explains how the food industry knows enough of this science to make their processed foods pretty much irresistible to people, especially if you are sort of prone to compulsive behavior. After reading this book it is really no wonder that so many Americans suffer from compulsive over eating and because of it, metabloic syndrome. However, after explaining how the food industry works and shedding light on reasons you may not have thought of as towards why you might have trouble with compulsive eating, Kessler gives a lot of helpful advice on how to sort of treat yourself and make it easier to avoid harmful foods. 

Books Waiting on My Shelf

What to Eat by Marion Nestle 

This book is sort of a hand guide to the grocery store. Although she is a little more mainstream than say, Taubes, Nestle does a good job of going through all types of food (produce, meat, milk, processed foods) and telling you what she thinks you need to know about them. These days, the supermarket can be a lot more overwhelming than it should be, so unfortunately there is a big need for a book like Nestle's.  I am only a few pages into the book, but I am enjoying it so far. To give you more insight, here is one of the quotes on the back of the jacket : "The industry wants you to believe there are no good foods or bad foods. Well, that's not true. And I can't think of anyone who knows the difference better than Marion Nestle"- Eric Schlosser

In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan

After Pollan came out with The Omnivore's Dilemma, many people asked him the question of "Ok, then, what should I eat?"In response to that question, Pollan came out with this book. From what I can tell, it looks like it is going to be a combination of The End of Overeating and What to Eat. Pollan explains the food industry as well as giving instruction on the best way to navigate through it and pick the best foods.  I am sure that it will repeat a lot of stuff from the other books but Pollan is a great author and the book is a quick read.

Next on the List....

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary Enig

This book comes with the stamp of approval from Dishing up Nutrition and it is definitely what I will be spending MY Barnes and Noble gift card on. Part nutritional education, part cookbook, Nourishing Traditions explains what is wrong with the American view that dietary fat = body fat. Fallon is a leader in the Weston A Price foundation that calls for nutrition reform in America. Price was a dentist who did research on healthy primitive people and what they ate. They call to attention the need for REAL fat in the diet and the return to real foods including butter, lard, fatty meat, whole protein, fermented foods, and unrefined vegetable carbs. I have heard Sally Fallon speak before and I am excited to read the cookbook and test out what is in it. 

Julia's Kitchen Wisdom by Julia Child

Besides Nourishing Traditions (because it is so much more than a cookbook) I am not generally too interested in having a ton of cookbooks because I find a lot of good stuff online. However, I think this book will be great to have because it is more about kitchen technique and things that you might not automatically know like, the best way to braise meat or how to keep your vegetables from wilting too much when you cook them. Although I like to cook a lot, I think a lot of us could use tips like this and based on what I read in the reviews, I think that this could be a great kitchen aid to anyone who already sort of knows how to cook.

  

So I know some of my pics are obvious, but hopefully there were a few in there that you weren't sold on that you might want to get now or a few you didn't know about at all! If you are still going to get the Twilight Series or  the Hungry Girl low fat cookbook, I guess I failed you, but at least I tried!

Happy New Year!

Holidaze: Flourless Brownies!

Again, it has been forever. Finals week was rearing its head earlier this month and ever since Thanksgiving I had been finding it hard to find time for nutritional escapades. However, I now have weeks ahead of me of nothing but eating, cooking, working out, and working a little bit on my fashion portfolio. After Christmas I am even going to Seattle for a few weeks to see Dan so hopefully I will be able to put up some good Seattle foodie posts while I am out there.

So as everyone is either happily or painfully aware, Christmas almost upon us! I know between Starbucks attractive drinks in their nice red cups, people bringing in Christmas treats to school/work, or just the cold weather and stress all adding up, I have have the urge to eat a lot of bad things more often then I normally do. I also find it quite unhelpful when people talk about "holiday poundage" because generally I wasn't thinking about Christmas cookies until it was brought up, but then I really want some! Whatever reasons you have, many people struggle to stay on track around this time of year.

Just can't get enough holiday treats!

However, not all treats were created equal. There are some treats that, although they should still be eaten in moderation, are much better for you than their overly processed peers (and I'm not talking just fruit salad!). In general, it is better to eat a dessert that is home made rather than one that is processed or made with HFCS and veg. oil. That is pretty obvious. There are also some great desserts that go a little further by cutting out some other ingredients that can be harmful if eaten in excess....

On Sunday, my mom and I were craving some chocolate, and I remembered a recipe for flourless brownies that I saw on the Nutritional Weight and Wellness website. This recipe was gluten free so my dad could eat it and getting rid of the flour will really cut down on the excess carbs. There is also no added sugar so the only sugar in the recipe is coming from the dark chocolate. Not too shabby. Also, there were only FOUR ingredients, all of which we just happened to have in the house so it's not some fancy recipe that you have to buy stuff you will only use once for. So here is how to make it ....

1) 2 cups (or one bag) of dark chocolate chips (try to get a better brand that has as few harmful ingredients as possible)
2) 1 1/2 sticks butter
3) 6 eggs
4) 1 Tbs. vanilla extract

So you can save your flour for hiding your jewelery

1) First Pre-heat the oven to 350.
2) Take the chocolate and butter and melt them together in a double boiler and stir occasionally

Try to resist putting your head in the pot of melting chocolate

3) Take the eggs and crack them into a large mixing bowl. 
4) Take a hand beater and beat the eggs on high for about 5 minutes or until the eggs are thick and very well beaten.
5) When the chocolate is fully melted cool it a little bit and add the vanilla extract.
6) When the eggs are ready, slowly add the chocolate to them, stirring very fast so that the chocolate gets fully blended into the eggs.
7) When the mixture is fully combined, line a 9X9 pan with parchment paper and pour the mixture in.
8) Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes

Let cool and enjoy! Sorry I forgot to take my own pictures again, I was living in the chocolaty moment.


Oh and Happy Holidays! Hope Santa brings you something as good as these brownies.....

Seafood! And SOUP!

So as I am sure you have seen before, I am really into the idea of making a big batch of something and then having it for the whole week. It's really good for my busy schedule and frees up my time so I am not CONSTANTLY cooking. This week I made New England Clam Chowder. I went though a bunch of recipes online, and found one on epicurious that boasted being totally authentic. It said in the recipe that real New England Clam Chowder should be simple and thin like milk, rather than rich and creamy with tons of ingredients.

So here is what I used:
1 can of crown prince boiled clams
1/2 bottle of crown prince clam juice
1 1/2 cups of organic half and half
1/2 yellow onion chopped
A bit of olive oil to saute the onions
3 Smallish red potatoes, cubed
 a bunch of shallots chopped
1/2 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
3 strips of uncured bacon

So first what I did was fry up the bacon in a pan and put it on a few paper towels. Then I chopped it up into chunks

 Then I began to fry the chopped onions in the bottom of a soup pot. After they softened I added the broth, shallots, and potatoes. I then simmered it covered for 10 minutes, and uncovered for 15 minutes until the potatoes were soft and most of the stock was evaporated or absorbed into the potatoes and onions.

Then I added the drained the clam juice, putting it aside, and rinsed the clams in a strainer. I then added the clams clam juice from the can, and about half the bottle of clam juice. I let that simmer for about 3 minutes.

Then I added the half and half, and bacon that I had prepared earlier, and let that come together for about five minutes. It was great!

Ready to go!

This recipe provided about four servings.

Another great seafood to make are sardines. They are really high in Omega 3, and taste great when they are good. You can get good brands of canned ones like crown prince or others (just make sure it's not packed in a low quality oil like cottonseed) Also, if your sardines come in oil you might want to USE the oil in whatever you are making, since some of the Omega 3 oil will probably leek into the oil used to pack it.

Even better though, are fresh sardines cooked on the grill, although I couldn't be there, my parents made sardines last weekend on the grill and my dad sent me this picture of him cooking them!

Jealous!

 If you can't get all your Omega 3 from fish, as so few of us can, make sure that you are taking a high quality fish oil supplement. If you are getting a bargain price you want to be wary because fish oil, like any other oil, can go rancid and then it is doing more harm then good. If you are getting fishy burps, its a sign that your fish oil is rancid.

So enjoy your seafood everyone!

Name something better than SNACK TIME! Nope, you can't!

Snacks are just great! How often are you working on something boring and distract yourself with a snack? All the time, if you are me. Many experts say that it is important to try to eat more than just 3 times a day, so it is good to have healthy snacks around so you don't get driven into the vending machine routine.

Hey now.

Although there are a lot of simple snacks that are good like nuts, fruit and raw veggies, I thought I would provide an idea for if you want something new and maybe takes care of more of a snacky craving.

Last week, I made swis chard chips!

1) Preheat your oven to 350
2) I started out with a nice big bunch of organic swiss chard. You can also use another type of green like kale or spinach.

3) Wash and dry the greens and roughly rip in into sections, keeping in mind that it will shrink a little bit in the oven
4) Spread the greens out on a cookie sheet
5) Coat the leaves lightly in olive oil and toss them around for an even coverage.
6) Spread out the leaves on the cookie sheet, and send it into the oven for about 20 minutes! Check on it every once in a while. You want them to be crispy like chips.
7) After the leaves come out, sprinkle with sea salt.

THATS IT! So easy and tasty

PS, Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

My Favorite Breakfast

One thing that really keeps people from eating healthy is forgetting to eat breakfast. I know we have all heard it a million times, but it is really important to eat not only a breakfast in the morning, but a healthy breakfast that will also keep you satiated until it is time to eat again.

I for one, find that if I only eat fruit in the morning, I will be hungry again in a really sort amount of time. And when it comes to breakfast bars and breakfast substitutes you can just forget it.

This is the ingredient list from a Nutrigrain bar.

Another thing I hear a lot is that people are not hungry, or even disgusted by food, when they first wake up. I don't really see this as an issue because there are ways (like the recipe I am about to share with you) to bring an easy breakfast with you that make it possible for you to eat whenever you feel ready.

So here is a sweet potato quiche that you can make on a Sunday, cut it up, and freeze it for the week!

This is you cooking up your great breakfast

I got the original recipe from the Weight and Wellness website but I tweaked it a bit so this is how I make it.......

What you will need for 6 portions:
12 eggs
1 of the little cartons of whipping cream
1 large Sweet Potato
1/2 a chopped onion
1 bag of frozen spinach (you can use fresh too)
Olive Oil or Butter
Another veggie like Broccoli or Cauliflower, or some healthy sausage (whatever you like in your quiche, I like the Applegate farm sausage with apple!)
Some Cheese to sprinkle on top
Salt, Pepper, hot sauce and Garlic to taste

9X13 pan for the oven, and a big pan for the stove

1) So first what I do is I peel the entire sweet potato until you just have a big pile of peels.

Just keep going!

2) then I take the onion and begin to saute them in a big pan with olive oil and some garlic.
3)After a few minutes I add the potatoes and fry them until I basically have a big pan of home made sweet potato hash browns
4) While your potatoes are frying crack all of the eggs in a bowl and whisk them a little to break the yolks.
5) Add the cream and mix it in fully.
6) Take the 9X13 pan and grease it either with butter or oil.
7)Take the hash browns and spread them through the bottom of the pan. Try to make it even but it's okay if you have a few bald spots.
8)Take the Spinach and defrost it a little so you can work with it. You might also want to get any excess water out of it with a strainer. Then spread the spinach on top of the sweet potatoes.
9)add the eggs mixture, and then put in the sausage and other veggies you want to add.

Here are some fall veggie ideas that might be good ideas for add- ins

Bake at 350 degrees for about 35-45 mintutes or it looks golden(ish)on top.  When there are 5 minutes left you can add cheese to the top if you want to. This is a really great breakfast because it is healthy and also has a good amount of fat and protein to start your day and feel full for quite a few hours!

Enjoy!

OH MY GOODNESS OH MY GOODNESS!

So I was listening to my favorite show on the Radio, Dishing up Nutrition which I listen though a podcast. And I was listening to the menopause episode which I had missed a few weeks ago and all of a sudden I hear that they are making a shot out to my blog on the radio!!!!!!! I was so excited I started jumping up and down in my living room shouting! It was so unexpected!

So thanks to Dishing Up Nutrition! I find them so motivating to try to eat healthy and even though everyone slips up, they have been a HUGE part of my weight loss thus far. I love them and I can't wait to eventually have a phone consultation with them!

Now I am really motivated to keep this blog up since I might have people in the St Paul area looking at it! WOAH!

Busy Schedule Solutions

So I haven't updated in over a month! It's so sad but I just haven't had much free time since school started to keep up the blog. However, I have been trying to keep up with developing healthy eating habits, which in the end is what it's supposed to be about. It's not always easy, and requires a lot of planning.

A lot of people complain that they, like me, are too busy to make lunch and bring it to school/work. I think that this is one of the pitfalls for people trying to eat healthy, because they either end up not eating, or eating out which is very hard to control.

Healthy *LOOKING* muffins and the like start to look pretty good when you are on the run, hungry, and didn't pack a lunch. However, this really isn't what you want to be eating through the day (you can just ask my friend Martha, she was a witness and occasional causality to my former muffin addiction)

One thing that I find a real life saver is to make big batches of food, pre-package it into Tupperware and freeze it. Then I just pull it out through the week and everyone I eat with is jealous of me. It's great!

Tonight for dinner I came home (after a full day of school, just like you!) and made asparagus soup!

This is not the soup I made! But it looks just like it and I forgot to take a picture!

 

Here is what I did:

Ingredients: Asparagus, cauliflower, a can of chick peas (I think mine was around 10 oz), some butter, water, salt, pepper, garlic, and thyme

IMPORTANT SIDE NOTE: I originally was going to use a broth for the base, but obviously I didn't have time to make a broth at home. So I went to the deli under me and looked at the broth they had. College Inn was the only brand they had and it was FULL of chemicals including autolyzed yeast extract, which is actually a re-branded version of MSG. So be careful that you don't turn your healthy soup into a pot of chemicals!

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

1) I took a bunch of asparagus and cut off the white part at the end because I thought it would be too tough.
2) I took about 1/4 of a head of cauliflower and chopped it.
3) I boiled the two together in a pot of water for about 7 minutes with garlic, thyme, salt, pepper, and some REAL butter (This is all I had, but onions and other stuff would be good too)
4) I took out the veggies and put it in the blender with some of the water that I originally boiled it in (but not ALL of it, you sort of have to eyeball it to see how much is enough)
5) I added a whole can of chickpeas to add protein and thicken the texture
6) I blended it all and added more salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top

This was super super easy and I made enough for three meals. It probably doesn't really have enough protein to be an ideal dinner but I ate a lot of protein through the day today so I wasn't too worried.

So if you have time for Facebook and  showering and watching TV, you have time to make your meals most of the time. I'll admit that I don't ALWAYS have a lunch packed, but I try to do it at least four times a week or so. Now I need to follow my own advice and start blogging more regularly!