In 2011 I Resolve To...

Happy New Year's Eve! Looking back at last year's resolutions, I am pretty happy with my accomplishments. For my "blog resolution" I had a goal to create a database of about 100 "quick and healthy dinner recipes", which only ended up being about thirty recipes, but oh well. I'm actually still working on this so I haven't given up. Here are some of my favorite quick and easy recipes from last year;


(**Note: Many of these were created before I was on the low FODMAPs diet, so garlic and onion will have to be omitted if you follow that diet. Also, these can all be found on the right column of my blog, under "Quick Meal Recipes" and also "More Simple and Healthy Recipes"**)

Tempeh Sloppy Joe's
(Recipe adapted from Mari)

Turkey and Spinach Meatballs

(recipe adapted from Gluten Free Gidget)

Oat Bran Pizza Dough

Nutty Noodles

Sweet Potato Soup

Do you make new year's resolutions? The key to making the best new year's resolutions is to make them realistic. After all, what's the point in making a goal/resolution for yourself that is unachievable, or which may be so difficult that it causes stress? This year's resolutions stem a bit from last year's but I also have some brand new ones;


Food/Nutrition: Continue to decrease my caffeine intake. This has been hard to kick because I started working at Market District where employees get free coffee all day long, whenever, wherever, no joke. Right now I'm averaging 400 mg caffeine per day. My goal is to get down to 300 mg. Last year at this time I was consuming around 600mg per day, and do you know why?! It's because I had not yet discovered the low FODMAPs diet, and I was malabsorbing half of my nutrients! Therefore I was chronically fatigued and there wasn't enough caffeine in the world to get me going. It's sad when I think about it, but oh well, I'm happy to have discovered a diet that is really saving my life, physically and mentally.


While I do have a goal to decrease my caffeine intake, I'm not incredibly worried about it. I don't have high blood pressure (in fact mine is low!) and I don't get anxiety from drinking caffeine, nor do I get a rapid increase in heart rate. This is not to mention all of the benefits that have been discussed in the news this year about consuming caffeine. Do you want to know the real reason I am so adamant about decreasing my caffeine intake? I want to be prepared for pregnancy!! I'm not planning on getting pregnant for at least 4 or 5 years, but while pregnant I will only be allowed 200 mg caffeine MAX. It will be a lot easier for me to do this if I am already consuming a small amount of caffeine. Yeah, I know, I'm crazy to be thinking so far ahead, but it's also important for me to not have to be dependent on caffeine....as much...



Work: I get a lot of questions about the homeopathic supplements we sell where I work. I'm always completely honest with the customers and tell them I don't know much about these products. This year I want to learn more about homeopathic medicine/supplements, starting with a free online course offered by one of the companies (I will focus on the unbiased objective information, not the biased subjective information provided by the company!).



Mental health: I'm still working hard on living in the moment, and not always going through the million things I "have to do" in my head. I'm training myself to be better at this, and while it's a slow process, it's working well.

I'm also working on not nagging so much. I tend to nag, as I'm told by Nick, and I realize it gets me no where. Anyone else have a problem with this? I have noticed the more I nag, the less receptive Nick is to my requests, so in fact it has the opposite effect.

We bought a house this year and we also both switched jobs. There have been a lot of stressful moments but I refuse to let stress cause our relationship any harm. I've seen relationships fall apart due to nagging, or one partner trying to control the other, and that's just not something I want to see happen with Nick and I. We work really well together and I plan on being with him for the rest of my life (which brings me to another new year's resolution...get engaged!! hehe, we'll see, I think this may be the year!).

Question: I gotta ask, what's one new year's resolution that you have this year?

Any fun plans for the evening? Nick and I are going to dinner with some of his friends and their girlfriends, then having people over to our house. Hopefully it's low key, but fun.

See you in 2011!

Pumpkin Butter and a White Christmas

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas (or if you don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you had a fabulous Saturday!). My Christmas started Wednesday and Thursday when I had both days off from work, which was lovely. I made pumpkin butter for some family and friend gifts.

Pumpkin Butter
(Recipe from Joanna)

Ingredients

2 cups pumpkin puree
1/2 cup honey
2 T apple cider vinegar
2 T cinnamon
1 T pumpkin spice
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt

Directions
Mix everything together in a large bowl! Simple.

Even though this recipe contained honey, which is not a part of my Low FODMAPs diet, I still had to taste it before giving it away as a gift. It was delicious.

I put some in these glass jars, wrote the expiration date on the bottom (about one week was my guess) and then wrapped them in tissue paper with a bow.

I also made these peppermint rocky road bars. You can find the simple recipe here. I must say, they tasted amazing.

On Friday I had to work, which wasn't such a big deal. Friday evening we went to Nick's mother's house to have a nice Italian dinner and of course to open gifts. I really enjoy giving gifts more than getting gifts. I love to watch the kids open their gifts because it makes me feel like a kid again myself. Do you feel that way sometimes? The girls in the picture below are Nick's adorable nieces.




I wanted to share how I've been doing with the Healthy Holiday Challenge. My goal was/is to be good at not going overboard on food and drinks at parties (from Christmas through new year's eve, and of course the rest of the year!). I'll be honest, it's the drinks that mainly do me in. I'm not a big drinker, but for some reason around the holidays I become sort of a lush. I challenged myself to limit my drink intake and to stop eating when I was full. This was in no way a weight-loss or even weight maintenance challenge, but instead it was a challenge to see if I could practice what I preach around the holidays. Just because I don't have a weight problem does not make it ok to binge on food and drinks, right?! So, on Christmas Eve, I failed big time.


I wasn't planning on drinking this mint white chocolate martini, but I did.


Then I was offered my favorite beer, and I just couldn't say no!


So I didn't practice what I preach. I had a glass of red wine, a couple beers, and a martini. I was in complete "vacation" and "holiday" mode. I didn't overeat, but I did drink a bit too much, probably. Oh well, I had a fabulous time!

And so did Nick, even though he refused to smile for this picture.

There were lots of yummy sweets.

And I received a lot of "foodie gifts".

Then yesterday (Christmas) we went to my parent's house and I did a very good job of focusing on friends and family, and not on food and drinks. The day started off on a happy note, it was a White Christmas!



Nick and I opened our presents from each other. Nick always gets me the best Hallmark cards that make me tear up. I pretend he wrote them :) Then he also does a great job of picking out simple yet amazing gifts! This made my day;

There will be many summer popsicle posts this year!

Starting the first week in January I will be weighing the employees (where I work) who took part in my Healthy Holiday Challenge. Their goal was to not gain any weight over the holidays, or even better, to lose weight if necessary! Several of the employees have already come to my office to get weighed-in half way through the holidays. I'm happy to say that two of them have already lost over seven pounds!


My next couple posts will include my New Year's resolutions (yes, I know, joy!) and my favorite foods and products of 2011.


Tonight Nick and I are having my parents, his mom and sister, plus some family friends over for game night. On Christmas we played Balderdash and I'm hoping everyone is willing to play again! Have you played it? It's one of my all time favorite games to play with a large group of fun people. My aunt and mother were especially entertaining. And guess what? There were sports playing in the background but this game kept everyone's attention!

Even the dog had a fun time.

Enjoy the last week of 2010!

Blueberry Almond Turtles and Quinoa Waffle Cones

I can't believe Christmas is in three days. I'm so close to being "ready" (what does that really mean, anyway? When are you ever "ready" for the holidays?). I've put off a lot of my baking for today and tomorrow (I get two days off in a row, which is unheard of!). Today I'm planning on making pepperoni bread (eight loaves) and Joanna's pumpkin butter. I am going to make three of the breads whole wheat, but then I'm taking off my dietitian hat and just using white bread. I have also decided to use turkey pepperoni and organic cheese. Yeah, I know, organic cheese isn't healthier, but I almost always buy organic dairy products. I don't really have any reason for using turkey pepperoni, other than the reduced saturated fat content.

Last year's pepperoni bread. Yum.

The other day I made these fantastic blueberry almond turtles. Here is a similar recipe that I found online (can't find the original!). The only difference is that I used fresh blueberries, not dried ones.


The lighting is bad in this picture, but you get the idea, right?!

What You Need

- Some dark chocolate (I used one bag 60% cacao chocolate chips)

- Blanched almonds

- A few cups of fresh blueberries

- A double boiler or just a microwave safe bowl

- A cookie sheet lined with wax paper

Basically all you do is create several little mounds of blanched almonds on the waxed paper. Then melt the chocolate and toss the blueberries in the chocolate. Get them nice and coated, then drop about 5-7 chocolate-covered berries onto the almond mounds. Put in the freezer for about 30 minutes to get them nice and hard.

This is the bottom of the turtles.


Nutrition Highlights

- Low calorie
(~50-80 calories, depending on how big you make them)

- Contains magnesium, vitamin E, fiber, and flavanols, all of which play vital roles in chronic disease prevention.

My mom and I also experimented with quinoa flour the other day. We ground up some quinoa into a flour and tried making our waffle cones and bowls with the flour. They definitely tasted and looked a little different, but they were still a huge hit!

We made a few cones and waffle bowls.

Plus some waffle chips. The chocolate we used was simply melted Dove chocolate.

QUESTION: What's your favorite holiday dessert? I think mine is Great Lakes' Christmas Ale :) But if I had to choose a food, it would be my cousin's rocky road fudge!


It's the one in the top right corner. Oh my gosh. It's to die for.

I hope everyone has a great Christmas! If you don't celebrate Christmas, have a wonderful week and weekend. I will be back on the 26th with an "Almost Wordless...Sunday??" post! I will share photos, plus an update on how I have done with the Holiday Challenge. Have a great one!

Alton Brown's Squash Frittata

Nick and I love the show Good Eats, featuring our favorite Food Network star Alton Brown. The reason we like it so much is because he doesn't just cook, but he teaches us about food science. It's truly an educational and entertaining thirty minutes. Speaking of food science, have you seen the show Brew Masters? It's a show all about one of my favorite brews; Dogfish Head Beer. It's one of the most interesting shows I've ever watched. If I hadn't gone into dietetics, I would have chosen food science as my major. I really think it's fascinating, especially when the knowledge is used to create something healthy and delicious!

Ok, so anyway, after watching Alton make frittata on his squash episode, which aired earlier in the fall, Nick and I both knew we had to try it. I found it online after the show but when I went to make it of course I couldn't find it online anywhere! I did manage to find a different frittata recipe by Alton Brown, which can be found here. The recipe below is a slightly modified version (of course!).

Alton Brown's Squash Frittata

Ingredients

1 pound yellow squash, sliced about 1/8 inch thick
1 T EVOO
1 T chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 t salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper
6 large eggs
(** Want to make this recipe lighter? Use egg beaters! 1.5 cups of egg beaters would equal 6 large eggs**)

1/2 cup reduced fat ricotta cheese
1/2 ounce parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Heat the oven to the high broil setting and place the rack 3-4 inches from the broiler.

2. Gab a medium bowl and toss the squash slices with the oil, rosemary, nutmeg, and pepper. Lay the coated squash in a single layer on a baking pan, which has been lined with foil.

3. Broil until the squash is golden brown on one side (~4 minutes)

4. Whisk the eggs, ricotta, and parmesan together in a medium mixing bowl. Put the browned squash in an oven-safe nonstick saute pan (~ 10 inches wide). Pour the egg and cheese mixture over the squash and use a spatula to make sure some of the mixture gets under the squash.

5. Cook without stirring until the egg mixture starts to harden on the sides and set on the top (~4 minutes). Put the pan under the broiler until the frittata is nice and brown on the top (**watch carefully!! I burned mine the first time!!**).

6. Take out of oven and scoop onto a baking sheet to cool for several minutes.


Nick and I had his mom and sister over for dinner on this particular night. We served the frittata with some good red wine and a side spinach salad.

Alton, you never fail to impress me. My new year's resolution (well, one of them) is to get through more of his recipes from his cookbook I received for Christmas last year. So far I think I've make three things. Yikes.

QUESTION: Have you ever made frittata? Have you ever tried any recipes from Alton Brown?

A Working Girl's Lazy Dinners

Now that I am a full-time dietitian I have the typical 40-hour (plus more...) schedule, which has me coming home around 6pm wanting nothing more than to sit on my butt and stay there all night. The last thing I want to do is cook, but since I try to eat healthy and practice what I preach, I know we can't just order out every night or eat from a box. The solution to this problem is to prepare food ahead of time, which means taking about 1-2 hours each Sunday to cook meat and vegetables for the following week. I also gather all of the ingredients that need consumed within the next week so I can use them in our meals. Here are some examples of some recent dinners;

Loaded Nachos; yellow corn tortilla chips, topped with spinach, black beans, nitrate-free low sodium bacon, chunks of cooked sweet potato, grilled organic chicken, and shredded cheddar cheese

Spinach Spaghetti Salad: Spinach, cooked spaghetti squash, black beans, organic chicken, canned tomatoes (plain), shredded cheddar, rice vinegar, pepper

Chicken, Yogurt, and Spinach Wrap: Whole wheat tortilla, grilled chicken, plain 2% Greek yogurt, nitrate-free low sodium bacon, spinach, sprinkling of parmesan cheese, Red Hot, mixed spices

Spinach Salad: Spinach, 2 hard boiled eggs, nitrate-free low sodium bacon, shredded cheddar cheese, rice vinegar and a dab of blue cheese dressing


And yes, it's clear that Nick and I will be turning into Popeye very soon. There is spinach in each of these meals! We've also been into the nitrate-free bacon. No longer will I buy turkey bacon thinking it's healthier. We like the real stuff, without the nitrates. Nitrate-free meats should be available at a store near you, as they are becoming more and more popular among consumers. Nitrates and nitrites are used for preservation and can actually produce carcinogens in your body. NO BUENO!


We also did Wendy's one night because we wanted to try out their new "salad combo" deal. It may not be available in your area yet because Columbus is a tester city. Basically you get to choose a salad and one side for $4.50. This is the Apple Pecan Chicken Salad and a baked potato (I didn't eat the apple because it's not on my low FODMAPs diet). This was a good deal, but not something we would do often.

QUESTION: Each of the above meals took me about 15 minutes to prepare (or order...hehe), and are loaded with nutrients. What's your favorite "simple and healthy meal"?

Today I'm going shopping with Nicole. I love shopping with friends when I am not stressed (I only have one more thing to buy for Christmas!). It should be relaxing and fun. We're also stopping at Trader Joe's, which is always a good time :)

Peppermint Chocolate Ice Cream and Cat Cora

Before I start today's post I want to let you know that I updated my last post, which focused on the Five-Hour Energy product. I was wrong, the serving size is not one half of the bottle!! My bad. Please click the link above to read my updates, if you wish. I also added a bit of information about the folic acid in the product.



Now it's holiday recipe time! What was your favorite flavor of ice cream as a kid? I can remember being obsessed with mint chocolate chip ice cream. I still love it, actually, and for some strange reason it took me over two years to finally make some with my ice cream maker! But alas, I have created the perfect peppermint chocolate chip "light" ice cream.

Ingredients

~1 T Peppermint extract
(more or less, depending on your preference, but I like my ice cream minty!)

~ 6 Dark chocolates
(you can use any chocolate you want, but obviously Dove is awesome, and dark has more health benefits than milk)

2 cups chilled half and half
(you could use fat free half and half, but the texture just isn't the same)

1 cup unsweetened almond milk
(you can use any milk, but if you want your ice cream to contain less fat use skim milk. You could also use soy or rice milk.)

~ 3 T unsweetened dark cocoa powder

3/4 cup sugar
(I used a little less than 3/4, just to reduce the sugar a bit)


Directions

In a medium bowl mix together the sugar and almond milk. Once the sugar is incorporated into the milk, add the chilled half and half. Mix well.

Add the peppermint extract, mix again.

Pour into the ice cream maker, turn it on, then add the cocoa powder while the machine is churning.

Set your timer for about 18 minutes and make sure the cocoa gets incorporated well (I had to use a rubber scrapper a couple times to scrape the edges as the machine was churning).

Meanwhile, cut up the chocolate into chunks or shreds of chocolate (I chose a bit of both)

After about 18 minutes the ice cream should be ready. Turn off the machine and add the chocolate! Mix the chocolate into the ice cream, then put in freezer so it gets a bit more solid.

Don't have an ice cream maker? I think this would be great even if you used a blender, then put it in the freezer to freeze. The texture wouldn't be quite the same as ice cream, but it would still taste amazing.

Final product; 10 out of 10

My best ice cream YET!

QUESTIONS: Who's your favorite Iron Chef? What was your favorite childhood ice cream?

5-HOUR ENERGY!!!!!!!!!!!

Like the title? It's supposed to signify my "five hour energy rush" ;) . But no, I did not take one of these. I get my energy from food....and caffeine.


Nick and I had Mark and Nicole over for dinner about a month ago. After finishing our meal Nicole's husband, Mark, pulled one of these out of his pocket:


He wasn't going to take it, he was just showing it to us because he knew it would get a rise out of Nicole and I. He was right, it caused quite the conversation! We talked about some pros and cons, and the next week Mark even posted about this product on Nicole's blog. You can read his post here.

I thought he did a great job, but like I said in my comment to him, he missed a few key points (only a dietitian would write a follow-up post!). Here are some things he could have added:

1) While there is a warning to NOT EXCEED TWO BOTTLES DAILY, I would be willing to bet many people do. This is a huge problem. It's not that there is a lot of caffeine in this product, because there isn't, but the problem is the excess of vitamin B6 (and in my opinion, folic acid).


Many energy supplements supply huge doses of the B-vitamins, including B6 and sometimes folic acid, and this one is no different. Out of all of the B-vitamins the ones about which you should be cautious are B6 and folic acid (B9).

So 1 bottle provides 40 mg B6. The Upper Limit (the amount you should not exceed due to the possibility of side effects, such as neuropathy in the case of B6 excess) is 100mg. The Office of Dietary Supplements explains this in a bit more detail. So if you are really sticking to the one bottle, I suppose you would be ok, but do you think there are people out there taking two of these a day? Definitely. This adds up to 80mg B6. Not good because it's close to the 100 mg upper limit. Take another one and you've exceeded it!

This is not to mention the 400mg of folic acid in one bottle, which is a dose I would NEVER exceed (I have read research about cancer risks with higher doses).



2) This product contains another B-vitamin called niacin. We need about 14-18 mg of niacin per day and this product contains about 30mg in one bottle. According to the Natural Standards Database, the recommended supplemental dosage is 15-35 mg. And what do studies show it may help with? Pallegra and cholesterol reduction. What about energy? Nope, not a thing about that. So what's the point?! Niacin has many side-effects too, including flushing of the skin, so watch out for that.

The extra strength version of this product has more Niacin and ~40 mg more caffeine. Seriously, watch out for flushing if you take the extra strength!

3) The commercial for this product is ridiculous, but the marketing team who put it together deserves a bonus! The commercial conveys the idea that in each bottle of 5-Hour Energy you are consuming nutrients equivalent to broccoli, avocado, and banana. Wow, wouldn't that be nice?! Personally I would much rather eat the real fruits and veggies, but other people see this commercial and think, "this is great! I don't have to eat those foods but I can gain the benefits just by taking one of these!!" Fabulous. Little do they know this bottle is simply a bunch of manufactured vitamins and minerals. The product lacks the fiber and the array of phytonutrients, which are present in whole fruits and veggies, and which work symbiotically to provide the benefits to the host (us).

BOTTOM LINE: If you take this product, stick with 1/2-1 bottle. Never take more than one bottle, in my opinion, especially if you are taking a multivitamin in addition!




Just a quick holiday update. Nick and I finished our decorating on Monday. We did white lights on the outside (not the best picture, but I swear it looks pretty neat!).


And we used colored lights on our tree. The lights actually flash but I think it's so tacky when lights flash (no offense to anyone who loves flashing lights....) so we keep them locked so they don't flash.

The only thing left to do this month, other than gift wrapping, is to make 7 loaves of my "famous" pepperoni bread. Today I made peppermint chocolate ice cream, which I will post soon.

Have a great week everyone!