350/365 Plantz a-Make Her Dance: Tips for Getting More Vegetables into Your Diet

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

We know fruits and vegetables are great for us but are we eating them as often as we should? According to the USDA, we are supposed to consume 3-5 servings of vegetables a day. I know it can be hard to add them into your diet but here are a few techniques I use that may be helpful to you:

- If you eat salad, put all of your chopped romaine, spinach, Bibb/Boston, etc. lettuce in a container at the beginning of the week.I have been reusing the same giant, plastic container I got months ago when I bought Earthbound Organics's Spring Mix. Every weekend I go to the grocery store, chop up all my lettuce for the week, and store it in that container. It makes it so easy for me to put handfuls of salad into my container to take to work in the morning.

egg white omelette with broccoli, celery, onions, and mushrooms

- I've always loved omelettes but, never thought I'd ever have time to make them. Not so! My dad is a genius when it comes to working smarter and not harder. He stores all his chopped veggies in a container so he can just take a handful to fry (in grape seed oil, of course) when he's ready for breakfast. You can be so creative with these. This week I'm enjoying red bell peppers, onions, shitake mushrooms, and Chinese eggplant. Putting in that extra effort to chop everything ahead of time cuts down breakfast making by half. This meal also gets an A+ if you're paleo, more on that later.

- Though it's better to have fresh vegetables over frozen, I understand it's hard to take time to chop your vegetables every week. An easy way to prepare vegetables is to steam them either in the microwave or on the stove. If you're microwaving, pour your veggies in a bowl and fill the bottom with water. Microwave it for 3-4min. They should be vibrant and tender. If they aren't, microwave them a minute more at a time until they are.

- If you've got a little more time and want to be a little more ambitious, try roasting your vegetables. Set the oven to 350F. Get your vegetables together. I recommend broccoli, bell peppers, cauliflower, and potatoes to start. Chop them all about the same size and put them in a bowl. Pour oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder over the vegetables. Toss until they are evenly coated. Spread the vegetables onto a pan and bake them for about 25-30 minutes. Your veggies should be fragrant and a little brown but, not burnt, toasty on the outside and tender. Who knew vegetables could be so dynamic? Roasted vegetables are amazing. I love them. I could eat them literally every day AND since they shrink down and are so tasty you can scarf a whole mess of them down without even realizing it. Heck, you could easily get all 5 servings from roasted vegetables. Moving on...


Vegetables are not as grab-and-go as granola bars or yogurt cups but they are definitely great for you. If you're not convinced that vegetables are super cool or want more of a challenge, watch this video. Jose Andreas is just the coolest:

In health,
Lauren

346/365 Fruit and Veggie Smoothie...Wonder Drug?

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

In my family, my dad is notorious for health fads, specifically fruit/vegetable smoothies.  Every few years since I was young we have welcomed a new blender into our kitchen and the smoothie craze would begin. We drank everything from carrot juice to green juice to mangosteen and back to carrot juice again, and so on. These phases would last a few months then die out. My father has always had an obsession for juicing. This time I think it's here to stay.

My dad showing off the variety in our daily smoothie

After watching a documentary on food and healthy eating, my father made a list of foods that we should eat on a daily basis. These foods include kale, beans, cauliflower, red wine, mushrooms, beets, and so much more. It's a lot to prep and cook these foods. My father is all about working smarter and not harder; enter smoothie phase 2012. He decided to invest in the Ninja Kitchen System 1100. Here he can stuff all the veggies and fruits possible (pears, beets, radishes, an apple, grapes, acai juice, celery, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, kiwi, a banana, berries, and flaxseed since variety is key!) and blend them to a pulp. In about 1 minutes and 30 seconds you have a variety of nutrients blended and several servings and fruits and vegetables gulped down into your body.

We certainly don't do it for the taste. We drink this mad concoction because we know it is a great way to prevent disease and infection. Note the dominance of vegetables in this smoothie. Vegetables have less sugar than fruits and are still packed with antioxidants. I think we can all agree that we get plenty of sugar in the rest of our diet and it's harder to eat lots of vegetables compared to lots of fruits. I don't feel particularly healthier just yet but I'm sure the unseen processes in my body are singing. With all the running and swimming (more later) I'm doing, I'm certain my cells are thankful for the antioxidants to battle the stressors and free radicals floating around inside me. I will say this, my dad's hair is darker and thicker than it's been in a long time. "Pope head," as my parents have lovingly called balding, seems to have been staved off at least for now. Cheers!

In health,
Lauren

341/365 Red Skin Potato Fries

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

My favorite potatoes are sweet and red skin. Today I made red skin potato fries, sorry no picture! I actually bought these last week when I decided to shop locally. Since my no-A/C apartment was cool from a storm a few days ago, I heated up my oven and got to baking my fries.

Ingredients:
- Red skin potatoes cut into equally sized wedges (however many you want to eat/serve)
- Canola oil
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tsp Onion Powder
- 1/2 tsp Oregano
- 1/2 tsp Salt

Recipe:
1. Preheat your oven to 425F
2. Toss potato wedges in a bowl with the oil and spices until evenly coated.
3. Spread onto baking pan.
4. Bake for 15 minutes, flip over the wedges, and bake another 10 minutes.
5. Remove from oven, cool, and enjoy!

This is a super easy recipe and produces fantastic results. Red skin potatoes are naturally creamy and taste amazing against the crisp, salty, and spiced exterior.

In health,

Lauren

337/365 Pick Your Own Produce

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Yesterday I decided that it was time to visit my local farm and pick some strawberries. The strawberry season is winding down so get out there while you can. Picking your own produce is rewarding and fun. It makes you realize the hard work and care that goes into harvesting all the fruit we take for granted. Real life isn't like Farmville where you can harvest raspberries in 4 hours or artichoke in 4 days. It takes patience and diligence. Blueberry picking is just around the bend so get out there! Local Harvest is a helpful resource for finding farms, farm stands, CSA's and more. Happy picking!

In health,

Lauren

Picked by yours truly!

336/365 Turkey Sausage Pasta Sauce

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I was craving pasta with meat sauce and came up with this. It serves about 8-10

Ingredients:
1 pkg of spicy, lean turkey sausage (6 links), casings removed
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 32 oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 16 oz can of tomato sauce
salt
ground pepper
basil
oregano
1/2 c pasta water (water leftover from cooking your pasta)

1. Heat a large skillet with oil. Cook turkey sausage, breaking it up as you go.
2. While there's still some pink in the sausage, saute the onions and the garlic. Throw in the salt and ground pepper to taste. Cook until soft and transparent.
3. Add in the crushed tomatoes. Add tomato sauce depending on how thick you want your sauce. Season with basil and oregano for sweetness. Simmer for 15-20 minutes so that the flavors can mingle.
4. Add in the pasta water; this will help the sauce cling to the noodles better, yum!
5. Serve over pasta of your choice, sprinkle with cheese, enjoy!

According to livestrong.com, 1 serving of sauce is about 160 calories.

In health,

Lauren

PS: Picture coming soon, blogspot isn't working for some reason.

334/365 WebMD's Dessert Wizard

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Need a quick tool to help you decide if eating your favorite dessert is worth it or not? Enter the Dessert Wizard. If you don't like counting calories, this calculator will translate the desserts you want to eat into the number of minutes you need to exercise doing a variety of activities. It's super quick so give it a try! It quickly puts things in perspective and clears up the question of, did I work out hard enough to earn _____________ dessert? Hint: the answer is usually no.

In health,

Lauren

331/365 Simple Syrup

Friends and Fitness Enthusiats,

Who likes iced coffee? How about iced tea? As a lover of both, I just saved myself money and saved myself from high fructose corn syrup and other foreign sweeteners. I made simple syrup!

I've been wanting to do this for ages. What is it? Liquefied sugar! It makes sweetening your favorite cold beverages a lot easier and pretty much for free if sugar is already in your pantry. The beauty is that you really get to control how much sugar goes into your beverages. Sure you have the option of pumps when you go to Starbucks or what have you but when you're in control, you win.

Here's how to do it:
1. In a saucepan, pour equal parts of sugar and water. I did 1 cup of sugar to 1 cup of water.
2. Bring the concoction to a boil. Take it down to a lively simmer for 15 minutes. Stir occasionally and watch the syrup consistency emerge.
3. Pour into a squeeze bottle or jar and enjoy!

In health,

Lauren

PS: Everything in moderation!

321/365 Farmers Markets

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I'm sort of realizing that we talk a lot about food here. I don't think this is a bad thing, just kind of funny since I always address you as "friends and fitness enthusiasts." Really though, we've all got to eat! Moving on ...

Another reason to love Spring and Summer is Farmers Markets! If you use your Google skills, I am pretty positive that you will be able to find a Farmers Market near you. If you've never been, it feels like the right way to buy groceries. They have a lot of the same produce (obviously they'll have what is in season) and I don't know, it just feels amazing to buy food outside where it was grown and harvested. The food looks prettier too, more vibrant. There are also usually vendors who sell other homemade goods like soaps and preserves. By the way, I love homemade preserves or at least preserves that don't use artificial or ultra-sweet sweeteners; Bonne Maman is a favorite of mine in the grocery stores.

I like Farmers Markets because you can get to know the people who are feeding you and you can clearly see that nothing was done to it during shipping. If you are concerned about how the food was grown, the experts are right there. You are also supporting local people which is always a plus to me.

Sadly, I have yet to go to a Farmers Market here in New England but I am determined to before I move back to DC/NOVA. I'll let you know how it goes.

In health,

Lauren

308/365 Almond Milk Joy

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Are you tired of regular milk? Are you lactose intolerant? Are you vegan or vegetarian but want something other than soy? Maybe you're just curious about almond milk.

I happen to love almond milk. Why? I love almonds and I love milk. In all seriousness, the taste is really good, almonds are great for you, and it's got less calories than even skim milk (especially if you get the Unsweetened variety, 35 calories/ 8 oz. serving) while still maintaining creaminess. It tastes great on my cereal and with my daily cookie. It's got fat in all the right places. By the way, the Original flavor almond milk is 60 cals/serving and dark chocolate is 120 cals/serving; skim milk is 90 calories/serving.

There's been controversy about having too much dairy or too much soy; almond milk is a way to change things up. The only downside to almond milk is that it's more expensive than regular milk but hey, sacrifice makes us stronger.

In health,

Lauren

293/365 Got Loose Stool? Here's What to Do!

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I apologize if this post is too personal for some of you but I had to address it; it was the cause for my lack of posting these last couple days. I'm not sure what I did or what I ate but something didn't agree with me and left me with a yucky, bloated, uncomfortable feeling in my bowels. I would hate for this to happen to one of you so I'm addressing it now.

The first thing you should do is take a few days off from exercise. Running and other bouncing can upset your body very much and delay your recovery. You've also got to change your diet until you feel better. Get yourself some oatmeal, white bread, white rice, applesauce, bananas, plain pasta, and jello. You need foods that are easy to digest. Foods with fiber and fat are NOT your friend. Creamy foods (except for yogurt) are also your enemy. Until you haven't had diarrhea for at least 24 hours, I would stick to the diet and taking it easy. Also, stay hydrated!! G2 is okay by me in this situation.

Thanks to my parents' advice, I am back in business and went running (at a slower pace) today. The 10K Train is back on track!

In health,

Lauren

286/365 Cheese Addicts Anonymous

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Cheese Whiz. Cheez-its. Cheese Puffs. Cheetos. Extra cheese pizza. Why is it that we can't resist and crave cheese? According to an article written in 2004, cheese has casein, a protein that "convert to casomorphines, which are chemically similar to morphine, when they break down during digestion. It's these casomorphines that are addictive," says Lanou. "All mammalian mothers' milk contains casomorphines so that the young will return to the breast for milk." Since we are the only mammal that regularly drinks the milk of other animals, Lanou posits that it's this process that's behind humanity's affection for cheese. (Vartan)"


So this begs the question, is cheese addiction really so bad? Though cheese is a good source of calcium, it is also a good source of saturated fat (non-fat or low fat milk would also provide calcium without the fat). My beloved Sargento Colby Jack Reduced Fat cheese sticks have 60 calories, 4.5g fat, 2.5g of which are saturated.While this makes up for only 10% of my daily recommendation, it makes me cautious of the rest of my fat intake and any other cheesy cravings I have.



It's easy to sprinkle on extra Parmesan on your cheese pizza but be aware that a mere 2 tsp has 1.5g of fat; I could bet that we put more than that on our pastas, pizza, etc. I'm not saying you can't eat cheese, just be mindful!

In health,

Lauren

Vartan, S. (2004, March/April). Just like cheese?. The Environmental Magazine, 15(2),

280/365 Sinful Spinach and Ham Quiche

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

This is the last recipe I made from my cooking weekend and oh is it sinful. The part that makes it to so bad is that each serving has 14g of fat (you can see full nutrition details here); it's also low in fiber but has 12g protein. Sadly, all the nutrition from the spinach in this doesn't really cancel out the bad stuff. Despite all of this, everything in moderation. I can eat a 243 calorie slice of this mostly guilt free so long as I keep track of my other fat intake for the day. Eating it slowly is difficult but it helps me savor it more and lets my hormones tell my brain that yes, this is a good amount of calories and you're full. I made this recipe up based on a lot of ones that I saw online, I am very pleased.

Ingredients:
1 frozen deep dish pie crust, stab the bottom and sides with a fork
2 tbsp EVOO
1/2 cup onions
1 10 oz. frozen spinach package
2 eggs
4 oz. crumbled Feta
3/4 c. shredded mozzarella
1/2 c. skim milk
1/4 lbs honey baked ham deli meat, sliced into matchsticks

Recipe:
1. Preheat oven at 350F
2. Saute onions and garlic in EVOO
3. Combine spinach, onion, and herbs. Pour into pie crust.
4. Beat eggs in bowl. Add milk and cheese. Pour mixture over veggies.
5. Bake 55 min

Too good, seriously. I can't wait to eat this right now; this picture doesn't do it justice.

In health,

Lauren

279/365 You say Tabbouleh, I say Tabarley

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I am a huge fan of tabbouleh. I decided to try this spin on it because I knew that I would like it simply because it's tabbouleh. The mix of parsley, lemon, garlic, cucumbers, EVOO, and tomatoes is refreshing on a warm day. The difference between this recipe and most others is that it uses barley instead of bulgar wheat. Bulgar wheat is usually pretty easy to come by; easier if you've got a Trader Joe's or Whole Foods in your area. If not, barley is a decent substitute.

I got my recipe from a blog called Seasonal Ontario Food. Here is her recipe with my alterations (dish makes about 8 servings, 177cal/serving!):

Salad Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw barley
a pinch of salt
1 cup minced chives
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 cup minced cilantro (couldn't find parsley for some reason)1/2 a cucumber, diced
2 tomatoes, diced

Dressing Ingredients:
the juice of 1/2 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
a pinch of cayenne or other hot ground chile

Recipe:
1. Cook the barley with a pinch of salt in 1 1/2 cups water. As ever, I do this in my rice cooker, and I cook extra to have on hand for other dishes and salads.
2. Wash, drain well, and mince the green onions or chives, the garlic scapes or garlic if available and wanted, the parsley and the mint.
3. Cut the cucumbers into small bite-sized pieces, if you are adding cucumbers.
4. When the barley is cool, break it up with wet hands, and mix it with the herbs and cucumbers. Toss it with the dressing.
5. I have left the tomatoes for last, as the salad can be made ahead and kept in the fridge for up to 24 hours - without the tomatoes. At any rate, I think the salad does well to rest for at least half an hour once the dressing has been added. Rinse the tomatoes and cut them in halves or quarters, and add them to the salad at the last moment.

If you're not convinced that tabbouleh is worth a try, check out this guy, he'll let you know what's up:


In health,

Lauren

277/365 Meet Your Toast's New Friend: Pumpkin Apple Butter

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I realize that this is out of season but, I don't care. I had a hankering for apple butter and I was determined to satisfy it. For those of you who have been on EWC at Camp Bethel, this apple butter will disappoint you. If you just like pumpkin and apples like me, this is a happy alternative to jelly.

sorry that it's blurry y'all! still good, chunky but, smooth

 

Even with 1/2 c of brown sugar, one serving (one tablespoon = 15 calories) of this beats out any jelly on the market (typically 60 calories per tablespoon). I got the recipe from Nestle's Very Best Baking website. It was very easy to follow; you just need a lot of time to dedicate to stirring it and making sure it doesn't explode everywhere. Enjoy it with toast, bagels, or cornbread. It seems like it would be worse for you considering how thick and rich it is.

In health,

Lauren

268/365 Placate Cravings with Flavored Tea

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Clearly my month-long diet and exercise challenge has affected my blog topics...all about food! I don't think this is bad. In fact, I think this is great because it shows y'all that I am no better than anyone else. I too crave delicious food, chocolate, sweets, and everything else under the sun. One tip that I subscribe too and I hope you will too is to stay hydrated. Drinking water before satisfying a craving ensures that you're not dehydrated and makes your belly full, somewhat hindering you from letting more food pass through your lips. Other than water, you can try different kinds of tea.

There are many kinds of tea that you can find in the grocery store. If you have the means, I suggest going somewhere that sells loose leaf tea like Wegmans, Rostov's, or Notting Hall. These establishments usually have people who can tell you lots more about tea than you could ever dream; their passion makes the experience special. Tea is a 0 calorie drink except for the spoonful of sugar, glob of honey, or cream with which you may take your tea. I picked up two teas today from Notting Hall: Raspberry Truffle and Chocomint. I cannot wait to go home and try them; the aroma is intoxicating. I have been jonesing for some chocolate/sweets the last few days and I know these teas will hit the spot. I'll let you know how they go.

In health,

Lauren

PS: There are proper ways to make tea. Here's the break-down:

Black Tea: Water should be at a rolling boil when you steep your tea for 3 minutes. Do NOT leave your tea leaves in the water and do NOT squeeze the bag (if you're using bagged tea) as it will become bitter and the flavor will be diminished.

Green Tea: Water should be almost at a boil, like the bubbles are about to start. Steep only for 1 minute then remove the tea from the water.

Tisanes (Herbal Tea): Water should be almost at a boil but can steep for 5-10 minutes.

For greater detail, check this site out.

267/365 Homemade Energy Granola Bar

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

Though I totally love Kashi's GoLean Crunchy! granola bars, I've always wanted to make my own bar. FYI: if a granola bar says "energy" in the title, it usually means its high in carbohydrates and/or fat. If it says "power" then it is most likely high in protein. Moving along, here is my first attempt at this allrecipes.com recipe:

note the incredible texture  :)

It is loaded with carbohydrates and good fat from all the oats, seeds, and peanut butter (I also added sweetened coconut flakes). Sadly, I didn't have enough peanut butter when I made this so it kind of falls apart. Still, it is very good! If you want to try this recipe, cut the salt down to 1/4 tsp because 1 tsp is a little too much especially when you've used roasted and salted sunflower seeds and mix in the chocolate chips. Anyway, I recommend this recipe and I will definitely try this again with all the right ingredients; it makes 24 servings. Each bar has about 200 calories according to livestrong.com's "My Recipes" feature.

In health,

Lauren

266/365 Going Vegetarian: Update and Insight

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

It's been a week and a day since I started my vegetarian diet and it has gone pretty well so far. It's not as bad as I thought it'd be. I don't really miss meat except when I smell it; my co-worker's calzone during lunch today was especially tantalizing. Since becoming vegetarian, nothing has really changed except my skin. I've noticed that its gotten clearer without much effort on my part except giving up meat. I am still meeting (and exceeding) my protein requirements thanks to my post-workout whey, my vegetarian bean curry, and my energy granola bars (you'll find out tomorrow).

I did take a cheat/meat day like I said I would; I decided to make it last Saturday after hiking and went all out. I went to Five Guys and ordered a little cheeseburger and regular fries. This was not a good life choice. My GI system was not happy; my body was totally thrown off by this meal and I suffered. Next time, I'll be kinder and choose something more lean.

In health,

Lauren

265/365 Vegetarian Bean Curry

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

As promised, here is the dish that I made that compliments the quinoa from yesterday so well. My motive for making a bean and lentil dish was because of a packaged version from TastyBite. Don't get me wrong, it tastes pretty good, just really salty. I figured that I could make my own with less salt and with more nutrition. I found this recipe from allrecipes.com. I mostly stuck to the recipe but had to make a few adjustments since I had diced tomatoes instead of crushed. I decided to add more liquid since the crushed tomatoes usually gives more liquid by nature and I didn't want this to dry out.

The tweaks are as follows:
- I did not put cayenne pepper because I didn't have any. After trying a little spoonful of the sauce, I was happy I didn't as the curry powder provided its own kick. If you like things a little more spicy, go for it!
- I didn't put kidney beans because I had a little box of mushrooms that I wanted to use. I chopped my mushrooms and used about 1.5 cups chopped baby bella mushrooms
- Like I said, I had to add more liquid. I used 1 cup of vegetable stock made from water and a vegetable stock cube

It is quite good and I was very pleased with myself and my pairing prowess. The spiciness and saltiness of this dish jive nicely with the light quinoa. I'm sure this would be good with brown rice or on crackers. According to thedailyplate.com, this dish is a little over 200 calories with more fiber and more protein.

In health,

Lauren

264/365 Quinwhat?...Quinoa with Vegetables!

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

As you know, I am attempting to be vegetarian for the month of April with the exception of one Cheat/Meat day a week. I have been meaning to explore quinoa, a grain that has all the essential amino acids, that is great for vegetarians because of its complete protein value; I now have a really good reason to do so. Having said that, here is a recipe that I made today that goes fantastically with tomorrow's recipe...(oh the mystery!) I am especially pleased because this quinoa did not come out dry, very moist and flavorful.

The tweaks I made are as follows:
- Used 2 cups of chicken stock (made with bouillon cubes) with the 1 cup of quinoa
- Instead of using the sliced green onion at the end, I chopped a medium onion and cooked that until tender before adding the garlic
- Instead of 1 red bell pepper, I used about a half a package of frozen pepper strips (no slicing, just cut the bag and pour!)
- I did not end up using corn because I poured more pepper strips than anticipated and my skillet was getting full
- At the end, I poured my vegetables into the quinoa pot and squeezed the juice of half a lime over the whole thing

This was pretty easy and really delicious. According to thedailyplate.com, which I just found out allows you to add your own recipes and then automatically calculates its nutrition info, one serving (about 3/4c.) is 197 calories!

In health,

Lauren

262/365 Make Your Own Energy Bar on YouBars.com

Friends and Fitness Enthusiasts,

I received a Groupon offer in my inbox for a company called YouBars where you can custom create your own energy bar. While you build your bar, you get to see how each ingredient affects the nutrition label. Not only do they offer to help you build your own bar, you can make shakes, cereal, and trail mix. I think this is a really neat idea and I am very tempted to make my own. However, Sunday will be my big cooking day, so look out for recipes from yours truly!

In health,

Lauren