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28
Mar
2011
 What to Do with Leftover Vegetables: Make Carrot Zucchini Bread!



I had one zucchini left over from dinner the other night. So, I thought, why not make a bread. I found and followed the recipe from FitSugar for Carrot Zucchini Bread, except I added raisins. I can’t go without them in a bread like this. I made similar zucchini muffins before, but I think the bread is 10 times better.

Mr Triathlete specifically asked me to not make it too healthy tasting, meaning he still wanted oil and real sugar in it. I think the bread came out a little too rich. I would recommend using half the amount of oil, half the amount of sugar, and adding 1/2 cup applesauce.

Here are my modifications:

Carrot Zucchini Bread
Makes 1 Loaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg (you can make this vegan by using an egg substitute)
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini, with skin still on (about 1 medium zucchini)
1/2 cup grated carrots
1/3 cup raisins

Directions

  1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
  2. In a separate bowl, beat egg and add sugars. Then add oil and vanilla and mix until smooth.
  3. Stir in vegetables. Then mix in dry ingredients.Stir in raisins.
  4. Pour into greased bread pan. Bake 45 to 55 minutes at 350° F until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Nutrition Facts:
1 Serving= 1 Thick Slice; 12 Servings per Loaf
Amount Per Serving

Calories 160.7 Total Fat 5.3 g       Saturated Fat 0.5 g       Polyunsaturated Fat 1.4 g       Monounsaturated Fat 2.9 g Cholesterol 15.4 mg Sodium 108.4 mg Potassium 142.1 mg Total Carbohydrate 28.3 g       Dietary Fiber 2.6 g       Sugars 15.5 g Protein 2.9 g

This is a healthier, slimmed down version, and it will be just as tasty. I would like for there to be even less sugar per serving. Some people may want to try baking with a small amount of a sugar substitute.

25
Mar
2011
 Untitled



I refuse to pay high prices for specialty Greek yogurts. I only buy them when they go on sale. But, since I love the thick tart yogurt, I decided to make a compromise for my cheap self.

  • Buy a big tub of plain fat free Greek Yogurt–will cost about $4-6 (I can get the biggest size from Costco, or buy a slightly smaller one for $2.50 at the grocery store).
  • Buy your favorite flavors of regular or light yogurt. You can buy one big tub, and it will be cheaper–about $2-3.
  • Mix together half plain Greek yogurt, and half flavored yogurt.
  • And there you have it–tasty fancy Greek yogurt for well less than $1 per serving. And it’s nice because the yogurt isn’t overpoweringly sweet, it tastes creamier, and has a little more protein.

23
Mar
2011
 What to Know Before Living With a Man



Totally non-nutrition topic. But, it got me cracking up just thinking about these things. It all started when I found Allen keys or whatever the heck they are called on the bathroom floor. It’s blog worthy because I think a lot of people can relate.

  1. Stock up on Febreeze. Their shoes always smell, and if you live in a small space, the shoes will become the apartment’s fragrance.
  2. Stock up on scented candles. They mask other smelly boy stuff, and help you feel a little more romantic and human.
  3. When they tell you that you are wrong, or that you are bad at sharing spaces, just say, “OK, you are right, I will do better next time”. Trust me–it’s worth it (for the small stuff anyway).
  4. The longer you live with the man, the more his stuff will start to overflow into the living space. And your clothing will start to overflow into his closet space.
  5. Let the man do some cleaning, or he never will again.
  6. You will find random things like tools in unexpected places like the bathroom.
  7. Just because you live together doesn’t mean you will spend more quality time with each other. You need to make time.
  8. Be nice and paint your nails while he is away. Men hate the smell of nail polish and will remind you of this every time you paint your nails. To them, it is as bad as their dirty shoes are to you.
  9. Be realistic. You can’t expect that a man (or anyone) will change. If he left hairs and toothpaste all over the bathroom vanity at his place, there will still be hairs and toothpaste on your communal bathroom. But, probably less if you clean it. So, take a good look at how he lives before you live together because that is what it will be like.
  10. The only nutrition tip: eat about 50-70% of what he eats. Since you are living together, you will be sharing more meals together. Do not match him calorie for calorie or you will wonder why you gained weight at the end of the month.

Living together is not full of negative things–well, it depends on the person. But, I had a hard time coming up with these pointers so, there can be a lot of good as well. Coming home to someone is nice, and sharing meals together is like a mini date (as long as you don’t ignore each other). And if you’re having a bad day, or a great day, you have someone to talk about it with.

Anyway, I would love to hear any other tips people have or things they wish they knew before living together.

22
Mar
2011
 Chicken Stuffed with Spinach, Mushrooms, Ricotta



Last night I made stuffed chicken, mostly following Rachel Ray’s recipe. It turned out OK. What would make it super tasty is a cheese sauce, or some kind of melted cheese on top of the chicken. I was trying to make it healthier by using fat free ricotta and lots of spinach and mushrooms. Did I ever mention how fat free ricotta is amazing? They just use skim milk to make it, and it is full of protein. It works perfectly in various recipes, and Mr Triathlete was eating it with crackers the other night. Pretty good.

Haha… looking at this picture makes me think of how I need to get a better plate to be taking pictures of food on. You can see how many years of wear and tear this poor plate has been through.

Anyway, making the chicken was pretty easy. I bought thinly sliced chicken breasts, and to hold them in place I used toothpicks which is much easier than using string to tie them up. This is a pretty looking dish to make, and makes me a little more excited about eating chicken. So, I would recommend making this recipe, but maybe add some cheese on top of yours!

21
Mar
2011
 Kashi Frozen Meals



I normally don’t eat frozen meals because of the processed ingredients and high levels of sodium. I randomly decided to try Kashi’s Tuscan Veggie Bake. Mr Triathlete was also out of town, so I didn’t feel like making a bigger dinner.
I read the package, and it listed all these veggies–seemed very appealing. I have had the lime cilantro shrimp one they used to have and it was my fav. So, I gave this a try.
Here is what it looked like coming out of the microwave. My plan was to cook it in the toaster oven, but forget that–it would’ve taken 45 mins for this little thing. So, it doesn’t exactly look like the picture on the box. It looks messy, but it is bigger than you expect it to be.

But, it did taste pretty good! There were little bits of eggplant in there, garlic, and basil flavors. And the sauce was very thick and tasty. There were some lentils mixed in there, so I am sure the starched helped thicken it. Most frozen meals get very soupy and watery–this did not. Yum. And it’s vegan, so it doesn’t have cheese, and it still tasted great.

Only 260 for the whole thing! So, I ate something else with it, but this little thing was pretty filling.

1.5 g saturated fat.

High sodium–700 mg. I like for frozen meals to be 600 mg or less.

8 g fiber–excellent.

Some sugar–probably from the tomato sauce, and there is a small amount of sugar added.

7 g protein–I wish this was a little higher for a meal.

Overall, the nutrition facts and ingredients are not bad at all for a frozen meal.

I would probably buy it again, but not frequently.

15
Mar
2011
 Indian Food Experiment



I had been wanting to cook some kind of Indian food. I have always been afraid to experiment with all the spices. I am never sure which spices go together! So, this time I figured I would try an Aarti Party recipe. How could I go wrong if I followed the recipe?

I made Aarti’s Red Lentil Soup, but I used brown lentils, and mine did not turn out to be a soup…

The dish was absolutely delicious. I highly recommend it. Tumeric is used and that is what gives it the brighter yellow color. I have never used tumeric before, but it reminds me of cumin and ginger together. Tumeric is said to have anti inflammatory benefits.

Lentils are not eaten enough in America, and they are so good for you. I should try to make lentils more often because they are actually easy to make and delicious. Lentils are packed full of vitamins and minerals such as folate, manganese, iron, phosphorus, copper, thiamin, and molybdenum. They are heart healthy since they are an excellent source of dietary fiber.

14
Mar
2011
 Starbuck’s Cake Pops



On Friday, I went to watch my little brother’s baseball game, and it was freezing out! We were bundled up, but my toes still went numb.

Oh well, at least we had cake pops from Starbuck’s! A friend brought them for us. A nice treat for a baseball game.

She says, “If you’re going to cheat, cheat small”… or something like that.

So, what are the nutrition facts on these little cake pops?

1 Starbucks Cake Pop (Birthday Cake Flavor) is about 170 calories, 9 g fat, 5 g saturated, 22 g carb, 18 g sugar.

Ingredients: white coating (sugar, palm kernel oil, whey powder, skim milk powder, soy lecithin, monoglycerides, titanium dioxide [colour], natural flavour, vanilla), sugar, water, flour (bleached wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), soybean oil, liquid whole eggs, powdered sugar (sugar, cornstarch), liquid egg white, butter, palm oil, candies (sugar, corn starch, confectioner’s glaze, carnauba wax), skim milk powder, palm oil (with soy lecithin), invert sugar, corn syrup, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate), modified food starch, salt, vanilla extract, natural vanilla flavour, emulsifier (water, sorbitan mono-stearate, polysorbate 60, mono- and diglycerides, sodium propionate), xanthan and guar gums, emulsifier (mono- and diglycerides, polysorbate 60, citric acid, bht [antioxidant]), natural flavour, carmine.

So, for a little 4-bite treat (or 1 bite in some cases haha), these cake pops are not that bad. A few things to note: titanium dioxide which is used to create a white color in the cake pops is an ingredient also used in sunscreen–yummy. Hope you like to eat wax because it is one of the ingredients. I try to avoid foods with BHT because studies are inconclusive as to whether or not this ingredient is harmful to our bodies. BHT is a synthetic antioxidant which is used to prevent spoilage in foods… and jet fuel too. Finally, if you are wondering what carmine is, it is another name for a red food coloring.

Well, how do cake pops taste? I am not a big fan of cake itself, so I didn’t think I was going to be that thrilled about these. If you put a cupcake in front of me, I wouldn’t give a crap about eating it (unless it was fudgy and filled with something on the inside). Anyway, these cake pops were extra gooey and moist on the inside–delicious, and had a soft, crunchy, and thick icing on the outside. The flavor reminds me of those iced animal cookies with sprinkles.

In conclusion, I would not be too afraid to eat these cake pops because they are still a healthier alternative when compared to the huge pieces of cake coming in around 500 calories with the same amount (or more) of processed ingredients.

10
Mar
2011
 What To Do with Mealy Apples? Bake ‘Em!



Sometimes we buy apples at Costco to get a better deal, but you never know what you are getting when you get those apples. They could be a little old and nasty. Yikes! So, we had about 4 apples that still needed to be eaten. Mr Triathlete hates when apples get slightly mushy and won’t even go near them. I think he is legitimately scared of them.

Since it had been cold out I decided baked apples would be the perfect healthy dessert.

Recipe for Baked Apples:
Makes 4 Apples

Ingredients:

  • 4 large apples, cored (any type of apple will work)
  • 4 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
  • 2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
  • 2 Tbsp. Walnuts, chopped
  • 2 tsp. Vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • 4 tsp. margarine (Smart Balance or Earth Balance)
  • 1/2 C. 100% apple juice
  • 1/4 C. 100% pomegranate juice

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
  2. In a 8 x 8 baking dish, pour in the apple and pomegranate juice.
  3. Slice off the tops of the apples. Using a paring knife, score a hole as if you were about to dig a hole to core the apple. Carefully, use the paring knife to scoop out the center of the apple. You want to remove the tough fibrous core. Do not break through the bottom of the apple, or all the juices will leak out.
  4. Mix the second 7 ingredients together, and fill the hole in the apples.
  5. Top each apple with a sliver of margarine or butter.
  6. Bake for about 45 minutes.

I love these apples because they are very filling, and remind me of apple pie. And they are a great healthy alternative. Mr Triathlete said, “damn it, this is supposed to be a dessert”, and went back to the kitchen to go get more butter and brown sugar.

9
Mar
2011
 National Registered Dietitian Day!



This is my very first Registered Dietitian Day since becoming a RD! The day makes me think about how long and hard I worked toward achieving my goal of being a RD. It’s nice to have a day to think about your own career.

But, more importantly, this day is to help create awareness that the Registered Dietitian is the #1 authority on food! Go here to eatright.org for more info.

Update: Mr Triathlete made me a delicious gourmet meal to celebrate the day. Not super duper healthy, but healthier and tastier than restaurant food.

Fettuccine with shrimp and scallops in a white wine, lemon, shallots sauce

 

 

7
Mar
2011
 Salmon Croquettes



We have tried to make salmon croquettes a few times, and this time I think they came out the best–probably because I was in charge of the recipe. Muahaha. This recipe is a cheap way to eat salmon, and get the same nutrition and omega 3s as a fresh or frozen salmon fillet.

Sorry this picture is not the prettiest. Mr Triathlete was getting all professional photographer on me, and trying to help my poor little camera by adding extra light to the picture.

Salmon Croquettes
Makes 2 Servings (you can easily double this recipe)

Ingredients:

  • 1, large 14 oz. can of salmon fillet.
  • 1 Egg
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1/4 Cup scallions, chopped
  • 1/4 Cup fresh parsley, chopped
  • 1/3 Cup panko bread crumbs, or any other plain bread crumbs
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 Tbsp. canola oil for sauteing
  • Ketchup and/or Chow Chow for dipping
    • Chow Chow is made of green tomatoes, cabbage, peppers, vinegar, sugar, mustard seed. It is a type of relish.

Directions:

1. Drain the can of salmon, and empty the entire contents into a medium mixing bowl.
2. Mash the salmon with a fork. It’s OK to keep the skin and any bones you see since they are so soft that they just blend right in.
3. Add the next 6 ingredients to the salmon, and mix together.
4. Warm the canola oil in a medium saute pan.
5. Form palm size patties, and place in saute pan to cook for about 4 minutes on each side until golden brown.

I have found that the more simple ingredients are better because then you can taste the flavor of the salmon.

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