A Little Goes a Looong Way

I was surfing the web today when I came across this page while on my way to visit the Food Network. The site basically asks you to share some changes you’ve made to improve your health (if you do, Country Crock will donate a “meal” to a charity).  It got me thinking about what changes I’ve made, and can make, to improve my own health.

Right now I’m reading a little book called Potatoes not Prozac by Dr. Kathleen DesMaisons. I won’t talk too much about the book today but I will say it’s been helping me gradually change my eating habits and lifestyle. So now, let me list a few little changes I’ve been making to improve my health:

Keeping a food journal:

If you’ve ever been involved in a diet program (e.g. Weight Watchers) you’ve probably been told that keeping a record of what you eat is key to losing weight (like keeping track of your spendings is key to saving money). I’ve come to believe that yes, it can be very helpful, not only to help you lose weight, but also to help you understand how foods affect your body. In my food journal, I record what I eat and when I eat it, but I also take note of how I feel physically and emotionally at any given time. So if I record eating 5 pancakes at 11:30 and then record feeling sluggish and irritable at 12:15, I can probably conclude that too much sugar has a negative impact on my body and mind.

Eating 3 regular meals a day:

This change has actually been a real challenge for me. The idea is to eat 3 meals at regular intervals (leaving no more than 5-6 hours between meals) without snacking in between. (Aye, there’s the rub!) The word “meal” is important too – it means eating at least 2 nutritional foods in one sitting (so I guess my traditional orange juice and vitamin breakfast isn’t quite a meal).

Protein with every meal:

Potatoes not Prozac stresses including at least one serving of protein in every meal. Protein is key for the healing of tissue, the formation of bones and blood cells, building and preserving muscle, hormone production, maintaining a strong immune system, fighting cancer, and a lot more!

Those are a few changes I’m trying to make that I’ll hopefully continue to practice for decades to come (except for maybe the food journal thing). Feel free to share on this page what little (or drastic) changes you’ve made in terms of your eating and drinking habits to help improve your health. Let’s encourage one another in our quests for better health

Fun Food Facts: Grocery Shopping Around the Globe

Your weekly dose of fun food facts and oddities (as of today).

For this week’s dose, a fascinating look at what families around the world are eating, and how much they spend on groceries per week.

Compare your family’s food expenditures to families such as this American family of 2 adults and 2 teens. They spend $341.98 a week on groceries.

This family in Germany of 2 adults and 2 teens spends the equivalent of $500.07 US dollars on groceries for a week.

This Egyptian family of 7 adults and 5 kids spends the equivalent of $68.53 USD on groceries per week.

This family of 6 in Chad spends $1.23 USD on groceries a week.

See the full photo essay by Michael Ott

Greek Salad

My favourite kind of salad! If you happen to be on the South Beach Diet (as is a member of my family) this salad is “kosher”. If not, Greek salad goes great with pitas.

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber, diced (not sliced)
• 2 large tomatoes, diced (not sliced)
• 1 red onion, sliced or diced
• 1 1/3 C kalamata olives, pitted (pitted black olives are one alternative if you can’t find kalamata olives)
• 225g reduced fat feta cheese, cubed
• fresh chopped parsley

Dressing:

• 5 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste

Combine dressing ingredients in a separate bowl from the rest. Then combine everything in a large salad bowl. Enjoy!

Balsamic Chicken

This recipe is both filling and healthy. It’s based on a recipe I found in the book South Beach Diet – so it’s great for those trying to eat healthy. It also goes great with Greek salad, another diet-proof recipe.

Ingredients:

• 6 boneless chicken breasts
• pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 1/2 tsp rosemary leaves, minced (or 1/2 tsp dried rosemary)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt and pepper

Directions:

• Sprinkle chicken with pepper
• Heat oil in a skillet on medium heat
• Add chicken. Heat each side for about 7 minutes.
• Once chicken is cooked, remove from heat. In separate bowl, mix the remaining ingredients. 
• Add dressing to the skillet and cook on medium-high heat for 2-4 minutes.
• When serving the chicken, drizzle the leftover dressing in the skillet over the chicken. 

Cookie of the Month

With enough ingredients to make 8 dozen cookies, no wonder they call it the cookie of the month!

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 cup butter (ouch!)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar (mm sugar)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup crushed cornflakes
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (if you love nuts)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 F (160 C). Combine flour, baking soda and salt and set aside for later. In a separate bowl (make sure it’s a large one), cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg, oil, and vanilla and mix well. Then add oats, cornflakes, coconut and nuts, stirring well. Now, add the dry ingredients and stir until well blended. Drop in teaspoon-sized balls onto a greased cookie sheet. Flatten cookie dough with a wet fork. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Enjoy!

 

“Pasta Fasta” with Garlic Bread

Warning: this meal contains a lot of garlic! Although this is good for your heart, it’s disastrous for your breath.

As you’ve probably already guessed, the Pasta Fasta recipe gets its name from its quick prep time. The recipe recommends you prepare the dressings in the moring -perhaps before you leave for work- which leaves you the painless task of boiling the noodles and combining them with the dressing at dinnertime.

Ingredients:

• 4 cups halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 cup chopped fresh basil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Rotini or Penne noodle (enough for 4-6 people)
• 2 cups grated mozzarella cheese

Prep:

In a large bowl, combine tomatoes, basil, garlic, oil, and salt and pepper. Cover and refrigerate.

Dinnertime:

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and return to pot. Add the tomato dressing and cheese and mix well. Cover and set aside for 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Finally, place in a pasta bowl and serve immediately.

Notes:

The original recipe called for enough ingredients for 2 people. I ended up doubling the recipe to suit 4 people and I ended up having a lot left over.

Instead of adding mozzarella cheese, I misread the recipe and used Parmesan cheese instead! Woops. It still tasted wonderful, but now I’m curious as to how it tastes with the right kind of cheese.

Garlic Bread!

Another speedy recipe. To make garlic bread you will need:

• 1 baguette
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 tbsp Parmesan cheese
• 2 large cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

Cut the baguette horizontally into thirds. Cut each third vertically into 4 breadsticks – you’ll end up with 12 pieces of garlic bread. Mix remaining ingredients and spread onto each stick. Broil breadsticks until golden-brown.

Tortellini and Meatballs

This recipe combines McCormick’s Basil & Garlic Tortellini recipe with Maria’s Italian Meatballs (with a few alterations). Easy to make and filling to eat, it was a big hit in my family.

Basil & Garlic Tortellini

• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 8 oz package sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 can (about 7 oz of a 14 1/2 oz can) diced tomatoes, undrained
• 3 tablespoons McCormick Basil & Garlic seasoning blend
• 1 8oz package cheese tortellini, cooked and drained
• grated Parmesan cheese (if desired)

Directions

In a large frying pan, heat the oil on medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, stirring frequently for 5 minutes.

Add tomatoes and seasoning and bring mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare tortellini by following the instructions on the packaging. Serve tomato and mushroom sauce over tortellini. Garnish with cheese if desired.

Italian Meatballs

Note: this recipe makes a ton of meatballs (over two batches)! You may want to adjust the portions as needed.

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup water (add more as needed)
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 medium onion and garlic (Or, if you’re feeling lazy, I just used McCormick Basil & Onion Seasoning)
• salt and pepper
  

Directions

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl, but add the water gradually, not all at once. Once the mixture is moist (but able to hold together), shape meatballs into desired size and place on a broiler pan (I didn’t have a broiler pan so I just used a deeper cookie sheet). Broil the meatballs until they become brown on the top side and then flip them over to broil the other side. Keep a close eye on the meatballs at this stage as they cook quickly.

Serve with tortellini and enjoy!

Tip

Wet your hands before shaping the meatballs. It’ll make shaping the meatballs easier.

Shrimp and Beer (Recipe)

Shrimp coated in a crispy batter!

Ingredients

• One 12 oz (355 mL) can of light beer
• 1 and 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons paprika
• 20-40 medium or large shrimps, de-shelled

 

• lemon juice (or the juice of 2 lemons)
• salt and pepper
• Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup flour
• oil for deep-frying

Directions
In a large bowl, sift together the beer, flour, salt, and paprika until light and frothy.
Lay out the de-shelled shrimp on a plate and sprinkle with lemon juice, salt and pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.
In a deep frying pan, pour 2 or more inches of cooking oil. Cook at medium or medium-high heat.
Once the cooking oil is hot, dredge the shrimp in a bowl of 1 cup flour, shaking off excess flour. Dip the floured shrimp in the batter so that all but the tail is coated. Then, drop the shrimp in the cooking oil. You may need to cook the shrimp in 2 or more batches.
Cook the shrimp until the batter turns golden-brown, turning the shrimp over once so that both sides are cooked evenly. It will take only about a minute for the batter to cook.
Finally, lay the battered shrimp on a paper towel to drain. Serve immediately…and enjoy!
Tips:
You will most likely have enough batter to coat several servings of shrimp, depending on how many shrimps you use the first time. You can save leftover batter in the refrigerator for up to one week, but be sure to stir the batter occasionally as the beer tends to float to the top over time.

Try out the recipe and let me know what you think!

School is out. Time to get cooking!

Shrimp and Beer

Shrimp and beer (or Shrimp in beer) is basically shrimp that’s coated in a beer batter and deep-fried to a crispy and crunchy perfection. I tried it out for the first time yesterday and my family loved it. If you’re interested in making some too I’ll give you a link to the recipe I used and reflect on the experience.

When I found a recipe for shrimp and beer I didn’t know exactly what it would look like (I had imagined shrimp with some kind of sauce on it). Once I actually tried out the recipe I was pleasantly surprised at how quick, painless, and fun it was.

I got the recipe from a site called Diana’s Kitchen. I’m not familiar with the website or its other recipes, but I’d like to try out more sometime.

Now for the Recipe…

Following Diana’s recipe, I was able to make about 40 medium-sized shrimps with the batter I made and I still only ended up using half the amount of batter. I can store the leftover batter in the fridge for up to one week (whisking occasionally since the beer tends to float to the top after a while), but that means eating another 40 or so shrimps. It’s a lot of food for a family of four! So now I know to only use half the recipe or less.

Also, the batter goes soggy if you let the shrimp sit out for too long, so serve it immediately after you make it!

Deep-frying the shrimp was fun! Call me crazy but I never expected the batter to harden into a crispy, bread-like coating like you’d get in a restaurant.

In summation, I would say this is a great recipe, particularly for large gatherings as an appetizer or side-dish.

Want to try out this recipe? See my version!

To Cook or Not to Cook

Behold!

This is an accumulation of my current food supply, with the exception of a box of hot chocolate powder which I forgot to include in the picture. (There’s a basil plant in there too but I don’t eat that).

I should probably clarify that I live in a dorm in a wonderful village known as York University, and most of my meals are bought with a meal card. Having this meal card is great because it means not having to walk 20 minutes to the nearest grocery store, not having to wash dishes in our filthy kitchen (apparently I’m not the only one who doesn’t like to clean up after herself), not having to worry about when my food is going to go bad, and not having to plan meals ahead of time.

Despite the convenience a meal card brings me, I think it would be a wise choice to cook for myself (at least 75% of the time) next year. Most of the restaurants at York are fast food places like Wendy’s, Subway, and KFC. Of course, there are healthy alternatives…the problem is fighting the temptation to eat the unhealthy food!

If I can eat healthy at school for a change, all the hassles of cooking would definitely be worth my time. What I need to work on in the meantime is becoming a more versatile cook, able to cook a variety of simple but yummy meals from memory.

We’ll see if I can get there this year…