A FRIDGE FULL OF FOOD...

Doctor's Kitchen Monday: New Diet Study Linking High Fat & Carbs to Reduced Heart Efficiency

This preliminary study points towards a link between a diet high in fats and carbs, like a typical western-style diet high in fast foods (burgers & fries) is linked to short term reduction in exercise tolerance and cognitive thinking.

Not good. Not a surprise, either.  More motivation to eat clean.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090811143548.htm

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/fatty-foods-affect-memory-and-exercise/?apage=3

One Roast/Two Meals: Roast with Veggies & Shortcut Beef Stroganoff

 

As much as we all love to cook and as much as we all like to make everything from scratch, let's face it, sometimes life intervenes and we have to settle for using a shortcut or two.

Last week, when I worked several days in a row, I happily chose crockpot and some low maintenance cooking over fast food and/or ordering out.

Take this combo, for example.  One roast equalled two great meals, and great leftovers for my lunchbox.

For years, we've all raved about my cousin Ann's pot roast, so rich and flavorful.  One day she told Aunti Miranda and I her secret weapon:  Heinz Beef Gravy.  A jar. Not kidding.  It's wonderful and so quick.  It's this simple:  throw the roast in an oven safe covered roasting pan with salt and pepper and whatever veggies you want: onions, potatoes, carrots, garlic, green peppers, etc.  And top with the jar of Heinz gravy (mushroom works well too).  Bake @ 300 degrees, low and slow, for 45 minutes per lb.  (Most directions say for 25 minutes/lb but we like ours falling apart.)

That's dinner #1.

The next night I took the leftover meat and cut it into bite-sized chunks (about 3 cups) and then whizzed the leftover gravy and vegetables together in the blender.  Placing the meat and gravy/veggie mix into a pot on the stovetop,  I stirred in a 6 oz. container of plain Greek-style yogurt, and reseasoned to taste with a little salt and pepper.  This I served over cooked egg noodles.

Perfect for dinner #2 with plenty of leftovers to take with me to work.

Sometimes it's all about real life.

Good & Good For You: Dark Chocolate & Steel Cut Oatmeal

 

We all want to be healthier. We all say we want to eat healthier. The irony is that we live in a society with so much abundance of food that eating healthy sometimes seems more like a chore than a privilege.  One of the goals I've made for myself is not only to eat healthier and act healthier to be healthier (and lose weight) but to be happy about it. 

I am a 70's child of the era of the sugar-held-together-by-emaciated-grain Captain Crunch breakfast, shortening and sugar-laden peanut butter & jelly sandiwch lunch, and the chicken deep fried in transfats accompanied by mashed potatoes drained of their nutrients and swimming in saturated fat dinner. Remember the Bill Cosby chocolate cake for his kids routine?  "THAT'S nu-TRI-TION!"

My quest now is to retrain my tastebuds to not only enjoy the blessing I have in this world of all the wonderfully fresh nutritionally dense food I have at my disposal but to actually enjoy and crave them too, instead of being emotionally food childish about eating what's good for me while secretly desiring Captain Crunch in my heart of hearts.

Good & Good For You: Gluten free Zucchini Crust Pizza

 

This nice little recipe was sent to me yesterday by  my fellow Springfield blogger, Sally, of Aunt Sally's Blog.  Being a friendly bunch of bloggers, she got it from Gluten Free Homemaker. The original recipe along with the original remarks can be found HERE:  Zucchini Crust Pizza 

The zucchini crust intrigued me and since I had all the ingredients on hand...I made it last night.

The original recipe, as I have reprinted it, is wheat free, however, I don't keep rice flour in the house and since we're not celiac or allergic to wheat, I used regular flour.

It does and it doesn't taste like pizza but Gene and I both liked it.  I halved the recipe (since it's just Gene and I) and made mine in an 8"x 8" casserole dish (instead of the jelly roll pan the directions call for) so it was thicker than pizza.  To us, in the pan I put it in, it's more of a zucchini/pizza casserole but we enjoyed it.  What we didn't eat I'm taking to work tonight so this one will probably pop up in my summer menus next year.

Sweet and Savory Yellow Squash

 

Greg, a friend at work, told me to give this one a try:  sweet AND savory yellow squash.  It's quite simple.  Saute a diced large yellow squash in a couple tablespoons of butter seasoned with a 1/2 teaspoon of Cavender's All Purpose Greek Seasoning (or other all purpose seasong blend), and then add 2 heaping tablespoons of brown sugar and cook down until the butter/sugar mixture is thick and syrupy.

When he first told me I was a bit skeptical. I liked the brown sugar part but I wasn't sure about the savory spices. I was wrong. It's very good and a little on the different side. I expected for it to be all sweet, but the herbs give it another dimension that adds a little palate appreciation here in the later part of the season when we're all wondering about our zucchinis and yellow squashes:  "What ELSE can I make with it?  There still so much of it!"

Knitting for the NICU: Teaching Jordan and Sydney to Knit Preemie Hats

The nieces spent a couple of days with us this week, which was a blast!  One of the projects we tackled, besides school supply and school clothes shopping was knitting. I had bought the knitting looms and supplies at least six months ago, if not longer, and I always have a dresser drawer (or two) in the spare bedroom full of yarn for them to choose from.  To be honest I thought it would be a lot harder to do and teach than what it is.  I'd never used a knitting loom before either so while Sydney was lounging in the jacuzzi with a soda, a book, dimmed lights and scented candles...Jordan and I tackled the project. We wanted to get the gist of it down before trying to teach Sydney and confusing her with false starts.  It's really fun and quick to pick up.  Jordan and I found that within a few rows we'd caught on to some little tricks that made the process easier and later, while I helped Sydney, we would call out "okay when this happens then you do this to fix it..." hints as we found ways that even simple projects can be screwed up and then fixed again.

Jordan took to this like a duck on water. She was so quick.  We started about 7pm and we were all so excited and having fun that even though Uncle Gene went to bed at 10pm we stayed up knitting until 3am!  In that time Sydney completed one cute hat that she left for "hat baby" and Jordan made THREE things:  a washcloth for her Mom, a soap inside a closed knitted pouch for the whole family (her idea--it was very cool!), and her first official hat for the NICU! 

We're so excited!  It's adorable! I love the colors she picked. She ran two strands, one of a variegated blue/periwinkle and another strand of a denim color. Really cute together, don't you think?

I took this pic of Sydney holding hat baby with the first hat she made (great job, Sydney!!!) and when I showed the pic to Jordan she said "How cool.  That looks like a Colleen picture!"  See, Colleen? EVERYONE thinks you take great pics and any of them that are a little more fun we call them "Colleen" shots. 

 

Jordan chose purple for the dishcloth because that's her mom, Suzanne's, favorite color.

 

She chose bright pink for the bathtub soap pouch.  We sewed up one end, put a bar of Lever 2000 soap in it, and then sewed up the other end.  Not only will it lather great, we all think that soap brand smells really fresh and clean without being perfumey.

I'm thinking I'd be thrilled if she made me and Gene one for Christmas.  Hint hint!!!

 

I started to say that by 3am Jordan could hardly keep her eyes open, but I don't think there's any hardly there.  We were all walking zombies and slept in until almost noon.

 

The girls hard at work...

 

And what have I been up to?  I'm finishing the hat designs for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas that our knitting group has graciously pleged to help me make:  "costume" hats for Halloween, pumpkin and turkey hats for Thanksgiving, and Santa hats for Christmas.

In the meantime, though, we've also start a new project as a group to not only work on hats but to knit small preemie-sized swaddling blankets.  These are my first two blankets, along with a new hat I've designed for spring that has a knitted -in rose in the crown.

 

And that, my friends, is what's been happening in the Knitting for the NICU world.

The nieces spent a couple of days with us this week, which was a blast!  One of the projects we tackled, besides school supply and school clothes shopping was knitting. I had bought the knitting looms and supplies at least six months ago, if not longer, and I always have a dresser drawer (or two) in the spare bedroom full of yarn for them to choose from.  To be honest I thought it would be a lot harder to do and teach than what it is.  I'd never used a knitting loom before either so while Sydney was lounging in the jacuzzi with a soda, a book, dimmed lights and scented candles...Jordan and I tackled the project. We wanted to get the gist of it down before trying to teach Sydney and confusing her with false starts.  It's really fun and quick to pick up.  Jordan and I found that within a few rows we'd caught on to some little tricks that made the process easier and later, while I helped Sydney, we would call out "okay when this happens then you do this to fix it..." hints as we found ways that even simple projects can be screwed up and then fixed again.

Jordan took to this like a duck on water. She was so quick.  We started about 7pm and we were all so excited and having fun that even though Uncle Gene went to bed at 10pm we stayed up knitting until 3am!  In that time Sydney completed one cute hat that she left for "hat baby" and Jordan made THREE things:  a washcloth for her Mom, a soap inside a closed knitted pouch for the whole family (her idea--it was very cool!), and her first official hat for the NICU! 

We're so excited!  It's adorable! I love the colors she picked. She ran two strands, one of a variegated blue/periwinkle and another strand of a denim color. Really cute together, don't you think?

I took this pic of Sydney holding hat baby with the first hat she made (great job, Sydney!!!) and when I showed the pic to Jordan she said "How cool.  That looks like a Colleen picture!"  See, Colleen? EVERYONE thinks you take great pics and any of them that are a little more fun we call them "Colleen" shots. 

 

Jordan chose purple for the dishcloth because that's her mom, Suzanne's, favorite color.

 

She chose bright pink for the bathtub soap pouch.  We sewed up one end, put a bar of Lever 2000 soap in it, and then sewed up the other end.  Not only will it lather great, we all think that soap brand smells really fresh and clean without being perfumey.

I'm thinking I'd be thrilled if she made me and Gene one for Christmas.  Hint hint!!!

 

I started to say that by 3am Jordan could hardly keep her eyes open, but I don't think there's any hardly there.  We were all walking zombies and slept in until almost noon.

 

The girls hard at work...

 

And what have I been up to?  I'm finishing the hat designs for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas that our knitting group has graciously pleged to help me make:  "costume" hats for Halloween, pumpkin and turkey hats for Thanksgiving, and Santa hats for Christmas.

In the meantime, though, we've also start a new project as a group to not only work on hats but to knit small preemie-sized swaddling blankets.  These are my first two blankets, along with a new hat I've designed for spring that has a knitted -in rose in the crown.

 

And that, my friends, is what's been happening in the Knitting for the NICU world.

Good AND Good for you: Creamy Cucumber Dip

 

So simple and yet so rewarding, this is a summer constant in my work lunchbox and snack around the house. Only three ingredients that pack an all-out taste power punch:  creamy for the tongue, crunch for the teeth, and salty herby for the psyche pleasure zone.

We eat this primarily as a dip on good fibrous tough stuff crackers or I love it as a sandwich on wheat or rye bread. Middle-of-the-night Afternoon Tea, anyone?

An added pleasure is anytime the cukes come from your own garden. Sigh.  The best part of summer is the garden!

New Yogurt on My Block: Stonyfield Farms

 

Found a new product to look for: Stonyfield Farms yogurts and ice cream.  They generously sent me some coupons for free product and I've been going back for more since I've used those up and have been paying for the product myself. Stonyfield contains live bacterial cultures which is what got my attention from the start.  I've long been a big Activia fan because I have a cranky little digestive system and I've noticed that the Activia or acidopholus supplements help keep me under control.  Jamie Lee Curtis is not lying to you in those commercials; I'm living proof.

What made me switch lines is that Stonyfield comes in so many more products that I use, namely the small versions of fat free plain yogurt, that although I pictured a sweet smoothy in my pics, I use the plain fat free yogurt as a sour cream substitute even more frequently than I make smoothies. For example a couple of weeks ago I turned a pot roast into stroganoff and the yogurt lightens that heavy winter meal up by quite a bit. The Stonyfield worked well in that venue, staying nice and creamy without all the fat and heaviness of sour cream. When I do want the heavier texture, I love that Stonyfield makes Greek yogurt in smaller containers which I've had a hard time finding in Springfield MO and Activia doesn't make that I know of. The large containers are great but since we're a two person family, the larger containers put more pressure on us to use it up quickly once it's opened.  The smaller containers are greatly appreciated!

I've also found that both Gene and I like the soy yogurt as much as the regular milk yogurt. We don't even notice which one we're pulling out of the fridge especially after you top it with fruit and/or nuts.

I do have one little dish I'd love to try that I don't have the ingredients for yet but when I do...you'll see it. I got an email newsletter from someone I don't remember but the article was about kid-friendly breakfasts. Not that we're kids but in our hearts...you know.  The breakfast idea was a step up of yogurt and fruit called Banana Split Breakfast.  It was a healthy banana split with yogurt (I'll use Stonyfield's Greek yogurt) replacing the ice cream and then no sauces: yogurt, fruit, and nuts. It looked both delicious and good for you.

Next time you're buying yogurt, I'd really recommend giving Stonyfield a look-see.  At my grocery, they're in the organic section rather than the normal yogurt section.

 

The Jordan, Jordan, and Sydney Birthday Show

  

Last weekend we had a summer family birthday extravaganza of sorts. Since (boy) Jordan, Sydney, and (girl) Jordan's birthdays are all at the beginning, middle, and end of summer, and they all wanted to go to Incredible Pizza even though they're teenagers...we made it a mini blow out. 

The funniest thing to me was that when I said to the gal attending our party room "You don't seem fazed by the fact that they're all teenagers" she replied "Oh we get teens all the time. Adults too. Right before you in this room was a 40 year old's birthday party."  Now I feel ripped off. I told Gene last January I wanted to go to Incredible Pizza for my 44th birthday and he thought I was nuts.  Pizza, cake, ice crea, video games, putt-putt....come on! Who wouldn't have fun with that as their party?  So for my 45th, Gene....