Saturday, October 15, 2011

Snacking!

Snacking is hard in college. Your mom sends you with chips and candy and home made sweets and you feel like you have to eat them before they go bad, I have been there! And I am here to tell you, if your mom sends you with home made cookies by all means eat them! I am also going to give you some quick tips for healthy snacking.  

The prime time for snacks are between lunch and dinner, around 3 PM and after dinner before bed (whenever bed may be). These are the times when the food from your meal has been all digested and your body is ready for some more energy. Snacks are all about giving you a burst of energy before the next time you can eat. 

Tip 1: In the Cafeteria.  
Some of the cafeterias on campus are open all day, so you can go up there whenever for a snack. There are some really great options in the cafeteria for snacks. One of my favorites is yogurt, granola and fruit. This gives you a great blend of protein, fiber and carbohydrates. Another option is cottage cheese and fruit. Many cafeterias offer pita and hummus which is an AWESOME option, probably one of the best. Hummus is a nutritional POWERHOUSE because of the amount of protein in there. Sometimes you can also find dried fruit, nuts or trailmix which is another option. It is great if you combine it with some milk or cheeese cubes. If you look around in the caferia you can find some great options.  

Tip 2: At Sparty's.  
If you live on campus, you probably know all about ComboExchange. (If not, ask someone at Sparty's to tell you about it and you will be really excited). So let me tell you really quick about some of the awesome options with Combo. This year you can get hummus and pita (remember how awesome hummus is?). You can also get yogurt, granola bars, dry cereal, cheese sticks, juice (go for the apple, orange or grape because these are 100% juice) , water bottles and fresh fruit. ALL of these are really great options.  

Tip 3: In your Room.  
All of the foods I mentioned above that you can find in the cafeteria or at Sparty's you can also of course buy for your room. I love keeping cheese sticks, cereal and dried fruit in my room. But of course you have more options since you are buying your own snacks! Some great options are any type of dry roasted nuts (almonds, pistachios, peanuts, walnuts, soybuts etc) or peanut butter if you like it (it keeps forever!) I keep whole grain crackers in my room too to snack on. Another option are pretzels, baked chips or pita chips. Last but not least, of course, is POPCORN! Did you know its a whole grain and has a good amount of fiber? Go for 94% or higher fat free and you are good to go.  



Happy Snacking! :)

Monday, September 12, 2011

Quick Tips

Welcome to a new school year!
This year I am a R.A so I am back in the dorms and meeting tons of new students. I wanted to write about some quick tips that anyone new to the cafeteria or new to trying to eat healthy :) can use! Here are 5 easy cafeteria tips! I hope they help!

Tip 1: Fill half your plate with fruits and veggies.
Okay so to be honest this is not my tip, this is from the USDA website. The new food plate shows that half of the plate should be fruits and veggies. These foods are going to fill you up with complex carbs and fiber. The other half should be filled with lean protein and a whole grain. As you can see below the plate is finished with a glass of low fat or skim milk. See how all the food groups are covered? Perfect

Tip 2: Skip the sauce.
These two are probably the worst things you can choose on the cafeteria food line. The sauces (gravy, dip, dressing, glaze, etc) take a reasonable food and load it with either fat or sugar (yes sugar). Skip the gravy on your mashed potatoes, the dip for your veggies, or glaze on your meat and you will be much better off. A lot of times the cafeteria has lean meats that are great to eat, but not when they are bogged down with sauce. If your cafeteria offers oil and vinegar from the bottle (mine does), use this to dress your salad. The dressings on the line are loaded with sugar and or fat. If this is your only choice go for the vinaigrette or use a small amount.

Tip 3: Skip the fried foods.
Just skip the fried foods on a regular basis, they are going to make you feel sluggish and won't keep you full. This includes fries, onion rings, fried chicken (of any type)  etc. Now I'm not saying cut them out of your diet all together, its great to indulge once in a while. Just don't make it an everyday occurrence and balance it out with fruits and veggies.

Tip 4: Eat dessert once a day.
Now, I should say to cut dessert out of your diet. I should :) But I love dessert, so I can't do that. So, eat it once a day at the most. A little ice cream or cookie is not going to hurt you, and will probably make you happy. But the problem is when dessert turns into 3 cookies or a huge bowl of ice cream or dessert at every meal. Keep the portion sizes small. Soft serve ice cream is one of your best bets because its has a small amount of calcium and it uses oil instead of solid fats, so the saturated fat level is lower. I love chocolate milk as a little treat after a meal as well. Another tip too, is that most times by the time you leave the cafeteria and walk back to your room you forget all about dessert anyway and if you don't I like to keep dark chocolate in my room for a treat (and antioxidants).

Tip 5: Enjoy your food, but eat less.
AKA portion control. I have this problem so much in the cafeteria, they give you so much! So my advice to you is be specific! I'll say, I want half a spoonful of that, I want 2 spoonfuls of that. They will always accommodate and then you don't feel guilty for throwing away extra food. I never get enough vegetables from the line so I always ask for 2-3 spoonfuls. Just be specific! Tell the servers exactly what you want, they will be (or should be) more than happy to help you out.

Good Luck! Thanks for stopping! :)
Emily

Sunday, July 24, 2011

What to do with all those left-over bananas....

In our house, we always have left over bananas. They get brown and no one wants to eat them anymore. Then we freeze them and they disappear.....

I have a solution. Banana muffins and granola bars (granola bars?...just wait.) Now I am taking full advantage of having a kitchen this summer, when I go back to MSU I will sadly only have a microwave and refrigerator (muffins in the microwave? maybe). Anyway, I would definitely make these granola bars on a weekend home to bring back to school for a snack. They are super healthy with no added oil or sugar (I know... believe it). Much healthier than any packaged version with tons of nuts and dried to fruit to keep me full between meals. These are so much better than mindless snacking on chips or crackers or even going to the cafeteria for a 4th meal. Okay here we go.

Homemade Granola Bars
Adapted from So Good and Tasty
Makes: 8

Ingredients: 
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup nut butter (peanut, almond, cashew, walnut, sunflower), preferably all natural
1/2 cup roughly chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachio, cashew, pecan, macadamia)
1/4 cup seeds (sunflower, sesame, poppy, chia)
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup dried fruit (cranberry, cherry, mango, raisin, strawberry, blueberry)
1/4 cup chocolate chips or cocao nibs (optional but recommended :)
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Directions: 
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line an 8x8 baking dish with parchment paper.

Step 2: For me, the second step was to make the nut butter. I don't eat peanut butter, I think I am slightly allergic (my throat gets itchy, weird I know). I could probably suck it up, but I don't like it. So if you are a peanut butter eater, go for it and skip this step. All natural is better if you want to keep the added sugar and oil low. There is also almond butter and sunflower butter out there, but it was too expensive for me to want to buy and there is not a huge all natural selection at Meijer. So I made my own. Walnuts in the bulk food section were on sale so I went for those. I just ground them up in the food processor until it was looking like nut butter and all sticking together. Just walnuts, in the food processor. I put 1.5 cups in there and I had left over that I am going to use for a sandwich tomorrow (walnut butter and jelly anyone?).
Step 3: Now it is time to mash your bananas. I did it on a cutting board with a fork. 2 bananas.

Step 4: Combine everything! Rolled oats, chopped nuts, seeds, dried fruit, cinnamon, chocolate chips (if you are using them), and nut butter. So, like I said Meijer does not have a huge all natural selection. My walnuts for the butter were not roasted or salted. For my chopped nuts I used pistachios, these were also in bulk in the shells but they were salted (it really didn't take me too long to shell half a cup, don't worry). Use WHATEVER you like, I wanted to get something that was not roasted (again to keep the added oil low) so pistachios it was. But I love them so I think I would add them again. I used raisins for my fruit, an old standby. They have no added sugar and are easy to find/ cheap enough. I would like to dry my own fruit and add that in here too. Then I used 60% cacao chips. Dark chocolate is so delicious and it does have the antioxidants in there. Plus the 60% has way less sugar and I like the bitter edge. 


Step 5: The batter will be wet, but it will bake. Spread evenly in the baking dish. Bake 20-25 minutes until the top is slightly brown and they give a bit when you push in on them. Allow to cool completely before you cut them into bars, this is important!! Keep them tightly wrapped in a container or in the fridge (if they last that long). I wrapped mine in plastic wrap. 
Yum, enjoy! 

Now, lets move on to the muffins. This recipe is very loosely based on Betty Crocker's Banana Bread. In her recipe she uses sugar, butter and eggs. I cut all of that stuff out to make super healthy muffins. The yogurt takes the place of the eggs and sugar. I used a vanilla variety which has sugar in it already. The yogurt also acts as a binding (instead of the eggs). Muffins are commonly mistaken for a breakfast food. Betty's muffins are not breakfast, they are frostless cupcakes. But this updated version would fit in nicely for breakfast with a glass of skim milk and piece of fruit.

Whole Wheat Banana Muffins 
Loosely Based on Betty Crocker Banana Nut Bread
Makes: 12 Muffins 

Ingredients: 
4 bananas
1/4 cup low fat vanilla yogurt
1 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
raisins, choc. chips, or nuts (optional)

Directions: 
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a muffin tin, or spray with non stick cooking spray.
Step 2: Mash up the bananas. You should be a pro at this by now :)
Step 3: This step is optional. If you do not like chunks of banana in your muffins you can blend the banana and yogurt. I did not do this though.
Step 4: Add the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Combine until throughly mixed and moist. You can add the mix-ins here if you are making all the same kind of muffins, I add mine later.
Step 5: Spoon into the muffin tin. I use two spoons. This is when I added the mix-ins. I had 3 regular, 6 with dark chocolate and 3 with raisins. Bake for 18-25 minutes.
Enjoy your healthy treats! :) 
Yeah....he helped. :) 




Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Round 2 Recipe




So, if you were like me and made the Mediterranean vegetables from yesterday's post and had a ton of vegetables left over here is a recipe to use them up. Ill post the original recipe and then tell you my add ins :) I found this new cookbook "The Ultimate Fat Free Cookbook" at a garage sale for 75 cents. It has some old fashioned recipes but some really great ones too. All of them have less than 10 grams of fat and most of them have less than 3. It was a great find! That is where the recipe for this soup comes from and the veggies from yesterday. This soup is delicious and filling. You won't even miss the meat!
Vegetable Minestrone
Makes: 6 servings
Source: The Ultimate Fat Free Cookbook
Calories 87 Fat 0.7g (0.1g Saturated) Cholesterol 0 mg Fiber 3.3g
Ingredients:
1 Onion, Chopped
1 Leek, Sliced
1 stalk Celery, Sliced
2 Carrots, Diced
2 cloves Garlic, Crushed
2 1⁄2 cups Chicken Stock
1 can Chopped Tomatoes, 28 oz can
1⁄2 cup Frozen Peas
2 ounces Pasta
1 teaspoon Sugar
1 tablespoon Chopped Fresh Parsley
1 tablespoon Chopped Fresh Basil
 Salt and Pepper
Directions: 
Step 1: Put the prepared onion, leek, celery, carrot and garlic into a large pan. Add the chicken stock, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Step 2: Add the canned tomatoes and the frozen peas. Bring back to a boil and add the soup pasta. Simmer for 10 minutes until tender.
Step 3: Season with sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the chopped herbs just before serving.
  • So. I skipped the leek- and I didn't miss it. 
  • I added fresh peas from my garden, instead of frozen peas. 
  • I used whole grain elbow macaroni for my pasta (the recipe said soup pasta- but what exactly is that.....) and it cooked in the 10 minutes it simmers and looked cute in there :) 
  • I added about 3/4 cup of left over baked veggies from yesterday. I chopped them up a little bit just so they would be the same size as everything else. 
  • I skipped the sugar 
  • I skipped the parsley (I added extra basil because I had that in the garden) 
  • I added a bunch (about 1/2 cup fresh) of spinach from the garden. This made it so much better- but I love love love spinach in just about anything. 
My sister said "so there isn't really anything bad for you in here right?" she is right. Even the pasta is whole grain :) How can you go wrong with veggies and whole grain pasta?! Yum! 


Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Mediterranean Dinner




Hey everybody! I have some great recipes for you to make a summer Mediterranean dinner (hence the title :) 


I started using www.kitchenmonki.com  to organize all my recipes. Its a great website where you can enter in recipes then organize and share them. I added a bunch that I clipped out of magazines and cookbooks. I also picked up a recipe for this chicken I am going to share below. If you are like me and want all your recipes in one place and nicely organized- this is a great site. I added the links to the recipes on kitchenmonki if you want to check it out. 
So enjoy this healthy summer dinner!
Yaya's Chicken
Makes: 2 Servings  
Ingredients: 
2 Chicken Breasts
1 Lemon 
1/4 cup Olive Oil 
2 Tablespoons Dried Ground Oregano 
1 Teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes 
1 Dash Ground Black Pepper (to taste) 
1 Dash Fine Sea Salt (to taste) 
1 Tablespoon Garlic Powder 
Directions: 
Step 1: Cut large chicken breasts in 1/2 
Step 2: Squeeze lemon juice and drizzle olive oil over chicken, and add the spices 
Step 3: Bake at 400 degrees for 45 min- 1 hour (I grilled it about 5 minutes on each side) 
Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables 
Makes: 6 Servings 
Source: The Ultimate Fat Free Cookbook
Calories 120
Fat 5.2 g (0.68g Saturated)
Cholesterol 0 mg
Ingredients:
1 Each Red and Yellow Pepper
2 Spanish Onions
2 Large Zucchini
1 Large Eggplant
1 Fennel Bulb, Thickly Sliced
2 Beefsteak Tomatoes
Directions: 
Step 1: Halve and seed the peppers, then cut them into large chunks. Peel the onions and cut into thick wedges.
Step 2: Cut the zucchini and eggplant into large chunks.
Step 3: Preheat the oven to 425F. Spread the peppers, onions, zucchini, eggplant and fennel in a lightly oiled shallow oven proof dish or roasting pan or, if desired, arrange in rows to make a colorful design.
Step 4: Cut each tomato in half and place, cut side up with the vegetables.


Friday, June 24, 2011

Lunch Date

We all remember packing a lunch for school or having a lunch packed by mom. It was probably peanut butter and jelly :) That wasn't so long ago for me, but now that I am working through lunch and packing my own lunch again I am starting to see why I ate the same thing every day for lunch. It can be hard to come up with creative healthful lunches that don't get boring (or repetitive!) So I thought I would share some tips for healthy lunch packing and eating.

Tip 1: Pack your lunch the night before.
Why? If you pack your lunch at night when you aren't rushed to get out the door in the morning you are more likely to think though what you are packing and making the meal balanced. In the morning when there is such limited time it is easy to grab a couple pre packaged things or to skip packing lunch all together and roll through a drive through. If you just don't have time the night before or you think your lunch may not taste good pre-made over night at least think about it before you go to bed or jot it down (if you think you'll forget, like me :)

Tip 2: Don't skip the protein and make your grains whole
Why? The carbs from the whole grains will give you energy for the rest of the work day and the fiber will keep you full until dinner. The same with the protein, it will keep you satisfied until the end of the day rolls around. If your lunch consists mainly of white flour and sugar (the main ingredients in processed foods) you will be looking for something else to eat in a couple hours.

Tip 3: Pack your lunch!
Why? It might seem easier or quicker to run through the drive through and pick up something but packing lunch is cheaper and healthier. A lot of fast food meals skip the whole grain, fruit, vegetable and dairy and give you a whole bunch of fat and calories instead.

So what should you pack for lunch? Here's an idea.

If you like to buy your lunch....
Try recreating your favorite drive through meal. If you have a favorite sandwich from Panera Bread, buy the ingredients and make the sandwich yourself. Panera may seem like a healthy alternative, but their breads and sandwiches are loaded with salt and calories. The Sierra Turkey for example has 920 calories  and 1900mg of sodium (thats almost your whole days worth!). Try this recipe instead:

Slimmed down Turkey Sandwich 
1 Onion Roll (whole grain if you can find it)
2-3 slices of deli turkey
1 slice of reduced fat provolone
Any type of lettuce, as much as you want (baby greens would be the best)
Sliced onions (if you like)
1 T reduced fat mayo

One more thing, make your lunch fun! You want to look forward to your lunch. If that means having something sweet at the end pack a square of dark chocolate (antioxidants!!) or a homemade cookie- whatever you like. If you like chips with your sandwich- shoot for a health alternative most days and treat yourself at the end (or the beginning) of the week. Try bringing nuts, whole grain crackers or pita chips instead.

Happy Lunching! :)