Shopping Success!

You must have a plan! The grocery store can be like a battlefield. Don't be a casualty to the secret bombs that are up and down the aisle! For our first challenge this year to eat 5 handfuls of fruits and vegetables everyday, you will need to stay around the perimeter of the store—most of your essential foods are found there anyway. Think about it: produce, dairy, eggs, meat...

For fruits and vegetables, fresh or frozen is best. Frozen fruits and vegetables are usually picked and frozen at their peak, so the nutrients are locked in. It's a good idea to eat the fresh produce first before it goes bad and then towards the end of the week use what's in your freezer. Canned vegetables can be full of sodium, so if you have to eat them, give them a rinse first. Canned fruit, is usually full of added sugars, so if you have to eat them, buy them canned in their own juice and discard the juice before eating. What about juice? Does that count for my fruit servings? NO.

Before You Go

Before you go grocery shopping, make sure you have had something to eat. When you are hungry everything looks good. Remember the cartoon where they are stranded and they start to see each other as meat, as food? First make a quick list of menu ideas for the week, then make your shopping list. Example: For breakfast this week, I will have either eggs with veggies or yogurt with berries and flax...so my list: eggs, spinach, onion, peppers, tomatoes and yogurt, blueberries, strawberries, ground flax seed. Do the same for lunch, dinner and snacks.

At the Store

Try to stick with what is on your list. If it is not on your list and doesn't contribute to your planned meals, you don't need it!

Okay, now your cart is full and your list is all checked off and you are at the check out. Watch out for the impulse buys at check-out! You have survived the whole maze of the grocery store, your cart is clean, don't blow it up now with a check-out grenade! Maybe a pack of gum for those gum chewers out there, but nothing else!!!

Once You Get Home

Go home and wash and chop your veggies for the week. You should feel proud of yourself, you didn't bring any tempting chips, cookies, candy, etc. home with you! You don't know how many times I hear parents blaming their children, “I buy fruits and vegetables and he/she doesn't eat them, they just go bad.” Really???...well is there other junk in the house to eat? What kid is going to come home from school and grab an apple to snack on when there are Hot Cheetos in the cupboard? The same goes for adults! Don't set yourself up for failure! When you get home after a long day, and you are tired and hungry, if there is junk food in your house, you are going to eat it!

Juice Tangent:
Fruit juice can be okay in small amounts for active people, but for the most part, you are better off eating the whole fruit, which is full of fiber and slows down how fast the natural sugars from the fruit get into the blood. If sugar goes into your blood nice and slow, then your body is able to use it better for energy. For many people, like the overweight children I see, if they drink sugary drinks (soda, Gatorade and yes even 100% fruit juice), and sit around watching TV and playing video games, their triglycerides go up and many times their insulin. They are not burning all the sugar off by running, biking, or playing outside. And your body only has two options for sugar or calories; use it or store it (as fat). Don't get your children used to drinking sweet beverages people. It starts with juice in the bottle and I have actually even seen Kool-Aid and soda in bottles and sippie cups! Babies don't need juice or any other sweet beverage. You are just setting up their taste buds for a battle in their overweight future!!!

So let's Recap:

We made a menu for the week, we made a shopping list from our menu, we didn't go to store hungry, we bought only what was on our list and we came home and started chopping some of the veggies we will need for the week.

Yeah! We are on our way to successfully meeting our first challenge! 5 handfuls of fruits and vegetables a day! You Can Do It!

Vegetable Soup

With the cold weather, soup is a perfect way to get more veggies into your diet! I believe the key to making a great vegetable soup is by starting with a great broth! While the chicken broth bought at the store can work in a pinch, it doesn't render the flavor that makes me crave my vegetable soup for days until it's gone.

I am a busy working Mom and I don't get home until after 6pm, so this vegetable soup I actually did in two parts. One night, when we heated up leftovers for dinner, I made the chicken broth. And the following night I chopped the vegetables and finished the soup for that evening's meal. With that said...let's make our broth...

Start with a whole chicken or with different cuts of chicken; legs, thighs, breasts. Do not use boneless, skinless chicken, unless you want a flavorless broth! In school, I was taught to use a Mirepoix, which is the fancy French  word that simply translates to carrots, celery, and onion. To this, I always add garlic cloves as well. It is best if you sauté these ingredients slightly first to bring out more flavor, caramelizing the natural sugars in these vegetables. If you are really pressed on time, you can skip this step, but again you will be skipping on flavor as well.

A rough chop on the vegetables and then into the hot sauté pan with a little oil they go, don't stir too often, let them brown a little.

In a large pot, place your chicken pieces, your Mirepoix veggies, and add water to cover a couple inches over the ingredients. Bring this to a rolling boil, then turn it down slightly to a medium boil. Let it boil as long as you like, but at least until the chicken is done. I had this on the stove while we ate dinner. 

At this point, you can either let this cool and then refrigerate to finish off the next day, or you can keep going and finish your soup...If you are going to refrigerate the broth, the best way to cool it down, is to transfer it into another pot (that isn't hot) and place it in an ice bath (basically plug your sink and fill it with water and ice...a good time to get rid of all the extra ice in the ice maker ;-). Let the broth sit in the ice bath, stirring occasionally until it is cool enough to store in the refrigerator.

On with the soup...
There is no limit to the types of vegetables you can add to your soup. I will list some here in the order they might be added to your broth due to how long it takes for them to cook. The smaller you chop your veggies, the faster they will cook. ('Thanks John') Use whichever ones you like or find in season at the grocery store.

Vegetables for your soup:
Carrots
Chayote squash
Potatoes
Corn
Mushrooms
Onions
Garlic
Green Beans
Sugar Snap Peas
Snow Peas
Bell Peppers
Zucchini
Broccoli
any frozen veggie (peas, corn)
Spinach
Bean sprouts

Strain your chicken broth, so that you are only left with the liquid. Pull the chicken off the bones and set aside, everything else can be discarded. Put part of your broth in a blender and add 2-3 Roma tomatoes, blend on high and add back to the pot with the rest of the broth. Bring your broth to a boil and then start to add your vegetables; the harder to cook ones first. Don't be afraid of this step, the more you make vegetable soup the better you will get at timing when to add the vegetables and how long to cook them. I personally like my vegetables a little on the crunchy side as opposed to vegetable mush. If that is your preference, don't walk away from the stove, they cook up pretty fast...

When the veggies are done you can add back the chicken pieces or use the chicken for another dish, like enchiladas, which is what I often do...You can also add to your soup pre-cooked noodles, rice, or beans. Be creative and use what you have in the fridge. Options: Top your soup with fresh herbs, a squeeze of lemon, or cheese. I like to sauté some crushed garlic and mushrooms in a pan and add it to the soup at the very end. When I do this, Roxanne, my daughter, tells me it's the best vegetable soup she has ever had!!! Serve your veggie soup as a meal by itself or with a sandwich or quesadilla.

Please offer up any tips from your personal experience, or ideas on your favorite ingredients to add. Let me know how it goes. Enjoy!

SALSA!

While I can make some pretty good Salsa, and I am not too shabby at dancing Salsa either...my best friend Gloria, IS the Salsa Queen! So, I am going to consult her for this blog post. If you are not a fan of the picante, then you can always edit the chile content. Salsa works beautiful for adding flavor without fat and it's made with vegetables, so it's healthy! Get excited people, you can't go wrong with salsa!

Three very simple salsas. Seriously, these were much easier than I anticipated. All you need is a blender, a pot and a pan. Here we go...

Salsa Roja:
Ingredients:
3 tomatoes (top of core cut out)
2 serrano chiles
1/2 clove of garlic
salt to taste

Roast tomatoes, serranos, and garlic in pan. Let cool slightly, remove most of the tomato skin, and then blend all ingredients with a dash of salt on medium speed in blender. (In this picture there are 3 serranos, and it was very HOT! So, I recommend using only 1 or 2. I find that chile peppers tend to be hotter in the winter months, so vary the recipes as needed.) Gloria's tip: Roma tomatoes work best for this salsa, and remove the top core because it doesn't blend well.


Tomatillo Arbol Salsa:
Ingredients:
9-10 tomatillos
5-6 chile de arbol (these are dried little red chile pods)
1/2 clove garlic
salt to taste

Boil tomatillos with chile de arbol in just enough water to cover. After tomatillos are cooked, pour out most of the water. Everything goes into the blender including garlic and a dash of salt, blend medium speed. Gloria's tip: make sure chile de arbol is fully immersed in water below tomatillos, or they float to the top and don't soften up as well.

Salsa de Aguacate (Avocado):
Ingredients:
1 avocado
8-10 tomatillos
handful of cilantro
1/8 of an onion
1 garlic clove
2-3 serrano chiles
salt to taste















Place all ingredients in the blender on medium-high speed. This salsa is tangy and creamy and as spicy as you want to make it.

The uses for all of these salsas are limited only by your imagination. They are perfect for tacos, quesadillas, eggs, fish, chicken, steak or even as a salad dressing. And of course, these salsa work great with chips. We served them with a variety of 'green chips.' Made from kale, collard greens, chard, mustard greens and even beet greens, but more on that in another blog...


Let me know how these work for you and stay tuned for another Salsa blog in the near future. Special thanks to Gloria for sharing her salsa expertise with us!

Green Eggs and Ham

Have some veggies with your powerful protein breakfast! The perfect breakfast includes protein to help you feel satisfied throughout the day! But this dish can be eaten anytime of day really. The protein in the eggs and ham give your body the building blocks to recover and renew. After a workout is a great time to fuel up on protein! Before whey protein powder became the big after workout fuel, there was eggs! Yes eggs, it's a real food, not a powder concoction, and it can be paired nicely with veggies, more real food!





What about 'Green Eggs and Ham' for breakfast? 'Green' coming from spinach, collard greens or zucchini. Scrambled eggs or eggwhites with garlic, onion, mushrooms, spinach and canadian bacon or lowfat ham, top with a some avocado slices and a little salsa fresca...Yes! I'm in! If you made fajita, or roasted peppers or the vegetable picadillo the night before, throw that in. (See blog posts for peppers, vegetable picadillo and salsa for those recipes. Make once, use twice!)




To meet your goal you must have a ritual. The goal: 5 handfuls of fruits and vegetables everyday! The ritual: Have a fruit or vegetable with every meal or snack.

Going Green!

A great way to get your veggies everyday is to sneak them into the sauce! The sauce for our chicken dinner tonight is made with everything green! This Mexican dish is called Pollo Pipian or Mole Verde. There are different variations, this is mine. It is so easy to put together, very nutritious, delicious and did I mention that it is Green?! No food dye needed, this would make a great St. Patricks day meal!

Ingredients:

4-5 Chicken Breasts (skin removed)
Chicken broth, about 4 cups(see the vegetable soup post if you want to make your own chicken broth)
4-5 Garlic cloves
1/2 cups pepitas aka...pumpkin seeds (shelled)
1/2 lb. bag Spinach or any other leafy green
4 Poblano Chiles (chop, seeds removed)
8 tomatillos (husk removed)



Directions:

Pan sear Chicken pieces, add chicken broth and bring to a full boil, continue to boil over medium high heat until done (no pink left). Let the chicken cool and shred into bite size pieces.

In a separate frying pan, toast pepitas sightly until light golden brown. Set aside. *No oil is needed, just a dry hot pan will do.





In the blender add spinach, poblano pieces, tomatillos, pepitas, garlic and just enough broth to blend easily. *This will have to be done in 2 or more batches.

Pour sauce over chicken pieces and simmer for about 10 min.




Top with sliced onion, cheese (queso fresco is good on this) and toasted pepitas. Serve as is or with rice, potato, or corn tortillas. Tonight we served it with quinoa and chayote.



Bon Apetit!

Snacking on Fruits and Vegetables

In order to get 5 fruits and vegetables in a day, you will need to include one with every meal or snack. Try pairing your fruit and vegetable snacks with some protein and/or healthy fat, so they are more satisfying and stick with you longer.

Fruit Snack ideas:

Banana or apple with peanut butter (all natural, the ingredients should be: peanuts and maybe salt)

Apple or pear with cheese (laughing cow spreadable cheese works great)

Any sort of fruit with any sort of nut (almonds, walnuts, pecans, peanuts, cashews, pistachios...)

Trail mix of dried fruit and nuts works great too (especially before or after a workout), but remember that a little goes a long way, a handful is a good serving size.

Snackable Veggies:

Carrots, Snow Peas, Sugar Snap peas, Bell Peppers, Celery, Cucumbers, Zucchini, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cherry tomatoes, the list goes on and on....These veggies pair nicely with some hummus, spreadable cheese, or with a dressing or dip.

Carrot tangent: You might want to wash and chop your own carrots. Do you really want the Pre-cut perfect little baby ones that have been rinsed in chemical solution...aka...bleach? They say it is not enough chemical solution to be harmful, but do they eat as many fruits and vegetables as I do? I prefer to buy organic when possible and wash with good old fashioned water. I choose to spend my dollar on what is healthier for my body and the environment. Of course, you can decide what's best for you and your family.

Get to snackin!

A little snack between meals will keep you from feeling famished and then overeating at your next meal. Start with the fruits and vegetables you enjoy most, and then get a little adventurous. Use snack time as a way to meet your nutrition challenge!

Berry Happy New Year!

New Years Day....Berries for Breakfast:

FRENCH TOAST & BERRIES

1 Cup Berries (Fresh or frozen, organic preferred) on top of a high-fiber French toast made with whole wheat bread (3-5 g Fiber per slice), whole eggs or egg whites, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, vanilla. Another option is to top with low-fat ricotta cheese.


YOGURT & BERRIES


1 Cup Berries (Fresh or frozen, organic preferred) on top of low-fat or nonfat yogurt (Greek style preferred for higher protein content and less milk sugar that raises the carbohydrate content….not that carbohydrates are bad or that you should avoid them, but I prefer to use the fruit in this case as my source of carbohydrate). Also, could add a high-fiber cereal or granola to this, or chop up some nuts of your choice (almonds, pecans, walnuts), rolled oats, or ground flax seed.

BERRY SHAKES

1 Cup Berries (Fresh or frozen, organic preferred) in a blender with nonfat milk or soy milk. Try adding any of the following: other fruits (such as mango, banana, pear), vanilla, cinnamon, oats, flax seed, nuts of your choice (almonds, pecans, walnuts), or peanut butter or almond butter, yogurt. Before you sweeten, taste it, you may find you don’t need it to be any sweeter. To sweeten, use a small amount of sugar, honey, or 100% fruit juice.

SUGAR TANGENT

Remember that sugar, is sugar, is sugar…for the sake of how your body has to break it down, once it is in your blood it doesn’t matter where it came from. Sugar, honey or 100% fruit juice may have some other small health benefits, but in the amount we are talking about using here, it is probably not gonna make much of a difference. And brown sugar is processed exactly the same as white sugar, they just add back some of the molasses at the end of the process which gives it the color and flavor.



As far as sweeteners go, use a variety, use whichever you prefer and most importantly use them in moderation. If you choose a non-caloric sweetener, it should also be used in moderation. While not yet fully understood, some studies have shown that non-caloric sweeteners may still trigger hormonal or chemical responses that can affect a person’s satiety and weight. Stevia is a natural non-caloric sweetener, as opposed to the artificially made splenda or sweet-n-low. However, remember individuality will determine what affect these sweeteners have on you, if any at all. What is good for one person may not work so well for someone else.

The challenge for the next few months is to eat more fruits and vegetables. How will you get at least 5 handfuls a day? With every meal or snack, ask yourself, ’Where is my fruit or my vegetable?’ One or the other or both should be there! What are you waiting for? Shop and chop, so there are no excuses that you didn't have time. Plan for success!

Berry Happy 2010!