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Freshman 15
January 6, 2010 | 
Author I met a young lady who was complaining about the “Freshman 15†that she has gained thus far her freshman year at a university here in North Carolina. She couldn’t understand it; all she was eating was salads! She was eating healthy, or so she thought.
Once we talked, the light bulb that went off over her head was blinding. It occurred to me that if this bright coed on full academic scholarship was confused about the calorie content of salads, then she wasn’t alone! So I wanted to write about this and share with y’all.
The bottom line? All salads are not created equal. And sometimes good salads go bad. Let’s break it down.
1) Iceberg lettuce is pretty dismal nutritionally speaking. Look at it, no color=no nutrition. Choose other lettuces if you can.
2) You will not go wrong with raw veggies—pile them on. Remember to eat by color (dark green leaves, bright orange carrot shreds, radishes, onions, etc.).
3) Watch the add-ons, like croutons, cheese, bacon bits, hard boiled egg, bean salad (plain beans, yes. However, bean salad is usually swimming in fatty dressing).
4) Speaking of dressing, BINGO, that’s the kicker. Just ONE tablespoon of ranch dressing is 73 calories with 7 grams of fat. 1 ladle full of dressing equals 2 to 6 tablespoons of dressing! Do the math!! YIKES!
5) Bread aside. If you’re only having a salad for lunch or dinner, it would seem logical to pile on the bread. Then add some butter to that. Yep, you’re right…just more insult to that injury!
So there you have it…a seemingly innocent salad taking up residence in my poor friend’s thighs and all because she didn’t know!
Now she does know better and so do you. CHOOSE carefully when eating salads. And remember, if you’re going out to a restaurant and order a salad as your entrée, you might want to look it up before you order. One time I ordered a Grilled Chicken Ceasar Salad from Chili’s or Applebees or one of those places, thinking it was the best choice and ended up my day’s worth of calories in that one meal!
Here’s to the light bulb on enlightenment! May yours go off continuously this New Year!
Tips Tricks & a Recipe – Pumpkin
Today’s focus is on PUMPKIN
Thanksgiving may be over, but that doesn’t mean our consumption of this super food should be. This gigantic gourd is filled to its stem with beta carotene, alpha carotene, lucopene—all helpful carotenoids to help you with heart health and lower your risk to several chronic diseases.
Here’s a TIP:
You can buy canned pumpkin year round. It’s inexpensive and easy to come by. Add it to your beef stew, hide it in your mac and cheese, make pumpkin bread and pumpkin pie. This superfood is off the hook!
Here’s a TRICK:
Look for 100% pumpkin. Don’t be duped and buy “pumpkin pie fillingâ€. You’ll be getting stuff you don’t want. The pumpkin puree is all that needs to be in the can.
And your RECIPE:
Smashing Pumpkin Soup
(from Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely—Ballantine)
Serves 6
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups pumpkin puree (sometimes called 100% pumpkin NOT PUMPKIN PIE FILLING)
3/4 cup green onions, chopped
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
2 cups milk
Salt and pepper, to taste
In a soup pot, heat oil over medium high heat and saute onions. Cook till very soft and add remaining ingredients, except milk. Cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Add milk and continue to cook (but not boil–it will break) for another 5 minutes.
Per Serving: 131 Calories; 6g Fat; 7g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 11mg Cholesterol; 553mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain (Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Non-Fat Milk; 1 Fat.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: A huge spinach salad and whole grain rolls is all you need.
Posted in Articles, Recipes, Tips Tricks & a Recipe | 
Tags: Pumpkin, Smashing Pumpkin Soup | 
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Tips Tricks & a Recipe – Soup (Part 2)
Today’s focus is on Soup (Part 2)
How can you not like soup? Soup is good food, great food even. The way I make soup, it’s definitely not a first course, it’s the main event! Soup is budget-friendly and simple to make…no need to use canned stuff. You just need some help to make it!
Here’s a TIP:
You can get more than your day’s allotment of veggies if you eat soup. Soup is the perfect delicious vehicle for eating a low calorie, veggie rich meal! Leftover veggies from last night’s meal can magically transform themselves into soup with a little chicken broth, some milk and a blender..ta da, last night’s broccoli is now cream of broccoli soup!
Here’s a TRICK:
I’m a sucker for thick soup, but don’t like the calories and fat for heavy, cream soups. So I use my blender to my advantage and puree some or all of my soup to thicken it up (even the clear soups benefit from this technique, offering your watery soup a little more body, yum!!) Here’s another trick; use half and half instead of heavy cream for creamy soups. It’s still rich, but way less fat and very creamy.
And your RECIPE:
Double Potato Soup
Serves 6
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, pressed
1 teaspoon thyme
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 (15 oz.) cans chicken broth
1 cup half and half
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
In a soup pot, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and cook till translucent. Add sweet potatoes, potatoes and garlic and cook another two minutes. Add the chickem broth, thyme and cayenne pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer covered until the potatoes are tender; about 10 to 15 minutes.
Use a potato masher and squish the lumps in the soup as best you can. This soup is better not processed in a blender as it is heartier this way, however, if you prefer it smoother, go ahead and blend away. Just remember to process it in batches or it’ll get all over the ceiling.
Heat soup to a simmer, salt and pepper to taste and add half and half and warm till hot, but don’t boil or it will break.
Per Serving: 220 Calories; 12g Fat; 6g Protein; 23g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 30mg Cholesterol; 296mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 1/2 Non-Fat Milk; 2 1/2 Fat.
SERVING SUGGESTION: Spinach salad and some whole grain rolls.
Change of Seasons
Dear Friends,
The weather is cold and crisp here in North Carolina!
So being the foodie that I am, I have this tendency to gauge the seasons by what I’m cooking. The leaves have changed and blown away, we’ve enjoyed our Thanksgiving feasts and it’s just plain cold outside. And as much as I love grilling outside, I’m happy to be inside cooking on the stovetop. I’m ready for cold weather, the luxury of a fireplace ablaze and something thick and rich cooking in my crockpot for supper later. Doesn’t that sound warm and cozy?
For those of us who are reveling in cold winter weather—or wishing you had some, here’s a recipe for one of my very favorite crockpot recipes from the second edition of Saving Dinner (Ballantine). The delicious smell of this dish cooking all day long will entice you and gratify tummy and soul to the lucky recipients of this delightful meal.
Crockpot Tuscan Chicken
Serves 6
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, cut into 1″ cubes
1 (15 oz.) can cannelini or white kidney beans, drained
1 1/2 cups spaghetti sauce (your favorite, jarred variety)
1 (4 oz.) jar roasted peppers, diced
1 large onion, chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 cup water
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
12 ounces spaghetti noodles
Salt and pepper to taste
In a crockpot, layer onion, garlic, carrot and celery on the bottom. Add the chicken on top, roasted peppers, beans, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. Add spaghetti sauce and water. Cover and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours or until chicken is tender and cooked.
During the last 15 minutes of cooking, prepare pasta according to package directions, drain and serve chicken on top.
Per Serving: 473 Calories; 6g Fat; 39g Protein; 65g Carbohydrate; 8g Dietary Fiber; 68mg Cholesterol; 408mg Sodium. Exchanges: 3 1/2 Grain (Starch); 4 Lean Meat; 3 Vegetable; 1/2 Fat.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS: Serve with a big spinach salad and a little grated Romano cheese over the top of the pasta and chicken if you like.
What a Waste
I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage, “waste not, want not.†We’ve all grown up with that saying. In our parents and grandparents time, the very idea of wasting food was unthinkable. Today, it’s the norm with nearly 40% of food purchased wasted everyday.
When you consider that the most flexible thing in our budgets are groceries, it’s hard to imagine we’re throwing away $40 worth of food for every $100 spent. Imagine the ATM machine spitting out five 20 dollar bills and then taking three of those 20’s and putting them in a paper shredder. That is a great picture of what food waste costs you. Are you willing to shred 40 bucks each time you take $100 out of your bank account?
Take it a step further: that 40% translates to 29 million tons of food being wasted each year. That’s enough food to fill up the Rose Bowl every 3 days. The cost of this waste? $100 billion annually.
Another place of waste is spending your food budget money on eating out all the time. Unless you’re splitting stuff on the dollar menu regularly, there’s no way you can stay within budget eating out all the time–unless you have a ridiculously large food budget, but then, wouldn’t you rather put some of that cash toward something else besides food?
Waste is abhorrent whether it’s the government wasting taxpayer money or the personal waste happening inside your refrigerator week after week. Money is money and in this economy, it’s hard to come by. Wasting like this is as bad as spending frivolously—it shows a serious lack of respect for the value of a buck.
The antidote to curb these kinds of waste all points back to planning—if you don’t make a menu for the week, you are missing out on being able to take advantage of your grocery stores sales, you miss the peace of mind that comes with having a plan and you miss out on saving quite a few bucks.
This week, make a menu. As another old adage goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.â€
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