It’s about time Fage made a non-fat yogurt with fruit (on the side, as opposed to Chobani’s version “fruit on the bottom”). Customize your parfait for a complete meal or snack with Blueberry Acai Non-Fat Fage (the Strawberry Goji comes in 2nd place), a whole grain cereal such as Kashi 7 Grain Puffed Grains, and 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter!
You may walk by your favorite restaurant and see a “C” grade in the window. Yikes.
New York City is starting to require all restaurants to post the letter grade they receive on their sanitary inspection done by the Department of Health. These unannounced inspections are to ensure NYC restaurants are in compliance with city and state food safety laws. Points are given for each unsanitary/unsafe practice (i.e. over a certain number of mouse droppings or house flies, unsanitary employee practices, time/temperature abuse of food, etc). A=0-13 points; B=14-27 points; C=28 or more points. On the DOH website, you can search for any restaurant in the five boroughs to see it’s grade and specific violations. An app is even on the way to check out inspection grades on the go. Scary? Awesome? I’m not sure. Oh, and it’s mandatory restaurants post their grade visibly near the front door. Where do we draw the line? Does a mouth-watering truffle mac and cheese compensate for house flies, hairnet-less employees and improperly cleaned work surfaces?
dr. kracker: the perfect cracker (healthy, crunchy, versatile, delicious)
When I say “duh, just eat it… and work out tomorrow,” I don’t want you to take this too literally. I am not a believer of the “binge, then deprive” diet method, obviously, but it’s nice to know we don’t have to live in nutrition-obsessed, chocolate deprived lives, either. We all have had that night where we stuffed our faces, got full, stuffed our faces again, got mad at ourselves, and stuffed our faces yet again to almost “punish” ourselves… because we think to ourselves, “I’ve already been bad… might as well go crazy and I’ll be good tomorrow.” But say you have a cupcake (red velvet with cream cheese icing, I hope) at a dinner party: while it’s not the healthiest of foods, who cares? Hopefully you thoroughly enjoyed it and you were with good company while you ate it. It won’t make you fat, and it won’t mess up your diet. Maybe you’ll get a stomach ache if cupcakes aren’t part of your everyday diet, but this certainly doesn’t warrant indulging in even more “naughty” foods because you’re angry with yourself for eating it, and you’ll “work out tomorrow.” Eat the cupcake. Love the cupcake. There is no “making up for it tomorrow,” but you know that you’ll continue with your normal eating habits and go on with your life. Moderation is key, no matter how cliche it sounds. You can’t let food take over your social life and emotional state. Food is wonderful, but it doesn’t control you. You control you. Eat apples and berries for their vitamin C and antioxidants. Eat salmon and nuts for their omega-3 fatty acids and MUFAs (monounsaturated fatty acids). And, finally, splurge (when you need it, every once in a while) on cupcakes and warm chocolate-chip cookies for their gooey deliciousness and sweet tooth satisfaction.
Helpful tips for those with a sweet tooth: (1) keep quality dark chocolate squares in the house (at least 70% cacao) - they’re healthy with antioxidants and mood boosters, and they also may curb sweet and salty cravings (2) fruit can often satisfy a sweet craving (3) keep sweets out of sight (i.e. in the freezer, cabinets) so you’re not tempted
About a month ago, I saw a scary C+ on my transcript in Food Microbiology. After nausea, depression and four failed attempts to reach my professor, I finally found out that he entered a 56 as my midterm grade instead of a 94. Well, now I can stop being bitter towards everything nutrition-related and continue with my blog. Fun recipes and nutrition tips soon to come.
PS - I have my grandma’s leftover cheese tortellini in the freezer. Duh, just eat it.
I love oatmeal cookies… as well as any other dessert that contains bananas, nuts, or raisins. However too often these treats are packed with added sugar, butter, and flour. So, I decided to try a little something of my own. A few of the ingredients I used simply because I had them in the apartment, but feel free to substitute. I did not use any flour, vanilla (although I would have if I had it), butter, or sugar. Instead of sugar, I used a low-sugar pancake syrup I had laying around.
Anyway, I just took them out of the oven. They could be crispier, but they are so, so tasty. Give them a try.
Ingredients: 2 cups rolled oats; approx 1/8 cup low-sugar maple syrup; 2 small ripe bananas; 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond breeze milk (or low fat vanilla soymilk or skim milk); 1/4 cup raisins/cranberries; 2 tbsp chunky almond butter (or peanut butter); optional - slivered almonds, dark chocolate chips
Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking sheet (Pam spray will do). Mix together all ingredients in a medium-large bowl. Place spoonfuls of “dough” (about 2 tbsp worth) onto the baking sheet. Bake until crispy - about 20 minutes. Makes 12 large cookies.
Approximate 66 calories per cookie (1/12 of recipe).
Powdered peanut butter may sound bizarre, but it’s the perfect solution for peanut butter lovers. Although peanut butter is packed with protein and healthy fat, and is therefore healthy in moderation, it’s easy to overdo it and consume a ton of calories. Regular peanut butter has about 200 calories and 16 grams of fat per serving, whereas PB2 has only 53 calories and 2 grams of fat per serving. And, it’s delicious.
How do they do it? Through a unique process, Bell Plantation (without using any chemicals) removes over 85% of the fat from premium quality peanuts by essentially squeezing out the oil, without the use of artificial sweeteners or preservatives. The only ingredients are roasted peanuts, sugar and salt.
How do you use it? Mix 2 tablespoons of PB2 with 1 tablespoon of water and stir until smooth. Use as a spread for a PB2 & jelly sandwich, use in baking, sprinkle in oatmeal, or even dip fruit right into the powder. Find some great PB2 recipes here .
Where do you buy it? Order online at Bell Plantation’s website, or check on their website to find a local health food store near you that sells the product.
Nutrition facts: Per 2 tablespoons – 53.2 cal, 1.9 g fat (0.3 sat), 77.6 mg sodium, 0.5 g fiber, 6 g protein
hamburger with “special sauce” from gott’s roadside in napa. definitely one of top 5 burgers! when in napa, food trumps nutrition
Yesterday in the supermarket I spotted Weight Watchers cheese wedges for HALF the price, and so I obviously grabbed them. SERIOUSLY? Did they really dare to go up against the one and only Laughing Cow? Yeah.. they did. Did they succeed? Far from it.
Heads up to all Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge lovers: WW’s version is a poor imitation. It’s cheesier, in an artificial, non-fat American cheese slice kind of way. The texture is inferior, as it’s less fluffy and spreadable than LC. All in all, steer clear from this painful attempt of a low-fat cheese wedge. Laughing Cow rocks, and that’s all there is to it.
So i have a stickie on my desktop that lists all the restaurants I want to go to in New York City. As I go, I cross them off (with great excitement, of course). Tonight, I crossed off Paprika in the east village - really cute, pleasant atmosphere with delicious food. My friend and I shared the “eggplant parmigiana” (which was actually layers of un-breaded eggplant, mozzarella, and pesto) - it was truly out of this world. I then got the sea bass with brussel sprouts and purple potatoes for my entree. It was a tad oily, but extremely tasty. My friend’s pasta contained sausage, which I strongly dislike, and therefore I was not a fair judge of the dish. Overall, I enjoyed Paprika a lot, and would for sure recommend it. Perfect for a casual date. Next time, when I’m feeling naughty, I’m trying the papardelle with braised oxtail ragu. Apparently, their brunch is quite the steal.
Fage Total 0% with chopped/semi-mashed banana chunks and Kashi Go Lean Berry Crisp.
Sounds boring and generic, I know. But somehow these semi-mashed banana chunks gave the yogurt a banana-y taste and an even thicker, yet more consistent texture. The cereal gave the perfect contrasting crunch. Yum.
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Enough of this deceivingly “healthy” but actually high calorie/high fat granola. Galaxy has only 115 calories and 1.4 grams of fat for a 1/4 cup. Toss in low-fat yogurt, almond milk, or berries for a filling and tasty treat! My fave: “not sweet vanilla”
YES! I tried my first Chocolite chocolate bar today. While it is delicious, only 30 calories, and 6 grams of fiber, it is filled with chemicals (i.e. sugar alcohols). I regretted my decision to eat this treat about 5 minutes later when my stomach turned upside down.
I don’t know about you, but I’d rather skip the abdominal cramps, have a REAL small chocolate bar and some REAL fiber.
Yuck.
