Getting REAL About Food

After the holidays, in the month of renewing and rebirth of oneself, it is time for us to get REAL about our food, and to try to be as frugal as possible as we recover from our excesses. Here are three things I found out on the Internet that are going to help me toward that end in the weeks, months, and, yes, even years to come!

From GOOD magazine, the "How to Cook Real Good Cheap Easy Food" Transparency, is one I am seriously thinking about printing out and hanging up in my kitchen:

Click here to go to GOOD's Transparency
here

Second tool on the list comes from one of my favorite foodie bloggers on the net: Darya Pino from Summer Tomato. If you haven't started following Darya yet, then I highly recommend you do so. I have had her RSS feed on this blog from the moment I learned how to do such a thing! Anyway, enough with the gush! Darya created a flowchart to be used at the supermarket in order to find REAL food. I am going to give you a teaser of the flowchart, so that you definitely go to Darya's blog to witness her brilliance firsthand!

For the complete image, check out the post at Summer Tomato

Finally, I have a link of fun curiosity - the one ingredient ice cream! And, the key for me? It is both gluten-free and dairy-free! Curious yet?! It is a banana ice cream and I found it while stumbling around on StumbleUpon (my profile name is nrivera9, by the way, if you want to be SU buddies!). Here the picture of the delectable treat from Faith Durand at TheKitchn.com:

Check out this recipe!

Time for me to go throw some bananas in the freezer!

Until next time... happy eating!

Simply Organic Gluten Free Carrot Cake

Jennifer Esposito, actress model and dancer, probably most known for her role in Samantha Who recently recounted the moment when her gluten-free diet nearly broke her. It was nine months after she was diagnosed with Celiac disease and she decided she wanted, no needed carrot cake. When I saw this interview, I yelled at the TV, "YESSSS!! Carrot cake!! Me too!!" I had been wanting carrot cake for MONTHS! Ms. Esposito, marched into her kitchen and, being a better natural baker than I, made it happen. I have been waiting for the release of her gluten-free cookbook and "Butter and Sugar" products that she has been perfecting ever since her carrot cake epiphany. In the meantime, however, I have finally found something in my very own Stop N Shop to satiate my own craving.

Simply Organic Carrot Cake Mix. I had purchased their spices before, but I had no idea they were making cake mixes, let alone gluten-free cake mixes! It was so easy to make and so delicious that I have regular gluten-eaters asking for more! The only ingredients needed in addition to the mix were eggs (2), grated carrots (1 cup, which worked out to 2 carrots) and water, it was really simple. I decided to make carrot cupcakes instead of one large cake and I sprinkled them with powdered sugar rather than icing. Warm out of the oven was amazing, but they were still as tasty after they had completely cooled (I think I might have to grab another one after writing this post, in fact!).

Other reasons besides the simplicity of the recipe and the amazing taste that this Simply Organic turned out to be such a cool find are:

• the flexibility of their mix. While I am sure this is true of all mixes once you familiarize yourself with its flavor(s) and texture(s), the good people over at Simply Organic actually provided four different recipes to be used with the mix right on the box - carrot cake (of course), a quick switch for a spice cake, an Apple Carrot Cake (Vegan), and a Pumpkin cake. If you go to their website, there are even more..

• As I suppose their name implies, the product is certified organic. 
• The product is also fair trade certified. This is one label that has not yet been addressed on this blog and needs to be. The Fair Trade Principles are Fair Prices, Fair Labor Conditions, Direct Trade, Democratic and Transparent Organizations, Community Development and Environmental Stability. I, personally, can not think of a better set of principles to give my support to. To get more information about fair trade, or see where you can find it near you check out www.fairtradecertified.org. 

So you're reading this and thinking, "Hmmm... carrot cake does sound good, maybe I should have some!" But I haven't even shown you any pictures yet!

It started with a box and some carrots,

then I got my pan ready.

After some quick mixing, I poured my batter into my cupcake holders.

About 25-30 minutes after baking, they came fresh out of the oven looking so nice.

I decided to powder them up and put them on a tray for any and all visitors.

Then I got to the serious business of having one myself!

It has been over a week since resolution time, have you given yourself a treat yet?!

Happy eating!

Vegetables: Raw or Cooked?

We all know that eating more vegetables is the key to a more balanced and healthy diet, however, how we should consume them in order to obtain the ultimate in benefits they provide may not be as clear. Over the last couple months I had been hearing and reading a lot about eating raw, so when thinking about eating vegetables I was leaning toward the idea that eating them raw might keep more of the vitamins and nutrients intact for my ideal consumption.

I was wrong... sort of.

It seems, when seeking the most healthy way to consume your vegetables - raw versus cooked - that the answer depends on (1) the vegetable that you wish to consume, and (2) the health benefit you most wish to obtain from your meal. Of course there is no simple answer because if there was, we would have all already known it by now! The list of variables and various vegetables one could possibly wish to consume is extensive, so I will start you off here with some of the biggie lessons I picked up in my studies today.

The Good Stuff

• Vitamin C If you have procured a particular vegetable with the intention of consuming it to obtain the benefits of its vitamin C content, then you will want to keep it away from the heat. Vitamin C is considered "unstable" and degrades when exposed to heat. Also, vitamin C dissolves in water, so boiling it is out also. Note: Before you give up on cooking your asparagus, tomatoes, bell peppers, and brussel sprouts (just to name a few!) it is important to remember that if not cooked for long periods of time, a vegetable with a high amount of vitamin C will still have some left over after preparation for you to consume (just not as much as it started out with). Also, you can still get a great raw serving of vitamin C from fruits in your diet.
• Lycopene I was surprised by this. If you are not familiar with it, lycopene, found in tomatoes, is an antioxidant that has been discussed as a possible aid in the prevention of various types of cancer, reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration. Being born half Italian-American, there is no deficit of tomatoes in my diet, so I wondered which preparation would best serve me if I was looking for a lycopene fix. The answer - cooked tomatoes! It seems that while all tomatoes contain lycopene, during the cooking process the amount of lycopene actually increases because the cooking allows the tomato to change form and release some lycopene that might otherwise be trapped in the plant's cells.
• Beta-carotene & Vitamin A When the antioxidant beta-carotene enters our body it transforms it into vitamin A for us, it seems, just like the lycopene, that cooking helps this process along. Vegetables like carrots, spinach, cabbage and others, should be cooked if you are looking to get the beta-carotene benefit from them.

Some Suggestions

• Eat Your Broccoli & Cook It Too As I am sure you have already puzzled out, this is something you should adopt for many vegetables, broccoli is just one example of a vegetable that has amazing benefits both raw and cooked. In its raw form broccoli contains a compound (sulforaphane) that has been said to help prevent cancer and stomach ulcers. When cooked it forms another compound (indole) that fights precancerous cells.
• Don't Eat Them Alone For ultimate absorption, it is best to pair up vitamins and nutrients when possible, remembering this when you prepare your meals is great as well. For example, iron is difficult for our bodies to absorb on its own, but it has been shown that pairing it with vitamin C can help it reach our blood cells that need it, so why not have some hummus (source of iron) with some wedges of bell peppers (our RAW vitamin C!). Also, it has been said that pairing tomatoes with some fat helps with lycopene absorption, so drizzle some olive oil over those tomatoes while cooking them up!
• Keep Those Veggies Out of the Water It seems that everywhere I looked for the "best" cooking techniques for gaining the greatest nutrition out of our veggies, led me away from the water. Steaming, of course, is highly recommended, however, sauteing and baking were also mentioned. When sauteing, no more than 5 minutes, and one shouldn't over-steam either, but I found no hard and fast "time rules" for steaming or baking.
• Enjoy Your Vegetables Remember that vegetables are not supplements created to carry only one vitamin into your body, they are live things with a system in place that kept their lives going and now they are ready to pass that gift on to you - no matter how you consume them, you are sure to obtain some benefit from them, so prepare them in a way that will get you coming back for more. This raw vs. cooked debate is merely to decide which technique packs the biggest nutritional punch.

It seems that I will be continuing to diversify my menu ~ a little raw, a little cooked ~ with hopes that I am making the "right" choices along the way!

Some Resources Used for Today's Post:
Scientific American 
LiveStrong 
The Dr. Oz Show

Reader Question:

What is your FAVORITE way to get vegetables into your diet?

Making a Difference in the New Year

Download eBook here

A New Year's Read  
I have never been one for New Year's resolutions. However, throughout every year I am always seeking ways to better myself and do what I can to make a bit of difference on this big planet. As 2010 came to a close I was made aware of an ebook on the Internet called Small Ways to Make A Big Difference organized by Raam Dev. I thought this might be exactly the kind of read I was looking for not just for the New Year, but also for my life. I downloaded it (for FREE), read it New Year's Day while I waited for all my house guests (and husband) to wake up, and I loved it.

Why You Should Read It
We all know that this is the "Lose Weight, Feel Great, Get Back in the Gym Week" for most folks. I believe that one reason that all three of these valiant efforts may not out live the month is because, at each of our cores, we are selfless souls and, therefore, have difficulty allowing ourselves the well-deserved "me-time" that the gym, losing weight and, sometimes, even feeling great require.Taking the time to check out Raam Dev's eBook, may hold the key to the small things that can be done to make a difference, helping to alieviate any guilt and, therefore, allow you to satisfy your own needs as well.


What You'll Be Reading
The book is a collection of over 100 ideas on ways to make a small difference in the world that Raam Dev collected from over 40 bloggers. The ideas vary and are all doable, but the thinking is that reading them should inspire you to either adopt an idea to implement, or come up with your own. Dispersed within the ideas are also inspirational quotes from all types of people of power, peace and passion.

How You Might Want to Read It
I highly recommend that you take the time to download this eBook. It is such an easy read and can be approached in a number of ways:

• beginning to end to be overwhelmed by the amount of potential and hope there is in the human spirit,
• go through the table of contents seeking topics that interest you and reading those ideas for inspiration, or
• read one idea a day, so that the book and its spirit lasts throughout the year for you (I may re-read the book in this way!)

If you love the book and want even more, it should be noted that Raam Dev has also created a Facebook Group to keep the conversation going beyond his book.

What Happens After You Read
I was excited as I read the book that so many of the ideas I read had been things I had been thinking about or doing already this year - eating local, be sustainable, take action, use a home water filtration system, eat veggies, vote with your money, give to charity, etc. However, there were other ideas that were so simple, that I had become complacent with - hold the door, smile, turn off the TV, etc. As life rolls along, it is easy to forget how it is the littlest things that often make the biggest difference in a day.

I plan to be more mindful of these "little" things as my year moves forward. I believe that will help create a very joyful year to come. So, I guess, without intending it, I have made a New Year's Resolution after all - I resolve to be a better me this year!

Special thanks to Meg over at the Be The Change Bookclub for recommending Raam Dev's eBook for January's read.