I love adding various spices to my dishes, because they can provide an intense depth of flavor without having to add a lot of extra fat or sodium. One of my favorites to add to savory dishes is cinnamon. Just a dash gives it a nice depth of warmth and rounds out the overall flavor of the dish without necessarily tasting like cinnamon. I think I sprinkle cinnamon on pretty much everything! Did you know that 1/2 tsp of cinnamon has as many antioxidants as a 1/2 cup of raspberries? Another great one is cayenne. McCormick sent me some educational materials in the mail and I thought I would share their top seven spices for your health. Each one of these (more…)
February 10, 2010
January 17, 2010
January 11, 2010
December 11, 2009
a little info on coco water & a giveaway!!!
Remember how I was going to look at coconut water for my thesis a little while ago? Well, I’m still not able to really do it for a thesis, but I still used it for my proposal paper and presentation for my Research Methods class!
I wanted to share with you some of my research findings, which are actually quite interesting. . . and there may or may not be some kind of giveaway included at the end 😉 I also wanted to thank Laural for sending me research that she found which was a huge help.
First a little history about coconut water . . .
Much of the research I did find on it included its use as a fluid replacement for patients with gastroenteritis and cholera, and has even been used as an intravenous solution for those third world countries with limited resources.
The picture on the left is an actual coconut hooked up to an IV drip! This patient was doing pretty poorly and wasn’t able to tolerate many of his feedings and was becoming dangerously dehydrated. Upon initiation of the coconut water for a short term IV solution, the patient started to turn around for the better. This is amazing to me!
There are six stages of coconut development, with the youngest green stage being the one where the most fluid can be found (1/2 – 1L of fluid). As the coconut ages and browns, the flesh becomes more prominent, and the free fluid decreases. Coconut milk is the emulsion of the flesh and water from the latter stages of development.
Even the amount of electrolytes and flavor can change between stages of coconut development, and whether it is a coastline coconut or inland coconut can also slightly change its nutritional characteristics. Coconut water is also fairly isotonic.
Compared to conventional electrolyte beverages, coconut water is slightly lower in calories, has less sodium, slightly less sugar, and considerably more potassium. This brand also has a great source of Vitamin C.
Looking at the use of coconut water with athletes, the research was much more limited and hard to find. I did find two studies that found some pretty good results. Let me know if you would like references.
The first study by Saat, M et al. found a slightly less percent rehydration in the regular coconut water compared to a sports drink, but the difference wasn’t significant. The study by Ismail, I et al. then found that sodium-enriched coconut water rehydrated just the same if not better as a sports drink. Those subjects in the coconut water groups also experienced less GI distress (fullness, bloating, nausea, etc) and were able to finish their last bolus of fluid to meet their sweat rates.
I thought the finding of it causing less GI stress to be very interesting. I myself have a hard time consuming fluids during high intensity activity sometimes, especially running or anything that jostles the stomach contents.
Up to 42% of endurance athletes have experienced some form of GI distress during or after an activity (van Niewenhoven et al, 2005)
Many athletes can fail to hydrate properly due to GI distress, which can greatly impact overall performance. Coconut water could be a great option for those who have trouble consuming sufficient fluids during strenuous activity, especially if they have another event/training session that same day. I think the coconut water companies should introduce an ‘endurance line’ featuring a higher sodium content to cater towards endurance athletes to really call their product a ‘sports drink’.
Even though regular coconut water is not as high in sodium as ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) recommends for ‘sports drinks’ (110mg per 8oz), both studies concluded that coconut water can be used for whole body rehydration after exercise induced dehydration & even may cause less GI distress compared to sports drinks.
Well, there you have it in a nutshell! –er I mean coconut shell! I myself enjoy the taste of coconut water because it is really refreshing and is easy on my tummy. It isn’t really sweet either which I like. Think of lactose, the slightly sweet milk sugar, but not as milky 🙂
If you ever wanted to know how to open a green coconut & have a handy dandy machete hanging around, click here. This is just a funny video 🙂
—> GIVEAWAY TIME!!!! <—
I contacted the brand VitaCoco and they graciously offered to send me some of their coconut water to have my class sample for the presentation, and I had some leftover. Some of them are the flavored kind (pomegranate, pineapple, passion fruit, peach/mango) and I believe I have some kind of sensitivity to citrus so I can’t really drink all of them. So I thought, let’s do a GIVEAWAY!!! Yay!
Let me know if you’ve ever tried coconut water and what you think of it. I’ll pick two winners who will get 5 individual samples to try! You can also tweet ‘I want to try some coconut water from EatingRD!’ and link back to this post for an extra entry. I’ll randomly choose the winners on December 17th @ 9pm PT.
In other good news, I received my box of Glo Bars from SavvyEats!! I was so excited and had to try the Present bar right away, which is the cranberry pumpkin spice flavor. Yum! They are well formed, not too sweet and gooey like most bars, and nice and airy in texture. The taste is really nice too with a slightly warm bite from the cinnamon & a tart surprise from the dried cranberries. Are you drooling yet?! I’m looking forward to trying and reviewing the other flavors. If you haven’t already, check them out here!
Hope you guys are having a great week so far! I finished my finals today and can now finally get into the holiday spirit!! Woo-hoo! I feel a bit run down and icky at the moment and hope that I am not getting sick. I need to get all our X-Mas cards written and sent out ASAP. Chris and I also have holiday parties on Friday and Saturday night where I will try to employ my holiday intervention strategies again 🙂 Let’s see if I can do it!
Any fun weekend plans???
September 27, 2009
granola bars & a happy anniversary
Thank you all so very much on your encouraging comments on my funk this past week. I think just being so tired with work and school really wiped me out, and I have to be more cognoscente of this happening. I can’t run myself ragged without sleep. I also have to make it a priority to get some kind of activity in because it always gets my energy levels up and makes me feel good. I was stuck in the cycle of tiredness, no activity and no sleep which fed the cycle of more tiredness. I always like to think that this too shall pass and I just have to pick myself up for the next week 🙂
Friday night wasn’t too exciting and we had good ol’ sloppy joe leftovers for dinner. I love how tomato-based dishes taste even better the next day. Boy, these were good! The cinnamon really added that extra sumthin’ sumthin’. The highlight of my night was 
a new energy bar experiment! Getting in the kitchen always makes me feel better and I really wanted to try these when Emily had a guest post of Dan’s Pumpkin Spice Bars.
Oh my goodness, these are the BOMB! They are similar to Clif bars, but not as sweet with lots of spice, just the way I like them. The texture was superb, slightly cookie-like, but not as gooey and sticky as Clif bars.
I had a few alterations: (FYI the Kashi Warm Cinnamon Cereal is out of this world, in a bar or not). I couldn’t find red flame raisins, so I just used regular ones. I used mixed nuts instead of walnuts. I only had peanut butter, not almond butter. Had canned sweet potato instead of pumpkin. I also whirled my dates & H20 in the food processor after whirling the cereal.
The bars turned out really wonderful and I put them in baggies for us to take on our rides and have during the week as a yummy snack. Look at those nutritionals . . .
This bar has a great nutritional profile, thanks to the help of the kashi cereal and all the wholesome ingredients. I got 17 bars out of this batch, well not counting the little bit I scraped from the bowl (shhh!)
Other good stuff:
18% Vitamin E, 31% Vitamin B6, 30% folate, 24% Vitamin B12, 54% Manganese, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, selenium . . . awesome!
Also for the bar about 72% CHO, 23% fat, and 14% pro, nice balance for some good energy. Yes, 12% DV of CHO! I don’t know why I was thinking of the entire bar, not the %DV that is on the label, hello 🙂 (just having a retard moment)
Thanks Dan and Em for a great bar recipe! Chris told me that he really likes them and wants to eat them all! I will have to make a double batch next time. I’m just wondering when the next installment will be or if we can go into business together?! hehe
Speaking of rides . . . what a better way to banish the funk than going on a nice ride?! aahhh so invigorating, tiring and I loved it. We went on a club ride for about 36 miles and it was great to get back in some activity. I just really miss it when I can’t get it in. I also had a pumpkin spice bar on the ride 🙂 I love how it isn’t too sweet and sits well on my tummy.
That night we decided to have a nice little anniversary celebration at that pizza place we went to last weekend called Settebello. We signed up for their newsletter and they have special pizzas each week. This week was zucchini blossom pizza!!!!!! Oh my gosh, I really wanted to try this, especially since they specified it as a limited appearance!
We started out with a little appetizer called the misto. It had various Italian meats, olives (they weren’t too bitter like regular kalamatas), mushrooms, artichokes, and flatbread.
It was really good, Chris was ravenous from his 62 mile ride that day so he ate most of it. It’s nice to have the bottomless pit around to eat for you 🙂
But on the other hand, have you seen this study? It’s surprisingly true, darn you Chris! hehe
Along with the appetizer I had a small glass of the Danzante Pinot Grigio. This is my favorite type of white wine. Very fruity, dry, not too grassy and nicely balanced. I just wish their pour was a little bit taller 🙂
The pizza was really interesting and yummy! It was a white sauce pizza (I traditionally like the tomato-based sauces), with sweet corn, ricotta, mozzarella and topped with zucchini flowers and olive oil. It did need a little something extra so I put some black pepper and chili flakes on mine for just a little heat 🙂
Zucchini flowers are so neat and taste very delicate and sweet! They matched perfectly with the sweet corn.
Overall it was a great night. We were thinking of going to see The Informant after dinner, but poor Chris was so tired from his ride that we just rented a movie to take home in case we fell asleep. We try to watch movies, but usually both of us are so tired, we just fall asleep to them! We rented Yes Man, and it was actually pretty funny. I myself am a huge Jim Carrey fan, especially Dumb and Dumber!
Today I even got a jump rope and weights class in, yay! Now about that studying . . .
Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!
What’s your favorite granola/energy bar?
June 30, 2009
refreshing twist and some experiments
I cannot wait for my car to get done at the auto shop; it seems like it’s been forever! I returned the rental car on Friday because I didn’t want to keep paying for it, but now I feel bad bumming rides from people. It’s tough not having a car here. I would take public transportation, but that is pretty much non-existent here in Vegas. When we went to Portland, their public transportation system was amazing and we could get pretty much anywhere in the city really quick. It normally only takes me about 20 minutes to get to work, but if I took the bus system here it would take 2 1/2 hours! No thank you!
I made some granola bars this weekend with the recipe from Angela at Oh She Glows. I just love her blog, and she has some great, healthy baking recipes. She also just opened up her own bakery (how cool!) in Canada, and is working on getting her products distributed here in the US. While I can’t reveal the recipe, all I can tell you is that I can’t wait to order some of her goodies! I didn’t have some of the ingredients, so I substituted and added some other things. I also baked them for a bit to help harden ‘em up. Wow, they are sooo good! Really just like granola bars you would get at the store, chewy and yummy. I foresee I’m going to be tweaking my own recipe again 🙂 Thanks Angela!
I also made another batch of Gina’s Granola. I just can’t get enough of this stuff! I tweaked it a little bit too just for fun to experiment. Here’s what I put in this time . . .
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 2 cups oats
- ¼ cup ground flaxseed
- ½ t. baking soda
- 1 t. vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cinnamon and 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 3 tbsp peanut butter
- ¼ cup honey
- 3 tbsp brown rice syrup (you can also use honey)
- 2 tsp brown sugar
- ½ cup chopped mixed, roasted nuts
- if you want to add dried fruit, add it after baking
Simply combine the first 6 ingredients, through the spices in a large bowl. Combine the last 5 ingredients (except the nuts) in a microwave safe bowl or small pot, and heat slowly until melted. Combine the dry with the wet; mix well and stir in the nuts. Place on a flat cookie sheet and press down. Bake at 325 for approximately 20-25 minutes (I like mine crunchy!). Let cool and break apart to enjoy on pretty much anything! Yum!
During the summer there is nothing like a refreshing dinner to make you feel satisfied, yet not overly stuffed. Gazpacho is just the thing! It’s surprisingly filling because it is mostly fluid and packed full of nutrients. Not to mention it is so easy to make and only about 100 kcals per serving!
Watermelon Gazpacho
(adapted from CookingLight)
Yield: 6-8 servings
Ingredients
- 6 cups cubed seeded watermelon, save 1 cup for the end
- 1 cup chopped peeled English cucumber
- 1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
- 1/3 cup chopped green onions
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh mint
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 2 small shakes of cayenne (careful, this can be hot!)
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 3/4 cup cranberry juice
- 1/4 cup sweet Riesling, optional (we had a glass with dinner too!)
- greek yogurt or goat cheese for topping
Preparation
Combine first 10 ingredients. Place half of watermelon mixture in a food processor or blender, and pulse 3 or 4 times or until finely chopped. Or you can use an immersion blender to blend to desired consistency directly in the bowl (such a good tool!). Add the blended soup back to the rest of the soup. Stir in cranberry juice, Riesling and last 1 cup of diced watermelon. Chill well. Top with yogurt or goat cheese when ready to serve.
Oh man, this was really good and refreshing! There was a nice kick from the cayenne and all the contrasting flavors blended very well. It filled me up pretty good surprisingly. I also decided to have some sautéed chicken potstickers on the side with the help of good ol’ TJ’s. I definitely want to make this again because I don’t think our weather is going to be cooling down anytime soon ha! I think it’s already gotten to 106.
I like my soups chunky. I was wishing I had some avocado too, because I think that would work very well 🙂
On top of the potstickers I drizzled some peanut satay sauce. It was about a tsp of peanut butter, tbsp of hoisin, tbsp soy sauce, glug of rice wine vinegar and a tinzy bit of toasted sesame oil, yum!
Is public transportation accessible where you live, and if so, do you use it?
March 5, 2009
snacky wacky
At any given time during the day, someone could ask what I have in my bag or purse and I will always have some kind of snack! Whenever I go out for errands or anything outside the house I always have to bring something along just in case I get stranded for hours with nothing to eat . . .heaven for bid! It is really important to eat something every 3-4 hours and not go too long without. This really keeps the metabolism going, our sanity in check and our brains from getting drained and fatigued. I always get ‘cranky’ if I don’t eat consistently! It doesn’t have to be something big (and really shouldn’t be), but just something to feel energized and not too ravenous by meal time.
I first found out about these bars from The Chic Life, who adapted them from Ellie Krieger, and thought I would try my hand at them. I always like to get some kind of bar at the grocery store, but they are just so darn expensive! With these bars, the initial cost is higher to buy all the ingredients, but over time I can make batches and batches of these for the fraction of the price of bars bought in the store. And they really taste great and wholesome without funky ingredients added. I do have a few notes added that I want to try next time to reduce the calories/fat a little bit more.
Instead of using store-bought apple sauce, I tried to make my own apple butter! (or apple goo as Chris likes to call it) It turned out really good and I used it in this recipe. I also like to mix a scoop in my morning oatmeal or have it as a spread on a turkey and cheese panini. It lends a wonderfully rich apple flavor. Place about 2 lbs of peeled and cored apples (I used a bag of empire from TJ’s), a hefty sprinkling of cinnamon and raisins all in a crock-pot. Pour about 2-3 cups of apple cider on top and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Let cool and refrigerate!
Homemade Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup 1-minute quick-cooking oats
- 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour (pastry if you have it, but I didn’t)
- 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
- 1/4 cup non-fat dried milk powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon (of course I like to add more!)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (or crock-pot apple butter – see above note)
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 egg, beaten to mix
- 1 egg white
- 3/4 cup chopped dried cranberries
- 1 cup finely chopped walnuts and pistachios or your favorite mix
- 3 tbsp ground flax seed
- Cooking spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, wheat germ, milk powder, cinnamon and salt.
In a medium-large bowl, whisk together the honey, applesauce, oil, egg and egg white until well combined. Stir in the oatmeal mixture until well combined. Add the dried cranberries, flax seed, and nuts.
Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray (mine was a little bigger). Spread the mixture (as flat as possible) into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 minutes. Cool completely and cut into 12 bars. The flavors intensify even more after a day or so. These are wonderful mixed in some non-fat greek yogurt or use them for dipping!
Nutrition Facts compliments of nutritiondata.com. This is a great website to look at the nutritional profile of thousands of foods and analyze recipes.
A Few Notes for Next Time:
-If I use 2 egg whites instead of the whole egg and reduce the canola oil down to 2 tbsp, the total kcals would be reduced to 220 with 10g of fat. These are pretty moist already, so I’m going to give it a try!
I went to visit a good family friend the other day and look what they gave me!!! Every July their family goes to Alaska and catches tons of wild fish from salmon, halibut, cod and red snapper. I am sooo excited to get cooking with it! I don’t eat as much fish as I would like because it can be so darn expensive, so I am really looking forward to making lots of fish in the near future . . . stay tuned!
Any ideas on your favorite fish recipe?
