Do Not Just Add Water

I did my first official 24-hr recall with a classmate. This is a type of nutrition assessment. I've done them before, but not to the full entirety - portion sizes, time, etc. I've also haven't been subjected to one myself. I learned that it's quite a task to remember everything you ingested from sunrise to sun-up, but it's a good activity to try out once in a while.

During my recall, I told my classmate that I use carnation instant breakfast packets to blend into my coffee. He was a little intrigued. Then, when I told him I finished my day with cocoa, he was also intrigued, as I don't use water for instant cocoa. I use tea, usually a nice roobios or black from Teavana. Water is great, and you should drink it, but as a drink base, it can be pretty bland at times. I like blending other liquids with instant drink packets, you reap extra vitamins and minerals from various liquids (tea, milk) and amp up the taste. A chocolate flavored tea with hot chocolate can yield a very chocolate-y beverage without the extra calories.

And brewing tea is simple. Get a nice pot, mind the time, and cool it off. That way you have tea on hand to blend to your heart's content. Also, have in mind the kind of beverage you want, hot instant cocoa doesn't work well with cold liquids, some brands don't readily dissolve with a spoon..you'll need a blender, frother or hand mixer/immersion blender. Once you know what you're working with, all the adding comes to place.

Wrapmaster Flash

Today, I successfully made a lettuce burrito. Many, many, many times I have tried to do the deed and many, many, many times I have failed. The stem is too tough and wham -- burrito breakage. The filling is too great or goupy and wham --- burrito breakage. Or, I just can't hack the wrap, folding this way or that way -- and wham -- no breakage -- just me impatiently dumping the contents onto a plate and calling it a salad.

So, be it dumb luck or just ascertaining a new level of wrapping skill, I got it.



Here's my theory.

There's a certain technique yes, but also a certain leaf. I had a very large romaine leaf, about the length of a sheet of paper, and it was half-crisp and half limp. I cut off half the stem, placed my filling (chicken breast) towards the stem part, not the side of the leaf or the middle, as you would normally place filling in a wrap or taco. Then, I just went for it. The limp end, I folded envelope-burrito style and left them stem alone. The sturdiness of the stem supported the chicken breast, while the leaves, limp enough so that they behave like a blanket, encloses the filling. Note that by folding just the one end, the stem behaves as an opening, or a tasty entry into deliciousness.

I got skillz.

Sort of.

Brine Time

My first brine went super duper well. Foodwise. I nearly fireballed myself in setting up for indoor grilling...but that's another matter!

I was following a very easy weight watcher recipe that called for a brine. Whenever I've seen/read a recipe with a brine, it usually requires tangoing with a large piece of meat and overnight soakage. That takes a lot more resolve and memory power than I can spare at a time. This particular recipe though allowed me to use either boneless or bone-in chicken breast and a combined brine time (part set up-part soak) of 90 minutes. Brine on!

I chose boneless chicken breast because the market had a BOGO Free on it. The freebie sits in the freezer whilst the paid one sitts in my belly.

The success is due to the accessibility of ingredients (chicken, kosher salt, water), tools (bowl, fridge) and time. It's pretty much goof proof. And since I nearly goofed with the pan, it's nice to know something is goof proof.

Brining is also a good cooking method that allows you to maintain juicy texture of your meat on the cheap without loading in up calorie wise. (Here's a nice wiki blurb on it.) It's also not labor intensive, you just need to do a little bit of homework, which is a major mantra when eating for health and eating to fit your lifestyle.

DIY: Fruit Smoothie

The perfect fruit smoothie is usually a combination of 4 key ingredients: fruit, duh, a thickener, frozen items and liquid. There's also the optional items, sugar and spice, but a perfect smoothie can stand alone without those items.

Smoothies take a lot of practice, and even with practice, don't always come out right, but man are they tasty even when it's a mess.

Proper prep + key items = jamba what? jamba who?

First, wash/peel/dice your fruit. Take half of it and freeze it overnight.

Next, chill your liquid for 30 minutes up to an hour. You want the top of the liquid to freeze, but you don't want an ice cube.


Now, you take out your frozen fruit, allowing it to slightly thaw.

Break out your blender and add your liquid. Here's where you also can add your sugar and spices, if your like, and now you add your thickener and set it on the lowest speed that provides continuous motion (i.e. no need to press or pulse). If you have a blender with a feeder, add your fruit, frozen fruit, and lastly ice, gently as the blender goes. Once the last ice cubes is smashed you should have a nice, thick fruit smoothie.

Here I have spent hours.....researching......compiling.....the ultimate smoothie list:

Liquids	Frozen Items	Thickeners
for 16 oz, keep liquid at 6-8 oz
	Ice	yogurt
Liquid - Acidic		frozen yogurt
mango	blueberries	instant shake packets
orange	strawberries	(such as carnation instant
100% juice blends		breakfast)
	Frozen - High sugar Items
Low -cal liquids		pudding mix
	bananas	protein shake powder
Unsweetened almond milk	mangos	peanut butter
water
crystal light	Spice	Accent
coffee
Trop 50	mint	lemon juice
skim milk	cinnamon	canola oil
tea	nutmeg	vanilla extract
silken tofu		rum extract
		chocolate syrup
		lime juice

Sugar

Artifical sweetners

Honey

sugar

agave nectar

fruit nectar

I really didn't spend hours, but I find it a pretty solid list. The first 3 columns are essentials (liquid, frozen item, thickeners), which I placed in bold. The last 3 are accessories (spice, accent, sugar), which I put in italics. You can add all 3 from the bottom, or one, or none at all, but either way it makes a healthy, delicious smoothie. You can even adventure with more items, such as spinach, kiwi, soda (smoothie to float), the idea is the same, although with soda you have to adjust for the carbonation.

Spread the love

Here's a new thought for you: surface area.

Yes, I realize that's not new...

Let's begin slowly. Remember the phrase, "eat with your eyes first?" Well, you do. (I'll keep repeating that, so if you don't know, you will.) You can also play tricks on your eyes, and use optical illusions to make better eating choices.

I don't know if you heard, but I love PB. PB can be very addictive, and I shamelessly love two of the junkier PBs out there (Jif & Skippy), so it's a really sordid deal for me.

Sometimes, I like to spread the love onto another beloved food. PB + muffins= <3. But, this combo can really rack the calories in, so what did I do?

I kept eating the muffins as is for a while. What did you expect? It's really good.

Then I got hip to VitaTops. Basically, it's the same standard sized muffin -- standard normal size is 2 oz, not the monster cakes you see in the bakery, folks -- but flattened out. It's a muffin top in that the bottom and sides get crispy like a muffin and you get all the toppy goodness. If you click on the above link, they also sell muffin top pans, so if you don't like the product, make muffin tops with your favorite recipe. Back to the love, though because there's more!

I got a loved appliance involved: my microwave. If your microwave has a "melt" or "soften" function, get to know it. I use that function to melt down hard chocolate, but to also warm up & thin out high fat spreads & toppings for drizzling & spreading. The advantage is, same tasty product but using less, thus ingesting less calories. In conclusion:

Increase surface area.

Smaller portions but same size to the eye.

Major love affair. Spread it around, folks.


Also, spread this:
If you become a fan of EA on FB, you get free dipped chocolate fruit. So much love!