Comunidad Health Foods

First and foremost, a huge congratulations to the three winners of my Balance Bar giveaway last week!

                Melissa C.

                Jordan

                “G” (I could not find an email address, G, so you have until tomorrow at 3pm EST to contact me

with your mailing address)

Thank you so much, everyone, for participating! I wish I could have given everyone a box just for entering. Winners have 24 hours to claim their prize before new winners will be selected (also via random.org).

Now that March is ending, I can’t deny any longer that it’s Spring. Everywhere I turn, there’s another reminder: the horrifyingly large bee standing guard at my car yesterday, daring me to come closer; the bin of scarves and gloves that I brought back to my parent’s house because I surely won’t need them at school anymore; the buttercups and crocuses peppering my backyard with color; and the buzz of Spring cleaning coming over both myself and the people around me.

In addition to the Spring cleaning I’ve been initiating throughout my room at home and my apartment at school, I’ve started another, much more daunting “Spring cleaning” task: sorting through the literally thousands of recipes that I have bookmarked. After several solid weeks, I finally eliminated all broken/dead links. Now, I’m moving back through my collection to figure out if I really, truly need every single one of these recipes after all, and recategorizing them to make it easier to search for recipes as I need them. I know that I have a lot of unnecessary recipes saved because so many of them are just minor alterations of others. A cinnamon sugar baked doughnut sitting next to a cinnamon sugar baked doughnut muffin. Twenty different ways to make a roasted tomato salsa. And dozens upon dozens of “recipes” that I really don’t need a recipe to rely on in order to make to begin with.

Recently, I bought a can of salmon as my main protein source for the week, and unearthed three “different” recipes to make using that one can. The first was called a “Wild salmon salad over greens,” and I paired it with a ginger dressing. The second was called “salmon stuffed tomatoes,” and I bulked the meal up a little (since it was really intended to be an appetizer) with a side of plain almonds.  And the third was a recipe for salmon burgers, which I slid into a wrap along with some greens and grated ginger. They sound like very unique recipes, don’t they? In truth, they might as well be the same darn thing, except one is plopped on top of mixed greens , another is spooned into a hollowed out tomato, and the last is shaped into patties and sautéed. These are the kinds of recipes I’m targeting with my Spring cleaning – it isn’t that they aren’t wonderful on their own or that I think one is less worthy; it’s just that I don’t need all of them taking up space in my bookmarks, when we really get down to it. Similarly, I couldn’t really justify taking up your time three times by splitting these recipes apart. Instead, I’m going to blend them together, marrying their flavors for you, and encourage you to try them as a salad, a stuffed tomato, or a sandwich – whichever you prefer. The filling is the base; how you present it to your guests is what makes it special.

 

I don’t often shy away from bitter foods. In fact, one of my favorite vegetables is a well-prepared Brussels sprout, and you don’t get much more notoriously bitter than that. Broccoli rabe, though, has been a more difficult vegetable for me to embrace. This recipe by Rachael Ray certainly helped. The bitterness isn’t totally masked by the other ingredients, so this certainly isn’t for everyone, but I did like it. You could increase the number of raisins or, do what I did with the leftovers, and stir in some applesauce or diced fresh apples to sweeten it up. It’s a simple recipe, and if you’re a fan of broccoli rabe then I highly recommend it. If you’re still a reluctant broccoli rabe consumer, this is a good stepping stone along the path toward bitter green acceptance, but know that it probably won’t be revolutionary. It helps to pair this with a sweeter or at least more neutral meal. I ate it alongside the Fauxtalian Grilled Cheese that I wrote about last week, and that was flavorful enough that made it work. Do consider trying it, but if you don’t fall head over heels for broccoli rabe after making this recipe, don’t give up just yet. I know I won’t.

 

(Psst! Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a free box of Blueberry Acai Balance Bars! Giveaway open until Friday at 12noon EST.)

The path that led to this oatmeal recipe is actually fairly long, and perhaps even a little twisted. It began months ago, at a 50’s style diner where L and I took my parents as a holiday gift. This diner is known for many things, one of them being their milkshakes. So, although we were decidedly stuffed by the time we finished our meals, we each ordered one of their special shakes to go, to eat later, once our stomachs had recovered from the ridiculously delicious but very, very caloric meal we had just consumed. Now, their milkshake menu is extensive – it has every single flavor you could possibly imagine. And if that weren’t enough for you, you can combine any of those single flavors to create this personalized, fantasty mega shake. I went with a Chocolate-Cherry & Almond combo, which was really good, except the cherry tasted a little artificial and ultimately left me disappointed. L on the other hand ordered a coffee almond combination that was one of the most fantastic flavor combinations I’ve experienced. It was delicate, subtle, sweet – really, really good. And from the moment I took a sip of his shake, I knew I needed to recreate that flavor combination in other food (I also tried secretly plotting ways to switch our shakes so that I could have more of his, but we won’t tell him that).

I made a mental note of the combination, but it wasn’t until I found myself with an overwhelming amount of leftover oatmeal from an event that my Student Dietetic Association had organized that I was actually able to turn it into a dish. I needed a creative way of using the oatmeal up, because the thought of eating the same thing over and over again for a week straight is definitely not appealing. If you’re not careful, breakfast can so easily fall into a boring routine of eating the same thing day in and day out, and as much as I love my breakfast staples, a full week of leftover oatmeal was just too much. So I eyed this container of leftover oatmeal, and then my eyes wandered to two other items in my fridge: almond milk and instant decaf coffee. It didn’t take long for that light bulb to go off!

That is how this Coffee Berry Oatmeal was born, and I have to say, it was all that I had imagined. The almond milk and berries round out the slight bitter edge from the coffee. It’s creamy, but substantial. And the colors are definitely pleasing to the eye. I ate it cold, but you could just as easily cook ⅓ cup dry oats in the almond milk-coffee granule mixture to serve it hot if that’s more your style. One thing I like about cold oats or oatmeal is that it lends a sweetness that I think gets muted by heat (in general, I tend to find flavors stronger when a food has cooled), but it shouldn't make a very big difference. Either way, this is a perfect breakfast monotony breaker and a real treat.

If you had told me a year ago – heck, even six months ago – that I would be writing not one, but two overall positive reviews about protein bars, I probably would have laughed. I certainly wouldn’t have believed you. However, Balance Bar has proceeded to edge me out of my anti-protein bar shell little by little, first with my modest acceptance of its Nimble line, and now with its Bare line. In fact, I liked the Bare bar that I sampled so much that I even asked them to provide a box to not one, not two, but in fact three of my fantastic readers and followers! So if you’re interested, definitely keep reading, and look into the details of entering at the bottom of this post.

The Balance Bar that I’m reviewing and will be giving away is a new Bare product, a Blueberry Acai flavor that is officially the best protein bar I have ever had. The blueberry flavor is strong, unlike those “peanut butter chocolate” or “s’mores” protein bars that you so often buy because they sound fantastic, only to realize upon first bite that they’re nothing more than a brick of chemicals – no peanut butter, chocolate, or marshmallow flavors in sight (or should I say, in taste?). The Acai is a much more subtle component of the bar, though that’s to be expected – Acai is one of those expensive ingredients that is often added in as a minimal extra. I don’t view this as a negative of the bar, as it imparts a slightly more complex flavor than the bar would have if it had been blueberry alone. The other truly fantastic thing to note about the flavor of this bar is that there is no after taste! None. Whatsoever. And I closed my eyes and focused really hard to try to find one. It’s something of a miracle, from my experience with most protein bars.

Now, the Blueberry Acai Bare Balance Bar (phew! Try saying that 5 times fast!) is not all rainbows and sunshine. The ever-present cynic in me naturally found some less-than-ideal characteristics of the bar, and to be fair, I have to mention them. First – sugar is both the second and third ingredient. Granted, due to it being a Bare bar and therefore a more natural alternative to protein bars, there’s nary a drop of high fructose corn syrup to be found, but the sugar level is a little on the high side (I aim for 6g or less in my non-protein breakfast bars, which is really all I have to compare it to). To be fair to Balance Bar, they also give you a whopping 15g of protein and 4g unsaturated fat to help slow that blood sugar spike, making the extra sugar much less of a concern (in fact, that’s exactly one of their motives behind the ratio of carbohydrates, fats and proteins), but it is something to consider. I was also a little turned off by the palm kernel oil and caramel color in the ingredients list – for a bar that boasts its natural qualities, those aren’t the kinds of ingredients I personally want to see. They’re in very small amounts, and as you can see they aren’t stopping me from grabbing a bar every now and then or encouraging you to try them – just one more piece of the puzzle to think about. The only other “drawback,” which I don’t really mind at all, is that you definitely should still keep a bottle or glass of water by your side when you eat the bar. If you concentrate really hard you might get a little bit of that powdery taste to it (but it’s negligible at best), and all protein bars are inherently dense, so the water just helps wash all of those nutrients down.

Bottom line? Like I said, this is the best protein bar I’ve ever tasted. It definitely has some areas in which I think it could improve, but overall, protein bars aren’t supposed to be the kind of thing you eat day in and day out, anyway. They’re meant for the occasional pre- or post-workout snack, or the bail-you-out-of-an-empty-stomach, bad-food-environment crisis. These aren’t the kind of snacks you much mindlessly during your favorite tv show – they have calories, they have fat, they’re full-on meals in one compact little package. Treat yourself to them on occasion, in the appropriate context, and these little nutrition powerhouses will work hard for you. Just recognize them for what they are, and I can assure you, Balance Bar will not disappoint.

 So how about it? Do you want to try this new Balance Bar flavor out for yourself? Do you want to experience first-hand the revolutionary achievements Balance Bar has made with its Bare line (in my very humble opinion)? Well, you can! The new Blueberry Acai Bare bar can be found at various retail stores across the country, as well as online at Balance Bar’s website. So you could definitely buy your own, or you could enter to be one of three lucky people to win a box!

Here’s the low-down on entering the giveaway:

Earn additional entries by doing any of the following (and leaving a separate comment letting me know you’ve done each!):

Good luck to everyone, and happy protein-ing!

When I bought my package of chia seeds, I had no idea that they would be the basis for my new favorite recipe to make. I thought that I would buy them, use them, enjoy them, and then maybe buy them again once in a blue moon. Now, I don’t know how I ever lived without them! I enjoyed the peanut butter & banana chia pudding I made for my first foray, though my heavy-handedness with the rum extract may have detracted a little from my potential satisfaction. I also happily make my Omelet of Champions a few times each month. But what truly stole my heart and crossed me over to the wonderful world of chia seed infatuation was this recipe for Chocolate Chia Pudding.

If you are looking for a healthy, nutrient-packed way to satisfy your chocolate cravings, this is it. It’s not low-fat, so much like an avocado chocolate pudding it’s healthier but not necessarily lower calorie than its traditional, non-chia version. But seriously, this is not one of those healthy “chocolate” recipes that kind of leaves you satisfied, but a little part of you is still saying, “that wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for,” either. No, this is all that and a bag of (chocolate covered) chips. I throw in 2 tablespoons of peanut butter to make a full on meal of it (350calories), but if you’re looking for a dessert or a snack, feel free to reduce or eliminate the peanut butter (but if you’re a peanut butter fan, I really have to urge you to try it with the peanut butter just once, because it’s truly nothing short of heaven). 1 tablespoon of peanut butter will put the recipe at around 260 calories, and eliminating it completely will actually knock it down to 170 – how’s that for a little bowl of chocolate bliss to curb your cravings without sparking any guilt? It’s rich with just the perfect amount of sweetness to counter it, creamy with the occasional crunch from the seed…this recipe is a winner, that’s all there is to it.

I’m a very careful spender. I don’t often impulse buy, and it’s rare that I waste things – especially food. Every Thursday or Friday, I sit down with my laptop and my Rachael Ray cookbook, and I plan out a menu for the following week. This process used to be painstaking. I would sit for hours going back and forth between hundreds of recipe combinations to find one that worked to maximize the value of what I spent and minimize waste. Now, I’m able to do it much more quickly. When I’m done, I write up a grocery list, pop it into my phone, and go grocery shopping to pick up only what I have on that list. I spend, on average, $20 a week to feed myself, with maybe 1 week each month going up to $40 if I need to replenish the essentials like yogurts, grains, cereals, etc.  There isn’t a single item of highly processed, stereotypical “convenience” food in my cart. (And no, I don’t even use coupons.) I’d say that’s pretty good. Granted, sometimes I’ll pilfer my parent’s kitchen when I’m home, a luxury that most people don’t have, but the bottom line is – I eat a healthy diet without really breaking the bank or going to huge extremes to cut costs.

The one sacrifice I do often make is in ingredients that a recipe calls for. I won’t buy 3 types of cheese in one week just because one recipe calls for ½ cup of mozzarella and 2 tablespoons of parmesan and another calls for 8 ounces of feta. Instead, I tweak the recipes to use similar ingredients (or I just look for another recipe that works better with what I already have). This is often why you see adapted recipes on Floptimism, particularly on Thirty Minute Thursdays – the recipe likely called for an ingredient that was close but not exactly the same as another ingredient I already had on my grocery list, so I just substituted. That’s the beauty of cooking: you may not wind up with the same dish in the end, but you can adapt recipes to your heart’s content.

This recipe was supposed to be an Italian grilled cheese sandwich, but I already had smoked cheddar on my list for a recipe earlier in the week. I didn’t want to buy provolone when I was already buying the cheddar in quantities greater than the one recipe called for, so I just changed it. (Alternatively, I could have gone to my deli counter and simply asked for 3 slices of provolone, and frozen the extra cheddar for future weeks – this is a great way to save on cheeses and lunch meats.) It was supposed to be made on Italian bread, but earlier in the semester I bought a Costco-size package of whole grain sandwich thins and put them in the freezer, so I used one of those for bread instead. My mom had bought a large container of campari tomatoes and wasn’t going to use all of them before they went bad, so I sliced some of those instead of buying regular tomatoes at the store. I didn’t have to buy the basil because I bought a pot at the grocery store for $2.99 at the beginning of the year and have been watering it every day since – it’s still going strong! All of these factors came together to, yes, change the meal to the point where I probably can’t call it an Italian grilled cheese sandwich, but it fit easily into my budget. And did it prevent the sandwich from being the best gosh darn grilled cheese sandwich I’ve ever eaten? No, it most certainly did not!

So you see, the less confined you feel by a recipe or a set of ingredients, the easier it is to incorporate healthful foods and delicious meals into your diet. I believe that cooking should be a freeing experience, and it doesn’t take a lot of expertise to get there. It just takes a little bit of patience, practice, and planning.

Ever since my last (and first!) run-in with wonton-based homemade ravioli, I’ve wanted to prove that I had what it takes to make them without them falling apart. When L came for the weekend a little while back, I knew it was the perfect excuse – in fact, when he found out that I was planning to make these arugula ravioli for dinner on Sunday, he decided to extend his stay to make sure he was there for them.

As it turns out, they were really easy to make this time and the whole meal came together well! I think the trick to cooking with wonton wrappers, and perhaps with ravioli dough as well, is to limit the amount of time that you keep them in the boiling water. I overboiled them last time and the ravioli came completely undone in the water; this time, I was more vigilant, and they stayed intact.

In terms of taste, these ravioli are knock outs. The arugula gives a really nice, spicy bite, and the colors are definitely vibrant and appealing. I’d say that wonton wrapper ravioli don’t look as pretty as store-bought or restaurant-made ravioli do, but once you cover them in a zesty tomato sauce and add a little parmesan cheese garnish, that’s not too much of an issue. Pair this with a side salad or as a bed for some grilled chicken and you have yourself a stellar meal, though L and I certainly liked it just fine all by itself.

Another idea is to turn this meal into personal lasagnas. I had some leftover filling and sauce, but didn’t feel like laboring over the ravioli assembly. I simply dropped some wrappers into boiling water to cook them, and then layered them in a ramekin with the filling, sauce, and cheese. Pop them in the oven if the filling wasn’t just made and it needs a little rewarming, and you have yourself an even less labor-intensive meal that still captures the same amazing flavors as the ravioli. In fact, if I’m being perfectly honest, I liked it even better this way! If I had thought to take pictures of this version of the recipe I probably wouldn’t even mention the traditional ravioli but, alas, hindsight certainly is 20/20.

 One Year Ago: Curried Chickpea Salad (one of the most searched-for recipes on Floptimism!)

One of my favorite things to do in the kitchen is to put a new twist on a classic or traditional recipe. Most recently, I took a standard breakfast dish – French toast and eggs – and amped it up to be truly worthy of dinner. I don’t even know if this can even be classified as brinner anymore. I swapped the regular stale bread with a slightly dry and sturdy jalapeno cornbread, used the egg white wash from the bread to create a flavorful omelet to pair with it, and drenched it all in an easy, homemade and healthy enchilada sauce (yes, I’m finally giving you the recipe for the red enchilada sauce that I’ve been referencing in other recipes for the past few weeks). The cornbread has a cool-hot jalapeno flavor rather than a burning-hot one thanks to removing the seeds from the peppers, but the sauce is spicy enough for the heat-lovers out there to accept the slightly more demure corn bread beneath it. The sauce also does an excellent job moistening up the meal, as the cornbread, as I mentioned, is on the drier side on its own. The egg was really good – full of flavor and a perfect companion to the French toast. Some sautéed spinach would add a nice extra pop of color, but aside from that, I don’t think that I would change a thing.

Sometimes, not often, but sometimes, I follow Rachael Ray’s recipes to a T. More often than not, though, these 30 Minute Thursday posts become competitions with myself to see how far I can twist a meal and still call it a 30 Minute Thursday dish. If I’m being honest here, I think this one just about takes the cake. What was once a Chicken Cacciatore Sub is now Chicken Cazador, a low-carb, Mexican-inspired dish of spices and flavor. No Italian influence, no sandwich bread – chicken is just about the only ingredient I left alone in this. I should also mention that “cazador” is the term a quick google search unearthed for “hunter” in Spanish, and since Chicken Cacciatore refers to the Italian for Hunter’s Chicken, I thought it would be appropriate. As always, please do not bludgeon me for any brutalization of the language I may have created (but if you do know Spanish and do happen to know that I butchered it, I’m definitely open to be educated).

Now, about this meal – this really good, really spicy meal. It’s easy – it can even be a one pot dinner, though I added a second pan to sauté up some spinach to serve as a bed for it. It’s also ridiculously delicious, with hot enchilada sauce, plenty of vegetables, and slices of really well-cooked, actually juicy chicken breasts. This would also taste fantastic rolled up into a tortilla, if low-carb isn’t something you go for – I would just reduce the sauce a smidge if you plan to eat it that way (or just bring lots of napkins to the table). Other additions like greek yogurt/sour cream would be delicious, too. I mean really, the sky is the limit – if I could take a chicken cacciatore sub and transform it so drastically and still have it be wonderful, then you can certainly make small changes here or there to suit your preferences, too. I’m all about mixing it up and making a recipe your own, so take the bull by the horns, and go!

Sadly enough, I don’t have a pie recipe to share today in honor of Pi Day. I don’t even have a recipe for something that could be stretched and twisted to somewhat fit the “pie” category – no pizzas, no savory pies, not even a breakfast pastry. I apologize for that. I also don’t have anything festive lined up for St. Patrick’s Day – I know, I know, I’m really slacking with these food-related holidays. I’ll try to get my act together.

Today is also National Registered Dietitian Day, though, and I can stretch and twist this “Happy Salad” to fit that holiday. I mean, just look at the title of the recipe – what RD wouldn’t love a salad that is described as “happy?” It also happens to taste great, and I think that even regular people – not just us uppity dietitians/dietitians-to-be – would love it. It’s simple, and the flavors are clean and distinguishable. The cilantro is bold, and the tomatoes would have shined if I had made this dish in a more seasonable month (as in, not the dead of winter when I really shouldn’t even be buying tomatoes at all unless they’re canned). I replaced the quinoa with millet, another fantastic grain, and it imparted a slightly chewier texture to the meal that quinoa wouldn’t have, and I liked that. Two ingredients you shouldn’t be shy with – the spinach, and the olive oil drizzled over at the end. The olive oil in particular adds this rich depth – the bites with the oil drizzle were definitely the best, in my opinion.

I want to keep this short because you know I’ll be back knocking on your virtual blog feed door tomorrow with a 30 Minute Thursday post, but I hope that wherever you are, the weather is gorgeous, your day is enjoyable, and you’re treating yourself to something at least as delicious as this salad.

I may have been a little hasty the other day in announcing that I would be switching to WordPress. In the research I’ve been doing to try to make a smooth transition, I came to the realization that it’s not the right move for me at this time. I will, eventually, want to purchase my own domain name and move my blog over to my own hosting site, but until then, I’m going to happily stick to Blogger. It hasn’t let me down yet!

To pay homage to my haste, here is a recipe that’s perfect for those rushed or poorly-planned-out nights. Eggs, as you may have noticed, are my saving grace in the kitchen; they’re perfect, easy, and inexpensive for any time of day. They’re such a great option for high quality, lean protein meals for those times when your other dinner plans implode on you, or you just plum forget or don’t have time to make more labor intensive, thought out plans.

This egg white omelet – well, it’s really not about the egg whites at all. It’s about the salsa perched on top of the egg whites, which is a really refreshing alternative to a traditional tomato-based salsa. The use of avocados and grapefruit make the dish pop with color, for one thing, and you get a unique combination of all kinds of textures and flavors. It’s spicy, crunchy-but-smooth, and very citrus-y, if we can pretend for a moment that’s a word. The lime and red pepper balance out the bitter tones of the grapefruit so that you hardly even notice that bitterness at all. And with how easy it is to throw this meal together, it’s the perfect choice to save you from having to dial up the local pizza joint when life gets the better of you and your time.

Before deciding which recipe to write about next, I like to consult my trusty Food Holiday Calendar, the website that tells me when to celebrate ingenius “holidays” like “National Peanut Butter Day” or “National Apple Pie Day.” If an upcoming update falls around a holiday that I have a recipe for, I try to coordinate the two. Imagine my excitement when I quickly scanned over the website and read that today was National Pizza Pie Day, and lo and behold, I do in fact have a delicious pizza recipe that I’ve been waiting to share! It was fate, clearly.

It was fat, at least, until I realized that today is not, in fact, National Pizza Pie Day. February 10^th is National Pizza Pie Day – today is actually Blueberry Popover Day and that, my friends, is a holiday for which I have no recipe. If you don’t mind, let’s just pretend that today is National Pizza Pie Day all over again, since I missed it the first time around and since, let’s face it, who wouldn’t want a second chance to celebrate a holiday like this one?

So today, I have to tell you about the best pizza I have ever made. I made it for two reasons: (1) I desperately need to empty out my freezer (as I mentioned in my last post how precariously it’s currently stuffed) and I happened to have two personal-sized pizza dough rounds in there, and (2) L was coming to visit and I often go into panic mode over what to feed him. He isn’t a picky eater, and bless him for all of the crazy things he’ll try because I made them, but he is challenged by the food I tend to keep in stock. Pizza is my go-to solution for him, which up until recently I felt somewhat guilty about because although he likes a good cheesy, tomato pie, he doesn’t go nuts over it. Yet here I am, shoveling slices down his pie hole like there’s no tomorrow. Fortunately, I mentioned this predicament to him and all he had to say, a slice of this very pizza in hand, was “but the pizzas you make are so good!”

So there you have it. The boy’s not a die-hard pizza fan, but this recipe won him over perhaps even more quickly than I did nearly six years ago. The sauce was incredible, the cheese was bursting with flavor (though you can certainly use less – this, too, was a freezer occupant that I was trying to use up), and the dough was thin and crisp. I don’t know about you, but I sit on the fence when it comes to pizza doughs – I know some people are adamant that the dough should be thick and fluffy, while others swear by the thin and crispy, but I’m a girl who likes it both ways. And for all of you other fence sitters or thin and crispy lovers, this dough is for you. The only downside is that the recipe is fairly salty; I didn’t taste the salt with every bite, but found myself practically chugging water for the rest of the night. It’s just something to consider, but overall, the recipe turned out perfecto.