Smoothie time?

I got a new blender for my wedding. It's a nice blender, actually. I was told I want/need a Vitamix. Although, it would be nice; I can't see why I'd pay for one when a friend offered me access to hers. I've tasted those milkshakes, and you better believe I'd be at the yard when she makes another.

Even so, I put some random things in the blender and here's what came out:

About a handful of spinach. Don't be picky with me now, guys.
A celery stalk
A carrot
As much ice as makes you happy
Some lemon juice (do you like lemons? Then use more. Don't like a lot of lemons? Then use less)
An orange
A banana
Enough mango nectar to getcha goin' to where you want to be

Granted, I just made a lot of smoothie. I'm considering adding toasted coconut leftover from when I garnished my lunch yesterday, but then I'd want to add nuts and chocolate and THEN just take a visit to Dairy Queen and..the cycle never ends. Besides, the noise of the blender made my cat go completely insane, and now I have a chair and a box of pens to clean up.
I love using mango nectar for smoothies because it's a bit thicker/more syrupy than orange juice. I get picked on because I don't really have an 'advanced palate' for textures, but there you have it. I don't want it to feel like water. If I want that, I'll drink water or coconut water. I actually have coconut water, and it'd likely be an interesting base to a smoothie. Must try that next time.

My end result filled the whole blender, so unless you want to give away about 5 glasses of the stuff, you might want to consider either storage options or cutting down the ingredients. I leave that to you, as this isn't my problem. :P

No dairy in this, no meat, no eggs, and not hard. Woo!

Simple Bread Machine Bread

I've used this to test my machine out and it worked really well. The upside is that it's a pretty tasty bread and you can build on it without much of a problem. I like to experiment, so I can see myself putting things in it like tomatoes and garlic, or fruits and nuts.

1 cup of warm water
2 Tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons active yeast (or .25 ounces)
1/4 cup vegetable oil (oil of your choosing, obviously.)
3 cups of bread flower
1 teaspoon of salt

Be sure to put the warm water, sugar, salt and yeast in together, so they mix in together.
Bake on the basic/white bread setting (whichever one you have on your machine).

An added bonus would be things like dried fruits, nuts, or to top it with brown sugar and cinnamon; the list goes on and on. The bread is very simple, and slices well, but if you like things with a little more life to it (like I do) you'll quickly gravitate to playing with the recipe.

Vegetarianism?

After today, I think I may refuse to eat out more than twice a month. None of those restaurants will include chains. I will (do my civil best to) eat locally only, as well as to give a huge attempt to eat at local chains that use local products.
I will also put sodas to once a week, which will not be nearly as difficult.

I'll likely put down a lot of what I'm doing to avoid the occasional slip. I think I'll allow eggs in moderation (too many eggs are just asking for it, somehow, although, honestly, I really can't say how, considering how studies keep changing like lava lamps).

This shouldn't be too hard, really, since I don't carry meats around with me anyway, especially in warmer months. It's harder to keep them cooled to the proper storing temperature when I need to be out and about a lot. And when I make myself to-go-out-all-weekend food over the winter, it's not hard to exclude it.

We'll see how it goes.

Any tips would be appreciated, by the way. I'm not doing this solely for one reason. I am (slowly) putting on unnecessary weight where muscle should be; I don't like how animals AND humans are treated at meat packaging plants; I don't like the carbon footprint of most restaurants; I don't like how expensive it is to eat out as it is; I don't like how much crude oil is used to sustain the demand we have for chain foods. I think my decision will at least put my conscience at ease, if anything.

New soups

And we thought I got away from soups.

Let me tell you, that hasn't happened. I have two new recipes, mostly because of situational things. I made one soup just because I wanted to -- because I wanted to have an emergency 'I left with no real idea of what I'm eating after a while' kind of back up food. I do leave for the weekend here and there, and it's cheaper to make a soup than it is to get a burger.
On top of that, I had been given two HUGE heads of collards. I mean, HUGE. I think they were about 3-5 pounds each, and I had no idea how to eat them before they went bad. So, I cooked them. I mean, what else do you do? And that involved a lot of water and space. I think my new soup pot is 16 quarts, or some crazy thing like that. The collards didn't fit by about 4 inches over the top, after I'd broken the leaves down and whatnot. It was a lot, and I ended up freezing it all.
And then I had no freezer space AND I had just gotten married, which meant I froze some of my cake to save for my 1st year anniversary. Talk about no space! So, I made soup. It was logical, I guess, but who makes soup out of collard juice?


Then a friend of mine tells me she's sick. My response? Make soup. Make spicy soup, no less, which is obviously a good idea for sick people. She felt back to her normal self by the time she got the soup, mostly -- she said it gave her a pick-me-up kind of thing. Not surprising, since it was full of a ton of fresh veggies.

So, I posted the soup ingredients online. My soups, when I do them, aren't hard to do. I don't typically brown this, saute that, pre-cook things, etc, before putting it in the full soup. I might, given I'm really worried about extracting flavors like carmelized onions or something (the most I did was presoak the shiitakes I had in the sick-woman soup, because they're dried and in a container I got from Costco a while back. I only used them in the soup because I don't want to let those go bad, even though dried food takes a while to turn -- they will, eventually).
I posted them online to get names. I haven't chosen for the first, but the second is Melly's Sweet'n'Spicy Soup, which makes a lot of product, isn't terribly bad for you (no added salt, no sugar, but plenty of carbs; it's balanced by how many nutrients it involves from all the v8 juice, tomatoes, tubers, spice, etc). The idea was to get some energy back into her, and it worked.


Funny thing is, a friend requested soup for the Sunday night games which still go on this semester. I think they shall continue until someone graduates and moves away, and even then, unless it's Kevin and I moving away, they'll probably still keep going. Kyle says he wants potatoes and bacon. MOAR POTATOES. So many potatoes!

I shall post what I did and the ingredients I used when I can. I should shower first, because the skinny one and his visiting brother decided they want to go out, and I'm probably tagging along. I'll post by tomorrow night, given things go as I like. I have a few bread recipes I yoinked, which seem to go well with EVERYTHING I put them toward.

Another general post

I've left the dietetic department at Clemson.
I have my reasons, but they aren't because I dislike the topic. On the contrary, I still find the idea of making healthy food taste good.
What I left knowing was not much different than what I came in with, and I studied three semesters. I'm not sure what they intended me to find out, but I don't supposed it worked.

What won't be happening any time soon is my doing any health reviews on meals, but I can still post the ones I'd done before (Lord knows I haven't found the time to get to them, still, what with the holidays and now all the hullabaloo going on in my house). I can, though, use my husband's account to sign on and run them once a week. I haven't really done a recipe that warrants it thus far, and I haven't made any recipe plans for the future, either. I should.

That leads me to this. I know I've been trying to healthy up a few things. I can do that without a problem, really: reduce butter, reduce salt and sugar, use real fruit and veggies, etc. But there are a few things I've gathered, really, as follows.

• Fats sound bad because the people after the 50's decided that's why they became fat. Fats are found in just about everything, even in vegetation (but less often) and don't cause you to become fat. Fat, in humans, is storage -- like a potato. The more the potato takes in from the sun and converts through photosynthesis, the bigger those little underground starches become. We do essentially the same thing.

• Also think about this logically: we're worried about cholesterol intake. Well, I'll make it simple for you: if it solidifies at room temperature, it may be apt to clogging up your blood vessels. Oils that are liquid at room temperature will stay that way in the human body, meaning that olive oil is always a much better choice than butter. But don't get discouraged. There's always a reason why there's an exception: there's an essential fat found in milks and butter that humans cannot create for themselves, and therefore receive from eating milk products. So if you must have butter on toast every morning, this isn't the worst -- but use REAL butter. Or, heck, churn it yourself if you're feeling chipper. Just try to reduce the amount to a serving a day, rather than on everything you can possibly think of. 

I promise, cooked vegetables can be good without a layer of butter in them.

• The key is eating the correct fats, which is highly disputed -- like the majority of the field. Animal fats, in general, are what I've gathered to be the most annoying. What do I mean by that? Limit it. Don't necessarily cut it out, but consider working yourself down to once a week. Perhaps consider getting your meat from a local butcher, which could exempt those growth hormones. The same goes for milk, interestingly enough, and if you go with local, grass fed cows, there are health benefits -- but it may be fattier. If taken moderately, these shouldn't put you in harm's way, and should leave you with extra room for fruits and veggies.

And yes, I know, there's a lot of arguing over whether we need milk at all. We lose our tolerance for it, etc etc; well, see about that essential nutrient I mentioned earlier.

• On to fruits and veggies: color is the big thing. Everyone seems to have picked that up. Consider what goes with fruits and veggies: either a thick, creamy dressing, or a nice, sweet dip. I read a while back that a large contributor to extra Calories is the sauce we tend to love. Dressings, BBQ sauce, ketchup and mustard, etc., all lean heavily in our caloric intake.

• Consider making your own Italian dressing, or Balsamic vinaigrette,  or just about anything that doesn't include cream or milk, sour cream, sugar. Vinegars and oils are good for you. Even a little salt is okay. Try to dress it up with herbs and spices more than salt, sugar, milk and egg. Even if you can't quite get past giving any of those up, it's still better than the average store-bought dressing. Why? All the fillers and preservatives are causing a tizzy with the health world, and I find, really, it tastes better when made at home. So, my leading argument is that: flavor over convenience. We may find out later that all those extra things are truly bad -- or not -- but it sacrifices the point: tastiness. 

As far as fruit: do you really need to sweeten that up? Noooo. Get used to actual sweetness and not some factory-made version and you'll thank yourself for it.

• I've had a few people want snacks for different things. My favorite idea is putting things into little baggies. I don't know whether people prefer doing it by Calories or what, but they generally put in the portion they like. I'd consider using plastic containers with seal-able lids, to remove that whole plastic waste problem (see: little plastic baggies all over the trash site) and you can get smaller ones that will fit in purses and things. As far as what snack? Well, I'd hate to tell you this, but even though things like celery are considered a 'negative calorie food' or whatever it's supposed to be, it's not. I mean, it might be, but rather the point is that it doesn't matter. You won't lose weight because you chewed on some celery for a while. That may take years for you to lose a pound this way. If that kills 30 Calories you're lucky, and it obviously should go with peanut butter and raisins, right? Well, there goes your 30 Calories.

• With snacks, try to go with things that you like. I'm not kidding. I won't suggest something like a cranberry nut blend if you hate cranberries, nuts or both. But steer clear of a few things, mainly if they're pre-packaged. Obviously, making your own snacks is a benefit: you can do little bran muffins, bite-sized oatmeal cookies, Mexican-chocolate brownies with walnuts (see: I love chocolate, and I find it is healthy for you, just not low in Caloric content. So sue me, I eat it anyway.) and so forth. I've done wraps filled with peanut butter, honey and raisins. Point is, a snack may be something you're used to, and that's dandy. But if it's pretzels and dip, or Hoho's, or cheesy fries, you're not helping yourself. Even apple pie, if home made, is better than those three I mentioned before it. It's still not great, but it's at least got fruit in it. 

• If you must have a snack like that, try to put it down to a 'snack day'. Everyone falters. I know I do. On Sundays, I'm taking down one or two orange soda cans, a half a bag of chips, and I graze heavily as I cook. But I typically don't repeat this process through the week. I eat when I'm hungry (which is getting harder for the people to do lately, I've found) and stop even if I have food left over. Point is, yes, I snack, but it's actual food. 

And I haven't gotten fast food in a month or two, at least, which isn't a record for me but it's not like I'm craving it.

• Try to find a variant source of edibles for snacks. Keep in mind that, even if they are 'healthy snacks', they still have Calories in them and you're still essentially a walking potato. Experiment with everything but meats and cheeses and you'll be set. Consider making breads or one-serving soups (which is what I did); consider the whole of the vegetable and fruit isle, rather than what quarter of it you may typically peruse -- if you must. Create your own, no-sugar-added, fruit medlies, tarts or trays. 

• Keep in mind, also, that as the brain shuts down for the night (I say night but I mean when the sun goes down, which is night to the humanoid brain) it has a harder time registering that it's full. Basically, we're more sluggish post sundown, and our bodies pay for it. Make a rule that you won't eat anything after a certain hour. Consider having a smoothie a few hours after dinner, or a piece of fruit. Try to resort to not having a fourth meal at around 9 pm, as I've found with a lot of people this tends to be a bad habit. 

• You can eat more at night and not know you're doing it, which may convince you that you're hungrier than you thought when you ate dinner. This isn't the case. If making the 'don't eat after ___ hour' rule doesn't help, try drinking a lot of water. Don't like water? Spruce it up with a slice of lime, orange or lemon, which people do in my house all the time. Hell, make homemade lemonade like my parents do (and, like dad does, limit the sugar; what he should do, really, is use a straw, but he's 'too much of a man for that'). Keep in mind that yes, it's possible that a glass of lemonade may harbor 100 Calories (guessing off the top of my head here, by the way). But a large bowl of cereal, a bunch of chips or some reheated leftovers will definitely be as much, if not more. And they're all heavy on the stomach. 

• I read often that it's healthier to eat lighter meals as the day goes on, and I've read that lunch should be the heaviest, but not once have I  read that dinner should be the heaviest. I read what a supermodel from Victoria Secret's eats, and it's a salad at night. Just a salad. Now, the girl is practically skin and bones, but she did recently give birth to a child. She at least held as much fat and whatever she needed to bring it to full term (she's a kickboxer,  as well, and the muscle definitely helps your chances). Point being, even she doesn't eat a lot at night. Course, she doesn't eat a lot ever, but the salad is her lightest in the day. She gets paid to do things this way.

I'm not saying you should become Adriana Lima and eat as little as possible, but I do know we eat way too much and she has a good thing going for her (ahem, too much, in my opinion, but life is life).

• I do a heavier lunch than dinner because I get nauseous if I eat in the morning. I've tried. I woke up at 5.30 last semester to find I couldn't comfortably eat until 8 or 9; if I woke up at 8 or 9, I could eat in about ten minutes or so -- after the grogginess faded a little. This isn't to say I don't drink a little to at least get something in my stomach, but it leads me to think that a heavy lunch is just what I need for the day. It may be different for you -- you may work hard during the day at some heavy-hitting job, and you may need the Calories in the morning. Have at it. But if you work a desk job, consider lightening your lunches and dinners. You aren't using those Calories and they aren't helping you. All it'll do is weigh down your stomach and make you sluggish.

• Now, the leading argument against that is 'it'll make you tired if you eat/don't eat, and you'll get sleepy at 2-3 in the afternoon'. I've heard names for this syndrome, but when it comes down to it it's just our circadian rhythms. Happens a lot with people who wake up early enough for a desk job (6 am, anyone, anyone?). I get sleepy at about 3 no matter what time I woke up, telling me that's just the time of day my body wants some rest. It has nothing to do with food, and I've seen plenty of studies to back that up.

No, I'm not linking anything to this. Why? Look it up yourself. I just intended to get some things off of my mind.

Grade: Roasted Red Pepper Soup

• Flavor
• Texture
• Cooking ease
• Price
• Estimated healthiness
• Creativity of the recipe
• Completeness 

Out of 70 points.

I know, I know, this is late. Somehow it escaped me. I have plenty of time (75 minutes) to do analysis', so why not?

Flavor: 8/10. I had qualms with the abrasiveness/bitter flavor of the soup, but that likely could have been due to my own addition of peppers and not the ones I'd bought from TJ's. I think it was a bit one-sided, though, and needed something else. I would highly suggest this with a sandwich -- perhaps grilled cheese, or ham -- to let the flavors mix. I'm not usually big into adding meats to soups (I will, and I have no qualms with it, but I try to find healthy alternatives and then have my meat on the side), but I feel like a protein would be a fantastic addition. Even tofu.

Texture: 10/10 Brilliant! It's thick, it's creamy, it's smooth, and it feels like substance all at the same time. You feel like you can spoon that into your mouth all day no matter what.

Cooking ease: 6/10. Roasting peppers is a royal pain in the ass when you likely have other things going on in the kitchen, especially when there are so many to roast. Try to find very large bell peppers to negate the need to have so many if you need a large pot. If not, and if you have the time, then this isn't so bad -- but if you're like me and you also want to do cupcakes, icing and perhaps even a little cleaning up before eating the soup, then you're locked onto the stove (in my case, toaster oven) until it's done. And it's hot. I did burn myself. Stupid stove.

Price: 8.5/10 Fantastic, actually. Peppers, when they're the main course and not much else is needed, aren't so bad to pay for. Granted, TJ's ones aren't so cheap, but they're brilliantly flavored, so I was willing to pay the price for them (I have in the past). I don't want to be babied from my other, cheaper soups, though. In the long run, it's worth the price and it still makes the price-per-bowl very, very reasonable. (The way I see it, if I can be cheaper than Panera I've done something. I'm better than them anyway.)

Estimated healthiness: 9.5/10. The cream throws it off, but peppers are a great source of vitamin C and (I think) A. The different colors mean there are different phenols -- that basically means they're, as a whole, healthier. I'd recommend looking up the whole color-in-veggie thing; carotene is in carrots, for instance, and I've seen some good things from it.

Creativity: 9/10. I never considered roasting peppers and cooking them in a soup -- I always consider peppers for things like garnish, addition for flavor, or, if roasting, stuffing peppers. Hispanic dishes have stuffed poblanos all the time, and I think a lot of people think of them when they think of roasted pepper meals -- that, or putting roasted pepper on chicken. But as a main staple of the food? I don't think that comes up nearly as much.

Completeness: 8.5/10. I still say it needs a protein of some sort, to offset some of the negative flavors. That may just be me, but.. again, this is my grade, so what I say goes. And I say bring on the cheese! (Actually, some sharp cheese with some nuts of one's choosing would be fantastic. I shall do that next time! :D )

Total: 8.5/10, so a B. Not bad. Like I said, it needs work, and I'm very interested in doing this again for round two. We all know about round two, right?

Hope this works

I'm on an old computer in the school's kitchen, so I'm not sure how well this will publish, if at all.

I ran through the estimated serving sizes / proportions of potato-to-squash from the soup I made last week. It means I also found the location of the 'low sodium vegetable broth' option, which was eluding me in the program I've been using. Hello, improvement!

Basically what this means is I have an idea of what went where. I think I have my amounts about as close as I can get - four potatoes and about 4 pounds of squash equal a lot. 

This is what I found, as a general idea:

• Serving size: 414 grams or about 14-15 ounces (a filling amount)
• Calories per serving: 2.5g
• Saturated fat: 1.5g
• Trans fatty acids: 0
• Cholesterol: 5mg
• Sodium: 150mg
• Carbs: 32g
• Fiber: 5g
• Sugars: 9g
• Protein: 3g
• Vitamin A: about 500%
• C: 70%
• Calcium: 10%
• Iron: 10%

I think, for a craving food, this is pretty good. I would grade this soup, but it needed something to offset a tangy, almost bitter flavor I was receiving. More potatoes? No pepper? I love the pepper flavor, though. So I'm not ready for that just yet.
It's obvious significance lies in the Vitamin A, in my opinion. It has a perk of having very few calories, saturated fats (an obsession now with people due to Clinton's weight loss), low sodium, healthy carbs, decent amount of healthy fiber, a small amount of protein, and some calcium and iron.

According to a site from Harvard, Vitamin A is related in not just eye sight, but in bone remodelling, white blood cell activity and the ability to grow and regenerate new cells. There are definitely downsides to having a deficiency in A, but according to the site there are a couple things related with overdose, as well, so if you take a supplement, this soup may be something you'd want in moderation (much like any other food high in X-nutrient). The things related with overdose are hip-fractures and pregnancy problems, but they weren't specified exactly as to why. Too much of a good thing is bad, which is all I know right this minute (which can also apply to Vitamin C, which people uselessly consume the living heck out of. It doesn't make your colds go away. Sorry, dears!)


Anyway, this Sunday is Indian Beef and Berry soup, a thing of which I don't have the recipe for right this minute. That's what my trip to the store tomorrow evening will entail. I'm looking forward to it -- it's leaning in a cultural direction I don't head to very often, and the only reason I ever really do is if I pull out some curry just to mix things up once in a while. An India-inspired soup sounds exciting, so I'll be sure to have photos up again this week (and they won't be phone photos this time, which apparently make my red pepper soup look like it's infested with ghosts. It's not, but I still wouldn't eat too much of it. Habaneros. Yikes.)

For anyone who reads, feel free to comment. I'm not trying to push people into it, but I think I may come across as a bit judgemental or overly Type-A personality. Typing gives me time to breath and actually decide what to say, so I'm generally nicer through here than in real life (I think). I'm just excitable -- I promise, I'm still approachable! =)

On a note of commenting, I will be needing a project for sometime next year (roughly 2-3 weeks into the month of January). I'm thinking of something that primarily utilizes baking; for the summer, I want something that primarily utilizes the crock-pot or the grill outside, hence why I'm saying to continue to use my stove. It helps warm my house up through the winter, but that's not welcome come May or so. If anyone ever comes up with any ideas, or has a recipe suggestion for me to look over and work on, I definitely welcome it. If you want me to test taste your favorite meal, then lower the salt or fat content in some way, I'm willing to give it my best shot. It's great for preparing for my career, so we'd both be winning out in that situation. Just a thought!! This Monday and Tuesday are also days I have break, and I may be willing to do a mini-experiment at home.. Hint hint.

Happy cooking!

How this is working out

I'm in the nutrition department at Clemson University, hoping to eventually become an R.D. We get to play around with the food in the kitchen, study why fats melt sometimes and sometimes they don't, that sort of thing. There's a computer program that, if you input your ingredients, will give you a run-down of what's in it - contents of EVERYTHING, if you wish.

I'm taking this opportunity to play around with it. I want to cook 13-15 soups, one a week, and see how they are. My husband has a gaming group show up on Sundays, and I experiment on them. We've had two meals, one soup, and both went over well, so I don't think they're very objective, but if they flat-out hate it then I know I have a problem. :P  I'll make it as the recipe says in The Soup Bible, from Debra Maybew. There's about 2 million different soups in there, so I think I can find 15..
Anyway, after all this is said and done, I'm going to see if I can find any improvements. Or, I'm going to see if I can flat-out replace an ingredient, or cut down on it somehow, if it's just a showboat of unhealthiness.

Why? Cause I can. I am not obsessed with health and nutrition, but I think it can be integrated into every day cooking a lot easier than some people think. I'm not worried about losing weight, or about my heart health, or any of that mess right now, but the more I know about different recipes the better suited I'd be to suggesting them to patients, if it came to that. Why would I tell them that living their lives out by eating a cardboard-based diet would be better than a quadruple bypass? That's not fair. Food, no matter what the requirement out of it, should find a way to be tasty, so I'm here to give my first shot at this. With soup. Lots, and lots of soup.