My boyfriend and I love spring rolls — we get them at Zephyr, The Loving Hut and anywhere else we can get our hands on ‘em. It’s been on our “summer fun list” to try making them ourselves and, since my summer officially ends tomorrow (back to the grad-school grind, oy!), we spent some time in the kitchen yesterday concocting these beauties…


Aren’t they beautiful?! I still need to get better at wrapping them up tightly, but I’m very proud of how good they came out! This is some of the filling we used:

Bella & Boy’s Spring Rolls

Ingredients

• 1 medium cucumber cut into strips and then quartered
• 2 medium carrots cut into little strips (or peeled, if that’s easier)
• A few cups chopped cabbage
• Plenty of green onion chopped
• Plenty of fresh cilantro
• Rice paper wrappers for spring rolls (They sell these at Whole Foods)
• One 14-oz pack of tofu, marinated, cooked & cut into bite-sized pieces (see recipe below)
• Smooth peanut butter &/or tahini paste, optional

Tofu Marinade

• 2 tbsp Trader Joe’s BBQ sauce
• 2 tbsp Hoison sauce (they sell this at Whole Foods)
• 2 tbsp brown rice vinegar (they sell this at Whole Foods)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• black pepper to taste

Directions

• Have all of your veggies chopped and ready to go.
• Drain and pat tofu dry as you normally would. Marinate tofu in the mixture above. If you have time, let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes before cooking (I didn’t have time and the tofu still soaked up the yummy flavors).
• Spray a pan with non-stick cooking spray and set heat to medium-high. Cook tofu equally on all sides ’til it gets nice and crispy. Then, remove from heat and set on a plate.
• I’m not sure this is the safest way to do it, but I got a large and wide glass bowl (wider than the width of the rice wrappers) and filled it half-way with water, & microwaved for 3 minutes. I then dipped a rice wrapper into the water for 30 seconds or so until pliable, then removed to a plate, filled with sprinkles of veggies, cilantro and tofu, topped with a drizzle of smooth, unsalted peanut butter, and wrapped up. Be very careful to make sure the water isn’t too hot to dip your hands in — you don’t want it to be boiling, just warm enough to make the rice paper pliable and not burn your fingers when dipping in!
• Do the same with as many wrappers as you care to use.

The options are endless with these babies. You can add whatever veggies you want. I know many people fill them with bean sprouts, vermicelli, bell peppers, tempeh, seitan and more. I am envisioning that some sort of coconut curry tempeh would go amazing in a spring roll with mint leaves and veggies.

If you want to make your own dipping sauce, you can experiment, as I did, with hoison, peanut butter, tahini paste, vinegar, lemon juice and water.

What does a spring roll have to do with the “saying yes to change” I referenced in the title of this post? Not much. But as an English M.A. student I reserve the right to make loose connections like it’s my job. Plus, I just wanted to talk about my hair! See, another thing on my “summer fun” list (am I the only one who makes lists of things I want to do for fun when I have the time?) was to have one frivolous expense. I’m just not that into clothes (buy ‘em all used, anyway) or shoes (only spend on running shoes; otherwise, been wearing the same pairs for the past 5 years, no joke!). The only thing I’ll really invest in/experiment with to express myself aesthetically is my hair. I intended to get blonde highlights again (which I did for the first time, after a decade, about 9 months ago, and that was a big deal to me). But as I sat there in the chair, I knew I wanted something way outside of my comfort zone. I wanted red hair. I wanted to be a mix of Titanic-Kate-Winslet and Paramore’s Hayley — two chicks who’d grace my walls if I were 13 again and in my posters-from-floor-to-ceiling phase The hairstylist warned me about the upkeep, about how drastic the change would be, etc.. And these words just flew right out of my mouth, “I want it, I’m ready and there’s no turning back now!”
It’s still kinda burgundy in this pic, but just today it’s getting that red pop that makes me want to stand at the edge of a giant ship and say, “I’ll never let go, Jack!”

What’s your ideal filling for a spring roll? Ever made ‘em? Ever stepped outside of your comfort zone on your hair color or did some sort of change because you were tired of the norm?

<3,

The Cranky One

Happy fourth of July! My friend Nia (you know her as Nadia — our regular Tuesday guest-blogger) and I painted the town red last night! We bar-hopped, club-danced, and arm-wrestled our way from frat house to frat house.

Heh…I totally just made that up! In actuality, Nadia and I were kitchen goddesses last night; I guess that’s what happens to two aging chicks with liberal arts degrees. We did, however, create a massive feast! We have the perfect dish for you if you’re heading to a picnic or bbq, since it’s super easy to make, it’s delicious and it’s healthy, too! Bring this pasta bake and you’re set with a great option to share.

Vegan Pasta Bake
Serves 6

Ingredients

• 8oz. whole-wheat rigatoni (this is half a bag of Trader Joe’s “Organic Rotelle Pasta”)
• 1 yellow bell pepper (orange or red will work, too), cut in thin strips
• 4 medium-sized zucchini, finely chopped (I quarter them, then chop)
• 1 cup butternut squash, cubed
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1 14.5-oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 Italian Tofurkey Sausage, chopped
• Optional: Light mozzarella cheese if you’re not vegan

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees; spray a 11×7 glass pan with non-stick cooking spray*
• Cook pasta per the package’s instructions. (I rinse in cold water immediately after draining); set aside
• Once all veggies are chopped, mix in a large bowl with the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste
• Add diced tomatoes and sausage, and mix well. Now gradually add in pasta and mix well
• Pour pasta mixture into pan. Top with cheese if you’d like
• Bake for 15-20 minutes until veggies are soft and cheese is melted.
• Nutritional information per 1/6 serving, w/o cheese: 262.50 calories, 5.83g fat, 7.33g fiber, 13g protein (amazing!)
• *I split the mixture into two smaller glass pans; one with cheese, one without

It got Nadia’s stamp of approval

Alternate Ingredients for Pasta Bake – Added 7/28/10

• 8oz. whole-wheat rigatoni (this is half a bag of Trader Joe’s “Organic Rotelle Pasta”)
• 1 green bell pepper
• 4 medium-sized zucchini, finely chopped (I quarter them, then chop)
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• salt & pepper
• 1 14.5-oz can tomato sauce
• 1 Italian Tofurkey Sausage, chopped
• Optional: Light mozzarella cheese if you’re not vegan

Directions

• See above

This revised recipe is so amazing I had to add it!

Need healthy beverage options?

Why ruin all this healthy food by downing it with soda? Try some of the options I listed here that are better than soda, or try Trader Joe’s new Low Calorie Lemonade and Pink Lemonade, $2.69/bottle…

Only 40 calories per cup and its sweetened with stevia. It works great with alcohol, too.

Last Call — $40 Give-Away!

Have you entered the $40 give-away to online stores? You have until tonight, 11:59 p.m. PST! All you have to do is leave a comment, and you’re entered. I will choose a winner via Random Number Generator tomorrow morning.

I’m off to my brother and sis-in-laws block-party later today (can you believe blocks still have those? I think it’s great!). What are you guys up to? What are your “eating” plans? Have a wonderful day!

<3,

The Cranky One

I received a sample of NuNatural’s NuStevia Sweetener Baking Blend and, while NuNaturals was kind enough to send me sample recipes, I thought the best way to try the product would be to try it as I normally would — as a sugar substitute in any delicious recipe I want!  I decided to go with Ellie Krieger’s blueberry coffee cake — a recipe that has long been on my “to try” list.  I’ve revised the recipe a bit from the original to fit my needs & desires.

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour — 800, 4 g fat, 24 g fiber, 32 g protein
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup & 3 tbsp NuStevia Sweetener Baking Blend — 165 calories, 0 g fat, 33 g fiber, 0 g protein
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans – 376.50 calories, 39.25 g fat, 5.25 g fiber, 5 g protein (Did you know pecans are a good source of manganese?)
• 2 tablespoons non-fat milk – 11.25 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 1 g protein
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil – 240 calories, 28 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein
• 2 large eggs — 147 calories, 9.9. g fat, 0 g fiber, 12.6 g protein
• 7 drops Singing Dog Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt – 120 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 12 g protein
• 1 cup fresh blueberries, or frozen and thawed — 93.32, 0 g fat, 5.33 g fiber, 1.33 g protein (Benefits of blueberries here)
• Total calories:  1969.57 calories, 81.15 g fat, 67.58 g fiber, 63.93 g protein
  
• One serving (1/12) — 164.13 calories, 6.76 g fat, 5.63 g fiber, 5.33 g protein
  

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square cake pan with cooking spray.
• Whisk together the whole-wheat flour, the baking soda and salt. In a small bowl, stir together the NuStevia Sweetener, cinnamon and pecans. In a large bowl, beat eggs, 1 at a time, into the oil.  Beat until fully combined the beat in the vanilla, yogurt and milk
• Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, stirring until just combined.
• Spread half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle half of the nut mixture over the batter and top with the blueberries, gently pressing them into the batter. Spoon the rest of the batter into the pan, smoothing the top (because of my ingredients choices, this was messy!  The dough was much too moist.  I had a hell of a time spreading it “over” the blueberries and not smooshing it into them). Sprinkle the remaining nut mixture over the cake, pressing gently. Bake until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool. Cut into 2-inch squares.

Final product – Though a Frankenstein-looking thing, it was delicious!

Note: Both my twin and mother could tell it was not “real” sugar used but were not opposed to the flavor.  I could also taste that it was not “real” sugar, but actually enjoyed the taste.  The boyf could not tell that it was not real sugar but thought the whole-wheat made the cake more “bland.”  I probably shouldn’t query everyone and their mama when I make something, but I like providing well-rounded reviews!  In my opinion, this was fabulous.  Between my mom and myself, we finished these off in a few days.  Refrigerate them and microwave for 30 seconds before re-enjoying.

About NuStevia Sweetener (from the website)
The ingredients in NuStevia Sweetener™ may help you manage your blood sugar levels more efficiently, increase fiber in your diet, and improve the texture and shelf life of your baked goods. NuStevia Sweetener contains a component of the Stevia plant call Rebaudioside-A. This is the form of Stevia that is approved as a sweetener by the FDA.

About Singing Dog Vanilla®

These vanilla beans are organically grown in the lush climate of Papua New Guinea without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers. These Vanilla beans are sun dried to perfection and carefully packed for use in finer restaurants, bakeries, and homes across the globe. Singing Dog vanilla extract contains no sugar or corn syrup to distort the mellow, aromatic, pure vanilla taste.

Blueberry Coffee Cake Comparison

• Starbucks’ Reduced Fat Blueberry Coffee Cake:  320 calories, 6 g fat, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein
• Blueberry Coffee Cake I: 400 calories, 16.3 g fat, 1.2 g fiber, 4 g protein

In the News

• New Scientist‘s, “Pain-free Animals Could Take Suffering Out of Farming” (9/2/09) here — Whoa.  Crazy ethical quandary for some, but for me a relatively easy HELL NO, please and thanks.  Kind of a disturbing article, actually.
  
• New Scientist‘s, “Full without Food: Can Surgery Cure Obesity?” (9/2/09) here
• Science Daily‘s, “Rise In Weight-loss Drugs Prescribed To Combat Childhood Obesity” (9/2/09) here
• Science Daily‘s, “A New Molecule to Combat Diabetes and Obesity” (9/2/o9) here
• Time Magazine‘s, “The Social Side of Obesity: You Are Who You Eat With” (9/3/09) here

Give-Away Round Up

• Win some Nature’s Path cereals here
• Win some Nutridel Cookies here
• Win some Zevia here
• Win a Core Rhythms Dance Workout DVD here

Have you used Stevia before?  What did you think? What is your favorite way to eat blueberries?

<3, The Cranky One

Do you guys ever feel like your life needs a little spring cleaning? I have!  I recently quit a job that was making me terribly unhappy. It was a scary decision to make given the instability of the economy and the Mount Everest of our unemployment rates, but, at the end of the day, it was an easy decision.  I decided what sacrifices I was willing to make to stand up for my self-worth because, at the end of the day, I was getting a paycheck but clearly digging myself an early grave.  I feel like the convictions and passions I had often sacrificed to be a “player” in this world, are no longer pushed aside or put in storage.  Instead, they’re all off their shelves, and I’m dusting them off and cradling them because it’s just been too long.  It’s never too early or too late in our lives to do a little spring cleaning, don’t you think?

When you were little and people asked you, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” what did you say? I doubt any of you defined your future selves in terms of a physical goal with clearly defined parameters.  In other words, did any of us really answer, “I want to be 135 pounds, svelte and toned!”  Doubtful (*I hope*), which is why I’m finding it ironic that now in my older age, I have been so preoccupied with such arbitrary and superficial goals when, clearly, I had it more together when I was a little girl and answering that question with the variety of answers that included: 1. a killer-whale trainer at Sea World; 2. a singer; 3. a fiction writer; 4. a veterinarian; and 5. a baker. Those goals of what I would “be” really were related more to whom I was and what I was passionate about than anything else.  Reflecting on those goals, I see so little has changed over the years in terms of what I am passionate about! Have your passions changed much over the years?

The future Feed Me I’m Cranky

I think it’s important to continue to ask ourselves “what (whom) do you want to be” — no matter how “grown up” we get.

Spring Cleaning of Life = Eating of Clean(ish) Food
Squash the Negative & Eat A Pizza

Ingredients

• One pita (I use Western Bagel Company’s Alternative Pita) — 110 calories, 0.5 g fat, 8 g fiber, 7 g protein
• One garlic clove, crushed – 4 calories, 0 g fat, 0.1 g fiber, 0.2 g protein
• 1/2 tomato, chopped — 15 calories, 0.1 g fat, 0.75 g fiber, 0.5 g protein
• 1/2 yellow squash, sliced — 20 calories, 0 g fat, 1 g fiber, 1 g protein
• 1 oz. low-fat mozzarella cheese — 45 calories, 3 g fat, 0 g fiber, 5 g protein
• Dash of oregano, red chili pepper flakes
• Nutritional information for entire pizza: 194 calories, 3.6 g fat, 9.85 fiber, 13.7 g protein
  

Directions

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F
• Spray the pita with one spray of Pam Cooking Spray and spread crushed garlic evenly across the pita
• Add sliced squash evenly on top of pita
• Add tomato evenly on top of squash
• Sprinkle the cheese over the squash
• Add oregano and red chili pepper flakes to taste
• Place pita on cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until squash is tender and cheese is melted

Noteworthy in the News & BlogLand

• Eating Bender‘s Interview with Hungry Girl (8/6/09) here– I love the discussion that goes on in the blogging community about Hungry Girl, processed foods and a healthy lifestyle.  I ranted a bit in the comments section (what else is new?), but really seek out your opinions on what a “healthy lifestyle” actually means to you and how the Hungry Girl lifestyle either does or does not fit into it.
• Living Healthy in the Real World‘s blog posting on “Defining Eating Disorders,” (8/7/09) here — How would you define an “eating disorder”?  Do you think calorie restriction is a form of disordered eating?
• Science Daily‘s, “Fat Hormone Influences Baseline Dopamine Levels And Our Motivation To Eat,” (8/7/09) here

Give-Away Round Up

• Win a $100.00 grocery store gift card (nota bene — you will have to register with the site before you can enter) here
• Sign-up for a free sample of Honey Nut Cheerios and a $1 coupon off the cereal here

p.s. Speaking of passions…did you notice the singing-related link that very inconspicuously appeared in my About Me page?

What are you weekend plans?!  The boyf and I are going to an art museum and going to the beach as per usual!

<3, The Cranky One

TGIF guys!  First some random bites of info.:

1. I won a cool little pack of exercise cards from Miss Kari at Running Through Life!  Thanks, pal!  I must say that doing strength-training exercises only using my body weight has been the most enjoyable way for me to build muscle.  We used cards like these once when I was enrolled in a boot camp and I would always think to myself ashamedly that I had been incorrect in thinking one needed a gym and extensive machinery to get a little bicep action.
   This picture is cheesy, what can I say? But those are the cards in my hand as I dream of tricep extensions!

2. Thanks to my friend Tamara for informing me that Calorie King has now posted nutritional information for Olive Garden restaurant here!  What was once elusive and daunting — to gauge how much damage one did with a bowl of pasta and few breadsticks — is finally out in the open!  It’s certainly a good thing – now we can be informed eaters! It also sucks, cuz, let’s face it – you can see your previous choices might have been downright awful!  My favorite dish back in the day was the “chicken con broccoli” coming in at a whopping 960 calories and 41 grams of fat.  I thought it was just chicken with broccoli!  Seems harmless.  Until you face that it’s drenched in a delicious fat sauce.  Oy. Anyone else have a mini heart attack when they found out what their food really consisted of?
3. I noticed I have a little “tick” that I wanted to share because it totally made me laugh (and cry boo hoo) at myself.  I am a total straight-from-the-pan-muncher*! A “pan muncher” or “PM” is someone who, even though she has set aside a nice little portioned out meal for herself, “innocently” nibbles on bits of food straight from the pan while her portioned food sits nicely measured and untouched on the plate. The foolish PM has what is called “in the moment amnesia” so that while the act is occurring she is not even cognizant of it because she is staring lovingly at the cute little portions on her plate and already congratulating herself for being controlled and mannerly while mindlessly indulging!  What a foolish PM I am! *yes I did just make up this term Any one else guilty of PM-ing?
   

Now on to the exciting topic of the day (by “exciting” I mean completely random and only interesting to me, sorry)! TOFU! I made tofu for the first time last night and I absolutely loooooved it!

I tinkered with the recipe from All Recipes here and this is what I ended up doing:

“Baked Tofu Bites” done Bella Style

Ingredients

• One 16-oz package extra firm tofu (I used the Whole Foods 365 brand) — 400 calories, 20 g fat, 4 g fiber, 32 g protein
• ¼ cup light and low-sodium soy sauce — 33.75 calories, 0 g fat, o g fiber, 0 g protein
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup – 104 calories, 0.1 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein
• 2 tablespoons ketchup — 30 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein
• 1 tablespoon vinegar — 3 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein
• 1 tablespoon Hoisin — 35 calories, 0.5 g fat, 0.4 g fiber, 0.5 protein (Read more on Hoison here)
• 2 tablespoons organic, no pulp, orange juice not from concentrate — 13.75 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein
• 1 tablespoon sesame seeds — 52 calories, 4.5 g fat, 1.1 g fiber, 1.6 g protein
• pepper to taste

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a cookie sheet with foil and lightly spray with Pam Cooking Spray.
• Slice tofu into 1/2-inch slices, and gently press excess water out of tofu. Cut sliced tofu into 1/2-inch cubes.
• In a bowl, stir together the tofu and additional ingredients.  Cover, and marinate at least 5 minutes.
• Place the tofu on the baking sheet in a single layer. Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes. Turn tofu, and bake until the tofu turns golden brown, about 15 minutes more.

Nutritional info.:

• Entire cookie sheet worth of tofu (good for sumo wrestlers and really hungry, cranky girls aka ME! ok, I didn’t eat it all but I sure wanted to and came close!) — 671.50 calories, 25.1 g fat, 5.5 g fiber, 34.1 g protein
• 1/4 portion:  167.88 calories, 6.28 g fat, 1.38 g fiber, 8.53 g protein
  

Notes about tofu:  I guess it’s a common challenge to drain the tofu of excess water before cooking so that it doesn’t maintain a soggy texture.  I read that some people let it sit on paper towels and one person even had weights sit atop it to drain the water.  I patted the tofu vigorously with paper towels but found that “vigor” and tofu don’t go well together as the block began to crumble.  Oh wait, I wasn’t supposed to pat it while it was still in full block form? Yea.  I didn’t read the directions.  Lame!  My tofu did come out a bit mushy.  The thing is…I liked it!  Honestly, I thought the tofu tasted like something a good Chinese restaurant would concoct to turn healthy tofu into a heart attack amongst noodles.  But this is just plain good for you and delicious (oh please spare me your “‘good for you’ is a relative term and soy can actually be bad” speech!).  Any suggestions for draining tofu?  Any tofu recipes you want to link me to?

Last night I ate it as is with a side of corn bread and some red potatoes baked with a tad of olive oil, Pam Cooking Spray and fresh from the garden rosemary. Today, I ate it in a salad:

Let me just say, you ain’t no fu if you try this recipe! Just (to)fu it!!

I’ll leave you with a link to the real, and actually meaningful, “To Be or Not to Be” soliloqy here.  How blasphemous of me to conflate discussions of tofu with Hamlet!

Later this evening I was starving for a nice salad and something different, so I pulled the following together, which I really enjoyed:

The Oh Yes You May Pizza

• 1 Ezekiel 4:9 Sprouted Grain tortilla – 150 calories, 3.5 g fat, 5 g fiber, 6 g protein
• 1/2 Trader Joe’s Sun-Dried Tomato Chicken Sausage – 55 calories, 3 g fat, 0 g fiber, 5.5 g protein
• ¼ cup Clasico traditional pasta sauce – 35 calories, 1 g fat, 1g fiber, 1 g protein
• 1 oz (2 tablespoons) Trader Joe’s non-fat feta cheese – 35 cal, 0g fat, 0 g fiber, 7g protein
• Instructions:  Cook sausage, assemble pizza and put in 350-degree preheated oven for 10 minutes. The feta cheese will not melt — it has no fat!

Nutritional Content: 275 calories, 7.5 g fat, 6 g fiber, 19.5 g protein

w/a pretty generic salad:

Tomorrow’s post will include a review of at least one of the YouBar items so kindly sent over for me to sample

Thanks YouBar!

Spotted at Costco:

$10.79 for 24 bars = $0.45/bar = WOW!

Two things today reminded me of:

1. It’s hard to eat right at social functions, but it can be done. If you want to splurge at a social function every now and then, be my guest, have a ball. But you can’t do it all the time.  I couldn’t afford to eat like a pig today after the MixMyGranola incident so I didn’t.  It helps that most people who surrounded me knew my goal.  My twin offered me half of his cupcake — a perfect compromise for me since I couldn’t not have a taste — did you see them?! When people are informed of your goals, it’s harder to screw up.  Not impossible, but harder.
2. Looking at pictures of yourself can be extremely depressing. My dad sent me pictures from the event today and a few of them made me want to run to the hills, throw up my hands and scream, “i quit! i quit!” while stuffing double-stuffed Oreos in my mouth and chasing them with a butter-cream milkshake.  I’m not where I want to be yet in terms of feeling comfortable with how I look at all times; but I have to know that I’m getting there.  That every day is a new day to progress, to evolve in a beautiful way.  It’s hard to be positive all the time, especially when you feel like your efforts are forlorn — but being positive and content with the journey as its own end is 10xs better than the alternative of a static, unhealthy, existence.

What are some of your tips for maintaining your health goals when at social functions that may not cater to your preferred lifestyle, eating habits?  Have you ever seen a picture of yourself that plagued you with disillusionement or discontent?  Did it/they spark a change or ignite resignation?

I thought about whether I should actually post the recipe.  I mean, if I’m saying they only taste “decent” and look like crap, why bother?  I then remembered that some people are masochists and others like a challenge!  So take this recipe and make it better!  Or recreate it to torture yourself (haha!)!   Here you go!

Ingredients

• 3 medium bananas – 315 calories, 1.2 g fat, 9.3 g fiber, 3.9 g protein
• 1/3 cup Trader Joe’s unsweetened apple sauce – 50 calories, 0 g fat, 2 g fiber, 0 g protein
• 1/4 cup Trader Joe’s roasted, 50% less salt, whole almonds, chopped – 180 calories, 16 g fat, 4 g fiber, 7 g protein
• 2 cups Quaker oats – 600 calories, 12 g fat, 16 g fiber, 20 g protein
• 1/4 cup corn meal, medium grind – 110 calories, 1 g fat, 5 g fiber, 2 g protein
• 1 scoop Amazing Grass Chocolate Green Superfood Drink Powder – 70 calories, 1 g fat, 2 g fiber, 2 g protein
• 1/2 a Trader Joe’s 120 calorie pack of dried cranberries, a little less than 1/3 cup – 60 calories, 0 g fat, 0.5 g fiber, 0 g protein
• Total: 1,385 calories, 31.2 g fat, 38.8 g fiber, 34.9 g protein

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Mix all ingredients together
• Place by rounded teaspoonful onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and sprayed with cooking spray
• Should be done in 15-20 minutes

Makes 36 cookies. Nutritional content per cookie = 38.50 calories, 0.87 g fat, 1.08 g fiber, 0.97 g protein

Now on to something else, cookies got me thinking about the Cookie Monster

The cookie monster got me thinking about hunger and then I was thinking about “Hunger” the Weight Watcher’s little monster who is hunger personified

Interesting resemblance between the Cookie Monster and Hunger, no?  Maybe this makes me sound like a little girl (which, let’s face it…) but I think the little Hunger monster is so adorable!  I remember thinking about the Hunger monster when the commercials first came out.  At first I shook my head and wanted to call the WW marketers and forewarn them that they would get a huge backlash for personifying hunger.  I could just hear viewers calling them and angrily asking, “how could you demonize hunger? Are we supposed to fear eating? Do you want us to starve ourselves?!”  Then I took off my marketer’s crisis avoidance hat, and thought “aww but he’s a cute little guy!” I can see people using him as a mascot.  Taking him to baseball games and to family picnics (no? that’s just me?).  See an interesting blog post here on blog site – The F-Word – the comments are what I found most interesting as the debate about our Hunger monster goes on.  What do you think?  Is he just a cute little mascot that in an ideal world will help us subconsciously link hunger with cuteness?  Or is personifying hunger in a villainous light an awful thing to do to people struggling with food issues? Or is this the greatest marketing tactic ever (as I’ve read you can now buy Hunger at WW meetings…)? Does anyone else find this all a tad bizarre?

Here’s one of the WW commercials with Hunger:

I must admit when Hunger played the trumpet I wanted to pull him from the screen and give him a big smooch! He is too cute!

All this talking about stuffed little cute monsters got me thinking about my favorite stuffed animal, Rhino, who my boyfriend got me.  Then a romancing occurred right before my very eyes…but I don’t think Rhino was too happy with it…

Have a wonderful day my friends!

I hope it’s okay, but I totally have a platonic, blogger-based love for you! I guess what I am trying to say is thank you for coming up with the Puffins-based pie crust recipe!  It tasted like a Butter Finger, which, coincidentally, happened to be my favorite childhood candy bar (which is partly why I was a tad…er…chubbers).

Sincerely in p.b. bliss,

Annabel

As I wrote in my last post, I had friends over for dinner the other night and we feasted on lime chicken

fresh guacamole

re”fried” black beans with cilantro and onion

tortillas (a variety including corn, flour and raw whole grain) and the corn bread in my last post.

For dessert? No Pudge brownies and the recipe I will divulge in a bit.

Note to self – Don’t have too extensive a menu planned when hosting friends unless you’re sure you’re going to have time.  Due to the debauchery I took part in the night before, I slept in late.  Then, I wanted to fit in a work out, had to get more Puffins since we ate them all (yikes!), had to go on a wild goose chase to find the right corn meal, etc., and was left with little time to cook before guests arrived (and once they did, I was on the verge of cranky! oy!).

I made the following pie inspired by Peanut Butter Boy’s Chocolate & Triple Peanut Butter Pie recipe and my mom’s yogurt pie recipe, so I shall call it:

Peanut Butter Boy Meets My Mom Pie


Crust:

• 2 1/2 cups crumbs, Puffins Peanut Butter Cereal (this worked out to about half the box of cereal)
• 6T peanut butter (I used Kirkland Signature organic smooth p.b.)
• 1/4 cup water, as needed

Filling:

• Less than 1 quart nonfat vanilla yogurt (I use Trader Joe’s French Village non-fat vanilla)

Topping:

• Sliced bananas, blackberries and strawberries

Directions

1. You can use a food processor to get the Puffins to a thin crumb texture, or you can do what I did and that’s place half the entire box of Puffins in a freezer-sized zip lock bag and beat with a mallet to a crumb consistency (great way to get out pent-up aggression!).
2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix the 6 tbsp of peanut butter in with the crumbs and then add water, tbsp by tbsp until the mixture is sticky and spreadable.
3. Spread mixture in a pie tin or round baking dish that’s close to the size of a 9-inch pie tin.
4. Refrigerate for two hours or until hardened.
5. Add vanilla yogurt to center of crust.  I filled way past the crust line until almost overflowed over the dish (hehe).
6. Add sliced bananas, blackberries, strawberries or whatever fruit suits your fancy
7. Slice and enjoy!

Calorie stats on this dish to come.

Here’s my disclaimer – The pie does not slice neatly.  If you refrigerate the finished product for over an hour it will slice easier, but the crust also absorbs some of the yogurt and isn’t as hard as you may like.  I ate it indiscriminately both ways.  Yogurt – good.  Crust – good (recall Joey eating Rachel’s meat pie dish on Friends, or watch it here! )

Modified greatly from this recipe, this corn bread has only natural and healthy ingredients and tastes like a grainy kiss on your lips.

Ingredients

• 1 cup unbleached white whole wheat flour, King Arthur brand – 400 calories, 2 g fat, 12 g fiber, 16 g protein
• 1 cup 100% whole grain cornmeal, Bob’s Red Mill brand (medium grind)* – 440 calories, 4 g fat, 20 g fiber, 8 g protein
• 1 6-oz container Fage plain nonfat Greek yogurt – 90 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 15 g protein
• ¼ cup Trader Joe’s French Village nonfat vanilla yogurt – 32.50 calories, 1 g fat, 0 g fiber, 2 g protein
• 2 eggs – 109 calories, 7.3 g fat, 0 g fiber, 9.3 g protein
• ¾ tsp salt
• ¼ cup honey – 257 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g fiber, 0 g protein

Directions

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix all ingredients – best if you beat the eggs separately then add.
• Pour into an 11×8 pan that’s been “greased” with Pam cooking spray.
• Check in 15-20 minutes.

How simple is this recipe?!

If you were to eat the entire pan of corn bread, and it’s tempting until you see this, it would be: 1328.50 calories, 14.3 g of fat, 32 g fiber, 50.3 g protein

12 servings. Nutritional information per serving: 110.70 calories, 1.19 g fat, 2.67 g fiber, 4.19 g protein

Of course my boyfriend insisted on eating it with queso fresco, and his friend with butter sandwiched between it.  But, hey, they do what they gotta do and I do what I gotta do, right? 

Recipe for this

coming later…

Bye guys!

*This was hard for me to find in regular grocery stores.  So you might want to bank on getting it at a health food store.

I love you for three very specific reasons — you’re cheap, you’re healthy and you’re delicious!  You’re so near and dear to my heart and I love parading you around in pictures so much so that I’d actually like to name you like a pet (is that weird? How about “Ben the Bean”?). My love for you aside, there is no way in hell you’re going to catch me singing “beans, beans the magical fruit” during a commercial or wearing it on a t-shirt.

Yours truly,

Annabel

I had to start with this letter because I foresee being called “bean girl” or something based on the entries I’ve written and the one I’m about to write featuring, yea you guessed it, BLACK BEANS, and I wanted to make clear that you won’t find me posting YouTube videos of myself singing about beans and flatulence.  Just thought I’d throw that out there.

..but…beans are indeed a magical fruit… And after the rough weekend of paper writing I had, I needed a very satisfying and soul-warming meal:

My Baby Ben Wrap

Nutritional Content

• 1 cup refried fresh black beans – 220 cal, 0g fat, 12g fiber, 12g protein
• 1 oz non-fat feta cheese – 35 cal, 0g fat, 0 g fiber, 7g protein
• 1/4 avocado – 72 cal, 6.75 g fat, 4g fiber, <1 g protein
• A tad over ½ cup Trader Joe’s Organic broccoli slaw = 13 calories, 0 g fat, 1 g fiber, 1 g protein
• ½ of a Trader Joe’s “Clay Oven Baked Whole Wheat Lavash Bread” = 120 calories, 0.5 g fat, 2 g fiber, 4 g protein
• Total:  460 calories, 7.25 g fat (6.75 is healthy avocado fat – no worries, pals!), 19 g fiber, 25 g protein

I find meals that are this calorie and nutrient dense keep me full and satisfied for a long time, which is great!

Mmm health in a wrap!

So, what should we change the bean slogan/song to guys and gals?  Here are my top three:

1.    Beans. Good for the body, good for the wallet.
2.    Beans.  Technically a fruit, but we’re not judging.
3.    Beans. Powerful little balls.

(forgive me for my juvenile sense of humor!!!)