Hey Sugar

I've been recording my cals and exercise on myfitnesspal.com the last year or so, and even though I mostly stay within my cals for the day, there are also those days where I eat like Micheal Phelps and workout like an overweight cat. 

So I decided to take a closer look at how my calories break down, and there was one big red number staring me in the face daily.  That number was the amount I went OVER on my allotted sugar intake. 

I can stay within my goals for calories and fat with simple portion control, but that darn sugar just creeps up on you!  175 cals and 2 grams of fat for a yogurt parfait sounds like the best option at McDonalds... But it has 25 of my allotted 37 grams of sugar!  That's about 6 teaspoons of straight-up sugar. 

Now, I'm not hating on sugar that occurs naturally in fruits, I'd happily disregard the 1-2 grams of sugar that naturally occurred in the 2 strawberries in my parfait, and the scant amount that was in the milk before they caramelized yogurt-afied it.  

So, enough about my fast food breakfast craving... Here is a list of food on the "Sugar Busters Diet" that I found on WebMD. 

The Sugar Busters! diet advises you to eat:
Meats, including:

• Lean beef and pork
• Canadian bacon
• Poultry
• Game meats, such as venison
• Fish and shellfish

Vegetables, including:

• Beans
• Lentils
• Peas
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Squash
• Zucchini
• Mushrooms
• Asparagus
• Artichokes
• Cabbage
• Celery
• Cucumbers
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Eggplant
• Onions

Fruits, including:

• Apples
• Lemons and limes
• Pears
• Cherries
• Raspberries
• Kiwis
• Grapefruits
• Apricots
• Melons other than watermelon
• Tomatoes
• Tangerines and oranges

Now, I'm not touting the sugar busters diet... They make some weird claims I can't really get behind.  But I do agree that limiting sugar in a sweet-obsessed country could do some damage to the obesity rate, and I'm willing to keep my eyes open for sneaky hidden sugars and delicious naturally low-sugar foods. 

Topping this list are some of my FAVORITE foods...  Artichokes, Eggplant, Brussels sprouts, lentils, BEEF!!!  And I am excited to work some of these fruits into my current juicing obsession.  Kiwi-cherry juice?  Gimme Gimme!

If nothing else, I hope this list gives you some fun ideas for the next grocery trip and while you're there, turn over that box of food you're about to put in your cart and check that little sugar number.  You might be surprised. 

Juicing is Fun

They say you become the 5 people you spend the most time with....

So I figure I will become,
1. Arnold (my bf)
2. Courtney (my boss)
3. My mom
4. My dad
5. Kizzy (The girl at the front desk of the Y)

I've already started saying things that Arnold says, like TRU and verbatim... 

My mom and I always end up with the same clothes.

I have a ton in common with my Dad, we both like motorcycles and Jeeps and carbs...

Not sure what I have in common with Kizzy, other than we are always at the gym.

And finally, Courtney.  She is an uber healthy eater.  I like fruits and vegetables and eating good-for-you noms, but her commitment to healthy eating could surely rub off on me a little more. 

She mentioned that she was getting a juice for Christmas, and I dusted off my old $5 juicer I got in college at some garage sale and started experimenting.

Surprise! I BOOKING LOVED IT!  (Have you seen that commercial where they replace the F-word with "booking"?  I saw it for the first time when I was watching TV with Arnold's grandma and it was booking awkward. 

Anyhoo, I haven't been too hungry today, probably because I ate WAY too much yesterday including Chinese buffet and a tenderloin.  wowza.  So after having a banana for breakfast and another banana for lunch, I got some soup from Gateway and fixins for a green juice.

The ingredients in this delish juice are:
Carrots
Oranges
Green Apple
Spinach
Ginger

I am obsessed with ginger, so I could have used even more than the dice-sized chunk I juiced.

Little tip for juicing: Add a green apple to anything and it will rock.

On another note, do any of you juice? What do you do with the pulp it spits out? I can't bring myself to throw it all out... I was thinking of using it in place of eggs or oil ala applesauce in a quick bread or something.  Ideas?

Cherry Almond Granola in a Slow Cooker

I'm still alive!  Yes, I know, it's been MONTHS since I blogged... And Yes, I know, I quit in the middle of my 12 ways of giving. 

Get over it. 

Anyway, thanks to my dear friend and blogger Desiree, I am back and excited to share a recipe for Cherry Almond granola that I made in a crock pot while I did laundry. 

My mom makes granola a lot, and I like it a lot, but I've always found the process stressful.  I don't like taking things out of the oven, trying to stir a full cookie sheet, getting burned in the process, knocking bits on the floor...  It all just seemed annoying to me. 

So I found this recipe for Almond Cherry Granola in a crock pot, changed a few things (it's still me after all), and got to work. 

Ingredients:

2.5 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup raw, whole almonds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup dried cherry flavored craisins.  

Directions:
Place the oats, honey, oil, almonds and vanilla in a big slow cooker. Stir. Leave uncovered and turn on high. Cook for 1 hour, stirring every 20 to 30minutes. 

Reduce to low and add the coconut, and sunflower seeds.   Continued to cook on low uncovered for about 4 hours, stirring every 20 or so minutes. The granola is done when it looks completely dry. Cool on baking sheets.  Add the craisins just before you want to pack it all up, then store in an air tight container.

You can also make it in the oven, but I'm not giving you those directions because I'm not going to be responsible for you burning yourself or making a mess on the floor.  

12 Ways of Giving: Adopt a Family

I've been working hard on this way of giving, so hard that my brain hasn't been focused on any other fun ways of giving!

But this is my favorite EVER way of giving during this season. 

I have been doing angel trees since I was a little tot.  When we were young my parents would bring us to this store next to Ben Franklin in Nevada and pick out an angel.  We got to buy fun and practical gifts for the angel based on what she wanted and needed. 

In high school and college, I helped with the City of Ames angel tree.  I would call families to tell them they had been selected for the angel tree, I'd get an angel, buy gifts, help wrap the gifts at the police station, deliver gifts, be at the station coordinating gift pick-up... I got a bunch of friends together to package Christmas dinners in big brown paper bags for all the families.  I was REALLY involved, and I loved every minute of it. 

The last few years, I've decided to rally the troops, and with a little help from my parents and my grandparents, I provided gifts for a family in need through the Adopt a Family program with the Boys and Girls Club. 

I got a family of 4.  A 70 year old woman, an 18 year old girl, 16 year old boy and a 7 year old girl. 

They all wanted coats and shoes, and no one but the girl put anything on their wish list that wasn't clothes!  But I got a little creative and got some AWESOME gifts for everyone in the family. 

For the little girl, I got her a Barbie! It's been so long since I bought a Barbie... it was so much fun. 

Here are some pics of the loot.  It isn't all there, but you get the idea!

I got the coats and some of the clothes and shoes at Burlington Coat Factory.  They are NAME BRANDS and they weren't expensive at all!  Also, the older woman and the boy needed 3X, and they were just as inexpensive as the normal sizes at Burlington.  SCORE! 

Anyway, enough of the random store promotion. 

I had so much fun doing this project, and I'm sad it's over, but now maybe my brain can handle thinking of some other fun ways of giving before the big day!  (Christmas)

12 Ways of Giving: Helping my Mom

So, my second way was so enjoyable that I almost didn't consider it a way of giving.  But let that serve as a valuable lesson, and party of the purpose of this whole project...  Giving can be fun!

I got off a little early because I was working Saturday, so I headed to Ames to help my mom get ready for her wine tasting party.  If you don't know anything about Wine Shop At Home, check out her page.  It's like a tupperware party but with wine instead of tupperware.  Who doesn't want wine showing up at their doorstep?

So I got to Ames around 2:30 and got cooking right away.

I frosted some sugar cookies that my mom had made.

And then I started on the mini pumpkin cupcakes.

While those were in the oven, I made some olive pinwheels.

Now, you can find a sugar cookie recipe anywhere, and pumpkin cupcakes are a dime a dozen... But these olive pinwheels were DELISH, and not a ho-hum appetizer.

Here's how they go...

Olive Pinwheels (from Pepperidge Farms)

• 1 pkg. (17.3 ounces) Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed (but still cold, I left a sheet out and it stuck together)
  
• 1 egg
  
• 2 tbsp. water
  
• 3 tbsp. tomato paste
  
•   3 tbsp. olive tapenade
  
• 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
  
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  

1. Heat the oven to 400°F.  Stir the egg and water in a small bowl with a fork or whisk.
   
2. Unfold 1 pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface.  Roll the pastry sheet into a 10x10-inch square.  Spread half the tomato paste on the pastry.  Top with half the tapanade.  Sprinkle with half the mozzarella cheese and half the Parmesan cheese. Starting at one side, roll up like a jelly roll, only to the center.  Roll up the opposite side to the center. Brush between the rolls with the egg mixture, then press the rolls together.  Repeat with the remaining pastry sheet.
   
3. Cut each roll into 20 (1/2-inch) slices, making 40 in all.  Place the slices, cut-side down, onto baking sheets.  Refrigerate for 20 minutes.  Brush the slices with the egg mixture.
   
4. Bake for 10 minutes or until the pastries are golden brown.  Remove the pastries from the baking sheets and let cool on wire racks for 10 minutes.

I made a few adjustments to my second roll, I only used the olive tapenade and parm cheese.  I actually liked those a little better.  The tomato paste brings out the olive flavor, but the ones without tomato sauce are much tamer and probably more universally accepted.

I will say, both my dad and uncle, who according to my mom  and aunt HATE olives, liked both of them.

It was a fun night, and I got to do what I love doing must, cook!

12 Ways of Giving: Way One

Last year I was having a little trouble getting into the holiday spirit, so I created the 12 ways of giving.  I loved it SO MUCH that I decided to make it an annual event. 

Last weekend, I took a little extra cash I had on hand, and I went to flex my value spending muscles at Aldi to get some non-perishables for the food pantry at my boyfriend's church. 

I've helped out there before, and the women of the church are doing a great job writing grants and picking up $20 here and $20 there, but there is definitely a need there.

I got to spend the afternoon chatting with my bf's mom, and we blessed a few people who braved the cold weather. 

If you have some extra canned goods or boxes of cereal or pasta and want to donate, let me know, I will gladly deliver them for you.

After a feel-good weekend, I spent the rest of the week being a jerk.  No, really.  I've been just short with people lately, and I want to go public with my 'tude in hope that it keeps me accountable for changing. 

I got a little short with the guy who sold me my new car because the service people hadn't called me... Not his fault, but he was the middleman.  I'm sorry guy who sold me my car.  That was rude of me.

I was mean to the Mediacom guy I talked to last night while trying to set up my new computer.  He told me what we were going to do, and I didn't see how it was going to work, so I got sassy with him.  I later apologized when it worked.  After he put me on a long LONG timeout hold.

And then this morning, I had a little run-in with a self-important parking wench at work.  Ahem, I mean I was rude to a lady who was just trying to do her job.  I'm really hoping she isn't rude to our customers, but she's probably thinking the same thing about me. 

It ended in tears (weird) but it was the rock bottom I had to hit to realize that I'm sending negative vibes into the world.  After all the blessings that I've experienced in the last few weeks, I need to be sending positive love into the world with my smile, patience and helpfulness.  So I'm back! 12 Ways of Giving.  1 down, 11 to go.  Join me!

Paleo Dirty "Rice"

Dirty Rice is one of my all time favorite foods from my winter in New Orleans.  Along with char grilled oysters, jambalaya, anything fried and daquiris... 
But I got home and started to make my own quick and dirty rice..  It's really easy, some rice, onions and green peppers and some cajun seasoning. 
Well, during this Paleo challenge, I'm skipping the rice, which proves difficult when making dirty rice... because you're left with just "dirty"...
So, I gave this cauliflower rice a try, and surprisingly, it was perfect!  It was one of the few paleo recipes that I'm completely convinced that I won't go back to the original recipe! 

Here's how it goes...

PAleo Dirty "Rice"
Servings: 2 (doubles really easily for a family of 4)
Ingredients:
1/2 head of cauliflower
1/2 onion
1/2 green pepper
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Pat of butter
1/4 lb ground beef
Cajun seasoning

First, cut your cauliflower off the stem and pop it in a food processor.  Give it a few pulses until it resembles couscous/rice.  You might have to pick out a few stems that just won't cooperate. 

Once you have it rice-ified, pour the cauli-rice in a pan with some olive oil and a little pat of butter, melted.  Stir until the cauli-rice are al dente.  (You HAVE to taste it here.  The cauli-rice don't brown up much, so you have to check the mouth-feel.) (I feel like I'm using some weird words in this post... cauli-rice, rice-ified, mouth-feel....)

Remove the cauli-rice and put it to the side.  In the empty pan, sweat some chopped onions and green peppers with a little olive oil and cajun seasoning to taste.  (remember, you can always add some at the end, I just think the onions take the flavor the best when it's introduced early)

Remove the onions and peppers, and replace them in the empty pan with some ground beef.  Brown it down. 

Once the ground beef is browned, throw everything back in with a little more cajun seasoning if you want.  Warm it all back up and let the oils and juices marry.  mmmmmm. This stuff is almost BETTER the next day.