Meatless Monday with Eat Well Meal Plans: Vegetables and Resolutions

It’s that time again. Time to decide what your New Years resolution will be for 2012. Perhaps it will involve a lifestyle change. Maybe you are planning to to make the adjustments necessary to reach your personal healthy weight.

Let me give you a head start – “eat more vegetables”. Yup, that’ll help.

Watching TV with the family? Bring out a bowl of chopped raw veggies to mindlessly munch on. Everyone in your office is bringing in a snack to share? Make yours a colorful crudité platter with a low fat cream cheese dip. Everyone is hungry, but dinner isn’t ready? Arrange raw sugar snap peas, carrot sticks, and radish slices on a plate with low fat yogurt-based dip.

Now, when planning dinner continue this behavior. Remember, 50% of your plate should be composed of vegetables and a bit of fruit. My next few blog posts will present some plant-based recipes that can not only be eaten as side dishes but could be taco or omelet fillings as well as toppings for veggie pizza. Handy recipes to keep in your culinary tool box.

Braised Mushrooms and Leeks

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 pound cremini mushrooms, quartered
• 2 leeks, rinsed and chopped
• ¼ cup white wine or saki
• 1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
• ¼ teaspoon pepper

Meatless Monday with Eat Well Meal Plans: Days of Taste – Fall ’11

In this age of fast and frozen foods, we want to teach school children about real food-where it is grown and how it is produced-so they can develop an understanding and appreciation of how good, fresh food is supposed to taste.

—Julia Child

Days of Taste® is a discovery-based program for 4th & 5th grade schoolchildren. Developed by the The American Institute of Wine & Food in 1995, Days of Taste® inspires children to learn about the food we eat, discover how ingredients taste, and how they weave their way into our daily lives, from farm to table.

We have wrapped up the Days of Taste program here in the local school district. It was fascinating. These fourth graders were so eager to meet the chef, learn about how to find local produce, and experiment with flavors. They learned how a vegetable pizza fits on the new MyPlate and whether fennel grows above or underneath the dirt.

On the final day, our local chef inspired the kids to create a salad full of so many vegetables and fruits it could pass as a small meal, along with a dressing composed of the flavors they had experienced on the first day. My favorite moment?   The group of kids I was assisting was busy tearing green leaves into bite-sized pieces and sprinkling broccoli, basil, olives, and apples into a large bowl for their salad.  A couple of kids turned to me as they worked admitting that they did not like salad, would not eat olives, or thought the dressing was icky. The salad was tossed, served, and . . . devoured. I checked on those same kids to try and convince them to just take a taste. They were experiencing flavors and ingredients they had never heard of before and loved them! One scrawled the names of what he needed onto his napkin announcing that he planned to recreate his salad at home for his family.

As we cleaned up the mostly empty plates, the kids begged the chef to feature their salad creations on the restaurant menu. The chef agreed and the elated young cooks started planning their visits to the restaurant to show off their talent to their parents.

When I got back home I was inspired to make my favorite muffins. These contain several ingredients from my CSA. The list of additions to the batter is a little more than the average muffin, but that is what I love about them. There is a lot going on in one bite-full of Morning Glory Muffin.

Morning Glory Muffins

• ½ cup golden raisins
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup carrots, peeled and grated
• 1 cup zucchini, grated
• 1 apple, peeled, cored, and grated
• ½ cup sweetened shredded coconut
• ½ cup walnuts, chopped
• ⅓ cup pumpkin seeds
• 3 large eggs
• ⅔ cup canola oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ cup orange juice

The Food Diary of a Ravenous Dietitian: “I will exercise for food!”

today was a scheduled “rest” day. I am loving a yoga class that I do via my cable video-on-demand, so no rest day. So far this week I’ve sweated through a run, 2 weight workout sessions, 2 50-minute rides on the stationary bike, and my yoga class. I’m quietly working on shedding about 5 pounds which is proving to be challenging for several reasons.

1. My height is in the “petite” range which means those few pounds muck up the physique more than it sounds like they should.
2. My age is in that range at which one must think twice about what food choices are approved to pass the lips.
3. I LOVE well-prepared, good quality food. That’s what I spend each day working on whether I’m cooking it, photographing it, shopping in some unusual store for it, or guiding someone else on how to eat it. I do not like to miss a meal!

Breakfast was old-fashioned rolled oats with soy milk, walnuts, and some maple syurup.

Meatless Monday with Eat Well Meal Plans: Crunchy Onion Rings

I could really do without the guilt, please. I’m well aware that it is OK to eat some of those “treat” foods in moderation. I am not about depriving myself. However, I also need to just relax and enjoy a snack occasionally. These onion rings fit that description. They are not deep fried as in the original recipe and the recipe does not call for any ingredients of animal origin so it ends up meeting vegan requirements.

So relax, squirt some ketchup on your plate and crunch a bunch of these tasty rings. You can jazz them up by adding some of your favorite spices or dried herbs to the panko before rolling the sopping onion in them. Experiment with Cajun seasoning, Italian herbs, or curry powder.

Baked Panko Onion Rings

• 2 Vidalia onions (or other sweet variety), sliced into thick rings
• ⅔ cup flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 cups panko bread crumbs
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon canola oil

❶ Preheat oven to 450℉. Line a baking sheet with foil coated with pan spray or silicone liner.

❷ Select 2 shallow bowls. Place the flour and cornstarch in the first bowl. Gradually add the soy milk and cider while blending them together with a fork or whisk. Place panko and salt in the second bowl. Drizzle oil over top and stir into crumbs.

❸ Dip an onion slice into batter letting the excess drip back into the bowl. Coat in panko and place on baking tray. Repeat with remaining onion slices.

❹ Spray each slice with pan spray and cook 6 minutes on each side.

The Food Diary of a Ravenous Dietitian: Debut

I am occasionally asked by nutrition counseling clients “what do you eat?  what workout do you do?”.

Well, let me tell you – I like to eat. I like to eat what I want to eat. I love to cook and I love to experiment with my cooking. I even enjoy different types of exercise almost every day. At least once a week I’ll go to the other extreme and emerge more slowly into the day – a rest day.

However, I am now at the point where I can’t always eat whatever I want, although fortunately, I like most of the “healthy” stuff. I now have to follow the same advice I give to my clients: watch your portions, just a taste of the goodies, beware of those alcohol calories, etc.

Oh, and the exercise. I’m working out more frequently and with more intensity these days. Ugghh! Yes, my friends 35 years+, we need to figure out how to work this in along with everything else.

My goal is to maintain my weight and muscle mass. I am my own guinea pig in this experiment to see what it takes to be in control of my own health.

So, after an hour of an intense weight workout this is what  decided to eat!

Before each weight workout I make a little protein smoothie: ½ frozen banana, almond butter, whey protein powder, and soy milk. After the workout I’m usually starving! Therefore, this breakfast of leftover quinoa + vegetables (an Eat Well Meal Plans dinner) plus an egg was very satisfying.

Until . . . lunch:

Store-bought California roll. It was labeled as that but a few pieces had cream cheese in place of the cucumber. I was not pleased.

Sushi is frequently my choice for lunch because it’s a sensible serving size and has the right proportions of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fat from the avocado.

Then, still a little hungry:

Just half a chewy H&H bagel with about 2 ounces of lox – nothing else.

Dinner was on my own which is pretty unusual. Ordinarily there would be very hungry people hovering around me; some trying to lose weight, some working on weight gain. It’s a daily challenge. But tonight I can grab odds and ends and make something quickly. Linguine, marinated artichokes, and fresh spinach for me:

I’m hoping these food diary entries will be helpful and maybe inspiring for you. Let me know what you think!  Now I’m hungry again . . .