Sunday, December 30, 2012

Comfort Food

The men in my life love their meat and potatoes. 

My dad would take chicken and dumplins (yes, dumpliNs no g) and meatloaf with mashed potatoes over any other meal. 
With my Dad on Christmas 2012 
The key to my boyfriend's heart may be the perfect sheppard's pie. My best friend...well, he just likes to eat. 
My two best guys, boyfriend (on MY right) and best friend (on MY left)!
Maybe it's the German in all of us, but meat and potatoes form the basis of the food period for my family. 

While trying to please the carnivores in my family, I also have some vegetarian palates to satisfy. I definitely believe that cooking and sharing a meal is a way to show your love, so I wanted to serve a holiday meal that was like a hug on a plate for all my friends and family. AND let's be real, I am lazy and wanted a one-dish entree. AND it wouldn't be "typical CMS-approved food" without some health benefits. 

Meat, potatoes, vegetarian, one-dish, comforting, warm, healthy... geesh, you can't please everyone, right?

WRONG!


Hearty, healthy, Vegetable Pot Pie!

(Even my doubtful dad, loved it!) 





Vegetable Pot Pie



Hands on time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1.5 hours


What you need (this is a long list but man is it worth it, you FEEL the love and the time in this dish):

Filling:
  • 1 bulb garlic
  • Olive Oil
  • 1 pound parsnips
  • 1 pound turnips
  • 1 pound butternut squash
  • 1 pound carrots
  • 1 pound celery
  • 6 fingerling potatoes (to ease those meat and potato withdrawals)
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • Fresh rosemary
Sauce:
  • 2 medium yellow onions
  • 1 T Olive Oil
  • 1 T mustard
  • 1 T thyme
  • 3 T flour
  • 1 cup of dry white cooking wine -- IMPORTANT make sure this is wine you would actually want to DRINK! For two reasons: 1) If you don't like the taste why cook with it?! 2) You are only using a cup, you've got more than half a bottle left to enjoy!
  • Salt and Pepper
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
Crust
  • 3 cups Flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 t baking powder
  • 1/2 cup COLD shortening (vegetable shortening the recipe is vegetarian!)
  • 1 stick COLD butter
  • 1/2 cup ice water
  • 1 egg yolk (for an egg wash later)
WOO! That's enough now.

Preheat your oven to 425 and peel and chop all of your veggies to roughly 1
inch cubes of equal size. Go ahead and chop up your onions for the gravy at this time too but set aside. Place your veggies on cookie sheets, spread in a thin layer and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, thyme and lay the fresh rosemary sprigs on top. Slice the top off your garlic bulb and cover with olive oil. Wrap it in tin foil and place it with the sheets of veggies in the oven for 45 minutes, turning the veggies over half way through.  

Next let's start your dough for the crust! Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Cut in your COLD (ice cold, the colder the better, but not quite frozen) shortening and butter. By this I mean cut it into little pieces and drop it into your dry ingredients. Then, and I love this part, using your fingers or a pastry blender, or I guess if you're fancy a food processor, blend the cold fats into the dry goods until you get a tiny pea like consistency. Then add just enough of the ICE COLD water to get the dough to form a ball, you can use a fork for this as it will freeze your fingers off if it is the right kind of cold! Put the dough ball in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

At this point, you probably want to turn over your roasting veggies!



Time to hop on the gravy train! (I had to say it, sorry haha.) Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add in the onions you already cut and cook until translucent, probably about 5 minutes. Now add in the mustard and the thyme. Cook for a few more minutes before adding in your flour. Once you add the flour stir often to get rid of the flour flavor and achieve the thickening benefits. After the flour begins to turn brown and stick to the bottom of the pan, add in your wine and the vegetable broth. Simmer for 25 ish minutes until it reduces in volume by 1/4-1/3. 

Make sure you check the veggies and take them out if they are tender and well roasted. Transfer them to a 13x9 glass baking dish, or lasagna pan. Mush the roasted garlic out of the bulb and mix with the veggies.

When the gravy is done pour it over the vegetables in the dish.  

On a well floured surface, roll out your dough into the shape of the top of your baking pan and cut to fit. Place the dough on top of your vegetables and gently press the corners and edges down so the dough sticks but none of the filling comes out. Make 6-8 cuts with a sharp knife in the top of your dough. Combine the egg yolk and some cold water with a fork, brush over the crust to get that beautiful, yummy, color. 

Bake in a 375 degree oven for about 40 minutes until the crust is golden brown, allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serves 8.

This will make TWO pot pies in a 13x9 pan. You can easily chop half the amount of veggies (they are sold in pounds) if you only want to make one. Or still chop and roast them all and serve the extras alone as a side dish!




What you get: 

A delicious, healthy and satisfying meal for your friends and family! All the vitamins and nutrients of root vegetables (see the roasted root vegetable post for more detailed info) and butternut squash! Butternut squash is one of the new super foods! It has TONS of antioxidants and fiber. It also has B vitamins, such as B6, that are so important for the nervous system and folate which is essential to women in pregnancy to help the baby's spinal cord develop correctly. One cup of butternut squash has almost half a day's worth of vitamin C and since it's orange, yes, like carrots, it has the nutrient beta-carotene, that our bodies use to make vitamin A! 

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Home for the Holidays


Man, vacation feels good! Two whole weeks off of work and getting to spend the holidays with my family, I am a lucky girl.

But being home for the Holidays means, no set workout schedule, no mercury method, tons of holiday parties, wine, food, food and more food.

I am constantly talking about how to stay healthy over the holidays, but still enjoy all the delicious food. And it’s so hard to stay motivated to exercise when all I want to do is cuddle up on the couch with my puppy and a cup of hot chocolate.  
Ruger - he is getting so big!

For me, there are two HUGE pieces of advice to get through the holidays.

1. Figure out what you need to get to the gym and GO!

2. Eat your favorite holiday foods, but lighten them up when you can.


SO – First thing is first, exercise over the holidays…

Just finishing my paleo cleanse, I was high on my health kick and as soon as I got home to Michigan, joined a gym for 2 weeks.  Step one to holiday exercise motivation:  if I spend money on it, I feel guilty if I don’t use it. The two week membership was only $20, but to a twenty-something with tons of student loans that is a good chunk of change. 

Also, gym time is essential to me over the holidays so I can get out of the house and have some "me" time. I love my family, but a little escape over the holidays is always welcomed.  

Another way I motivate to workout over the holidays is so I don’t feel bad eating that cookie, or that delicious dinner roll. Let’s be real, I run so I can eat. 

Finally, my most fool-proof way to keep working out over the holidays is to buy myself a present (or three) and get some cute new workout stuff! I always want to show it off! I couldn’t wait to put on this sassy new tank top and my brand new neon running shoes, and so I couldn’t wait to get to the gym!

New shoes! Lululemon pants! Awesome Fashlectics tank that says, "Weakness is a choice, I choose strength." And Fashlectics headband that says, "Live. Love. Lift." Awkward pose to highlight the shoes.

Amazing new Newton running shoes. Killed my calves the first few runs, but improved my strike and my stride.


To recap:
1.       Don’t waste your money
2.       Me time
3.       FOOD!
4.       Cute new stuff :-)

Moving on to lightening up your favorite holiday foods! It is surprisingly super easy! One sneaky thing I do is hide mashed cauliflower in my mashed potatoes. I use 1:1 potato to cauliflower and if you season them and use nonfat greek yogurt instead of sour cream, they have great flavor and great texture. No one will know! Some things you just can’t change though. My mom makes her famous mint chocolate brownies every year and I wouldn’t touch that delicious and decadent recipe. Make good choices. Go for a walk after dinner, come inside and warm up with hot tea and a brownie. We keep a nice balance.

My favorite and not-so-healthy holiday dish is spinach dip, normally made with mayo and sour cream. Here is an amazing new, healthy recipe, full of veggies and delicious roasted garlic! I would never give up my bread bowl though…but you could dip veggies in it too! 





Roasted Garlic Spinach Dip

Hands on time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

What you need:

  • 1 bulb garlic
  • 16 oz plain nonfat greek yogurt
  • 2 medium onions
  • 1 10oz package of frozen spinach, thawed, with excess water removed
  • 1 T white wine vinegar
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 T olive oil, divided
Preheat your oven to 400 and cut the top off your garlic bulb, exposing the cloves. Wrap this is tin foil, cover with 1 T olive oil, twist the foil to close it up and pop it in the oven to roast. Meanwhile, heat the other T olive oil on the stove top and thinly slice your onions. Add the onion to the hot oil, stirring often, until they are a translucent, caramel color. Place onions in a bowl to cool. After the garlic roasts for about 45 minutes (it will be soft to the touch) and the onions are completely cool, squeeze the roasted cloves of garlic into the bowl with the onions. Add the yogurt and then stir in your spinach, combine well. Finish with the white wine vinegar and salt and pepper to taste (I used about 3/4t salt and 1/4t pepper). 


What you get:

LOTS of protein from the greek yogurt, as well as calcium and vitamin D, heart-healthy garlic and spinach, which is in my opinion, a super food. Spinach is full of fiber, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory agents. Interestingly, spinach also contains flavonoids, nutrients that slow down cell division in some human tissues, and can thus, help prevent some cancers. There is a evidence that spinach can also lower blood pressure by inhibiting an enzyme in your body, angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE-I). Blocking ACE-I helps blood vessels dilate and therefore lowers blood pressure! Finally, spinach is a great source of Vitamin A (vision) and Vitamin K. Vitamin K is important in blood clotting, bone health, and protecting our nervous system!

Saturday, December 8, 2012

A date for the Holidays

Not THAT kind of date...


Although with my boyfriend what feels like a bazillion miles away (California), I wish it were. I'm talking about the fruit, date. 

This month, I have been working in the Medical Intensive Care Unit and all we do is eat. Generally Dunkin' Donuts or delicious homemade baked goods! And I've been dragging since Thanksgiving.


Thanksgivng Dinner

Friends gathered for "Friends-giving"...See there were vegetables! Check out the salad! 
Just SOME of the friends-giving desserts...
SO for the past two weeks, I went back to my paleo diet. It's definitely not a lifestyle for me and I could never rigidly follow the diet, but it definitely makes me FEEL better to cut back on carbohydrates and processed food. 

But no refined carbs between Thanksgiving and Christmas?! All the delicious cakes and cookies?! And it's gingerbread season. My absolute FAVORITE! Ugggh... 

Luckily, I found a great alternative that completely satisfies my sweet tooth! I was very skeptical of these recipes since I really don't like dates...unless they are stuffed with cheese...and wrapped in bacon... But these are terrific paleo treats that anyone can enjoy. 


Raw Vegan Gingerbread Men! 




And, since I only made half a recipe and thus had a half a bag of dates left, 

Brownie Balls! 

Ooh, first thing I do on vacation is get a manicure!


HOLY COW GUYS, THESE ARE AMAAAAZZZING! Make them NOW! Try not to eat them all tonight! 


To get out of my, tired, sluggish funk, for the past two weeks, I've also started every morning with this -- 7 minutes, extra energy, and I don't feel guilty when I'm too tired after work at 9pm to get to the gym. 

Every little bit counts. 



Raw Gingerbread Men




Hands on time: 10 messy, fun minutes!

Total Time: 10 minutes!

What you need:

This is a for a full recipe, I only made half so I could also make the brownie balls with one bag of dates! I highly recommend a kitchen scale for this recipe. And in life, I weigh all my food, makes portion size so much easier!
  • 120g of dates, if they aren't squishy go ahead and soak them in warm water for 20 minutes (about 2/3 cup)
  • 40g of raw almonds (mine were dry roasted, more flavor, no salt! about 1.5T)
  • 1/4 t cinnamon
  • 1/4 t ginger
  • 1/8 t nutmeg
  • 1/8 t cloves
  • 1 T crystallized ginger
  • 1/16 t salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla
Using a food processor, heavy-duty blender or food chopper, grind up your dates and your almonds into a paste. Then add in all the spices and the vanilla. Once combined, shape the dough into cute gingerbread men or women. I used my fingers because I couldn't find my cookie cutters, but I think they would have been prettier if I used a pre-made shape, but man, did they taste good...I may have eaten at least 2 cookies worth of dough before having the chance to shape them!


Brownie Balls




There is only one picture...mostly because I got distracted by how delicious they were to keep photographing
Again this is for a full recipe...You may actually want to double it, they are THAT good. 

  • 220g of dates
  • 120g of raw walnuts (about 1 cup)
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 4 Tablespoons dutch cocoa powder (or whatever you have on hand)
  • 1/8 t salt
  • 1-2 t agave (optional, I like dark, bitter chocolate, so I left it out, you could also use maple syrup if you need a little extra sweet in here)
  • Chocolate chips!
Here we go again! Get out the food processor/blender/chopper and mix everything except the chocolate chips together. If you are using full size semi-sweet chips, I would coarsely run a knife through them before you add them, mini chips might work better. Stir in your chocolate chips and form into balls! I rolled a few of them in unsweetened shredded coconut. AMAZE-BALLS! 

What you get: 

A raw, vegan, paleo fix for your sweet tooth. No deprivation during the holidays here! Ginger is known for it's many health benefits including reducing inflammation, settling an upset stomach and relieving muscle cramps! Honestly, it may be voodoo but I think it really helps prevent motion sickness too, works for me at least. Nuts have healthy fats and provide protein to help fill you up on just one cookie (or two). And we've talked all about cocoa powder. Bring on the chocolate!

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Meatless Monday and an Ode to Zucchini


In college, I lived with my two very best friends from growing up, Laura and Diana. We lived in a beautiful house off campus and created our own little family complete with family dinners in the dining room.  At that time, my roommates were two of the biggest carnivores I had ever met.

I’m talking...
No date for Valentine’s day? Homemade three meat lasagna in front of the tv to drown our sorrows.
No food in the fridge? Don’t worry - summer sausage straight from the wrapper lasts forever.

Christmas 2008 pre-vegetarianism, illustrating our love for the Christmas ham 

For the past few years they have both been vegetarians! (Although Diana now eats meat again for energy reasons, listen to your bodies people, it will tell you what it needs!) I continue to love my meat…but I have adopted Meatless Mondays! Well, at least one day a week where I don’t eat any meat, it’s very rarely Monday. Let’s be real.

Meatless Monday is a public health movement which encourages people of all ages to cut out meat one day a week to improve their health and the health of the world by reducing their carbon footprint.

This week my meatless dish was a green pepper stuffed with zucchini, carrots, breadcrumbs and sautéed onions. Sorry about the lack of picture, I was REALLY hungry after work and didn't think about it.

I bought two zucchinis thinking the filling would take much more than it did and I needed to figure out a way to use them. 

Enter, carb-less Tuesday! 


Zucchini Ribbon Pesto Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes and Grilled Chicken! Basically, I cut the zucchini into spears and then used my mandolin to turn it into thin strips (you could also use a vegetable peeler to get it thin enough if you don't have a mandolin) and sautéed it in just a little bit of olive oil until it was al dente and pasta-like. Then I dressed up with Giada’s canned pesto sauce and tossed in the tomatoes and chicken. YUM! And paleo too!


I used half a zucchini here and STILL had some left. Good thing I like it! I used the other half in this delicious healthy apple bread! 


Apple Zucchini Bread


Hands on time: 10-20 minutes depending on your available kitchen tools

Total Time: 1 hour 10 min

What you need:

This makes one loaf, but it is easily doubled
  • 1 cup shredded zucchini (I used half a zucchini and shredded it by hand with a box grater...this is what took so long, I recommend a food processor)
  • 1 diced apple
  • 1 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup white flour
  • 1/2 cup applesauce
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 egg and one egg white (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)
  • 2 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice or nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Start by shredding and dicing the healthy stuff. Yum! I personally don't mind leaving the skins on, but feel free to peel your fruits and veggies. Next mix together your sugar, applesauce, and eggs. Once this is combined slowly add in your flour, baking soda, and spices. It will be a thick, delicious, spicey mess at this point. Now go ahead and fold in the good stuff. It may not look tastey yet, but just wait! Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and spread the batter into the pan. The parchment keeps the loaf from sticking and makes it super easy to lift out of the pan. Bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick or fancy cake tester (that I stole from my boyfriend, along with my beloved stand mixer...and vegetable chopper...and measuring cups...) comes out clean. 

Let cool, slice and enjoy!

What you get:

A moist, almost-cakey, spiced apple bread with all the benefits of zucchini and none of the taste. Although, zucchini bread itself is pretty delicious, so it wouldn't be bad if you COULD taste it. Applesauce is a great substitute for oil in baking, just make sure you use unsweetened, or cut back on the sugar in your recipe. We all know "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" and that apples and zucchini are good sources of fiber. Fiber helps to stop bad cholesterol (LDL) from being absorbed in the gut. Both apples and zucchini also have lots of vitamin A and vitamin C which are antioxidants. Antioxidants help protect cells against inflammation and breakdown. For more information on the health benefits of zucchini and apples check out my earlier "De-Stress and Dehydrate" post.

 

Sunday, November 11, 2012

It's getting hot in herrrre


After a much needed girls' night in with wine and cookies, and Magic Mike of course, I woke up today motivated and ready for a productive day off.

The morning started (very early as per usual -- 7am) with my new obsession Dunkin’ Donuts Gingerbread coffee and a delicious pumpkin oatmeal mug cake! I made these addictive pumpkin molasses cookies earlier in the week and was left with half a can of pumpkin sitting my fridge and no idea what to do with it.

Pumpkin Molasses Cookies
Recipe: Nutrition Nut on the Run


So to fuel up a few hours before what was promised to be sweaty and challenging workout, I made this protein and fiber packed breakfast mug cake!

Pumpkin Mug Cake

At 11:30, off I went to experience the hottest (literally) new trend in exercise.

The Mercury Method is a fusion of yoga, Pilates, strength training and cardiovascular exercise in a heated room, set to almost club-like beats. The classes promise to improve your flexibility, strength and stamina.

Lucky for me, they just opened their first studio in Chicago, right by my house! AND they were offering free pilot classes to get a feel for the neighborhood and help train their new instructors.




The studio is sleek and modern with heated floors and giant ceiling fans to distribute the 98.6 degree heat.  New to Chicago, the staff was eager to adjust class schedules and incorporate feedback to meet the needs of their new clientele.


The class itself was incredible! I left class feeling strong, sweaty and centered. Each exercise was rooted in core strength but targets all the major muscle groups, and some I had forgotten I had! Serratus Anterior push-ups, holy cow, if it weren’t for med school I wouldn’t have even known these muscles existed, but I felt the burn.

The instructor, Diana, was motivating and provided much needed comic relief with a well-placed swear word, or endearing catch phrase. My favorite was that she called our rest pose, downward dog, “Man’s best friend” and I was very grateful when it came along.  I was so focused on the heat and wiping the sweat out of my eyes that I didn’t have time to doubt my abilities and cranked out each challenging exercise. Including push-ups, on my toes! A personal goal!

Super sweaty post-class with our awesome instructor, Diana

I highly recommend the Mercury Method!  It combines all the best aspects of my favorite exercises into one quick hour and for the city it is super affordable. Check it out!

They recommend you come hydrated, caffeinated and lightly fed…This mug cake isn’t quite light…but it kept me full and energized from the time I woke up at 7am through class at 11:30 and until lunch at 1pm! 

Pumpkin Mug Cake




Hands on time: 3 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

What you need:

  • 1 ripe Banana
  • 1/4 cup Canned Pumpkin
  • 1/4 cup Old Fashioned Oatmeal
  • 1/4 cup Egg Substitute, or one whole egg
  • 1/2 Tbs Molasses
  • 1 Tbs Chocolate Chips
  • 1 Tbs Walnut Halves chopped
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice
Mash up the banana in the bottom of your mug. Mix in the pumpkin, molasses and egg. Add the spices to this mixture. Next, stir in the oatmeal and chocolate chips. Sprinkle the chopped walnuts on top and microwave for 2 minutes. You want the center to still look a little wet. 

The cake is about 400 calories, perfectly portioned for a healthy breakfast. To me, it's okay to spend a lot of your daily calories at breakfast since it fuels your entire day. There is that old key-to-health proverb..."Eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a Prince and dinner like a pauper."

What you get:

Have you realized how much I love bananas? They are nutrient powerhouses, I eat one every day! Oatmeal helps to reduce your cholesterol, stabilize your blood sugar (helps to prevent diabetes), and has tons of fiber to keep you full. Pumpkin is also full of fiber (being full helps you eat fewer calories throughout the day). Pumpkin also contains beta-carotene, an antioxidant which may help fight cancer cells AND WRINKLES! Surprisingly, pumpkin has even MORE potassium than a banana, almost twice! Potassium is essential before and after a hard workout to balance electrolyte loss in your muscles and sweat. Finally, pumpkin is a good source of vitamin C. It's perfect that pumpkin is in season in the Fall and Winter, to help you battle those changing of the seasons colds!

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Will Run For Chocolate

The Hot Chocolate 5K & 15K was this weekend in Chicago.


 I won't lie, the motivation to run this race came from a cute sweatshirt for finishing and a free after party consisting of a giant mug of chocolate fondue and hot chocolate! I decided that gorging on chocolate post race is an example of a "healthy balance".  And man was it good!
So true!
The race was VERY cold and VERY crowded. Over 40,000 people ran it, including the Mayor of Chicago! BUT it was well organized with corrals based on estimated pace and staggered start times, which made the actual running of the race really easy. I set pace with the person next to me, and had a radius of least 2 feet between me and the closet runner!
Waiting in the corral for the race to begin, and the sun to rise.

Corral G, a 10 min mile pace, totally reasonable! 

It was my first race since moving to the city. I know,  I promise to do more, weekends off have been limited but there is already a plan in the works to run the Shamrock 8K shuffle in March. 

The course itself was really scenic, through downtown, under the bridges and alongside the water. It was also essentially flat, perfect for your first race (which for some of my friends it was!). I could have done without the uphill trek to the finish line, but running past the Field Museum and seeing the Shedd made it worthwhile. 
Hot Chocolate 5K finishers. It was the first race for all these girls except me, so proud of them! 



Again, here's to whatever motivates you to get moving! 

See there is a banana, that's healthy!

After the race, my sweet tooth was raging! Eating that delicious chocolate fondue just sparked more chocolate cravings, so I baked cookies! Don't worry -- these cookies have no eggs, no flour and no butter. Just whole, delicious ingredients, a bit of chocolate to satisfy my craving and of course, fruits AND veggies!

Banana Oat Drops


Hands on time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 28 minutes

What you need:

  • 3 ripe mashed bananas 
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/4 cup vanilla almond milk (or any milk of your choice)
  • 2 cups oatmeal
  • 1/2 cup of raw zucchini shredded or chopped in food processor (about 1/2 a small/medium zucchini)
  • 2 Tbs mini chocolate chips
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1 oz chopped walnuts (or any nuts you prefer)
  • 2 Tbs shredded coconut (optional)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tsp cinnamon 
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mash up the ripe bananas (one of my favorite parts, gets the aggression out). Coarsely chop the nuts and grate the zucchini or pulse it in a food processor.  Mix the bananas and zucchini together with the applesauce, cinnamon and vanilla. Next, stir in your oats and wet the mixture with your choice of milk. Finally, fold it all your mix-ins. The best part of these recipes is you can get creative, don't like raisins? Try chopped apricots! Don't like walnuts? Try pecans! Don't like chocolate? Wait what?! No such thing! :-) Shape the cookies into golf ball or walnut sized drops and place them on your cookie sheet. Press them down a little bit, they will stay in whatever shape they are on the sheet. Bake for approximately 18 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Let cool completely and enjoy! 
Super close up to see all the goodness!


What you get:

The perfect fix for your chocolate and cookie cravings, full of whole grains, protein and fiber! These cookies are great for the paleo diet too, you can substitute the oatmeal for an almond or flax flour, or just not be that strict. Moderation. :-) We've talked about bananas and walnuts in the past, and of course, my favorite, cinnamon. I just switched over to using almond milk. It has more calcium and vitamin D than cows milk for about half the calories! I love it in coffee, on cereal, on it's own and in my recipes. The real hidden nutrient knockout in these is the zucchini. It has folate, potassium and vitamin A. A half cup of zucchini also has approximately 20% of your daily needed Manganese. Manganese is important for the functioning of one of your bodies greatest antioxidants. It also helps to keep your bones strong and create the collagen that helps wounds heal! But be careful, as with many vitamins and minerals (and anything really), it isn't good for you in excess.

My recipe made 2.5 dozen cookies! That makes each cookie approximately 50 calories! Yes, please!

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Leftovers

I've never liked eating leftovers. There was something about food sitting around for an extended period of time that fed the hypochondriac in me. In fact, I've been known to simply throw out the tupperware, rather than identify and eat the leftovers in it. Even from a fancy restaurant, leftovers just sat in fridge. Basically, I was a food waster. My worries about eating leftovers, in context, made sense. I also had my med school roommate check every piece of meat I cooked to make to sure I wouldn't get sick from it.
Thanks, Loan! (Photo someecards.com)
Honestly, med school makes you a hypochondriac. I wasn't born this way.

Okay, maybe I was. But this is common problem during the first two years where you are taught the details of every single rare and deadly illness. Many times during a lecture you would see a student look up from their notes, pale and terrified and hear the wheels in their head turning, putting together the symptoms they just learned about, thinking, "I've got that!"

I can thank my med school roommate for many things. She and I kept each other sane through a mentally and emotionally challenging time. She may have thought the dishwasher should be used for storage of pots and pans, but she taught me that food wasting was inexcusable.

My Med School Roommate, Loan. 
You've heard, "Clean your plate, there are hungry kids in INSERT THIRD WORLD COUNTRY HERE." Well, she believed you should use all your resources in eating and in cooking and not waste a thing.

Recently, I've been on a pretty strict budget and have been channeling Loan with my eating habits.

Last week, I made that delicious roasted vegetable dish with fresh veggies from the Farmer's Market in neighborhood.
The Farmer's Market in my neighborhood. (Photo City of Chicago, CBS)
When you buy directly from the farmers (support local!), you get the ENTIRE vegetable, which left me with a HUGE bunch of green from the tops of my beets. They are full of nutrients, but I didn't know what to do with them. Until I had a day off and cooked up a huge batch of stuffed beet greens to eat throughout the week.

This is a variation of stuffed grape leaves or Dolma. But I made them without rice, and of course, with extra "hidden" carrots.
Beet greens, carrots, onion and garlic...yum!

Stuffed Beet Leaves


Hands on time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes

What you need:

  • Leftover beet greens (or grape leaves)
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped carrots (I used the food processor)
  • 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 8 oz of lean ground turkey (half of a package)
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Olive Oil
  • Red Pepper flakes
  • Sprigs of fresh rosemary (I'm still using it)
Browning the onions, garlic, carrots and turkey
All the leaves covered with water and simmering
Start with a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet, cook the garlic, carrots and onions until they become soft. While that is going, start boiling water in a big pot. When the water is boiling, drop the beet leaves in 2 at a time for just a few seconds. Then submerge them in a bowl of cold water for a minute, remove and set aside. Repeat this step for all of your leaves, it makes them pliable and easy to work with. When the onions are translucent add in your ground turkey, rosemary, salt and pepper. I also added some crushed red pepper flakes for a little bit of heat. Brown this mixture up and set aside. 

Now you're ready to roll! Literally. Put some of the meat mixture into the beet leaf and roll just like a burrito (fold the ends in first). As you finish rolling the leaves, sit them in a sauce pan coated with olive oil. Put the rolls as close together as possible, so they don't fall apart. When you pan is full, cover with a cup of water and add some sea salt. Allow this to come to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to simmer for 25 minutes. 

There you go! You can eat them hot, or cold. You can eat them now, or all week!

What you get:

A healthy meal that travels easily and lasts all week. The star of this show is the beet leaves. Beet leaves have fiber and protein both of which help keep you full. You get 220% of your recommended vitamin A and 60% of vitamin C from a single serving of beet leaves! They also have 15% of your daily iron, necessary for the red blood cells that carry oxygen to your cells, and 15% calcium for strong bones and teeth.

You can also make these vegetarian by using rice instead of meat, but be sure to not overfill your leaves, the rice expands in the pot!


Running the Hot Chocolate 5K this weekend, check back next week for how it went!