Slowing Down, Speeding Up

It’s obvious I’m not posting here with the frequency I once did. Food blogging is a lot of work, and I have to hand it to the people who do it consistently and well. I’m a bit more slow and methodical than most when it comes to producing content, so what might take them 30 minutes to throw online takes perfectionist me two hours.

I’ve decided to focus my efforts on venues that are more about writing (which I have a talent for) rather than photography (which I don’t). I just don’t think recipes are so much fun to read without a photo alongside, but photos are what keep holding me up with most recipe posts.

I’m still writing about food, though! Not only will I find time to still put up the occasional post here, but I’m now posting to a new blog that has a broader focus. Pennies & Pounds focuses on nutritious eating, losing weight for better health, and managing a kitchen to minimize waste and stress while maintaining a budget. I’d love for anyone reading this to come check out my new articles there. As a bonus, I’ll even gradually be bringing over updated and otherwise revised versions of some of the more popular articles from this site. You’ll feel right at home.

Incidentally, if you happen to be an educator or parent reading this, I’d like to give a shout-out to the other web site project I run, Sharp Pencils. It’s an evolving site focused on encouraging kids to write and aiding their language-arts teachers.

Back to food . . . here’s links to a few of the latest posts over at my new site, Pennies & Pounds:

A Jackpot within Reach

I tried and tried. Oh, did I try!

I bought nothing but light mayonnaise, skim cottage cheese, low-fat this, reduced-calorie that. I stocked my car with 100-calorie snack packs to ward off post-work hunger. I switched to healthier, whole-wheat pasta and bread. I bought diet books and tried to follow my magazines’ eating plans. I even joined a gym!

It didn’t matter. My weight, which had been inching upwards all through college, shot up dramatically. I gained more than 20 pounds in less than two years!

Articles of Independence (Day)!

I’m polishing up the first couple of posts for the site still. Look for more soon on weigh-ins and fruity deliciousness! In the mean time, check out this week’s articles of interest:

New York Times – The Claim: Mayonnaise Can Increase Risk of Food Poisoning
I’m glad to see they’ve finally taken on this old saw, and just in time for July 4th picnics. I discovered mayo had been given a bad rap years ago on the wonderful Good Eats.

Fruitful Snacking

Afternoon rolls around, and lunch seems like it was an eternity ago. Stomach rumbling, you reach for a snack to quell your hunger. But what should you choose?

Pick fruit! It’s an easy, pleasurable, and nutritious way to aid your efforts to improve your health and lose weight.

Unlike most “snack foods,” fruit is good for you! It offers vitamins, antioxidants, fiber and other nutrients, in a tidy, plant-based package. That bit’s important: After all, we need more plant-based foods in our diets for not only health but environmental and budgetary reasons.

Weighty Matters

I’ve long had a minor obsession with weights and measures. As a kid, I loved fussing with the balances in science class. I also found the those manual scales in the doctor’s office fascinating. In fact, I thrilled inside when I finally got to take one for a spin at the gym years later. In the kitchen, I’ve fallen for the digital food scale. I weigh portions to match nutrition labels when I’m counting calories, and I park my work bowl on the thing for measuring ingredients when I’m baking — it saves on dishes!

It’s in the bathroom, though, that I have tucked away the most important scale in the house. Every morning, I step on it to see how I’m doing at losing or maintaining my weight. Why? A firm grasp of where the scale points is one of the best tools in your weight-loss arsenal. To keep that toolbox stocked, you must weigh yourself regularly.

More are coming soon! But you’ll have to visit the new site to see those. Hope to see you there!

Tip File: Salads as Nutritional Spackle

I read so much about wonderful, highly nutritious foods we should all be eating every day. A half cup of beans, a bowl of oatmeal, a handful of nuts — in fact, it often seems nuts how much food we’re expected to consume daily and yet still keep the calorie count low.

 

With so many obligation foods out there, where do I fit in my pizza and grilled cheese?

 

Aside from wanting to satisfy my cravings for what’s bad for me, there is the problem of just where to fit in all those magical foods that will make us so much healthier. I can’t serve dark, leafy greens as the main course every night.

 

That’s where some sneakiness needs to come in, I think. I know parents have a tendency to disguise good-for-us vegetables under blankets of cheese or grated to oblivion in sauce, but that’s a topic for another time.

 

What I’m thinking of is tricking our adult selves into consuming more of the nutritious foods that are often missing in our diets without shunting aside our favorite main courses.

 

My top method for accomplishing this is incorporating the foods into side salads.

 

Maybe you didn’t grow up with a salad as a side dish every day, but my mom started providing salad at nearly every evening meal about the time those bagged mixes started showing up in the produce department in our hometown. It took me a while to overcome my aversion to lettuce as a child, but my tastebuds have most definitely grown out of it. I’ve now become accustomed to having a salad to accompany my dinner most nights, and I consider it a sign of a good-value restaurant if they throw me one before my entrée arrives.

 

Here in Slovakia, I continued the tradition, generally tossing some lettuce with tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions, maybe some radishes if I felt ambitious. I got a bagged salad mix with iceberg lettuce, grated carrots, and shredded cabbage.

 

But lately, I’ve been taking advantage of that daily salad to sneak in some extra nutrition in something I’m going to be eating anyway.

 

Now, due to nutritional issues, cost, and the fact that my bagged mixes here were going bad within a day or two, I make all our salads with that dark green, romaine lettuce. If you’re in the United States, you can up the dark-greens content of your salad by tossing in some baby spinach as well.

 

Also, I started adding drained and rinsed canned beans to our salads every night. This adds protein and fiber to our diets, two things I noticed we were generally lacking in. Plus, the fiber in beans can help reduce cholesterol levels over time.

 

Another trick I’ve read about is to add a small portion of nuts to your salad each night. This strategy could replace the crunch I’ve missed since giving up croutons (sniff!), along with providing nuts’ vitamins, minerals, and good fats in doses smaller than you’d be tempted to consume when snacking.

 

Or at least what I’d be tempted to consume should someone place a bowl of roasted, salted almonds in front of me.

 

Salads can also accommodate fruit, but if you go this route, stick to fresh fruits such as diced apples, orange wedges, and strawberries (tasty with balsamic vinegar!). Dried fruits often have added sugar and, if nothing else, provide more calories than fresh fruit per given volume since all the bulk-adding water’s been sucked out.

 

Of course, it’s important to mix in your garden-variety salad vegetables as well. Tomatoes and carrots (I now keep a bag of the pre-shredded sort on hand) are nutritional powerhouses themselves. Cucumbers help make you feel full because of their high water content, leading you to consume less of a perhaps naughtier main dish.

 

Salads aren’t the only solution. At some point, I’ve got to add an entry here about using desserts to fill nutritional holes in your diet. Pizzas, sandwiches, and other less than healthy foods as well. But salads, if you generally eat them with your dinner, are an easy start.

 

Now that you’ve packed your salad bowl with all this good stuff, there’s no need to ruin it by drowning it in ranch dressing (I know what you like, America). Stick to the light versions of bottled dressing, switch to Salad Spritzers, drizzle on straight balsamic vinegar, or try some homemade dressing. Below is a recipe for a delicious sweet and spicy dressing Scott and I came up with while trying to duplicate Catalina for his mom’s taco salad.

 

Fat-Free Taco Salad Dressing
Source: Colleen Fischer (with inspiration from a number of Catalina dressing recipes online)
Yield: 13 two-tablespoon servings

 

• ½ cup vinegar
• ½ cup ketchup
• 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 onion, grated

 

Whisk all ingredients together in a small bowl or mix in a blender. Serve or store in a dressing cruet.

 

NUTRITION FACTS
Servings: 13
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 18
Total Fat: 0.11g
Cholesterol: –
Sodium: 198mg
Total Carbs: 4.22g
Dietary Fiber: –
Protein: 0.29g

Download Fat-Free Taco Salad Dressing into MacGourmet.