Category: Food and Drink (Page 6 of 10)

Spices Help Me to Maintain a Healthy Weight

February 21, 2021 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

Spices help me to maintain a healthy weight because foods that I normally don’t particularly like, taste very appealing.

During the winter months this can be particularly important to me as it seems like I feel more hunger, even when I’m not really hungry. Perhaps it is the cold… or boredom… or longer nights. I’m not sure why.

Adding spices to my recipes and food prep has really helped me to stay on track.

I thought I’d share some of these in case it might help someone else as well.

Spices that help to Maintain a Healthy Weight

Garlic and Cayenne Pepper – Two spices that add a lot of flavor without adding any calories… Garlic is great for starting many recipes (like when you’re sauteing minced onion, celery and green peppers.) Cayenne Pepper gives a kick to bland foods. My problem is that I don’t really like the flavor of each of these, so I go very sparingly if at all. I only start with these two because they are GO-TO spices for many people and I think most people like them.

Dill – I often use dill in my salads and it reminds me of spring and summer. It tastes great with vinegar based dressings. I often use it in my veggie potluck salads. And I love to add dill to jazz up boiled cauliflower. The small green herb adds color to the otherwise white dish.

Pumpkin Spice – In the fall, it seems like half the world turns to pumpkin spice. Roasted acorn squash or roasted butternut squash is amazing with this spice added to it. For a dessert treat, I blend frozen bananas with a little bit of this and sometimes I even add a bit of a can of pumpkin for added fiber. I like to make my own with just some ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, and ground cloves. Here’s a link to a recipe for pumpkin pie spice and you’ll end up saving some money when you make your own. Jill makes her own pumpkin pie spice.

Salt/Pepper – This seems so basic, it barely requires mentioning, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t. I try to limit my salt, even though my blood pressure is almost always more low than high. I think too much salt masks the flavor of food, so I don’t add it while I’m cooking, but generally a small shake just before I eat the food helps to bring out the flavor.

Oregano and/or Basil – I love to add these to most things with tomato in the recipe. Sometimes I’ll pair them together, sometimes just oregano. I usually smell each of these spices to see if that’s the flavor I want. It’s funny, when I’m cooking I can’t remember these two flavors unless I smell them first. Most of the other spices, I can see the name and almost taste it in my mouth, just by reading the name. For some reason I struggle with mixing up oregano and basil. We often grow basil plants in the summer and bring them inside in the winter. You’d figure I would know and remember this spice better!

Turmeric – I like to add these to my scrambled eggs. The favor isn’t very strong, but supposedly turmeric helps with inflammation in joints. Be careful with this one, yellow stains will appear on fingers or clothes if you get too wild with the turmeric.

So how do these spices help with weight maintenance?

When I use spices, I’m cooking from scratch. I’m not opening a box of something that is pre made. Just that alone, by using real whole foods more and using processed foods less (or not at all) really really helps me to maintain a healthy weight. So many premade foods have fructose corn syrup or other things that I really need to avoid.

By focusing on the favor of the spice, I happily anticipate more homemade recipes and foods that have dense nutritional value.

Are you interested in making more of your own spices? Check out this handy downloadable PDF to make your own spice mixes from the NDSU Extension – Nutrition site. (Thanks Brenna!)

How about you? Do you use spices to enhance your foods? Which spices did I miss and how do you use them? Leave a message below or send me an email at Chris@becomingelli.com.

Tracking Food is Making Me Aware

February 6, 2021 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

There is no question that tracking food and water helps me to be more aware of what I’m eating.

I notice that I consciously switch to a lower calorie choice or delay making a choice when I’m keeping track.

Since I recently started keeping track of the amount of water I drink and tracking what I am eating I have noticed these changes:

Snacks have been fruits – granny smith apples, bananas, frozen berries
I’m choosing more lean chicken breast for the protein
I prep food more often
I go back and look at prior days to find out what works
Putting together the grocery list seems easier, more purposeful
Tracking gives me another routine to the day (which helps me to separate the days during the sameness of the pandemic.)

I really wouldn’t think that all that comes from just tracking food, but I notice one step leads to another. I track my food in an app on my phone that shows calories as well as the macros, but I track that I’ve tracked my food each day by filling in a little piece of the coloring page that was posted on our Facebook Group by one of our members.

Healthy Swaps:

I am definitely drinking more water because of tracking my food. With the cold temperatures, my furnace has been working over time and forcing hot dry air in the house. I know I feel better with the right amount of water and it is noticeable.

Another positive change – when I actually enter the food into the app before I eat it, I often make a slight switch to a different ingredients, or en drop something all together.

This has lead to an “AH-HA” moment. I think I am going to try to re-frame my thoughts about cooking. Instead of thinking about having “leftovers”, I’m going to think about cooking as “meal prep.” Meal prep to me means making something that is not for the immediate next meal. I usually think of cooking as the step for eating. Having a “meal prep” readily available – (I almost wrote leftovers! this is going to take a while!) – is handy to have ready when I need to pack a lunch or dinner. Doing meal prep when I’m not hungry is something that I really enjoy.

The other benefit is when I make food myself, I know exactly what is in it. Much easier for tracking food.

While becoming more aware, I noticed something else about my attitude. It’s surprising to me that I enjoy cooking, because normally I don’t. The difference? I make more things when I am not hungry. Food prep on a full stomach, instead of a watering mouth, makes more sense. Perhaps I hit on a good key for me to learn and enjoy some new recipes. Seems like a simple thing – probably something that everyone else learned many years ago – when they learned to cook. It’s eye opening to me, but probably a “duh” to you all.

I took my time and played some music, got all the ingredients out first. Last night I made some more stuffed green peppers and cabbage rolls. Because the stuffing in both is so similar, I made plenty of the filling. This time I tried adding a secret ingredient: water chestnuts! It bulked up the ground beef/onion/rice filling and gave me another vegetable for the 2021 Veggie Challenge! Best of all, even after baking they still give a bit of a crunch.

Three Words:

Food prep and food tracking is another activity I want to encourage in my life. Finding the time to prepare food and fit it into my schedule takes a little planning. Every day that I track food helps to strengthen my resolve.

There is still a long way to go for my activity to be considered real exercise, which is what I had in mind when I selected that word. At this stage of winter, activity in the right direction of good health is a considered a win.

Thanks to one of our members in the Becoming Elli Group for posting this great idea to track my tracking food habits! This tool is working for me. I love the motivation and inspiration from the group!

How are you doing with your plans for yourself this year? If you have a goal, resolution, or three words – maybe a training plan, action plan or other tool, let me know how you’re doing! Leave a comment below or email me at Chris@BecomingElli.com

2021 Veggie Challenge

February 4, 2021 / Jill McCauslin / 7 Comments

Time for the 2021 Veggie Challenge! If you listened to Chris and I talk about our goals for this year in episode 74 of the Fit, Strong Women Over 50 Podcast (Tracking and Motivation – Three Year Anniversary Podcast, you may remember that we discussed reviving our veggie challenge. I believe I said that we’d get something organized to start in February.

We last did a Veggie Challenge in 2019. If you’re trying to find ideas for this challenge, just search on this site for veggie challenge and you’ll see lots of recipes and ideas

2021 Veggie Challenge

We’re going to make this simple this year. We all know that we’re supposed to be eating more vegetables, well, unless you’re following the carnivore diet. Obviously, do what feels best for you.

This challenge is going to be up to each individual. Here are the options that you can commit to:

Trying new vegetables, perhaps once a week or even once a month.
Testing a new recipe for a vegetable that you’re already eating
Adding one or more servings of vegetables to your current way of eating

Of course, you can make the commitment to try all three.

I know when we did the Veggie Challenge a couple years ago, I ran out of steam on finding and preparing new vegetables. I was already eating a good variety of vegetables, so it became difficult to find new ones.

There are ways to expand the vegetables you eating. If you eat carrots, you can try buying a bag of rainbow carrots and see how they compare to the standard orange carrots.

If you normally roast your vegetables, you can try a new way of cooking. I found myself recently making some new soup recipes to try to expand how I cook certain vegetables.

When you have a meal, consider if there’s a way to add an extra serving of vegetables. Even if you’re making a salad, perhaps you can add an extra ingredient. So, it doesn’t have to be a huge change.

We’re going to start the 2021 Veggie Challenge now and see how long we can keep it going. Please feel free to join us and be sure to share your veggie achievements with us.

Quarter Folded Tuna Melt Wrap

January 16, 2021 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

It seems that a quarter folded wrap is the newest thing in sandwiches. Or maybe I’m really late to the party.

I wanted to try a folded wrap sandwich using a tortilla.

It’s really quite simple. Prepare your ingredients and have them ready to assemble into the quarter folded wrap. I burned my first one because I didn’t have everything ready the first time.

Heat the griddle on medium low. You can spray a little olive oil if you want. Place the tortilla on it. Slice the tortilla from the center to the side.

I find it helpful to picture four quarters. Fill three of the quarters with food. I used mozzarella cheese, tuna salad and spinach. The warm ingredients (cheese) are assembled first (so it can melt) and the cold ingredients are assembled last (so they don’t get too hot!)

Because the cheese needed to be cooked the longest, I put that into the tortilla first, but it became the last quarter to be wrapped.

Flip the empty quarter over the spinach. Then flip the folded spinach part over the tuna salad. Last, flip the spinach and tuna salad over the cheese. I have a quick one second video that shows the flipping. It’s easy once you do it, but maybe hard to picture if you’ve not seen it before. I know the video flipping helped me to visualize how to do it.

Folding the Quarter Fold Wrap

Click the one second video to see how the folding works. It would have been so much easier if it was only a egg salad sandwich with a tomato garnish and a spinach garnish, but because I wanted melted cheese, this involved trying to get the cheese in the place where it would melt and also not have the tuna salad fly out when I was folding the quarters.

Of course I made it harder because I wanted it to be a grilled cheese, tuna melt… not just any sandwich.It’s not real easy folding tuna salad!

I feel I should have started with a beginner sandwich, not a grilled tuna melt!

Do you make quarter folded tortilla sandwiches?

What’s your favorite?

Creamy Vegetable Soup in the Instant Pot

January 7, 2021 / Jill McCauslin / 2 Comments

I came up with my version of creamy vegetable soup in the Instant Pot.

I was out of town unexpectedly recently and left with a refrigerator full of vegetables. When I got back, I realized that I needed to use some of the produce quickly or I was going to have to throw it out. It was more than I could eat in one sitting so I tried to come up with a creative solution.

We’ve shared a variety of vegetable recipes on this site. Chris shared a recipe for vegetable soup. I didn’t have enough variety of veggies to make her recipe so had to come up with something different.

Creamy Vegetable Soup in the Instant Pot

Here’s the recipe I created. I used the Instant Pot for this though I suspect you could make this on your stove top. This ended up being a quick and easy recipe that was came out well.

I took the head of broccoli and chopped it roughly into large pieces, including the stalks. There was a bag of Brussels sprouts that needed to be used so I cleaned them. I ended up with about a pound of broccoli and a half pound of Brussels sprouts.

I think you could switch out the vegetables to something different. Perhaps a squash and carrots would be good. Cauliflower added with either the broccoli or the Brussels sprouts would be good.

Experiment with different combinations of vegetables for a variety of quick and easy soups.

I put all the ingredients in the Instant Pot and set it for 10 minutes.

I think you could make this soup with any number of vegetable combinations.

Ingredients

1 pound chopped broccoli

1/2 pound Brussels sprouts

½ yellow onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tsp ground ginger (fresh ginger would be great)

Salt \

Pepper

1 can coconut milk

1.5 cups of chicken broth

Juice of half a lemon

Directions

Put everything in the Instant Pot. Set the Instant Pot to 10 minutes. Let it release naturally.

Use an immersion blender to cream the soup. Or put the soup in a heavy duty blender (I use a Vitamix) and blend. Take the center piece out of the lid and cover the lid with a towel.

Toppings

If you have toppings, go ahead and add them to the bowl of soup. I used raw pumpkin seeds. They worked well. You could probably use croutons or a bit of coconut cream or pine nuts. Toppings aren’t necessary but they do add a bit of crunch to the soup.

Holiday Celebration Eating

December 21, 2020 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

Holiday celebration eating is a always a challenge for me… in more ways than one.

I’m always looking for a festive looking dish, meal or appetizer to serve. I usually struggle to resist some of the more traditional treats.

Yesterday I tried something different using red green and white colors – beets, celery and onions. As it cooked the white onions became translucent and as I stirred, the beet juice covered everything. I added a few left over pasta noodles and a can of tuna for protein.

I actually liked the taste, but this photo is the best looking. If there is one thing I know about food blogging, getting the right photo that looks appealing is a big part of the project.

From an actual must have recipe, this was okay, yummy enough to want to finish it, but not something I would ever crave.

And eating it was way more healthy than the holiday cookies, peanut butter fudge and kulachi that was sent to us from a friend and sat out on the counter all afternoon during Sunday football.

I also scored a win by doing all my dumbbell reps in between episodes during my Netflix binge of a ballerina murder mystery. So all around win.

How was your weekend?

The colors are right, but the food was – well – non traditional. I added some pasta and tuna to the mixture, but this looks way more pretty than the final meal.

Making Coconut Yogurt in the Instant Pot

December 1, 2020 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

I figured out how to make coconut yogurt in the Instant Pot. It’s easy though it does take some time.

I’ve been trying to eat more fermented foods and when we talked with Christine Bailey on a recent podcast, she said yogurt was a great option. She also recommended coconut yogurt if you are not eating dairy.

I’ve been avoiding dairy for a few months because a doctor suggested that some of my skin problems might be related to dairy. Like most of us, I love certain dairy products. Cheese, sour cream, cream in my coffee. I love all of that. But eliminating all of that has helped me feel better.

I do like yogurt. For a long time my go-to breakfast was plain Greek yogurt with berries and some granola on top. It was a tasty breakfast.

Buying coconut yogurt in the grocery store is extremely expensive. And it all has some kind of sugar added to it period at least that seems to be what’s true at my local grocery store. No one seems to make plain coconut yogurt.

I suddenly remembered that my instant pot has a yogurt making option on it so I decided to try making my own coconut yogurt.

Making Coconut Yogurt in the Instant Pot

My first batch turned out pretty well but was rather runny. Coconut milk apparently is lacking some protein or something that causes milk yogurt to thicken. I ended up mixing it in my Vitamix with a little bit of vanilla extract and raspberries. It was a lot like the drinkable yogurts that you can buy in the grocery store. It tasted really good.

Second Batch

My second batch is a bit thicker because I added a teaspoon of unflavored gelatin to it.

As the starter for the yogurt I used plain Greek yogurt. I know it’s dairy but I figured the small amount that I added to the coconut milk is not going to hurt me. I’m not allergic to dairy. I’m just trying to avoid it to help my skin heal.

You can buy yogurt starter but buying a small container of yogurt at the store is a lot cheaper and easier. Now that I’ve made some yogurt, I can save a bit of it to use as a starter for the next batch. It’s like having a sour dough starter. Once you have some, just save it and keep using it as a starter.

Coconut Milk

I used a can of organic full fat coconut milk. I don’t know how light coconut milk would work. Definitely avoid the coconut milk that comes in a cardboard container. You want to use the canned milk.

I added the yogurt starter and a teaspoon of the unflavored gelatin and whisked it well. I then poured it into a mason jar, which I put in the Instant Pot. Then, I added some water to the bottom of the pot, put the lid on, and then set the yogurt time to 24 hours. I figured that would let it really ferment.

After the fermentation ended and I removed the jar from the Instant Pot, I put the yogurt in the refrigerator to let it set for several hours.

When the yogurt was set, I stirred the yogurt thoroughly.

The coconut yogurt does not have a strong taste of coconut. As a treat or for my breakfast, I add some berries and a little vanilla extract but I am not big on adding sweetener. You certainly could if you wanted. You could also sprinkle some granola or chopped nuts on top for crunch.

Recipe for Coconut Yogurt in the Instant Pot

This is so easy, you’ll love it.

Ingredients

1 can of full fat coconut milk

1 tablespoon of Greek Yogurt with active cultures

2 teaspoons of unflavored gelatin (just use 1 teaspoon if you don’t want it too thick.)

Directions

Empty the coconut milk into a small mixing bow.

Add the Greek yogurt and the unflavored gelatin. Whisk well.

Pour the mixture into a mason jar or small bowl.

Place the jar in the Instant Pot.

Add one cup of water to the Instant Pot.

Select yogurt on the Instant Pot and then select time. I went with 24 hours to get a tangy flavor.

When it finishes, shake or whisk the yogurt well, cover, and put in the refrigerator. Wait several hours or even a day and then mix well again. Enjoy!

Notes

Make sure your mason jar or glass bowl are clean. I washed the jar in the dishwasher immediately before using.

Many yogurt instructions say to boil the milk first but because I was using canned coconut milk, I determined that was an unnecessary step. If you decide to do this, be sure to boil the coconut milk first and then let it cool before adding the Greek yogurt and gelatin.

If you make coconut yogurt or any kind of yogurt in your Instant Pot, let me know how it turns out.

Pursue Your SPARK with Heike Yates

November 24, 2020 / Chris Brown / 0 Comments

Episode 71

In episode 71, Jill and Chris talk with Heike Yates, a fitness and nutrition expert who has helped women worldwide to stay fit for over 30 years.

Her passion is empowering women over 50 to say YES. I CAN. She helps them to take back their health and strength by showing them how fitness, nutrition, and mindset strategies combined create a winning team.

Heike has developed a reputation for creating real-life solutions and lasting results. She is the creator of Pursue Your Spark, the 4 Week Lean Out Program, and host of the Pursue Your Spark podcast. Heike is also a body builder, an Ultra Marathon runner and completed an Ironman Triathlon.

We talk about the five parts of her Pursue Your SPARK program. Each letter in SPARK stands for S=scan, P=plan, A=action, R=roadblocks, K=Kickass. We discuss the mental aspects of fitness along with nutrition and exercise. Heike talks about how to incorporate little changes into your week. She suggests that you start today. Seize the day by repeating a repeatable process and you’ll consistently get results.

She has many fitness and nutrition certificates including:
* American Council on Exercise (ACE) Personal Trainer certification
* Pilates Method Alliance (PMA) Pilates
* Precision Nutrition (PN) Nutrition Certification Level 1
* Road Runners Club Of America (RRCA) Certification
* Pink Ribbon Program
* Pilates Breast Cancer Coach

Website: https://heikeyates.com
Podcast: https://heikeyates.com/podcast

Heike offers a Free 5 For 50 Kickstarter Guide For Women 50+ on her website (look on the media kit page near the bottom!)

Miso Ginger Noodle Soup

November 12, 2020 / Jill McCauslin / 0 Comments

It’s fall here in Ohio and my heart has turned to soup. My Miso Ginger Noodle Soup is a great soup and very easy because I used convenience foods to make it. I know we’re always talking about not using prepared foods but I think this worked out well.

The miso-ginger stock that I used was something I bought at Trader Joe’s. It’s fantastic. I used to buy regular miso there but they no longer carry it. (At least right now. You never know what they’ll carry or discontinue.) I had intended to make my own miso stock but this was convenient and tasted great.

I had a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables so I decided to use that. Rummaging around in the refrigerator uncovered some cooked chicken that was ideal to add to the soup. Finally, I had some rice noodles in the pantry that I decided to include.

Miso Ginger Noodle Soup

This soup is fast and easy to make.

Ingredients

1 cartoon of miso Ginger broth ( I bought this at trader Joe’s but you could of course make your own broth.)
1 square Vietnamese brown rice noodles
3 cups Frozen stir fry veggies (whatever you have on hand works)
1 cooked boneless chicken breast, chopped or shredded
Dash Sesame oil (optional)

Directions

Pour the whole carton of miso ginger broth into a large saucepan and place on medium heat.

Add the frozen stir fry vegetables and kale and bring to a simmer.

Simmer for several minutes, until the vegetables are heated and the kale is wilted.

Add the cooked chicken and cook until heated through.

Cook the rice noodles according to package directions. Stir the dash of sesame oil over them for a bit more flavor.

Put some noodles in the bottom of a bowl and ladle soup over them.

Enjoy!

Notes for Making Miso Ginger Noodle Soup:

You could use whatever vegetables you have on hand. The stir-fry vegetables worked great.

Adding some sauteed onions would be fantastic.

If you use spinach instead of the kale, add the spinach at the very end since it takes much less time to wilt.

I recommend cooking the noodles separately so that if you have leftovers, the noodles won’t turn into mush.

Let me know if you make this. Share a photo if you have one.

Gut Health with Christine Bailey

November 10, 2020 / Chris Brown / 1 Comment

Gut Health – Podcast episode #70

In episode #70, Jill and Chris talk about taking care of the gut and brain during menopause with Christine Bailey.

Christine is an award winning degree qualified Functional Nutritional Therapist, Chef and Author with over 20 years of experience in the health, corporate and food industry. With a first class degree in Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy (BSc) and additional training by the Institute of Functional Medicine Christine is an experienced nutrition practitioner and speaker working in the public and corporate sector. Christine works as a consultant for a wide range of health, fitness, supplement and food companies.

Discussed in today’s podcast with Christine Bailey:

What you eat and when you eat makes a difference in your health
The problem with restrictive eating.
How gut health affects during stress
How the gut influences coping skills and depression
Why changes in estrogen affect both the brain and the gut
How to get diversity in your food and improve your health
Why it’s important to get rid of the endocrine disruptors (and what they are)

Christine is a writer for many national magazines and newspapers and has published over 16 recipe and health books including her latest books My Kids Can’t Eat That, The Brain Boost Diet and The Gut Health Diet, endorsed by Dr Mark Hyman from the Institute Of Functional Medicine USA.

Christine also lectures nationally and internationally and is widely sought after for her expertise.

More information at her website www.christinebailey.co.uk
Instagram: @christinembailey
Facebook: christinebaileykitchen

Some of her books:

Nourish: Cancer Care Cookbook
Eat to Get Younger
Supercharged Juices and Smoothies
Supercharged Green Juice & Smoothie Diet Dec 2015
Paleo Diet
Raw Food Diet
The Gut Health Diet
The Brain Boost Diet
My Kids Can’t Eat That: How to Deal with Allergies & Intolerances in Children