Day 5: Ending with Sushi

Confession: I may have ended my challenge a few hours early for spicy mayo and tempura fried asparagus….more on that later. First, here are my last non-processed eats:

Day 5 of five ingredient week started out with the best breakfast yet: Chocolate Chip Cookie Banana Oatmeal!

I broke up one of the cookies I made Thursday night and sprinkled it over the oats. Not the prettiest picture, but it tasted great! After I ate all the cookie pieces, I sprinkled a few chocolate chips in my oats…it was like warm and mushy chocolate chip banana bread

I also tried a Green Monster Smoothie (inspired by Oh She Glows) although mine actually turned out purple….

Here is what went in my smoothie:

• 1/2 a banana
• 1/2 cup frozen berries
• 1/2 cup milk
• a few avocado slices (to add some healthy fat, vitamin E, and creaminess)
• 1 tbsp ground flax
• big handful of spinach
• a spoonful of vanilla ice cream (I have a raging sweet tooth )

Blend everything together….

Volia!!

First sip was just OK….then I mixed in some cinnamon, and it was WONDERFUL! I probably could have added more liquid — I ended up eating it with a spoon! — but I like my smoothies thick and creamy

For dinner, one of my good friends invited me out of sushi! Sushi would absolutely pass the five ingredient test if you order the nigri (raw fish on rice) or sashimi (just the raw fish). I could have stuck to that to be safe, but they had new roll specials!!  So my friend and I shared 2 rolls- our old favorite roll and one new roll. But first we got some edamame:

I love warm shelled edamame…so much fun to eat

Spicy tuna roll with avocado, salmon, and green onions on top. This was one of their new specials. I forgot what they called this roll, but it was amazing!!! Not sure exactly what they put in their spicy tuna, but this one could probably pass the five ingredient rule…

This is the roll we have to get every time we go out for sushi: fresh tuna and avocado layered over a roll with spicy mayo and tempura fried asparagus.

This roll is incredible, but probably does not pass the five ingredient test with the mayo and tempura…however the sushi chefs make all the rolls right at the sushi bar when you order them, and they use really fresh ingredients, so my sushi roll was way less processed than a frozen meal or a fast food meal. But to completely enjoy my sushi roll without guilt, I decided to call the challenge success and end it a few hours early.

The main things I learned from the five ingredient challenge:

• Making your own bread is cheap and easy!! This is something that really intimidated me before…now I’m going to make my own bread all the time!
• I learned to be a more mindful eater: I am bad about grazing on snack food when I’m not really hungry. This week, I was forced to really think about what I was eating before I ate it. No more random handfuls cereal — that has more than five ingredients! If I was truly hungry, it was not hard to find a snack a passed the test (fruits, mixed nuts…), but I could not just grab a bite of the nearest snack food.
• I learned that a feel so much more satisfied eating real food. I guess I knew this before, but I prefer the way fresh and healthy food tastes to processed foods any day. Bowl of oatmeal > Clif bar. The main issue is planning your meals and your schedule so you have time to make a fresh meal instead of relying on convenience foods.
• Pay attention to labels. An “All Natural” claim on a box does not make it fresh and un-processed! I was considering making chicken noodle soup earlier this week, and I looked at the ingredient list for Swanson’s “all natural” chicken broth, and it had a long list of unpronounceable ingredients. Don’t be fooled by marketing ploys — look at the ingredient list!
• Eat healthy = be healthy. I was feeling sooo sick on Monday morning when this challenge started, but I made a complete recovery within 48 hours! It felt like I was getting a flu or something that would last a least a week, so this was pleasantly surprising! I can’t say for sure that this quick recovery was completely due to my diet, but I’m sure it helped at least a little.

Hope you all are having a fun and healthy weekend!

Also, check out this giveaway for free Barney Butter!

Day 4: I *almost* cheated!

I hadn’t really had any strong temptations to stray from my no processed foods with more than five ingredients rule until today. After my first class, I went with a couple friends to go buy our cap and gowns (73 days until graduation…holy crap!). Afterwards they got chargrilled chicken sandwiches and waffles fries from the Chick-fil-A in our student center. I usually don’t eat fast food, but I do love Chick-fil-A!! The chargrilled sandwiches are actually pretty healthy, but I’m sure they don’t make their buns fresh in store everyday, so they would have too many preservatives (and probably high fructose corn syrup) to be allowed in this challenge. And waffle fries…YUM!

I watched with envy as they enjoyed their meals, and I almost caved and bought some for myself. But I reminded myself that I am only doing this for 5 days, and I’m almost done, so I biked back to my apartment before my next class (I live right next to campus…it’s a great location) and made myself a sweet potato covered in quinoa, black beans, and spinach just like yesterday, except today, I didn’t have many black beans left, so I also added some chickpeas.

Close up

Honestly, this is was more delicious and satisfying than anything from Chick-fil-A. But the chick-fil-A was convenient and smelled so good in the student center!! For me, the temptation of processed foods and fast foods isn’t really the taste, its the convenience. It would have been so much easier for me to just grab a Chick-fil-A sandwich on campus instead of going back to my apartment and making my own lunch. It’s also a social issue — my friends are eating it, I want to, too!! Real foods always taste better to me; they just take more effort and planning.

Dinner tonight was another challenge. I had a meeting at 5:30 pm, and after I got home, I wanted to make a quick dinner before leaving for spin class. I was thinking a hummus and avocado sandwich, but when I went to go use the last couple slices of my homemade bread, the bread had gotten moldy!! I guess that’s what happens to real bread that had absolutely no preservatives. I was a little lost at what to do for a while, so I started munching on some carrots and hummus….then I realized that quinoa only takes 10 minutes to cook!

I sauteed some peppers and spinach while the quinoa was cooking. Then I decided to mix some Muenster cheese with the quinoa. This was a GREAT idea!! Cheesy quinoa = delicious!!

Cheesy Quinoa and Veggies

 

 

 

I haven’t been talking about desserts this week, but they are definitely allowed as long as they contain all natural ingredients . Don’t think I haven’t been taking advantage of the fact that Breyer’s Natual Vanilla Ice Cream only had 5 ingredients! Last night after swim practice, I had a late night snack of some warm sweet potato with a scoop of ice cream and cinnamon. Yum! Today, I decided to do some all natural baking and make Museli Chocolate Chip Cookies. The recipe was only the back of the museli package I was raving about a couple weeks ago, and I’ve been wanting to try this recipe for a while!

COOKIES!

I pretty much followed the recipe, but I made a few of my own changes: I used molasses instead of vanilla extract b/c I noticed that we actually have imitation vanilla extract, which has more than 5 ingredients; I added in extra muesli b/c 1 cup didn’t seem like enough; I added lots of cinnamon.

Here the recipe with my changes:

Muesli Chocolate Chip Cookies:

• 1 1/2 cup muesli 
• 3/4 whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1-2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp molasses
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet Ghirardelli chocolate chips

Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda in bowl and set aside. Mix together applesauce, molasses, sugar, and egg. Blend in flour mixture. Stir in muesli and chocolate chips. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

These were awesome! All of my roommates approve also. Very soft and chewy, and I love the thick oats and seeds in it. They kinda taste like a homemade version of a chocolate chip Clif Z-bar!  I just ate three after getting back from spin, haha. Taste great after a good workout

Tomorrow is the last day of my five ingredient challenge!! I’ll post my eats tomorrow along with somethings I’ve learned this week. See ya tomorrow!

Also check out Mara’s chocolate giveaway :)

Day 3: Oh What a Sandwich…

I just made an amazing sandwich for dinner, so I’m going to do today’s eats backwards…. 

my ultimate sandwich

Homemade bread, turkey, avocado, red pepper, spinach, organic Muenster cheese, and hummus. Perfection! I don’t know if I ever want to buy bread again…this homemade bread blows my mind everytime I eat it!

This is exactly what I was craving, especially when I noticed my avocado that I bought on Sunday was finally ripe! 

I love avocados

For lunch, I had another one of my favorite foods that I haven’t had in a while…SWEET POTATOES!! I took some extra time this morning to bake my sweet potatoes instead of microwaving them. Baking them brings out so many more flavors than microwaving them does.

I covered my baked sweet potato in left over quinoa and black beans and spinach. Whoa this was good! I’ve been wanting to try the black bean/sweet potato combo ever since seeing it on Healthy Tipping Point, and I’m sooo glad I finally did. I also sprinkled some cumin on mine. Yum!

Now ending with breakfast:

very berry oats

I covered my oats in strawberries today and added some pecan pieces. So satisfying. I am officially addicted to oats in the morning

I have swim practice in an hour, which I am so excited to go to because I am finally feeling not sick anymore!!! I think my sandwich tonight will be great pre-workout fuel

Also, I signed up for a triathlon last night on March 22nd in Natchez Trace, TN!!! I was on the wall about signing up for this one since the water temp is predicted to be between 55-62 degrees!!! That is some cold water. The pool in the gym is kept at 80 degrees, which feels chilly before you start swimming around. But all my triathlon club friends are doing it, and I don’t want to miss out, so I’m going to brave the cold and go for it! 

Caribbean Quinoa with Shrimp

This may be the BEST dinner I have cooked all semester! I adapted a recipe from my Flexitarian Diet book. The premise of the book is that you can gain the benefits of a vegetarian diet by eating lots of whole grains, fruits, nuts, beans, and veggies most of the time, but still enjoying meats occasionally. It has really good meal ideas that are primarily made of of whole grains, beans, and veggies. The addition of mango in this recipe caught my eye!

The original recipe called for couscous, but I wanted to use quinoa! My roommate and I cooked this together, and she had the idea to add sauteed shrimp to the recipe, which was a great addition. Here is the recipe we came up with (inspired by the Flexitarian Diet book):

Caribbean Quinoa with Shrimp (2 servings)

• 1/2 cup dry quinoa
• 1 red pepper (sliced)
• 1 cup black beans
• 1 mango (diced)
• 1-2 limes
• 16 pieces of shrimp
• 1 clove garlic
• cilantro for garnish

1. Put 1/2 cup dry quinoa and 1 cup water in saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and cover for 10-15 minutes.
2. Sautee shrimp in olive oil, garlic, and some lime juice and zest. Set aside.
3. Sautee the red pepper until tender. Add the black beans and some lime juice.
4. When the quinoa is cooked, add the peppers and beans to the saucepan and mix.
5. Serve with cilantro and extra lime juice.

I couldn’t resist putting in another picture . This meal was so colorful and delicious! 

Also, check out the massive Farmer’s Market lime we used:

Left= normal lime. Right= our lime!!

Don’t know if the picture does it justice, but this lime was seriously at least 3 times the size of a normal lime (shown on the left for comparison).

If you missed the rest of today’s eats, check the post below. I’m not normally a twice-a-day poster, but I had a lot of food to talk about!  Good night and HAPPY MARDI GRAS!!! I will be studying tonight…anyone have any fun plans to celebrate tonight?

Day Two: “Hangry” for hummus

Still not feeling 100% better, but this diet had got to get me healthy soon, right?

Started my day out with a delicious bowl of banana pecan oatmeal.

Mmmmm...

There is also ground flax and apple pie spice mixed in with the oats

I recently discovered the actual definition of “hanrgy.” Besides knowing it had something to do with being hungry and being in the title of one of my favorite blogs (who is having a giveaway contest for Zoe’s Granola right now!), I wasn’t exactly sure what it meant until I read (I think on epicurious??) that hangry = hungry + angry. Ohhh…*light blub*

Today, I was definitely feeling hangry in my last class today when I forgot to bring my lunch to campus! We were learning about food insecurity in low income areas and prenatal nutrition, and while I should have been feeling grateful to be privileged enough to have access to safe and affordable food, all I could think about was this:

LUNCH!!

Homemade bread with hummus, spinach, turkey, and sauteed peppers. Side of carrots and more hummus! I was reading somewhere about how cayenne pepper is supposed to help your throat, so I sprinkled some over everything

I might have to go get some more ingredients to make more bread because I have roommates who also like to eat, and we have really been enjoying it!! And I love it when my kitchen smells like a bakery

Not sure what’s for dinner yet…but I will let you know what I come up with!

Day One: Non-Processed Comfort Food

I started feeling sick last night while I was staying up late writing a paper, and when I woke up this morning, I felt like I had been hit by a truck! My throat was killing me, my head hurt, I was congested, and I was sooo tried. I never get sick, so this is weird. I usually work from 8-12 on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday (class starts at 1:25), but today I called in sick to work, which I have never done before in my entire life, and then I slept til ten.

My motivations to get out of drag myself out of bed were a) I had to go to class to turn in my paper and make a presentation, and b) I had a great bowl of oats planned!

This morning’s oatmeal was inspired by Lee’s Vanilla Fig Oats from For the Love of Peanut Butter. I have wanted to try dried fig in my oatmeal ever since I saw this post! My bowl this morning had:

• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/3 cup milk (plus more poured on after cooking)
• 1 banana
• cinnamon and a splash of vanilla extract
• sliced mission figlettes
• a spoon full of almond butter

This was a great combo of flavors! I then proceeded to dip figs in the almond butter container…yum!

Then to soothe my throat, I made some mango black tea, which I sweetened with sucant.

Being sick, I did not have much of an appetite today, but I did snack on some pineapple slices:

Pineapple slice sprinkled with cinnamon!

 I can’t really think of a fruit that cinnamon doesn’t make better! If you haven’t tried fresh pineapple with cinnamon before, then you are missing out!!

 After I got home from class, I was going to make some soup that called for delicious ingredients including rosemary, chickpeas, tomatoes, and olive oil. But when I was getting out the ingredients, I realized that my can of tomatoes did not pass the five ingredient test!! In addition to tomatoes, there is also added sugar, salt, dried spices, soybean oil, calcium chloride, citric acid….so to keep following my challenge, I decided to think of a different meal. Loosely following this recipe from NY Times Health, here is what I ended up eating:

Chickpea and spinach sautee with a big toasted slice of homemade bread

I sauteed about 1/2 cup chickpeas with olive oil, onions, garlic, a little tomato paste, paprika, cumin, cayenne and then simmered in about 1/3 cup water for about 10 minutes (when the water cooked off) and added a handful of spinach. Served with a thick slice of the bread I made yesterday

a close up...I couldn't resist!

That’s really all I had the appetite to eat today…hopefully I will be feeling better tomorrow! I’m opting out of going to swim practice tonight for yoga videos and cleaning my room. I just did Polly’s yoga for runners, and it was really nice!! I have super tight hamstrings…I should really do this more often!

And my room???

yeah, it's bad...

I feel like cleaning up is definitely necessary to de-stress and hopefully get healthy sooner.

What do you like to eat/do to make yourself feel better when you are sick?

P.S. I found out last night that I won Strawberry Shortstuff’s contest for Simply Bars!!! I can’t wait to try them!! Thanks for the great contest, Diana!

The Challenge: 5 Days, 5 Ingredients or Less

“Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

This is my favorite Michael Pollan quote, which sums up his dietary advice in three concise sentences. For those of you who may be unfamiliar with Michael Pollan, he is a food writer for the New York Times and has written books such as The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, both of which I own and love.

Pollan believes that most dietary related health problems come from over-consumption of processed foods. One of the guidelines he recommends is to avoid processed foods with more than 5 ingredients and that contain high fructose corn syrup. These tend to be markers for foods that are highly processed. He also says to avoid foods that your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food– Go-Gurt, breakfast cereal bars, non-dairy creamer — stay away!!

For five days this week (starting tomorrow) I am going to try eating Micheal Pollan style by not consuming anything with more than 5 ingredients or that contain high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated oils, or artificial sweeteners. This shouldn’t be an extreme change from my normal diet because I generally try to eat whole foods rather than processed foods, but I will definitely be making some sacrifices.

What I can’t eat:

• Boxed cereal- I didn’t find any dry cereals at the grocery store that had less than five ingredients. Kashi cereals all have more than 5, and even Publix Bran Flakes have high fructose corn syrup.
• Luna bars, Cliff bars, Odwalla bars, etc- Way more than 5 ingredients. However, Larabars are OK!
• Store bought bread- Don’t pass the 5 ingredient test. Most have high fructose corn syrup. This week I will be eating my own freshly baked bread! (See end of post!!) 
• Yogurt- Homemade yogurt would pass the test, but I’m not going to make my own yogurt. The ones I like from the store have too many sweeteners.
• Most of my favorite ice creams- except Breyer’s Natural Vanilla only had 5!!!! I looked at sooo many ingredient labels trying to find an ice cream that passes this test. (Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla has high fructose corn syrup- that surprised me- and other Breyer’s vanilla flavors like “vanilla bean,” “extra creamy vanilla,” and “slow churned” had extra additives. I couldn’t believe how complicated vanilla ice cream could be!)
• Chips, pretzels, crackers- or basically anything that comes in a box.
• Girl Scout Cookies
• Kashi frozen dinners- love these, but too many ingredients. This week I will be cooking!
• Canned whipped cream- I love Redi Whip! But not this week.
• Sabra Hummus- too many preservatives.

What I can eat:

• Fruits and veggies- I just bought some bananas, pineapple, apples, dried figs, peppers, sweet potatoes, corn, and avocado.
• Breyer’s Natural Vanilla Ice Cream- The only one I saw with just five ingredients: Milk, Cream, Sugar, Natural flavor, Natural tara gum.
• Any baked homemade good- I don’t bake with partially hydrogenated oils or high fructose corn syrup. Anything I bake with natural, whole foods is okay to eat.
• Meat from the deli- I bought some oven roasted turkey sliced at the deli. I’m assuming that the freshly cut deli meat doesn’t have too many preservatives.
• Oats- I will definitely be making a lot of oatmeal this week!
• Milk
• Beans- black beans, chick peas, etc.
• Tribe All Natural Classic Hummus- I thought about making my own hummus, but then this was on sale, and tahini is expensive. Ingredients: Chickpeas, Canola Oil, Sesame Tahini, Sea salt, Citric acid, Spices. Okay, so this is actually 6 ingredients, but it beat Sabra. I’m making a small exception…
• Nuts
• Organic Cheese- I bought some organic sliced Muenster for sandwiches. The non-organic brands had too many preservatives.

Not sure how alcohol fits into this plan, but I’m pretty sure Pollan would approve of a glass of wine or beer. But I’m only doing this for 5 days, so I will probably just avoid alcohol.

To prepare for the week, I decided to attempt to make my own bread! I used Zesty Cook’s recipe for Quick and Easy Whole Wheat Bread. All that is in it is yeast, water, honey, molasses, whole wheat flour, and wheat germ. I also sprinkled oats on top. Can’t get much more natural than that. But I forgot to buy molasses, so I substituted more honey instead. I also decided to omit the wheat germ (didn’t have any) and add ground flax! 

I had some extra dough that didn’t fit in my bread pan, so a made some rolls on a cookie sheet

This was super easy to make, but when I was cooking it, I was having problems with it getting really crispy on the outside while still being wet and doughy on the inside. I cut off an end piece when it was hot out of the oven, and I really liked the crispy crust, but I’m worried that the inside is a little too doughy. Hopefully, it will cook a little more as it cools. I know that flax can be used as a fat substitute when mixed with water, so I wonder if added flax could make it too doughy?? Despite the doughiness, it is still pretty freakin’ delicious, and I am excited about eating it this week!! 

I also found some delicious looking healthy recipes that use really fresh ingredients to try this week for dinners, so stay tuned!!

Food Porn Alert

Are you ready for these pictures?? This is the most delicious food I can remember eating in a really long time!

Read on with caution (this may make you hungry!).

My mom came in town today, and we tried out a new restaurant for lunch. The National is a local restaurant that opened up last year and is owned by the same chef who runs the 5 & 10 , which is a pretty famous restaurant in Athens, GA and probably has some of the best food I’ve eaten EVER! Like the 5 & 10, The National uses really fresh high quality ingredients, many of which are organic and/or locally grown. I was very excited to try this new restaurant, and it did not disappoint! Check out this snapshot of the menu:

Mom and I both got soups to start out with:

Roasted Cauliflower Soup

I got the roasted cauliflower soup with walnut lemon picada. This had a delicious and delicate flavor. I know that’s a vague description, but I really can’t describe the taste except that it was wonderful! It is actually a vegan soup, and I have no idea how they made a vegan soup so creamy!! Any vegan chefs out there who know how to make a soup creamy without cream??

Lima Bean Soup

Mom got the lima bean soup with chorozio and focaccia croutons. Her’s was a little spicy and very different from mine. Both of our soups were really unique and delicious.

 

For my meal, I ended up ordering the “Escalivada” sandwich. Couldn’t pass up those roasted veggies!

Warm and soft ciabatta bread with roasted butternut squash, eggplant, red onions, red pepper, LOTS of goat cheese (yum!), and an herb sauce. This is comfort food to me . I ate half the sandwich at lunch, and I think I’m going to go eat the other half when I finish this post…

Mom ordered the lamb tartine:

Lamb Tartine

 Thinly sliced medium-rare lamb, with lots of roasted red peppers, spinach, arugula, sprinkled with olives, and drizzled with an incredible salsa verde. All on a thick crusty slice of toasted ciabatta bread! This was really fresh tasting and the flavors went together so well!!

I also got some coffee:

I went nuts over this coffee. It was so rich and flavorful!! And check out the cute homemade sugar cubes .

And of course we got dessert. My favorite part of a meal!

This is a marscapone cheesecake bar with a crunchy fortune cookie crust, a white chocolate and blood orange sauce, and topped with pomegranate seeds and blood orange.

Oh. My. Gosh.

We were pretty full at the point, but we easily polished this off. I would have licked the plate if we weren’t in a nice restaurant! This was also my very first time trying a blood orange. Despite not really being a fan of regular oranges, I now love blood oranges!

Okay, so I couldn’t wait until to publish the post to eat the rest of my sandwich. Just heated it up (and added a little leftover tofu) and ate it. Yum! 

Also, and Strawberry Shortstuff is having a contest to give away Simply Bars!

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

A Game for Foodies: The Omnivore’s 100

Fun Foodie Activity! I ran across a post from back in August of one hundred foods that every omnivore should try at least once. There is a mix of fine food, really strange food, ethnic food, gross food…. the idea is that a good omnivore should try it all! These are the original posters instructions:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

4) Optional extra: Post a comment here atwww.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

 

1. Venison- yes

2. Nettle tea- no

3. Huevos rancheros- no


4. Steak tartare-no

5. Crocodile- no

6. Black pudding-no

7. Cheese fondue- yes

8. Carp- no

9. Borscht
-no

10. Baba ghanoush- yes! Love it!


11. Calamari
- yes

12. Pho
- no

13. PB&J sandwich – maybe as a toddler, but I actually do not like peanut butter! (love almond butter though)


14. Aloo gobi
- no

15. Hot dog from a street cart
- yes, haha

16. Epoisses
- no

17. Black truffle
-no

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes- no


19. Steamed pork buns
- no

20. Pistachio ice cream
-does pistachio gelato count?

21. Heirloom tomatoes
-yes yes!!

22. Fresh wild berries
- yes! Picked some in West Virginia once

23. Foie gras
- yes

24. Rice and beans
- yes

25. Brawn, or head cheese- no


26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
- no

27. Dulce de leche
- don’t think I’ve ever had real dulce de leche…awesome ice cream flavor though!

28. Oysters
-yes

29. Baklava
- oh yes!

30. Bagna cauda
- no

31. Wasabi peas
-yes

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl- no


33. Salted lassi
- no

34. Sauerkraut
-yes

35. Root beer float
- probably as a kid, but not recently…

36. Cognac with a fat cigar
- haha, no

37. Clotted cream tea
- no

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
-yes, haha

39. Gumbo- yes


40. Oxtail
- no

41. Curried goat- no


42. Whole insects
- no!!

43. Phaal
-no

44. Goat’s milk
- yes

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
- no

46. Fugu- no


47. Chicken tikka masala
-no

48. Eel- yes, I like it in a sushi roll


49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut- yes


50. Sea urchin
-no

51. Prickly pear
- no

52. Umeboshi
- no

53. Abalone
-no

54. Paneer


55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal- no

56. Spaetzle
- no

57. Dirty gin martini
-no

58. Beer above 8% ABV
-no

59. Poutine
-no

60. Carob chips
-no, but I’d like to!

61. S’mores
- of course! Best s’mores= cinnamon graham cracker’s with dark chocolate!

62. Sweetbreads
- no

63. Kaolin-no


64. Currywurst-no


65. Durian
-no

66. Frogs’ legs
- no

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
- yes

68. Haggis
-no

69. Fried plantain- yes, delicious!


70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
-no

71. Gazpacho- yes


72. Caviar and blini
-no

73. Louche absinthe-no


74. Gjetost, or brunost


75. Roadkill- no no!!


76. Baijiu
-no

77. Hostess Fruit Pie- eww

78. Snail
- escargo? oui! (once)

79. Lapsang souchong


80. Bellini
- yes, yum

81. Tom yum
-no

82. Eggs Benedict
- one of my favorites!

83. Pocky-no


84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant- no, but I wish!


85. Kobe beef
-no

86. Hare- no


87. Goulash- no


88. Flowers
- I tried some rose jam once! I’m counting that

89. Horse
- don’t eat Black Beauty! j/k, but no I haven’t tried it.

90. Criollo chocolate
-no

91. Spam
- no!

92. Soft shell crab
-no

93. Rose harissa
-no

94. Catfish- no

95. Mole poblano
-yes

96. Bagel and lox
- yes, delish

97. Lobster Thermidor
-no

98. Polenta
-yes

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
-no

100. Snake- no

My score = 31/100. I need to work on my foodie status!

Celebrate…Fitness!

No new post right now, but I just added a new tab to the top!! Since Raspberry Runner’s tag line is “Celebrating Good Food and Fitness,” I wanted to add tabs to show how I celebrate good food and fitness everyday. I just finished the fitness tab, which includes a variety of random info from my running PRs to crazy dancing pictures. Check it out up top!! 

Also, TGIF!!!!! Have a great weekend