Another Link Round-up

There is a lot of junk on the internet. Here is some stuff worth reading.

Where’s the food? This Runner’s World article talks about the importance of getting nutrients from real food rather than energy bars and fortified processed food products. The article also has links to delicious real food recipes like Curried Lentils with Butternut Squash. Yum!! I might have to make that soon .

The stigma of being fat: according to this NY Times article, fat discrimination is becoming more and more prevalent and socially acceptable. Currently, there is no federal legislation to protect the rights of fat people, but there is a fat acceptance civil rights organization. Do you think that there need to be laws to protect discrimination against obese people? And if so, do you think that doctors, dietitians, personal trainers, etc have the right to be hired/ promoted without weight being a factor? 

Where is your milk from? Type in the code on your carton, and find out here!

Ben & Jerry’s has announced that all of their flavors will be fair trade by 2013. Awesome!

I love Michelle Obama’s passion for promoting healthy eating. Check out her speech to the Grocery Manufactures Association about childhood obesity. My favorite comment about making products healthier: “It doesn’t mean compensating for high amounts of problematic ingredients with small amounts of beneficial ones — for example, adding a little bit of Vitamin C to a product with lots of sugar, or a gram of fiber to a product with tons of fat doesn’t suddenly make those products good for our kids.” Hear that Fruit Loops??

Lemon Chicken with Eggplant Ratatouille

Meal inspired by this month’s Clean Eating magazine. For veggies lovers only.

Step 1: Marinate chicken breasts in lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic in the afternoon. (Vegetarians — I bet lemon tofu would be wonderful!)

Step 2: Pour yourself a glass of wine and prepare to chop lots of vegetables! (You will need the wine later in the recipe anyway.)

1 eggplant, 2 zucchini, 2 small red bell peppers.

And a couple tomatoes:

Oh, and an onion and a couple cloves a garlic, too (un-pictured). Chopping all this takes forever, but wine makes it more fun.

Step 3: Sauté onion and garlic first, then add everything else. Stir often, but keep covered when not stirring. 

Step 4: Get chicken out, sear it for a couple minutes on each side in a very hot pan, then put in oven at 375 while veggies are cooking.

Step 5: When veggies are almost ready, add sea salt, pepper, and about a half cup of white wine. Also about a tablespoon of white wine vinegar.

Step 6: Check chicken to make sure its fully cooked (time will vary based on thickness of chicken, mine were pretty thick and took about 20 minutes in the oven after searing) and taste test veggies for tenderness.

Step 7: Dinner is severed!!

 I forgot how much I love eggplant. This was delicious and totally worth all the chopping!

Happy Friday!!!!

Awesome

According to WordPress, some of Raspberry Runner’s frequently searched terms are “awesome”, “awesome images”, “awesome pics.” Apparently, I use the word “awesome” way too much in my posts. I think I need to get more creative with my adjectives…

Yesterday, I had an awesome magnificent lunch! 

A toasted sandwich with chopped chicken breast, havarti cheese (so good!!), spinach, and honey dijon mustard on TJ’s sprouted wheat bread:

The TJ’s sprouted wheat bread has 5 grams of protein and only 60 calories per slice. That’s pretty impressive. The bread by itself is a little dry and not particularly flavorful, but it makes delicious sandwich bread! I bet it would make good french toast, too. Hmmm….

On the side I had edamame coleslaw, which was a recipe from Clean Eating this month:

I don’t eat normal coleslaw because it just looks like mayo with cabbage in it. Clean Eating’s version has a light apple cider vinegar and honey marinade instead of mayo. And it has edamame in it. Yum!

Somehow, I was still hungry after all this, so I microwaved a small sweet potato, mashed it with cinnamon, topped it with plain greek yogurt, and called it dessert!

Despite the fact that sweet potatoes are 100 times better when baked in the oven rather than microwaved, this “dessert” was still awesome marvelous.  

Healthy desserts can be satisfying, but I cannot wait until Easter when I can eat real sweets (chocolate!!!!!) again. One and a half more weeks! I just need to remind myself not to get too excited and eat my body weight in ice cream. I am a little nervous that I will go on a sugar binge after 40 days of abstaining. Must. Practice. Moderation.

Some people can just have one bite (or very small portion) of dessert and feel satisfied. For others, that little taste makes them want more. I am definitely the latter. Which kind of person are you?

Finding the Time

“Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t
own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep
it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it
you can never get it back.” -Harvey MacKay

Oh, hi there! I had to go to work for the past 4 days and somehow didn’t find time to blog. I’m not sure how people with full time jobs ever write posts! Or find time/energy to workout.

Chip and I were supposed to go to the gym Friday morning before I went to work. I was scheduled for 11AM- 7PM, but I got called in to come in at 9AM to make fish tacos. I didn’t get back from work until after 6PM, and I was tired. We decided to nix working out and watch the Biggest Loser on hulu.com. And if that isn’t ironic enough for you, the episode featured a challenge where the contestants had to work full time jobs and still get their workouts in! They would get up at 5:50AM to exercise before work and exercise after work again before the gym closed at 7:30PM. Wow. I felt super lazy.

I considered insisting we go to the gym after the episode, but it was getting late, and we were hungry. So we went to the grocery store instead and bought stuff to make a spinach, raspberry, goat cheese, and chicken salad with balsamic vinaigrette.

It was incredible. Unfortunately, I was not only a lazy gym goer this weekend, but a lazy food blogger, and there is no pic of the salad. But it was like this:

Plus this:

Plus this:

And this:

with salt, pepper, and cumin (sorry vegetarians)

Although I did not find time to blog or work out, I did find the time to have an awesome cookout  on Saturday evening. You see, that day at work I was told that I had won our last Demo Night, and therefore a $25 Whole Foods gift certificate was mine! All the departments had to cook up and give out samples of a certain food, and whoever sold the most won. My winning dish was a Bison NY Strip stir fry. It was delish. 

I immediately spent my gift card on organic bell peppers, a pineapple, and beer. Chip got some chicken and shrimp, we invited some friends over, and grilled up our dinner in glorious, sunny, 70 degree weather. Despite the lack of exercising, I think we spent our time that night well.

So, I have a serious question: How does anyone with a full time job ever blog or exercise?! I have a part-time job, and I find it challenging to do anything productive outside of work on the days I have 8 hour shifts.

In college, I pretty much ran outside or went to the gym (or both) everyday I was not too hung over (work hard, play hard), so I would get at least 5-6 good workouts in per week. Now, I probably exercise 4 days per week, and I do not see how I will be able to do that whenever I start a full-time career.

When do you exercise? Before work? After work? When do you blog? Or if you are a student with a busy schedule, how do you manage your time?

“Tomato Canning Feminists”

I just read a very interesting article on my favorite news source, NYTimes.com, called The Feminvore’s Dilemma. When I think about feminism, I think about women going to college to get more than an MRS degree, smashing the glass ceiling, burning bras and aprons, etc. But staying at home to tend to a chicken coop? Not so much.

Michael Pollan’s book The Ominvore’s Dilemma is about knowing where our food comes from and making food choices that support sustainable agriculture and optimum health. What can modern feminist women do who value “feeding their families clean, flavorful food; reducing their carbon footprints; producing sustainably instead of consuming rampantly”? 

 The Feminvore’s Dilemma is about highly educated women who find “self-sufficiency, autonomy, and personal fulfillment” with backyard farming rather than paid employment. These women not only know the name of the farm where their eggs come from, but the name of the chicken. They are “transforming the definition of homemaker to one that’s more about soil than dirt, fresh air than air freshener.”

While I’m sure that having your very own abundance of organic produce, honey from your backyard, and fresh-from-the- chicken eggs is wonderful, there are sacrifices these women make for this lifestyle in today’s economy. Here is what they found after interviewing over a dozen families living this way:

They earned an average of $40,000 for a family of four. They canned peaches, stuffed sausages, grew kale, made soap. Some eschewed health insurance, and most home-schooled their kids. That, I suspect, is a little further than most of us are willing to go: it sounds a bit like being Amish, except with a car (no more than one, naturally) and a green political agenda”

One day, I will have a garden that grows tomatoes, squash, made maybe some peppers, but I do not see myself sacrificing having a career to tend to a miniature farm. However, I think it is very cool that some women do want this lifestyle and are able to have it. And I want to be friends with them to buy their excess produce .

What are your thoughts on the article? Did anyone else find it as interesting as I did, or do you think that it is irrelevant to your lifestyle?

Next up, here are the answers to the 6 Lies and a Truth game. 

1. I’m terrified of heights.

Ok, so I may look terrified in the photo, but I was having the time of my life jumping off that 180 foot cliff. Next on my to do list = sky diving!

2. I was a vegetarian for a year in high school.  Nope, I have always been an omnivore.

3. I once broke my wrist and got a concussion in a skiing accident. Not true, but I did have a skiing accident once, and I had to get stitches in the back of my head!

4 . I love to run, but I have little desire to run a marathon. 

TRUE. Lee was correct. Anyone surprised? I love endurance events like half marathons and triathlons, but I don’t think that the high mileage required to run a marathon would be good for my body. If I am going to do that much cardio, cross training is essential! I’m afraid of shin splints and knee problems with all that pounding from running. And I plan on being active well into old age. Running about 25 miles per week is my max. 

5. The farthest I’ve even ridden my bike is 50 miles.  I wish! Maybe one day. My farthest is currently 28 miles.

6. Ultimate frisbee was my favorite game in middle school PE. I hated PE in middle school, especially ultimate frisbee! The guys would never pass the frisbee to the girls. It was boring. Plus, I didn’t want to get sweaty before math class (we had no showers!).

7. My first car was a Mustang.  My high school best friend’s first car was a Mustang, but I had a ’99 Honda CRV! It was sporty and fun to drive. 

Tell me some fun facts about yourself!

Green Hummus!

Happy St. Patty’s day!

Q: What’s almost as exciting as green beer?

A: Green hummus.  

Made possible by the addition of fresh spinach . Inspired by this recipe.

St. Patty’s Green Hummus

• 1 can chickpeas (15 oz.)
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 2 T olive oil
• 1 clove minced garlic
• juice of one gigantic lemon from Whole Foods (or 2 normal sized ones!)
• 1/4 cup hot water (cold water also works, but the heat makes for a very smooth hummus)
• 2 handfuls fresh spinach
• 1/4 t fine sea salt 
• 1/4 t pepper

Green foods are fun on any day of the year. My favorites are:

• leafy greens- spinach, chard, kale, arugula, etc
• avocado!
• sushi sides- edamame and seaweed salad and wasabi 
• green fruits- green apples, green grapes
• herbs- especially basil, rosemary, and mint
• and of course, green eggs and ham:

Ok, so I’m not sure I’ve ever actually had green eggs and ham before, but it was one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books as a child!

What are you favorite green foods?

Good Food and Good Lies

First, the good food:

Kale, Sausage, and Sweet Potato Salad from Cara’s Cravings. Yum!!! This was amazing and easy. Even my brother liked the kale. Score!

Irish Soda bread from Trader Joe’s in honor of St. Patty’s Day! This is amazing warm with some Kerrygold butter. I never believed that Kerrygold butter could really be any better than less expensive generic butter, but it truly is. I’m obsessed. I want to eat bread and butter all day long. They definitely know how to make butter in Ireland!

Also, I’ve received the Creative Blogger Award from Cara @ Cara’s Cravings and Lee @ In my tummy.

Thanks girls! I guess it’s time I play the game. I’m supposed to list 6 lies and 1 truth about myself. 

1. I am terrified of heights.
2. I was a vegetarian for a year during high school.
3. I once broke my wrist and got a concussion in a skiing accident.
4. I love to run, but I have little desire to run a marathon.
5. The farthest I’ve ever ridden my bike is 50 miles.
6. Ultimate frisbee was my favorite game in middle school PE.
7. My first car was a Mustang.

So, which one do you think is true? And if you have not yet been awarded and want to play the game, consider yourself officially awarded by me! (Sorry for the cop-out, but I can’t keep up with who has already done it, and I think you are all creative!).

P.S. Thanks for all your hair advice on my last post! I’ll let you know if I am successful with any new products. I have a new post coming up with an update on an interesting theory about my curl disappearance.

A Hairy Issue- Be careful what you wish for!

Today, I would like to talk about hair. Why?

Well, I figure most of my readers are girls, and I need some advice. You see, for most of my life I have had very curly hair. And now, for some reason, that is changing. 

It all started out with some blonde wispy curls that my mom put a bow in everyday:

Which grew into a long mane of cascading curls:

Age 19. I also had a little silver nose ring! Can you see it? It is very very faint in this pic.

 

I hated it, of course, because you always want what you don’t have. So I cut it all off and dyed it dark brown (and took out the nose ring):

Curly short dark hair.

 

And straightened it constantly:

and went to the tanning bed -- which I have not done since! check out that orange glow!

 

Now, I learned how to handle my hair pretty well in college, but I cursed my hard-to-manage hair thought middle school and high school. I wanted straight hair so so badly!!! Because when my hair was messy, which was most of the time, it was out of control:

WHOA HAIR! (Age 17)

 

[NOTE: Yes, I did have a long awkward phase in my teens, but that's also just a bad pic.]

Despite learning to embrace my hair (and knowing how to style it), my teenage wish is coming true. This is about as curly as my hair can get now:

The top stays flat, the bottom curls a little, but the ends get frizzy FAST! I have no idea how to make it look nice (for more than a couple hours) without straightening it. I am now a slave to the blow dryer! Either that, or a ponytail. 

So, is this a normal thing to happen in your early 20s? Is it hormonal? Or maybe the hair gods finally answered my teenage prayers? 

I am currently in desperate need of advice on how to style my new mane. When my hair was super curly, I used John Freida’s Frizz Ease Styling Gel religiously. Now, that gel makes my hair crunchy. I’ve been experimenting with different frizz creams, but no luck yet. Maybe I should try hair mousse? HELP! 

What is your hair type, and what do you use to style it? And has your hair texture ever changed?

What I’ve been reading lately (and you should, too!)

I probably spend way too much time online, but I do read some interesting stuff! Basically, I’m obsessed with anything cooking/nutrition/fitness related, and there is a plethora of info out there on the internet (some more credible than others…). Anyway, I though I would share with you some interesting articles I’ve read lately.

• I love the NY Times Health section. Each week they have a healthy recipe theme– the most recent one was frittatas. Check out this Baked Tunisian Eggplant and Pepper Frittata. Yum, yum, yum!

• Ever hear diet advice like, “Eat 100 calories a day less and lose 10 pounds in a year!!”? The dietitian on the Today Show always says stuff like that, suggesting that small daily substitutions can make a significant weight loss impact. Unfortunately, long-term weight loss is not as simple as swapping out a candy bar for an apple everyday.  Here’s another NY Times article that explains why.

• The Colbert report has been featuring a lot of very different nutrition expert guests lately! There is one with Michael Pollan, one with a Primal diet guru, and one with a the vegan author of Eating Animals. Even if you had zero interest in nutrition, these interviews would be entertaining because Steven Colbert is alway hysterically funny.

• I look at Food Gawker (aka food porn central) constantly. I’m assuming most food bloggers are with me on this. (If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you must go to that site NOW!) I usually want to make every other recipe on there, but I probably am not going to cook anything that seems complicated or has a long ingredient list. Recently, I found this very pretty Spring Pea Soup that has 4 ingredients!! That’s my kind of recipe.

• How did Olympic ice dancer Tanith Belbin improve her performance? She gained 10 pounds. I think that this is such a good message to send to female athletes at all levels.  I was quite a bit thinner than I am now when I first started training for triathlons, and I soon realized that although a was a super fast long distance runner, I had terrible speed in the water and on the bike. After gaining a little weight, I benefited from increased buoyancy in the water (sounds stupid, but it really really helps!) and strength to power myself up those hills on the bike.  There is also a good NY Times article from last month that goes into why slimmer doesn’t always mean fitter.

Ok, that’s all for now. Have a great weekend everybody! I will be partying it up for Chip’s B-Day . I can’t wait…I love birthdays!

What are you doing this weekend? (Besides checking out all these awesome links I shared, of course!)

Also, if you watch the Colbert Show videos, what do you think about the Caveman/Primal diet vs. a vegan diet? Who do think made better points in the interview? And who do you think looked healthier?

In my unscientific evalutation, I must say that caveman guy is definitely hotter! (Nice muscles, thick shiny hair…) But I honestly have equal respect for both diets, and I don’t think that there is a one-size-fits all way to eat.  I’m interested to hear all your opinions!

The secret to good cooking

I have found the secret to good cooking: butter and wine. You thought this was a healthy eating blog? Don’t worry, a little butter and a few splashes of wine (in the food and my mouth) go a very long way. 

For dinner tonight, I first pounded then sea salt salted and peppered some free range chicken I got at Whole Foods. (I’m unbelievably excited I don’t have to worry about how they are twice as expensive as Tyson now that I have my WF discount!) I seared the chicken in a frying pan, transfered them in a baking pan, poured white wine on top, and then threw them in the oven at 400.

After the chicken was in the oven, I melted about a teaspoon of butter (or maybe a little more…) in a pan and started sauteing some onions. Then I added two cloves of garlic and a handful mushrooms. When the pan started to look dry, I just poured in a splash of white wine. The flavor was incredible. I used gourmet sliced mushrooms:

Then I put added generous handfuls of three types of greens: kale, spinach, and arugula. I added more wine, covered for a few minutes, and then stirred.

By this time, the chicken was ready!

And now I proudly present my dinner:  

Three Greens Sauté with White Wine Chicken

The chicken was good, but the veggies were WOW!! There was so much flavor from the wine-soaked mushrooms and the onions caramelized in butter, and the greens were tender and fresh tasting. The garlic flavor was subtle but definitely there!

I originally put about half of the greens that I made on my plate, but I went back and ate the rest after I finished my first portion .

In case you can’t tell from the picture, there were A LOT of greens in that pan!! Before cooking, there was at least 5 or 6 cups of raw veggies.

Even though I can obviously put away some leafy greens, I have failed to finish my jumbo bag of kale before it started going bad:

See the yellow leaves?? And see how it expired on 2/24, but I’ve been eating it anyway? (Whoops!)

I was able to pick around the bad leaves to make my dinner, but I threw the rest out. I will get a new bag soon, as I have really been enjoying eating kale lately. I just love the crunch that it has! I could have tried harder to finish this bag…. next time, I am determined to eat every leaf before it goes bad! 

Questions:

1. How long would it take you to finish that bag of kale? 
2. And what are your cooking “secrets”?