Monday, October 31, 2011

Make Me Smile: Halloween Edition 10/31

 
Yes, Halloween Town and Hocus Pocus have become Halloween childhood staples, but for me nothing can replace Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. This movie used to give me complete nightmares. . .I still have difficulty watching when they kidnap Santa Claus. 
Have you tried this flavor? I haven't been lucky enough to find it, but I'm keeping a look out -- only a few more weeks of gorging on pumpkin-flavored goods (minus pumpkin pie. . .but we've already been through that) Definitely click on the link below it has a bunch of little kid online games that are Halloween-themed: perfect for passing the time in lecture

Picture from Pennies on a Platter. Oranges shaped like pumpkins and filled with fruit?! These definitely make a nutrition nerd like me smile 




Happy Halloween!!!!

--Kelli 

Friday, October 28, 2011

Food Day Cooking

As Kelli mentioned here this past Monday was Food Day! So of course I spent my whole day in the kitchen!
I made both soup and quiche for the first time. Very exciting! I used this recipe for the quiche because I'm not a huge crust person. It was delish! I need to improve my crust-shaping skills but other than that it was eggy and cheesy goodness..with some veggies of course ;)


And as far as the soup goes..I didn't really use a recipe. Oops. I had some kale left over so I put that into a pot with some veggie broth, let it simmer for a bit and then added roasted butternut squash, white beans, broccoli and carrots - yum!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Pumpkin Take-Over Continues: Pumpkin Pancakes for One

Drizzle of honey makes them perfect for a sunny fall day

I'm apologizing in advance. I know my SMG professor would knock off major points for starting a discussion with an apology, but I felt the need to do it. I am going to be talking about another pumpkin recipe. I know. I promise I do eat more than just pumpkin, which you'll see the other 11 months of the year, but bare with me one more week, that's all I'm asking.

Aren't these so festive?! My roommate made them for a bakesale -- I was the designated sprinkler. I didn't get to try them, but they completely sold out so I'm guessing they were good.


Before going any further, I have to mention my weekend. I went with two friends and saw Boy & Bear at the Great Scott. This venue is awesome! So small and intimate, it felt like I was seeing a group of friends performing rather than going to a "show." Although we got there a bit late, the songs we were there for were incredible. The lead singer's voice had such warmth and depth, that when combined with folk instruments like a banjo and acoustic guitar, I couldn't help but feel goofy with happiness and comfort. Please download some of their stuff!


Okay, on to the food! My Monday was beyond insane. No classes, yet I left the apartment at 8:45am and didn't get home until 8:45pm -- exactly 12 hours later (okay I had a 30min break where I came home to make lunch, so not a true 12 hours). Although my feet killed and all I wanted was my Victoria's Secret Boyfriend sweatpants, I was in a stupidly good mood all day. Everything just seemed so wonderful. I was that annoying person walking around with my iPod, smiling and tapping my hand to the beat of the music.


During the 30 minutes between the gym and physical therapy, I was able to come home and make a quick lunch (more like lunch part 1, with part 2 three hours later). Because it was 11:30, I wasn't in the mood for "real" food, but I had already had my puffins and peanut butter breakfast earlier in the morning. Sifting through the fridge I realized I still had a container with canned pumpkin in it. Knowing I wanted something pumpkin-tasting but not entirely sure what that something was, I checked up on my usual blogs, one of which being Chocolate Covered Katie. Katie specializes in healthier desserts. How could you not love a blog that promotes both chocolate any time of the day and sneaking in vitamins, minerals, and protein? After reading her post, I clicked on her Recipe Page mainly out of habit. Well, I like to think the food gods guided my clicking because in front of me was a picture of her Banana Pancakes for One. As much as I love my oatmeal and cereal, I adore pancakes. And pancakes for early lunch? Perfection. I altered her recipe by subbing in pumpkin for the banana, but I'm excited to try the banana ones soon!

Besides now having a single-serving pancake recipe that fills me up in my mental recipe list, I also gained the most wonderful knowledge: honey and pumpkin are meant for each other. Seriously. Have some pumpkin bread? Put honey on it.
P.S. The recipe itself if vegan, just swap agave for the honey and you're all set!

Pumpkin Pancakes for One
Adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie's Recipe

Ingredients:
1/3 cup flour (I used all purpose, but I'm planing on trying oat flour, I'll let you know how it goes)
1/2 tsp baking powder
Dash of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup almond milk (or any milk you prefer)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree

Mix the dry ingredients together. I like to do this in a large measuring bowl to save on dishes.

In a separate bowl, combine the three liquid ingredients. Once combined, add in the dry mix to the liquid mixture. Stir to get rid of any flour lumps that may remain.
Heat a skillet and make your pancakes!




Make your day better and make these pancakes! And don't forget to finish them off with a drizzle of honey!

I also made mini pumpkin loaves, but for some reason the middles exploded ALL over my oven


Half-way to Halloween weekend!!

--Kelli

Monday, October 24, 2011

Make Me Smile Monday - 10/24

As you can probably tell from my Death Cab for Cutie post, I'm a music person...also a concert person. Now what's making me smile this monday is the fact that I'm going to two this week! What's even better is that one of them is for free! I'm going to two shows at the Paradise- so stoked.

Tomorrow night I will be seeing Naked and Famous with my roommate..for free! Someone I know won tickets and didn't know who the band was..so he gave them to me. Score. Thanks Joey!





Friday I will be seeing We Were Promised Jetpacks with my boyfriend. We saw them open for Jimmy Eat World last fall and they were awesome! 

And for my food mention of the day we have a list of The Twenty Healthiest Foods Under $1. Let's save some money so we can buy more concert tickets!


Sunday, October 23, 2011

Sunday Paper 10/23 -- Food Day!

Move over Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentines Day for my new favorite holiday: National Food Day. Okay, maybe second favorite, the December holiday season just can't be topped. From this year on, October 24th is officially National Food Day; a day that celebrates affordable, sustainable, healthy foods.

Technology is a wonderful thing. There's no way I'd be able to function without my laptop. Walking to class without my iPod? My whole day would be thrown off. As much as I love and am attached to my gadgets, I'm not a big supporter of technology getting into my food. Let me preface with I am not saying that all food technology is bad. Not at all. Over the past 100 years we have found ways to use technology to make our foods safer, improve shelf-life, and feed hundreds of thousands more than we would have without technology. However, all these great advancements are ones that simply improved or made available whole, nutritious foods. The technologies that I'm not a fan of are what I like to call "creators of food-like products."

Processed foods are not food in my opinion, they are food-like or food-containing. Look at the ingredient list. Anything with words you wouldn't be able to draw without needing an organic chemistry background fall into this category. Not only are these foods harmful to our health, they are also harmful to the environment and to workers.

At it's core, Food Day is about fighting for our health. Making changes in your diet and shopping practices are not enough. For long term results, we need to make changes at the national level. Policies that protect workers, the environment, food safety, and food security are essential in order to claim back our health and give future generations a country that will support their well-being. On the Food Day website, you have the opportunity to ask your members of Congress to support the Eat Real agenda. Click here to read the message and what the Eat Real agenda is all about. In a nut-shell, the Eat Real agenda asks the government to reform factories that harm the environment, support fair working conditions for food and farm workers, promote a healthier diet by having the government buy more fruits and vegetables and make buying produce easier for people on food stamps, and make fresh, healthy foods more widely available, particularly in rural and impoverished urban areas.

Food affects everyone. Along with art and music, its one of the few common denominators we all share. Grab a friend, family member, co-worker, classmate, teacher, neighbor, basically anyone who eats food and go find Food Day events in your area. To find events click HERE. The better educated we are about our food system, the better we'll be able to change it and improve upon it.

One more quick thing then I promise I'll let you explore the Food Day website yourself. There is a free cookbook you can download from the webstie. FREE. It features healthy recipes using sustainable ingredients that are designed by well-known chefs: Jamie Oliver, Mario Batali, Emeril, and so many more! DOWNLOAD THIS NOW!

Happy (almost) Food Day!!

--Kelli

Friday, October 21, 2011

Milk and Cookies Updated

Ok..Milk and cookies..doesn't that just bring you back to being a kid and after-school snacks? Yum. Well cookies are fantastic as they are but why not give them a healthy boost? Whole grain cookies..yes please. Kelli and I work for Sargent Choice which is the healthy dining program at BU and they have a ridiculously good whole grain peanut butter chocolate chip cookie recipe. This past weekend I spent probably half of my time in my kitchen and I decided that it would be a perfect time to bake some. There was one small catch..I've been recently diagnosed with acid reflux so I'm not supposed to be eating chocolate right now. Sad as that may be, it turned out pretty well because it lead me to making whole grain peanut butter butterscotch cookies. Yup. These might be better than the original. So delicious!
I've provided some lovely photos below plus my updated version of the recipe. Enjoy! What are your favorite cookies to make?




Whole Grain Peanut Butter Butterscotch Cookies
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 ¼ cups quick cooking oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chunky natural peanut butter
1/2 cup olive or canola oil
3/8 cup granulated sugar
3/8 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2/3 cup butterscotch
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, oats, baking soda and salt in small bowl.  Beat oil, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla extract in large mixing bowl until creamy.
2. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheet.
3. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks.

- Alli

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Pumpkin for Breakfast



 I wanted to tackle my roommate when she came in with this bag of candy corn from CVS (on sale for 89 cents!). When I was really little I hated candy corn with a passion. Give me anything Reeses or a Twix bar and I was one happy trick-or-treater, but I dreaded those yellow, orange, and white striped candies. Then one year my mom bought a bag of pumpkin caramel corn -- they're shaped like pumpkins, they aren't pumpkin flavored like one of my friends who shall remain nameless thought -- and was in love. I couldn't stop popping them in my mouth. I'm still not a huge fan of candy corn, but I love the pumpkin candies. I don't know why, but I promise you they taste different.

We put the candy corn next to our bowl of Dum Dums -- also on sale at CVS, too good to pass up
I think my taste buds are just weird when it comes to pumpkin. My strange tastes don't only apply to the candy pumpkin impostors but to the squash itself. I hate pumpkin pie. There. I said it. In all honesty, there are very few pies I like, but everyone seems to be most upset with me not liking the Thanksgiving staple. Again, I can't tell you why, I'm just not a fan. BUT (time for the contradiction) I LOVE pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin oatmeal, pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin ravioli, basically "pumpkin" anything except pumpkin pie.

My favorite meal of the day is by far breakfast. All my favorite foods can be enjoyed in the morning, plus I get to sit and watch How I Met Your Mother and The Office while I eat. However,  I'm a creature of habit and tend to eat the same breakfast each day. To spice things up, I've been adding canned pumpkin to some of my favorite breakfast items. In addition to providing a wonderful fall taste, the pumpkin also contributes an awesome nutritional boost:

1/2 Cup Canned Pumpkin provides: 
  • 44 calories with 0 fat
  • 4g fiber
  • 4g natural sugar
  • 280% of your daily Vit A 
  • It's also a good source of calcium, potassium, iron, and Vit E


Pumpkin Spiced Oatmeal
In my Rice Crispe Bowl!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup Scottish oats
1/4 cup Rolled oats
1 1/4 cup water
2 giant spoon fulls of canned pumpkin
Dash of cinnamon and nutmeg
Splash of vanilla extract

Place oats and water in pot and bring to a boil
Once boiling, reduce to low, put pumpkin and spices in, and place lid over pot. Let sit for 3-5 minutes.
Stir oats and check to see if they are at the right consistency for you -- I like mine very thick, so you may need to add water
Remove from heat and pour into favorite breakfast bowl

I often like to place a couple dots of peanut butter in the bowl and then pour the oatmeal over the peanut butter to melt it.


MUCH Better than Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte

 The players: Coffee Press, ground coffee, canned pumpkin, original almond milk, cinnamon, nutmeg (not pictured), and vanilla extract
 What you do:
Prepare coffee. While coffee is brewing, place 1/2 cup almond milk, 1 heaping tablespoon pumpkin, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg in a pot. Place over medium-low heat and gently stir until hot -- do not let boil! Once hot, remove from stove. Pour 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Whisk the mixture until it becomes frothy. Pour coffee into mug then pour in the pumpkin mix.
 PLEASE PLEASE try making this! I would imagine it would taste phenomenal with vanilla almond milk -- anyone tried it? If you use regular skim milk, you may need to add some brown sugar for sweetness. Oh! And keep the spoon handy and stir periodically while drinking. I didn't and some of the spices clumped together at the bottom making for a weird last couple sips.

Half way through the week! I'm especially excited because that means I'm that much closer to seeing Boy & Bear on Saturday night! Be sure to check out their stuff on YouTube


--Kelli

Monday, October 17, 2011

Make Me Smile Monday 10/17

Happy Monday everyone! As I take a minute to welcome another busy week where my Google calendar looks like a crazy rainbow I sit back and smile with the following:

This adorable little dog who is clearly very upset about being on an escalator. When I'm at school I miss my dog and wish I could sneak one into the apartment.


Really awesome WiFi network names.


My boyfriend (behind me), and his roommate (making the ridiculous face) aka two of my best friends. I wouldn't have survived freshman year without these two. 

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Sunday Paper 10/16 - Don't Forget the Food


We all need food right? Try to remember that as you're reaching for the vegan raw gluten-free all natural low glycemic protein bar that is so processed it doesn't resemble any food anymore. This is Manuel Villacorta's general feeling in his article The Truth About Trendy Health Food.


Just because something is "gluten free" "soy free" "dairy free" or "vegan" doesn't necessarily mean that it's healthy, or un-healthy. It just depends on what your needs are. Many people have been buying into the idea that gluten free diets are healthy..when they're not necessary. If you have Celiac disease then go for it..but if there's no reason to cut gluten out of your diet..why do it? Try to put everything in context. 


We need to reconnect with our kitchens. I know that everyone wants a quick fix..something they can just grab and go because we're all so busy but sometimes home made food can be just as quick. And it's nutritious :) So get back in the kitchen and start cooking for the week. If you never have time to make a lunch in the morning to take to work, or no energy to make dinner when you get home then your freezer and fridge will be your best friends. Make big batches of food over the weekend and freeze some for 
later in the week. Then you can come home to dinner already made and finally be able to relax. 


Everyone gets caught up in food trends, it's hard not to, but next time you find yourself rushing out to buy the latest thing take a step back and ask yourself if you really need it. 

--Alli

Friday, October 14, 2011

Getting Situated

Moving out of our dorm freshman year
Just like moving into a new house, Alli and I got super excited to start this blog. We had posts up right away and seemed like we were on a good track. Then we got lazy. We have all these ideas but didn't have a set plan on when to post them -- for anyone who's moved you know what I mean, there are always those couple boxes that you promise yourself that you'll get to later. Well it's officially later. We've combined our brain power and have come up with how we want to organize our Super Squash home. In general, our posting schedule will look something like this:

Monday: Make Me Smile Monday -- pictures, videos, quotes, basically anything that will make Monday happier (Check out our first Make Me Smile Monday Post

Wednesday: A recipe we've made. For the most part we want to post nutritious recipes, but of course there are certain occasions that call for an all-out indulgence splurge!

Friday: Another recipe! After all, food is what we're all really here for isn't it?

Sunday: "Sunday Post" -- We'll be commenting on or letting you know about nutrition in the news, food or health-related events around Boston, or anything else that seems "newsworthy"

I know Friday is supposed to be a recipe, but I still have yet to unpack those boxes, so instead here are some recipes from other blogs that I'm hoping to make very soon! (All pictures are from their original blogs. Super Squash does not take any credit for these mouthwatering images) 
Caramel Pretzel Apples featured on Edible Perspective

15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta by Oh She Glows

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins from Chocolate Covered Katie
Chewy Pumpkin Spice Granola Bars from Clean Eating Chelsey




If you are in Boston, tomorrow is the Boston Book Festival. Hopefully I'll see you there!

--Kelli

Monday, October 10, 2011

Make Me Smile Monday

Happy Monday All! Today's Columbus Day. Now, back in Colorado, this wouldn't have been very exciting since school was never canceled. But now that I'm in Boston, Columbus Day means a a free day to go shopping get work done. Because Monday's are usually not so happy, Alli and I want to help make them not so miserable by posting funny/cute images and videos we find online in a series we're calling Make Me Smile Monday. Have a great Monday everyone!!



The Complete History of SNL's Celebrity Jeopardy

Couldn't Help Myself


-- Kelli

Saturday, October 8, 2011

5 years, 3 albums later.

Death Cab for Cutie was my first "favorite band". I first heard their song "Soul Meets Body" my freshman year of high school and wondered why I hadn't heard them before. I immediately fell in love. Luckily, they were touring with Franz Ferdinand, who I also loved, the following spring. My mom (also a big Franz fan) and I always go to concerts together, and we couldn't miss this. So in April 2006 I saw Death Cab For Cutie in concert for the first time and it was magical. That sounds like such a weird adjective to use, but it really was magical. Everything about it...their talent really shines through in person..Ben's beautiful voice, Nick's killer bass lines, Chris's ability to switch from guitar to back up vocals to everything else, and Jason's awesome drum beats. From that moment on I knew they were my favorite band.

Next time they went on tour I was super excited. I saw them again at the Boston Opera House in November 2008. Then they put out a new album "Narrow Stairs" and I knew that they would be touring again. Oh yes. I saw them at Agganis Arena in October 2009, and was lucky enough to sit in the 5th row! Words cannot even describe how amazing that was. Then things calmed down for a while, but when I heard they were putting out another new album, "Codes and Keys" I knew that meant another tour. This past summer, Death Cab for Cutie announced that they were coming to Boston...twice. Wait..what? Is this real life? I get to see them twice? DCfC played a show at the Paradise Rock Club in Boston, on June 5, 2011 then again at the Bank of America Pavilion on August 1, 2011. I could not have been happier.

A few of my friends were going to come to the show at the Paradise with me but no one could get tickets because it sold out so quickly..which meant I was going by myself. While I've always been a concert-goer I've never gone by myself. I was nervous but so excited that it didn't matter. It was seriously the best show I've been to. Absolutely incredible. And the door-man at the Paradise marked my hands with smily faces instead of x's (for being under 21)


Then I saw them on August 1 at the gorgeous Bank of America pavilion with my mom. Who snuck us into the third row for the encore by lying to the security guards and telling them it was my birthday. Have I mentioned that my mom rocks? Singing along with every song, dancing like crazy, and crying during the show..yup that was a good night.

I just found this and it's definitely going to be my jam for this weekend!

Friday, October 7, 2011

1 lb of Pasta Looks Much Smaller in the Box. . .


109. That's how many recipes I have bookmarked. How many have I actually made? Probably 5, maybe 6 but that's giving myself the benefit of the doubt. This means I have 103 recipes in my overly-organzied recipe bookmark section that I have yet to try. Despite this massive number, I still spend about 3 hours a day looking through food blogs (FoodGawker and Finding Vegan are in my top 5 most visited sites). With the kitchen to my self tonight and no plans until much later, I decided it was time to actually make dinner from a recipe rather than just making my normal bowl dinner. Although I succeeded in trying out a new recipe, I failed in trying one of my bookmarked recipes. Instead, I got a recipe from my College Vegetarian Cooking cookbook. I asked for this cookbook at Christmas. Any guesses of how many recipes I'd made from it before tonight? 

I don't know what it is that I have against recipes. I obviously like collecting them, but for some reason my mind correlates the idea of following a recipe with the ideas of lack of creativity and time consuming. Tonight proved that neither of these are true. In fact, having a recipe can actually save time: you have a set list of things to buy instead of wandering around the grocery store (which I still do, but that's only because it's one of my favorite places), there's less room for mistakes, which means less time trying to figure out how to fix it, and you don't have to come up with an idea from scratch. This leads into the lack of creativity misconception. Especially in cooking, a recipe is more of a guideline. Yes there is some science that goes into it, but in general, you can add or take out any ingredients that you want, making the dish truly your own. 

My first recipe from College Vegetarian Cooking was a success! The vegetables were perfectly tender without being mushy, the pasta was slightly chewy but not hard or too soft, and the cheese and milk gave the dish a very light creamy texture without being heavy. The cheese even gave the dish that memory-evoking swish sound that only cheese mixed with pasta can make (if you've ever made mac n' cheese you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about). Although the dish was wonderfully light and filling at the same time, I added an herb seasoning to the left overs just to give the dish a little flavor kick.

Pasta Primavera 
Adapted from College Vegetarian Cooking

The book says it makes 4-6 servings. I had a TON of leftovers so I'd say it definitely makes closer to 6

Ingredients:
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 cup frozen broccoli florets
  • 1 very large zucchini
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 tomato
  • 3/4 cup frozen peas
  • 1 pound uncooked pasta
  • 1/2 cup almond milk (any type of milk will work) 
  • 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella and Parmesan cheese mix (Sub in vegan cheese to make the whole dish vegan friendly!)
  • Salt and pepper 
Directions:
  1. Place about 1 in of water in a large saucepan over high heat and bring to a boil. Peel carrot and cut into slices. Add carrot slices and broccoli to the pan, cover, and cook for about 4 minutes. Drain the water and put carrots and broccoli in a bowl off to the side. 
  2. Cut zucchini into strips. Peel and chop the garlic. Cut tomato, scoop out and throw away the seeds. 
  3. Fill the same large saucepan 2/3-full with salted water. Bring to a boil then add in the pasta. Cook pasta until al dente, mine took a little less than 10min. Drain water and mix the peas into the pasta. Put back on stove but turn off the heat. 
  4. WHILE THE PASTA IS COOKING spray a saucepan with cooking spray and place zucchini in pan along with a bit of water. Cook for 10 minutes until it starts to become translucent. Add in the garlic and sautee for 2 minutes. Next, throw in the tomatoes and let them cook until they get warm, about 3 minutes. Turn down the heat and add in the milk and cheese. Give the mixture a good stir. Add in the pasta and peas. Stir again. Sprinkle on salt, pepper, and a little more cheese. 
As the title implies, I had no idea how much 1 pound of pasta really makes. I now have pasta leftovers for the rest of the week. . .I guess this is helping me succeed with cooking on a budget?
Of course I had to finish off the meal with local apples topped with my absolute favorite peanut butter (365 from Whole Foods)


Have a great weekend!

-Kelli