Sunday Paper 12/11 - To supplement or not to supplement

Crazy numbers of people are taking some sort of dietary supplement - vitamins, minerals, herbs, algae, amino acids and whatever else. You may be thinking that it's about time you started taking one..or maybe there was a convincing ad on tv. The only way to be sure if you need a supplement is by talking to a registered dietitian and have them do a nutrition assessment.

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Dietary supplements are not regulated by the FDA so there is no way to be sure of the safety and efficacy of what you're buying. Supplements can be very useful for people with special dietary conditions that don't allow them so get all the nutrients they need from food but the average consumer should approach with caution.

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This article outlines how to be safe about supplements and make sure you're not doing more harm than good!

Make Me Smile Monday - 12/5

Only 20 days until Christmas! My favorite day of the year will soon be upon us and although Boston is not experiencing it's usual chilly December I'm going to talk about tea!

I haven't always been a tea fan. I assumed it was similar to coffee (which tastes like chalk in my opinion) and dismissed it. Once I started drinking tea however..there was no stopping me. It started with iced green tea, then hot peppermint tea and kept growing. It's so comforting and there is a flavor to suit every mood. Whenever I'm in a bad mood I reach for some tea...and whenever I'm in a good mood. I just always want tea. Peppermint green tea will always be my favorite but blueberry white tea is a close second..well maybe vanilla chai..I guess I'll never be able to decide.

If your favorite "tea" is Snapple then you're missing out. So many flavors and varieties..there's always room to expand your tea horizons.  Also, if anyone is ever wondering what an ideal gift to get me is it would definitely be a Teavana gift card.

Not only is tea delicious but it is good for you as well! Green tea especially is full of antioxidants which have been shown to slow the growth of cancer cells. It also has less caffeine than coffee so while it will wake you up, you won't be bouncing off the walls. All in all, tea is great.

Back to Cranberry's Roots

When I was home for Thanksgiving I realized something..I had never had home made cranberry sauce. At our table had always been the wiggly can-shaped stuff. I voice this concern to my dad, who came home from grocery shopping the next day with two bags of fresh cranberries and told me to "go for it". When I realized I didn't have a recipe I set to work, and a quick google search yielded this result.

The infamous turkey plates

I modified my version slightly. Upon tasting, the sauce was way too tart from the cranberries and orange juice so I added a bit of extra sugar, but I suppose this could be remedied by using all water or putting in extra sugar or honey in the first place. It's all up to personal preference though!

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I forgot to snag some picture of the actual sauce but I almost didn't have a chance..there wasn't any left after dinner! My parents told me that I "won" Thanksgiving because my dish did the best. Let's hope I can continue this win streak at Christmas!

Here's my modified recipe!

Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients: 1/2 cup fresh orange juice 1/2 cup water 1 tsp minced fresh ginger 1 tsp minced orange zest 1/4 tsp cinnamon 12 oz bag of fresh or frozen cranberries 1/2 cup honey Sugar to taste

Directions:

1. Bring orange juice, ginger, zest and cinnamon to a boil on high heat in a medium saucepan.
2. Rinse cranberries and add once liquid is boiling. Reduce heat to medium and cook uncovered for about 10 minutes.
3. Add crushed pineapple and honey. Remove from heat and cool.

Make Me Smile Monday

I am definitely an animal lover. My cat is one of my best friends and I love my dog! Although her bark can get on my nerves I love coming home to her. And don't forget the horse! I've never been into horse back riding but my mom has and we've had a horse on and off since I was in the fifth grade. I love how they're so silly despite being these huge, strong creatures. 

--Alli

Lovin' in the kitchen - Sunday Paper

I found this article and thought it was cute and relevant. Many people who feel strongly about something will forget it in search of other characteristics in a partner..but when it comes down to it they're just not compatible. Food and cooking are at the top of my list. Food is so important that having a bond over it makes a relationship even more special.

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Luckily my boyfriend and I share a love for food and cooking..although I don't think I'll ever be at his level with spicy food (Who actually likes jalepenos?) We love spending time in the kitchen together even if we occasionally get in each other's way.

Our food from a trip to the Roxy's Grilled Cheese truck!

Taking on Luna

Energy bars seem to be the latest craze. The supermarket shelves are stocked with millions of different kinds. Clif? Luna? Which to choose? These are great for a quick on-the-go snack and as someone with a crazy schedule I can appreciate that.

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But as someone with a soy allergy I can't appreciate their crazy list of ingredients..most energy bars contain some sort of soy, and while my allergy is mild, I prefer to stay away..I don't want to have to bust out the EpiPen.

When I decided that I wanted to try making my own energy bars at home I found tons of recipes for LaraBars (which I love and will probably post about at a later date) and for Clif Bars (which were ok but I wasn't super interested in making). I wanted to try Luna Bars - the ones I've tried tasted great and the just seemed fun to make. I found ONE recipe! In all of the interwebs..only one. Of course it was from the fabulous Chocolate Covered Katie! I eliminated the protein powder and chocolate and used honey as my sweetner. I think I'm going to try again with some maple syrup - yum! The original recipe can be found here.

I stored mine in the fridge after taking them from the freezer and cutting them. They were good! They tasted like healthy peanut butter rice krispy treats..and I was perfectly ok with that!

Farmer's Market Finds

I am obsessed with Farmer's Markets. So much great, local produce and super nice people..what's not to love? So obviously I was super excited when coming to BU I found out they had a weekly farmer's market!

 Last week when I ventured out, despite the rain, I found myself facing some interesting colored produce. I came home with a purple bell pepper and a white sweet potato. Oh yeah, who doesn't love weird colored food? Once I brought them home I couldn't even wait to cook with them so I used them in my lunch! I'm normally not a big pepper fan but I incorporated them into this dish so their flavor wasn't too noticeable.

I'm usually pretty bad a following recipes so I just randomly threw together a bunch of stuff I had so..bear with me as I try to make this into a coherent recipe. These values are totally adjustable to whatever you like, whatever veggies you have on hand, and this recipe can be made vegan by omitting the cheese. Also, if you want to use your own seasoning that's totally fine too..I didn't have time to mix up my own and I had a packet of taco seasoning on hand so I used that.

Alli's Taco Veggies with Cheese

- 1/2 medium sweet potato
- 1/3 C broccoli (can use frozen)
- 1/2 small bell pepper
- 1/3 C black beans
- 1/3 C roasted butternut squash
- 1/4 packet low sodium taco seasoning
- 1/2 C low fat shredded cheese

1. Microwave (or bake, or roast or whatever you like) the sweet potato and squash (I had left over roasted squash so I just used that) until it is fork tender.
2. Cut up the broccoli and par boil (or microwave if frozen), and strain+rinse the black beans.
4. Put diced pepper in a satuee pan with a couple table spoons of olive oil. Cook until softened.
5. Mix in all the other veggies and beans. Simmer for a few minutes.
6. Add the taco seasoning and about 1/2 - 3/4 C water. Simmer until most of the water has evaporated and sauce is thickened.
7. Put into plate/bowl/whatever and top with shredded cheese and let it melt. Yum!

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!

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!

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

Adapted from Sargent Choice Whole Grain Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip 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

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 Paper 10/16 - Don't Forget the Food

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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. 

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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. 

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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

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!

September in Photos

Just wanted to share some pictures from the beginning of the semester :) Here's a few things that I did in september.

One huge plus of my apartment is it's vicinity to Crispy Crepes. Pictured here is a crepe with ricotta cheese and raspberry jam. So good! I've had it twice already this year..

One day my roommate and I decided to venture around Central Square, Cambridge. This is a crazy wall with tons of graffiti on it. She let me borrow her fisheye lens and I had some fun.

I had heard good things about Kickass Cupcakes..so when there was a Buy With Me deal for 6 cupcakes for $9 from their food truck I decided to go for it. It was totally worth it! I had one and was able to share. The cinnamon chai pecan sticky cupcake..so delicious. 

Stay tuned for more picture updates and other craziness. 

- Alli

Food Quotes

So I love reading quotes. Some people are so inspiring..others are just hilarious and I love things that make you think. I've been looking at food quotes recently and I found a few that I want to share! 

It's bizarre that the produce manager is more important to my children's health than the pediatrician.  ~Meryl Streep
I love this..most people don't think about it but diet is such an important part of overall health. America is getting so caught up in "a pill for every ill" that no one stops to think that a well balanced diet can prevent so many conditions. 


Food is an important part of a balanced diet.  ~Fran Lebowitz, Metropolitan Life, "Food for Thought and Vice Versa"
This is another one that I feel rings true with how people are eating today. Processed cheese product? What does that even mean? Can't I just eat cheese? So many "foods" are made of all these crazy chemicals that no one can even pronounce. Why would you want to put that in your body? When I'm food shopping I like to use Michael Pollan's rules of, buy it if it has less than 5 ingredients and the ingredients have less than 3 syllables. Perfect. 


If God had intended us to follow recipes,
He wouldn't have given us grandmothers.
~Linda Henley
This is just cute :)

Watching and Reading

With my crazy busy schedule (2 jobs, and classes and trying to find time to sleep) it's hard to find down time. But not matter what, I always find time to read. Even if it's for ten minutes before bed. And although I've never been a big TV watcher..there are so many good shows out! Let me update you on what I've been watching and reading.

So over the summer I read the Harry Potter series..I know..I'm really late. These books were absolutely incredible!

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It was so hard for me to move on (I'm actually considering reading them again right now) but when my mom finished "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins and suggested I try it..I gave it a shot. It was awesome!

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I'm so glad there were two more to follow because I couldn't get enough of Katniss, Peeta, and all the other dynamic characters. The next two in the series are "Catching Fire" and "Mockingjay". Almost done with "Mockingjay" and I can't decide which one is my favorite! I highly recommend all three of the books.

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After hearing about Games of Thrones from about..every person that I know I decided I would give it a shot (the show..more on the books later) I've never really been into the midevil genre but how bad could it be? I was totally hooked after one show. That show has so many kick-ass characters, crazy sub-plots, and horses how could you not like it? After finishing the whole first season I'm anxiously awaiting to see what's in store for season 2. And yes..I did start reading the book.

Even though life gets pretty hectic, it's nice to unwind with a good book or some crazy TV action. Have you read any books lately? Or are you excited for any fall season premiere?

- Alli