Random stuff | My Foodie Call | Page 7

Category: Random stuff
- Make friends with…Gogi Berries.
  
  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall
  
  Nov 9th
  Have you heard the term “Superfood” when referencing a food’s nutrition benefits? “Superfoods” are as trendy as “fat-free” foods were back in the 90’s. It seems like the word “fat-free” was slapped on everything it could be…everything short of an apple. But we all know where the fat-free craze got us…. Excess sugar in our goods.
  
  Yes, Sugar overload. Anyhow, back to the labeling of “Superfoods.” On your health journey, you will most certainly come across the term “Superfood”. Really it is a marketing term to try to get you to buy and consume whatever Superfood is being touted as the next big thing. Marketing. And it works. I am guilty. However…what is important to note is that no one particular food can equate to perfect health. The key to great health is keeping a variety of whole, unprocessed foods in your life. Not focus on any one particular “Superfood.” Yes, kale is pretty much king, but make sure you do not ignore collards, spinach, romaine or any other powerful green. Again, I am guilty. I buy and consume these marketed “Superfoods.” I even have some on auto delivery from Amazon. See below 🙂
  
  Gogi Berries. A packaged Superfood. Sweet.
  
  These are the guys I am talking about. Good stuff. In a bag. Long shelf life. No worrying about buying in season.
  
  The reason I will promote this “Superfood” is because they do have pretty awesome health properties. Similar to berries, but no fuss or worrying about them rotting or going bad. No refrigerating required. Here is the deal. Before gogi berries are packaged, they are dried out almost completely and left with about 10% moisture. This gives them their chewy consistency. And although gogi berries look like little red raisins, they are not quite as sweet. But with Vitamin A, C, and Iron? Who cares. Way healthier than a raisin.
  
  My gogi berry and rolled oat cookies from a while back. See those red guys?? These are gogi berries.
  
  According to the Navitas Naturals website this is what they say about their gogi berries and their nutritional content: “Ounce-for-ounce, goji berries contain more vitamin C than oranges, more beta-carotene than carrots, and more iron than soybeans and spinach.” That’s quite a nutritional claim. I’m on board with that. What to do with these babies?
  - Keep them in your purse in place of those almonds you have been carting around for a week. Mix it up a bit.
  - Add them to your salad.
  - Top your oatmeal with them.
  - Add them to granola.
  - Blend them into smoothies.
  - Add them to your cookie recipes?? See above picture :).
  Although I am certain they sell them at Whole Foods Market, here is the Amazon link if you would like to order some from the comfort of your couch. http://www.amazon.com/Navitas-Naturals-Organic-Berries-16-Ounce/dp/B000FFLHSY
  Posted in Make friends with... | Tagged gogi berries
- Small changes…buy BPA free-canned beans
  
  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall
  
  Oct 31st
  
  You understand that canned foods have BPA, right?
  
  What is BPA?
  
  Bisphenol A.
  
  Or put simply, it’s a chemical found in hard plastics and cans and wreaks havoc on your endocrine system.
  
  No thanks.
  
  Chances are, you probably heard about BPA 8-10 years ago. The most publicized offenders at the time were items such as plastic sports water bottles (Nalgene), baby bottles, and sippy cups.
  
  Well, what you may or may not know is that it is extremely common in the lining of cans as well.
  
  No doubt I rely on canned products like every household. Especially being that much of my meal planning involves the use of canned beans. In a perfect world, I would buy dry beans and cook them up myself, but that is not happening anytime soon.
  
  What you and I can do is be pickier about our canned beans because there are some companies that offer BPA-free products
  
  For today’s “Small changes…” I just want to tell you about two companies that have BPA-free canned beans.
  
  1) Eden Organic Beans
  
  Worth it to pay the tiny bit extra for Eden brand canned beans.
  
  Check out their commitment here: Eden foods
  
  2) Trader Joe’s Beans
  
  Trader Joe’s canned beans are all BPA-free.
  
  Most, but not all Trader Joe’s canned products are BPA-free.
  
  Remember, good health does not happen over night. Start with small grocery changes such as purchasing BPA-free products . This will eventually add up to good, long-term health for you and your family.
  
  Posted in Small changes | Tagged beans
- Thoughts on dairy
  
  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall
  
  Oct 27th
  NO.
  
  At least, this house does not….
  
  So I was asked recently, “Why no dairy?”
  
  First off, have your read The China Study? Watched Forks Over Knives?
  
  If you want to step up your nutrition game, read The China Study. Or if you flat out hate reading, watch Forks Over Knives. Or do both. These two sources are incredibly informative and will provide a much better responses to the “Why no dairy?” question than I can.
  
  Although I’ll try….
  
  My opinion is tough to simplify in just one post. I personally do not like to read super long blog posts or articles when I am browsing the web, so I’ll try to get to the point.
  
  Why No Dairy?
  
  3 reasons…
  1. In a nut shell: Casein. Casein is a protein found in cow’s milk. Check your cheese package. It’s there. Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study, found casein to be a cancer promoter after decades of laboratory research. Here is the deal: He was able to turn cancer tumors on and off simply by increasing the amount of casein fed to rats. Yup. casein. Again, look at your package. It’s there.
  2. Milk is designed for baby cows, not humans. It is hormonally balanced for calves and when humans drink cow milk, we promote IGF-1 growth hormone, the very hormone that causes cancer cells to proliferate.
  3. Calcium, schmalcium. Mass media teaches us that cow’s milk is good for bones because of its high calcium, yeah, yeah, yeah…. HOWEVER, the US is among the highest dairy consumers in the world and we have the highest rates of osteoporosis. There are better, more absorbable ways to consume calcium. A few ideas here.
  So what does the My-Foodie-Call family do when it comes to milk, cheese, ice cream, chocolate milk, yogurts, etc?
  
  I treat it like junk food.
  
  Meaning: occasionally, but not regularly.
  
  Like oreo’s, french fries, cotton candy, and pizza….
  
  A few more details below:
  
  For milk:
  
  I NEVER buy cow’s milk. If a recipe calls for cow’s milk, I sub out a plant-based milk. If the recipe has to have cow milk and can not be substituted?
  
  I do not make it. That simple.
  
  I buy almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, rice milk, oat milk. I mix it up.
  
  For cheese:
  
  I still buy it, but will go long stretches where our fridge will not have it and when the kids ask, we will be “all out”. I do at times buy string cheese, block cheese, or sliced cheese, but it is never part of the regular grocery list and I try to stock pile vegan cheeses when they are on sale at Whole Foods. Especially Daiya brand. That one stretches, melts and generally tastes the best. Some of the other cheeses are questionable. Sad to say. :(. What about pizza, you ask? We will still order pizza, but when the pizza is gone we’ll cut out cheese again for a while. It’s all about balance. I can’t completely deprive my kids or they’ll stage a protest or sit in or something. Wouldn’t want that.
  
  For ice cream:
  
  I buy it, but on occasion. As I mentioned before, we do have dairy, but not as a regular thing. I might buy ice cream sandwiches one week and then not again for another month. We may do a Menchies run on a Saturday afternoon, and then that will be it for a few weeks.
  
  Striving for our best, but not perfection. I am the worst offender on making a fro-yo Menchies run.
  
  No apologies.
  Posted in Random stuff
- Tempeh Potato Curry
  
  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall
  
  Oct 26th
  Tempeh Potato Curry
  
  Figured it was time for some curry….
  
  It’s been a while. So I got to work.
  
  First, I chopped some of this…
  
  then I minced and grated some of this…
  
  added some of this…
  
  And this…
  
  And this….
  
  And it became this.
  
  The recipe.
  
  TEMPEH POTATO CURRY (adapted from this Whole Foods recipe)
  - 3 cups cooked brown rice
  - 1 (8-oz) package tempeh, cut into diced-sized cubes
  - 1 1/2 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
  - 1 yellow onion, chopped
  - 3 cloves garlic, minced
  - 2 tbsp freshly grated ginger
  - 2 tbsp ground curry powder
  - 2 tbsp ground cumin
  - 1 (13.5-oz) can light coconut milk
  - 2 medium size potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  - 1/2 tsp garlic salt (or more to taste)
  1. In large skillet, bring 1/2 cup broth to simmer over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, and ginger and cook 5 minutes or until onion is translucent and tender, stirring occasionally.
  2. Stir in curry powder and cumin and cook for 1 minute. Add coconut milk, potatoes, tempeh, frozen edamame, and remaining cup of broth.
  3. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover and cook about 15-20 minutes, or until potatoes and edamame are tender. Stir in garlic salt. Taste and adjust seasonings.
  4. To serve, spoon curry over rice.
  Spoon it over brown rice and call it dinner.
  Posted in Meatless mealtime, Random stuff | Tagged potato, rice, tempeh
- My Foodie Call’s Morning in First Grade
  
  Posted at 8:00 pm by myfoodiecall
  
  Oct 25th
  Did you know that yesterday was Food Day 2013?
  
  Food Day is an annual event that celebrates food that is healthy, affordable, and sustainable. All the while keeping the environment in mind. Food activists from all over the nation plan cooking classes, movie screenings, dinners…you name it.
  
  All events are done to help carry out the mission of Food Day.
  
  October 24th. Yes, yesterday was Food Day for 2013.
  
  Although I was unable to participate in Food Day 2013 on a large-scale, I decided to instead take the mission into my youngest’s classroom.
  
  What I did was very similar to the My-Foodie-Call Family’s Pumpkin Smoothie Challenge. Remember this post?
  
  Well that’s what the 1st grade kids at Laurel Hill Primary got.
  
  A Pumpkin Smoothie Challenge
  
  First off with the kids, I wanted them to know why I was there. I did a short schpeal on Food Day 2013. The kids did not need to be bored with the fine details of Food Day, so I just chose to discuss three basic things:
  - Staying away from pre-packaged foods.
  - About our Pumpkin Smoothie Taste Challenge.
  - Why pumpkin is good for our bodies.
  I brought these items as visuals to help them remember that pumpkin has beta-carotene for their eyes. I thought for sure I was going to get heckled for my pumpkin art work, but thankfully 1st graders are not harsh critics.
  
  Next the class was divided into two groups. Here they are finding out if they will make either “Smoothie 1” or “Smoothie 2”. (but they will try both).
  
  Next we made our smoothies. Here is smoothie number 1 in action.
  
  Both complete, in appropriately numbered cups, and ready for sampling.
  
  6-year-old My-Foodie-Call member sampling the two, although we all know he has done this game before. (shhh…).
  
  A classmate modeling a pumpkin mustache.
  
  She asked me to come see. Love.
  
  Voting time…
  
  The top-secret voting pumpkin.
  
  Time to tally.
  
  One vote for smoothie number 2.
  
  Their super fab 1st grade teacher made the Smoothie Challenge into a mini math lesson. Awesome.
  
  Another math table. More tallying.
  
  And the winner?
  
  Number 2!
  
  The Colossal Pumpkin Smoothie.
  - 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  - 4 tablespoons agave
  - 1/2 cup pumpkin
  - 1 1/4 cups vanilla almond milk
  - 1 cup ice
  Place all ingredients in your blender and blend, blend, blend!
  
  The morning was a success. Mission accomplished.
  
  Two things for you to think about.
  
  1) Next year for Food Day 2014:
  
  Seek out an event or host your own. www.foodday.org
  
  2) Try the Pumpkin Smoothie Taste Challenge at home with your own family members. Let me know who wins!
  Posted in Random stuff, Snacks | Tagged pumpkin, smoothie
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