Happy Memorial Day, and thank you to all who have served and are currently serving in our armed forces!
Memorial Day is a day to remember those who lost their lives fighting for our freedom, but it also seems to signify the start of barbecue and cookout season. While it’s always fun to hang out with our family and friends, it can be difficult to find healthy options when attending these parties and get-togethers and can be even more difficult if you have food intolerance or follow a specific diet (gluten free, vegetarian, vegan, etc.). You can totally bring your own food to a cookout if you’re afraid there won’t be anything for you to eat – I’ve done it! But a lot of people might feel awkward or disrespectful doing this (you shouldn’t feel that way, but I get it.). Rather than bringing an entire meal of foods you can/will eat, bringing a dish that you’ll eat but is also something everyone can enjoy is a great option. By bringing a dish you can eat, you can make a full plate of your dish and add to it from dishes that the host or other guests provide. Maybe the host of the cookout you’re attending is awesome and is providing all the food; you can still have a healthy meal by choosing your foods carefully. Choose chicken or a hamburger with no bun over a highly processed hot dog or bratwurst. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, don’t hesitate to bring your own veggie burger – I would imagine most hosts would be happy to oblige. Baked beans are typically a staple at cookouts, and they’re a great protein option for vegetarians. In addition to including protein, load your plate up with fresh veggies but skip the dip, and avoid carb-heavy pasta salads as well as chips and crackers. Choose fresh fruit to end your meal over other baked good and desserts. Looking for a dish to take to a cookout? Try out the garbanzo bean salad recipe from my May 7, 2017 blog. It is a great main dish for vegetarians and vegans (and meat eaters, too!), and it is a higher protein substitute for potato salad if you’re in need of a side dish. To make this dish, you’ll need two cans of garbanzo beans, ¼ cup olive oil mayo (or vegan mayo), 2 tablespoons of dill pickle relish, 1 tablespoon of yellow mustard, 2 stalks of chopped celery, and ¼ cup chopped green onion. After draining and rinsing the two cans of garbanzo beans, use a muddler (typically used for drinks) or a potato masher to mash the beans. You could also put them in a food processor or blender, but be careful not to run it for too long, otherwise you’ll end up with bean puree, and you probably don’t want that. Mix in mayo, relish, and mustard, stirring well until completely blended. If the texture is not creamy enough, add 1 tablespoon of mayo at a time, until it reaches your desired consistency. (I typically end up adding 1 extra tablespoon of mayo when I make this dish.) Mix in chopped celery and onions, stirring until mixed well. This dish is better after refrigerating for a few hours and is best if left to sit overnight so that the flavors have time to blend and soak into the beans. As the garbanzo bean salad sits in the fridge for a day or two, it may become dry, and I would suggest adding a touch more mayo, about a half a tablespoonful at a time. If you're not a fan of mustard, you could leave that out, and you can add any spices that sound tasty to you! It's a great recipe to play around with and make it your own, and however you choose to prepare and serve this garbanzo bean salad, I hope you enjoy! Serving suggestions: You could serve this as a sandwich, as a snack with crackers, or over a bed of greens of your choice. Think positive, stay active, and smile. -A
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I apologize for dropping the ball last week’s blog post! We were traveling for Mother’s Day, and I didn’t do a good job of planning ahead. *face palm* In this week’s post, I will share the recipe I used to make spinach, mushroom, and cheese quiche for Mother’s Day brunch. We paired the quiche with fresh fruit and huckleberry scones. I have to credit my interest in eating well and exercising regularly to my mom – she always fixed healthy meals and snacks when I was growing up, and every evening that the weather permitted it, we would go for a walk before or after dinner. We always ate as a family, and my mom is the one who taught me how to cook. She’s seen her parents and siblings suffer from illness and ailments due to poor eating habits, and as mentioned in a previous blog post, high cholesterol runs in my family. My mom is determined to manage her cholesterol through diet and exercise, as she refuses to take medicine. I agree with her opinion on the matter and am determined to do the same! For Mother’s Day brunch, I fixed my mom a spinach, mushroom, and cheese quiche. I pulled ingredients and baking instructions from a few different recipes, as it is easy to add or leave out ingredients as you prefer. For example if you don’t like mushrooms, it wouldn’t affect this recipe if you left them out, and it would also be easy to add cherry tomatoes or green peppers if you prefer. The possibilities are endless! Here is the recipe I used: 1 prepared, refrigerated pie crust 6 eggs, beaten 1 cup sliced baby portabella ("baby bellas") mushrooms 10 oz bag fresh spinach ½ cup frozen chopped onions 8 oz cream cheese 4 oz goat cheese 4 oz feta cheese Salt and pepper to taste
Serving suggestion: pair with fresh fruit or a tossed salad Next week I will be back with a traditional blog post. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the quiche! Think positive, stay active, and smile. -A Whether you’re traveling for work or pleasure, have a long commute to work or work long hours, or are always driving kids from school to practice to home, you’re going to be eating on the go. Chances are this means stopping for fast food and/or snacking on high sugar/high carbohydrate/low protein/empty calorie snacks – think granola bars and chips. Sound familiar? Healthy eating on the go may seem impossible, but with the tips in this blog and a little time, planning, and preparation (notice a trend with planning and prep??), it is quite manageable, and you’ll likely feel much better eating healthy, whole foods rather than processed un-foods.
As previously mentioned, healthy eating on the go will take some time and preparation. Just like having healthy meals readily available, planning, shopping, and preparing and packaging foods to eat on the go will be the beginning steps of your routine. Because you’ll be on the go, you’ll also need ice packs and coolers to keep foods fresh. This routine might take you a couple of hours on a day when you have some free time (weekends or days off during the week), or you can spend an extra 30 minutes or so every day preparing for the next day. Suggestions include buying plenty of vegetables and fruits for the week and washing, cutting, and packaging them, preparing your own protein bars, and grilling or baking chicken breast to have on top of salad or with fresh vegetables. Perhaps you aren’t savvy in the kitchen or aren’t willing to spend the time preparing and packaging foods, so buying pre-cut and washed fruits (sliced apples) and vegetables (baby carrots, snap peas) might be your go to. They will cost slightly more, but if you’re in a time crunch, it’s totally worth it. Buying a rotisserie chicken and shredding it for salad is a great, time-saving option for lean protein, while separating out a can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) and/or black beans into individual servings is a nice vegetarian alternative to add some protein to a salad. If you don’t have time to pack a cooler or can’t travel with a cooler (think airplanes), dried fruits and veggies, nuts, high quality jerky, and high protein/low sugar protein bars might be the way to go. These aren’t the BEST options for every day meals and snacks, but sometimes it’s the best option for the situation. And it sure beats scarfing down a hot dog and a bag of chips as you run to your terminal to catch your flight…. If you’ve not had time to prepare or pack anything, or maybe you left your cooler on the train you take to work every morning (face palm), local grocery salad bars can be life changing. Again this option will cost slightly more than if you’d prepared your own salad at home, but it’s better than spending money on low quality food from a drive thru. If you’re not a salad person, there are likely enough toppings available on the salad bar that you could make nice veggie bowl and buy some hummus for dipping the veggies. You can even make the best out of a fast food stop when necessary. A lot of fast food restaurants now offer salad, and most of them have some sort of grilled chicken option. Even ordering a kids meal and opting for fruit rather than fries is an OK option when you’re in a pinch. Anytime I travel by car, even if it’s just for a couple of hours, I pack a bag of healthy snacks like individual packets of almond or peanut butter OR single packages of nuts like almonds, single serving containers of applesauce, RX Bars or Larabars, apples, and bananas. If we’re taking a longer trip and pack a cooler, I’ll throw in some string cheese and some cut up and washed veggies, along with some deli ham for my husband. When we traveled to Hawaii for our honeymoon last Fall, it was a little more challenging because we flew (obviously), and there are restrictions on what you can bring in your carryon luggage. There are even more restrictions as to what you can and can’t bring into Hawaii (no fresh fruit or veggies), so everything had to be packaged and unopened. We’re currently planning a trip to Arizona, and we’ll be flying there as well. Luckily the flight is not nearly as long as it is to Hawaii, and I’ll be able to bring packaged pre-cut and washed veggies and fruit like apples or bananas on the plane in addition to some individual packages of almonds for myself or beef jerky for my husband. Just like we did in Hawaii, we’ll hit the grocery store first thing when we get to Arizona to buy some fresh fruits, vegetables, and lean protein sources. We try to prepare most of our own meals while on vacation not only to save money, but because we feel better when we’re eating quality foods that we prepare ourselves. I know, I know, who wants to cook on vacation?! We don’t typically fix anything fancy, but at least we know what we’re eating, and we’re not having to stop for fast food. We’ll also be doing a lot of hiking, so we want to make sure we have healthy snacks (and water!) we can pack to take on our hikes with us. There are ALWAYS healthy options when you’re eating on the go – you just have to be creative! Making sure to include vegetables and lean protein is key, and include fruits, a healthy fat, and whole grains if you want. Take a little time on a Sunday to plan and prepare meals and snacks for the week ahead, and have a backup plan for unseen situations like forgetting your lunch, or your kids’ soccer games running behind schedule. Just remember to do the best with what you have. Think positive, stay active, and smile. -A https://www.precisionnutrition.com/eat-well-on-the-go-infographic https://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-eating-on-the-go |
Allison WerresWife, nutrition coach, dog mom Archives
May 2018
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