food

Mostly Plants….

January 20, 2012 by Alyssa

Here’s an email I sent someone months back about overhauling their diet. This is a great basis for revamping your eating habits and its tailored for meat eaters and vegetarians alike….It throws in breakfast suggestions, substitutions, and even a bit on exercise. Again, this is all based on my own personal experience and what I found works best.

Okay the subject line is a quote from a book by Michael Pollan, but it’s seriously a good rule to live by. Remember this whenever you eat.

Sooo here’s some eating tips/meal ideas

Breakfast: Choose one of these meals, but always try and have a glass of water when you wake up/before you eat. Also, I pair my breakfast with coffee and a tablespoon of coffee mate creamer. During the week, I eat breakfast between 9-10 but as soon as I wake up I’ll have water or tea, and a couple berries to hold me over until I get to work to have breakfast. At work I have coffee at like 10:30. On weekends, I have coffee at like 7:30 and breakfast at like 8:30 or 9. If you don’t drink coffee then go for tea or light juice. They have that Tropicana OJ with only 50 calories per cup!

1/3 cup uncooked oatmeal, made with water and 1/2cup skim milk. Throw in a sliced up banana with cinnamon and a bit of sweetener (I used splenda or sugar free maple syrup but you can use regular sugar or brown sugar). I also ALWAYS eat my oatmeal with ¼ cup of Fiber 1 Original on top. It adds extra protein and protein fills you up. The key to making this small bit of oatmeal into a lot of oatmeal is to continually add water and microwave it until it soaks it all up. You can get a huge filling bowl this way.

Make scrambled eggs in the microwave. Beat 2 eggs in a bowl, microwave for 45 seconds, take them out, stir them around and microwave for another 30 seconds. You can add as many vegetables into the scrambled eggs as you want. Or fat free cheese! And eat it with toast and jelly. Skip the butter on the toast.

Smoothie – This is where you need some protein powder, use about 2 scoops. I use Muscle Milk Light – any flavor. Mix the powder with ½ cup skim milk, a banana, maybe ¼ cup of non fat yogurt, and whatever fruits or berries you might have. Just experiment a bit until you find a combo you like. I usually have to throw some splenda into my smoothie though because I like them to be sweet. Eat that with a ½ cup of Fiber 1 or Cheerios or Special K cereal to hold you over.

You can also do the Bagel thins if you like bagels with low fat cream cheese. I do low fat cream cheese then cut up veggies to mix it with or strawberries sliced on top of the bagel. These are awesome and have them with a light yogurt.

Another quick easy breakfast – Slice of whole grain toast (about 100-120 calories per slice), put some peanut butter or almond butter on it, slice up a banana, and sprinkle cinnamon on top. Eat the rest of the banana on the side. Quick easy filling and it gets you all your protein and fiber too.

Morning Snack: Have a snack mid morning…I usually eat breakfast at 830, eat a snack around 10 or 10:30 and have lunch between 1 and 2. Also, drink something with your snack. It’s important to drink a lot. The packets you can mix with water are awesome if you hate plain water. Just make sure the calories aren’t too bad (no more than like 10 calories per packet). Tea is also great because if you crave sweets, you can add some milk and truvia for a great mid-morning sweet treat. I’m a tea addict now a days. Try www.adaiago.com

Greek yogurt is awesome – lots of protein to keep you full and I like to mix plain greek with jam. You’re looking for greek yogurt to have about 130 calories or less per serving and at least 15g of protein. Stay away from the flavored kind and you’ll clock in at less than 100 calories with a great protein boost.

Yoplait Light yogurt is great too.

Eat a fruit, melon (melon’s awesome = mostly water and it fills you up).

Lunch: Again, this should also have some sort of drink with it. Unsweetened iced tea with lemon, water, diet coke if you’re a soda addict, some sort of liquid to fill you up.

I do the lean cuisines a lot. So pick one you like, throw some extra vegetables into it so it’s more filling or add a small salad to it. Eating just a plain lean cuisine will not seem filling and you’ll be hungry in an hour. You need to add things to it.

I also take leftovers from dinner the night before for lunch. Again, I add extra vegetables or take some carrots and hummus on the side.

Salads are a big go-to lunch for me. You can make these as big as you want. Think of fruits and vegetables (as long as they’re raw or cooked with out oil/butter) to be calorie free foods! I always add lots of variety to my salads. If you like cheese on your salad, go for feta. Its flavorful and one of the few cheeses that isn’t bad for you. Go for light dressing – and measure it out. Seriously, the serving size is 2 tablespoons. Measure out and mix up your salad. You’ll be surprised by how much dressing that really is. I also eat my salads with baked pita chips or reduced fat wheat thins.

Soups are also good here. The brothy kind, not creamy. Eat the whole can! Throw in extra vegetables too. Eat it with crackers or something crunchy and a small salad. You want your soup to have 90-120 calories per serving – that’s about 200 per can which is totally fine for lunch.

Afternoon Snack: Have a granola bar. I like Special K, LaraBars, Luna Bars, whatever you like. Eat a piece of fruit. Go for veggies and hummus. Light yogurt. Or get a small smoothie somewhere. You’re looking for a snack that’s between 100-200 calories. Mixed nuts are good but follow the serving size. Sometimes my afternoon snack is a “special drink” like something from Starbucks, as long as it’s the light version, or whatever I might be craving. This is my healthy “treat.”

Dinner: Baked chicken with BBQ sauce, brown rice (1/2 cup uncooked) mixed with some store bought stir fry sauce or sprinkled with parmesan cheese and garlic powder with a side of mixed vegetables or a salad again. Have steamed or baked fish if you don’t want chicken. Also, when cooking meat on your own, add lots of spices. You can fink McCormick spice mixes at the grocery store. Sprinkle them on meat and vegetables. Spices add flavor. If something is flavorful, it’ll taste good.

Eat sushi, just stay away from mayo or the fried stuff. Pair it with miso soup or edamame or seaweed salad.

Salad with grilled meat & dressing on the side. Do the whole, dip your fork in the dressing then grab some salad.

Try eating veggie burgers. Honestly, you can get mixed vegetable kinds that are good. Serve it like you would a regular burger, use fat free cheese.

Honestly, dinner’s whatever you’d normally have. Just make it healthy. Bake the meat instead of cooking in oil or frying. Choose steamed vegetables. Check out this website www.hungrygirl.com She offers a ton of recipes that are healthy that taste full flavored. Some need special ingredients, but I promise they’re worth it. Cooking her recipes are easy and they involve meat. But seriously, check out her site. I own all her cookbooks and I really love them. Even though they seem a bit cartoonish.

If you’re out to eat, ask them to make the vegetables without oil or seasoning then just add salt and pepper to them at the table. Tell them to cook your meat without a lot of oil. Ask for dressing or sauces on the side that way you can control the amount. It sounds demanding, but trust me, they’ll make your food the way you want them to. Just be nice about it! Also, before you eat, have a glass of water. Just gulp it down to fill you up. And pay attention to your stomach so you can tell when you’re really full or not.

Treats: I love frozen cool whip in a bowl with chocolate chips or sugar free chocolate syrup and strawberries. Make another smoothie if you want. Just make it smaller.

Have 1 graham cracker with peanut butter and chocolate chips on top.

Make Swiss Miss diet hot chocolate with cool whip on top.

Try frozen yogurt with nuts.

Your “treat” should be about 120-180 calories tops.

Alcohol: Go for light beer if you drink beer. Go for “skinny” cocktails if the restaurant offers them. Stay away from margaritas and pina coladas. Drink SODA WATER with flavored vodka and squeeze an orange or lime or lemon in it or if you really need a mixer, ask for soda water, flavored vodka of your choice and a SPLASH of OJ, cranberry juice, tea…. Go for wine – 2 glasses max. And drink water with your alcohol. Also – clear alcohol has less calories than the colored stuff. So say no to rum, whiskey, and that horrible UV vodka with the crazy colors. More expensive clear alcohol tastes better and it has a higher percentage of actual alcohol, so you’ll still get the buzz without having to buy extra drinks.

Exercise: Aim for 5-6 days a week of exercise. Here’s my plan…

3 days a week of 1 hour cardio with abs. I do a full hour on the machines, switching the machines every 20 mins so I don’t get bored. Also take cardio classes if you don’t like the machines – kickboxing, spin, step, zumba (which is actually fun). And if you want some cardio workouts, I can give you some of mine too. I have a treadmill walking workout that burns tons of calories.

2 days a week I do Body Pump with a half hour of cardio or at least some kind of strength training. Currently I’m on a Pure Barre kick and have noticed a great difference in my body – more on that in a future post.

2 days off a week – or I might take an early morning walk (no more than 30 mins) or a short easy 30 min bike ride. Or a yoga class. It’s great for core and ab muscles, it stretches and relaxes you. I like the heated classes personally. But you should try a bunch to find the ones you like. I usually try and fit in as much exercise as I can while still listening to my body. Even if you don’t want to work out, get your butt to the gym, do cardio for 10 mins then ask yourself if you really want to go home. Chances are, you’ll probably finish your work out even if it’s half ass-ed. The point is, you did it and you’ll feel better about yourself. Also, it takes about 2 weeks for a habit to form – so in that amount of time you should be come used to getting to the gym or exercising regularly.

So that’s my life style over view – take my tips and bend them as you may to create a healthy lifestyle that works for you. And in the future, add my recipes and other tips and tricks and I’m sure you’ll find the balance you need to feel satisfied with food, exercise, and your appearance. Just remember – plants!

Healthified

January 18, 2012 by Alyssa

Healthified: The act of taking a healthy recipe
and making it even healthier.

It’s a well known fact that I’m a healthier eater – a healthier eater that likes GOOD food and sweets. In fact, at times I could most definitely pass up a real meal in place of a dessert buffet.

Yes, I’m a vegetarian, technically a pescatarian, yet very few know the definition of this word.

Pescatarian: Used to define those who abstain from eating all animal flesh with the exception of sea-based creatures.

It seems to be that my pescatarian-ism has become less and less a part of my regular diet, usually only coming into play when I am out to dinner and a scrumptious, reasonably priced salmon dish screams out to me.

As a result of my continuous broadcast about healthy eating, a few friends both near and far, have requested an assortment of my healthy recipes. After giving it some thought I believed might be easiest if I list the recipes here on my blog that I myself have taste tested and approved and also throw in some healthy lifestyle tips and tricks I use.

Some of these recipes are modifications of recipes I have found on other blogs, magazines, or cookbooks and I promise to give credit where credit is due when I post these recipes but please know, a lot of the recipes I’ll post were used as a base for inspiration, which were then healthified.

I plan to post recipes for breakfasts, lunch, dinners, and of course sweets. For most recipes, I’ll include nutritional information for reference. I’ll also add in some information about transitioning to a healthier diet without deny yourself completely of all the good food in life. I love wine, chocolate, and crave the comfort foods of my Mom’s kitchen. I’ll also be sure to post modifications or substitutes for every day foods and how to navigate social outings and restaurants to stick to the healthy eating mantra. I feel that I myself have weeded through the majority of healthy living articles published to now know the best recipes, foods, and tips, so hopefully this will be a compilation of what I’ve discovered.

Lastly, as I said, I am vegetarian so these recipes will be vegetarian. This does not mean they can’t be made with meat – simply substitute cooked chicken, shrimp, or ground turkey where you see fit (I’ll also try to note substitutions). Just remember, these changes will effect the nutrition of the recipe. I may also use ingredients, spices or herbs that are foreign to you – these ingredients key and are used because of the nutritional value and added taste element. The key to making good-tasting, healthy food is flavor – leaving out these spices will greatly effect your likelihood of enjoying the recipes.

To start things off, tomorrow I’ll post an overview that I had sent someone last year who had wanted to clean up their diet. It goes over meal options, how to eat, and even some exercise ideas.

And, if you have any specific requests for a healthified recipe, please let me know because it’s more than likely that I have one.

Cheap Eats in Austin

September 10, 2011 by Alyssa

So it’s well known that not only am I a picky eater, but I’m also a food snob – not in the “I only eat at 4-star restaurants” but in that I have high expectations when dining out. I feel that if you own a restaurant there better be a darn good reason as to WHY you own a restaurant and that reason better be because you have insanely good food.

That being said, here’s a run down of my opinion two famous cheap eateries in Austin that I’ve had the pleasure of dining at thus far.

Let’s start backwards and with dessert first, since I’d rather be eating dessert than an actual meal anyways.

Hey Cupcake!

Austin’s very own cupcake trailer. They have a bunch of locations all over Austin and are pretty well known. They have typical cupcake offerings – chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, red velvet, carrot, and sometimes a specialty flavor.

I’ve tried a few of their classic cupcakes – the Snowcap (Chocolate cake and vanilla frosting), Sweetberry (aka, strawberry with cream cheese frosting), and the Double Dose (better known as the Chocoholic). I like that they spice up their cupcakes with cute names. It makes the more appealing.

Sweetberry Cupcake & SnowCap: M<3 and I had these babies dolled up while celebrating our anniversary during my December visit to Austin. As my Mom taught me, presentation is everything.

I like cupcakes a lot and every flavor combo I’ve had from Hey Cupcake has been exceptionally good. Not the BEST cupcake I’ve ever had – because I’m partial to anything with peanut butter in it, but yes, the Best Classic flavored cupcakes I’ve ever had. (I Love You Dollop – you totally win best Rochester cupcake, PB cupcake and crazy combo cupcake in my heart!)

Scored this cupcake one afternoon by knowing the phrase of the day – Don’t be a lazy cupcake. Also, they usually have a BOGO coupon on their website so you can always get a freebie!

The Sweetberry/Strawberry actually tasted like strawberry (as most strawberry cupcakes don’t), the chocolate rocked my world and even had chocolate chunks in it! It actually tasted like rich decadent chocolate that is usually lost in cakes.

As for the frostings……I don’t care for cream cheese frosting but when it came to Hey Cupcake!’s, I found it delish, maybe because it had the added strawberry element that hid the cream cheesiness I detest! Lastly, their vanilla buttercream was fab as well – great, rich vanilla flavor and not at all like snackin’ on a stick of butter like some frostings.

In my opinion, if you can’t do vanilla in a cupcake shop you shouldn’t be open. It’s a standard flavor – a prerequisite for baking, comparable to knowing your ABC’s in order to graduate kindergarten. Get my drift? If you can’t make vanilla taste like vanilla, close shop.

As for their cake – light, fluffy, and moist, exactly how a cake should be. So bravo Hey Cupcake! My food snobbish ways were satisfied. And I’ll stop by whenever a cupcake craving hits while driving.

Juan in a Million

You may have heard of the Juan in a Million restaurant from Man v. Food. It was made famous by Adam Richman while attempting to eat the eight of the gigantic breakfast tacos. It’s a hot spot for UT students to grab breakfast at and there is a lot of hype about the restaurant in general.

Since there was so much hype about the little Mexican restaurant, <3M and I had to try it out. Our first Juan in a Million attempt was a massive fail. We went on a Sunday morning and there was a line out the door. Both of us were ready to chew our arm off so we kept on driving….which is what we should have done this second time around.

Juan in a Million is situated in the ghetto part of Austin. Driving through the area makes me a bit uneasy, and it even made me question the quality of food being served. The place inside reminded me of college living. Lawn furniture chairs, pictures hung haphazardly on the wall, and frames dangling off center.

Juan’s fencing to keep the rabid dogs out. Take note of the folding chairs and tables!

But hey, even after risking my life while driving and sitting in the sketchy, ready to collapse chairs,I was still on board for eating at the Man v. Food legacy – plus, I thought M<3 would love it since he’s a fan of the show.

Doesn’t he looked psyched? He could probably pass for Don Juan himself with his moo-stache growing and glowing tan.

The menu was simple and I decided to just get a classic Mexican breakfast: two eggs, beans, potatoes, and tortillas. How hard could that be to screw up? M<3 went with the Migas – basically the same thing except some tortillas and cheese were thrown into the eggs.

The waitress came with coffee, chips (at 9am? Sure! Why not!) and salsa.

Fresh salsa. I love salsa so I was sold on the oversized dish of tomato goodness.

Salsa – also known as poor-Lyssa’s Gazpacho!

We waited around a bit…a bit longer than I typically like to wait for breakfast.

It’s the first meal of the day, and if you’re a restaurant, you better make it speedy because people are usually hungry and the hungrier I am and the longer I wait, the more HANGRY (that’s hungry & angry) I become.

Finally the grub showed.

Juan in a Million’s Breakfast Taco from Man v. Food

This is where it all went down hill. I’m a sucker for refried beans so I had high hopes for beans at breakfast time, especially because these beans were made by an authentic Mexican restaurant and showcased on Man v. Food.

M<3’s Migas – Mine looked the same minus the cheese and add some tortillas on the side.

With high hopes, I tasted the beans…Instantly I knew, they were made with meat, I could even seek the specks of fried meat bits in them as I dug through. <3M had high hopes for the beans as well. Refried pinto beans are a fav of <3M’s and he left his untouched, so sadly, these beans must have been well under par for <3M to pass on a favorite.

After a quick chat with the waitress she confirmed what I already knew – the beans were cooked with LARD (that evil 4 letter word I absolutely hate). But hey, I could sub another side of potatoes or rice for the beans since they didn’t have vegetarian beans. After appraising the other items on my plate, I passed on both of those options as well.

Don’t be fooled, it’s not cheese. Just pure fat!

I took a breath and put the beans behind me, setting my sites on the potatoes – which resembled little cubes of grease soaked (or more likely lard glazed) sponges. These usually delicious carb-y wonders lacked flavor, their texture was mushy, and they were another breakfast fail.

On to the eggs! After careful examination I dove in. And to my surprise, they were decent. And by decent, I mean at least they weren’t lard covered. But I could have made better at home.

Now for the tortillas. Probably the best part of the meal, besides the salsa, for those I enjoyed! But my guess is Juan didn’t make the tortillas himself…….

So, thank you random-mass-produced-tortilla-maker for upholding your quality standards.

In the end my breakfast ended up being a makeshift breakfast taco – a few greasy potatoes (I convinced my self they weren’t cooked in lard), eggs, and a generic tortilla smothered in salsa for flavor!

Looked a bit like this but sissy sized.

I ate it. I was no longer hungry but I wasn’t satisfied. <3M even suggested paying, leaving, and going to another diner because he was so unhappy with his meal.

Sadly, we Juan’t be going back.

All in all, Juan in a Million’s claim to fame is it’s TV appearance, not its food. Like I said before, if you’re going to own a restaurant then reason you should be in business is because you serve great food. Juan, did not have great food. He had great advertising.

I have a few more restaurant reviews, a few other food trailers that I won’t mind ranting and raving about, and one restaurant which I absolutely love in Austin that I’ll share another time…..

food

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