Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Asian Chicken With Veggies and Rice Recipe

Asian Chicken With Veggies and Rice Recipe

I have to admit that this recipe started as an attempt to make a crockpot Teriyaki chicken but it did not thicken. It is really tasty though with a great sweet ginger taste.




It also is packed full of vegetables with 3-4 colors reresented: orange, red, green and beige if you count the mushrooms. Aren't they beautiful all diced up!? Make sure to dice your veggies small in this so they don't overpower the star of the dish: the chicken! Recipe is below after you hit the read more link.






Fitness Lives - Keep Straight in December

I love this motivational post entitled Is Fitness Dead by - Adam Bornstein on Livestrong


In short he is challenging everyone to not let December and the holidays mean a halt to fitness and nutrition. Here are some excerpts:


But the end of the year is also bittersweet. When you look beyond the holiday cheer and time away from work, December oftentimes equals doom for your health. Diets go crashing, activity disappears, and the hard work that people put in for an entire year goes on life support—waiting for resurrection in January. 

Monday, November 28, 2011

Sunday cooking with Sis!

So, I'm the big sister on this blog. My whole family calls me Sis, rather than Melissa. I owe y'all an introduction post telling you how I ended up here, as a dedicated ancestral eater and lover of planning and cooking my meals. We'll save that for a day when I have more time.

Most weeks I cook my food for the week every Sunday. It's become a ritual and when life interferes and I have to do it on Saturday night or (gasp) not at all, it is not a pretty sight. I am spoiled with eating my own home-cooked meals for breakfast and luch at work.


This week I made two recipes,
Sausage and Potato Hash with Eggs and Italian Beef and Squash with Mashed Potatoes.

Should We All Go Gluten-free Article Rant

There was a recent article in the New York Times Magazine entitled: Should We All Go Gluten-Free? It discusses a Gluten-free Expo in Utah, the prevalence of Celiac disease & gluten intolerance, and how the market has responded with gluten-free products.

If you haven't read the article pop on over to the link and  give it a read. I think it is great that there are gluten-free products on the market for people suffering from serious celiac disease. I am a bit concerned about how people without celiac have gone gung-ho about gluten-free prepackaged food. 

I have done so many diets in my lifetime: low fat in the 80's, Atkins at the millennium, pescatarian more recently, and now gluten-free. I should be on board with this trend and all the products then - right? Ugh. The thing that I have learned from the different diets that I've done is that the key to healthy eating is about eating the right amount of calories (and because for a 5' 2" person those calories are few) - to have those calories count by using them for healthy REAL food. Whether its been low fat or high fat that I've eaten - if I start 



Saturday, November 26, 2011

Mini Bowls


Kahler Omaggio Bowls
Mini Bowls from Huset Shop
I am a sucker for kitchen items; vintage, modern or just plain weird. I have a collection of mini bowls in varying shapes and patterns that I initially bought for my still-life art, but I am always finding them useful in the kitchen. I use them often when baking and cooking to separate measured or chopped ingredients waiting for their turn in the queue. They are great for single servings of chilli, stews and rice as well as for dips and salsa.

You can find plain ones that stack, adorable patterned ones, and ones that can even go in the oven.

Here are some I liked from around the web.

-Nicole

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving - Leftover Mealpod Recipes!

On a holiday all about eating I tend to go overboard.  It is a day I let myself off of my healthy eating regime and have fun with friends and family. That might mean diving into the stuffing even though I usually don't eat wheat or maybe sampling every dessert, and then going back to the stuffing.  Did I say I love stuffing?

The important thing is getting back to  healthy eating habits first thing Friday.  Since I lost 30 pounds, I've still had some ups and downs with my weight. Whenever I gained some weight back, it was always because I let myself get off of my new healthy eating lifestyle. I'm not saying I'm always dieting, but if you've lost a significant amount of weight most likely the bad habits that got you to be heavy in the first place have the possibility of creeping back up on you. Thanksgiving is a day of fun and (let's face it) overeating but don't let that one day throw you off course. 


To help you get back into eating right, Melissa and I want to share a couple of great Mealpod recipes that make use of Thanksgiving leftover turkey! 

Bacon Turkey Salad Recipe (refrigerator pod) 
This is a great fresh recipe with avocado and bacon to make and portion out for delicious lunches for the week.
Turkey Broccoli Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe
This classic alfredo recipe makes very frugal use of your roasted turkey leftovers making 14 Mealpods to store in the freezer!

--- Nicole

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Vintage Posters

I love these vintage posters from the Food Administration that are posted on Flickr Creative Commons!