Creamy Nonfat Chocolate Ice Cream

I saw this recipe on Pintrest and decided to give it a try to satisfy my chocolate cream craving and to use some of the frozen bananas in our fridge.

Ingredients
3-4 frozen bananas
1 TBS coco powder
Possible Add-ins 
Carmel
Nuts
Chocolate chunks
Sprinkles
Hot sauce
Granola
Fruit
Bananas (just kidding)


Directions
1. Chop bananas in to 1/2" pieces and put in blender (you may want to cut them before you freeze them. I didn't have a problem cutting and blending them frozen but the person who I got the recipe from did).
2. Blend (you will have to stir the larger chunks to the bottom at times).
3. Add coco powder and blend.
4. Serve as soft serve ice cream or put it back in the freezer for a bit if you'd like it harder (for ice cream cones).

My bananas were pretty brown when I froze them so there was a definite banana taste. I'm wondering if the bananas were greener it was have a more neutral flavor. Add ins would also be great to tone down the banana flavor. Next I think I am going to try freezing a mango and adding it to the blending process to get a fruity flavor. Good luck if you try this recipe and let me know if you find any really great add-ins or uses for this recipe!

How Etiquette Makes You Healthy

You may not suspect it, but one of my hobbies is collecting and reading old etiquette books. It started sometime during late elementary years or early junior high when I was very sick in bed and running out of books to read. It seemed the only books in our house I had not read were on top of my mom's  pump organ which belonged to her collection of antiques. There I came upon an etiquette book published sometime around 1920. I read it and loved it. I had always loved old things and learning about bygone eras, and reading about etiquette gave a glimpse into past times unlike anything else. I now have etiquette books of my own. Copies of two books on my iPod dating from sometime around the Civil War, one by Amy Vanderbilt from the 1950s and I hope to accumulate more.

It seems that for the most part many of the old protocols of etiquette have long left our society, either out dated or forgotten. However, you may be surprised to learn that some etiquette may help improve your health.

Breaking Bread
Etiquette dictates that bread should be broken, not cut, and buttered one bite at a time. Common practice often involves slicing a roll in half, buttering both sides, putting it back together and eating it like a sandwich.

How Etiquette Helps: Anyone who has been to Olive Garden, Texas Roadhouse, or any Mormon function with baskets of homemade rolls knows how easy it is to down several rolls or breadsticks in one sitting. I can inhale a basket Texas Roadhouse rolls! Breaking bread off one piece at a time slows you down. It takes just a little more time and effort, giving you a chance to realize you are full before you've eaten the whole basket. Buttering one piece at a time can help you use less butter. Slathering butter on a whole roll makes it easier to over do the butter. If you are buttering once piece you are more likely to go a little lighter on the butter.

Salting
All etiquette books state that salting a dish before you have tasted is inconsiderate to the cook who has gone great lengths to create a well seasoned dish. However, many times people salt dishes out of habit more than anything else, never even tasting to see if salt is needed.

How Etiquette Helps: The typical American diet is very high in salt, with the average intake often being more than double what is recommended. This can cause high blood pressure which can lead to heart and kidney problems, both of which are issues in the United States today. Waiting to salt food can help decrease your salt intake and help prevent these issues.

Cutting Meat 
Meat is to be cut one or up to three bites at a time, no more. It is to be cut slowly, deliberately, gently and then chewed completely before being swallowed. None of this cutting a whole chicken breast at once and then gobbling it down or frantically sawing with a knife or, worse yet, the side of your fork.

How Etiquette Helps: Once again, as with the bread, cutting slowly and chewing completely helps you slow down and taste your food. Chewing the meat also helps it digest. It also reduces the risk of knocking the meat off your plate during the frantic saw.


These are just a few of the ways that taking time to observe etiquette can help you improve your health.
I am excited to gain the health and poise that can come from days gone by, but as LeVar would say on Reading Rainbow, "But you don't have to take my word for it!"  Go try out a book of etiquette for yourself!  

Southwest Salad

I know this is not an original concept or anything unique, but I have loved this salad. It started out as a throw-together-whatever-we-have salad and has ended up a family favorite. Sorry the ingredients aren't very specific. I usually don't cook with recipes, I cook with pictures (which could explain the lack of recipes on our recipe blog...).

Ingredients 
1-2 TBS olive oil
1-2 large peppers or 4-5 small peppers (red, yellow, orange)

2-3 cloves minced garlic

1 small onion, chopped or sliced 

1-2 TBS taco seasoning 

1/2-1 cup frozen corn
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 head green leaf lettuce, rinsed, dried and shredded
1/4 cup fresh mozzarella, diced
1/4-1/3 cup low fat ranch dressing

Directions
1. Sauté onion, peppers, and garlic in olive oil until peppers begin to become tender.
2. Add rinsed black beans, frozen corn, and taco seasoning and sauté  until warmed through.
3. Place lettuce, ranch,  and mozzarella in large bowl.
4. Add bean, pepper and corn mixture to lettuce. Bean mixture can either be added warm, room temperature, or cold, as is your preference.
5. Toss salad and serve.

Very quick and easy, delicious, low fat, good protein, dinner great for summer.

Healthy Snack Ideas

I've been trying trying to revamp some of my eating habits. I maybe a dietetics graduate, but between class, wedding/newlywed and internship obligations I've gotten lazy with my diet. Here are some of my new and improved healthy snack ideas: 

• Crasins (1/3 cup is about 130 kcals if I remember correctly, but oh so worth it)
• Pistachios (a low fat nut which makes it a better option that most other nuts and the shell makes you work for it) 
• Slice whole wheat bread with butter or homemade jam (helps increase dietary fiber) 
• Watermelon (low calorie and great taste) 
• Banana with peanut butter (watch for added sugars and oils which add calories to peanut butter) 
• Apple (sprinkle with cinnamon to spice it up) 
• Low-fat yogurt with fruit (watch out for fat and sugar in yogurt, they taste great but adds lots of calories) 
• Salad (I recently used guacamole as dressing, which I really loved) 
• Celery, peanut butter and crasins (can you tell crasins are my favorite food?)
• Avocado and whole wheat toast 
• Chips and salsa (add black beans for protein) 
• Small bowl oatmeal with apples and crasins :) (another great way to get fiber!) 
• Zucchini pancakes (I haven't done this in a long time, but it was a favorite as a kid) 
• Baked sweet potato fries (season salty, with herbs, pepper, cinnamon, garlic, the list is endless, and they're so easy to make!)
• Home dried fruit leather (we just got a dryer thanks my mother-in-law!) 
• Cold cereal (watch for lots of sugar, but high fiber cereal is a great snack) 
• Cucumbers in oil/vinegar mix with salt and pepper 
• Air popped pop corn (try seasoning with herbs for low salt option)  
• Whole wheat muffins (I like apple cinnamon muffins or mango muffins best) 
• Cucumber sandwich (use low fat cream cheese herb spread with cucumber slices on bread) 
• Broiled apple cheese sandwich 

*Note from a dietitian* 

Something interesting I learned at the Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo this fall was it is a good idea to have fruits/vegetables, carbohydrates, and some type of fat/protein in a snack. Here is why: 

• If you eat all fruits or vegetables it often aren't as satisfying by themselves (think plain broccoli), so at the end of your snack you will probably not be full and crave something else. 
• If you eat carbohydrates, like crackers, chips, and bread you will eat a lot more to get full, therefore you will eat more calories if your snack is just carbohydrates. 
• If you eat just fat and protein like lunchmeat, cheese, or nuts you will get a lot more calories in a very small serving size. Fat have 9 calories per gram versus carbohydrates which have 4 calories per gram.
• If you eat a combination of fruits/vegetables, carbohydrates, and fats/proteins in your snack you will actually be the most satisfied and full with less calories. In other words, your snack will fill you up, satisfy your cravings, and be a lower calorie option than eating just carbohydrates or or fat/protein. An example is the broiled apple cheese open faced sandwich. 

Some snack ideas that should be used sparingly are: 

• Smoothies (have a lot of calories and usually aren't very filling) 
• Crackers (often high fat I've found) 
• Granola and granola bars (lots of fat and sugar) 
• Juice (lots of calories, often has lots of sugar, and no filling fiber found in regular fruit) 
• Dried fruit (has more calories per ounce than regular fruit and added sugar) 
• Nuts/trail mix (usually have lots of fat, even though it is the good type it does add calories) 
• Fruit snacks (lets be honest, its gelatin and flavoring, not fruit) 
• Jello (if you do snack on jello have the 0 calorie or low calorie type) 

One thing to remember about snacks is it is a good idea to schedule them. Eating regularly scheduled, sit down meals, including snacks, helps you regulate your intake because you don't get over hungry. Schedule a snack, and if you aren't hungry, don't eat it, but if you are you have something planned and on hand. 

Making Mozzarella

One day I decided I wanted to try making my own mozzarella cheese. I'm not exactly sure why. I'm guessing it probably had something to do with Pintrest. I gathered my supplies and the next time David had drill I went up to my parent's house and made fresh cheese with my brother, Josh, who enjoys food experiments.

Josh  stirring  

Waiting for curds to form

Forming a loaf 

One pound of delicious mozzarella 

Our fresh mozzarella pizza! 

David enjoying a gilled mozzarella sandwich 

Surprisingly making cheese was not as difficult as I expected. Josh has made at least two additional loafs since then. Overall I would say the project was a success!

Naan Bread

I found this really neat blog here that has budget recipes with the price of each ingredient, recipe and serving calculated out. I found it the same day I did my bountiful basket calculations and was so impressed I think I might try the same thing with some of my favorite recipes. To start off here is a new Woodward favorite: Naan Bread (I got the recipe off that blog).

Naan Bread 

Servings Per Recipe: 8 pieces

Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 25 min. Rise Time: 45 min. Total: 1.5 hrs.

Our naan and falafel dinner 

INGREDIENTS

2 tsp dry active yeast $0.19

1 tsp sugar $0.02

1/2 cup water $0.00

2.5-3 cups flour $0.19

1/2 tsp salt $0.05

1/4 cup vegetable oil $0.15

1/3 cup plain greek yogurt $0.56 (totally worth it! it makes the bread so soft!) 

1 large egg $0.12

Total Cost: $1.27

Directions 

STEP 1: In a small bowl, combine the yeast, sugar and water. Stir to dissolve then let sit for a few minutes or until it is frothy on top. At that point, stir in the oil, yogurt and egg until evenly combined.

STEP 2: In a medium sized bowl, combine 1 cup of the flour with the salt. Next, add the bowl of wet ingredients to the flour/salt mixture and stir until well combined. Continue adding flour a half cup at a time until you can no longer stir it with a spoon (about 1 to 1.5 cups later).

STEP 3: At that point, turn the ball of dough out onto a well floured counter top. Knead the ball of dough for about 3 minutes, adding flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. I ended up using about 3 cups of flour total. The dough should be smooth and very soft but not sticky.

STEP 4: Loosely cover the dough and let it rise until double in size (about 45 minutes). After it rises, gently flatten the dough and cut it into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a small ball by stretching the dough back under itself until the top is smooth and round. 

Step 5: Heat a large, heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat and spray lightly with non-stick spray. Working with one ball at a time, roll it out until it is about 1/4 inch thick or approximately 6 inches in diameter. Place the rolled out dough onto the hot skillet and cook until the under side is golden brown and large bubbles have formed on the surface.  Flip the dough and cook the other side until golden brown as well. Serve plain or brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with herbs!

TIPS: For the most bubbles, don't roll out the ball of dough until just before it is ready to be placed in the skillet. I experimented with different skillet temperatures and found that a medium heat produces the most bubbles in the dough and does not burn the surface.

What we had with it: falafel, hummus, cucumber-yogurt spread. 

David, with the top of his head cut off.  Oh no! I'm turning
into my mother!

Bountiful Basket

I've only gotten a bountiful basket a couple times, but I love the concept. You get a variety of produce at a supposedly reduced cost. A great way to vary your veggies, find new fruit, and hopefully save some money. However, I'm curious to know if buying a bountiful basket is really saving money, so I am taking inventory of what I got today and comparing it to how much it would be to buy the exact same thing and  local grocery store today.


My Basket

1 bunch green onions

1 head romaine lettuce 

1 head pretty purple leafy thing 

1# carrots

5# ruesset potatoes 

2 english cucumbers

1 head green cabbage

8 oranges

5 tomatoes

9 bananas 

1 spaghetti squash

3# granny smith apples 

Total: $16.50

Certainly not the most exciting or exotic basket I've ever gotten, but I'm still excited to have all this fresh produce to use and the challenge of thinking of things to make with it before it goes bad. 

Local Grocery Store

1 bunch green onions $.059

1 head romain lettuce $0.99

1 head flowering kale (not offered at store, but regular kale was $1.79)

1# carrots $0.79

5# russet potatoes (on sale) $1.99

2 english cucumbers $2.00

1 head cabbage $0.66

8 oranges $4.14

5 tomatoes $3.00

9 bananas $3.10

1 spaghetti squash $6.00

3# granny smith apples $3.27

Total: $28.32

Total Savings: $11.82

I'm pretty happy with my bountiful basket. It definitely saves money and it encourages me to try new things or things I wouldn't normally buy, like oranges for example. To figure out what to I looked up different ways to eat oranges and I think I have some pretty successful ideas. We'll see how it goes. 

Homemade Whole Wheat Bread

This is the best homemade whole wheat bread I have ever had. I got the recipe from Maren Hale, the wife of my last student ward bishop. I'm determined to make it as well as she does some day, but I'm certainly in the practice stage. This is the recipe with the exact ingredients she had in her bread recipe.

4 cups warm water
1 1/2 TBS Saf-Instant Dry Yeast

Golden Flax Seed 

1/4 cup Honey/agave nectar
1/2 TBS Real salt (found at health food stores)
1/4 cup Extra virgin olive oil
2 cups Whole rolled oats (old fashioned)
1/2 cup Golden/red flax seed (found at health food stores)
2 1/2 cups Whole wheat flour (you will need an additional 3 cups later)
4 cups Unbleached flour
3/4 cup Raw sunflower seeds

1. Mix ingredients together in mixer with dough hook (excluding the 3 cups you will need later).

2. Add additional 3 cups of whole wheat flour until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl and is not too sticky to the touch. Do not add too much flour!
3. Knead dough 10 minutes.
4. Remove dough from bowl and let rest on counter 10 minutes.

It is very, very important not to add to much flour

5. Divide dough into 3 equal portions and form into 3 8.5"x4.5"x2.5"loaf pans. Press into corners and sides. Flatten tops. (It is important to do this step well if you want your loafs to come out rounded and uniform on top. I'm still practicing).

I'm still working at getting the tops flat and even, if you couldn't tell

6. Place in cold oven on middle rack and let sit for 20 minutes.
7. Turn oven to 350 F and leave bread in oven for 45-50 minutes.
8. Place on cooking racks and glaze tops with butter while hot.

Dietitian: Hardcore Health

Last week I was walking to campus and saw an acquaintance of mine on the way. "What class do you have so late?" she asked. "I'm going to a biochemistry review," I replied.  "No way! You mean your major is hardcore? I thought it was just cooking and stuff. I have so much more respect for you now." This scenario happens surprisingly often.

Most people have no idea what a dietitian does. Some people pull out the root "diet" and assume I am a diet coach or food nazi. Other people just pull out the die part and get a little worried. What most people don't catch on to is that dietetics actually has a medical and business background before getting into all the nutrition "stuff."

Before starting the dietetics program students have to take

• Essentials of Human Nutrition (basic nutrition)
• Nutrient Metabolism (the biochemistry behind nutrition)
• Essentials of Food Science (the chemistry and physics of food)
• Introductory Chemistry and Introductory Bio-organic Chemistry (so you can hopefully understand all those other chemistry related classes you take)
• Accounting 200 (because "accounting is the language of business")
• General Microbiology (so we know the importance of washing hands and about all the bacteria that grow on food)
• Human Anatomy and Physiology (a medical field basic and a necessity for future clinical classes)
• General Psychology (to better understand counseling with patients and clients)
• Principles of Statistics (to help us translate all the technical research articles we read)

After we take all the prerequisites and get accepted into the dietetics program we move onto the good "stuff."  

• Clinical Nutrition I (we learn about half of the major diseases with nutrition implications and their medical nutrition therapy) 
• Clinical Nutrition II (we learn, and then teach, the other half of the major nutrition related diseases)
• Pathophysiology (we learn about the broken physiology causes all the diseases we are learning about in clinical)

• Food Production Management (we learn how to manage a commercial kitchen)
• Food Production Management Lab (we do the dirty work in a commercial kitchen, better known as Pen Court)
• Foodservice Systems (we learn more about managing commercial kitchens effectively)
• Community Nutrition (we learn how public policy affects nutrition in the nation and about counseling different cultures) 
• Community Nutrition Fieldwork (we volunteer at community programs such as the food bank, WIC, Food and Care Coalition and Senior Centers)
• Nutrition Assessment Lab (we learn how to take blood pressure, do skin folds, take blood and urine samples, and take other anthropometric measurements) 
• Nutrition Through the Life Cycle (nutrition for specific age groups) 
• Nutritional Biochemistry (the "hardcore" nutritional chemistry class) 
• Teaching Methods (we learn how to effectively teach all we've learned)
• Management in Dietetics (we learn the basics of management) 
• Advanced Dietetics Practice (we "build a freakin' hospital" for our capstone project and learn more clinical nutrition)
• Research in Dietetics (we learn how to write those complicated research articles we've been reading all along)

Plus I took the recommended 

• Sports Nutrition (an attempt to explain why athletes do the crazy food things they do)
• International Nutrition (common nutrition problems in other countries) 

Incase you missed it, we do more than just cooking. After taking all of these classes and graduating with a bachelors of science  we apply for a dietetic internship. This is basically a 6-12 month period of supervised practice while taking even more classes. Its like a combination of going to grad school and doing residency for med school. After that is completed interns take the RD exam and become registered dietitians or RDs. From there the possibilities are almost endless because we are pretty hardcore.

Nutrition

Good food, bad food? WRONG!

When it comes to nutrition people seem to either over simplify or over complicate. The simplifiers divide food into categories; good food and bad food. Good food tastes bad, but is good for you, therefore you should eat it, but don't. The bad food tastes good, but is bad for you, but you eat it anyway, because it taste good, and feel guilty afterwards. The complicators are all about the numbers. They count carbs, calories, protein, fat and any other thing they can think of. Neither way is doable and neither ways is really nutritious.

What most people don't realize is good nutrition is all about patterns and trends in lifestyle over time. Your body does not count calories, or care if you eat pizza on Friday, or a huge piece of cake at a party.  You will not have 10 minutes taken off your life span for eating a piece of candy (as one of my nutrition students once told me), and white sugar will not destroy your blood sugar levels. Its what you do over long periods of time that counts.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake
Get the recipe here

Your body does care about how many calories you average over time. Are you getting more or less than your body needs to function? If it is more you will gain weight slowly, if it is less you will loose weight slowly. If you are using about the same amount of energy as you eat your weight will stay about the same. Contrary to popular belief, eating a large piece CostCo chocolate cake will not make you gain 5 pounds overnight.

Your body does need certain nutrients. Vitamins and minerals are very important in order for your body to function properly. Luckily we are blessed to live in the United States where the FDA fortifies common foods. Grains, cold cereal, milk, and salt are all fortified with important nutrients. Therefore, just by eating bread and cereal your body is getting a lot of what it needs. It also needs other important nutrients, like phytochemicals and fiber found in fruits and vegetables which makes eating 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day important.

Bountiful Baskets is a great thing
I need to start doing again

Your body does need exercise. But exercise does not have to be strictly running, hardcore aerobics, weight lifting, or sports. It is anything that gets your body up and moving. Yoga, walking, playing, dancing (my husband claims that is his secret to his perfect army PT score), swinging, hiking, Pilates, zumba, anything that gets you moving. One of my favorite quotes is, "What type of exercise burns the most calories? The one you will actually do." Just do it.

Learning and trying the basics doesn't have to be complicated. Start with just eating a balance of all the food groups on ChooseMyPlate.Try paying attention to why you are eating and eat only when you are hungry and stop when you are full. Its harder than it sounds, but it is such a great way to help achieve balance. I'm reading this book on it right now. Such a great way to look at eating! Most importantly don't make nutrition a drudgery. Food is fun! It is beautiful, delicious, wonderful, satisfying, and a part of your life every day so enjoy it!

Chicken, Artichoke Pasta

INGREDIENTS
1/2 pound uncooked pasta
2 tea olive oil
2 tea minced garlic
6 chicken breast, cut into strips or diced
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup fresh or frozen broccoli
1 cup chopped tomatoes
1 cup canned artichoke hearts sliced and drained
1 cup fresh mushrooms
1 cup red bell pepper
S&P to taste
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 TBS chopped fresh Parsley

DIRECTIONS
1. Cook and drain pasta
2. Heat olive oil in saute pan. Brown the chicken and garlic in oil.
3. Put chicken broth, broccoli, tomato, pepper, mushroom, and artichoke hearts in the saute pan and cook 10 minutes. Season to taste with S&P.
4. Add to pasta and top with Parmesan cheese and parsley.

This pasta was wonderful! I don't really care for pasta, but the flavor from the artichoke hearts and peppers was excellent! In the recipe above I doubled the amount of vegetables. The actual recipe only called for 1/2 cup of everything, but I love to have more vegetables than pasta when I do have it. The

Quick and Easy Pizza Crust

INGREDIENTS
2 TBS active dry yeast
1 tsp white sugar
1 cup warm water (110 F)
2 1/2 cups flour
2 TBS olive oil
1 tsp salt
3 TBS cornmeal

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 450 F.
2. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand 10 minutes.
3. Stir in flour, salt and oil. Beat until smooth. Let rest 5 minutes.
4. Dust counter with flour and cornmeal. Pat or roll into a round.
5. Transfer to lightly greased pizza pan also dusted wit cornmeal.
6. Top with tomato sauce, artichoke hearts, olives, tomato, red onion, seasoned hamburger, and peppers.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool for 5.