Roasted Pan of Goodness in a World of Disarray February 6, 2012

We are painting our kitchen. It’s a disaster in there. It seems like such a good excuse to throw in the cooking towel and just order out. And that’s ok to do, except when you are looking at a potential week long project where you could use that excuse every night. That just can’t happen for us…for me.

I have a produce drawer full of stuff to use before my next delivery on Wednesday. I hate throwing out good veggies that I just couldn’t use in time. My dear friend and I have a favorite dinner perfect for this scenario: Roasted Pan of Goodness. We basically roast whatever veggies we have and put it with whatever whole grain something we have in our pantry. Tonight, it’s probably going to be pasta for us.

Roasting veggies is sooooo easy and it transforms even the most bitter veggie into delectableness. Simply chop up your veggies into as uniform pieces as you can. The smaller you chop, the quicker they cook, by the way. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Cover a sheet pan with foil. Toss your veggies in olive oil, salt and pepper. I aways add garlic and onions because they add so much great flavor. Roast for about 25 minutes and you’re done! It’s that easy.

Here’s a pic of my pan pre-baking. Hurry! Go chop your veggies. You still have time to put on a great dinner!

Cauliflower, potatoes, zucchini, onion, garlic, evoo, salt and pepper

Science Friday – Ginger and Sweat January 13, 2012

Ginger has been on my mind and in my diet lately. I recommended a pregnant friend try making ginger tea every day to help with her nausea. I’ve been messing with Asian flavors for my upcoming noodles class at A. Chef’s Cooking Studio. Every morning I’m throwing a piece of fresh ginger into my smoothie. So when this interesting tidbit about ginger came through my email box, I was immediately intrigued. I sincerely apologize that I cannot remember where I got this from. Therefore, let me state, these are not my words but some smart person’s. I give you credit, wherever you are.

Enjoy some ginger and get your sweat on today!

Ginger can not only be warming on a cold day, but can help promote healthy sweating, which is often helpful during colds and flus. A good sweat may do a lot more than simply assist detoxification. German researchers have recently found that sweat contains a potent germ-fighting agent that may help fight off infections. Investigators have isolated the gene responsible for the compound and the protein it produces, which they have named dermicidin. Dermicidin is manufactured in the body’s sweat glands, secreted into the sweat, and transported to the skin’s surface where it provides protection against invading microorganisms, including bacteria such as E. coli andStaphylococcus aureus (a common cause of skin infections), and fungi, including Candida albicans.

Seasons 52 January 10, 2012

Yesterday was my birthday. On Sunday night my man took me out to a lovely dinner at Season 52 in Jacksonville. Although this restaurant is not totally new, it’s new to us in Jacksonville. So I wanted to give you a little review of my experience since this is a great place for the health-minded eater.

The concept of the restaurant is to feature a seasonally inspired menu that changes 4 times a year. In addition, nothing on their menu is over 475 calories!! Can you believe it?! In fact, my husband made a comment during our dinner that he couldn’t believe one of our dishes was under 500 calories.

We thoroughly enjoyed our (kid-free) super delicious meal. We had a tomato stack salad, stone crab claws, and a pork tenderloin over polenta with mushrooms and broccoli. Here are some pictures.

Tomato Stack Salad

 

Stone Crab Claws

 

So check out this restaurant next time you are looking for a healthier, yet tasty meal. It’s a great place to meet others who aren’t health minded because they won’t notice their meal is low calorie.

Fresh Food Perspectives 2011 in review January 1, 2012

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 12,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

New Year’s Word Countdown #3 December 31, 2011

Today’s Word: Challenge

“We must accept life for what it actually is – a challenge to our quality without which we should never know of what stuff we are made, or grow to our full stature.” – Robert Louis Stevenson

I don’t think there is anything more rewarding than working through a challenge. For example, this morning I ran 8 challenging miles. They hurt a little, but I was proud of what I had done. Now I know I can run 8 miles and hopefully more. Giving birth was challenging (with or without medication) but is so rewarding both for the beautiful baby and the accomplishment of something only a woman can do. And now I know I can do it…again, if I need to. =)

The point is that challenge is good. I think part of human nature resists challenge. We want the easy road. I know I do many times. However, when we work through a challenge, we come out stronger and more self aware.

What challenges are you currently facing, or want to take on this new year? Pick a good challenge for yourself… a realistic and rewarding challenge. For instance, challenge yourself to change up your exercise or try a new food every month. Challenge yourself to learn something new or spend time with someone that makes you just a little uncomfortable and  truly listen to them.

What challenge do you want to take on this year? Please share below. Remember too that sometimes the journey is more important than the destination.

Happy New Year!!

Merry Week December 20, 2011

All the Braddocks are home this week, which is wonderful. Somehow despite all my efforts to be low key, I have a lot going on!
Here’s a couple of random thoughts to keep you, and me, on track this week.

1. I’ve been asked to prepare a vegan dish for the Braddock family dinner. I’m going to make red and green stuffed peppers. Should be delicious and pretty. Maybe you can bring this to your holiday dinner too.

2. I know this is late notice but I will be in Fox Action News tomorrow morning around 7:45 talking about healthy party choices.

3. Keep active this week. Our fam did a hot, 4 mile run this morning. It felt great. We are planning our long run for Friday since we are traveling on Saturday. Hopefully a hard week if training this week will help make up for next week. Are you getting your exercise in? Just get out the door and let your body do the rest.

4. Enjoy the holiday! Remember the reason for the season. I may be silent for a few days but I’ll be back in action before the new year.

Peace and joy to you!

Dinner Ideas December 6, 2011

Man, I am feeling the holidays. Are you? Things seemed to pick up this week in every way. I’m so glad we did all that prep this weekend because there is no way healthy eating would’ve happened any other way.
I wanted to briefly update you on our dinners this week so far. Last night we had stir fried veggies (that I had chopped on Sunday ) with salmon over brown rice, leftover from last week. I really liked it but Brian was not a fan of the salmon. Oh well. Better luck next time with that one.
Tonight I did simple baked potatoes served with Greek yogurt. We also had a salad with kale, green leaf lettuce, craisins, walnuts, chèvre, balsamic and evoo. Delish and filling.
I’ve gotten some great comments from you all about your clean eating efforts. I’m so inspired! Please feel free to leave comments on what you have been eating too. I would love to hear them.
Have a healthy Wednesday !

Dr. Sears’ 5 S’s for Better Health December 4, 2011

Being around health-seekers is so encouraging. It’s so easy to get bogged down by all the crazy health information out there or by people who don’t seem to care about their health. 

After listening to Dr. Sears’ talk on Saturday, entitled “9 Simple Steps to Prime-Time Health” I was reenergized to continue my personal and community quest for better health. He had a wonderful way of making science simple and giving practical steps to change your health destiny. He even involved the kids in the audience and I was amazed by how much they picked up about the topic. 

I have some DVD copies of this talk (not the live version but a beautifully produced version) and I would love to share them with you. If you are interested in seeing this presentation, please let me know. I might even plan a special viewing of this at my house (it’s about a 30 minute video) so let me know if you would be interested in coming. I promise it is worth watching and may benefit others in  your life, including your kids!

Dr. Sears made one point that I really liked. He called them his “5 S’s to treat -Itises”, as in anything that causes inflammation – dermatitis, rhinitis, endocarditis, and arthritis. All of these things reduce inflammation in the body.

1. Seafood – eat more of it, especially wild salmon.

2. Salads – again, eat more of them.

3. Smoothies

4. Spices – including turmeric, ginger and cinnamon 

5. Supplements – he recommends Juice Plus and omega 3 fatty acids only because they are the most scientifically researched and proven supplements. 

How about trying one or all of these S’s. We could all probably use more of one of these. If you are interested in learning about Juice Plus, let me know. I’d love to tell you more. 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! 

One Full Day – Clean Eating Day #3 November 30, 2011

Today has been a blur. I seemed to jump right from one major thing to another. I didn’t have a lot of quiet thinking time today. I know we all have these kinds of days and I hope you can related to how little time I had to think about my clean eating.

The day started off normal with my go-to breakfast. But after 20 minutes of being in a morning meeting I realized I had eaten half a bagel and cream cheese without thinking twice about it. (FYI- there is nothing wrong with bagels and cream cheese just not on my clean eating agenda this week.) Darn it! Here is an important moment for any healthy eater. Do I let one choice derail me the rest of the day or prevail and return to healthy choices?

Life happens and you just have to roll with the punches as a healthy eater. With a hectic day, I still managed to stay on a decent track. My hubby and I are feeling good and glad to be eating this way. How are you doing?

Here’s my day. I’m having a hard time even remembering exactly what happened with my food today.
Breakfast : the usual of smoothie and egg on toast
Snack: cherry tomatoes, 1/2 bagel with cream cheese
Lunch: Greek yogurt with granola, red peppers
Snack: fresh squeezed orange juice, 2 oz cheese, green tea, chips and salsa
Dinner: spring mix salad with balsamic vinegar, roasted potato and butternut squash cubes, homemade cranberry sauce ( recipe coming)

Thanksgiving Turkey Recipe November 22, 2011

In grad school, many moons ago, I took a recipe development class. I loved it, as you can imagine. Our project was to pick a food that we thought was challenging, and develop a recipe for it. At that point in my life, I was not comfortable cooking meat, and the most difficult meat I thought there was to cook was the Thanksgiving turkey. So I took on the challenge. For 5 or 6 weeks I made a different version of this iconic bird. I tried different flavors and techniques. My goals were to have a juicy, tender, flavorful, crispy skin, and aromatic bird. According to my classmates and teacher, I succeeded.

Every since this class, I have been in charge of making the turkey on T-day. I love it. It’s my favorite thing to make for the holiday. There are a few tricks of the trade that I think make a huge difference.

1. Buy a good meat thermometer that you leave in the bird and has a digital read screen. You will never over or under cook any meat, ever again.

2. Use a V-rack in a roasting pan and cook the bird for the first half breast side down. This helps all the juices flow down and back into the meat.

3. Brine your bird. This is really important if you are using an organic, free-range or local bird. Most typical birds you buy at the grocery store are already brined or injected with juice so you don’t need to do this.

Click the link below for my family turkey recipe. I wish you much success with your Thanksgiving turkey this year!

The Braddock Family Thanksgiving Turkey