Food Lush

Iowa to Pass Bill to Prevent Animal Activitsts

By Natalie

On my drive home today I  heard an interesting segment on NPR about the proposed bill, HF589 waiting for Iowa's governor's signature. The proposed bill is focusing on the fraudulent nature of people obtaining jobs in agriculture industries on false pretenses. Apparently in Iowa, animal activists are being hired in factories and then taking undercover videos to expose the animal cruelty going on at the factories. The penalty would be a serious misdemeanor and a maximum sentence of 1 year in prison.

People who are for the bill believe that the animal activists are trespassing and should be punished. They do not believe that they are infringing on any constitutional rights and have met with many different committees to make sure no rights are being lost. Supporters also claim that people attempting to expose the agriculture industry are trying to bring down the business and hurt the agriculture industry which Iowa heavily depends on.

People opposing the bill feel that this will prevent whistle blowers from coming forward, even those who have worked in the industry for many years. There are also concerns that this will prevent undercover journalism. In addition the question of the violation of constitutional rights.

After hearing this news report more questions were raised for me than answered. Such as, why? Why is the legislature getting involved to protect the agriculture business? Is the problem that wide spread that the big Ag companies need saving? What are they trying to hide?

What's your opinion?

photo credit: http://www.iowacorn.org/

Protein for the Vegetarian Mom to Be

By Natalie

My husband and I attended our first birthing class last night. One of the other mommy's is a vegetarian and was concerned about consuming enough protein daily. She said that she is not often hungry. Lucky her!

I've found a variation on the amount of protein that you need. According to "What to Eat When You're Expecting" you need 75-100 g of protein per day. But, "Prepared Childbirth The Family Way" is 60 g of protein per day. I found on About.com that you can apply a formula .37 * the number of pounds you weigh, is a good way to figure out the amount of protein you need daily. About.com's formula does not apply specifically to pregnant women.

If you are vegetarian reaching 60-75 g of protein per day may seem difficult. If you plan out your meals and be sure to have snacks high in protein, it's doable!

 

Here are vegetarian options that pack the most protein:

Clif Bars 12 g of protein, check each type because the flavors vary in the amount of protein

Cottage cheese- 1/2 c is 15 grams

Sunflower seeds- 1/4 c is 6 g

Tofu- 1/2 c is 20 g

Flax Seeds- 1/4 c is 8 g

Edamame- 1/2 c 11 g

Quinoa- 1 c cooked, 8 g

Couscous- 1 c, 6 g

Peanut butter, organic- 2 tbsp, 8 g

Peanuts- 1 oz, 8 g

Skim milk- 1 c, 8 g

Low-fat yogurt- 1 c, 9g

Flaxseed meal- 3 tbsp, 4 g

See this list for more ideas!

 

Here are some meal options to reach the daily intake:

 

Breakfast:

Cottage Cheese with fruit on top (15 g)

Quinoa with skim milk (16 g)

Quinoa with Orange juice (10 g)

Smoothie with yogurt and flax seed (14 g)

2 Egg Spinach Omelet (15 g)

 

Morning Snack:

Clif Bar (12 g)

Cottage Cheese and fruit (15 g)

Peanuts (8g)

 

Lunch:

Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwich and glass of skim milk (16g)

Quinoa and beans (15 g)

Spinach Salad with carrots, avocado, and sunflower seeds (12 g)

 

Afternoon snack:

Hummus and carrots (4 g)

Edamame (11 g)

Yogurt, honey, and almonds (13 g)

 

Dinner:

Whole grain pasta with tomatoes and skim milk (16 g)

Tofu stir fry with brown rice and asparagus (24g)

Spinach salad with avocado, almonds, and strawberries (10 g)

 

I think if you are in danger of not reaching the recommended value then drink a glass of milk, eat some nuts, have a Clif bar or have some edamame.

For the vegetarians out there, what's your best source of protein?

photo credit: Amazon.com

Sugar Free Dressings

By Natalie

My Aunt texted me today and asked if I knew of any sugar free dressings. I decided to compile a list for her. In selecting some recipes, my main criteria was ingredients they can find in a very small east Texas town and VERY EASY. She does not love cooking, that's her husband. Hope this helps Aunt B!

Off the cuff, I would say use vinegar & oil.

Citrius Cumin Dressing basically oranges, lemon, oil, and cumin

Buttermilk Salad Dressing, it can be sugar free depending on what mayo you use. I believe that the mayo with olive oil is sugar free!

Vegan Ranch Dressing- This one is a bit better for you, and you don't necessarily have to use soy milk, I'm sure cow's milk will work just fine.

Lemon Garlic Dressing A few ingredients of lemon, garlic, oil, and Dijon mustard

Homemade Ranch- always a favorite, higher in fat with the mayo and buttermilk

Sweet Poppyseed Dressing- This sounds simliar to one of my favorite dressings that I buy at Central Market. Hopefully she'll be able to find Stevia powder....

Read the comments section of this reader help post to discover some recipes that are favorites of our readers!

Photo Credit: Amazon.com

P.S. I have the above oil dispenser, and I love it! Thank you Jennie for this lovely birthday present!

Roasted Garlic Chicken Pizza

By Natalie

I'm not very adventurous with pizza toppings, but the other night I decided to walk on the wild side. I made Gimme Some Oven's Roasted Garlic Chicken pizza. It was very easy to make and I quite enjoyed it!

I was unable to find the Philadelphia Cooking Creme, so I subbed with Weight Watchers Whipped Cream Cheese. If you don't want your pizza to be too rich, use sparingly.

I've never roasted my own garlic, and I was surprised how easy it was. Be sure to buy a good looking bulb of garlic with big cloves.

Another way to make this pizza even easier is to buy a rotisserie chicken. Shred it and throw it on top.

If you are looking for an easy week night meal, this is the pizza for you!

photo credit: me

Waffles

By Natalie

For my birthday, I received a Oster waffle maker. It's awesome and just like a hotel waffle maker. We've already used it 5 times, and I've only owned it a month. This is mostly because my husband likes waffles, and he'll make them for us.

The waffle recipes that came with the Oster are a little time consuming. I don't enjoy making stiff peaks on a Sunday morning. Every time we use the waffle maker we use a new recipe, to see if this one is any easier.

Last week we made Annie Eat's buttermilk blueberry waffles based on Elisabeth's suggestion. They were great!

I need a good and EASY waffle recipe. Do you have any? Should I break down and just make them out of a box?

photo credit: Amazon.com and me!

Recipe Organization

By Natalie

How are you storing your recipes? I REALLY want to know.

Back in the day, circa 2010, I would print all the recipes I loved and file them in a HUGE binder. The binder had chicken, beef, pork, etc dividers. Then when I would sit down to menu plan I would flip through each section and plan 4 beef meals to have on every Monday of the month. I'm not that rigid but you get the point.

Jump ahead now to 2012. Currently I'm using 2 different means my Google reader and Pinterest. Whenever I see a meal that I like I pin it on Pinterest in the hopes that when I'm menu planning for the month I'll come back to it. The down fall of Pinterest is I don't find it that easy to search through your boards. I think I also need to start dividing my Pinterest boards  into meat, pasta, seafood, desserts, etc.

With google reader, I search the entire reader for a main idea, like pasta or seafood. Then I just write the recipe down on my paper calendar for the menu planning. When the day comes to make the meal I pull it up on my phone or laptop and look at it while I cook. Much greener! If google reader was to ever go away I would be lost.

How do you stay organized? Are you like Carrie and use Evernote?

Drunken Noodles, Take 1

By Natalie

Last week I posted about my discovery of Udon noodles. This week I experimented with Udon noodles and made drunken noodles. Did you know that they are called drunken noodles because of the amount of water you have to consume while eating them? I thought it had something to do with sake, oops!

The night that I got ready to make these noodles, I was looking over the recipe from Elly Says Opa and reading what the blogger had to say about them. I then realized that I didn't really have any of the ingredients but I decided to give it a go anyways. The results turned out fantastic!

Next time, I'm going to make it with all of the special soy sauces and chiles. There is an Asian market down the road from me. I've never been in there. It's huge, like the size of an old Target huge.

Drunken Noodles

adapted from Bon Appetit

• 1 package of Udon noodles
• 2 tbsp of canola oil
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 lb of chicken tenders, diced
• 1 Roma tomato, diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 tbsp of salambek olbek (this is hot for me, vary according to taste)
• 2 tbsp of soy sauce
• 1 tsp of sugar

1. Cook noodles until desired firmness is reached, and drain. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in wok, and add garlic. Cook until fragrant.
3. Add chicken and cook for 5 minutes, until mostly done.
4. Then add tomatoes and zucchini cook for 3 more minutes.
5. Whisk together salambek olbek, sugar and soy sauce. Pour over chicken.
6. Cook for a few more minutes until chicken is done.
7. Pour noodles in with chicken mixture. Stir until combined.

photo credit: me

Udon Noodles

By Natalie

I have recently discovered Udon noodles. Am I way behind on the times? You can't find them everywhere, like at say Wal-Mart. But, at Central Market there are several varieties to choose from. They almost seem a little bit like Ramen, which by the way I do not like. Ramen did not sustain me through college, unlike my brother.

Last week I made Five Spice Pork & Veggies with Udon Noodles. This recipe was very easy and really delicious.

This week I plan on making Drunken Noodles. I know I'm behind the times on this one. I've never had Drunken Noodles before. I'm excited to try them!

Do you cook with Udon noodles? What are your favorite recipes?

photo credit: me!

Cupcake Crawl in NYC

By Natalie

After Christmas I traveled to New York and made it my mission to eat as many cupcakes as I could find. This was not an easy task. Cupcakes are all the rage, especially in NYC. My friend came up with the idea that we would do a cupcake crawl on my birthday. Since I'm pregnant, I can't do the typical pub crawl. Cupcakes are an excellent replacement, I highly recommend it!

Molly's: They won on Cupcake Wars. The shop was really cute and roomy for NYC standards. They are located in Greenwich Village. They are known for "the ron bennington." It was really good, but be sure you like peanut butter! We also got a cupcake with peanut butter in the middle and Butterfinger on top.

Sweet Revenge: This place came highly recommended to me, and it did not disappoint. This place is more of a restaurant/bistro feel. They have happy hours and serve light lunches. The waiter was really friendly, and put a candle in my cupcake. They only have 4 cupcake choices. I could taste the quality of ingredients in every bite. I had the Pure and my friend had the Sweet Revenge. I was a little bit peanut buttered out, so I preferred the Pure. My friend swears by the Red Velvet, alas I'm not a Red Velvet fan. You'll find Sweet Revenge in Greenwich village.

Crumbs: There are lots of cupcakes to choose from at this place. The locals aren't as impressed with Crumbs because of its popularity. It's a tiny shop, you order and get out. Be forewarned, that they have the calories posted by each cupcake. There's even one in Newark airport to enjoy on your way out of town. We went to the one in Bryant Park. I had the Pecan Pie and it was really good. Although, I would've liked a little bit more caramel.

Two Little Red Hens: I had a coconut cream cupcake here, which is not like me at all. It was really tasty, but I wish that they hadn't put any fillling in it. It didn't need it. This cupcake was $4, pretty steep for a no name bakery. This bakery is located on the upper east side. If you are that far up there, I would recommend stopping in, because it's off the beaten path.

Baked by Melissa: This place came recommended, but they were my least favorite. Too tiny! They are $3 for 3. And those little tiny bites are not enough for me! I had S'mores, Peanut Butter, and Cinnamon. You can find them all over the city. We went to the shop by Grand Central. It's an in-and-out sort of place.

One of the big shops we missed was Magnolia Bakery. I saw one in Bloomingdale's but was really stuffed, so a cupcake didn't sound good at that point. Maybe next time!

If I had to choose a winner, I would say Sweet Revenge was the best. Molly's was my second favorite.

What's your favorite cupcake shop in NYC or locally?

Beergaritas

By Natalie

Is beergaritas just a Texas thing or is it known country wide? Typically I enjoy beergaritas on a hot summer day, but last weekend I was at a party and they served the cutest beergaritas I've ever seen. My normal recipe is dump 4 beers of your liking into a pitcher, pour 1 can of frozen limeade concentrate, and 2+ shots of tequila. Stir. Enjoy. But, at this party they went all out. They use Coronitas. The baby Coronas, which are just plain adorable. Next time you feel like relaxing makes these cuties.

Chuy's Knock-off Beergaritas

• Large frozen canister of margaritas
• Coronitas
• Lime

Directions: Fill half the cup with frozen margarita mix. Then place the corona in the cup upside down. The corona will slowly pour out and mix with the frozen margarita.

Photo Credit: me!