Growing in the Kitchen

High-tech tomatoes. Mysterious milk. Supersquash. Are we supposed to eat this stuff? Or is it going to eat us? ~Annita Manning

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are a staple in many children’s lunch boxes. It’s quick, easy and kids love it. Growing up, I was that weirdo that hated peanut butter.  I commonly was the problem friend that came over for a play date but wouldn’t eat the serviced lunch. My parents gave up trying but my friends’ parents continued to push. “Jessi, how can you not like peanut butter, everyone likes peanut butter?”

There are many nutritional benefits to including peanut butter into your diet. Protein is a major one, but also offers a decent amount of dietary fiber. Also boasts some essential vitamins and minerals: Iron, Vitamin E, and Vitamin B3. Iron is important for function of the red blood cells in your body.  Vitamin E is a powerful fat-soluble antioxidant in the body, protecting it from free
radicals. Vitamin B3 aids in the recovery of cell DNA damage. In other words, B3
supports the immune system.

People look at me with their judging eyes when they see me pull my peanut butter
out of the refrigerator. Natural peanut butter or peanut butter without added
sugars or oils should be refrigerated to increase its shelf life. Another sticky task
that comes with natural peanut butter is having to stir the oil back in once it has
separated. It’s not a bad thing, just an annoyance if you don’t have thirty seconds to
stir. Personally, I like to eat my foods in their most natural form without additives
and you should too. Foods are more digestible in their natural form and you don’t
have to worry about preservatives floating around in your body. Peanut butter
should taste like peanuts. If you need it to be sweeter, eat it with whole fruit jelly or
with a piece of fruit.

I’ve grown away from my senseless hatred of peanut butter and now eat it a couple
times a week. My favorite combo is natural peanut butter with Cascadian Farm
blackberry fruit spread on top of a slice of toasted whole wheat bread. If you crave
the combination of chocolate and peanut butter, instead of reaching for a Reeses, try
Newman’s Own Dark Chocolate peanut butter cups.

I just want to apologize to all of my friends’ parents who had to put up with me
during my peanut butter loathing days. Thank you for not letting me go hungry.

Food probably has a very great influence on the condition of men. Wine exercises a more visible influence, food does it more slowly but perhaps just as surely. Who knows if a well-prepared soup was not responsible for the pneumatic pump or a poor one for a war? —— Georg C. Lichtenberg

My cousin once said, “a song could describe me better than I could describe myself,” and I definitely agree with her. Sometimes I wish I could press a button and speakers could pop up and start playing my mood. Music lets me communicate what I can’t express in words.

When I decide to plop myself in the kitchen on a cooking frenzy, I start by selecting some mood music. I know a lot of people turn the television on but that’s hard to do when you don’t have one. Music calms me, soothes me, and gets me in the best cooking groove imaginable. Ever stir a pot to a Beatles song or chop veggies to blue-grass? It’s pretty amazing how much music allows you to zone out and just fall in love with cooking. With websites like Pandora and Stereo Mood you can select music in any genre you wish.

My Top Five Favorite Pandora selections for cooking:

Adele
Nickel Creek
Mumford and Sons
Nina Simone
Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

Valentine’s Day- the bane of every single girl’s existence.  Not because we dislike, love, or envy our partnered friends, but because there is an entire day when it’s in our face.  We have to hear about who got flowers, who was proposed to, and special evening plans.  Okay, maybe a little envy is involved.  I wish we could go back to grade school, where every mother made their child give a Valentine to everyone, even if you didn’t like them.  In adulthood, Valentine’s Day is a little less forgiving.

Truthfully, I don’t care much for the day, even if I am with someone.  Weird, shiny heart-shaped boxes, white teddy bears with pink ribbons, and red roses – it’s enough to make me want to throw up candied hearts.  I’d prefer homemade things (take note future woo-ers).  Once, in high school, my boyfriend gave me a large heart-shaped box filled with fruit cups.  How sweet!

So, this turns me to the reason for this post: I found a great recipe in one of my favorite magazines that I want to share with you.  Single ladies: instead of drowning your sorrows and tears in a large bag of Dove’s promises, chocolate-dipped strawberries, or (my personal favorite) cappuccino chocolate chip gelato, try a healthier, less guilt-inflicting option.

Black-Bean Fudge

1 15 ounce can cooked black beans drained and rinsed (or about 1 ¾ cups cooked beans)

¾ cup carob powder

6 tbs melted coconut oil

4-6 tbs syrup or agave nectar

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp sea salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until very smooth.  Mixture will be thick.  Line 8- by 4-inch pan with plastic wrap, and transfer fudge to pan.  Refrigerate until totally firm.  Cut into squares and serve.  Makes 24 pieces or 12 servings.

Per serving: 146 calories; 6.9 g fat; 2.5 g protein, 18.4 g carbs; 4.9 g fiber, 0 cholesterol and 101 mg sodium.

Never heard of Carob?  Well, it’s a bean pod with seeds found in the Mediterranean and now also is grown in California.  Carob has hints of cocoa and coffee, and it’s health benefits make it a great alternative to chocolate.   Carob is high in protein and has more calcium then its more traditional counterpart. Also, it is an excellent source of macro and trace minerals copper, manganese, potassium and magnesium.  When it comes to vitamins, carob packs a punch with high levels of A, B2, B3, and B6.

I should address the use of black beans since you probably looked at the recipe and thought, “HELL NO”. I promise you, black beans add texture but not flavor.  Using black beans also cuts out the need for adding sugar and milk, and provides additional protein and fiber.  Don’t knock it ‘til you try it.  And yes, my lovey dovey coupled friends, you can use this recipe to woo your sweeties and protect their hearts.



One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well. —-Virginia Woolf

In honor of Super Bowl weekend I would like to discuss my favorite fruitable (yes, that is fruit and vegetable put together).  Most people would consider the avocado a vegetable but no, no, my friend it is most definitely a fruit.  An avocado is a scaly skinned berry containing a large seed.  Sometimes called an alligator pear.

A world without avocados is a world I do not care to live in.  Growing up in the Midwest I didn’t eat them much because they weren’t very prevalent but every Super Bowl Sunday my dad would make the biggest bowl of guacamole.  That is where you would find me–camping out by the bowl pretending to care if someone made a touchdown.  I was more concerned with making sure no one realized the guacamole was out on the table.  ( I might have a problem…)

Things are different in Florida, I can have them everyday if I want.  I limit myself to two a week.  I cut up chucks to eat with my eggs and salsa for breakfast, put slices on a turkey sandwich, or throw cubes in a salad.  The options are pretty endless and they can even be used to make avocado ice cream.  Holy yum!

Avocados boost many nutritional benefits providing nearly 20 nutrients such as fiber, potassium, B-vitamins, and folic acid.  What’s not to love.

Oh, and don’t try to fake me out with big green Florida avocados.  No offense but they  just don’t do it for me.  Maybe if they tried to be less big and tasteless. I like the Hass kind…smooth, creamy, and delicious.

Enjoy the game!  Go Bears! 

One day in my last semester at FSU, one of my classmates came in drinking from a small colorful pouch. Being that we were all Dietetics majors I was a little more than intrigued. Luckily, she normally sat next to me so I didn’t have to wait long to play twenty questions about the mystery product. It turns out it was something called Buddy Fruits. She went on about how it’s squeezable fruit and good for you but the rest of my questions were cut short by the beginning of class.

My next grocery store trip I went searching for it. Was it good for you? Was it overly processed? How do they make it? I wanted to know everything. Like I stated before I am a frugal shopper but I do spend money on produce. After all, in my opinion, fresh is best. I found Buddy Fruits right in the produce section of my favorite Publix location (shout out to the Lake Ella Publix Super Market!).

The stats:
NO preservatives
NO coloring
NO additives
NO fat
NO genetic modifications
NO artificial flavorings
NO dairy or gluten
NOthing artificial
ONLY a few calories
ONLY fruit and nothing else!

They had me at no preservatives! Absolutely nothing but fruit! What a concept, wish I had thought of it. ☺ I did a little research on their website and found the company story. A French chef and his wife traveling with their small child to the U.S. discovered there was a need for fresh but easy fruit. Apparently, in other countries fruit pouches are the norm. So they packed their bags and moved to the U.S. to launch their product.

Two thumbs up! Not only is it tasty but one pouch offers one serving of fruit.

Most days, 30% of my time is traveling to clients so I am always looking for something fast, easy, and good for you. I love that I don’t have to deal with the apple core, or other rejected fruit parts while driving. If you can’t find them at your nearest grocery store you can also order online.

http://www.buddyfruits.com/

Uh oh…I think other people are catching on that Americans need fruit pouches. I sense a competition.

http://www.materne.us/homepage/

After talking to my dad, I decided to try a food detox. Feeling sluggish and tired I knew I needed to try something new. No need to worry, I am not starving myself or drinking 80 glasses of grapefruit juice a day. It’s herbal, natural, and I can eat my normal diet with some suggested modifications. One of those suggestions was exchanging regular milk for almond milk.  Interesting.  That is how almond milk ended up in my shopping cart yesterday.
Seems pretty suspicious to drink “milk” from a container taken from a non-refrigerated section of the grocery store but who am I to judge. I have tried my fair share of soy milk, goat’s milk, lactose free milk but never almond. I know what you are thinking, “You’re a food and health nut, why have you never tried it?” Well, if you must know, I am what some would call a late adapter. When all the hype is up for a new product or “rediscovered” food I sit back and wait until the craziness dies down. I still have yet to get into the pomegranate-drinking craze. I like pomegranates but not for 9.99 a bottle. Anyway, I digress my first attempt at this new milky substance was this morning with breakfast.
The verdict:
It’s quite tasty poured into a bowl of Newman’s Own Sweet Enough Honey Flax Flakes Cereal with fresh blueberries. Smooth and creamy with a hint of almondy (is this a word?) flavor. Yum! Some brands offer flavored varieties too–chocolate and vanilla. I chose plain so I could decide if it was for me. An 8 oz glass only has 35 calories and 2.5 grams of fat. It’s great for people that are lactose intolerant and don’t enjoy soy products. I think I may include this in my weekly shopping from now on.

Once, a friend of mine gave me a shirt that said “Mango Addict”.  Everytime I get a choice of flavor or additions to dessert I ask for mangos.  They are so wonderfully tropical and foreign. I think I like them so much because I’m not the one trying to cut it open properly.  I find them impossible to cut.   I don’t buy them much at the grocery store because cutting them is tedious and annoying.  Each time I would try a new approach I would be horribly disappointed by the outcome.  I’d cut into the seed leaving remnants of inedible parts or I would end up eating the juicy flesh off the skin because I couldn’t seem to  dice them into edible chunks.  As tasty as they were, my annoyance level quickly rose when I didn’t have perfectly cubed mango pieces.

If I had this problem, I wondered how many others felt the same.  My google searched started like this “mangos are impossible to cut…”  As I figured, many others have had the same issues resulting in step by step instructions.  My favorite is a seven step process(yes,seven):  http://homecooking.about.com/od/howtocookbasics/ss/cutmango.htm

Why mother nature created a gigantic seed in the middle of this glorious fruit I will never know.  Just know there is hope.  You too can enjoy mangos again.