Oh, Yummy Judaism.

Yesterday, Dan and I celebrated Rosh Hashanah with a very yummy Jewish Apple Cake. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the Jewish holiday, Rosh Hashanah is, in its simplest terms, the Jewish New Year. The holiday is a celebration of a new beginning, and certain foods, such as apples and honey, are consumed for good luck.

Since I have been with Dan, I have been making him this cake to mark the commencement of the new year. The bonus? It’s healthy, too! And it makes your kitchen smell absolutely delish. So, here it is — it’s as tasty as it is pretty! And, hey, you don’t have to be Jewish to fall in love with this cake. (;

Jewish Apple Cake

Pre-baking ... beautiful, huh?

Makes 16 servings
Ingredients
* Cooking spray
* 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
* 1 cup granulated sugar
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* 1/2 cup sweetened applesauce
* 1/2 cup orange juice
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
* 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 3 large egg whites
* 2 large eggs
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 3 1/2 cups sliced peeled apple (about 1 pound)
* 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
* 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
* 2 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°.
Coat a 10-inch tube pan with cooking spray, and dust with 2 teaspoons flour. Set prepared pan aside. Beat granulated sugar and next 8 ingredients (sugar through eggs) at medium speed of a mixer until blended. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Combine apple and remaining ingredients. Spoon half of batter into prepared pan. Top with half of apple mixture. Repeat with remaining batter and apple mixture. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Nutritional Information

Voila!

Calories:287 (21% from fat)
Fat:6.6g (sat 1.4g,mono 1.9g,poly 2.8g)
Protein:4.4g
Carbohydrate:53.6g
Fiber:1.5g
Cholesterol:29mg
Iron:2mg
Sodium:196mg
Calcium:84mg

©Cooking Light, APRIL 2000

Try This Bar!!

Good morning, lovely readers!

So, y’all know that I am a devout Larabar lover. But I just have to introduce to you this bar that I had the opportunity to try this weekend. This Kardea Nutrition Bar was sent to me last week from founder Rob Leighton along with a few others to try …. people must know I just love my bars. I had one of these babies pre-workout on Friday, and I have got to tell you — it is YUMMY, YUMMY, YUMMY! I went in with the intention of eating just half, but ended up gobbling the whole thing down! (; The chewy texture and banana flavor was just right.

Here are the stats for the Banana Nut: 150 calories, 5 grams of fat (0.5 saturated), 7 grams of fiber, 11 grams of sugar. 7 grams of protein and 0 mg of cholesterol.

The bonus is, of course, that the bars also help with cholesterol managment which is more than important to help maintain cardiovascular health. A perfect fit, seeing as how September is Cholesterol Awareness Month!

Kardea also carries supplements, such as Omega-3 and Whole Psyllium Husk, and olive oil pumped with 500mg of sterols.

Now, I just have to try the lemon ginger, chai spice and cranberry almond ….

Strawberries + Cereal = Mmm, mmm, mmm!

OK, so I have a new favorite cereal. I know, can you believe it?! Something other than my beloved shredded oats. (: I just found these babies yesterday, and, boy, are they yummy. Just the right touch of strawberry flavor! Every 1.9-oz. serving of Kellogg’s Smart Start Strawberry Oat Bites cereal is 200 calories,2.5 grams of fat, zero grams of trans fat and 6 grams of fiber.

If you can get your hands on a box of it, go for it. And the even better news: My grocery store had it on sale, so, hopefully, yours does, too!

Eat Your Heart Out and Stay Healthy, Too!

So, I don’t know about all of you, but I have this problem with food — I love it.♥

And when I am surrounded by it 24/7 like I was this weekend, I have a tough time staying away from the fabulousness of it all. I ate so much dang food during the festivities come and gone that I swear I gained like five pounds … all in my ass.

But I don’t feel that sorry about it. It would be one story if I always ate like that, but I don’t. I am not perfect by any means, but I am usually pretty good at regulating my splurges.

I do think, however, that it is nice to know how to make some healthy decisions in those situations. I, for one, always try to just taste little bits of things — a little bit of cheese here, cake there, miraculous Cuban food (my future mother-in-law’s specialty!) over there … you get it.

But I thought it may be a good idea to consult my trusty Eat This, Not That book to help ya’ all out with making healthy decisions the next time you decide to party it up.

At the Ballpark: Choose a box of Cracker Jacks and a 12 oz. beer (Total: 559 calories, 7 grams of fat), instead of nachos and a 16 oz. cola (Total: 847 calories, 38 grams of fat — all from the nachos!).

At a Fourth of July Bash: Choose baked beans (3/4 cup without bacon), watermelon (1 medium slice) and 4 oz. of coleslaw (Total: 346 calories, 9.5 grams of fat) as your sides, instead of vegetables with ranch dip, potato salad and corn on the cob with 1/2 tablespoon butter (Total: 520 calories, 32 grams of fat).

At a Swanky Part-tay: Choose 12 large shrimp with 2 tablespoons of cocktail sauce and a 6 oz. glass of champagne (Total: 295 calories, less than one gram of fat), instead of a crab cake and 8 oz. gin & tonic (Total: 530 calories, 19 grams of fat).

Now, eat it up!

Weekend Breakfast and a Recipe for You!

Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Well, let me correct myself — weekend breakfast is my favorite meal.

Because there is a difference, you see.

The word “breakfast” on a typical day entails for me some whole grain cereal, or eggs and fruit. On a Saturday or Sunday morning, however, that very same word means that I may be eating food items of the glorious kind — pancakes to be exact.

Or french toast, waffles, cheese omelets — take your pick.

The nice thing about weekend breakfasts is that they come once and a while, so it is OK to splurge. But the other fabulous thing is that, in this day and age, you can also very often find a healthy substitute for one of your typically high-calories faves.

This morning, I am going to breakfast with my family, and, — let me be honest — no, I will not be finding a healthy substitution for anything.

But for those of you who would like to choose more wisely than your writer-friend, here is a mmm-mmm-good pancake recipe from Cooking Light. I have had them before, and they really are just to die for. The even better news about these babies? You can make “weekend” breakfast any day of the week!

Ingredients

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 large egg white
Cooking spray
3/4 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons butter

Preparation

Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Combine buttermilk, oil, egg, and egg white, stirring with a whisk; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.Heat a nonstick griddle or nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium heat. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto griddle. Turn pancakes over when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked. Serve with syrup and butter.

Yield

6 servings (serving size: 2 pancakes, 2 tablespoons syrup, and 1 1/2 teaspoons butter)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 351(26% from fat); FAT 10g (sat 4.6g,mono 2.8g,poly 1.9g); PROTEIN 7.6g; CHOLESTEROL 55mg; CALCIUM 176mg; SODIUM 570mg; FIBER 2.3g; IRON 2.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 59.7g

Cooking Light, APRIL 2002

These Nutrition Labels Are No Joke!

OK, so I did decide to play a bit of an April Fools’ joke on you last night by giving you the link to my hoax article for Her Active Life.

But — I swear! — the information I am giving to you today really is true, and boy is it interesting!

I was reading through Eat This, Not That (How many times do you think I start a sentence like that?) when I came across the authors’ list of the 20 Worst Foods in America.

I somehow missed this list the other 18 hundred times that I flipped through the book, but today I am a-gonna share it with you (say that with an Italian accent — it’s fun)!

Now, I am not going to give you the entire list — you will have to get your hands on a copy of the book for that — but I do want to tell you about the ones that I found most surprising (disgusting?). Here they are:

• Chicken Selects’ Premium Breast Strips from McDonald’s (5 pieces) with creamy ranch sauce — 830 calories, 55 grams of fat (4.5 g trans fat) and 48 grams of carbs “The only thing ‘premium about these strips is the caloric price you pay,” says the authors. “Add a large fries and regular soda and this seemingly innocuous chicken meal tops out at 1,710 calories.”

Change Your Chicken “20 McNuggets have the same impact. Instead, choose Mickey D’s six-piece offering with BBQ sauce and save yourself 530 calories.”

• Jamba Juice Chocolate Moo’d Power Smoothie (30 fl oz.) — 900 calories, 10 grams of fat, 183 grams of carbs and 166 grams of sugar “Jamba Juice calls it a smoothie; we call it a milkshake. In fact this beverage contains as much sugar as 2 pints of Ben and Jerry’s Butter Pecan Ice cream.

Turn Down the Power “More than half of this chain’s ‘power smoothies’ contain in excess of 100 grams of sugar. Stick to Jamba’s lower-calorie ‘All Fruit’ smoothies, which are the only smoothies that contain no added sugar. And always opt for the 16-ounce ‘small.'”

• Starbucks Venti Strawberries and Crème Frappucino Blended Crème — 750 calories and 120 grams of sugar “Has more sugar than three cans of soda.”

Say The Magic Word “Order any blended drink ‘light’ to cut the sugar in half.”

• Burger King Triple Whopper with Cheese, Fries, and a Coke, King-Size 2,200 calories 115 grams of fat (11 grams of trans fat), 225 grams of carbs and 117 grams of sugar and 2,590 mg of sodium “Contains more carbs than 10 bread slices”

Create Your Own Combo “The Angus Steak Burger , garden side salad and your choice of diet drink can fill you up for a justifiable 660 calories.”

Maybe I am an exception, but I always find it so astounding to see calorie (fat, carbohydrate, sugar) counts like this! What do you think? What are some healthy choices that you make when you go to food and beverage joints?

Seven-Grain, Crunchy, Yummy Beakfast!

So, I tried a new cereal this morning that I just have to share with you. I am a big-time lover of Kashi products, and this granola just made me even more excited about the company’s seven-grain goodness:

Now, I have not yet tried the Summer Berry, but if it is anywhere near as good as the Cocoa Beach, than I am excited! And the nutrition facts are even better — especially for granola! What I mean is that I love the oats and crunchiness of most granolas, but the calories and fat are often a bit overwhelming.

But check out the stats for these ones:

A 1/2 cup serving of the Cocoa Beach granola is 230 calories, 9 grams of fat (1.5 g saturated fat), 6 grams of dietary fiber and 11 grams of sugar. A 1/2 cup of the Summer Berry contains 210 calories, 6 grams of fat (1 gram saturated), 6 grams of dietary fiber and 9 grams of sugar.

I know the Cocoa Beach has a little more fat, but the saturated fat remains low, and the chocolate flavor makes this an ideal snack when compared to the typical brownie!

Now, I cannot wait to try the Mountain Medley and Orchard Spice granolas!

Like It, Love It, Gotta Have Ice Cream Now!

I hugely indulged last night — something that was very much so unnecessary after my New York City cheesecake binge.

But I did it anyway.

Dan and I decided to “get out of the house for a change” and apparently that equates taking a trip to Cold Stone Creamery.

Now, if you are unfamiliar with this joint, lemme brief you a bit. Cold Stone is a wondrous place where one has the ability to not only choose the flavor of ice cream he or she wants, but to also choose what goes into it. These magical treats have been cleverly dubbed “mix-ins” by Cold Stone. Really creative, right?

Anyway, one nutrition-wise aspect of Cold Stone is that one does have the ability to lighten the caloric damage a bit by choosing “Sinless Sans Fat” ice cream and lighter mix-ins like fruit or chocolate shavings.

I did nothing of the sort.

I, instead, created this beauteous concoction which consisted of full-fatty, straight to the hips mint ice cream, a brownie, chocolate chips, chocolate fudge and Oreos:

I know — it really was that good.

But, as if to make matters worse, when I got home — we got our ice cream to go — I decided to take a quick peek at my Eat This, Not That book BEFORE I ate my ice cream.

Turns out I am not the best of decision makers when I am faced head-on with 18 different ice cream flavors and more mix-ins than Willy Wonka could have ever dreamed of creating.

But for those of you who are much wiser, and actually think before you shove your face with ice cream, here are the suggestions that Eat This, Not That recommends you choose — and completely skip all together — when visiting Cold Stone:

Eat This

Cake Batter Light Ice Cream (with Chocolate Shavings Mix-in — 6 oz. “Like It” size) 330 calories, 11 grams of fat (6.5 g saturated), 39 grams of sugar
Sinless Sans Fat Sweet Cream Ice Cream (with yellow cake, strawberries and blueberries — 6 oz., “Like It” size) 250 calories, 2.5 grams of fat (.5 g saturated), 23 grams of sugar

Chocolate Light Ice Cream (with Smucker’s Fudge mix-in in a waffle cone) 480 calories, 13 g fat (7.5 saturated), 54 grams of sugar

Raspberry Sorbet (with raspberries and Nilla Wafers — 6 oz., “Like It” size) 270 calories, 2.5 grams of fat (0 g saturated), 44 grams of sugar

Not That!

Cake Batter Ice Cream (with Cookie Dough Mix-In — 6 oz., “Like It” size) 560 calories, 28 grams of fat (13.5 g saturated), 58 grams of sugar

Our Strawberry Blonde (with Strawberry Ice Cream, graham cracker pie crust, strawberries, caramel and whip topping — 6 oz., “Like It” size) 595 calories, 26.5 grams of fat (15.5 g saturated) 57 grams of sugar

Dark Chocolate Ice Cream (in a dipped waffle cone) 650 calories, 35 grams of fat (22 g saturated), 60 grams of sugar

Raspberry Ice Cream (with graham cracker pie crust — 6 oz., “Like It” size) 520 calories, 28 grams of fat (14.5 g saturated), 38 grams of sugar

I really don’t even want to know how many calories were in mine, seeing as how I got a “Love It” (They come in “Like It,” “Love It” or “Gotta Have It”) size and many more mix-ins than the “Not That!” suggestions list here.

I guess I will just have to tell myself that a little indulgence is OK every now and then, right? And, hey, it’s not like I picked the “Gotta Have It.”

Although, I have done that before, too . . .

Health Check for The Day!

Several studies suggest that the size of the plate we eat on has a serious effect on our caloric intake. So, next time you are at a buffet, pick the smaller dish, such as the salad plate. It will seem like you’ve eaten a lot more than you have, and your stomach won’t know the difference.
— Eat This, Not That

  Interesting, huh?

Now, I have a lot to tell you about my weekend, including a broken tooth, spending about 9 hours in New York City and walking several, several blocks for cheap (but good!) wine. I will tell you all about it this afternoon, but for now I’ve got to run!

Enjoy the day, and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! 

Start the Weekend Off Right with a Yummy Recipe!

If you have some extra time this weekend, — and you like tofu! — give this recipe a try. Dan made it for me the other night, and I can honestly say it is the best tofu stir fry I have ever had!

Stir-Fried Tofu with Mushrooms, Sugar Snap Peas and Green Onions
(From Epicurious; Makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon unseasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon oriental sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 12-ounce package extra-firm tofu, drained, cut into 3/4-inch cubes, patted dry with paper towels
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon cornstarch

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
6 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed, caps quartered (Dan used baby portabella mushrooms instead)

8 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
4 green onions, sliced on diagonal

Sesame seeds, optional as garnish at end (Dan added these as an extra, and they were good!)

To Prepare:

Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium bowl to blend. Add tofu and stir to coat; let marinate 30 minutes. Drain, reserving marinade in small bowl. Whisk 1/4 cup water and cornstarch into marinade.

Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tofu and sauté until golden, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer tofu to plate. Add remaining 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to skillet. Add mushrooms and stir-fry until tender, about 3 minutes. Add sugar snap peas; stir-fry 2 minutes. Add garlic and ginger; stir-fry 30 seconds. Return tofu to skillet; drizzle reserved marinade mixture over. Stir-fry until marinade thickens slightly, about 30 seconds. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl. Sprinkle with green onions and serve.

Dan paired with about 1 cup of brown rice, and voilà!

Nutritional Information per serving (not including brown rice): Calories, 195; Total fat, 11 g; Saturated fat, 1 g; Cholesterol, 0; Fiber, 3 g