Aug 01 2010

O.N.E. Coconut Water

I was cruising through the grocery store mid-week and they were pimping this O.N.E. Coconut Water in the health food section of the store. I tried a sample that had a splash of mango and it was really good. I grabbed a couple of other flavors and was on my way. Several running bloggers have been talking about using coconut water to re-fuel during their runs. Now I’m not a distant runner by any means, but I have been knocking out some CRAZY miles on the new treadmill. I got back to it in early July. In 20 days I have covered just over 100 miles.  My two longest sessions have been 7.5 and 8 miles. I am doing run walk intervals with the higher percentage of miles going to walking. I’m really being cautious because I’m going for consistency, not injury. 

It has felt really great to get back into it. I have my DVR all set with light viewing pleasures – House Hunters International, Selling New York, Bang For Your Buck, Food Network Challenges, Chopped, Cupcake Wars, 24 Hr. Restaurant Battle, Diners Drive-ins and Dives and The Best Thing I Ever Ate. I tell myself that the reason I’m on the dang treadmill is so I can enjoy “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” type foods.

Today was a 7 miler. I stopped just short of jumping into the pool. I grabbed a O.N.E with a splash of pink guava and it was the perfect recovery drink. My legs felt like Jello.

Reading from the side of the drink – O.N.E. Coconut Water with a splash of pink guava is a blend of the natural water from inside a young green coconut and mouth-watering pink guava juice. It has five essential electrolytes, more potassium than a banana, no fat, no cholesterol and no preservatives.

There were 78 calories in the one serving. 0g fat, 0mg cholesterol, 128 mg. of sodium, 302 mg potassium, .5g fiber, 18.8g carbs and 0.8 g protein.

I sometimes make a smoothie in the evening and end up having that for dinner, but this was a refreshing change. It’s definitely better for me than the 2 pitchers of margaritas my girlfriends and I enjoyed by the pool yesterday 😉 gotta indulge sometimes. I think the non-stop laughter and fun was just what the doctor ordered.

I’m off to my bro’s birthday celebration BBQ.

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Jul 30 2010

Meatballs – Childhood dish with a twist

This week has been a little stressful. “Little” would probably be an understatement, but I’m trying not to go all drama llama queen on this blog, hah! I just feel like there isn’t enough time in the day to fit everything in. I know things will slow down a bit, but until then, it’s cook when I can, grab healthy on the go alternatives the other nights.

Growing up I had a list of favorites that my Mom made and Porcupine Meatballs (My Mom’s name for them) were one of my favorite dishes. She used white rice and just added bread, egg, seasonings and tomato soup. I decided to switch things up a bit to make a new Foodiddy version. The porcupine name came from the way they looked with the rice sticking out of the meatballs, making them look spiky.

Ingredients:

1 lb. lean ground sirloin – I used 7% (Could easily be made with ground turkey)
Fresh baby spinach – chopped – as much as you want – I used the entire bowl (about 2 cups)
Brown Rice – I used 2 servings – Trader Joe’s frozen – cooked it before adding to the meatballs
1 Large Shallot – diced and sautéed with 2 cloves garlic, salt and pepper
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan Reggiano
1 Egg
1 Can Tomato Soup
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
2 Teaspoons garlic powder
2 Teaspoons Italian Seasoning
Salt
Pepper

I preheated the oven to 400 degrees. I then got the spinach chopped, the shallots sautéed, the brown rice cooked and everything besides the tomato soup added into a big mixing bowl.

I used a spoon and then my hands to get everything really mixed up.

I made 15 fairly large meatballs and placed them into a glass baking dish. No need to coat the dish.

I poured the tomato soup into a glass measuring cup and added a can of water per the soup instructions. I then poured the soup contents on top of the meatballs.

No need to cover the meatballs. Just place them directly into the oven.

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes. I checked them at 15 minutes and ladled sauce over the tops of each meatball. While they were finishing up in the oven, I broke out my veggie slicer. I sliced 2 zucchini to create my pasta bed for the meatballs. I added them to a pan with a little extra virgin olive oil and garlic salt and then put them on my plate.

The zucchini noodles were perfect since there was already brown rice in the meatballs. I loved the texture – the onion and added spinach and softness of the brown rice really worked well together.

Dan thought the meatballs were too centered in the first photo, LOL… so I added the second. He gobbled them up (minus the zucchini pasta) – woohoo, another dish to add to the rotation. On the days that I don’t post, it’s more than likely that I’m enjoying something I’ve already posted.

Thanks Mom for all of the amazing childhood food memories, I loved sitting down to dinner as a family.

Good times, good food and lots of laughs.

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Jul 27 2010

Busy… busy… busy…

The past week has been very hectic for me. I’ve been on graphic and website overload at work.  I’m also working on a few side projects and to deal with the stress, I’ve ramped up my evening workouts – which leaves little time to get all fancy with recipes and photography at night. Thankfully this is only temporary. I’ve got stacks of magazines and pulled recipes ready to go, just have to find the time to crank some out.

It’s been back to basics with eating for me. Lots of veggies, fruits, smoothies and greek yogurt. I do have a new food love. A reader (Thank you Melissa) sent me some Doctor Kracker samples. She doesn’t work for the company, she’s just a fan and has been eating them for a while and thought I’d like them, she was right!

Dr. Krackers are made with organic whole grains and the extreme crunch is like no other cracker I’ve had. They are artisan baked flatbread. I’ve tried 4 flavors now. Sunflower Cheddar, Pumpkin Seed Cheddar, Klassic 3 Seed and Seedlander. They are 100 calories per flatbread cracker, anywhere from 3-4 grams of fiber and they have between 10-11 grams of carbs. Nutritional information can be found on their website.

I’ve been melting cheese on them, eating the shrimp salad from the cucumber bites recipe, tuna salad and just about anything else I can think of throwing on a flatbread cracker.

I love all of the seeds. I’ve also been crushing them up onto salads as croutons, they really do pack a powerful crunch. I was reading some of the reviews on Amazon, a few people said that they had trouble biting into them. Um…wow, they must have some weak choppers. I was excited to see that they also have snack size crackers, I’m going to order some of those next. I have yet to see them in any of my local grocery stores. Haven’t looked at Whole Foods yet, it’s next on my “to do” list.

I’m finally starting to see the new Laughing Cow Light flavors in my local stores. Trader Joe’s started carrying the blue cheese and then I found the others at Safeway. I am in LOVE with the Queso Fresco and Chipotle. The Mozzarella, Sun Dried Tomato and Basil is really good too. I’m not a huge blue cheese fan, so I haven’t tried that one yet.  Have any of you tried the new flavors? If so, what did you think? Any fun recipes? I’ve been seeing some new ones on the Hungry Girl website.  I’m thinking of doing a stuffed chicken breast with the Sun Dried Tomato and Basil. I have already use the Queso Fresco and Chipotle with ground turkey to make some lettuce taco wraps.

Dan and I did manage to fit in “date night” Saturday. I can count on one hand the amount of times we’ve eaten out since I started Foodiddy. I just like knowing exactly what I’m putting in my body and weekends are when I have more time to prep/cook so I enjoy being in the kitchen on those days.

We decided on Macaroni Grill. Dan went for the classic spaghetti and meatballs and I ordered from the Mediterranean Grill section of the menu. It’s pretty scary to see the calories posted right next to menu items. I’m not counting calories, but holy crap, some of the dishes had calorie counts in the 1600-2000 range. Dan’s was 2400, hah!

I went with the Jumbo Shrimp Spiedini and it was fabulous.

Jumbo shrimp grilled with extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon zest and rosemary. It was seasoned just right. It came with roasted eggplant (which was a little too mushy), zucchini, red onion and red and yellow bell peppers. 320 calories and a boat load of sodium in case you were curious. I felt super satisfied, and still managed to share a bite off Dan’s plate and who can pass on Macaroni Grill’s bread? Yum!

It’s nice to go out every once in a while. Now I have a new meal to recreate in the Foodiddy kitchen. I picked up some shrimp at the grocery store last night and plan to put this meal into my rotation.

Not sure what else is in store for the remainder of the week. It’s hard to believe it’s only Tuesday. Dear weekend… Please hurry the heck up, I’m anxiously awaiting your arrival.

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