Love To Eat Right

Home Workout Review!

2013-02-12T13:29:00.000-05:00

Since I am "retired" from triathlons, my athletic ambitions consist of going to the gym and working out at home. I have only had a gym membership for the last few months so I have utilized a lot of home workouts up to that point.

FREE Nike Training Club app for the iphone

This app is for men and women, even though there are only girls demonstrating the exercises. Here are some reasons why I love it so much:

- It has a ton of different routines that you can do for various athletic abilities, so you will never get bored. Routines last from 15 mins to 45 mins.

- It's quick and easy to get started with: choose a routine, review the exercises, gather equipment if any, and hit the start button.

- The points system and the workout rewards, i.e. a sports celebrity workout, keeps you motivated to keep going and maybe add on a 15 min ab workout to reach the next level!

- There is a short video clip with verbal instructions for every exercise, so you can review before you start or during your workout if you forgot how to do something.

Scooby's Workshop: Home Fitness and Bodybuilding Workouts

This guy, Scooby, has a ton of videos on Youtube and a lot of information on his website. I love his youtube videos since they show correct weightlifting technique and how to do a lot of stuff at home. He has training plans for men and women of all levels on his website. His approach to exercising and nutrition is that less is more. He doesn't advocate the use of supplements or pricy workout gear.

Fitocracy

I use this app to track all of my workouts. They have a large exercise database and also have a quest library. Like the Nike Training Club app, you can earn points by completing workouts and quests. You can join groups and compete in their challenges. A lot of the quests are things that you can do at home like burpees, planks, pull-ups, and body weight routines. You can also earn points for walking, hiking, and shoveling snow. This app is also free!

Bodyrock.TV

I used this program a lot once we first moved here but then kind of drifted away from it since the NTC workouts were better for me. It is still a great program and since the workout only last 15-20 minutes its even better for people who are short on time. They have greatly improved their website and info recently but the one thing that kind of turned me off from their workouts is that they use a lot of equipment in their workouts and it's not stuff that most people would have around the house. So if you choose not to purchase the equipment they use (which is how they make money) then you will have to modify the exercise but typically they show modifications for each exercise. They also show modifications for beginners.

Vegetable of the month: Leeks!

2013-01-02T09:05:00.000-05:00

After seeing many people at the supermarkets here purchasing this lovely green and white vegetable, I decided that I needed to try them. They are a vegetable I had seen often, but I had never eaten it before. Recently I have started cooking more with them as they are plentiful here and inexpensive.

Leeks are in the same family with onions, garlic, scallions, and shallots. They have a mild onion flavor and won't overpower a dish. They are a good source of many nutrients such as: Vitamin A, Vitamin K, Folate, and Vitamin B6.

Leeks are easy to prepare and cook! The leeks I buy already have the long green fibrous leaves removed. All I have to do it trim the ends and wash them well. Sometimes they tend to have a small amount of dirt near the top of the vegetable. I typically make soup with leeks. They can also be added to a stock, braised with meat, or simply sauteed.

I encourage you to try leeks! They are easy to cook, have a great flavor, and are a good source of nutrients.

Click here for my recipe for leek and potato soup! Please share your favorite ways to eat leeks.

Leek and Potato Soup

2013-01-02T09:03:00.000-05:00

Potato and leek soup

I had never eaten leeks prior to eating leek and potato soup at a restaurant recently. I loved it so much that I came up with this recipe. It tastes slightly indulgent and is filling without being a calorie bomb.

Ingredients:

2.2 lbs of potatoes- rinsed, peeled, and sliced.

1 large yellow onion or 2 medium onions- chopped

3 medium leeks- trimmed, rinsed, halved, and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces.

2 TBS olive oil

6 cups broth

pepper to taste

1 TBS rosemary

1/2 cup chopped smoked ham (optional)

Heat a large pot over medium-high heat. Add oil, onions, leeks, and pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes or until onions are translucent and the leeks have cooked down some. Next add the broth and potatoes. If you are adding and ham or bacon then add it here too. Bring the broth to a boil and then reduce heat until potatoes are cooked through, about 10-15 minutes. Next blend the soup well using a blender or a immersion blender. Now the soup is ready to eat!

Other ideas:

-Add other vegetables. I had some broccoli that needed to be used and so I chopped it up and added it with the potatoes.

- Top with lowfat sour cream or shaved cheese.

Potato, leek, and broccoli soup

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

2012-12-24T14:05:00.000-05:00

We wish all followers, friends and family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, keep following us next year as new recipes and other interesting posts are on their way.

On the picture a selection of mostly German homemade Christmas Cookies (Zimtsterne/Cinnamon Stars, Gingerbread, Spitzbuben, Vanillekipferl and Mandelrauten (Buttercookies with lots of almonds, haselnuts and jam)

Jennifer and Steffen

Make your own energy bars!

2012-10-23T09:52:00.002-04:00

I loved the energy bars in the US. They were so convient and some were even good for you! Here in Germany they are not so popular and very expensive. Clifbars are nowhere to be found and a Powerbar will cost you almost $3.00! So I decided to make my own energy bars.

One giant energy bar! Later I cut it into about 8 smaller bars.

Ingredients:
2 cups oatmeal
1/2 ground almonds (you can substitue almond flour or a nut butter)
1/2 cup honey (you can sub maple syrup or agave nectar)
12 dates finely chopped
1 apple finely chopped
2 egg whites
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix all of this together in a large bowl. If your mixture looks to runny you can always add more oats if it seems to dry then you can add some more liquid, like another egg white. You can also add in more dried fruit, a mashed banana or two, and nuts if you want.

Once everything is mixed, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and press the mixture together to form a rectangular or square shape that is about 1/2 thick. Place this in a oven preheated to 325 F and bake for 15-20 mins. It should be golden brown on the top and bottom. You can than use a pizza cutter or large knife to cut them to a size that works best for you. These keep for at least 2 weeks in the fridge, maybe longer but I ate all of them within 2 weeks, and they freeze well.

On their way into the oven.

Endurance Athlete: Eating to refuel post workout!

2012-08-14T08:46:00.000-04:00

Did you notice the title of this blog?
It says eating to REFUEL post workout. It does not say eating to celebrate because you finished a hard workout.

Why do we work out hard? To reach goals, become faster, more fit, and be able to do more than we could yesterday.

In order to reach these goals to the best of our ability, we need to really be conscious of what we are putting in our bodies after a workout.

Let's say you just rode your bike for 2 hours then ran for 1 hour, including some serious intervals.
What should you eat after?
A peanut butter and banana sandwich, an apple, and low fat chocolate milk or a cheeseburger with fries and soda?

Source: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_TTmHg_55RHU/S9I4e4_-b
TI/AAAAAAAACJw/fGMT31WsDsA/s1600/baconator.jpg

Remember, you want to eat to provide some immediate energy and then some slow release energy. The immediate energy is ideally in a ratio of 2:1, 2 parts simple carbs and 1 part protein. It should be consumed as soon as possible after the workout.

Your body is already taxed from the workout and is trying to recover from what you did. Should you really eat a giant fatty meal that diverts blood away from my muscles and focuses it instead on your gut trying to digest food, thereby extending how long it takes you to recover from the workout?

Refueling your body with good nutrition is said to be particularly important for the same time as the actual workout. Meaning a 3h workout leads to 3h of refueling. Simple carbs in the beginning moving onto solid food including complex carbs, antioxidant rich vegetables, some protein, while maintaining a diet on the alkaline side of things.

It is nice to celebrate after a hard workout, but to celebrate with bad nutrition is like taking one step forward and two steps back. In the post workout celebration, alcohol will also have its negative impacts. If it has to be part, at least make it an antioxidant beverage, such as a hoppy beer or a glass of red wine.

But wait, my Garmin/HRM watch said I burned X number of calories!! So two things about this statement:
1. According one study done, HRM have been shown to be only 75% accurate in calculating calorie expenditure. They typically overestimate calories burned by 12% or more depending on how you calculated your max HR and VO2max.
2. So let's say my Garmin told me I burned 2000 calories for my little workout above. Does that mean I now have a calorie deficit of 2000 calories that I need to replace? No! I need to take into account what I ate and drank pre-workout and during the workout. My calorie deficit and what I need to eat is actually much less.

Eat to train!

What's the skinny on alkaline diet?

2012-08-08T07:46:00.003-04:00

It makes you feel better!

Why?

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Da_Vinci_Vitruve_Luc_Viatour.jpg

Increased acidity levels in your body can lead to low energy levels, a tendency to get sick easily, and pain and inflammation. Hence a more balanced (alkaline/acidic) diet will give you more energy, and will enable your body to fight off attacks against your immune system, since it isn't busy fighting acid. Your body is constantly working on keeping your blood ph between 7.35 and 7.45.

How?
By reducing the intake of foods and beverages that lead to increased acidity levels. The importance is the effect on your body, not how they taste. Foods and beverages can be acidic themselves, but lead to an alkaline reaction in your system, such as citrus fruits or vinegar. The main contributors to an acidic diet are:
- sugar
- too much protein in form of meat, poultry, fish and dairy
- soda, especially diet soda
- processed/fried food
- white flour: bread, pasta

What to eat?
Not only is it important to leave out or reduce some of the acidic nutrients, it is also important to add minerals to your diet. The most effective way of doing that is by adding foods and beverages that contain the minerals. The benefit of this way are that the minerals are continuously added to your digestive system, which allows it to absorb more. Supplements are the less effective alternative. These foods are:

- fruits and vegetables (except legumes, they are too high in protein and hence acidic)
- whole wheat products, they are less acidic, but still have cause an acidic reaction
- mineral waters with high mineral contents
(Germany classifies waters with particularly high mineral contents as healing water)
- herbal teas

The mineral content of fruits and vegetables varies. It is generally recommended to buy local. The benefit of buying local is that the goods were already ripe when they were harvested. Naturally ripened fruits/vegetables positively affects the alkalinity content (mineral and fructose content). There are of course fruits and vegetables that have alkaline effects that are not growing in every region, such as bananas, citrus fruits etc. A general rule is also that the closer things grow to the ground the better they are.

Most alkaline diets recommend a 80/20 rule for alkaline and acidic nutrients. We have softened our approach slightly and try not to eat more than one acidic food at the time. When eating meat, fish or poultry, we strive for two other alkaline sides such as salad or vegetables and potatoes. It is also recommended to leave out meat, cold cuts, sausage or other high protein foods a few days a week.

How to eat?
Eat slowly and chew properly. It adds enzymes and simplifies the digestive process by providing more surface area for the gastric acid to do its job. It is also recommended to not drink with your meal, instead wait 30 mins. Fluids reduce the acidity of gastric acids and slow down the digestive process.

Enough for the skinny on alkaline diet! A follow up blog for athletes and alkaline diet will come soon.

Feel free to post questions :)

Steffen

PS: If you are going to try it out, you may choose a cleansing week and please be patient. There is a lot of acid built up that will take a while to be removed until the true effects will come through. You should feel some improvements though.

Healthy Apple Pie- German style (Apfelkuchen)

2012-07-31T14:20:00.000-04:00

This recipe is adapted from one of Steffen's German cookbooks. The book is called "Kochen und Backen nach Grundrezepten" by Luise Haarer and Regina Menne. What I love about the recipe is that it is a basic crust with minimal fat and sugar and you can use almost any fruit for the filling. We used to double the recipe and make it on a large baking sheet, but I found out after preparing it once here, in Germany, that the baking sheet doesn't fit in our little oven :( So now I bake it in a 26 cm tart pan.

Here is the recipe for the crust-
-Preheat the oven to 375
You will need:
65 grams of melted butter (about half a stick of butter)*( I usually use about 30 grams of butter and 35 grams of applesauce)
250 grams of flour *( I typically use spelt flour, but i'm sure any other flour would be fine)
65 grams of sugar *(because I use apple sauce I usually add a little less sugar)
1 egg
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon baking powder

I mix everything in the mixer until it has mostly come together. Then you will have to knead it a little on a lightly floured surface until all ingredients are well combined. I haven't had great success with rolling the dough out and then transferring it to the pan, so I just flatten the dough by hand into the pan. Make sure you grease your pan with cooking spray or butter. Once the dough is evenly pressed into the pan you can continue with the filling.

Here is what you need for the filling:
5-6 apples depending on what size they are. Try to use a firm apple, Granny Smiths or Golden Delicious apples work well
2 tablespoons sugar (optional)
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon (optional)
1/4 cup raisins (optional)

Wash and peel the apples. Cut the apples in half and remove the seeds. I like to use a melon baller for the part. Then slice each half into small even slices. Once you are done you can arrange the apples how ever you like onto the crust. Once you are done arranging the apples you can sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar on top. If you decide to add the raisins I would wait until the last few minutes of baking to add them and cover the pie with foil after since they tend to burn easily.

Once you are finished preparing the pie, place it in your preheated 375 ℉ oven for 40-45 mins. Once the crust starts getting brown around the edges is it done.

I have also made this same recipe using fresh apricots and plums and they came out great!

Transalp Stage 8

2012-07-29T11:08:00.000-04:00

Madonna di Campiglio, Italy to Riva del Garda, Italy

Distance: 75.10 km and 1778 m of climbing.

Amazing experience, we will see you again Transalp!!

Route information

This was the last stage. It was amazing how quickly the past 7 days had gone by. This stage started with another 1000m of climbing in front of us. At the beginning there was a traffic jam at the bottom of the hill and cool temps. Rain joined us on the mountain at 1850m above sea level. The down hill was very cold and I had made the mistake to not bring along long gloves. The result was that I lost ten minutes on Andi on a 1100m downhill.
The rest stops saved me that day by serving hot broth. Things got better from the 50 kilometer point on. There was one more little climb that turned out to be rather strenuous, due to the wet conditions. When we crossed the peak we could already see Lago di Garda. The last downhill trail seemed like it would have been a fun trail in dry conditions. Since it was so wet we went with the safe option and pushed our bikes on some of the slippery rock sections.
We are official finishers!!

Last finish line

Finisher Medals

Finisher Jerseys

Post race hydration

Post post race hydration!

view of Lago di Garda

The amazing motorcycle rescue crew, they rode
all the trails with us. Thank you!

Transalp Stage 7

2012-07-29T10:43:00.001-04:00

Ponte di Legno, Italy to Madonna di Campiglio, Italy

Distance: 73.16 km and 3248 m of climbing.

Route information

I was quite surprised how quickly I had recovered from the previous day's stage where I had struggled some. This day was another hard stage. The rout was shorter than yesterday, but almost the same climbing. Since there were two long downhills, we were hopeful to make up more time on the teams immediately in front of us and we did :). We rode up and down and up and down!! The views today were again an amazing experience. The clouds added some interesting views to the high mountain peaks. As in many stages the race director added a nasty bit at the end of the stage. This time it was an adventure section through a marsh. Supposedly riding through more than ankle deep mud was supposed to be a fun adventure! We were able to push up the last climb and made up some time :). Again it was a close finish within the time limit, but we made it. Madonna di Campiglio could have left a better impression on the riders. The camp showers were in a container with cold water and the dinner was in a parking deck.

Start, riders as far as you can see

Welcome to Italy, talking with hands required

Transalp Stage 6

2012-07-29T08:39:00.004-04:00

Livigno, Italy to Ponte di Legno, Italy

Distance: 106.29 km and 3451 m of climbing.

Route information

swtichbacks

Today I felt like the race had really started.That the first 5 stages were training and just having fun. The day's goal was for us to stay within the time limit. Since it was the longest stage we started an hour early (8.00AM) and the finish line stayed open an hour later (7:00 pm). The biggest difference in today's stage to previous stages was that the biggest climb was at the end.

At the beginning of the stage there were traffic jams leaving Livignio and we were therefor forced to walk up parts of the first climb. We were riding pretty hard as soon as we could trying to reach our first goal timepoint that we had set four ourselves. We tried to stay on track in order to make the two official time cut-offs that the race officials had set. Andi did a great job planning our pace for the day. In retrospect, I had probably gone out a little too hard and burned a match or two early on. It was again obvious that a lot of the riders did not possess any technical riding skills. It was not uncommon to see people pushing bikes on sections that were easily rideable. We were on such a tight schedule we didn't have any time for picture taking.There wasn't much time for pictures today!

The first two climbs were followed by a long flat section (20km). One more 400m climb and then we were off onto the longest downhill (1700m), 38 min of riding down. After the downhill there was one more rest stop and the well known Mortirolo pass was ahead of us. It was 1500m up in the grueling afternoon heat. I was running out of energy and was trying to stuff as many calories into me as I could, but I could never get back out of the hole. Needless to say, that the end of the stage seemed to last forever! The last 10 km was the longest 10 km I can ever remember. There was gentle climbs into the town of Ponte di Legno. I have to say, I don't think my tank was ever as empty as it was that day. It took 15 min of sitting down, before i could eat something and move on. After eating some good Italian food for dinner, I felt like I had some life back in me and ready for the next day. And yes, we did make the All the time cut-offs :)!!

Done and done, longest stage of this year's Transalp

Beautiful trails

The smiles are back!

Transalp Stage 5

2012-07-29T08:04:00.002-04:00

Scuol, Switzerland to Livigno, Italy

Distance: 66.32 km and 2323 m of climbing.

Route information

With Andi's brakes now fixed we were ready to roll. The start line up in Scoul's city center was amazing. There were over a thousand riders mixed in between the historic houses and buildings.
The stage was supposed to be a gift to the riders, which it sort of was. Except my legs didn't want to go :(. Even the easy climb at the beginning seemed to be hard. We rode by a monument for the last bear being shot in this region. The route continued up and down. I was distracted by the great views on lakes and mountain ranges. When we entered the city limits of Livigno, we had to ride back up through the ski resorts to come back in town without being on the main street, fun fun :). I was glad to be in Italy and the food at the finish line was super. I think I ate a whole carrot cake by myself and indulged in my first cappuccino, of which many more followed.

Start line up in Scoul

The easy climb

Bear monument

Transalp Stage 4

2012-07-29T07:26:00.004-04:00

Nauders, Austria to Scuol, Switzerland

Distance: 49.94 km and 1800 m of climbing

Route information

WWI site

The morning started with a the Shimano folks still working on Andi's rear brake until shortly before the start of the stage. After he got his bike back everything seemed to be working fine.

We got a little history lesson riding across the Austrian/Italian border and WWI battles. The views from the first peak down to Lake Reschen and the Ortler in the background were quite nice. The stage itself was the shortest of the race, but sure has some nice views. The climb out of Reschen was quite steep and was followed by some nice trails around "Schwarzsee" and its marshes. This is where it began to become apparent that all was not well with Andi's brakes that had just been fixed. His rear break failed again and he was going down the descents using his front break only. The front break finally failed as well and he had to jump in the bushes on the last downhill. We had been riding down a crazy steep concrete section!! Luckily no injuries had to be reported. The flat section at the end riding into Scoul was pretty flat thanks to a mixed team pulling us into town :). Real Swiss cheese and other goodies greeted us at the finish line. We had a great time at the finish line. We met Jason Sumner, a journalist, from Colorado. It is always quite nice to catch up with a friendly American :)

From the bridge in Scoul

Power Nap

Post dinner, mid mountain

Lake Reschen

Team riding

Transalp Stage 3

2012-07-29T06:33:00.000-04:00

Ischgl, Austria to Nauders, Austria

Distance: 68.22 km and 2691 m of climbing

Route information

According to the route description for this stage, it appeared to included what would be the hardest climb. In retrospect that wasn't quite true, it was challenging though. The stage had a whooping 1km flat section and then went up 1400m to the crossing of the Alps at Idjoch (2732m). It had snowed the night before and we saw some of the last remains of the powder coating. The views from the top were spectacular, Andi had a blast :). The downhill was a lot of fun again and got us ready for the next climb. We were crossing the borders between Austria and Italy a few times. Towards the end of the stage we had another short climb on gravel roads and more fun downhill to Nauders on single tracks. Right along with our team theme, we had pizza at the finish line! The town of Nauders was certainly one of the best host towns, all 5* hotels were open for all athletes to take showers and use the wellness facilities. We stayed at the bottom of the mountain and took the gondola up for the pasta party. Pasta parties/dinners were hosted by the stage towns every evening, along with the award ceremonies, pictures and video of the day. Andi had some issues with his rear break on this stage and had to convince the Shimano folks who had already started drinking for the night to work on his bike.

on the way up to the Idjoch

Andi at the top, 2732m above sea level. View south

Andi on the last climb, the view of the mountains was fantastic!

fun fun

Finish Line

View of the Ortler, tallest mountain in Austria

Finish line Pizza

Jennifer after the pasta dinner, mid mountain
with future milk production animals!

sportograf did a great job taking pictures all along the route

Transalp Stage 2

2012-07-29T06:29:00.000-04:00

Imst, Austria to Ischgl, Austria

Distance: 77.9km and 3274m of climbing

Route information

Today's stage started with a fun climb of 1300m (4265') up to the Venetalm, that had quite a few steep bits in it. This was the first time in years that I have climbed that long at one time. At the pace we are climbing (10min/100m), it ended up taking 2 hours and 10 minutes. At the top we were greeted by cool temps and drizzling rain. The down hill was a lot of fun of course :). The remainder of the stage was two more climbs with a long gradual climb at the end of the stage which finishedin Ischgl. The last 20 km were tough, as there was continuous up and down steadily climbing into town. Jennifer was waiting for us at the finish line, where Andi and I were consuming huge amounts of Landjaeger sausages. Here are a few pictures:

Transalp Stage 1

2012-07-14T14:34:00.000-04:00

Oberammergau, Germany to Imst, Austria

Distance 95.96km and 1865m of climbing

Route Information

Impressions of the day:
This first stage was supposed to be an easy stage - it wasn't. The beginning of the stage was a neutralized start. Meaning the first 25km were led by a pace car, we were of course far enough in the back that it didn't affect us. Honestly, we were simply not fast enough to be sucked along in 40km/h speed-train. We finally got off the main road an hit some gravel road and eventually single trails along the Plansee. We hit the first traffic jam of the race along the those trails. We lost 15 important minutes!! This stage wasn't too bad though. We were having a lot of fun pushing the pace on one steep climb, which ended up taking its toll on us later in the day. Even though it was only 300m of climbing we both hammered it up. Andi said, "I never redline, others make me" - and today I was one the one to push him :). The first real climb up to the Marienbergjoch, turned out to be a first real challenge. Oh well, we enjoyed the rest of the day. It eventually stopped raining, which had started in the morning, and the sun came out.
Based on my experience of the day I should probably start focusing more on downhill events. I am pretty comfortable with my downhill skills and passing people is more fun than being passed on the climbs.
The pictures below show Andi and I with the tallest German mountain in the background. Yes, we were cool enough to stop and take pictures. After finishing that stage it was all about recovering for the next easy stage with ~50 miles and 11k and of climbing.

Zugspitze in the background

at the finish line, 1 of 8 done :)

The BEST Mashed Potatoes

2012-07-08T11:00:00.000-04:00

I love potatoes! I have to say that I was pretty excited when Steffen said that he wanted to eat more potatoes because they are an alkalizing food. Before we used to eat potatoes maybe several times a month and now we are eating them several times a week :). One of my favorite ways to prepare potatoes is to mash them. That unfortunately is also not the healthiest way to eat them. Most people add sour cream, ranch dressing, butter, milk, and/or heavy cream to the mix. Recently, I added quark (greek yogurt) with mine and they were amazing! The yogurt gives them a very nice texture, a tangy flavor, and adds protein. Sometimes I also add in some prepared horseradish. You could add fresh herbs, a pack of ranch seasoning, celery, or garlic. I typically use a thin skinned potato and leave the skin on. The skin contains a lot of potassium, vitamin C, iron, and other important minerals and vitamins that our bodies need. By peeling your potatoes you are throwing some of those nutrients away and decreasing the nutritional value of the meal. However, the inside of the potato contains vitamins and minerals also.

Here is what you need:
2.5 lbs of potatoes. I use thin skin yellow potatoes but red potatoes would work well also.
1 cup low fat/fat free quark/greek yogurt
salt and pepper to taste
Note: You can obviously split the amounts above for smaller portion size, the 2.5 lbs potatoes make roughly 5 servings.

Slice potatoes in to equal size pieces. Place in a large pot with salted water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat some and continue cooking until potato pieces are fork tender, about 10-15 minutes. Don't let them overcook or you will have watery mashed potatoes. Once they are done cooking drain them well.

I typically use my mixer to make these, but you can also use a hand masher if you don't have a mixer. Place potatoes in the mixing bowl, add quark and salt and pepper. Mix on low to get things started and then increase speed slowly. Once your desired consistency has been reached, they are done!

Super quick dinner: Pineapple, black beans, and couscous!

2012-07-07T13:41:00.001-04:00

There are no excuses to not eat healthy! This is a supper quick dinner that you can make in just minutes. It is very healthy and full of protein from the black beans and couscous. I also love the spice from the taco seasoning with the sweetness from the pineapple.

Here is what you need:

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

1 can pineapple, reserve the juice

1 cup couscous

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup warm water

2 tbs taco seasoning

Combine the pineapple juice and 1/2 cup water in a pan on the stove or in a microwave safe bowl. Bring the liquid to a boil, remove from heat, and add the couscous. Let sit for 5 minutes and fluff with a fork.

In a medium skillet over medium heat combine black beans and pineapple. Mix taco seasoning with 1/3 cup warm water and then add to black beans and pineapple. Cook until warmed through.

To serve place some couscous in a bowl and top with pineapple and black bean mixture.

Eggplant and Zucchini Vegetarian Stromboli

2012-07-04T03:11:00.000-04:00

This is a great recipe that you can make many variations of. I used the recipe I posted recently for the healthy pizza crust. This time though instead of using all spelt flour I added a 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour. This recipe makes enough for 2 medium sized strombolies. One is probably enough for 2 people. I pre-cooked the vegetables, because I didn't feel like they would cook all the way if I just put them in the oven raw. Here is the recipe that makes two strombolies:

1 recipe for Healthy Pizza Crust

1 medium eggplant (sliced thin and cooked)

1 large zucchini (sliced thin and cooked)

1 cup pasta sauce

1 cup of reduced fat shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Prepare pizza dough per recipe. After it is done rising, divide into two equal pieces. I rolled each piece onto floured parchment paper. This helps make the rolling process easier later. Next add some of the sauce. Be careful not to add to much, as it can leak out. Also leave a one inch margin around the edge of the dough. Next arrange the veggies and then top with cheese.

To roll the dough up, lift up one side of the parchment paper to help you roll the dough away from yourself. Once the dough is rolled up, place it seam side down on the parchment paper. Then pinch the ends and tuck under.

Place parchment paper with stromboli on baking sheet and place on middle oven rack. Let bake for 25 minutes.

Parchment Paper

2012-06-29T14:34:00.005-04:00

I always used to think that just fancy cooks and Martha Stewart used parchment paper. I was ok with just using my cooking spray and foil. Now that we live in Germany, where cooking sprays are unavailable, I have started using parchment paper a lot. I wish I had started using it awhile ago!

Here are some of the things I love about parchment paper:
- You don't need to add any extra fat to keep things from sticking. Sometimes for baking though you do need to add some flour.
- Clean up is super easy and I don't have to clean the pan at all. I can reuse the paper or throw it away.
- I feel like food and baked goods release easier from the parchment paper than they ever did when I used cooking spray on a baking sheet, roasting pan, or foil.
- Parchment paper doesn't get any little holes in it like foil can, so no surprise leaks onto the pan or bottom of the oven.
- I don't have to worry about spraying chemicals into the air and my food like I did with cooking spray.

Here is what I normally use my parchment paper for:
- Roasting vegetables. This is probably what I use it for the most.
- Using it to like spring form pans.
- Using it for baking breads and cookies.

You can also use to it make packets in which to cook fish, veggies, and meat. I haven't tried this yet, but I will be soon.

You can buy parchment paper in a roll (like foil), pre-cut sheets, reusable sheets, and as cupcake liners. You can also cut it to size for lining baking sheets, cake pans, and spring form pans.

Healthy Pizza Crust - delicious

2012-06-26T15:11:00.002-04:00

Steffen and I like pizza a lot. Quite often we would split a pizza at Lynnwood Grill in Raleigh, NC. We would always order it with "light cheese", usually add some extra vegetables to it, and substitute healthier items, like grilled chicken, for things like bacon. Ordering a pizza with "light cheese" just means asking them to put half of the amount of cheese that they would normally use. Sometimes we might even order a pizza with no cheese. The amount of cheese, some toppings, and portion size are the things that make pizza not so good for you.

The best way to eat pizza though is to make it at home. It is very easy and then you choose exactly what you want on your pizza. We prefer vegetables or fruit like bell peppers, artichokes, onions, mushrooms, eggplant, fresh tomatoes, squash, carrots, olives, fresh greens (basil or arugula), broccoli, cauliflower, pineapple, black beans, corn, jalapenos, potatoes, kohlrabi, beets....A healthier alternative to regular hard cheeses is Mozzarella, soft cheeses are generally lower in fat and are less acidic.

There are many recipes out there for pizza crust. We have a basic one that we like a lot. We used spelt flour to make it but you can also use whole wheat flour. (spelt and whole wheat are more alkaline then regular bleached flour)

Pizza Crust Recipe: makes enough for 2 medium rectangular pizzas

2 tbs honey
3/4 cup warm water
2 tbs olive oil, divided
1 ½ tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
2 ¼ cup flour (reserve some for mixing/kneading dough)

Mix warm water (about 110°F) with honey until it is dissolved and then add the yeast. Let sit for 5-7 minutes until it bubbles. Once it has bubbled then mix in 1tbs olive oil and salt. Then add the flour. I added 2 cups of flour at first and then more while I was mixing it with the mixer and dough hook until it wasn't sticky anymore. Once it is done mixing place it in a lightly oiled bowl and turn the dough so that it is coated.

Cover with plastic or a towel and place in a warm place. I usually heat 2 cups of water in the microwave for a few minutes, remove it, and put the dough in. Let it rise for 1½ hours or until it has doubled in size. You can use a pizza stone if you have one, heat it per directions. I don't have one anymore so I just heated up a cookie sheet. I set the oven to 450°F and let the pan heat for about 25 -30 minutes.

Once it is done rising you can divide the dough into two equal pieces. We just used one and froze the other. We rolled our's out onto parchment paper and then put that directly onto the cooking sheet.

Top the pizza as desired and place in oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes.

To make some variations to this recipe you can add herbs, cheese, or flavored oil to the crust.

Buon Appetito!

What can tea do for you?

2012-06-05T14:51:00.000-04:00

There are probably many good reasons why one should drink tea, I will focus on it's possible alkaline effects.
Since I have been having issues with heartburn, partially caused by drinking too much coffee, I was started looking into the actual reasons. As it turns out, typical western diets are rather acidic and can be mended by adding some rather alkaline goodies to the daily table.
I have switched from drinking a cup of coffee in the AM to a cup of tea. The variety of alkaline teas (herbal) is rather large, but some of them are harder to get to then others. Rooibos tea is one of the ones that is easy to get to. I personally prefer the natural flavor, but it comes with Vanilla flavoring for instance. I have noticed a huge a difference and have been able to stop taking heartburn medicine.Other alternatives are teas with berry or orange leaves, ginger, apple peel, fennel etc. One of my favorites there is orange leaf-ginger tea!
One of the most important aspects of the alkaline-basic balance in our body is that acids can only be washed out with bases. The acid (H+) needs to be bound by the bases (OH-). Water and herbal teas will help cleansing your body!

The Love to eat right lifestyle!

Enjoy your tea!

Steffen

Avocados....good for you or not so good for you?

2012-05-31T16:00:00.000-04:00

Source:http://upload.wikimedia.org/
wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f2/
Persea_americana_fruit_2.JPG/
479px-Persea_americana_fruit_2.JPG

So I am going to go ahead and say that while avocados are delicious they are not good for you. I know I'm sad about it too. While there are some good nutrients in avocados that are beneficial, I think the high fat content makes them not the best food to get these nutrients from. From the USDA food database, one whole avocado can have 322 calories and 29.47 grams of fat! The fat breakdown is about 4.3 grams of saturated fat, 19.6 grams monounsaturated fat, and 3.6 grams of polyunsaturated fat. The polyunsaturated fat is known to help protect against cardiovascular disease. So only 3.6 grams of good fat in one avocado! You have probably heard though that monounsaturated fat is good for you. Well yes it is one of the "good fats" but your body can synthesize it or make it if it needs it. What your body cannot make is two polyunsaturated fatty acids-omega 3 and omega 6. So these are important to supplement by diet or supplements; such as fish oil. Avocados do contain a small amount of these two fatty acids but I feel that there is not a enough to justify eating all the other fat that is found in an avocado.

Source: http://www.dailyperricone.com/
wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Avocado-505x336.jpg

We still like to use it as a decorating and flavor adding add on to salads for instance. It is the amount of avocado after all! Think about the above when indulging huge amounts of guacamole!!
Jennifer

Potato egg omelet (pancake)

2012-05-21T03:37:00.000-04:00

After a hard run workout this morning I needed to get a bigger breakfast than normal. There were some already thinly sliced potatoes in the fridge and I was feeling like eggs. Sounds like a pretty good combination! Knowing that eggs and potatoes in combination have one of the highest biological values (proportion of absorbed protein).

Ingredients: (for one omelet/pancake)
1-2 thinly sliced potatoes (just enough to cover a mid-size skillet)
2 eggs (quality eggs make a big difference)
olive oil
sea-salt
black pepper

Directions:
Heat the olive oil in a mid-size skillet and gently fry the potatoes from both sides. I carefully placed the on the pan so they are not overlapping and can cook properly. Turning the slices is not the easiest thing to to but you will manage :). One the potatoes are done, add the two eggs over them, add sea-salt and again cook from both sides. Depending on you liking you can season the omelet/pancake with black pepper etc.

Here is your quick and nutritious breakfast, would work great as a quick dinner as well. You could add a salad to the dinner portion.

Healthy Asparagus and Potato Quiche

2012-05-18T16:02:00.004-04:00

So, it is asparagus or Spargel season here in Germany. Steffen and I felt like we needed to be part of that so today we bought some asparagus. It is nothing that we have cooked with before so we weren't quite sure what we would do with it. Here most of the asparagus is white, which is more mild in flavor. After brainstorming for a bit we came up with the idea of making a quiche. To make it healthy I made a potato crust and added some quark to make it creamy and add more flavor without adding any fat. Traditional quiche is baked in a pie/pastry crust and then the filling is made with whole eggs, cream, and cheese.

On to the recipe:

Preheat the oven to 200 celsius.

2 small/medium sized white or red potatoes
1/2 medium onion
5 stalks of white or green asparagus
250 ml quark or greek yogurt
4 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

First I used my food processor with the fine slicing blade to cut the potatoes. Once they are cut, go ahead arrange them in pie pan to make a "crust".

For the asparagus, peel it and cut it into bite sized pieces. Then blanch it in salted boiling water for two minutes, drain it, and place it in cold water.

Cut the onion into small pieces. You can cook it before if you want, but it is fine if you don't.

Separate the eggs. Beat the whites until fluffy, then add the quark or greek yogurt. Once well combined add the yolks and salt and pepper, stir until well combined.

Place the asparagus and onion in the pie pan and then pour the egg mixture over top of them. Place the pan in the oven and let cook for 30-40 minutes or until it is set in the middle.