by kelsey | Apr 22, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Weight Management
With the weather finally getting nicer, grilling season is officially here! Grilling is a great way to change up cooking techniques and try new flavors after a cold winter season. Spice up any cookout by adding fruits and vegetables to the menu. Beyond the benefits of adding color, variety and flavor, fruits and vegetables can also add a variety of vitamins and nutrients. Keep in mind the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend to fill half of your plate with fruits and vegetables at each meal.
Kabobs are a great item to include marinated vegetables like red or yellow peppers, mushrooms, eggplant, cheery tomatoes, and onions. Simply brush your favorite vegetables with olive or canola oil and your favorite spices and grill over medium heat, turning until marked and tender.
When grilling meat, choose healthier options like lean cuts of beef, pork, chicken, or fish. Be sure to keep raw meat, poultry, and their juices separate from ready-to-eat foods avoiding cross contamination. This can be done by using separate plates, cooking utensils, and cutting boards. Frozen foods should be thawed in a refrigerator or the microwave, not on the countertop or by the grill. Also remember to use a food thermometer when cooking meat, poultry, or fish to ensure it reaches a safe minimum internal temperature, this is key to reducing risk of food poisoning. Steak should reach 145°F, hamburgers 160°F, and chicken and pork 165°F.
Vegetarian or an avid mat lover, a grilled marinated Portobello burger can be a tasty alternative. Marinate and grill mushrooms, gill sides up, over medium-low heat with the grill covered until they are marked and softened (about 15 minutes). Flip and grill until cooked through.
Not forgetting dessert, try fruit kabobs with pineapple slices, watermelon, or peach halves. Grilling on low heat until the fruit is hot and slightly golden. Serve them on top of low-fat frozen yogurt or angel food cake.
Most of all enjoy!
-Shelby Johnson, USD Dietetic Intern
by kelsey | Apr 16, 2014 | Diet, Holidays, Wellness/Health
Do you have your Easter baskets all ready for the little (or big) kids in your life? Easter baskets are usually filled with all kinds of goodies and I like to think of them being just as exciting as getting your Christmas stocking! My family has all kinds of funny stories about the big search for finding our Easter baskets and of course what we find inside is even more exciting! The candy aisles at the store are filled with all kinds of goodies, but let us not forget that there are plenty of other non-junk food options to fill your Easter baskets with. Here are some ideas for you:
- Sidewalk chalk
- Color Dotz by Crayola (color your bath water with them!)
- Books
- Coloring books
- Stuffed animals
- Sunglasses
- Shoes
- Socks
- Hair accessories for girls
- Mini cars or planes for boys
- Nail polish
- Gift certificate to the movies or iTunes
- Magazine subscription
- Jump rope
- Yo-yo
- Pencils, crayons, markers
It’s ok to enjoy a little candy, but be sure to include some of these other goodies to help make your Easter baskets a bit healthier! And more importantly, remember the real meaning of celebrating Easter!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Apr 15, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Holidays, Wellness/Health
With the Easter Holiday and Celebration just a few days away, many of you have your eggs hard boiled and ready to be painted…or many of you already have them painted! Painting eggs is an Easter tradition. As a child I always looked forward to painting eggs, the egg hunt, and of course of our Easter baskets. Easter was always an eventful holiday around our house and we have many funny stories to tell about our traditions. The eggs, baskets, etc are all part of the fun, but be sure to reflect on the real meaning of Easter!
As Sunday comes and goes, you may wonder what to do with those eggs. Here are some tips for you to practice proper egg safety:
- Not sure how to boil an egg? Place the eggs in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil with the lid on, then turn off the heat. Let the eggs sit in water for 15 min. Remove eggs and place in a bowl of ice cold water to cool.
- Eggs should be used within 3 weeks of the sell by date. Be sure to store them in the fridge at a temp less than 40 degrees F.
- Hard boiled eggs spoil faster than fresh eggs as the protective coating is washed away, making them more susceptible to bacteria. Hard boiled eggs must be refrigerated within 2 hours of cooking.
- If you want to eat the hard boiled eggs after the holiday, you must store them in the refrigerator. Throw away any eggs that are cracked, dirty, or have been out of the fridge for more than 2 hours. If you are going to use the leftover cooked eggs, it is recommended to use them within one week to prevent food poisoning. To help you do this, you could make two batches- one to display and one for eating.
- Ever wonder what the green ring on a hard boiled yolk is? It’s a result of overcooking the eggs and is caused by sulfur and iron compounds in the egg reacting to the surface of the yolk. The green color may also be a result of a large amount of iron in the water used to cook with. It may look funny, but it is safe to eat.
Happy Easter!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Apr 9, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Eating Out, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Thanks to our viewer Jill for this requested topic! If you have any nutrition or activity topics you’d like us to discuss on here, please contact us! We’re always open to ideas! -Kelsey
These days eggs have been mis-perceived as a forbidden food, why is this? Eggs contain cholesterol, a type of fat made naturally in the body or found in animal produced foods, used by the body to keep us healthy. There are two types of cholesterol: “good” and “bad.” Low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, is known as “bad” cholesterol. High-density lipoprotein, or HDL, is known as “good” cholesterol. Too much of one type, or not enough of another can put you at risk for coronary heart disease, heart attack, or stroke. Depending on the size of the egg, one yolk contains about 185-215mg of cholesterol; the whites of the egg do not contain cholesterol. Today’s research shows that one egg yolk a day is fine for most healthy people, as long as their total cholesterol intake is 300 milligrams a day or less. For people at risk or diagnosed with heart disease, consuming less than 200 mg per day of cholesterol may be of further help to decrease significant health risks. The American Heart Association suggests for people with heart disease to consume no more than 2-3 eggs a week, substituting egg whites or cholesterol-free eggs as they choose.
Other benefits of eggs include: one large egg has just 70 calories; it is a good source of protein and vitamins A and D, B complex vitamins, and phosphorus. Eggs also supply lutein and zeaxanthin, which can help promote good eyesight.
Written by Shelby Johnson, USD Dietetic Intern
by kelsey | Apr 3, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Weight Management
Recently, our friends at County Fair Foods implemented the NuVal scoring to all of their foods. This is an awesome program that really helps make label reading easy. NuVal is a nutritional scoring system that uses information on the nutrition facts panel and ingredient list to create a score of overall nutrition. The best score is 100 and the worst is zero, so the higher the number, the better. The score can be found on the left side of the label in a hexagon shape. If you look at the picture of the carrots label, the price is on the right ($5.98) and the NuVal score is 67, which is found on the left. The NuVal score examines all content including vitamins, minerals, fat, cholesterol, sodium, sugar, and calories to come up with the total score. We still encourage you to take the time to read the label to help you make a good choice, but the NuVal system can be used to compare products and make label reading a bit easier! I particularly like to use the NuVal scores in the granola bar, cereal, and bread aisles to help me compare products and choose a better one. Next time you visit County Fair Foods, be sure to take a look at the NuVal scoring and start using it to help you make better choices!
-Kelsey
