by kelsey | Apr 2, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diabetes, Diet, Food, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
Every Tuesday we meet at the County Fair Banquet Hall for STRIVE 2 Survive, County Fair Foods supplies treats for us. I have to be honest, it’s one of my favorite parts of the lecture as I am always curious to see what new foods they’ll have us try! They have had some really great healthy and low calorie recipes lately so I couldn’t resist sharing!
The above picture is “Crisp Cucumber Salsa”
2 cups finely chopped seeded peeled cucumber
1/4 chopped red onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
1 garlic clove, minced or pressed
1-1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 cup finely chopped seeded tomato
2 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
4-1/2 minced fresh cilantro
1/4 reduced fat Greek yogurt (can use this instead of sour cream)
1-1/2 tsp lime juice
1/4 seasoned salt
In a bowl combine the Greek yogurt, lemon juice, lime juice, cumin, and seasoned salt. In another bowl, combine the other ingredients. Pour the liquid mixture over the cucumber mixture and toss gently to coat. Serve immediately with baked tortilla chips. Note- 1/4 cup is only 16 calories! If it’s too spicy, you can eliminate the jalapeno.
Low Fat Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 (15 oz) can solid packed pumpkin
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Whisk whole wheat flour, brown sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir pumpkin and water into dry ingredients, mixing until just moistened; folk in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling them to just below the tops. Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned and tops of muffins bounce back when pressed lightly, 25-30 minutes. Let muffins cool in pans for 5 minutes until removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
Nutrition information: servings per recipe: 12
Calories: 150 Total Fat: 2.6g Sodium: 323mg Total Carbs: 31g Dietary Fiber: 4g Protein: 3.5g
We also had excellent treats last week, but I didn’t get pictures. Here are the recipes for you try. They are excellent!
Angel Food Dessert
1 sugar free angel food cake, cubed
1 package sugar free vanilla pudding
1 package sugar free strawberry jello
1-16oz cool whip
fresh strawberries, sliced
Mix jello according to package. Also mix pudding according to package. Cube angel food cake. Put in pan in layers. Angel food cake first, then pour jello over, then pour pudding over, and then put cool whip on top. Lay sliced strawberries on top of cool whip and refrigerate over night covered.
Garden Fresh Cottage Cheese Salad
1 container 1% cottage cheese
1 cucumber cubed
1 regular tomato cubed
1 package Good Seasoning Italian dressing
Mix together and put in refrigerator for a few hours before serving.
All of these ingredients for these products can be found at our County Fair Food Store. Enjoy!!
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Mar 27, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Goals, Heart Health, Weight Management, Wellness/Health
The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ website www.eatright.org always has a variety of educational tips and information for the public. I was browsing their topics and their article titled “Eating Right isn’t Complicated” really caught my eye. Poor eating habits are often blamed on time restraints, lack of money, food preferences, etc….but in reality healthy eating doesn’t need to be complicated! There is a link in this article to a PDF graphic that shows the following statistics:
- 82% don’t want to give up the foods they like in order to eat healthier.
- 68% don’t eat fruits or vegetables at least twice a day.
- 62% have no time to track their diet in order to eat healthier.
- 60% juggle both work and family and prefer to prepare their meals in 15 minutes.
- 36% have no leisure time for physical activity.
Do any of these statements relate to you? I’m sure at least a few do as they are the majority of the population! Healthy eating does not need to be complicated and we can all do it, it just may mean changing your way of life a bit to improve things. Here are some suggestions:
- Aim for a healthy plate that includes fruit, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and low-fat or fat-free milk.
- Make sure your diet is low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt (sodium) and added sugars.
- Make the most of your calories. Think of your body like a temple… you want to put the best things into your body much like you would a temple so make healthy choices that will keep your body healthy. These choices should be packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and other healthy nutrients, yet lower in bad fats and calories.
- Focus on variety! Include a variety of colors in your diet to help you get a variety of nutrients. Pay special attention to the produce that is in season, this will not only help your budget, but keep your intake varied.
- Become a label reader! Take some time to read the labels and look for serving size, calories, fat, sodium, sugars, etc to help you make a better choice.
- You have heard me say all of these things before, so how do you make it easy? Planning and determination. Take some time each week to plan out your meals or at least have a basic plan for what you will be eating. Do some prep work to make it go faster during the work week. You can brown up your lean hamburger, slow cook some chicken breasts, make a pork loin, etc on the weekend so that you at least have a few steps completed to a making a healthy and quick meal. Frozen steamer bags of veggies and canned veggies are quick to prepare and add to a meal and/or you can always keep some raw veggies on hand to add them to your meal, such as carrots and broccoli with a little low fat dip. Instead of buying white grains, purchase whole grains and instead of buying fatty, processed meats, only choose lean meats. These simple substitutions paired up with planning should make healthy eating easy!
- Throw out the excuses! Don’t let those excuses hinder you and your family from being healthy. Watch the sales and take small steps to improving your health. Earlier this week, we had porkchops, green beans, and wild rice for a meal. The total cost of the meal was under $5 for each of us. We just have to change our way of thinking about healthy eating and activity and not let the excuses get in the way of living a healthy life! You can do this!
For more information on this, you can check out the Eat Right’s article at: http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6442473735
-Kelsey
by kelsey | Mar 26, 2014 | Family, Food
Yesterday was National Ag Day. Many don’t think about where our food comes from or the effort it takes to put it on our tables. We just go to the store, pick up what we want, and eat it…a simple process right! In reality, there is a great deal of planning, hard work, and efforts that go into putting that food on your table. There truly is an art and science to farming, raising cattle, and livestock. This includes planting techniques, seed technology, keeping the plants growing to produce a bountiful harvest, harvest timing, and the markets (selling the product). Successful farmers today truly have to have a vast knowledge of agriculture, animal science, and ag business.
A few fun facts for you about agriculture in South Dakota include:
- 8% of farms in South Dakota are family owned and operated – in fact, over 2,500 South Dakota farms have been in the same family for more than 100 years.
- The average size of a farm in South Dakota is 1,374 acres.
- The average age of a South Dakota farmer is 55.7 years.
- There are 46,000 producers in South Dakota on 31,800 farms.
- Each year, one South Dakota producer raises enough food to feed 155 people in the U.S. and abroad.
- South Dakota’s agriculture industry has a $20.9 billion economic impact each year.
- In addition to generating 20% of our state’s economic activity, production agriculture and its value added industries employ over 80,000 South Dakotans.
- http://sdda.sd.gov/education-outreach/agriculture-industry/
Producing the food that you put on your table, truly is a labor of love and hard work, so in celebration of ag day, I encourage you to thank our local farmers and ranchers for helping put that delicious food on your table… and take extra appreciation of it!
Here are a few pictures from our life on the farm.
Harvesting soybeans.
Dumping the soybeans from the combine to the grain cart, which then gets dumped in a hopper (attached to a semi) and brought to the elevator.
Cattle grazing.
From ranch to table…a healthy plate of fruits, veggies, home grown potatoes, and home grown Raml steak.
Happy Ag Day!
Kelsey
by kelsey | Mar 20, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Eating Out, Food, Weight Management
Last year during Lent, I posted a comparison chart for fish selections at fast food restaurants. Since we’re now in the middle of Lent, I thought it was worthy of re-posting. Many of you are eating more fish right now than you ever do due to the Lenten season. All of the fish sandwiches you get at fast food restaurants are breaded and fried, but how to do know what’s better than others? I did a little research for you to help you make better choices. When you look at the chart below, please take note of the calories, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat (the only place that has trans fat is Culvers), sodium (recommended to stay below 2400mg/day), and cholesterol (recommended to stay below 300mg/day). The carbohydrates are coming from the bun and a little from the breading and can easily be dropped by taking off half of your bun. Other important things to note is that holding the tarter sauce can save you about 100 calories and 5-10g of fat. Another healthy choice would be to get a side salad, instead of fries with the sandwich. The best choices are the McDonalds Filet of Fish, no tarter sauce or Taco John’s Fish Taco, no sauce. Even better than eating out, would be to make your fish at home like my picture of grilled shrimp above. Choose healthy cooking methods such as baking, broiling, or grilling…try to avoid frying and incorporate some great vegetables with your fish for a well-balanced meal!
-Kelsey
Nutrient Comparison
References: restaurant’s websites, calorieking.com, and myfitnesspal.com.
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Nutrition Facts |
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| Food Item |
Calories |
Total Fat |
Sat. Fat |
Trans Fat |
Cholesterol |
Sodium |
Total Carbs |
Fiber |
Sugar |
Protein |
| McDonalds Filet of Fish |
380 |
18g |
3.5g |
0 |
40mg |
610mg |
39g |
2g |
5g |
16g |
| *McDonalds Filet of Fish-No Tarter |
290 |
9g |
2g |
0 |
30mg |
530mg |
38g |
1g |
5g |
15g |
| Burger King Fish Sandwich |
590 |
31g |
5g |
0 |
45mg |
1480mg |
57g |
3g |
8g |
21g |
| Burger King Fish Sandwich-No Tarter |
410 |
12g |
2g |
0 |
30mg |
1240mg |
53g |
3g |
6g |
21g |
| *Taco Johns Fish Taco |
280 |
14g |
4.5g |
0 |
35mg |
1160mg |
29g |
2g |
3g |
10g |
| Arby’s Fish Sandwich |
570 |
25g |
4g |
0 |
45mg |
1010mg |
64g |
2g |
9g |
21g |
| Arby’s Fish Sandwich-No Tarter |
450 |
15g |
2.5g |
0 |
35mg |
730mg |
59g |
2g |
6g |
21g |
| Culvers Cod Filet |
663 |
40g |
7g |
1g |
76mg |
979mg |
47g |
1g |
5g |
31g |
| Culvers Cod Filet-No Tarter |
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553 |
27g |
5g |
1g |
58mg |
877mg |
46g |
1g |
5g |
31g |
| Culvers 3 piece Cod Dinner |
1929 |
132g |
22g |
2g |
196mg |
2444mg |
108g |
8g |
18g |
75g |
| Culvers 3 piece Cod Dinner-No Tarter |
1553 |
96g |
16g |
2g |
148mg |
2172mg |
106g |
8g |
18g |
75g |
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by kelsey | Mar 19, 2014 | Cooking Tips, Diet, Food, Weight Management
Fish is not the most popular protein in our area since we are a land locked, northern state. Our mid-western diet typically includes proteins from beef, chicken, and pork…and fish often gets overlooked. During the Lenten season, it’s a good time to try out some new varieties and types of fish as they are better stocked and often times are better priced (ie- salmon, mahi-mahi, talapia, etc). The frozen bags of fish often have the filets in individual servings or two servings in a wrap so you can just take out as much as you need and then put the rest of the bag back in the freezer. Fish is a very lean and low fat protein so if you are watching your weight, it’s a good choice. Another benefit of some types of fish is the omega 3 fatty acids. Fatty fish such as herring, trout, tuna, mackerel, seabass, and salmon have these good fats. Our fresh water fish from around here such as walleye, northern, and perch, do not have these fats, however they are still lean proteins. It is recommended to incorporate two servings of fish into your weekly intake, so get into the habit of this during Lent and it could stick!
When we eat fish, we often think of it as breaded and fried, however that is not the healthiest choice. Instead of frying try these cooking methods:
- Grill: Season the fish with herbs and spices and a little lemon juice (from real lemons!). Lightly brush the fish with a little olive or canola oil so it won’t stick to the grill and cook for 10-20 minutes. The picture shows one of my favorites: grilled shrimp.
- Saute: You can saute any type of skinless fish. Again, season as desired and then heat a little olive or canola oil in the skillet on medium-high. Cook the fish for 2-3 minutes on both side.
- Poach: Place the fish in a saucepan or deep skillet and add enough stock, water, or wine to barely cover the fish. Add your seasonings, herbs, or spices and bring the liquid to a simmer on medium heat. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the center is opaque. Then you can dress it up with a sauce if desired.
- Bake: lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray and arrange the seasoned fish fillets on the sheet with seasoning. Bake for 7-10 minutes…you do not need to flip the fish. You can also put the fish filet in tin foil so the seasonings and herbs really flavor the fish.
- Broil: season the fish filet and brush with olive oil. Place on a broiler pan rack and broil 4-6 minutes on each side.
- If you choose to fry, try making it a little healthier by using an egg white to coat your filet, use canola oil to fry in, and instead of the white flour coating, try whole grain cracker or bread crumbs.
- When your fish is opaque and flakes easily, your fish is fully cooked.
Give it a try…you may be surprised how much you like it!
-Kelsey
