My Thoughts: Frozen or Canned?

In the winter time, fresh produce is often difficult to find and afford. Also, our lives can get pretty busy, and we may not have a bunch of time to spend on cutting up fresh fruits and vegetables. So when you can't get fresh produce or don't have time to prepare it, what should you do? Buy it frozen, or buy it canned?

 

Here are my thoughts on these two options:

Canned foods may be cheap, but you are losing lots of nutrients when you buy canned foods. Often times the foods are cooked at a high temperature, causing it to lose many of its nutrients. Canned foods are also packed with salt and preservatives in order for it to stay "fresher" longer. Also, canned fruit is usually canned in syrup that has a bunch of added sugars that you don't need. So, in other words....canned foods are probably not your best option. But things like beans, beets, and pumpkin are fine to buy canned, just make sure you RINSE the beans and beets to remove as much salt/preservatives are you can. Rinsing goes for any canned foods you eat, always always rinse off canned produce! Rinsing removes preservatives, sugars, salts, and other chemicals they may be on the food.

  high fructose corn syrup in tomatoes?!?!

Now onto frozen foods...
Frozen foods are often frozen when the food is in season, ripe, and fresh. This ensures you that you are getting produce that is at its best. Also, most of the time these foods are not cooked prior to freezing, and therefore most all the nutrients are left intact. Frozen food is a great option when your favorite foods aren't in season. Most of the time when you see strawberries in the dead of winter, those strawberries took a very long journey to get to your grocery store. This means that they lost lots of nutrients while on their way to your grocery store. But with frozen foods, they are frozen as soon as they are picked, and those nutrients get locked in place. Frozen foods are often times cheaper than fresh, and can be kept in the freezer for a very long time. Also, I am talking about frozen whole foods (peas, carrots, broccoli, berries, fruit, etc.), not frozen dinners....big difference! Make sure you look on the ingredients list to check for any added preservatives.

 see how mango is the ONLY ingredient?


So my final thoughts on canned vs. frozen?
Definitely try to buy frozen over canned, due to the nutrient preservation in frozen foods. Also, canned foods often times have many more preservatives in them than frozen foods do. Fresh is almost always better, but when it isn't available, stick with the frozen produce!

Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet potatoes, as you know are my one true love in life, so I try to find different ways to eat them. Roasting them is probably one of my favorites, they are so great with seasonings, or just plain. Also, they make for a great transportation for dip to my mouth. Yumm!

I encourage you, if you try this recipe, to experiment with different seasonings.
Some of my suggestions are:
     Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger
     Chili powder, cumin, paprika
     Garlic, rosemary, sea salt, pepper

but definitely let your inner chef take control, and try whatever it's telling you!

Step One:

Wash/scrub your beautiful potatoes....and f.y.i. all of these potatoes were less than TWO DOLLARS!?!
   

Step Two:

Cut your potatoes in either sticks, like I did, or cubes. Try to keep them the same size so they can evenly cook. 

Step Three:

LIGHTLY spray your soon to be fries with olive oil spray, or even better, coconut oil spray.

Step Four:

Season those babies up! Use whatever types of seasonings your heart desires, and use as much or as little as you'd like. I used the Roasted Garlic & Herb seasoning by McCormick, and I think it made them taste quite similar to Arby's curly fries....but then again, it's been a while since I've tasted an Arby's curly fry..

Step Five: 

Give them a shake, gently shake the pan to get all the fries seasoned...or you can just use your hands to move them around. 

Step Six: 

Put them in the oven (425 degrees) I usually leave them in there for around ten to fifteen minutes, depending on how small I cut them. But just keep checking on them every five minutes to make sure they don't burn. I like my fries super crispy, so I leave them in a little longer, but if you like yours not as crispy, then take them out sooner. 

Step Seven:

Let your fries cool off, if you can wait that long...

Step Eight:

Enjoy your delicious fries! I made these for my sister, along with some homemade mac and cheese (which will be featured in an upcoming post....so keep a look out!). 

Also, she wanted to dip hers in ranch, and I dipped mine in salsa. You could also use hummus, or balsamic vinegar, or really anything you'd like to dip them in....or just enjoy them by themselves. 

   

My Inspiration: The Lovely Julia Child.

About four years ago, the movie Julie & Julia came out, and after seeing it, I fell even more in love with the amazing Julia Child. I had heard of her before seeing this movie, but got to know her even more in this incredible movie. Also, this movie is my "life movie" meaning, if you want to get to know me....watch this movie, it is everything I love. 

What I love about Julia is her pure love in cooking, and eating. She truly loved not only to cook, but also eat. I also love how her living in France influenced her life in such a positive way. Julia was an American icon in both cooking, and pure entertainment. She gave so much French culture to America, and I admire her so much for that.

Her rawness is something you can really experience in watching any of her cooking video's footage. She was never ashamed of dropping an omelet on the floor, or provocatively describing how to debone a chicken. Julia made cooking something enjoyable, and realistic, which was monumental for wannabe American chefs. I admire her in all aspects, and truly am inspired by her every time I read one of her cookbooks, hear her iconic voice, or watch any of her cooking videos. They all make me so happy.

Last summer, I had the privilege of going to see the exhibit Julia Child's Kitchen at the smithsonian. Seeing all of these objects that she had in her kitchen, made me feel so connected to her and I fell even more in love with her and all she gave us in her life. 

 

My love of thrifting has also allowed me to discover many different Julia Child related things, including several VHS tapes of The French Chef, along with several of her cookbooks. Along with my thrift finds, I have amazing parents that have gifted me Mastering the Art of French Cooking, as well as Bon Appetite. 

If you have never watched a Julia Child cooking video, or read any of her cookbooks, I strongly urge you to. Here are a couple of links to youtube videos of her cooking.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7dLXEc9tZM 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RThnq3-d6PY

Kale Yeah! My Obsession of the Greatest Green in the World

Today, I will be talking about my favorite green...the best green leaf in the entire world, k a l e. There are so many reasons why I'm so in love with this green, and I could talk about it all day. I actually wrote a whole research paper on it last year (if you actually want to read it, I'll put a link to it).

Kale is not only delicious, but its also super cheap, and has so so so so many health benefits.

     Delicious & Versatile:

When you first try kale, especially if its raw you may think I'm crazy for saying it's so delicious...especially if you are iceberg lettuce person. Kale has a deep, green taste and depending on the type of kale can be a little bitter. It may take a few attempts for you to get used to the deliciousness of the green, but it is worth it in the end. If you're not a fan of the raw kale (which most people aren't) that is totally fine because it is an a m a z i n g green to cook with. Because it is packed with nutrition, and is such a hearty green it cooks beautifully. This green is also great to sneak into smoothies, for added nutrition. If you add enough fruit (three parts fruit, one part green) you can barely taste the kale.

 

The versatility of this green is also enormous. Because this green is so hearty, it can be used as a wrap, or "taco" for a great carb-free, non-processed option.

Also, because kale is so great to cook with, it is perfect to throw into soups, or stews because it can withstand heat very well. Another great way to use kale is to make chips out of them! Kale chips are becoming the latest "trend" and you can find them in most grocery stores, but the store-bought kale chips are so expensive, it is kind of ridiculous. So I definitely recommend making your own. 

k a l e  c h i p s.

All you need to do is de-stem the kale (curly kale works best) wash and fully dry it, then lay it out on a cookie sheet, spray it with a little cooking spray (preferably olive oil, or coconut oil spray) then season it with whatever you'd like (salt, pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes). Lastly, put it in an oven preheated to about 400 degrees, for around five to ten minutes or until they are crispy (keep a close eye on them, so they don't burn!). Then let them cool and enjoy! 

     Nutritious:

The nutrition in kale is kind of unbelievable. It really is a powerhouse, and provides so many benefits in small amounts. It is very low in calories, you can basically eat as much of it as you want (as long as you're not adding butter or a ton of other things to it). In just one cup, you can get well over the recommended amounts of vitamin K (great for blood clotting, and strong bones), and vitamin A (awesome for your eyes). One cup of kale also has about 70% of the recommended amount of vitamin C (which is obviously really good for your immune system). Not only does it have a bunch of vitamins, but it also has a ton of antioxidants as well as anti-cancerous properties. Kale is also a great detoxifier. Like I said before, I really could talk about how great kale is all day long! 

So hopefully, I have persuaded you to give kale a try if you've never tried it before. And if you have tried it before, and hated it hopefully you'll give it another chance...your body will thank you!

LINK TO MY KALE RESEARCH PAPER (for all my fellow foodie nerds) :https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1f3pT2S32cCcGpHdVVfLWZrOVE/edit?usp=sharing

Is Your Money Going Down The Toilet?

I really want to talk about this little thing called vitamin C. Everyone seems to always be pushing vitamin C because of its immune protection powers, as well as its overall health benefits. Many people take vitamin C supplements, or powders to try to get enough vitamin C.

For a while, I took Emergen-C which is a powder that you add to water and drink. It has 1000 mg of vitamin C which, according to the nutrition facts, is 1,667% of your Daily Value. Although it does have some other nutritional supplements added to it, it also has an enormous amount of vitamin C. (it also has non-nutritional additives such as "natural" orange flavorings and tapioca maltodextrin)

You can't have too much vitamin C, right....?

Wrong. Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin, meaning our bodies only absorb a certain amount at a time, and the leftovers just get peed out. This is much different from fat soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K) which their leftovers get stored in the body for later use.

Women need around 75 milligrams per day, while men need around 90 milligrams a day. Which as you can see, is well below the 1000 mg dosage in a packet of Emergen-C.

So what should you do if you don't think you're getting enough vitamin C in your diet?

Well, personally, I would try my best to get the most vitamin C from your diet, incorporating foods like oranges, kiwi, dark left greens like kale or spinach, peppers, broccoli, or peas. All of these will not only provide you with large amounts of vitamin C, but they also provide many other nutritional benefits (they are all low in calories as well).

But if you just can stand the taste of any of these foods, and still insist that a supplement is what you need to keep your immunity levels up then supplements are fine, just take them in SMALL doses. Taking small doses of vitamin C powders, or pills will keep you from wasting money. So if you enjoy Emergen-C, take only half a pack in the morning, and the other in the afternoon. Or buy vitamin C pills that have less than 100% of the Daily Value of vitamin C and take one pill in the morning and one at night.

But like I said before, save your money on supplements and EAT vitamin C from natural sources, because not only will you reap the vitamin C benefits, but also the benefits from all the other nutrients in the foods.

My Thoughts: Organic or Conventional?

     Organic is a term that gets thrown around all the time in the food industry. So many studies are done to investigate whether or not organic is better, healthier, more sustainable, etc. First of all, many people don't actually know what organic is, or what it means, or how it's different than conventional food.

     Organic foods are produced without chemicals, pesticides, irradiation, or additives. In other words, they are grown about the same way, but without any types of sprays or treatments. This means that farmers have to keep very specific conditions, and use specific organic pesticides to grown their produce. Being an organic garden is something that has to go through a certification process, and isn't something that a farmer can just claim. All companies must be certified to used the word "organic" whereas anyone and everyone can use the word "natural". So organic and "natural"....not the same thing at all. ( I will discuss my anger with the word "natural" in a later blog post)

 (wait, so these are "natural"....?)

     Many people assume that organic is better for you, more nutritious, and more beneficial to your health. This can be very overwhelming to someone that is trying to eat healthier, because organic foods are definitely more expensive, and not everyone can afford to buy organic. So does this mean you should just not buy produce at all if you can't afford organic? Of course not! Something doesn't have to be organic in order to be healthy and nutritious for you. Also, it has yet to be proven that organic foods are better for you, or healthier than conventionally grown produce.

     So what are my thoughts on this subject? I think organic produce can be too expensive to buy, and I have no problem at all with buying conventionally grown produce. I'd rather it be organic, or locally grown, to reduce the amounts of chemicals going into my body....but organic is something that just isn't on my list of priorities when going grocery shopping. Although I do make sure that I wash all my produce completely to get as much chemicals and pesticides off as I can. Organic is something that I think gets blown out of proportion, and although it is important, it isn't something to obsess over.

     There is a list known as "The Dirty Dozen" which is a list of foods that pesticides are used the most on. When I start making actual money, and can afford to spend a little more on food, I will start buying most of these foods organically, but until them all I can do is scrub, wash, rinse, repeat. Also, notice that most of these foods you eat the entire piece of food, meaning focus on buying organic (if you can) produce that you eat the skin, rather than buying organic banana or oranges, where you definitely are not going to be eating the skins.

     Although I don't eat meat, if I did I would definitely spend that extra money to buy organic meat, because I think organic (or hormone-free) meat is much safer. Mostly because non-organic raised animals are typically injected with hormones, which I wouldn't want to be putting in my body, so buying organic would prevent this. I also don't drink cow's milk, but if I did I would also aim for organic milk, again due to the hormones that are used in non-organic milk.

Well those are my thoughts on organic foods. Hope they did not offend you. What are your thoughts on organic? Do you spend that extra money for the organic label? Let me know in the comment section down below!