What Fat is Good Fat?

I have always struggled with fat. I mean, if I eat it, aren't I going to get, just that, fat? Turns out no. There is some fat that is actually beneficial to you, then there is the bad, beware, stay away from me fat.

Do you know which fat is the good fat? I have found a couple of different articles discussing good versus bad fat as well as which foods contain each of the various kinds of fat! The one I liked the best is here.

Good:
Monounsaturated Fats: Being lower in total cholesterol and higher in good cholesterol this fat provides more heart heath than hurt! These have also been found to help in losing weight by fighting off bad fat... So beat the bulge by eating the right fat instead of steering completely clear.
        ** This can be found in nuts (walnuts, almonds, pistachios), olive and canola oil, and avocado.    (Note to readers: baking with canola oil is actually better than veggie oil because it retains its moisture better too!)

Polyunsaturated Fats: Just like Monounsaturated these have a lower total cholesterol and higher good cholesterol count in them.
        ** I like to call this "fish fat" because this is the kind of fat you often hear people raging about... The Omega 3 fatty acids are in this group. Corn, soy, safflower, and sunflower oils also fall into this group.

Bad:
Saturated Fats: These have the bad cholesterol running rampant in them. Bad for your heart because they raise your overall cholesterol unlike the other ones that fight it.
        ** These can be found in meat, dairy, eggs, and seafood. Coconut oil (also good for baking, but bad for your heart) and palm oil are also high in saturated fat.

Trans Fat: This is basically manmade. We all know by now that organic is always a bit better than manmade. These oils are used to make highly processed foods sit better and grows their shelf life... More reason NOT to eat them!
        **These are found in... Basically all American bred food: French fries, microwave popcorn, vegetable shortening and margarine. Ugh, my heart hurts just thinking about this yucky stuff.

Hopefully these help you a little bit in your eating adventures! Just remember unsaturated = good, saturated = bad. And check the labels on the food that you're picking up this week on your grocery shopping trip!

CSA: Local Produce to Your Door

CSA = Community Supported Agriculture.

In 2008, CSAs started, but I was still living in the dorms and had no clue that fresh produce wasn't what I was finding in the salad lines in the food halls on campus. However, now that I have been cooking in my own kitchen for J and I over the past two years I have quickly learned that produce comes in all degrees of deliciousness and fresh grown is usually the tastiest! That said, finding affordable (remember, I'm still in college and am getting married so soon!) and delicious organic produce can be such a challenge.

Cue CSAs wearing their SuperCSA shirt over a muscly chest and tight pants with a big flowing red cape!

Yep, you can get your fresh produce, all organic, AND support local farms through your local CSA website. Seriously, you google CSA [    insert city here   ] and boom you have found yourself local farms! I looked through San Diego ones and had a hard time making up my mind for the one that I loved the most. The best part, you are sent a box of fresh local produce that's in season, so you never really know what you're going to get! This could be the perfect way to create an ingredient challenge for yourself. See how one mom uses her frozen CSA corn from summer to warm up her winter here.

The prices range anywhere from 20 to 70 dollars a week (but you can sign up however you want depending on the local farm that you choose to use) and if you have a roommate it would be a great cost to split and box to share.

In New York City, CSAs are making a major connection between the children growing up in the city and the rural farmers found miles away in the countryside. The Harrison Patch, a newspaper from Harrison, New York, discusses the benefits of investing in CSAs, not only on children, but also on the greater New York population:

CSAs also support the state economy, take power away from the industrial food system and reduce people's exposure to pesticides, herbicides and genetically modified foods.

J and I are going to look through the San Diego CSA sites tonight over dinner. If you haven't considered local, organic produce for yourself, check it out now. Not only are you helping yourself, but you are also helping your local economy and your family!

Calorie Count Ruins Eating Out Experience?

There are 450 calories in a Starbucks Grande Caramel Brulee Latter. There are 704 calories in a McDonald's Big Mac. There are 1,156 calories in a whole California Pizza Kitchen Thai Crunch Salad. This information is no longer secret due to the California Health and Safety Code Section 114094 that requires companies with more than 18 locations to post the calorie count of their dishes next to the price of each plate.

Check out the far right columns in this picture. You can see the calorie count listed directly on the menu! 

While this new added feature on menus near you (at least in California!), you have the opportunity to be more conscious of your dining decisions. However, in looking at online news articles these added numbers do very little as seen in the California Watch's February 1st Daily Report:

"A yearlong study, published last month in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, found customers' orders were unaffected by menu labeling."

Seeing the calorie count allows for a greater awareness of the amount of food being consumed; however, important aspects of food labeling, such as fat, sodium, carbohydrates, sugar, and protein remain unrepresented.

Another fault in the bill pertains to the lack of calorie labeling on drive-thru menus. The bill does not provide legislation that regulates the signage for drive-thru orders. This poses quite a difficulty as a these businesses (such as McDonald's, In N Out, Carls Jr., and the list goes on) gather a great portion of their profits at the ordering window. Those customers that are not leaving their cars in order to gather a more convenient meal -we are all guilty of it at one time or another- are missing out on the 'educational value' that can come from seeing the calories of their chosen entree.

My Dearest Gramcracker and Why a Heart's Important

On January 1, 2010 my dear Mama Bird made the hardest decision of her life. Just a short 48 hours earlier my Gramcracker (Mama Bird's Mama Bird) suffered her second heart attack and was rushed to the hospital where she was admitted to the ICU and placed on life support. On New Year's Day the doctors said Gramcracker's chances of surviving were slim and she would have to remain on life support to sustain her heart. Knowing this is no life Gramcracker would want to live, Mama Bird prayerfully requested for her dear Mama to have the chance to meet her Maker.

(Here's my sweet Gramcracker with the love of her life, Grandpa John)

(Mama Bird, her sister, and dear Gramcracker)

In honor of my sweet Gramcracker and the Red month of February for hearts, love, and Women's Heart Awareness, I decided to share the benefits of common kitchen spices that are heart healthy. We often hear so much about heart-healthy foods, but these little additions can go with any meal!

The Manila Bulletin Publishing Company published an article with the seven super spices according to McCormick, one of the most renowned spice marketers in the world. 

 

Cinnamon, ginger, oregano, thyme, red peppers (like the flakes), curry powder (specifically turmeric), and rosemary are rich in antioxidants which help prevent cancer as well as keep your heart healthy and clean by keeping you blood flowing through your veins and arteries with little trouble! 

So, although spices can seem expensive (I admit at first I struggled with the price of owning them!) they are well worth the investment. Why? I propose three reasons (1) a little goes a long ways so they last for a long long time, (2) they add flavor to every dish that you use them in, and finally, quite possibly most importantly, (3) the effects of these spices are life sustaining and life long - again, a little goes a long ways!

Find a couple recipes that have these spices in them and get in the kitchen to help your heart and fill your hungry tummy! While you're enjoying your newly spiced meal, think about your heart this month and about the things you can do to help it, whether it's a relaxing bath, a walk to destress after a long day at work, or stirring some spices into your favorite recipe! 

Food Photography: From Professional to Your Kitchen Counters

Why does the food in advertisements look so much better, so much more vibrant, so much more delicious than the food you see on amateur blogs (like mine!)? The food you are seeing in advertisements is not truly food, at least not in the sense that you would want it served like that to you from the sponsoring restaurant. Phixig.com, a photography and videography website, where tips and tricks of the trade are shared amongst amateurs and professionals alike, published an article discussing all of the devious ways food stylists trick the eye of their advertisements’ audience.

In looking at this Carl’s Jr. advertisement (despite it’s ridiculously sexual innuendo) the hamburger looks just delectable…

And in fact, looks like something even I would want to eat, although I know that any hamburger coming from the drive through window would never actually look like that. What little tricks are used here?

1. The meat is completely raw on the inside. It is heated with a blow torch to the perfectly brown perfection and is then left to sit.

2. The cheese is, in fact cheese, that has been melted using a very finite tip on a steamer to ensure just the right amount of moisture and meltiness for the picture.

3. The tomatoes and lettuce have water droplets on them to insinuate freshness, but really, what burger would you eat with wet veggies on it….

4. Hair pins are used to hold the burger together in just the right composition and the sesame seeds glued into place by the photographer or food stylist.

But it gets worse. The Thanksgiving day turkey advertised by Hormel in this add is far from the bird you will sit with on your kitchen table.

The food tricks used to make this turkey look yummy are far from edible.

1. The turkey is injected with mashed potatoes to make all of its curves look just right.

2. Rather than cook the whole turkey and risk uneven coloration, the inside is left raw while the flesh is cooked with a blow torch. Should discoloration still occur, shoe polish will assist in offensive hues.

3. All of the veggies under and behind the turkey are actually not vegetables at all, but, instead, are imitation food that is considered acceptable because it is in the “background” of the advertisement.

One food stylist discussed the trends in food ads in his forum post about his career as “showing food melting, oozing, folding, dripping, pulling—all help to create images people want to eat”.

What is it about food photography that grips us so dearly? We are visual creatures wanting to like how our meal looks before we dig in. That said, I am going to share a couple of tricks to help the amateur food photographer that I have learned quickly over the last month looking at other food bloggers with amazing visual displays of their food.

1. Close-ups on the food work wonders, as long as you aren’t cutting out a whole bunch of the course.

No one wants to see the bottom side of you parmigiana and not the whole edge of the crisper at one time.

2. There is an awkward place between too close and too far.

Don’t stand in no man’s land. Or takes photos in it either!

3. Using a couple of the raw ingredients in your meal to provide a context of sorts for the finished dish makes it look like a (more) professional photo.

People like to think about what is being put in their food, whether it’s a cookie or a Thanksgiving turkey, so putting a few of the ingredients in the frame as supporting actors for the main dish leads to a stronger shot overall.

4. If you’re going to capture things in the background of the shot (which can look GREAT) be sure that it’s intentional, or at least a little bit regarded otherwise it looks sloppy.

5. Be creative and try lots of different things.

You never know what’s going to look good or not. Try lots of different things out with a course before you eat it. And take multiple shots at a time so you have a choice later rather than a single picture you snapped and hate.

Moral of a long story: No need for blow torches and shoe polish, just work with what you’ve made and it’ll come out nicely with a little thought and creativity!

Four Finds to Fit in Your Favorite Skinny Jeans

Looking at the food industry today -from restaurants to grocery stores- it can be difficult to decipher how exactly a well-rounded diet (and doesn’t that word mean that you’re going to be skinny!?!) is made and kept. I have struggled for many years figuring out how to balance flavor with calorie friendly. Weight-loss plans like the strict and expensive Nutrisystem Diet that doles out food that’s not nearly as stellar as advertised (this is what I’ve heard from friends and read online, but don’t really know myself) and the seems easier than it is Five Factor Diet lead to lots of frustration (at least for me) and some major confusion about what exactly I can and cannot be eating. Instead of suggesting another plan of how to do it, I have a different idea… It’s along the same lines as Sarah’s post “simple ways to light up any recipe” on her blog 20something cupcakes, but more big picture than just in the kitchen!

These are the four things I have found that help me when making meal decisions when I go out to eat and keep me thinking clearly when I’m figuring out my menu for the week:

1. Find the fruits and veggies.


Fresh produce never disappoints. I am a huge fan of a side of salad with most meals that I make, plus the fiber and other vitamins and nutrients found in fruits and veggies far exceeds anything that will come out of a can – or fast food bag. Plus, fresh produce always makes a good snack whether you chop it up into smaller pieces or take it as is when time runs short! Also, it helps to find a fruit or veggie that you can’t get enough of, like the Cara Cara orange with my taco above!

2. Find a way to incorporate protein AND carbohydrates.


Before I met my dear Jason  I was an all carbs girl and he was a protein heavy man… Our forces quickly meshed and transformed my meal making to a solid balance between protein and cards. The carbs provide the quick comfort and yummy taste while the protein ensures that you will stay fuller longer. It is the perfect combination and with the full feeling that comes from the protein you are likely not to eat quite as much! Although it looks like all noodles, there is lots of chicken in this delicious BLT Pasta.

3. Find a place in all of your healthy eating to have something purely for the taste.

24/7 diets are exhausting. It is no fun to crave something for weeks and finally cave only to binge on a dozen cupcakes when you truly only needed to eat one. Have your cheat foods, just keep it in moderation. Like one Terrificly Toffee Brownie!

4. Find fun recipes that are new to you to spice up your kitchen cooking experience.


No one likes a routine that you have to stick to every single day, night, week, month, etc. To keep from falling into a cooking funk keep it lively by trekking through some food blogs and recipe websites to find meals that you would love to try… Then, make them! I keep a To Cook section in my book marks that I check back to everyone once in a while to see if any of them are absolutely perfect for my making. After you make your experiment meal you can keep it as a success or delete to never be repeated… That’s how my Homemade Chicken Pot Pie started!

These are in no way going to keep you skinny, or make you skinnier, but I’ve found them to be helpful in my diet. And, of course, a solid exercise routine to erase some of the calories I cook and serve in my little pink kitchen!

My Food Philosophy: The Thought Behind my Kitchen Time

I love food. I love eating good food, making good food, and I love talking about making good food. So, I started this blog to create a forum where I can put out the favorite food I make for my fiance and myself AND to put out there my thoughts on food (and the blogs that come with them!).

One thing that can be difficult about eating out is the price. Yeah, five star food is delicious, but it can cost an arm (probably the one holding the fork!) to buy. I understand part of the price is the service and you’re not having to prepare the meal yourself (which sometimes I genuinely appreciate); however, I think good taste great taste can be achieved at a much lower cost. That said, my blog is dedicated to keeping costs low and taste high.

Another problem with great food can be the ridiculous amount of time required to get that five star taste. My time in the kitchen has shown me that you don’t have to spend the entire day preparing delicious plates to satisfy yourself (or your significant other). In fact, most of my meals are 30 minute meals. I get a little impatient when I have to wait longer than that!

Finally, I want the kitchen to be a place where you put your heart and love into your dishes. My mama always taught me that dinner was never delicious without a little love sprinkled on it. In face, she went far enough to buy a fake spice shaker that said love on the side of it… Kind of like this one:

Isn’t it precious? I thought so too! Just keep it fun and light in the kitchen… Then you won’t dread cooking. Plus, if you screw it up and things don’t taste good, laugh and then order something in! Or treat yourself to eating out therapy at your favorite restaurant!