How to Do Farm to Table in the Fall
My perfect fall Saturday always starts at our local farmers market. The air is cool and the leaves are brilliant with color. I just throw on my workout clothes, grab my favorite reusable tote and walk over. There are whole blocks filled with everything from meats and dairy to fruits and veggies to local honey and fresh cut flowers… it’s like being a kid in a (very healthy) candy store. With the farmers markets in trend right now, you can find everything you need to put “fresh” in every meal. And you know what else is even better about the market? You can get to know your farmers! Ask them questions about their farms. How do they grow their vegetables and are they produced organically? What do they feed their animals?? Ask them what THEY enjoy cooking. Be inspired by the farmers themselves and prepare something new. How about a healthy version of your favorite snack? Grab a bunch of beets and slice them thin. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, spray with olive oil and sprinkle a little rosemary, garlic and sea salt on top. Bake in the oven around 350 until crispy. Crunchy, delicious and a perfect snack. This is also the time to remind yourself the aroma of fall doesn’t have to be at the mercy of a wick. Throw those perfumed candles away and fill your house with fresh autumn scents straight from the market – zucchini bread, baked cinnamon apples, pumpkin protein pancakes, endless options for you to make that healthy fall transition. The best part is, not only will these delish scents fill your house but you also get to savor the taste. It’s like a two (senses) for one! Let autumn’s colors inspire you and your palette. Let the falling leaves and crisp breeze be your motivation for a nice walk to the local market. Take advantage of the final months of the farmer’s fresh harvest in full bounty. Load your bag with the colors of the season, grab a veggie you have never tried before, and experiment with a farm to table recipe. {Tweet this}. Here’s one of my faves…enjoy! Kale and Sweet Potato Hash Serves: 4 Time: 25 minutes INGREDIENTS: 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil 1 ½ teaspoons fresh garlic, minced 2 shallots, finely diced 2 large sweet potatoes, diced Sea salt & fresh ground pepper, to taste Pinch of red pepper 2 ½ cups kale, chopped and ribs removed 4 farm fresh eggs, poached or fried DIRECTIONS: Heat olive oil in skillet. Add garlic, shallots, sweet potato and spices. Cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Add kale and cook until soft, about 5-7 minutes. Taste and add additional seasoning if desired. Divide hash onto 4 plates and top with egg! YUM!!
Is Your Home Layout Hurting Your Waistline?
By Samantha Linden, RDN, NLC As a nutritionist, I have always encouraged clients to have a “closed kitchen” after dinner. This is because, for many people, nighttime can be an opportunity for mindless or emotional eating. Lots of my clients manage to make the healthiest choices all day but then the wheels might start to come off after dinner. They stop listening to their bodies at night and start eating for reasons other than hunger, most of which are emotional triggers. One reason this happens is that many of us have been programmed early in childhood to believe that dessert is part of our routine: dessert is something you have after dinner, much like brushing your teeth is something after you wake up. In addition, clients often admit to using nighttime snacks to help them cope with the stress from the day. Some even say they can’t watch TV unless they have something to nosh on. Since nighttime snacking is associated with weight gain, closing the kitchen door and turning off the lights is a good way to signal to yourself that you have nourished yourself for the day and that you don’t need anything else to eat until the morning. Since I have become Nutritious Life Certified, I have started to take a more holistic view with my clients and taken a deeper look at not only their eating habits, but their daily lifestyles as well. Because of this, I have started to realize that part of the reason nighttime eating is such a problem for many of them is the open layout of their homes, specifically the clients with open kitchens. Open kitchens have become a popular trend in home design over the last few decades because the kitchen is often a central gathering point for families and friends. This means the kitchen is no longer just for mealtime, but is also the main entertainment area of the home. With this type of layout, how do you close your kitchen after mealtime? How do you turn off the lights if your kids all do their homework or watch TV on the couch near the kitchen? How is this architectural trend affecting our waistlines? My interest in this topic led me to find research done by Dr. Brian Wansink, a leading researcher in the field of eating behavior and the author of Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. His study supports the idea that the proximity and visibility of food can consistently increase consumption of it. His research also suggests that the more convenient it is to eat a food, the more likely you are to forget you ate it. {Tweet this}. So basically, if you are hanging out in the kitchen/family room most of the day and night and are constantly being exposed to food, you are setting yourself up for a cycle of mindless overeating, possibly causing you to gain weight and preventing you from living your most Nutritious Life. Of course, if you have an open kitchen, I am not telling you to go put your house on the market! Houses with this layout are beautiful and can be the setting for a lot of great memories. I am just highlighting this idea to make you aware of how your environment might be preventing you from losing weight or might even be causing you to gain weight. Here are some tips to “close off” the open kitchen (these work for all kitchen layouts too): Improve the view. If you can’t escape the view of the kitchen appliances, at least put the food out of plain sight. Don’t keep snacks on the counters, and only use open shelving to store non-food items. Even healthy foods like a fruit bowl might trigger us to think we are hungry even if we aren’t. Switch TV time to “Tea V” time. Create a nightly ritual that does not involve eating food, and try making a cup of tea instead. Tea is a great choice not only because of its nutritional benefits but also because a hot cup of tea warms your insides, which makes you feel good and helps relax you at the same time. Unplug and go old school. Instead of lounging in the kitchen watching television or playing on the computer, shut off your electronics, brush your teeth and curl up in bed with a good book. Your mind and your waistline will thank you! About Samantha: Samantha Linden, RDN, NLC is a registered dietitian nutritionist and the founder of Nutrition In Balance, a nutrition consulting and counseling practice in Southeastern Michigan. In her practice, Samantha works with both individuals and families that need guidance on many nutrition related issues, from weight loss to nutritional management of chronic diseases. Samantha writes frequently on nutrition topics and is also a regular nutrition educator for many local corporations and organizations. She graduated from the University of Michigan and received her post bachelor’s certificate in nutrition from Wayne State. Samantha is an active member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics as well as the Nutrition Entrepreneurs in Private Practice and the Michigan Dietetics Association. She also recently completed her Nutritious Life Certification and is very excited to help Keri and her team spread the Nutritious Life message.
Easy Broccoli Soup for Thanksgiving
By: Jennifer Amato, RD As Thanksgiving approaches we might feel ourselves getting swept into a frenzy of elaborate meal planning, too-many-to count trips to the grocery store in search of the perfect ingredients, prep-work, dovetailing, and anxiety over our finished products as we carefully pull them out of the oven. The list of stress-inducing tasks could go on forever. Even if you are not hosting Thanksgiving or preparing any dishes for the occasion, the journey to be with family on the busiest travel day of the year, the onslaught of super-rich food, and really all the excess can be too much to handle. In such chaotic times, stopping to catch your breath and reflecting on the true meaning of Thanksgiving can do wonders. Isn’t Thanksgiving about acknowledging all the things in our life for which we are thankful and spending time with our loved ones? The simple things in life such as the comfort and the support we feel from our family is a gift. The simple things in life are the best things. When I think of simplicity, I often think of my grandmother’s broccoli soup. My grandmother is of Sicilian descent, feisty and healthy as ever, and celebrated her 94th birthday this past summer. She prepared this soup for me, my siblings, and my cousins when we were children. Now I serve it to my family and we all marvel in how simple yet flavorful and nourishing it is. I don’t think she realizes how much of a gift her soup is to me. Here is how I was taught to prepare it: Empty a box or bag of frozen broccoli spears into a pot and cover with water. Add some olive oil (about a tablespoon), and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then simmer for a few minutes until the broccoli is tender. That is it! My grandmother would pour the soup over a small serving of cooked pasta, but more nutrient-dense options could be cooked quinoa or brown rice – just as yummy! I can remember my grandmother insisting I drink the broth. “That is the best part! Don’t let it go to waste!” She was right. While the broccoli will provide you with fiber, the broth is nutrient-rich with vitamin C and several B vitamins that are leached from the broccoli during the boiling process. Not that I needed much convincing to drink the broth…I found it to be delectable and soothing. So during times when we feel as though we need to slow down and take a deep breath, let’s return to the simple things in life…perhaps a recipe passed down from family such as my grandmother’s broccoli soup. Flavorful, nutritious, and delightfully simple. That is the beauty! About Jennifer: Jennifer was born and raised in New Orleans, but she’s been a NYC resident since 2000. She is a registered dietitian and worked as an RD at the VA in New Orleans as a renal dietitian. After moving to NYC, she worked at the Brooklyn VA where her focus was oncology. She is currently a stay-at-home mother and training for the 2014 TCS New York City Marathon (which she hopes to have successfully run by the time this goes live!).
Acorn Squash: The Winter Squash You Need to Know About
by Samantha Linden, RDN, NLC Fall is in the air! Which means it’s boots, blazers, and…squash season! Pumpkins always seem to take center stage around this time, obviously fueled by the energy and excitement of Halloween (I think a dietitian’s least favorite holiday). Butternut squash comes in a close second, getting its yearly fifteen minutes of fame on menus everywhere right now. As a nutritionist, this makes me so happy! Is there anything better than seeing people eat seasonally? When you eat foods that are in season, you are eating produce picked and eaten at its peak. In general, these foods will be richer in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. And while pumpkin and butternut squash certainly deserve the spotlight, I think some of autumn’s other produce offerings get upstaged far too often. So I am taking this opportunity to highlight a new star of the show: my personal favorite winter squash, the acorn squash. Acorn squash is the green, speckled round squash you see next to butternut squash at the grocery store…the one that probably has not made it into your grocery cart. Hopefully, that’s about to change. Why I think acorn squash should not be ignored: Like pumpkin and butternut squash, it is an extremely nutrient dense food, meaning that it is rich in nutrients and low in calories. Acorn squash is an exceptional source of antioxidants. A 1-cup serving gives you 25% of your recommended daily intake of vitamin A and 25% of your recommended daily intake of vitamin C. {Tweet this}. Like all winter squash, acorn squash is rich in carotenes and has been linked to being protective against certain cancers, cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration. Acorn squash is a starchy vegetable so it is higher in carbohydrates than many other vegetables. However, it is rich in fiber, providing around 5 grams of fiber per 1 cup serving. That fiber will help slow down digestion, fill you up and might even help prevent you from digging into that leftover Halloween candy. Acorn squash is also known for being high in thiamine, a B vitamin that helps the body metabolize food. Like its orange counterparts, acorn squash is rich in minerals such as magnesium, iron and calcium. Magnesium and calcium help to maintain normal blood pressure and magnesium has also been shown to help inhibit fat absorption. Iron is needed to help form red blood cells to carry oxygen through your body. Winter squash, acorn included, has a long shelf life. So, if you don’t get around to preparing it the week you bought it, you have a few more weeks to give it a shot! At Nutritious Life, Keri promotes finding your healthy food memories and incorporating them into being your most nutritious self. Healthy food memories are healthy foods that were part of your childhood that personally invoke happy, comforting emotions. For me, my dad’s acorn squash is one of mine. It was nothing fussy, just simple and yummy and always appeared on our dinner table in the fall. Below is the recipe he used to make and I added an egg baked in to help bump up the protein and turn a side dish into a meal. I hope your family enjoys this as much is mine did, and maybe it will even become one of your kids’ healthy food memories! Baked Acorn Squash with Egg Baked Inside Preheat oven to 400 degrees Slice acorn squash in half and scoop out all the seeds (set aside if you want to cook them for an extra nutritious snack later). Add a teaspoon of sweetener like honey, agave or maple syrup to each half. Place in the oven and bake for 40 minutes. Take out of the oven (but leave the oven on). Crack one egg into each squash half, trying to get the yolk in first. Place back into the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the egg is cooked to your desired consistency. Sprinkle your favorite herb or spice on top of the egg and enjoy! About Samantha: Samantha Linden, RDN, NLC is a registered dietitian nutritionist and the founder of Nutrition In Balance, a nutrition consulting and counseling practice in Southeastern Michigan. In her practice, Samantha works with both individuals and families that need guidance on many nutrition related issues, from weight loss to nutritional management of chronic diseases. Samantha writes frequently on nutrition topics and is also a regular nutrition educator for many local corporations and organizations. She graduated from the University of Michigan and received her post bachelor’s certificate in nutrition from Wayne State. Samantha is an active member of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics as well as the Nutrition Entrepreneurs in Private Practice and the Michigan Dietetics Association. She also recently completed her Nutritious Life Certification and is very excited to help Keri and her team spread the Nutritious Life message.
