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Archive for the ‘Food’ Category

Recipe Nutrition Information – Online for free

Posted by terrepruitt on August 25, 2011

I was thinking one day, “there has to be something online that can give calories for a recipe. And hopefully there is a free version.” There is. Cool. Maybe you had thought about this before, I know I have, but I just rememberd this week. I usually just kind of tally the ingredients and divide using a calculator, but I realized there has to be something online so I Googled it and came up with a few.

FitWatch Recipe Analyzer lets you label the recipe and then you input the number of servings, then you enter each ingredient separately. You can enter all the ingredients on its own separate line, then click “Search For All Ingredients” or you can search as you go along after you enter each ingredient. After you click “search” the program will bring up a list of ingredients from which you can scroll down and select the one you want. After each selection the screen flashes and then gives you measurement options. Each time you make a selection the screen flashes. There are only twelve spaces, so you can only enter up to twelve ingredients. After you are done it supplies you with amount of calories, water, carbohydrates, protein, total fat, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated fat, and saturated fat, cholesterol, and dietary fibre. It also gives you a breakdown of vitamins and minerals measurements. Very nice. Also gives you the option to print it in a nice format. But the input is somewhat awkward, because of the constant flashing. I kept thinking my computer or internet browser was going out or down. Took me until about the eighth ingredient to get used to it. Then I skipped an ingredient and I wanted them to be in order because I was not sure what information I would get and I didn’t know the format, so I thought it would be easier to just have it in the same order as the recipe. Going back and inputting the ingredient again really made the screen flash.

Calorie Count has you input the number of servings, then you can copy the entire list of ingredients into one box. That was so quick and easy and AWESOME! Then it gives you the calorie break down of each ingredient and gives it a grade. It allows you to add a new item and edit the recipe. It gives the option to log a serving and save a recipe, but I am not signed up so I didn’t do either one of those things. So I am not sure if after having done one of those things if you get an option to print. The format the nutrition info is presented in does not copy and paste very well. In addition to the calorie count and grade of each ingredient it gives you the Nutrition facts in the common format that is on many product labels. Under the “label” it gives you a nutritional analysis such as “Bad points: •High in saturated fat •High in sugar •Contains alcohol” and “Good Points: •Low in sugar •High in manganese •High in niacin •High in phosphorus •High in selenium •High in vitamin B6”. But it does not give you measurements nor percentages on all of the things mentioned in this analysis.

Spark People’s recipe analyzer makes you enter each ingredient and then search their data base for the closest match. Its breakdown of the nutrition in the recipe includes: amount of calories, total fat, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, and saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, total carbohydrates, dietary fiber and sugars, and protein. This recipe analyzer/calculator gives you a breakdown of vitamins and minerals in percentages. Its nutrition information is in a printable format like the first one. This site also allows you to save the recipe if you are a member as with Calorie Count.

Really nifty. I bet there are even more out there. This is a different way of checking the nutrition in our diet, instead of inputting it all in a food diary/log/tracker/counter, you can do entire recipes. I want to remind you even though I say it often, we all have different goals so we certainly have different nutritional needs. These sites are just more tools that we can use to meet our goals and our nutritional needs.

So, I am curious to know if you were surprised at the information after you entered your favorite recipe? Well, were you?

Posted in "Recipes", Helpful Hints | Tagged: Calorie Count, calorie counter, calories, cholesterol, dietary fiber, fitness goals, FitWatch Recipe Analyzer, health goals, minerals, monounsaturated fat, nutritional needs, polyunsaturated fat, Potassium, protein, recipe calculations, recipe calculator, recipe nutrition, recipe nutrition analyzer, recipe nutrition information, saturated fat, sodium, Spark People, total carbohydrates, total fat, vitamins | 4 Comments »

An Amazing Friend and What Is In the Inside

Posted by terrepruitt on August 20, 2011

I have posted before about what wonderful friends and Nia students I have. I have also posted about bell peppers. My love for both should be pretty well-known. 🙂 I consider my friends and the people who allow me to hold my Nia classes one of my most precious blessings. Between the group of them I have supporters, counselors, advisors, therapists, doctors, sounding boards, teachers, chefs, cooks, cheer leaders, advocates, lunch dates, chauffeurs, bakers, gardeners, and the list goes on and on. And bell peppers . . .well, with them there are endless snacks, meals, and yumminess.

But, as you are probably aware, not everyone likes bells peppers. You could be among the group of people who do not. You might be one of the people who like the red, but not the green or like the yellow but not the red. There are a lot of combinations in that group. Also, as you may know a bell pepper, when an ingredient in a cooked dish, tends to permeate the entire dish. There really is no “picking” them out if you don’t like the flavor. If you don’t like the flavor then you probably just avoid the dish entirely. While the flavors of the colors do vary, no matter what color is used the flavor seeps into the entire dish. I am not certain if this applies to raw foods, as in a salad, because I love bell peppers so I am not sure if it “gets all over” when it is not cooked.

Well, all of this leads up to two things; an amazing friend and what is in the inside.

First of all, I have an amazing friend who GREW bell peppers for me. She had read my post about different colored bell peppers and my mention of purple ones so when she was planting her garden she planted some purple bell peppers for me. When she told me she had some purple bell peppers for me my first thought was, “Oh, how nice! How could she give them away?” See? That is how much I love bell peppers, I wouldn’t think of giving them away. Then she told me she planted and grew them for me. I thought that was the nicest thing. Then after she gave them to me we were talking and she reminded me that she HATES bell peppers. ALL colors! No matter what. She thinks they all taste the same. I had forgotten, which is really probably just a mental block because she is such a vegetable lover and I love them so much, I forget that people don’t like them. So the fact that she HATES them (REALLY REALLY) made her planting them and growing them for me even more special to me.

Now, there are some funny things about these bell peppers. First of all they are very small. The idea was that they were purple so they are ready. I am not a gardener so I don’t know, except from what I have read bell peppers are ready when they get to the color you have planted. So it was decided that these were purple so they are ready. They are soooo cute!

The second thing is they are GREEN inside. That was a surprise to me. I had seen purple bell peppers before, in the store, but I had never actually had them, so the GREEN was a surprise. I cut it open while I was on the phone with the gardener that grew them and our first thought was that there were not ready because they were green inside, but a quick Google search revealed that the purple ones are green inside. Funny. All the other bell peppers are the same color all the way through, except the purples ones. I wonder why that is.

There you have it, an amazing friend and an amazing (well to me) bell pepper.

So now tell me? Bell pepper lover or hater? Which color do you prefer? Did you know that the purple ones were green on the inside? Since I can’t tell, does a raw bell pepper permeate a raw dish with its bell pepper flavor? Tell me, I really want to know!

Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: bell pepper dish, bell pepper lover, bell pepper snacks, bell peppers, friends, green bell peppers, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia students, Nia supporters, Nia teachers, purple bell peppers, purple-green bell pepper, red bell peppers, special friends, yellow bell peppers | 8 Comments »

Banana Oatmeal Walnut Cookies

Posted by terrepruitt on August 13, 2011

This recipe allows you to use up the over ripe bananas without having to resort to banana bread. Although these taste pretty much like banana bread, but lighter, more airy. While the large amount of butter seems to make these anything but a low-fat cookie, I find that they are very satisfying so I don’t gobble down an entire half-dozen. If you break it down it is about 1/8 of a tablespoon per cookie. It is a cookie and like all cookies, they are meant to be a treat. I think that the bananas, the oats, and the walnuts add a bit of nutrients to them. I think anytime good-for-you ingredients can be added to a sweet treat it is a great thing. Homemade is better than packaged goods.

Banana Oatmeal Walnut Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1 3/4 cups oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon cinnamon
A sprinkle of nutmeg
3 bananas

Chopped walnuts

Preheat oven 375 degrees

Using an electric hand-held beater, mix up the butter and sugar. I mix it up until it is fluffy.

Then, add the egg and vanilla. Mix well. This I mix until it is light and fluffy. (I think that is what helps make the cookies lighter than banana bread.)

Add the rest of the ingredients (except the nuts) one at a time. Blending well – using the electric hand-held beater – after adding each one and before adding the next.

Stir the walnuts in using a spoon or whatever. I just wouldn’t use the beater.

The “dough” is rather runny for me at this point. I use a round measuring spoon to scoop up the mixture and put it on a cookie sheet.

I don’t grease the sheet, but I think that really depends on what you are baking on. You can decide. I do space them out rather far because they tend to grow a little bit.

I bake them at 375 degrees for 12. I bake them for 6 minutes, then I turn the pan. And bake them for another 6 minutes, for a total of 12 minutes. Again, you decide how “DONE” you want your cookies, plus you know your oven. So maybe start out with 10 minutes and add minutes accordingly. And if you have greased the cookie sheet the time might need altering.

I think I get about 4 dozen out of this recipe.

________________________________________

I am going to keep this version of the recipe, but also do some alterations sometimes when I make them. I have some ideas I want to try. I want to try LESS butter. I also might try the chocolate chips again, but maybe less of them (I only used ¾ of a cup the first time!) and maybe WITH nuts, oh (!) and with my nutmeg addition. That might make a big difference. But I somewhat agree with my husband about adding chocolate chips to a cookie, it just makes it a chocolate chip cookie.

I want to let you know the path that led me to making this recipe. First I went looking for recipes and ideas on what to do with over ripe banana and I found 100 Things to Do with a Banana (yeah, really). Since they have pictures I just scrolled through clicking on pictures I liked and it led to A little bit of this, a little bit of that .

So, what do you think? Are you a chocolate lover? Then you might want to add a cup or so of chocolate chips. What else can you think of to make this better? Let me know. I am always interested in hearing about alterations.

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: 100 Things to Do with a Banana, a little bit of that, A little bit of this, banana bread, banana cookie recipe, banana cookies, banana oatmeal walnut cookie, chocolate chip cookie, chocolate lover, electric hand held beater, homemade, low fat, oat cookies, oatmeal cookies, over ripe bananas, ripe bananas, sweet treat, walnut cookies, wheat flour | 9 Comments »

Banana Cookies – Homemade and Delicious

Posted by terrepruitt on August 11, 2011

My husband and I buy bananas and we don’t eat them fast enough before they get too ripe. His idea of “too ripe” is one tiny little brown spot. The entire banana can still be GREEN, but if he sees a spot it is too ripe. I used to like them REALLY ripe, all covered in spots and almost — ALMOST, not quite, mushy. But now I like them a little less ripe. I don’t like them when they “snap”, but I don’t like them when I touch it and my finger mushes into it. So . . . I had been making a lot of banana bread. I honestly think that my husband buys a huge bunch of bananas knowing full well that he will only eat one or two and then I will make bread out of them. I somewhat have an issue with the banana bread. It doesn’t seem to cook on the top. The first time I sent it to work with him he came home and said that his co-worker loved it. I was so embarrassed and I told him that he was NOT supposed to share it because it was uncooked. He and his co-worker like it like that. He also likes it without nuts, which I think is just not right. I had been making it so much, I got tired of doing so. I went online (but, of course) to find other ways to use ripe bananas. I found a banana cookie recipe. Yeah, bananas in the cookies.

This woman found a banana cookie recipe on the internet and changed it up a bit. I decided to try her recipe, but wanted to change it a bit. The recipe called for chocolate chips. My plan was to make some without chocolate chips, then put some chips in and make some with chocolate chips. It turned out I didn’t have any chocolate chips, and unlike Carson, I didn’t even have any big chocolate drops. So I made the entire batch without chips. I liked them but they were missing something. Even though I put in the cinnamon she has listed and even though I put in twice as much vanilla they were still a little “blah”. To me. Blah to me was actually good because even though they were good they weren’t so good that I found myself eating them non-stop. So it was nice that I could actually eat them as a treat should be eaten.

The next time I made them I decided to try it with the chocolate chips. But I thought that regular sized chips would be to over powering so I bought mini chocolate chips. I also used three bananas instead of two. I also used different oats, which were much larger than the first ones I had. I DID NOT like that large oat in my cookie. Made it seem like I was chewing cud instead of a cookie, so I made a mental note to change that. So this batch was ok. But as my husband said, “If you put chocolate chips in a cookie it makes it a chocolate chip cookie.” I liked them and so did he, but we decided we liked them better without chocolate chips.

So my third attempt—-HAZZAH! I finally got it! I pulsed the “too big” oats, I added more cinnamon, I stuck with three bananas, I added walnuts, and I sprinkled in some nutmeg! So yay!!!!! I got it. Finally turned what to me seemed blah into . . . now I have to STOP myself from eating them. Ok, not really. That is why I like this cookie so much. It is almost as if it is so satisfying I don’t have a desire to eat a whole plate.

They are a really nice cookie. I think that homemade is so much better than packaged because you know what goes in them and it is usually a lot less chemicals and even some fruit. These are kind like little circles of banana bread, really, but a little less dense. And these I can manage to cook all the way through.

Here is the recipe . . . . Banana Oatmeal Walnut Cookies.

Posted in Food | Tagged: banana bread, banana cookie recipe, banana cookies, banana oatmeal walnut cookie, chocolate chip cookie, mushy bananas, oat cookies, oatmeal cookies, over ripe bananas, ripe bananas, vanilla cookie, walnut cookies | 4 Comments »

The Easiest Way To Cook Eggplant

Posted by terrepruitt on August 4, 2011

Often I hear people say they would like to cook eggplant but they don’t know how. I also hear a lot of people say you have to get the water out of eggplant before you cook it. Well, I would like to try cooking it another way because the only way I know how is to roast it, of course. Recently I bought some eggplant specifically to cube it and sautee it to see how that would be. But when I started thinking about how yummy it is roasted, I opted for roasting it. I have used Japanese eggplant, which it nice because it has less seeds. It is also nice because it is more evenly shaped so all the slices come out basically the same size so they cook at a more even rate. I typically use the large pear-ish shaped eggplant. The last time I bought it, the store clerk said she had always wanted to try it but didn’t know how to cook it (see, I told you people tell me that). So I decided to share my way of cooking it. You know I love to roast veggies. Roasting veggies is so easy because you can put them on and work on cooking the rest of dinner. I was so busy cooking the rest of dinner I forgot to take pictures of the roasted eggplant. I remembered to take pictures of it as I sliced it, but I forgot to do it after it was cooked.

I slice at about 3/8 of an inch. I put olive oil on the pan (I use a cookie sheet), then place the slices on the pan in rows, then I drizzle a little olive oil on the slices. I sprinkle garlic powder on each slice. Then I sprinkle salt on each slice. The salt will help release the water. Pretty much the same way as sweating the vegetables, but the water will evaporate in the oven. I usually cook them for about 15 or twenty minutes at 400 degrees. Then I flip them over. I usually add more seasoning. It depend on how much salt I put on before. I might add more or not. I put them back in the oven. How long depends on how they look. Often times they don’t cook evenly so some will be done where others will not. So I take the done ones off the pan, then I set the timer for the time I guess that the next ones will be done. When that time is up I take the done ones off the cookie sheet and put the pan back in the oven. Depending on how they are cooking, I might flip them. It is a process. You have to watch them a bit. That is why it is good to have other stuff to be cooking in the kitchen. You also have to decide HOW cooked you like them. You can cook them just a little until they are still really soft and doughy or you can cook them until they are crispy–almost like potato chips. I like mine crispy.

A friend on FB said she puts cheese on the slices. That would be excellent. I haven’t tried that. I am sure it is really good.

I don’t squeeze out the water before cooking and I don’t take out the seeds. I also do not cook it for a set amount of time. I start with 15 minutes and go from there. It is best to decide as you go along.

I did not realize that eggplant is a fruit, a berry in fact. I don’t think in terms of botany. I just think in terms of eating and cooking. The information I saw said eggplant is a fruit that is used in cooking like a vegetable. So yeah, I think of it as a vegetable.

So that is how I cook eggplant 🙂 pretty much how I cook all my vegetables. What about you? Do you cook eggplant? How? I really would like to try it other ways, but I don’t know how to cook it aside from roasting it. Did you know it is a fruit? Did you know it is a berry?

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: aubergine, cheesy vegetables, easy veggie, eggplant, Facebook, olive oil, oven roasted, potato chips, roasted eggplant, roasted vegetables | 4 Comments »

Chobani – Mango Fruit on the Bottom

Posted by terrepruitt on July 26, 2011

You might have read that I was asked to do a Nia demo at a somewhat local Fitbloggin‘ MeetUp on Fitbloggin’ World Meetup Day. I had stated that there was a lunch. The lunch was a wonderful potluck lunch. There was a lot of yummy food on the table. One thing that was on the table that Foodie was sharing was containers of Chobani Yogurt. I had never tried that, but I had wanted to because I remember seeing it on her blog. At the end of the meeting they were all still in the bowl she had them in. At first I grabbed one, one I knew I would like. Honey. But there was more left and she was generously pushing all the leftovers off on people, so I grabbed another one. One I probably wouldn’t buy because I wouldn’t think I would like it. I am not a fruity yogurt person. It was mango. Ok, guess what? I am now a fruity yogurt person.

When I first opened it I thought, “Yuck! Fruit on the bottom.” Not only do I not like the fruity yogurt flavors, I do not like the fruit on the bottom. But I wanted to try it. So I stirred. It was really good. Mango can be a mushy fruit when it is really ripe, or after I am done cutting it. But typically it is not a mushy fruit to begin with so it held up well in the yogurt. That is one reason I don’t like fruit in yogurt is gets mushy. I am not a fan of super mushy fruit. Another reason I am not a fruity yogurt person is that it is usually too sweet. This was not too sweet. It was really good. I had a little tartness to it, I think. The combination of the crunch of the fruit and the not-too-sweet made it really good.

After my first bite I thought, “This is why they give this stuff away.” Because once people try it they will more than likely buy it. I know that I have purchased a large variety of products that I normally would not have had I not been able to try them in the past few years. For some products a free sample is awesome.

This morning I tried the honey, which turned out not to be honey. It is vanilla. Honey or vanilla is usually the flavor I buy or lemon. But I have not seen a lemon flavor in the Greek yogurt. And the yogurt I used to buy has HFCS in it. Not something I want to eat. Besides I love the protein in Greek yogurt. There is such a great amount, it is awesome. In addition to be so much thicker and creamier. Yum.

Well my verdict on the vanilla is, no thanks. At least not to eat plain. Maybe if you at it as a dip or put honey in it, it would be ok. But I would not grab a container of that to eat just by itself. It tasted like the PLAIN non-fat yogurt of the brand I used to buy, except with a bitter kick to it. I only ate a portion of it. I will stick to the mango flavor.

Posted in Food | Tagged: Chobani Yogurt, Fitbloggin' World Meetup Day, Foodie McBody, free sample, Fruit on the bottom, HFCS, High Fructose Corn Syrup, local Fitbloggin‘ MeetUp, Nia, Nia class, Nia demo | 2 Comments »

Shopping Step to help Dinner Prep

Posted by terrepruitt on July 16, 2011

You know how Rachael Ray says to clean your veggies when you get home from shopping? Well that doesn’t work for me, because although I LOVE the idea of the veggies being all ready to go when I want to use them, I think they start to go bad faster once they are washed and prepped. I don’t do that. I really like the idea, but I don’t do that. One thing my husband and I do after shopping that helps with dinner prep though is marinate the meat. I do not like steak or pork that has not been marinated. I figured out that this is why I thought I didn’t like steak, often steak in a restaurant has not been marinated it is just seasoned. I like it to have soaked in the flavor. So when we bring home steak we make up a bag of marinade and put the steak in it then freeze it. Marinating the meat seems to add a step to shopping, but helps with preparing dinner.

Sometimes we have a big hunk of meat so my husband trims off the fat and cuts it up and we make some sauce then bag it up. Sometimes he wants to have steak on hand for his beef stroganoff so he will chop it up in little bite size chunks. We will put the chunks in a bag of sauce and freeze that. When we need to use the steak we take it out to defrost and it is already marinated. It has soaked in the juices while it was freeze and while it is defrosting. Instead of defrosting THEN marinating, it is doing both at once. AWESOME.

A little while ago he decided he wanted to do that with pork too. We don’t buy bone on pork chops, my husband buys the thick chops. I just remembered a funny story, one day he came home with steak and pork and told me to “make up” x number of bags. He said some of the bags were for pork and some of the bags were for steak. Not that he minded, but I could tell the difference when we cooked them he had put the steak in the pork marinade and the pork in the steak marinade. It turned out ok, just a little different. We always marinate the steak and we marinate the port most of the time, but sometimes we want to cook it another way so we don’t put it in bag with marinade.

As I was sitting here trying to think of something to post, I was thinking, “I didn’t learn anything this week.” I know that is not true but I couldn’t think of what I learned so I decided to share something I already knew. I was smelling the grilling my hubby was doing and it made me think of what a time saver the marinade in the freezer is and I thought, “Huh. Maybe I could share that.” So I am.

We use zip lock bags and I put whatever we have on hand in it; sherry/wine, teriyaki sauce, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, onions, garlic, marjoram, parsley, garlic, whatever. Then we squeeze out as much air as possible and freeze it until we are ready to use it. Cool. I love that. When I go into the freezer to get out something for dinner and there is meat in there already marinated I am so happy. I think we should try it with chicken too, what do you think?

I know you can by meat that is already marinated but you never really know what is in those pre-made ones and for me . . . one who cannot tolerate any kind of spicy heat, they normally are too hot. This way you are in control of the flavor you get.

Posted in Food | Tagged: bag of marinade, bag of sauce, bag with marinadesherry/wine, beef stroganoff, dinner prep, garlic, marinate the meat, marinating the meat, marjoram, onions, parsley, pork chops, pork marinated, pre-made marinade, preparing dinner, Rachael Ray, soy sauce, steak, teriyaki sauce, veggies, Worcestershire Sauce | 6 Comments »

Cucumber Uses

Posted by terrepruitt on July 5, 2011

Day flew by, even thought I didn’t teach a Nia class today, I am just now getting to my post. I received this list a long time ago. My plan was to research each fact to see if it was true. I realize that I could spend my time looking up each item and not really find out if it was true. AND, I realized that my readers probably know better. Some of you might have received this very same list. Some of you might have tried some of these things. And better yet, some of you might venture on this very post to comment on what you know.

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day, just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon, put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber. Cucumbers are a good source of B Vitamins and Carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours.

3. Tired of your bathroom mirror fogging up after a shower? Try rubbing a cucumber slice along the mirror, it will eliminate the fog and provide a soothing, spa-like fragrance.

4. Are grubs and slugs ruining your planting beds? Place a few slices in a small pie tin and your garden will be free of pests all season long. The chemicals in the cucumber react with the aluminum to give off a scent undetectable to humans but drive garden pests crazy and make them flee the area.

5. Looking to fight off that afternoon or evening snacking binge? Cucumbers have been used for centuries and often used by European trappers, traders and explores for quick meals to thwart off starvation.

6. Have an important meeting or job interview and you realize that you don’t have enough time to polish your shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe, its chemicals will provide a quick and durable shine that not only looks great but also repels water.

7. Out of WD 40 and need to fix a squeaky hinge? Take a cucumber slice and rub it along the problematic hinge, and voila, the squeak is gone!

8. Stressed out and don’t have time for massage, facial or visit to the spa? Cut up an entire cucumber and place it in a boiling pot of water, the chemicals and nutrients from the cucumber with react with the boiling water and be released in the steam, creating a soothing, relaxing aroma that has been shown the reduce stress in new mothers and college students during final exams.

9. Just finish a business lunch and realize you don’t have gum or mints? Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds to eliminate bad breath, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

10. Looking for a ‘green’ way to clean your faucets, sinks or stainless steel? Take a slice of cucumber and rub it on the surface you want to clean, not only will it remove years of tarnish and bring back the shine, but is won’t leave streaks and won’t harm you fingers or fingernails while you clean.

11. Using a pen and made a mistake? Take the outside of the cucumber and slowly use it to erase the pen writing, also works great on crayons and markers that the kids have used to decorate the walls!!

I am adding that a cucumber is mostly water. And while their flavor is in their seeds, I have heard that it is the seeds that might also cause gas for some people. In case you have received this list in an e-mail you may notice a couple missing, yeah, I removed them because I didn’t feel comfortable posting them. I didn’t check on these except for the vitamins. I wanted to give you an idea about that.

According to About.com a cup of sliced cucumbers contain the follow amounts of what is listed above:

•Calcium: 8 mg
•Iron: 0.15 mg
•Magnesium: 7 mg
•Phosphorus: 12 mg
•Potassium: 76 mg
•Zinc: 0.10 mg
•Vitamin C: 1.5 mg
•Thiamin (B1): 0.014 mg
•Riboflavin (B2): 0.017 mg
•Niacin (B3): 0.051 mg
•Pantothenic Acid (B5): 0.135 mg
•Vitamin B6: 0.021 mg
•Vitamin B12: 0 mg

As I typed this I made me want some cucumber water.

Have you tried any of these tips? Do they work? Let us know.

Posted in Vegetables | Tagged: Calcium, cucumber pick-me-up, cucumbers, defogger, Nia, Nia class, Nia Teacher, snacking, teach Nia, uses for cucumbers, vitamin C, vitamins | 8 Comments »

Parsnips

Posted by terrepruitt on May 26, 2011

When my friend posted a celery soup recipe in my comments of my celery post she mentioned she puts parsnips in soups as thickening agents because potatoes were bland so she uses the parsnips for a little additional flavor. I didn’t know what a parsnip was. I had heard of them, and I knew it was a root vegetable but I had never used one. As we were “talking” on my blog back and forth, I was thinking, “I’m going to stick to using a potato.” But as I was shopping I decided to try making my celery soup with parsnips. So I bought two parsnips.

I realized I didn’t know if I should peel it or not. So I just decided to use my produce brush on it, which has really stiff bristles so it somewhat peels it. When I started to cut it up, I realized it was very firm, not as soft as a potato. As I was chopping it occured to me that it smelled like a carrot. While I was chopping it I realized I needed to look it up and learn about what parsnips are.

I laughed when I read what Wiki had to say because it is obvious parsnips are related to the carrot. They even slightly resemble carrots except they are lighter and larger. Although cited information states:

“The parsnip originated in the Mediterranean region and originally was the size of a baby carrot when fully grown. When the Roman Empire expanded north through Europe, the Romans brought the parsnip with them. They found that the parsnip grew bigger the farther north they went.”

In a serving (about a cup sliced) there is about:

100 calories
24 grams of carbohydrates with 6.5 grams of dietary fiber.

Parsnips are a great source of vitamin C and seven different vitamin Bs. They also contain the essential mineral manganese and also Potassium, which is crucial to heart function. This really is a nutritional power punch, because they also contain magnesium, calcium, iron, zinc, and copper. WOW!

I am seeing information that says you can roast them as you would potatoes, but I wonder how good that would be. Have you tried that? I am sure you will read about it when I do. I really love roasted sweet potatoes now that I have finally found them. Parsnips might be my new love.

Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: celery soup, parsnips, potatoes, rich in minerals, rich in vitamins, roasted, root vegetable | 2 Comments »

Celery Soup

Posted by terrepruitt on May 24, 2011

My friend made a comment on my celery post. She offered the recipe for celery soup (it’s in comment #5). Awesome, you know I am on a soup kick. There are a lot of recipes out there for celery soup, of course, but it is nice to have a recipe from a friend. A nice tried and true recipe. I made it tonight, but I made some adjustments.

Since I don’t like pepper, I only put a sprinkle in, but I think this might have kept it from having much flavor so I added the marjoram which — to me — tied the flavors together nicely.

1 bunch celery, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 parsnips, chopped
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp marjoram
a sprinkle of black pepper
a sprinkle of salt
48 ozs chicken stock

Sautee onion in olive oil, then add the parsnips. Cook the parsnips for a few minutes. When the parsnips start to get tender, add the celery and spices, cook it for a few minutes. Then add the stock. Let it simmer for awhile, then let it come to a boil. I let it cool for a bit then blend in blender or with a stick blender.

This is becoming my standard method of cooking soup. I have just been changing the ingredients.

I will probably try the celery soup with an apple -as my friend mentions- one of these days. What about you? I would love to hear what you’ve come up with.

Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: celery, celery soup, chicken stock, immersion blender, marjoram, parsnips, stick blender | 7 Comments »

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Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

I teach yoga, Nia, and stretch online!

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