Nutrition Educator

Let's a delve into my personal life for a little bit. I often debate on how much information to share on this blog. I would like it to be a warm and candid blog, but I wouldn't want someone knocking on my front door.  But then again, half of the people reading this blog either have met me, know my real name and phone number, or I call mom or dad. 
Well, today I will *gasp* be letting you through the outer most gates of my "Circle of Trust," and telling you about one of my endeavors.  The other month, I started volunteering with the North Texas Food Bank as a Nutrition Educator.  I partner up with a chef and he teaches the healthy cooking portion of the lesson. 
I enjoy teaching. I stress out about lesson planning and have an initial fear of public speaking (that can be seen by the sweat accumulating on my shirt), but I do get excited teaching Nutrition and Food Science concepts.  If I were a trust fund baby or happened to win the lottery (and basically did not have to work for the rest of my life), I would probably use my time volunteering to teach Nutrition, Healthy and Budget Cooking, or promote physical activity through free exercise classes. 

Just a brief recap of my first class; the participants were super excited to learn about Nutrition and healthy cooking. I jotted down some of the questions that they wanted answered and since I'll be emailing and explaining some of the answers in class, I figured I'd post the questions and answers on this blog. 
Oh my goodness, you guys are super duper lucky. I'm going to let you take another step into my "circle" and tell you more about myself and my education background. Just to let you know that I am quasi-legit to teach the course (no, I needed a bit more credentials than having a blog about food). I have a BS, MS, and PhD in fields related to Food Science and/or Nutrition, and have certificates in Culinary Arts and Patisserie from Kapiolani Community College. No I am not a dietitian or a Nutrition Counselor (I do not have those credentials), but I do enjoy keeping up-to-date on the subject matter and believe that people should live healthy lifestyles. 
So, stay tuned for more "legit" blog posts in the future...

Tervis Tumbler and Raspberry Spritzer

If anyone has every seen my desk at work or seen my lounge around at home, I love water.  I carry a cup/mug/water bottle pretty much every where I go. 

Thank you to Foodbuzz's Tastemaker Maker and Tervis for sending me this tumbler! I love the fact that the tumbler is double insulated so there is no watermark left at my desk.

Back in the summer I bought these beautiful fresh raspberries but did not have a chance to use them quickly, so I froze them. I wanted to make a pretty drink to celebrate the arrival of my new Tervis cup, so decided to create my version of "Flour Bakery's" raspberry soda. 

Here's my current favorite drink: Raspberry Spritzer

Raspberry Syrup
1 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c.Water
~1 pint of Raspberries


This is a picture of the raspberry and syrup mixture prior to blending

Make a simple syrup (2 parts of sugar to 1 part of water). Measure and pour the sugar and water in a pan and heat on medium to high heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar. When the solution starts to boil, reduce your heat to medium heat and stir it until some of the water starts to evaporate and the syrup starts to thicken. Turn off the heat and add the washed raspberries.
Mix and gently mash the raspberries in the hot syrup. Cool to room temperature. If you have an immersion blender, blend the mixture together when the syrup and then strain

You have just made the raspberry syrup.  Pour some of the syrup into a cup (maybe a Tervis tumbler???) and then pour some club soda or sparkling water into the cup and gently stir. 

I freeze the syrup so that I can enjoy raspberry spritzer whenever I feel like it. Yummy!

Healthier Mac and Cheese???

I'm so grateful to have a husband like Mike. Even though work has been taking a toll on him, he's been picking up all the housework slack.  For the past couple of weeks, I have been spending countless hours at the office to gear up for some work travel next week.  I've been a bad wife and haven't cleaned the house, gone grocery shopping, washed the clothes, or cooked a decent dinner in a long time.

Lucky for me, I married a guy who can cook food that is actually edible (that's an understatement because he cooks tasty food).  A couple of weeks ago I bought a butternut squash from the market with grandiose plans to make a lowfat mac and cheese that I saw in a Food magazine.  I didn't write down the recipe, all I knew was that I was going to substitute some of the cream and cheese with butternut squash. 
Well, one night well I was at work pretty late, and Mike called me and told me that he was going to execute the mac and cheese dish for me.
I came home and this is what I saw:

I was pleasantly surprised with Mike's dish. I'm not sure what was in it besides the roasted butternut squash, mozzarella cheese, beef bouillon, and elbow macaroni.  But the dish had potential.   Plus to Mike's credit, he only used ingredients that were available in our kitchen. 

Mike and I were on the same page when we both critiqued the recipe and decided that for the next attempt, we will:
1)Incorporate sharp cheddar (we didn't have it in the fridge). The stronger cheese flavor will come out and using sharp cheddar will reduce the total amount of cheese that we will add
2)Use our immersion blender and blend the butternut squash/cheese mixtures to a puree, so that there will not be chunks of squash dispersed throughout the macaroni.

Dallas Restaurants~Bread Winners

When you ask people for recommendations for a good brunch restaurant,  "Bread Winners" and the "Original Pancake House" are the first two places recommended in the Plano and Frisco area.  I really want to like Bread Winners Cafe; but I've been there twice and am not sure what the hype is all about. I think I'm going to have to chalk it up to the chance that I have just strike out with my menu choices. 

Corned Beef Reuben Sandwich

Breakfast Tacos-Flour Tortillas with chorizo, eggs, peppers, onions, and cheese.

Texas  Beef Brisket Hash Benedict served on an english muffin with Tabasco hollandaise sauce

Fresh Strawberry and Cream Waffle.  The last time I ate at Bread Winners, I had ordered the Fresh Sampler Salad and was disappointed in the lack of flavor of the dish.  A lot of people were eating the waffles and french toast, so I thought that I picked a winner. Nope, even though the waffle looks good int he picture, it was a soggy waffle. It's sad to say this, but I as well as others who tasted the waffle felt that frozen Eggo waffles taste better.

Southern Pulled Pork Benedict with frizzled onions, buttermilk biscuit, and Tabasco hollandaise sauce.  This dish was flavorful and probably the best dish that was ordered amongst my friends. Maybe I did not get the memo that Bread Winners is known for their benedicts.

I am guessing this was the flank steak benedict with sliced tomatoes on Tuscan toast, served with a demi glace drizzle

BW's Benedict-Smoked Ham on an English Muffin

Bread Winners Cafe and Bakery
4021 Preston Road
Plano, TX 75093
972-312-9300

Two Rangers

If you have been following my blog, you know that Mike and I have a dog named "Ranger"/"Morkie"/"Butters."  We keep trying to call him "Butters" now, but by habit we keep reverting to "Ranger" (especially when we yell his name to scold him).

This past weekend we house/dog/cat sat for our friends. They live in a "castle" (the house just feels like a castle because it's more than 3 times bigger than our apartment) in a city north of us that we have contemplated living in. Funny story about this couple, my friend's husband's name is Mike, both our Mike's have the same occupation, and our dogs have the same name. Here's a picture of the two Rangers. We started calling them "Little Ranger" and "Big Ranger." It's kind of confusing for Big Ranger because he's so smart and listens to all our commands, even if we are speaking to Little Ranger.

Big Ranger is smiling!

Big Ranger is such a sweet and calm dog.  He could easily squash our Little Ranger, but instead just tolerates our little guy.  Little Ranger is actually a punk and harasses Big Ranger and the cat (who is bigger than Little Ranger).  Mike and I are not sure if it is typical of the Yorkie breed or if we are bad parents.

 The two Rangers at the Dog Park. They are on opposite sides of the fence because Little Ranger is in the small dog area (less than 20lb) and Big Ranger is in the big dog park.  A dog owner at I met at the park told me it was unusual to see owners with a yorkie and a huge husky-type dog.  It made more sense to him when I told him that we were dog sitting.

Since this post involved multiple Rangers, on a side note-Go Texas Rangers!

Vietnamese Food Run

Mike has cravings for different kinds of food.  Last week he wanted to eat at the All-you-can-eat sushi place. For the past couple of weeks he's been wanting to eat good Vietnamese food.  He has also hinted that he wants to eat shepard's pie (I guess that means I'm in the kitchen this week).  So last Sunday we drove to Garland, TX with a couple of friends to a eat authentic Vietnamese food. 

Look at all the Vietnamese desserts!

Banh Xeo-Crispy pancake filled with vegetables, pork, and shrimp. You break off a piece of this pancake, wrap it in lettuce and add fresh herbs, and then dip it in a clear sauce (Nuoc Cham).

This is what my friend really enjoys eating

Vietnamese steamed sticky rice flour dessert coated with coconut and sesame seeds.  It had a similar texture to mochi.

Summer Rolls-The filling was different from the typical shrimp and vermicelli noodles. It contains lup cheong, egg, and pickled vegetables.

Spring Rolls

Meat Balls. There were three on the stick, but by the time I took a picture, there was only one left.

Banh Mi Sandwich with roast pork.

We then traveled to Quoc Bao bakery for some banh mi sandwiches. It's a good thing that my friend spoke Vietnamese. She ordered for us and explained that I wanted my vegetables on the side so that my sandwich would not be soggy for my lunch the next day.

Quoc Bao received rave reviews on Yelp and a Vietnamese co-worker of mine recommended it (so it must be good, right?) to another friend, who told me to go check it out.

Mike and I bought some extra loaves of bread (3 for $1). The bread was so light and fluffy!

Roast pork sandwich

Char siu-type pork sandwich

My squirreling habits have rubbed off on Mike and he purchased a couple more sandwiches so that he would have lunch and snacks later on in the week.

Marzetti Simply Dressed Dressing

Thank you to the Foodbuzz Tastemaker program for partnering with Marzetti Simply Dressed. I was provided a coupon for a free bottle of Marzetti Simply Dressed Dressing. There were so many different flavors to choose (Balsamic, Blue Cheese, Caesar, Champagne, Ginger Sesame, Greek Feta, Ranch, Pomegranate, and Strawberry Poppy)and I debated between the Pomegranate and the Caesar dressings, but settled on the Pomegranate because there was less fat in it and it was a pretty pink color. If my local grocery had the Strawberry Poppy dressing stocked, I probably would have purchased that.

I bet Mike thinks that I am on strike from cooking. I think my cooking track record is one meal per week. Thank goodness that salads count as "dinner." Here's my awesome super easy version of a quick salad dinner. I was traveling this past week from Sunday to Thursday, and lucky for Mike, I "cooked" on Thursday night and had dinner waiting for him when he arrived back home from Ultimate frisbee.

Goat Cheese -Crumbled

Campari Tomatoes-These tomatoes were so beautiful and flavorful! I thought the purchasing the goat cheese was a splurge. These tomatoes were yummy.

Mixed Greens (I was going to purchase the already cut and washed mixed greens, but when I saw that the 16 oz container of the mixed greens was the same price as the 24oz container of gourmet lettuce, I prepared and washed the greens myself)

D'anjou Pears-Thinly sliced
Slivered Almonds
Simply Dressed Pomegrante Salad Dressing

Voila, dinner prepared in less than 10 minutes! The dressing was yummy and added a sweet and slightly tart flavor to my salad. In the future, I think I will use the dressing with heartier greens with more crunch.