Healthy Snacking

The question of what to eat for snacks has come up on more than one occasion for me. Whether to snack or not is a matter of personal nutritional philosophy, so I won't try to tackle that issue. Clearly, I'm of the mindset that snacking is a good thing. That is, if the snacks you choose are healthy and relatively small.

A snack can really be anything, including things you might have as a meal, like pasta or salad. What makes a food qualify as a snack rather than a meal has only to do with quantity. The idea of a snack is mostly to get your body through to the next meal, so it should ideally be something that provides an energy boost. Of course, anything with calories would qualify there, although some calories convert to energy faster than others (fast conversion is actually not necessarily a good thing, as it also means a fast drop in energy afterward).

The unfortunate part of a typical American's snacks is that they consist mostly of junk foods. This is why snacking gets such a bad rap. Potato chips, m&ms, corn chips, cookies, and cheese doodles don't have nutritional purpose. They are basically emotional indulgences that do no service to our bodies (or our emotions, for that matter). Snacking this way will almost certainly cause you to gain weight, have higher cholesterol, have higher blood pressure, and be more likely to develop type II diabetes. Indulging very occasionally in these sorts of empty calories is probably forgivable, but making a regular habit of it will put you on a sure course to poor health.

Unfortunately, even the health conscious consumer can easily be duped into buying and eating things that have no business being ingested into a human body. The biggest scams in the snack food industry are the fat-free processed snacks, the sugar-free processed snacks, 100 calorie snack packs, and even many whole grain processed snacks. These give the consumer the illusion that they are eating something that is perfectly healthy for them, and unfortunately, that also creates the misconception that they can eat more of this junk. The reality is that instead of consuming fat or sugar, you are consuming chemicals and fillers that are likely worse for you than plain old fat and sugar. Artificial sweeteners don't make snack cakes healthy; they make them unhealthy in a different way. Products that say they contain whole grains may only contain a small amount of whole grains, and they may still be full of fat and/or sugar.

Reading labels is crucial, whether you're talking about snack foods or any other packaged food. The longer the list of ingredients, the more likely something unhealthy is hidden in that list. Unpronounceable ingredients are most often unhealthy chemical concoctions. Still, the practice of reading labels can be confusing and time-consuming, and labels do not tell the whole story. You will never be privy to the process of manufacturing as a consumer, and you will never know the origins of the various ingredients in the product. You will also be left in the dark about the exact proportions of ingredients in the product.

There is really no way to eat processed foods, junk or otherwise, and have control of your own health. But sometimes processed foods are hard to avoid. We're human, and most of us don't have the time to make everything from scratch. The key is to limit those processed foods that you do rely on to ones with short, simple lists of ingredients, with nothing objectionable or unpronounceable on those lists. Things like yogurt, granola, rice cakes, dried fruits and vegetables, can be perfectly reasonable processed snack foods (but read the labels!).

The best snack foods are not processed at all, and fortunately, they also require little or no preparation. Here is a list of those:
- fresh fruit (apples, grapes, oranges, pears, nectarines, peaches, plums, cherries, berries, etc.)
- fresh vegetables (carrots, celery, bell peppers, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, grape/cherry tomatoes, etc.)
- raw nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachios, walnuts)
- raw seeds (sunflower, pumpkin)

Here are a few ideas for homemade snacks that require some prep, but are still pretty simple:
- hard boiled eggs (thanks to my friend, Rose, who brought this to my attention today)
- baked sweet potato chips (Thinly slice a sweet potato. Spray a cookie sheet with safflower oil and spread the chips on the sheet. Spray the chips with a bit more oil. Bake at 250F for 1 hour, or until crisp.)
- homemade granola (I loved this recipe that I found recently. Add nuts, seeds and dried fruit, as desired)
- toasted nori (on a dry baking sheet, bake nori sheets at 350F for 10 minutes, or until bright green)
- trail mix (any combination of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit)
- smoothies (so many varieties ... I'll be sure to talk about this in a separate post)

Here are a few processed foods that we buy that meet our health standards:
- Just Tomatoes products (organic peas and corn mostly)
- unsulfured, low- or no-added-sugar dried fruit (raisins, figs, apricots, papaya, mango, pineapple)
- Annie's Bunnies crackers
- Lundberg's Brown Rice Cakes
- Stonyfield Farms or Seven Stars yogurt (plain, lowfat is best)

Snacks can be an important part of healthy living, if they are not abused. For adults, they are a great way to bring in small tastes of foods that don't usually make their way onto your dinner plate, which can help to balance out your nutrient intake. For kids, they can be a great way to get them to eat healthy foods, as so many kids tend to be more open to grazing on healthy foods than sitting down to a meal of them. Giving kids cookies and other such junk as snacks is, at best, a missed opportunity for healthy eating. At worst, it's a great way to contribute to the national childhood obesity crisis.

So, snack away! But keep to the good stuff!

Coconut Shrimp Quinoa "Risotto"

Shellfish is almost never in my house. My husband doesn't like it, and since we're Jewish, there's a little weirdness about cooking something so blatantly non-kosher at home. Nonetheless, I love shellfish, and I've been craving it constantly during this pregnancy. My daughter seems perfectly happy eating it, too.

I happened to buy a 2 lb. bag of frozen shrimp at Costco last week, most of which will be used to make a dish to bring to a friend's house after her baby is born. But the remainder of the shrimp needed a home, and we found it this week in lunch.

I was inspired by a Ming Tsai recipe that I happened to catch on TV, Creamy Risotto with Shrimp and Bok Choy. I stole the shrimp and the bok choy, but I changed most of the rest of the recipe.

Since my version of this risotto uses quinoa (making it not really a risotto at all, save the cooking method), it needs something to create the creaminess of risotto that usually would come from the starchiness of the rice, and of course, the cheese and butter. Wanting to make this lighter, both in consistency and fat, I went with light coconut milk and a little coconut butter. The end result has a strong resemblance to risotto - the quinoa maintains bite because it is a whole grain, and the "sauce" is creamy and flavorful. Still, the flavors are not at all traditional for risotto.

Coconut Shrimp Quinoa "Risotto"
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 shallot, minced
1 cup quinoa (red, white, or a mix)
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 15 oz. can light coconut milk
1 quart homemade or low-sodium veggie stock, brought to a simmer
2 large heads baby bok choy, thinly sliced
1 sheet of toasted nori, cut into thin strips, and then cut in thirds
1/2 lb. frozen shrimp, thawed, peeled and deveined
1 Tbsp. lime zest
2 Tbsps. fresh lime juice
2 Tbsps. coconut butter
salt, to taste

In a large stainless steel skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots, cooking for about 2 minutes. Add the quinoa and toast for about 2 minutes. Add the wine, and allow the wine to absorb into the quinoa, stirring frequently. Once mostly absorbed, add the coconut milk, and allow that to absorb, stirring frequently. Once that is almost completely absorbed, add one ladle of stock at a time, allowing each ladle to absorb before adding another, continuing to stir. Once the curly "tails" of the quinoa grains are showing, the quinoa is fully cooked.

Add the bok choy and nori, and cook until each is wilted, adding small amounts of stock when necessary to loosen the risotto. Add the shrimp, cooking through, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat off. Add the lime zest, lime juice, coconut butter and salt. Whip the risotto briskly with a wooden spoon until it is very creamy. Serve hot, as either a main dish or side dish.

Serves 4-8.

This Week's Shopping List

Sometimes, menus just come to me. I look in the fridge and see what's left, and there are obvious solutions that will carry me through most of the coming week, if not all of it. This week was not at all like that. I stared at the wall for what seemed like an eternity, having no clue what to make. It's times like these that I usually come up with my most creative ideas, and I think that's what happened this week (you be the judge).

Lunch: Coconut Shrimp Quinoa "Risotto"

Dinner:
- Homemade veggie burgers with alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes and avocado with sweet potato and yukon gold latke crisps
- Whole wheat penne with mahi mahi, grape tomatoes, brussels sprouts and feta
- Watercress salad with mango and shredded chicken served with pan fried potstickers

The menu above is the final menu for the week, but it started out a little differently. I had planned to use lettuce for the burgers, and mixed in with the watercress salad, but I found some very inexpensive alfalfa sprouts, grown locally, so I nixed the lettuce idea while shopping. In the penne, I had planned to use blanched green beans, but since none were available, I went with the more seasonal option which I hadn't though of before, brussels sprouts. Finally, I had intended to use canned pineapple chunks in the watercress salad, but when I saw the price tag, I thought twice about that, and decided to use some frozen mango that was already sitting in the freezer at home. Pineapple would have worked better, but the mango was still very good.

It's so important to go shopping with an open, creative mind. Looking just for what you need, and ignoring the rest of what's available, will undoubtedly leave you spending more money, and eating a narrower variety of foods. Look around. Check out the prices of different options, the look or feel of the produce, where the stuff came from (distance does a number on food quality, and the environment). Then, make your decisions and adapt your recipes. There is some skill involved in doing this easily, but it's something anyone can master with practice.

This is the shopping list for this week (* indicates non-organic):
bok choy
limes
cremini mushrooms
tomatoes
lettuce (changed to alfalfa)
avocado
yukon gold potatoes
sweet potatoes
grape tomatoes
green beans (changed to brussels sprouts)
parsley
garlic
watercress
scallions
ginger
granny smith apples (1.69/lb. sale)
braeburn apples (1.29/lb. sale)
bananas
oranges
feta
green lentils
kalamata olives
pineapple chunks (changed to mango ... already at home)
cashew butter
cheddar
milk
yogurt
boneless chicken breasts (6.99/lb. sale)
orange juice*
burger buns

Most of the changes I made to the list were due to price or unavailability. In addition to those items already mentioned, I was also unable to get the braeburn apples which were on sale. That turned out to be a blessing. My local health food store happened to have gala apples on sale for $0.99/lb. ... even better! We also spotted cereal on sale at the more distant health food store, so I bought a couple boxes of that.

Price-wise, this was a bit of a hefty week. I admit that I splurged a bit with some fancy veggies, like watercress, mushrooms, and brussels sprouts, and we did buy two varieties of cheese this week, and two packages of chicken (which will be used in future weeks), and a $15 jar of cashew butter. That last one is a killer, and something I've put off for quite some time, but since my husband doesn't eat shellfish, which was on the lunch menu this week, I needed to get him something he could make for himself without much trouble (enter cashew butter sandwiches).

The total for the week came to $119.15, which is only $3.35 less than our weekly budget. That means, our deficit is still lingering around $55. Next week, it will most certainly go up, even substantially, as our order from Neshaminy Valley will be in. Being that we will not be putting another order in for a good 3 months or so, the order is quite large. To help the budget along, we might need to do something drastic for next week's menu.

Meat Saag

Prior to this week, I had only made Saag Paneer, which involves making your own cheese, a laborious and time-consuming task. It's also among the fattiest of Indian dishes, since the cheese is full fat and is fried in oil, and the spinach sauce (saag) is loaded with cream. This is one of those times when going with meat can actually lighten the fat load. Bizarre!

Now, I did not have very much meat available in the freezer that would work in a saag, and I was hesitant to buy more meat, since none was on sale and we're trying to fit into our budget. So, my choices were a very meager amount of chicken (8 oz. to last 2 nights for 3 people), or ground beef. Beef would have never been an Indian's choice, for obvious reasons, but since we do eat beef, I thought this would work out OK. Now, this was ground beef, and not cubed, making it a double-exception to the meat rule. Saag traditionally employs cubed meat (or cheese). I could have made meatballs from the beef to achieve a better resemblance to the original, but as I was sick (and tired), I really couldn't be bothered.

If I had a little more budget room to play with (and this is a matter of timing in the cycle of our budget more than anything else), we might have gone with another meat. Some of the best choices would be: bison, lamb or chicken, but I think pork would also work. Make sure to get tender cuts of any meat (so even if using beef, choose cubed sirloin, not stew beef), because this is not a slow-cooking recipe.

Half of the fat issue is addressed by the meat. Leaner cuts of meat also tend to be more tender. Also, because the meat can be cooked using little fat other than its own, frying oil can be kept to a minimum, or left off entirely. The remaining fat issue is the cream in the saag. I solve that by using low-fat yogurt instead. Nonfat wouldn't give you the creamy consistency you're looking for, but low-fat has enough fat in it to make the sauce a bit creamy (though certainly not as unctuous as cream). It's not authentic, but it does taste quite good. Clearly, I'm not shy about compromising authenticity for the sake of health.

This recipe is fairly loosely based on this one. My version is below:

Meat Saag
2 bunches fresh spinach, washed well and trimmed of stems
1/2 c. water
1 Tbsp. safflower oil
1 lb. cubed meat of your choice
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. ginger, minced or grated
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced
4 plum tomatoes, peeled and diced
3/4 cup lowfat plain yogurt
salt, to taste

In a large saucepan, cook the spinach and water over medium high heat, covered, for about 5 minutes, or until spinach wilts. Put the cooked spinach and water into a blender and puree until relatively smooth.

In the same large saucepan (dried), add the oil. Brown the meat over medium high heat for about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, coriander, cumin, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, and onion. Cook until the meat is well coated with the spice mixture, and the onions are translucent. Add the tomatoes, cooking until they soften and start to fall apart. Add the pureed spinach, cooking about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens a bit. Add the yogurt and season with salt. Serve over brown basmati rice.

Serves 6-8.

Chicken Soup

Yes, this is the kind of soup your grandma used to make. I say, if it ain't broke ...

With the whole family sick during various parts of the week, what better way to heal ourselves than with a good, brothy chicken soup? Apparently, the ability of chicken soup to help make us well is not just an old wives' tale. There is some truth to it (see here). At the very least, the warmth of the broth will make you feel temporarily better, and the liquid in the broth will help to hydrate you. It certainly can't hurt.

For vegetable matter in this soup, I use a traditional mirepoix (fancy French word for onions, carrots and celery). You can feel free to add or replace additional veggies. Some of the best are root veggies, such as turnip, celery root, and parsnip. If the soup will be frozen, I'd stick to heartier vegetables like these, but if you'll be eating it quickly, you could include leafy greens, like spinach, kale, or swiss chard. For a twist on the traditional, you could add some stewed tomatoes, grated horseradish, cabbage, or any other number of things that pop in your head. I find it a very versatile soup.

The addition of vinegar in this recipe helps to draw the nutrients from the chicken bones into the broth. It's a great way to boost you calcium intake from a natural, and very bio-available source (but make sure you also have enough vitamin D coming in, so you can actually make use of that calcium). The vinegar also adds a little acidity to the taste of the soup, which means you'll need less salt to achieve the same depth of flavor.

Chicken Soup
1 3-4 lb. whole chicken, innards removed
3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced (halved lengthwise if carrots are very thick)
3 stalks celery, trimmed of ends and sliced
1 large onion, peeled and quartered (ends left in tact to avoid separation)
4 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced
salt and pepper, to taste
2 Tbsps. white wine vinegar
3 bay leaves

Add all ingredients to a stock pot. Add cold water to the pot until the whole chicken is submerged. Heat over high heat until boiling. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 2 1/2 hours. During simmering, skim the "scum" off the top of the broth every so often. This will prevent your broth from becoming cloudy.

Cool the soup somewhat. Remove the chicken, onions, garlic and bay leaves from the pot. Discard the onions, garlic and bay leaves. Pick apart the meat from the bones of the chicken. Discard the bones. Add back however much chicken meat you'd like in the soup, and store the rest for another use.

Adjust seasonings in the soup. Refrigerate overnight or until the fat in the soup has risen to the surface and congealed. Remove the fat from the top. Heat and serve.

Note: If you'd like, you can add some cooked brown rice, wild rice, couscous, egg noodles, barley, or any other grain you like. I'd keep these separate from the soup to avoid them over-absorbing your broth, making them soggy and the soup too thick. Just add them when serving.

Serves 8-10

This Week's Shopping List

It's winter (nearing the end, finally!), so I guess it only makes sense that at some point, illness would strike. And so, it has. Starting with my daughter near the end of last week, then adding my husband last weekend, and finally me today. The beast has stricken us all. It's only a cold, but it's still making us all a little miserable. So, given the state of things, I started out the week's menu with a plan for lunch: chicken soup. That and a couple of sicky soup days (Ramen Noodles) have made life a little more tolerable.

The rest of the week was almost an after-thought. The chicken soup was clearly the key to making it a happy eating week. The rest is gravy. Nonetheless, here is the week's menu:

Lunch: Chicken Soup with english muffins

Dinner:
- Grilled Salmon with Spicy Soy Glaze over coconut brown rice and steamed bok choy (leftover from last week)
- Spaghetti with marinara sauce and zucchini
- Beef Saag over brown rice

I know, I know, beef saag sounds strange. After all, beef is not exactly served in India. Nevertheless, it's what I have in my freezer, and lamb is a bit pricey. Since when do I worry about authenticity? As long as it takes good ...

The shopping list for the week goes like this (* indicates non-organic):

carrots
onions
garlic
parsley
spinach
ginger
tomatoes
zucchini
bananas
apples
oranges
Bosc pears (1.69/lb sale)
crushed tomatoes
brown rice
milk
yogurt
eggs
frozen mixed veggies (1.89 sale)
OJ*
bread
ramen noodles ($0.95 sale)
english muffins ($0.35 coupon)
raisins
Annie's cheddar bunnies

The only item I was unable to get this week was the parsley. That was for the chicken soup. I used dried parsley instead, and that worked out fine.

The grocery total for the week came to $75.19. That would have brought us back to the plus side of things, but unfortunately we also had two other shopping bills this week: Costco and Frontier. The Costco trip came to $50.96 and included these items: cereal, wild salmon, shrimp, and bread. Although I don't generally make shellfish (in fact, I just about never make it since my husband doesn't eat it), I bought the shrimp in anticipation of cooking it for a friend and her family after she gives birth to her second child. She's due in March, so I thought I'd better be prepared. The Frontier order, consisting only of tea and coffee, came to $31.10.

So, the grand total for the week is $157.25, which is $34.75 over the weekly budget. Unfortunately, that means we sink further into the negative column. The deficit is now $58. We should be able to make a good dent in that next week. After that, we'll have yet another challenge: a big order (to last several months) is going in to our wholesale food co-op, Neshaminy Valley. Following that, we should have a few regular shopping weeks to look forward to, which should help to bring us back up to budget.

Baked Tofu Fried Rice with Peas, Carrots & Broccoli

Immediately, you see "fried" in the title and assume that this means fatty. Well, I'll be honest, there is fat in the dish, as there is (or should be) in almost all dishes. The trick to making this a healthy dish is to avoid most or all animal fats. The oil, which is used as a cooking medium, makes up nearly all the fat in the dish. Since the fat in the oil is unsaturated, and since the oil is kept to a minimum, the dish is actually quite healthy, despite the frying!

Fried rice, in its take-out form, is one of those very-bad-for-you dishes that I just love. It's probably not Chinese in origin, as is the case for so much so-called Chinese food in America, but I don't have any history on it. So, I'll just call it an American comfort food. It's greasy, salty, starchy ... just what we Americans love to wallow in. Taking this food which seems to have very little to offer, nutritionally speaking, and making it a healthy, nourishing dish, which still strongly resembles the original, is quite the challenge. I think I've done just that (pat, pat on the back to me ... hee hee!).

The first issue to address is the fat itself. In most fried rice, lots of oil is used, and I can understand why. It's easier to fry in lots of oil ... less burning and sticking. To keep the oil to a minimum, a careful eye must be kept on the heat, and the food should be almost constantly shifted in the pan. In many versions of fried rice, meat of some sort is a main element. Here, that is not the case, so that fat is completely nixed. The other source of fat in fried rice is egg. In my recipe, I've kept one egg in the dish (which is optional), mostly for authenticity, but this is considerably less than the amount used in standard fried rice.

The salt factor is mostly brought on by soy sauce. To keep authenticity, I used tamari (a type of soy sauce), but I used the low-sodium version, and very little of it, so the sodium is considerably reduced.

The starch in fried rice is fairly obvious ... rice! But it's ordinarily white rice, which will give you that insulin spike that so many carbo-phobes protest. Switching to brown rice is very easy in fried rice, since your eyes will already expect the color to be brown. The extra bite given in brown rice also adds some nice textural contrast. The brown rice adds fiber to the dish, making you fuller with less, so maybe you won't eat quite as much of it. You also won't get Chinese Food Syndrome (ie. you won't be hungry an hour later), since the brown rice will keep you going longer.

The final issue in making fried rice healthy is to throw in a few extra veggies and some vegetarian proteins. Those can be anything. To keep with tradition, I used peas and carrots, but these are not requirements. Add as many and as varied veggies and proteins as you can find. I also added broccoli and baked tofu to the dish, and they got along just fine with the rest of it.

This recipe is also a great garbage pail, as many of my recipes are. Since it's so versatile, you can use almost any leftover you have in the fridge. I'll often throw this together for lunch when I have some extra rice in the fridge from last night's dinner. This week, I served it for dinner itself. It is also a great side dish, and can even be served cold. Please, make the dish your own. Here is the way I made it this week:

Baked Tofu Fried Rice with Peas, Carrots & Broccoli
1 c. brown rice
1 3/4 - 2 c. water
salt, to taste (optional)
2 Tbsps. safflower oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 c. broccoli, cut into small, bite-size pieces
1/2 c. frozen peas
1 egg (optional)
8 oz. baked tofu, diced (I'd love to one day make this on my own ... but that is a subject for another day)
3 Tbsps. low-sodium tamari
2 Tbsps. mirin (Asian rice wine - available in many supermarkets)

In a small saucepan, bring the rice, water and salt to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes, or until all water is absorbed. Less water will make the rice more al dente and more water will make is softer.

In a wok, heat 1 Tbsp. safflower oil over medium high heat. Add garlic, onion, carrots and broccoli. Stir fry until the onion starts to soften. If the vegetables begin to stick, add a tablespoon or two of water to loosen things. Add the frozen peas and fry for one more minute.

Move the veggies to the outer edges of the wok, leaving an empty space in the center. Add 1 Tbsp. safflower oil in the center. Add the egg, piercing the yolk, but allowing the egg to simply set for a minute or two. Begin to break up the egg slowly, allowing the uncooked part to reach the pan's surface. Once mostly cooked through, break up the whole egg into bits, and stir it together with the veggies.

Add the tofu and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the cooked rice, tamari and mirin, mixing them in well. Remove from heat, and serve.

Serves 4-5.