Frozen Yogurt WITHOUT the Yogurt...Yes, It Can Happen...With A Yonana Machine!

So I have a bad sweet tooth...and as a nutritionist, as I have ventured more into the realm of practicing what I preach, I try my best when I am craving something sweet to find a healthier version of it.

I used to be big on frozen yogurt, but once I learned more about the actual ingredients that typically go into frozen yogurt, I decided that probably was not the best option for my sweet tooth either. Plus all the toppings I would add! Admit it...going to frozen yogurt places is more about the toppings. Some brownie chunks, caramel sauce, chocolate chips, gummy bears and sprinkles with a side of frozen yogurt, right?

So if I have to stop eating frozen yogurt regularly, I don't want to replace that with real ice cream, at least not nightly...so what can I have that has that ice cream/frozen yogurt consistency on a hot summery evening that is neither ice cream nor frozen yogurt?

Luckily, my trustworthy friend called Facebook gave me the answer a few months back, and I have many friends following in this trend. I saw a friend of mine post an ad on her wall about a machine called Yonanas. A friend of hers worked for the company that sold this machine and if I contacted her directly, I could get one at a discounted rate.

So, incase you do not know what a Yonanas is (and I am sure most of you do not!), this is a machine that basically takes frozen bananas and grinds them into a puree that resembles and tastes like frozen yogurt...except it is JUST bananas! And you can add things to it, like other frozen fruits, chocolate or nut butter, but the base has to be bananas. So obviously, if you don't like bananas, this will NOT work for you...but if you do, this is an amazing contraption that you must own. The price for one of these bad boys is about $50, but if you think about how much you can spend on ice cream and frozen yogurt versus how much you spend on a few bananas...and how much healthier your finished product will be...it is worth it. TRUST ME.

My glorious Yonanas machine, where the magic happens.

The machine only has 3 pieces other than the base, and they come apart pretty easily for cleaning. The machine also comes with a cool little recipe book to give you new ideas for recipes you can make with your Yonanas.  The dish I made below was an original recipe. I put 2 frozen bananas thru the Yonanas machine and then I took Justins Vanilla Almond Butter and melted it a bit, then poured two tablespoons over my finished Yonanas dish. Looks good right?

Not Your Typical Muffin Tin Recipe!!

So I was going through my cupboards the other day, cleaning out old kitchen ware that I don't use anymore, when I came across a muffin tin. Muffin tins are great, but we (myself included!) typically associate them with making...muffins. In this area of dessert and carbo-phobes, these sorts of treats have become, shall I say...passé. For me, I still like a good blueberry or bran muffin now and then, but I recently came across a cool, healthy little recipe that blew my health-conscious mind away...

BEHOLD...Feta/Arugula/Tomato/Egg White Cups, the coolest non-muffin recipe you can make in a muffin tin. Set the oven to 350F. Crack about 7-8 egg whites (depending on how many people you want to feed, or how many you may want over the next few days) and set them aside. Then you sauté about 2 cups of organic arugula and put it in a bowl. Chop one roma tomato into pieces and add that to the bowl, sprinkle about 1/4 cup of feta cheese into the bowl. Pour the egg white mix in and pour an even amount of the mix into a muffin tin (spray it with cooking spray first!). I made enough for 5 muffin cups, you might want more or less. Stick that tray in the oven for about 20-25 minutes...this is what you get...

Also, SIDE NOTE--I am sure this can be done with spinach, without cheese, etc...but this combo tastes delicious and the COOLEST part is...these are SUPER EASY to take with you places...like in your car on the way to work, so you can skip out on those lame "I don't have time for breakfast" excuses.

By the way...below is the formal recipe...

Tomato/Feta/Egg-White Cups

•  
• Ingredients
•  
•  1/4 cup, crumbled Feta Cheese
•  1.5 cup Egg White
•  2 cup Arugula (Rocket)
•  Canola Oil cooking Spray (or your spray of choice) for the muffin tin
•  1 Roma Tomato, chopped into pieces
• 
  
• Directions

 1. Sautee arugula in a pan.
 2. Spray 12 muffin tins with cooking spray
 3. Distribute arugula, tomato, feta, and egg whites into each of the muffin tins.
 4. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
 5. Bake at 350 for 20-25 mins.

Making Your Own (Healthy!) Pizza...A How-To Guide...

Lucky for me, I usually have at least one day during the week where I don't have to work. Because the grocery stores are usually a pain during the weekends, I like to do my grocery shopping on that allotted day off. This week, I didn't have to work today (Monday) so I made my way to Trader Joe's for my weekly grocery shopping trip.

Like most people, I have my usual items I buy, but then, being into food and nutrition and working in the industry, I like to be a little adventurous and try new things from time to time. Today I came across a product I had seen before but never purchased, Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough. I had always wanted to try to make my own pizza. Ideally, I would make the ENTIRE pizza from scratch, but I figured if I bought this dough and made the rest from scratch, it could still be considerably healthy...and delicious!

So this Trader Joe Whole Wheat Pizza Dough, to be clear, is not perfect. They do use unbleached white flour, which to be clear, is just simply not as white as bleached. So while this dough may not be perfect, I can pronounce all the other ingredients and I am not gluten intolerant, so I decide to try it. I was also concerned about the dough not having quite the amount of fiber I would want in it, (2 grams per serving...I was hoping for at least 3 or 4!) I added a few spoonfuls of flaxseed meal into the dough. For the record, flaxseed won't do much to change the taste unless you add a lot of it, but it does add Omega-3 essential fatty acids and as I mentioned before, fiber.

Next, I looked online for a decent and easy recipe for pizza sauce from scratch. I found this recipe, which will now be my go to pizza sauce, because it turned out delicious. Using real tomatoes makes the pizza much more hearty and much less salty! I can't believe I never tried this before.

Being someone who doesn't eat pizza too often, I am not a fan of your usual cheesy pizza with pepperoni pieces. I am a fan pizza with more non-traditional ingredients. I decided I wanted to use fresh parmesan, arugula and mushrooms. I used more sauce for my pizza and less cheese, because especially in the United States, pizza from restaurants use WAYYYY too much cheese, leaving you feeling heavy and gross after eating a pizza. I like Parmesan because if you buy the real stuff, it is quality enough that you don't have to use a lot to taste it in food, which is how it is supposed to be. Arugula is a fun pizza ingredient because it is not typically used on a pizza, but it gives a kind of peppery flavor to the pizza. Plus, this way we get to consume more leafy greens and anyone who knows me knows I am a fan of that!

My pseudo-healthy pizza...looks good right?

Arugula Parmesan Pizza

-2 ounces of Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough, or dough of choice (if you are gluten-free, Bob's Red Mill makes a gluten-free pizza crust mix)

-Home-made pizza sauce (or pre-made sauce of choice)

-2 tablespoons of flaxseed meal (optional)

-1/4 cup real Parmesan cheese

-1 cup organic arugula

-1/2 cup chopped mushrooms

Stretch the dough by hand or with a rolling pin into the desired shape. Top with the sauce and toppings and bake on a cookie sheet in the oven at 450F for 8-12 minutes.

ENJOY!

A Hearty Salad Recipe With My Favorite Fatty Fish...

Salads are great, but not typically as a meal for me. If I just eat lettuce and other veggies doused in dressing, you can guarantee I will be hungry within an hour or two. When I saw this salad recipe, I had to give it a shot because it not only has some quality, high vitamin, high fiber veggies, it also has salmon, which is high in crucial Omega-3 fats our body needs, and orzo, which is a semolina based pasta. I know many people out there shun pastas and white products, as I usually do myself. I suppose the only thing I would maybe do different when making this salad next time is try to find a whole wheat orzo, but the reality is, once the salad is made, there is not THAT much orzo in it and it kind of makes the salad. Plus, orzo does have fiber in it, so it's not completely worthless. I also used Wild Atlantic Salmon, because, as a nutritionist, I am kind of a food snob and do my best not to eat the farmed salmon. This dish makes for a complete and HEALTHY meal. If you want to omit the feta, you can do that, or you can add olive oil or sliced avocado, but I suppose that would make it less Mediterranean-y? Very easy to make and also had the nutrition facts at the bottom of the recipe!! WIN.

Mediterranean Salmon Salad

Ingredients

·         ½ cup uncooked orzo

·         2 (6-ounce) salmon fillets (about 1 inch thick)

·         ¼ teaspoon salt

·         ¼ teaspoon dried oregano

·         1/8 teaspoon salt

·         Cooking spray

·         2 cups torn spinach

·         ½ cup chopped red bell pepper

·         ¼ cup chopped green onions

·         4 kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

·         3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

·         2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese

Directions:

1.      Preheat broiler.

2.      Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.

3.      Sprinkle salmon evenly with salt, oregano and black pepper. Place on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Broil 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 5 minutes; break into bite-sized pieces with two forks.

4.      Combine pasta, salmon, spinach and remaining ingredients in a medium bowl; toss well.

Nutritional Information – Makes 4 servings (about 1 cup)Per serving: 231 calories, 20.3 g protein, 7.7 g fat, 1.6 g sat fat, 49 mg cholesterol, 310 mg sodium, 19.3 gm carbohydrate, 1.8 g fiber.

Magical Myofascial Tension Release Balls

So this blog is supposed to be about nutrition, but I felt a need to post about something that is not exactly nutritious (i.e.; you do not ingest this product) but it is now something I find (and you may as well) CRUCIAL to my physical and mental well-being.

I was actually introduced to the whole myofascial release by a friend of mine who coincidentally introduced me to the cleanse I did last October as as well. Just incase you are wondering, myo actually means muscle and fascial means connective tissue. So myofascial tension release means releasing the tension in the connective tissue muscles. I was at his home and he showed me how to use these balls, which look a little like foamy golf balls, to release tension in my upper and lower back and shoulders. These balls can also be used on the legs and calves and even the balls of your feet. Sounds awesome, right?

Basically, this tension gets built up over time. We stress, sit at a computer far too long, lift heavy weights, etc. But most of us would never think we could possibly release some of that tension on our own, or at least I wouldn't have known had my friend not shown me the first time. So, you can use these balls to "unstick" muscle tissues that have glued themselves together and help them return to their normal slide and glide relationship. The therapeutic relief, which may include extreme relaxation, or even crying (there is sometimes emotional release, this happened to me!!!) indicates a healthy release of the tissue to its natural position.

I was working out at Equinox Fitness club this past week and one of the trainers was nice enough to do an informal coaching after an exercise class of how to use these balls in certain areas of your body for the best releases possible. As soon as she brought the balls out, I remembered using them with my friend, and decided it was time for me to get a set of my own so I could do the releases at home.

These balls run anywhere from 12-15 dollars a set, and worth every cent. For those who are active and can't afford a real live massage every week, using these for 30 minutes a week is like giving yourself your own massage. You can buy them online at Amazon or at some health clubs, including Equinox. Time to get the ball rolling! :)

A Recipe That Will ALMOST Make Me Become A Vegetarian...Barley Salad With Chickpeas, Fava Beans And Peas

I saw this recipe in one of those BuzzFeed lists and it caught my eye. It was a list of recipes that claimed to make you "wanna become a vegetarian" if you aren't. Well, for the record, I am not, and don't plan on it, but this delicious little salad is quite a hearty bite and will definitely leave you satisfied. I will say when you prepare this, make sure you don't leave any of the beans sitting after you cook them before you mix all the ingredients together. I did, because I got busy with something else, and those fava beans in their pot with the little bit of liquid that was left started to look funky, kind of like spaghetti if you leave it in the pot after you cook it without serving it for about...20 minutes...yuck. Sticking to the pot...just a mess. In my opinion, fava beans are somewhat hard to cook properly (until I master them!), but a nice change from lentils.  They are rich in protein, fiber, phyto-nutrients, folate and a bunch of other minerals.

Anyhow, here is the final product...

And below is the recipe....enjoy folks!

Barley Salad with Chickpeas, Fava Beans & Peas

Ingredients:
Serves 4

• 200 g. pearl barley (about 1 cup)
• 200 g. chickpeas (I used canned ones.), rinsed and drained
• 200 g. peas, shelled (weighed after shelling from about 800 g. of pods)
• 200 g. fava beans, shelled (weighed after shelling from about 800 g. of pods)
• 1/2 - 1 lime or lemon
• handful of cherry or grape tomatoes, seeded & quartered
• handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped finely + whole for garnishing
• handful of fresh basil leaves + whole for garnishing
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

1. Prepare 3 saucepans with water.  
2. In one saucepan with water, add pearl barley.  Add some salt and bring to a boil.  Once it boils, simmer on low fire whatever time the bag tells you (should be 10-12 minutes) or until they are tender.  When they are cooked, rinse under tap, drain and set aside.
3. Bring the remaining two saucepans with water to a boil.  Add salt when they boil.  In one saucepan, put the green peas.  In the other saucepan, put the fava beans.   Cook the peas for desired time (mine needed 30 minutes) and the fava beans for desired time (these were tricky, needed more like 40-45 minutes).
4. When the fava beans are cooked, rinse with cold water and drain.
5. When the peas are cooked, rinse with cold water and drain. 
6. In a big bowl, mix fava beans, peas, barley, tomatoes, chickpeas, onion, mint & basil leaves.  
7. Mix extra virgin olive oil with the juice of 1/2 a lime.  Season with salt & pepper.  If you want it more sour, squeeze the other half.
8. Pour dressing on the salad.  Mix well. 
9. SIDE NOTE--you can make this dish GLUTEN-FREE by leaving out the barley.