Category: Uncategorized

Amazing Meal

2 Comments

I kept seeing Amazing Grass Amazing Meal protein powder on blogs right and left.  So I decided I should probably try it too.  I ordered a sampler from their website for $3.99 which came with 3 packets of Amazing Meal Protein Powder.  1 Original blend, 1 Pomegranate Mango Infusion and 1 Chocolate Infusion flavor.

I got this a few weeks ago and wasn’t really sure what to do with it.  So I decided to put in a smoothie.  Unfortunately, I was not a fan of the original blend flavor and couldn’t even drink my smoothie mostly because of the grittiness of the protein powder, not necessarily the flavor.

So today, Monica at Run, Eat, Repeat suggested I try it in juice.  I don’t normally drink juice so I tried the next best thing… a green monster! I decided to try to dissolve the Pomegranate Mango Amazing Meal in water first to see if that would reduce the grittiness,

then I added half a frozen banana, 4 frozen strawberries and a handful of spinach.  I put it all in the blender with some ice to yield an Amazing Grass GM…

Honestly, I’m not that big of a fan.  This one was far better than the Original Blend I tried a few weeks ago, but I’m still not completely sold on this product.  I like the idea behind it and the nutrients in it but  I think I like my regular green monster without Amazing Meal more.

I think the main problem I have with it is the fact that it’s protein powder.  Texture not taste.  I would definitely suggest everyone try it because you just might like it.

As for me, I think I’ll stick to regular green monsters and getting protein from other sources. That being said, I did drink it and I’m feeling pretty full right now 🙂

Off to class!  Have a great afternoon!

Frustrating Work Out

2 Comments

Warning:  Rant Ahead!

Spinning this morning was really frustrating.  The class was a 2×20 today, meaning you did a warm up for 10 minutes, two intense intervals of 20 minutes each with a 5 minute breather in between those two intervals.

Sounds great, right?

Well, my problem is the instructor.  Her music is NOT upbeat and the whole time she tells us to concentrate on the road and our mental strength without any direction whatsoever.  I understand that people need to be centered mentally, but why is she getting paid to tell me to essentially ride for 60 minutes on my own?

I can go in a room, get on a spin bike on my own whenever I please, the purpose of a class is to motivate you to work harder!

Maybe I’m mistaken but shouldn’t spin instructors be motivating us to maintain a certain intensity by telling us when to switch up the resistance and cadence?

Frustrating classes like this (and I should say really great ones too) make me want to become a spin instructor.  I wish certification didn’t cost so much money!

End Rant.

Today will be a great day despite the frustrating start!

Bottom of the Barrel Muffins

Leave a comment

I bake a lot.  Most of the time I don’t follow recipes because that sort of frustrates me.

I had some coconut milk left over from my Coconut Curry and an part of a can of pumpkin I had opened last week.  So naturally, I made muffins with all these leftovers.

My “recipe” for Bottom of the Barrel Muffins

1/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2/3 cup sugar (little less than)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin spice
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/4-1/2 cup of water/milk/juice/chai tea (I used a bit of my roommate’s chai haha) if batter is too thick

Combine all the wet ingredients then add dry in all the dry ingredients.  Combine.  Line or grease muffin pan.  Fill about 3/4 of the way full.  Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes depending on the strength of your oven.

Overall pretty healthy, they could probably be made a little healthier by using Agave Nectar, although I’ve never tried (I plan on buying some at Trader Joe’s over Thanksgiving break).

Have a great night!  I’m off to work on my statistics project!

Food Security: Part I

Leave a comment

The term food security has become more common in national and international rhetoric.

That being said, it’s not that common.

Generally, what people think of when they hear food security is hunger and famine.   However, that’s not necessarily the case.   Food security can be defined as “access by all people at all times to enough and appropriate food to provide the energy and nutrients needed to maintain an active and healthy life” (Barrett 2106).

Therefore, food security is not only necessarily about starving people in developing countries in villages like this:

(This is the village of Katar, outside Udaipur, Rajasthan, India.  June 2009)

A large portion of what I find interesting about food security is in fact in developing countries (and I’ll probably talk about this more later), but I think it’s important for people to realize that food security issues don’t only exist in low income countries.

I’ve heard the argument that countries like the United States and Europe should not deal with food security because it doesn’t directly concern them, but that’s simply not true.

There are many people in the United States alone that don’t have access to food.  According to the USDA, “14.6 percent (17.1 million) of U.S. households were food insecure at some time during 2008.”  I’m pretty sure this doesn’t include those who live in food deserts without access to healthy foods.

Food Deserts are areas without access to healthy food, most prevalent in low income neighborhoods.   This can mean that:

  • There are no grocery stores in the neighborhood and/or grocery stores or farmer’s markets with fresh produce are accessible by transit or foot
  • Consumers cannot afford to buy healthy food and must buy unhealthy foods such as fast food.

Think of the places you live or have lived… Where are the grocery stores and farmer’s markets located?

I know when I lived in Berkeley, the majority of the grocery stores were located near the University and the affluent neighborhoods while West Berkeley only had mostly small convenience stores.

This was just a small intro into the concept of food security.  My hope is that you think about food security as not only an issue that Africa needs to deal with, but something we should all be concerned about (or at least keep in mind).

Stay tuned for the next part of the food security series! Have a great night!

A More Typical Day

Leave a comment

Yesterday was sort of a fluke since I had a group meeting, but today’s breakfast is more the norm.

Breakfast for me is the most important meal and probably one of the largest (I aim for about 400 calories).  This doesn’t work for everyone but I’ve found that if I have a large breakfast, I tend to eat less throughout the day.

Breakfast is a two part process.

Part 1: Yogurt.

1/2 Greek Yogurt either plain or jazzed up a bit.  Right now I’ve been on a Pumpkin Butter kick, so I add a bit of that.  Then I leave a little less than 1/4 of a cup in the bowl so I can have some creamy oats…

Part 2: Oats.

1/2 cup of oats, 1 banana, water and 1/2tbsp nut butter (today I used peanut butter with flaxseed).

Today is another long day.  I have class from 9:00am-3:00pm, then I plan on staying in the lab and working on my Statistics project.

Coming up tonight:  A post of Food Security!

First Attempt at Thai

1 Comment

So a little bit of background… I’m obsessed with Trader Joe’s.

Last time, the lovely fella came to this coast to visit me and his family, I drove down to Pennsylvania.  On the way home I had the bright idea of stopping by a Trader Joe’s because upstate NY doesn’t not have a single Trader Joe’s.

Well anyway… I stocked up on ridiculous things that I probably didn’t need.  One of them being coconut milk.  After having it sit in my cupboard for a month, I decided to do something about it.  So I bought some red curry paste and decided that I was going to make a thai meal!

I chopped up some fresh broccoli and tofu put it in a pan with the coconut milk and about 2 tablespoons of the Red Curry Paste, then added some stir fry vegetables then let it it simmer for about 15 minutes.  Then I paired it with some Harvest Grain Mix.

Pretty darn delicious, but sadly not as good as the Yellow Curry at Berkeley Thai House.  I miss California!

What the World Eats

1 Comment

A while back, Time Magazine had a really interesting photo essay based on Peter Menzel’s book Hungry Planet: What the World Eat.

I thought I would share it here because I thought it was extremely interesting.  It shows 15 families around the world with a week’s worth of food spread out on their table.

Click the picture or here for the link!

In my opinion, some of the most interesting parts of this photo essay were:

1. The amounts of food and quality of food.  Certain countries/cultures had more fresh produce than others, as well as the most obvious… different quantities of food.

2.  Take note of the living space.  Most of the pictures are taken where the family eats.  It’s interesting to try to guess how people experience food based on their environment. Who has a TV in the room?  Who has a table?  I think a lot of this is also based on income but still kind of interesting to think about.

3.  The family unit.  Not necessarily food related, but it’s interesting to see what different cultures consider to be the immediate family.

I should also say that I understand that this is by no means representative of countries or cultures.  Every household is different but I think it’s useful to get a glimpse into the way other people live and eat.

Any other thoughts?

Busy Day

2 Comments

Today is one of those busy days.  I got up at 6am and made it to a 6:30 spin class, which was great!  Then I came home and made breakfast and lunch.  I knew I had a 9am group meeting so I took my breakfast to go.

IMG_1136

I made some oats in a jar (1/2 cup oats, 1 banana, cinnamon, fage and probably about a tbsp of pb).  Luckily I was pretty much done with this peanut butter because it turned out to be a great way to transport my breakfast.

Lunch is also ready to go.  I combined some left over roasted tofu, eggplant, and zucchini from dinner two nights ago with some left over spaghetti squash and pasta sauce to make a great combination (hopefully… I haven’t tried it yet)

IMG_1137 IMG_1139

I don’t plan on being home until late tonight so I packed snacks too (an apple and a Kashi bar)

If I don’t pack snacks, I know I’ll eat junk the rest of the night.  Some people get drunk and make bad decisions, I get hungry and make bad decisions!

IMG_1143

Have a great day!

Welcome to Foodologie!

Leave a comment

I read a lot of blogs, mostly, about health and fitness.  The past few months I’ve been mulling over the idea of starting my own blog, so I did.  I moved from California to upstate NY for grad school and started my personal blog.  Then I realized my blog was becoming somewhat of a food blog.

IMG_0820

Then while talking to the lovely fella (the boyfriend whom from now on will be referred to as such), he suggested I write a blog about food.  But there are already a million and five food blogs out there.  What can I possibly write to make mine different from others?

Why not write about what I like, know and would like to know more about: food. By food I don’t simply mean just what I eat, rather everything about food: food consumption (my own and that of others), cooking, food policy, food politics, food production, etc.   So that’s what I’m going to do.

I hope you find this interesting and exciting.  Feel free to e-mail me(foodologie00@gmail.com) if there’s anything you’d like to hear more about (I’d be happy to research if I don’t know about the topic!).