Category Archives: Food

The Sandwich-Hater’s Lunch: Black Bean Salad

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As you likely know by now, I am a sandwich-hater down to my bones.  I hadn’t posted on the topic or shared a sandwich-less lunch recipe in a while, but my my sister’s excellent guest post last week inspired me.  After a week on vacation eating a lot of heavy foods (hello, bacon every morning), I have been craving fresh, raw, whole foods.  Beans, rather than meat, have sounded like the most delicious foods in the world this week!  I made a big batch of this super easy black bean salad on Sunday night, and I’ve been working my way through it for lunches:

Black Bean Salad
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tomatoes, diced
2 bell peppers, diced
1 c corn (I used frozen)
Italian dressing to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl.  Done.

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Friends, it’s really delicious.  Also, has anyone had Popcorners (pictured above)?  We buy some whenever we go to our wholesale club, and it’s a miracle if the 18-serving bag lasts a week.  I like to tell myself that Andrew is eating more than his share, but in reality I think I am the culprit.  Last Sunday we took a risk and bought two bags and agreed that no matter when we finished the first, we could not open the second until a week had passed since purchase.  This will prevent us from the entirely possible scenario of eating 36 servings of popcorn chips in one week.  Hah!

Have a great Thursday!

What’s been in your lunch box this week?
Have you tried Popcorners??

Sandwich Hater’s Lunch Jr. (Guest Post)

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Our guest blogger today is my amazing big sister, Whitney.  She brings a new perspective to the blog–the challenge of getting a 6-year-old to eat healthy foods daily. 😉   Enjoy!

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“Occasionally my sister Catherine (DoDo to my children) posts about her lunch choices as a self-proclaimed “sandwich hater.” I can relate to these messages because, (although I enjoy anything that someone wants to put between two slices of perfect carb laden bread), my 6 year old absolutely refuses to eat a sandwich. (Editor’s note: ‘atta girl!)

Kendall is in the First grade in a year round school.  I remember sitting in the parent orientation meeting before she started Kindergarten and listening to the Food Service Manager (head cafeteria lady) describe a typical school lunch.  I was horrified.  HORRIFIED.  A 5 year old cannot be expected to lay the foundations for their entire academic career when we are feeding them hot dogs as a protein and tater tots as a vegetable.  I knew then that I would be packing her lunch every.single.day.

So now comes the dilemma of this post.  I need lunches that are: nutritious, portable, able to stay fresh until 12:30, likely to be eaten by a 6 year old, and void of all sandwich related paraphernalia.

A typical lunch for Kendall looks like this:

1 organic cheese stick, 1 homemade “Gogurt”, seasonal fruit, seasonal vegetable, and some sort of carbohydrate. This could be crackers, granola bar, veggie straws, etc.  (I know, I know. The protein police have something to say about this. Cheese and yogurt both have protein and she’ll eat some chicken at dinner.)  She also gets a treat, but there’s a rule.  If anything in her lunchbox comes home (i.e. carrots) then her treat also has to come home. She can’t eat a cookie first and not have time/room for cucumber slices.

The best investment we made in the lunch project was some good Ziploc reusable containers.  They have three compartments that separate her food so nothing runs together and they fit perfectly inside her lunch box.  I also found these awesome silicone Popsicle molds that work great as yogurt containers.  I just mix plain Greek yogurt with fruit, honey, or granola.

The next best investment we make is letting Kendall help pack her lunch most days.  She gets to choose a fruit and a vegetable, she gets to help put it all in the box.  She is now invested and empowered in her own meal and is more likely to eat it as a result.

We are fortunate in the fact that Kendall’s best friend at school also comes from a “real food” family.  Together they stage a daily lunch room sit-in on school lunches, Cheetos, and most importantly: sandwiches.”

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How could you make that sweet face eat a sandwich?  Also, she comes by her love of ice cream naturally 😀

Thanks, sis!

Eating Well in the Real World (Guest Post)

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Our guest blogger today is my little brother, Ross!  He is a. funnier and b. a better writer than I am, so enjoy 😀

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“Hey there, Catherine’s blog friends!  I’m excited be making my long-overdue debut here on A Two Storey Home.

Now, I may not grow as much produce, eat as many hipster meals, or run as many miles as my big sister, but I think I can still provide you all with some valuable fitness and nutrition insight.  Also, unlike some members of my family, I am not at an all-inclusive Jamaican resort without a computer.  Thus, you are stuck with me.

So, without further adieu, here we go:

Between the ages of 18-22, there are three major transitions that significantly impact a person’s fitness and nutrition habits:

1)     Freshman Year of College – While I think the “Freshman 15” is a fairly overblown phenomenon, there’s no question that the college lifestyle requires a serious adjustment. Gone are the days of strict high school athletic schedules, home-cooked meals, and childhood metabolism.  I didn’t necessarily gain weight freshman year, but I certainly replaced some of my high school muscles with some extra cushion.  All you can eat?  Challenge accepted.

2)     Moving Off-Campus – You don’t hear much about this transition period, but it’s a sneaky-dangerous time in a college student’s life.  Smaller meal plans, more than a 100-foot walk to the gym, and zero supervision.  I remember looking at my weekend’s credit card statement one Monday during my sophomore year: takeout Chinese, McDonald’s, 7-11, and Sonic.  All in one weekend.  Woof.

3)     Entering the Real World – It took nearly 250 words, but I’ve finally reached the transition period I set out to talk about in this post.  Although I’m just 14 months into this whole “adulthood” thing, I’ve found it to be the most successful health and fitness transition yet.  Structured schedules, hand-me-down cookware, and enough money to pay for the occasional fruit or vegetable…what more could a guy want?  I guess a trip to Jamaica would be nice, but who has time for that?

The real world has been an excellent opportunity to redeem myself for the “Moving Off-Campus” portion of college.  Honestly, they’re somewhat similar stages of life, just with four more years of maturity, and an equal amount of trips to Jamaica.  Rather than playing N-64 and eating fast food, now I go to the gym and make my own meals.  I’m such a young professional it hurts.

What are some of those Ross-made meals, you ask?  Great question. In keeping with the ATSH theme, here’s a quick recipe for some really solid turkey burgers.  My roommate Matt and I have made these a few times (his recipe), and they’re awesome.  It’s the kind of food I’d imagine they would serve at one of those swanky all-inclusive Jamaican resorts.

(I’m leaving out quantities; we just eyeball it, and so should you).  (Editor’s note:  This is obviously a family trait).

Ground Turkey
Diced onion
Diced jalapeño
Diced garlic
Worcestershire Sauce
Salt
Pepper
Steak Sauce
Avocado

-Mix the turkey (super cheap at the Carytown Kroger, and presumably, most places) with the onion, jalapeño, garlic, Worcestershire, salt, and pepper.

– Form into patties

– Place patties on grill, on low-heat.

– It’s tough to over-cook turkey, so I’m not exactly sure how much time to cook it for.  Just keep an eye on it and use good judgment.

– Serve on a whole-wheat bun or in a wrap.  Feel free to add additional onions, jalapeños, or even tomatoes.  The avocado and steak sauce are completely optional, but both are really good to spread on the bun or the wrap.

In fairness, things like this are not an everyday occasion.  Generally, my dinners consist of a grilled chicken breast, a bag of vegetables and/or pasta, and some sort of fruit.  My meals are pretty generic, but they’re quick, reasonably healthy, and very cost-effective – all very important qualities for a 23-year-old male who isn’t in Jamaica.

This is getting excessively long, so I’ll actually hold off on the exercise portion of this post.  Thanks so much for letting me intrude on your blog world for a day.  It was nice to get back on the writing train.

Hopefully Catherine will invite me back to discuss the fitness challenges associated with being a 20-something with a full-time desk job.  That is, if she comes back from Jamaica.  Did I mention she was in Jamaica?

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 Ross has been invited back to write part 2, as well as other posts in the future.  If I don’t return from Jamaica, he gains full operational control of A Two Storey Home.

New Favorite Breakfast: Overnight Oats

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For years I was a faithful Kashi Go Lean cereal eater.  This week I decided to try something new–something with fewer ingredients and less fiber–for the most important meal of the day, and I am pleased with the switch.

I don’t know who stumbled upon or coined the term “Overnight Oats,” but they must be brilliant.  I love oatmeal, but I never want to take the time to make it in the morning–we don’t have a microwave, and who wants to dirty a pot on a weekday before they’ve had coffee?  Not this girl.  Enter overnight oats.  Put the ingredients in a bowl before you go to bed, and it’s ready when you wake up.

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In my bowl this week:  1/2 c oats (not instant), 1/2 c + splash soy milk, frozen blueberries, sprinkle of cinnamon, pinch of salt.  In the morning I stir in a spoonful of peanut butter.  And, of course, coffee with soy milk to wash it all down.

It’s easy, delicious, and keeps me full for hours!  I think I’m in love.

What’s your go-to breakfast?

Post Food Poisoning Meals

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It’s been a week of funny dinners around the Storey house.  On Sunday night after a dinner out, Andrew got a bad case of the pukes that lasted through the night.  We decided it was food poisoning based on the timing and the fact that I never caught it.  He was pretty miserable. :-/

On Monday he was still in pretty bad shape–managing to muscle down plain toast, chicken and rice soup, and Gatorade–and on Tuesday he was ready for a real, but bland dinner.  Here’s what I came up with:

Skillet Chicken
Steamed Green Beans
Brown Rice

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We cooked the chicken tenderloins in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper.  The green beans (from the garden) spent some time in the vegetable sauna steamer, and we made the rice in the rice cooker with chicken broth.  Really easy to make and surprisingly good, despite the lack of creativity (a little bit of salt makes a big difference!)  Most importantly, Andrew’s recovering stomach approved. 🙂

Last night, however, we had a dinner issue.  When I went to the grocery store Monday, not knowing what Andrew would feel up to eating, I bought two boxes of Applegate Farms chicken nuggets–one gluten-free for him, one regular (because I am sympathetic;  if he had to eat chicken nuggets, I guess I would too… you know, to support him ;-))  He didn’t want them Monday, but when I came home last night, he was working his way through a plate of nuggets.

“Those are the gluten-free nuggets, right?”

(A slight look of panic on his face) “There were two kinds?”

“Yes, I bought one GF and one regular so that you could have the whole GF box to yourself…”

“I didn’t check!  You said you bought GF chicken nuggets so I just grabbed a box out of the freezer!”

We went to the freezer to check, and, sure enough, he had broken into the NON gluten-free box.  He said he’d eaten four before I walked in, which may seem like a lot, but considering he had eight additional nuggets on his plate, I’m glad I walked in when I did.  I was nervous all night about what effect the gluten might have on him, but it seems that it was a small enough amount to not upset his stomach beyond the “off” feeling he already had.  (If he’d eaten all 12 nuggets though… seriously, who eats 12 chicken nuggets?)  Crisis averted, lessons learned.  Andrew continues to be on the mend!

If you have a food intolerance, have you ever accidentally eaten something you weren’t supposed to?  What happened?

When was the last time you had the upchucks?  What foods can you tolerate/do you recommend during the recovery?

 

The Day I Ate Almost No Produce

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Oh, Monday;  you have arrived again.  I am definitely dragging a little bit today!

As I mentioned yesterday, on Saturday morning we spent some time in the garden.  Sadly, we picked and sliced our first cantaloupe before it was fully ripe.

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So sad.

We also, sadly, had to pull out the cucumber plants.  After doing  research, we determined they had some kind of mildew that had infected the entire plant.  Not a particularly satisfying day in the garden.

As I also wrote yesterday, we then hiked the Buttermilk Trail.  Allow me to backtrack, though.  If I were to name this particular Saturday, it would be, “The Day I Ate Almost No Produce.”  It wasn’t intentional, but at the end of the day I looked back and thought, I ate horribly today.  Hah!  In this case, I define “eating horribly” as lacking nutrient-dense foods, like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains.  Here’s what the day looked like in terms of food:

Breakfast: 2 Gluten-free pancakes with honey, 2 scrambled eggs
Breakfast afterthought: Peach (Oh, I guess I should eat some fruit…)
Lunch: 3-4 oz leftover steak, GF cupcake
Dinner: 1/2 chicken burrito, an obscene amount of chips and salsa, 1 frozen margarita

We woke up late and had a later-than-usual breakfast.  When lunchtime rolled around, I wasn’t especially hungry (but yes, hungry enough to eat a cupcake… just not hungry enough to muscle down carrots ;-)).  I didn’t pack any snacks for the hike which never happens, but I was so full from a late breakfast and lunch that I didn’t think about it.  Fast-forward a few hours and five miles into the hike.  I. Was. Starving.  It was hot and humid, and Andrew said, “I want a margarita.”  I agreed, and we decided to drive straight to Nacho Mamas for an early dinner (like 5:30 PM) as soon as we arrived back at the car.

What do you do when you have been exercising for hours with no snacks and someone puts a basket of chips and salsa in front of you?  You eat the entire basket almost before the waitress can take your drink order, of course.

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The veggies were there;  I just didn’t touch them.

Before our dinners arrived, the two of us finished almost two baskets of chips and salsa (at least salsa is made up of veggies and I ate a lot of it?) plus our delicious frozen beverages (Andrew had two!)  As I finally cut into my burrito, the fullness started to set in, and it set in fast and hard.  After eating half, I put the silverware down, sat back from the table, and said, “Oh, I ate way too much.”  I didn’t feel particularly well for a few hours after that.

Aside from overeating in one sitting at dinner, I didn’t eat too much food throughout the day;  I just didn’t eat particularly well.  At the end of the day I thought, I’m not going to eat “perfectly” every day, and that’s okay.  I’m human.  My Sunday contained a few more vegetables. 😉

When you don’t have a “perfectly healthy” eating day, cut yourself some slack.  We’re only human!

Have you ever let yourself get too hungry and then overeaten?
How do you squeeze more produce into your day?

Fitness Apps and Listening to Your Body

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Last week I mentioned that I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app out of curiosity about how my diet measures up to recommended guidelines.  Since then I have been recording my food and exercise (on week days), and I have one overarching thought about the app: It’s a helpful tool, but it’s still crucial to listen to your body.  Before I go into that, here’s what my week looked like in terms of workouts:

Monday: Running-30 minutes (AM); Walking-25 minutes (PM)
Tuesday: Weight circuits- 30 minutes; Walking-30 minutes (AM); Ultimate Frisbee- 70 minutes (PM)
Wednesday: Walking- 30 minutes (AM); Yoga-60 minutes (PM)
Thursday: Weight circuits (upper body)-20 minutes; Walking- 30 minutes
Friday: Running- 30 minutes

Let me draw your attention to Tuesday.  I burned a lot of calories through exercise that day–in the morning I lifted weights and did some light cardio, and after dinner I played a very intense game of Ultimate Frisbee with a group of friends.  The game was four-on-four, which means we all did a lot of running (with so few people on each team, you really cannot take a break,) and the only other girl playing (opposite team) was very comparable to me in terms of physical abilities (speed, willingness to crash into someone to catch the frisbee ;-)), so I was giving my all the entire game.

When we arrived back home around 9 PM, I had a substantial snack, but according to MyFitnessPal, I still fell way short on calories (and fat) that day.

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(Side note: check out my fantastic protein intake;  the only meat I had that day was about 2 oz of pork tenderloin at dinner.  Bam.)

Wednesday was a different story, however.  I took it easier with my exercise, but I was so much hungrier as a result of the previous day.  MyFitnessPal is just a tool and does not recognize that hunger can carry over, so on Wednesday I exceeded my recommended calories, fat, and…well, everything!  I think it would have been detrimental to my health to adhere strictly to what the app said I needed–my body knew it needed more.

My point is, this app is a great tool for getting the nutrients you need, but it doesn’t know your body as well as you do.  Listen to and honor your body!

Perfectly Seasoned Oven-Roasted Potatoes

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I love potatoes in most any form.  When I send Andrew a text mid-afternoon that says, “Thoughts on dinner?”  and he replies, “Whatever is fine,” there is a very strong chance he’ll be eating potatoes that night.  Yesterday, to jazz up our go-to oven roasted potatoes with salt, pepper, and olive oil, I created what turned out to be a really delicious seasoning mix.  If you are a fellow lover of potatoes, give this a try:

Perfectly Seasoned Oven-Roasted Potatoes

-5-6 small red potatoes
-1 tbsp olive oil
– 1 1/2 tsp onion powder
-1 tsp garlic powder
-1 tsp garlic salt
-1/2 tsp smoked paprika
-1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
-1/4 tsp pepper

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1. Preheat oven to 350.  Begin boiling a large pot of water.  2. Slice potatoes into small chunks.  3. Boil potatoes for 5 minutes, drain, then transfer to a bowl.  4. While potatoes are boiling, combine all the spices and mix well.  5. Add olive oil and spice mixture to the potatoes, and stir, making sure all the potatoes are coated.  6.  Spread potatoes on an aluminum foil-lined baking pan, and place in oven for about 30 minutes, flipping potatoes with a spatula halfway through.

DSCN8551Oh man, they were good!  Boiling them first ensures that they are soft, and putting them in the oven makes the exterior crispy.  I could eat these every day!  They did have a little kick, so if you don’t like spicy food, make sure to reduce the amount of cayenne pepper (or eliminate it completely.)

In addition to the potatoes we had steamed broccoli and baked chicken breasts, marinated in raspberry-walnut vinaigrette (which explains the pinkish color. :))  With all the goods coming out of the garden, we have been eating a lot of salad;  last night I needed something that wasn’t raw, and the steamed broccoli hit the spot.

Enjoy!

Sharing the Harvest + Weekly Workouts

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“Honey, we should share some of this produce with our family and friends.”

You know the look an eight-year-old gives you when you tell him he has to stop playing video games with his friends and clean his room?  That is precisely the look I received from Andrew yesterday when I uttered those words.  It was a mix of, “Are you really speaking English right now?” and “I cannot even believe how unfair you are.”

“Share?  We can freeze it!  How are we going to store up for the winter if we share?“

Family, friends–we are working on it. 😉

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As it turns out, Andrew’s reluctance to share only extends to the zucchini because he loves it, but he is more than willing to part with some of the other veggies.  On the flip side, I am happy to hand out zucchini to anyone walking by the house because 1.  I don’t love it, and 2. We have so much of it!  The photo above is today’s harvest, which includes three zucchini totaling 4.5 lb.  Each one is seriously bigger than my forearm.  Also today we picked three cucumbers, one yellow squash, and about 10 oz of cherry tomatoes!

Here’s our haul from a couple days ago:

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Cucumbers (which are now in the process of becoming pickles!), fantastic peppers, even more zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and the coolest looking, most delicious tomato I’ve ever beheld (<–That sounds like an exaggeration simply because I used the word “beheld” in reference to a tomato… it was very tasty. ;-))

The goodness just keeps rolling in.

In other news, I am rebounding from my cold that developed last weekend.  I’ve been limiting my workouts this week to easy walks, yoga, and light weight-lifting.  Yesterday afternoon I was feeling mostly better, so I went to the gym to do intervals on the Elliptical.  I pressed through–10 minute warm-up, 10 minutes of 30 seconds hard/30 seconds recover, 10 minutes of moderate intensity, 5 minute cool-down–but during the last bit I felt exhausted, and not in the I-just-had-a-great-workout kind of way, but in the I-don’t-feel-well way.  I probably should have given myself one more day to recover.  Oh well.

I have a busy day ahead–my family is coming in town this weekend for my grandmother’s memorial service, so in addition to work, I need to do some house cleaning, and, uh, finally put on paper what I want to say at the service tomorrow.  I have been thinking about it, but putting off actually doing it because I know I will need a few boxes of tissues just to write it.

What’s on your schedule for the weekend?
Do you workout when you are sick?
Zucchini: love it or hate it?

MyFitnessPal and a Sweet Question

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I consider myself a fairly healthy eater.  Yesterday, out of curiosity, I downloaded the MyFitnessPal app, entered my height and weight, set it to “maintain current weight”, and recorded my exercise and food to see how I measure up nutritionally.

Here’s my report card from the end of the day:

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I fell short in a few areas–fat, calcium, iron–and really nailed a few others–protein, fiber, and vitamins A & C.

What stuck out the most was that I’d exceeded their recommended sugar intake before lunch.  Hah!  What sugar bomb did I eat before noon, you might ask?  Blueberry muffin?  Cinnamon roll?  Nay.  I had a bowl of Kashi Go Lean cereal with blueberries, raw almonds, and unsweetened soy milk, coffee with the same unsweetened soy milk, and after working out, a banana with a tablespoon of peanut butter.  Somebody stop me; I’m out of control.  😉

This prompted me to do some research on sugar, and I found a lot of conflicting information.  From what I can tell, the recommended amount refers mostly to added sugar, rather that those occurring naturally in fruits and dairy products.  Why, then, doesn’t MyFitnessPal differentiate?  Two-three servings of fruit can easily put one over their limit!  On the other hand, with very limited knowledge of chemistry/biology/etc., my understanding is that our bodies cannot tell the difference–sugar is sugar.

So what do we do with that information?  I say (again, with very limited knowledge on the subject…this is purely my experience), take a step back, don’t hyper-focus on how many grams of this or that, and just eat real food.  I know there are many popular diets out there that limit (or eliminate) fruit, but are you really telling that a highly processed protein bar with who-knows-what as a sweetener is better for my body than something that grew from the earth?  I don’t buy it.  Intuitively, I just don’t buy it.  I feel certain that the benefits of eating an orange far outweigh the grams of sugar it contains.

I am not criticizing MyFitnessPal for this–it’s a helpful tool that prompted some research.  Near the end of the day yesterday, the app showed me that I’d fallen pretty short on fat, Vitamin A, calcium, and iron, so I made myself a kale salad with Balsamic vinaigrette (umm, raw kale is disgusting, but I muscled it down for the sake of my health. ;-))  That helped close the gap on most of those nutrients.

Ultimately, it all comes back to my very basic belief about nutrition–just eat real food.

Do you use the MyFitnessPal app?  What do you think about it?
Thoughts on sugar?