I know….I’ve been gone for a while and I really apologize. Eric and I had a very eventful summer 🙂 It began with planning a 2 week trip back to our hometowns in New England, then the awesome trip itself, and then a week after we returned I was in a car accident while on the Rhett tour :(. I’ve been going to physical therapy and I’m getting better. However, I haven’t felt much like cooking for a while.

Art In The Park

A couple of weeks ago we participated in a local event called “Art In The Park”. The little town next to ours, Kingston Springs, has this event every fall and it attracts all kinds of vendors; from art (of course) to homemade foods, books, jewelry, wood carvings, and more. I have to say it was really Eric who spearheaded this event, did the planning and all of the set up. I just showed up for a while and sat in a chair selling our goods (I have experience with that sort of thing!). We sold paintings, Eric’s book (The Nashville Musician’s Survival Guide), bags of homemade granola (we even gave away free samples of the granola), and my cookbook.

I’ll be you didn’t know I had a cookbook for sale…we’ll it’s not the official, finished version of the book I’ve been working on. It’s a “prototype” 😉 I decided that this event would be a great test to see if it could sell. Well, I’m happy to say that it did! I only printed a small run and I have 8 copies left.If anyone is interested you can click on “Add to Carat” link below and get your very own copy. They are $15.00 each and shipping is FREE!! Anyone that purchased this “prototype” will receive the full version of the cookbook (when it’s published) for free.

I have been working on several new recipes and I will be adding them here in the coming days. I’ve created a delicious Chicken Pot Pie and some yummy and fun Cod Fish Cakes….stay tuned 😀 It’s good to be back!

I saw this video today and it is just too good not to share. I did share it on my facebook page, but that gets lost so easily. It’s only about five minutes long. I hope you will watch it and tell your friends about it. This kid is brilliant 🙂

Birke Baehr bio:

Birke Baehr wants us to know how our food is made, where it comes from, and what’s in it. At age 11, he’s planning a career as an organic farmer. At age 9, while traveling with his family and being “roadschooled,” Birke Baehr began studying sustainable and organic farming practices such as composting, vermiculture, canning and food preservation. Soon he discovered his other passion: educating others — especially his peers — about the destructiveness of the industrialized food system, and the alternatives. He spoke at TEDxNextGenerationAsheville in 2010.

The holidays are once again upon us and for most of us this means a big traditional Thanksgiving dinner with the family, Christmas parties, cookies, sweets – you know the drill. Is there a way to survive this annual over-the-top eating onslaught without gaining 5 pounds while still enjoying some tasty holiday treats? I yes, there is. But accomplishing this will take some forethought and awareness.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Let’s say you’ll be having Thanksgiving dinner with your family and someone else is doing the cooking. This means that the ingredients that go into this mail are completely out of your control. Here are some of the biggest problems with this meal as it is typically prepared.

The stuffing is usually made from enriched white bread (ick), the mashed potatoes are usually loaded with butter, cream or milk, and salt, and the gravy is full of saturated fat. And of course the desserts are an even bigger problem as they are loaded with enriched white flour, butter or lard, and sugar (I’m getting a stomachache just thinking about it).

Make the right choices. Eating a plate of this food and having it do the least amount of damage is all about choices. Go heavier on the white meat (dark meat has more saturated fat) and the veggies, and go lighter on the mashed potatoes, stuffing, and gravy. Don’t eat the turkey skin, it has the highest concentration of saturated fat in the whole bird (if you must eat some, go sparingly). Try to be careful about overall portion sizes.

Eat a snack or appetizer 30 minutes before the meal. It takes about 20 minutes to feel full when we eat, so doing this will help you feel full sooner, and possibly keep you from over eating.

Don’t waste your splurge. You probably will splurge on different foods at Thanksgiving, as this holiday comes but once a year. But don’t waste your splurge on general over eating – splurge on foods you really love or foods that are special. Mashed potatoes are common and you probably eat this at different points throughout the year, so there’s no real point in eating a heaping mound of this. Dinner rolls can do a lot of damage, and once again, this is an extremely common food. But let’s say grandma’s apple pie has always been one of your favorites and may be only available during holidays. This splurge makes more sense.

Don’t take the leftovers. If you take leftovers home you will likely feel compelled to eat them, adding more unneeded unhealthy calories to your diet later in the week. A simple “No thanks, we’ve got tons of food in the fridge right now” or “No thanks, I’m trying to eat healthy, and this one splurge was enough.” should suffice. A couple of other options would be to just take white meat, or, if there is enough to go around, take a few plates of food and give it to a homeless shelter or a neighbor in need.

Healthy Substitutions for Your Holiday Meal

If you’re cooking the meal, then you are in control of what goes into it. A traditional Thanksgiving dinner doesn’t have to be unhealthy; it’s all about the ingredients, and the subtleties. While the white meat that comes from an oven roasted turkey is quite healthy, the stuffing, due to the fact it is usually made from white bread, is typically not. Make your stuffing from whole wheat bread.

Gravy is usually another big problem when it comes to unhealthy calories, so learn to make it with a little less turkey fat. After you’ve removed your turkey from the roasting pan, drained the juices into a bowl, and separated the juices from the fat with a ladle – combine the juices with a limited amount of fat to make the gravy, even substituting some of the fat with low-sodium, fat-free chicken broth.

Mashed potatoes are typically another unhealthy calorie bomb, so again, use substitutions. Use Smart Balance instead of butter and skim milk instead of whole milk or cream. Try mixing in some fat-free yogurt to help create a creamy consistency. A little garlic powder and cracked black pepper will also go nicely. You could also experiment with substituting rutabagas, which have a higher nutritional value, for some of the potatoes.

Dinner rolls are usually made from enriched white flour but they don’t have to be. Substitute whole wheat flour for the enriched white flour and Smart Balance instead of butter to make a hearty and healthy roll.

Lose the salt. These foods are dense with flavor and you might be surprised how good they can taste without adding any salt during preparation. Leave it to the guests to add it when they sit down to eat.

When baking pies, cookies, and other desserts, once again, use substitutions – whole wheat flour instead of enriched white flour, smart balance instead of butter or lard, Splenda instead of sugar, and canola oil instead of corn oil. And if you’re craving chocolate, try baking with Beachbody chocolate Shakology for a healthy alternative, there are a ton of great recipes available online.

Put your table salt in a covered glass bowl or Tupperware container instead of a shaker. You can’t really see the salt coming out of the shaker, but if you grab a pinch of salt with your fingers, you will know exactly how much you’re using.

And lastly, put Smart Balance on the table for your family and guests to use instead of butter.

Keep Moving

Don’t stop your exercise regimen just because the holidays are here. If you’ve been working out regularly, why stop now? Get up a little early on Thanksgiving and try to get your workout in before you embark on your day’s activities. If you’re traveling for spending the day somewhere other than your own home, improvise. A little while after dinner, go for a walk to work off some of that ‘turkey gut’.

Many families also cook a huge dinner on Christmas and all of these concepts and food substitutions apply there as well. If you’re going to have some eggnog, go with light eggnog. You can even find recipes to make your own eggnog online that will be far healthier than what you’ll find in the supermarket. Try to avoid ‘holiday cookies’, they have no nutritional value whatsoever. If someone gives you a box of chocolates, ‘donate’ it to someone else. Don’t let peer pressure dictate your diet.

A Thanksgiving Feast, or My Yearly Food Coma?

When I think back to many of my earlier Thanksgiving dinners with my family, I remember my mom, dad, and grandmother working in the kitchen all morning long, preparing and cooking for our annual holiday eat-a-thon. My siblings and I would often help out, peeling potatoes, washing pots and pans, and setting the table. When the meal was finally ready we would all sit down, mom would say grace, and then we would all go to town. It would only take about 15 or 20 minutes for us to literally inhale an overabundance of food, most of us taking seconds, some even thirds. Then the sinking feeling would begin, usually during the half-hour or so it took to clean up the mess of pots, pans, dishes and silverware. Another half hour or so later and dad would be asleep in his recliner while the rest of us were deemed immobile on the couch for the next several hours. Even though it was nice to see the family, I don’t remember a lot of conversations taking place after dinner, we all sat speechless in front of the TV, too stuffed to speak. That heavy feeling would last for the rest of the day, often into the next.

Eating, and overeating food in this manner is an oral fixation and needs to be seen for what it is. There is nothing wrong with our tradition of eating a Thanksgiving meal with loved ones and friends. But for many, there is clearly something wrong with how we prepare this meal, and how much of it we eat. We all need to eat to live. But while over eating, and overeating unhealthy foods, can happen in just a few brief minutes, its negative effects can last for hours or days, potentially undoing all sorts of gains and strides we’ve made towards our health. Is it worth it?

New Traditions

I think it’s time we consider a new way forward – a merger that combines a modern approach to health and well-being with all that is good about the holidays. Let’s think about making our holiday rituals evolve around spending quality time with family, friends and loved ones FIRST, and the food as a complement to that quality time, rather than the food being the central theme, as it is for so many. Suggest the idea of taking a walk with your family and friends after dinner. Let’s teach our kids and the younger generation how to cook these foods in a healthy way, and the importance of physical activity. Why wait till January 1st to start your new resolutions? Now is the time for any worthy change you have in mind. Let’s use this holiday season as a time to start some healthy new traditions and a new way forward.

This has been a public service announcement from someone who cares. Happy holidays!

A couple of days ago Eric posted a half joking comment on his facebook page saying “When I was a kid, Halloween was one of the only times of year that we were allowed to gorge ourselves on candy and sweets. Now that the overconsumption of candy and sweets …is a daily occurrence for so many, why do we still need Halloween?”. I couldn’t believe the backlash that occurred. Most people were horrified (pun intended) that he would “slam” this oh-so-important holiday. Comments of “lighten up” and “what happened to your love of goofy fun” were plentiful.

It was actually the rest of the comments that really got me thinking. Every mom that posted (and there were many) staunchly defended the fact that “their” kids, don’t care about candy, don’t drink soda, eat only healthy foods, and the only thing they love about Halloween is getting dressed up and visiting people. I have no doubt that this is true for some people. However; given the fact that 1 out of 3 kids in this country are considered overweight or obese (source: www.kidshealth.org), somebody is feeding these kids some bad food.

I started thinking that it may not be that people are lying about what they eat and/or feed their kids. I think it’s that the food manufacturers are lying to the people, by way of deceptive advertising and confusing wording on packaging. Talking strictly about sugar, it’s mind boggling how much is in practically every product at the supermarket. Take a look at the foods in your pantry and fridge, not the front of the package but the back – the list of ingredients. It doesn’t have to be simply the word sugar; here is a list of some of the words that mean “sugar”:

• Agave Nectar
• Corn sweetener
• Corn syrup, or corn syrup solids
• Dehydrated Cane Juice
• Dextrin
• Dextrose
• Fructose
• Fruit juice concentrate
• Glucose
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Honey
• Invert sugar
• Lactose
• Maltodextrin
• Malt syrup
• Maltose
• Maple syrup
• Molasses
• Raw sugar
• Rice Syrup
• Saccharose
• Sorghum or sorghum syrup
• Sucrose
• Syrup
• Treacle
• Turbinado Sugar
• Xylose

It’s quite a list!

I decided to do a little digging to see just how much sugar is in the foods that many people feed their kids thinking they are giving them healthy food. To start with I’ll use a 12 oz can of Coke – this contains 40.5 grams of sugar, or 10 teaspoons. A Hershey’s chocolate bar contains 31 grams. According to the American Heart Association a person (adult) who consumes approximately 2,000 per day should take in no more than 36 grams of sugar per say. Ok, now let’s look at some “healthy foods”:

Ok, so the Vanilla McCafe Shake wouldn’t be considered a “healthy food”, but I couldn’t resist….I mean, come on….a full cup of sugar in a 16 oz cup?? Anyway, the point I’m making is simply that there is so much sugar in the foods we eat every day,  that most kids are already eating the equivalent of a candy bar or two. That goes for the kids who don’t drink sodas; as you can see a glass of orange juice is equal in sugar to a can of Coke. Sure the OJ has some vitamins, but they would be much better off eating an orange than drinking the juice. That really goes for all juices.

So, is Eric’s comment really so far off base? I don’t think we need to do away with Halloween; but maybe it’s the other 364 days of the year that we should be more concerned with. Think about how closely you inspect the candy that your kids bring home from Trick or Treating. Maybe we should all be more closely inspecting the foods that come from the grocery store. I think that is where you will find our kids are truly being poisoned.

When I began researching information for Do It The Hard Way I realized that great tasting recipes made with nutritious ingredients and proper portions would have to be the basis of the plan. No one wants to eat healthy if it doesn’t taste good! I also knew that each recipe needed to contain the most complete nutritional data that I could provide. I began looking for a software program that could take an original recipe, calculate the data, and present it in an easy to understand way.

After looking at many programs, I decided on DietPower 4.4. It can, among many other things, calculate the nutritional information of user-added recipes. The green box at the bottom of each of the recipes on this site was created using DietPower. It calculates the ingredients and portions and produces a nice looking result.

I was disappointed to find that it does not track the sugar content of many foods in their database. In fact, it lists the sugar grams of sugar as “?”. This was disturbing to me considering how important it is to watch our intake of sugar, especially if you are watching your weight or have any diabetes concerns. I emailed DietPower and asked them why they did not include sugar, and they told me that the next upgrade that is coming out next year will include sugar information for each food. In the meantime, I spent hundreds of hours inputting the correct nutritional information from the most current USDA food database (which does include sugar). I then created each recipes’ nutritional data using the most up-to-date and complete information I could gather.

DietPower also offers the ability to track all of the food you eat every day and input the exercise that you do each day (it even has a specific P90X tab!). Keeping a food diary is a great way to keep an eye on your food intake and this program makes it practically a no brainer, since it does all the calculating for you.

Please, don’t take just my word for it.Click the link below, download the free trial and try out the software for yourself.

Do It The Hard Way is about learning for yourself and finding what works best for you and your family’s health!

You will notice that the background image for this blog (and the main website) has changed. Why, you may ask? About a week ago someone recommend that I check out a website about a documentary called “King Corn“; which is about “two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation”.

I took a look at the website for this film and found some fascinating  information. In looking all around the site, I found a link to four different commercials, two put out by the Corn Refiners Association (part of a $25 Million campaign to defend HFCS) and two spoofs by the makers of this film (one of them is below).

At the end of the commercials from the CRA there is a website link to a site called sweetsurprise.com. I was shocked at what I saw….there was the pretty image that I had been using for my background. I found that image quite a long time ago on a site with royalty-free images and I had been really pleased with the way it fit with this website….BUT, I do not want to be associated  in any, even small, way with High Fructose Corn Syrup….SO…since there is more than enough corn in everything these days, it does not need to be in my website…the background had to go.

I have replaced it with a great photo of a garlic flower! I never even knew what a garlic flower looked like, but now I do. Garlic is something I’m proud to promote.

So there is my very long winded explanation! Out with the Corn – In with the Garlic!

If you’re anything like me, you love eating tasty food. Sitting down to a nice dinner of grilled swordfish and sautéed veggies, perhaps a nice chicken chili with cornbread, maybe even some linguine with white clam sauce. Well not only do I love eating these savory delights, I love cooking them too. I also like being healthy, and I always strive to use the healthiest ingredients, preparing dishes that are not only tasty, but high in nutrition and low in bad fats and added salt and sugar. These have been some of the key elements to my “Do It the Hard Way” concept all along. Learning about nutrition, how to read labels, developing an understanding of what good ingredients are, and preparing healthy dishes all take an investment of time and energy, but an investment that is not only rewarding to my taste buds, one that enhances other aspects of life, that being health and well-being.

With this blog, I am now officially on a mission to create the “Do It the Hard Way” cookbook over the next year. 200 recipes in 400 days. Recently, me and Eric watched a great inspiring movie ‘Julie and Julia’”. If you haven’t seen this movie, the story is about an aspiring writer who set out to cook all of the recipes in Julia child’s ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ over the course of a year, blogging about her cooking adventures, and occasional debacles daily. My concept is similar in nature, except I will be creating all of these dishes myself, inventing some from scratch, and adapting many popular recipes into healthier “Do It the Hard Way” versions.

To hit my goal of 200 recipes for this book, that’s roughly 4 a week from now until my birthday on September 23 of 2011. Each recipe will require several steps to be deemed book ready. First comes the initial idea or concept, then the food is prepared, cooked, and photographed before the all-important taste test. At some point during this process I need to make sure I have written down exactly what I used for ingredients as well as how I prepared and cooked the meal. Then I need to sit down at the computer, enter all of this info (including the nutritional specs), and create a blog post for the recipe.

Assuming I can reach my goal of 200 recipes by my self-imposed deadline, I will then begin work on the printed book design which I hope to have available by January of 2012. It will be a lot of work to keep up with this pace, but I am determined to see it through. I am also very fortunate to have some assistance by way of the world’s best live in prep cook, my husband, Eric, who is also the chief photographer in this project.

The good news is that you don’t have to wait until 2012 to try these recipes. As I will be posting them online as I create them, I urge you to try the ones that interest you and leave comments. Tell me what you like and what you don’t like. I’m open to suggestions and encourage your participation to help improve these dishes as I go along. And if you have any ideas about a recipe you would like to see me create a healthy version for, by all means, please send them along.

So that’s it, 200 recipes in 400 days to yield the Do It the Hard Way cookbook.

Happy cooking!