Noshtopia

Nosh, Drink, and be Merry!

Wishing all of you many wonderful gifts, great eats, many hugs, and all kinds of love!

Beer, Brain Freeze, and Feminists Cooking with Stephen Colbert

You gotta love food humor especially when you add Stephen Colbert's special brand of mockery. In this food montage, Stephen shares his special relationships with Doritos, "The Sweet Taste of Freedom," Beer, Wendys, KFC, Brain Freeze, and Cooking with Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem. So funny!

Eatin' Stephen

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10 Bottled Organic Iced Teas for On-The-Go

I drink plenty of tea mostly the hot kind involving the tea bag, but when you're on the go like at lunch or snack time at work, it's nice to just grab something cold that serves up instant gratification. Plus, you know me, I try to stay as organic as possible, so it's exciting to see more and more bottled organic iced teas out in the market. Here are 10 bottled organic iced teas that you can try out:

• Sweet Leaf Organic Teas: My nickname for this tea is "Grandma's Tea". Call me a sucker for anything that has a sweet Granny face on the bottle, but I LOVE this tea drink. I drink at least half a bottle every day. It's my vice. There are 6 organic flavors, and my two favorite flavors are the Half & Half Lemonade Tea and the Mint & Honey Green.

• Steaz Organic Iced Teaz: This tea is new and comes in a can. I did a review of this tea awhile back and not only is this tea fabulous, but I LOVE the fact that featured on the can of each of the flavors is a picture of someone from the country of the fair trade tea companies Steaz buys from. So cool! And kudos to Steaz because on December 11, they announced that they are the winners of two BevNet 2008 Awards: Best Tea of 2008 and tied for Best Organic Product of 2008. Oh and hello! Here's a coupon for Buy One, Get One Free.

• Honest Tea: What's cool about these organic teas is that Honest offers a plethora of flavors almost 2 dozen consisting of black, green, white, red, and yerba mate teas. I love the names of some of their teas like Mango Acai White, Peach Oo-la-long, and Pomegranate Red Tea with Goji. The teas come in plastic and glass bottles as that is important to some people, and they have a line of organic drinks for kids which I think is wonderful. And this is cool, the TeaEO Seth & Chairman Barry, blog. It's not often you see the honchos blog.

• Tazo Organic Tea: I like how they distinguish their teas not only by color: Green, Black, and Herbal Infusions, but also by Plain or Juiced. The Juiced Teas are thicker and sweeter because of the fruit. They also use some unique flavors like Lemongrass, Hibiscus, and Pear. You don't see pear often used in teas.

• Harney & Sons Organic Iced Teas: The Harney & Sons organic teas have some of the lowest sugar content coming in around 5g per 8oz serving. The unique flavors Harney carries includes Black Currant, and an Organic Bangkok that has Organic lemongrass, Organic ginger and sweet Organic coconut flavoring. Sounds like an awesome Thai dinner. Harney & Sons is also a member of 1% For The Planet, a group of companies who make the commitment to donate 1% of their sales to environmental organizations worldwide. Drink tea, help keep the planet healthy. Sounds awesome to me!

• Guayaki Yerba Mate: Guayaki specializes specifically in the Yerba Mate tea which is native of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina. All their teas are organic, vegan friendly, and kosher.You can learn more about Yerba Mate here. I first learned of Yerba Mate tea when I did a week long detox at the We Care Spa. In my opinion, by itself, Yerba Mate is an acquired taste as it does have a very strong almost pungent flavor. But Guayaki offers teas with flavoring which is wonderful. My favorites include the Passionfruit Kundalini Blend and the Pomegranate Clarity Blend.

• Jones Organic Teas: I like that they have a Strawberry flavored tea because this is another fruit flavor you don't see often in bottled teas. The bottle design is also very pretty which the designer in me cares about. For you aspiring designers, Jones will be setting up the opportunity for you creatives to possibly get the chance to design bottle labels. Now, that is very cool.

• Long Life Organic Iced Teas: Long Life teas as seen here at BevNet, are the only all (99%) organic, certified/GMO-free iced teas currently available in the U.S. They have an Earl Grey Black Tea with the citrus Bergamot Fruit. How unique is that? As well, they have a Chai Tea which you won't find very often in the bottled organic iced teas.

• China Mist Pure Organic Teas: This is a new tea which is available in select (aka limited) distribution at the moment. I haven't tried the China Mist yet, but it's getting quite the buzz for it's curvy package design and the fact that it is marketed as a premium product. There are 6 flavors, and the ones I want to try first are the Lotus Pear Green Tea and the Tangerine Black Tea with Pomegranate Juice.

• Whole Foods 365 Organic Teas: Whole Foods has their own brand of organic iced teas, and they are okay. I actually thought they would taste better, but at the same token, they are not bad. The WF 365 teas are a bit cheaper than most of the other branded organic iced teas, but to me, I don't mind spending a little bit more for better flavor. The WF 365 tea is worth a try though.

Are there any bottled organic iced teas you've tried not on the list? Please share as we love to try new iced teas!

50 food items at Whole Foods under $1.50

For those of us pinching on the food dollars, did you know that there are actually a whole bunch of food items at Whole Foods that you can get under $1.50. Oh yeah! That's cheaper than a tall coffee at Starbucks. And, we're talking not just regular items, but organic stuff too.

I picked the $1.50 price point because I thought that was an aggressively low number yet cool enough to dispel some of the Whole paycheck stigma. Plus, Whole Foods has many items marked at $1.49

And to note, WF 365 = Whole Foods 365 Brand. Item selection can vary from store to store, so check yours. The prices I list are based in San Mateo county, CA as of December 6, 2008, and all items are regular priced. Whole Foods has been upping their sale items and offering coupons galore, so definitely check those out. One great deal at my store this weekend was 10 mangoes for $10 total. Nice!

So, here we go:

Brussels Sprouts with Turkey Bacon Bits and Carmelized Onion

 
This is a simple and nice way to make brussels sprouts a little bit more robust side dish. I like to couple this sprouts dish with garlic mashed potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 20-25 brussels sprouts (Many stores offer packaged bags, and one bag is about 20 sprouts)
• 2 pieces of turkey bacon cut into small slivers
• 1/2 cup chopped onions
• evoo
• couple pats of butter (optional)
• pepper and salt

I saw these brussels sprouts on the stalk at a farmer's market. I just think they look so cool when the sprouts are still on the stalk.

Let's get cookin'

• Boil the brussels sprouts in a pot of boiling salt water until tender which is about 8-10 minutes. Drain when done.
• In a pan at medium heat, put in about 1Tbsp of evoo and the butter. If you don't use butter, put in a little more evoo
• Throw in the turkey bacon and the onions
• Cook until the onions are a caramel color
• Toss in the brussles sprouts and pepper, and mix around for about a minute. Taste one of the sprouts. The bacon juice will add some salt, but if it's not enough, add just a tiny bit more salt.
• Remove from pan and put into a lovely serving dish.

Enjoy!

Are all natural or organic junk foods better for you?

Well, kinda but not really. First, the very nature of junk foods is that they are fun food, that's it. Your body doesn't need them for survival, but they do serve a purpose which is more for comfort and enjoyment.

There is little to none nutritional value in typical junk foods like chips, cookies, ice cream, and candies even if it is organic, and what you're eating is mostly empty calories with a great deal of sugar. Granted it's better quality sugar, but it's still sugar.

Now true, you could argue that something like a Dagoba Organic Dark Chocolate with Hemp, Pumpkin, and Sunflower Seeds is healthy for you because dark chocolate has been proven to have health benefits because of the flavanoids, and the seeds contain protein and good MUFA's that we all need. However, it's still sugar and fat. The bar is not a replacement for nutritionally packed foods like vegetables, fruits, grains, and proteins from meat and beans.

With the all natural or organic versions of junk foods, the benefits that you are getting is the elimination of things like artificial sweeteners, preservatives, fillers, artificial food coloring, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, trans fats, and ingredients that basically sound like a chemistry experiment. In that sense, having a cleaner junk food option is better than the overly processed version, but still, it does not mean it's healthier for you overall because again you need the nutrient packed foods that best come from Mother Nature.

What I find interesting is that the bulk food manufacturers typically add all those what I call fake ingredients in to make their foods taste, look, and last longer. To me, the all natural and organic junk foods I've had actually tasted better and looked fine. See, doesn't that organic chocolate chip cookie in the picture above look divine? As for the need for preservatives, junk foods usually are not lingering in the pantry for very long, and definitely not in my house, so why put them in?

The key is balance and viewing junk foods as treats to indulge on occasion.

Blake's Organic Shepherd's Pie

I'm excited to see more organic frozen meals hit the market, like the Blake's brand which sells both organic and all natural frozen meals. Blake's is family owned and based in New Hampshire, and their website makes you feel like you're visiting someone's grandma's house (in a good way).

I am a HUGE shepherd's pie fan and would eat it often except for the fact that it takes me a long time to make and you can't make a batch for just one person. I'd be eating shepherd's pie for a week. So, imagine my glee when I saw the Blake's Shepherd's Pie made with all organic ingredients.

Simple ingredients

There are just seven organic ingredients in this pie: potato, beef, corn, onion, whole milk, butter, and sea salt. Simple. I love it. I might even call it McDreamy pie after Grey's Anatomy Dr. Shepherd.

A common issue with frozen foods is that they all tend to be a bit too much on the salty side. This shepherd's pie was actually on the blander side to me which was kinda unexpected, but not so bad because I'd rather add salt then add other stuff in to balance out too much salt. Don't cringe too much but I did add some ketchup and it was good.

Not fluffy but still tasty

I'm learning that my oven heats on the hotter side, so despite following the baking instructions, my pie came out a little too much on the over baked side, thus the potatoes did not come out "fluffy" as in the box picture. Next time, I'll cook it about 5 minutes less. It also would have been cool to have a little bit more corn, but that isn't a deal breaker just a "would be nicer."

And yes, there will be a next time because this pie was dee-lish and even more exciting, this single serving size is 240 calories. It's perfect to bring to work for lunch. Here's the nutritional information.

The other Blake's organic meals include Macaroni & Beef, Chicken Pot Pie (no vegetables) and Chicken Pot Pie (with veggies) which I have in the freezer right now and will eat real soon. Here's where you can buy the Blake's brand.

Have you tried any of the Blake's organic meals? What did you think?

Guess what time of year people do most searches for "comfort food"

The geeky data trendsetter in me loves to play with Google trends. For fun, I looked up the term "comfort food" to see what kind of patterns unfold for search.

Note: The letters are just references to news stories which are related to the point of time. For my analysis, I'll just be looking at 2006-2008. Not sure what that bottom pit is in 2005.

This is what's interesting to me:

• The first top peak is at Thanksgiving in 2005, followed by January 2007 and January 2008 which um is supposed to be New Year's resolution time when everyone is supposedly on the whole lose weight bandwagon. Perhaps the stress of gaining weight over the holidays or wanting to lose weight makes us want the comfort food more?

• As we head to the end of 2008, you can see the peak with the longest stretch which looks like it started around the time the financial crisis started to hit big time. Nothing shocking there. I myself was indulging in more of the sweets, my comfort food of choice.

• The lowest points are basically April-August, spring through summer. Swimsuit and wedding season, not a shocker there either.

• Not on the chart, but of interest from this video, the top 5 Googled comfort foods were in order:

• Ice Cream
• Chili
• Spaghetti
• Meatloaf
• Fried Chicken

My personal comfort foods include: cupcakes, cookies, hamburgers, french fries, and my mom's Arroz Caldo soup which is basically a chicken & rice soup Filipino style.

So, why do you think people are searching more for comfort foods over the holidays and at New Year's resolution time than during spring/summer? Does the sun make us happier so we crave the comfort foods less? Does the cold and the holidays make us more stressed out so we wanna food medicate?

What's your favorite comfort food, and do you find you eat it more or less at certain times of the year, in different climates, or times of unusual stress?