Noshtopia

Healthy Lunch Idea: Rosemary Chicken With Red Pepper & Potato Pasty

On the PBS food show I was on "Check Please Arizona," one of the places I had to go visit was Cornish PastyR. For those not familiar, a pasty is a filled pastry commonly associated with Cornwall in South West England. The pasty looks like a cousin to the calzone and empanada.

At Cornish Pasty, they were able to make me a pasty using vegan crust, and then pulling out the brie and egg-white brush.When you pull out the dairy and egg, the pasty starts getting slimmer in fat and calories.

I ate half the pasty for lunch and the other for a snack later on in the day. I think pasty's are fun food because it comes in a pocket and the possibilities for fillings are endless. It's a great way to sneak in more veggies into your day!

Tried Something New: Braised Chard With Bacon

How can you make bacon healthy? By mixing it up with a leafy green like chard! See oh yummy! Okay...well maybe not....adding a green won't make bacon better, but the bacon sure can help make the chard more fun.

I've never had chard with bacon before, and so when I saw this Braised chard with bacon at one of my local Whole Foods, I had to get a couple scoops. Oh my that chard was so good, I went back and got a couple more scoops to eat for the next day.

Yeah bacon is still a heap of fat, but I like the bacon at Whole Foods because they don't use nitrates or chemicals. The bacon isn't as salty as an Oscar Meyer. And I don't eat bacon all the time, but when I do, watch out. Might as well do it up good, ay!

What I liked about this dish is that it didn't taste heavy or greasy. You'd think bacon would totally fatten up the greens but whatever Whole Foods did, they did a great job of minimizing the oil somehow.

If you want to make this dish at home, here's a recipe Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard created over at Food & Wine with some scallops.

Surprising: At McDonald's Milk Has a Whopping Amount of Sodium Compared to Coke

When it comes to drinks, most people focus on the calories and sugar but not really the sodium numbers. It's equally important to be concerned with daily sodium intake because too much salt intake can lead to high blood pressure which can then lead to a heart attack, stroke or kidney disease.

Health experts recommend 1,100 - 3,300 mg of sodium per day for healthy adults. Your average American consumes 2,300 to 6,900 mg per day.

I was on the McDonald's website looking for sodium information for some food stuff but and then happened to look at sodium numbers in the drink section, and was surprised to see that plain old 1% milk has almost 50X the amount of sodium as a regular Coke. (Based on serving size, you have to almost double the servings of milk to be about equivalent with the Coke.)

And interestingly, milk has almost the same amount of sugar as the Coke...the number is only roughly 5g lower. And chocolate milk, holey cow, the equivalent serving size of Coke gives you almost 50g vs. 29g of sugar, and nearly 300g vs. 5g of sodium.

Clearly, in this comparison, Coke is nutritionally better than chocolate milk. How scary is that...because on common sense alone most of us would assume that milk is healthier than soda. Well, no it isn't if you look at these numbers.

It's stunning! Just to give you a little sodium perspective, a 1 oz (28g) serving of Lay's Kettle Cooked Original Potato Chips has 110 mg of sodium. The jug of plain 1% milk has more sodium than potato chips.

I was also surprised to see that Diet Coke has 3X the amount of sodium as Regular Coke. There may be 0 calories, but there is triple the amount of sodium.

Out of all the McDonald's drinks, the best of the choices sodium wise was the Minute Maid Apple Juice and a 12oz cup of Iced Tea which has 0 calories, 5mg sodium, and 0 sugar.

Next time you're ordering drinks, be conscious of the sodium content as well.

Note: all drink images copyright belong to McDonald's

We're On TV: PBS Check Please Arizona

I was very honored to be one of three guests on the local Phoenix PBS show Check Please Arizona where we suggested our favorite restaurant, and then checked out the restaurant choices of the other two guests.

My choice was Calistro Bistro up in North Scottsdale. Check out their most amazing beet salad and dairy-free and gluten-free rice pudding in my review of the place last year. OMG! That desert is amazing!

The episode was 30minutes long, and here it is in its entirety:

Photo: Is It a Fig or a Radish?

One of the reasons I am addicted to love Dr. Andrew Weil's True Food Kitchen here in Scottsdale is that you can always find unique and locally sourced vegetables in their dishes.

Last week, for appetizer we ordered the Local Vegetable Crudites platter which comes with Tzatziki and Black Olive Dips. When the platter arrived, all of us at the table went, "Oh! What are those?...Are they figs or radishes?" It was kind of funny how we said that in unison. We all agreed that whatever they were, they sure looked pretty. I adored the bright Rosy color.

Turns out those veggies are radishes, and what tasty peppery ones they were...it was the only veggie on the platter we finished off!

5 Noshy Things You Can Eat With Shrimp

One of my go-to shrimp dishes is Gambas Al Ajillo which is a Spanish tapas dish inspired from the Huelva region of Spain like this one in the photo above from one of my favorite Phoenix restaurants, Tapas Papa Frita.

From around the noshopshere from delectable food bloggers including mouth-watering photos, here are 5 noshy things you can eat with shrimp.

• Packed with protein: Red quinoa with pineapple and shrimp...dairy and egg free. [Mango & Tomato]

• Fancy Sandwich:  Caesar Shrimp & Arugula Panini grilled on ciabatta w/arugula and shaved Parmesan. [Panini Happy]

• Small yet smashing: Mini baby shrimp lettuce wraps appetizer with peanuts, toasted coconut, fresh coriander, and wedges of fresh lime. [Thai Recipes About.com]

• 5-ingredients + 10 minutes + gluten-free: Chili Lime Shrimp...replace butter with olive oil or Earth Balance to make dairy-free. [Grumpy's Honeybunch]

• Tapas time: Roasted Artichokes with Shrimps and Green Sauce...I love the creativity of using the artichokes as bowls. [Spanish Recipes]

What's one of your favorite shrimp dishes?

Healthy Lunch Idea: Veggie Burger On Whole Wheat With Smashed Avocado

My Meatless Monday healthy lunch idea suggestion for this week is a half veggie burger with smashed avocado. You could do guacamole. On my burger here they just took an avocado and smooshed it which I appreciate because when avocado is in slivers, it slips out the sides more easily when you bite down.

Burgers are usually served pretty big in most places in the U.S, so I always cut my burger in half and eat one half for lunch and then eat the other half either for dinner or for lunch the next day.

If you get the burger alone and cut out the fries or chips, you can save yourself 200+ calories including the fat and salt. Other ways to slim down the burger is to nix cheese, mayo, and or dairy based sauce like ailoi. To health up the burger, add things like arugula, banana peppers, or roasted red pepper.

Guess The Snack: You Can Eat 35 Of These For Only 110 Calories

This snack inspiration is Whole Foods 365 brand crunchy pretzel sticks which are 110 calories per serving which is about 35 sticks with 0g of fat and even 3g of protein. Better yet, there are no artificial ingredients whatsoever in these pretzels.

This crunchiness would go well with a happy hour glass of wine or a fruit spritzer like cranberry, mango, or raspberry.

Healthy Lunch Idea: Seared Mahi Mahi With Mushroom Risotto and Kale Salad

This was actually my first meal of 2011. Over at my local Whole Foods, I saw in their frozen seafood section, 5oz individually packaged pieces of Mahi Mahi for $3.99. That's a deal in my book!

I'm making an effort to eat more seafood, at least twice a week, in order to eat less animal meat and to get more Omega-3s. Cooking this lunch was really easy. I just seasoned the Mahi Mahi with sea salt, garlic powder and oregano, and then seared it in a pan with some Earth Balance soy-free buttery spread. I forgot to get it in the picture, but on top of the fish I added some mango salsa for a hint of sweet. It was a tasty touch!

The risotto I made from a box of Lundberg brand Organic Porcini Mushroom Risotto. The Whole Foods salad bar also offers fresh cut up kale next to the mixed greens, so I just ate the kale raw with some vegan honey mustard dressing on top.

Recipe: Gluten-Free Spaghetti with Braised Arugula and Shaved Manchego

Who knew gluten-free pasta could look this yummy! I made some spaghetti with braised arugula topped with shaved manchego inspired from this Mario Batali Meatless Monday Gallery of 10 Vegetarian dishes over at BlissTree.

The spaghetti recipe in the BlissTree gallery used regular semolina-based pasta, kale and Parmesan cheese. I modified the recipe because I had arugula in the fridge, Trader Joe's gluten-free brown rice spaghetti in the pantry, and manchego is a cheese I can eat since it's from sheep not cow.

The Trader Joe's gluten-free brown rice spaghetti is one of the best gluten-free pastas I've had, and I've tried many brands. I like the TJ's gluten-free pastas because they taste almost nearly like the semolina versions. The only thing is that if you overcook the gluten-free pasta it quickly becomes a lump of mush...not pretty nor tasty.

Ingredients (makes 2 servings):

• 2 cups Trader Joe's brown rice spaghetti (cooked)
• 3 cups fresh arugula  (I used organic)
• 2 tbsps olive oil + 1 tbsps Earth Balance soy-free buttery spread (You can use just olive oil. I added the Earth Balance because I like the buttery flavor.)
• 1/4 medium onion chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
• Juice from a 1/2 fresh lemon squeezed  Finely grated manchego cheese (I used 3-month old manchego because it's softer)
• Salt & pepper

Let's Get Cooking:

• Boil water and cook the spaghetti for 8 minutes. The spaghetti will be a tad al dente but will cook a bit more in the pan when mixed with the braised arugula.

• Heat the olive oil and Earth Balance spread in a wok or large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook until soft about 4 minutes. Add the garlic in with the onions and add some salt. Stirring occasionally, continue to cook until the garlic starts to get golden brown.

• Turn off the burner. Add in the kale and mix well with the onions and garlic. Continue to mix. The arugula will wilt pretty fast in under a minute while you're stirring. Turning off the burner will heat the arugula without wilting it too fast.

• When the arugula looks half way wilted, toss in the spaghetti, and mix thoroughly. Add a little bit more salt & pepper for taste. Squeeze in the juice from the 1/2 lemon. Stir the spaghetti and arugula again.

Put spaghetti in a serving platter. Let cool down for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle on shaved manchego on top of the dish. Enjoy!