Category Archives: SOUP: Water and Vegetables

Beverage Math

You’ve probably seen Beverage Math on just about every weight loss episode of any talk show for the past ten years. An overweight guest stares hopefully at the host as s/he pulls up a power point slide showing that if the overweight guest stops drinking soda (or “pop” or “Coke” if you’re not a nor’easter), s/he will lose ten pounds in a year. I’ve always been envious of those guests and their Soda Math. Stop drinking soda and lose ten pounds?! That would be so easy! Easy for me because I only drink soda a few times a year.

My envy ended when it occurred to me that while I may not have a Soda Math situation going on, I do have Coffee Math: I take my coffee on par with melted coffee ice cream. Whether I add half and half, milk, creamer, sugar, or a combination of them all, each mug for me averages 100 calories apiece. And I drink it like that twice a day. Ready for the Coffee Math?

One pounds = 3,500 calories. So 200 calories of coffee per day x 365 days per year = 20.8 pounds. Twenty pounds in one year simply by switching to black coffee. That would be so easy!

But I love creamy coffee. I don’t want to drink it black.

But twenty pounds? I want to lose twenty pounds.

What if I drank creamatose coffee once a day and black coffee once a day? That’s ten pounds in one year and twenty pounds in two. And I can still start my morning with creamy sweet caffeine.

When we drink our calories, we tend to savor them less than the calories we chew. I’m not saying that we should only ever drink water and water-calorie equivalents (black coffee, unsweetened tea, etc); I’m just saying that we should do our own personal Beverage Math. We all have that one drink we’d rather not give up. So don’t give it up. Cut it in half if you need to, but savor every drop.

“Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”” John 4:13-14

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SOUP: Water and Vegetables. Tags: beverage math, coffee, coffee and weight loss, creamy coffee, drink calories, Drink Water, soda and weight loss. 2 Comments

Aug. ’14

Meat My Zucchini

The four zucchini plants in my garden can produce five or six tender summer squash in 48 hours. I try to pick them smallish, but there’s always a Monster Zucchini who hides under a leaf until it outweighs my firstborn. I love zucchini, but you can only stack it so high on the back deck until your squash pyramid falls over. I tried to give some away, but whenever I ask someone “Do you like zucchini?” they respond “Why? Do you want some? I’d love to give you some!”

We made zucchini stir fry, check. Zucchini bread, including a dozen loaves in the freezer already, check. Zucchini raw dipped in Ranch dressing, check. Only 35 pounds of green goodness left waiting for me on the deck and more are growing as I type!

My family had to figure out new ways to eat it all. We asked around and we got creative. Our new favorite way to eat zucchini is on the grill. I realize that only one million, three hundred ten thousand, one hundred and forty five point two people have discovered this before me, but I’m hooked. A little olive oil, a little sea salt, slap it down right next to the steak, and it comes off the grill meat-flavored! I’m never cleaning my grill again. Sure, I’ll give it a quick scrub to rid it of the occasional bird bomb, but I don’t want that meat grease to cease. Five of us shared one T-bone steak and two huge squash. Talk about heart healthy!

My neighbor introduced me to fried zucchini. She slices it in half inch rounds, dips it in egg and seasoned breadcrumbs, and fries it in oil. It’s not exactly the healthiest way to eat zucchini, but if you’re looking for a low calorie meal that satisfies your fried cravings, this is it. That’s right, I said meal. They’re so good, don’t bother cooking anything else.

This week we tried Zucchini Spaghetti and it was a hit with most of the family. Anyone who tasted it, loved it; it was only the anti-green preschool contingency that held out. I grated the green beasts (1 large zucchini made about 2 cups of “noodles”) and stir fried the “noodles” in a little olive oil until they were tender. Then we mixed the zucchini with regular noodles and topped it all with sauce and meatballs. I plan to increase the veggie noodles regularly until the kids think “Spaghetti” is Italian for Zucchini.

This is a great time of year to get creative with your veggies because they’re so fresh and abundant. And remember, if your neighbor with a garden is stacking summer squash in pyramids on the back porch or their skin and teeth have taken on a greenish hue, it’s probably okay to go ask them if you can have some.

“The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. “ Genesis 1:12

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SOUP: Water and Vegetables. Tags: fried zucchini, grilled zucchini, healthy entrees, summer squash, too much zucchini, zucchini, Zucchini bread, zucchini noodles. 4 Comments

Jun. ’14

Happy Junesgiving!

Happy Junesgiving, everyone!

The sun is shining, the kids are sweating…must be time to bake a turkey! Last week I baked the turkey I bought on sale last fall and experimented with Zucchini Mushroom Stuffing. The result? Delicious! Celery and onion sauteed in butter makes ANYTHING you add to it taste good.

I used a classic Betty Crocker cookbook recipe for stuffing; I simply replaced the cubed white bread with quartered mushrooms and zucchini. I also used fresh thyme and sage instead of dried. You get a good amount of liquid from this stuffing, but the turkey seemed more moist than usual, so maybe there’s a connection there.

I encourage you to keep experimenting with your vegetables! Eggplant slices instead of noodles in lasagna, wraps wrapped in big green chard or lettuce leaves instead of a tortilla. Even little changes can make a big difference in the long run.

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden” Genesis 2:16b

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SOUP: Water and Vegetables. Tags: healthy living, maintaining a healthy weight, SOUP: Water and Vegetables, turkey, Vegetable, Weight loss. Leave a comment

Apr. ’14

Can I Eat That? Random Leaf Stirfy

This week we ate the first fruits of our garden! The turnip plants were about four inches tall and I thinned them and tossed the rejected plants into some stirfry with delicious results. For you non-gardeners out there, “thinning” plants means pulling (or cutting) the extra baby plants from a row to give the plants that remain room to grow. The “baby” plants are what you see sold in stores in plastic bags and labeled…wait for it…baby kale, baby spinach, baby arrugula, etc. Baby plants are popular because they’re tender and sweeter than the grown up plants. Ever eat overly mature greens (spinach, kale, turnip, etc)? If it weren’t for the wilting, you could make shoes out of them.

I used to pitch the pulled plants along with the weeds, but then I discovered that you can eat them! You can eat the leaves of turnips, radishes, beets, and broccoli, as well as the obvious “leaf” plants such as lettuce, spinach, chard, and kale. When I found out that we can eat the whole plant, I was thrilled. My kids were not. I’m under no delusions: my present goal is not to make my kids like vegetables; that will come in time. My goal is to convince them that they can eat a green leaf from the garden and not die. I suppose I’m trying to convince a few of you readers as well.

Let’s do a quick science class review. The parts of a plant? Root, stem, leaf, flower, fruit, seed. Depending on the plant, you can eat some or all of these parts. Quick quiz! Ready?

Which part can you eat from a carrot plant?
Root. Nice work, too easy.

Green bean plant?
Fruit and seeds. Excellent. The bean is actually the seed pod (fruit) and as the pod matures, it gets thin and tough and the seeds inside become hard; these seeds are what we see in the stores as dried beans in bags or canned beans (think Baked Beans, black beans, kidney beans, etc). Cool, huh? This summer I’m going to plant some dried black beans from the store and see what happens.

Turnip, beet, or radish?
When it’s young, you can eat the whole plant! Root, leaves, stem. Once it flowers, the plant is so tough; you’d be hard pressed to choke down any part of it.

Now, I’m not suggesting that you run outside and begin eating anything green in sight. No, that would be crazy. When you find a plant you think is edible, you should first Google it and base your consumption on unverified comments from an unqualified person on a random website. (I’m kidding! Although that’s exactly what I did….) What I am suggesting is that you try a new vegetable this week!

“See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
Isaiah 43:19a

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SOUP: Water and Vegetables. Tags: Diet, food, humor, maintaining a healthy weight, SOUP: Water and Vegetables, turnip plants, Vegetable, Weight loss. 2 Comments

Apr. ’14

3 More 100 Calories Snacks

Geese keep flying north past my house, so in honor of Mother Goose…yadda yadda yadda, let’s get to the food!

1. The Creamy: 1/3 cup of cottage cheese, a teaspoon of jam, and some berries. To make cottage cheese, a chemical called rennin is added to milk and the proteins either clump together (curds) or stay liquid (whey). Since we’re eating our curds and whey, I call it the Little Miss Muffet.

2. The Crunchy: 1 Tablespoon of hummus and a plate full of vegetables. Disclaimer: to keep the calories to 100, there should only be 10 carrots on the plate, but it sure is prettier this way! I call it the Jack Sprat. “Jack Sprat could eat no fat, his wife could eat no lean…”

3. The Vegetative: A peck of (non) pickled peppers. Or about a dozen small sweet peppers if you’re counting. I call it the Peter Piper. Pick yourself a peck and happy munching!

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: Interesting Tidbits, SOUP: Water and Vegetables. Tags: Calorie, curds and whey, Diet, Eating, food, Fruit and Vegetable, healthy living, humor, maintaining a healthy weight, Weight loss. 3 Comments

Mar. ’14

Chard Leads To Brownie

This week Stephanie Eusebi had a great idea on her blog, Stephanie Eusebi Nutrition and Wellness: Swiss Chard Wraps. ( Click here to see her recipe and step by step instructions.) I love tortillas, but I haven’t been buying them a lot lately for one reason: a medium sized tortilla can be 120 calories. That’s the equivalent of a brownie and I’d much rather have the brownie. That’s why I’m going to try Stefanie’s chard substitution. I can eat my meal AND eat a brownie after dinner and I’ll still come out even calorie-wise, better off nutrient-wise, and way better off chocolate-wise. (Should I skip the brownie? Of course! But this is a long term healthy lifestyle, not a crash diet…there will be days I need that brownie.)

For those of you not familiar with chard, it’s a big, slightly bitter leaf. Mmmm, sounds appetizing, right? Here’s a picture of it growing in my garden. Pretty, isn’t it? I started thinking beyond wraps to other tortilla dishes I could substitute chard in: burritos, tacos, and enchiladas. Ole! Seriously, if you have taco seasoning in your filling, will you even taste the difference? Taco seasoning is potent packet powder. Will you care if you can taste the difference if you get to eat a brownie guilt free afterwards?

It’s a small change, but it can make a big difference in your diet, your health, and your brownie intake. I think we have a winner!

“Those who trust in their riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.” Proverbs 11:28

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SOUP: Water and Vegetables. Tags: Diet, God, healthy living, maintaining a healthy weight, Vegetable, Weight loss. 3 Comments

Mar. ’14

MAGIC BEANS! For Weight Loss

Tired of snacks that don’t satisfy? Tired of spending a fortune on diet foods that don’t taste good and don’t fill you up? Try MAGIC BEANS!
MAGIC BEANS! come to you in a nifty paper packet. Simply add soil, water, and ultraviolet light to your MAGIC BEANS! and PRESTO! You’ll be snacking on MAGIC BEANS! in no time!
In a store you’d pay four dollars per pound, BUT you can grow a bushel of your own MAGIC BEANS! for less than two dollars!
Email me now and I’ll send you your very own MAGIC BEANS! for only $19.95. But wait! There’s more! If you keep reading, you’ll realize I’m full of crap!
MAGIC BEANS! are: ta ta ta taaaaa….green beans! Even if you’ve never gardened before in your life, I want you to give growing your own green beans a try this summer. Here’s why:
1. They taste better freshly picked.
2. They are SO cheap when you grow your own.
3. Beans store nitrogen in their roots as they grow; this means that they can grow in relatively awful soil. Most other veggies need good soil, but beans are hard core.
No kidding, when my husband and I bought our house ten years ago, we bought a tree and a shovel and went outside to plant it. Our soil was so hard that we had to buy a pickax to dig the hole. But the very next year we started a garden and our beans grew well.
Why am I blogging about this now? Because in a couple of weeks the weather will be gorgeous and you will have plenty of pent up energy and inspiration to do projects like prepping a small patch of dirt for your bean plants. Don’t worry, this is not turning into a gardening blog, but if you’ve never grown your own vegetables, give it a try. You’ll love them even more when you taste them home grown!
“Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed.” Genesis 2:8

Image of the woman loving her Magic Beans is from http://blog.shelbysystems.com/2011/07/what-reaction-are-you-looking-for/

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SOUP: Water and Vegetables. Tags: Diet, food, Fruit and Vegetable, garden, God, healthy living, humor, maintaining a healthy weight, organic, SOUP: Water and Vegetables, Vegetable, Weight loss. Leave a comment

Feb. ’14

New Recipe! Fried Cabbage

My brother gave me this recipe months ago, but I’m just sharing it now for two reasons.

1. I kept forgetting to buy cabbage. I’ve never known what to do with it, so I was in the habit of passing it by in the store. Poor cabbage.

2. After I started making this, I kept forgetting to take a picture of it until it was too late. It was always long gone before the camera came out.

Do my kids like it? I’m not sure. I’ve never shared it with them. Call me selfish, but that’s the truth. I offered once, but they said “Ew, what’s that?” and I said, “Cabbage. You’re right, it’s gross. Here, let me eat yours.”

I’m sure there are many variations that can be created with the cabbage/bacon base, so let me know if you stumble upon a wonderful new combination. When your vegetables taste like bacon, you really can’t go wrong!

Fried Cabbage

(Careful: wait until the pan is cool before you lick it clean.)

Ingredients:

2 slices bacon or turkey bacon

5 cups shredded/sliced cabbage

1 cup onion, canned corn, or both

salt and pepper to taste

1. Fry the bacon. Remove and cut into little pieces.

2. Add the veggies, cover, lower the heat, and cook 20-30 minutes or until the cabbage is soft.

3. Add salt, pepper, and bacon.

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SOUP: Water and Vegetables. Tags: low calorie diet, maintaining a healthy weight, recipe, Vegetable. 2 Comments

Feb. ’14

What kind of water is best for weight loss?

The wet kind!

Most things you consume in a liquid state will keep you hydrated; some just have extra benefits or extra pitfalls that come with them. For example, juice has all of the vitamins and sugar found in fruit, but none of the fiber and mandatory chewing that slows down calorie consumption.

So here’s a quick 4 question quiz to see if you know how to keep your body hydrated and on the track to good health! I’ve included a few hints to help you along the way.

1. What percent of your body is water?
a. 30% like a gila monster after a day in the desert sun.
b. 60% One man actually lost 25 pounds of water weight in 48 hours to “prove” that scales are useless. That’s approaching gila monster humidity and he was promptly rushed off to get an IV drip.
c. 90% like a jellyfish.

2. How many ounces (total) of water should you drink each day?
a. 8 ounces – your blindingly bright yellow or orange colored pee should tell you that this is not the correct answer. Bad blog reader, bad! Most water bottles aren’t even that small.
b. 8 8 ounce glasses – correct, but don’t be lazy, do the math.
c. 64 ounces. Correct! (8oz x 8 glasses = 64) That’s 8 cups of water, or 4 pints, or 2 quarts or one half gallon, or three hours sipping at a water fountain. (I’m glad fountains exist, but when you’re thirsty, they’re maddeningly slow to drink from. Some sort of wall hose would be preferable.)

3. Which of the following beverages count towards your 64 ounces?
a. Coffee and tea. It’s water with natural brown food coloring. Don’t believe me? Check out this myth-busting research.
b. Juice and lemonade. It’s still mostly water, just watch the sugar intake. Sip and savor, but save the chugging for water.
c. Soda. Nope, not even close. It’s liquid, but your body has to use all the water it contains to flush out all of the chemicals it also contains, so you end up not hydrated.

4. Which of the following are benefits of drinking enough water?
a. Flushing out toxins. This is obviously good, right? No commentary needed? Why am I still typing?
b. Energized muscles. Not feeling up for a little exercise? Drink some water; dehydration causes muscle fatigue.
c. Hydrated skin that looks good. Eat your heart out, Maybelline! Moisturizers create a barrier that helps keep moisture in your skin, but if the moisture isn’t coming from the inside out, that barrier is ineffective.

Two footnotes:
1. If you need an answer key, leave a comment and I’ll contact you; I have some magic beans I’d like to sell you.
2. Gila monsters have more like 70% water in their bodies, not 30%, but they LOOK so darn dry! And in the dry months they survive by not urinating for months. Gross, but so very cool too. The point is, you are not a gila monster. Raise your glass and drink up! A toast to your health!

Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” John 4:13-14

Images are from:

http://www.volusia.org/services/public-works/water-resources-and-utilities/

https://beccasbyline.wordpress.com/2011/09/

http://diabetesdailypost.com/learn-why-you-need-to-drink-8-glasses-of-water-per-day/

http://savenaturesavehuman.blogspot.com/2012/05/gila-monster.html

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/coffee-and-hormones

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SOUP: Water and Vegetables. Tags: Diet, Drink Water, God, Health, healthy living, humor, low calorie diet, maintaining a healthy weight, Water, Weight loss. 3 Comments

Dec. ’13

Biblical Responses To Hunger

Got the munchies? Not sure what to do? Let’s take a look at the Bible to see how our spiritual ancestors handled their growling tummies. Some of these people showed wisdom and some showed folly. Let’s see if you can spot my 2 favorites for application in our own lives!

1. Sell your birthright for red lentil stew. (Genesis 25:29-34) Poor Esau. Let’s hope it was the best stew he’d ever had! Think he got seconds?

2. Threaten to wipe out an inhospitable man and his entire family. (1 Samuel 25) I don’t really blame David here. Hungry war bands should be fed right away, especially if they asked nicely. Good thing Abigail was there to smooth things over.

3. Borrow a kid’s lunch and share it with five thousand men and their families. (Mark 6:30-44) This one might be above our pay grade.

4. Eat only vegetables. (Daniel 1:8-20) Daniel and his friends did this for ten days and became the best looking young men in Babylon’s captive-to-magi training program.

5. Give the last of your food to a prophet. (1 Kings 17:7-16) You’re going to die anyway, right? May as well please God before you do; He has a way of taking care of his own.

6. Drink some water and wait for God to send you ravens carrying food. (1 Kings 17:1-6) This is a good idea even if you’re not hiding in a desert ravine to save your life. God might not send ravens your way, but the concept is good: drink and wait.

Did you catch my favorites? That’s right: #4 and #6! Eat vegetables, drink, and wait. When your body asks to be filled, do it right! And for the entrepreneurs out there, make some really, really good lentil stew and buy your family’s inheritance cheap.

Posted by Katie Robles. Categories: SOUP: Water and Vegetables. Tags: Bible, Drink Water, healthy living, humor, maintaining a healthy weight, Soups and Stews. Leave a comment

Sex, Soup, and 2 Fisted Eating

Laugh your way to better health!