This leafy green veggie is rapidly growing in popularity for all of its nutritious benefits and seems like it is everywhere! Just last year my Grandmother was visiting and wanted to make one of our favorite dishes for me (kale, mashed potatoes and sausage) and when she went to the grocery store looking for kale, they ended up scavenging the store only to find some lining the fish display and were nice enough to sell it to us. Now, depending on the store/farmers market I go to there are at least 2 if not more varieties of kale. So what is so great about kale and why has it grown so much in popularity? Here's my review:
Taste: Thumbs Up - Kale is a versatile leafy green that can be served raw, toasted or steamed and is quite absorbent of any flavor you add to it. Growing up eating kale, personally I enjoy the taste, however many people have a difficult getting over the strong nutty taste (and smell when it is cooked). Definitely get a candle lit when you are cooking to help combat the smell.
Nutrition: Thumbs Up - According to the USDA nutrient database 1 cup of raw kale has: 34 Calories, 2 grams protein, 7 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram fiber and a great source of Calcium, B6, Magnesium, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Copper, Potassium, Iron, Manganese and Phosphorous. Not many other foods are this jam packed with great nutrients for only a few calories!
Cost: Thumbs Up - In season, a head of kale is a few dollars which makes it nutritionally a huge bang for your few bucks.
Time: Thumbs Up - The variety of ways to eat kale makes it a quick and easy green veggie. My new favorite kale recipe is kale chips - check out any recipe online, basically coat the kale with a cooking spray, tossing it in a seasoning and toasting in the oven at 300 degrees for about 20 minutes. Or, if you like to keep it simple just give it a good wash and substitute it for any other salad green.
Overall Rating: Thumbs Up - Yes, all of the kale hype is true! I highly recommend kale - it is a great leafy green veggie that is easy to eat/cook, nutritious, cheap and tasty!
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012
Chicken Thighs
I've recently discovered the tastiness of chicken thighs. Growing up we always had boneless skinless chicken breasts in the house, or of course a supermarket rotisserie chicken. And yes, we ate a TON of chicken growing up... My mom doesn't cook pork so it was typically either Chicken or Steak. So for my entire cooking life until a few weeks ago I've always cooked chicken breasts, they are a lean protein, easy to cook and versatile. Recently an extended family member taught me how to cook chicken thighs on the BBQ and they were amazing! Therefore, I figured I need to really take a closer look into this new (well, to me) tasty cut.
Taste: Thumbs Up - Just like other parts of the chicken, thigh meat has a plain flavor that is ready for whatever spices or marinades you put on it. My personal favorite marinade is soy sauce, siracha, minced garlic and a little brown sugar.
Nutrition: Thumbs Down - According to the USDA Nutrient Database one raw Chicken Thigh with skin provides 414 calories, and without skin is 326 calories. With the skin removed this provides a good amount of calories for a meal (picking healthy sides to go along with a chicken thigh is crucial)
The rest of the nutrition details (without skin)
24 g Fat
24g Protein
0g Carbohydrate
Obviously the fat content is not ideal... While a thigh has 24g of fat, the breast only has about 2g of fat. No wonder why they are so tasty!
Cost: Thumbs Up - Chicken Thighs are ridiculously cheap. I apologize for not having a recent price for you, however I can say with 100% certainty you can get thigh meat for way less than breast meat.
Time: Thumbs Up - Cooking chicken thighs takes a few more minutes than a chicken breast, however with my recent experimentation with this cut I found that it takes about 15-25 minutes to BBQ a chicken thigh on the grill. Definitely a reasonable amount of time to have part of a meal ready to go.
Overall Rating: Thumbs Down - While thigh meat is definitely tasty, cheap and reasonably easy to cook nutritionally it is far less healthy than the breast meat. While I am drawn to continue to experiment with this cut of chicken, I don't feel that I can recommend it to others, especially on a daily basis! I would consider chicken thighs to be a once every few weeks kind of treat, not a replacement of a staple healthy item such as a chicken breast. While I gave chicken thighs mostly thumbs up, that high fat content makes me have to go with a thumbs down... Although keep in mind my continual reminder that everything fits (with 2 exceptions - Ramen Noodles and Kool-Aid) in appropriate moderation and portion size!
Taste: Thumbs Up - Just like other parts of the chicken, thigh meat has a plain flavor that is ready for whatever spices or marinades you put on it. My personal favorite marinade is soy sauce, siracha, minced garlic and a little brown sugar.
Nutrition: Thumbs Down - According to the USDA Nutrient Database one raw Chicken Thigh with skin provides 414 calories, and without skin is 326 calories. With the skin removed this provides a good amount of calories for a meal (picking healthy sides to go along with a chicken thigh is crucial)
The rest of the nutrition details (without skin)
24 g Fat
24g Protein
0g Carbohydrate
Obviously the fat content is not ideal... While a thigh has 24g of fat, the breast only has about 2g of fat. No wonder why they are so tasty!
Cost: Thumbs Up - Chicken Thighs are ridiculously cheap. I apologize for not having a recent price for you, however I can say with 100% certainty you can get thigh meat for way less than breast meat.
Time: Thumbs Up - Cooking chicken thighs takes a few more minutes than a chicken breast, however with my recent experimentation with this cut I found that it takes about 15-25 minutes to BBQ a chicken thigh on the grill. Definitely a reasonable amount of time to have part of a meal ready to go.
Overall Rating: Thumbs Down - While thigh meat is definitely tasty, cheap and reasonably easy to cook nutritionally it is far less healthy than the breast meat. While I am drawn to continue to experiment with this cut of chicken, I don't feel that I can recommend it to others, especially on a daily basis! I would consider chicken thighs to be a once every few weeks kind of treat, not a replacement of a staple healthy item such as a chicken breast. While I gave chicken thighs mostly thumbs up, that high fat content makes me have to go with a thumbs down... Although keep in mind my continual reminder that everything fits (with 2 exceptions - Ramen Noodles and Kool-Aid) in appropriate moderation and portion size!
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Ramen Noodles
For my first food review what better than:
Ramen Noodles!
Taste: Thumbs Up -The main flavor (regardless of what flavor claim the package might say - shrimp, chicken, vegetable) in Ramen Noodles is salt - or sodium. There is no denying, sodium is savory and tasty. Adding salt to foods brings out the natural flavors which is always good for taste. But there isn't much else to the taste than salty!
Nutrition: Many Thumbs Down - Here are the details according to the USDA nutrient database in one package of Ramen Noodles:
371 Calories - appropriate for a meal
8.9 grams Protein - on the lower side for the amount of calories
13.29 grams Fat (6 g Saturated Fat) - ridiculous - almost half of the fat is saturated? That makes almost 120 of the total calories from fat.
53.9 grams Carbohydrate - Here is the bulk of where the calories come from. Definitely not from fiber or whole grains in this case.
1731 mg Sodium - That's almost the recommended daily intake of 2000mg of sodium in one package! That means you would only have 269 mg of sodium left for the rest of the day. Trust me, that doesn't go far!
Ingredient List: Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil (Contains One Or More Of The Following: Canola, Cottonseed, Palm), Preserved By Tbhq, Salt, Potassium Carbonate, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt), Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Carbonate, Turmeric. Soup Base Ingredients: Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Food Starch Modified, Sugar, Monosodium Glutamate, Dehydrated Vegetables (Onion, Garlic, Parsley), Chicken Broth, Hydrolyzed Corn, Wheat And Soy Protein, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Spices, Xanthan Gum, Turmeric, Artificial Flavor, Sodium Caseinate, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate.
Too long and too many things that I can't pronounce = not healthy!
Cost: Thumbs Up: Ramen noodles is notorious for being ridiculously cheap. However, while I give that a thumbs up, in all reality no packaged food that can be considered an entire meal should be as cheap as Ramen Noodles.
Time: Thumbs Up - To make the noodles as directed in the package all that is required is getting water to a boil and waiting 3 minutes. Not many meals cook faster than Ramen Noodles.
Overall Rating: Thumbs Down (obviously!) - While yes, I gave more thumbs up than thumbs down for this one, the terrible ingredients and amount of fat and sodium in Ramen Noodles is overwhelming and eliminates how cheap, tasty and easy they are.
Ramen Noodles!
Taste: Thumbs Up -The main flavor (regardless of what flavor claim the package might say - shrimp, chicken, vegetable) in Ramen Noodles is salt - or sodium. There is no denying, sodium is savory and tasty. Adding salt to foods brings out the natural flavors which is always good for taste. But there isn't much else to the taste than salty!
Nutrition: Many Thumbs Down - Here are the details according to the USDA nutrient database in one package of Ramen Noodles:
371 Calories - appropriate for a meal
8.9 grams Protein - on the lower side for the amount of calories
13.29 grams Fat (6 g Saturated Fat) - ridiculous - almost half of the fat is saturated? That makes almost 120 of the total calories from fat.
53.9 grams Carbohydrate - Here is the bulk of where the calories come from. Definitely not from fiber or whole grains in this case.
1731 mg Sodium - That's almost the recommended daily intake of 2000mg of sodium in one package! That means you would only have 269 mg of sodium left for the rest of the day. Trust me, that doesn't go far!
Ingredient List: Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil (Contains One Or More Of The Following: Canola, Cottonseed, Palm), Preserved By Tbhq, Salt, Potassium Carbonate, Soy Sauce (Water, Wheat, Soybeans, Salt), Sodium Phosphate, Sodium Carbonate, Turmeric. Soup Base Ingredients: Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Food Starch Modified, Sugar, Monosodium Glutamate, Dehydrated Vegetables (Onion, Garlic, Parsley), Chicken Broth, Hydrolyzed Corn, Wheat And Soy Protein, Autolyzed Yeast Extract, Spices, Xanthan Gum, Turmeric, Artificial Flavor, Sodium Caseinate, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate.
Too long and too many things that I can't pronounce = not healthy!
Cost: Thumbs Up: Ramen noodles is notorious for being ridiculously cheap. However, while I give that a thumbs up, in all reality no packaged food that can be considered an entire meal should be as cheap as Ramen Noodles.
Time: Thumbs Up - To make the noodles as directed in the package all that is required is getting water to a boil and waiting 3 minutes. Not many meals cook faster than Ramen Noodles.
Overall Rating: Thumbs Down (obviously!) - While yes, I gave more thumbs up than thumbs down for this one, the terrible ingredients and amount of fat and sodium in Ramen Noodles is overwhelming and eliminates how cheap, tasty and easy they are.
My Criteria
In reviewing food - some criteria is definitely necessary. I plan on giving either my "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" based on four criteria.
Taste - the most important in my personal criteria along with nutritional value. Who wants to eat something that doesn't taste good? I know I don't.
Nutrition - A discussion of the ingredients, nutrient composition and what that means to someone who is trying to eat healthy.
Cost - We are all on some form of budget, and while our average food budget has decreased over the years, we still need to pay attention to how expensive or inexpensive healthy eating can be.
Time - Time is a hot commodity, especially when you come home from work starving! I'll make sure to discuss convenience and different potential cooking options or ways to eat products.
My promise to you is to review real, everyday foods, recipes and diets, yes sometimes I may pick some item that is a little bit obscure or not common in most American households, but my goal is to keep this realistic for most people living on a budget.
Sunday, April 8, 2012
Why Ramen Noodles and Kool Aid?
Why would a Dietitian ever name a blog two notoriously terrible for you food items?
Well, throughout my years as an RD, I have determined that Ramen Noodles and Kool-Aid will always allow me to have a job. These are two of my least favorite foods, both widely consumed, often loved, and sometimes even consumed together according to my latest google search. Yet they have nearly no nutritional value.
Ramen Noodles, or what we in Hawaii call Saimin, is nothing more than carbohydrate, fat and sodium in an extremely affordable plastic container. I'm guessing the most expensive part of the product is the package. At anywhere from $0.10 to $0.47 per package, you could have one of the most cost effective meals containing 380 calories, a huge bang for your less than buck! And maybe a heart attack or diabetes to go with all of the carbohydrate and sodium to go with it (with repeated consumption of course).
Kool-Aid, which I was never allowed to have growing up, and had no idea that you had to actually add sugar when you mixed it until about a year ago, is another one of my personal favorite worthless nutritional items. Sugar, water and food color and flavorings that can dye your hair a bright color just doesn't seem like something I want to put in my body.
So I ask you - why? Why do we as Americans consume both these products? And why at such a magnitude? It is a question that I just can't answer and really don't understand. I like to eat, and know that my body is important. Unlike many things we only have one body, so why torture it with terrible food choices?
My goal with this oddly named blog is to discuss food items, recipes and diets, from hot new products, to tried and true favorites and give my opinion as a Registered Dietitian and someone who just likes to eat good food.
I must disclose that I don't get any money from any food companies of any sort and everything that I write is my opinion and nothing more.
Let's Eat!
Well, throughout my years as an RD, I have determined that Ramen Noodles and Kool-Aid will always allow me to have a job. These are two of my least favorite foods, both widely consumed, often loved, and sometimes even consumed together according to my latest google search. Yet they have nearly no nutritional value.
Ramen Noodles, or what we in Hawaii call Saimin, is nothing more than carbohydrate, fat and sodium in an extremely affordable plastic container. I'm guessing the most expensive part of the product is the package. At anywhere from $0.10 to $0.47 per package, you could have one of the most cost effective meals containing 380 calories, a huge bang for your less than buck! And maybe a heart attack or diabetes to go with all of the carbohydrate and sodium to go with it (with repeated consumption of course).
Kool-Aid, which I was never allowed to have growing up, and had no idea that you had to actually add sugar when you mixed it until about a year ago, is another one of my personal favorite worthless nutritional items. Sugar, water and food color and flavorings that can dye your hair a bright color just doesn't seem like something I want to put in my body.
So I ask you - why? Why do we as Americans consume both these products? And why at such a magnitude? It is a question that I just can't answer and really don't understand. I like to eat, and know that my body is important. Unlike many things we only have one body, so why torture it with terrible food choices?
My goal with this oddly named blog is to discuss food items, recipes and diets, from hot new products, to tried and true favorites and give my opinion as a Registered Dietitian and someone who just likes to eat good food.
I must disclose that I don't get any money from any food companies of any sort and everything that I write is my opinion and nothing more.
Let's Eat!
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