Category: nutrition

Portable Snacks – Part Two

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The Hope hummus and organic carrot sticks shown are sold on FreshDirect.

I buy this brand because it doesn’t contain natural flavor as an ingredient like other hummus does.

The term natural flavor is a euphenism for chemicals whose real names the government doesn’t require to be listed on the nutrition label.

So rest assured if you’re consuming food and drink products with “natural flavor” you’re loading your body up with chemicals.

At times I do buy and use a product that has natural flavor. Only not as an every week occurrence. Not as an every few weeks occurrence.

FreshDirect sells their own brand of vegetable stock that doesn’t contain natural flavor like every other boxed vegetable stock brand does.

So I buy 2 containers of the FreshDirect vegetable stock as a time.

The combo shown above is the perfect 3:00 p.m. snack when you’re at an office job or other job where you can store things in a refrigerator.

Portable Snacks – Part One

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The first photo is of the box the stainless steel containers with silicon lids were packaged in. The last photo is of the “trail mix” I created in the portable tin.

The cashews, coconut chips, and chocolate chips are sold on FreshDirect.

The mini chips list cane sugar as the first ingredient so should be eaten in moderation.

Otherwise once or twice a week it could be okay to make this trail mix to take on the go.

I’ll post a carnival of portable snacks blog entries today. The next one is a far better option than a candy bar.

The Tavva stainless steel containers are sold on Amazon.

Minus the mini chips cashews and coconut chips are fine on their own.

Feeding the Hungry

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The NY Common Pantry sent me a tax receipt letter for $270 in donations to this nonprofit in 2020.

The meals I bought for people in need I hadn’t realized would total over $200 in 7 months.

I did this via “buying” two $5 donations when I ordered groceries via FreshDirect each week. One $5 donation provides 4 pantry meals for a person in need.

Beto O’Rourke in the article I link to at the end of this blog entry wrote with two other authors that expanding and fortifying the food stamps / SNAP benefits program is cost-effective.

Whereas forcing people to use food pantries is wasteful.

O’Rourke and the two other authors’ rationale for the beauty of the SNAP program makes perfect sense to me.

For now I’m OK with donating money for meals to NY Common Pantry.

It’s because in our right-wing political climate nothing has been “right” in terms of fostering social justice.

50 million Americans are estimated to live with food insecurity.

Since Mr. Toupee (my nickname for the former president) and his ilk were keen only to tamp down on programs that benefit citizens in economic need I think my funding of the food bank is an OK stopgap measure for now.

I had no idea that my weekly donations would add up so high so quickly.

In the time of the pandemic I’ve had a refrigerator bursting with food.

I’m able-bodied and strong enough to have carried home from a market 50-pound bags of groceries when I couldn’t get an online food delivery.

Now that LL Cool Joe (my nickname for Joe Biden) takes office I pray that real lasting effective change comes to our country.

No American should go hungry. No American should live in poverty.

The article about the rationale of expanding the SNAP benefits is here:

Food Stamp / Snap Benefits Article

Well

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It’s Autumn again in New York City.

The time when I scout around for produce at the Greenmarket.

This fall I intend to focus on eating well and breaking a sweat.

In a couple of weeks I should be able to post a new workout routine.

I ordinarily do the Upper Body and Lower Body workouts for 12 sessions each.

For over one year I have done something unusual. Not that it is uncommon for me to do something unusual:

I’ve been exercising on the hardwood floor in my living room. Every 12 weeks I meet my personal trainer at the gym to be given a new workout routine to do. This routine I do at home as I’ve talked about before.

As I got older I could no longer exercise at the gym ferociously like I used to.

The year ends in just over 2 months. I think everyone could benefit from revising and reviewing their routine while Mercury is retrograde this month and through early November.

This is my plan: to eat well and break a sweat. To not get hung up over the times when I don’t do what you’re supposed to do.

A reappearance of COVID-19 is expected in November.

This is why now is the time to take care of our mental and physical health.

I expect in 2 or 3 weeks to post another workout routine.

Stay tuned.

Health Bucks

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This might not apply to most blog readers. However I want to write about it because who knows–maybe a reader falls into this category.

In New York City those of us who collect SNAP benefits are eligible to obtain Health Bucks at our Greenmarkets.

For every $5 spent in SNAP benefits, a person will get a $2 Health Bucks coupon.

Thus enabling you to get more fruits and vegetables.

To do so:

Bring your EBT card to the market manager tent at the farmer’s market.

Swipe your EBT card and in exchange get tokens and Health Bucks to spend at the market.

I don’t take kindly to people who resent others for buying organic food with their SNAP benefits.

Individuals living on a low income deserve to be healthy and eat nutritiously just like those of us who are well-off.

This is what I say:

Cut it out with the comments about people using SNAP to buy juicy heirloom tomatoes.

Regardless of your income there’s no shame in wanting to be healthy.

Center Cut Squash

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The salmon filet was leftover from a Bento box I ordered for dinner one night.

The vegetable is the Center Cut Squash that arrived in the CSA box. It was the first time I had this veggie. The squash tastes almost like citrus and is juicy and tastes green.

How it was cooked:

I cut the squash in half the long way. Brushed with olive oil. Cooked at 350 degrees in the oven for 40 minutes or so.

Alas, I’ve stopped buying the CSA box because there’s too much food in it to use within five days.

Now that fall’s coming I will be buying individual vegetables like spaghetti squash.

Recipes to follow for Bok Choy plus vegan snacks.

Beet Salad

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The word for beets in Italian is barbabietole.

The beets were in the CSA box with the other vegetables I used to make the prior meals.

This beet salad was for dinner one night. The heirloom tomatoes came from the box of organic tomatoes I bought.

To roast beets you cut off the top and bottom. You roast them at 400 degrees for 45 minutes in the oven.

I let the beets cool a bit after taking them out of the oven. Then I used a knife to cut around in a circle to remove the hard skin.

I used the onion that was in the CSA box too.

Eggplant Sandwich

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This is my version of an eggplant-and-mozzarella “sandwich” you’d find in an Italian food shop.

The Italian eggplant arrived in the CSA box. I cut it into “coins” brushed each coin with EVOO and grilled them on the stove.

The oven I bought last Labor Day has a fifth burner that has a grill pan you can use above the oval burner.

I used the grill pan on the fifth burner to grill the eggplant coins for about 7 to 9 minutes or so. I didn’t keep track of the time. I viewed the coins to see when they were golden brown. I turned each coin over halfway through.

The mozzarella I used alternating with the eggplant to make a sandwich was the Galbani fresh mozzarella that comes sliced.

Again I don’t like to have a lot of cheese because doing so can elevate your LDL or “bad” cholesterol.

Bok Choy Joy

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This is the first time I’ve cooked and eaten Bok choy. The vegetable was part of the CSA box I bought for this week’s dinners.

I used one head of Bok choy and could’ve used 2 heads. The recipe is tasty and I will feature it in a coming blog entry in the future.

With a ton of tasty vegetables on offer year-round I say: ditch the meat. Produce sold in-season is cheaper.

Colorful veggies are happy food. Feel-good greens can give you benefits instead of reaching for vitamins.

A lot of people take vitamins and that is their choice. I stopped taking supplements years ago.

In my estimation I think the decision comes down to what each of us as an individual needs to nourish our bodies.

Which might be different from the advice an expert peddles to the masses.

However I do adhere to some guidelines and I’ll talk about these guidelines in the future.

Caprese Salad

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The Caprese salad above I had for dinner one night.

You’re not supposed to eat cheese. I read somewhere that the production of cheese contributes to greenhouse gas emissions.

I don’t have cheese often and it’s because having a lot of cheese can elevate your LDL–the bad cholesterol in your body.

I would like to publish a cookbook one day. It wouldn’t be a vegan cookbook.

There are ethical reasons for being a vegan.

Whatever eating plan a person adheres I stand by my life motto: No Judgments.

In one way I have done something differently: I rarely eat chicken and fish anymore. I usually have scallops for seafood and often shrimp.

More often than not I cook vegetables for dinner.

Simply reducing your reliance on food like meat that contributes to greenhouse gas emissions will go a long way in promoting self-health and the health of the planet.

I’m not going to sit around judging what people do though.

I have no desire to be an eco-cop policing people or an enviro-vigilante.

Human beings are doing the best we can with what we were given.

Even the buzzword “plant-based” should be enough of a change to make.

The blog entry coming up features another vegetable dinner that I used CSA box produce to cook.