I was doing a little searching, and I actually found the documentary that was on the Oprah Show that I watched about fast food. It is very interesting, and there is a Food Inc. quiz that you can take to see how much you know about the food that you put into your body.
I think this is relevant to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle because the family in the book decided to only eat food that was grown locally or in their garden; they knew exactly where this food came from and how it was grown.
The whole point of food inc. is to inform people about the food they eat, because many people are unaware of what goes into fast food and food that is purchase at the grocery store.
It is important to eat at least one meal a week that is grown locally, because it reduces oil use! Everyone should take the quiz, and see what you really know about the food that you are eating, you might be quite surprised... I know I was!
Heres the link to the website, there are several pages about the documentary but the food quiz is on the first page.
http://www.oprah.com/oprahshow/The-Truth-About-Food-with-Michael-Pollan/1
Monday, April 5, 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Chicken Fajitas, Guacamole and Reflections
I went to Mexico over spring break, so I when I got back home, I was craaaaving Mexican food. I think because I ate it for a week straight, I was having withdrawls when I was back in Bloomington :) I decided to make homemade guacamole and chicken fajitas. I didnt use a recipe this time (my first time without a recipe!) I felt confident without one because my mom has taught me how to make guacamole before, and because I ate chicken fajitas in mexico, I knew the ingreidiants that went into making them.
For the guacamole, I bought two avocados, tomatos, and onion. I mashed up the avocados, chopped the onions and tomatos and mixed them in, very easy! Then I added salt to taste, I dont like very salty things so I just added a little. My mom always said it tasted better after being chilled, so I put it in the fridge for about an hour and then ate it with some Tostitos corn chips. It was amazing and I felt like I was in Mexico again.
For the Fajitas, I thawed out 2 chicken breasts. Once they were thawed, I let them marinate overnight in some spices like lemon pepper, pepper, and salt to give it a little flavor. I cooked the chicken while also cooking the chopped up peppers (i cheated with this part because normal peppers are too expensive!!) I think this is a great way to save money, and also creates a delicious meal in half the time! You dont have to do as much chopping, but you are getting the same nutrition with the vegetables (a concern that is going on in our world) Once the chicken was cooked I sliced it and added it to the peppers. I layed out 2 corn tortillas, put cheese, the chicken and peppers on and some sour cream! In Mexico, they didnt have the cheese or sour cream, but I added it for a little extra tastiness. The fajitas were delicious and made me miss being in the warm tropical Mexican climate. But the guacamole and fajitas were extremely easy to make! I combined using fresh vegetable (avocados, tomatos and onions) with not so fresh vegetables (frozen peppers) and it ended up turning out great.
I think this is a great way for people to save money, but also enjoy the healthy fresh vegetable that are needed to keep them healthy.
--sidenote: I recently saw a special on the news about people not wanting to eat fresh fruits and vegetables because of their high prices. The special was about how people spend money on fast food because it is cheap, fast, and requires no cooking, baking or chopping. I completely disagree with them, and I think its just an excuse of laziness. Ameica can get all the nutrition they need, without having to spend lots of money on fresh produce. By combining the frozen and fresh items, it saves money and time; but also tastes just as good!
Also I was watching a food special on Oprah the other day, and a man was talking ( I completely forgot his name, but he was an author of a book about nutrition) and he said that he thinks if people took the time and effort of making their own food, and seeing what actually is put into it, then the world wouldnt have such an obesity problem.
He said not to deny yourself of fast food (french fries, hamburgers etc.) but you should only eat that type of food as much as you want to put the effort into making it yourself! I thought this idea was brilliant because making your own french fries takes a lot of effort and time to make, and he said normally you could just drive to McDonalds and have them prepared for you; but if you really want the fries, make them yourself! The more effort that is put into something that you eat, the less you're going to want to make it for yourself.
For the process of cooking, I enjoy it very much. I think its more fun to cook with others or to learn from a teacher and once you gain skills from others you can then come up with your own favorite tastes and qualities you enjoy. I also have learned that I enjoy cooking for other people, and seeing that they appreciate and enjoy what you have made for them. I cant wait to be a mom and entertain and cook for others- I think its one of my favorite things to do!
For the guacamole, I bought two avocados, tomatos, and onion. I mashed up the avocados, chopped the onions and tomatos and mixed them in, very easy! Then I added salt to taste, I dont like very salty things so I just added a little. My mom always said it tasted better after being chilled, so I put it in the fridge for about an hour and then ate it with some Tostitos corn chips. It was amazing and I felt like I was in Mexico again.
For the Fajitas, I thawed out 2 chicken breasts. Once they were thawed, I let them marinate overnight in some spices like lemon pepper, pepper, and salt to give it a little flavor. I cooked the chicken while also cooking the chopped up peppers (i cheated with this part because normal peppers are too expensive!!) I think this is a great way to save money, and also creates a delicious meal in half the time! You dont have to do as much chopping, but you are getting the same nutrition with the vegetables (a concern that is going on in our world) Once the chicken was cooked I sliced it and added it to the peppers. I layed out 2 corn tortillas, put cheese, the chicken and peppers on and some sour cream! In Mexico, they didnt have the cheese or sour cream, but I added it for a little extra tastiness. The fajitas were delicious and made me miss being in the warm tropical Mexican climate. But the guacamole and fajitas were extremely easy to make! I combined using fresh vegetable (avocados, tomatos and onions) with not so fresh vegetables (frozen peppers) and it ended up turning out great.
I think this is a great way for people to save money, but also enjoy the healthy fresh vegetable that are needed to keep them healthy.
--sidenote: I recently saw a special on the news about people not wanting to eat fresh fruits and vegetables because of their high prices. The special was about how people spend money on fast food because it is cheap, fast, and requires no cooking, baking or chopping. I completely disagree with them, and I think its just an excuse of laziness. Ameica can get all the nutrition they need, without having to spend lots of money on fresh produce. By combining the frozen and fresh items, it saves money and time; but also tastes just as good!
Also I was watching a food special on Oprah the other day, and a man was talking ( I completely forgot his name, but he was an author of a book about nutrition) and he said that he thinks if people took the time and effort of making their own food, and seeing what actually is put into it, then the world wouldnt have such an obesity problem.
He said not to deny yourself of fast food (french fries, hamburgers etc.) but you should only eat that type of food as much as you want to put the effort into making it yourself! I thought this idea was brilliant because making your own french fries takes a lot of effort and time to make, and he said normally you could just drive to McDonalds and have them prepared for you; but if you really want the fries, make them yourself! The more effort that is put into something that you eat, the less you're going to want to make it for yourself.
For the process of cooking, I enjoy it very much. I think its more fun to cook with others or to learn from a teacher and once you gain skills from others you can then come up with your own favorite tastes and qualities you enjoy. I also have learned that I enjoy cooking for other people, and seeing that they appreciate and enjoy what you have made for them. I cant wait to be a mom and entertain and cook for others- I think its one of my favorite things to do!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
This week for my blog, I really wanted to do something for Valentines Day! I also have yet to make something sweet. Originally it was my plan to make many different types of food and different courses so eventually I could put an entire meal including dessert together. So this week I made a dessert! I wanted to have fun with it and be a little more creative than I have been previously with my cooking. My one roommate Brittany would not stop talking about how she is craving rice krispie treats (her favorite thing to eat) so I decided to surprise her and make pink, heart-shaped rice krispe treats for Valentine's Day!
Because I had no clue where to get a recipe like this, I turned to my best friend/search engine: Google.com. It turns out that rice krispie treats aren't very hard to make. Their ingredients are marshmallows, rice krispies, butter, food coloring (pink color), wax paper, a cookie sheet and a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Here is the recipe I found: http://www.cafemom.com/dailybuzz/food_party/2818/Valentines_Day_Rice_Krispie_Treats
Because I had no clue where to get a recipe like this, I turned to my best friend/search engine: Google.com. It turns out that rice krispie treats aren't very hard to make. Their ingredients are marshmallows, rice krispies, butter, food coloring (pink color), wax paper, a cookie sheet and a heart-shaped cookie cutter. Here is the recipe I found: http://www.cafemom.com/dailybuzz/food_party/2818/Valentines_Day_Rice_Krispie_Treats
This recipe was so much fun to make, and I really enjoy cooking/baking for other people. My roommate was super surprise when she got home and found me making these for her! The recipe doesn't say to decorate the rice krispie treats, but I decided to put my own little creative twist on the recipe. So I bought some pink and red frosting to decorate the treats! I tried to be creative and make the rice krispie treats look valentine day themed. The K, J, and B letters on the treats stand for the names of me and my two roommates. 
Like I said, I had so much fun making these and because the recipe wasn't very difficult; I wouldn't mind making rice krispie treats all the time! I was a little nervous at first to be dealing with melting marshmallows over a stove...thinking it could turn into a disastrous mess; but it ended up not being messy at all! The only difficult part was cutting the rice krispies out with the heart-shaped cookie cutter. Once the mixture hardens (which is only about 7 minutes after cooking it) it is very difficult to press the cutter into the rice krispies. In the recipe, it says that you can microwave the mixture but I decided not to, and just used my muscles (or lack thereof).
I'm not sure what I want to take on next week, perhaps homemade hamburgers and french fries? I've heard that they are very tasty and not too dificult to make. We'll just have to see!
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Week 3, Lasagna!
Ingredients^
Sauce^
Ricotta Cheese^
Layering the ingredients^
Finished Uncooked
Finished!This week for my cooking experience, I made spinach lasagna. I've been wanting to make a pasta dish because I love any type of pasta. I was feeling a little homesick, so I decided to make lasagna, a dish that my mom usually makes at home. Hopefully it could cure me :) So I emailed my mom asking her for her recipe and she gave it to me. I've always watched her make it but never really paid attention to the ingredients or how she puts everything together. So I knew it would be a little bit of a challenge.
Even though Im not italian, my family tends to make italian dishes at home. Pastas like ravioli, lasagna and spaghetti are my favorites that my mom makes. What I eat at home is probably far different from what Italians make in Italy. But as the culture came to America, the food is Americanized, and changed to fit what Americans like to eat.
Here is the recipe similar to the one that my mom uses:
The only problems I ran into during the process was that I was a little short on sauce and cheese when topping off the lasagna. My roommates were very excited when they found out I was cooking this, but my one roommate doesnt like spinach so I did half the lasagna with spinach and half without. The recipe says to mix the spinach with the ricotta cheese mixture, but instead I just put the spinach on separately. Also you must definitely plan ahead when making this because it takes an hour to cook the lasagna. I started making it at 8:00, so by the time it was finished getting prepared, cooked and cooled it was 9:45! (a little late to be eating dinner, at least for me) So make sure you start a little early when making this! Other than that, the pasta was delicious and I felt like I was just at home again. My mom was also very impressed!
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Week 2, Fried Rice!
This week I was feeling a little ethnic and craving Chinese food, so I decided to make chicken fried rice. I wanted to branch out, and since I chopped some vegetables last week, I figured I could use a little more practice with that. I've also never cooked white rice before so I was a little nervous, because I've heard its difficult. To be properly prepared for fried rice I had to go to the grocery store to purchase fresh vegetables that the recipe called for.
I found this recipe at allrecipes.com, which is my new favorite site for my new cooking experience. This site seems to have all types of recipes, ranging from very easy to very difficult and includes all types of ethnicity's. The recipes says that you can use pretty much any types of vegetables that you prefer in your rice. I decided to use peas, mushrooms, carrots and onions because these are the vegetables that are usually in the fried rice I order from takeout restaurants. The recipe also calls for white rice (obviously) eggs, soy sauce, butter (to saute chicken in), 2 chicken breasts. Here is a link to the website http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Aprils-Chicken-Fried-Rice/Detail.aspx
The only problems that I encountered while making the fried rice was that I may have cooked the white rice a little too long because it ended up being somewhat sticky, and was a little difficult to "fry." Also, I could have used a bigger pan to make it in. The biggest pan I owned was a little too small and I didn't realize how many ingredients had to go into the pan. Also, the recipe used only 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. I love soy sauce so I used quite a bit more, it definitely needed it otherwise it would've been very dry. Overall, the rice was very delicious and I had plenty leftover (2 containers full!!!) If I cook this again, I will probably make a little less and cook the white rice less so it is not overcooked.
Next week I plan on making a pasta dish. I LOVE pasta from Italian restaurants, so I would ideally like to replicate a dish from Olive Garden or something like that. Since I have some experience with chopping vegetables, I could make a recipe that required to chop. So far, I've really enjoyed everything that I've made. I also plan on collecting all the recipes I've used during this experience and making a cookbook of my own. I will include recipes that I enjoyed making and hopefully ones that I didn't get a chance to make. It will inspire me to cook more and I will have recipes for the future, to use my skill. I'm really looking forward to making pasta, because like I said before, its my favorite!!
Also, the cheddar and broccoli soup didn't last very long at my house! My roommates ate it right up, and it tasted even better leftover! It was super easy to heat up for lunch on a cold winter day!
I found this recipe at allrecipes.com, which is my new favorite site for my new cooking experience. This site seems to have all types of recipes, ranging from very easy to very difficult and includes all types of ethnicity's. The recipes says that you can use pretty much any types of vegetables that you prefer in your rice. I decided to use peas, mushrooms, carrots and onions because these are the vegetables that are usually in the fried rice I order from takeout restaurants. The recipe also calls for white rice (obviously) eggs, soy sauce, butter (to saute chicken in), 2 chicken breasts. Here is a link to the website http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Aprils-Chicken-Fried-Rice/Detail.aspx
The only problems that I encountered while making the fried rice was that I may have cooked the white rice a little too long because it ended up being somewhat sticky, and was a little difficult to "fry." Also, I could have used a bigger pan to make it in. The biggest pan I owned was a little too small and I didn't realize how many ingredients had to go into the pan. Also, the recipe used only 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. I love soy sauce so I used quite a bit more, it definitely needed it otherwise it would've been very dry. Overall, the rice was very delicious and I had plenty leftover (2 containers full!!!) If I cook this again, I will probably make a little less and cook the white rice less so it is not overcooked.
Next week I plan on making a pasta dish. I LOVE pasta from Italian restaurants, so I would ideally like to replicate a dish from Olive Garden or something like that. Since I have some experience with chopping vegetables, I could make a recipe that required to chop. So far, I've really enjoyed everything that I've made. I also plan on collecting all the recipes I've used during this experience and making a cookbook of my own. I will include recipes that I enjoyed making and hopefully ones that I didn't get a chance to make. It will inspire me to cook more and I will have recipes for the future, to use my skill. I'm really looking forward to making pasta, because like I said before, its my favorite!!
Also, the cheddar and broccoli soup didn't last very long at my house! My roommates ate it right up, and it tasted even better leftover! It was super easy to heat up for lunch on a cold winter day!
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