Great Snacking with Trader Joe’s

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Like we told you in previous posts, we are working towards making positive changes in out diet. For us, this means that we not only will eat more at home, but ensure that we make better/ more healthy choices about what we eat when we go out.

Enter: The Snack Zone -OK this is really just a plastic bin in the refrigerator that is stocked with a variety of items that are ready-to-eat and ready to-go standing by for us to grab when we are hungry or as we are heading out the door.

Recently we have had a nice selection in the Snack Zone: cheese and crackers and nut mixtures (Trader Joe’s Cashews, Cranberries and Almond) portioned out in small bags. We like to stock the Snack Zone on Friday’s after shopping at Trader Joe’s to get ready for the next week. (This does not always happen, but it is a goal we are working on;)

So this week, with the weather turning a bit warmer (Truthfully…. it is 80+ degrees here in Tucson today…sorry if you are out shoveling snow) we chose a couple of new snack items to add to our weekly menu mix. Two of our requirements of snacks is that they be quick to put together (especially at the last minute) and portable so that we can take them on the road with ease. Also we like to change it up, and these new snack items are just the thing after a number of weeks of cheese and crackers and nuts.

Currently our Snack Zone consists of:

Trader Joe’s Persian Cucumbers
These are petite cucumbers that sorta resemble those long English cucumbers, only smaller. The skins are tender and they are not “Waxed for Freshness” (which often happens to cucumbers-yuck!) so you can eat the peels. They are sweet and tender and simply wonderful.

Trader Joe’s Hummus
This tub of hummus has just enough garlic for a great flavor, with out being too strong and it is blended into a creamy consistency that is not watery.

Trader Joe’s Baby Carrots
What can we say? they are sweet and ready to eat right from the bag. The ultimate Fast Food for busy people.

We have sliced up the cucumbers and poured out the baby carrots into a zip-top bag, and then spooned out the hummus into a small plastic container. So now this snack is ready to go when we are ready to head out the door or just our table.

We are enjoying trying out these new, heather snack options (especially after “taste testing” all that Easter Candy). We hope you get inspired to try those Persian cucumbers or the Hummus the next time you are shopping at Trader Joe’s.

Trader Joe's Hummus & Veg

Trader Joe's Hummus & Veg

Food Revolution Cooks up Huntington

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Jamie Oliver’s show was on again last night. Jamie’s Food Revolution (ABC Friday nights) has been a nice show to watch amidst all the crazy, drama filled shows that are currently available on regular TV.

This last show was a bit more “heavy” than the other shows up to this point.

For those of you who missed it (Don’t worry- go to ABC.com and watch last nights show or any other shows that you missed.) Jamie is still working on changing the food in the local schools. But on this show his goal of motivating the entire town of Huntington to cook and eat healthier foods.

One way that Jamie hopes will help the town is to set up a cooking “School” where people can come and learn to cook a meal or even get some budgeting help to plan and prepare meals from scratch.

Jamie and the local radio station host get a bet going that Jamie can’t get 1,000 people in the town to come out and learn to cook one dish with him. So Jamie gets really creative in order to drum up awareness for his Food Revolution.

These creative measures include:

1. Organizing a Flash Mob at the local college, who start to sing and dance and cook with Jamie.

2. Closing down the street in front of Jamie’s shop and having a huge cook-a -thon cooking class with 50 or so folks.

3. Getting that same local radio station host on his side via education on disease and even death.

This third part is by far the most informational for us, the viewer at home, and the radio guy as well. They start out at a local funeral home, checking out the huge caskets that are needed to hold people who are obese. Now we had a bit of a sneak peek on this earlier on Oprah back in March, but it was interesting to see the entire visit. Sadly, it was noted that these super-sized caskets are more in demand than ever before. We should all think of this the next time we order a super-sized meal, right?

Next Jamie brings together the radio guy with some of the families and students who are supportive of the Food Revolution to talk about how obesity has affected their lives.

While many touching stories were told, we enjoyed watching the transformation of the radio guy from someone who thought Jamie should “mind his own business” to someone who could now understand what the Food Revolution was all about.

The bottom line: Jamie wins the bet, gets his 1,000 people to cook with him and along the way has found a local influential supporter of the Food Revolution.

We wondered if we all do that on some level. I mean we all know we should avoid the fried stuff, and eat more veggies as a rule, but so many times we have ignored this advice and instead turned to something a bit cheaper or more convent, or that just tastes Yummy! Eeks! Here staring us in the face, is the outcome of 30 or so years of eating without thinking twice.

We enjoy eating out just as much as the next person, but since watching the Food Revolution on TV and reading Jamie Oliver’s book The Food Revolution, we have made much more of an effort to eat our meals at home. We really are enjoying eating in where we are in more control of the quality of the ingredients, how they are cooked, and what is added to them. (Shameless plug for Trader Joe’s, as this store makes it EASY to eat great at home).

So have you been watching The Food Revolution on Friday nights? What do you think?

OK Confession: after watching last night’s show, and watching 1,000 people cook the same stir-fry meal, we HAD to search for the recipe on line:

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/beef-and-vegetable-stir-fry

We are going to make this for dinner SOON!

Dinner and a Movie Night

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Trader Joe's Indian Fare

Trader Joe's Indian Fare

Or, a “night out” while staying in…

Are you looking for something a little different for dinner tonight or a night this weekend?
What about trying a Dinner/Movie combo night from the comfort of your own home?

Maybe we are a little odd, but we like to team up movies with corresponding cuisine and pretend to be out on vacation someplace else.

The idea originally came to us quite a while ago, during a hot summer. We were in the public library and were checking out the DVD’s  (OK truthfully?  this is soo far back in time, that I remember looking at VHS tapes…..). Anyway we found  ourselves browsing in a section on travel videos to cold places, and so we checked a couple out to, you know, sorta go on vacation without leaving the area. There are a zillion of these travel DVD’s at the library and on a range of places all over the world.

Well, to make this potentially long story short, we LOVED it, and have expanded the “just watching travel videos” to watching films that take place in other countries and more recently, adding some special food/ meals to movie night.  This combination makes it feel as if we have gone on a mini vacation, even if for only one night.

So last Saturday, we watched the movie “Bend it like Beckham” and ate some wonderful Indian food from Trader Joe’s. YUM!
The Movie “Bend it like Beckham” Bend It Like Beckham (Widescreen Edition)
for those who don’t know it, takes place in London and is the story about a young woman who loves to play football  (soccer to Americans).  And how she is trying to find her place growing up between what her parents want her to do (Traditional Indian cultural expectations such as get married and learn to make traditional Indian foods) and her love of playing football and desire to go to college. This movie is touching and funny and has wonderful scenes of  her sister’s traditional Indian wedding along with scenes from the London area where they all live.

For our meal selection we chose Trader Joe’s Brown Basmati Rice and Trader Joe’s Indian Fare Punjab Choley. This is a meal of garbanzo beans in a tomato sauce with some ginger and other assorted spices. This meal is so flavorful that we add another can of garbanzo beans to stretch out the sauce without loosing any of the spice. In fact if you are a “medium spice” kind of person like we are, we highly, recommend the additional can of beans, as the Punjab Choley is very spicy!

We were also supposed to pick up a package of Trader Joe’s Garlic Nan Bread (in the freezer section) but we just plum forgot. Oops! Oh well, I guess we will have to have another Indian Movie “night out” soon! Both the Garlic Nan and the regular Nan are wonderful- they heat up in about 5 minutes.

One new place that we are getting our movies is from Netflix. This is a great service, that seems to work well for busy people. For those of you that don’t know about it, you manage your account on the computer, and select the next video you want, and it arrives in your mailbox. We have not been members that long, but we have both really enjoyed the selection of movies that we can choose from as well as the speed in which movies arrive. To return movies, just stick them back in the postage paid envelope and back in the mailbox. In about 2 days the next movie on your list, or queue, appears in your mailbox like magic. …hmm magic… maybe we should have shepherds pie and watch a Harry Potter flick…

So the next time you are looking for a fun night out, try our Dinner and a Movie “night out at home” instead. With the variety of items that you can find a Trader Joe’s, the possibles are endless.

What dinner/movie combos have you tried?

Do you need ideas for your next dinner/movie combo? Leave a reply after this post, with your requests. Maybe we can brainstorm together…

Food Revolution Heads to High School

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Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution

Hey did you catch Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution on Friday night?

We did, and thought the show brought up many interesting and also sad points about the state of the way we eat in the United States.

When the show starts, Jamie is 2 or so weeks into some big changes at the local elementary school. In order to serve Jamie’s made-from-scratch menu, more people are needed in the kitchen to prep and cook all the items before the official lunch time. Of course there is also a bit of drama with the staff in the kitchen as they are becoming concerned about how they will be able to keep up with all the prep work in the future.

What we did notice when the cameras went out into the dining room were a number of students eating their veggies. WOW. This goal almost appeared unreachable in the first two shows, yet here they were eating a variety of items on their plates. There is even a close up of a student munching on a piece of broccoli.

So what does this tell us? Will we all eat better and healthier if we just place good fresh foods in our path? It started to make us think about the many choices that we make every day and how like Jamie says, a few little changes can really start something BIG.

The second point that made an impression on us that night was some of the “food ironies” that came up and was being enforced at the schools (via the USDA requirements).

Jamie has made an entree at the high school of veggie lo mien and teriyaki chicken. Now this lunch –all freshly made from fresh ingredients mind you did not pass the eagle eye of the district food rep who said that there was not enough veggie on that “meal”. OK fair enough you say, but in the same shot we are watching students take a fried, breaded chicken patty on a bun and a handful of French fries as a meal with not a veggie in the basket.

Now Jamie nicely points out this discrepancy to the district food rep, who replies something about the students can choose a salad to eat with this meal.

Oh really….

How many students do you think ran over to the salad bar to create a salad? Yes, you guessed it, not one.

What we could not get is why students could not just add that salad to Jamie’s entrée that day if this system worked so well…

Also we secretly wondered when the last time a student ever did eat a salad from that salad bar? I would have thought if ONE student had chosen a salad with all those TV cameras in the area there would have been many a close up of this amazing event.

The highlight of the night occurred when Jamie organized a group of high school students to help him spread the word about better eating at the high school (and life in general) and has the students help him cook for a 80 person fundraiser to help support better school food.

The students had only cooked with Jamie one time prior to the creation of this meal. Jamie had created a nice menu and ordered all the ingredients, but the prep work, cooking and serving of the meal was Jamie and his group of high school students.

Well, to alleviate any anxiety that you might be having at the thought of this arrangement the outcome: just Fantastic!!

They, the students, did an excellent job of executing all stages of this meal. Naturally there were a few challenges, such as burning some toast etc… but hey that could occur in anyone’s kitchen right? (It happens around here too). They best part was at the end of the meal when Jamie allows each one to say a few words to the audience of potential donors to urge them to give to the cause.

We are just enjoying this show so much! We especially love the fact that Jamie Oliver feels so passionately about his Food Revolution. He is so committed to making some BIG changes in the school lunch programs, and ultimately everyone’s kitchen.

Have you joined the Food Revolution yet? You can find out more information and sign the petition at: http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution

Have you joined yet??