Chinese Style Marinated Celery and Carrots

Have I mentioned that I have a long-distance, one-sided, completely unrequited crush on Mark Bittman?

I loved his Bitten column in the NY Times (now changed to a food/dining column I don't like so much), his book Food Matters, and I finally splurged and purchased the How to Cook Everything iPad app. For an app, it's a bit pricey: $9.99 - but it is well done and I really like it.  So much I'm thinking about gifting one to my mother.  (I love that iTunes lets you do that).

Yummy Real-Food, Waist Friendly Hot Chocolate

Have you read the ingredient list on the packet of Swiss Miss Sugar-Free Hot Chocolate? It's scary - there's very little I can pronounce. I love hot chocolate and I love the convenience of the packets provided at work. But, I hate the way the chemicals make me feel.

My BF makes hot chocolate from scratch - whole milk, melted chocolate and a tiny bit of sugar. To die for. Maybe literally as well as figuratively if one drinks too much of this wonderful concoction. But, this traditional recipe is not practical for work. I needed something easier and went on a search.

Recipe after recipe called for non-dairy creamer. WHAT? Do you know what's in that stuff? Scary. Then I found it - the perfect recipe that calls for nothing but real ingredients:

1 cup dried non-fat milk
1/4 cup cocoa powder (Dutch processed is best)
1/2 cup sugar.
pinch of salt

That's a lot of sugar so I deviated from my real food campaign in lieu of health. I substituted Splenda granular for the sugar

Mix all the ingredients very well. For a serving of hot chocolate, mix 3 TBSP with about 6 oz of hot water. Stir well. Enjoy. 

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size: 1 serving

Amount Per Serving
Calories 56

Total Fat 0.5g
Saturated Fat 0.3g
Cholesterol 2mg
Sodium 63mg
Carbohydrate 9.9g
Dietary Fiber 1.2g
Sugars 8.1g
Protein 4.7g

Vitamin A 5% Vitamin C 1%
Calcium 15% Iron 3%

Look for Ideas

I think many of us get stuck in the same old thinking rut and tell ourselves 

"I don't have time."

"It will take too long"

"It's too expensive"

I just ran across another NY Times article by Mark Bittman that give some great inexpensive ways to incorporate REAL FOOD into your daily lives without adding a great deal of time or expense.  Fresh Start for a New Year? Let’s Begin in the Kitchen

I'm sending this article to my partner - the savoy cabbage with sherry vinegar sounds great!

The World's Healthiest Foods

I'm reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food and it's already got me rethinking my 'obsession' with nutrition, but I do think most of us either have forgotten or need to learn how to eat healthy, real food. George Mateljan's web site The World's Healthiest Foods is a great resource to learn about the nutritional content of foods and how it can help you make incorporate healthy foods in your diet.

It also has tons of recipes and healthy cooking techniques. Overall, it's a great site. One thing I really like is that while Mateljan does sell his book through the site, he doesn't push it on site visitors. He generously makes so much information available for no cost at all. I appreciate that.

Here's that site again - giving the URL this time: www.whfoods.com