I came across this link while perusing the Real Simple website. I never thought to use newspaper to deodorize! (Numbers 1 and 10) And as for number 7, that's how I wrapped my Christmas presents this year :)

So, if you read my blog, you know that I've read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle because I quoted it quite a bit here. What frustrated me a bit with the book was that while it had a lot of information, it was not relevant to Wisconsin. What I mean by that is the book spoke of the author's seasonal food options; those options may not be seasonal here.

Then I found this site that's helpful. It's a Winter Food Chart, packed with information on fruits and vegetables commonly available in winter. It features tips on how to pick the best fresh items, what to do with them when you get them home, and they suggest some recipes as well. I hope it helps you guys!

Everyone's been gushing about my gingerbread cookie recipe, but I swear, it's the easiest, most average recipe! And of course, it's from my favorite magazine, Real Simple.

Makes 3 dozen medium-size cookies
8 tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 large egg
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for the work surface
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Heat oven to 350. Beat the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium-high until smooth. Add the molasses and egg and beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt, then add slowly to the butter mixture, mixing until just incorporated .Shape into a flat disk. Refrigerate, wrapped, for 30 minutes. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into shapes and place on lined baking sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until firm. Cool slightly on the sheets before transferring to cooling racks.

"Food is for eating, and good food is to be enjoyed.... I think food is, actually, very beautiful in itself."
-Delia Smith, quoted in the TIMES of London (October 17, 1990)

I don't know about you, but I STILL have leftover turkey (now along with leftover ham). So tonight I'm making turkey reubens for dinner! Here's the recipe, thanks to the Real Simple November issue.

Serves 4
Spread 4 slices rye bread with Dijon mustard and another 4 with Russian dressing. Dividing evenly, top the mustard-spread bread slices with 8 slices roasted turkey, 1 cup sauerkraut, 8 slices Swiss cheese, and the remaining bread. Pan-fry the sandwiches in olive oil until the cheese melts.

I'll be adjusting it to use Thousand Island dressing and Pepperjack cheese. And I'm thinking about making oven fries to serve with it. And, of course, pickles!

I know a lot of people are traveling to visit friends and family around this time of year. If you're headed anywhere on a plane, you have to check out this article. It chronicles the healthy-ness (or lack) of meal choices on many different airlines. And I didn't even know this was an annual thing. I'm curious to see if these airlines change according to how they rank on this survey every year. Interesting stuff, check it out!

Are you like me and still trying to figure out what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers? Well last night we used up some turkey leftovers by making Turkey Enchiladas. They were so yummy! Here's the exact recipe from Real Simple's November issue and then I'll tell you what I changed.

Combine 2 cups shredded roasted turkey, 1 cup corn, and 1 cup shredded pepper Jack cheese; season with salt and pepper. Roll up in 8 small flour tortillas and place in a baking dish. Top with 1 cup enchilada sauce and 1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese. Bake at 400 until heated through, 15 to 20 minutes.

I thought using corn was a little too much carb so I used fat free refried beans, canned diced tomato and a small can of chopped green chiles. We also don't really ever have flour tortillas in the house, so I used corn ones. It was seriously so good, I highly recommend trying this. And if you don't have turkey, use chicken!

Food Quotes

Eating well gives a spectacular joy to life and contributes immensely to good will and hapy companionship.
-Elsa Schiaparelli, Shocking Life

Sharing food is communion with friends and the earth.
-Paul Hawken, Blessed Unrest

I made this recipe the other night but I didn't have all the ingredients listed so I adjusted it a little. I'll give you the recipe first and then tell you what I did instead. (Courtesy of Food Network Magazine November)

Cheesy Chile Rice
Mix 2 cups cooked rice, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 cup chopped scallions, a 4-ounce can chopped green chiles (drained), 1 cup shredded cheddar, and salt and cayenne to taste. Butter a casserole dish and sprinkle with parmesan. Spread the rice mixture in the dish, sprinkle with more parmesan and dot with butter. Bake 20 minutes at 450.

So I didn't have sour cream, scallions, shredded cheddar or parmesan. So instead, I added some regular pepper, a can of cream of celery and then sliced pepperjack cheese on top. Use your own variation and it's sure to be DELICIOUS!

Here are some tips from the November issue of Food Network Magazine on how to eat more this Thanksgiving.

Stretch out your stomach.
A few days before Turkey Day, prepare the way cranberry-sauce-eating champ Juliet Lee does: Have one big meal and nothing else. "A lot of people eat six meals a day," Lee says. "I only eat once." That way, he trains her stomach to take in loads of food at a time.

Stay away from the booze.
It's tempting to reach for a big glass of wine during the feast, but turkey-eating champion Patrick Bertoletti says to resist; the calories will keep you from being able to consume more food. "Wine just takes up extra space in your stomach," he says.

Start with dessert.
You'll get funny looks when you bwgin your meal with pie, but tiramisu-eating champion Eater X says this is the best strategy. "The sugar burns off real quick," he says, so by the time you're done with turkey and stuffing, you'll be ready for round two of pumpkin pie.

Check out this site: Cheeseforme.com
It tells you, based on your personality, what type of Wisconsin cheeses you'd like. I got baby swiss, what'd you get?

More fun facts from Real Simple magazine!

2 smashing things to make with pumpkin puree:

• Pumpkin Pancakes (Serves 4) Prepare 1 cup dry pancake mix according to the package directions. Whisk in 1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree.
• Pumpkin Whipped Cream (Makes 2 cups) Beat together 1 cup heavy cream, 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, and 1 tablespoon canned pumpkin puree until soft peaks form.

"Everything you see I owe to spaghetti." - Sophia Loren

The first waffle-iron patent in the U.S. was issued in 1869 to Cornelius Swartwout of Troy, NY.

3 lemonade cocktails, ala Real Simple magazine.
(Each serves 4.)

Lemonade Margarita
Mix 2 1/4 cups lemonade and 3/4 cup tequila. Garnish with lemon rounds.

Lemon-Champagne Sparkler
Mix 1 cup lemonade, 2 cups Champagne or some other sparkling wine, and 2 tablespoons cranberry juice cocktail.

Gin Shandy
Mix 1 cup lemonade, one 12-ounce bottle ginger beer, and 3/4 cup gin.

Mmm, yummm... Drink up!

4 big moments in pickle history courtesy of Real Simple magazine.

• Aristotle praised their healing effects in 350 B.C.
• Julius Caesar fed them to his troops, supposedly believing they lent physical and spiritual strength.
• Cleopatra insisted that eating them enhanced her beauty.
• Christopher Columbus brought them to the New World on his 15th-century voyage.
  

Some of these websites are really great! (Taken from HG newsletter)


Wondering how many calories are in that plate of nachos? Or just how many
of those nachos you can eat without gaining weight? How about how many
laps around the track it'd take to burn 'em off? Or maybe you just need a
place to track all the calories and crunches, pounds lost and goals gained?
HG's got the 411...

Calorie-Counter Alert!

CalorieKing is BY FAR the most ginormous, accurate, and easy-to-use
website for nutritional info we've seen. You can search the Food Database for
free and find out how many calories, fat grams, carbs, etc., are in pretty
much any food imaginable. Aside from restaurant nutritionals, data on
supermarket items, and fast food breakdowns, the folks at CalKing also give
overall averages on generic items (a tuna sandwich, for example). Plus, you
can easily alter the serving size to match your actual intake, and the site'll
calculate those numbers instantly. This site is a royal lifesaver and we drop
in daily!

Feel the Burn...

Everything you do burns calories, from cycling in your spinning class to
snoring (hopefully not in your spinning class)! But you may be burning more,
or less, than you think. Fitness Partner will calculate calories burned at your
specific weight for more than 200 activities. The best part is that you can
view 'em all as one giant list and compare the activities. (Other sites make
you enter and view the activities one at a time.) CalorieLab is another cool
site for counting how many calories you burn. Choose from a list of diverse
categories like occupation (masseuses burn more calories than traffic cops),
indoor exercise machines, and self care (blow-drying your hair burns more
than showering). Some of those are a little silly (we're NOT recommending
you try styling your hair for 3 hours in place of a workout!), but it's
interesting stuff for sure.

Get Personal...

Knowing how many calories to consume in a day is great, but what about
your other daily needs like fat, carbs, protein, and more? And finding out
your BMI is a good start, but what about what to do to improve it? iVillage's
health calculators will tell you all that and more. Find out your target heart
rate and get advice on the areas of your lifestyle that may need
improvement. Good stuff, people!

One-Click Wonder...

SparkPeople is one awesome website, humans. There's so much to do, it's a
little ridiculous (in a completely good way!). Join for free and get busy
tracking exercise and calorie intake, chatting up experts and fellow members
in the community section, browsing through and sharing recipes & tips, plus
lots more. Members (and even those just dropping by) can view fitness
videos and read up on the latest health news. Basically, this site does
everything but scramble your eggs for you and drive you to the gym. Hooray!

This is also cut from yesterday's HG newsletter. Read up :)

The Buzz... Please take a minute to check out this list of the 272 highest-calorie fast food items. Some human spent a lot of time compiling this. (It's not 100% up-to-date, but it's still super-helpful.) It's ranked from highest to lowest, the highest being a 1,680-calorie shake and the lowest being a 700-calorie chicken sandwich. YOWZA! ***Food is great, and food that makes us more attractive is even better! A Japanese research team recently unveiled data that proves blackcurrants not only improve blood flow, but may also reduce dark circles under your eyes. AWESOME! *** D.I.Y. French-fry fanatics, you may want to pay attention. A new product called the ActiFry is now on the market and gets your spuds (and spud swaps) more fry-like than a regular old oven and with a minimal amount of oil. We tried it, and it's pretty cool! Thing is, it's basically a "unitasker" -- meaning it mainly does one thing really well and takes up a lot of space. Plus, it's SUPER-pricey. Those low-fat fries might be worth it, though... ***And finally... WE'VE HIT 800,000 SUBSCRIBERS!!! The lucky winners of a year's worth of Popchips AND VitaTops EACH are Magaly (the 800,000th subscriber herself) and Nina (the awesome friend who referred her). Congratulations, you two, and get ready for some SERIOUS snacking. Now, how on Earth are we gonna outdo ourselves when we hit A MILLION subscribers?! That's all we've got. HG out!

This is straight from Hungry Girl's daily newsletter, important information people!

Eat Right: Potentially Reduce Breast Cancer Risk

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and we're here with some helpful info. Getting the right nutrients could up your body's cancer-fighting abilities, so here are some fantastic foods that may aid in breast cancer prevention...

Nuts and Seeds - These guys are full of healthy fats and potential anticancer properties. Go for almonds and walnuts (check out Emerald's 100 Calorie Packs of Natural Walnuts and Almonds), flax seeds (we love Kashi's Pumpkin Spice Flax granola bars and thin-crust pizzas made with flax seeds), and pumpkin seeds (give it up for Kashi again, with its delicious seed-sprinkled Mayan Harvest Bake).

Fruits and Veggies - The more, the better. Broccoli, cabbage, spinach, and berries are all excellent sources of phytochemicals, which may assist in disease prevention. BTW, eating your veggies raw or lightly cooked is the best way to retain those good-for-you nutrients.

Whole Grains - Experts say high-fiber carbs might not trigger cell growth in breast tissue the way that white carbs (like flour and rice) could. So go for oats, bran, whole-wheat flour, and brown rice.

For more about National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, including recipes, resources, and how you can help, click here. Knowledge is power, people!

Check out Macy's Feeding America campaign for ways you can help!

Thanks to my Facebook status, many have asked for my recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies. Yields about 36 cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 can (15 oz) pure pumpkin
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups (12 oz pckg) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375. Grease baking sheets.

Combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, baking powder, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Beat butter and sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in pumpkin, eggs and vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

You're welcome and enjoy! :)

I most definitely made these double chocolate marshmallow shakes last night and they were so yummy! Now, it was kind of a lot of work. I'm going to make them again except just make the chocolate shake part and then put a dollop of the fluff on top. So good!

If you're a big Hungry Girl fan like me, you know she likes to use a lot of swap-outs. One of her favorites is substituting Fiber One cereal for regular breading. Here are some of her tips on using Fiber One.

• Grind up a big batch of Fiber One all at once. Stash it in an airtight container, and you'll get to skip the "grind to a breadcrumb-like consistency" step the next time you faux-fry. FYI, a quarter cup of the crumbs is equal to a half cup of the cereal.
• Raid your spice rack. Get crazy and add your favorite seasonings (cayenne pepper, taco seasoning mix, dried basil, etc.) to your crumbs. HIgh fiber and high flavor!
• Swap out the egg sustitute. The egg is only there to help the crumbs stick to your food. So if there's a guilt-free sauce or dressing you love, coat your food in that before you roll it in Fiber One crumbs for an extra flavor boost.
• Have extra ingredients on hand. Our recipes call for pretty much the exact amount of Fiber One and egg substitute needed to cat your food completely, which means you may feel like you're running out at the end. To avoid any stress, portion out a little more than what's called for.
• Insist on the one-and-only Fiber One bran cereal (original). Do not, under any circumstances, attempt to faux-fry with some other high-fiber cereal, including the other varieties of F1. Caramel Delight onion rings = not recommended.
• Mix 'n match. Can't decide between Faux-Fried Zucchini and Fiber-ific Fried Cheese Sticks? No problem! Grab whatever you have in the fridge (within reason), roll it all in crumbly goodness, and serve it up with a couple yummy dipping sauces. It'll be like having one of those restaurant sampler platters, without all the grease.
• Eyes bigger than your stomach? There's no shame in leftovers, but your faux-fried goodies DO typically taste better right out of the oven. If you need to reheat 'em the next day, skip the microwave and pop them in the oven at a high temperature to crisp up. Just make sure they don't burn.
• Don't stop at these recipes! Use them as jumping-off points and get creative. What else can you roll in fiber-ific breadcrumbs? Mushrooms? Pineapple? Broccoli? Go for it!
  

A new article is suggesting that 1 in 4 food nutritional labels is wrong. Is it possible?

More HG food trivia from 200 Under 200!

• An average 8 ounce pina colada packs in about 350 calories and over 10 grams fat. Quadruple that if you down one of the ginormous restaurant versions.
• The average slice of banana bread contains a ridiculous 326 calories and 12 grams fat, and it's not uncommon for a slice to have TWICE as much fat as that (thanks to all those nuts!). That's BANANAS!
• A typical 16 ounce iced vanilla latte contains around 330 calories and 7 grams fat, and it doesn't even come with fun frozen Cool Whip! BO-RING!
• Fiber in ice cream? Yup. Check out Breyers Double Churn FREE Fat Free Ice Cream. Each cool 'n creamy half-cup scoop serves up 3 to 4 grams fiber.
• A slice of pumpkin cheesecake from a restaurant packs in around 400 calories and 26 grams fat. Cheesecake can be SCARY!
  

Try this recipe - you will NOT be disappointed! And, don't just make it for Sunday brunch - try it for a weeknight dinner too. Or dessert of course!

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

Cook Time: 12 minutes
Yield: about 12 cakes, 4 servings

Ingredients

• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 ounces, 1/4 cup, chopped walnuts
• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 really ripe bananas, mashed up
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 1/2 stick butter, 1/4 cup, melted, plus additional for buttering skillet
• Maple syrup or honey, for drizzling

Directions

Here's a great tip: if you cannot find really ripe bananas, just nuke them in the microwave for about 15 seconds and they will become super soft for mashing.

Mix dry ingredients, the first 7, in a bowl. In a another bowl, mix the wet ingredients, the next 4. Whisk the wet ingredients into the dry until just combined, then fold in the mashed up bananas and the raisins. Stir in the melted butter.

Heat a griddle over medium heat and brush with additional melted butter. Cook pancakes, each about 1/3 cup, until bubbles form on the top, then turn. Cakes will cook in about 2 minutes on each side. Keep pancakes tented with foil as they come off the griddle to keep them hot. Serve with drizzled honey or maple syrup over the top.

On this day in history, September 22nd, the ice cream cone was invented, thus making this... National Ice Cream Cone Day!

More HG facts from 200 Under 200...

• Cold pizza is a surprisingly popular breakfast food, and not just among college students. One ABC News poll cited that 39 percent of Americans have, at some point, eaten cold pizza for breakfast.
• On average, Americans eat about half a pound of cheese a week. Whoa!
• Meringues are sometimes called "forgotten cookies," simply because you bake them for an hour and then let them sit in the cooling oven for at least another hour - or until you remember that you have fresh crispy cookies waiting for you!
• The first mention of s'mores showed up in a Girl Scouts handbook in 1927. The recipe is credited to Loretta Scott Crew, who made them for a legion of hungry Girl Scouts by the campfire. Loretta TOTALLY earned her patch for cooking!

Have a great weekend everyone! Enjoy one of the last weekends of farmer's markets :)

Hungry Girl, aka Lisa, is going to be a regular on the Rachael Ray Show this season. Her first appearance is on tomorrow's show, so don't miss it!

Also, today is National Hoagie Day, so try this recipe for Hoagie Dip that I'll be making tonight for Game Night at my house!

Hello all! I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Mine was filled with sun and yummy food!

Today I have a Snack Attack! from Hungry Girl's 200 Under 200 book.
No time to whip up a mini meal? These supermarket finds will do the trick if you need a snack fix for under 200 calories.

• Yoplait Light, Apple Turnover: Here's to 100 calories of creamy, apple-tastic goodness! Fat-free yogurt is a great snack or dessert, and this one is amazing. And, if apple's not your thing, check out the other fun flavors - there's a slew of em! Fridge required.
• 98% Fat-Free Turkey Breast Slices: Oscar Mayer, Sara Lee, and Applegate Farms all make great ones. They're low in calories, low in fat, and PACKED with protein. Fridge required.
• Progresso Light Soup, Southwestern-Style Vegetable: This soup is packed with flavor and fiber, yet it has just 60 calories and 0 grams fat per serving (and only about 120 calories for the whole can). Fantastic! Microwave required.
• 94% Fat-Free Microwave Popcorn: Jolly Time and Orville Redenbacher each make individual bags that have just 100 calories a bag. This stuff comes in fun flavors, too. Microwave required.
• Amy's Mexican Tamale Pie: Holy moly. This polenta-topped mini meal is AMAZING. And with just 150 calories and 3 grams fat, you can pretty much enjoy it whenever you get the urge. Freezer and microwave required.
• Fiber One Toaster Pastries, Brown Sugar Cinnamon: These are a Pop-Tart lover's dream. Each one's got 190 calories, 4 grams fat, and 5 whole grams of fiber. Fantastic! Toaster helpful but not required.

Now it's time to go food shopping!

I thought this was a great question (and response) in today's Hungry Girl newsletter.

Hungry Girl, I've heard you talk about your so-called "trigger foods." What does this term mean? Can you explain the concept? Foodie Gurl
	Dear Foodie Gurl, Understanding the whole "trigger foods" thing is super-important but also super-easy. Trigger foods are the ones that cause you to eat more -- foods that make you tailspin into a bit of an eating frenzy. For some, chocolate is a trigger food -- one bite and they can't stop eating chocolate all day. Not for me. I can eat a piece of chocolate, be fine, and not crave any more. Other people say ice cream is a huge trigger food -- they can easily down an entire pint in one sitting. I'm okay with ice cream. But chips and pretzels are another story altogether! Give me a handful of salty snacks and it's all over. I feel the need to inhale an entire bag of 'em without stopping to take a breath -- VERY dangerous! I always tell people to avoid their trigger foods. If you stick with foods that satisfy you but don't make you crave more and more, chances are you'll be safe from overeating. It's really that simple. Do you know what your trigger foods are? CLICK HERE NOW to see a brand-new "Hungryvision" video all about trigger foods, featuring the HG staff and me. Watch it, learn more about trigger foods, and find out how you could win cool HG stuff. REALLY, DO IT! And if you're still not sure what your trigger foods are, try writing down everything you eat for a week and see if the answer is a little clearer after that.

And if you want to get this emailed to you every weekday, sign up on her website!

Check out this article from the Rachael Ray Magazine online to save money and time at the grocery store!

From Hungry Girl 200 Under 200, here are some random facts/tips/trivia. READY GO!

• Cinnamon is one of the oldest known spices. Because it was sought by early explorers, some people say that cinnamon contributed to the discovery of America.
• McCormick Taco Seasoning Mix has chili pepper, cumin, oregano, red pepper, onion, salt, sugar, paprika and garlic.
• Chocolate had been enjoyed as a drink for centuries in ancient civilizations before Spanish explorers brought it back to Europe. No big surprise that it caught on! But it wasn't until the early 1800s that companies started producing the solid chocolate we know and love today.
• In the old days, marshmallows were made from a plant that was actually called a marsh mallow. These days they're comprised of sugary sweet stuff and no plants at all.
• The original Rice Krispies Treats were invented in 1939 by Mary Barber and the Kellogg's Home Economics Department. The original s'mores were inspired by Girl Scouts in the 1920s.
  

I'm back from vacation folks!
Check out this article in the Los Angeles Times about fast food options and obesity.

Eat This, Not That ala Auntie Anne's.

Little Trick: Order your pretzel without salt and the sodium drops from 930 mg to about 500 mg. Order without butter, and you'll lose two grams of saturated fat and up to 60 calories.

Weapon of Mass Destruction: Strawberry Dutch Shake (20 oz). Make it a Strawberry Dutch Ice and save 595 calories and 26 grams of fat.

Eat This:

• Jalapeno pretzel without butter and with marinara sauce. This pretzel/dip combo is the lowest-calorie option on the menu.
• Original pretzel without butter with sweet pretzel dip.
• Blue Raspberry Dutch Ice (14 oz).
  

Not That!

• Whole wheat pretzel without butter and with cheese sauce. The whole wheat pretzel supplies 7 grams of fiber, as much as a cup of bran cereal. Unfortunately, it also has a higher sodium content than any other pretzel on the menu, at 1,120 mg.
• Glazin Raisin pretzel without butter and with light cream cheese.
• Mocha Dutch Ice (14 oz).
  

Eat This, Not That: Jimmy John's! (my favorite)

Eat This:

• Turkey Breast Slim Sub with alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes onion, cucumber and avocado spread. Start with a Plain Slim and build a healthier sandwich by subbing vegetables for cheese, mayo and dressings.
• Totally Tuna sub.
• Vegetarian sub with avocado spread, cucumber, lettuce, tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts.

Not That!:

• Turkey Tom with alfalfa sprouts, tomatoes, lettuce and mayo. Jimmy John's is liberal with the mayo - Hellmann's alone adds 25 grams of fat to your lunch. Stick with mustard and win back all 25 grams.
• Pepe sub with ham, provolone, lettuce, tomato, mayo.
• Gourmet Veggie Club with provolone, avocado, cucumber, alfalfa sprouts, lettuce, tomato, mayo.

Weapon of Mass Destruction:

• The J.J. Gargantuan. A vegetarian's nightmare invented by Jimmy John's heavy-handed brother, Huey. This gut bomb features Genoa salami, smoked ham, capicola, roast beef, smoked turkey, and provolone smothered with mayo and Italian dressing.

Little Trick:

• Substitute avocado spread for mayo and knock off 200 calories, 24 grams of fat and 98 grams of sodium.

Did You Know?

• Jimmy John's vegetables are from local sources and delivered on a daily basis. Unlike at Subway, nothing is delivered pre-sliced. Meat and vegetables are cut fresh in-house every day. (I LOVE that about JJ's!!!)
  
• To maintain a focus on high-quality sandwiches, Jimmy John's franchises are not allowed to sell salads or soup.
  

Hey all! These next tips are straight from the Hungry-Girl daily newsletter, enjoy!

Check this out. According to an online auto insurance agency, here are the top 10 foods you should avoid while driving...

1. Coffee ('cuz it's hot)
2. Hot soup (like we said, HOT)
3. Tacos (volatile structures)
4. Chili dogs (high risk of drips)
5. Hamburgers (grease = slippery steering wheel)
6. Ribs and wings (potential finger-licking interference)
7. Fried chicken (again, grease)
8. Jelly donuts (the draw of the oozy center is apparently distracting)
9. Soda (fizz leads to sneezing)
10. Chocolate (warm hands cause melting; slick steering wheels cause swerving)

We think you should pretty much avoid eating most of these even when you're NOT driving. (Unless they're guilt-free HG versions, of course.) And, um, we don't really recommend eating ANYTHING while driving.



Here are the top three mistakes (in my opinion) that people make while trying to lose weight...

1. Serving size flubs. Whether people misread or overlook labels (yes, there could be THREE servings in that snack bag!) or are sloppy or lazy when it comes to measuring (and accidentally eat two cups of cereal at once instead of one!), ignoring portion sizes is a HUGE problem. So be sure to pay attention to serving sizes.

2. Believing the hype. What this basically means is that people often misunderstand the buzzwords that restaurants and food manufacturers throw around. People assume that because something's labeled light, low-fat, or healthy, it's therefore low in calories. That's DEFINITELY not always the case. A low-fat muffin can have 400 calories, and "healthy" wraps often have 600 - 700 calories each (just unroll one of those ginormous tortillas, and prepare to be shocked -- DO IT!). You need to be able to cut through the BS when it comes to this stuff. (Oh, please don't be offended by my use of "BS" -- asking nicely!)

3. Assuming salads are always good options. All salads are NOT created equally. Pay attention to what's in and on your salads. Cheese, tortilla strips, crispy noodles, nuts, etc. -- those extras can add hundreds of calories to your greens. The dressing can be even worse. It is not uncommon for restaurants to pour 500 calories' worth of DRESSING on your salad... a lot of those calories come from FAT. It's HORRENDOUS. Eating salads that have 1,000 - 1,800 calories is definitely a cause of diet sabotage for lots of people.

There are more mistakes people make, for sure -- but those three are BIGGIES. Are you making any of them? If so, now you know, and you can take steps toward fixing 'em. Good luck!

HG fun facts again! From 200 Under 200.

• How's this for inventive? Ruth Graves Wakefield of the Toll House Inn decided she wanted to put pieces of chocolate in her cookies, and that's just what she did. She chopped up a Nestle chocolate bar, and mixxed in the bits. The result was so good that she told Nestle, "Hey! Why don't you make little bits of chocolate so I can put them in my cookies?" (Okay, maybe those weren't her exact wors, but you get the picture.)
• The longest distance an uncooked egg has been thrown successfully WITHOUT BREAKING is 323 feet, 2 inches, according to The Guinness World Records. Think of the ginormous (but dirty) omelette that could have been made with all the eggs that BROKE!
• Americans are on the turkey bandwagon, BIG TIME! Since 1970, the amount of turkey eaten in the U.S. has gone up 116 percent, totaling around 17.5 pounds per person each year. (29 percent of it gets gobbled down over the holidays!) Good news for us, bad news for turkeys...
• The word "fajita" is the diminutive form of the Spanish word "faja," meaning "belt" or "girdle." Small belt? That's how we like em!

These factoids are from July's Real Simple issue.

• July is National Blueberry Month. To find a place to pick near you, go to nabcblues.org.
  
• A single blueberry bush can produce up to 6,000 berries a year.
• Native Americans used the fruit, the leaves and the roots of the plant to treat coughs, flavor soups and dye cloth.
• They're big in Japan: More than 500 metric tons of blueberries are shipped there from the United States each year.

• In 1919, the snow cone mae its debut at the State Fair of Texas. This iconic treat was dreamed up by Dallas inventor Samuel Bert, who also patented the first snow-cone-making machine. Bert remained a cool fixture at the fair for more than six decades.

• 150 million hot dogs are consumed by Americans every July 4, according to the National Hot Dog & Sausage Coucnil. (Yes, there is an industry group for everything.) Kind of gives new meaning to the term "downward dog."
  

Two tidbits for you today, a website and a quote.

The website, bread.org, is helping to bring awareness to world hunger. It also encourages people to contact their local congressmen and representatives to change the laws on helping other countries with their food shortage issues. Check it out and get involved!

Also, here's a quote I love from Julia Child:
"I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate."
(I can't wait to see the movie about her coming out next week!)

Round two of HG vacationing tips!

• Chill Out! Whether it's big and old-school or cute and fancy, BRING A COOLER! If you're gonna be out and about all day long, this is the best way for you and your travel pals to avoid junk food. So load it up with light string cheese, sandwiches (toasted light bread = non-soggy stuff), salads (dressing packets on the side), and cut-up veggies. Make sure you have plenty of ice or some good quality cool-packs, too.
• Be Water-Wise - This one's a given, yet it's easy to forget. PACK LOTS OF WATER. Sometimes, we think we're hungry when we're actually dehydrated, which leads us to mindlessly munch when we don't need to. No cooler? No problem. The night before your day out, stick a couple of bottles in the freezer and one in the fridge. Your frozen bottles will be defrosted by the time you finish the fridge bottle. And if water bores you at times, have a few packets of sugar-free powdered drink mix on hand to zazzle up that H2o!
• Summer Reading Material - You've got to feed your brain, too... even if you're feeding it the nutritional equivalent of potato chips (aka fun gossip mags!). Plus, if you give yourself an activity, you won't be sitting around thinking, "I'm bored. Maybe I should have a snack." So hit up your local bookstore or library before you head out on a trip.
• Clean Up Your Act - Make sure you pack some napkins or even a whole roll of paper towels if you've got room. (No one ever said, "I wish I hadn't brought those paper towels.") HG Tip: Stash a few wet-naps in case of an emergency mess. And don't forget about a sealable bag for garbage.

Have a great vacation if you're headed out, even if it's just a day trip!

Hello folks!
In honor of my upcoming vacation to the east coast, I thought y'all might like these Hungry Girl survival tips for summer outings. Enjoy!

The #1 Rule of Vacationing:
ALWAYS eat a good meal or a filling snack before you head out for the day. If you don't, you're likely to get cranky and make silly food choices when hunger and heat hit you. If it's early, you're not hungry, and/or you're just eager to hit the road, at least grab something on the way out the door.

The Best 3-Snack Stash:
(Sneak these in anywhere you can get away with it.)

1. Fresh Fruit - Go for something with an edible or east-to-peel skin that's not too delicate - apples and bananas are popular for a reason. Pears are OK, but be careful if they're really ripe. (No one likes pear mush in their backpack!) If you take your fruit-toting seriously and want to avoid bruising, consider investing in a Banana Guard or Froot Guard. Good stuff! (Those seem like a waste of money to me - just be careful with your fruit people!)
2. Jerky - There's a whole world of jerkys out there. We're NOT fans of the really random stuff (like alligator and ostrich... GROSS!), but we LOVE jerky made from beef, chicken, turkey and soy. It tastes good, fares well in any temperature, and won't get crushed in your bag. And an emergency snack that's protein-packed is ALWAYS a good thing.
   
3. Crunchy Bars - We love chewy bars, but when it's hot outside, those things MELT and become a sticky mess. Sad times! You're WAY better off with a crispy granola bar. Avoid anything chocolatey, drizzled, or with a coating - it'll get messy fast.
   

Quick Tips for Daytrips:
At a ball game:

• If you NEED a beer, stick to the light kind and save about 50 calories per pint.
• Roam the entire stadium to find the best concession options. The exercise you'll get is an added bonus! Soft pretzels are better than nachos, veggie dogs are better than regular ones, and a grilled chicken salad with salsa is one of the best finds ever.
• Ignore those annoying vendors yelling about peanuts, hot dogs and popcorn. Not only are their snacks fat-fests, but relying on them encourages laziness!

At an amusement park:

• Don't take the tram. WALK.
• Avoid corn dogs, funnel cakes and anything fried. If you've got a sweet tooth, stick to Dippin Dots or cotton candy. Sure they have sugar, but they're better than Churros!
• Save cash and calories by getting your hand stamped for re-entry and then hitting up eateries just outside the park gates. No one needs a $16 greasy personal pizza.

**More to come tomorrow!!**

Don't worry, I still have more HG fun facts and tips for you from the new book 200 Under 200!

• The city of Lafayette, Colorado, REALLY loves oatmeal! Each January the city hosts an oatmeal festival, featuring a bake-off, health screenings, a big hearty n healthy oatmeal breakfast, and an oatmeal mini spa!
• The world's most expensive pizza - dubbed "Pizza Royale 007" - was madde with salmon, venison, lobster, caviar and edible gold. That crazy pie was auctioned off for 2,150 British pounds, and all the money went to charity.
• The true fudge fanatics flock to northern Michigan each year for the annual Mackinac Island Fudge Festival. "Fudgies" - local slang for the treat-happy tourists - enjoy the Fudge Festival Dance Series, meals Under the Influence (of fudge!), and, of course, enough fudge to last til net year's festival. Craziness!
• Are you sitting down? A lage order of mozzarella sticks at Arvy's has 849 calories and 56 grams fat! AAAAHHHHHH!
  

It's baaaaaack! Eat This, Not That: Olive Garden style. FYI: Olive Garden has just begun to provide limited nutritional information on their website, which was after the book I'm using was written. So numbers may have varied since then, but at least you get an idea of what to order!

Eat This:

• Linguine alla Marinara with a breadstick. Men who ate two to four servings of tomatoes per week reduced their risk of prostate cancer by 26 percent, a study review in the Journal of Nutrition found.
• Shrimp Primavera.
• Chicken Giardino.

Not That:

• Stuffed Chicken Marsala with garlic parmesan mashed potatoes. This roasted chicken is stuffed with cheese and covered in a Marsala sauce spiked with heavy cream, giving this dish an entire day's worth of fat.
• Mixed Grill with vegetables and mashed potatoes.
• Pork Filettino with potatoes and bell peppers.

Guilty Pleasure:

• Sangria. Vitamin C in the fruit helps bolster your immune system, and resveratrol - the polyphenol found in red wine - can stop influenza cells form replicating, according to scientists at Rome's Institute of Microbiology. Limit yourself to one glass, though, since too much alcohol may impair your immune system.

Hidden Danger:

• Stuffed Mushrooms. Although mushrooms are normally a healthy sie option, this appetizer is stuffed with a deadly trio of cheese - Parmesan, Romano and mozzarella - which cancel out any nutritional benefits provided by the fungi.
  

Here are some fun veggie facts from Hungry Girl's 200 Under 200.

• Crystal City, Texas, is strong to the finish and proud of it. In 1937, this spinach-growing community erected a statue of Popeye in honor of how popular he made their favorite leafy green veggie. However, the muscled-up sailor got no such love from the sweet potato community for his catchphrase, "I yam what I yam."
• Let's say you order an appetizer of potato skins and split it with friends. Even three little skins will set you back around 300 calories and 17 grams of fat. And that's BEFORE you even get your main dish. There's nothing "skinny" about that!
• Most of us are used to plain old white cauliflower, but it also grows in green, orange, yellow, brown and even purple varieties. Put them all together, and you've got one amazing Technicolor casserole. Or, um, just a scary gray one.
• Avocados aren't just delicious. Spanish conquistadors used the liquid from the avocado seeds to make reddish-blackish ink.
• Catherine de Medicis is credited as the gal who introduced artichokes to France. According to a royal chronicler, she ate so much at a courtier's wedding that she "thought she would die, and was very il." We've been there, Catherine.
• Ever wonder why bell peppers aren't hot like other peppers? Bell peppers actually have a recessive gene that cuts out capsaicin, the stuff that makes other peppers spicy.
• January 6th is National Bean Day. Eat up!
• In the 1920s, the word "tomato" was slang for a good-looking woman. The Aztecs called tomatoes "xitomatl," which means "plump thing with a navel." Hmmm, forget "tomato." How about you just say we're pretty?
• In Australia, butternut squash is called "butternut pumpkin" and is used just like ordinary pumpkin. Bet they have some crazy, narrow-headed jack-o-lanterns down under!
• In France, green beans are called haricots verts. It's basically an exact translation. Haricot means "bean" and vert means "green."
  

Here are some Dos and Don'ts when hitting up your favorite Italian restaurant, thanks to Hungry Girl...

• DO start your meal off with a house salad (light dressing on the side) or some minestrone soup. Broth-based soup before a meal often means lower calorie-intake overall. Be careful with salad entrees though. Some are worse than most regular meals, so watch out for red flags like oily croutons, creamy dressing, fatty meats, and lots of cheese.
• DON'T be afraid to make special requests, just make sure you're super-nice when you do it. Swap fatty sides for veggies. Ask for whole-wheat pasta in place of regular - many places (including Olive Garden) offer up the fiber-rich stuff as an alternative to plain white pasta, and it's better for you and more filling.
• DO save some to take home. Most Italian eateries serve up crazy-huge portions - so before you even start eating, get it into your head that you're not going to consume that whole ginormous serving. Then eat slowly and savor your meal!
• DON'T eat bread AND pasta at the same meal. In Italy, that's a no-no. Clearly, they understand the dangers of carb overload. If you choose bread, skip the butter. If you go for pasta, choose tomato-based (not creamy or cheesy) sauce, and keep the portion reasonable. And if you feel like being really good, avoid the bread and pasta altogether.
• DO have a glass of wine, if you like, but control yourself. A small serving of 4-5 oz has about 100 calories and a POINTS value of 2, but you should know that a typical glass often contains a few ounces more than that. So if an Italian dinner without vino seems wrong to you, go for that glass, just make it last. And be careful with sangria. A glass at Olive Garden has 220-250 calories (POINTS value 4-5). And we all know how one glass can lead to another... and another...
  

I'm in the middle of reading Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik and it's better than I thought it'd be. Here are a few snippets...

• It is as if all American appliances dreamed of being cars while all French appliances dreamed of being telephones. The French freezer is, in a French refrigerator, always on the bottom rather than the top and is composed of drawers and secret compartments, like an old writing desk; you are supposed to fill it with culinary billets-doux, little extras, like petits pois, instead of with next week's dinner, as you do in an American freezer. - p.55-6

• Most people who love Paris love it because the first time they came they ate something better than they had ever eaten before, and kept coming back to eat it again. My first night in Paris, twenty-five years ago, I ate dinner with my enormous family in a little corner brasserie somewhere down on the unfashionable fringes of the Sixteenth Arrondissement. We were on the cutrate American academic version of the grand tour, and we had been in London for the previous two days, where we had eaten steamed hamburgers and fish and chips in which the batter seemed to be snubbing the fish inside it as if they had never been properly introduced. On that first night in Paris we arrived late on the train, checked into a cheap hotel, and went to eat, without much hope, at the restaurant at the corner, called something Le Bar-B-Que. The prix-fixe menu was fifteen francs, about three dollars then. I ordered a salad Nicoise, trout baking in foil, and a cassis sorbet. It was so much better than anything I had ever eaten that I nearly wept. - p. 147-8

• Waverley Root once divided all Gaul into three fats - lard, olive oil, and butter - and said that they determined the shape of French cooking. That you might be able to cook without putting any fat in the pan at all was an unthinkable notion. The charcoal grill, the brick oven, and all the other nonfat ways of cooking now seem normal everywhere except in France. People who look at cooking more practically than philosophically think that that technical lag is the heart of the problem. - p. 159-60
  

Planning on doing a little celebrating this weekend for the 4th? Here's are Hungry Girl's tips and tricks for all that alcohol.

• Moderation is the name of the game. Overdoing it with any type of alcohol is a fast way to derail a weight-loss (or maintenance) plan. Not only do the calories in alcohol add up, but if you're tipsy (or hung-over), fattening food may be tougher to turn down.
• A bottle of light beer or a glass of win typically has about 100 calories. (There are exceptions, of course.) But don't despair if you're not into wine or beer. Just follow our tips for keeping calorie counts in cocktails down.
• A shot of most clear-ish alcohols - like vodka and rum - has about 100 calories. So if you mix your liquor with something calorie-free, you can enjoy a single-shot cocktail for around 100 calories and a Weight Watchers POINTS value of 2. Not bad!
• DON'T trick yourself into thinking juices are guilt-free. They're not. Ordinary fruit juice will likely add 50-75 calories to whatever you're sipping.
• Calorie-free sodas are great mixers. We love fruity diet sodas, and Sprite Zero is a fave. Seltzer and club soda are also good, but watch out - tonic is similar and SEEMS safe, but it's got almost as many calories as regular soda.
• When you're out, order a club soda with a single shot of fruit-flavored vodka and just a splash of fruit juice. If the bar has fruit (orange slices, pineapple chunks, etc), ask for a piece in your drink. That super-fruity sipper will likely clock in with no more than 120 calories and a POINTS value of 2. Just be sure to ask for club soda (remember, tonic has calories!) and only a splash of juice.
• Avoid frozen drinks (daquiris, mudslides, pina coladas and margaritas) like the ice-blended plague - especially ones served in glasses the size of salad bowls. Those things are CRAZY-HIGH in calories!
• Steer clear of sweet creamy drinks (we're looking at you, white russian!) and mega-cocktails made with a ton of booze (like long island iced tea, which has five kinds of alcohol - YIKES!). Those are loaded with calories.
• Keep your home bar stocked with low-cal stuff like sugar free syrups, sugar free powdered drink mixes and sugar free mixers.
• If you like to mix OJ into your drinks, opt for Topicana's new Trop50. It has 50 calories a glass (that's half the amount in ordinary OJ), is naturally sweetened, and tastes REALLY good. THere are other great-tasting diet juice-like drink lines out there too, like Diet Ocean Spray, SoBe Lean, and Diet V8 Splash (**one of my favorites!**)

Here are a couple HG facts from the new book about some of your favorite restaurants! Beware of the bad!!!

• We've always known Chili's little Southwestern Egg Roll appetizer is fatty. But 810 calories and 51 grams of fat for three little rolls?! That's NUTS!
• Arby's Roast Turkey Reuben Sandwich has 594 calories, 30 grams fat, and 55 grams carbs. SO not worth it people!
• Ay caramba! Taco Bell's Steak Quesadilla has 520 calories and 28 grams fat! How do you say "shocker" in Spanish?!

Here are some fun fruit facts from Hungry Girl's 200 Under 200 book.

• Besides berries, a Starbucks blueberry muffin is stuffed with around 500 calories and 19 grams of fat.
• Research shows that black beans are just as high in antioxidants as fruity powerhouses like grapes and cranberries. Maybe that's why beans are called the "magical fruit."
• Ounce for ounce, fresh raspberries have more fiber than even broccoli.
• Blueberries were very important to northeastern Native American tribes; the berries were often used as medicine. They're also great in cupcakes!
• Bananas are packed to the peel with potassium, making them super-effective at helping to lower or prevent high blood pressure. A banana a day keeps the cardiologist away!
• According to urban legend, falling coconuts kill ten times as many people as shark attacks. We're pretty sure coconut extract never gave anyone a concussion.
• Many kinds of cherries are grown all over the U.S. There's Bing, Brooks, King, Rainier, Tulare, Royal Ann, and Evans. Put 'em together and they sound like the characters in a romance novel - Bing Brooks! King Rainier Tulare! Royal Ann Evans!
• Fuji apples were developed in Fujisaki, Japan, but they're actually a cross between two American apples - Red Delicious and Ralls Genet.
• In the 1800s, rural families considered fruit pies to be a hearty breakfast before a day's work.
• In the U.S., we typically put fruit in our cobblers, but our friends in the U.K. like to fill theirs with meat and veggies. If we have a trans-Atlantic cobbler party, dinner and dessert will be covered.
  

I managed to pull out a couple fun, yet disgusting, facts about Denny's from the newest Hungry Girl 200 Under 200 book. Check them out:

• A side order of hash browns from Denny's packs in 23 grams of fat and around 200 calories. And it's typically served alongside an entree of cheesy eggs, buttered toast, and some kind of salt, fatty meat. Um, no thanks! (Not going to lie, I used to LOVE getting the grand slam there, but I'm definitely over that, considering it's well over the amount of points most people are allotted in one day. So not worth it people!)

• A slice of carrot cake from Denny's has (are you sitting down?) 820 calories and 45 grams of fat! Please don't blame those poor, defenseless carrots. They have nothing to do with it! (Besides the health factor, I always wonder how long the cakes have been sitting there. Yucky!)
  

Eat This, Not That - Chili's style.

Eat This:

• Sizzle and spice firecracker tilapia with sauteed mushrooms, onions, and bell peppers, and steamed broccoli. As long as it's not fried, this lean, moist whitefish makes a great sit-down restaurant standby.
• Old timer burger on a whole wheat bun.
• Chicken fajita pita.
• Dutch apple caramel sweet shot.

Not That:

• Citrus fire chicken and shrimp fajitas with the works. If you must have fajitas, ditch the shrimp, forget about steak completely and stick with classic chicken. You'll save yourself almost 400 calories and 30 grams of fat.
• Old timer burger on a big mouth bun.
• Smoked turkey sandwich.
• Chocolate chip paradise pie with vanilla ice cream.

Guilty Pleasure:

• Hot spinach and artichoke dip. Even if it's obscured by cheese and mayo, the 1-2 punch of artichokes and spinach brings a heap of antioxidants to Chili's healthiest starter. Still, be sure to split it.

Weapon of mass destruction:

• Awesome Blossom. Easily one of the worst things you can put in your body. Avoid at all costs.

Menu decoder:

• Guiltless Grill: Like so many "healthy" menus at chain restaurants, Guiltless Grill items ahve less fat, but often more sugar and salt. The low-fat Black Bean Burger, for example, with 96 grams of carbohydrates, will sabotage your efforts to lose weight.
  

Here are some fun facts I gathered from the new Hungry Girl 200 Under 200 book!

• When someone is being a grouch, quite often we'll call that person "crabby." The root of the word comes from the old English "crabba," meaning "to scratch or claw." (Yup, that sounds like a crab.)
• Other names for the ever-popular Pigs in a Blanket include Wiener Winks, Kilted Sausages and Wurstchen im Schlafrock, which pretty much means sausage in a nightgown.
• One of the healthiest things about tilapia - they're herbivores. This means they consume fewer toxins than the fish-eat-fish types and are safer for us to eat. Tilapia is also now the 5th most commonly eaten seafood in the U.S.
• Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, is touted as having "possibly the world's largest hamburgers." The menu features the 15 lb Bell Buster, the Belly Bruiser (50+ lbs), and the Main Even Burger (aka the Charity Burger) - that thing weighs in at more than 100 lbs. Yikes!
  

Check out Zagat's new list of the best fast food and sit down places.

Check out this article I just came across - it's like an Eat This Not That for my favorite restaurants! Enjoy :)

Have you bought the new Hungry Girl 200 Under 200 cookbook yet? Well ya should! It's filled with tons of yummy recipes and, of course, some fun facts.

Big Dippers!
Wondering what else you can dip into some of you dippy new pals? Check out these ideas:

• Toasty and Tasty: Make mini toasts out of wheat bread. using a serrated knife, carefully cut a thick piece of whole-wheat bread into two thin slices. Then cut each slice into four squares. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 3-4 minutes. Eight mini toasts contain around 100 calories! Recommended dips: Crazy-Creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip and Hungry, Hungry Artichoke Hummus.
• Saved by the Bell: Slice red bell peppers (those are the sweetest) into little bite-sized "boats." They're perfect little dip-holders. Recommended dips: Sweet Caramelized Onion Dip, Mexican Bean & Cheese Dip, Very-Veggie Spread.
• Protein-Packed and Ready for Action: Attention, meat-lovers! Skewer some chicken, lean beef, or shrimp, and grill or bake until fully cooked. Then dip away! Recommended dips: Kickin' Peanut Sauce, Holy Moly Guacamole, Not-So-Secret BBQ Sauce.
• 100-calorie Dippers...Sweet!: Portion-controlled packs of mini cookies come in a zillion varieties and are PERFECT to dip into any of our sweet, desserty dips. Go crazy! Recommended dips: Chunky Caramel-Apple Pumpkin Dip, Creamy Vanilla Dip, Fluffy Speckled Peanut Butter Dip, Fluffy Cinnamon-Cream Cheese Dip.
  

Did you know Panera had pizza? I've never seen anyone order it before! Anyhoo, here's the Eat This, Not That for Panera...

Eat This:

• BBQ Chicken Crispani (1/3 Pizza). Crispani, a line of thin-crust flatbread pizzas, contain fewer calories than any Panera sandwich - between 320 and 380 calories per serving.
• Strawberry Poppyseed and Chicken Salad.
• Low-fat vegetarian garden vegetable soup with a whole grain loaf.
• Chai tea latte.

Not That:

• Sierra Turkey Sandwich. How can a turkey sandwich do so much damage? The asiago cheese focaccia bread has 6 grams of fat per slices, and the turkey's slathered in chipotle mayo. Love turkey? Try the smoked turkey on sourdough - it has half the calories.
• Fuji apple chicken salad.
• Broccoli cheddar soup (8 oz) in a sourdough soup bowl.
• Caramel latte.

Weapon of Mass Destruction:

• Italian combo sandwich. The bread along yields 82 carbs. Instead, choose one kind of meat, and substitute a whole grain baguette or loaf.

Little trick:

• Order your soup with a sourdough roll instead of a gagantuan bread bowl - you'll cut 370 calories from your meal.

Guilty pleasure:

• Nutty oatmeal raisin cookie. In a smorgasbord of muffins, pastries, and cake, the nutty oatmeal raisin cookie proves a reasonable indulgence. The oats pack soluble fiber, which helps cut cholesterol, and raisins are rich in potassium, which staves off hypertension. Plus, this cookie has less sugar than any other cookie or muffin.
  

Today, I have two sites for you that will help to use your leftovers wisely and never waste any food!

Wasted Food

Love Food Hate Waste

A friend of mine is the manager at a local Red Lobster, so in honor of you Justin, here is the Eat This, Not That for this restaurant.

Eat This:

• Live Maine lobster with cocktail sauce and seasoned broccoli. Lobsters are a good source of phosphorus, which helps the body to turn carbs and fat into energy and use protein to repair cells and tissues.
• Garlic grilled jumbo shrimp with lemon juice and a baked potato with pico de gallo.
• Broiled flounder with lemon juice and a garden salad with red wine vinaigrette.

Little Trick: Request your baked potato with a scoop of pico de gallo instead of butter and sour cream. Besides saving you a few hundred calories, the tomato salsa also provides a dose of powerful antioxidants.

Not That!

• North pacific king crab legs with melted butter and wild rice pilaf. Crab is naturally low in fat and calories but introduce a coat of butter to each bite and this otherwise healthy meat takes a turn for the worse.
• Snow crab legs with melted butter and a cheddar bay biscuit.
• Crab Alfredo.

Hidden Danger: Melted butter. Seafood is great source of heart healthy omega-3s, but not when it's drenched in butter. One fluid ounce drizzles on another 21 grams of fat. Ask for a lemon wedge or cocktail sauce isntead to flavor your fish.

Check out this great cooking school in Mequon: Live to Eat offers cooking classes about anything from grilling to appetizers. Check it out!

It's back: Eat This, Not That Subway style!

Eat This:

• 6-inch Double Roast Beef Sub. Wnat an exciting stand-in for mayo? Try the Sweet Onion Sauce or the HOney Mustard. Both go well with nearly everything and will spare you 12 grams of fat. Even with twice the meat - and double the protein - this sandwich still has only a fraction of the fat found in the tuna.
• 6-inch steak and cheese.
• Oven roasted chicken breast salad with fat free Italian dressing.
• Roasted chicken noodle soup.

Not That!:

• 6-inch tuna sub. Gloppy mayo-based tuna salad sends this sandwich's fat count skyrocketing.
• Meatball marinara.
• Turkey breast salad with ranch dressing.
• Wild rice with chicken soup.

Little trick: Looking to cut down on the salt? Stick with Swiss cheese. It has one-third the sodium of cheddar, and one-fourth the sodium of provolone.

Little trick 2: Rather than order a large sub, double up on your meat on a small. You'll save more than cash: Try this with a turkey sandwich and save 230 calories.

Guilty pleasure: Chili con Carne
The beans contain selenium and 12 grams of fiber, while the beef gives you a protein boost with 19 grams. And Tulane University researchers found that eating beans four times a week can lower the risk of heart disease by 19 percent.

I came across this cool quiz from Whole Foods called How green are your groceries? Check it out and tell me how green your shopping is!

I read in the paper about this really great website called FoodieView. It's kind of a great go-to site for any and all information you could possibly want or need relating to food. You can search recipes, restaurants and articles. Check it out sometime. It's sort of like the Google of food!

Check out this recent article in the Shepherd Express called Food Crawl: Walking Milwaukee's Culinary Past.

As most of you know, I had been planning a surprise birthday party for my mom for the last several months. It was this last Saturday and I thought I'd share with you all the menu!

While we waited for my mom to arrive home, I left out some snacks.

• Hummus with pita chips, carrots and celery.
• Buffalo Chicken Meatballs with a Blue Cheese Scallion Dip.
• Caprese Skewers (grape tomatoes, basil leaf and fresh mozzarella).

Once she got home, I started with the meal courses, which were also appetizer portions.

• Avocado Shrimp Toasts. Mash some avocado with lime juice, salt and pepper, spread that on toasted french bread, and serve with a lightly grilled shrimp on top.
• Tortilla Espanola. The unofficial dish of Spain, this was probably the biggest hit! It's sort of a skillet pancake of sliced potatoes, onions and eggs. SO GOOD!
• Mushroom Beef Sliders. Literally only a few ingredients: ground beef, worcestershire, chopped mushrooms and parsley. Serve on a bun with fried onions.

Then came all the desserts - wow did we have way too many desserts!

• Chocolate covered strawberries
• Chocolate brownies
• Chocolate and frosted cupcakes
• Carrot cake
• Cheesecake

Tomorrow, May 9 is Stamp Out Hunger Day. Leave food to donate near your mailbox and your mailman will pick it up. For more information, check out this link.

Did you miss my Eat This, Not That entries? They're baaaaaaack! Today is Dairy Queen, mm, that sounds good...

Eat This:

• Small chocolate sundae. Indulge: This sundae has less than half the fat of a small chocolate-dipped cone.
• DQ Homestyle burger.
• Grilled chicken salad with fat-free Italian dressing.
• DQ sandwich.

Not That!

• Small chocolate chip cookie dough Blizzard. Always opt for a small-sized Blizzard - larger sizes have from .5 to 6 grams of harmful trans fat.
• Side salad with DQ ranch dressing.
• 6-piece chicken strip basket.
• Small chocolate malt.

Weapon of mass destruction:

• Large strawberry CheeseQuake Blizzard. This creation combines ice cream, strawberry syrup, and unks of cheesecake for a high-fat dairy dessert.
  

This is technically called an Easter Breakfast Casserole, but I think you can make it anytime of the year and anytime of the day - not just breakfast! Note: it requires refrigerating overnight, so make it ahead.

1 pckg (12 oz) breakfast sausage links
6 English muffins, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
12 eggs
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 cup bacon bits

Cook sausage according to package directions. Cool slightly; cut into 1/4-inch slices. Place English muffin cubes in a greased 13x9-inch baking dish; drizzle with butter. Layer with sausage, cheese, onion and red pepper. In a lare bowl, combine the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over cheese. Sprinkle with bacon. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Uncover and bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes.

Makes 12 servings.

Try these Chocolate Cherry Triangles and let me know how yummy they are!

2 7-inch whole wheat tortillas
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup cherry preserves
1/4 cup crushed granola
2 tsp mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
optional: powdered sugar

Place tortillas on cutting board. Spread each tortilla with half the peanut butter, then half of the preserves. Sprinkle with crushed granola and chocolate chips.

Fold tortilla's in half. Cut each one into 4 wedges. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired.

Makes 8 servings

Sometimes you really crave something simple - a yummy comfort food like tuna noodle casserole. I wouldn't change or add anything to this recipe - except I don't like mushrooms, so I use cream of celery.

2 cans Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 cup milk
2 cups frozen peas
2 cans tuna, drained
4 cups medium egg noodles, cooked and drained
2 tbsp dry bread crumbs
1 tbsp butter, melted

Stir soup, milk, peas, tuna and noodles in a 3-quart casserole dish.
Bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until hot. Stir.
Mix bread crumbs with butter and sprinkle over tuna mixture. Bake for 5 minutes or until breadcrumbs are browned.

8 servings

It's broccoli day! Here are a few ideas of ways to add broccoli to your average meal.

Mac and cheese: Add a bag of frozen broccoli to the noodles as you're boiling them, then follow the package instructions for a healthier version of some cheesy mac.

Tortellini with tomato sauce: Again, add a bag of frozen broccoli to the tortellini as they're boiling. Drain and stir in a jar of tomato sauce for a yummy pasta dinner.

Chicken and rice: Cook the chicken in a skillet and take it out when they're done. Then cook the rice according to the package directions and add a frozen bag of rice towards the end. Add the chicken and season with whatever you feel like (Italian seasoning is easiest).

Happy May Day!

Guess what's for dinner tonight?! Homemade Hawaiian Pizza! Here's how I'm making it:

Get a tube of pizza dough and follow the instructions on it for baking. I'm thinking I'll use some Italian seasoning on the dough and then use tomato paste on top of that. Then on top put the ham chunks, pineapple chunks, green pepper and banana pepper. Last add some cheese and bake! Yum I can't wait...

What other toppings do I recommend at home?
How about spinach and artichoke?
Or the usual pepperoni is always good.
Get creative, add whatever you enjoy! Make a taco pizza with spiced ground beef, peppers, onions and cheese. Don't forget to dip in sour cream or guacamole!

Or try broccoli! Tomorrow's entry will feature other ways to incorporate broccoli into your dinners.

Here's a fun Pizza Burger recipe that makes four yummy burgers.

1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 tsp dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried oregano leaves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/3 cup pizza sauce or tomato sauce
1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
8 small dinner rolls (or 4 big ones)
Optional: pepperoni slices

Mix ground beef and seasonings in medium bowl until well blended. Shape into 8 small patties (or 4 regular size).

Grill burgers over medium heat or cook in non-stick skillet 4-6 minutes per side or until cooked through. (Times may change for regular size burgers. Only flip once!)

Top each burger evenly with sauce and cheese. Cook 1 minute longer or until cheese is melted. Serve on rolls with pepperoni slices, if desired.

Hi folks!

Two events coming up that I wanted to make sure you knew about. Tomorrow, Wednesday, April 29 from 5-10pm is 31 cent scoop night at Baskin Robbins. Get all the information here.

Thursday, April 30 is the annual Dining Out for Life event in southeastern Wisconsin. Dine out and make a difference. 25 percent of your bill for breakfast, lunch, and dinner goes directly to One Heartland, which helps children and families living with HIV and AIDS. Check out this link for a list of participating restaurants. It's one of the few times I recommend you go out to eat for all three meals of the day!!

Thank goodness it's coming up on farmer's market season again in Wisconsin! Here are a few tips on how to navigate your local market.

Today's recipe is pretty much the only meatballs that are made in this house. It's from Rachael Ray's Just In Time cookbook and is meant to be made for the Double Dumpling Chicken Stoup, which I also make often. But the meatballs can be used with spaghetti or sandwiches. Or, I've turn them into burgers in the past and they were delicious! Anyway, here's the meatball recipe...

1 lb ground chicken
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 egg
1/2 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Mix together and bake, fry or boil - Enjoy!

The next week's worth of posts will be personal recipes I use on a semi-regular basis. All of these recipes I tend to adapt to what we have in the house at the time. Once you get the basic recipe down, you can add and subtract whatever you want.

In this case, hummus can be made in many different ways. The basic recipe came with the Magic Bullet but I've adapted it to fit what we have available at that moment I feel like making it.

14 oz can chickpeas
1/4 cup chicken stock
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp lemon juice
3 tbsp tahini
Salt and Pepper

I like to add roasted red peppers and different spices like paprika or maybe some thyme or dill. Experiment and I'm sure you'll come up with your family's favorite combination!

Today's Eat This, Not That heads to Applebee's, one of my favorites!

Eat This:

• Grilled Cajun Lime Tilapia with black bean and corn salsa. Just a few ounces of fish a week can cut heart attack risk by 38%, according to a Greek study. Get all the same lively Southwestern flavors as Fiesta Lime Chicken for a quarter of the calories.
• Crispy buttermilk shrimp with potatoes and toast.
• Teriyaki steak and shrimp skewers.

Not That!

• Fiesta Lime Chicken with sauce, cheese, tortilla strips, salsa and rice. Even though the chicken is grilled rather than fried, a coating of ranch and cheddar sauce and a handful of tortilla strips boosts the fat content.
• Grilled steak caesar salad with toast.
• Southwest philly roll-up with salsa.

Guilty Pleasure:

• Onion Soup Au Gratin. French onion soup is usually coated in oozing cheese and loaded in fat, but this updated version is paked with caramelized onions and subs a layer of reduced-fat cheese.

Hidden Danger:

• Low-fat chicken quesadillas. This may seem like a healthy alternative to burgers and fried food, but the collective impact of calories and carbs will do its best to stretch you horizontally.

Little Trick:

• Sub healthy sides like steamed broccoli or mixed vegetables for the garlic toast that accompanies most sandwiches and salads. The buttery tost tacks on 7 grams of fat with zero nutritional value.

**Applebee's does not provide nutrition information, a.k.a. be wary of whatever you order.

Is it just me that seems to have a problem wrapping up anything in a tortilla? It always spills out or drips down my arm. Here's a little help from Hungry Girl.

Wrap it up right! A tortilla tutorial

Everything you need to know to succeed in the wonderful world of wraps...

Step 1: Slightly warm your tortilla by microwaving it for about 10 seconds. Doing so will make it easier to work with, and it'll also taste better.

Step 2: Place your stuff in the center of your tortilla. First fold the sides in (a few inches), and then fold the bottom to the center, creating an envelope around your filling. Use a fork to smoosh any attempted escapes into the pocket you've created.

Step 3: Slowly roll your tortilla upward until you reach the top. Voila!

**Got a better idea? Want me to share your favorite tip? Send it my way!!

Who doesn't love Denny's? Now you know what you should and shouldn't order...

Eat This:

• Two fried eggs with grits and grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice is a great source of vitamin C and lycopene, but if you're fighting the sniffles, beware - compounds in the fruit render allergy-fighting medicines such as Allegra nearly powerless.
• Veggie-Cheese Omelette made with Egg Beaters.
• Grilled Tilapia Dinner with rice, vegetable blend and sliced tomatoes.
• Vegetable Beef Soup

Not That!

• Buttermilk pancake platter with whipped margarine and maple syrup. With 119 grams of carbs, the pancake platter creates an early morning spike in your insulin levels, which signals your body to start storing fat.
• Smoked sausage scramble.
• Fish sandwich with seasoned fries.
• Clam chowder.

Weapon of mass destruction:

• Mini burgers with onion rings. Don't be fooled by the diminutive name: With more than a day's worth of calories and saturated fat, these minis do massive damage to your gut. In fact, 4 of Denny's 6 burgers contain more than a day's worth of fat.

Guilty pleasure:

• Country fried steak and eggs. Drop the hash browns and this hearty breakfast packs major protein for 200 calories less than the Original Grand Slam.
  

Check out Dream Dinners, a company that creates meals for your family. They do all the work, give you directions on how to heat it up and enjoy at home. I'm sure it saves you a lot of time, and if you're not a good cook this is a great way to still give your family a healthy easy meal. But for me personally, it totally takes all the fun out of cooking!

An HG recipe: Kickin' Chicken Tortilla Soup

3 cups fat-free chicken broth
4 oz cooked lean skinless boneless chicken breast, shredded
1 cup canned diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup canned sweet corn kernels
1/2 cup chopped onions
1 tbsp chopped jalapeno peppers
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp fajita seasoning mix
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
6 baked tortilla chips, crushed
Optional toppings: cilantro, fat-free sour cream, fat-free or low-fat shredded cheese

In a medium pot sprayed with nonstick spray, cook onions, garlic, seasoning, and spices over medium heat until onions soften, 3-5 minutes.

Add chicken broth and bring to a boil. Then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.

Add the corn and diced tomatoes, and continue to cook for 5 minutes.

Add chicken, jalapeno, and lime juice. Stir for 2-3 minutes to thoroughly blend flavors.

Once ready to serve, top each serving with crushed chips and, if desired, cilantro, sour cream and/or cheese.

Makes 4 servings

Eat This!

• Two Grilled Steak Soft Tacos, Fresco Style. Order almost any menu item "fresco" style and the Bell boys will replace cheese and sauces with chunky tomato salsa, helping to cut calories dramatically and fat by at least 25 percent.
• Chicken Fiesta Taco Salad without shell.
• Two spicy chicken soft tacos.
• Cinnamon Twists.

Not That!

• Baja Beef Chalupa. The Chalupa shell alone has 13 grams of fat and 25 grams of carbs.
• Zesty chicken BORDER BOWL.
• Grilled Stuft Chicken Burrito.
• Caramel Apple Empanadas.

If you like a free sugar fix, check out these upcoming deals!

April 21 at Ben & Jerry's - Get one free cone
April 29 at Baskin Robbins - Get a scoop for 31 cents
July 11 at 7-Eleven - Get a free 7-ounce Slurpee
September 24 at Cold Stone Creamery - Get a free ice cream treat

Taken from the March 2009 issue of Real Simple magazine.

(party survival tips continued)

5. Don't get caught empty-handed. Always have a drink in one hand (stick to no-cal beverages for most of the night!) and maybe a little clutch purse in the other. This way you'll be less likely to graze, because your hands will be full.

6. Don't deprive yourself. It's okay to enjoy some treats, just remember to do so in moderation.

7. Make a deal with yourself. Only after eating 5 pieces of something "good" (like veggies from the veggie tray), allow yourself to indulge in one piece of something "bad" (like cookies or candy). You'll likely fill up before you even hit round 2 of the bad stuff!

8. Watch what you drink. Eggnog, spiced cider, and hot cocoa can all be diet-busting disasters and a complete waste of calories. You are better off reaching for water or other no-calorie drinks.

Happy Easter everyone!

Easter coming, so are graduation parties and barbecues and summer parties. So I thought I'd share with you some of Hungry Girl's TOP ATE Party Survival Tips. It's a guide to food-happy festivities.

1. Never show up super-hungry. Eat something light before you head to the party.
2. Wear fitted party clothes. Doing so will help keep you from shamelessly stuffing too much food down your gullet!
3. Drink 1 to 2 glasses of water right before or right after you arrive at the party. This will help you feel fuller and curb cravings.
4. Don't eat anything during your first 20 to 30 minutes at the party. Mingle, socialize, and don't stand on top of the food.

More to come tomorrow, stay tuned!

Here's a really quick Hungry Girl dessert recipe! All you do is take chocolate brownie mix, a can of pumpkin, mix them together. It's going to be thick, but that's okay because it's going to turn out more fudgey than cakey.

Spray a square pan and pour it in evenly. Swirl some peanut butter on top. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

Cover with foil and refrigerate until it's hard enough to cut. It's so good - you honestly cannot taste the pumpkin at all, yummy!

**Do you have a recipe, tip, link, or other fun food information you'd like me to share? Send it my way!**

Eat This, Not That, Cold Stone Creamery style...

Eat This:

• Cake Batter Light Ice Cream with Chocolate Shavings Mix-in, Like It size. 330 calories, 11 g fat, 39 g sugars. Save 40 calories and 2 grams of fat by opting for the chocolate shavings rather than the chips.
• Sinless Sans Fat Sweet Cream Ice Cream with yellow cake, strawberries and blueberries, Like It size. 250 calories, 2.5 g fat, 23 g sugars.
• Chocolate Light Ice Cream with Fudge mix-in in a waffle cone. 480 calories, 13 g fat, 54 g sugars.
• Raspberry Sorbet with raspberries and wafers, Like It size. 270 calories, 2.5 g fat, 44 g sugars.
  

Little Trick: Mix in pecans, walnuts or almonds instead of candy - all nut mix-ins have less than 2 grams of sugar per ounce. According to the USDA study, of the 10 most popular nuts, pecans contain the most antioxidants.

Not That!:

• Cake Batter Ice Cream with cookie dough mix-in, Like It size. 560 calories, 28 g fat, 58 g sugars. Cookie dough adds 8 grams of fat to your dessert per hunk. Mix in wafers instead, for less than half the calories.
• Strawberry Blonde, Like It size. 595 calories, 26.5 g fat, 57 g sugars.
• Dark Chocolate Ice Cream in a dipped waffle cone. 650 calories, 35 g fat, 60 g sugars.
• Raspberry Ice Cream with graham cracker pie crust, Like It size. 520 calories, 28 g fat, 38 g sugars.
  

Here are some important tips courtesy of StartMakingChoices.com, which offers myriad ways to help you lose weight, keep it off and eat healthy! Check out the site for many more tips as well.

SmartShop Tips

• Bread—Back from the Dead
  Wrap day-old bread in foil and put it in a warm oven for 10 minutes. The crust will crisp and the insides will return to being light and fluffy. Use right away or it will revert back to its old, stale self.
• Use Overripe Bananas
  Freeze overripe bananas for recipes such as banana bread later. Even better, peel and cut bananas and freeze them in bags. Now you’ve got banana cubes for smoothies.
• Go for the canned or frozen veggies to save money. They pack as much, if not more, nutritional value than fresh and can be stored for anytime use!
• Substitute a meatless dish for your usual meat entrée. Build a lower-cost meal around grains and beans for complete protein. Add variety with vegetables, rich in vitamins and minerals.
• Shop with a list. Know what's in your pantry and check food advertisements to learn what's on sale. Then purchase only what's on the list.
• Use nonstick cooking sprays, such as PAM®, to replace cooking oils to save calories and fat. Plus, at only $.02 per use, you'll be saving money, too.
• Break out your slow cooker. Slow cooking allows you to use less expensive cuts of meat while retaining great flavor and texture. Adding inexpensive vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and onions will also help round out the meal. Try the Slow-Cooked Pot Roast.
• Choose recipes that use entire packages to avoid wasting leftover ingredients. Use extras as a take-with lunch or freeze for later.
• Snack wisely. Snacks can quickly add up on the shopping bill and your scale. Try nutritious, whole-grain, lower-calorie snacks like Orville Redenbacher's® SmartPop!® 94% Fat Free Butter Microwave Popcorn.
• Save money, calories, and sodium by making your own tortilla chips. Cut whole-grain tortillas into triangles, sprinkle with your favorite dried spice, such as chili and garlic powder, and bake until crisp.

Wednesday: Tuna, Red Onion, and Olive Pasta
1 3-oz can tuna, drained
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives
2 tbsp chopped red onion
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar

Thursday: Asian Pasta Salad
1 carrot, sliced
1/4 English cucumber, diced
1 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp chopped roasted peanuts
2 tsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp rice vinegar

Friday: Chicken and Pesto Pasta
1/2 cup shredded rotisserie chicken
1/4 cup prepared pesto

Or try this, I just made it - add as much of each ingredient as you like. Use red onion, red pepper, corn, black beans, chili powder and cumin. YUM!

Tired of turkey sandwiches in your lunch? Here are some fun ideas from the March issue of Real Simple magazine.

Cook up a pound of pasta of Sunday night and you'll have enough to make a different salad every day of the workweek. Almost any short variety - penne, fusilli, farfalle - will do. Just rinse with cold water after cooking, toss with a touch of olive oil, and refrigerate for later. When ready to use, mix up 1 1/2 cups of cooked pasta with one of the following variations and season with salt and pepper, if desired.

Monday: Mediterranean Pasta
1/2 cup chickpeas
1/2 cup arugula
1/4 cup crumbled Feta
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp fresh lemon juice

Tuesday: Artichoke, Almond, and Parmesan Pasta
6 jarred artichoke hearts, chopped
2 tbsp chopped roasted almonds
2 tbsp gratec Parmesan
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

The rest will come tomorrow!!

Hungry Girl's TOP ATE Health Benefits of Chocolate
(because we all need a good reason to eat chocolate right?)
"Ate" great reasons to indulge...

1. Dark chocolate is full of antioxidants, which can help lower blood pressure.
2. Heart-healthy flavonols promote blood flow.
3. Cocoa contains the same type of healthy monounsaturated fat found in olive oil (but tastes much better!).
4. Chocolate releases endorphins in the brain, which act as pain-relievers and stress-reducers.
5. Consuming chocolate releases serotonin in your body, which can boost your mood.
6. All those antioxidants help rid the body of free radicals, a fundamental cause of diseases like cancer and heart disease.
7. Studies show chocolate raises levels of the good cholesterol while reducing levels of the bad kind.
8. Essential oils found in cocoa can delay signs of aging - they strengthen your bones, hair, nails, and skin.

Today is the "Good" 'wich from Panera, 547 calories. It consists of 4 oz turkey breast deli meat, 1 slice cheddar cheese, 1/4 of an avocado, 2 slices bacon, 2 slices of 100% whole wheat bread, romaine lettuce, tomatoes and raw onion.

• Go for brown. Two slices of whole-grain bread = 140 calories. And the fiber will keep you full longer than white bread.
• Pile on veggies. They add color, crunch, flavor - oh, and nutrients! Try tomatoes, dark leafy greens, onions and peppers for just 14 calories. (Avoid anything sauteed, which usually means it's oil-soaked.)
• Think like a card shark. Four ounces of turkey - five thin slices or roughly the size of a deck of cards - is a reasonable 109 calories.
• Ask for a healthier "dressing." Swap mayo for a few slices of avocado. You get creamy texture and a boost of heart-healthy fat for just 80 calories.
• Get a yummy extra. We're not suggesting you eat it every day, but two medium bacon slices have just 87 calories.
• Satisfy your cheese craving. Stick to just one slice of strong-flavor cheese like sharp cheddar, Swiss or pepper jack.
  

This comes from the March issue of Glamour magazine, called the 970-calorie sandwich, a.k.a. the "Bad" 'wich.

Panera Bread's Sierra Turkey sandwich has a whopping 970 calories and 54 grams of fat (that's almost twice Burger King's Double Cheeseburger). Lesson: Turkey has a health halo, but it all depends on what it's paired with.

• Don't scrimp on veggies. If you do, you'll likely be loading up on other, fattier sandwich stuffings to feel satisfied.
• Beware creamy spreads. Fancy-sounding kinds can be calorie traps, like this chipotle mayo, which packs 320 calories and 34 grams of fat per serving.
• Watch meat portions. Panera got it right, but some delis pile on up to a pound of meat - that's enough for three people.
• Choose better bread. Watch out for oily, cheesy loafs like focaccia or ciabatta. These two slices set you back 510 calories!

Tomorrow... the "Good" 'wich...

Have you been to Sonic yet? I'm dying to go, but I certainly don't feel like waiting 2 hours! Here are some tips on what to order, courtesy of Eat This, Not That.

Eat This:

• Sonic Burger with mustard cuts 25 percent of the fat by having mustard instead of mayo. 540 calories, 25 g fat, 730 mg sodium
• Grilled Chicken on Ciabatta with BBQ sauce. 375 calories, 9 g fat, 1,310 mg sodium
• Grilled Chicken Wrap. 380 calories, 11 g fat, 1,300 mg sodium
• Junior Banana Split. 200 calories, 4.5 g fat, 27 g sugars

Not That:

• Chicken Club Toaster Sandwich. 690 calories, 35 g fat, 1,900 mg sodium. How can a chicken sandwich pack so much fat? Start with a fried chicken breast, add bacon, cheese and mayo, and you're there. Ditch the swine and save 10 grams of fat.
• Jumbo Popcorn Chicken Salad. 490 calories, 28 g fat, 1,440 mg sodium
• Fish Sandwich. 640 calories, 31 g fat, 1,180 mg sodium
• Large Hi-C Fruit Punch. 290 calories, 77 g sugars

Hidden Danger:

• Minute Maid Cranberry Juice Slush. Cranberry juise is the Ryan Seacrest of drinks - fine in small doses, but too sickly sweet to pour on heavy. A large has more sugar than 3 sodas. 450 calories, 124 g sugars
• Onion Rings. Nothing irregular here - onions, batter, hot fat - except these crispy Os might be the only ones left in the fast food world that are still made fresh by hand. Delicious? Maybe. But a large order packs a punishing 720 calories and 41 grams of fat.
  

Here are a few Rachael Ray recipes I haven't tried yet, but if you do, let me know how they worked out!

Grasshopper Brownies
Chicken Pot Pie
Buffalo Chicken Stromboli
Caprese Lasagna