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