Food = Energy

Food = Energy

Monday, December 2, 2013

Cinnamon is da winna mon!

How was everybody's Thanksgiving!? I'm truly sorry for not wishing everybody a Happy Thanksgiving. Between grading projects and tests and making sure Val and I had all the ingredients for our Thanksgiving dishes, I was too tired each night to post anything.

Speaking of Thanksgiving dishes, ours was a success! It took three kitchens to complete our cooking (our apartment kitchen, my parents' kitchen, and my sister's kitchen), but the effort was worth it! Our dishes were the following:
  • an Almost raw pumpkin pie - courtesy of Rich Roll
  • a hot vegetable dish of oven roasted sweet potatoes, mushrooms, and beets
  • the best stuffing I've ever had- Val's masterpiece that was a huge hit this year
  • sweet potato-cranberry sauce- I was so happy for how this sauce came out!
  • Tofurky's Tofu Turkey w/ gravy- Val and I tried the Tofurky for the first time last year at a "Friendsgiving" dinner party we attended and knew it had to be on the menu this year!
There were many other dishes on the table that Val and I were able to enjoy due to the considerations of my family as they prepared their meals such as mashed potatoes with soy milk, butternut squash and cranberries prepared with Earth Balance (vegan) butter, and yellow rice (Spanish-style). For an ingredients list of the dishes that Val and I prepared, check the end of this post.

On another note...who remembers eating this cereal      when they were younger or maybe even this morning? I never actually opted to get this cereal when I tagged along for grocery shopping, but I have vivid memories of visiting my family in Virginia and having Apple Jacks for breakfast (it was my cousins' favorite cereal). Well it turns out their selections were probably a bit better than my Count Chocula or Cocoa Puffs. Why is this so? One reason: Cinnamon.

If you haven't heard lately, cinnamon has been the center of many recent studies on the benefits of particular foods. It's nothing groundbreaking. The studies pretty much just support what was already shown back in studies 3 or more years ago, but there's nothing wrong with reassurance! It has been shown that cinnamon helps stop blood sugar spikes, provides blood sugar control over a longer period of time, and lowers the risk of diabetes! So cinn-a-mon reall is "da winna mon" as Stick so accurately puts it in those great Apple Jacks commercials. Of course the benefits of cinnamon are kind of neutralized by all the grams of sugar in Apple Jacks so I highly recommend adding ground cinnamon to your apple slices in the morning or maybe your banana or pear. Oatmeal or cereal person? Sprinkle some on there too! It also is great to add a dash of it in your morning coffee! You really can't go wrong...at least, it's not easy to do so. If you're skeptical about what I've shared with you, then that's great to hear! I like skeptics. Check it all out for yourself by simply Googling "cinnamon" or "benefits of cinnamon" and find some credible sources so you can find sources. Credibility-advice aside, here are some sites I found when Googling "cinnamon" for this post.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=68

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/266069.php

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2901047/

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Val's Thanksgiving Stuffing
Main Ingredients: Butternut squash, brussel sprouts, shallots, gluten-free bread, an apple, dried cranberries, walnuts, and celery 

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The Tofurky (The size of the box was quite deceiving. Good thing it was only Val and I enjoying this softball-sized ball of tofu!

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Val's Almost raw pumpkin pie
Main Ingredients: fresh, cooked pumpkin, coconut milk, maple syrups. Walnuts, dates, and flax seeds (crust)

AND my Sweet Potato Cranberry Sauce (think of a puree)
Ingredients: Sweet potatoes, cranberries, brown sugar, orange juice


SO glad to be back to blogging with all of you! Until next time!


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