Over at Noshtopia, I shared one of the really simple ways I use to take more interesting looking food shots with an iPhone camera. You can apply the same tip to any mobile phone camera.
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March 2010
Tried Something New: Gluten, Soy and Dairy Free Pizza With Sausage, Pineapple, and Black Olives
At my local Whole Foods, they can make custom pizzas, so I got adventurous and made up a pizza as allergen free as possible. The combo I got was gluten and soy-free crust made from rice flour, dairy-free (vegan) Daiya Italian Blend Cheese, sausage, pineapple, black olives, and tomato sauce.
Daiya Vegan Cheese has been getting a great deal of press lately much notably because of their claim to fame of making the best non-animal milk cheese that melts like animal milk cheese. Not only is Daiya vegan thus milk and egg free, the cheese is also Soy, Casein, Lactose, Gluten, Egg, Wheat, Barley, Corn, Whey, Rice, and Nuts free. Whew, that's a whole lotta allergies covered!
Instead of doing a traditional Hawaiian with ham and pineapple, I like to get sausage instead of ham. It's all from a pig anyway so really no big difference to me. I like the black olives to add some salt.
So what was the taste conclusion?
I enjoyed everything but the cheese. Sorry Daiya. I've tried the Daiya Cheddar blend before and was not a real fan of that either. Yes, the Italian blend has a pizza like flavor and it does look melt-like. In my picture, the melting doesn't look so obvious because the cheese is a bit undercooked. I put the pizza in the oven another 7 minutes and it looked better.
However, the cheese taste didn't suck but it wasn't great. The cheese in my book is definitely an acquired taste which I was not a fan of but you might be. Daiya Cheese won VegNews 2009 Product of the Year.
If you gave this pizza to someone with no allergies, they would take a bite and right away know that this was some kind of "alternative" pizza. To me, good pizza should just be good, no matter what it's made out of. The rice crust was tasty. You can tell right away it's not a wheat crust experience, but compared to other gluten-free crusts I've had, it was in the tops.
Next time, I'll get the same combo and have them put goat cheese instead of the Daiya. I'm grateful that even though I can't have cow milk, I can have goat and sheep.
Delicious No Sugar Added Fruit Butters and Spreads Made By Bees
I blogged earlier about having an awesome time at the Old Town Farmer's Market in Scottsdale. One of the vendors food vendors there that I didn't mention because I wanted to do a post just for them was Made By Bees from Payson.
I was so thrilled to find these folks because they had a table full of fruit butters and spreads made with no added sugars. That's right, it's just fruit. I find this exciting because over at the main blog Noshtopia, I've been reporting every Wednesday on my going sugar little efforts to cut down my daily sugar consumption from 80g/ day to about 25g/day.
Outside of Whole Foods or a natural foods store, it's a bit challenging to find any kind of fruit spread without any added sugars or artificial sugars. The sugar-free stuff you see in a Safeway or Target actually has almost no real fruit in it at all which I find very scary.
I bought a bottle of the Made By Bees Apricot Butter and it is fabulous. I've been using it with honey roasted peanut butter on ciabatta bread, on pancakes, and in yogurt like in the picture above which is strawberry banana coconut-milk based yogurt with a tablespoon of the Apricot Butter and some maple pecan granola. Truly yum folks!
Made By Bees is in the process of getting their online store up, and I'm not sure where else they sell their goods, but they are definitely sold at the Old Town Farmer's Market so do try it out.
Join Me For Phoenix Twestival March 25 For Fun And A Good Cause: Global Education
On Thursday March 25 at Martini Ranch in Scottsdale will be Phoenix Twestival, using social media for social good. Twestivals will be held in various cities around the world.
I went to my first Phoenix Twestival in September last year and was blown away by how many people were there. Phoenix knows how to show up, and I'm very glad to now be a part of this community!
All the money raised during the Twestivals goes to one cause and this time around the funds will go to Concern Worldwide who helps bring education to children who live in some of the poorest countries in the world.
I'll be there at Twestival, and please do come too! It's fun, there are prizes, food, drinks, and mostly the good feeling of using all our tweeting, blogging, and facebooking to do something to help others. See ya there!
5 Ways To Make Your Chipotle Burrito, Taco Experience Less Caloric
There are many fabulous Mexican restaurants around Phoenix that make some awesome home cooked tasting nosh but sometimes when you need fast and convenient that has healthier options then Taco Bell, Chipotle hits the spot.
And when I say healthier, I mean that the food is fresher, less processed, and you're going to get more real cheese versus some orange cheese-like goo. Chipotle is still a chain and will have it's processed issues too, but for the sake of conversation, let's say it's the lesser of the two evils.
I love this Chipotle food calculator because like when ordering your food in the restaurant, you just check your selections, and the calculator will tell you exactly all the nutrition facts like calories, fat, carbs and protein. In fact, because of this calculator, I stopped getting a burrito because the chicken burrito I was ordering even minus cheese and sour cream was still 1,000 calories for the whole thing. Yikes! I know.
Two things I typically get at Chipotle include:
- {as seen in picture above} Chicken tacos with corn tortilla, black beans, tomatoes, corn salsa, and medium heat tomato salsa. Sometimes I'll get guacamole like I did the other day.
- Vegetarian bowl with black beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, corn salsa, and medium heat tomato salsa. Ditto on the guacamole.
Here's 5 ways to cut some significant calories from your Chipotle experience so you can enjoy the food without busting your caloric intake for the day:
- Get a burrito bowl versus a regular burrito. The 13" tortilla alone is 290 calories. That's almost a half hour on the treadmill to burn off.
- 3 of the hard tacos are 180 calories versus 3 of the 6" tortillas which come in at 270 total. You save 90 calories.
- Adding cheese is 100 calories, and adding sour cream is 120 calories. Get one or the other or nix both.
- Instead of adding rice which is 130 calories, or beans; pinto or black as they have the same 120 calories, get the fajita vegetables which only adds 20 calories.
- Guacamole is 150 calories. If you want the guac, order it on the side versus having it put in your taco, burrito, or bowl so that you can better control how much is added in. A little guacamole is better than having a gob.
There you go with some helpful tips. What are some ways you help make your Chipotle experience less caloric?
On 3/23: Arizona Doesn't Get Free Ben & Jerry's Cone But We Do Get Free Starbuck's Pastries
According to The Consumerist, tomorrow March 23 is free food day from Ben & Jerry's ice cream and Starbucks.
Ben & Jerry's is hosting their annual Free Cone Day across the nation in their Ben & Jerry's stores. There is only one store in the entire state of Arizona, which...really?! And even more of a bummer, they are NOT participating in Free Cone Day. We got jacked folks.
Starbucks is giving away a free pastry if you buy any "handcrafted, brewed or iced beverage." You must print out this coupon or be able to show it to the barista from your mobile device, "See look, I really do have the coupon. It's on my iPhone." Besides having to buy a drink, the catch is that the offer is only good for one pastry between opening until 10:30am, and in their SB stores not in Barnes & Noble.
Eating a pastry is not the healthiest breakfast but some Starbucks stores do offer bran muffins and multi-grain bagels which are Noshtopia golden!
Simple Healthy: Handmade Tomato Spinach Garlic Decio Pasta Fettuccine With Hot House Tomatoes and Pine Nuts
The creative in me loves anything handmade or at least has the perception of handmade. If you can mass produce something that looks handmade then you still get my attention.
I first saw Decio Pasta in Whole Foods and was really intrigued by how the pasta looked. The designer in me loves the idea of a visually stunning looking pasta because let's face it a bowl of plain spaghetti or linguine although tasty is not visually exciting. Decio Pasta was started in a garage in Cave Creek and is now produced in Tempe.
Admittedly, as much as I love how this Decio pasta looks, it's really pricey in the stores, and so the budget consciousness in me has resisted buying it in store. BUT, at the Old Town Farmer's market it was $6 flat so I bought the Tomato Spinach Garlic pasta for dinner. The lady at the table was telling me that the pasta itself is so rich with flavor that you really don't need to add much or any sauce at all. I was intrigued by that notion because one way to make a pasta dish less caloric for those watching the waistline is to use little to no sauce on top of the pasta.
So, I decided to try it out, and yes indeed, she was absolutely right. I made this very simple pasta dish using 5 ingredients minus salt including something different, yellow hot house tomatoes. I thought it would be kinda cool to use yellow instead of red tomatoes.
Ingredients (serves 2):
- Decio Pasta Tomato Spinach Garlic Fettuccine (half the bundle)
- 2 big cloves of garlic diced
- 2-1/2 tbsps olive oil
- 1 medium Hot House tomato diced
- 2 tbsps toasted pine nuts
- Garlic salt
Let's Get Cooking:
- Boil the fettuccine for 3-1/2 minutes. The package says 2-4 minutes and I found 3-1/2 was perfect. The label says do not doubt the cooking time and it is absolutely true. If you go over the 4 minutes, the pasta will quickly go to mushy. It's not pretty.
- Drain the pasta and let sit.
- On medium, heat a large skillet or wok pan, pour in olive oil and saute the garlic until garlic looks soft.
- Toss in the fettuccine and pine nuts. Mix all together with the olive oil and garlic. Add in some garlic salt to taste. Not too much, just enough to season a bit.
- Toss in the hot house tomato and continue to toss the pasta in the pan for about a minute.
- Remove the pasta from pan and place in serving dish and your ready to eat!
For some added flavor, sprinkle on some shaved asiago, pecorino, or vegan parmesan.
Note: All pictures taken with an iPhone 3GS
Pictures: Enjoying Spring Day At Old Town Farmer's Market
I've been a Phoenix resident for 5 months now and unbelievably have not been to a farmer's market anywhere here yet....that is until this weekend.
Going to farmer's markets are one of my favorite weekend things to do because I like to get fresh and possibly organic (if available) fruits and veggies for cheap. I like to support local businesses and those who are going for their dreams. I think the taste of going for it is delicious so I say support those folks! Farmer's markets are fabulous for picture taking.
So, here's a pictorial of some of the things that caught my eye this Saturday at the Old Town Farmer's Market in Scottsdale...
Continue reading "Pictures: Enjoying Spring Day At Old Town Farmer's Market" »
Light Mexican Eats: Blue Burrito Grille
The words healthy and light are not typically associated with Mexican food, but at Blue Burrito Grille, these folks are taking a pretty good stab at it. It was time for lunch with @shawnaculp and she was at Shea off 101 so she told me to find something healthy for us to eat.
Still being a newbie here, I went to the interwebs namely Yelp and just did a search for "healthy restaurants" in Scottsdale, AZ. One of the search results was Blue Burrito Grille which caught my eye right away because they have a "Light Blue" menu featuring their lighter, healthier choices, and here at Noshtopia, you know we're all about healthier eating.
I thought the set-up of the restaurant was interesting. It was kinda like the grandchild of grandparents Chipotle, a Mexican Bar, and Circle K. I know, weird combo, but somehow it was working.
It's like Chipotle because it has a chain flavor as you walk up to the counter make your food selection, pay for your food, and then take your number and wait to be called to the counter when the food is ready.
It's like bar at a Mexican restaurant because there is full seating inside and a patio outside along with a full bar in the place where you can order beer and cocktails.
And it's like Circle K because if you order any of the Large drinks you get the big gulp kind of plastic cup with straw, or as I like to call them, the adult sippy cups. Bring the sippy cup back and the refill is $1.50. Nice deal.
The tortilla chips are near the soda fountain machine where you grab a paper bowl and then scoop up as many chips as you want. You usually only see these kind of chip machines at the gas station. Next to the chips is the salsa bar where you can grab as much salsa as you want.
But enough about the baby daddy's and mommy's, let's get to the food. Shawna gets the chicken Taco Salad shown here with cheese and sour cream minus the guacamole. There is a taco salad version on the Light Menu and it comes minus cheese, sour cream, and guacamole which means it's basically just tortilla bowl, beans, rice, tomato, grilled peppers and onions, and chicken. The Light taco salad comes in at 330 calories and 39g of protein which is pretty impressive in my book.
I order the Chicken Fajita bowl off the Light Menu, and what I notice right away is how small it is which is actually refreshing because it looks more like what a normal portion size would look like versus the ginormous portions you normally see at quick food restaurants.
The Light Chicken Fajita bowl comes in at 350 calories and 35g of protein if you eat the tortilla that comes with it on the side. I didn't, so I'm guessing the calorie count now drops below 300 which is totally awesome. I can save those extra calories to eat chips and salsa, my favorite.
I'm especially excited about Blue Burrito because they also have free WiFi and ample electrical plugs around the place. The blogger in me is thrilled and has noted a new place to hang out.
Besides the Scottsdale store, locations include one in Gilbert, PHX airport, and a new one opening March 17 in the Scottsdale Fashion Square mall.
To me, the food is on par with Chipotle. The leg up that Blue Burrito has though is the Light Menu with the smaller portion sizes. Definitely try out Blue Burrito Grille and let me know what you think.
