Thank You, Flight Attendant Friend for Your Delectable Green Tea!

A couple of years ago I flew on a China Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Taipei. It was a long flight, so after a few mediocre airplane movies (this was pre-TV-in-the-back-of-the-seat-in-front-of-you, so I had to watch a miniature TV set that hung in the corner just about the restroom) I decided to catch some shut-eye. I found an entire 5-seat row to stretch out in and built my nest. A few pillows and one blanket later, and I began to drift off.

That is, until I met her.

My eyes had just closed when she abruptly shook me back awake with the words, “Would you like some tea?” This must be a dream, I insisted to myself. This can’t possibly be a flight attendant walking down the aisles with a pot of hot green tea, coming to shake me awake and ask me if I would like some. Not possible. Not as I have quite obviously cocooned myself in a blanket looking to cash out for the night.

But as I cracked open one of my eyelids…I saw her smiling face and pot of tea. What could I do?

“Sure,” I replied, masking my frustration. And I took her shot-glass-sized cup of green elixir. (At least they could have offered me the adult size.)  I quickly drank it down and crawled back into my den.

What happened next, I can’t really explain, except to say that my Green Tea friend returned five more times that night to interrupt my slumber. It was as if I had an illness, and her teapot held the remedy, and she would not let me rest until she cured me.

But after cup number two…I didn’t really mind her interruptions. In fact, with every footstep I heard that night passing my row, I anxiously crawled out from my dizzying coma to see if it was her. She had me hooked.

And nine years later, I have not stopped drinking green tea. I wish I could thank my flight attendant friend. Thank her for getting me addicted to one of the most healthy libations known to humans.  

The health benefits of green tea are well documented. Scientists have discovered that green tea comes charged with antioxidants called catechins which can repair your ailing immune system and help in the prevention of certain cancers (grapes, berries, red wine and dark chocolate also contain such powerful antioxidants). Scientists have also recently suggested that green tea helps stave off dementia, and fights bad breath. Who doesn’t love that? I’ll take more years of cognitive clarity and some fresh breath, please!

Plus, drinking a glass of (any) warm liquid tricks the stomach into thinking it’s full – so try a glass at your next snack time or the next time you think you are hungry but don’t necessarily need to eat.

So brew up some green tea for your health! You can add honey or some raw cane sugar to make it sweeter, or you can do like my Grandma does and add some cinnamon (Nice work, Grandma. Nice work.). You could even add some green tea brew to any smoothie if you like!

Here’s to you, Green Tea Flight Attendant! We salute you.

Sloppy Joe's Made Extra Sloppy (err..healthy) Just for You!

            Growing up I loved Sloppy Joes…maybe even a bit more so than I loved Taco Bell (Sorry, Bell). I mean, every kid loves The Sloppy Joe, right? They taste good, and they’re sloppy. Done deal. So why would I even suggest messing with such a good thing?

            Did you eat Sloppy Joe’s as a kid? If so, tell us about it in the comments below.

            Well a few years ago my family and I decided to eat much less meat, and really to only eat a specific type of meat if we did. We wanted to avoid meats raised on industrial farms that often inject the animals with an amalgam of harmful chemicals, and usually confine the animals in uncomfortably cramped spaces. As you may guess, these kinds of meats, though much healthier for the body and sustainable for farming, cost significantly more. But we had already decided to eat much less of it which helped defer the cost. We also began to keep a look out for good, healthy, and easy meat substitutes. And thanks to our vegan friends, Summer and Cory, we found one for the Sloppy Joe!

            Instead of ground beef, we use a product called Tempeh that contains little fat, but much protein. Tempeh is a veritable mess of crazy healthy ingredients that you can eat a hundred different ways! The kind we buy from Trader Joe's is made from soybeans, water, brown rice, barley, and millet. Now, I know what you’re thinking…and no, we don’t feed it to our neighbor’s rabbit…or bird. But we do feed it to their dog who frequently makes fun of vegans. He thinks it’s his dog food. Sucker.

Here’s how we make the Sloppy Joes!

1.     In a large skillet on medium heat, brown the Tempeh in a frying pan on the stove, like you would the ground beef (we typically use 1 lb of it for a family of six).

2.     Add your favorite sloppy joe mix to the pan and stir until desired temperature is reached.

3.     Serve on whole wheat buns (to make sure you are eating whole wheat buns, read the ingredient list on the package. The first ingredient should begin with “Whole…” or “100% Whole…” If it says “Enriched,” it is not truly whole wheat).

A note on the sloppy joe mix: I intentionally left this part open for you to decide which kind of sloppy joe mix to use. We originally tried to make our own mix from fresh tomatoes and other ingredients, but our kids didn’t like it because we were messing with the Sloppy Joe too much. It was tough to fool them that these were, in fact, Sloppy Joes – the same thing they had eaten just a month earlier. They didn’t even taste the same, so they didn’t buy it. So we, instead, used the Tempeh with our old family favorite Sloppy Joe mix from the grocery store, and they were hooked! We consider this a happy medium, even though store bought mix isn’t as healthy as homemade mix (but it is less expensive, and not unhealthy).  

            You can serve the Sloppy Joes with sweet potato fries (which I will post about on Wednesday or Friday), and some red grapes – a great summer dish!

            Oh, and be sure to lather on the mix if your family likes them extra sloppy! If you don’t like them extra sloppy, well then…what’s wrong with you!? 

Another Pro Athlete Goes Vegan...Should We?

Vegan Arian Foster

(Bonus weekend post! I will do weekend posts when/if I find something interesting to share...such as this! Otherwise, see you Monday!)
ArianFoster, prominent running back for the Houston Texans and millionaire (yes, his being a millionaire is relevant), recently announced his decision to go vegan. It caught my attention because I have read quite a bit about the health benefits of leaving meat and other animals based products out of my diet (vegans eat absolutely nothing made from animals or animal by products – no beef, chicken, fish, dairy, eggs, or even honey). I have toyed with the idea myself, as it certainly fits within my three rules of eating – see my post from yesterday), but have not committed 100% yet. It got me wondering…

Tony Gonzalez

A few Christmas's ago Katie (my beautiful wife) bought me Tony Gonzalez's book The All-Pro Diet. Tony Gonzalez, Pro NFL football player since 1997, eats a strictly vegan diet and is in impeccable shape (see for yourself),  frequently contributing to his football teams. I enjoyed his book, which contained recipes, workout routines and some other life tips (which I enjoyed the least, probably as they were a bit trite), but couldn't help but immediately notice the extravagant and pricey food items in his recipes.  And I wondered if his decision to go vegan had something to do with some of these items (vegan approved food items can be more expensive - but not always. I have found some gems...including Monday's upcoming Sloppy Joe recipe). 

  I think I would like to go vegan. But I haven’t. I do eat a mostly vegetarian diet, but I am a long way from being a vegan (I eat free range chickens humanely raised without drugs, and the eggs they produce. And I love honey in my oatmeal.). I think it’s partially due to the cost of going vegan. It’s a bit easier for guys like Tony Gonzalez and Arian Foster to float that kind of grocery bill…but not so much for others of us. But I wonder if there are other, subterranean reasons I haven’t gone vegan. Maybe I’m lazy. Perhaps I don’t really trust that eliminating meat altogether from my diet is the best thing. Who knows?

What about you? Are you vegan? Would you like to go vegan? Why or why not? 

Rules for Eating (and nod to the sour cream caulk gun!)

    (Hey blog readers! Just FYI - I will have a new post for you to read each Monday, Wednesday and Friday! If you are enjoying the blog, subscribe to it by becoming a member on the right, or by email at the top. Hope you enjoy!)      
     I used to eat at Taco Bell all the time. It was great. I mean, who doesn’t enjoy boiled meat and dubious nacho cheese that never hardens? Mmmm. I did. And what about that sour cream caulking gun? Ingenious, right?

“Excuse me, Ma’am. Could you please caulk me some more sour cream? I didn’t quite get enough the first go around.”  

“No problem, Ryan. Because of our sour cream caulking gun, that will only take me about 2.5 seconds to add some more.”

Brilliant.

I’d love to go back in time and meet the enterprising youngster who thought of putting a tube of sour cream into a caulking gun, instead of, I don’t know, caulk!

But this post isn’t really about the sour cream caulking gun…or anything else we could throw into a caulking gun (leave any ideas you have for the caulking gun in the comments below!), it’s about why I stopped eating at Taco Bell.

For that, I’d like to thank, at least partially, journalist and food activist Michael Pollan who wrote (among many other things) a brief little treatise called “Food Rules” which is worth the afternoon it takes to read it (and the few bucks to buy it). In it, he describes his rules for eating, including a three-rule rubric that I have adopted as my own:

1. Eat real food (sorry, dubious nacho cheese that never hardens)
2.  Mostly plants (he champions a mostly vegetarian diet for health and humanitarian reasons…as do I. I will post recipe ideas for healthy, meat substitutes in later posts...keep your eyes peeled!)
3.  Not too much (Chipotle Mexican Grill gets an exemption on this one…only because it is just too delicious. I would have no problems breaking this rule if I suddenly discovered 3 Chipotle burritos sitting in front of me. If I’m going down…I’m going down swinging! Chipotle!)

It’s by these three rules that I eat, anymore. The difficult reality, however, is that eating by the first two rules raises the cost of your shopping bill, at least some. And while it truly is unavoidable, my hope is to bring you less expensive options that fit within these rules and that won’t break the bank. Next Monday I will be posting a great recipe that will replace your mundane (and probably not so healthy) Sloppy Joe brew - that kids will also love! So don’t be discouraged, because hey, at least rule #3 helps keep the bill down all by itself!

            Long live the condiment caulking gun!

Who Wants a Delicious Avocado Smoothie?

           One morning, about a year ago, I was craving a nutrient dense, calcium rich drink that looked like melted green snow and tasted sort of like ice cream – true story. This craving gave birth to renowned Braley Avocado Smoothie. Now I must pay tribute – this simple hydrating brew was the brainchild of my friend Pete…but I might add that it was yours truly who perfected it. (But I do tip my hat to Pete each time I blend the green snow drink.)

            Before I list the ingredients and let you read about the health benefits, I must warn you that at first glance this smoothie appears dubious. You might dodge a drink of it with excuses like, “Oh, I’m not really thirsty” or “Uh, it’s green” or even “No way that tastes like ice cream.” Well, my friends, look again. Nay, don’t look. Just drink. Close your eyes if you have to. Pretend it’s…well pretend it’s green snow that tastes like ice cream. Or if that description weirds you out a little…close your eyes and pretend you’re overpaying for a delectable Orange Julius.

            Without further adu, the Braley Avocado Smoothie:

• ·      1.5 cups of milk (if you are lactose intolerant, or have a few extra pennies to burn, you could use Almond Milk or Rice Milk)
• ·      1 avocado (peeled and pitted…obviously)
• ·      1.5 tablespoons of honey, or to taste (or again, if you have a few extra pennies…use 1 tbsp of Agave Nectar which has a low glycemic index which means that when consumed, it doesn’t cause a sharp rise or fall in the blood sugar. Seriously. Google it. And then buy it at Costco, Wal-Mart, or online where it’s the cheapest respectively.)
• ·       1 teaspoon of vanilla (go ahead, use the imitation vanilla. I do. The real stuff is way too pompous. Sorry, Grandma.)
• ·      6 ice cubes
• ·      Bonus Item: ½ to 1 whole banana. You can take or leave the banana. It adds an energy boost, sweetness, and bananas are relatively inexpensive.
• ·      Combine all of these ingredients in a blender and blend for 20 seconds, depending on desired consistency. Remember, the longer you blend, the warmer the smoothie will get – so you may need to add more ice cubes.

          Now I know that Avocados can be a bit spendy…but if you read my Monday post, you will note that you can score avocados at Aldi for under buck. And the Avo is what makes this smoothie a nutritious gold mine. Avocados are high in fat…fat, by the way, doesn’t always make you fat (fat can make you fat, but not always…but we’ll explain that in a later post). You see, it’s full of healthy fats (which are GOOD for you!). Avocados also contain a compound that has been shown to lower cholesterol levels and they contain folate to boot, which improves heart health. Besides their rough outer shell that protects them from insects and poisonous chemicals while being grown (making it unnecessary to purchase organic avocados), avocados offer a colossal amount of Vitamin E. What does Vitamin E do? Who cares!? It’s a vitamin – just drink it! (Fine…it protects against myriad diseases and helps you maintain your overall health. Like I said…it’s a vitamin.)                                                                

                                                     

            So, after you make your first Braley Avocado Smoothie, close your eyes, give a nod to my friend Pete, and drink down the melted green snow that tastes of ice cream. Then log back on to here and tell me how your experience was in the comment section.