Strawberries n' Kreem Recipe

Daymn.

You can buy strawberries all year round, but there's nothing like strawberries when they're fresh, in season, intensely red, and insanely delicious, which these were. And note: the only doctoring of this photo was an increase in exposure of 0.18; saturation was untouched.

These strawberries sit atop a scoop of 'kreem'. Just like Froot Loops aren't made of real fruit, this kreem I mention isn't made of real cream. Vice versa, though, is true of the natural[/artificial] factor. [Real] fruit is better than 'froot'; kreem, otherwise known as cottage cheese, though, is better for you than cream. ..umm, yeah.

A word about cottage cheese:

[According to Wikipedia]: 'Cottage cheese is a cheese curd product with a mild flavor. It is drained, but not pressed so some whey remains and the individual curds remain loose. The curd is usually washed to remove acidity giving sweet curd cheese. It is not aged or colored. Different styles of cottage cheese are made from milks with different fat levels and in small curd or large curd preparations. Cottage cheese which is pressed becomes hoop cheese, farmer cheese, pot cheese or queso blanco.'

Nutritionally, cottage cheese is super high in protein per serving and calories.

To give you an idea..

	Calories	Protein (g)	Serving Size
Milk	110	8	1 cup
Yogurt	140	11	1 cup
Cheese (mozz)	80	8	1/4 cup
Ice Cream	100	3	1/2
Cottage Cheese	90	16	1/2 cup

*Note: These figures are approximate for low fat products and can vary depending on brand.

Most cottage cheeses, though, have a lot of added salt. Friendship cottage cheese is the only one [I know of] that makes a 'No Salt Added' version; otherwise, you're looking at about 360mg, or 15%, of your daily recommended limit, per 1/2 cup serving.


How to buy strawberries:
Strawberries should look smooth [not wrinkly] but intact and mold-free. Moreover, flavorful strawberries should smell strawberry-y. Put the box up to your face and take a whiff. If they smell good, they'll likely taste good too.
To store strawberries, make sure they can breathe to avoid moisture buildup, then mold. To prepare, wash them. Strawberries, and all berries for that matter, are NOT clean and ready to eat.


Recipe for Strawberries n' Kreem:

1. Scoop some cottage cheese in a bowl. [I cut it with a little water so it's not so dry and thick.]
   
2. Destem, wash, and cut strawberries. Put on top of cheese.
   
3. Get spoon, scoop, open mouth..

..yup, it's that simple.

So whuddaru waiting for? Strawberry season'll be over before you know it, and this high protein, high fiber, antioxident-ed, decent.amount.of.calcium snack, breakfast, or dessert will sure to please. It's that delish you won't even know it's gud for you.
..[how's that for convincing gimmick?.. eh, just scroll back up -salivate- for inspiration/motivation].


Happy Healthy Juicy Strawberries n' Kreem!

Yoga, it's what's for lunch.

In the past few days, I've been working my way through this month's issue of Shape magazine— recycling my neighbor's recyclables. Who knew it doubled as both a health magazine and comic book??

'Feeling pudgy is no way to kick off summer! This plan makes quick work of the jiggly spots so you can be slim and sleek in no time.'

'It's officially swimsuit season— that time when the trouble spots you've concealed all year are on full display. But don't panic. If you've been following our Bikini Body Countdown, you're just about ready for your big reveal. (Procrastinators, dive in now and see results in 30 days.).. The trick: plenty of total-body, high-intensity moves that keep your heart rate up, so you blast calories while you sculpt sexy muscles. Start today and in four weeks you'll be ready and happy to bare it all— at the beach, your local pool, and even the bedroom.'
- Shape Magazine, June 2010


Hilarious. My only comments about this intro is that every sentence is seriously in need of an exclamation point.. or two.

Who reads this stuff? I mean, obviously people do, otherwise it wouldn't be the national publication it is, so more precisely, how is this material being used? In efforts to find ways to effectively mass educate the public about ways to be healthy, while I can appreciate the benefits of publications like this, nonetheless, I continue to seek improvements.

From this reading alone, I'm reminded of the effectiveness of personal stories and that whether readers follow the plan or not, just reading it alone serves not only as potential motivation and educational how-to but also simply as a reminder, valuable in and of itself, of keeping fit, eating right, and maintaining health. How they go about doing that is really not as important.

Staying fit is not complicated nor should it be very specific, like do XXX and you're set. Like diet, 'activity' [as I like to call it] just has to fit your likes— enough so that you won't hate it and never do anything ever again. That's why, typically, having a few active options is always good, as is making it enjoyable— avoid boredom, it's the worst.

And so in followup of the last post, I share with you this: I've recently decided [to try, at least] to pick up yoga again. I go through periods of doing it and not. Winter was on, spring was off, I guess my body's asking for it back again.

It admittedly took a few tries for me to 'discover', or fall in love with, yoga many years back, so beware not to dismiss it too hastily if you tried it before and left you with a bad taste in your mind. My personal flavor of choice is Power Vinyasa á la Baptiste. Power refers to doing it in a heated room, in my experience, that's about 90degF; vinyasa means flow, so the poses are sequenced flowing from one to the next, like a dance vs. rubber-necking traffic. Garnished with music, like most other activities, is a plus, but optional.

The benefits of yoga are all over the place.. for your body. Increased heart rate, strength training, stretching, balancing, sweating— it's got it all. Temps today reached above 90degF, so incorporating the power element was a cinch. As for the practice itself, I 'took back my lunch' from my 3-hour idle morning floor/desk-sit.

Recipe suggestion for a yoga dish, doable in about 40 min. goes as follows..
 - 3 sun salutations
 - 2 warrior twos
 - 2 side planks
 - 2 prayers
 - 2 crows, 1 gorilla in between
 - 2 eagles
 - 2 standing leg raise, airplane, lunge stretch, twisting triangle
 - 2 dancers
 - 2 trees
 - abwork: boat, bicycle, crunches etc.


..sure to leave you drippingly HealthyButJuicy.



Happy Healthy Juicy Yoga!

Office hazard that is the office..

This post couldn't have come at a better time, and yes, I know, it's about time.

Today kicked off the Take Back Your Lunch movement, conceived by [the folks at] The Energy Project [TEP] and which will actively run throughout the summer every Wednesday in NYC's Madison Square Park and public parks nationwide. The idea is based on the fact that too many of us don't take the time to actually take a break from work during lunch— whether it be due to time constraints and/or workload— and, as a result, actually counters our efforts to be efficient.

TEP states:

'Human beings aren’t meant to operate like computers, at high speeds, continuously, running multiple programs at the same time. Rather we’re meant to pulse — alternating between spending and intermittently renewing our four key sources of energy'— physical (sustainability), emotional (security), mental (self-expression) and spiritual (significance).

So, it is their mission to help organizations maximize their energy, or, as they say in physics, their 'capacity to do work', and thus be more productive [not to mention profitable].

As of recent, I've been heavily plagued by this exact issue. It's been quite some time since I've participated in the traditional practice of eight-hour desk and, admittedly, I'm still trying to both get used to it and find its workaround.

I almost couldn't agree more with TEP. I proclaim, sans research [gasp!], that we are not meant to sit for so long. One, two, maybe three hours absolute max, at a time, about the length of a movie. I'm telling you, the entertainment industry's got it..

One way to think about it is, is in terms of the blame that's placed on weight gain as we age. People always attest to a slowing metabolism but I can only partially agree. Logic, or mine anyway: We're more active when we're younger, hence, burn more and have more lean muscle mass, which increases metabolism. Vice versa is also true: we're less active when we're older and, hence, we just don't burn as much, making it seem like age itself is what causes a slowing metabolism, when, in fact, we're just idly weaker. That's what is known as a confounding factor, in case you were wondering.

As such, I think office life should somehow re-emulate high school. That is, 45-50 minute bouts of work; mandatory five-minute walks between; and at least one, though ideally two, periods of physical activity; all included. I'm actually ok with eating lunch while working, I mean, you're sitting anyway and it would also help compensate for the 'ideally two' activity sessions. Perhaps weekly luncheons with the co-workers, though, would be nice— as we all know the school cafeteria was a great opportunity to strengthen social bonds.. kidding, about the latter, not the former.

Additionally, I think offices should become more 'floor-friendly'— this, in part, goes even further back by re-emulating elementary school.

In elementary school there were desks but there was also 'The Rug' and plenty of other places where they made you sit on the floor. Getting up and down from the floor and sitting on it helps maintain some form of body awareness, agility, and even flexibility. The idea comes from doing yoga and work on the mat, as well as observing the difficulties heavier-set folks have when it comes to dealing with the floor, whether it be sitting on it or reaching for something etc. Sitting down and getting up in a chair, on the other hand, is pretty easy, too easy, and limits use of your body; sitting itself, in a chair, also limits movement and isolates weight to just one area— sucking the juicy out of your juicy. That's not to oust the desk completely but just expand and maximally utilize resources. or something.

An additional bonus $uggestion is the invention and implementation of the stationary cycling desk— with practice, pedaling doesn't take any extra thought, and over time, it'll leave you feeling, and actually, juicily fit.

So that's my schpeel and what I've come up with so far to improve occupational hazard that is the office. Have better ideas? Click Comments.


Happy Healthy Juicy at the Office!

A Tasting of One Hone$t Abe or Less

a la starbucks

Woah, I just saw a Starbucks ad. ..On television! ..I didn't know they did that. Aren't they *like* infamous for non-televised advertising and doing so Via (literally, which isn't that great) store locations *like* on every other block?

On the other hand, I did recently notice one of two locations, as aforementioned, a block apart from each other, sandwiching the Mud Truck no less, on Astor Place did close. Times are rough, even for Java the Hut it looks like, and cost of an ad probably is cheaper than maintaining a store['s rent].

The ad I saw [multiple times] ran during a commercial break during the re-run of the MTV Movie Awards— geared toward young folk... umm, such as myself?. Considering the high humidity heatwave we had last week, I suppose it is frappe season, so what better time, huh?

a la starbucks

Also, considering a medium [or 'grande'] goes for nearly $5+, I'm thinking a) they can afford it, b) the competition undeniably is getting fiercer, what, with McCafe, DD, and Jamba all scrambling for market share, and c) given the age group, it'll be worth the investment in the hefty, branded long run.

Five bucks for a drink, though.. A drink! While I understand times have changed, I ponder whether such a price point is reasonable or completely outrageous, by considering alternative edible options one Hone$t Abe can afford. Let's see.. $5 or less these days can get you..

a la cafe habana

Grilled Corn Mexican Style @Cafe Habana: 2 pieces served with chili powder, lime & cotija cheese - $4.25.

One order of (any kind of) dumplings and a bowl of noodle soup @Vanessa's Dumpling House - $5.

Soy Burger Dinner served over brown rice with tahini dressing and a side salad @Dojo - $4.95.

a la Time

(Or a real burger) aka. ShackBurger with american cheese, lettuce, tomato and shack sauce @Shake Shack - $4.75.

Snow Crab Avocado Roll @Umi Sushi - $4.50.

0.625 lbs. of food from the buffets @Whole Foods - $5.

FIVE (5) slices of pizza @99 Cent Fresh Pizza - $4.95.

Almond Brioche @Celi Cela - $3.50.

a la sugar sweet sunshine

Three (3) cupcakes @Sugar Sweet Sunshine - $4.50.

Two (2) tacos (pork, chicken, beef) @Noche Mexicana - $5.

Bagel and Low Fat Nova Cream Cheese Sandwich @Murray's Bagels - $3.95.

a la grandaisy

Panino Di Calazione: onion fritatto with asparagus & asiago cheese @Grandaisy Bakery - $5.

Fifteen (15) POUNDS of apples @Greenmarket on Wednesdays and Saturdays -
$1 per 3 lbs. bag x 5 = $5.

Ok, so I guess I didn't need to make a list to verify that five bucks for coffee is steep. On the other hand, Starbucks admittedly is convenient when you need a place to study, have time to kill, need somewhere to rest, or just really have to go— all of which sort of make up for the occasional indulgent co$tly treat. And, as always, everything in, as long as in moderation.


Happy Healthy on your wallet But Juicy enough to enjoy, ≤$5 Eats [& Drinks]!