SUPERBOWL weekend!

Are you ready for some football?? If you're like most Americans, your weekend plans include a party this Sunday as friends gather for Superbowl XLV. Whether your interest leans toward the game (my husband) or the commercials and post-game episode of Glee (me) or the chance to run merrily around the house with friends (our children), it's an awfully nice way to spend a Sunday evening.

Game-day munchies come with the territory, of course, and I'm looking forward to some favorite indulgences just as much as you are. If you're also interested in adding a few healthier options to the mix, here is a lightened up version of a Superbowl favorite as well as some previously-posted ideas you might consider making for the big day.

Whether you will be wielding a Terrible Towel or wearing a Cheese Head, these are sure to be a hit with your party crowd.  Enjoy the game!

Southwestern Bean Dip

adapted from Eating Well Jan/Feb 2007

1 16-ounce can nonfat refried beans, preferably “spicy”
1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed
4 scallions, sliced
1/2 cup prepared salsa
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup pickled jalapeño slices, chopped
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack, or Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 1/2 cups chopped romaine lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 medium avocado, chopped
1/4 cup canned sliced black olives

Directions:

1. Combine refried beans, black beans, scallions, salsa, cumin, chili powder and jalapeños in a medium bowl. Transfer to a shallow 2-quart microwave-safe dish; sprinkle with cheese.
2. Microwave on High until the cheese is melted and the beans are hot, 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Spread sour cream evenly over the hot bean mixture, then scatter with lettuce, tomato, avocado and olives.

Other ideas:

White Chicken Chili

Texas Caviar with Tortilla Chips

Kale Chips

It's Love Month!

My daughter woke up this morning and declared "It's Love Month!" Now that's what I call waking up on the right side of the bed! If you hadn't thought about it in quite that way before, perhaps it's time to consider how you'll celebrate Love Month this year. How will you show love to those around you? And perhaps even more importantly, how will you treat yourself for the next 28 days? (Why does Love Month have to be the shortest one, anyhow?)

If you need a little inspiration, here are a few ideas:

- Begin every day by greeting yourself in the mirror and saying something nice for once.

- Treat yourself to fresh flowers despite the snow and ice scene playing out all around us.

- Schedule date night - with yourself! 

      What movie have YOU been longing to see (Toy Story 3 does not count)? 

      What book have you been meaning to read? 

      What restaurant have you wanted to try? Now's the time!

- Make yourself an adorable breakfast like the one pictured above.

- Choose the very best food for yourself - at the grocery store, at home, in a restaurant. No scarfing down half-eaten chicken nuggets off your kids' plates. What do YOU crave?

 

- Listen to great music in the car.

- Find a workout that moves you. Try Hot Yoga...or Pilates...or Zumba...or whatever makes you want to get up and move!

- Make yourself over - get a new haircut or a new lipstick or a new outfit - anything that makes you feel great.

- Stop comparing yourself to others. Love yourself for who YOU are, not for how you stack up vs the competition.

It's February, friends. All you need is love.

Upcoming Event - "Beauty from the Inside Out"

Next Thursday, February 3rd, I'll be speaking at an Image Impact Workshop hosted by Dr. Kurtis Martin. I'll be talking about my ideas for how to draw beauty from the inside out through the practice of eating well, and then personal trainer TJ Bizzarri will be doing a mini workout demo and Dr. Martin will talk about his practice and his commitment to the holistic health of his patients. If you live in Cincinnati and can join us (or know someone who would like to), here are the details:

Image Impact Workshop

Sponsored by Kurtis W. Martin, M.D.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

6355 E. Kemper Road, Cincinnati, OH

7-9PM

Reserve your spot by calling 513-469-0300

I really do believe that beauty begins within. On one hand, you can lose weight by eating fewer calories, no matter where those calories come from. But there is a vibrancy and vitality that is called forth only by eating really good quality food that provides a wide range of nutrients. A low-calorie diet comprised of junk food may take off some pounds, but it simply will never produce that healthy glow we all seek. Do you notice when someone appears to be lit from within? That's the magic of really high quality food. It proves that the old adage "you are what you eat" is true after all.

What do I have in common with a celebrity chef?

Media personality Amy Tobin

Believe me, I'm fully aware that I have very little in common with big-time celebrity food personalities like Cat Cora, Paula Deen, Sara Moulton and Ming Tsai. Nonetheless, I learned this week that we do, in fact, all have one thing in common...

We've all been guests on Amy Tobin's weekly radio show, Amy's Table!

One week ago, I had the fun experience of sitting down with Amy in the Q102 studio here in Cincinnati to tape a segment for her show which aired on Sunday morning. It was a blast and I can't imagine a more gracious host than Amy!

Amy is a food and lifestyle consultant, a well known media personality, author of Amy's Table: Food for Families & Friends, host of Amy's Table on Q102, and Culinary Director at EQ, the culinary school at the Party Source in Northern Kentucky.

We talked about Nourish and the various services we offer, including Nourish@Home. Amy was particularly intrigued by the kitchen makeover service in which we go into a client's kitchen and spend about a half-day reorganizing the pantry and refrigerator to support her goals for eating well. We make choices about which foods stay, and which ones need to go. Then we organize all the keepers in ways that make it easier to find what they need to make healthful meals and snacks. 

After the show, Amy asked if I'd do a guest blog post for her called "A Healthy Meal from a Madeover Pantry" - and so I did. Here's a link.

If you'd like to hear the two-part interview, here's a link to the page with the .mp3 recording. It's posted under January 24th and there are two separate links with my name  - just click each one to listen.

And in case you'd rather hear from some REAL celebrities, here are links to the interviews with the chefs I mentioned above:

Cat Cora
Paula Deen
Sara Moulton
Ming Tsai

Enjoy!

Announcing Nourish@Home

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! After months of planning and preparation, we're officially launching Nourish@Home, our newest service offering designed to help you thrive.

I love the time I spend teaching people how rewarding it can be to cook for themselves and to enjoy delicious healthful food every day...and we'll still be doing plenty of that around here! But I'm delighted to announce that we can now support your quest to eat well in another very tangible way.

Nourish@Home is an in-home meal prep service designed to fill your fridge with a week's worth of healthful food, so you can enjoy more peaceful evenings!  

 

We'll plan, shop for, and prepare a week's worth of decadently healthful food in your kitchen. 

Experience the peace of mind that comes with knowing dinner is taken care of. I've included all the details about it, as well as a special introductory offer below. I hope you'll give it a spin.

Are you ready to be Nourished??

The Details
The Menu, FAQs, and Pricing

Check out our menu:With items like Thyme Scented Salmon, Pan-Roasted Broccoli with Lemon Thyme Browned Butter, and Scalloped White and Sweet Potatoes on the menu, you'll have no trouble finding delicious food that meets your family's needs. Have a special request? Just ask! Click here to view our fall/winter menu.

Get the answers you need:
Click here to have a look at our FAQs. If you don't find the answer to your question there, just email us and we'd be glad to answer it for you.

Review our Pricing:
The service is priced at $249/week*  but you'll enjoy special introductory pricing of just $199* the first time you try it!
* plus cost of groceries

Book Your Cook Date
Get ready to be Nourished!

Book your date to be Nourished!

 

When you're ready to schedule your first cook date, just email us your contact information and the date you'd like us to come and we'll get back to you to finalize the details! Once your first cook date is scheduled, you'll make your menu selections & complete a short online form providing some background information about your food preferences and your kitchen.

 

 

After that, you can pour yourself a cup of coffee and relax, because dinner's taken care of!

Beef Daube (because everything sounds better in French)

If the words "beef stew" make you think of an unhealthy concoction in a can, you're missing the boat! The French have long known that the cure for the winter blahs involves a bubbling pot of beef, slow cooking with vegetables, red wine, and stock. Pair this version of their traditional "Boeuf Daube" with a loaf of crusty bread and a bright green salad (one made with spinach, sliced oranges, and toasted walnuts in a citrus vinaigrette sounds about right) and you have the perfect dinner to warm you from the inside out. God bless the French.

Beef Daube
adapted from Cooking Light 2004 

serves 6

Ingredients 
1 Tbsp. olive oil
3-4  garlic cloves, crushed
1  (2 lb.) boneless chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes
1  tsp. kosher  salt
1/2  tsp.  freshly ground black pepper
1  c.  red wine
2  c. chopped carrot
1 1/2  c.  chopped sweet onion
1  c.  beef stock or beef broth
1  Tbsp.  tomato paste 
1 tsp.   chopped fresh rosemary
1  tsp.  chopped fresh thyme
1  (14.5-oz.) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1  bay leaf 

3 c.   hot cooked whole wheat  noodles

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 300°.

2. Heat oil in a Dutch oven over low heat. Add garlic; cook 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove garlic with a slotted spoon; set aside. 

3. Increase heat to medium-high and add beef to pan. Cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove beef from pan. Add wine to pan, and bring to a boil, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Add garlic, beef, salt, pepper, carrot, and next 7 ingredients (through bay leaf); bring to a boil.

4. Cover and bake at 300° for 2 1/2 hours or until beef is tender. Discard bay leaf. Serve over noodles.

Note: You can also make this in a slow cooker/crockpot. Simply complete steps 1-3 and transfer mixture to the slow cooker. Cover and cook on HIGH for about 5 hours.

Give yourself the gift of time

I started this new year off with a bang! At least in my head I did. I was so ready for January 1st to arrive so things could be swept clean, organized, and returned to normalcy after the blessed craziness of the holidays. I'm one of those people who loves (LOVES) to put up the Christmas decorations the first weekend of December while humming carols and sipping hot cocoa...but I also love taking them DOWN and restoring order to our home. There's something so naturally invigorating about starting off the year that it motivates me to do all sorts of organizing projects. (Apparently I'm not alone - have you noticed all the organizing materials on display in the stores this month?)

Throughout the holidays I could feel myself making a mental list of all the things I wanted to do. In my head I'd be doing them "on January 1st." My mental list got longer, and longer, and longer until it was painfully clear there was no human way to accomplish all of it in one day. No problem, I thought. I'll give myself the whole first week of January to get it done. And then the list got longer still. 

At some point, (still in December) I really started to get stressed about how much I wanted to accomplish and how BEHIND I already felt, before I'd even started. I could feel myself brimming with anxiety and so I tried to explain how I was feeling to my husband, the best listener on earth. 

He looked at me, took a deep breath, and calmly asked me why everything on my list had to be done the first week of January. 

Well! Because it just does...have you looked at this house lately? Seriously. Humph. After ranting around in a fit of exasperation for a few minutes, I finally took a breath and actually processed his question. Why DID it all have to be done the first week of January?

And do you know what? I had absolutely no good reason why.

Right then and there, I gave myself permission to extend my self-imposed deadline for my very long to-do list. I got realistic with myself about when I'd actually find the 2 hours I needed to purge our files, the hour I'd need to clean the refrigerator, the 4 hours I'd need to really go through our closet. I searched my calendar for a few free days to hold my own annual planning retreat for my business and blocked them off. I penciled in dates to sort and store outgrown children's clothes, to research a new software program I need, and to organize the toy closet. You get the idea. I gave myself some time. No one else could do it for me.

Isn't it always like that? We have an idea and want to execute it right now. We want immediate results. But we each get 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week. And sometimes, if we can just take a breath and lift our heads up for a moment, we can give ourselves the gift of time to accomplish all that we desire without losing our minds in the process. No matter what you've resolved to do this year, will you give yourself the time you really need to accomplish it? No one else can do it for you.