August Favorites Roundup

Thank you for all of the love this month! August has been a busy month for me as I finish preparing for Fall classes and finish some consultation work. If you missed any of the posts this month, here are the top five favorite posts you visited this month. Enjoy!

Five Things You Should Know About Becoming a Registered Dietitian

How Do I Build a Healthy Plate

8 Tips for Eating Healthy on a Budget

Recipe for Green Chips

What Can Dietitians Do: A to Z

Let me know if there are any nutrition-related topics you would like to know more about. Please comment below. For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

Kids Eat Right Month: Green Chips

Happy Kids Eat Right Month! As a pediatric registered dietitian (RD), I often get asked many questions about feeding children in a healthy way. This month we will discuss many topics about healthy eating with a focus on teaching children how to eat healthy. Luckily, these principles can be applied to children of all ages (including adults who are kids at heart)!

So, the most common question I get is "How do I get my child to eat healthy?". Today, I have an easy recipe that might just get your child to try Brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts are a member of the cabbage family, that's why they look like mini cabbages. Brussels sprouts are high in fiber, vitamin C, vitamin A; they are low in calories and fat.

You may have grown up with mushy, smelly Brussels sprouts. Brussels sprouts have a mineral, sulfur, in them. If you over-cook this vegetable, there can be an odor. I happen to love Brussels sprouts. I love a crispy, roasted vegetable, which is how I came up with this simply, quick recipe.

For children, I think marketing is important for fruits and vegetables. We can make eating fruits and veggies fun by incorporating colors or giving dishes fun names. For grown-ups, I would call this roasted Brussels sprouts. For kids, we could name this green chips or Hulk chips (if your child is an Avengers fan). Here's the recipe.

Green Chips or Roasted Brussels Sprouts
8 oz Brussels sprouts
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Wash and trim your Brussels sprouts. Cut Brussels sprouts in half and trim the woody end. Separate leaves. Toss in olive oil and place in a 375 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. After 15-20 minutes, turn the Brussels sprouts and salt them. Cook for an additional 15-20 minutes until caramelized.

The leaves of the Brussels sprouts get caramelized and crispy. They turn into mini green chips. These are so delicious! Try them; I think you'll like it. Enjoy!

Stay tuned all this month for more on healthy eating and Kids Eat Right Month. For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

Spring Salad Recipe: Fresh Fruit and Spinach Salad

I love Spring! Everything seems green, new, and alive! I even love the rain . . . it's good for naps (hahaha). And, we all know April showers bring May flowers.

This year, I started a small herb garden. We will see if I have my grandfather's green thumb . . . or not. Let me know if you have any tips for growing herbs in containers. I would love to hear from you.

I love herbs! They are a great way to add flavor to dishes without adding fat, sugar, or salt. Since I am a clinical dietitian (aka I work mainly in a hospital setting), I have many patients who are trying to limit added fat, added sugar, or sodium in their diet for various health reasons. 

So this week, I plan to share some healthy recipes that are limited in added sugar, added saturated fat, or sodium. These recipes are healthy and full of flavor! How can that be?!? Well, we are using some fresh, seasonal ingredients. We are also going to be using local herbs (out of my garden) and aromatic vegetables to bring tons of flavor without all the fat, sugar, and salt. Stay tuned!

Today, I am featuring one of my favorite salads. It reminds me of Spring and provides fruit and vegetables in one dish! I made this for my family on Easter, and it was a hit!

Ingredients
Strawberries
Blueberries
Pecans
Spinach
Mint
Vinaigrette (I used a raspberry vinaigrette; it was delicious)
*Feta 
(*Optional: you may omit the feta if you don't like this cheese, or if you are watching your sodium or saturated fat intake.)

Wash all fruits, herbs, and vegetables. Toss all the ingredients together. Dress with vinaigrette before serving. Enjoy!

If you've never tried a salad that mixes fruits and vegetables, this is a great one to start with. If you have a friend or family member with a sweet tooth, this is also a great salad to make for them. Try it!

For even more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter .

Happy Easter: Easy King Cake

Happy Easter! When I think about Easter, I think about faith, family, food, gratitude, and celebration. In Louisiana, celebrating the Easter season is just that . . . a celebration for a season. There's the Christmas season, which is followed by Epiphany, Mardi Gras, and Lent. Lots of celebrating!

One of the foods I associate with this season of celebrating is King Cake. Traditionally, King Cake is a sweet bread that is similar to a coffee cake or cinnamon roll. It can be filled with various fillings, like cream cheese, strawberry, blueberry, pecan praline, or left plain. It is covered with a white icing and purple, green, and gold colored sugars. The sugars are said to represent justice (purple), faith (green), and power (gold). The three colors are also said to represent the three wise men who searched and found Christ. There is usually a small, plastic baby in the cake to represent baby Jesus. The person who finds the baby is suppose to bring a King Cake to the next gathering. 

I have a recipe for a made-from-scratch King Cake from my friend Claudette. Claudette's recipe makes a sweet, delicious yeast bread. You are welcome to make your dough and icing from scratch, but my recipe is an easy, short-cut recipe for King Cake.

RDtipoftheday's Easy King Cake
Ingredients
1 tube cinnamon rolls
Icing (from cinnamon roll package)
Purple, green, and gold sanding sugar

Instructions
Unroll cinnamon rolls into long strips of dough. Braid 3 pieces of dough together and attach ends to form an oval. Cook according to package directions. (My package said 350*F for 12-16 minutes. My dough was done around 12 minutes, so keep an eye on the dough). 

Ice the cake with your icing. 

Sprinkle on the sanding sugar alternating purple, green, and gold. Work quickly before the icing is set. 

How easy was that?!? This is a great recipe for your kids or new bakers. It is simple, quick, and delicious. I hope you enjoy this recipe, and Happy Easter!

Follow me, RDtipoftheday, on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter, for more information about healthy eating, encouragement, recipes, and nutrition facts. You can also subscribe to this blog, RDtipoftheday.blogspot.com, through BlogLovin.

Kitchen School: 3 Tips for Successful Baking

We've all had those baking disasters. Tough cakes, adding salt instead of sugar, forgetting ingredients, the list goes on and on. Is that just me? I didn't think so. Want to avoid these catastrophes? Here are three simple tips to help you become a more successful baker.

1) Be prepared
Read the recipe all the way through. Make sure you have all the ingredients and set the oven for the recommended temperature.

2) Follow directions
For example, add room temperature eggs into the creamed butter." You've added air to the butter by creaming it. This makes the butter wonderfully light and helps make a tender cake. If you add cold eggs, not room temperature eggs, the cold eggs can cause your butter to seize resulting in a flat, dense, tough cake.
Are you wondering what to do while your ingredients come to room temperature? You can try something called "mise en place." It is French for "introduction" but for chefs it means to "put in place." It is preparing all your ingredients before you introduce them to each other in the recipe. It sounds fancy, but it is simply pre-measuring your ingredients. You may have seen this being done by the chefs on Food Network.; they have all the ingredients are measured in small bowls and simply added each as the recipe calls for it.
It makes sense because it keeps you organized, and this is how most recipes are written. Recipes usually start with listing the ingredients and measurements. Then, how to combine the ingredients. And lastly, how long and at what temperature to cook the recipe.
I like the idea of mise en place; it makes me feel chef-y.

3) Check your oven temp
Investing in an oven thermometers may seem silly because the oven usually has one built in. But if you are having a problem with uneven baking, burning, or under cooking, the oven temperature could be the problem.

Seems simple right? Well it is! Every baking failure I've ever had was because I missed one of these things. Everyone has there mistakes, so learn from them and bake on! Follow these three simple steps and you will be a better baker. For more tips on baking better, check out this post on measuring to get the perfect batter or dough.

Follow me, RDtipoftheday, on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter for more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating. You can subscribe to this blog, RDtipoftheday.blogspot.com, through BlogLovin,.

Banana Pecan Bread and Mace Recipe

Yesterday we talked about this recipe and one of its unusual ingredients. It is one of my favorite banana bread because it has a ton of pecans. Pecans are naturally high in fat, but they are naturally high in "good fats" like monounsaturated (44% of the fat in pecans) and polyunsaturated fats (24% of the fat in pecans). If you like pecans, you will love this Banana Pecan Bread.

Homemade Banana Pecan Bread Recipe
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground mace
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/4 cups pecans, toasted and chopped
3 ripe bananas, mashed (~1 1/2 cups)
1/4 cup light sour cream
2 large eggs
6 Tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Recipe adapted from Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

Combine dry ingredients in a  large mixing bowl. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, mace, cinnamon, nutmeg, and pecans.
In a mixer, mix wet ingredients. Combine banana, sour cream, eggs, butter, and vanilla. 
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. 
Spread batter in one greased loaf pan. Bake at 350*F for 45-55 minutes until golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

I love a make-ahead breakfast. I feel like making your breakfast ahead or having a quick breakfast is a huge time saver in the morning. Breakfast is my favorite way to start the day. Hope you enjoy the recipe.

If you allergic or do not like nuts, omit them from the recipe. This recipe is fairly high in sugar, so feel free to adjust the sugar to your liking. This recipe also has a fair amount of butter, which is a source of saturated fat. I would enjoy this recipe in moderation with a balance of a healthy lifestyle including physical activity. 

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter . You can subscribe to this blog, RDtipoftheday.blogspot.com, through BlogLovin.

Cooking with Spice

One of my first baking memories was with my grandmother. She always made brownies and pancakes when I visited. I've always had a sweet tooth and an interest in science. So, baking was always something that intrigued me. How can you take something like flour, eggs, sugar, and oil that no one would eat together like that and turn it into something delicious like pancake?

It seemed like my mom was always cooking. When I was growing up, I liked to watch her cook especially when she was making one of my favorite meals. She was also patient to let me "help" her cook, which I'm assuming slowed her down a bit. In my childhood, I did learn how to make hamburgers, mashed potatoes, meatloaf, and green bean bundles for the holidays.

I became really interested in cooking in high school. I new that I would go off to college, so I needed to learn to cook to survive on a college budget. In my 20's, I had a roommate and best friend that was not picky at all. She introduced me to new foods, restaurants, and recipes. I took a few cooking courses in my undergraduate Dietetic programs. My freshman year of college, I was living in a dorm without a kitchen. When I moved to a condo off campus my sophomore year, I was happy to have a kitchen where I could create. Cooking has always been a stress-reliever and a creative outlet for me.

This year, I received many cooking-related gifts. I invested in some cookbooks. These cookbooks have renewed my interest in cooking and challenged my to try new things. Some of these new things include spices. Since I grew up in Louisiana, I am familiar with garlic, cayenne, and Louisiana spices. These new cookbooks gave introduced me to a ton of new recipes and will provide many opportunities for learning, tasting, and trying new things. Some of the new things include trying new flavors and spices. I bought several new herbs and spices to cook with: ginger, crystallized ginger, sage, cardamom, thyme, and mace. Stay tuned as I try new recipes, new spices, and kitchen tools. I'll share some recipes and results. To follow my journey to cook 50 new recipes in 2015, search #50RDrecipes, #NYNR, or #NewYearNewRecipes.

I hope that you learn a little something from the blog. For more information, recipes, and tips and tricks for healthy eating, follow RDtipoftheday on on Pinterest, Instagram, Twitter and you can subscribe to this blog, RDtipoftheday.blogspot.com, through BlogLovin.

Chicken Marsala: An Easy Entree

Did you know that today is National Italian Food Day? Here's an easy entree, Chicken Marsala, to make to celebrate today or for Valentine's Day.

This Chicken Marsala is delicious. It will make your house smell wonderful. It has 10 ingredients (if you don't count the salt and pepper) and is simple to make. 

Chicken Marsala with Orzo
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 cups mushrooms, sliced
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup Marsala cooking wine
3/4 cup low-sodium chicken stock
2 Tablespoons flour
1 Tablespoon butter
2 cups cooked orzo
2 teaspoons fresh parsley for garnishing

Heat oil in Dutch Oven over medium high. (Thanks for my Le Creuset hubby!) Add mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes. Move mushrooms to the sides of the pan. Add chicken to the middle of the pan. Add thyme, salt, and pepper. Cook chicken 2-3 minutes on each side. Add wine. Cook 1-2 minutes. RDTip: You want to cook the alcohol off in the pan. So, cook the alcohol until you can no longer smell it. Add chicken stock, and cook for 8 minutes. Mix butter and flour into a paste in a separate bowl with a fork. Add paste to the pot. Cook 2-3 minutes until thickened. 
Cook orzo according to directions on package to yield at least 2 cups cooked pasta.
Serve Chicken Marsala over orzo.

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Makes 4 servings (1/2 cup cooked orzo with 1/4 of the Chicken Marsala recipe)

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It was a hit in my home! This is a great, easy entree to entertain with. It holds well in the dutch oven for 20-30 minutes. This would be a great entree to make for Valentine's day. Enjoy!

Follow me, RDtipoftheday, on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter for more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating. You can subscribe to this blog, RDtipoftheday.blogspot.com, through BlogLovin.

Being a Good Host or Hostess Part 1: No Pressure Entertaining

One of my New Year's goals is to try 50 new recipes in 2015. This means I am going to need some help eating all that food! So, I have decided to do more hostessing this year.

I grew up in the South where most gatherings involve food. In the South, food is love and more food is more to love! It's the same principle as "if some is good, more is better." As an RD, I can not fully support the last statment. But regardless of where you grew up, I think there is something special about sharing a meal. In the South, we call this 'fellowshipping" - getting together to visit and of course eat! The church I grew up in even had a room devoted to this; the Fellowship Hall was a room for gathering, eating, and freiends to  . . .  well, fellowship.

So, you could say it is inate to want to share and eat food together. However, trying a new recipe on someone is a bit intimadating. I want to make good food that my guests willl like. I get nervous that the recipe won't turn out right, be good, or will it even be edible? Have you every felt like that? I would encouraged you to not try a whole new batch of recipes; you should make at least one tried and true recipe when entertaining.

Speaking of tried and true, one thing I've learned in the first two decades of my life is the value of true friendships. I have lived in 3 different states in the past 10 years. I appreciate when people open their home to me, when they let me in their lives. I appreciate when someone else hosts me. I appreciate when people let you into their world with dirty socks, toys on the floor, and dishes in the sink. I appreciate when people don't put on an heir of perfections. I appreicate authenticity. So what I've learned about hosting is to just be authentic.

To be a good hostess is to open up your home, your life, and to be authentic.

I hope you enjoyed this post! Please let me know if there are any ingredients or dishes you want me to try in the new feature #NewYearNewRecipes #NYNR #50RDrecipes

For more recipes, encouragement, and tips for healthy eating, follow RDtipoftheday on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. Or, you can subscribe to this blog, RDtipoftheday.blogspot.com, through BlogLovin, which is a free app that automatically updates every time a I publish a new blog post.

Easy Tomato Basil Soup

There is something about a warm cup of soup in the winter. Soup is also a great way to eat tons of vegetables. I recently discovered that I like tomato basil soup. I generally do not care for tomatoes, but I do like tomatoes in soup. Did you know that your taste buds change over time? Children generally have a preference for sweet things while adults usually have a broader palate and tolerate bitter things, like coffee, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, better. This just goes to show you that if you don't like something now just try, try it again. While you're at it, try this recipe and eat your veggies!

Tomato Basil Soup

2/3 cups chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 pinch crushed red pepper (or to taste)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1, 28-ounce can of crushed tomato
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1 1/2 cups chicken stock or water
2 teaspoons butter
1 teaspoon sugar

Sautee onions and garlic with butter, olive oil, and red pepper for 5 minutes. Add tomato, bail, thyme, chicken stock, salt, pepper, and sugar. Bring to a boil, and reduce to simmer. Simmer soup uncovered for 40 minutes.

I hope you enjoy this soup in this cold Winter weather. I like the dried herbs in this soup since it is cooked for a little while. If you are have fresh basil and thyme, you are welcome to substitute. Let me know how it turns out. Comment on the blog below, or ask a question via Instagram and tag me @RDtipoftheday.

For more information, recipes, and tips and tricks for healthy eating, follow RDtipoftheday on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. You can also search #NYNR, #NewYearNewRecipes or #50RDrecipes to follow my New Year's Resolution to make 50 new recipes in 2015.

4 Tips for Making Pefect Cookies and Ginger Cookie Recipe

So, one of my New Year's goals is to try 50 new recipes in 2015. I started the New Year with lots of veggies in a vegetable soup. My second recipe is a little sweeter. I love sweets, and I believe they can be incorporated into one's diets in moderation.

I have never made ginger bread or ginger cookies. Can you believe that?!? I have used ginger in savory, Asian cooking but never in baking. I realized this travesty over the holidays when everyone was posting pictures of ginger bread houses and decorated gingerbread men cookies. I decided to try this recipe that uses powdered ginger and crystallized ginger. It was delicious! The cookies were moist, chewy, and packed a punch of spicy, sweet ginger.

This was my first time to cook with molasses as well. It was less sweet then I thought it would be but it was fantastic in the cookies. And, I got a chance to use my SilPlat non-stick cooking mat! It worked like a dream with this sticky dough.

Here's the recipe if you would like to give it a try.

Ginger Cookies (Adapted from Giada's Double Ginger Cookies)
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons finely chopped candied ginger (or ~1 ounce)
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup molasses
1 egg at room temperature
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 350* F.

Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl: flour, sugar, ginger, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and candied ginger.

Combine wet ingredients in a mixer: melted butter, molasses, and egg. Beat together until combine. Slowly add dry ingredients into wet mixture. Use a medium-sized cookie Schoo to scoop 1 1/2 Tablespoon of dough onto a buttered baking sheet or a baking sheet lined with a non-stick mat (Example: SilPlat). Bake at 350* F for 7-9 minutes.

Tip #1: Spray your 1/3 measuring cup with non-stick cooking spray before measuring molasses. The non-stick spray . . . helps the molasses not stick to the spoon. It makes measuring sticky ingredients less messy.

Tip #2: Use a small ice cream scoop to scoop cookie dough. This makes it easier to get similarly sized cookies that cook evenly.

Tip #3: I recommend making a batch of these cookies and freezing the dough in 2 batches. This helps with self-control and only having desserts in moderation. It also is handy to have dough already made for company or just quick cooking.

Tip #4: I defrost frozen cookie dough for 1 day in the fridge before baking.

This recipe was adapted from a Giada DeLaurentiis' recipe for double ginger cookies. I hope you enjoy! Please let me know if there are any ingredients or dishes you want me to try in the new feature #NewYearNewRecipes #NYNR #50RDrecipes.

For more recipes and tips and tricks for healthy eating, follow RDtipoftheday on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

New Year New Recipes: Winter Vegetable Soup

So, one of my New Year's goals is to try 50 new recipes in 2015. I decided to start the New Year with lots of veggies. I tried a winter vegetable soup and used my new veggie peeler and mandolin to make the process faster. It also has homemade croutons, which were so good!

Here's the cast of characters (minus the cucumber, shallot, and jalepeno). I also tried a new food, parsnips. They look like white carrots, but they taste and smell more herbaceous than carrot-y. Does that make sense? Parsnips are a related to carrots and are great source of fiber, anti-oxidants, and vitamins. Because you are making soup, you do not lose any of the water-soluble vitamins.

Here's the recipe if you would like to try it.

Winter Vegetable Soup
32 ounces low sodium chicken stock
1/2 pound carrots
1/2 pound parsnips
1 large sweet potato
1 pound butternut squash
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Wash all produce. Peel and slice. Toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Roast at 425* F for 25-35 minutes or until fork tender. Puree vegetables with stock in batches until smooth. Add to a large pot. Then, cook for 20 minutes until heated through. Top with croutons and olive oil. Enjoy!

This recipe was based on Ina Garten's Roasted Winter Vegetable Soup. I thought this recipe was a good way to start the year, and it also got my husband's stamp of approval. Please let me know if there are any ingredients or dishes you want me to try in the new feature #NewYearNewRecipes #NYNR #50RDrecipes

For more recipes and tips and tricks for healthy eating, follow RDtipoftheday on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

The Beginning of a New Year: 2015

As I get, older, it feels like time moves more quickly. It is the start of a New Year, and I feel as if Christmas was yesterday and Thanksgiving was merely the week before.

Christmas is a season of giving. This year, I feel blessed: good healthy, warm home, and time with family and friends. Some of our friends are now in different states and cities, so I am thankful for phones and good old fashioned snail mail. I love getting mail and around the holidays I feel remember if that makes since. I've also received some birthday and Christmas presents that make me excited for this new year.

I feel likes my world is full of people that are setting new year, new goals . . . both on blogs and my "real world." I know the seemingly pessimistic statistics of how long goals last. Call me an optimist, but I love a fresh start and am energized by those who are brave enough to challenge themselves, try new things, and work to be the best they can be.

So, here are the goals I have for 2015:

1) Try 50 new recipes
Notice, I said 'try" not "make successfully." Hahaha. I love the bake, but I am hoping to find some new savory meals to enjoy. Mostly of my Christmas and birthday presents support this goal - from new cookbooks to new tools. I am better prepared and ready to try new things. P.s. I may need some taste testers. Are there any volunteers??

2) Exercise consistently
With all that baking and cooking, I'll need some balance to be healthy. I'm hoping to find some new aerobic classes in our new town. Classes motivated me to move more, challenge myself, and are great for stress relief.

3) Find a creative outlet
I've noticed my favorite parts of my job are when I get to be more creative: making handouts, creating interactive education boards, food styling, and recipe development. I am hoping to find more creative outlets in my personal and professional life.

I hope this inspired you to reflect on 2014 and consider what you want to accomplish in 2015. So, try new things, challenge yourself, and be the best you can be. Here's to a Happy . . . and Healthy New Year!

For more tips and tricks for healthy eating, follow RDtipoftheday on Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.