Lunch Date Newsletter #25

Hello friends! Welcome back to another Wednesday news roundup. Pull up a chair because it’s lunch date time.

This week, I’m covering my recent press, my favorite quick breakfasts, important information about buying eggs, news stories of import, and of course, exceptional recipes.

My Recent Press:

• 7 Surprising Foods to Combat Winter Colds – Patricia Bannan, M.S., R.D. for Livestrong
• Your Ultimate Guide to No-Bake Energy Bites & Bars – The Huffington Post
• RD Wisdom for the New Year – Cabot Creamery (disclosure: I am a member of the Cabot Cheese Board)

What I’ve Been Up To:

I’ve been eating so many different quick, energizing breakfasts lately! Here are some of my new favorites (note – I have been working with California Strawberries, which you’ll see in my photos below – I love them!):

(1) Oatmeal with Fresh Fruit and Justin’s Chocolate Almond Butter. This hot, whole-grain breakfast is ready in under 4 minutes. Because I like thicker oatmeal, I mix 1/2 cup whole rolled oats with 3/4 cup of mixed water and 1% milk. Microwave for 3-4 minutes. Top with sliced fruit and a dollop of nut butter.

(2) Weetabix with Milk & Fruit: Another whole-grain breakfast! 2 Wheetabix biscuits with fresh fruit and 1% milk. I like to set up the bowl so one biscuit gets completely covered with milk and soft, and the other one stays crunchy and dry. It’s kind of a race against the clock, but that’s part of the fun. If you’ve never had Weetabix, it’s like a British shredded wheat biscuit, but with a crunchier texture…and I happen to think it tastes much better too. It has 4g fiber per serving and just 2g of sugar.

(3) Yogurt with Popped Amaranth Granola and Fresh Strawberries – Plain yogurt of your choice (this is Maple Hill Creamery’s 100% grass-fed plain yogurt, which I received a free sample of) with drizzled honey, sliced strawberries and my popped amaranth and dried fruit granola. AWESOME.

And I have to share one of my favorite dinner recipes from the Skinnytaste blog, the Seattle Asian Salmon Bowl. When I made it for dinner last night, I swapped out the sprouts for blanched sugar snap peas. Served it over Jasmine rice…

…and then packed up leftovers for meals tomorrow! I squeezed lemon juice over the avocado so it won’t brown.

I was invited to a fantastic cocktail event last week by The Happy Egg Co., which was hosted by Ross Matthews.

Did you know…

• Caged Hens produce over 91% of eggs in the United States. At these factory farms, hens live squeezed into cages with just 67 square inches of space to themselves. That’s no bigger than ONE sheet of PAPER. They may live their entire lives never opening their wings or sitting down.
• Cage Free birds don’t get any outdoor access! Thankfully they’re not confined to wire cages (seen in the photo below), but they spend their lives inside barns and their personal space is the size of 2 pieces of printer paper laid side by side.
• Organic standard / Free Range birds have limited access to the outdoors. There’s no guarantee they go outside at all.
• Hens from The Happy Egg Co. get 14 square feet of space per bird, and it’s increasing to 21 square feet. The hens are able to roam outside all year on 5 acres of grassy fields (4 football fields worth) filled with play kits, sand pits, and shade, which let the hens do their thing – dust-bathe, forage, perch, run, and flap their wings. They eat a combination of what they forage on the pasture and vegetarian feed.

The Happy Egg Co. is committed to hen welfare. If you’re interested, they’re available at national retailers like Walmart, Safeway, Kroger, Vons, Albertsons and Gelson’s. Now that I’ve learned more about hen welfare, and as they call it “Hendependence,” I’ve been scrutinizing the egg cartons at my local markets – I want my hens to be happy!

(Note, while I was invited to this event, I’m not getting paid anything to write about them – in fact, they never even formally asked me to write something about them! I was just very moved by their message about animal welfare and I wanted to share what I learned with you so you can make more informed decisions at the market).

What I’m Reading:

Food, Nutrition & Health:

• What is Camelina Oil? – Nourish RDs
• Happy Eggs Make an Eggscellent Choice – La La Scoop
• The Influence of Partner’s Behavior on Health Behavior Change – JAMA Internal Medicine
• Unscrambling the Health Effects of Eggs – Everyday Health
• How to Cook All the Grains (that’s what I like to call this infographic) – Berkeley Wellness
• General Mills Packs Whole Grains Into Pancakes and Waffles – Food Navigator
• British Grocery Store Chain Bans Candy from Checkout Lanes – The Kitchn (woohoo!)
• Top Nutrition Tips for a Healthy Year – Willow Jarosh, M.S., R.D. for Visual Therapy
• Is Coconut Oil a ‘Miracle’ Food? – Berkeley Wellness

Sleep:

• Perfect Health Harmony: Sleep, Stress and Diet – Food & Nutrition

Exercise:

• The Benefits of a Lunch Hour Walk – The New York Times
• Movies at the Gym: A Lure for Reluctant Exercisers – The Wall Street Journal

Mindfulness:

• Mindfulness Exercises Improve Kids’ Math Scores – Time

Blogging:

• Best Resources for Food Bloggers – Fit Foodie Finds

What I’m Salivating Over: 

Breads & Muffins:

• Good Morning Healthy Blueberry Zucchini Muffins – Ambitious Kitchen
• Apple Oat Greek Yogurt Muffins – Running with Spoons

Breakfast:

• 5-Minute Honey Yogurt Quinoa Parfait – Pinch of Yum

Snacks:

• Nutty Oat Bars – Ellie Krieger for The Washington Post
• Sea Salt & Vinegar Kale Chips with Parmesan Cheese – Fit Foodie Finds
• Popped Amaranth Granola – Caroline Kaufman, M.S., R.D.N.

Appetizers:

• Greek Hummus Phyllo Bites – Chef Savvy

Soups:

• Taco Soup – Cooking Classy
• Lasagna Soup – Skinnytaste
• Butternut Squash Soup – Ellie Krieger for People Magazine

Main Courses:

• Naked Chicken Burrito Bowls – Secret Recipe Club
• Shortcut Vegetable Ragu (gluten-free, 30 minute meal!) – Iowa Girl Eats
• Lightened Up Honey BBQ Enchiladas – Cooking with Cakes

 Desserts:

• Meyer Lemon & Ricotta Cake – Simply Scratch

See you for another Wednesday lunch date next week!

I’d love to hear from you: What was one thing that made you happy last week?