Benefits of Certain Foods

     

 Wheat Bread

          Most people have heard that wheat bread is better for you than white but not many people know the basis for that statement. I prefer wheat bread to white bread because that is what I am used to. I am still picky about it though and only like certain kinds. I knew that wheat bread had more fiber than white but I did not know how much healthier wheat bread is in general. What I learned from vegetariantimes.com was that wheat has three different parts to it all containing different nutrients and vitamins. Wheat bread is made with all three of the parts included, but white bread only has one of the parts. White bread is not as good for you as wheat bread. It i s important to get your vitamins and nutrients for many health reasons. Eating wheat bread helps lower the risk for diabetes, heart attacks, and various other problems. The most surprising fact I found from this article was that "[t]here’'s so little fiber left after processing that you’d have to eat eight pieces of white bread to get the fiber in just one piece of whole wheat bread"(vegetariantimes.com). You can find the full article here if you'd like more information http://www.vegetariantimes.com/article/white-bread-vs-wheat-bread/. Even if you don't think you would like wheat bread or if you are a picky eater I am sure you could find a brand of wheat bread that you would like. As I mentioned above, 

I am a picky eater and only like certain types of wheat bread. I like the ones that do not have what I call "seeds" in them. I like the bread to be smooth and not have any hard bits in it. One of my favorite types is by Arnold. And even this
 one brand makes multiple varieties of wheat bread so I'm sure that if you want to try switching from white bread to wheat bread you will come across a bread that you like.

Whole Grain Pasta

        Another food that comes in white and wheat varieties is pasta, it also comes in many shapes but we don't need to concern ourselves with them right now although it is interesting how many forms it comes in. Wheat pasta is also called whole grain and like when it comes to bread, white is not as beneficial. Also as the case with bread, whole grain pasta has much more fiber and nutrients than white. Whole grain pasta helps with weight loss as well because it fills you up better than white and so you will probably end up eating less of it. And according to the five experts that were consulted in this article, http://time.com/3658167/should-i-eat-whole-wheat-pasta/ you should eat whole grain pasta.

Tomatoes

       Tomatoes are another great thing to incorporate into your diet. They are antioxidant rich and https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/vegetable/tomatoes.html. Tomatoes are very easy to add to you diet. You can have them in salads, wraps, other sandwiches, on top of pasta. Ketchup and tomato sauce count as well so you can get the benefits from tomatoes from pizza too.
full
of vitamins. They can help with digestion, heart health, and lowering cholesterol. Tomatoes are a good source of vitamin A which is important for vision. You can find more information about the benefits of tomatoes here

Mustard Not Mayonnaise

        One very interesting thing I learned which researching for my blog was how much better mustard is for you than mayonnaise. I am glad that I already took mayonnaise off of the list of foods that I eat. I prefer mustard and don't knowingly eat mayonnaise because I do not like it. For 100 grams of mustard it is 66 calories and 100 grams of mayonnaise has 680 calories.  Mustard also has lots of minerals and vitamins and can help to lower cholesterol.

Olive Oil

        And finally, olive oil. Olive oil is great for you. It helps to protect against heart disease because https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/oils/health-benefits-of-olive-oil.html. I enjoy drizzling it over my pasta which is a nice way to start including more of it in your daily life. I also put it on some sandwiches like the tomato, basil, and mozzarella one. You could add some spices to plain olive oil and then dip bread in it instead of using butter if you'd like too.
it helps lower  cholesterol and inflammation and it lowers blood pressure. Olive oil also helps with digestion and metabolism and has many vitamins and nutrients. More facts can be found here at

       I hope this information helped you, I know it helped me and will allow me to continue trying to be healthier!

How to Cook Broccoli in the Microwave

       I had never had broccoli cooked in the microwave until this year. I would only ever have it steamed on the stove before. I first made it to go with pasta and I used Judith Benn Hurley's method which is from her book Healthy Microwave Cooking. You can check out my post about that if you'd like, http://kitchen-lesscooking.blogspot.com/2015/04/pasta-ideas.html . There I talk about possible pasta dishes and one includes broccoli!
       To start I took my bag of frozen broccoli florets and let them defrost. Then I chose the amount I wanted to cook and rinsed them. The bag I used actually had directions on it and they were pretty similar to the method I used before.

 I then put the still wet broccoli florets in my microwave safe bowl to cook. I used the cover of my bowl because it is vented but if you don't have a one you can use plastic wrap that is vented.

      Cook the broccoli in the microwave for 5 minutes and stir about halfway through the cook time. The directions for "Broccoli Basics" which is the name of the method in Hurley's book gives various toppings and seasonings for broccoli which you can see in the post I linked above. I also came across another recipe for what to put on broccoli to add more flavor. It is for Lemon Garlic Broccoli. I found this recipe on Food.com and it is by Mama's Kitchen (Hope). http://www.food.com/recipe/microwave-lemon-garlic-broccoli-132765  The ingredients for this recipe are:
-broccoli
-1/4 cup water
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 tablespoon lemon juice
-2 garlic cloves (minced) or a tsp of garlic powder
-salt and red pepper flakes are optional

Their directions are to "

1. Microwave broccoli and water in covered bowl on high for 6 minutes or til crisp tender.
2. While it is cooking mix the rest of the ingredients together.
3. Drain cooked broccoli.
4. Pour lemon garlic mixture over broccoli and mix to coat.
5. If using fresh garlic cover the dish and let sit for about 2 minutes to allow heat from broccoli to "cook" and remove the raw taste from the garlic.
6. If using garlic powder you are ready to serve." (Food.com)

I am a pretty picky eater, bur broccoli is one of my favorite vegetables. I was very satisfied with how the it turned out. The broccoli florets was pretty delicious and had a nice refreshing flavor. I encourage you to try this out. It is not difficult and this is a great method to use. If I hadn't known the broccoli was cooked in the microwave I never would have suspected it!

How to Cook Chicken in the Microwave

       I am not a huge fan of meat, but I do like chicken. It is a pretty common item in the dining hall but it is not always appetizing. They only prepare it a few ways and it can get tiring. While touring colleges and even fall semester of this, my freshman year people were constantly saying that I would get tired of dining hall food and I was reluctant to believe them. Now I see what they mean though, I am tired of it. I thought there would be a ton of options and a variety of meals for me to put together but that was not the case. I just usually stick to a few basic things. These are burgers, salad, pasta with gloppy tomato sauce, and formerly pizza. As I mentioned in my Tortilla Pizza post my dining hall has decided not to offer regular cheese or pepperoni pizza and are experimenting with other flavors which don't always sound great. I would rather have a BLT (with mustard, not mayonnaise) than have BLT pizza. They used to have flat breads or various pasta casseroles next to the pizza but now they have snowshoe pizza there which is pizza but in a less convenient shape.  It is an oblong rectangle rather than a circle and the pieces are harder to eat because they end up being weird shapes.
       Since the dining hall isn't satisfying I was searching for recipes and as I was looking for dinner recipes I came across one from Oprah.com that looked doable. It is called Sweet and Spicy Barbecued Korean Chicken. I just used this for inspiration and to figure out how to cook chicken in the microwave but I did not stick to the actual recipe. Here it is http://www.oprah.com/food/Microwave-Cooking-Recipes if you would like to check it out. This recipe calls for boneless chicken thighs, salt, pepper, and Korean barbecue sauce. It is a simple recipe that I just adapted to my liking. The ingredients I used were:

• Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thigh Fillets
• Salt
• Pepper
• Honey Mustard Dressing

       The recipe from the "(Almost) Homemade Dinners You Can Make In The Microwave" article on Oprah.com suggested chicken thighs because they are juicy. I ended up getting fillets and this meant that the pieces of chicken would cook much faster because they were thinner. As the recipe says I seasoned the pieces of chicken with salt and pepper and then put them in a bowl to cook. Then I put them in the microwave for a few minutes. The recipe says to cook them for 12 to 26 minutes and  to turn the pieces over halfway through. This was too long for my pieces because they were fillets. No matter what cut they are just make sure to watch them while they are cooking. Once they are done cooking just check to make sure. Then you can brush a sauce over them such as a barbecue sauce or soy sauce or dip them in anything you like. I chose to use Honey Mustard Dressing. Chicken is a great source of protein but it is not a meal on its own. I had it with broccoli. I made the broccoli in the microwave and will have a post about that up very shortly. You could also have any other vegetable. Another option is having a nice salad as a side for you chicken.
       Cooking chicken in the microwave was much easier than I had anticipated!

Delicious and Easy Microwave Popcorn

      Microwave popcorn is not a new idea and is something most people are familiar with. It is not very healthy though. There are usually many unpronounceable ingredients and chemicals listed on the packages. It is not that great to always be ingesting these. It is possible to have delicious, quick, and easy to make popcorn that does not come with ingredient lists that look like they are in another language. While looking through Not Your Mother's Microwave Cookbook by Beth Hensperger I came across a simple way to make popcorn. She calls it "Brown Bag Popcorn" and it is on page 47 of the aforementioned book. All you need is popping corn, and a brown paper lunch bag, salt and butter are optional. I like this method much better than buying bags of popcorn to pop because it tastes great and you actually know what you are eating. It is a much healthier alternative to what everyone thinks of being  "normal" microwave popcorn. To start put about 2 to 3 tablespoons of butter in a small bowl and heat it in the microwave for 20 to 30 seconds. Then you will need to measure a third of a
cup of popping corn and then pour that into your brown bag. Fold the top of the bag down and make sure it is securely closed. Do not use tape, staples, or paperclips though to close it. Folding the bag  down a few times and then turning the corners in should do the trick. Once it is tightly closed put it in the microwave to cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the popping has slowed and there are 2 to 4 seconds between each pop. Then add the butter and salt if you wish (Hensperger 47).
      On the following pages in her book Hensperger then gives seven recipes for types of popcorn such as  "Maggie's Parmesan and Garlic Popcorn and Bombay Curried Popcorn".
       There are also many recipes on Pinterest. The one that I chose to make was Oreo or Cookies and Cream Popcorn. I loosely followed this recipe, http://cincyshopper.com/oreo-popcorn/. I started by making the popcorn using the brown bag method. Then I adjusted the measurements for the oreo popcorn so they suited the amount I wanted to make. I took my white chocolate chips and melted them. Then I put a few oreos in a zip lock bag and sealed it. I proceeded to break up the oreo pieces by pressing on them through the bag. The directions said to use a food processor but I don't that it is realistic for college students to have them. The zip lock bag method worked  well
though, all it was for was to crumble the oreos. I put my popped kernels into a bowl and then drizzled the white chocolate over. The next step was adding the oreo pieces and mixing it all up. After that it was time to eat. This worked well but the one thing I would do differently next time would be to separate the unpopped kernels from the popped kernels. They ended up sticking together and it was not fun to have to pick them out after the chocolate was on them. Nevertheless it was a nice sweet treat. Not very healthy but it's okay sometimes. Everything in moderation.

Hover over the picture. I'm pin-able!

Bonus!

My roommate and I were a bit hungry one night, and as it was very close to the end of the semester we had a limited amount of food left in our room. There is a vending machine in our building that I had never used before and never wanted to use before. That night I had decided that I was going to get some Wheat Thins but of course the machine was not working. We decided to make popcorn but were not sure if it would fill us up enough if it was plain. One of the few other edible things in the room was Goldfish. They are not the healthiest thing in the world but they are baked and not fried. They do not have much trans fat or sugar and there is no cholesterol. They come in whole grain as well and these do have fiber. We were not sure if popcorn and Goldfish together would turn out well but we tried it anyway. Desperate times call for desperate measures. And we found out that combining Goldfish with popcorn is not half bad! Since the popcorn did not really have salt on it the Goldfish added some nice flavor and more "crunch". I think of it as being similar to the concept of a trailmix.

A College Kitchen

       The dorm I live in has some positives and some negatives but that is to be expected. I did not think that the kitchen would be such a negative though. I don't even know why it is considered "kitchen/lounge" on the floor plan of the building. Take a look for yourself.

F.Y.I if you're wondering, the door does not stay open on its own

       There is a table with a microwave on it from a microfridge. Where that fridge is I do not know. There is a working refrigerator which is nice. The sink however is usually not functional because it is clogged. There is barely any counter next to the sink and the cabinets do not seem too sturdy in my opinion. I do not know who would put any of their belongings in there though. Also you may have noticed that some things are missing. Things that are staples in rooms called kitchens. Any guesses? Well, it's the stove and oven. How might you ask, is this the kitchen then? To tell you the truth, I do not know. This is what some of our room and board goes to though. There are many residence halls on campus that have ovens and stoves in their kitchens but I do not know why my dorm does not. My R.A. has even told us that she has asked about having an oven and stove but nothing has been done. If other buildings have them I do not understand why the particular one I am in does not. Many oven units with electric stoves are available and there are many in the $400 -$600  range. My dorm has about 70 residents. We each pay around $6000 a semester, that amounts to at least $420,000. Colleges do have a large amount of expenses and bills to pay but I think that they can afford an oven and stove unit for every dorm.
       These pictures above actually do the room justice though. Usually pictures make things look worse but not in this case. The pictures make the room look better than it is in reality. There are stains on the wall above the sink, many are blue so I am guessing it is paint but they are still questionable. Also you may have noticed that there are two paper towel holders above the sink. That seems like a good idea right? They are both always empty. To top it off, there is no trash can. There is a small bin that was intended for recycling but not resides in the kitchen and is instead used for trash, most of the time. Some people like to leave trash on the table though. All in all this is not a room people like to spend any time in and I only go in there on rare occasions. Such as for photographing it and it's contents for this post. Don't even get me started on the fridge. Let's just say people forget about things sometimes. Thank goodness there is a microwave and mini fridge in my room or I would never be making food in my dorm.

Simple Yet Tasty (Microwave) Ravioli Recipe

        I never have ravioli while at school, to me it is sad but true. I do like them and I am sure I am not alone. They are not offered in the dining hall though. I have seen multiple napkin notes for ravioli but they have not been served yet. Napkin notes are suggestions and comments written as feedback for the dining hall staff, then are pinned to a board in the dining hall and are answered each week. The responses are then pinned under the respective notes on the board.
      I thought it would be nice to have ravioli sometime and luckily I found this recipe from Good Housekeeping http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/food-recipes/a9842/ravioli-ripe-tomato-recipe/.
The recipe calls for:"

• 1.50 lb. ripe tomatoes
• 0.50 c. fresh basil leaves
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 0.25 tsp. freshly grated lemon peel
• salt and pepper
• 1 bag microwavable cheese ravioli
• 0.25 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Tip: If you can't find microwavable ravioli for this easy pasta recipe, use one bag (13- to 16-ounce) frozen ravioli. Place in microwave-safe large bowl with 2 1/2 cups water; cover with vented plastic wrap and microwave on High 10 minutes or until cooked through, stirring once"(Good Housekeeping).

And the directions are to"

1. In large bowl, combine tomatoes, basil, olive oil, lemon peel, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Let stand at room temperature at least 15 minutes or up to 30 minutes to blend flavors.
2. Meanwhile, cook ravioli in microwave as label directs.
3. Add hot pasta to sauce and toss to coat. Sprinkle with Parmesan to serve" (Good Housekeeping).

       I did not follow this exactly though. I used their tip for how to cook frozen ravioli in the microwave and I followed their directions for the most part.
       The ingredients I used were:

• A Tomato
• Basil Leaves
• Olive Oil
• 1 Bag Microwavable Ravioli
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt & Pepper

       I did not use exact measurements, I just used the amount of each ingredient that I liked. I mixed the diced tomatoes with the olive oil, salt and pepper, and pieces of basil leaves. I let them sit while I cooked the ravioli in the microwave for about ten minutes. Then I put the ravioli on the plate and added to topping or sauce.And finally topped it off with Parmesan.
        I enjoyed this and would make it again in the future!

Tortilla Pizza

       Pizza is a very popular food and hard to mess up so even if your dining hall doesn't have the best food I think that pizza is still a safe bet. The only problem is if they have random flavors. I'm sorry but Mac & Cheese pizza is not something I want. Neither is cheeseburger pizza. Thanks to Beth Hensperger, author of Not Your Mother's Microwave Cookbook I learned of the very simple way to make "pizzas" even if you don't have a full kitchen. It is "pizza" and not pizza because it is pretty good and definitely satisfies a craving fro pizza but it is not the same as actual pizza. I do like these though. The only problem is that the tortillas don't really absorb the sauce so it can be a bit messy since the sauce can slide around. I think that adding more cheese on top can help minimize the problem though because once the cheese melts it should hold things in place better.  You could even roll it up as one whole piece or roll up the slices. It is a tortilla so it does make sense do do that and it can be easier to eat that way. These "pizzas" are in no way messier than some regular pizzas though. Another positive is that the cheese was not stretching off the "pizza" or falling off. Sometimes when I have regular pizza the cheese comes of as one piece and I am left with crust and sauce which is not too

fun.
       The recipe and directions Hensperger gives are on page 89 of her book and the title of the recipe is "Individual Veggie Tortilla Pizzas".  The ingredients she gives include vegetables but I did not follow the recipe. I just used her method. The directions she gives are to "

1. Place the tortilla on a paper towel or plate. Microcook on HIGH for 30 seconds to warm.
2. Using a small metal spatula, immediately spread pizza sauce on the warm tortilla. Drizzle with the olive oil. Arrange the tomato slices and artichokes on top, and dot with the goat cheese. Microcook for 25 to 35 seconds, until the cheese melts. Let stand for 60 seconds, then cut into 4 wedges. Serve immediately" (Hensperger 89).  

       My Ingredients:

• Tortillas
• Pizza Sauce
• Mozzarella

       I chose to make plain cheese pizza but you can get as creative as you'd like with toppings. I put my tortilla in the
microwave as directed above and then spread my sauce on it. Finally I put the cheese on. I made two pizzas and the second came out better than the first. For the first I only cut the cheese into slices thinking it would melt a lot and cover the whole tortilla. This did not happen. The second time I cut the cheese up into little pieces and this worked much better. Pieces of grated cheese on the larger side would be even better but I don't know how many college students have graters in their dorms or how many people that don't have ovens or stoves have them.       

First Attempt                                                                                                              Second Attempt

       If you do have an oven or stove though you can make pizza very easily. And when cooked in the oven it is definitely more similar to actual pizza. It can still be simple to cook it in the oven though. You can buy pre-made pizza dough or crust and then just put your toppings on. Boboli makes great
products for this and I've used them in the past. Once you put your sauce and toppings on the crust and you are satisfied with it you will bake it in an oven set to 450 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes.

         If you need more ideas for pizza toppings her are a few.

• Grilled Chicken (Tyson Grilled & Ready would be great for this)
• Black Olives
• Veggies: Broccoli, Peppers, Onions, Tomatoes, etc.
• Margarita Pizza: Basil Leaves & Mozzarella
• Hawaiian Pizza: Pineapple & Ham
• Meatball or Sausage
• Pepperoni
• Zucchini or Eggplant
• White Pizza (This does not have any tomato sauce. Here is a great recipe from Rachael Ray, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/white-pizza-recipe.html. If you do not have an oven though you can use the tortilla method, just warm up the tortilla by itself then put the toppings on and put it in the microwave again.)
• You can also use herbs and spices to add more flavor to your pizza such as Oregano or Thyme
• Using different  cheeses is another option.  Asiago, Provolone, Parmesan, or Romano are some options.