life's simple pleasures
ahhh. i've rediscovered an old favorite, with a slight twist. ok, so this isn't a recipe. sorry. but it is FOOD, and it is a SNACK, so i'm running with it.
one of my favorite munchie foods in the world is berries. black berry, raspberry, logan berry, currants, grapes. they are all good, and great snacks. but in the middle of winter, they are hard to find, and if you do find them, very very expensive. so...i've found a great new snack. i buy big bags of frozen blueberries from costco (hooray for costco), and when i feel like something sweet, i crack out the blueberries, dump a bunch in a bowl, and eat them frozen, with a spoon. no ice cream, no ugly calories, just sweet, frozen blueberries. yup, simple things can bring great pleasure, without a lot of guilt.
the only bummer is you end up with a really weird colored tongue and teeth. i suppose everything has it's price.
edit: so i went out and did some checking. some of us are on diets, or at least concerned about "empty calories". blueberries are rich in anti-oxidants, and are on the "you otta eat these things" lists i found on medical and diet sites while poking around for information.
blueberries, with no sugar (they don't really need any) contain 80 calories a cup.
frozen blueberries make a great desert, snack, or part of the meal.
here's some info on ice cream i thought was interesting. remember, i am now using blueberries as an ice cream substitute.
NON-FAT or FAT FREE ice cream (just makes me shudder thinking about) contain between 180-200 calories per cup. some like Ben and Jerry's No-Fat Vanilla Fudge have a lot of sugar in it, and the carton says it contains 150 calories per HALF CUP. who eats a half a cup of ice cream? nobody i know. there is a ton of sugar in this stuff, and that's what makes it palatable i guess.
regular old everyday traditional ice cream typically has between 300 and 600 calories per cup, with 16-40 grams of fat. and some are much higher, depending on the goodies they blend into the ice cream, and how much sugar is added.
and all the sites i found show ice cream portions at 1/2 cup. boggles the mind. i don't think i've ever eaten only 1/2 cup of ice cream, unless that was all that was left at the bottom of the carton!
blueberries, on the other hand: 80 cal/cup. no added sugars, no fat, no bad stuff. if you really need them to be sweetened, sprinkle on a little bit of splenda.
and yet another cool way to get more bang for your snack. apples. most everyone i know likes apples, and they make a great snack. you can supercharge your apple by slicing it into quarters or eighths, cut out the core, and then sprinkle on as much cinnamon as you like. very satisfying, and it is a cheater, because it tastes like a raw apple pie. without the crust of course.
hope you try these out. they are not only easy (as in, open the bag, pour them out), or slicing an apple, but they are good and good for you.
i like non-fussy food, and this is about as non-fussy as you can get short of going to a restaurant. and cheaper.
for a complete list of my online recipes, follow the link here
one of my favorite munchie foods in the world is berries. black berry, raspberry, logan berry, currants, grapes. they are all good, and great snacks. but in the middle of winter, they are hard to find, and if you do find them, very very expensive. so...i've found a great new snack. i buy big bags of frozen blueberries from costco (hooray for costco), and when i feel like something sweet, i crack out the blueberries, dump a bunch in a bowl, and eat them frozen, with a spoon. no ice cream, no ugly calories, just sweet, frozen blueberries. yup, simple things can bring great pleasure, without a lot of guilt.
the only bummer is you end up with a really weird colored tongue and teeth. i suppose everything has it's price.
edit: so i went out and did some checking. some of us are on diets, or at least concerned about "empty calories". blueberries are rich in anti-oxidants, and are on the "you otta eat these things" lists i found on medical and diet sites while poking around for information.
blueberries, with no sugar (they don't really need any) contain 80 calories a cup.
frozen blueberries make a great desert, snack, or part of the meal.
here's some info on ice cream i thought was interesting. remember, i am now using blueberries as an ice cream substitute.
NON-FAT or FAT FREE ice cream (just makes me shudder thinking about) contain between 180-200 calories per cup. some like Ben and Jerry's No-Fat Vanilla Fudge have a lot of sugar in it, and the carton says it contains 150 calories per HALF CUP. who eats a half a cup of ice cream? nobody i know. there is a ton of sugar in this stuff, and that's what makes it palatable i guess.
regular old everyday traditional ice cream typically has between 300 and 600 calories per cup, with 16-40 grams of fat. and some are much higher, depending on the goodies they blend into the ice cream, and how much sugar is added.
and all the sites i found show ice cream portions at 1/2 cup. boggles the mind. i don't think i've ever eaten only 1/2 cup of ice cream, unless that was all that was left at the bottom of the carton!
blueberries, on the other hand: 80 cal/cup. no added sugars, no fat, no bad stuff. if you really need them to be sweetened, sprinkle on a little bit of splenda.
and yet another cool way to get more bang for your snack. apples. most everyone i know likes apples, and they make a great snack. you can supercharge your apple by slicing it into quarters or eighths, cut out the core, and then sprinkle on as much cinnamon as you like. very satisfying, and it is a cheater, because it tastes like a raw apple pie. without the crust of course.
hope you try these out. they are not only easy (as in, open the bag, pour them out), or slicing an apple, but they are good and good for you.
i like non-fussy food, and this is about as non-fussy as you can get short of going to a restaurant. and cheaper.
for a complete list of my online recipes, follow the link here
posted by bothenook at 21:55
2 Comments:
RAF pilots during the war favored bayberry jam for breakfast. (Bayberries are similar to blueberries apparently - perhaps blueberries were rationed!) They claimed that it had a very beneficial effect on their vision.
Tufts Uninversity had a study/rat molestation in which they put young and elderly rats on a rotating wooden rod over a bucket of water. The young rats could stay on the rod for an hour or more before falling off. The elderly rats were only good for a few minutes. After being put on a diet of blueberries, the elderly rats did as well as the young ones.
So if you want to keep up in the rat race.....
Wonderful! I have a freezer shelf full of them. I have about 20 blueberry plants & let the neighbors come & help themselves when they want some.
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