Eating healthy and loving it!

Since the new year I've been eating healthy much more. I've made quinoa pilaf with mushrooms (good but needs more seasoning) and potato barley soup. I love barley, but it sucks up liquid like crazy and ends up being very thick unless you eat it immediately after making it.

Hope everyone is having a Healthy New Year.

Barbara

Save-a-lot deals

I went to Save-a-Lot grocery store today. They are small stores, but have a lot of private label foods and great prices. I buy canned sliced potatoes there, bought some red and russet potatoes, and they have the best price on shredded frozen hash browns anywhere.

Today's find though, was ZerGut Russian Style dill pickles. The lid says all natural, no preservatives. I checked it out and it's also no dyes or colors. Yes, if you read labels, you'll find most pickles have dye to make them look pretty. Not these. They are marked as made in Bulgaria. It's a 56 oz jar (it's huge!) for $4.99.

Here's the ingredient list: Pickles, water, salt, sugar, acetic acid (aka vinegar) red pepper, hot pepper, garlic, horse radish, dill, bay leaf, black pepper. And you can see the garlic and peppers still in the jar.

Healthy and low cal and low cost. What else can you ask for?

Barbara

New Seasons shopping trip

I went to a local natural foods supermarket here in Portland called New Seasons Market. They are a local chain and a great place to shop. I spent some time there today, got some nice carrots, tomatoes, cucumber and various salad greens. This is embarassing, but I bought carrots with the tops on them. I believe this is the first time I've bought carrots that didn't come in a plastic bag.

I also picked up several McDougall friendly items there. First is one that I found out from a post on the McDougall board. It's called Zevia, from a small company in Seattle Washington. I wanted to try the black cherry flavor, but New Seasons had only Twist (lemon-lime), Orange and Root Beer. So far, I've tried the root beer. It's pretty good, although not as strong as root beers I've had before. I'll post my thoughts on the other two flavors as I give them a try.

Next is a whole wheat pasta called Acini di Pepe, from an Italian company named Delallo. 100% whole wheat. It sort of looks like couscous, but it's not. I'm going to try it in some tomato basil soup in a aseptic carton I found either at Trader Joes or Fred Meyer's natural foods section.

One more pasta is Eden Organic Kamut & Quinoa Twisted Pair (aka gemelli) pasta. I am interested in seeing how it tastes.

Next is Ancient Harvest Quinoa Polenta. This looked so interesting I had to pick it up. It comes from the same company that makes prepackaged polenta in different flavors. The ingredients list is: Water, organic yellow corn meal, organic red quinoa, organic black quinoa, salt, tartaric acid (naturally occuring acid used to control ph), ascorbic acid (vit C), beta carotene (vit A). It will be interesting to see how it tastes.

Last, two fat free dressings by a Hood River, Oregon company called Deerfield's Foods. One is Moroccan Orange Vinaigrette. Ingredients: Cascadian Spring water, pure orange concentrate, wildflower honey, apple cider vinegar, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, spices and seasonings, xanthan gum. The other is Rosemary Apple Vinaigrette. Ingredients: Cascadian spring water, apple juice concentrate, apple cider vinegar, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, xanthan gum, spices and seasonings. I'm hoping that they taste good.

Barbara

mcdougall friendly food, zevia, quinoa polenta