Tasting food

I have decided to blog not just recipes to share, but my little tidbits of healthy epiphany I get from time to time so that I can refer to them when I need a bit of clarity, so here is today's:

Do you ever feel like when you are hungry you eat your meal, get to the end of it, and not even have tasted it because you ate so fast? I do not like to eat cold food, so sometimes I find myself eating more quickly because I don't want it to get cold if one of the kids needs something, which they always do!

Or here is my favorite example. Have you ever gone out to eat with someone and what they ordered looks SOOO much better than what you ordered? So they offer you a bite, and you close your eyes and eat that one bite so slowly, because then you have to go back to your not-so appetizing meal.

I want to eat my food like that all the time. If I give myself a smaller portion, I will have the time to savor each bite because there's not as much to eat before it gets cold. I will take the time to take each bite slowly. And if the food is not good enough to savor slowly, I am not going to take bite #2 or 3. French fries are a good example. How many times that you order fries are they hot and fresh, crispy with just the right amount of salt? 1 out of 10 maybe? So why do we eat the nasty limp fries the other 9 times? Because they're there?

On the other hand, if what is in front of me is the best I have ever tasted, I can have a small portion and feel good afterwards, or I can scarf down too much and end up with a stomachache and a whole lotta guilt afterwards. (Sound like the last 10 thanksgivings, J?)

So this is my promise to myself this holiday season. Take a small portion of my favorites, and if something is not as good as I remember, that first bite will be the only bite. If it is just the best thing I ever tasted, I am going to appreciate that small portion and walk away from the table with my belt still buckled, so to speak.

My favorite spices

In case you were wondering after my rant, here is a list of some of the spices I have discovered to spice up healthy food(you may notice them repeated often in my recipes:)

Cumin(ground, you can usually find it with the "cheap" spices) is fantastic in any chili or Mexican food. I pair it with chili powder for Mexican food, paprika for my potatoes.
Paprika(you can also usually find it with the "cheap" spices) is a spicier alternative to chili powder for certain recipes, not as hot as cayenne.
Curry powder(can be a bit more expensive, I would recommend watching for it on sale)
Cayenne pepper( pairs really well with curry powder, gives a big kick with just a little bit.)
Basil(goes great on chicken)
Parsley(I love it in soups)

I use many more, but these are my new favorites, spices are 0 points for weight watchers, by the way...

Healthy Eating, A Rant

BEWARE, what follows is a piece of my mind(Yikes!) Anyone could make anything taste good by adding a ton of butter and/or cheese, or sugar! In the old days I would probably have eaten cardboard if it had enough butter and cheese on it! Ok, maybe not, but doesn't it always seem like when you eat a taco or enchiladas, it didn't have enough cheese on it? Or you melt a bunch of butter over your veggies and it all sinks to the bottom? And that oatmeal could have used just a bit more sugar? At least it did for me...

Get to the point, you say? Here it is...when your taste buds are used to that sugar and fat, you just want more and more. If you start to season your food and experiment with different spices, you don't even notice that you didn't put any cheese on you enchiladas or tacos(honest!)

I know some people are not a fan of artificial sweeteners, but if that is the case there is an all-natural sweetener called Stevia you can try. I personally am a huge fan of sucralose(Splenda is the name brand.) I even feed it to my kids, shocker, I know. I have been warned in the past to avoid aspartame because it can irritate my epilepsy and I can have more seizures, but seeing as though there have been no studies(yet!) to say that Splenda is bad for anyone, I don't mind my kids having it. They do not even notice the sugar missing.

As for butter, we use the butter sprinkles(such as Molly McButter) and there are now two brands of spray butter that have 0 calories for 5 sprays(I Can't believe it's not Butter and Parkay.) So this is my challenge to you...try these substitutes and you will be amazed!