A friend of mine was reading through some of my current blog posts. He said, “This is really cool, but it looks like all your new recipes are coming out perfectly. Don’t you ever have any failures?” I realized I may not be portraying the whole picture and I did agree that all my posts do have a certain trend going lately.  I also couldn’t stop thinking about my most recent recipe failure!

Yes it’s true – my recipe ideas don’t always work out how I hope. Right now I’m focusing on the new Vegetarian menu.

The recipe in review: Provencal Vegetable Tart with Zucchini, Mushrooms, Tomato and Parmesan Cheese. It is a new dinner “center of the plate”.

I must have been feeling extra creative and experimental when I made this the first time. I wanted to try tofu to replace the eggs that would typically be used in a vegetable tart. I got this idea from a vegan cookbook (although I still wanted to incorporate some cheese). First, I sautéed the vegetables. I always try to think about the colors when choosing ingredients. Eating different colors of vegetables increases the variety of nutrients and antioxidants.

The veggies go into the tart crust and are topped with parmesan cheese. This is where the tofu comes in….

I blended the tofu with a few other ingredients (all for extra flavor) and poured it over the veggies.  Baked it and whala!

The tofu didn’t do exactly what I wanted. The flavor was OKAY – but not good by any means.  My taste testers all said – This could use some work! They all agreed that the tofu was not appealing.

I redid the whole thing. Got rid of the tofu and used the traditional ingredients for a tart.

Much better!! This one got rave reviews.

Are any of you currently getting the vegetarian meals?? How do you like the current vegetarian menu?? Please leave your feedback!

Spring Vegetable Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with Asparagus, Garden Peas and Turkey Bacon.

This side item will be featured in Good Measure Meal’s new Spring, Summer menu. I tested the Spring Vegetable Whole Wheat Pasta Salad today.

As I was chopping and mixing I started to daydream about asparagus. It really is a tremendous vegetable!

Asparagus is packed full of a ton of healthy stuff. It is an excellent source of vitamin K, the B vitamin folate, vitamin C, vitamin A. Asparagus is a very good source of numerous B vitamins – including B1, B2, B3 and B6 – as well as dietary fiber, manganese, copper, phosphorus, potassium and protein. WOW this little guy does A LOT!

This salad will be served with: Herbed Balsamic Grilled Chicken Breast topped with Creamy Blue Cheese Sauce and Fresh Arugula on a Whole Wheat Bun Half.

Let us know what you think by posting a comment!

Cheers to our friend asparagus.

I like to look at food trends to get ideas for new menu items. It is a really good way to see what is hot in the food world.

The annual National Restaurant Association survey of American Culinary Federation member chefs is a comprehensive culinary forecast and menu trends prediction report. More than 1,800 professional chefs ranked nearly 215 culinary items as a “hot trend,” “yesterday’s news,” or “perennial favorite” on restaurant menus in 2010.

The number one and number two top trends for the Breakfast/Brunch category were

1.       Ethnic-inspired breakfast items

2.       Traditional ethnic breakfast items (e.g. huevos rancheros)

If you are curious about this particular food survey. Click here: http://www.restaurant.org/pdfs/research/whats_hot_2010.pdf

I bet you can guess what our newest breakfast item is for the new spring, summer menu….

Yes! Our own version of huevos rancheros.

Layers of corn tortillas, eggs, black beans, Monterrey and cheddar jack cheeses, and fat free sour cream.

Good Measure Meals Vice President, Elston Collins and Senior Director of Program and Policy Development and Dietitan for Good Measure Meals, Charlotte Hayes taste the new breakfast with high approval.

Chris Mayer loves this new addition. Chris is Good Measure Meals Sales Support and does Customer Service for us too.

The results were unanimous – this one is good!

Let us know what you think.

Have you come accross any hot new food trends that we should know about???

I’ve been doing a lot of recipe testing this week. I’m working on the next spring, summer menu. It will launch at the end of March. Here is a preview of two new dinners.

Thai Mango Curry with Grilled Chicken over Brown Basmati Rice. This recipe was developed by one of our runner up winners, Benjamin Sessions, in our first annual recipe contest. Thank you Benjamin for this awesome recipe idea!

This is the vegetarian version (below) – made with sesame tofu.

Both will be served with stir fried vegetables.

AND

Chicken Piccata Pasta with a Lemony White Wine and Caper Sauce over Spinach Fettuccine Noodles.

The vegetarian version is similar but the chicken is replaced with a Cashew and Chickpea Patty.

These will be served with a sauteed vegetable blend.

Both of these recipes were evaluated by Good Measure Meals and Open Hand staff. I made minor tweaks to both recipes and retested them until I got the right flavor and everyone approved them.

Please let me know what you think. Are you excited for these new additions?

It is not too late to let me know what you want to see in the new menu. I will dedicate a meal to you. Just let me know what you want!

Happy New Year everyone!

This is an exciting time of year. A time for new beginnings.

Resolutions can be really tough!

Set yourself up for successful accomplishments by following some of these important tips-

1)      Make it something YOU REALLY WANT to do!

·       It cannot come from the influences of other people.

·       It cannot be something you “should do”.  It has to be something you “want to do”.

·       To be a success the resolution has to come from within and it has to be something we really want to do for ourselves.

2)      Make it achievable!

·       Is it something you can actually accomplish?

·       Break down long term goals into smaller more achievable goals.

·       It might help to think about your resolution month by month or even week by week.

3)      Make it an action & make it positive

·       For example:

o Don’t say: I want to lose weight this year.

o Instead make it an action by saying how you will lose weight this year (running, cutting down on portions, eating more fruits and vegetables, swimming….)

o Make it positive – Don’t say you will lose weight by doing something unhealthy like starving yourself on the weekends! Make it a positive change and keep it healthy.

A good way to start is to write down your large long term resolutions (keeping all of the above in mind) and then break them down by writing smaller action plans.

Your action plan/goal should look something like this:

I want to lose weight by walking (this is your action), for 30 minutes (specify how much or how long), when I get home from work (when do you want to do it?), on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday for 2 weeks (specify how often).

OR

I want to eat more vegetables (this is your action), by eating 1 cup of raw salad (specify how much or how long), at dinnertime (when do you want to do it?), every Monday and Thursday for 3 months (specify how often).

Remember to have fun with it! If you fall off track, just start again – keep trying until you achieve your goals! You can do it!

My friends, Martha and Jeff, asked me several weeks ago if I wanted to do some volunteer work on Christmas. I said sure! We checked out a few different organizations and then it dawned on me… duh! We should deliver meals for Open Hand. I have done many Open Hand routes in the past. Delivering these meals is a very heartwarming experience. Getting that one-on-one contact with the clients is great and you really start to see how much they appreciate the food and service.

So you might be wondering, what is Open Hand? Good question! Here is a little background on how Open Hand and Good Measure Meals work together as a social entrepreneurship:

“In 2004 Good Measure Meals™ was launched by Atlanta nonprofit Open Hand. Good Measure Meals™ is part of a growing trend in the nonprofit world called social entrepreneurship. While GMM is a separate business unit, all profits generated by GMM go to support the work that Open hand does in the community: “helping people prevent or better manage chronic disease through Comprehensive Nutrition Care™, which combines home-delivered meals and nutrition education as a means to reinforce the connection between informed food choices and improved quality of life.” For more information about our parent organization, please visit the Open Hand website at www.projectopenhand.org.”

We had great fun out there today. It was extra special because it is Christmas Eve.

This is me holding one of the bags full of meals. Each client on our route got one of these bags. It contains a complete lunch and dinner for two days.

This is Martha and I outside of one of the stops. Martha was the navigator. She is holding the very important route sheet that contains detailed instructions on where to go and what to do.

This is Jeff holding one of the bags as we are waiting for the client to come to the door.

This is Jeff and I outside another stop. This seemed to be some kind of nursing home.

One of the clients had a cooler outside for the meal to be placed in when they aren't home.

We met a really nice couple at the last stop. They quickly invited us inside to chat. Lucky for us they agreed to have their picture taken.

This is Ted and Caroline. Such a sweet couple! We really enjoyed visiting with them.

AND they even gave us a little gift… peanut brittle! It was so good. We enjoyed it on the drive home.

Thank you Ted and Caroline! We loved the peanut brittle!

I will be on vacation next week so my next post will be in the new year.

Happy holidays to you all! I hope that you have a safe and merry holiday!

I haven’t been able to get that silly knock-knock joke out of my head. I hope you know which one I’m talking about. I have nothing against bananas; I’ve just been eating oranges ALL morning.

Oranges are in season right now. Juicy and sweet and well known for their high concentration of vitamin C. Oranges make a great low calorie snack. I was over at the Dekalb Farmers Market on Monday evening. Have you ever been? They have a ton of different types of oranges right now. I decided to try out a few different varieties. I picked 5 to sample: Satsuma Mandarin, Clementine, Hamlin, Minneolos and Navel. Here they are in order from my personal favorite to least favorite (but still very tasty and good!)

I thought that these might be rotten because they were quite squishy. Not firm like a navel orange. Much to my surprise they were super sweet! Very easy to peel and pop in your mouth and no seeds.

These were very good and very sweet! Also very easy to peel and pop in your mouth.

I had never heard of this variety before. They were very juicy! These would be great for making juice. They had a nice sweetness and had a thicker peel.

You really can't go wrong with a navel orange. A very common variety. These were great - super sweet and no seeds.

Another variety that I had never heard of before. These were very good just not as sweet and not as juicy as the other varieties.

Oranges don’t have to just be for snacking. They are great decoration this time of year. Just place them in a fancy bowl. Your guests might even like to enjoy one or two.

Also - don’t throw away the peel. Use them along with cinnamon sticks and whole cloves to make a festive hot apple cider.

Boost your immune system and try some new varieties of oranges this holiday season!! Cheers.

You will be seeing two innovative side dishes on the new Spring, Summer Good Measure Meals menu.

Aren’t they darn good lookin?

Number one (pictured top left) is a blend of orzo, wild rice, roasted onions, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and wild mushrooms mixed with savory seasonings.

Number two (pictured bottom right) is a blend of toasted pearl couscous, red rice, red quinoa, roasted tomatoes, red and yellow bell peppers, orange and yellow carrots, petite peas, shallots, roasted garlic and basil.

Both provide a generous amount of healthy nutrients combined with fantastic flavor. Which are you most excited for and why? Give us your feedback by leaving a comment on this post. 

Blueberries and ginger join together to make an incredible chutney that tops a seasoned grilled chicken breast. This is the newest recipe creation for the Spring Summer Good Measure Meals menu.

Both ginger and blueberries have made health headlines over the years. Each one has great potential to protect from a variety of illness and cancers. Ginger is most well known for its anti-inflammatory ability and its power to ease nausea. Blueberries are packed full of antioxidants and have even been referred to as a “superfood”.

Now on to the recipe. First I mixed the seasoning for the chicken breasts.

Herbs and olive oil help boost the flavor of the grilled chicken.

Grilling the chicken breasts.

Blueberries and ginger plus a variety of other ingredients are cooked together to make the special chutney.

This is the final result - grilled chicken topped with blueberry-ginger chutney

Our executive sous chef, Justin, and manager of customer service, Phyllis highly approve!

Please let us know what you think by leaving a comment.

All of this cold and wet weather has got me thinking about tropical beaches on an island. What would I eat for breakfast if I was on an island right now? Coconut, bananas and pineapples, of course!

This was the inspiration for the newest breakfast bar idea for the 2010 Spring/Summer Good Measure menu.

I’m calling it “Tropical island oatmeal breakfast bar made with banana, coconut, pineapple and sliced almonds”.

Check out the pineapples, oats and bananas. The is just a small hint of coconut flavor.

Oats are an amazing and powerful little grain. They are loaded with soluable fiber. This is the type of fiber that helps lower LDL cholesterol, also known as ”bad” cholesterol. Soluable fiber appears to decrease the absorption of cholesterol in your intestines.

Eating 1 1/2 cups of cooked oatmeal adds 6 grams of fiber. If you add fruit, such as bananas and pineapples you can add even more fiber. One 3 oz serving of this breakfast bar provides 7.5 grams of fiber! Cheers to oats, espicallially when combined and baked with such delicious ingredients.

Our dietetic intern, Brooke, gives it a try. She highly approves!