Brain Foods

I read this in the paper awhile ago and have wanted to share it. Below is a list of fresh foods to help keep your brain in top shape:

1. Spinach and other leafy greens - Green leafy veggies - spinach, kale, arugula, romaine lettuce and Swiss chard - are packed with vitamins A,C, calcium, iron and many disease battling phyto-chemicals. A recent study showed men & women who chow down on three servings of these veggies daily show better long term mental acuity than those with a single serving or less. Their healthier brains functioned as well as someone 5 yrs. younger.

2. Eggs - Eggs are a top source for good-for-you protein, and their yolks contain some iron and heart friendly omega 3 fats. They also sport to powerful antioxidants: lutein which benefits eyesight; and chloine, which plays an important role in your brain's development, nerve transmission & memory.

3. Salmon - There aren't too many thing wrong with salmon (I love it!!). It's tasty, low in mercury, high in protein and omeaga 3 fats. Those fats, especially "DHA" (the kind found in fish), are vital for boosting brain development, improving function and decreasing inflammation.

4. Berries - Take your pick - raspberries, blueberries, strawberries and even cherries. Some research supports a connection between berrie's antioxidants and improving short-term memory (a must have in college during exam time for those of you in college...ahem my children). There's nothing conclusive yet, but taking advantage won't hurt.

5. Oatmeal - Breakfast is a very important meal; without the fuel it provides, your brain and metabolism can't get going and you'll feel sluggish all day. Oatmeal is a quick pick, easily flavored and filled with whole grains. The healthy carbohydrates from oatmeal (and other whole grains) are our brain's primay energy source. Doctor up plain oatmeal with fruit, maple syrup or honey. Or make a large batch the night before and store in the fridge - a quick zap in the microwave and it's ready.

6. Broccoli - Women who eat more cruciferous veggies like broccoli and cauliflower show slower mental decline as the years tick by, according to research. Better still, they are full of fiber and vitamins C & E.

7. Brain-zappers to avoid - High fat packaged snacks, fried foods and other calorie lade choices are tempting, but these foods will only fill you up and slow you down. You'll feel sleepy, especially if you indulge toward the end of the day. In fact, a new study suggests that fatty foods can bog down your short-term memory - no good if you are in the middle of exams or a big project (another note to my college kids).

Dangers in your Kitchen

So while I was sewing I watched an episode of Dr. Oz that I had taped. Part of the show was about dangers in your kitchens. Three people in the audience had allowed his crew to go into their homes to get some samples which were then sent out to a lab.

The first kitchen they tested the sink and her dish drainer. They found two different types of bacteria and then talked about what they can cause - scary! Dr. Oz said that this could be remedied by cleaning your sink and your dish drainer with bleach and water then pouring some bleach (not diluted) down your kitchen drain. When the Flylady talks about cleaning & shining your sink she talks about filling it with hot water and pouring a cup of bleach in it and let it sit for an hour. This makes even more sense now. She also says that if you have a drainer you can add that to the water.

The second kitchen they tested the cutting board. It was wooden and they found a different kind of bacteria - yuck! They showed pictures of all the stuff they found and what symptoms & problems they can cause. Anyhow, his remedy is to use the plastic mat type cutting mats on top of a wooden cutting board. I have those :)

The third area tested was a fridge. They found E Coli - scary! It had come from meat that was sat on the second shelf and the blood had dripped to a shelf below it. He held up a package of meat and asked how many times we buy meat where we can see some blood through the plastic wrap on the bottom. He said we should never put the meat in our fridge just in that original wrapping (I never do because I don't like to clean up messes). He even said not to leave it in whatever plastic bags they have from the store. He says to use a zip lock bag that can be sealed shut and there is no way that anything can drip. I think from now I on I am putting all my meat in zip lock bags even if I plan on using it the next day.

For now it's back to sewing and another Dr. Oz episode :)

Tricks for your treats continued.........

Here are the recipes I promised:

Fudge

2 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter, plus a little more for buttering pan or use Pam
2/3 cup evaporated milk
4 cups chopped candy (anything you want to use!)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp. vanilla

Line a 9x13 inch pan with foil that extends over the sides. Butter the foil. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, butter and evaporated milk. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Add chopped candy and blend until smooth. Stir in walnuts and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan. Cool to room temperature. Score fudge into 36-48 squares. Refrigerate until firm.

Remove fudge fromp any by lifting foil; remove foil from sides of fudge. Using large knife, cut through scored lines.

Leftover Halloween Candy Chocolate Bar Surprise Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
Any combination of chocolate candy bars chopped in 1/2 in pieces to equal 2 cups
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar & vanilla in a large bowl with a mixer until well mixed. Add eggs; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in candy pieces and nuts if desired. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cooking sheet. Bake 9-11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly and removed to rack to cool. Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

Leftover Halloween Candy Bundt Cake

3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soad
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 cups chopped chocolate Halloween candy bars (such as Snickers, Twix, Milky Way etc.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 12 cup bundt pan. In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In a large bowl cream together butter & sugars until light. Beat in the eggs one at a time followed by vanilla. Working in two or three additions, alternate adding the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the butter mixture ending with the flour. Stir in chopped Halloween candies.

Bake for 55-60 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cake cool in pan for 15-20 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Makes 16 servings

Milky Way Ice Cream Pie

1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs
2 (2 oz) Milky Way candy bars chopped
2 TBSP butter melted
3/4 cup caramel sauce
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1 pint chocolate icecream
2 (2 oz) Milky Way candy bars diced

In a food processor, process crumbs and cndy bars utnil candy is finely chopped. Add butter and process to mix. Press mixture over bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie plate. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Scoop ice creams into shell, alternatiing flavors and drizzling layers with caramel sauce. Freeze 3 hours or until solid. Let sit at room temperature 10 minutes. Before serving sprinkle with diced candy.

Tricks for your Treats...Tips on how to repurpose that leftover halloween candy

I read this in the paper and loved it! We never used to have left over candy but for the last several years we have. Not only that my kids haven't always eaten all their candy. I loved the suggestions in this article - some of them I have done before some I have not. I will only post part of this today and the rest tomorrow as it's quite long.

Incredible Edibles: If the thought of choking down one more "fun-size" chocolate bar is anything but fun, here are some ways to incorporate that left over candy.

1. Top it - Chop up mini candy bars and sprinkle on ice cream. You can also strew some M&M's or gummy bears on your sundaes.
2. Mix it - Make your own Dairy Queen like Blizzard by freezing 1 Butterfinger or any other chocolate bar. Crush the frozen bar into tiny pieces. In a blender, place 2 1/2 cups of chocolate or vanilla icecream, 1/4 c milk and 1 tsp. fudge topping. Blend for 30 seconds, add candy and mix with a spoon. Continue blending until you get a smooth texture. Don't overblend it's supposed to be thick.
3. Melt it - Make S'mores in the microwave. Placea chocolate bar and a marshmallow between two graham crackers. Microwave about 20 seconds.
4. Preserve it - You can make Halloween candy last until Easter if you freeze it.

Confection Creativity 101: There are plenty of ways to dispose of excess treats besides eating them. Here a few ideas:

1. Instant recylcing - Screen the candy your kids bring home. Save the stuff they like and send the rest back out with other trick-or-treaters.
2. Jewelery anyone?- Make a candy necklace from an assortment of lollipops and colorful candies with twist wrap ends. I've seen them made with little chocolate bars also. Cut a 14 inch strand of thin twine, ribbon or fabric ribbon. Tie one end of a wrapper of candy or lollipop stick tightly to one end of ribbon or twine (leave about 2 inches of ribbon free for tying at the end). Attach candy by knotting the ribbon around the wrapper ends or lollipop sticks until the necklace is complete. Leave 2 inches at the end. I've also made them (with the chocolate bars & candys) using saran wrap. Cut a piece of saran wrap long enough to twist each piece of candy in. Tie ribbons in between candy's.
3. Housing - Use Halloween leftovers to decorate Christmas gingerbread houses.
4. Cram it - Stuff the leftovers in a pinata and crack it open at the next birthday party.
5. Share the wealth - Donate left over candy to nursing homes, doctor's offices and women's shelters. You can also take your left over candy to the office.

Stay tuned for some recipes using your left over candy. I'll post them tomorrow :)

10 Foods to have on hand for quick meals

Another tip I read in the newspaper that I thought would be good to share comes from the "Better Homes and Garden Supermarket Shortcuts". It offers tricks, tips and recipes for fast meals. The following advice caught the authors eye: "If you have these groceries in your fridge, freezer and cupboard, you'll always have something good ready to go in minutes." All you would need to do is add a few other pantry items (salt, pepper, cheese, milk, etc), and you can come up with a weeks worth of dinners.

1. Frozen meatballs
2. Jars of pasta sauce
3. Boxes of dried pasta
4. A stash of frozen vegetables in bags
5. Bottles of salad dressing, including one vinaigrette style
6. Bags of mixed salad greens
7. A bag of russet potatoes
8. Frozen fish fillets
9. Chicken breast halves
10. Pork chops

Alycia's Job: Rubbing shoulders with.....

This is what Alycia has been working up to the last couple of weeks. She called me one day and said "I feel like a giddy school girl. I got RSVP phone calls today for Russel M. Nelson & Jeffrey R. Holland." She sent out the invitations and was also in charge of taking the RSVP's. She was very excited for this morning and very excited about Laura Bush :) I can't wait to hear about it. Initially she was worried she may not be able to go but I told her I couldn't imagine she wouldn't get to since she worked so hard on it. She actually got her personal invitation last week! She skipped a class to go but I think it was worth it :) She has yet to tell her boss that her great,great,great grandpa's journal collection and other artifacts are housed in the special collections section of the library. I think it's pretty neat that she is working there where his precious history is stored :) P.S. Trevor may have had the opportunity to see her as well because she also made a visit to Senator Orrin Hatch's office earlier this morning. We'll see if that happened.

Library Rededication 2009

Laura W. Bush to Deliver Keynote at U of U’s
Marriott Library Rededication Ceremony
October 26 events open to the public

Mrs. Laura W. Bush, who taught school and served as a public school librarian in Texas during her professional career, will deliver the keynote address at the rededication of the J. Willard Marriott Library on the campus of the University of Utah. The public events will be held Monday, October 26, beginning at 10:30 a.m.

The program marks the completion of four years of renovation of the most valuable physical asset in the state of Utah. The library houses a collection of three million volumes ranging from extensive science, engineering, and medical archives to original pioneer diaries and multimedia archives documenting the history and culture of Utah and the West.

Remarkably, the Marriott Library remained open during the extensive rework. Renovation increased interior space within the five-level library to over 516,000 net square feet. Important safety advances were made; with new seismic bracing, the building can withstand a magnitude 7.2 earthquake. New customer features include the Automated Retrieval Center (ARC) for efficient robotic collection management. Currently, the ARC houses over one million items that can be retrieved in five to ten minutes by four 50-foot robots.

The rededication ceremony will be held in the library atrium and will include comments by J.W. Marriott, Jr., Chairman and CEO of Marriott International—and for whose father the library is named; Gary R. Herbert, Governor of the State of Utah; Michael K. Young, President of the University of Utah; and Joyce L. Ogburn, University Librarian and Director of the J. Willard Marriott Library.

Immediately following the rededication ceremony at 11:30 a.m., a light buffet will be served and guided tours beginning every 10 minutes will continue from 12:30 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. The rededication ceremony, buffet, and guided tours are free and open to the public, but invited ticket holders will have priority seating for the ceremony. Overflow seating will be provided in classrooms in the library, where the program will be streamed live on video monitors.

The rededication program can be streamed live from all campus computers at this link.

About Laura W. Bush

Keynote speaker Laura W. Bush is actively involved in issues of national and global concern, with a particular emphasis on education, health care and human rights. A former teacher and librarian, Mrs. Bush joined the Library of Congress in September 2001 to launch the first National Book Festival. In 1995 she established the Texas Book Festival, and it continues to thrive today. In 2006 Mrs. Bush hosted leaders from around the world for the White House Conference on Advancing Global Literacy, showcasing successful, culturally aware literacy programs from a diversity of countries. Her leadership of this effort led to her current role as Honorary Ambassador for the United Nations Literacy Decade.

Mrs. Bush holds a bachelor of science degree in education from Southern Methodist University and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Texas. She taught in public schools in Dallas, Houston and Austin and worked as a public school librarian.

What's For Breakfast?

I know that most of us know this but I wanted to share once again something I read in the paper the other day. I love the Health section of our local paper. The article starts off by talking about how breakfast comes at a terrible time of day because we are either rushed, groggy, famished or all three. 90% of Americans think breakfast is the most important meal but fewer than half actually eat it on a regular basis. Unlike other meals, breakfast is unique in that it can set the tone for your entire day - for better or for worse. I will give you a break down of what they said:

1. BAD, BAD, BAD: No breakfast at all
Some people say they're not hungry when they wake up, but because you've fasted all night your metabolism-and fat burning ability- slows down. Those who skip breakfast are also more likely to be overweight and eat more fat and calories the rest of the day. Bypassing breakfast makes you less productive and less likely to excel at school or work. If you think eating breakfast makes you hungrier the rest of the day, you're probably starting off with too much sugar. But if you're wrestling between a bad breakfast and no breakfast at all, choose the doughnut and try to limit how much you eat.

2. BAD, BAD: Coffee or tea only
A daily cup of coffee or tea can give you some hydration and a jolt of caffeine. But while it might hold you over until lunch it's only the hot liquid that is filling your stomach, tricking you into feeling satisfied. You'll likely wind up overeating come lunch when you are famished. To jump start your metabolism add a piece of fruit.

3. BAD: Coffee or tea plus a doughnut
It's quick, easy and yummy, but you'll pay a steep price for the 90 minute sugar high. Doughnuts are a famously high-calorie, high fat, high carbohydrate breakfast that will leave you feeling stuffed, sluggish and even sleepy. Sadly, bagels, muffins and sugary cereals also spike your blood sugar and set you off on an energy roller coaster for the rest of the day. A breakfast bar and orange juice might seem healthier but it's not much better than eating a candy bar and sugar cubes. Think of juices as desserts because their sugar content hypes up your insulin level and craving for real gut filling food. Avoid sugary foods in the morning altogether. If you're going to eat a breakfast bar, try to sit down and eat it slowly.

4. BETTER: A bowl of low-sugar, high fiber cereal with no or low fat milk, banana, whole wheat toast and jam
Choose cereals that have at least 3 grams of fiber and less than 10 grams of sugar, such as Cheerios, Kashi's GoLean, All Bran or Fiber One. Skip most cereals with mascots because research shows children's cereals have more calories, sugar and sodium than those without a licensed character. Although this breakfast provides a little fiber, some protein and some vitamins from the fruit and cereal, it's high in processed sugar and wheat. It won't provide long term energy and by mid-morning a person will still want more caffeine. By lunch you'll be hungry and may feel like overeating all day long.

5. BEST: A hard boiled egg and a bowl of slow cooking oatmeal topped with berries, walnuts, raisins, flax seed or sunflower seeds
This meal is a nutritional powerhouse and easy to pull off if you make the oatmeal and the eggs the night before. Fiber and protein help slow down the digestive process, making you feel full longer and keeping your blood sugar steady. The protein from the milk and nuts, combined with the healthy carbohydrates will eliminate any sugar crashes for at least three hours. Flax seed and walnuts are an excellent source of omega 3 fatty acids which have been shown to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol, reduce inflammation and reduce the risk of heart disease. To make this meal even better, add good fats by spreading peanut butter or avocado on whole grain toast or an English muffin (whole grain).

*WEEKENDS: Is it ok to eat a big brunch?
Cold cereal is the most popular breakfast food during the week, but on leisurely weekends, we love to let loose. We like traditional breakfast foods such as eggs, bacon, sausage and pancakes. Fortunately, the weekend binge isn't likely to have a huge negative effect because eating healthy is about balance. Brunches are a special part of countless family rituals. Having a large friendly meal works for all of us on a social level that transcends the perfect diet. It's the same with eating out. It's fine to indulge in the special splurge meal every now and then. Also, the term brunch means you'll eat only two meals. So even if your meal consists of fatty and caloric foods that can have an immediate effect on blood pressure, you have a chance to take in fewer over all calories.