April 20, 2011

What I’ve Learned Lately from my Blog Readers

20 comments

Hello, hello!

It’s been a busy week here in fANNEtastic food land — finals are approaching and there’s all sorts of group work, papers, presentations, etc. to finish up before the semester ends in two weeks. Matt and I are heading up to Pittsburgh this weekend for Easter so I’m trying to get ahead of the game so I can spend the weekend relaxing!

As a result, quick and easy meals have been the name of the game this week. One of the things I love about this blog is that I get so many great suggestions from all of you! Here are some of the most recent things that I’ve learned from your comments and tried out this week 🙂

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#1: Slicing Brussels sprouts in half before roasting them (advice many of you gave on my “How to Make Brussels Sprouts Delicious” epiphany post)

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Delicious? Check. Easy? Double check. Destroyed my garbage disposal when I tried to put the chopped off ends down it? Fail. Apparently it doesn’t like eating Brussels sprouts as much as I do…

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Thank goodness my apartment’s maintenance office is super fast and awesome. Disposal is now good as new again! 🙂

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#2: Eating the stems on Swiss Chard!

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Last time I wrote about Swiss chard, we had thrown away the pretty colorful stems because we thought they were bitter like kale stems. Now, thanks to all of you, I know that the stems are just as delicious as the leaves — just toss them into the pan about 5 minutes early so they have extra time to tenderize!

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I sautéed the chard with some olive oil, minced garlic, lemon juice, and chopped mushrooms. SO GOOD! And so pretty 🙂

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#3: Radishes are delicious with hummus.

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Last week, I wrote about how I had purchased radishes from the farmers market for the first time, and asked if ya’ll had any tips for what to do with them. Eating them on hummus sandwiches was one of the standout suggestions!

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I’ve been rocking the radishes on a wrap or pita with hummus, feta, and all sorts of other veggies. So delicious! I love the crunch.

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In fact, I think a similar sandwich will be part of my packed lunch today!

What useful food-related tips have you learned lately from friends, other bloggers, or blog readers? (And on that note — did you see my guest post on Tina’s blog yesterday with my favorite foodie tips to make life healthier and easier?)

I’m off to class — have a wonderful day!

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A couple announcements:

  • If you’re on Twitter, please make sure you are following me and join us for our monthly #attune healthy living chat today at noon EST!
  • My friend Lauren works with the UNC Nutrition in Medicine department and wanted me to let you all know that they have just launched a Personalized Online Nutrition Guidance Program (PONG)! Anyone can sign up & it’s free. All you have to do is answer some food-related questions and the program will tell you, based on your selections and food modifications, how good of a ‘fit’ your meal plan is to your individualized nutritional needs (based on current RDA values and your age, BMI, etc.). Pretty cool! Give it a look at: http://www.nim.unc.edu/nutrition/guidance.html.
- anne

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20 comments
  • Interesting about the chard stems! I learned the hard way about disposals. When you own a home, you won't put anything down you're unsure about! Trust me.
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  • I've never tried swiss chard either, but I will definitely will do it. Also, Anne, I am a lover of fresh beets, right out of the ground. I use the beet greens in my salads, does anyone else?
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    • I am always lazy and buy canned beets :) Maybe this summer I'll buy some fresh ones if the farmers market has them!
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  • I just took the nutrition test on the link that you provided. Very interesting.
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  • I've never tried swiss chard before but I am putting it on my list. Also wanted you to know I made Grilled Salmon last night over spinach with pine nuts and brown rice w/red beans a-la-Matt!! (you can check out my picture on FB) :) It was delish! Thanks Anne & Matt! :)
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  • Great tips!!! Thanks for sharing!! I will definitely take the nutrition test, great idea!
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  • Love it! I learn so much from blogs every day (probably because I HAVE so much to learn, haha)
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    • Nothing wrong with that! :)
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  • Hi Anne. Did they happen to show you the reset button on the disposal? Alot of times you can just hit the little button on the outside (usually small and not easy to see) and that will fix the problem. It trips almost like a breaker when it gets over burdened. I learned this the hard way and an apartment maintanence guy showed me.
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    • It actually got a leak - liquid was spraying all over the place under the sink, so no reset button would have fixed things, haha. And the sink started overflowing, too. It wasn't pretty!
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  • Oooh thanks for the link about the PONG - off to play now (what a good use of my workstudy job..) :)
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  • I recently posted a recipe for a great artichoke dip I made and I ate it on radishes and was so surprised at the comments I got saying "I forgot about radishes!!" I love blogs in that way, the sharing of ideas. Nutritional Yeast comes to mind as one thing I do not think I'd have discovered on my lonesome.
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  • I constantly learn from readers! For example, just learned to roast veggies with parchment. Duh.
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  • I love the tips, Anne -- and the confession that the garbage disposal didn't love eating the Brussels sprouts as much as you did! :-)
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