It’s Gotta Be Tough Being Rachael Ray

30-Minute Meals? Try 15-minute meals! Hm, I should trademark that before Rachael Ray gets a hold of it.

Yes, that’s right! I’m cooking up some super-quick meals. My husband is putting together a fitness product for his new website, Fit in a Hurry. I’ve already started using his workouts, and let me tell ya, my legs are pissed at me for the 90 jump squats I did yesterday.

Part of his fitness product is quick and easy meal ideas. Enter the Fitness Wife. I’m all about quick and eay. If it’s more than 5 ingredients, I ain’t cooking it. Unless I’m in a fancy mood, I might cook something with 10 ingredients in it. But when the ingredients list is longer than 1 page, forget about it!

So my husband asks me, “Can I record you cooking dinner tonight for my product?”

Me: “Um…sure?”

Forget the fact that I had never even cooked that meal before, my kitchen is small and is a mess. Why not?

Let me tell ya, I have so much more respect for the Rachael Rays and Giada De Laurentiis’s of the world now. Cooking while talking – and sounding somewhat intelligent and composed – while chopping and staying organized is not an easy task.

8 Reasons It’s Gotta Be Tough Being Rachael Ray

1. It’s gotta be tough having to say “extra virgin olive oil.” Hence “EVOO”. Why don’t we acronym-ize everything? “Place the WCKSF on a plate and season with CBP and KS. Drizzle some FSLJ and press into TSS.” 10 bucks to anyone who can translate that one.
2. There aren’t enough vowels in the alphabet to create variations on existing words. Case in point: “YUM-O”. Why not “YUM-A,” “YUM-I,” or “YUM-U”? Quit discriminating the other vowels!
3. “How to appropriately use hand gestures while talking” class must have been tough. I don’t know about you, but I don’t usually point to myself with my thumb every time I say “I”.
4. Being on the air after Giada De Laurentiis. The Food Network loses about half its male audience when her show ends. At least she won the Iron Chef Challenge!
5. Having the public criticize my weight. I have a hard enough time criticizing my own weight, let alone having everyone else do it for me!
6. Having to figure out how to talk about my Italian grandfather from the upstate New York mountains in every single episode. Hm, my great-great-great grandfather was Spanish, and I used to have cousins in the mountains of Baguio City, Philippines. Does that count?
7. Typical Day: Wake up, whip up a 30-minute meal at the studio, stop by the magazine and give them a recipe for this month’s issue, travel to some random place like Ashland, Oregon and spend $40 in a day, go interview Michael J. Fox and Hulk Hogan and cook a meal with them, formulate a new all-natural dog food recipe, go home and do it all over again the next day!
8. The cooking while talking thing. Did I mention how hard that is?

Seriously though, all joking aside, I love Rachael Ray. Here’s a woman with no formal cooking training (like me!) who ran with her passion and became a wild success! She has her cooking show, a talk show, magazines, books, more TV shows, and even an all-natural dog food line. She’s like the Oprah of the cooking world! If I became half as successful as her, I certainly wouldn’t be complaning!

So, for your viewing pleasure, here’s a snippet of my cooking show fiasco. Enjoy!

And keep an eye on Fit in a Hurry for some quick home and office workouts and some fast and easy meal ideas!

Yummy, Healthy Thanksgiving Recipes

So I know my last post was all about indulging this Thanksgiving.  And although I still say you should go for it IF you can uphold the three points I mentioned – 1) moderation is key, 2) remember there are consequences to your indulgence and accept them fully, and 3) promise yourself that it’s for Thanksgiving Day ONLY – there are still some of you who want to make your Thanksgiving meal a healthy one.  If you’re one of those people, props to you!

In fact, even though I still plan on eating pumpkin pie with whipped cream, leche flan, and creamy mashed potatoes, I think I’ll help my mom with the cooking this year by trying out a few healthy Thanksgiving recipes. 

For this post I’ve compiled some ideas that I found all over the place.  Some are from other blogs, some are from food and nutrition sites, and some are floating around in my head.  After you’ve let the food digest after Thanksgiving dinner, add a comment and let me know how some of these recipes worked out for you.  Enjoy!

Salads

• Arugula and Pear Salad* – I love any salad with fruit on it.  Especially pears.  If you don’t like the bitterness of the arugula, even though the sweetness of the balsamic vinegar should even it out nicely, I’m sure you could nix it and just go with the butterhead lettuce. 
• Spinach Salad with Dried Cranberries, Walnuts, and Pomegranate Vinaigrette^ – I personally would substitute the dried cranberries with fresh pomegranate seeds since it’s kind of hard to find unsweetened dried cranberries and since pomegranates are in season.  This salad is a triple whammy – three power foods in one: spinach, packed with vitamins A, C, and folate; walnuts, packed with omega-3 fatty acids (good for your heart); and pomegranate, packed with antioxidants.

Main Course

• Roasted Turkey – You gotta have this one.  And turkey is probably one of the healthiest items on the menu as it is.  As an article called Substitutions Make Holiday Fare Healthier suggests, instead of basting it with butter, baste the turkey with its own juices and consider removing the skin after cooking.  Oh, and oven roast the thing; don’t deep fry it.  It’ll be much less fatty, and you significantly decrease the chance of burning your house down.

Side Dishes

• Roasted and Pureed Cauliflower^ – If you’re starchy carb conscious, try this alternative to mashed potatoes.  It’s quite garlicky and yummy.  Just keep in mind that it’s cauliflower – not potatoes – so don’t expect it to taste like potatoes.  Also, try using non-fat or low-fat milk instead of whole.
• Roasted Sweet Potatoes – And if you just can’t live without the potatoes, try sweet potatoes instead.  They’re packed with all kinds of vitamins and minerals, higher in fiber, and lower in calories.  Slice ‘em up, toss them with a little bit of olive oil, salt, and whatever herbs you like.  Throw them in the oven at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.  I personally like to drizzle white truffle oil over them.  Mmmmm….
• Stir-Fried Green Beans with Lemon, Parmesan, and Pine Nuts** – Try this instead of green bean casserole.  Because let’s face it – who actually likes that stuff?  Be sure not to get too carried away with the oil and parmesan though.  You don’t want overly oily and salty green beans.  This dish should be light and refreshing.
• Whole Wheat Stuffing with Sage, Italian Sausage, and Pears** – I don’t know about you, but stuffing is a must-have on my Thanksgiving table.  Try this alternative with whole wheat bread and turkey sausage.  Oh, and don’t cook it in the turkey.  It’ll just end up absorbing all the fat from the turkey, and in order to cook the stuffing, you’ll probably end up overcooking the turkey.  (Yuck, who wants dry turkey?)

Desserts

• Pear Crumble* – This one sounds good and nice and easy to make.  Try to go a little easy on the brown sugar and maple syrup though. 
• Squash Cheesecake Bars* – Surprisingly low in calories, fat, and carbs for a cheesecake recipe.

Beverages

• Red Wine Fruit Cooler^^ – Yes, alcoholic beverages provide additional calories that you probably don’t need after scarfing down all of the above dishes.  But if you’re going to drink something, try this one.  At least the red wine and blueberries are packed with healthy antioxidants.
• Red Wine – And if you’re a purist, just go for the red wine by itself! Research has shown that small amounts of red wine just might be good for your heart.

And for some great ideas on what to do with all that leftover turkey, check out my husband’s latest blog, Creative Fat-Blasting Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes.

Happy Healthy Thanksgiving!

 

*   Taken from EatingWell
** Taken from Kalyn’sKitchen
^  Taken from Food Network
^^Taken from Natural Health Magazine