Give it Try

This is it--the last adventure of Foods, Moods, and Attitudes. I hate to have to leave you on the dreaded “dead week,” but maybe I can shed some light at the end of the tunnel before I bid you adieu. Today, I have escaped the manipulative hands of the fast food industry. It has come to my attention that Taco Bell has recently brought back the popular Beefy Crunch Burrito, which, apparently, is fantastically momentous in comparison to my own taco Tuesday. After two quarters of a food-themed writing class, I think it’s safe to say that I want to know where my food is coming from. This is precisely why I had to reject my friends’ invitation to pay the Taco Bell down the street a visit for the purchase of these celebrated burritos (seriously, the meat looks like dog food). So, what did I do for dinner? I sure didn’t pay Benson Cafeteria a visit. It was a glorious day, so, why not go for some healthy tacos and homemade salsa? Yes, we’re going back to my roots tonight. 

From my backyard barbeques to family parties, there has always been SO MUCH SALSA. When I say salsa, I don’t mean the Tostitos Chunky Salsa that you pop off a cover for. I’m talking about the real deal, the kind of salsa that makes your nose run from the jalapeño peppers but pushes you to pile more on top of just about anything. I’ve been salsa deprived for about eight months now, so it was either wait for those home-cooked meals this summer, or do it myself. Cutting vegetables was about one of the only jobs I was allowed to partake in while my mother was cooking, so I was considerably familiar with the ingredients for salsa. The perfect salsa I knew and loved consisted of green onions, tomatoes, lime, cilantro, jalapeños, salt, and pepper. If it didn’t have enough flavor, my grandmother would always say, “La salsa no está suficientemente picante,” it just isn’t hot enough. With these words in mind, I knew I would have no problems topping off my tacos with something familiar and close to my heart. 

The taco recipe, on the other hand, came from Joy Bauer’s healthy food recipe webpage and stated the following: 

NUTRITION FACTS

Amount per Serving

Calories: 402

Total Fat: 16 g

Saturated Fat: 6 g

Cholesterol: 105 mg

Sodium: 755 mg

Total Carbohydrate: 22 g

Dietary Fiber: 2 g

Protein: 40 g

INGREDIENTS

1. 1 1/4 pounds turkey, ground, (at least 90% lean)
2. 1 packet(s) taco seasoning mix, low sodium, (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 ounces; mild or hot; plus water as indicated on package)
3. 2 cup(s) lettuce, chopped or shredded
4. 1 large tomato(es), finely chopped
5. 1 cup(s) cheese, cheddar, reduced-fat, shredded
6. 8 taco shells (corn), hard or soft
7. salsa, and/or hot sauce (optional)

I would have to say I was a little skeptical about the taco seasoning because I knew from experience that my mom had never used this small additive in her homemade tacos. Even though  I’ve been trying to stay away from things in packages, I decided that a little bit of seasoning cannot do too much damage. Shamefully, I also bought hard taco shells in a box instead of baking them on my own because of my time constraint. Nevertheless, I felt confident in my dinner selection, and there was no way that I could resist tacos. 

Walking into Walsh kitchen with my bulging bags of food and utensils, I felt as if I were a regular on an episode of Top Chef. The dishes and pans were ready to go from the previous cleaning spree I had, so I went right to work on the salsa. Due to my not-so-spice-tolerant group of friends, the salsa was not as fiery as usual, but it was FRESH, flavorful, and worth the stacks of vegetables I had to chop. In case you were wondering, this whole process happened with the help of four other lovely assistants. One of my friends cooked the turkey meat while another picked little sprigs of cilantro off of the stems. There was someone to watch the taco shells in the oven, and to set the table. As each section of the kitchen started to produce heavenly aromas, I began to assemble each individual taco. The shells were warm and crisp, and the turkey meat with the seasoning was absolutely mouthwatering. Spoonfuls of salsa on each taco made up a kaleidoscope of colors, and each little taco was a masterpiece of its own. After sprinkling some Monterrey Jack cheese on the tops of each piece of art, I placed the golden tray of food in the center of the table. 

As we ate, we talked about our plans for summer, how much we hated the Miami Heat in the NBA playoffs, and how delicious everything tasted. More smiles, laughter, and discussions filled the kitchen until every last bit of food was eaten. Everyone talked and listened to music as the cleanup process took place (only ten to fifteen minutes total). I can’t emphasize how important teamwork is in the kitchen--without it, I would have been screwed. Cooking can be done alone, but in a college environment I would much rather crack jokes, make mistakes, and eat really good food with FRIENDS. From the very beginning, I never realized how many wonderful people would be willing to volunteer their time to cook with me. To be quite honest, it’s been three quarters, and I haven’t felt as close to these people as I did when they were standing beside me asking if the turkey needed more seasoning or when we were going to cook the next meal. Learning new things is what growing up is all about--it’s truly what makes college so challenging. Just like the obstacles of cooking, with life you need to mess up, start again, and ask for help. 

Mark Bittman, a columnist for the New York Times, wrote a commentary piece called “Pollan Cooks!” in which he highlights Michael Pollan’s voice in the new book, Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation. Pollan makes a very solid argument about the convenience of eating French fries on the “industrial scale” in comparison to the struggles of cooking them in the home. Naturally, cooking for ourselves is the bigger challenge and the less-convenient alternative ,but as Pollan states, “there’s something in the very nature of home cooking that keeps us from getting into trouble.” The more I take those trips to Taco Bell and stay in the repetitive grasp of the college cafeteria, the greater the chances of me getting into a food crisis. With the Nike Free Runs and yoga pants that continuously trend on my college campus, it’s obvious that people want to make themselves look and feel healthy. Well, don’t just look healthy, FEEL healthy. There is no greater pride than sitting down at a dinner table with friends to enjoy a meal that wasn’t handed to you on a white plate or in a paper bag. Sure, time is going to need to be prioritized so that homework assignments aren’t ignored, but time should not be an excuse. Readers, you’ve been with me every step of the way and my grades are up and I’m feeling great. Without any real scientific explanations, I was able to show that whether it was pride or taste, my meals made me a happier person. 

Sometimes I think in the jumble of college pressures, students forget that in everyday decisions, as small as the food they eat, quality is sacrificed for convenience. American society has cultivated us in a rushed and fast-paced mindset, but I’m here to say that it’s okay to slow down and do something that’s going to benefit you in the long-run. Cooking can be your ticket out of stress, unwanted snack attacks, and boring foods, but you have to make the decision to try it. So readers, I would have to say that my project was one wild experience, and I’m glad you decided to undergo these obstacles with me. You can find me cooking in the kitchens of my future residence hall next year, and summer will be a time for me to practice even more recipes. I have found my healthy alternative and maybe even a potential hobby, but your choice to start cooking is completely up to you. I wish you the best of luck, readers, from my college campus to yours. 

Works Cited

"Turkey Tacos." JoyBauer.com. Everyday Health, Inc., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013. <http://www.joybauer.com/food-recipes.aspx>.

"Pollan Cooks!" Opinionator Pollan Cooks! Comments. The New York Times Company, 17 Apr. 2013. Web. 1 June 2013. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/17/pollan-cooks/>.

Change of Plans

It’s late in the quarter, and for all the college students out there, I feel your pain. Every night is a late one due to the group projects, study sessions, and incessant amounts of homework that seem to be looming over my head as the days progress. So, how does cooking play out in any of this? Well, any decent doctor will tell you to find a way to channel or relieve your stress, and by cooking, you can absolutely do both! Try to contain your disappointment when I say that my next cooking adventure didn’t take place in my dorm kitchen. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to visit the home of one of my good friends from SCU in San Jose and (drumroll please) cook a mouthwatering, cheesy pizza. If you have a car and a friend who lives in the area, take a gift from the food gods and indulge in a self-cooked meal.

It seems to me, that great meals start with a trip to a farmer’s market. It could almost be deemed a crime to say that I have been going to Santa Clara for three quarters now and have yet to attend the Saturday farmer’s market just a few blocks from campus. So, with the days coming to an end, I persuaded two hungry boys from my dorm to accompany me on this momentous journey in the warm sun. The first little tent I ventured to had some of the brightest colored fruits I had ever seen. A woman with a black apron and a sun-kissed face beckoned me over to try a sliver of a fruit that had golden droplets of sweet nectar sliding down the sides--one of the best peaches I’ve ever tasted. I tried to savor every last bit of it and quickly scanned my surroundings for some more organic eye candy. I saw a father holding his daughter’s hand while directing her towards a box of strawberries that she could sample. I must have been staring a little too long because the young girl looked up at me, smiled, and handed me a plump, ruby-red strawberry with the utmost excitement. Her father chuckled, and I expressed my genuine gratitude for this random act of kindness. By this point, the boys noticed that I had strayed from our group, and (getting the hint) I walked quickly to catch up with them. 

When we started to slow down, I noticed an unpleasant stench that I was quite familiar with. Clearly, this penetrating smell had no effect on the boys because they appeared to be walking right towards the source of it. Fighting the urge to plug my nose, I walked up to the stand and smiled up at the friendly face of whom I would like to call, Mr. Cheese Man. Anyone that knows me understands my love-hate relationship with cheese. Provolone, Monterrey Jack, and Mozzarella are about the only cheeses I allow through my digestive track because when people start getting fancy with the Manchego and Gorgonzola cheeses, my face convulses and my stomach screams. However, this man was quite persuasive and was able to nonchalantly plop three different types of goat cheese into my palms. I could not possibly reject the small cubes of cheese that happened to be Mr. Cheese Man’s very own creations and main ingredients for most of his meals. What a pleasant surprise it was to taste a cheese that was so light, garlic-infused and satisfying. This man had me one-hundred percent convinced that without this garlic goat cheese, my life was terribly incomplete; so naturally, I walked away with a seven dollar container of it. With only a few dollars in my pockets to begin with, it was safe to say this cheese was the only thing I bought from the market. Walking out of the clusters of tents, I had the look of pure pride spread across my face--this cheese was the best cheese. 

After a short journey back to the dorms, I ran to my door and breathlessly held up the glorious cheese for my roommate to gawk at. To my disappointment, her reaction was less enthusiastic than I had anticipated, and she asked what exactly I proposed to do with this goat cheese. Well, when I think of cheese, I think of pizza, and I knew there had to be a healthy twist to a conventional pizza in Joy Bauer’s list of recipes online. Just to make sure that this particular cheese was going to be a healthy alternative, I found useful information on Livestrong.com that stated, “a serving of goat cheese generally contains fewer harmful substances than a typical brand of cow's cheese, while providing similar, if not more, vitamin and mineral content” (Ulmer). After doing a quick search on Joy Bauer’s homepage, I came across the “Ricotta-Mushroom Pita Pizza” that was conveniently located under the tab for food and recipes and found the following information:

NUTRITION FACTS

Amount per Serving

Calories: 225

Total Fat: 5 g

Saturated Fat: 2.5 g

Cholesterol: 20 mg

Sodium: 425 mg

Total Carbohydrate: 38 g

Dietary Fiber: 7 g

Protein: 16 g

INGREDIENTS

1. 1 whole pita, 100% whole-wheat, (about 150 calories)
2. 1 cup(s) mushrooms, sliced
3. 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
4. salt, Kosher, to taste
5. pepper, black, to taste
6. 3 tablespoon cheese, ricotta, part-skim
7. 1 pinch pepper, red, crushed, (optional)

By substituting the ricotta cheese and the garlic powder for my newly acquired garlic goat cheese, I knocked the ingredients list down to six and gave myself another easy recipe to tackle. Now, the only thing left to do was to call my friend Mark and make sure it was okay to attempt a cooking fiasco in his home. With his mother not being home, it was much easier for him to allow me the permission to take hold of his kitchen for a night. After I received the okay sign from Mark, I quickly collected all my ingredients (except the mushrooms that were at his house) and piled into a car with four other kids who were ready for a night of fun. 

The actual cooking process was not very complex, but the kitchen itself was pretty hectic. Boys were coming in and out of the kitchen grabbing snacks and constantly asking if the food was ready. My mood was quite anxious, mainly because I was missing Batman and Bane’s epic battle scenes in parts of the fairly new, The Dark Knight Rises movie. All the same, I was also trying to make sure I refrained from destroying any of Mark’s kitchenware as I am still a beginner at the whole cooking ordeal. Someone monitored the pita bread in the oven while another person set out the plates and napkins on the table. After melting the cheese over the toasted pita bread and cooking the mushrooms, I was relieved to finally call everyone into the kitchen. Everyone grabbed his or her own personal pita pizza and showered me with gratitude. Fearful of any burnt pita bread, I watched my friends take their first bites into the pizza while we were still standing in the kitchen and noticed the same ear-to-ear smile I had made when I tried my first cooked meal. A crisp crunch was the perfect sound to hear as I bit into the pita bread with the gooey goat cheese that happened to be nothing less than fantastic. The garlic gave the pizza such wonderful flavor, and the soft mushrooms completed the package. 

Recipe number two was a complete success, and I felt a sense of triumph yet again. The ambience in the kitchen changed from the moment that food hit my lips, and I no longer felt the need to worry. We all rushed to the couches with our paper plates and pizza to continue watching our favorite superhero take on the city of Gotham. As I snuggled into a pillow, I felt content and full. These two feelings happen to be reoccurring emotions I get after cooking my very own meal. The location of my cooking experiences as well as the outside factors that stress me out when I’m in school seem to have no effect on how my food turns out. When I start cooking, I zone in, aiming to complete a recipe, and nothing else except the meal at hand matters. It’s not realistic to say that every college student is going to have the opportunity to take a trip to a friend’s house to cook, but it’s definitely an exciting possibility. College is all about trying new things, and readers, you will be surprised how much fun it can actually be. I encourage you to buy something from a farmer’s market and embrace foods you have never tried before because you just might surprise yourself. Venture back to Foods, Moods and Attitudes for one last time to see if I’ve convinced you that time, cooking, and college can all come together in a harmonious recipe.

Works Cited

"Healthy Food and Recipes." JoyBauer.com. Everyday Health, Inc., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013.         <http://www.joybauer.com/food-recipes.aspx>.

Ulmer, Graham. "What Are the Health Benefits of Eating Goat Cheese?"LIVESTRONG.COM. Demand Media, Inc., 14 Mar. 2011. Web. 24 May 2013. <http://www.livestrong.com/article/402645-what-are-the-health-benefits-of-eating-goat-cheese/>.

A Turkey Twist

Welcome back, readers! Brace yourselves for a wild journey through my first cooking adventure. Tonight’s recipe selection is golden brown turkey burgers and virgin mojitos, a meal perfect for a summertime barbeque for a family to enjoy outside on the patio. But in actuality, my particular situation is nowhere near the relaxed, outdoor summer atmosphere. My cooking workplace is Walsh kitchen, a place that can be summed up in three words: grotesque, empty, and neglected. Very few people have the willpower, let alone the bravery, to work through the greasy, dirty dishes and stained counters (from who knows what) that remain in plain sight for all to see. I was one of the few courageous Walsh residents to get past the grease and hope for a successful dinner.

Okay, it’s not the typical beefy, American hamburger, but with a healthy makeover, the turkey burger catches the eye and lures people in. The recipe has a short estimated cooking time of twenty minutes and includes different mood-enhancing ingredients. However, what really won me over was probably my flat out craving for a non-Benson burger. Readers, if you are interested, JoyBauer.com has a variety of useful tools to guide you on the pathway to a healthier lifestyle. Nutritionist Joy Bauer’s webpage, called “Food and Recipes for Health Conditions,” gave me the following recipe for the Italian Ranch Turkey Burger: 

INGREDIENTS

1. 1 pound turkey, lean ground
2. 1 medium onion, white, chopped
3. 2 clove(s) garlic, minced
4. 2 ounce(s) cheese, feta, crumbled, fat-free
5. 1/2 tablespoon dressing mix, ranch
6. Italian seasoning, dried, to taste
7. salt, sea, to taste
8. pepper, black ground, to taste

Nutrition Facts

Amount per Serving

Calories: 215

Total Fat: 8 g

Saturated Fat: 2 g

Cholesterol: 80 mg

Sodium: 360 mg

Total Carbohydrate: 6 g

Dietary Fiber: 0.5 g

Protein: 27 g

There were a few changes I made to the recipe since I tend to enjoy traditional, clean cut meals. I omitted the use of ranch dressing and Italian seasoning because I have never really used ranch dressing on my salad, and therefore did not see any reason to start trying it on burger patties. I also decided to substitute pepper-jack cheese, with its spicy wonders, for feta, whose texture I find disgusting. Bauer deemed the ingredients good for the heart, eyes, memory, mood, hair and skin, and helps prevent arthritis, celiac disease, and type two diabetes. Garlic, for example, is beneficial to one’s health because it “contains allicin, a naturally occurring antioxidant that may help improve heart health. Compounds in garlic also act as powerful antioxidants” (Bauer). Cheese is a very important ingredient to include because “the protein in cheese can slow down the absorption of carbohydrates eaten at the same meal or snack and therefore help balance your blood-sugar levels and improve mood as well” (Bauer). After researching all the health benefits, I was more than happy to confirm my recipe choice and go out to buy the ingredients that were about to be my first cooked meal--ever. 

So, between studying for a Spanish midterm and making a quick trip to Safeway (or so I thought), I was also supposed to find the time to clean, cook, and eat. I guess the first issue I came across was, inevitably, time. My roommate accompanied me on this market trip and convinced me that a fancy drink was absolutely necessary. We agreed that a refreshing mojito would complement our meal nicely and that she would be the mixologist for the night. For my readers who are not familiar with mojitos (since I was, until very recently, a true mojito virgin), don’t worry, there is not much to it. Ice, limes, sugar, sparkling water, and mint are the only ingredients we used for our concoction. I probably circled the vegetable section of Safeway three and a half times before one of the employees approached me to ask what exactly I was trying to find. His chuckles calmed my frustration because I was never going to locate the mint I was desperately hunting for. To my defense, the mint was hiding behind the basil, and I did not feel quite as ashamed until the man asked if I was a little too young to be making mojitos. I brushed off the comment, knowing in my heart that cooking my own meals was quite an adult-like move to make, and went on a search for my roommate. I found her struggling to figure out the difference between sparkling water, club soda, and seltzer water, which apparently are three completely different things. After all the incessant questioning and unexpected struggles, I raced to the register and handed the cashier $13.92, which I thought was a decent price considering some of Benson’s specials to be sixteen or eighteen dollars. The Safeway trip took a grand total of fifty minutes, leaving me pressed for time and extremely stressed out.  

My mood at this point was exhausted and irritable--this cooking ordeal needed to be over. I opened the door of the kitchen, looked to the left, and let out a loud, “Are you serious?” The pan I planned to use for the burgers had a chunky black film over it, clearly indicating that whoever had used it last did not bother to clean it. I quickly realized I only had butter-knives to use, and that was not going to be very helpful with the mincing of garlic. I walked around my dorm, asking for a sharp knife, and ended up with a large steak knife. My exasperated reaction to the whole process was blatantly obvious in my facial expressions, and my roommate was the first to notice. She gave me a quick hug and pulled up the Frank Sinatra Pandora station to lighten the mood. The steak knife swiftly chopped of all the veggies, and mixing the meat with my fingers was quite a slimy experience that I thoroughly enjoyed. Putting the patties on the pan was the difficult part because I did not know what qualified as a normal sized patty. Patty number one was round and hefty but took quite some time to cook all the way through, so I had to reformulate each one into much smaller forms. The patties sat in the pan, sizzling away, and soaking up every bit of my undivided attention. The sensational aroma of cheese, garlic and onions permeated every nook and cranny of my dorm at six-thirty in the evening. Food and college students go hand-in-hand, so you can imagine the amount of visitors that started to drop by. 

Words of affirmation tend to dramatically improve my mood. As the time passed and the burgers cooked, various groups of people trickled into the kitchen to tell me just how wonderful everything smelled. A showering of compliments resulted in an ear-to-ear smile that spread across my face. I was genuinely proud of what I had accomplished, but I also had a tiny feeling of guilt. The majority of the people that came to the kitchen most certainly wanted to try my meal when it was done. Sharing was a huge issue that I had not really thought about before. I had selected three friends that I was going to share my meal with, and that did not account for the dozens of other hungry college students hovering nearby. My solution for the next meal was to have larger portions of foods to share. With a welcoming smile, I made sure I invited every one of my kitchen visitors to go food shopping with me so that they could get their own ingredients and cook with me. When I was finally able to sit down and admire the glistening burgers with juicy red tomatoes plopped right on top, I stopped to take a moment and look at my friends. I saw a combination of mouthfuls of food, smiles, and bliss. Everyone stopped what he or she was doing when I took my first bite, and all I could say was “Mmmmm.” My mood had completely transformed from when I had stepped foot into the filthy kitchen. Tension had turned into pleasure, and I felt ready to go back and study for that dreadful midterm I had been trying to avoid. Cleaning up happened in a matter of minutes with the help of my friends. At the bottom of the blog, I attached a picture of my delicious turkey burger with a juicy red tomato and whole-grain bread.

Overall, it was an uplifting experience, and I cannot wait to cook something new! Cooking gave me a way to use an allotted portion of my time for the betterment of my health. I don’t know if it was the power of the ingredients or the happiness I brought to others, but the meal definitely brought me contentment. Now I have something to look forward to for the weeks to come and a mission to find a dish that can account for more people. Readers, if you ask for a little help, I can promise you that cooking will not be as terrifying as it seems. I gave it a try, and now I am eating a little healthier while smiling a little brighter. Come back soon to see what comes next!

Works Cited 

"Healthy Food and Recipes." JoyBauer.com. Everyday Health, Inc., n.d. Web. 15 May 2013. <http://www.joybauer.com/food-recipes.aspx>.

Feed the Inner Beast

My family knows me better than I know myself; I know that’s cliché, but it’s one-hundred percent accurate. I can’t help but feel sorry for them at times because, like any other teenage girl at home, I often had uncontrollable hormones raging through the roof. Besides the incessant teenage drama, another shameful confession I must make is the alarming transformation I undergo when I ignore, either subconsciously or consciously, the familiar alerts of hunger. This terrible feeling results in a grumbling, ferocious beast that envelops my stomach and leaves me being all but friendly. The sad part is, I usually do not even notice why I start to become a slightly less menacing (and less green) version of the Hulk every time I come back from a long day of school, or after countless hours of mind-boggling homework.

During my high school days, my dad would come into my room with a cheerful smile informing me that dinner was ready. My response would be to glare back at him as if he had just interrupted me performing an experiment that was going to find the cure for cancer. I would reply with a terse and annoyed, “okay.” Dragging my feet all the way to the table, I would offer no signs for casual small-talk with any of my siblings. However, as my mother plated one of her home-cooked meals before my eyes and I picked up the fork with eagerness and purpose, I instantly knew that my inner Hulk was slowly fading away and, simultaneously, the beast within my stomach would cease to exist. My dad would take the seat right next to mine and say, “Do you feel better? Jovanna is back everyone.” Clearly, this monster within me needed to be tamed because I couldn’t continue to let my family be the victim of my hunger-ravaging needs. The solution was simple: feel the building irritation, eat a snack. 

Stephanie Rosenbloom’s “Moody? Cranky? Tired? Feed Me!” discusses this idea of snacking with a healthful conscience and people’s tendencies to fall into this hunger trap as I did. This New York Times article is about the expanding meaning of hunger and how it is “no longer merely a physiological state, [but] it is now also thought of as a mood.” For some background information, it is important to note that Rosenbloom is a columnist for the travel section of the New York Times, a former staff reporter for various other sections of the newspaper, and a guest on television as well as radio programs. She is known for writing about “American social trends including fashion, technology and love in a digital age,” which does not exactly qualify her as the expert on nutrition; however, she incorporates Dr. Edward Saltzman, a nutrition scientist at the United States Department of Agriculture's Nutrition Research Center at Tufts University in Boston, as the center stage for scientific evidence for her claims about the negative side effects of hunger. This article is in the style section of the newspaper and the author directed her article  toward women or people with an interest in trending fashion styles. Hunger mood swings may not be a fashion statement, but they are a negative trend that tends to keep reappearing in everyday life. Although the text was published quite a few years ago, in December 2005, the topic of the article is general enough so as not to have outdated information. 

A so-called “food swing,” as Rosenbloom points out, is becoming more of an issue in today’s society, and by providing humorous examples in combination with health experts’ advice, the author effectively gives her readers information about how to combat and understand these sudden emotional changes. The author makes a claim that women tend to be the majority of the people reporting crabby moods inflicted by hunger. To support this claim she accumulates information primarily from Lisa Sasson, a clinical assistant professor in New York University's department of nutrition, food studies and public health. Sasson provides evidence that suggests women are more “weight conscious” and their “heightened awareness of their own eating habits may make them go overboard, incorrectly linking every mood to hunger.” According to Sasson, healthy snacks such as “nuts, fruit, cheese and hummus” are a great alternative to ward away any unwanted emotional hunger. Ultimately, Rosenbloom wants to drive home that there is a “hunger-mood connection” that many people, particularly women, can relate to. This phenomenon results in the constant need to satisfy hunger irritability with some form of sustenance (hopefully healthy foods). I think she successfully wove in enough ethos to convince me of her claims and kept me interested with her comedic examples of moody women that are in constant need of a snack.

Well, readers, I want you to walk away from your computer today knowing that you are not alone in the day-to-day battle of “food swings.” What is even more important is that it’s not too late to step in and take control of that roller coaster of emotions. Don’t deprive yourself of food! Clearly, what you eat and when you eat is vital for sustaining a balanced mood. With that being said, I will be making sure I stick by my blueberries and trail mix whenever I start to feel a bit snappy in between meals. It’s time I start to take control over this habitual feeling of irritation and provide myself with some healthful snacks while I await my self-cooked dinnertime alternative. I won’t need to shamefully apologize or make excuses for the unintentional snarky glances or rude comments that resulted from the grumbling hunger pains within me. I would hope that as a result of this newly acquired information about the hunger and mood relationship, I will be able to keep my body energized and my attitude positive. Will my optimistic take on this article have any effect on my actual daily encounters with food? Well, I sure hope it gives me enough willpower to cook myself dinner on a weekday stacked with homework. Just like that catchy pop song from the nineties called “The Power,” “I’ve got the power,” and so do you!

Works Cited

Rosenbloom, Stephanie. "Moody? Cranky? Tired? Feed Me!" New York Times. The New York Times Company, 1 Dec. 2005. Web. 3 May 2013.

Bringing Pleasure Back to the Table

About Me:

Day after day, my mother would come home from a long day at work and conjure up a warm, home cooked meal as I sat at the counter doing my homework and telling her about my day. Sitting at the dinner table and sharing stories with my family are probably some of the most cherished memories of my life at home. Cooking has always been a way for my family to come together and connect with one another; whether we were cutting the ends off of green beans or simply watching my mother move swiftly about the kitchen. However, the tranquility and comfort that I felt in the kitchen started to slowly fade as I stepped foot into the unknown world of college. 

My name is Jovanna Franco and I am, quite frankly, a frazzled freshman college student. Compared to my experiences with food back home, my current sugary and salty food selections have surpassed the healthy options my mother used to plate in front of me. In this blog, I am going to attempt to train myself to think of healthier options than an Easy-Mac and half a chocolate bar for dinner by choosing to cook my own dinners. College has given me the freedom to eat whenever I want and whatever I want, but the ultimate challenge is to make exactly what I please. At the end of the day, I want to be happy with the food I am choosing to consume at all hours of the day. 

Welcome yourself into my archaic community kitchen where the recipes I choose to cook will come from a nutritionist named Joy Bauer, who specializes in food diets that can drastically improve one’s health. While I learn to cook and attempt to eat healthier, I will also be documenting the affects these foods have on my overall mood. I have little to no culinary experience, but I plan to learn, laugh, and most importantly, EAT all along the way! I love watching The Bachelor on television, painting my nails, and procrastinating on homework but my new favorite hobby is going to take a detour down the food alley. I want healthier food options and hopefully a better attitude will accompany my cooking stories.

Introduction:

The problem shopaholics have when they are continuously swiping their credit cards for an overload of clothes is equivalent to the struggles I have with spending meal points on my random food cravings. I dread going to the cafeteria at school because after about the second week, good old Benson has continued to lose its vitality and has me dragging my feet to the longest of lines. It is week four in the college world and according to the quarter system this means the start of midterms. In my world, this translates to the beginning of a large decline in my health. Chocolate automatically becomes my best friend and suddenly the healthy, organic rice cakes and carrots are not making the cut. Boredom with food leads to experimentation with dangerously addicting sugars, fats, and salts. This is my time to pull myself out of my vortex of unhealthful doom and change things up a bit. 

I am clearly not an expert in neuroscience or cognitive psychology but I would like to see how much cooking has an affect on emotions. In my perspective, cooking really does bring people together and I want to watch this get put into action. Step one is picking a delicious, yet nutritious recipe to cook in my small and extremely limited dorm kitchen. Step two is rounding up my friends in the evening to assist me in creating exactly what the recipe dictates. Step three (if I make it this far without destroying my food) will incorporate the documentation of my feelings of how the process went, how my body feels after, and if there were any obvious vibes in the kitchen. A before and after scale of my emotions will determine my personal progress and my accounts of how productive I felt that night or the next day will also contribute to my state of emotions. By far, the happier and more productive I am the more successful I will feel in taking control of my own meals. However, if my cravings come back twice as hard and I am just as cranky and stressed out as before, maybe my college cafeteria is not the problem. Difficulties, teamwork, and emotions will all be elaborately recorded in the blog post and I hope you continue to come back to read my moments of chaos or composure within the kitchen. 

The main ingredients of my food are going to correspond with a specific mood that is supposed to accompany it. For example, a food such as spinach that is supposed to give a natural boost of energy to the human body would be a starting point for a recipe of a spinach and chicken pesto pasta. With these nutritional tips as my guide, I want to create a consistent food choice for myself at the dinner table and maybe skip the dining hall for something I can genuinely call my own masterpiece. Cooking on my own is a healthy alternative and I want to give other college students just like me another reason to analyze their moments of gluttonous oblivion. In the words of Julia Child, I am “taking the fear out of cooking” and trying a new lifestyle change. So with that said, I will be making a trip to Safeway, my local market, in the next couple of days to collect my healthy ingredients for dish number one. What is the dish I am going to be preparing? Well, it looks like it is going to remain a mystery until you wander back to “Foods, Moods, and Attitudes.”