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.”