It’s that time of year again! To keep your 2013 nutrition and fitness resolutions attainable and lasting, keep these four tips in mind:

1. Be specific.  Instead of saying, “I’m going to exercise more,” decide on details. A better plan is “I’m going to start walking on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings at 7 a.m. each week and walk from my house to the park and back.”  

2. Find friends.  I’ve said it before, but this is absolutely key for me. Knowing that my friends are counting on me to show up is what gets me out of bed on chilly mornings.  I’d feel too guilty having them wait and be a no-show. Bonus: friends won’t let you get away with blowing them off – they’ll call you on it!

3. Say it out loud.  Right before Halloween, one of my exercise buddies said that she wasn’t going to eat any Halloween candy. I said that I was going to do that, too. And guess what? I didn’t! I didn’t sneak into the bags of candy I bought to give away and I didn’t sneak any of my son Tim’s candy haul, either. Every time I felt like eating just one little bar, I remembered that I made that darn commitment.  Much to my surprise, because I love chocolate–I kept my promise. Try it with something you either want to do or stop doing. I think you’ll find that the power of promise is pretty amazing.

4. Record in a daily log.  A study this past summer found that women who kept food logs and consistently wrote down the foods they ate lost more weight than women who didn’t record. Food logs keep you accountable on what you’re eating and how much in relation to the calorie limit you’ve set for losing weight. Whether you fancy the traditional pen and notebook method or prefer to use an online food log or app that electronically tallies the calories for you, keeping track of what you’re munching might be the missing link to help you reach your weight loss goal.

What nutrition and activity goals do you have this year-- and what strategies are you going to use to stick to them?

Have you ever hosted a party and had too much beer or wine leftover? Or worse, had to run out during the festivities to get more? If you’d like some help with the planning check out our brand new Beverage Calculator on the Safeway holiday site!

Simply put in the duration of your party, types of beverage and guest count and the calculator provides a recommendation on the quantities to have on hand. Check it out!

My mom, sisters, and brother-in-law come into town every Christmas for an extended stay. The girls love having their aunts, uncle and Nana around for non-stop entertainment and with a houseful it truly feels like a holiday.

One of the traditions my mom started was getting a ham for our first dinner together so we could have leftovers to “pick on” throughout their visit. We all love this and the ham finds its way into many breakfasts and lunches. But my favorite leftover of leftovers is making split pea soup, in fact; I love the recipe right on the back of the Safeway Green Split Peas which was developed by cookbook author Marlene Sorosky Gray. Here it is:

Split Pea Soup

Ingredients:
1 lb. green split peas
2 onions, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 bay leaves
12 cups water
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Leftover ham

Directions:

1. In a large stockpot, heat olive oil and sauté onions, carrots and celery for about six minutes (or until they begin to brown).
2. Add any leftover ham (chopped), hambone, bay leaves and water.
3. Bring to boil then reduce heat and simmer partially covered for 2-2.5 hours.
4. Remove the bones and chop any big ham pieces into bite-sized ones and return to pot.
5. Add green split peas and dried thyme (sometimes I add a little black pepper as well) and simmer uncovered 1 hour and 20 minutes or until peas dissolve and thicken soup.
6. Remove bay leaves and serve immediately or refrigerate for later. Either way this soup is delicious!

What are some of your favorite holiday leftover recipes?

Nothing says traditional holiday meal like a good roast.  A staple during the holidays when I was growing up (I just don’t make them as often as my mom), and every once in a while we all get that craving . This recipe for Rancher’s Reserve® Holiday Red Wine Roast consists of a red wine marinade that uses garlic and brown sugar, giving the roast a perfect flavor for your holiday dinner.

Save the recipe image below and enjoy this holiday tradition.

How often do you make roasts?

My niece Claire and nephew Henry are joining us for the holidays this year and I’m so excited for their visit!  They’re at that adorable age where everything related to Christmas is magical – especially Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve. To help keep Santa nourished on his round-the-world-in-one-night adventure, we’re leaving him a plate of cookies with a glass of milk (fat-free, of course!). These scrumptious cookies are made with oatmeal, whole-wheat flour, almonds and dried fruit, to add a sprinkle of nutrition. They’re a favorite in our family, so I know Santa will love them, too.

Nanny’s Cookies

Ingredients:
½ cup stick margarine*  
2/3 cup brown sugar
½ cup applesauce
¼ cup Lucerne Best of the Egg Whites egg substitute
2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup whole-wheat flour
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup Safeway Old Fashioned Oats
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup slivered almonds
½ cup O Organics Dried Cranberries, chopped
½ cup Safeway Kitchens Dried Fancy Apricots, chopped
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375°. Beat together margarine and sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add applesauce, egg whites and vanilla, then spoon in both flours, oatmeal, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon; mix until just combined.  Stir in almonds, cranberries, apricots and chocolate chips.  

Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto cookie sheets, and gently press down on cookies to slightly flatten.  Bake for 10-13 minutes, or until golden brown.  Cool on baking sheets for two minutes, then move to wire racks to cool completely. 

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

* Choose stick margarine that contains 65% or more vegetable oil, with 0 g trans-fat and no hydrogenated oils

Per cookie:  Calories: 140; Fat: 7 g (Saturated Fat: 2 g); Trans Fat: 0 g; Protein: 2 g; Carbohydrates: 17 g; Fiber: 1 g; Sodium: 90 mg.

Bacon has been my “power ingredient” of choice this past year – sundaes, lentils, salads, and even chocolate fondue! If you like bacon, boy do we have a treat for you: Bacon Wrapped Turkey Breast! Any bacon-lover and fearless foodie will delight in this main dish. The good news: it’s easy to make!

Save the recipe image below and surprise the family with this unique dish.

What’s your favorite thing to cook with bacon during the holidays?

Ahhhh yes, sweet potatoes. Our holiday table isn’t complete without the sweet mashed potatoes with marshmallows bubbling on top – the girls love these! This next recipe is great as a side, dessert and makes fantastic leftovers. Plus, sweet potatoes are high in Beta Carotene and vitamins E and C.

Save the recipe image below and enjoy one of my favorite holiday sides.

Do you like sweet potatoes with marshmallow crust?

The holiday season is upon us, which means – time to hang some wreaths!

It’s so easy to create simple and gorgeous holiday decor, using wreaths and a few other elements.

All can easily be done with the season’s brand new debi lilly Boxwood Wreath or Festive Holiday Wreath, debi lilly Double-Faced Red Satin Ribbon, and a variety of the debi lilly Savoy Candles and Pillar Candles, found in your local Safeway Floral Department.

Give a Holiday Welcome

Welcome your guests by hanging a wreath on your front door. Use the debi lilly Satin Ribbon and tie a bow, leaving long hanging ends. Use the ribbon to hang the debi lilly Festive Wreath from your front door. It’s fast, fabulous and fresh seasonal décor.

Create a Fresh Centerpiece

Transform your dining table with a fresh centerpiece to bring color and warmth to the room. Place a debi lilly Festive Wreath on your dining table and nestle the debi lilly Winterberry Scented Pillar Candles and Savoy Candles in the center. Embellish the wreath with a ribbon, looped elegantly on top.

Personalize Your Side Table

Add a little holiday glamour to a side table and personalize your debi lilly Festive Wreath with favorite family photos or holiday greeting cards. Loop the debi lilly Satin Ribbon around your wreath and slip photos or cards under the ribbon loops. Make it simple, and show off those personalized photos and cards.

Turn Your Mantel into a Festive Focal Point 

 

Adorn your mantel with colorful holiday decor to add an instant, festive focal point in your living room. Use the large and small debi lilly Boxwood Wreaths and tie a bow onto each, with the debi lilly Satin Ribbon. Voilà! Your mantel is complete.

I love that a simple wreath can be repurposed in so many different ways.

Happy Holidays.

From holiday classics to new twists on seasonal favorites, I love making something special for my family this time of year, and although I’m a planner who loves looking for new recipes, sometimes I like when they find me!

That’s why I wanted to share some great recipe cards that Safeway has created. I’ll be posting seven recipes throughout the season that feature fresh takes on old favorites to the classics. First up, a little fun on a family classic: smoked salmon deviled eggs.

Save the recipe image below for a fun foodie twist on the traditional deviled egg.

How do you make deviled eggs unique?

Now that Thanksgiving is over its time to get ready for December holidays! At our house everything officially starts when we get our tree and decorate it. Typically reserved for a Sunday morning, it takes most of the rest of the day to get all the decorations up. So many stories in the ornament boxes! Ornaments I made as a child, small toys from my childhood, keepsakes the girls made in pre-school, and ornaments that were given as gifts. The girls want to hear them all, every year; it’s so cute and fun to share the stories.

What kicks off December holidays for you?

Want to add something different to the Thanksgiving lineup, a holiday party, or really any gathering? Try homemade baked brie. A festive warm treat on a cold fall day, this delicious recipe is surprisingly easy to make. Enjoy!

Ingredients
8-oz round Brie
Pre Made Pie Crust- homemade or store bought
Preserves of choice: fig, blackberry, raspberry, marmalade
Rolling pin
Flour
Baking sheet- line with foil or baking paper
Knife

Directions
1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees
2. Layer baking sheet with tin foil or baking paper 
3. Let brie stand to room temp
4. Using the knife carefully remove top layer of white exterior from the brie
5. Sprinkle flour on a clean flat surface
6. Dust rolling pin with flour and roll out one sheet of the pie crust 
7. Place ½ the pie crust on the baking sheet
8. Place brie in the center of the pie crust
9. Spread 1.5-2-oz of the preserves on the top of the brie
10. Fold the crust in over the top of the brie
11. Feeling creative? Cut out designs in the remaining dough to place on top
12. Bake for 20-25 minutes in center of oven until golden brown
13. Let stand for 10 minutes prior to serving

A few Thanksgivings ago, I wrote about ways that I boost nutrition and trim fat, sodium and sugar in some of my favorite Thanksgiving foods.  Since I’m always trying out little tricks, here are a few more ideas to help make your Thanksgiving spread this year a little healthier:

• When making gravy, remove the fat from turkey pan juices and drippings by using a wide mouth spoon or even better, a fat-separating pitcher.  Fat rises to the top because it’s lighter, making it easy to skim off.  The drippings are what give the gravy its flavor, not the fat.  Every tablespoon of fat you skim removes about 120 calories.  

• Skip rubbing your turkey with butter to trim saturated fat by using our famous (and delicious) 2-Hour Turkey recipe!  And go skinless when you sit down to dine:  removing turkey skin before eating cuts fat content in half.  A 3-ounce portion of light meat turkey without skin has 3 grams of fat; with skin, it jumps to 6 grams.

• Instead of whipped cream topping on your pie, whip a can of chilled Safeway Evaporated Fat Free Milk with a sprinkle of sugar for a creamy alternative (serve right away since it’s less stable and can get runny).

• Reach for prepared ingredients with less sodium, like low-sodium broth and no-salt-added canned veggies.   

• In baked goods, you can trim sugar by about ¼ to 1/3 without a noticeable difference in taste or texture.

• Use chicken broth in your stuffing recipe instead of butter to keep it moist without extra fat and calories.

Do you have any holiday trimming ideas to share?

Looking for elegant, yet affordable Thanksgiving table ideas? Our debi lilly design™ Illusion Vases can be used in so many different ways, here are my three favorites for the season, and all of the items can be found right in Safeway’s Floral Department. 

1) The Chestnut: Fill the small debi lilly design Illusion Vase with a small debi lilly design Spiced Pumpkin Candle and two handfuls of chestnuts (perfect for the kids to help), or any favorite fall hued nut. Wrap twine around the vase two to three times, and tie a knot to secure the twine.

2) Chic Roses: Wrap the debi lilly design Orange Double-Faced Satin Ribbon along the base of the medium debi lilly design Illusion Vase, secure the ribbon with a glue stick (easy and fun for the kids to help with!). Next, wrap twine over the top of the Satin Ribbon, and knot to secure. Grab a debi lilly design Flower Bouquet right from the Floral Department, cut the stems, and drop the bouquet in the vase.

3) Stack Pumpkins: Inside a large debi lilly design Illusion Vase, stack mini pumpkins one on top of the other, to the desired height. I love mixing solid stacks of orange pumpkins, or solid stacks of mini white pumpkins, for a colorful, harvest themed centerpiece. You can easily choose one of these designs, or combine them together as shown here, for a beautiful, long lasting centerpiece on your tables, mantles, kitchen islands and more.

Happy holidays!

Turkey is turkey, right? Not if you shop at Safeway, it isn’t!

At Safeway, we have a variety of turkeys, including one that’s perfect for you and your family. Before you head off to pick out that perfect bird for your Thanksgiving meal, get to know a couple of our favorites that are available for you to choose from.

Safeway Select Frozen Turkey
If you’re looking for a turkey that will dazzle friends and family during the holidays, look no further than the Safeway Select Frozen Turkey. This premium turkey is USDA certified grade A, which means you can feel confident its quality is unsurpassed, guaranteeing that it will taste as great as it looks.

Frozen turkeys also allow you to shop, prepare and organize in advance, leaving more time for family. Plus, our Safeway Select turkeys are frozen at its peak of quality - locking in freshness, taste and important nutrients and minerals.

Open Nature All Natural Turkey
The Open Nature All Natural Turkey isn’t only delicious, but something you can feel good about feeding to your family. That’s because it’s 100% natural and free-range birds, which means it has no antibiotics, nitrites or hormones added. All that’s left is a delicious, natural turkey that guarantees you’ll be dishing up a Thanksgiving meal just as nature intended.

And More!

We also offer additional turkeys with delicious flavor and features: from smoked, stuffed, Butterball and more, they’re always tender and juicy. 

No matter which turkey you prefer for your Thanksgiving celebration, you are sure to find the best value, quality and selection at Safeway.

In our house, the holidays technically start early October with the prep and festivities around Halloween, which is then immediately followed by the twins’ birthday, Thanksgiving, Chanukah, my birthday, all the Christmas fetes, along with an extended visit from my family. SOOOO much fun packed into two months. Oh, and work and school and all that stuff too!

This is when my type A personality goes into overdrive – lists, schedules and the sequencing of prep steps across multiple days/hours to ensure we can make it all happen. We've scaled back on some of it – store bought treats for school functions rather than homemade, potluck for parties so no one is spread too thin, and even cutting back on scheduling excursions when my family visits from Chicago so we can just hang out without having to be on the clock the entire visit. That’s probably been our best adjustment yet, everyone actually feels refreshed after a visit!

What are some of your tricks for managing the holidays?

There’s no doubt that Halloween is one of the best kid holidays ever. It’s a fun holiday for parents too, but dealing with the mountain of candy that your little trick-or-treaters collect isn’t so fun. If you’re overwhelmed about what to do with their sweet haul, consider these four options:

1. Set a daily limit. Allow your child to enjoy a few extra on Halloween night, but after that, institute a cap on the amount of candy–say, two mini candy bars each day for a week or so. Most kids tend to forget about their candy after the Halloween excitement wears off.

2. Buy it back. Some parents pay kids a set amount (such as 10 cents) per pound for trading in their candy or offer a toy or special outing in exchange.

3. Sort and toss. Help your goblins sort through the candy and choose the varieties they absolutely love. Set a limit for how much they can eat of that stash and then get rid of the rest. Donate candy for troops overseas. Or check if your dentist offers a candy buy-back program where kids receive money, coupons or other trinkets in exchange for candy.

4. Repurpose. Sort the candy into chocolate and non-chocolate piles. Freeze the chocolate candies and use them as treats throughout the year or add to baked goods (like M&Ms instead of chocolate chips to cookies). Keep hard candies and licorice for decorating holiday gingerbread houses.

How do you deal with Halloween candy overload?

Fall is here and it’s time for fall foliage, bright oranges, reds and golds. With that, comes Halloween and Safeway has everything you need to make your home festive for the season. From all shapes and sizes of pumpkins, gourds, Indian corn and other fall decorative items, you can make your home as colorful as the fall hues outdoors.

If you want to have some fun with flowers and pumpkins, use one as a vase for fall flowers – the perfect fall centerpiece. Here’s how:

• Find a pumpkin that sits flat on your surface.
• Cut the top off and clean out all the soft insides of the pumpkin including the seeds.
• Cut a square of floral foam and place inside the pumpkin. Fill with water.
• Take the flowers you chose (beautiful fall bouquets are available at your local Safeway store) and cut the stems and insert into the foam. Fall leaves can be placed as a collar around the pumpkin.
• Enjoy! (Don’t forget to add water daily.)

If you don’t feel like scraping out a pumpkin, try using filling a clear vase with baby pumpkins and gourds, add simply add water and flowers. A quick and easy way to bring autumn into your home!

Halloween is upon us! 

Over the years October has started to feel somewhat like December in terms of all the prep & activities.  Decorations go up early in the month, costumes need to be decided on then made/purchased/swapped, and there are events to schedule in around two jobs and the regular activities & homework – picking pumpkins, school parade, parties for kids and adults – whoosh!  So much fun and it’s beginning to require some major coordination.

One of the things we do to keep it fun for all on Halloween night is make it a neighborhood event. Everyone gets together to trick or treat as a group which helps ensure everyone is safe and not out too late. We then all go to one house to sort & trade candy – much easier to end the evening if the girls’ friends are heading back as well – especially since the holiday falls on a school night!  We also try and limit the sugar consumption with our “3 pieces on Halloween night” rule (nothing eaten until we get home and can inspect) and then the girls can fill a small sandwich bag with their favorites for later.  

No one wants to labor in the kitchen on Labor Day—me included! Given that it’s the last day before summer unofficially ends, I plan to relax as much as possible and savor the last rays of summer sunshine. That means our dinner will be a super simple one:  grilled flank steak, corn on the cob, green salad and angel food cake topped with strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream.  Easy and delicious!

Did you know that flank steak is a lean cut of beef? A 3-ounce serving—about the size of a deck of cards—contains about 2.5 grams of saturated fat. That’s the same amount found in a 3-ounce serving of a skinless chicken thigh! Beef is also an excellent source of protein and a natural source of nine more essential nutrients, including iron, zinc and B vitamins.

If you avoid beef because of heart health concerns, it’s time to make room for beef on the grill next to that chicken!  A study by researchers at The Pennsylvania State University found that substituting lean beef for white meat as part of a heart-healthy diet lowered LDL “bad” cholesterol by 10 percent, and improved other heart disease risk factors across the board. As always, you’ll find great steaks at a great price in our stores. Look for our Ranchers ReserveÒ beef—the most premium, tender beef available anywhere.

Here’s my favorite marinade recipe, good for a 1½ to 2 pound flank steak:

1/3 cup olive oil

1/3 cup soy sauce

¼ cup honey

3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

2 Tablespoons minced garlic

1 Tablespoon minced ginger

Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together ingredients in a small bowl.  Place steak and marinade in a food-safe plastic bag; turn steak to coat. Seal bag and marinate in refrigerator at least 6 hours and as long as overnight, turning occasionally. When ready to grill, remove steak from bag and discard marinade.

In a rush? Marinate the steak in one of our great Safeway or Safeway SELECT marinades instead.

For more great grilling tips and recipe ideas, check out our Get Out & Grill website.

What’s on your menu for Labor Day?

Nothing is more welcome then the Labor Day weekend after that first, mercifully short week of school. The transition to a more structured routine isn’t hard but it isn’t smooth either and we all kind of resist it wanting to hang on to summer as long as we can!   Labor Day BBQs give us the perfect excuse to “rebel” a bit and we tend to stick close to home so we can truly relax.  BBQ with friends and lots of outdoor time are on our list for this long weekend – what about you?

Good weather, check.  A clean grill, check.  Open Nature sausage, check.  A successful and relaxing Labor Day with family and friends, guaranteed.

With Labor Day quickly approaching, we are all reaching for our wire brushes to clean those grills.  Since it became a national holiday in 1894, Labor Day has been a day to enjoy great food with family and friends. And if you’re the one in charge of the grill, the pressure is on to deliver a savory meal that leaves everyone satisfied.

A simple way to garner everyone’s attention is to grill up some Eating Right Chicken Breasts over some fiery charcoal.  These are loaded with nutritional protein that is sure to give everyone a little extra energy for some Labor Day activities. Butcher’s Cut Ground Beef Patties are a classic Labor Day option to slap on the grill, offering bold taste and a full belly.  Whatever you choose to grill or BBQ make sure you consult the Safeway Chef Assistant App.  If you are intimidated by the grill or are new to the arena you can still have a successful Labor Day with the help of this app.  It gives tips, recipes, and even tells you when your meat is done cooking so you can create the perfect meal.

This month’s meat blog written by: Michael Bueno, Intern and student at UC Davis

August 9th is Book Lovers Day, a great reminder to carve some time out of your summer day or evening and enjoy your favorite book. We all know that reading can be a relaxing way to wind down after a hectic day. Studies suggest it also makes you smarter, improves your memory and ability to spot patterns, and can even improve your health by improving your mood. So grab a book and get reading!

Hot Diggity Dog!!!  It's National Hot Dog Day! Every July 23rd, the hot dog is honored with lots of hoopla and fun facts about the wonderful wiener which has managed to capture America's hearts for well over a century and continues to gain popularity.

Although not an official holiday, National Hot Dog Day nevertheless recognizes one of the country's most popular street foods. And why not? This year the day will be especially observed to cheer lunch time crowds headed back to work on Monday, July 23, 2012. So don’t forget to celebrate with lunch and / or dinner! You can feel good about feeding your family Open Nature Uncured Beef Franks available only at Safeway. These Franks have no nitrates or nitrites, no antibiotics, are 100% all natural, and they taste delicious!

The origin of the hot dog: Historians
say the "little sausages" first appeared
in America when 19th century German
immigrants began selling them from
push carts in NYC. The nickname
‘dachshund dogs’ later evolved
into the beloved hot dog.

Happy Fourth of July everyone! Many of you are likely getting ready to BBQ or just relax outside. The mid-week holiday always creates a bit of an odd week so we actually went to our friend’s annual 4th of July Crab Boil last night and were on to the county fair today. We’ll head over early to avoid the heat and crowds. The girls love the rides, we enjoy seeing them run around and having fun (and Max looks forward to some decadent, usually fried, treat). Enjoy the holiday!

We’re excited to host an afternoon get-together following our town’s annual 4^th of July parade.  Instead of the usual burgers and hot dogs on the grill, we’re featuring a “Make Your Own Kabobs” station.  Once you have the ingredients chopped, sliced and marinated, it’s simply a matter of skewering your own unique combinations of meats and veggies to make your meal.  Kabobs are economical, too, especially with the great prices you’ll find in our meat department.  Here are a few tips to keep in mind when making kabobs:

• Grill grates should be clean, hot and oiled so that the kabobs don’t stick.
• Metal skewers conduct heat, so they’re great to use for foods that take a little longer to cook, like meats.  Bamboo skewers work fine, too.  Just remember to soak them in water for 30 minutes prior to use, so they don’t burn during grilling.
• Cut all ingredients about the same size to ensure even cooking.  Remember, meats take longer to cook than veggies, so consider skewering and cooking them separately.
• Turn kabobs frequently during cooking to prevent burning.  

We’re serving cubes of marinated chicken breast, chunks of top round or sirloin in this spicy marinade and this Asian-style marinade  subbing shrimp instead of salmon.  Remember to drain off and discard any leftover marinade after removing the meat, to prevent foodborne illness.

Along with the meats set out in bowls buffet style, we’re offering a bevy of marinated veggies for skewering, too, including:

• Red, yellow, green and orange bell peppers
• Onions
• Zucchini
• Cherry tomatoes
• Yellow squash
• Mushrooms

What are your Independence Day plans?

You read and hear plenty about women’s nutrition needs, but what about the guys? In honor of Father’s Day, here’s some “food for thought” just for men:

Your 20s

Men in their 20s tend to be physically active, so you can likely eat what you want without worrying too much about weight gain.  But that doesn’t mean the calories you munch should be empty ones.  Focus on nutrient-rich snacks like fruits, veggies, nuts and whole grains (such as whole-wheat crackers and unbuttered popcorn) and go easy on the fried foods, chips, cookies and other sugary desserts. 

Your 30s

You’re probably less physically active but your appetite­ and eating pattern haven’t changed.   You’ll likely gain weight if you don’t maintain the level of exercise that helped you ward off excess pounds when you were younger.  Men tend to carry weight around their middle, and belly fat increases risk for diabetes and heart disease.  So it’s important to pay attention to what and how much you eat.  Keep an eye on portion sizes and skip second helpings.

Your 40s

Heart disease is a growing concern at this age, so eating a heart-healthy diet is key.  It’s also important to watch out for high blood pressure.

Your 50s and Beyond

Older men have more specific nutrient needs.  You lose muscle mass as you age, so include enough protein in your diet:  lean meat and skinless poultry, seafood, eggs, beans, peas, soy (maybe say soy burgers or products since tofu is also soy?), tofu and nuts are good sources. Although osteoporosis is often thought of as a women’s disease, it affects 25% of men, too, so bone up on the nutrients you need to stay strong.  Check out these tips for older adults.

Click here for more manly nutrition and health tips.  And for all you dads out there, Happy Father’s Day!

We’re starting a new tradition this Father’s Day, were going to walk/run in our town’s Father’s Day 5K.  The girls have an annual Fun Run fundraiser at school and this Spring they really got into it so we decided to take advantage of their enthusiasm and sign us all up.  Max doesn’t get to sleep in but he’s looking forward to a “no guilt” brunch after the race!    What are your plans?

When I think about the best way to celebrate my dad or my husband, or any dad for that matter, my first thought is Bar-B-Q! Or Grilling!  What man doesn’t want a home-cooked meal consisting primarily of grilled meat hot off the BBQ?  Then the question arises, is there is a difference between barbequing and grilling?  I did a little research and the answer is YES, there is a very big difference!  Prior to writing this, I have used the words interchangeably, but not any longer!  Generally speaking, barbeque refers to “low and slow” while grilling means “hot and fast”. 

Grilled Meat –‘Hot & Fast’

Best barbeque foods include ribs, brisket, and pork shoulder, cooked on low heat over wood coals, for a long period of time to soak up the smoke, seal in the juices and create a moist and tender piece of meat.  Smoking your meat also falls under this definition.  Most people are more familiar with grilling; options for grilling are steaks, burgers, hotdogs, chicken, seafood and vegetables, hot temperature and fast cooking time – inches above gas flames or live coals.

BBQ Meat – ‘Low & Slow’

So whether you’re barbequing or grilling, either are great reasons to have a party and celebrate DADS!  Make sure to check out our Grillogy page too! Happy Father’s Day!

One of my favorite salads is panzanella, a Tuscan bread salad that was traditionally a poor man’s dish.  Panzanella is a great way to use up stale bread, but if you don’t have any on hand, let your loaf sit out for a day to get stale.  Stale bread better absorbs juices from the tomatoes and the dressing–if you use fresh bread, your salad will be mushy. 

4 cups stale French or Italian bread (whole-grain, if possible)

4 cups tomatoes

1 yellow bell pepper

1 cucumber, seeded

½ red onion

1 cup fresh basil leaves

Dressing:

½ cup O Organics Olive Oil

3 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon minced garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut bread, tomatoes, pepper, cucumber and onion into similar size pieces and place in large salad bowl.  Tear basil leaves into small pieces and add to salad.  In a separate bowl, whisk together ingredients for dressing.  Pour dressing over salad, cover and let it marinate for at least an hour and up to 8 hours at room temperature (do not refrigerate) and serve. 

Makes 10 servings.  Per serving:  Calories: 170; Fat: 12g (Saturated Fat: 1.5g); Protein: 3g; Carbohydrates: 14g; Fiber: 3g; Sodium: 105mg.

I’m bringing this salad to my friend Kristen’s Memorial Day get-together.  What are your Memorial Day plans?

We’ve established a bit of a tradition for Mother’s Day - a morning or afternoon hike and no cooking/kitchen time for me – very simple and oh so relaxing for this working mom of three!  I’m always interested in the origins of these holidays so I did some research.  Celebrating mothers goes back to the Greeks, Egyptians, and Romans but it didn’t become a national holiday in the U.S. until 1914, thanks to the dedication of Anna Jarvis who began a campaign a few years earlier after the death of her mother.   An activist by nature Ms. Jarvis became increasingly concerned with the commercialization of the holiday, believing it undermined the true intent of the celebration.  As such she spent later years trying to undo what she had created!  Regardless of what you do to celebrate have a fabulous day & enjoy!