My nephew with pumpkins

The best thing about fall is the food that associates with the season. My absolute favorite is Pumpkin. It’s not just a decorative item for Halloween! There are a bunch of pumpkinesque treats to enjoy. I love toasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin pie and always look forward to making these two things. There’s also the Pumpkin Spiced Latte at Starbucks and the Pumpkin Smash smoothie at Jamba Juice that a lot of people rave about!

What are the health benefits of Pumpkin anyway? It is rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. It is also an excellent source of fiber, and pumpkin seeds are a good source of vitamin E, iron, magnesium, potassium, and plant based source of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids. Basically, they’re better than a bag of potato chips or snickers bars!

I love how pumpkin is so versatile, as the pumpkin puree can be used to make soups, breads, smoothies, and pies. Not to mention, it can be quite therapeutic to carve out the pumpkin seeds from the inside of a pumpkin. I found this out today when I was scooping out our pumpkin for the seeds.

Besides pumpkin, what are your favorite fall foods?

Because I’m on a budget, I have been pretty much scouring the internet for coupons and mindful of the food I buy.  I do use coupons. I found this awesome website (seriously, I found this entirely on my own, so this is no sponsored post at all) where you can print out coupons for a bunch of organic snacks and products.

It’s called Mambo Sprouts, and you can find recipes, product reviews and coupons.  I signed up and got this coupon book in the mail for a bunch of different snacks, and although they’re no longer sending printed editions of their coupon books (to be green), you can sign up on their website to get emails on how to save money on natural and organic products.

There’s no shame in using coupons to save, after all, they’re there for you to use!

We can’t really go without sweets, and honestly, how could anyone? It’s pretty difficult to avoid sweets altogether, and I personally couldn’t and wouldn’t do it. I enjoy a cookie or a cupcake every now and then, and I don’t think it would hurt at all.

Many health junkies know high fructose corn syrup, or HFCS as the devil, and it’s true – high fructose corn syrup is a preservative in many processed foods. By consuming foods with high fructose corn syrup regularly, you’re likely to gain more weight and become prone to diabetes, high blood pressure or coronary artery disease.

Recently, the Corn Refiners Association decided that they wanted to refer high fructose corn syrup as corn sugar, which may not sound as bad, but it’s still HFCS. People need to be aware that the term corn sugar is HFCS and stay away from it. It’s also been known that sugar and HFCS are the same nutritionally too – with no nutritional value. Instead, choose raw unrefined sugar, as this is made from the juice of the sugar cane plant with trace mineral and nutrients.

Of course, I am not an expert in this, but I think ideally, we should cut back on sugary foods as much as possible. But if you have a sweet tooth, bake your own goodies from scratch. Avoid canned fruit and opt for the real thing. Choose fresh fruit rather than fruit juice or fruit-flavored drinks. Also, drink less soda, which is pretty easy to do in my opinion.

Do you use organic sweeteners instead of “normal” sugar?  Do you think it’s any better for you?

Happy September everyone!  Is it cold where you are yet?  It’s definitely not getting any cooler in South Florida!  It doesn’t feel like fall here quite yet.

I never really liked hot sauce. I was always kind of afraid to have my mouth feel like it was on fire. But now, I love it! My husband and I went to breakfast last Sunday and I had a bagel with egg and bacon… and hot sauce. Now, I’m pretty much obsessed and thinking about ways to put hot sauce on everything.  I’m not exactly sure why I all of a sudden am obsessed with hot sauce, but the first thing I did was took a chance and tried it.  (By the way, I love the Crystal Hot Sauce the best!)

There was this show called Food Revolution a while back, and celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver went to a town in West Virginia to change the way the kids ate at school. They ate mostly processed foods that were already cooked and then frozen. The kids also drank flavored milk that had tons of sugar in it! Jamie wanted to introduce foods that weren’t preserved, such as vegetables, and encouraged cooking fresh food on premises. It definitely posed a challenge to the cooks in the schools as they were cooking for hundreds of kids. Cooking food from scratch for that many people was definitely difficult. But it was done.  When the kids tried the food, they were really skeptical, so Jamie decided that he would make it fun and anytime someone tried something new, he would give them a sticker saying, “I Tried Something New.” It seemed to really encourage the kids to try new foods, and maybe even really like it!

So my point really is that you should always try something new, when it comes to food. If it’s good for you, make it an experiment. Try adding a new vegetable to the mix.   Make a dish with a vegetable that you never ate before.  Try cooking a dish you’ve always wanted to try but never got to it. Go out and try something different. There is just so much food out there to obsess about because it tastes so good! You’ll never know – you may really love it!

Got a favorite food you’re currently obsessed with?  Do tell!

I think I’m really enjoying making these video blogs! Here’s another one that I made today when I was cooking dinner. Why not make a video about food and what I’m making for dinner. It’s pretty long (8:33 – oops!) because I was being chatty. And I used iMovie to put the pieces of video clips together. It was a lot of fun!

Hope you enjoy the video and feel free to let me know what your favorite dish is to cook!