Wow, My Day Is Made!

Bethenny Frankel is such an inspiration to me and I am a huge fan.  Seeing her reply to one of my tweets is amazing to me.  Thank you to her!  Having famous chef Fabio and Foodie Nick reply to tweets and even do an interview with me is one thing, but this is a dream.  So happy today, life is good.  Keeping positive thoughts.

Turkey Chili

A simple "use what you have" recipe by Bethenny Frankel.  It's a great recipe to use substitutes with either by using what you like better or what you have on hand at the time.  It's a very healthy recipe with a little kick to it!  It freezes well so you can enjoy it on any chilly fall or winter day this season!

The recipe calls for:

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/4 cup each:  red, yellow & green peppers, chopped

1/2 lb ground turkey

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 garlic clove, minced

1 can (24-27oz) tomato puree

1 can beans of your choice, drained & rinsed

1 or 2 zucchinis or yellow squash (or both), cut in small pieces

-- Saute onion in a little oil in a pot.  Then add the chili powder, cumin & salt/pepper to taste.  

-- Stir in garlic & peppers followed by the tomato puree, zucchini/squash.  Simmer until soft.

-- Add turkey meat & beans, let simmer for 30 minutes.

Interview with Foodie Nick

For all the Bethenny Frankel fans out there who watch her show "Bethenny Ever After" on Bravo, I have a special treat for you! I am sure you know who Nicholas Feitel is, aka Foodie Nick, who has appeared on her TV show multiple times. He's definitely one to stand out, from his awkwardness to his intellect of food, it's easy to fall in love with his cameos on the show. He has worked for Bethenny by writing for her blog and participating in a food crawl with her. In his every day life he also does a lot of improv at places in NYC. After reaching out to Nick on his blog & through Twitter, this amazing writer/foodie agreed to do a question interview for me. I am so honored that he took his time to make me a very happy fan! Below are the questions I asked and his responses. 

ME: Hey Nick! It's great being able to talk to you. I'm a huge fan! I really want to check out some food trucks in the city. What is your favorite food truck to get something healthy to eat? What do you order there?

NICK: I really love The Bistro Truck, though I guess I am not a subscriber of so-called "healthy foods". Bistro Truck features cous-cous with different Moroccan-style meats on top, with a side mesclun salad. The clarity of flavor is really awesome here, the meals are incredibly filling for the price and nothing is fried. Even cous-cous as a grain is comparatively lighter than other such carb-heavy options you might find.

ME: What is your favorite food truck when calories just don't matter? What do you order?

NICK: Big Gay Ice Cream for dessert (try their store!) where I routinely get the Bea Arthur and I guess if I could eat anything lunch-wise, maybe the full super-shawafel platter from Freddy's King of Falafel/Shawarma. Just greasy and huge and filling and Freddy always packs in some extra.

ME: I know you did The South Beach Diet, you look amazing! How do you keep the weight off? I know with being a foodie and having such a passion for all kinds of foods, it must be hard.

NICK: Thank you. The diet itself was pretty easy and works well for men particularly (especially those who don't drink coke or beer often to begin with). It's easy losing the weight because there are regimented rules and noticeable results from those rules. It's the maintenance part that's tricky. There are no rules in phase 3 of SB, just your best judgement and as we all know that can change from day to day. Eventually you get more confidence in yourself, you know when to let loose and eat that extra meal or that 8-topping fro-yo and know to adjust the next day. Eventually I'll get more confidence in myself but for now I weigh myself every other day and use the shame/pressure of that to motivate my eating habits.

ME: Lastly, I know you venture out to so many different places in the city to eat, but do you have a love for cooking as well? If so, what's your favorite meal to make?

NICK: Nope. Don't even have a working stove in my very small apartment. Back when I did cook though, I made a mighty good turkey bolognese that I learned from my spectacular cook of a mother and a mustard vinaigrette salad that I learned from my pops. Maybe if someone ties me down or I grow up a bit I'll start cooking again.

ME: Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate you doing a question interview with me. Good luck with all that your future has to offer! :)

I am very excited for Nick's food truck recommendations. A visit to the city will be planned in the future to check out all the places he mentioned. I will be sure to post all about it. Thanks for reading!

Check out Nick on Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Feitelogram

Check out Nick’s Blog:  http://feitelogram.wordpress.com/

Amazing Spaghetti Squash

This is a Bethenny Frankel healthy recipe with a couple changes to what I preferred.

The recipe calls for:

1 spaghetti squash

3 tbs pesto

1 tbs fresh basil

3 tbs parmesan cheese

salt & pepper to taste

Bethenny also added pine nuts, but the pesto I bought had some in it already so extra are not needed.  I used grated cheese because that's what I had, but her recipe called for shredded.  I added salt and pepper before tasting, but I think the pesto has enough taste in it to do without.  The less salt the healthier.  The pesto flavor was a good amount, 1 less tbs I think it would taste just as good if you want to save some calories though.

I didn't prepare it the same way as her.  Here are the easy steps I did...

-- Microwave the squash for a minute, this makes it softer and easier to cut.  Cut the squash in half and remove the seeds.  Then place the squash (the inside faced down) in a microwaveable dish with about an inch of water for 10 minutes.  Optional: Put a little extra virgin olive oil on the inside of the squash.

-- Let the squash sit for a few minutes then scrap the spaghetti squash out.

-- Mix the squash, pesto, cheese and salt/pepper in a large bowl.

-- Add the mixed ingredients to a pan, add basil and heat for a few minutes.

-- Serve! Enjoy!

Do What You Can

I finally realized New Year Resolutions are just too stressful to worry about and keep up with.  Most people don't even follow through with them.  I DVRed Good Morning America this morning because I knew Bethenny Frankel was going to be on for a segment. She is just very inspiring to me and I figured any new knowledge learned from her is a good thing.  She has always shared health, food and exercise tips in her career, but it's how she incorporates these things in her life in a normal way just like you and I would have to that is the special part.  She has taught me a lot and today showed me why only make changes come the new year, why not make small changes throughout the whole year.  Do what you can when you can, there's always tomorrow.

"Everyday is a fresh start." - Bethenny Frankel

One small thing I am going to try my best to add to my everyday is keeping hydrated. Besides coffee, water is what I mainly drink with an occasional soda here and there.  I have noticed that I don't drink very often though.  Usually I have a 16.9 oz water bottle at work and one later one at night with dinner, but I am changing that to three bottles at work and one bottle at night which completes the 8 glasses of 8oz of water a day that "they" say to have.  I must say, after the first day doing this I was down a pound. I'm sure it's just water weight, but I'll take it.  Are you drinking enough?




- - Don't waste food by throwing out the holiday leftovers, just have some control and watch your portions.
- - A little exercise is better then none! I took Zumba today after months of doing nothing.
- - Try not to sweat the small stuff. This is what I struggle with.
- - Put yourself first sometimes even if you're someone who puts everyone else first.
-- Check out: www.bethenny.com/