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 It doesn’t matter if you call them garbanzo beans or chickpeas (both are fun), these legumes are among the most nutritious foods on the planet. Here’s why we love them:
💛 Protein (Plant-based, even!) You’ll get a nice portion of protein at 14.5 grams in a 1 cup serving. 💛 Fiber They offer 12.5 grams of fiber in a 1 cup serving. This helps boost good gut bacteria and keeps your bathroom trips regular. 💛 Vitamins and Minerals Chickpeas are especially high in manganese at 74% of your daily value per cup, folate (vitamin B9) comes in at 71% DV, copper at 64% DV, iron 26% DV, zinc 23% DV, phosphorus 22% DV, magnesium 19% DV, and there are also double-digits of thiamine, B6, selenium, and potassium. 💛 Satisfying The combo of fiber and protein in garbanzo beans will help keep you feeling satisfied and control your appetite. 💛 Versatile Buy them canned and they’re ready to go as a quick way to add protein, fiber, and vitamins to anything. Put them in your salad, mash them up for hummus, roast them in the over for a crunchy snack, or just season them and eat them straight out of the can! They’re great to have on-hand in the pantry for when a dish needs a nutritious boost. 💛 Iron Boost and Brain Health Further human studies are needed, but it’s suggested that the varied nutrient profile of chickpeas may help support brain function and mental health. The choline they contain combined with iron help boost production of neurotransmitters and red blood cells so everything fires as it should.
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 🍋 Flavor
Lemons offer a distinctive flavor that can come across as both sweet and sour. Its acidity can help enhance other flavors in a dish while not coming across as lemony. Some chefs swear lemon can make foods of all types taste better whether they’re salty, sweet, or fatty. 🍋 Texture and Color Red foods will stay red longer with the help of lemons. Sliced foods like apples, peaches, and avocados will turn brown much slower as they oxidize with the addition of lemon juice. The acidity from lemons can help prevent fruits and vegetable cell walls from breaking down, keeping them firm and crunchy in recipes. 🍋 Health Benefits Lemons are high in vitamin C and antioxidants that can help strengthen immunity, aid in iron absorption, and reduce the development of certain chronic diseases. They also have anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. On top of all that, lemons are a good source of the phytonutrients called flavonoids. 🍋 Versatility Lemons work in cooking and baking since both salt and natural sugars blend well with their citric acid. This combo can boost chemical reactions that may occur during the cooking/baking process. Lemons can even be used as a substitute for animal-based ingredients like eggs and buttermilk.  January 22nd is National Blondie Day. Do you know what makes these different from the usual brownie?
🟡 Blonde brownies or “blondies” are the same as typical brownies but don’t include cocoa in the ingredients list. They’re both technically “cookie bars” since they’re softer than cookies, but not as fluffy as a cake. 🟡 Instead of going for a chocolate taste, blondies strive for a rich, buttery vanilla or caramel taste. 🟡 Brown butter is a key ingredient in blondies that really sets them apart. It’s made by slowly heating butter in a pan until its color changes to a deep amber and scent and flavor becomes nutty. 🟡 Another distinguishing difference is blondies usually call for brown sugar instead of refined granulated sugar. This adds to the overall butterscotch-like flavor. 🟡 Add-ins that go well with blondies include pecans, walnuts, dried fruit, white chocolate, and macadamia nuts.  🍿Popcorn is a quick and easy snack that packs a lot of fiber, it also contains vitamins B6, A, E, and K as well as phenolic acids - which are a type of antioxidant. Popcorn is also a whole grain - meaning it has a low glycemic index that can help maintain blood sugar levels.
🍿When cooked on the stovetop you can control all the ingredients that go into your bowl, making it a healthy, light snack. 🍿Grab a taller pot with room for the expanded kernels. Air-popping the corn means it will contain fewer calories, but you can always add a healthier oil option like walnut, avocado, extra virgin olive oil, or coconut oil to add healthy fats which is known to help control hunger. 🍿For air-popping: set your burner to a medium heat, add your kernels, and top with a lid. Soon you’ll hear popping. When the popping slows to every few seconds turn off the heat and let the steam escape from the lid. Then add your favorite dry toppings such as grated cheese, salt, pepper, chile flakes, or nutritional yeast. 🍿For oil-popping: select your serving amount and add 1-3 tablespoons of oil accordingly to your pot. Use a medium heat, let the oil heat up and add two kernels first to make sure it’s heated enough. If it pops quickly, add the rest of your kernels and cook the same as the air-popping method. 🍿3 cups of air-popped popcorn contains: • Calories: 93 • Protein: 3 grams • Carbohydrates: 18.6 grams • Fiber: 3.6 grams • Sugar: 0.2 grams • Fat: 1.1 grams  You bet it does! Let’s start there and then go into why you still may need to watch how often you’re reaching for the cheese.
➕ Protein One ounce of cheese has 5-7g of protein on average (an egg is 6g, for comparison) so it can be a quick way to add some protein to your day as a snack or with a meal. ➕ Calcium One slice of cheese usually has 150-300mg of calcium. Your daily recommendation is 700-1,200mg, so that’s a pretty good start! ➕ Vitamins, Minerals, Probiotics You’ll usually find good amounts of vitamins A and B12 in cheese along with zinc, vitamins K, D, and B12, and even some probiotics. ➖ Sodium It varies depending on the type of cheese, but one slice may have up to 450mg of sodium, which is a pretty big chunk of your daily limit of 2,300mg. Individuals with high blood pressure should be under 1,500mg per day. ➖ Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Diets high in saturated fat and cholesterol may increase your risk of cardiovascular disease and cheese does usually contain a moderate amount of each. If you’re focused on lowering your saturated fat and cholesterol intake, look for low-fat or fat-free cheese to help cut those values way down. Higher fat cheese = higher cholesterol cheese. 🧀 Summary Cheese can be a quick way to get some protein, calcium, vitamins, and minerals into your diet. Be sure to balance it out with other foods and don’t overdo it…especially if you are dealing with high cholesterol or high blood pressure already.  ⚡Potassium is an electrolyte that is highly reactive in water, making it able to conduct electricity and invaluable to many processes in your body.
⚡It’s the third-most abundant mineral in your body with 80% of it found in your muscles and the other 20% found in your bones, liver, and red blood cells. ⚡It can help regulate fluids. Your body is about 60% water and uses fluids in your blood, spinal cord, and in and around cells. Potassium makes sure all of these are balanced to keep cells intact and functioning properly. ⚡Your nervous system needs potassium too. Nerve impulses help regulate contractions of your muscles, reflexes, and even your heartbeat. Low levels of potassium in your blood can affect the generation of these impulses. ⚡A potassium-rich diet may help reduce blood pressure by removing excess sodium in your body. ⚡Your bone mass can also benefit from potassium. Studies have shown that osteoporosis risk may be reduced by potassium since it reduces how much calcium you expel through urine. ⚡Sources of potassium include: sweet potatoes, pinto beans, white potatoes, portobello mushrooms, avocado, spinach, kale, bananas, salmon, apricots, and peas.  A couple of our recent menu items, Buffalo Mac and Buffalo Chicken, get a kick of flavor from zesty buffalo sauce. What makes it different from regular hot sauce? Read on:
🔥 Is buffalo sauce the same thing as hot sauce? Not exactly. Technically buffalo sauce is a type of hot sauce with “hot sauce” being the more general catch-all term for all types of spicy sauces with a vinegar base. 🔥 What makes buffalo sauce different? The main thing that distinguishes buffalo sauce from all the others is the addition of a fat such as butter or oil to help with coating and add some richness to the sauce. It’s what makes it such a good coating for wings. It’s also common for buffalo sauce to have a little extra cayenne pepper added to it. 🔥 What’s in buffalo sauce? It usually consists of hot sauce (vinegar, aged cayenne peppers), butter or oil, paprika, garlic, and a little extra cayenne powder. 🔥 Why is it called buffalo sauce? This spicy sauce got its name from where it was created. It was first made and used in Buffalo, New York by Teressa Bellissimo in 1964 at Anchor Bar. |
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