Healthy Snack Wednesday: MultiGrain Cheerios and a Giveaway

We’re coming down to the wire for the office weight loss challenge! As I mentioned last week, I’m not going to take home the big prize, but I am happy with my progress. We haven’t had our official weigh-in this week, so I don’t have an update to report. But I’ve been working hard to add additional steps into my day and extra vegetables to my plate.

Trying to fit in all these changes could be overwhelming, but I try to keep my expectations in check. One of the challenges I’ve been working on is scheduling my meals throughout the day. Days are long and it’s no fun to be hungry and cranky. On a regular day, I leave the house at 7:30 a.m. and leave work at 5:10 p.m., getting home at 6:30 p.m. That means that it’s usually 7:30 p.m. by the time dinner gets on the table. On class nights, I have class from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. and get home around 10:00 p.m. On a regular night, that means that between lunch and dinner it could be 6 hours! That’s too long without a snack. On class nights, I eat a light dinner at 5 p.m. and even with a snack in class, I am pretty hungry by the time I get home.

One of the issues with planning a ‘late night’ snack is that it is so close to bedtime. I don’t want to eat anything too heavy and certainly don’t want to start cooking something at that time of night. For me, I’ve found that a good option is a bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit. Growing up, whenever I couldn’t sleep or was just hungry for something after dinner, I often ate a bowl of Cheerios. For some reason it was comforting and I could always go back to sleep afterwards.

I recently received a box of MultiGrain Cheerios cereal, a gym bag, water bottle and cereal container from Cheerios (the product and information was provided through MyBlogSpark). In addition, the cereal box included and code to log on to the MultiGrain Cheerios & Biggest Loser website.

Being a traditional, and sometimes Honey Nut fan, I was interested to try this flavor. And since Biggest Loser seems to work for the contestants, it can’t hurt to check out their online tools. I’ve logged into the site a few times. The site offers recipes, suggested workouts, and a 7-day plan combining menus and workouts. If you have no idea where to get started, this would be a good resource.

I’ve also had a few bowls of MultiGrain Cheerios. I’ll be honest – my favorite is always going to be plain Cheerios. The MultiGrain cheerios are lightly sweetened (only 6 grams per serving) and have a good mix of whole grains to fill you up. I sliced up a banana and poured in low-fat milk to top it off. I found it a little too sweet for my taste. But if you love sugary cereals, this will definitely satisfy your craving. For me, I’ll make myself a custom cereal blend with MultiGrain and regular together (loved doing this as a kid!).

Cheerios offered to help one of my readers jump-start their Biggest Loser Challenge with a prize pack! The package includes a box of MultiGrain Cheerios with an online code, gym bag, water bottle, and cereal container. FYI - the bag, bottle, and cereal container are all purple (like the MultiGrain Cheerios box). The water bottle is huge - you'll never be dehydrated!

Giveaway!

Enter through Tuesday, March 1 at 9:00 p.m. Winner will be announced next Wednesday.  Please leave a separate comment for each entry. You can enter up to three times.

Required entry: Comment on how you’ve incorporated healthy practices into your daily routine (or what you plan to try)

Bonus Entry 2: Follow @GoodCookDoris on Twitter or Like Good Cook Doris on Facebook


Bonus Entry 3: Blog or Tweet about this giveaway (be sure to include @GoodCookDoris in your tweet)

Disclosure: Cheerios provided the prize pack and information for giveaway via MyBlogSpark. All opinions belong to me. I received a prize pack, but did not receive any monetary compensation.

Beth From Denver: Vegetable Stock and Vegetable Chili

Enjoy this delicious guest post from my best friend, Beth! She lives in Denver and cooks up vegetarian meals for herself. Check out her previous posts here.  Enjoy this great winter warmer recipe!

On Mondays at work, we take turns bringing soup for lunch. After receiving "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman as a belated birthday gift, I was excited to really make soup from scratch for my turn this week. I started with making vegetable stock.

2 carrots, cut into chunks
1 onion, quartered
1 potato, cut into chunks
3 garlic cloves
1 bunch parsley
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

I was making soup for a large group of people, so I doubled the ingredients and combined them all with 12 cups of water in a pot. After bringing to a boil, I turned the heat down and let everything simmer for about 45 minutes. Then I strained the vegetables out (creativity necessary as I only have 1 pot that large) and put in a container to store in the refrigerator over night.

The next morning, I checked for all of my ingredients for the chili. Again, I doubled the recipe but since I only had large enough pots and pans for 1 batch at a time, I just repeated the steps. Here are the ingredients for a single batch.

1 zucchini, chopped
2 peppers, seeded and chopped (any color works, I used 1 red and 1 green)
2 portabella mushrooms, chopped
1 red onion, peeled and chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped as finely as possible
2 jalapeno peppers, chopped as finely as possible
2 cups black beans, cooked
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 teaspoons paprika
3 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cups vegetable stock
extra virgin olive oil

Modeled after Lara, I chopped all my vegetables and took out all my other ingredients and measuring tools before I started cooking anything. I sauteed the zucchini, peppers, mushrooms and onion using the olive oil.

In a different pot, I heated up a couple of splashes of olive oil and cooked the garlic and jalapeno for 3-4 minutes.

When the vegetables were sauteed, (I let them cook about 7 minutes until they were a bit soft), I added them to the pot with the garlic and jalapeno. Then I added the beans and let them heat up. Then I added the chili powder, paprika and a dash of salt and pepper. Next I stirred in the tomato paste and let it cook for another 2 minutes. Finally I added the vegetable stock and let the soup simmer. If this hadn't been for school, I would have added a cup of beer and reduced it for about a minute before adding the vegetable stock. Like I said before, I made 2 batches and combined them in my crock pot. It is a bit spicy, but nothing that a handful of shredded cheese won't balance out! I'm excited to share it with my co-workers!

Flavorful, Fresh & Fast: Dorado Tacos and Cemitas

Looking for a meal that meets the following criteria?

1) Extremely delicious
2) Extremely fresh & flavorful
3) Extremely reasonable
4) Extremely friendly & welcoming staff
5) Extremely earth friendly

I've got the perfect recommendation for you - Dorado Tacos and Cemitas! I've been to Dorado a number of times and everything I've tried has been fantastic. From summer dining outside:

Ensenanda Tacos

To warm and comforting dinner inside:

Two taco plate with rice, beans, and roasted jalapeno

Steak Cemita, Ensenada Tacos, chips, guacamole,
 and watermelon agua fresca.

I know they have taco and cemita in their name, but you shouldn't skip over the quesadillas. Packed with the perfect balance of filling & cheese, they are crispy and wonderful.  And pickled vegetables and spicy tortilla chips are a spicy kick to the taste buds.

A few weeks ago, I enjoyed a delicious brunch with the Boston Brunchers crew at Dorado Tacos & Cemitas in Brookline. The hubby and I were quick to comment and snagged seats for this month's Mexican brunch. Thanks to Dorado for opening early for the brunchers - we had a wonderful time! The hubby and I paid for our brunch - and it was money extremely well spent.

We've been to Dorado once before for brunch, and this was a great opportunity to try it again. We had a strategy this time. The sunny day + big windows + hot and spicy food = South of the Border temperatures! So we decided to skip the hot drinks and go with something iced along with our brunch. During the summer, the featured agua fresca was watermelon lime. It was so good that I recreated it at home (I made a huge pitcher and finished it in two days.  For the winter they have switched to the equally refreshing cucumber lime agua fresca.

Homemade Watermelon-Lime Honey Agua Fresca

The hubby decided to order a loaded breakfast quesadilla filled with eggs, cheese, spicy portobella mushrooms, and rice and beans. No side dishes needed - it was all inside.

Breakfast quesadilla with eggs, spicy portabella mushroom, black beans, and rice

I love side dishes, so I opted for the huevos rancheros. Two corn tortillas topped with sunny side up eggs, salsa ranchera, queso fresco and a generous sprinkling of scallions and cilantro. To bump up the spice even more, I ordered the patatas bravas on the side. Crispy, salty outside and smooth and creamy inside they are completely addictive.

Huevos rancheros with patatas bravas

So don't miss out on this neighborhood gem. In addition to their affordable menu prices, they also offer standing weekly specials like all-you-can eat chili Mondays, $1.99 fish taco Tuesdays, and more! Weekend brunch runs from 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.  If the promise of freshly made food with fresh ingredients isn't enough of a draw, A 2 taco plate or 2-filling quesadilla plate will set you back just $6.25 + tax on a regular day. Add on a beer, wine, or Mexican soda and you'll have a filling meal for under $10. Check out the full menu over on their website.