The best way to drink

TGIF! I don’t know about you but my week was super busy and today isn’t any exception.

Monday night I attended a launch party for Bobbi Brown’s new book Beauty From the Inside Out. I contributed a section to this beautiful book, “About Alcohol”. Bobbi, like us at Foodtrainers, enjoys a cocktail but also likes sorting out the best way to incorporate alcohol and still feel (and look) good.

She had a pretty coconut water, seltzer and vodka mason jar mixture at the party.

Oddly enough, also this week, Men’s Journal wanted a nutritionist to chime in on hangover helpers. Now I personally do not encounter hangovers very often. For the most part I’m a one and done drinker but I also follow our 1:1 rule. More on that here. I know there are some health experts who do not drink and others who do not wish to publicize if they do. We're all for transparency in life (and with (clear) cocktails too.

Are you someone who likes a drink or prefers to pass? What do you drink? Do you think alcohol can be part of an otherwise healthy lifestyle?

The Top 10 Things We Learned in Sun Valley

This past weekend Carolyn and I took Foodtrainers on the road and headed to Sun Valley, Idaho for their Harvest Festival. It was a fantastic event in a beautiful location. Here are some of our favorite foods and facts from the weekend.

We learned from fellow food trend panelist and author of Cooking Up A Business (Rachel Hofstetter) that you need to hear about something from three different sources to consider it a food trend.

We learned that LA folks were right Intelligentsia coffee is pretty great

We adored Velocio coffee, coffee bar by day, wine bar by night), a cool concept. And don’t even get us started on Noosa Aussie Yogurts.

We learned about the next great sushi roll: smoked trout and mustard at Ketchum’s 2nd Ave sushi. This may be the new “Philly” roll especially with Sun Valley mustard. 

We learned that we like molecular gastronomy done right  (definitely hadn’t had it right before) and the magic of liquid nitrogen. We enjoyed Intermezzo of lemon basil sorbet, would’ve love more if hadn’t been the palate cleanser after foie gras (not our thing...) For a taste of lemon-basilyness try this “Giadaesque” smoothie 

We learned that if something doesn’t exist on the market, you can produce it yourself. Allison Evanow saw a need for organic spirits and started Square 1 organic vodka

Her cucumber, basil and botanical flavors tasted pretty good at the Martini and caviar party at 8000 feet in the fabulous Roadhouse restaurant. We loved the pour your own shot bar, no mixers required.

 

Butternut Squash and caviar mini tacos

We heard from an adorable woman who was saddened she didn't bring her Vitamix with the recent SV fires. The Vitamixers mom is 97 and healthy as ever, juicing and smoothing her whole life way before the trend

That hemp can be used to make hollandaise sauce, thank you Glo café

And that fab couple Mike and Autumn from Manitoba Harvest? Love them.

We learned it's best not to wing it mapless when you start a hike

But if you do, wear your Fitbit (20,000 steps = x miles?) and bring a camelback

We learned an arnica massage and a Bowl of Soul (coffee, spice and chocolate) “no whip” from Java coffee hits the spot after.

We learned of the Restaurant Walk concept as the new pub-crawl. We hit 18 restaurants for their offering of the day: goat cheese and watermelon skewers and organic grilled quail (in photo Carolyn is showing her quail fear) were highlights. Two other facts: you should always seize the opportunity to sit in back of a flatbed and it’s ok to be pill poppers: Digestive Enzymes and Zyflamend when needed.

So we learned a lot and enjoyed ourselves but would love to hear from you

What do you see as the next food trends? What are you hearing about? 
The winners from last week's giveaways are:
Ginny Bakes Cookies- Nina
Heath Warrior Chia Bars- Amber
Veggie Gos-Emaliah
Thank you for entering everyone.

Wine, Weight and Healthy Cocktails-Cheers!

Cool Hand Cuke from Colonie Restaurant

Our August newsletter focused on healthy summer cocktails. You see, for the most part, our clients like to drink. Our view is that if you’re going to indulge in sweets or cocktails or anything else we'll help you  find the healthiest manner to do so. I’ll also remind you that three of the four Foodtrainers graduated from Tulane University, let’s just say you can trust us on this topic. And if you're housebound because of Irene, these tips may come in handy (fingers crossed, we're flying East today). 

While drinks are often referred to as “empty calories” many studies conclude that moderate drinking may not be as bad for your weight as you’d expect. While we don’t suggest non-drinkers start imbibing, moderate drinkers actually have lower weight, blood pressure and triglycerides than low or non-drinkers. We give clients a weekly budget and generally suggest four or fewer drinks for female clients and seven or fewer for male clients trying to lose weight.

While alcohol itself may not be that terrible for your weight it can affect your appetite.  The more you drink, the more your appetite will increase which is a reason to balance drinking over multiple days. One drink max on any given day is ideal. Interestingly. white wine seems to have less of an effect on appetite than other alcohol.

For your one drink, the following are great picks:

Crop Organic Vodka- in flavors such as cucumber and tomato.

Tanteo Jalapeno Tequila- see below for my new favorite cocktail.

VnC Cocktail- another ready to pour margarita like what’s her names.

Redbridge Beer- a great gluten free option.

Although “on the rocks” is a great choice (and slows down the drinking), there are some fantastic mixer options:

ModMix Organic Mixers- USDA certified organic ingredients in flavors such as lavender lemon drop and French martini.

McClure’s Bloody Mary Mix- you may recall how I feel about McClure’s pickles, well my feelings are just as strong for this bloody mary mix. Please do not relegate bloody’s to brunch only.

SlimRitas and SlimRimmers-I love these chile verde, rosemary sea salt and pink himalayan mineral salt rimmers.

End of Summer Jalapeno Margarita

I ‘ve seen cucumber in a lot of cocktails this summer. I had this margarita at our friends Tracey and Andy’s house and was hooked. They suggest making a batch of cucumber puree as well as lime juice ready to go.

2oz Tanteo Jalapeno Tequila
1 oz. English Cucumber Puree  (slice into spears and toss in the food processor, worth the effort)
1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
½ oz. Agave/water – (use warm water and agave and stir)
Cucumber Wheel for garnish
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice, pour over ice and garnish with cucumber wheel. Ole


If you're going to drink, you may need a bar snack. Try ChickPz I heard about these from EA, The Spicy RD. I love the sesame flavor and kids think they taste like Cracker Jacks. The prize? High fiber, high protein and you can eat the whole bag. 

So don’t overdo it but eat, drink (a little) and be merry .

What has been your drink of choice this summer? Any cocktail trends you’ve noticed? What do you think of veggies in your drinks?

Superfruits or Super hype?

Source: NY Times, is this in your fruit bowl?

Recently, I was contacted by one of my favorite writers who was working on a story about superfruits.  She asked me if I had time for an interview and said “I'll be talking to some hard core sciencey types, but also was wondering if I could get your Laurenly real world insight (a la, "do you really think a Dunkin Donuts Acai Slushee will keep cancer at bay?"). While I was fairly very insulted not to be regarded as “hard core and sciencey” (why did I bother with the whole Masters of Science? Do I need a PhD?) I obliged. My Laurenly opinions:

Most fruits are super:

When it comes to produce (and not gummy candy or “juice” drinks) brightly colored means beneficial. There are food trends much like fashion trends. While we’re hearing about maxi skirts, minis are just fine. The same goes for acai and blueberries. Just because something is familiar doesn’t mean it is inferior.

Don’t look to vodka for your vitamins:

Did you see the article, last month, in the New York Times about Dragon fruit? There’s a new superfruit on the block (see photo above, not sure I want to eat that). “Skyy is introducing a dragon-fruit-flavor vodka spring. Celestial Seasonings, the Colorado-based stalwart of herbal infusions, recently began pairing powdered dragon fruit with green tea. There’s a Sumatra Dragon fruit version of Bai, a thirst quencher made from the unroasted fruit of the coffee plant; a line of Lite Pom that blends a few swigs of dragon fruit with pomegranate juice; and a new pitaya-tinged cream liqueur called Dragon Kiss.”

This is where popularity turns into perversion. To answer the question above, nothing at a doughnut shop is improving your health. The same goes for flavored vodka with a smidgen of fruit (the real sign a superfruit has arrived). Quality counts and if you sample superfruits seek out a something as close to the original source as possible.

Superfruits and foods may be new to us but not necessarily new:

Though superfruits may seem to suddenly pop up, many of them have been consumed for thousands of years. I am a big Goji berry fan (though a client almost ruined them for me saying they taste like feet). Lest you think superfruits are only about heart health and cancer prevention gojis are also sexual tonics. I wrote about them last year for Valentines Day. I love the cocoa dusted gojis.

Pomegranates are also on my shopping list when they are available. With a family history of heart disease, I put on rubber gloves and shell those slippery seeds. I also add an ounce of pure pomegranate juice to seltzer every so often.

What ever happened to eating seasonally and locally?

It’s strange to me that on one hand we’re encouraging people to shop at farmers’ markets and join CSA’s. In another breath we’re mentioning mangosteen. There’s no mangosteen at my local market or anywhere close. There are delicious fruits and vegetables that I recognize and can pronounce. 

It’s fine if you want to try dragon fruit (though the Times didn’t rave about it’s taste despite its “good looks”), just don’t forget about the plums, blackberries and cherries that are all “super” right now.

What’s your verdict on superfruits- super or hyped? What’s the most silly superfruit use you’ve seen? Have you tried goji berries, acai or dragon fruit?