Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Sometimes health food isn't all it's cracked up to be...

So here are my thoughts on various health (or healthier) foods we've tried:

Steel Cut Oatmeal: So not worth the effort. You can't microwave it, because it bubbles over no matter how big of a bowl you use or if you cover it. And once you do finally manage to cook it, the texture is just gross. I choked down a bowl this morning, but never again. Rolled oats are perfectly fine, and still very healthy.

Lentils: Very good. They're also quite economical. I used them as a substitute for beef in taco filling, and it was very tasty. Definitely staying on the menu.

Whole Wheat Tortillas: Useless. They just fall apart. If you want something without the trans fats that come in many white tortillas, just make your own. It's time consuming, but fun.

Whole Wheat Pasta: It depends. Some (usually the shaped pastas) turn out kind of mucky, so you need to definitely cook them al dente. Spaghetti and linguine are usually just fine. If you're not a fan of the texture, try mixing half and half. I bet you won't even notice. Another halfway measure is buying something like the enriched pastas from Barilla. They're often on sale, and they're very good.

Brown Rice: Love it. It's a nice, nutty texture and extremely delicious. Difficult to find in large bags in the grocery stores (at least in Albuquerque). We'll be buying a large bag from Costco once we finish our current massive bag of Basmati rice.

Whole Wheat Bread: We don't buy anything else. The white stuff feels all squishy after you've gotten used to the wheat. Some kinds (usually the very nutty ones) aren't as good toasted, but they still make great sandwiches.

That's all I can think of for the moment. I was just disgusted by my bowl of oatmeal this morning, so I had to share my thoughts.

3 comments:

selway2005 said...

Great to know:I too am a big fan of whole-wheat bread...I also use half whole wheat flour for pizza dough: LOVE it! There's also 100% fruit popsicles as an alternative to otter pops.

Unknown said...

Yeah, sorry about that oatmeal. I'm definitely a convert to the chunky, whole-wheat bread, though. The white stuff just seems so insubstantial now.

Adam said...

You're crazy! Steel cut oats rock, but yeah they do take forever. I rarely make them, but when Julie makes them for me, mmm boy. I agree with you on everything else. Especially brown rice.