Recipes

Parade.com: Make it a Greek Family Affair With Debbie Matenopoulos’ Lemonates Patates

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Lemonates Patates

“To Greeks, food is not just food. It represents love. It represents family,” says Debbie Matenopoulos. She would know. Matenopoulos left her Greek family’s generous and healthy meals to attend New York University, intern at MTV, and work at various television shows, including The View. Life in the fast lane meant eating fast food, which predictably expanded her waistline and increased her acne. Over time, she returned to her family’s traditional Greek recipes, and her health improved.  Read more →

Mom Said to “Eat Less, Exercise More”

Sanura

A forkful of pancakes

Some time ago, I noticed extra weight gain. A panicked call was made to Mom. In a harsh and sweet tone of a voice, she said, “You know how to eat healthy. Now eat less and exercise more,” she continued with the reality of my dilemma, “…if you gain weight now, it’s difficult to get it off… You’re older and the weight doesn’t come off like it use to. There’s no excuse for being fat.”

Some may view the advice as insensitive. Personally, I appreciate the seriousness of it. Why cry about it when the solution is simple: Eat less and exercise more. The following morning, I was up at 6 am for a quick two-mile run. A food diary was started to find potential problems, which revealed large portions of food and too much sugar.

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Adapting to Less Time

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Spicy Tomato Sauce with Shrimp, Chickpea and Roast Asparagus

For the first two to three years of MyLifeRunsOnFood.com, I was partially or fully unemployed. My hours were spent writing cover letters, resumes and recipes. The food blog enabled me to have a routine, stay creative and hopeful. The recipes created during that time period, continue to be my favorite meals.

During that time period, I recall a conversation with several friends about how process food isn’t as fast as preparing a home cook meal. Then there’s a lone voice among us who disagreed with us as she explained, “…for working families… it’s difficult to prepare healthy meals, join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) or a food co-op…” I was curious about her statement. Despite being unemployed, I wondered if my concept of time management around healthy eating was within the realities of single parents and families working full-time.

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Parade.com: Let the Hip Girl’s Guide You to an Organized Kitchen and a Delicious Granola

Sanura

Brown Sugar and Honey Granola

Learning about healthy eating can be an adventure. You make a weekly menu that looks more appetizing than pizza being delivered, and a long grocery list to go with it. You explore the aisles of the grocery store. You carry home bags of groceries.

But for beginner cooks, the adventure of learning to eat healthy often ends at the doorway of the kitchen. The reason: Their kitchens are organized for reheating packaged frozen meals, while drawers are stuffed with take-out delivery menus, condiment packages, paper plates and plastic utensils.

Don’t give up so easily. There’s a book explaining all one needs to know about a kitchen.

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