Urbanista Manila Living in Style

Archive for the ‘Health’ Category

With my cholesterol tirelessly shooting up, I have no choice but to deal away with red meat and shove greens down my throat as many as I can.
Goolai, a brand that offers prepacked green salad variations topped with seasonal fruits, nuts and other healthy stuff, is one of my favorite organic treats. It’s claim to fame is not its being organic though but its tangy salad dressings like the creamy mango, raspberry, garlic ranch and others. My hands are down to its amazing dressings but with the great packaging comes a heavy price tag. Each pack costs about P146.00 which is a pocket drainer considering that one could finish the hefty pack in one sitting.
So in this tough economic times, I tried to be a copycat and come with my own version of the green stuff.
Iceberg lettuce is way cheaper than the romaine so if you are really on a tight budget, you can be partial to it.
Olive oil, balsamic vinegar and walnuts are surely bank breaker but they are good for more than just one consumption. They could be stocked up in the pantry for future use.
Pepper and garlic are the cheapest ingredients.
For the toppings, I suggest that you go to the supermarket to get your produce weighed. From grapes, kiwi, fresh mango slices, cucumber, oranges and lemon.
You will be needing the lemon and orange juices and zest. combine them with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, pepper and chopped garlic. There’s no measurement put everything according to your taste. You could prepare as many as you want and put them in the fridge for future use.
Tip though in preparing them is make the lettuce as the bed and just put the rest of the ingredients on top of it because they are too heavy that if you toss them up, they will end up on the bottom. So prepare it like the lettuce as the pasta and the toppings as the sauce.
I am telling you it is all good! All the goodness without breaking the bank.

I was thinking on making pesto today but finding out that I’ve got not enough of basil , I scoured the internet and found this Alfredo recipe.
I just modified the heavy cream part to Campbell’s cream of mushroom and I used spinach fettuccine.
It turned out fantastic. Kinda of carbonara-ish sans the bacon and the ham i.e. cholesterol.
So let me share the recipe, if you will:
250 g boneless chicken breasts (cut into strips)
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic (minced)
1 small white onion (minced)
1/8 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 cans Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup
Pepper to taste
250 g spinach fettuccine
1/4 cup water

Heat olive oil in a pan fry chicken strips on medium heat until cooked through. Set aside
Sauce:
Melt butter in saucepan. Sauté garlic and onion on low fire. Stir in Campbell’s cream of mushroom soup and cheese. Add water and cook over low heat, stirring constantly. Add pepper to taste.
Mix chicken and Alfredo sauce together.
Cook fettuccine per package direction. Drain noodles. Put sauce and chicken over noodles.
Serve with a slice of double toasted whole wheat bread.
I do not know how much sodium and cholesterol this recipe serves but I think it’s way lesser than the original recipe.

I am a self confessed foodie – a food enthusiast. Oh well that would be an understatement of the year. I am a voracious eater of good (as in delicious and not necessarily healthy) food.
I am interested to go places not because of the history or breathtaking views or the photo opp but because I want to taste the best food one place could offer.
I am not scared of trying dining in restos to experiment on their foods. But most of the time I rely on food reviews before I decide to dish some money.
I am also not scared of trying to whip out the hidden chef in me whenever I see something interesting to cook on TV or in the magazine.
Tonight, I have seen chef, entrepreneur and restaurateur (from Cibo and Cafe Bola), Margarita Gaita Pores on Secrets of the Masters
She whipped out before healthy and delectable Italian cuisines. They are pretty simple to pull off I guess.
She went back to basic preparing Pesto Genovese and others (darn I can’t even pronounce or write but I can definitely cook.) They are fresh tomato based and olive oil based.
Chef Porres is very enthusiastic all throughout the demo. You could tell that she has the passion to cook and it does not stop there, she has the passion to cook for people. She is also open to suggestions emphasizing that she could only know what to she needs to improve on if she gets feedback from customers.
She has a book called Kulinarya.
I think I’m gonna get a copy of it.
So since I am a sucker for food trips and I am wondering how could I become an audience of Secrets of the Masters.
I want to satisfy my gastronimc cravings with the best offerings of the local masters.