Monday Thoughts

Life inspiration, yogurt in the news, recipe inspiration...

I needed an inspirational quote for today. Just a little something extra to light this day and week up. I found a list from Real Simple — lots of good stuff in here! — and laughed when I came to this quote:

My husband was a big fan of this show when it aired and it was a rare time when our tastes diverged. Well, now my daughter has discovered it, and The Good Place is back in my life. If you know about Janet, this quote has layers of meaning, but I love this just on the surface - why shouldn’t we start each day feeling like we are the best version of ourselves? Alright, now that I’m properly rebooted, let’s do this!

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In the news

Another reason to add yogurt to your breakfast or snack rotation. A new study published in Gut Microbes, utilizing data from two large prospective cohort studies, found that eating yogurt regularly may reduce risk of colon cancer. They looked at the data from over 130,000 participants over a span of 30 years and found that those who ate two or more servings of yogurt per week (vs. less than one time per month) had less incidence of colon cancer. Findings suggest that yogurt may have a protective effect by balancing our gut microflora and enhancing the barrier function of the intestinal mucosa. This study adds to existing research that has linked yogurt consumption to lower incidence in colon cancer, as well as a lower risk of type 2 diabetes.

When yogurt shopping, beware of yogurts that have excessive added sugar. Supermarket shelves are full of them. Choose plain yogurts and add your own toppings, or yogurt with minimal added sugar. One of my favorites is the Fage Total 2% Black Cherry. It comes in what they call a “split cup” - the yogurt on one side and the “fruit topping” in the other “side car” (that’s what I like to call it). This packaging allows you to control how much of the fruit topping (where the added sugar is) that you add to the yogurt. You can also buy a tub of the Plain Fage Greek yogurt and add in your own toppings, which has the bonus of being more economical and has less packaging waste.

• Additional reading: Eating yogurt regularly may reduce the risk of colon cancer, a study finds (NPR)

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Recipe inspiration

This past Saturday we had friends over for dinner, and I made one of my favorite NYTimes Cooking recipes. I have made this Oven-Roasted Chicken Shawarma so many times, and it never fails to be a crowd-pleaser. (In the summer, this works nicely on the grill too). Speaking of summer, I was craving something fresh and crisp, so I paired it with a recipe that I had not made before, the Chopped Salad with Chickpeas, Feta and Avocado. I made it almost exactly as written and it was delicious. I skipped the croutons (mostly because I ran out of time), but I think if I were serving this as the main dish, I would have experimented with them. As with most salad recipes, I can see a lot of ways to adapt this per what is in your refrigerator and pantry. Both of these make for excellent leftovers.

Recipes:

• Oven-Roasted Chicken Shawarma (NYTimes Cooking, gifted)

• Chopped Salad with Chickpeas, Feta and Avocado (NYTimes Cooking, gifted)

  

  Chopped Salad with Chickpeas, Feta and Avocado (photo credit: NYTimes)