Friend of Julie: Mixing thing up with Arugula

Chicken with Red Pepper & Goat Cheese 

Sticking with my promise to mix my menus up and try new recipes, I'm happy to report I added two new items to my repertoire this week. The first item is arugula, a veggie that's high in vitamins A and C. I haven't had arugula in ages and it is wonderful to have this back on my menu. I placed it under my main courses this week, which included chicken, chicken salad, hamburger, and steak.

Sliced chicken on arugula and topped
with red pepper and goat cheese sauce.

From Whole Foods

The second new item I tried this week was a sauce that Whole Foods markets as a dip: Fire Roasted Red Pepper and Goat Cheese Dip. My intent was to dip carrots and celery into it as a compliment to my chicken, but when I opened the container and tasted it, I decided to use it as a sauce instead. This is my new favorite dish.

If you're looking to change up your menus a bit, give this a try and let us know how you used the dip.

Has anyone tired new recipes this week that you'd like to share? 

While we're on the topic of water, I drink tons of seltzer and about six months ago I bought a SodaStream, which makes seltzer from tap water. I drink my seltzer plain on ice, but most of the time I add lemon and lime. It also is good to use when making a vodka drink.

I love that I no longer have to carry heavy bottles from the grocery store or deal with recycling bottles. I like it so much that I bought one for my office. They vary in price, but you shouldn't have to pay more than $99. Also, it's best to buy the smaller size (60-liter), as a sales rep told me it's harder to get refills for the bigger size. They sell them at Amazon, Macey's, Bed Bath and Beyond, and even Sears. The easiest place to exchange the cylinders is at Bed Bath and Beyond because you make the exchange at the customer service counter, which is right near the front door.

I was reading magazines at my doctors office yesterday and I read a brief article about diet soda that supports concepts we hear from Julie:

Dump the diet Soda
It might now have any calories, but that doesn't make diet soda a weight-loss bullet. In fact, in a nearly 10-year study of 474 people, researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio found that folks who drink two or more diet sodas a day experienced a 70% greater increase in waist circumference than soda shunners. Reason? The jury is still out, but a study from the universities of Bristol and Bangor sound that drinking the diet beverages make your taste buds less sensitive to sweets so you actually crave sugary foods.

I took a photo of the article, but failed to note the name of the magazine. I found a similar article from CBS News New study is wake-up call for diet soda drinkers that indicated similar findings; here's an excerpt:

"Artificial sweeteners could have the effect of triggering appetite but unlike regular sugars they don't deliver something that will squelch the appetite," Sharon Fowler, obesity researcher at UT Health Science Center at San Diego and a co-author on both of these studies, told the Daily Mail. She also said sweeteners could inhibit brain cells that make you feel full.

So if sugar soda is no good, and diet soda isn't either - what should we be drinking?
Dr. Hazuda told the Daily Mail, "I think prudence would dictate drinking water."

None of this comes as a surprise.