Seltzer Rocks in a Bubbly New Year

Last night, a champagne toast was perfect.

But today it's back to business. So I'm keeping my first resolution - to reduce my plastic waste - by using a seltzer maker to concoct my own 'mixed drinks.'

In 2012, diet cola was a vice I wanted to shake - and I knew how. I just didn't do it. So starting today, I'm clearing out the last of the Diet Pepsi in the house and filling up the SodaStream reusable bottles to get them chilling.

When I need a sparkly drink to go with lunch, I'll fizz the tap water and mix in some 100% grape juice. It reminds me of childhood, that homemade grape soda, of how I remember the sweet elixir in the glass bottles tasted.

Could I make my own diet cola with this gizmo? Yes. But - fortunately - I just don't care for the diet cola syrup the company offers with its seltzer makers. A couple bottles from the little sampler pack of flavors - root beer, cola, lemon-lime, etc, convinced me that I'm just not much of syrup user.

If I want the seltzer flavored but not syrupy, however, the little bottle of lemon-lime essence does a really nice job. In fact, that may just supply the answer to how I'll substitute the diet cola I've drinking at the office. That change could just be worth buying a second seltzer maker to keep there.  A scary idea, being left with no excuses  . . .

Here's to going well-prepared into a healthier new year!

Fruit Smoothies - Not Just for Breakfast Anymore

This December, I'm thankful for the farmers market strawberries in the freezer. Without them, making fruit smoothies in the winter just wouldn't feel right. Although half the fun of smoothies is the free rein to experiment, to 'customize the food creation experience' (also known as playing with your food), I played around with ingredients just until I found my favorite combination, then stuck with it.

My Fruit Smoothie Blend:

• One nice, ripe banana
• A few chunks of frozen mango
• A few frozen organic strawberries
• Several dollops of plain, nonfat yogurt
• Some not-too-sweet juice, like pomegranate or limeade

Do I measure? No. Every batch comes out a little different, letting me sample and comment as if I had actually been innovative.
I throw all these into a Vita Mix or a regular blender, let them sit to temper a bit, then blend til it's soup. Mmm . . . cool, smooth and sweet like a milkshake, with less of a sugar rush, and ever so much more virtuous. Refreshing in the summer, and a little dose of summer in the depths of winter.

Servings
My version, as described above, serves two. You can also make the whole batch and freeze half, to serve one person twice. Just let it thaw sufficiently to stir all ice crystals in and get the lovely creamy consistency back.

Calories
About 100 per serving, if you use just fruit and non-fat yogurt.

Fat
Zero grams! But considerably higher if you substitute ice cream or a creamier yogurt (really not necessary, if you use a good brand).

Fiber
About 3 grams per serving. Mostly that's soluble fiber, plus a wee bit of insoluble (you need both for a high-fiber diet ). To work more in, try a sprinkle of ground flax seed.

Carbs and Sugar
Some people are worried about all the sugar in a fruit smoothie, either because of diabetes, the candida diet, or a low-carb diet like Atkins.
Bear in mind the sugars in the yogurt are low, and you are having a half banana, 2-3 strawberries, a few mango chunks, and a splash of juice in one serving. If your diet allows that, you are not only ok but also getting the benefit of the calcium, phyto-nutrients, and fiber. Pairing it with some low-fat protein might make it a healthy breakfast food, even with health concerns to watch. And a half-serving, frozen, would make a nice treat when you crave ice cream.

Is there any protein?
Yes! Fruits and vegetables do have protein; and dairy can be a vegetarian protein source, too. Most Americans get too much protein, not too little; but if you are a vegetarian body builder or other type of athlete, try adding some of your favorite protein powder.

Can you make a vegan fruit smoothie?
Yes. With yogurt, the standard version fits well into a lacto vegetarian diet (ie, no meat, but dairy is allowed). In that way, it is like a mango lassi at an Indian restaurant.
To skip the lactose, try a soy substitute, or almond milk or rice milk (plus ice). If your substitute comes pre-sweetened, be aware of issues with candida and diabetes. On the plus side, this version would have no cholesterol.

Samovar Tea Lounge

The samovar at Samovar Tea Lounge

Samovar Tea Lounge, on the upper level of Yerba Buena Gardens, is a lovely spot for a pot of tea and a snack. The atmosphere is tranquil, and the staff know the tea selection the way a sommelier knows her wine cellar. For the tea connoisseur, just reading the beverage menu is a treat, with offerings not normally found outside a fancy tea shop.

Enjoying the brief heat wave in San Francisco, I ordered a glass of iced chai. Unlike the sweetened syrup mixed with hot milk that many corner coffee shops serve, real chai is simmered in a pot to allow the tea, spices, and milk to meld together. Samovar's was just to my liking, spicy but not sharp with only a hint of sweetness. It perfectly complemented the bowl of coconut milk rice pudding that held me over between lunch and dinner.

Vegan Latte

Almond milk iced latte

A vegan latte *? Surely an oxymoron. But with the proliferation of "milk" from plant sources - rice milk, soy milk, almond milk, coconut milk, and more - there are indeed many choices for making a vegan version of this iconic Italian drink.

My personal favorite uses unflavored almond milk ('regular' or 'orginal') which has just a bare hint of sweetness and a nice creaminess.  A whole cup is only 60 calories, and like all the vegan options, it is naturally cholesterol free.

*Caffelatte is Italian for milky coffee; order a latte and you'll get just milk.

Sun Tea

To those who think they've never tried solar cooking, I always ask, "Have you ever made sun tea?"

Surprisingly, not everyone has (What?! Not everyone loves tea? Why not?).

Simple Steps :

1. Fill a clear container (preferably glass or pyrex, not plastic) with water.
2. Add a tea bag or two (adjusting for volume and strength)
3. Place the container in a sunny place until steeped, covered.

As is true with most solar cooking, you can go away and leave the process untended while you do something else.  This kettle will not boil dry.

Ayurvedic Tea

One of the nice things about Ayurvedic cooking is that it promotes health through eating real food. A friend who has studied and practiced this art/science for many years once made me a special tea for colds and upper respiratory ailments.  I liked it so much, I make it whenever I feel a cold coming on.
To a cup of hot water, add:

• fresh ginger, sliced or grated (frozen as a substitute, but not powdered)
• fresh lemon juice
• tumeric powder
• honey

The amount of each ingredient can be varied according to taste. Sip slowly and repeat as often as you like.

Almond Milk Hot Cocoa

For some time, I've been looking for a really satisfying substitute for milk - the cow kind. Rice milk doesn't do much for me, soy milk does too much (bubble, bubble, squeal). I really like the flavor and richness of whole milk; but it is high in fat, calories, and lactose. In small quantities, like a big splash in a tall cup of tea, no problem.  But for, say, a latte or hot cocoa?
For those purposes, my best find so far is almond milk.  It has the calcium, some protein, a little sugar, a lovely rich quality, 1/3 the calories of whole milk (60 to a glass, v. 180), and no cholesterol. The flavor is different than cow milk, but tasty. And it melds beautifully with cocoa or with coffee. The other day, I made a batch of hot cocoa as I would normally, except for the liquid substitution (in a saucepan, stirring in dutched cocoa and a smidge of sugar, vanilla and cayenne until the thick drink resembles the signature drink in the movie Chocolat). Magnifique!

Rooibos - Red Tea

In the Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency novels, set in Botswana, Mma Ramotswe drinks bush tea every day.  It took a while for it to click that her drink is the same one marketed in the United States as red tea, or rooibos.  Whatever colloquial name one uses, aspalathus linearis (wouldn't that look good on a label?) makes a lovely beverage, hot or chilled, plain or with milk and sugar (and spices, for chai).

Red tea makes a good substitute for black tea in the evening, or any time one avoids caffeine. Its leaves, unlike those of 'real' tea, camellia sinensis, simply don't contain any.  They do however contain a nice dose of anti-oxidants, which may explain the statement on one purveyor's box, that:

"Rooibos (say roy-boss) . . . enjoys a reputation in its native South Africa as a stomach-relaxing, mood-enhancing, allergy-relieving tonic."  (www.ecoteas.com)

Arnold Palmer

What ever happened to Jolt Cola?  "All the sugar - and twice the caffeine!"
Never was a soda tagline so forthright.

The Arnold Palmer, or Arnie, mixes iced tea with lemonade. Simple, refreshing, and like Jolt Cola, a supplier of both forms of liquid upper. When made with real lemonade and freshly brewed tea, it should come with a warning label: "Caution. Instantly addictive. Side effects include refreshment, a burst of energy, and a subsequent crash." 

Tonight I made a tall glass at home, but decided not to photograph it.  Apparently unfiltered Meyer lemon juice (leftover from pie-making) and homemade seltzer create a fairly murky mix.  Tastes great - but not so photogenic.  The perfect pairing for tonight's stir fry.

A Tall Glass of Water

Annie Leonard has done it again!
With  The Story of Bottled Water, the creator of The Story of Stuff packs all you really need to know about bottled water into eight entertaining minutes. It's refreshing as, well, a tall cool glass from the tap.



She even includes some bigger-picture steps to take than my simple tips for switching back from bottled to tap water at home (including making your own soda with juice, tap water, and a seltzer machine). Cheers, Annie!

Best Grape Soda

All through the warm months, limeade feels like the ideal refreshment, especially when mixed with seltzer. Light, sparkling, and snappy without being too acidic, this mixed drink graces the table nearly every day, March - October.

But as the weather cools, the dark, intense, anti-oxidant rich siren call of grape juice beckons. Undiluted 100% juice packs a big blood sugar punch, a little overwhelming. Recalling memories of the grape soda of my youth, I tried mixing my fresh seltzer half and half to craft a homemade soda. Perfect! Fizzy, with a clear, pure grape flavor - and not too sweet. Deluxe.

Homemade Soda Flavors

In our house, a 'mixed drink' means seltzer and fruit juice (sometimes with a little white wine, too). A soda comes in a can with either high-fructose syrup or the dreaded aspartame. While sodas make cameo appearances at home, they didn't seem worth buying Sodastream's make-your-own soda flavorings for.

So I was ambivalent when the Value Pack arrived with a set of 3 'flavor essence' bottles and a 12-pack of trial size flavor goo samples. Nearly half the full range of flavors offered for sale, our kit included: fountain mist (a Mountain Dew knock-off), lemon-lime, orange, root beer, energy (cringe), cola, pete's choice (a Dr. Pepper knock-off), cranberry-raspberry, and pink grapefruit. The non-diet choices contain sucrose rather than high-fructose corn syrup; and the diet versions use sucralose (Splenda) rather than aspartame. Small improvements. Sadly, the colas use phosphoric acid (the calcium leacher) like most brands do, rather than the tartartic acid alternative a few have tried.



So far, we've only tried the Pete's, which is a dead ringer for a fountain serving of Dr. Pepper and its imitators - same flavor, with the slightly syrupy quality that fountain drinks often have. On Thanksgiving, we'll keep all 4 bottles chilled, so that we can add a flavor to any liter on demand - a nice party trick.

For us, just breaking the bottled water habit was enough. For regular soda drinkers, however, a favorite flavoring or two could be the short route to kicking the habit of bringing pop home in plastic or aluminum six packs.

Homemade Soda, First Try

After entertaining ourselves with the Soda Club site's cute videos, we picked the Fountain Jet model and opted to pay a little more for the Value Pack, in order to get extra bottles and a second 110-liter fizz canister (I am always skeptical of value-anything options; but it was the more economical way to go, since we wanted the extras and shipping charges were waived).

The unit assembled easily, with one surprise - at 17" tall, it wouldn't fit in the spot I had planned, on a counter but under a hanging cabinet. Fortunately, it is cordless and can be set anywhere (even inside a cupboard) between uses.
Following the simple instructions, we filled one BPA-free water bottle to the fill line with tap water and popped it into the fridge to chill. Later we screwed the bottle into the Fountain Jet and pressed the button on the top of the unit until the buzzer sounded. Voila! Fizzy water. Taste? Exactly like the seltzer (or 'sparkling water') we've been buying from the grocery. After pouring the first mixed drink (seltzer and lime juice, the old standby refreshment), we capped the bottle and put it back in the fridge.
Next - we'll see how the fizz lasts, and try some flavorings.

New Old Soda Club

After years of buying seltzer in plastic bottles, lugging them home from the store, and filling up the recycling bin with the empties, we finally found a happy alternative. As often happens, today's system is an update of an old idea.


In years gone by, bars, soda fountains, hosts with the mosts used spritzers, or bottles with a squirt device attached to a small CO2 canister. The bartender took glass in one hand, spritzer in the other, and tried to fill the glass without soaking anyone. These devices brought Italian sodas, seltzer drinks, and egg creams into our food culture. Today the bottles are collectibles, and the mini-CO2 canisters hard to find in stores.
The update? A countertop appliance with a tall, multiple-use (60-110 liters) CO2 canister in the back and a bottle-holder in the front [see examples in the ad, above]. As far as I can tell, only SodaStream and SodaClub (same company, apparently) make them, and sell them primarily online. Ours arrived this week; and so far the only hard part was deciding which of the four models to choose, and whether to go bare-bones or opt for the Value Pack.
And so the saga begins . . .

Spa Water

Like many good ideas, the 'new' way to encourage people to drink tap water is a culinary innovation dating back centuries. At a work training recently, attendees were pleasantly surprised to find pitchers of water with cucumber slices, in lieu of bottled water (complying with the ever-more-common bans on spending local government money on unneeded single-serving beverage containers). Just that small touch somehow made the plain drink seem more refreshing, a treat rather than an austerity measure.

Trader Joe's coffee samples are the first stop for many shoppers at their groceries; and typically there is also a spigoted jug of one of the many juice varieties for sale. Over the summer, our local store also experimented with a range of spa waters, in place of the juice option. They added cucumber, strawberries, citrus slices - more or less any one fruit or combination the staff wanted to try. Most worked beautifully (my favorite being strawberry).

At the Atlantis Resort Hotel in Reno, the spa provides elegant jugs of water with therapeutically-oriented enhancements. The appealing flavors help make sure that guests stay well hydrated while moving between steam rooms, hot tubs, and other amenities. But they also advertise (on menu cards by each pitcher) specific health benefits, including:
Citrus - high in vitamin C, to strengthen the immune system, retain healthy levels of calcium, and lower bad cholestrol
Pineapple and mint - helps recovery of muscles and acts as an anti-inflammatory
Kiwi with cinammon and honey - all three for respiratory healing

Whatever you put in them, spa waters offer an elegant alternative to the plastic bottles of plain or flavored water that American culture has come to think of as necessary for health and convenience. And they can change throughout the year, incorporating the fruits, vegetables and herbs in season locally.

Diet Pepsi vs. Iced Tea

I love iced tea; but for years my diet Pepsi addiction has caused me to neglect it. I drove my frugal self to Costco to buy the 36-packs, only to find that the more I had on hand the more I would consume. And every time I went out to lunch and ordered iced tea, I felt so well indulged. But at home and work I grabbed that aluminum can instead of brewing a pitcher.
This summer I decided to reverse that trend. Why?

First, it's a little embarrassing to be seen with a can of soda always in hand when everyone knows that healthy food is your passion. They see the contradiction right off. And what can I say, except nobody's perfect ? (and I never did aspire to be Greener than Thou, thank Gosh)

More importantly, I had an niggling fear about the long term effects on my health. The phosphoric acid in colas is hard on the body's calcium supply; and with osteoporosis in my family, I need to take calcium, not give it away. Also, what about drinking from aluminum everyday? Don't those cans get heated in the trucks, just like the cookware we don't use anymore for fear of Alzheimer's? I can't find a credible answer on that issue; but I love my brain and want it work well even after my teeth are nubs and my bones are brittle.

So I did what I often prescribe to others who would go green - made it easier to do the right thing than the wrong thing. I stopped stocking sodas at home or work, and started making iced tea in the morning, to drink with lunch and an afternoon snack (I could make it later in the day, if I bring in some decaf bags). I have really enjoyed a tall, icy cup on demand; and the switch has also plugged a small leak in my wallet. (A couple bucks on tea bags will see me through a whole month.) Only once in the last month have I felt an overwhelming urge to find a vending machine and blow a dollar on 12 ounces of carbonated, flavored water. And you know what? It wasn't all that.