What Librarians Eat! Vol:3 Issue: 4 - April 2015

What Librarians Eat! V O L :

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I S S U E : 4

A P R I L

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Health Tip

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Caramel Apple cake

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Stuffed salmon with potato salad

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Pizza Rustica

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The month of April is associated with many holidays, starting with the traditional April Fool’s Day. This year we will also be celebrating Easter as well.

Healthy Mexican Chicken Burrito

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Did you know that the first story of a rabbit (later named the “Easter Bunny”) hiding eggs in a garden, was published in 1680.

Pumpkin Quinoa cookies

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As always, we encourage you to forward any delicious recipes you try at home as well as suggestions in order for us to be able to include more interest areas.

Chicken Open Pita Pizza 8 Strawberry-Kiwi Popsicle

Welcome to the fourth 2015 issue of What Librarians Eat!

In the meantime, stay safe and have a cracking easter!

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5 Easy food swaps 10 Office workers 'too sedentary'

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Blood Orange Negroni

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Ask Us Something

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Activities for this month: 2nd : Qaghqa tal Appostli Lunch!

18th : Library Soccer Match 25th : Zorb Soccer (Bubble Soccer)

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Healthy Tips to stay light this Easter

It's Easter time, which, for many of us, means one thing: chocolate overload! "There's chocolate, wall to wall, everywhere you go, and people also giving you chocolates," says Dietitians Association of Australia spokeswoman and dietitian Maria Packard. "And if you're trying to control your weight or conscious of where your weight is heading, that could be a big problem for you.

So is it possible to get through Easter without doing too much damage to your waistline? Absolutely, if you follow these tips.

1.

Keep indugencies for the weekend We're often surrounded by Easter temptations as early as January, when the chocolate eggs and hot cross buns appear in stores. But by limiting the days you splurge to the Easter weekend, you'll have better control over your waistline while still enjoying some treats.

2.

Non-food gifts Ask your friends and family to give non-food-related gifts instead of chocolates. A good idea is to buy beauty products with chocolate in them, Chocolate or cocnut butter etc...

3.

Watch Portion Sizes Beware! An Easter egg weighing 100g has 2200 kilojoules and 30g of fat. Four mini eggs however will give you 600 kilojoules and just 8g of fat.

4.

Choose good quality choclate Rather than buy large quantities of cheap eggs, choose smaller quantities of good-quality dark chocolate. Basically, the more cocoa butter, the better the quality, They tend to be more expensive but it means that they are not processed with vegetable oil, so they have a better nutritional profile and can be slightly higher in antioxidants as well.

5.

Have real eggs for breakfast Rather than succumbing to a chocolate egg for breakfast (and who hasn't been tempted?), boil up real eggs. In a study from the Rochester Centre for Obesity in the US, 30 overweight women ate either two eggs or a bagel-based breakfast, containing the same amount of kilojoules. Researchers found that the women who'd eaten eggs felt less hungry and consumed 1788 kilojoules less than the bagel-eating group over the next 36 hours.

6.

Return to normal eating, and get fruity!

Enjoy it, don't feel guilty about it and then get back on track — that was your once-a-week splurge, After the Easter long weekend she suggests getting over the chocolate hangover by eating lots of fruit, vegies and wholegrain cereals, and limiting high-fat foods.

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Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake

Caramel Topping Ingredients:

Apple Cake Ingredients:

 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted

 1/3 cup coconut flour

 1/4 cup coconut crystals

 1/3 cup blanched almond flour

 5 organic eggs

 1/4 teaspoon salt

 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, grade B

 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon  2 organic apples, thinly sliced and chopped

 1/2 teaspoon baking powder  2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

 1/4 cup organic, full fat coconut milk  2 Tablespoons coconut oil, melted

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease an 8×8 pan with coconut oil.

Caramel Topping: In a small bowl combine the melted coconut oil, coconut crystals and cinnamon. Pour into the prepared pan. Evenly sprinkle the chopped apples over the caramel.

In a medium bowl combine the coconut flour, almond flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In another medium bowl combine the eggs, vanilla, syrup, and coconut milk. Blend well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones, and then slowly mix in the melted coconut oil.

Carefully spread the cake batter over the apples and caramel in the pan.

Bake for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

Loosen the edges of the cake with a knife. Invert the cake by placing a plate over the top of the pan and then flipping it over.

Slice, serve and enjoy!

20 Servings Nutritional Analysis: 105 calories, 7g fat, 44mg sodium, 7g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, and 3g protein

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Stuffed salmon with potato salad Potato salad: Scrub the potatoes and halve or quarter any larger potatoes so that you have roughly even-sized pieces, then bring about 1.5l of water to the boil in a saucepan, add about 2 tsp salt, the pieces of crushed garlic and the potatoes.

Bring the potatoes back to the boil and reduce to a simmer.

Simmer gently, covered, for around 15-20 minutes or until just fork-tender, then drain well, return them to the saucepan and allow them to cool, covered by a tea-towel.

Once cool enough to handle, peel the potatoes or not as you prefer, and chop into approx. 0.5cm chunks.

In a large bowl, mash together the hard-boiled eggs, cream cheese, mustard, lemon juice, tabasco and capers.

Stir in the chopped potato, spring onions, celery and dill. Add salt and black pepper to taste and more tabasco if you like.

The Variations: You could certainly replace some or all of the spring onions with chives or add some horseradish for a bit of extra bite.

You’ll need:  Smoked salmon, sliced fairly thinly, with individual slices large enough to be formed into a small filled roll

The Results: Salad servings for 4-6 or enough to fill around 25 to 30 slices of smoked salmon as above.

 Potato and egg salad (see below)

This part hardly needs a formal recipe – just wrap your slices

 Lemon wedges to serve

of salmon around a dollop of potato salad, serve with a wedge

 Chopped dill to garnish

of lemon and some dill and you’re done. Apart from eating the

Potato Salad:  800g new potatoes  2 cloves garlic, lightly crushed  2 tsp salt, for boiling the potatoes

end result, that is, but I was taking that part as read.

The amount of filling you can add to a slice of salmon will naturally depend on the size of the slices you have. The slices of Kinvara smoked salmon were around 15cm long and between 5cm and 8cm wide and I filled them with 2 heaped

 4 eggs, hard-boiled

tablespoons of the salad. Adjust according to the size of slices

 120g cream cheese, softened

you have.

 2 tsp dijon mustard

You could serve a couple of these as a starter, say, or for a

 3 tblsp lemon juice

lunch serving, have two or three of these with an additional

 30 drops tabasco  4 tblsp capers  8 spring onions

helping of the salad on the side, along with some brown soda bread.

The Steps: Scoop around 2 heaped tblsp of potato salad onto the centre

 100g celery, finely diced

of each slice of smoked salmon and form into a roll.

 4 tblsp finely chopped dill

Garnish with chopped dill and serve with a lemon wedge.

 1 tsp coarse salt or to taste

The Results:

 freshly ground black pepper

As many filled smoked salmon rolls as you have slices of salmon.

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Pizza Rustica (Traditional Italian Easter Pie) Ingredients: 

2 (1 lb) Balls of Pizza Dough



12 Eggs



1 cup of Fresh Grated Parmiggiano Reggiano



6 oz of Provolone, diced



6 oz of Chopped Salami



4 oz of Prosciutto, diced



Olive Oil



Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a 10” metal pan with some oil and set it aside.

In a large bowl, add the eggs, ground black pepper and whisk them well. Add the provolone, parmiggiano, salami, prosciutto and wisk to combine, set aside.

Roll one piece of the dough to about a 13” circle and lay it in your prepared pan (totally okay if a little overhangs the sides of the pan) fill it with the egg mixture, set aside.

Roll the second piece to about an 11” circle (you want it big enough to fit perfectly on top with a little extra on the edges). Lay it over top of your filling, cut off any excess dough and pinch the edges with the bottom piece (refer to video for instructions) to seal, and brush the tops with a little olive oil.

Bake for about an hour or until the top is a deeply golden brown color.

Allow to cool a bit before serving.

Serves 8-10

Prep time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Cook time: 1 hrs

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Healthy Chicken Burrito (Wraps) I am a big fan of wraps I don’t know if it’s the mixture of the meat and veggies, the tortillas, or all the gooey cheese, but I’m hooked!

It all started when turkish takeawys started opening in Malta. I used to enjoy the occasional take out food at home with my family. As I grew older I always enjoyed expermineting and creating wraps myself. Most of them have insanely rich and high in calorie. Others I would prepare instictively using mum’s left overs.

I chose this Mexican healthy burito because it reminded me of a wrap I tried a while back. Using cucumbers instead of avocado, and spring onions.

Wraps or buritos are a way to get creative in the kitchen.

If you do not have cooked chicken on hand, grill or sear 2 chicken breasts for 10 minutes then slice into thin strips.

Serves: 4 tortillas Ingridients: 

2 cups cooked shredded chicken



½ cup Mexican cheese blend ( or mozzarella)



1 avocado diced



2 tablespoons cilantro chopped



4 large tortillas



1 tablespoon oil

Mix the shredded chicken, cheese, cilantro, and the diced avocados.

Lay a tortilla flat on a plate and add ¼ of the mixture, form a roll. repeat the process for all four tortillas.

Pour 1 tablespoon oil into a heated pan or griddle. Place all four tortillas on the pan and cook for 2 minutes on medium- high heat.

Flip on the other side and cook for another minutes or until the the burritos are golden in color. Serve warm.

Burritos can be frozen cooked or uncooked for up to 3 months.

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Pumpkin Quinoa Cookies

Here’s what you need for 30 cookies:

• 1/2 cup canned pumpkin

• 2 cups cooked quinoa

• 1/3 cup coconut crystals

• 2 cups almond meal

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 2 organic, omega 3 eggs

• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease two cookie sheets with coconut oil. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the cooked quinoa, almond meal, salt and pumpkin pie spice. Mix well.

In another medium bowl, combine the canned pumpkin, coconut crystals, vanilla extract, eggs and coconut oil. Mix well.

Combine the dry ingredients with the wet ones and then fold in 1/2 cup of the dark chocolate chips.

Place by flattened Tablespoon on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden.

Allow to cool for 15 minutes on the sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

In a double boiler, or simply by placing a small saucepan in a skillet of water, over medium-low heat, melt the remaining 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips. Drizzle over the cookies. Transfer the cookies to the refrigerator for 20 minutes or until the chocolate has hardened.

Nutritional Analysis: One cookie equals: 96 calories, 6g fat, 20mg sodium, 8g carbohydrate, 1g fiber, and 4g protein

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Dining Out: Chicken Open Pita Pizza This exclusive section is by no means for promotional use: Last month I was dining at Tra amici in Birkirkara and was after a good lightish meal. Something tasty while not ending up crawling to back my car. I saw something new with ingredients I liked so I went for it and im glad I did.

Chicken Open pita Pizza Ingredients: 

Thin pita



Chicken breast



Lettuce



Tomatoes



Chedar cheese



Cous cous



Yogurt cream

As one can see in the Images this recipe is constructed by having the mixture of chicken breast lettuce tomatoes and cheese served on top of a bed of cous cous and wrapped in this thin pita like bread. Also to finish a dash of yogurt cream was served on top.

After I scoured the internet trying to find the recipe for this food letter, I finally decided to simply share my experience for this dining experience.

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Real Healthy Popcicles: Strawberry– Kiwi

Ingredients: • 2 cups strawberries, hulled • 2 Tablespoons filtered water • 2 teaspoons agave nectar (optional) • 2 kiwis, sliced

Now that the weather is starting to get warmer, I thought of adding a fresh and healthy treat for those warm spring days. The kids love the exotic look of this popsicle, and have fun playing ‘How many licks does it take to get to the kiwi?‘ It’s amazing how bright and vibrant natural fruit colours can be!

In a high speed blender, combine the strawberries, water and agave nectar. Allow to run for a full minute on high.

Place one slice of kiwi in each popsicle mold, pressed against the side. Fill the moulds with the strawberry mixture.

Freeze until solid.

6 servings Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 38 calories, 0g fat, 2mg sodium, 9g carbohydrate, 2g fibre, and 1g protein.

Below are some other favours we shall explore in future issues!

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For 4 people :

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F I T N E S S S E C T I O N

5 Easy Food Swaps to Save 100+ Losing body fat isn’t easy…You don’t need us to tell you that.

You’ve been striving with your weight for longer than you’d like to admit. To work towards your goal, you slave during exercise and are more than likely to check what goes in your mouth very often.

But what if you could drop approximately 100 calories or more by making a single minor change to that particular meal or snack?

It is possible. You’ve just got to know where to swap. Check out the list below to find out nine easy swaps to start dropping calories straight away.

Ready? Get swapping!

Food Swap #1: From Bread to 'Topless' No, you don’t have to give up bread altogether. If you want to quickly watch 100 calories slide off your next sandwich or burger meal, all you’ve got to do is toss the top piece of bread. This may now require a bit of balancing on your part, but it will instantly save you approximately 100 calories :) Food Swap #2: From Creamy Milk to Nonfat Milk Have a hard time taking your coffee straight? You’re not alone, many have the same difficulty. Not interested in giving up coffee altogether? Then you’re going to need to find a new option to the creamer-heavy concoction you make on a daily basis. The easiest solution is to swap out your Milky Creamer for nonfat milk. Lucky for you, this small swap pays off big, cutting 100 calories from your morning jolt. If you also usually add Artificial Sugar to your coffee, why not consider Stevia (a sweetener and sugar substitute with ZERO calories extracted from the leaves of the plant species Stevia rebaudiana).

Food Swap #3: From Regular to Light (Low-Carb) Beer Your taste buds may revolt at the thought of light beer, but your shrinking waistline will love it (if you notice it at all). Drop your insistence on the traditional regular beer and drop 100 calories for every two-beer sitting.

Food Swap #4: From Juice to the Real Thing Orange juice is a common occurence in many people's choice of daily liquids. Many still think that it is a very 'healthy' option. What if you tossed the juice and went for the real thing—a genuine, bona fide orange or apple? You probably already guessed that this, too, would shave a lot of calories from your meal. At the same time, you’ll get more fiber to keep your day moving along well and feeling fuller for longer!

Food Swap #5: From Chocolate Shake to Milk Chocolate Unfortunately, that daily / occassional Chocolate Milk shake leaves you feeling bloated and for good reason. It’s jam packed with calories and artificial stuff. Get the same chocolate comfort with a glass of Chocolate Milk instead of a shake and cut out at the very least, a 100 calories.

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Office workers 'too sedentary' Office workers need to get off their backsides and move around more.

Experts described inactivity as "one of the biggest" challenges in health. Heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancers and poor mental health have all been linked to sedentary behaviour.

The effect is found even in people who class themselves as fit, such as those who cycle to work, if they also spend long periods of time sitting.

Prolonged sitting is thought to slow the metabolism and affect the way the body controls sugar levels, blood pressure and the breakdown of fat.

A survey of 2,000 office workers suggested: 45% of women and 37% of men spend less than 30 minutes a day up on their feet at work More than half regularly eat their lunch at their desk 78% office workers felt they spent too much time sitting down Nearly two-thirds were worried sitting at work was having a negative impact on their health Gavin Bradley, from Get Britain Standing, told the BBC News website: "We're all victims of our environment, we've taken a lot of activity out of the workplace and we're sitting longer and longer.

"We need new and innovative ways of addressing the issue.

"Stand up when you're on the phone or in meetings, do everything you can to avoid sitting."

Other ideas including using the stairs instead of a lift, eating lunch away from your desk, taking a break from your computer every 30 minutes and walking to a colleague's desk rather than phoning or emailing them.

Get Britain Standing says standing burns an extra 50 calories per hour than being seated.

Dr Mike Loosemore, head of exercise medicine at University College Hospital, told the BBC: "Inactivity and sedentary behaviour is one of the biggest challenges we have in public health today.

"Compared with 100 years ago, our levels of activity are tiny, the number of manual jobs are continually reducing, even if you dig a road up you sit in a little tractor.

"It's about changing attitudes to how people behave at work and changing the culture of the workplace that just means moving around at little bit more, even just standing up can make a big difference to calories burned and how alert, creative and productive you are."

Lisa Young, project manager for the BHF's Health at Work programme, said: "We're all guilty of being too glued to our screens sometimes, but these results show just how far the couch potato culture has infiltrated the workplace.

"Too many of us are tied to our desks at work, which could be increasing our risk of developing cardiovascular disease.

"That's why we want workers to get up and get moving on 24 April and take a stand against cardiovascular disease.

"A bit of healthy competition in the workplace could go a long way to reversing this trend whilst raising vital funds for our ground-breaking research."

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Blood Orange Negroni Ingredients

Instructions:

For the drink

Combine campari, gin, sweet vermouth, and pour over

1 oz. campari 1 oz. gin 1 oz. sweet vermouth

ice.

Top with blood orange soda and stir well.

Garnish with thinly sliced clementines.

blood orange soda Garnish

If you can't find blood orange soda, substitute with fresh

clementines, thinly sliced

orange juice (navels, clementines, or blood oranges will work too). Add club soda and a little agave syrup if you like it sweet.

“Ask Us Something!�

Let us know how can we improve!

Let us know your favourite foods!

Did you travel recently and discovered a local dish you want to share?

Have you been to a local restaurant and ate something unique, we want to know all about it!

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