Invaluable Advice for the College-Student-New-Age-Nester

EAT! Do it often, heathily and in sensible portions. As young women, we are busy with school, work and maintaining realtionships, and often either shun food all together or indulge because of stress, anger or plain boredom. This is not a kind thing to do to the most important person in your life:YOU! Because without your body, how else would you be able to study for those exams, work overtime, or pretzelize yourself during a yoga session? Food is the fuel that enables us to do amazing things.

The female population is so often bombarded with how to look and feel by the media that our diets start to spiral out of control. Do we eat? Do we not eat? Do we eat every two hours? Do we eat only bread? Do we eat only veggies, meat? What is going on?! The answer is simple: Don't buy into the hype! Who cares if you don't have a 6-pack or a booty like Beyonce! What matters is that you are at a healthy weight for your height and age. A great site to find out both healthy weight and body fat is:http://www.cordianet.com/calculator.htm. New Age Nesting also recommends Anthea Paul's Real Girls Eat from her Girlosophy series and Nigella Lawson's Nigella Bites. Real Girls Eat is a great book for body image and has really great recipes that Anthea Paul stresses should be made with locally grown and if possible, organic veggies, fruit and meat. In Nigella Bites, Lawson has a great range of recipes including a section called "Temple Food," which she says is a term "for the soothing, pure, would-be restorative food I make for myself after one binge or late night too many"(223). The term, Temple Food, is so appropriate for those foods that make us glow and cleanse not only our physical well-being, but also our mental and spiritual.

In the spirit of revaluating our eating habits, New Age Nesting has borrowed a superb recipe from Fitness magazine that this Domestic Daisy tested out last night. Not only was it delicious, but also incredibly nutritious! Try out this "Temple Food" recipe and give New Age Nesting some input!

Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion and Spinach Quesadilla

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 cups of thinly sliced onion (or shallots; as pictured)

1 teaspoon of sugar

1/4 teaspoon of salt

9 ounces baby spinach

4 ounces semisoft goat cheese

4 8-inch whole-wheat flour tortillas

2 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced

Make it: Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, sugar and salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is a dark golden brown. Remove from pan. Add the spinach and 1 tablespoon water to the skillet; cook 2 minutes, or until spinach is just wilted. Remove from skillet and turn off heat. Spread a quarter of the goat cheese on each tortilla and top with tomato, onion and spinach; fold closed and press lightly. Heat the skillet and place two folded quesadillas in it; cook two minutes per side, or until golden brown and lightly crisp. Repeat. And then enjoy!

Recipe found in Fitness magazine (February 2009 issue, page 118)