Saturday, January 28, 2006

Chocolate tasting results and meal demonstration list

Last night was the first Phit Chicks Chocolate Tasting and Healthy Meals Demonstration at my home. I say "first" because I'm hoping they'll be another! I don't know about my students, but I certainly enjoyed myself.

So today I get the pleasure of passing on the notes from the cooking demo and the results of the chocolate tasting!

First, the meal demonstration. We prepared five lunches and five dinners in about an hour and ten minutes. The shopping list can be purchased locally; I got nearly all the ingredients at Price Chopper for under $70. I bought the pork tenderloin at Whole Foods and the Barilla Plus pasta at HyVee. With apologies to the "real" cooking demonstrations, I attempted to show how a busy woman tries to create healthy meals.

Here's what we created:

Mixed greens salad with warm shrimp & asparagus
Mixed greens salad with Italian Chicken strips
Italian Chicken breast (or strips) with side spinach salad
Curry chicken wrap (whole wheat tortilla and some shredded low-fat cheese)
Curry Chicken served with brown rice and sautéed zucchini w/mushrooms and red peppers
Pork loin medallions served with pasta with zucchini, mushrooms and red peppers (mix the pasta with the veggies)
Pork loin with sweet potatoes, side salad
Italian Chicken breast (or tenders) with acorn squash slices
Pasta with shrimp and asparagus and white wine sauce
Roast beef in slow cooker (or beef strips) in onion sauce with carrots and barley

You can download the entire list (with a few additional ideas and a Shopping List) in a Word document if you'd like. It's available here on my PhitChicks website. (newby blog users: you can click on any bold word or phrase and get to a link with more information)

Now, for the chocolate winners.

With over a dozen to choose from, the Phit Chicks chose their favorites and then scored them based on the calories vs. taste.
The Phit Chicks found these three chocolates the most likely to be worthy of 10 minutes on the treadmill:
  1. Christopher Elbow
  2. Chocolate-dipped strawberries from Classy Chocolates
  3. Cappacino Truffles from Whole Foods

These three got the most votes (meaning the most people picked them up and tried them) AND the highest scores. This highly scientific scoring system (yeah right) allowed Phit chicks to give a "10" to indulgences VERY worth 10 minutes on the treadmill and a "1" to anything that was a waste of calories. Christopher Elbow's Bananas Foster and Rosemary Caramel rated 8.8. Next was Classy Chocolates yummy dipped strawberries with 7.5 and then Whole Foods Truffles with 6.2. The Dove chocolates were a close fourth place.

Christopher Elbow is located in the Crossroads District, Classy Chocolates is on the square in Liberty, and unfortunately, the closest Whole Foods is in Overland Park at 91st & Metcalf.

A special thanks to Phit Chick Cheryl C-T. for bringing us Mozart Chocolate Liqueur in honor of Mozart's 250th birthday. It sort of deserved it's own category. Only four people were brave enough to try the yummy stuff, but it scored a 7.8 out of 10!

Thanks to all Phit Chicks who took time to attend and participate! And double Kudos to those of you who walked or did yoga this morning.