Here’s what I did:

1) Rinse and completely dry 1 pint of fresh, raw cranberries.
2) Melt 1 bag of milk chocolate chips in the microwave. (You’ll need about 1 bag of chocolate chips per pint of cranberries.)
3) Coat each cranberry with chocolate and set on wax paper. (I had trouble with my chocolate seizing so I melted chocolate, spread the chocolate on wax paper, and coated each cranberry in chocolate that way. I then separated the cranberries and set them individually on wax paper.)
4) Refrigerate to set the chocolate.

I love these chocolate-covered cranberries. Some of the cranberries are solid and firm, but some of the cranberries break as you bite so you get a surprise burst of tart cranberry juice with chocolate… I think it’s delicious!

How well did it go over at Christmas? Not well. I made 4 pints of cranberries and I estimate less than 1 pint of them got eaten over two days. This was one of those lucky situations where I made something I loved to eat so at least when I got stuck with leftovers, they were leftovers I loved to eat. I did learn an important lesson: Making food that no one eats, no matter how much I love it, is a waste of money.

The fresh cranberries cost $3.99 a pint. Hershey Toll House Milk Chocolate chocolate chips were on sale for $2.50. Here is what you get nutritionally from one batch (1 pint of raw cranberries + one bag of Hershey Milk Chocolate chocolate chips) for about $7:

1632 calories
222 g Carbohydrates
99 g Fat
22 g Protein

Enjoy! Let me know if you have any suggestions!

I modified the recipe quite a bit. I don’t cook often, and I am of Scandinavian and Irish heritage, so I had NO spices in my kitchen – sea salt, black pepper, and paprika – that’s it. (My mom doesn’t eat marinara sauce because it’s “too spicy” if that tells you anything…)

I’m cheap and lazy so I didn’t want to pick up all nine spices that the original recipe calls for, so I bought “Less Sodium” Lawry’s Seasoned Salt for $1.66. One can of garbanzo beans was $.66. I had olive oil on hand.

Here’s what I did:

1) Preheat oven to 350°.
2) Drain, rinse, and dry one can of chickpeas (also ceci bean, garbanzo bean, chana, sanagalu Indian pea, Bengal gram).
3) Toss chickpeas, 1 Tbsp of olive oil, and 1 Tbsp of Lawry’s Seasoned Salt.
4) Spread chickpeas in a single layer on a baking sheet.
5) Roast at 350° for 50 minutes or until brown.

They are pretty tasty! They remind me of a cross between soy nuts and roasted pumpkin seeds. Eddie suggested roasting for closer to an hour and I agree because I like the crunchy chickpeas the best. My version is pretty salty – if you’re using Lawry’s, you might want to use less than 1 Tbsp.

These seasoned roasted chickpeas are tasty, but be careful not to eat the whole batch: There are more calories here than you might think. Nutritionally, here’s what you get per batch, all for about $1.00:

497 Calories
70 g Carbohydrates
7 g Fat
21 g Protein

Enjoy, let me know if you have any suggestions!

My local grocery store sells a Crunch Pak Apple Snacker for $2.99 (4.75 oz. package), which is not a terrible price, but I wondered how much it would cost if I assembled a similar snack myself at home. I substituted Wheat Thins Honey Wheat Stix because I like them better than pretzels.

Pack a Pak  Mixed Apple Slices
14 oz. bag/about 3 servings per bag
$2.99/3 servings = $1 per serving
(You could make this even less if you slice an apple yourself and don’t mind if your apple slices turn brown. Or if you could just eat an apple whole.

Sharp Cheddar Cheese (1 lb)
16-1 oz. servings per pound
$3.99/16 1 oz. servings = $0.25 per 1 oz. serving

Wheat Thins Honey Wheat Stix
8 oz. box/8 servings per box
$3.50/8 servings = $0.44 per 14 stix serving

Total = $1.79 (6 oz.)

So what does my $1.79 version of the snack get you nutritionally?
My snack (vs. Crunch Pak snack)
6 oz. (4.75 oz.)
Calories 320 (240)
Carbs 44g (29g)
Fat 13g (10g)
Protein 9g (8g)

I think I’ll stick to making my own apple, cheese, Wheat Thins Stix snack, unless I’m in a pinch. I’m always looking for easy, inexpensive, healthy vegetarian snacks. If you have one, please share!

I am a poor graduate student so I need to cut costs and save money. I recently had to give up buying flavored mocha drinks at coffee shop chains – I just can’t afford to pay over $5 USD for a coffee drink, no matter how tasty it is. Even a large cup of black coffee from the campus coffee shop is $1.50. Buying coffee at school once a day, every day, for a week would cost $7.50 per week, $30 per month, or $360 per year. Ouch!

I also had to stop buying expensive coffee to keep at home. I can’t afford to pay over $8 for Caribou Coffee brand or over $9 for Starbucks brand coffee to brew at home. I recently switched to Eight O’Clock Coffee, which costs under $6 and tastes fine. There is also a $2 coupon for Eight O’Clock coffee available at the Eight O’Clock Coffee website at the time this post was written.

Now that I found the Almond Joy coffee creamer, my coffee routine is complete and cheap. The Almond Joy taste is good and masks the taste of the Eight O’Clock coffee, and that helps me forget that I’m drinking cheap coffee. The sweetness satisfies my sweet tooth with less calories and fat than an expensive mocha – 15 calories and 1.5 grams of fat per tablespoon of creamer (coffee has basically no nutritional value) compared to 479 calories and 22 grams of fat in a Mint Condition from Caribou Coffee (large, skim milk, milk chocolate, no whip)! The price is very affordable and there is even a 55¢ coupon available from International Delight for one pint of coffee creamer.

My only concern is that the Almond Joy flavor is a “Limited Edition” so enjoy it while it lasts. Thank you International Delights for a yummy product! I highly recommend it.

Zumba
Minutes / Calories Burned
50 / 474, 60 / 733,  50 / 676, 60 / 734, 50 / 626, 50 / 810, 50 / 652, 50 / 790, 50 / 701, 50 / 779, 50 / 638, 50 / 668, 50 / 595
Average = 683 calories per class

Zumba Gold
Minutes / Calories Burned
50 / 461, 50 / 492
Average = 474 calories per class

What I learned is that the number of calories burned during Zumba varies widely depending on the content of the class. There are certain songs and dances that really get my heart rate up. For example, there is a significant increase in calories burned during those classes that include a quebradita (i.e. Zu Bailaito and Ritmo Caliente). Choreography that includes jumping or “riding a horse” also bump up the number of calories burned (Evacuate the Dance Floor, Jump in the Line, and Que Te Pica to name a few).

Stay tuned while I learn more from my new heart rate monitor! Zumba hugs!

I’m a Zumba instructor and I track my diet and exercise through a free online fitness diary called hotcal. Until now, I’ve been using the cardio exercise entry “Dancing, aerobic, ballet or modern, twist” to track Zumba. According to my height, weight, age, and sex; I should burn about 272 calories in one 50-minute Zumba class.

As an instructor, I exaggerate all of my movements and give 100% during each song of each class. After Zumba classes, I am drenched from head to toe in sweat. I don’t think 272 is an accurate measure of the calories I burn in a typical Zumba class. That is why I’ve decided to buy a heart rate monitor.

After a little research, I’ve settled on the Polar FT60 heart rate monitor. This hr monitor comes with the fabric chest band with the snap on/snap off electronic brain. The fabric band was important because I’ve used hr monitors with the plastic band with the built in electronics. It was very uncomfortable and I can’t image doing Zumba while wearing a hard plastic band around my rib cage. As I mentioned, Zumba makes me sweat hardcore. I need equipment that I can rinse or it will be ruined in no time.

The FT60 is not cheap, but I am also a long distance runner and biker. I don’t need a foot pod or gps capability now, but these are optional add-ons to the FT60. I would not like to buy another heart rate monitor any time soon, but I may want to accessorize later.

The other nice thing about the women’s FT60 is that it is attractive. The band is magenta and the face is white and silver with decorations on the face. If I have to wear this thing daily, I might as well like the way it looks.

Stay tuned as I try out my heart rate monitor for Zumba.

Until now, I have relied on free online calorie calculators and exercise diaries like hot cal to tell me how many calories I burn during exercise, including Zumba. I enter every food and beverage I consume each day and I enter every minute of exercise I do each day into hot cal. The site software uses my 1) Basal Metabolic Rate or BMR, 2) daily calorie needs based on my activity level, 3) net calorie needs, and 4) exercise bonus calories to calculate whether I’ve stayed within my daily calorie target to meet my personal fitness or weight loss goals.

I currently use the cardio exercise entry “Dancing, aerobic, ballet or modern, twist” to track Zumba. According to my height, weight, age, and sex; I should burn about 272 calories in one 50-minute Zumba class.

272 calories? That’s it? That can’t be right… Can it?

I think it’s time I invest in a heart rate monitor so I know exactly how many calories I burn in each Zumba class – not only for my own personal fitness, but to also allow me to use the music and moves that will get my Zumba class participants’ hearts pumping (safely, of course).

Stay tuned as I shop for my first heart rate monitor for Zumba!

The Zumba FAQ does vaguely address the question:

How many calories can I burn during a Zumba class?

The number of calories each person burns per class varies. However, depending on your body parameters (type, composition, intensity, range of motion), you can burn hundreds of calories per class.

A good source for calories burned is the list of Calories Burned During Exercise list from NutriStrategy.

Calories burned during exercise is affected by body weight, intensity of workout, conditioning level, and metabolism. Calories burned per hour are listed below for the example body weights of 130, 155, and 190 pounds.

According to NutriStragegy, “Dancing, aerobic, ballet or modern, twist” burns 354 calories per hour for a 130-pound person, 422 calories per hour for a 155-pound person, and 518 calories per hour for a 190-pound person.

The only way to know exactly how many calories you are burning during any given Zumba class is by wearing a heart rate monitor that is able to take into account your heart rate as well as your age, height, weight, and gender to calculate your personal amount of calories burned.

I mentioned to Beth that there are days I have to cut my routine short because I’ve run out of energy. She recommended two sites I could use to make sure I get the nutrition I need to keep me going strong each day.

www.NutritionData.com
NutritionData.com has a great Daily Needs Calculator. You enter your height, weight, age, and lifestyle. AND you can list exactly what activities you plan to do and how long you plan to do them.

The Daily Needs calculator returns your BMI, calories burned, recommended daily nutrient (carbs, protein, vitamins, minerals) quantities.

I really like being able to customize minutes per day of exercise. My workout and level of activity each day is very different for me and I think this will help me get through my varying workouts more easily.

www.PreventDisease.com
While preventing disease is not something I keep in mind while I work out at this time, PreventDisease.com features a long list of Health Tools including several Body Composition calculators, a link to the USDA Calorie & Nutrient Information Database, and even Sleep Tools.

Dunkin Donuts (20 oz.)
10 Calories
0 Fat Calories
15mg Sodium
0g Fat
2g Carbohydrates
1g Protein
0g Dietary Fiber

Caribou Coffee (Large)
5 Calories
0 Fat Calories
10mg Sodium
0g Fat
0g Carbohydrates
1g Protein
0g Dietary Fiber

Foldgers
I could not find nutritional info for Foldgers coffee, but according to the Foldgers website:

Our coffees are 100% pure coffee. Since coffee has no nutritional value, there’s no significant amount of calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, sodium, or potassium. In fact, one serving of brewed coffee contains less than 5 calories.

I take coffee black so the information above does not include milk or sugar. Roast (light, medium, dark) and preparation method does not seem to affect nutrition. What does affect coffee nutritional information is what you add to your coffee – like milk, cream, sugar, sweeteners, syrups, whip cream, etc.

If you are looking for a way to cut calories and fat, quit adding unnecessary calories and fat to your coffee!

Easy as pie… Right? Not for me. My FAVORITE coffee drink is Caribou Coffee’s Mint Condition.

Caribou Coffee Mint Condition (Medium w/2% Milk & Whip Cream)
460 Calories
160 Fat Calories
145mg Sodium
17g Fat
68g Carbohydrates
13g Protein
0g Dietary Fiber

Wow. That is an eye opener compared to regular black coffee, which I also enjoy. It will be hard, but I will save money, calories, and fat if I drink black coffee more often and drink a Mint Condition less often as a treat or reward. *sigh*