LiveWell Yaki Soba Noodles (vegan too!)

Check out the LiveWell Yaki Soba Noodles with Garlic Vegetables from Plaza Cafe. This dish is available at each of the Dining Services' restaurants on a rotating basis. It's delicious and it's vegan. The noodles contain these ingredients: noodles, celery, green and yellow onions, cabbage, canola, sesame and olive oils, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and ground ginger.

Nutrition Facts for these noodles:
(per 8oz)
279 calories, 9g fat, 40g carbs, 5g fiber, 11g protein.

I paired these noodles with steamed vegetables (broccoli is one of my favorites).
Delicious, healthy, animal-product-free!

Energy Drinks - Do They Work?

Do Energy Drinks Work? Well, the answer to that question depends on what you mean by "work." Humans derive energy from any food that contains calories. Put simply, calories = energy and therefore food/beverages = energy.

But is there some magical formula in energy drinks that provides you with an extra burst of energy? Maybe, but it's probably mostly a side effect of caffeine and/or herbal additives like guarana.

If you need more energy, here are some more substantiated ways to obtain it:

1. Eat regularly (don't skip meals; try to eat every 3-4 hours; eat breakfast!)

2. Sleep well. Ok, college students, I know this is a tough one. You need sleep and you probably need more of it than you're getting. Try napping too!

Check out 10 Nap Tips at http://wellness.ucsd.edu/documents/10NapTips.ppt

3. Exercise regularly.

4. Manage your stress levels.

More questions? Contact me!

Southwestern Vegetarian Salad Special

Plaza Cafe has specialty salads in the refrigerated areas of their rotisserie station (in the middle of the restaurant). This Southwestern Vegetarian salad has a black bean burger atop romaine lettuce, tomatoes, corn, shredded cheese, avocado, cilantro and green onions. It's your choice of dressing from the salad bar.



This salad is quick (it's already made for you!), healthy, and a good bargain at $5.95.

Hope you had a good Earth Week!

Earth Week's official celebrations conclude today but Dining Services remains committed to sustainability in many ways throughout the year. Many of our programs incorporate sustainable practices, such as Farm2U (local farmer's produce), Meatless Mondays (veggie meals take less energy to produce than meat-containing meals), and organic produce on our salad bars everyday.


Check out today's featured organic dinner at OVT, which is Organic Tomato Basil Pasta Primavera with organic vegetables and and organic tomato basil sauce.

(oh yeah, that's my pic to the right and yes, those are mini-Earth earrings!)

Earth Day - freebies at Plaza Cafe

Happy Earth Day!


I will be at Plaza Cafe's dining room from 11a-1p today for a special Earth Day RD in da House.

Do you have nutrition questions? Come by to chat! Plus I'll be giving away free local food samples.

And Plaza Cafe will be serving an organic lunch in celebration of Earth Day:

• Organic Eggplant Parmesan (vegetarian)
• Free Range Chicken Parmesan
• Organic Whole Wheat Pasta with Marinara (vegan)
• Steamed Organic Vegetables (Vegan)
• Whole Wheat Crust Pizza topped with Organic Vegetables (vegetarian)

Earth Week: Organic Meals and more!

Being green means a lot to Housing, Dining & Hospitality. The picture to the right shows just 3 of the ways that HDH is "green": we recycle, we minimize waste by using tiny trash cans as a reminder to "use less, waste less" and we have compostable cups if you need to "carry out."

Celebrate Earth Week with Dining Services by joining us for our featured organic meals at these locations:

Monday 4/19-23: Places & Markets
Tuesday 4/20: Canyon Vista and Foodworx
Wednesday 4/21: Cafe Ventanas
Thursday 4/22: Plaza Cafe
Friday 4/23: OVT

Check out more Earth-friendly details on HDH's Major Planet blog: http://majorplanethdh.blogspot.com/

Soup and Salad, So Simple

A meal from Dining Services does not always have to be an entree with 2 sides. Sometimes a simple meal of soup and salad may suffice.

Here is a photo of my salad (garbanzo beans, mushrooms, broccoli, cucumbers, shredded cheese, sunflower seeds with Italian dressing) and soup (beef and vegetable.)

The high volume from the liquid in the soup and the fiber in the vegetables made this meal very filling for not-too-many calories.

Quickest and Healthiest Snack for Busy Students

Your parents have been imploring you to eat fruit since you were a baby. And now, that's my job! Here is a picture of the fruit available at Cafe Ventanas (ERC).

Fruit is a very convenient and healthy snack solution for busy students. All fruit is good for you. Try to have a variety of different colored fruits throughout your day.

Fruits that travel well in your backpack: apples, oranges, tangerines, clementines, bananas.

Drinking small amounts of 100% juice is fine but aim to eat mostly whole fruit for the best nutritional benefit.

Tea Party

Are you trying to limit soda but bored by plain water? There is a healthy beverage solution when you'd like some flavor without the sugar; it's TEA! Dining Services has hot tea and iced tea available everyday. This pictures shows the iced tea dispenser at OVT on Marshall College.
Tea's natural, unsweetened flavor is great but if you need to sweeten it, try just one sugar packet. (That's a whole lot less than soda and juice.) Plus tea has some antioxidant properties. Be well!

What the Pho?

Vietnamese-style Pho is served every Tuesday at Plaza Cafe (Revelle College.) Plaza's Pho is a tasty soup with vegetarian broth, noodles, veggies and your choice of chicken or tofu. In this picture, I also added some sriracha hot sauce.

Dining Services likes to include cuisine from around the world. What kind of international foods would you like to see served in Dining Services?

Cereal, An Anytime Meal

Each Dining Services restaurant has cereal available all day in these nifty dispensers.

Cereal is a quick and convenient meal solution that you can eat any time of the day! Aim for the higher fiber choices or mix and match your favorites into the same bowl. Pour non-fat or low fat milk (or soymilk or lactose-free milk if preferred) over your cereal or mix in some yogurt in the mornings. Cereal is in these dispensers in the restaurants and available in boxes at the Places & Markets.

In the restaurants, milk can be found in the "moo" dispensers and lactose-free milks can be found in the refrigerated sections. The Places & Markets also have nonfat, lowfat, regular, lactose-free and soy milk options.

Come meet Chef Vaughn and me today!

Chef Vaughn (in the white coat) and I will be at Farm2U outside Roger's Place & Market today at 3:3opm. Come by and see what we are cooking up. There will be free samples!

And of course you can also pick up some fresh and local produce while you're at it. Hope to see you there!

Vegetarian? Flexitarian? Check it out!

Here is a delicious meal from Plaza Cafe. It's vegetarian but even a non-vegetarian could get into it! This meal is a penne pasta with sun-dried tomato and feta cheese with a side of steamed zucchini. I also added a salad with some kidney and garbanzo beans to bump up the protein.

Just the Facts, Ma'am

Swirl is a healthy iced drink available at Plaza Cafe, OVT, Cafe V and Canyon Vista. Swirl comes in a regular 100% juice form and in a Swirlite version, which is lower in calories because it's sweetened with sucralose.

New this week: all Swirl dispensers have the Nutrition Facts labels on them. Check out the labels the next time you're in the mood for a sweet, icy treat.

This photo shows the Cherry Snow Swirl label at Plaza Cafe.