Real Food Talk + Rosti Potatoes with Goat Cheese & Arugula

Over the past few years, I’ve really made an effort to add more real food into my diet, and less and less processed stuff. I’ve always loved my fruits and veggies, but I realized that I was also eating foods with long ingredient lists more than I’d like. Don’t get me wrong, I eat things like protein bars all the time, but I’ve made an adjustment to eating things with more natural ingredient lists like this:

(Source: Zing Bars)

And look less often like this:

An awesome perk to blogging is that people like to send you samples of products to try and blog about. It’s always fun to get a package in the mail of a new product. As a personal rule, I only say yes to products that align with my beliefs and that I would consider buying in a store.

Recently I received an email to try new meal replacement bars from Robert Irvine, celebrity chef and host of the Food Network series Dinner: Impossible. Being that protein bars are one of my favorite choices for on-the-go eats and the fact that I probably can be considered a bar connoisseur from all the kinds I’ve tried, I welcomed some samples. This was the description I received of the bars:

Fit Crunch Baked Bars are the world’s only six-layer baked protein bars, which are high in protein and low in sugar, without compromising on taste and texture. The bars are available in two flavors – Cookies + Cream and Peanut Butter, and are made of simple ingredients including whey isolate, high protein chocolate and peanut butter. They have a candy bar crunch and soft cookie center, and are the perfect on-the-go snack for serious athletes as well as the everyday, busy and active person looking for a delicious meal replacement option. 

I feel the need to say that I don’t like talking negatively about anyone, especially people who send me samples of products I’m sure they put a lot of work into, but I owe it to my readers and myself to always be honest. When I received the bars and looked at the first thing I always do – its nutrition content – I was immediately put off by its long ingredient list. I can’t help but think that one of the reasons why America is so overweight is because we’re eating too many chemicals and not enough real foods.

The ingredient list kind of reminded me of Balance bars, which I used to eat all the time and still eat on occasion, so I still would have given Fit Crunch a try, had it not been for the sneaky gelatin in the bars. As someone who tries to avoid gelatin, I have found it recently in some unlikely places like yogurt and these bars. Some people like eating gelatin because of its supposed benefits, including aiding in digestion and joint recovery,  but eating collagen from animal skins is on my list of things I say thanks but really, no freaking thank you to. This is the first time I’ve seen it in protein bars before.

Because of this, I didn’t try the bars, though I did give them to my hubby to test out. His feedback was that they were “just alright” and “not the best bars I’ve ever eaten.”

In their defense, the Fit Crunch people didn’t claim that the bars were all natural, though they did describe them as “made of simple ingredients,” which in my book, shouldn’t include a lot of ingredients that aren’t easily pronounced.

Along with the bars, I also received Robert Irvine’s Mission: Cook! cookbook. The book contains a bunch of appealing vegetarian recipes with short ingredient lists, a few of which I’ve tried already. The one I’ve really liked is the recipe for rosti potatoes with goat cheese and wilted arugula:

I altered a few ingredient amounts and lightened the dish up a bit using less oil and light butter. I also made smaller potato entrees instead of one large one as in traditional rosti potatoes, and it came out really tasty. Here’s the recipe:

Rosti Potatoes with Goat Cheese & Arugula

Foodie Loves Fitness

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 40 minutes mins

Servings 3

Calories 340 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 3 medium around 8 oz Yukon gold potatoes
• 2 TBSP light butter
• 2 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
• 2 cups baby arugula
• Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

 

• To prep the potatoes: peel them, then grate using a box grater or food processing grating blade. Place grated potatoes in a towel, then wring it out a few times to squeeze out excess liquid. Put potatoes in a large bowl.
• On low heat, melt the butter in a heavy saute pan. Pour the butter over the grated potatoes, season with salt and pepper to taste, and toss together well.
• Form potato mixture into 6 patties.
• Heat vegetable oil in the saute pan over medium heat.
• Place 3 potato patties in the pan, then flatten them out a bit by pressing down with a spatula. Cook until brown one the bottom, then flip over. Place half of the arugula and goat cheese on top of each potato pancake, then place the remaining potato patties on top. Pat down to flatten again. Cook for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.
• Using a large spatula, carefully flip over each potato pancake. Top with the remaining arugula and goat cheese, and cook for another 10-12 minutes.
• Transfer the rosti potatoes to a large plate, and serve while they're still hot.

Nutrition

Calories: 340kcalCarbohydrates: 46gProtein: 9gFat: 15gSaturated Fat: 4gFiber: 4g

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Question: What are your feelings on the use of lots of unrecognizable ingredients and chemicals in our foods these days? Is this something you pay a lot of attention to and avoid, consume in moderation, or accept as how the food industry is and don’t feel to be harmful?