Shownotes
Meet Ashlyn Nguyen, York University Peer Health Educator and the Project Lead on an exciting new Cookbook for the York University Community called FUEL- Feel Good University Eating and Living. The main goal of this project is to create a cookbook that will be a valuable resource which provides proactive approaches to healthy eating which will enhance your well-being on campus.
FUEL - Feel Good University Eating and Living Cookbook highlights the themes of accessibility, affordability, approachability, health and well-being, and balance to align with the priorities of university students. This Cookbook provides a vast array of recipes from many different cultures and backgrounds. It also enlightens and empowers readers on interesting topics that will help to attain balanced and healthy eating. FUEL is truly more than just your ordinary Cookbook.
In this episode, host Clifton A. Grant joins Ashlyn Nguyen in her kitchen as he goes on an educational journey of trying to cook a few of the delicious recipes contained in the cookbook. He also interviews and is educated by Ashlyn on many of the foundational and informative aspects of FUEL including finding out firsthand her motivation and inspiration of this impactful project.
Please join us for this fascinating and delicious conversation on a subject matter that we all love, Food. Healthy eating can be the foundation towards the difference of your overall emotional, psychological and physical Well-being.
FUEL - Feel Good University Eating and Living all that you need!
Resources
Link to the book
Learn more about student-centric health resources, workshops and events at:
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- @StudentLifeYU
- @YorkURecreation
To contact the Health Education and Promotion Team, you can reach us by:
- Email: schwhep@yorku.ca
- In-Person: 123N Bennett Centre For Student Services, York University Keele Campus
Transcripts
Clifton: Well-Being and YU would like to acknowledge many indigenous nations have long standing relationships with the territories where York university campuses are located, which precede the establishment of York University. Our podcast is produced and recorded on the traditional territory of many indigenous nations. The area known as Tkaranto has been caretaken by the Anishinabek Nation, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and the Huron Wendat. It is now home to many First Nation, Inuit, and Metis communities. We acknowledge the current treaty holders, the Mississaugas of the credit First Nation. This territory is subject of the Dish with One spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement to peaceably share and care for the Great Lakes region.
Clifton: Hello, everyone. I'm really excited for this fun day. I'm with Aslyn Nguyen, who is the project coordinator of an exciting new book called FUEL, which is a cookbook for tips for meal planning for university students. Fuel stands for feel good university eating and living. A big congratulations to you, Ashlyn. I've really enjoyed going through your cookbook. How does it feel?
Ashlyn: Thank you so much, Clifton, for having me here today. It feels amazing to finally get this book out to the students. I'm super excited to be here today to chat more about the inspiration behind the book and how this book can be useful to other students.
Clifton: Again, a big congratulations, to you and your team for producing this for York University students and the entire York University community. I really loved exploring all the different recipes and all the tips and tricks that you have, but I especially love the acronym. Do you get the credit? Where did it come from?
Ashlyn: so, yes, I did come up with the name FUEL, and it's a bit of a cheesy acronym standing for feel good university eating and living. but, yeah, so when I was developing ideas for the title of this cookbook, I knew I had to incorporate the word FUEL somewhere in there. I didn't know whether to use it as an acronym or just to, weave it in there somewhere, but I felt like fuel was the perfect word to truly encapsulate all of the themes and ideas within this cookbook. Our main goal here is to provide students with tips and tricks and recipes to support them in building a fueling diet so that they can get through their busy student day.
Clifton: Exactly.
Ashlyn: so, yeah, fuel in there was a non negotiable, and I'm really happy that you enjoy the acronym. It's a bit cheesy, but not cheesy at all.
Clifton: I love the acronym. It just reminds me as a student, we need energy for that twelve hour day. 14 hours day, and we need the fuel to get through the day.
Ashlyn: Exactly.
Clifton: So let's start at the beginning. In the cookbook, you mentioned your passion and desire to create this for fellow students who are struggling to prepare meals while at university. So please tell us about your own personal experiences trying to create meals here as a student living in residence or on campus.
Ashlyn: Yeah, so, having completed two years of my, undergraduate studies already, in both years, I lived on residence at York. And coming into my first year of university, I was so excited to move into res, living away from home for the first time. And as a big foodie, I was so excited to have my own kitchen and to cook for myself. I had big, big plans. I thought I was even going to be able to host dinner parties with friends. And unfortunately, reality was far from that expectation. I quickly realized with a busy student schedule that cooking for yourself becomes a bit tedious. And I was absolutely shocked, to feel that way because I was so passionate about food, cherished every single meal, loved cooking for myself. So having all of that passion that I had for food pretty much dwindle away to nothing was such a shocker and really proved how challenging being a student and cooking for yourself really was. And, so when I joined the, health education promotion team and became a peer health educator myself, this was a gap in resources that I wanted to bridge.
Clifton: Right.
Ashlyn: and so the development of this cookbook stems from my experience really struggling with maintaining strong nutrition and eating habits as a student living away from home for the first time. And I wanted to support my peers who I knew also would struggle with a similar challenge, especially those of us who maybe have never even cooked, while living at home. And this being a new skill that they have to develop while living away from home for the first time.
Clifton: So you really recognize this early on and from your experiences from first year, not only yourself, you saw this also in your peers.
Ashlyn: I could imagine, yeah. So living with roommates and having lots of friends who lived on campus, this was a common struggle for all of us, trying to figure out what was the best way to fuel ourselves for the day when cooking was sometimes the last priority of ours after a long day in classes or writing exams.
Clifton: Right. Such great information for all of us. And I'm so excited to try some of the meals that you came today. But just before we, get into, you have all this experience now. You're going into your third year. I always like to say, if you could talk to that first year, Ashlyn, what advice and what tips would you give her or anyone going into their first year about preparing for meals?
Ashlyn: So over the last two years, I've definitely built my repertoire of tips and tricks to make cooking and eating on campus easier. One of those being to experiment with meal planning. this is something that I really started to prioritize in my second year, after my first year, really struggling with maintaining good eating habits and pretty much just eating sandwiches when I could, which would take less than two minutes to prepare. But meal planning is great because you allocate some time on your weekend to cooking, and you can prep meals ahead of time for the week to come, meaning all you need to do is grab and go as you go throughout the week. and it's really useful in terms of eliminating that thinking time and also that cooking time during the busy Monday to Fridays. In addition to this, my biggest tip, and my holy grail trick is to find ways to utilize pre prepped,or, precooked food. So, for example, purchasing precooked chicken or pre marinated proteins at the grocery store, looking at where you can, buy prepped soups, for example, that are just grabbed to go, makes cooking a lot easier, even if it's just on some of the components. So let's say you're trying to build, a chicken bowl for yourself. Maybe you only need to make the grains instead of having to also cook the chicken. If you purchase rotisserie chicken from the grocery store the weekend before, it's a great tip. You can also utilize frozen fruits and, preserved ingredients, , as well to just, again, cut down on time of actually having to cook and just focus on pulling together a good meal in the time that you're willing to allocate.
Clifton: So it's all about saving time.
Ashlyn: Exactly right.
Clifton: And sounds economical, too, which we'll get into in a second. So what do we have in front of me? This looks so delicious. I can't wait to eat some of this after.
Ashlyn: Glad to hear. So, the first recipe I have for you to taste test today is the overnight oats recipe in the book. It's actually the first recipe put in the book, and it was developed by myself as well as photographed by myself.
Clifton: So it's easy to find right in the book, right at the beginning.
Ashlyn: Exactly. And this is a great example of how you can meal prep. so with overnight oats, you can prepare them a couple of days in advance or even just the night before. You mix together just a couple of ingredients, and it pulls together really easily, and you can just grab and go the next morning.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: It's even portable. If you want to put it in a little container or a mason jar, you can grab it on the go to school.
Clifton: So I can take this on my way to class?
Ashlyn: Exactly.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: So today I have two different variations of it, which is another great component of this recipe is that it's super customizable towards your preferences and what ingredients you have on hand. The first one I have utilizes fresh ingredients, so I have fresh blueberries as well as some crushed walnuts on top. The second option, comes with dried cranberries as well as some pumpkin seeds. And it utilizes dry ingredients, which could be a really useful way to, use toppings for students who are living in traditional dorm.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: Because you don't need to store it in a fridge. You can just kind of just have it on the side and top it.
Clifton: So I have the one with the dried cranberries and pumpkin seeds.
Ashlyn: Okay, go ahead.
Clifton: And that's on the oats, right?
Ashlyn: Exactly. So the oats, to make the base is, just three ingredients, actually. So all you need are some rolled oats, a milk of your choice. So if you're dairy free, you can opt for some nut milks or whatever milk you prefer, and then some sort of liquid sweetener. So, as you can see, super general recipe. Really customizable to what ingredients you have on hand.
Clifton: Okay, perfect. Let me try it right now.
Ashlyn: Go for it
Clifton: Good. So delicious. Aslyn. Oh, my goodness. I was not expecting this aslyn. This is giving me fuel already. I can feel the fuel going through my body.
Ashlyn: I love to hear it.
Clifton: Yeah.
Ashlyn: I'm glad you really enjoyed the recipe. It's one of my favorites in the book, and it's super easy. So a great one for all students to utilize.
Clifton: And this is overnight. I would prepare it from the night before, right?
Ashlyn: Yeah, exactly.
Clifton: So it doesn't seem like it takes long.
Ashlyn: No. So it's about five minutes to make the recipe, just a couple of mixing of ingredients. And again, you can just make it the night before, grab and go the next morning. So you absolutely have no cook time in the morning.
Clifton: Awesome. I love that. So delicious. As I like to say, yummy for my tummy. Let's go to our next station.
Ashlyn: Absolutely.
Clifton: So, Ashlyn, one of the things that you talk about in the book is about accessibility and affordability of foods. Usually those two things are in conflict with one another. Most people don't think you can eat healthy and eat well and still be affordable. So can you just break some of those myths for us as we learn about some of the foods in front of us.
Ashlyn: Absolutely. So affordability and accessibility are two of the main themes that we centered around for this cookbook. And so all the recipes and the articles included in the book try to highlight these two things and try to bridge the gap between affordability and accessibility.
Clifton: Got you.
Ashlyn: And a great example of a recipe that does. This is our banana fritters recipe, which I have in front of us, today. We're going to make it together. Yeah. We're going to collaborate and make this together. It's a great utilization of, overripe bananas that you may have sitting around on your countertop, or even as a great way of, having an affordable option for ingredients. So, for example, you can often buy ripe bananas, from the grocery store in the not perfect produce section and it's a super affordable option.
Clifton: Those old bananas I have in my house, I can now use them for my recipe.
Ashlyn: Exactly.
Clifton: I don't have to throw them out.
Ashlyn: Exactly. So let's get started with the recipe, why don't we? So I'm going to start with mashing our bananas.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: And I'll ask you to start measuring some of the wet and dry ingredients first.
Clifton: Okay.should I put them in my bowl?
Ashlyn: You can, yeah, go ahead and put in your bowl. And then we'll transfer it to my bowl.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: So, yeah, I'll ask you to just measure out some vanilla, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Clifton: Okay.and then I will mash these bananas. So this says, add, one tablespoon of vanilla.
Ashlyn: And in regards to affordability and accessibility, we have a great article within the book that's titled busting what, it means to eat a balanced diet. And it talks about some of the common misconceptions that we have around healthy eating. One of those being that, frozen and canned options aren't as, healthy as fresh options.
Clifton: Right.
Ashlyn: And this can often present us with a barrier in thinking that frozen and canned food options that are typically more affordable than fresh options aren't good for us and therefore aren't accessible for healthy eating.
Clifton: Yes, that perception is healthier
Ashlyn: and this is absolutely not true. So with frozen and canned foods, they are often, um, preserved at their peak times, meaning that these ingredients contain the most nutrients that they could possibly have. So this could even mean that they're more healthy than the fresh produce and options we have at the grocery store.
Clifton: Wow.
Ashlyn: And because of this, it's a great option. For students who are looking for easy ways to store ingredients as well, putting that in the freezer, making them last longer, as well as canned options that also preserve ingredients. but again, helping students on a budget purchase nutritious ingredients, that work for them and their potentially, financial situations.
Clifton: Right.
Ashlyn: I really encourage students, as well as another tip, to really see where they can utilize canned and,frozen goods. it's definitely something that I relied on as a student living in res. and so, yeah, definitely frozen and canned options. Don't stray away from those. They're fantastic for accommodating student budgets and the goal of building a healthy and balanced diet.
Clifton: And it sounds like I can afford that.
Ashlyn: Exactly. All right, so now that the bananas, are well mashed, we can add in the ingredients that you've been setting aside.So do you want to just pour that into my bowl?
Clifton: Sounds good. I hope I got it right.
Ashlyn: We're trusting it.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: Trusting the process.
Clifton: Trusting the process.
Ashlyn: Okay.
Clifton: Sounds good.
Ashlyn: All right.
Clifton: It is all in the bowl to be mixed up.
Ashlyn: Okay. So the last step before we can get to frying is just separating out a cup of flour. So if you could do that for me while I mix in the ingredients you placed in my bowl.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: I'll use one of our.
Ashlyn: My God, smell that.
Clifton: Oh, yes. Smells great. All mixed in.
Ashlyn: You can really smell the cinnamon and the nutmeg, which going to be so great once it's fried.
Clifton: And I, uh, have to tell you, Ashlyn is standing right beside you. I'm getting hungry. It smells so good.We've got this recipe and then another one to go, so got lots to eat. And, Ashlyn, how long would you say that this takes? Beginning to end?
Ashlyn: Beginning to end? I would say about ten minutes for prep and then maybe another ten minutes for frying. So it's pretty quick.
Clifton: 20 minutes.
Ashlyn: 20 minutes and super quick, super easy, which is what all of us students need.
Clifton: Right.
Ashlyn: So now that our flour is well combined, you can see that we have this thick, batter like consistency.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: And we can get started on frying then.
Clifton: Sounds good.
Ashlyn: Okay, so I'll ask you to just heat up the oil for us, Clifton. So we just have about a couple tablespoons of oil. We've used avocado oil today, and, we'll just wait for that to heat up on medium high heat before we place in our fritters.
Clifton: All right.This reminds me, if I'm first year, what equipment can I bring in to my residence? Or what would you recommend? That we bring in.
Ashlyn: That's a great question. So it does differ a little bit whether you're living in traditional or suite style dorms. But in general, this is what I feel like be a good list for someone living in a suite style dorm or in an apartment.
Clifton: Right.
Ashlyn: If, you're living in a traditional dorm with a communal kitchen, you might have to minimize this a little bit, but this is what's worked for me. In suite style residences, I like to really minimize the amount of equipment I have to store in my dorms. Generally, you're with roommates, you don't have a ton of space, and so you want to maximize all the pieces of equipment that you're going to bring. And so, for example, I like to have one good pan and pot and the sizes. And in regards to sizes, I like to have it medium sized so that it's the most versatile for any serving recipe I need to make. Having one really great pan and pot means you can really open up the repertoire of recipes you can create in your dorm. In addition to this, I like to have one good cutting board and one really great chef knife. Again, a knife that can be multipurpose and used for a variety of different purposes is really important in terms of minimizing equipment. And then from there, in regards to appliances, for example, you might really love your air fryer at home.
Clifton: I do.
Ashlyn: I love my air fryer.
Ashlyn: but I think it's really important when you're selecting equipment to see what doesn't overlap and what are you going to use the most often. So, for example, if you're someone who loves smoothies, will drink smoothies three or four times a week, definitely bring a blender.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: But if you're someone who is like, I don't really have smoothies often, leave that at home. If it's not something you're going to use every day or at least multiple times a week, don't go for it.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: and try to pick appliances that don't overlap in functionality. So, for example, although you love your air fryer clips.
Clifton: Yes, I do.
Ashyln: If you have an oven in your dorm, try to stick to using the oven for those purposes. There's little recipes that will make use of one over the other, and so just having the one appliance to do that one sort of task is good enough. Important in minimizing equipment.
Clifton: Almost all you can want. Everything in one. Everything in one.
Ashyln: It's all about versatility and multipurpose.
Clifton: There you go.
Ashyln: Okay, so now that the oil is heated well, to medium high heat. We're just going to drop a few dollops of, our batter in the pan and flatten it out.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: So we'll give this a try. That. Wow.
Clifton: Yes. I can hear the sparkling.
Ashlyn: And then we'll flip it when it gets golden brown on that one side and then do the same on the other.
Clifton: So do you have a favorite recipe?
Ashyln: Oh, that is such a good question. My favorite recipe is a recipe that I didn't create myself, but my colleague Valentina did. And it's the mediterranean pasta salad recipe. I am a big fan of pasta salad, and it's such a great recipe to meal prep because you can keep in the fridge, and pasta salad is best eaten cold. And so I love to just throw it in the fridge, eat it throughout the week, and it makes use of my favorite ingredients. I love olives, I love feta cheese. And so it's the perfect one for me.
Okay, so this looks like it's just about ready, right?
Clifton: So it's golden brown on both sides.
Ashlyn: How is it?
Clifton: Oh, my, Ashlyn, it's so good.
Ashlyn: I'm glad you like it.
Clifton: This is so delicious. And I can taste the cinnamon, which is one of my favorite ingredients.
Ashlyn: Yes.It really gives it a nice little flavor and kick to it.
Clifton: I could eat five of those. It was so good.
Ashlyn: Thank you.
Clifton: That's number two. That's yummy for my tummy.
Ashlyn: Yay.
Clifton: And then we have another recipe over here.
Ashlyn: Yeah. So another one of the myths that we also talk about in this book is how commonly cultural foods aren't seen as healthy. So, Clifton, let me ask you a question. What are the main meals or foods that come to mind when you think of a healthy diet?
Clifton: I always think of salads. So I think of tomatoes and avocados, m carrots and cucumbers and things like stuff that my mom throws in her garden. It's almost like if it doesn't come from the garden, it's not healthy.
Ashlyn: Exactly. So often we are fed this idea that only these stereotypical, commonly seen western meals can be healthy and that, our cultural foods that we like to enjoy at home are not as healthy or cannot be a part of a nutritious diet. And this is absolutely a myth. Rather, all cultures have dishes that promote a balanced diet and contain ingredients that are fueling for you as a student. And so it was super important for us, as the creators of this book, to ensure that we myth busted this exact,notion. And to include recipes, that stem from our cultural heritages and showcase how you can build a balanced diet using these cultural dishes. And so today, in front of us, our last recipe of the day is one that stems from my vietnamese heritage. And I'll be teaching you how to roll vietnamese spring rolls.
Clifton: Okay. I'm excited. This looks delicious already.
Ashlyn: Yeah. I love this recipe because not only is it, super nutritious for you, has protein, has carbs, has fresh veg in it, but also, it's really great because it's cooling. So in the summer, it's the perfect recipe. And it's great for on the go eating because you're rolling the rolls. You can just eat them as you go walking down the street, bring them to class, eat them with your hands. So it's super easy to bring around. and it's super customizable as well. You can really pack them with any sort of ingredients you like. It doesn't have to be traditional, but today I've brought some traditional vietnamese ingredients to put in these spring rolls.
Clifton: So you have your items already boxed?
Ashlyn: Yes.
Clifton: And then all you have to do is roll them.
Ashlyn: Exactly.
Clifton: Sounds very easy.
Ashlyn: So all that you'll need, for today at least, the traditional version of, vietnamese spring rolls are rice paper sheets.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: and so these come dry in a package. And, you'll just need to wet them before using them. And I'll show you what that looks like.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: And then we have our fillings. So, when you're trying to select fillings, I'd recommend having some sort of carb source. So a great one is the burma celli noodles. This is also very traditional and commonly used in vietnamese cuisine. And then to select some veg and protein. So with protein, you can really put anything you like. Today I have boiled pork belly and shrimp and then some sort of crunchy veg. So I've brought cucumber in today, but I've seen lots of people use carrots and bell peppers as well. You can really experiment with what you like. And then I've also brought some traditional vietnamese herbs that you can put in, and they really pack a punch and great at elevating the flavor. Okay, so we'll get started on rolling then.
Clifton: All right.
Ashlyn: Um, so we'll each grab a rice paper sheet.
Clifton: So I have one and you have one.
Ashlyn: And in this bowl here, I just have some lukewarm water. And all I'm going to do is dip the entire rice paper in the water. And you just want it to wet all of the sides, but not get soft in your hands. You want to make sure you take it out before then. So it's only about 5 seconds.
Clifton: You're dipping this in the water?
Ashlyn: I'm dipping all the sides, yeah.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: That's for about 5 seconds. And we are good to go. And you're going to place it on your plate. And with me here today, on top of our plate, I have this device that my family actually, DIY. it's just made out of plastic mesh. You can commonly find it in craft stores or hardware stores. And it's a great method of making sure that the rice paper that will get tacky doesn't stick to your plate. Makes rolling a lot easier.
Clifton: Sounds like a very handy tool we have to put on our website for everybody to see.
Ashlyn: Yeah, it's a great tip to make this process a little bit easier.
Clifton: Sounds good.
Ashlyn: So we're just going to wait for the rice paper to, dry, and it will become a little tacky. It shouldn't be wet. It'll just be a little tacky. Before that, we can just take a look at our fillings and decide how we're going to fill them.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: We're going to place the fillings in the center of the rice paper sheet. Because it's shaped in a circle, doing it in the middle is best. And in a, lengthwise sort of fashion. So I'll show you what I mean as we build, I would recommend in regards to filling, starting off with some, burmicelli noodles as the base, placing on about two pieces of shrimp, two pieces of pork belly topping with a couple pieces of cucumber, and then herbs as you'd.
Clifton: Okay.I'm just following you, Ashlyn, so you lead the way.
Ashlyn: Got it. So we'll take some of our verbicelli noodles. So we'll just take a little bit out. And it's really to your preference how much you want to add of each ingredient. But, you want to make sure you're not overstuffing them.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: And as you can see, I'm kind of just spreading it out lengthwise so that we can roll, and make sure that it keeps in shape.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: And then we can select our protein. So have some shrimp and just sort of place it on top. Build upwards, just so you know.
Clifton: Ashlyn, I love shrimp.
Ashlyn: Shrimp is one of my favorite. Amazing. It's so great for you. Super filling.
Clifton: And then we have the pork belly, too. Everything goes in the middle, right?
Ashlyn: Correct.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: Some cucumber. Grab a couple pieces of that and then some herbs. So these are grown from my backyard. and some options here I have are thai, basil and some perilla leaves. So just place a couple of leaves as you see fit. Again, totally customizable. Sometimes I opt to not put any in. And I also get in trouble for that because my parents are like, you have to eat it with the herbs. But yeah. Okay. So once we built it, as you can see now, the rice paper is just tacky. And it's not wet.
Clifton: No.
Ashlyn: And we can get started on folding.
Clifton: Okay. Huh.
Ashlyn: So we'll start at the base of the rice paper, roll on one side, and you're going to take the edge, peel it off.
Clifton: All right. Okay, here we go. All right.
Ashlyn: And we're going to bring it over the center of the fillings and tuck under the center and pull tight.
Clifton: Tuck under. Okay.
Ashlyn: And then we're going to roll it forward a little bit and bring the center in.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: Bring the centers in the sides and then roll to complete. And there we have it.
Clifton: Wow.
Ashlyn: Should be a cylinder shape and nothing should be falling out.
Clifton: Yours looks better than mine, Ashlyn.
Ashlyn: Practice makes perfect. So we'll give it another go, but we'll just set this aside for now.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: And this is what's great about this recipe. You can prop a bunch of rolls in advance, and then you can, pack them away or just eat them altogether at the end.
Clifton: Okay. All right.
Ashlyn: You want to try this again, Clifton?
Clifton: Yes, I'll try one more time.
Ashlyn: Okay. Okay, so you're going to start off with the rice paper first. You're going to dip it into the water, 5 seconds.
Clifton: All the sides. Is that okay?
Ashlyn: Yes.
Clifton: Okay.
Ashlyn: Um, you're going to place it on your plate and device.
Clifton: On my plate and device.
Ashlyn: Let it dry a little bit.
Clifton: But again, your handy tool we're going to have on our website for everyone to see.
Ashlyn: Perfect. You can start thinking about what ingredients. So how did you feel about the last one? Do you feel like it was too full?
Clifton: Probably have too many. Too many ingredients.
Ashlyn: Okay.
Clifton: I got a little greedy, actually.
Ashlyn: No problem. So maybe cut down a little bit on the noodles. Cut down maybe on one of the pieces of protein. Your choice.
Clifton: All right, you can start.
Ashlyn: Yeah.
Clifton: Okay, so I'll have less noodles right in the center.
Ashlyn: Okay.
Clifton: That's good for noodles.
Ashlyn: Mhm.
Clifton: And I'll have some shrimp. Did I tell you that I love shrimp?
Ashlyn: You did tell me that you love shrimp.
Clifton: There you go. Ashlyn, can you buy a bag of frozen, uh, cooked shrimp for this recipe.
Ashlyn: Yeah, absolutely.
Clifton: It's already cooked and ready to go.
Ashlyn: You can absolutely do that. And like I said, any protein works here and it's a great. I love how you mentioned that because it plays along my tip of using precooked foods.
Clifton: Exactly.
Ashlyn: Minimize this cooking process. And honestly, if you have precooked proteins in this recipe, you're spending less than five minutes on cooked time.
Clifton: Wow.
Ashlyn: So, yeah, it's a great hack. Okay.
Clifton: So I have all my ingredients. A little lesser than the first one. I was a little ambitious.
Ashlyn: Hopefully this time goes better. So again, we're going to start at the base. Just peel off the rice paper at the base, and we're going to make sure it's pulled tightly over the center of the ingredients. Right? Yeah. Perfect. So tuck it under a little bit. Great. Roll it forward slightly.
Clifton: So I tuck it under?
Clifton: I roll it forward?
Ashlyn: Yes. And then you're going to tuck the edges in inwards.
Clifton: Okay. Tuck these edges.
Ashlyn: Yeah. Perfect.
Clifton: That's what I didn't do last time.
Ashlyn: Properly. Okay.
Clifton: And then you're just going to roll it forward to complete. How's that? Yay. Wow. Can I actually try it now?
Ashlyn: Absolutely.So I'm going to serve it for you with some, um, of this peanut sauce that we make at home. And it's a great way to increase the savoriness of the recipe. But again, you could opt to go without it. But it's, a great addition. Just serve you some on your plate, if that's okay with you.
Clifton: Yeah.
Ashlyn: So feel free to dip it in that as you taste test. I'll also have a bite.
Clifton: So good. Ashlyn, I have to say, this might be my new favorite recipe. This might be my new favorite recipe. Ashlyn, this is so good and easy to make.
Ashlyn: I'm glad you enjoyed, and you're already a rolling expert. How's the peanut sauce?
Clifton: Nice addition.
Ashlyn: Oh, I'm glad to hear the other.
Clifton: Two are yummy for my tummy, but this takes the cake.
Ashlyn: Oh, I'm so glad.
Clifton: and thank you for your great demonstrations. I learned so much today. Just before you go, can you talk about the connection between good eating and health and well being, especially with your background as one of our peer health educators at York U?
Ashlyn: Absolutely. The importance of it all, food, in regards to what you eat, it is the foundation of having strong physical as well as mental health. So, talk about each component individually. So oftentimes we don't really make the connection between food and mental health, but the two are absolutely connected. so, one of the topics that we talk about as peer health educators is food and mood, and how food affects your mood directly.
Clifton: Love that. Food and mood.
Ashlyn: And it has been biochemically proven that the brain and your stomach and your gut are directly connected through something called the gut brain access. So what exactly does that mean? So, to simplify it, it means that our gut, and obviously, the storage of all the food that we eat, has its own nervous system and is directly connected to our central nervous system, where our brain is. They're connected via nerves and neurotransmitters, which are these small chemicals that communicate throughout our body.
Clifton: Right?
Ashlyn: So you can imagine that if our gut isn't happy because we're not eating nutritious foods that are promoting a variety of nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, that that directly will affect our central nervous system, therefore affecting our mood, as well as cognitive processing. And you can imagine that for students who are focused on academic success, as well as just physical and mental well being, that this can be extremely, extremely, damaging. And so it's important that we think thoroughly about what we're feeding ourselves, because it does have a direct effect on how we feel, and how well we're able to concentrate in class as students. And then, obviously, food is directly connected to our physical health. Food is what fuels us. And so if we're not getting the appropriate amount of fuel and types of fuel, we're not going to feel good. We're not going to have the energy to go about our days, and feel physically well. So the two are absolutely interconnected, and it's super important that we consider nutrition and its role in other factors of our health.
Clifton: And so there's a strong interconnection between food well being and success at York University.
Ashlyn: Exactly.
Clifton: Wow. Amazing. Ashlyn, I've learned so much today, and I really want to congratulate you once again on this outstanding project. And you mentioned that the main goal of this cookbook is to create positive approaches to well being on campus.
Really want to say mission accomplished.
Ashlyn: Thank you so much.
Clifton: Congratulations, and thank you for spending time with me today. I really enjoyed it.
Ashlyn, thank you so much. It was so lovely to get to try out all these recipes with you and was so happy to get to share my passion about what the inspiration of this book comes from and share the story behind it with our students.
And once again, that's fuel, which is feel good university eating and living.
I really want to thank our special guest today, Ashlyn Nguyen, for sharing her expertise and collaborating on this beneficial cookbook for the York University community. You can find links to all the services Ashley mentioned in the show notes for this episode, along with more information, tips, and resources at go.yorku.ca/wbpodcast .Click on the episode's link and look for fuel cookbook this episode was co produced by the Well- Being and YU podcast team. Our podcast coordinator is Prabhleen Luthra. Our technical editor is Hassan Sheather and I am your host, Clifton A. Grant.
Please remember this be good to yourself and let's be good to each other. Let's make kindness the new normal. Thank you for listening.
