Zesty Peas Recipe, packed with fiber
 

[Edit] After the original post, I decided to change the name of this thread. I've now included a recipe, below.



This is probably a dumb question, but I've never been interested in caloric value of foods before so this one has me stumped.

Can anyone answer why cooked peas have more caloric value than raw? The only thing I can think of is how the peas are cooked, the seasoning and maybe butter is added, but there is no information regarding HOW, just different numbers.


Cooked peas: http://www.fitday.com/fitness/FoodVi...dds2-f75120000

Raw peas: http://www.fitday.com/fitness/FoodVi...dds2-f75224010

If this is the case, then the cooked peas information is basically worthless since it's not talking steaming/microwaving but actaully adding stuff in that is unknown. Correct?

Unless you specify, FitDay assumes cooking with some sort of fat for vegetables. If you just use the Search feature, that's what it gives you. If you use the Browse feature, you can select peas, cooked, fat not added in cooking (I assume; all the veggies I enter are this way but I hate peas so I've never tried it for those!) and it would probably be much closer to raw.

However, cooked food and raw food do take up different volumes, so this may also account for a slight to moderate difference, depending on the food.

Thanks! Great answer cjohnson728. It makes a lot of sense, and I didn't think about cooked taking different volumes.

By the way, I don't like peas either. They are my least favorite of all the veggies. But I found a killer recipe for them which I'll be making today. The only reason why I am bothering with peas is that they have are packed with fiber.

If the recipe comes out as good as I hope I'll post it.

Zesty Peas Recipe
 

Here's something I concocted today and it came out amazingly good, filling, and nutritious. Many people don't like peas that much and this recipe is zesty enough to hide the taste of the peas pretty much. I wanted to make a recipe that has a lot of FIBER and this one does the trick. Three servings of this meal and you'll not only be filled up with under 500 Calories, you'll get over half of your daily suggested amount of fiber**.


Ingredients:

- 3 Tablespoons olive oil

- 1 large Vidallia Onion, diced, not too small

- 1 14.5 oz. can Peeled Tomatoes, diced, Chili ready (in juice with chili seasoning), Kroger brand. [NOTE: if you cannot find this you can just add about a Tablespoon of chili powder to a can of diced tomatoes]

1 14.5 oz. can Peeled Tomatoes, diced, with Jalapeno peppers (in tomato juice).

[NOTE: if you cannot find this you can add some diced Jalapeno to a can of diced tomatoes]

2 cups frozen peas



Over high heat, saute onion in the olive oil in a medium sized sauce pan, until the onion just starts turning light brown.

Add peas and stir thoroughly.

Add the 2 cans of tomatoes (or one large 29 ounce can of diced tomatoes with the added chilli powder and peppers). Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer, cook covered for 5 minutes more.


Makes about 6 cups.


I have carefully figured out the nutritional value for 1 Cup:

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/4391/zestypeas.png


From FitDay:

"Depending on your gender and age, you should try to consume 20-38 g of fiber per day. Men ages 50 and younger should try to eat 38 g of fiber per day, and men 51 years and older should shoot for 30 g per day. Women ages 50 and younger should aim for 25 g per day and women 51 years and older should consume 21 g of fiber per day. Most Americans are currently eating half of the recommended amounts of fiber each day."