I had no idea I was going to take a picture of this dinner last night - but it ended up looking good and being really easy to make so I thought I would share!! It all started with a 1.5 hour hard bike ride and I came in starved. I guess a starved chef makes a good cook, eh?!
Tilapia - First off was a nice fillet of tilapia fish bought at Walmart in their freezer section. The fillets are sealed in cryovac inside zip lock bags so are very high quality. No need to defrost - this puppy went into the microwave and I used the “fish” setting to have a delicious piece of cooked fish in just 3 minutes. I am always surprised at how fast and perfect it cooks. (I do remove the fillet from the bag and I put it in a glass dish and cover it.)
The fish was topped with sliced red peppers and ginger sauteed with just a spray of olive oil. See the tube of chopped ginger that we keep handy as well as the spray bottle that has the olive oil.
Skinny mashed potatoes - baking potatoes were rinsed well to remove the dirt and then cut in chunks - skin and all - because that is faster and it makes a delicious home-style mashed potato that has more nutrients and fiber. They were covered in water and cooked for 20 minutes until tender and then mashed with low-cal margarine and skim milk. Seasonings included granulated garlic with parsley mix and black pepper.
Spinach - Finally, I sauteed garlic and olive oil and then added a bag of fresh spinach leaves. That was the base for the fish.
Voila - dinner is ready in 20 minutes!
We do have a section on microwave cookery in our new MyPyramid Cooking Demo Kit, which is great for cooking demonstrations.
Posted on May 9th, 2008 by admin
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This is such a simple dish to make. Chop up a selection of fresh veggies - saute with a little (2 tsp) olive oil in a nonstick pan and add broth and fresh herbs (basil, oregano). Serve over heated pasta. Top with parmesan cheese. We find this is a great way to use up extra veggies and offer a low-cal, low-fat dinner that is a new twist on pasta with red sauce.
Posted on May 6th, 2008 by admin
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Tortilla pizza is so easy to make - great for an appetizer, snack or light dinner. And really great to feed a bunch of kids who are hungry now!
We started with our favorite salt-free sauce, Enrico’s No-Salt-Added Pasta Sauce and some tortillas. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Then added a light sprinkle of reduced-fat cheese. You can add other favorite ingredients as well - the sky is the limit. But the kids wanted just cheese so we stuck to their order.
After 10 minutes baking - pizza is done!
Serve with salad:
And our 10 minute Microwave BBQ Chicken Tenders:
For the chicken tenders - we buy them frozen in large bulk packages from the Walmart super store. Put them frozen in one layer in a baking dish and then dab with a bit of barbecue sauce on top - go easy on the sauce because it is very high in salt. Cover with plastic wrap.
Microwave using the “chicken” automatic setting on the microwave (or 80% power for 12 minutes) and in about 12-15 minutes you have perfect cooked moist chicken tenders. Chicken is done when it is firm and no longer pink in the center.
If you teach cooking demonstrations you will be interested in our new MyPyramid Cooking Demo Kit:
Posted on April 17th, 2008 by admin
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The store had a special on strawberries today - and a good find in the produce section as well was a package of Melissa’s crepes. I was delighted to find that one crepe contains just 51 calories and a gram of fat. Plus purchasing crepes is a lot easier than making them!
Here is what I made:
Sprinkle a few chocolate chips on a crepe and then microwave for 15 seconds. The chocolate will not be melted fully - but will be melted a little. Add strawberries and then
A little light chocolate whipped cream - about 3 tablespoons per crepe.
Roll up and set on a plate and cut in half. Garnish with more strawberries and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Enjoy!
We did a quick analysis and guess one crepe to ring in at about 222 calories and 9 grams of fat. (1 crepe, 1 tablespoon chocolate morsels, 1/2 cup strawberries, 3 tablespoons chocolate whipped cream, 1/2 tablespoon chocolate syrup)
OH - and here is a kitchen trick. We always keep a large roll (can find this online or in warehouse type stores like BJs and Sam’s Club) of plastic wrap on the counter - that makes wrapping all of the cut fruits and salads and vegetables easy in our kitchen!
If you do cooking demonstrations, you might be interested in this new product!
Posted on March 29th, 2008 by admin
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We found an 8 ounce package of fresh linguine in the store today - so I was inspired to make a fresh fresh pasta dish for dinner.
Cook the pasta in boiling water - only needs about 5 minutes when you are using fresh pasta. Drain and set aside.
Saute 2 cloves of garlic in a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil until nutty brown and then add 3 chopped fresh tomatoes (remove seeds and core, dice medium). Saute tomatoes and garlic until soft, about 4 minutes.
Add a good squeeze of store-bought Italian herb pesto and 1/2 cup fat-free low-sodium beef broth. Bring to a boil and simmer briefly. Then add the pasta.
Meanwhile, in another pan, saute 2 cloves of garlic with 1 tablespoon olive oil until nutty, about 1 minute. Add a bag of baby spinach and saute 1 minute or just until the spinach wilts.
Plate the pasta with the spinach bordering.
Top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and enjoy!!
We served this dish with mint tea and a Mediterranean style salad - recipe and photos below.
If you do cooking or food demonstrations, you might be interested in this new product!
Posted on March 29th, 2008 by admin
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I am always trying to think of ways to put a new spin on salad. We eat it at least once if not twice a day and I like to keep it fun and new. Tonight when I was shopping they just seemed to have all of my favorite Mediterranean ingredients in the store and looking good. So it was a Mediterranean inspired salad to go with our fresh pasta listed below.
There is really not some magical recipe - I used a bag of mixed Italian greens, fresh mint, green onion, red bell pepper, julienne strips of sundried tomatoes and fresh cucumber. I topped it off with grated fresh zest of lemon.
And voila! It was served with fresh cracked black pepper and balsamic vinegar - fat and sodium free!
Now, since I didn’t use all of the mint in the salad, I thought it would be fun to use some more of it in a mint tea:
It really is just as easy to make as it looks - bring a pot of water to a boil and add fresh mint. Boil one minute and remove from stove. Pour over ice. Serve over ice. Of course you can get fancy and use a bag of green tea or add lemon or sugar or whatever you desire!
If you do cooking or food demonstrations, you might be interested in this new product!
Posted on March 29th, 2008 by admin
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This is one of my favorite photos - a delicious and elegant fruit salad that is so easy to make.
Apricot puree (babyfood)
Fresh berries
Orange segments and zest
Fresh mint, shredded
Place the apricot puree in an elegant stemmed glass or footed bowl. Top with fresh berries and orange segments. Garnish with strips of orange zest (remove orange zest carefully with potato peeler and slice into thin julienne strips) and shredded mint. Serve and enjoy!!
Feel free to use a variety of fresh fruit in season. Nothing like a fresh produce market! Below is a picture of a produce market in Florida - 62 miles roundtrip by bike and one of my favorite rides!!
Posted on February 14th, 2008 by admin
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Such simple ingredients and so little time needed to jumpstart your day! This oatmeal with grapefruit breakfast is high in fiber,and low in fat, calories and sodium. You get to eat a large quantity of food so you fill up on fewer calories than many traditional American breakfast choices - see the note about that at the end.
Microwave oatmeal
1/2 cup oatmeal (old fashioned)
1 tablespoon raisins
1 cup water
Place ingredients in bowl and microwave for 3 minutes. Stir and serve with skim milk or soymilk. Serves one.
Grapefruit Wedges
1 ruby red grapefruit
Cut grapefruit in 6 wedges and serve on plate. Serves one.
Total: 298 calories, 3 g fat, .5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 2.5 mg cholesterol, 58 mg sodium, 58 g carbohydrate, 5.5 g fiber, 12 g protein.
NOTE: This is for 23 ounces or almost 3 cups of food!! If you ate 23 ounces of a bagel you would consume 1793 calories and if you ate 23 ounces of an Egg McMuffin you would consume 1370 calories along with a lot more fat and sodium and little fiber.
Better still, this breakfast was proceeded by a 3-hour bike ride. Bike ride optional for the recipe of course!! You can read more about bike riding, swimming and running here.
Posted on January 9th, 2008 by admin
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http://www.foodandhealth.com/2007/
Link to our family year end photo album - has food pix, triathlon pix and very active Yellowstone/Jackson Hole vacation pix. My son and I loved Yellowstone and Jackson Hole so much that we are booking another trip this year to go there after doing the VikingMan triathlon in Idaho - gotta love the concept of doing a race and then camping in a beautiful place afterwards.
Some interesting stats for those wanting to know what I do to maintain ideal weight after the age of 40:
- Age: 45
- BMI: 20 (5′7″, 130 pounds)
- Number of hours watching TV per week: 0
- Number of hours exercising per week: 16-20
- Meals eaten out per week: 1-2
Yesterday’s food log:
- Breakfast: 1 bowl oatmeal with raisins and skim milk, fat-free latte coffee
- AM snack: 1 light nonfat yogurt with fat-free whipped cream dollop on top
- Lunch: Low-fat tuna sandwich on whole wheat bread
- PM snack: Apple, 2 small slices low-fat, low-sodium, home-made whole wheat pizza, handful chocolate chips
- Dinner: Roasted 1/4 chicken breast (2 ounces), large low-fat salad with balsamic vinegar, low-fat mashed potatoes with skin, steamed broccoli
- PM snack: Grapenuts cereal, raisins, skim milk
1985 calories, 24 grams fat, 9 g saturated fat, 116 mg cholesterol, 1613 mg sodium, 341 g carbohydrate, 108 g protein, 36 g fiber. (Note: calories sustain 2 hours of exercise per day.)
That is 5 ounces whole grains, 3 cups skim milk/milk equivalent, 2 cups fruit, 5 ounces meat/bean servings, 4 cups vegetables - all meals prepared at home.
Posted on December 12th, 2007 by admin
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Maple-Baked Pecan Pie
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
6 egg whites or 3/4 cup nonfat egg substitute
1 tablespoon melted margarine
1 cup light, reduced-calorie pancake syrup
3/4 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup Grape-Nuts cereal
9-in ready pie crust, unbaked
1. Preheat oven to 350 ºF.
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour and 1/4 cup egg whites (or egg substitute). Mix smooth and add the rest of the egg whites along with the melted margarine and the reduced-calorie syrup. Do not overmix because air bubbles will form.
3. Place the pecan pieces and the cereal in the pie shell. Put the pie pan onto an oven rack and then pour the filling into the pan over top of the nuts and cereal.
4. Bake until the center is firm, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
5. Cut the pie into 10 pieces and serve warm or chilled. Store leftover pie in the refrigerator.
Variation: You can add 1 tablespoon cocoa powder to the filling to make Chocolate Pecan Pie.
Serves 10. Each slice: 245 calories, 12 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 4 mg cholesterol, 212 mg sodium, 31 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 4 g protein.
Most pecan pies contain upwards of 500 calories per slice. We reduced the calories in this one by using some Grape Nuts cereal in place of pecans, using egg whites, using low-cal maple pancake syrup and cutting in 10 pieces.
Here are illustrations for cutting a pie into 10:
Posted on December 7th, 2007 by admin
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