During this quarter, “Balance Calories: Enjoy your food, but eat less” is the featured message from MyPlate. Last quarter we covered the topic, “Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.”

 How many times do you hear the advice to “eat less?” Certainly one way to do that is to increase your consumption of foods that have a lower calorie density, like fruits and veggies. It helps when you also decrease your consumption of foods with a higher calorie density, like refined starches and oils. That’s why MyPlate urges people to fill up half their plates with fruits and veggies.

 But what about the times where you are eating on the go, going to a party, or enjoying your favorite snack foods at the movies? We thought that a little MORE plate knowledge will go a long way towards helping you visualize portion sizes and calories.

 Speaking of plates, how many calories do you think that you would save by switching the plate on which you serve meals? The transition would be from a dinner plate to a salad plate.

 The answer? About half!

 We used diced bread to test the plate size, portion size and calorie outcome for three different sized plates. Here is what we found:

Your plate is like a reverse piggy bank — the less space you have, the more calories you save! Check out our healthful plate tips:

 Take the plate test.

See how common packaged foods look normal in their package, but then look huge when you place them on a regular-sized (10 inch) dinner plate:

Would you really eat this many large fries? They more than fill a whole dinner plate!

And what about the large movie popcorn? It is enough for 6 people!

Here we have a large “mall” pretzel that fills an entire dinner plate. If you cut a one ounce piece it is a lot less that what you purchased.

And the giant hoagie actually fills two plates. That is not really a healthy plate. It would be better to cut the sandwich in quarters and eat it with a salad and some fruit.

Take a look at all of the MyPlate Materials we have for 2012: MyPlate Poster, MyPlate Jumbo Poster, MyPlate Miplato Spanish Poster, MyPlate Kids Poster, tearpads, PowerPoint shows and games:

Also on the link above: Free Handout, Free Poster, Free Game! Enjoy!!

]]> http://foodandhealth.com/blog/2012/01/balance-calories/feed/ 0 http://foodandhealth.com/blog/2012/01/myplate-for-the-heart/ http://foodandhealth.com/blog/2012/01/myplate-for-the-heart/#comments Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:02:33 +0000 Judy http://foodandhealth.com/blog/?p=2396

15 Ways to Say, “I Love My Heart”!

This wonderful meal has 15 ingredients that your heart will love. And it can be made in 30 minutes or less. Plus we wanted to show you another delicious MyPlate presentation/creation.

On the menu:

• Salmon with Red Velvet Relish
• Barley Date Walnut Pilaf
• Steamed Broccoli
• Apple Slaw

This 30-minute dinner is great for Valentine’s Day or any day you want to love your heart.

Entree:

2 3-ounce fillets of salmon

Red Velvet Relish:

1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes

1/4 avocado, diced

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Dash extra virgin olive oil

1/2 lemon, juice

Broccoli:

1 cup broccoli, steamed

Apple Slaw:

1/2 apple, cut in sticks

3 baby carrots, cut in sticks

2 tablespoons Greek 0% yogurt

Drizzle of apple cider vinegar glaze (or use apple cider vinegar)

Barley Date Walnut Pilaf:

1/2 cup quick cooking barley

1 cup water

2 tablespoon chopped dates

1 tablespoon chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Place the salmon in a shallow dish with water and bake at 350 until done, about 20 min.

2. Make the Pilaf: place the barley, water, chopped dates and chopped walnuts in a rice cooker and cook 15 minutes.

3. Make the Relish: cut the tomatoes in quarters and mix with diced avocado, parsley, olive oil and lemon juice. Mix gently.

4. Make the Slaw. Mix the apple and carrot sticks with the Greek yogurt. Toss lightly.

5. Make MyPlate:

•  Top the salmon with the tomato relish.
• Arrange the broccoli, pilaf and slaw.
• Top the slaw with theapple cider glaze.
• Top the pilaf with chopped dates and nuts and use a small ramekin to mold onto the plate as we have below.

See heart materials and My Plate Education Materials for 2012 in our store:

See the winners of the USDA MyPlate Video Contest here.

View the new SuperTracker tool here.

Use this meal in a PowerPoint show about MyPlate for the heart, includes the magenta MyPlate graphic:  heartmyplatemeal.ppt

2011 Nutrition News Highlights

2010 Dietary Guidelines – published early 2011

REDUCE: daily sodium intake to less than 2,300 milligrams (mg) and further reduce intake to 1,500 mg if you are are 51 and older and if you are are African American or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. Reduce the intake of SOFAS, which are calories from solid fats and added sugars. Limit the consumption of foods that contain refined grains.

INCREASE: fruits and vegetables, especially dark-green and red and orange vegetables and beans and peas, whole grains, skim milk and get more potassium, fiber, calcium and vitamin D

MyPlate

MyPlate, the newest incarnation of the USDA’s food icons was introduced as a replacement for MyPyramid in June, 2011. It has five main food groups: vegetables, fruits, grains, dairy and protein. Directions are simple: fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables. Make the other half lean protein and whole grains. There’s a website for MyPlate at http://www.choosemyplate.gov

Salt Research

Dementia: 1262 healthy older people in Canada were divided into 3 groups based on their sodium intake. They found those with the highest sodium intake were more significantly more likely to lose cognitive function over the next 3 years than those with lowest sodium intake.

Heart failure: A prospective study followed a group of 123 systolic heart failure patients whose condition was stable for at least 3 months at home. Patients were divided into 3 groups based on their average sodium intake, which was 1400, 2400 and 3800 mg per day. After 3 years of follow-up, hospitalization for heart failure occurred in 12%, 15%, and 46% of patients in the low, moderate, and high-sodium groups, respectively. The authors concluded, “These data provide support for more stringent sodium intake guidelines than those currently recommended for HF patients.”

Mortality: A recent study found increasing dietary sodium by 1000 mg/day increased total mortality by 20% whereas an increase of 1000 mg of potassium/day reduced total mortality by about 20%.

Supplements

Mortality from many: The Iowa Women’s Health Study found a modest but statistically significant increased risk of dying in those that took a multivitamin supplement. They also found that those women taking supplements of folic acid, vitamin b-6, copper, zinc, magnesium, and especially iron were significantly more likely to die than those not taking those supplements.

Omega 3 good for the heart: A study found that omega 3 fatty acid supplements helped prevent the build up of scar tissue in the heart. Another study found that patients receiving an Omega 3 supplement had a 10% increase in heart function. Omega-3-rich seafood should be part of a heart healthy diet and those who consume little or no fish may well benefit from a daily 0.5 to 2g Omega-3 supplement.

Vitamin D benefits: Vitamin D supplements may help lower the risk for vision loss. Researchers found women with the highest levels of Vitamin D 25-OH-D actually had a significantly reduced risk of developing age-related macular degeneration (AMD) compared with women with low levels. Given the known harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation in promoting AMD, this result is a bit perplexing although it is consistent with one earlier study that found AMD was associated with poorer vitamin D status. Dr. Millen’s data did show that increased vitamin D from dietary sources was associated with a reduced risk of developing early AMD.

Calcium risk: Taking calcium supplements seems to reduce risk for osteoporosis only slightly while at the same time it appears to significantly increase the risk of having a heart attack by 30%. Vitamin D supplements will help lower that risk but they won’t prevent the adverse risks of the calcium.

Soy is Safe

Two recent studies of women who survived breast cancer both found consuming more soy food appears if anything to decrease the risk of breast cancer recurrence or death among survivors of breast cancer taking estrogen blocking drugs.

Great Fat Debate

Harvard researchers found from a study analysis that the consumption of some foods was correlated with weight gain: potato chips (1.69 pounds), potatoes (1.28 pounds), sugar-sweetened beverages (1.00 pounds), unprocessed red meats (0.95 pounds), and processed meats (0.93 pounds). Other food items associated with weight gain included butter, refined grains, sugar-containing drinks, and sweets and desserts. By contrast, each serving of nuts, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and yogurt consumed were all associated with a modest reduction in body weight. And those who exercised were less likely to gain.

The Nutrition Education Store is ready to bring you great materials for 2012! Choose from new books, MyPlate Materials, PowerPoint shows and much more!!

Nutrition Education Store

 Here is a 2011 Highlight Handout:

2011 Review Handout

And MyPlate Resolution Calendar Handout:

MyPlate Resolution Calendar

Feel free to add comments and updates we might have missed.

Happy New Year!

Bread Machine: Zojirushi makes a great one pound bread machine that we like to use for whole grain bread and no- sodium whole grain pizza or calzone dough. Now we have a great whole grain crust that is not messy. Best of all you can time the dough or bread to be ready for dinner.

Look at our whole grain apple pie bread:

(scant cup of water, 2 cups white whole wheat flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon apple pie spice, 1 tablespoon milk powder, 2 teaspoons olive oil, 1 tsp dry yeast, 1/2 cup diced dried apple – made in bread machine)

Rice Cooker: this makes whole grain cooking so easy and attendance free. It is great for brown rice, wild rice, barley, polenta, risotto and more.

Air Popper: Kids can make pop-corn that is more fun and more healthful than the microwave variety. Popcorn is the ultimate whole grain snack when it is not drenched in butter, coconut oil or salt.

Yogurt Maker: More fun for kids to encourage them to eat yogurt and fruit. Everyone loves what they make themselves.

Panini Maker: Now you can grill veggies and make fun sandwiches using more vegetables with this great grill.

CrockPot: This is an essential kitchen item for cooking beans, healthy stews, whole chickens and soups. Consider upgrading or adding it to your kitchen this year.

Quesadilla Maker: This is our favorite choice because we make lowfat vegetarian quesadillas at least once a week.

Holiday Cooking App for iPad: We are happy to present our new iPad App, Holiday Secrets which is an app version of our book, Holiday Secrets. It has our best healthy holiday recipes and the secret is that they are so tasty no one will realize they are healthy. There are also a lot of chef’s secrets so you can make great presentations using our photos. The best part is that you can email all the recipes you want to yourself, your friends, your family and your clients. AND you can gift this item through iTunes!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/holiday-secrets/id476240388?mt=8

Here are some screen shots:

Holiday Secrets contains the most creative, healthy holiday recipes. This is not just another chef’s favorite recipe book – it is meant to teach you how to make many holiday creations from appetizers to gravy to desserts no matter your kitchen skill. We promise you will have the most wonderful time making great dishes that taste great, look good and are healthy every time.

You will want to use this app over and over during the holiday season. Find favorite holiday recipes in this holiday cooking app that won’t disappoint your guest’s taste buds OR their health. These holiday recipes are easy to make and they work every time. They have been tested and reviewed for more than 15 years by Food and Health Communications. There is no other source of healthy holiday cooking recipes that is as comprehensive, healthy or creative as Holiday Secrets.

Many Recipes Help You Through the Entire Holiday Season
-Healthful holiday appetizers for your party or to take with you.
-Use for the holidays or all year
-The holiday meal: roasting a turkey, making lowfat gravy, side dishes, and turkey leftovers.
-Holiday desserts – how to make pie that is half the calories from everywhere else, great bread pudding, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, cookies and egg nog.
-Gifts from your kitchen – make it and save.

Great Photos:
Better still, the color photos are plentiful throughout the app and for each dish – see the finished dish for great presentation ideas
Finishing tips, plating tips and ingredient tips are shared throughout the app

Easy to Use:
The Holiday Secrets App has many useful features:
-Online video you can stream from the internet – won’t waste precious memory
-Favorites – when you find your favorites you can save them and refer back quickly – easy to edit
-Email – email the recipe to your friends, yourself, your family and clients
-Photo gallery – look through the photos and pick a dish to make
-Easy to find recipes listed by categories
-Help and support for app use and kitchen questions

These recipes include:
-Complete nutrition analysis, low in fat and sodium
-Beautiful innovative designs and presentations
-Special masterpiece desserts will stun any audience
-Tested and developed over 15 years by award winning chef
-Easy to follow step by step directions

Get the App!

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/holiday-secrets/id476240388?mt=8

And it is also available in book format in our store:

(our sodium poster in Nasco’s booth)

The annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo (FNCE) in San Diego was a great experience. The conference was put on by the  American Dietetic Association, which is now the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. I am here to report about the F of FNCE or the food section from the expo.  It is a vast assembly of all of the major food manufacturers and many more vendors who meet once a year to show dietitians all of the ways they are improving their foods for consumers’ health. I did not see just one trend, but rather an ABC for three main presentations from all.

Here are the ABC’s:

A

All about MyPlate. Many booths featured the new MyPlate. We’ve listed some of the most striking below. (PS photos are in the same order as the list). 

1. Delmonte
2. Pork
3. Rice
4. Beef
5. USDA
6. Nasco plate
7. Nasco board
8. Pears
9. McDonalds
10. Dietary Guidelines books

See the new MyPlate Video Challenge

B

Basics

We found a general back to basics rule of thumb for most displays and messages. Presentations and marketing efforts were neat, engaging and beautiful and it was all about the flavor of food with a few nutrient benefits sprinkled in for marketing. Food manufacturers across the board are offering “more for less” – more nutrients and less calories. Here is what my iPhone saw:

1. Sunsweet — they have a delicious low cal juice and bits of diced plums that made the most delicious cookies. These bits are called Plum Amazins and more info and photos are at plumamazins.com.
   There are also 70 calorie snack packs of dried plums.
   
2. The California Raisin Board took pictures of attendees and posted them on their website with a link so attendees could get more info, news and recipes. That is a great way to get attendees to YOUR website after a show! (That is me with the raisin.)
   
3. The Haas avocado booth featured the most innovative and tasty recipes of the whole show, in my opinion. They are using avocado as a fat replacement in baking. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, guacamole, cheese cake and spice cake were favorites. You can make your fat healthy in baking by using Haas avocados. Visit their site at avocadocentral.com for more info and recipes.
   
4. Mrs. Dash seasonings are packaged better and they have new recipes. New flavors will be out in spring.
   
5. Smart Balance Milk has omega 3s from fish oil, plus extra calcium from milk powder. The skim milk was amazing to drink because it was thick and rich.
    
6. Pork can be cooked to  an internal temperature of 145F per the new USDA rules.
   
7. General Mills touted the whole grains and fiber in their cereals. They also had a fun packaging timeline for Cheerios.
   
8. Tropicana has lower calorie juices sweetened with stevia – go to Facebook/trop50 for more information. The calories are lower but the fruit juice content is only 45% of the finished product. The lemonade and pomegranite-blueberry juice tasted great.
   
9. Frito Lay has dropped the sodium by 25% in all of their flavored chips. Their Sun Chips are whole grain and now come in a new flavor — Jalapeno Jack. If you go to snacksense.com, you can download their latest research on snacking. licensetosnack.com has info for consumers.
   
10. Dole nutrition has a garden kit and healthiest foods on earth calendar – both are obtainable from their website in their store under products to purchase.
    
11. The Almond Board featured Almond Breeze Vanilla Almond Milk. It has only 40 calories per serving and has no saturated fat or cholesterol. It is also rich in Vitamin E and calcium. Baked nut chips are tasty and a good idea.
     
12. Hidden Valley explained that kids will eat more veggies when ranch dressing is involved.
    
13. Soy is still popular, and this year’s soy booth was big and beautiful, with many foods on display. We sampled edamame fritters at the Food and Culinary Professionals networking dinner and they were great.
    
14. You can get coupons for Yoplait and their new Red Velvet Cake flavor at bellinstitute.com.
    
    
15. Over 150 of 700 beverages by Coca Cola are calorie free. Mini cans of 7.5 ounces keep Coke to 90 calories.
     
16. Campbells features whole grains in their soups.
    
17. Truvia remains a great tasting sugar replacement. We were impressed with the lemonade in their booth.
    
18. Stevia was featured and even had its own booth.
    
19. Chobani Greek yogurt chefs made great recipes: 1) using their yogurt injected into chocolate covered strawberries and 2) as a spread with horseradish on toasts with salmon. (The photo below is from the Food and Culinary Professionals networking dinner; here is a picture of Alice Henneman and me with their chef.)
    
20. Monk fruit is a melon that is 200 times sweeter than sugar and it is featured in many natural foods including a display of Kashi cereals pictured below.
    
21. Sargento featured cheeses that are lower in fat and sodium than regular versions.
    
22. Con Agra had the motto – “make your calories count” and they featured many foods in smaller portions.
     

C

Created for Health Benefits:

1. Cardio chews and juice join the products that lower cholesterol with phytosterols by Cardiowise.
   
2. There were several rows dedicated to organic foods and gluten free options – here are just a few shots:
    
3. Fibrelle is a sweetener from the New Jersey area with fiber (fibrelle.net).
   
   
4. Lipton has super fruit teas.
   
5. McNeil featured great recipes for Benecol and Splenda. A new Splenda variety features added vitamins and fiber.
    
6. Some of the busiest booths were the software booths this year. Dietitians were looking for apps and online software to help their clients track what they eat and make better shopping decisions.
   
7. Dietitian authors were signing and giving away their books in the expo – 2 of our favorites: Healthy Healing Foods by Victoria Shanta Retelny, RD, and Go Green Get Lean by Kate Geagan, MS, RD – way to go girls!
   

Of course this post is sponsored by the NutritionEducationStore.com – check our whole new MyPlate category with new posters, tearpads and free handouts and free MyPlate Posters to download now. 

Food and Health Communications is proud to be a National Strategic Partner for MyPlate.

If you have comments about what you saw at FNCE please add below – we review and approve quickly. An entire photo gallery for our FNCE food shots is here: https://picasaweb.google.com/114618038873891218290/FNCE#

More MyPlate Materials here

Download PDF File for recipes: LaborDayRecipes

Picnic Buffet Ideas:

Here are a fruit and vegetable presentation you can serve buffet style – put them out so everyone on your guest list will want to fill half of their plates with fruits and vegetables. Use these at your next picnic, party or family dinner. See the wonderful fruit dessert at the end, too.

The Veggie Tart

This raw veggie delight can function as an appetizer or salad. It is made from a standard plastic party tray of raw vegetables from our grocery store. You know, the one that you buy to feel like you are serving something healthy but no one really eats. If you take about 5 or 10 minutes you can turn that mundane-looking plastic tray full of vegetables into something exquisite that will disappear fast!

We made a simple spinach dip using microwave-steamed spinach, the ranch dip from the party platter and a pint of low-fat or fat-free ricotta cheese. The spinach dip got spooned into the bottom of a glass tart pan. The raw vegetables were arranged standing into the dip so it looks like a fruit tart. Anyone can do it in 5-10 minutes and it is delicious and looks great. Since we love to chop, we did cheat and garnish the top with some diced sundried tomatoes but you certainly don’t need those to pull this off in a very colorful manner. The great thing about this presentation is that every vegetable is covered on the bottom with a tasty spinach dip.

Veggie Tart

Spinach dip:

• 1/4 cup ranch dressing
• 1 pint lowfat ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup cooked spinach (frozen thawed or steamed fresh spinach)

Puree all ingredients together in food processor or with hand beaters. Pour spinach dip into tart pan and top with raw vegetables in a circular pattern. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Ice Bucket of Tree Fruits

There is no easier way to serve fruit than “a la naturale.” But of course the trick is getting everyone to eat it. We decided that it would more likely disappear if it was ripe, chilled on ice, and arranged in a colorful manner so the question is choice – it is not about “do you want fruit?” – rather it is about “which fruit(s) would you like?”. We simply rinsed the fruits and then arranged them in an ice bucket with crushed ice. We picked seasonal tree fruits that were ripe and these included: peaches, plums, cherries, and a new item that is a cross between an apple and pear – the yellow fruit – it was on sale in our store so we decided to give it a try.

Ice Bucket of Tree Fruit

No kitchen prep needed…

Here is MyPlate along with the link to ChooseMyPlate.gov so your guests can see how to fill half their plates with fruits and vegetables:

Choose MyPlate

Easy Low-Labor Individual Plate Presentations and Ideas

Here are easy ways to fill half your plate with fruits and veggies without very much labor at all. The grocery store has these items ready to go. They are great for Labor Day or every day!!

Veggie Face Salad:

Veggie Face Salad

Kids will love this. Why not let them make their own? You can use any combo of veggies to make a unique face.

From back to front:

Pineapple cubes, salad leaves, carrot match sticks, grape tomato cut in half, broccoli nose, baby carrot smile, microwave-baked potato cut in half and diced in the skin. The dressing? Italian spritzer and light ranch dressing. If you don’t have a spritzer you can spoon light Italian dressing or vinegar and oil. (The spritzer bottles are in the dressing section of the store and we love them because they add shine and flavor without a lot of sodium or fat.)

Summer Salads:

Summer Salads

We tossed ready-to-serve baby romaine leaves (use any favorite ready-to-serve lettuce) with light Italian dressing and thin sliced plum tomatoes. Then we added cubed fruit salad from the grocery store. Prep time: 3 minutes, no cooking or chopping (just slice the tomato and if you are really opposed to kitchen prep then use grape tomatoes or cherry tomatoes).

Grill Plate:

We chose melon on a skewer and cole slaw for a MyPlate theme that goes well with your Labor Day BBQ. The slaw and carrot match sticks were already prepared by our supermarket and we tossed them with a little Light Ranch or Light Caesar dressing. The fruit was already cubed and we just threaded it on a skewer.

MyPlate for BBQ

Voila! It looks very appetizing because the dressing is light and the slaw is piled high and delicately on the plate. The garnishes: black sesame seeds and rough chopped flat leaf parsley. Another idea for an easy garnish is a shake of paprika.

And finally – if you do love to labor in the kitchen as this author does, here is a great summer salad that can be served on a platter either buffet style or individually.

Egg Plant Parmesan Salad

Eggplant Parmesan Salad with Shaved Fennel and Watercress

• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 1 diced eggplant
• 3 diced tomatoes (use ripe red plum tomatoes)
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or any vinegar
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning (basil, oregano)
• Watercress
• Shaved fresh fennel
• Squirt of balsamic glaze
• Fresh cracked black pepper
• Grated Parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick skillet. Saute the garlic until nutty, about 1-2 minutes. Add the eggplant and cook briefly then add the tomatoes and seasonings. Toss together then add the vinegar. Allow the eggplant salad to cool briefly or overnight covered in the refrigerator.

Toss the water cress with a little bit of olive oil and arrange on a platter. Top with eggplant parmesan salad and Parmesan cheese. Garnish with shaved fresh fennel, a squirt of balsamic vinegar glaze and black pepper.

Fruit for Dessert

Here is a wonderful fruit dessert that will add more servings of fruit with little added fat or sugar and very little labor:

Fresh Fruit Cobbler

It is a collection of fresh fruit layered in a trifle bowl that is topped by crunched lemon or vanilla wafers and a little powdered sugar.

Here is what it looks like when plated:

You don’t have to heat the oven or add a lot of sugar and fat. There is little clean up and this looks great with just a few minutes work. We did wedge the peaches and halve the strawberries but the total prep time is 5 minutes. Whipped cream is optional.

These ideas and presentations are sponsored by the NutritionEducationStore.com – click here to see all of our MyPlate education items, including free stuff like a MyPlate game, Free MyPlate Poster download and free MyPlate handout download plus more items we sell like a My Plate Poster, Spanish MyPlate Poster (MiPlato), tearpads, games and PowerPoint shows. Thank you for reading!

Happy Labor Day! And Happy MyPlate Presentations!!

####

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Download PDF File for recipes: LaborDayRecipes

If you are reusing this information, please indicate, “Copyright foodandhealth.com, used with permission.” We encourage everyone to pass it along and reprint for education.

Relevant stories and links:

Official Press Release with High Resolution Images, PDF for recipes

FREE MyPlate Handouts and FREE My Plate Posters

12 Things We Learned From MyPlate

MyPlate

Download PDF File for recipes: LaborDayRecipes

Now that we have had a week to “play” with MyPlate and investigate all of the pages thoroughly, we have learned a few things beyond the basic message of “how to make a healthy plate.”

1) The food groups basically stayed the same as MyPyramid with regards to fruit, vegetables, whole grains, protein and dairy. But there are changes in these groups.

2) Half of your grains should be whole and there is a chart that indicates that here. (We previously thought that they reduced the amount but they did not – sorry for the confusion!)

3) The protein group has an emphasis, we feel, on more plant protein. And protein is titled protein instead of meat and beans.

4) The dairy group is not called the milk group and it emphasizes getting calcium with a minimal amount of added fat and sugar. It also goes so far as to mention dairy foods that are not a good source of calcium like butter. And it mentions fortified soymilk.

5) The MyPlate concept works even if you are going to a fast food place. We were surprised at how the calorie outcome would change if we took fried chicken, macaroni and cheese and put everything in the right proportion. A fried chicken dinner went from 860 calories to 333 calories just because the chicken breast was cut in half, the mac and cheese reduced to 1/2 cup and the other half of the plate was salad and water melon or green beans and corn.

6) Food manufacturers have made us numb to what a real portion is.  It is shocking to bring home packaged fast food or processed snacks and put them on a plate. The portions are a lot bigger than we realized and the food is often very fatty, much fattier than what we would make at home. I cannot ever remember frying fish and French fries on my stove for dinner.

7) While you can’t make the perfect plate every time, it helps to remember to make half the plate vegetables for lunch or dinner. And for breakfast go half fruit or the whole plate can be fruits for snacks and desserts.

The recommendations for fruits and veggies is still 4.5 to 5 cups per day. That is also right on with what WHO says to get, too. They recommend at least a pound.

9) The USDA provides a wonderful list of vegetables in 5 different groups and encourages variety. We were reminded of that while reading their list because we tend to buy the same thing sometimes.

10) Beans are both a protein and a vegetable.

11) Dairy might be off to the side but it is a good reminder to drink milk with your meals or include yogurt as a little side dish or dessert.

12) Out of 8 meals and snacks, by using MyPlate as our template for makeovers, we saved a lot of calories:

Of course our store is ready with posters, tear pads, a free handout and this PowerPoint show now! The PowerPoint deal is great – it is on sale and you get 3 shows: 1 big one that is over 70 slides, 1 express and one mini that is perfect for kindergarteners. PLUS 8 pages of handouts and 3 pages to play a fun game.

GET MYPLATE EDUCATION NOW!

We love it!

• MyPlate has been introduced as the new food icon from the USDA.
• The new site choosemyplate.gov has now been launched – check it out!
• It replaces MyPyramid as the main visual icon for “what to eat” by the USDA.
• BUT as we happily discovered – the food groups and all of their rules and guidelines remain the same.
• MyPyramid doesn’t go away – it remains a tool for those who like to use it for portion control and meal planning.
• MyPlate makes the Dietary Guidelines and food group recommendations easier to put into action.

Michelle Obama said it best, how could you be more simple than a plate?

Let’s take a Plate Test!

We bought a McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger and Large Fries for a total of 940 calories:

Instead of eating out of the bag – put it on a plate! That looks really different. If you were cooking at home you would not serve portions like that. We have all become accustomed to fast food out of the bag and boxes that the restaurants provide but it really is a portion distortion and putting it on a plate puts it into perspective.

We dissected it. Ooh – that is a different story, isn’t it? A tiny pickle hardly looks like half the plate. And “fried” potatoes aka French fries are not on the veggie list (but a baked potato is – see here for the USDA vegetable gallery!) Remember that frying foods often triples the calories from the original ingredient. And this is not a half plate because it is a large order of fries. In fact all of this dinner failed to fit on a 9 inch plate.

Here we go, our quick makeover for our test:

An open faced burger or small burger with salad (very light on the dressing) will total 300 calories.

See? You save over 600 calories by making a healthier plate!

Better news: We have many MyPlate PowerPoint shows, posters, games and more ready for you now in our store!! Thanks to our graphic designers and editors who burned the midnight oil to get them done!!

New products including games and posters!

Here is the transcript from the intro video:

Introducing the new food icon

http://bit.ly/lkghgb – link to intro video for MyPlate on YouTube

From Tom Vilsack Secretary of Agriculture:

For Americans to lead happy and productive lives it helps to stay healthy and fit and it is really pretty simple. Choose a Healthier Plate and balance it with exercise it all comes down to the choices that we make. That is why I am excited to introduce to you the USDA’s new Food Icon MyPlate.

My plate symbolizes mealtime and the food groups: fruits, vegetables, grains and protein and dairy – a healthy plate for every meal. It’s easy and what we eat matters. Overweight and obesity are at dangerously high levels and the Obama administration has worked to support the Americans who want to improve their health and the plate is a departure from the food pyramid you are used to seeing. It is an easy to understand visual that shows how to build a healthy meal based on the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for all Americans. If you want to learn more about a healthy diet you can visit choosemyplate.gov to get messages, tools and how-to materials about healthy eating. This website will equip consumers with information on staying healthy and tips on balancing calories and foods to increase and foods to reduce.

I hope you are as excited as I am about myplate and the other resources to help Americans make healthy choices and choosemyplate.gov Next time you sit down for a meal I hope myplate becomes your plate!

Just in – flash update

On June 2nd the USDA will release their new food icon to help consumers use all of the wonderful information presented in the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Please be advised that on Thursday, June 2, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will unveil an exciting new food icon that will serve as a reminder for consumers to make healthier food choices.  This new food icon will be part of a comprehensive nutrition communication initiative that provides consumers with easy-to-understand actions, a new website with expanded information, and other tools and resources.

Event information is below:

Thursday, June 2

10:30 a.m. EDT

WHERE: U.S. Department of Agriculture

Jefferson Auditorium

USDA South Building (5th Wing Entrance)
1400 Independence Ave., S.W.

Washington, D.C.  20250

Official press guide: http://content.govdelivery.com/bulletins/gd/USDAOC-7f4bb

Past food pyramids have tried to tell people what to eat, but this new icon and information will help people eat better everywhere they go because they are on the go.

The 2010 White House Child Obesity Task Force called for simple, actionable advice to equip consumers with information to help them make healthy food choices. As a result, USDA will be introducing the new food icon to replace the MyPyramid image as the government’s primary food group symbol. It will be an easy-to-understand visual cue to help consumers adopt healthy eating habits consistent with the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  MyPyramid will remain available to interested health professionals and nutrition educators in a special section of the new website.

The new food icon will be part of a comprehensive nutrition communication initiative that provides consumers with easy-to-understand recommendations, a new website with expanded information, and other tools and resources. (source USDA press release)

The NY Times reports that the new icon will be a healthy plate.

CNN provides a history of the USDA icons and announcement of new one.

Mat Zucker’s opinion, from an ad exec’s point of view is here.

Marion Nestle’s review is here.

Janet Helm, MS, RD has placed a great blog roll here of what all dietitians are saying about MyPlate

Alice Henneman, MS, RD makes the cutest video in YouTube

There are six how-to messages to guide healthy eating according to a webmd.com interview:

- Enjoy your food, but eat less.
- Avoid oversized portions.
- Make half of your plate fruits and vegetables.
- Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk.
- Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread, and frozen meals, and choose the foods with lower numbers.
- Drink water instead of sugary drinks.

A press conference will be live-streamed at www.usda.gov/live. Access to the conference as well as the press kit and other information will be available at www.cnpp.usda.gov

Stay tuned – we will be watching and making updates and fun tools!

Get Healthy Plate Nutrition Education Tools here!

Get Dietary Guidelines Nutrition Education Tools here:

Here is the USDA Team Nutrition Twitter feed:

A visit to the Boulder Farmer’s Market yielded many interesting greens, delicious heirloom tomatoes and Easter Egg radishes. I must say, it was so wonderful to find so many farmers competing with such high-quality, delicious items. And I really enjoyed talking to them and hearing about their pride and joy.

Here is what I found today:

Pea Shoots:

The most interesting variety of greens I have ever seen is pea shoots. These are larger than “sprouts” but not yet mature enough to make peas. The funny thing is that they taste like peas! They are delicate and light and are delicious raw or cooked. If they were in the mass market they would be very popular. It takes about 2-4 weeks to produce them versus all summer for peas.

Here is a tour of what I found and bought:

Mizuna – this green is similar to arugula but less peppery. It is more like a mild cousin. Like arugula it can be eaten raw or cooked and I plan to use it in salads all week long and will probably add it to a pasta dish or pizza, too:

Baby spring lettuces make the most delicious fresh salads – they make romaine and many of the grocery store staples seem so thick and tasteless and they will be great in salads all week:

Braising greens are a colorful mix of a variety of thicker greens with an aromatic flavor  that can be sauteed or steamed. The variety of flavors mix well and the cooking makes them more tender.  The market was filled with baskets of these greens:

Bok Choy was so very fresh and tender – it almost looked plastic it was so perfect. My favorite way to prepare this is Asian style in a stir fry dish:

And Arugula, which is a peppery green that is great raw or cooked will go in salads and pasta dishes all wee:

So, after photographing, I got to work in the kitchen to prepare dinner:

Fresh Lemon Green Salad

The spring mix of greens is very delicate so I did not want to overpower them with a heavy dressing or vinegar. I elected to drizzle them with extra virgin olive oil, fresh lemon zest and fresh lemon juice. I also added finely shaved fresh radishes – very light and very delicious. These greens tasted like we grew them! I thought it was nice to serve them in a shallow clear glass bowl so the natural light enhanced their appearance.

I also found Pappardelle’s Pasta in the market – this vendor had the best selection of pasta I have ever seen! The lady in front of me said she was so addicted to the sweet potato pasta that she was buying 3 pounds of it! I selected lemon garlic orzo and sweet potato pappardelle noodles:

And – here is the delicious entree that took 14 minutes to make.

Orzo with Pea Shoots and Farmer’s Fresh Tomatoes

1/2 pound orzo (we used lemon orzo from the market), cook until tender and drain and rinse in colander

1 pound fresh pea shoots

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups diced very fresh, ripe tomato  (cut in half, remove core and squeeze out the seeds; then dice medium)

1. Cook the orzo until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain carefully – this one is large so it didn’t go through the colander but if you have a smaller-shaped orzo you can line your colander with cheesecloth or a paper towel to help it stay inside and not go down the drain. Rinse lightly and reserve.
2. When the orzo is cooked, heat the olive oil in a shallow pan and saute the pea shoots and tomatoes in a flash – just until the shoots wilt. This is probably less than a minute! It is sort of like a warm salad with pasta. Very fresh!
3. Toss the orzo with the shoots and tomatoes. Serve in a shallow pasta bowl with a squeeze of lemon and parmesan cheese.
4. Enjoy!

Using greens is a great idea for a cooking demo because you can prepare them raw or cooked and you can use them for the salad and the entree as we have done here. It is always great to show people how to keep it simple, healthy and delicious and I think the spring greens do a great job.  I hope you can find pea shoots – they are really a wonderful ingredient and I plan to use them often.

Find many more nutrition education items, including our new Salad Book in our Nutrition Education Store.

The USDA has a program to “know your farmer”

And we have 18 treats for you!

1. Poster contest
2. Chocolate Chocolate cookies
3. New “Icebreaker” clipart category
4. More recipes – online database just tripled!
5. Temperature chart clip – includes new USDA 3 Temp Guide: whole, ground, poultry
6. Posters for summer meetings are free
7. Summer Catalog with online coupons
8. Fun food science fair project or class experiment
9. June clipart
10. CFFH Newsletter Sample
11. Farmer’s Market Handout is updated
12. June Health Calendar
13. Farmer’s Market Greens
14. PowerPoint tips
15. Snack Poster
16. Health Assessment Handout – self correcting!
17. Apple Puzzle
18. Tea article

Poster Contest - to launch and celebrate our New Poster – The Joy of Health – leave your favorite fruit and vegetable prep tip or activity in the comments and you can win a free Joy of Health Poster – winner announced at the beginning of June in the comments:

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Here is a special decadent cookie for our celebration:

Double Chocolate Cookie

1 stick trans-free lighter margarine (I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter for baking is our favorite!)

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup light sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup egg white

1-1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/4 cup very dark cocoa (we found a wonderful Onyx cocoa that is almost black and it has a really rich chocolate flavor)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1. Cream the margarine and sugar together until fluffy.
2. Add the baking soda and vanilla while it is creaming.
3. Scrape the bowl and add the egg whites slowly.
4. Add the cocoa, flour and chocolate chips and scrape the bowl then mix well.
5. Preheat oven to 375. Scoop the cookies onto a nonstick or lightly greased baking pan and flatten slightly.
6. Bake 10-12 minutes or until done. They are done when slightly firm in the center.
7. Remove them from the pan immediately and allow to cool on a ceramic plate or platter, single layer.

Makes 2 dozen small cookies.
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Icebreaker Clipart Category

We have been collecting fun nutrition quotes and jokes and have started making them in a new clipart category, “Ice Breakers” and they are meant to do just that – put them in your PowerPoint shows, blogs or handouts for a way to break the ice and capture everyone’s attention. Here is a favorite:

If you have some, email us and we will work on them and add them to our gallery.
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More recipes

In case you didn’t notice we just added over 500 recipes to our free database! Get all of our best work from 15 years in the kitchen – these were tested over and over and taste great! Plus they are good for you!
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Temperature Chart

Here is a handy chart to remember the new USDA temperature system of three for temperatures (right click and download):

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Posters for summer meetings are free:

Use this handy form to get posters for your next professional meeting for food and nutrition professionals. This includes school nurses, home economists, dietitians, teachers, personal trainers and school meal professionals. Not sure? Fill it out and we will write you back!
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Summer Catalog with special coupons:

Just uploaded and hot off the press! Download now!

Summer Catalog with special coupons

Download now and get coupons for a free poster and shipping – it has all of our newest and top selling items ready now!
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Fun food science fair project or class experiment

Use this in your classroom or for a science fair. Everyone can discover the calorie difference between choosing whole foods and ones that are processed. There is a fun math equation to show the statistical significance, too!
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June clipart

We have added to the collection of clipart for June. Check it out as we build the library for summer and all year.

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Communicating Food for Health Newsletter Sample

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Farmer’s Market Handout is updated

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June Health Calendar

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Farmer’s Market Greens

A look at what is in the farmer’s market for spring – many types of greens with a gorgeous, easy salad recipe and photos.
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PowerPoint tips

Based on questions we get all the time for using PowerPoint as an effective medium.
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Snack Poster

Download or link to this poster to show that snacks from fruits and veggies are less expensive and lower in calories!
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Health Assessment Handout – self correcting!

A great new handout as part of our Health 101 lessons. Participants use this fun quiz to determine just what they need to work on – more exercise, eat breakfast, etc.
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Apple Puzzle

This great puzzle is shaped like an apple and it has fun tips so they remember to buy more apples in the store.
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And here is our favorite tea article to encourage more iced tea in June:

Happy June!

Mashed potatoes – 1.5 cups – 196 calories

McDonald’s French Fries – 2.5 cups – 750 calories

Apples – 1 – 77 calories

McDonald’s Apple Pie – 2 – 500 calories

Whole Wheat Cereal (cooked) 1/2 cup – 165 calories

Big bagel – 1 – 280 calories

A local farmer’s market yielded many different greens. Braising greens, salad greens and sprouted greens. The mustard sprouts had an amazing flavor and they would be delicious in sandwiches and salads. Braising greens were very plentiful and included chard, kale, mizuna, mustard and beets.

I chose a nice variety for a salad that included oak leaf, arugula, mache and mizuna. These may also be referred to as “mesclun or mix.”

Rinse lightly in a colander with cold water:

Remove long stems and dry in spinner or with paper towels. Place in a nice glass salad bowl:

Toss with oil and vinegar. Then top with fresh ripe tomatoes. The slices of tomatoes are kept somewhat large to show them off and to prevent the tomatoes from becoming too mushy:

Enjoy!

See our wonderful Salad Secrets Book here for over 100 salads with photos and chef’s tips.

More Fruit and Vegetable Posters here

2 great updates for you:

1) Mexican Fiesta Salad – just in time for spring and Cinco de Mayo

2) ¸Our new iPad App, Salad Secrets is born

Here is the link to get Salad Secrets for the iPad:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/salad-secrets-for-ipad/id431028101?mt=8#

Here is a sneak preview – side salads, masterpiece salads, salad recipe, email to friend format:

You get:

50 creative, DELICIOUS salads you can make right now from your iPad!

FEATURES:

• - Make a list of favorites
• - Share and send – Email our recipes to yourself, clients and friends
• - Easy – Step by step directions
• - Fast – Most salads can be made in 15 minutes or less
• - Versatile – Use them for every day meals or entertaining
• - Chef’s secrets – Learn how to modify your own recipes, too from Judy Doherty, PCII
• - Salad and weight control – What does the research say? Find out!
• - MORE – Tips to keep your own salad recipes healthy – from Hollis Bass, MEd, RD and Food and Health Communications
• - Support – You can email us for help
• - Photos – Creative, appetizing photos show you what your salad will look like

MORE – These salads include:

• - Nutrition analysis, low in fat and sodium
• - Innovative designs never before seen with salad
• - Salads that can be complete meals or desserts
• - Special masterpiece salads will stun any audience
• - Easy to follow step by step directions
• - Tested and developed over 15 years by award winning newsletter publisher – see the fun stats in the comments for how many man hours and grocery dollars we spent on development – it took us over 2700 photos just to get the right ones! Here is a shot from Aperture, our photo sorting program:

BUY NOW – just $3.99 introductory offer

And here is the recipe for the beautiful salad pictured above:

Mexican Fiesta Salad Platter:

Ingredients:

• 1 large shallow plate/bowl for the salad – shallow is better so you get more goodies on top

• Dark greens: romaine or red leaf, about 2 bags or 12 cups
• Pico de Gallo(this means large chopped salsa):
  • 1 cup chopped ripe tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup chopped sundried tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup chopped red onion
  • 1/4 cup mild hot chili pepper (Poblano or Anaheim)
  • juice of 1 lime
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro or 2 tsp dried
• 2 baked sweet potatoes (microwave or bake), peeled and sliced
• 2 limes, cut in wedges
• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and sliced
• 4 ears corn, steamed and sliced off cob

Directions:

1. Wash, dry and cut the greens; place in the shallow bowl or platter.
2. Cut the ingredients for the pico de gallo and mix in a bowl. Arrange in the center of the salad.
3. Place the cut corn, avocado and sweet potatoes around the outer edge.
4. Garnish with lime wedges.
5. Cover and chill until ready to serve. Serve with vinegar, oil and lime wedges to use as dressing.
6. Optional garnish: Tortilla chips or warm corn tortillas are a nice added side garnish.

Makes enough to serve 8-12 people. We actually brought this to a friend’s house for a party!

We don’t accept advertising – this recipe and tip is brought to you by our Nutrition Education Store – see more great products in http://nutritioneducationstore.com:

Salad Secrets eBook, Print book and CD

Brand new fruit and veggie poster uses the 3 WIN tips from the Dietary Guidelines and has fun theme – check out those bananas!

Our favorite – hang it in your office, classroom, cafeteria or demo!

Researchers at the Pennsylvania State University completed a study that shows that hiding veggies in foods is an effective strategy to get people to eat more veggies and significantly fewer calories. This is because nonstarchy veggies are the foods that are the lowest in calorie density. For example, lettuce is a lot lower in calorie density than burgers, pizza, fatty meets, cheese and many other common foods in our marketplace. (You can view the abstract here: Blatt, A. D., Roe, L. S., Rolls, B. J., Am J Clin Nutr April 2011 vol. 93 no. 4 756-763 http://ajcn.org/content/93/4/756.short?rss=1)

We have been reading and reporting about calorie density for a long time – it is an excellent way to compare foods and can make all the difference for someone trying to lose weight – focus on eating more salads, fruits and cooked whole grains versus heavily processed foods that contain a lot of fat and sugar. We know that adding more veggies to any dish does lower the total calories.

We wanted to give this fun idea of hiding pureed vegetables in foods a try. We picked meatloaf and mashed potatoes and we were WOWED by the results. They tasted great and our teenage boy testers thought so, too.

Our calorie outcome saved 600 calories as compared to food you would find at a restaurant (we used the nutrition information from Boston Market for this calculation). Who would have guessed that this meatloaf rang in at just 100 calories and the mashed potatoes at 66 calories!

Here is how we did it:

Half n Half Meat Loaf

1 pound lean ground turkey breast

1 pound frozen stew veggies

1 can whole tomatoes, no salt added

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp poultry seasoning

1/2 cup seasoned bread crumbs

Ketchup, about 2 tablespoons

Directions:

1. Cook the veggies in the microwave for 10 minutes or until really tender.

2. Puree the cooked veggies with the tomatoes in a food processor.

3. Stir the turkey, puree, seasonings and bread crumbs together. Place into oiled loaf pan, top with ketchup and bake at 375F for 1 hour or until done.

4. Allow to sit out for 10 minutes; cut and serve from the pan. It will be a little softer than usual but it tasted delicious and moist!

Mashed Cauli Taters

1 pound yukon gold potatoes

1 pound frozen cauliflower florets

1 teaspoon butter

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/4 cup skim milk

Directions:

1. Peel the potatoes and cut them in quarters. Cook them in boiling water with the cauliflower florets until they are very tender, about 25-30 minutes. (We usually go 20 minutes for potatoes.)

2. Drain off the water, mash with a potato masher and then whip smooth with electric beaters. Add the butter, seasonings and skim milk. Dab with additional butter or margarine. Serve hot.

Dr. Kenney, our newsletter and CPE course author made a great suggestion for adding more veggies – he used the example of a stir fry dish – use more veggies, less meat and less oil and you will lower the calories tremendously; plus you won’t have to cut the portion size to do that. He likes to use fresh garlic and ginger, too. And he recommends a light soy sauce that has less sodium.

If you have a way to make “hidden veggies”  tell us below. If we use your answer you are eligible for a drawing for our new poster, Fall in Love With Salad.

This post is sponsored by the NutritionEducationStore.com – wait til you see all of the new posters we are creating!

This article with complete nutrition analysis, handouts on using veggie puree and a macaroni and cheese with carrots dish is featured in the April 2011 issue of Communicating Food for Health Newsletter:

The National Weight Control Registry is a database of over 6000 people who have lost more than 30 pounds and kept it off for more than a year. The registry seeks to find the common denominators of these successful people who have lost an average of 66 pounds and kept it off for another average of 5.5 pounds.

• Weight losses have ranged from 30 to 300 lbs.
• Duration of successful weight loss has ranged from 1 year to 66 years!
• Some have lost the weight rapidly, while others have lost weight very slowly–over as many as 14 years.
• Many have tried to lose weight more than once and finally, usually after a significant medical or emotional event, they succeed

Recently a team of brilliant researchers including Thomas, J. Graham Ph.D.; Bond, Dale S. Ph.D.; Hill, James O. Ph.D.; Wing, and Rena R. Ph.D., set about to study the data from these successful participants and they published the results in the ACSM’S Health & Fitness Journal, which is available here. It is an excellent read and we applaud the publisher for sharing the entire article.

The researchers found that there were 7 successful habits shared by the participants which included a significant amount of weekly exercise, eating breakfast, counting calories, consistent diet and a healthy diet. These findings were congruent with many shared on the National Weight Control Registry website which says that 78% eat breakfast, 75% weigh themselves once a week, 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week and 90% exercise on average 1 hour per day.

Of all the tips and habits that we read in the update, the one that struck us the most was that the registry members ate consistently. They kept their diet healthy and low in calories and fat and they did not get side-tracked with special occasions, holidays or weekends.

Most people do not know what they are going to eat until their next meal and they make the decision when they are hungry. Our casual observance always shows that the end result is not the best result for calorie totals. Menu planning and shopping advice is the number one request we receive from our readers. We decided to share a rather new trick we have started in our own kitchen.

A few months ago I started making a weekly list of our favorite foods. Once I wrote those down, shopping and cooking became effortless – look at the list and pick one! We eat the same things over and over each week because they are our favorites. There is no more reinventing the wheel or trying to be too creative. Did you ever notice when you go out to eat you always order the same thing at a restaurant? Well, why not do that at “your” restaurant? Sure, you can alter your list and add new dishes or change them as needed. You can also find something neat to prepare in the store. But we find just having a plan is a good idea. We are not stuck in some rigid “every day meal plan” but in a road map for what we like to eat. The ingredients are there and the items are written down so we don’t forget. We can even get ahead – take the chicken or pizza dough out of the freezer, soak the beans.

Here is our “ongoing menu” which usually keeps the crock pot busy a few days per week – we have started eating a lot more legumes from scratch:

Favorite Menu Ideas From Our Test Kitchen with links to the recipes online:

• Vegetarian Chili - cooked black beans, salt-free stewed diced tomatoes, cubed winter squash, seasonings.

• Mediterranean Garbanzo Stew – this is usually served with jasmine rice and a big salad

• Angel Hair Pasta with Tomato Basil Sauce

• Pizza

• Vegetarian Burritos

• Ranch Beans/Chicken - baked chicken served with home-made pinto beans (use the beans the next day to make the burritos)

• Kitchen Sink Pasta - we cook a variety of fresh veggies with garlic, basil and salt-free broth and toss with cooked pasta.

• Chicken Cutlets - slice a chicken breast into thin cutlets, dust with flour and saute in a little bit of olive oil; remove from the pan and make a sauce with lemon juice, chicken broth and parsley; pour over the cutlets and bake in the oven. Serve with mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and home-made apple sauce. (Note the recipe calls for turkey cutlets but you can use turkey or chicken.)

• Lowfat Lasagna - we make this in a large batch and freeze the leftovers for busy days.

Speaking of recipes – we have added a lot more here.

As always this wonderful blog is sponsored by The Nutrition Education Store. We have a fantastic selection of items to teach people how to cook and nutrition education materials to celebrate National Nutrition Month now.

Here is a video of our pizza:

My daughter’s school principal is requesting ideas for alternative snacks for parents to send to school to celebrate their child’s birthday, rather than the usual cake/brownies, etc.  Do you have any handouts/suggestions that I could use?
– Mary Therese Maslanka, RD, LDN, Registered and Licensed Dietitian, Mount Prospect, IL

We must admit, this is probably one of the most useful questions we have had the privilege to answer. We know all too well about the nutritional dangers of children’s menus, party food and snacks that are laden with fat and sugar. Plus we just finished a show about the alarming statistics of childhood obesity. We worked with Mary to come up with a few rules so the creations are good for everyone:

- fewer than 100 calories

- parents can make it quickly

- kids want to eat it

- can’t make too much mess for the classroom/teachers

That is a tall order!

But we did come up with some creative ideas that we wanted to share below.

Ingredients:

• Rice Krispies Treat – 90 calories
• Fig newton (1) – 45 calories
• Vanilla wafer (1) – 18 calories
• Mini rice cake (1) – 10 calories
• Fruit, fresh (1/2 cup) – 40 calories

4 different presentations:

• Rice Krispies Bowl – 90 calories each ($3.99 for 16 of them)
• Newton’s Fruit Cake (Fig Newton and fruit) – 85 calories cookie/fruit ($12 for cookies, fruit)
• Dip Me Sheet – 60 calories for cookie/fruit serving ($12 for cookies and fruit)
• Rice Cookie Cake and Fruit – 50 calories cookie/fruit ($5 for rice cakes and berries)

Newton’s Fruit Cake – place cookies around the outside of the pan and fill with dried or fresh fruits. Add sprinkles and then adhere 8 candles to the tops of the cookies with frosting.

Dip Me Sheet – place a variety of fruits, caramel dip and vanilla wafers in an attractive square pan. Decorate with balloon candles held in place with styrofoam.

Rice Krispies Bowl – the easy way out – arrange these in a bowl and garnish the middle one with frosting, sprinkles and a candle.

Rice Cakes and Fruit – arrange them in bowls and garnish a few with frosting and candles – yummy!

Tips:

• Use candles, sprinkles and decorator’s frosting for fun festive touch.
• It is best to offer a variety of cookies and fruit – even if you had the perfect ice cream cake there are kids who don’t like that – they always love a choice so everyone finds something they like.
• If parents unite, this will become the norm.
• As our reader pointed out, some of the classes have 23-30 students, so with 36 weeks of school, that is almost 1 sugar-laden treat per week! If you were serving cake or regular cupcakes each time, that is about 9,000-12,000 calories per school year from birthday parties! Ours ring in at about 2,500 calories and this saves, on average, about 8,000 calories per child.

This message is brought to you by our Nutrition Education Store – find great educational ideas for kids and schools here:

Nutrition Education Materials for Kids, Families, Schools

and for Nutrition Month – the theme this year is colors – what a great way to celebrate that, too. Here are more materials:

Nutrition Month Education Materials

MORE on cake here

It is official – the Dietary Guidelines for Americans is now released in a 112 page document, boiled down from over 600 pages by the Dietary Guidelines Committee which is comprised of brilliant scientists who worked over 2 years to summarize peer-reviewed scientific studies about what we eat and how it impacts our health.

Main points:

Balancing Calories

• Enjoy your food, but eat less
• Avoid oversized portions

Foods to Increase

• Make half your plate fruits and vegetables
• Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk

Foods to Reduce

• Compare sodium in foods like soup, bread and frozen meals — and choose the foods with lower numbers
• Drink water instead of sugary drinks

DIRECT DOWNLOAD for 112 page copy from USDA

Executive summary

http://dietaryguidelines.gov

http://nutritionevidencelibrary.com

http://nutritioneducationstore.com – for great posters, PowerPoint shows and more for the Dietary Guidelines messages for 2010

In case you did not have time to watch the introduction live online from the USDA website, we typed the introduction  to read quickly:

Introduction:

Obesity causes a higher risk of heart disease, stroke, certain cancers 7 out of 10 deaths – 3/4 of nations healthcare costs are chronic diseases – these costs weigh heavily on business owners, government budgets, ability to grow as a nation – cannot be a good student or as productive or innovative if your health conditions are debilitated. This has the biggest cost on America’s prosperity.

The Dietary Guidelines want to give Americans the tools they need to prosper – the information is based on the latest science and research and we are updating all of this all the time. The four key messages:

• less calories
• moving more
• healthier diet
• less sodium, sugar and saturated fat

If we are to become stronger and better as a country we have to be healthier for healthier students and workers

These guidelines have obstacles:

grocery store – harder to read nutrition facts labels especially for people in a hurry – we are working on updating that information to make it easier to find

going out to eat – harder to make healthy choice – nutrition information will be more readily available on menu boards – calories on front of menu

finances – the new healthcare law reduces financial barriers to preventative care – high cholesterol, high blood pressure

food deserts – easier to get chips or high calorie foods while fruits and vegetables are 2 miles away, not safe to play outside it is tough for kids to get exercise – the recovery act is helping neighborhoods and cities to make healthier choices – healthier school lunches and better neighborhoods

We understand statistics are families and human beings – workers who want to be better

These are not always the easiest things to do and sometimes they are financial challenges

With this edition of DGA we are putting best information in people’s hands – we want to be healthier, better, more productive and more competitive.

(END of introduction) – you can also watch and download here

Our comments:

There was an interesting question after the introduction: Why won’t the USDA come out and say stop eating so much meat and cheese – why do you say “solid fats” when you should really come out and say Porter House steak or cheese? This is a good point – but the USDA is the United States Agricultural system and they have chosen to provide a more positive message: eat more fruits and vegetables, vary your protein (and keep lean) and control your calories; lessen solid fats, added sugars and sodium. They want to lower obesity, bring more fruits and vegetables to rural areas and welfare programs and improve the school meal programs. The Guidelines are the base of public policy. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has a great commentary – you can read it here.

Here are a few of our opinions, after reading all of the 600 pages of the Dietary Guidelines committee, the 112 page report and the 2005 dietary guidelines. Overall they did an excellent job to focus EVERYONE on the most important task at hand – reduce overweight and obesity in our country to save money and make the US more competitive in the global market. We strongly agree that everyone needs to lower the calorie density of their diets, move more and balance calories. They also need to lower sodium and hopefully the new guidelines will help manufacturers take a better look at the sodium levels in their foods. There is an excellent summary of the ill effects of high sodium here.

Anyway, the research keeps going in one direction in our opinion. That is, the data is consistently showing that diet and exercise are so important for better health to avoid the debilitating chronic illnesses that keep most Americans from enjoying their golden years and cause a huge amount of money spent on healthcare dollars every year. The thing that makes us shake our head is that the market seems to go in the opposite direction. More fast food, more packaged food, and foods that are labelled health foods that don’t make sense to us. What is really needed for better health always comes back to the same simple message that seems so difficult to put into place:

More:

• fruits,
• vegetables,
• cooked whole grains,
• beans/legumes and

some fish and skim dairy.

Less added:

• sugar,
• fat and
• salt.

We did find the most amazing resource from the USDA that is sort of buried in all of the material about the guidelines on the USDA site. Visit http://www.nutritionevidencelibrary.com and click on the top left DGAC 2010 Tab and you will find a wonderful summary of really hot topics from the Dietary Guidelines Committee

The most important things for today’s consumer, in our opinion, are listed:

Do sugared drinks and juice cause weight gain? What about for kids?

What is calorie density – does it matter in the war against the bulge?

What about sodium?

What about different types of protein?

Do you need food safety?

Here is our gem of the day under Energy Balance and Weight Management for Calorie Density:

Conclusion for Calorie Density

Strong and consistent evidence indicates that dietary patterns that are relatively low in energy density improve weight loss and weight maintenance among adults.

GRADE: Strong

Overall strength of the available supporting evidence: Strong; Moderate; Limited; Expert Opinion Only; Grade not assignable

For additional information regarding how to interpret grades, click here.

BUT then there is more – look at the link below to take you directly to the research that supports this finding:

http://www.nutritionevidencelibrary.com/template.cfm?template=sort_list_template&key=1024

And the summary of the actual articles:

http://www.nutritionevidencelibrary.com/evidence.cfm?evidence_summary_id=250129

Four randomized controlled weight loss trials (RCT) found that lowering food-based energy density is linked with significantly higher weight loss (De Oliveira, 2008; Ello Martin, 2007; Rolls, 2005; Saquib, 2008). In these RCTs, the average weight loss resulting from lower dietary energy density ranged from 0.8kg to 1.5kg across studies. Dietary energy density was reduced by either increasing fruit or vegetable intake (De Oliveira, 2008; Ello Martin, 2007; Saquib, 2008) or soup consumption (Rolls, 2005).

In case you are not familiar with calorie density, it is a way of classifying foods according to their calories by pound. Our best article that explains that is our “Pound of Melon”  that was one of the most popular with thousands of hits and you can watch a preview of our PowerPoint show that explains it and has a fascinating organization of food according to it.

Here is the information for the release of the 2010 Dietary Guidelines – we will keep you posted and all items in our store will be immediately updated as needed:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 24, 2011 - US Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will announce the new 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans on Monday, January 31, 2011. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans Policy Document is the federal government’s evidence-based nutritional guidance to promote health, reduce the risk of chronic diseases, and reduce prevalence of overweight and obesity through improved nutrition and physical activity. The Policy Document assists policy makers, nutrition professionals, food assistance program administrators, food industry, scientists and academics, and the nutrition-focused media with a consistent, science-based foundation for their nutrition efforts.

The release of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 will be webcast live starting at 10:00am ET on Monday, January 31, 2011. Visit USDA.gov/live or click below to watch the release. Members of the media are invited to attend the event in person and must RSVP here by Thursday, January 27, 5:00pm ET.

NOTE: A downloadable/printable version of the Policy Document will be available immediately following the January 31 press conference. Consumer materials which support and reflect the Dietary Guidelines will be released at a later date.

Press Conference Materials (available starting at 10:00am on January 31, 2011):

USDA Press Release
Executive Summary
Fact Sheet
Backgrounder
Q and A

Post-Press Conference Materials (available immediately following the press conference):

Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2010 (Policy Document)

Visit our store to see brand new educational materials for the 2010 Dietary Guidelines

Last night after cooking, I took a bag of garbanzo beans (chick peas) and put them in the crockpot to soak overnight. This morning I turned them on high and then reduced to low for them to cook all day. At 4:30 PM the house smelled so wonderful that I became inspired to make one of the healthiest, and most popular, buffet dinners in our house! Teenager approved. (Caveat – if I make something he doesn’t like I can risk becoming the short order cook for pizza, macaroni or spaghetti!).

Mediterranean Style Garbanzo Beans

1 lb dried garbanzo beans, soaked and boiled until tender

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic/garlic paste

1 cup no-added-salt chicken broth

1 can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, with juice

1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil

1 cup baby spinach leaves (fresh if you can)

Black pepper to taste

Saute the garlic until nutty. Add the chicken broth and reduce to half the amount (evaporate). Add the tomatoes, the cooked chick peas (can use canned, drained instead). Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and then simmer briefly. (Serves 8, each 1 cup serving: 222 calories, 4 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, o g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 29 mg sodium, 36 g carbohydrate, 11 g fiber, 11 g protein)

Fluffy Jasmine Rice

For the rice, I cooked white jasmine rice (I know, it should be brown but this is so light and delicious it was our one indulgence!) in the rice cooker – 1 cup rice, 1-1/2 cups water – cooks in 20 minutes – fluff with a fork. It goes REALLY well with the garbanzo beans.

Butternut Squash

Cut squash in quarters, remove the seeds, cover and microwave on high for 10 minutes or until fork tender, sprinkle with reduced-calorie pancake syrup and cinnamon.

4 Pepper Lemon Chicken

Wow – this one was a big surprise it tasted so wonderful!

8 chicken tenders (we buy them bulk frozen at Walmart)

1/2 tsp olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 red pepper sliced

dash: cayenne pepper, chili powder, black pepper

juice of 2 lemons

orange zest (optional – we used dried orange zest but you can also grate fresh or skip this if you are in a hurry)

Put the chicken tenders in the microwave for 5 minutes – they will thaw and cook slightly which hastens the cooking of this whole dish. Meanwhile, use a large nonstick wok or skillet and saute the onions and peppers. Season well according to your taste. Add the lemon juice. Remove the chicken and chop it lightly into thinner strips – add to the pan. Season with orange and saute until the chicken is done.

For our salad, I used romaine, fresh ginger paste (I buy this in a tube in the produce section of the grocery store), grated carrots and a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It is so flavorful with the ginger and no salty/fatty dressing is needed. It is always a hit.

Voila – enjoy. I have noticed that a buffet at 4 or 5 o’clock always ends up with kids eating a LOT of healthy items.

Check out the Heart Education Materials and Heart Quiz in our store – February is heart month or see the new materials for the 2010 Dietary Guidelines:

Dietary Guidelines Value Posters

What are you doing for Bean Day? Let us know in the comments below:

2011 Trends Same as 1870

Food and Health Communications 2011 Food Trend Predictions

2011 Trends Same as 1870

We are still experiencing the same trend in food that has been going on since 1870. One word describes it: efficiency. It applies to every stage of food production.  Why did I pick 1870? That is the year when the percentage of farmers went from 58% to 47% in this country, which illustrates agricultural efficiency as a population statistic.  A middling purifier was invented to produce a superior flour (more food processing). The first weather report was transmitted by telegraph.  Later in 1872, many fruits and vegetables were improved through better agricultural methods. And in 1874 margarine was produced.  And also in this year the pressure cooker was invented to cook faster.  (Source: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/timeline/comp.htm )

Everyone wants more for less effort, which is how we become more efficient and progress as a society. This still applies to our modern food chain:

• Farmers want higher yields with less effort and lower cost.
• Food manufacturers want higher sales and profits – they are always looking for the holy grail for consumer demand and they have done this through decadent calorie-dense foods and many fads: the fat-free fad, the carbs-are-bad fad, the huge-portions-for-better-value fad, more-calcium foods, lower-trans-fat foods and now with the “restaurant is in your kitchen” trend among others. Fast food companies know that we love to drive through and have dinner in the car in 5 minutes when we are pressed for time and hungry now.
• Grocers and other food retailers want to increase sales and optimize their operations.
• Consumers want better meals in less time and many need to stretch their food dollars.  They want to think they have more nutritious food or something special. They also view food as a source of entertainment as seen on cooking channels, in many written articles and the creativity of chefs. Of course some are simply too busy to do anything but eat on the go. Some poor populations live in food deserts where access to anything but convenience stores and fast food restaurants is the only choice.

Our economy and society has steadily become “more efficient” since the dawn of agriculture and this has kept constant through the industrial revolution and now the digital revolution. The adaptation of the digital era has eaten up a lot of free time and income as everyone spends more time and money on their gadgets and becoming “digitized”; furthermore as the book Googled points out, life as we know it has been disrupted because of the internet and there is a general scramble to do more with less.

Here are market “efficiency” trends for food that we feel will continue:

• All retail food stores seek to bring the restaurant into the house – we feel that is the largest trend that is here to stay:
  • Consumers get the comfort of home and fancier foods for less effort and lower cost than a restaurant meal. TV and food blogs have educated them to demand these foods but budgets have driven them into the stores and grocers have obliged.
  • Salad mixes, prepared produce, roasted meats, fancy prepared seafood, fruit platters, party platters, spice mixes, gourmet soups, prepared sauces, exotic bakery items and much more are now common. Just like what you find in your favorite restaurant!
  • The produce aisle has quite a few more “already prepared items”; “steam in the bag” produce has become more popular with more choices.
  • Frozen foods, ethnic foods and private labels foods are more numerous.
• Walmart is the largest seller of groceries (WSJ Nov 2010). The superstores offer value, good selection and the opportunity to one stop shop. They also put pressure on grocery stores to keep prices lower. Regular grocery stores posted an increase in sales (3Q 2010: Associated Press December 2, 2010) as more consumers want to save money. They have kept prices down and eradicated items that do not sell in an effort to be competitive. Many store brand items come in smaller containers to help lower costs.
• Raw ingredients are scarcer. Try to find a box of barley, whole oats or fresh yeast. Ricotta cheese was nowhere to be found in one store we shopped. Whole heads of lettuce are now way outnumbered by bags of lettuce. Less popular vegetables like endive, kale, beets and leeks are missing or very low in number in common stores.
• In-season and local is not as evident in the produce aisle of a grocery store. (Although farmer’s markets are more numerous for these items.) You can get fresh apples and winter squash in the middle of the summer and asparagus, corn, tomatoes and peaches in the middle of winter.  “Go Local” might be a favorite topic among food editors but it is not apparent in grocery stores where items are available year round for good prices.  We just bought berries for a lower price than what we paid in summer and they are every bit as fresh and delicious.
• Food allergy items are more prevalent. Gluten-free options are on almost every aisle. The labeling of the 7 most common allergens is on almost every package.
• Only items that sell and sell profitably are kept on the shelves. Did you notice that the cake mix selection is smaller? Ditto with salad dressings, mayonnaise, cuts of meat, low-fat ice cream and fresh fish.
• Food manufacturers want to sell and sell at a profit so they are still wooing consumers with the lures of “extra nutrition” and “extra convenience” with package claims and offerings. Flavor and seasonings will continue to be creative and emphasized.
• “Nutrition” has become a convoluted claim with bits of this and bits of that to sell a food, not help someone manage a whole diet.
• There are more low-sodium or no-added-salt foods available now. But that doesn’t mean you can stop reading labels – there are probably 500 down and 50,000 to go! (just a playful guess!)

The bottom line of what all of this means for the consumer?

Many consumers are “under water” with their nutrition and overall diet. They are getting too many calories but very little fiber or nutrients for long-term health and weight control (health.gov).  The Dietary Guidelines’ most important message in 2005 and again in 2010 is to get the nutrients needed in the calories allotted. We do not need acai juice, special antioxidants, phytochemicals or probiotics. We need more fruits and vegetables, cooked whole grains, beans/legumes and skim dairy which all adds up to more fiber and fewer calories. Yet we are sidetracked with the phytochemicals in chocolate, some antioxidant properties of sugared pomegranate juice, probiotics in sugared yogurt, high protein, “energy” drinks, super sports beverages and many other claims by manufacturers. Obesity has risen and over 2/3 of the population is still very overweight. Healthcare costs are 75% of the national budget.

Our series this year for 2011 is going to help consumers become more efficient with their meal planning, food preparation and shopping. Someone needs to be on their side.

Have a comment or favorite trend or trend list? Post it below.

Want to see our newest and most beautiful poster that says it all:

Learn to make better salads in less time:

Salad Secrets Book

Happy Holidays to all of our readers!

The most important hour of your day could very well be dinner time. At least from a calorie standpoint.

Scenario 1 – sit down, order, eat chili and salad:
Calories taken in: 580
Calories expended: 72
Adjusted total: 508 calories

Scenario 2 – cook, clean, get dinner ready for the next day; eat chili and salad:
Calories taken in: 268
Calories expended: 150
Adjusted total: 118
This choice burns more and consumes fewer calories.

X 365 days:
Scenario one: 185,420 calories
Scenario two: 43,070 calories

The difference is 142,350 calories for a whole year just by preparing a good dinner versus eating out. This could equate to 40 pounds. Now that is probably borderline ridiculous because no one will eat out every day, but the numbers are impressive. Even more impressive is the sodium difference. The meal eaten away from home contains a total of 1800 mg of sodium while the one you can prepare is only 358 mg – THAT over a whole year is a 526,330 mg difference!

One thing I have noticed about cooking more often, is that it becomes the norm and the dinner hour is filled with conversation, family time, better eating, a willingness by all to try new things and even better team work. Home is better. Dinner gets easier. Last night all I did to prepare for today was to put some kidney beans in the crockpot and fill with water. This morning when I got up, I drained the beans and refilled the crockpot with water and turned it on. As the day went on, the house smelled great. There is nothing like fresh-cooked dried beans – they taste a lot better than canned.

Here are 2 great meals for the holiday rush:

Home-Made Chili

Getting it ready the night before: soak beans and pre-measure ingredients.

1 pound bag dried kidney beans

2 cans diced no-salt-added tomatoes

1/2 can tomato paste

2 cups water

1 diced onion

1 cup frozen corn kernels

seasonings to taste: chili powder, cumin, coriander, oregano, garlic powder, dried minced onion

1. SOAK METHOD: Soak kidney beans overnight in cold water; drain and cover with water and cook on low for 2 hours or until tender. Drain.

2. Place all ingredients in crock pot and cook 1 hour on high or a few hours on low.

OPTIONAL FASTER METHOD: Use 2 cans kidney beans, drain and add the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil on the stove and cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

I found a few fun things to serve with the chili to make it appealing and fun:

We have a fun way of making cheesy chips that doesn’t use a lot of cheese – just a teaspoon of shredded cheddar sprinkled over our chips and then microwaved for 30 seconds. Each side plate had shredded romaine, a tablespoon of guacamole and cheesy chips. The chili was served over jasmine rice. You can also use brown rice but we do like the white better with this recipe – it cooks faster and I believe that any home-made plain rice is better than boxed or restaurant stuff. The Jasmine rice cooks as fast as the speed chili.

And here is a fun treat that is almost like a dessert – I found cubed squash in the produce section that cooked in the microwave in 3 minutes:

Oven Fried Fish

This is a great meal that looks spectacular and only takes 25 minutes to make.

Getting it ready the night before: thaw fish, quarter the potatoes, peel the garlic.

The first thing you want to do is cut the potatoes in quarters and start boiling them on the stove while you get everything else ready. When done they can sit in the colander until you are ready for them. They take about 15 minutes and are done when fork tender. We used Yukon Gold potatoes.

For the oven fried fish, I sprinkled a little bit of white fish (tilapia, pickerel, trout, halibut, flounder, etc.) with bread crumbs and then lightly sauteed in a tiny bit (2 tsp) of olive oil in a nonstick skillet. Once it was browned, I flipped it and finished it in the oven.

While that was baking, I finished the potatoes. Slice the garlic into medallions – thin slices – and rough chop the basil (you can use spinach and dried basil in place of fresh):

Use a tiny drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and heat over medium heat. Saute the garlic until nutty and then add the basil quickly:

Add the cooked potato quarters and smash with potato masher. Add a little skim milk, black pepper and garlic powder to taste. Keep warm.

Cook the asparagus in the toaster oven using the medium toast setting. Make the cutting board tomato salad:

Cut the tomatoes in half and sprinkle with balsamic vinegar, black pepper, a tiny drizzle of olive oil and a little oregano and basil. This is mixed entirely on the cutting board, hence the name, “Cutting Board Tomato Salad.”

Here is the final plate:

Enjoy! Hopefully you have 2 more wonderful meal ideas for family or entertaining through the holiday rush.

Need a last minute gift for yourself or someone special? Check out our books! All orders in December will receive our cookie recipe sheet with photo and easy recipes.

Tell us your most important hour – or what you are making now for dinner during the holiday rush?

Witch’s Slaw

Ingredients:

1 cup shredded carrots

1 cup shredded purple cabbage plus one leaf for hats

3 cups shredded cabbage

1 red apple, cored and shredded; shred this last and mix quickly with the vinegar so it does not turn brown (we left the peel on for nutrients and color)

1 cup light vanilla yogurt

1 tablespoon vinegar

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl.

2. Chill until ready to serve. For fun with older kids, you can garnish each serving with a witch’s hat or plastic spider.

How to make a witch’s hat:

1. Microwave a piece of cabbage for 20-30 seconds so it becomes pliable.

2. Cut it into strips.

3. Roll each strip into the shape of a hat (see photos).

Servings: 8

Each Serving: 1/2 cup.

Per Serving:

40 calories, 0 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 31 mg sodium, 8 g carbohydrate, 1.5 g fiber, 1.5 g protein.

Cabbage Varieties

Four types of cabbage are commonly found at the grocery store:

• Green cabbage – Pale green head of cabbage with a white center.

• Red cabbage – This looks like green cabbage, except for its vibrant color.

• Savoy cabbage – This variety sports crinkled leaves with a mild flavor.

• Napa cabbage – Several varieties fall into this category. These mild-flavored cabbages are long, oval-shaped bunches of pale green leaves.

Tips for Using Cabbage

• Cabbage is great in winter salads! Put together a coleslaw, or mix cabbage shreds with other greens.

• Go for some crunch! Think of places you normally use lettuce – sand- wiches, tacos, salads – and use shredded cabbage instead.

• Hollowed cabbages make festive serving bowls for dips and salads.

BUY HOLIDAY SECRETS COOKBOOK NOW!

See more Holiday Education Items in our store.

Rich in color and flavor, low in fat from our new book Holiday Secrets

Using a fat separator cup for gravy really makes a difference – we removed about a quarter of cup of fat per 2 cups of broth or about 56 grams!  Watch our video from Holiday Secrets Book on how to make a delicious, rich gravy that is low in fat and high in flavor.

It is so easy anyone can do it and this video lasts just 1.5 minutes. Take note at the beginning of the clip – we used carrots, onions and celery that were roasted right along with our bird. It takes just a minute or so to dice them up and place them under the bird before putting it in the oven. The veggies take on a rich carmel color/flavor and this is what makes the gravy taste and look great.

Watch how we simply add water, cook the veggies and pan juices and then strain off a rich broth. This is easily thickened with corn starch and water.

The final shot shows our best holiday cooking tip ever – we always carve the turkey breast and serve it with gravy. The gravy keeps it warm and moist while going from the service area in the kitchen to the table and guest. No more dry bird here!

Here is the recipe:

1 cup diced onion

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced celery

garlic powder

black pepper bay leaf

2 cups of water

1.5 tablespoons corn starch

1/4 cup water

Roast the vegetables and spices along with the turkey. When the bird is done put it to the side to allow it to “rest” for a few minutes before carving. Meanwhile, finish the gravy. Add a few cups of water to the veggies (2 to 4 depending on how much you like) and simmer. Scrape the pan drippings often. After about 10 minutes you can strain off the broth.

Use the fat separator cup to remove the excess fat. Reheat the broth. Stir in a mixture of cornstarch and water until the gravy is slightly thick. (we estimate you need about 1- 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 1/4 cup water.)

Bring the gravy back to a boil, stirring with a whisk. Serve in an attractive gravy bowl. You can spoon the gravy over your carved turkey to keep it warm and moist until service.

Buy Holiday Secrets Book here.

See more pictures and recipes from our book here.

Authors and webmasters – feel free to use recipes and videos from our books with links back to the book site http://foodandhealthbooks.com

Enjoy! We will be back soon with more great holiday recipes and tips.

Do you have a tip? We will be giving away 5 of our holiday ebooks for best holiday teaching and cooking tips. Put your holiday tips below.

Recipes from Holiday Secrets at http://foodandhealthbooks.com. Music by Jason Shaw at http://audionautix.com. The recipes in this book have been developed for our newsletter and Member Area Communicating Food for Health for more than 15 years. We have updated all of them for ease in preparation and terrific photos. It took over 3000 photos and hundreds of hours to produce this book.

Thanks to my staff for the hard work helping me in the kitchen and photography/video studio and for the support and help with the book: Lourdes Barboza (editor), Nicholas Doherty (videographer), Allison Cristaudo (orders, support and admin), Martha Cabrera (food prep and help), Nancy (food prep and clean up), James Yovin (pumpkin photos), my parents Louis and Marjory Yovin (taste testers). Thank you also to all of our customers. I love every idea and request that you bring. You constantly push me to greater heights. CHEERS!

Holiday Secrets

Holiday Secrets contains the most creative, healthy holiday recipes. This is not just another chef’s favorite recipe book – it is meant to teach you how to make many holiday creations from appetizers to gravy to desserts no matter your kitchen skill. We promise you will have the most wonderful time making great dishes that taste great, look good and are healthy every time.

Find more tips, recipe sheets, videos and photos for media on our foodandhealthbooks.com site now

Buy Holiday Secrets now.

You Receive Culinary Art Instruction

• Over 70 recipes with presentation tips; many show the savings for healthier ingredients.
• Each recipe includes at least 2 photos so you can see how to prepare the ingredients and the finished dish.
• This book is written by a professional chef with over 15 years of recipe development for award-winning Communicating Food for Health Newsletter.
• You can rest assured that these recipes have been made over and over and they work every time.
• Finishing tips, plating tips and ingredient tips are shared throughout the book.
• Buy Holiday Secrets now.

You Receive Up to the Minute Nutrition and Research Tips for Holidays

• The introduction includes a research study that found most adults put on weight during the holiday season and don’t take it off the rest of the year.
• All recipes contain nutrition facts analysis and they are low in fat and sodium.
• Expert articles for persons with diabetes.
• Buy Holiday Secrets now.

Many Topics Help You Through the Entire Holiday Season and All Year

• Healthful holiday appetizers for your party or to take with you.
• The holiday meal: roasting a turkey, making lowfat gravy, side dishes, and turkey leftovers.
• Holiday desserts – how to make pie that is half the calories from everywhere else, great bread pudding, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, cookies and egg nog.
• Gifts from your kitchen – make it and save.
• More holidays – bonus section for Halloween, Easter, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and all four patriot picnics.
• Better still, the color photos are plentiful throughout the book and for each dish –  see the finished dish for great presentation ideas
• Use this book yourself and buy more to give as gifts.

Buy Holiday Secrets now.

Buy Holiday Secrets now.

Here is a sample page from our newest book, Salad Secrets.

It shows the best way to save calories – by using a lot of veggies. This Pasta Primavera Salad contains 6 cups of veggies to 1 cup of pasta by volume. The photos allow you to view just how to make all of the ingredients and how to serve them.

We know you will love serving this salad for lunch or dinner when you want to make something really healthy and low in calories and sodium.

Find out about the Salad Secrets book here:

http://www.nutritioneducationstore.com/products/Salad_Secrets_eCookbook-377-38.html

And while you are there in our store, watch our free show on how to present 20 different salads – this is great to use at home or for foodservice –  we promise these pix will inspire you to make your salads more healthy and beautiful!

And now we have a way for you to get the 40 best recipes with photos on your iPhone/iTouch (and coming soon for iPad):

Salad Secrets App for iPhone

It costs just .99 and you can use it to email as many recipes as you want to friends, clients, colleagues and yourself!

And here is the link to the PDF file for the handout:

Pasta Primavera Salad Handout

Salad Secrets: Creative Healthy Recipes

Description:

Learn 40 different ways to make delicious healthy salads right on your iPhone with these recipes.

FEATURES

- Spot on – always have the right recipe – Quick, Masterpiece, Meal or Dessert salads

- Easy – Step by step directions

- Fast – Most salads can be made in 15 minutes or less

- Versatile – use them for every day meals or entertaining

- Chef’s secrets – Learn tips on how to modify your own recipes, too from Judy Doherty, PCII

- More secrets – see great presentations from a professional chef – now you will have all the secrets for beautiful salads every time

- Salad and weight control – what does the research say? Find out!

- How to – keep your favorite salad recipes healthy – tips from Hollis Bass, MEd, RD

- Support – you can email us for help

- Share and send – email our recipes to yourself, family, friends, clients colleagues

- Photos – creative, appetizing photos show you what your salad will look like

- YOU – it’s all about you – once installed no internet connection needed

These salads include:

-       complete nutrition analysis, low in fat and sodium

-       beautiful innovative design never before seen with salad

-       salads that can be appetizers, meals or desserts

-       special masterpiece salads will stun any audience

-       tested and developed over 15 years by award winning newsletter publisher

-       easy-to-follow step by step directions

Screenshots:

Just .99 in the app store now – click here to buy and use immediately

Quotes from our readers:

“Great, simple, and easy to follow ideas to make salads more appealing, cost effective and delicious!”

“Fresh, beautiful and inspirational.”

“The simple technique of displaying healthy food more attractively will increase consumption”

Food and Health Communications Web Site http://foodandhealth.com

Food and Health Communications Recipe Support http://foodandhealth.com/contact.php

Category: Lifestyle

Updated: August 12, 2010

Current Version: 1.0

1.0 (iOS 4.0 Tested)

10.0 MG

Language: English

Seller: Food and Health Communications

Developer: Nicholas Doherty

© 2010 Food and Health Communications, Inc.

Requirements: Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.

Here is a sneak preview of the iPad App for the Salad Secrets Book:

Photo from our new book, Salad Secrets

Did you know that today, August 3rd, is Watermelon Day?

Here are 5 things you should know about melons in general – we want to celebrate all melons because we like them so much:

1. Melon is a better value than value meals.

- Melon is probably one of the best values when it comes to food selections. Why? First of all, melon is cheap – right now in the store a melon in season (cantaloupe or watermelon) is around .02 to .05 per ounce. Second of all, it is low in calories and full of water and fiber which helps you feel fuller on fewer calories.

If you ate a pound of melon, it would cost, on average, about .50 cents. Better still, it would only contain about 144 calories and barely any fat or sodium. Compare that to the “value item” double burger from McDonalds right now. One double burger is $1. But it is only 5.3 ounces – so you would have to eat 3 of them to equal one pound – that is $3 and about  1170 calories, 2760 mg of sodium and almost 60 g of fat.

You might laugh because you would not eat a whole pound of anything at any one sitting. But over the course of the day you probably eat several pounds of food – our question:  is that mostly burgers or mostly fruits and veggies? When you want value, think of your health and not the fast food board offerings.

2. Melon is a great “shopper stretcher”

Melon does sit at room temperature for a few days. So, while you eat all of the produce that perishes faster, like peaches and berries, the melon is getting riper. After a few days you can slice it and have fruit for the rest of the week. It is like you went shopping again! Hint: if you are buying several kinds of melons, it is best to use up the watermelon first, within three days. Cut melon should always be stored in the refrigerator.

3. Melon is the best multi-vitamin food

It contains A 2-cup serving of watermelon is an excellent source of Vitamins A, B6 and C plus a healthy amount of potassium – 270 mg.

4. You can be an artist with your melon:

http://www.watermelon.org/watermelon_carving.asp

5. But it is also great just to keep it on hand and serve it cool and crisp on a platter –

For best results, follow the SEE principle for melon preparation: Slice, Eat, Enjoy!

Here is our favorite melon recipe that is wonderful when made with fresh summer fruit:

Tutti Fruiti

3 cups diced watermelon 1 cup halved strawberries 1 cup diced papaya 1 cup diced pineapple 2 oranges, peeled, seeded and diced juice of 2 limes Dice all the fruit and place in a large mixing bowl. Add lime juice and mix well. Refrigerate until ready to serve. This recipe looks very nice if served in a half watermelon shell or tall glasses as we have above. Servings: Serves 6. 1 cups per serving. Diabetic Exchanges: Bread Starch:1.0 Fruit:1.0 Total Preparation & Cooking Time: 10 Min (10 For Prep,0 For Cook ) Per Serving: Calories:74, Total Fat:0.6g, Saturated Fat:0g, Trans Fat:0g, Cholesterol:0mg, Sodium:2mg, Carbohydrates: 17.9g, Dietary Fiber:2.7g, Sugars:16.7g, Protein:1.3g,

This wonderful post is brought to you by: http://nutritioneducationstore.com

Click here for all of our new and wonderful things – we have a lot going on. Can’t wait to show you more!

Take advantage of my plating skills honed from over 20 years in the foodservice industry including 2 Hyatt Hotels, many food shows, work with photographers plus my CIA and Switzerland education. A top plated presentation is always necessary in all facets foodservice. Presentation skills carried me through the rigorous tests of ProChef II, where I really learned the concept of the useful versus frivolous garnish. These are plated salad presentations that people will love!

My favorite chef, Hans Hickel, always said, “People eat with their eyes.”

• HOW: Study our tips below and bookmark or subscribe to this blog. If you want to make your presentations better, you can practice every day as you cook. There are countless cookbooks, blogs and magazines to give you ideas, too. If it looks good to you, try it!  And if you have an idea to share let us know below.

DON’T:

• rely on ingredients that do NOT add to or go with the food you are serving – examples include: a strawberry with a stem, a cutesy carved flower radish, big sprig of parsley, too-thick tomato slice or big piece of lettuce. Usually these add color but are not eaten. These are the easy way out. They are often an afterthought. BETTER IDEAS: chopped herbs, sprinkles of spices, drizzled sauces, dots of flavored oil, vegetable puree, thinly sliced fruits or vegetables that get eaten and add a crisp texture.
• serve a plate full of bland-colored food. BETTER IDEAS: shredded colorful veggies like carrots, red peppers, tomatoes, beets, etc. Try to mix up the colors so that you have an even spread of color on the plate.

As Master Chef Rudy Specklcamp said to me on my final ProChef II test day, “The craft of a chef is to make food that looks and tastes delicious.” He was talking about slicing everything neatly, choosing the right garnishes and finding accompaniments that make sense. This part is hard – it makes you think!

DO:

• Keep it simple and fresh.
• Cut in a uniform manner whenever possible – diced items should be square.
• Use lots of white plates – food always looks better on white. Solid plates are better than patterns. The food should be the pattern and focus.
• When using colors, consider complimentary colors and a variety of color.

TEST: Does the food really say, “eat me!”?

Here are 12 ways to present a delicious, healthy salad:

1) Tall – when making a salad, think tall. Tall could mean piling leafy greens in a high, airy pile. It can also mean a ramekin or bowl that is taller than it is wide. It can also include putting a wonderful Apple Waldorf Salad in a tall glass. Tall is tall!

2) WIDE – With salads, using a big plate helps them spread out wide so you get a lot of “goodies” on the top. This can be good for a platter that you are serving at a party – and also for a fun presentation, too. In this particular arrangement for our Spring Salad, we chose a large clear platter and topped our salad with fruits and nuts.

3) Patterns – in this Fruit Yogurt Salad, we have used a spiral pattern. But you can also line things up diagonally, horizontally or even in a scattered fashion.

4) Framed – it is good to frame your salad with chips, lettuce, tomatoes, etc. In this Taco Crunch Salad, just 5 chips (less than half of  a serving) make the taco salad more appetizing.

5) Fans – if you fan veggies over the top you get an interesting look as we did with this Asian Slaw.

6) Cups, bowls, plates, platters – you can use a variety of interesting bowls, dishes and ramekins to create visual interest and to complement the food. We LOVE white plates – you can never go wrong with a white plate. Plates that are too busy (think old fashioned flowered china) detract from the food. Here is our Asian Broccoli Sesame Salad in a cup:

This pile of dishes is on my microwave, ready to go!

7) Cascade – this Pasta Shrimp Salad, made with whole wheat penne, cascades off the greens – the greens are shredded finely.

Citrus – I believe that a small wedge of lemon, lime or an orange that is squeezed over a salad adds a lot of flavor without adding sodium and fat. See the salad above – the tiny squeezable bits of lemon are meant to go with the Shrimp Pasta Salad.

9) Drizzle – this technique is used over and over in cooking and desserts – you drizzle the sauce over the top in a fine stream as we have done with the Spinach Walnut Salad.

10) Molds – this is always fun with rice or Lemon Couscous Salad – you mold them in a scoop or bowl and put them on the plate.

11) Color – fruits and vegetables add the most wonderful colors.

12) Spritz and shine – normally chefs add a brush of butter or a spray of oil to foods to make them shiny. We like to use an Italian dressing spritzer. We are able to add a very light mist of a wonderful dressing – I bet we can dress a whole salad with less than a half teaspoon and it is shiny and fresh, never drowned!

NOW – YOU CAN BUY our new Salad Secrets eCookbook so you can make all of these and more at home.
As always the salad recipes we create are healthy. It is our hope that you will enjoy them as much as we do. Every salad is special and unique. This is the culmination of over 15 years of publishing

Best of all our salad recipes are updated for today’s time and budget pressed cook.

You will find delight in high-fiber, low-fat, low-sodium recipes that utilize a big variety of vegetables, greens, nuts, seeds, fruits, lean protein, fish and beans.

These are the most creative, healthy salads in the world.

In many cases you won’t need a recipe because we show the prepped ingredients and then the finished dish – in one glance you know just what to do.

PLUS you will enjoy salad handouts and articles -how to make flavored vinegar, what is a healthy salad, use salad for weight loss – and much more.

We have the eCookbook Salad Secrets available for sale in our store now.

Get INSPIRED for healthy salad!

Some of the features that will inspire and educate:

• 100 of the most creative, healthy salads!
• Pictures show HOW in easy steps
• Learn 9 different ways to make a salad
• 20 great presentation secrets – look like a professional chef
• Salad and weight control – what does the research say?
• How to keep your salad healthy – from Hollis Bass, MEd, RD
• Includes nutrition facts analysis for recipes – they are all low in fat and sodium
• Buying tips for ingredients

(Pictured above – our featured salad ready to go to work with you)

We have been chopping, arranging and photographing at least one hundred salads. Not done yet. But getting there – over 1000 photos in the folder now. I can’t thank my crew enough.

I have noticed a few things -

• The more you make salad, the faster you get. This applies to everyone, no matter their kitchen experience.
• It is really fun to have all kinds of crazy dishes and plates, even if they don’t match. You can be an artist with a few veggies and a plate.
• You can eat 5 or 6 salads in a day. This is particularly easy to do when they are already prepared!
• The most salads you can make in one day is probably 15.
• After you make 15 salads in a day, one or two seem very easy.
• Having all ingredients measured and or cut FIRST makes assembly VERY fast and fun.

Here is a really fun Tuna Brown Bag salad I created for CFFH Member/Newsletter a few years back. It is a  ”take your salad to work” creation.

Dear Mom or Dad,

I am so thrilled you would take me to work. Now I know you can have something healthy to eat and you can get it fast so you can walk a little during lunch. I am really proud you would take me out and show me to your friends.

Love,

Your Salad!

Okay – so we are getting carried away – but this was a fun project. Here is the mis en place – meaning “everything in its place” – this shows you how to prepare and measure everything:

This delicious recipe can be made ahead of time and assembled at your desk.

Tuna Brown Bag Salad
4 low-sodium whole-grain crackers

Salad ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon flavored vinegar
4 cups dark leafy lettuce
4 cups sliced cucumber
4 cups baby carrots

Tuna salad ingredients:
1 6-oz can albacore tuna packed in water, drained
1 tomato, cored and diced small
1/4 cup fat-free mayonnaise
2 tablespoon red onion, minced
1 stalk celery, diced small
black pepper to taste

Divide the tossed salad ingredients among 4 individual plastic bags, keeping the oil and vinegar in the bottom, and refrigerate until ready to serve. Mix all ingredients for tuna salad together in medium-sized mixing bowl. Pack in 4 individual bags and refrigerate until ready to serve.

To serve: Toss salad ingredients in bag and place onto plate. Top with tuna salad and a cracker.

Servings:
Serves 4. Each serving: 2 cups.

Diabetic Exchanges:
Bread & Starch: 1.0
Lean Meat: 0.5
Vegetable: 2.0

Total Preparation & Cooking Time: 15 min. (15 Prep, 0 Cook)

Per Serving:
Calories: 215, Total Fat: 4.8g, Saturated Fat: 0.6g, Trans Fat: 0g, Cholesterol: 22mg, Sodium: 302mg, Carbohydrates: 31.3g, Dietary Fiber: 6.8g, Sugars: 13.9g, Protein: 15.6g, Vitamin A: 9999.9iu (199%), Vitamin C: 35.6mg (59%), Calcium: 72mg (7%), Iron: 2.7mg (15%)

This is just 200 calories so you should probably add a baked yam or potato to your menu. We love baked yams for lunch! We did not use whole grain crackers, but these are no-salt-added toppers that are also low in fat. WASA crisps that are whole grain would be a great choice if you can find them and don’t mind adding more to your budget. We tried to keep this one more simple for the every day person to take to work.

So, if you make it at home or at your desk, we just know yours will look like this:

Tell us what you take to work for lunch – the top 5 comments receive a free Snack poster! (If you made comments on the other posts from last week we are getting in touch with you for the free poster.)

And, this post is made possible by our wonderful Premium CFFH Member Area http://communicatingfoodforhealth.com and http://nutritioneducationstore.com

Check out our new salad book:

We found 3 “B’s” that really drive this lesson about calories home to your clients, students and patients.

Bottles- many times, drinks with sugar are in bottles that look like one serving but are really more. And these are bought “on the go” so they are likely to be consumed all at once – you are not going to put it in your purse, car, or desk for tomorrow. Additionally, most bottles look really small when compared to fast food beverage cups. - Lesson: compare one measuring cup, one bottle, one fast food cup and see the differences in size. The Big Gulp and the fast food cups have desensitized everyone as to the real serving size of soda or other sugared drink. Be aware of the number of calories in a bottled soda or tea drink with sugar. How many extra calories per day and per week come from sugared beverages? What are the savings to switch to water and not worry about it?

1) 1 bottle chai tea = 640 calories

2) 1 bottle cola = 200 calories

3) 1 bottle water = 0 calories

Bars – this one gets us every time we check out in the grocery store. Our love: the Hershey Special Dark Chocolate bar. We love chocolate. It is tempting to throw in a bar for the hard work of the shopper, right? Well, a quick glance at the back of the package shows 200 calories but worse still is the fact that a bar is 4 servings so it brings in 800 calories!! Chocolate bars always ring in a lot of calories.
- Lesson: Bars of chocolate are always really high in calories for their size. Compare chocolate to fruit:
1) chocolate bar, 4 ounces = 800 calories
2) package of 6 chocolate bars = 1380 calories
3) 1 banana = 105 calories

Bags – our rabbits hear the crinkle of a plastic bag and they stop eating their lettuce and run to the door of the cage. How is it that all creatures just love calorie dense food? A plastic bag is a sure sign that something calorie dense is inside, unless you are talking about the ones filled with produce.
Lesson – limit the number of bags in your cart before you get to the bagging area
1) Chocolate chip cookies = 160 calories per ounce or 2080 for the whole bag
2) Chips = 150 calories per ounce or 1500 per bag
3) 1 apple, 4 ounces = 94 calories

Reading calories and portion sizes on these packaged/processed foods is important for the realization that they are high in calories and should not fill their whole cart.

Snapshot of our shopping cart in preparation for one of our salad photo shoots includes bags of carrots, apples and potatoes:

See what is new, including our label posters, in our store here:
http://www.nutritioneducationstore.com/catalog/New-38-1.html

Soon to come: photos, recipes and tips from our salad photo shoot – we are nearing 100 great salads to share – keep checking back for more.

Enjoy! Let me know if you need anything for the week, just click contact us at the top of the page.
Judy Doherty, PCII

For this Berry Spritzer Salad we spread the lettuce out on a big platter and spritzed with Italian dressing. Then we topped with berries and toasted nuts.

2. Heat and toss

Veggie Stir Fry Salad – We made a veggie stir fry and tossed with fresh spinach – it is served warm and was a staff favorite – even by teenagers!

3. Toss and top

Spinach Honey Mustard Yogurt Salad – We made dressing with yogurt, honey, mustard and vinegar, tossed it with spinach and then topped it with goodies that include: apples, oranges, red onion and toasted nuts.

4. Toss it all

Spring or Summer Tossed Salad – Here is a spring or summer salad – made with a variety of fresh ingredients and then tossed with a tiny drizzle of olive oil, lemon and fresh parsley.

5. Make it a dinner

Lentil Rice Garden Salad – This is one of my favorite recipes of all times – it has lentils and rice, fresh lettuce, olive oil, lemon, parsley, grated carrots and a string of balsamic glaze over the top.

You can buy the balsamic glaze ready made or it is easy to make it yourself: Take 2 cups of balsamic vinegar and simmer lightly for 20 minutes on the top of the stove until you have about 1/2-3/4 of a cup – less than half the amount left. The vinegar will be thick so it can lightly cover the back of a spoon. Cool and store covered at room temperature until ready to use. It is great on salads or in marinades.

Those are 5 of the ways we just finished making 25 salads in 2 days! And wow – when you want to be creative you can go miles beyond.

What is our secret?

MIS EN PLACE – everything it its place – when you prepare all ingredients ahead of time, the salad, or meal you are preparing, goes together quickly and easily. Cleanup is a snap.

And what are 3 Easy Ways to Keep Salad Healthy? Hint: think IN, OUT, OUT!

1. Put lots of healthy ingredients IN – vegetables, dark leafy greens, herbs, flavored vinegars,

2. Keep high-fat items OUT – these include high-fat dressings, cheese, croutons, deli meat and mayonnaise salads

3. Keep sodium OUT – high sodium items include dressing, cheese, croutons, deli meat and mayonnaise salads

BONUS: keep them interesting and varied so you eat more every day!

Which of these is your favorite? Vote in our poll below.

Which one do you like to make? Tell us in our comments section and win – the top 5 comments win a free Salad Poster from the NutritionEducationStore.com

Check out our new eCookbook on Salads – not only will you get great recipes but you will improve your culinary skills.

The best thing you can do is to read Nutrition Facts labels to find low-sodium choices of what you buy on a regular basis; additionally this also means you should cook more meals from home so you control what goes in your food. 5% or less of the daily value for sodium is ideal. If you also eat out less often, you will make a dent in your intake. We have more recipes here and we are going to be updating them with pictures and videos to make it easy for everyone.

Take a look at our chart from our video – you can see the difference between delivery pizza and one that is made at home. One large slice of pizza contains 2/3 of a day’s supply:

As you can see by our chart, you don’t have to give pizza up – you just have to make it smarter. Here is how we did it:

• Buy or make a crust that has no more than 5-10% of the daily value for sodium (read the Nutrition Facts Label). Of course home-made whole grain crust is always the best but a low-sodium crust is preferable either way.
• Go really light on the cheese – we used a combo of shredded reduced fat cheddar and parmesan – they have a nice strong flavor so you can get away with adding a lot less. We also like farmer’s cheese that is low in fat and sodium (you do have to hunt for it) or a light sprinkle of goat cheese, too.
• Use a low-sodium sauce – such as a tomato sauce without added salt. We chose pomodoro tomato sauce because it costs less than bottled pasta sauce, has great flavor, and no salt! Sometimes, too, we will forego the cheese and just use a sprinkle of extra virgin olive oil and basil.
• Add plenty of herbs and seasonings. We like garlic granules, dried oregano, black pepper and fresh basil/herbs.
• Use lots of fresh veggies for flavor and color. Mushrooms, tomatoes, zucchini and peppers are some favorites. But don’t be afraid to add even more or your favorites.

1. Watch the movie below and learn in 1.5 minutes how to make it yourself. (This is our first movie in high definition. I just finished a documentary film making class while at Stanford – with Digital Media Academy – and I plan to use my great new skills in the coming year to bring our kitchen to your screen.)
2. Take our poll for sodium – let’s see what everyone thinks is the greatest source according to the preliminary Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
3. Give us a tip for your favorite pizza below – we will publish the top 10 tips and give them a Whole Grain Poster from our store.

And here is a shameless plug for our products – since we don’t accept advertising because we want to be pro-healthy food (zucchini really doesn’t have an advertising budget anyway) and proconsumer – here is our Nutrition Education Store: http://nutritioneducationstore.com – check out our new 8 Applications of Health which is bound to entertain any kid – it has a smart phone theme and teaches them to work on 8 real “applications” for health (move more, read labels, watch portions, choose wiser, more fruits/veggies, beverage better, etc) – better still it has a matching show for their parents – so you get 2 shows that have over 125 slides in 8 lessons – for a total of more than 250 slides PLUS 2 sets of handouts PLUS a new poster. This one is actually being taught to the employees of Apple very soon by one of our dietitian customers and it was written by Hollis Bass, MEd, RD, Food and Health Communications and a collection of artists and photographers!!

Here is a fun video about portion control for lunch. Most people think “sandwich.” But if you don’t pack it yourself, you can get in a lot of trouble. Portion distortion for lunch is practiced in almost every restaurant and deli every day. If you skipped breakfast and make the wrong decision for lunch it can result in a lot of calories, sodium and fat consumed.

The next time you think you have a great sandwich – perform a dissection – what do you have? Usually a whole plate of bread that is probably 4-8 servings, a pile of fatty deli meat that is laced with sodium, some cheese and a tiny pile of lettuce that probably doesn’t count all that much toward your daily vegetable intake that is recommended by the good folks at MyPyramid and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

The video below shows a better recipe for lunch for far fewer calories and the same volume of food.

Here is what we did:

This video comes in a 2 disc set – where you get the DVD PLUS a PowerPoint show with speaker’s notes and handouts here:

Or just the PowerPoint here:

And all of our portion control items here:

List your favorite portion control mistake for lunch in the comment section below and the top 5 comments will receive a free Portion Control Poster.

We are excited to present 2 new posters on label reading.

The 5 Mistakes of Label Reading

This poster and matching handout set sum up the 5 most common mistakes made when shopping for packaged foods in the grocery store. How many times do people ignore Nutrition Facts Labels, choose packages and bottles that look like one serving but are really more, buy items that contain way too much sodium, or imagine they can munch all day on lowfat or sugar free items? Here are these 5 mistakes as featured in the fun illustrations on the posters:

1. Ignore the label

2. More than one serving in a package that looks like a single serving

3. Too high in sodium

4. Sugar free or fat free is not calorie free

5. Package sounds healthier than the facts

These mistakes are based on many new food reports over a period of 15 years in our newsletter Communicating Food for Health, plus a survey of hundreds of foods for a game we made for nutrition facts label reading. If you have tips on teaching label reading add them below and we will give the top 5 responses a free set of posters.

Examine the Facts
Examine the Facts teaches 3 basic steps to evaluate a product quickly based on its nutrient analysis. Label reading is as easy as 1-2-3. AND an example is given that shows why it is better to compare a label – you save a lot of fat by choosing skim milk. PLUS handy reminders show the total nutrients needed for a day.

1. Calories – what is the total number of calories in this package? What is a serving size? How many servings in this package?

2. Heart healthy – how much saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium does this package contain?

3. Nutritional value – how much fiber? How many other nutrients?

Label Reading 2 Poster Set – you can get both posters and save over 20%

• Examine the Facts
• The 5 Mistakes of Label Reading

These two posters, by Food and Health Communications are designed to really teach everyone just what they need to know about label reading and the Nutrition Facts Panel.

Order now and we will offer priority shipping once the posters hit our door – they are being printed right now and will ship within 2 weeks.

Add a tip about teaching label reading below and we will award the top 5 tips with a free poster set plus 3 months membership to Communicating Food for Health newsletter and resource service.

I made this wonderful cheesecake for my son’s graduation. It provided us with a very elegant dessert that is light and creamy . And it was very easy to make.

You save 100 calories and 11 grams of fat per slice with this treat compared to regular cheesecake. And even MORE compared to regular cake with frosting.

16 ounces neufchatel cream cheese

16 ounces lowfat or fat-free sour cream

1 lemon – zest and juice

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup splenda (or sugar)

4 eggs

8 lemon cookies (lowfat)

1. Place lemon cookies in food processor and pulse until the crumbs are fine.

2. Lightly spray a deep dish glass baking pan with vegetable cooking oil spray and sprinkle the cookie crumbs on the bottom and sides.

3. Place the neufchatel cheese, sugar, splenda and lemon in a food processor and pulse until it is smooth and creamy. Add the sour cream slowly, scraping the bowl between each addition to avoid lumps. Add the eggs one by one and mix smooth.

4. Pour the cream cheese mixture to the pan and heat your oven to 325 degrees F.

Bake the cheesecake for one hour or until it is firm in the center and a knife inserted in to the center comes out clean. Refrigerate the cheesecake until completely cool, about 4 or 6 hours. Sprinkle with sugar on top and invert twice so it comes out of the pan but is served top side up.

5. Serve with berries.

Compare cake options, 122 grams (4.3 ounce slice):

• sorbet/yogurt pie: 220 calories, 5 g fat
• this double lemon light cheesecake: 236 calories, 11 g fat
• regular cheesecake: 350 calories, 22 g fat
• cake with frosting: 450 calories, 20 g fat

Our graduate placed in the top five of his class with three academic awards – so we were very proud and glad to be ready for his special celebration!!

Visit our NutritionEducationStore.com for more great nutrition education and presentation ideas and products.

Breakfast is not a meal that should be skipped. Consider these stats:

• Less than half of Americans are eating breakfast every day (foodinsight.org)
• Whole grains, fat-free milk products, fruits and vegetables are food groups to encourage (Dietary Guidelines). Breakfast eaters are more likely to have these items in their diets and research shows that people who skip breakfast are unlikely to make up for missed nutrients later in the day. (nutrition.gov, mypyramid.gov)
• Almost 80% of successful dieters polled in the National Weight Control Registry eat breakfast every day. (nwcr.ws)
• Breakfast improves SAT scores and intellectual results in students who regularly consume adequate breakfasts.(nature.com)

Many choose to eat out for breakfast each day. Early morning lines are always long at coffee cafes, fast food restaurants, donut shops and kiosks. The beautiful display of rather large bakery items beckon for a splurge of a mouth-watering treat: bagels, croissants, Danishes, pound cake, scones, donuts and large meat/egg/cheese sandwiches. Starbucks alone serves over 20 million customers in one week (perfectcoffees.com)

We did some research for the nutritional stats of popular breakfast items offered in coffee houses and bakeries. The numbers are not pretty. Most of the large bakery items you see in our chart top 500 calories and this does not include the coffee drink that comes with them. We came to one conclusion: Big + Baked = Diet Mistake. If a pastry is the size of your hand or larger it is going to be roughly 500 calories.

A better option? Watch our video to see a healthy breakfast plate that offers more food, more fiber and more color for just 250 calories. Most people could make one in 2 minutes.

Watch our show for a simple demonstration about portion control for breakfast. Then hurry on over to our store for our new Portion Control by the Meal DVD or CD – you can have a choice of PowerPoint, DVD or both! Let us know if you want to put this video on your site.

What is your favorite breakfast? Please use our poll and add comments below.

In the video you can see where we make a fun platter of fruits, vegetables and a few whole grain crackers. This gives you a fun variety and a whole plate of nutritious food for just 120-150 calories. Compare at the end where you can see a pile of chips versus a whole plate of food for the same amount – which do you think would make you feel more full?

There is truth to the Ruffles potato chip commercial – you can’t eat just one!

There is more info on this video here:

Welcome to portion control! Here is the first video, snacking, in our series for Portion Control by the Meal

Here is what we found in our DVD/Video research:

Snacks come in all sized packages and bags. Don’t let the food manufacturer decide your serving. Many packages and bags look like one serving but they are many more. Most of these packaged foods are very high in calorie density. A single one ounce serving of most items is around 140 calories. To put this in perspective, a one ounce piece of fruit would be around 20 calories.

We did find that a simple way to eyeball a one ounce serving is not to count potato chips – who would do that – but the one ounce serving most of the time is about a handful. Don’t eat out of a bag – put a handful on a small plate.

In the video you can see where we make a fun platter of fruits, vegetables and a few whole grain crackers. This gives you a fun variety and a whole plate of nutritious food for just 120-150 calories. Compare at the end where you can see a pile of chips versus a whole plate of food for the same amount – which do you think would make you feel more full?

There is truth to the Ruffles potato chip commercial – you can’t eat just one!

There is more info on this video here:

Here is a spring market basket from the produce section of our local store. When I am looking for ideas for what to cook I usually start shopping in the produce section because it inspires me. Left to right: baby romaine, red pepper, ugly tomato, golden beet, Easter Egg radishes, asparagus and an artichoke.

I decided to make a vegetarian dinner :

• Spring root vegetable salad
• Boiled artichoke with lemon
• Roasted vegetables over whole grain couscous

First, I started the artichoke since it takes the longest to cook:

Trim the spikes with scissors and cut the artichoke in half. Remove the center:

Place in boiling water and cook until tender, about 10-15 minutes. They tend to float so you should flip them half way:

Here are the finished artichoke halves – they are served on a white platter with fresh lemon.

The eggplant, asparagus and red peppers were cut in thin sticks. I lightly brushed them with olive oil and finely minced garlic:

And then broiled them in the oven for 10 minutes – look how wonderfully golden they came out:

Whole grain couscous is perhaps the easiest whole grain to prepare. It involves 2 ingredients and a minute of time:

1 cup water – bring to boil in a large measuring cup in the microwave

1 cup whole grain couscous – pour it into the boiling water, sit one minute, fluff with a fork. You can toss with lemon and herbs or a light dressing. It can go into salads or be a side dish. In this case it was the main entree with roasted vegetables on top:

When the vegetables were golden brown, they were removed from the oven and placed atop the fluffy whole grain couscous:

Meanwhile, while the veggies were cooking I prepared the spring root salad. Here are the Easter Egg radishes and the golden beet:

I shredded the beet with the grater and finely sliced the radishes atop the baby romaine. They were presented on a flat platter :

• 1 cup warm water (about 100 degrees F)
• 1 packet dry yeast
• 3 cups white whole wheat flour (I order this from King Arthur Flour or get it from Whole Foods)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• pinch brown sugar
• dash garlic powder
• vegetable oil spray

1. Mix the warm water and yeast until the yeast dissolves. Add the flour, oil and sugar and kneed well by hand or on a mixing machine until the dough is very elastic. I like the paddle of a mixing machine because I think the hook is too thin on a home version and it tends to tear the dough apart. You may want to add a bit more flour if necessary in case it is too wet.
2. Cover the dough and allow it to rise for about one hour.
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board and divide into 12 small sections. Roll each section until it is the size of a large thumb. Arrange on a baking pan. Lightly spray the tops with the vegetable oil cooking spray and sprinkle with garlic powder and a little parmesan cheese.
4. Bake for 10 minutes at 400F. When finished you can serve warm with salt-free tomato/pasta sauce or keep at room temperature until ready to serve. You can also wrap and freeze them for later use. We like them for after school snacks or weekend socializing, too.

This recipe goes great with soup, salad, pasta, stew or anything else you want to serve. Here is a preview of an Italian dinner that is easy using Celentano’s Light Cheese Raviolis – one of the few frozen foods that are low in fat AND sodium:

We used Celentano Light Cheese Ravioli, no-salt-added Pomodoro tomato puree and fresh steamed broccoli. This dinner cooks in 12 minutes or less. Having the whole grain breadsticks on hand made it very festive.

Answer our poll and post comments below – we want to hear how you are cooking and baking with whole grains – the first 10 people to make a useful comment for how they use whole grains in the box below get a free whole grain poster from our store (make sure you include your email address so we can tell you that you won -we don’t share it with anyone and it won’t show here). What we are looking for is a unique way to use them that is useful for others – maybe it is something inexpensive, or easy. You can mention a product or insert a recipe or just general cooking or shopping tips.

Go for the Whole Grain Poster

Whole Grain Shopper Express

Easter Rabbit Salad

Easter Rabbit Salad
Here is our latest creation with fresh fruit ready to share!
The criteria:

• Common fruits
• Anyone can make it
• Everyone wants to eat it
• Has to be shaped like a rabbit
• No candy – a healthy fun fruit salad

So, here you go! Our Easter Rabbit Salad.

• 1 pineapple
• 1 quart of strawberries
• 1 apple, grated
• 1 banana
• dark raisins or dried blueberries for the eyes

1. Peel the pineapple then cut 2/3 lengthwise – you want the body to be bigger than 1/2.
2. Remove the core with a serrated knife.
3. Slice the 2/3 part which is the body and set in bowl in bed of strawberries.
4. Carve the remaining 1/3 into a head – making ears and a shaped face. Set up against the body.
5. Carve out a hole for the eyes and fill with raisins.
6. Use the pineapple to make fringes for the bowl and whiskers.
7. Use the grated apple for the tail – you can use fresh lemon to keep it white
8. Use a banana for the legs and nose.
9. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Easter Rabbit Salad Handout (PDF)

Here is another recipe that uses canned pears, it is fun for kids to make:

Easter Bunny Salad

4 romaine lettuce leaves, washed and dried
4 pear halves, fresh or canned, blotted dry
12 dark seedless raisins
4 miniature marshmallows
8 apple slices
1 teaspoon fat-free cream cheese

Place a lettuce leaf on each of 4 plates. Use the pear half as the bunny’s body. Add raisins for the eyes and nose, using the cream cheese as glue to hold them in place. Use the apple slices to form ears. Add a miniature marshmallow for the tail, again using cream cheese to hold it in place.

Servings:
4. Serving: 1 bunny

Diabetic Exchanges:
Bread & Starch: 1.0

Total Preparation & Cooking Time: 10 min. (10 Prep, 0 Cook)

Enjoy and Happy Easter and Happy Passover or just Happy Spring.

Sugar Rabbit

We are going to be posting lots of new items in our store – check out some of them now:

This roasted chicken dinner turned out really good! The roasted beets with the cranberry sauce were a nice touch and the chicken was very moist. I used frozen chicken tenderloins that went into the oven frozen. I found out that they take the same time to cook as potatoes, winter squash, beets, carrots, etc. so they are a great choice for another roasted dinner – where I throw everything in the oven for 45-60 minutes and have a wonderful meal with no attended cooking time when it is done. Here are the ingredients:

• 8 frozen chicken tenderloins (about 12 ounces)
• 1 cup mushrooms + 1 tsp olive oil
• 4 beets, unpeeled + a little water
• 1 bag cranberries + 1/2 cup sugar + 1/2 cup water
• 4 small baking potatoes (Yukon Gold), rinsed
• 1 pound broccoli
• 6 cups butter lettuce, arrugula + olive oil + lemon

1. Turn oven on to 375F.
2. Place frozen chicken tenderloins (or boneless skinless frozen chicken breasts) into a casserole dish and cover with foil. Place them in the oven.
3. Place the potatoes on a rack in the oven.
4. Place the beets in a casserole dish in the oven.
5. Place the cranberries, sugar and water in a casserole or glass bowl and cover and place those in the oven.
6. Prepare the broccoli and salad and refrigerate until ready to serve. Slice the mushrooms.
7. Bake everything in the oven for 50-60 minutes. The chicken should be firm and white in the center. The potatoes and beets should be fork tender.
8. When the roasted dinner is done you can microwave the broccoli and set the salad on the table.
9. Cut the beets in quarters (you may need to microwave them for a few more minutes if they are not soft enough).
10. Cut the potatoes in quarters.
11. Saute the mushrooms in olive oil and pour over the chicken tenders.
12. Serve as pictured above – the chicken is served with mushrooms on top, the potatoes are quartered and they stand on end. The cranberries top the beets. The broccoli is steamed at the last minute and served on the side.

This recipe serves about 4 people. Use 2 tenderloins per person.

Find more cooking instruction materials in our NutritionEducationStore.com

Do you want to serve a creative birthday cake made from sorbet and berries? This one doesn’t need batter, baking time, frosting or hours of preparation. It is colorful – made “a la minute” (at the last minute) right at the table. We used chocolate and strawberry sorbet, fresh berries, fresh whipped fat-free cream and vanilla frozen yogurt. The whimsical candles made a nice topping.

Start with some fresh berries that are rinsed and cut in quarters – one quart to be exact.

Scoop a variety of frozen yogurt and fruit and chocolate sorbet into a frozen shallow bowl or cake dish. Decorate with whipped cream and candles. We like to scoop the sorbet so it is arranged by color.

Watch it disappear fast!

Dinner was courtesy of my mom, who is celebrating her 74th birthday. After reading all of my newsletters and nutrition information over the years, she has taken the messages to heart and cooks healthy – no more high blood pressure medicine, no more cholesterol medicine – she keeps these numbers looking good with diet and exercise and we are all blessed with another healthy and happy birthday.

As you can see, dinner was simple but healthful – salad, 3 kinds of veggies, and her famous pasta. Her sauce is so delicious I asked her to share – I think the secret is the thickness from the salt-free crushed tomatoes and the lively flavor of the fennel seeds that make you think she put sausage in it!

Here is her recipe:

1/4 cup olive oil

2 onions, diced

1 gallon of crushed tomatoes – no salt added

2 tablespoons of Badia ground garlic & parsley,

3 tablespoons sugar,

1 tablespoon chopped fennel seeds,

1 tablespoon of dried basil,

1/4 cup dried onion flakes,

ground pepper

Saute onions in olive oil until tender, about 3 minutes, Add the tomatoes and the rest of the ingredients and cook on a low simmer for about a half of an hour. Refrigerate until ready to serve – freeze extra if needed. This makes a little more than a gallon of sauce which would equal about 5 jars of sauce.

You can use whole tomatoes that are salt-free too – just crush them with a hand blender.

Visit our nutrition education store for more cooking instruction materials

PLUS – now you can get a 7 day trial for our membership area – visit http://communicatingfoodforhealth.com

I found these graffiti eggplant in the market today and immediately thought of making ratatouille and a vegetarian roasted dinner. Roasted dinners are my favorites – you put everything in the oven and then serve when done. The house smells great and there is little attendance time. Plus you are more efficient with energy use because everything goes in the oven.

Here are the main ingredients:

2 eggplant, cubed

1 yellow squash

1 zucchini

1 onion

garlic – minced – 2 cloves

1 shallot

1 cup mushrooms

1 bell pepper

2 cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tsp parsley

1 cup water or broth

Place all ingredients in a large covered casserole:

Bake for 1-1/2 hours.

We also added a steak potato and a fancy yam:

And a spaghetti squash:

It is easy to make this delightful squash -you cut it in half, remove the seeds and place it cut side down in a covered baking casserole. A microwave can cook it in 10 minutes, but we chose to throw it in the oven with the ratatouille and the yams.

And in the mean time, while these items baked, we made an heirloom tomato salad and the snack bowl for the week.

This is celeriac – it is a root that has a distinct celery flavor. It is delicious when put in soups and when shaved or minced finely for salads.

These are heirloom tomatoes. They are non-hybrid, open pollinated tomatoes that are very intriguing in the number of colors and shapes they are available. Generally they are interesting and very flavorful. It was our best choice for the winter market and since we were going vegetarian there is more room in the budget for fun items like these.

The salads, we decided, should be individuals – diners have their choice of red or yellow heirloom tomatoes, complete with julienne (thin strips) of celeriac and shaved organic carrots. We topped these with olive oil and balsamic vinegar glaze and black pepper:

I also bought huge pears and honey crisp apples – so those got washed and put in a bowl in the refrigerator – waiting to be snacks for the week. I noticed they disappear faster when put in a bowl:

It took about 1-1/2 hours for the ratatouille, potato, yam and spaghetti squash to cook until perfect. (The oven was 375-400 degrees):

Here is a shameless plug for our new store:

http://nutritioneducationstore.com

We have a new Apple Poster.

The apple poster is a great visual of a healthy choice! It positively reinforces a nutrient dense food over junk food choices and the savings! Using this visual will help clients make a daily healthy choice.

We were featured on http://www.usapple.org/educators/applestore/index.cfm as a great apple resource!

You are not alone. The obesity levels among children are alarming. Type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure are now more common in adolescents and teenagers than in decades past and we are actually getting requests for these materials. TV and video games converge with high-calorie density palatable foods and busy parents to make the struggle of healthy for kids tougher.

We wanted to share 7 of our No Battles Better Eating Lessons to help you help parents, teachers and childcare providers to help kids make better choices and love the right foods. Our engaging activities are designed to make fun quality time for all, rather than a battle. We believe everyone should enjoy their food.

1. Smell It
Fresh herbs engage many people. How fun to take a leaf, rub it between your fingers, or chop on a block, and have a wonderful aromatic smell. Best bet? MINT! It is in their favorite candy and can go in home made tea, on top of fruits, in salads and tabouleh. Start learning about herbs together – smell them in the store, buy a new one each week, grow them in the summer.
Mint Tea, Salad

2. Bake It
Banana Mini Muffins
Chocolate Chip Cookies for Kids
A great icebreaker, and snack maker, is to bake muffins. They can be a snack on the go, breakfast, dessert. Of course you don’t want to eat 12 in one day. But you get the idea. We find they love to bake, and then take to school. We have also included a cookie recipe. Reason: if you want them, don’t buy them; make them! It cuts down on cookie snacking and baking is a fun and positive way for all kids to help in the kitchen.

3. Make It
The end goal should be in mind. Do you really want them going into the world without knowing how to cook a decent dinner? No one has time for cooking lessons. But they do have to make dinner and it is great to make it a family affair when you can.

• A 2 year old can help set the table or stir lettuce in a bowl.
• A 5 year old can make fruit plates.
• A 10 year old can be responsible for packing their own lunch every day – do it the night before.
• A 13 year old can make dinner. After they learn to cook, let them plan and execute a great dinner.

If you start cooking more at home and teaching them to help – you get a built in helper, a healthier kid, more quality time, less money and running around and better meals for all. And here is a really fun idea – eat dinner in their room! One night my son had a chef’s table in his room for my birthday. On nights that he has a lot of homework we eat in his room while he works at his desk.
Tortilla Pizza for Kids to Make
Beware of Kid’s Restaurant Meals – Calories Given

4. Buffet It
We had a huge turn in better eating when I began making a buffet. While an all-you-can-eat buffet in a restaurant is usually a recipe for disaster, it is a great idea at home! Why? Because you can cook a variety of healthy dishes to eat over a few days. Everyone loves to come to the kitchen and fill their plate with their favorite healthy food. And you can serve “just healthy stuff” so they eat more of that. Pasta, lean chicken, many veggies, salad, fruit. It is festive, it is fun, and they might surprise you with what they start putting on their plates when it is their idea.
Here is a Roasted Buffet Dinner

5. Assemble It
Tacos, burritos, baked potatoes, salads – put out the healthy ingredients to make these and let them make their own. Everyone loves to be creative – even the picky eaters. And a comment like, “wow yours looks the tastiest” goes a long way in positive reinforcement.
Make Your Own Fajitas

6. Ready It
Slowly but surely the donuts, crackers and cookies can disappear. The baby carrots, diced peaches, apples, watermelon, yogurt, nut butter sandwiches and more can be ready in the refrigerator. A beautiful bowl of bananas is on the table. Change them up so you don’t get bored! If it is ready, it will get eaten – the path of least resistance is the surest way to better habits.
Fruit Ready Now in Pictures
More Healthy Snacks for Familes

7. Earn It
The most surefire way to a better appetite is to burn more calories – run, walk, play – limit screen time.
More Activity Ideas for Families

We hope you have found these useful. If you have a fun way to keep your kids engaged let us know and we will share.

Judy

A recent trip to our favorite farmer’s market in Homestead (Robert is Here) yielded many prizes. We know it is not so warm everywhere as here so we thought we would share some tropic love and particularly to get ready for Nutrition Month – back to basics – why not develop a love of fruit and learn about new ones!?

Here are the names:

The Caneel fruit is most exquisite and easy to use. You let it sit out until it gets very soft and then you scoop it with a spoon. We decided to use an ice cream scoop to display its beautiful golden flesh in neat round balls. It tastes like an egg custard and it has a texture like velvet.

The Black Sapote is equally rich in its flavor and texture. It looks and tastes like chocolate. We were quite struck with it when we sliced it in half after allowing it to soften. Look at how beautiful the color is!

We could envision serving it with a little whipped cream and chocolate shavings but we never quite got that far because it was swooped from the platter. The texture is like avocado but the flavor has a distinct cocoa flavor.

The mango is so lovely – inside and out – look at its color:

Here is part of our platter:

• The sapodilla is on the left front – it tastes like a sweet pear steeped in cloves. Directions: peel the skin off, remove core and cut in cubes.
• The passion fruit is so colorful and aromatic – truly exotic. Directions: cut them in half and loosened the seeds, which are the edible part.
• Next to the passion fruit you will see the black sapote (chocolate fruit). Directions: cut in half, scoop out pulp away from seeds and peel; we like to cut it in chunks like cookie dough.
• The mango is sliced and on the right. Directions: peel away the skin, slice the fruit in thin strips from the pit.

And here is the other half of the platter:

• Apple bananas, far right. Directions: peel and quarter lengthwise. Sprinkle with Key lime juice for flavor and to keep them from turning brown.
• Ugli fruit, wedges in the center. Directions: remove the peel like a tangerine; separate the sections which come apart easily.
• The scooped Caneel is on the middle left and looks like pumpkin ice cream. Directions: cut in half and use ice cream scoop to form the soft flesh into balls.
• Mango is on the left here again.

Here is the whole platter:

The Ugli fruit was a great surprise. We have seen them in the grocery store but never paid them much attention. But it was obvious from their abundance and the reputation of Robert’s that these fruits were very fresh so we had to try one.

Ugli fruit tastes like lemonade candy! And look at the sections – they are large but they come apart very easily. We love these and would buy them again and again!

Here is a photo of the Ugli fruit, the pomelo and the grapefruit just for comparison:

Here are the sections from the Red Indian River Grapefruit and the Pomelo – they were so sweet and juicy and this plate was gobbled for breakfast! Directions: peel the fruit, remove the core and seeds, cut into wedges – removing any more seeds that appear.

This citrus plate made a lovely centerpiece and we enjoyed using these in our meals all week long:

The orange platter kept in the refrigerator and these were wedged and peeled for dessert and lunchboxes:

One good idea was to peel and wrap the tangerines so they could be “on the go” with us or ready for lunch boxes – less messy for the person eating them on the go:

The star fruit were very plentiful and their playful shape can come in handy for fruit salad or as a tart garnish for fish. I was able to snap a photo of them growing on the trees in the nearby Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead. Directions: slice them thin – no peeling needed.

We do have more cooking instruction materials here:

Cooking Demo Volume 1 and 2

MyPyramid Cooking Demo Kit

25 ingredients 15 different meals

Here is a fun steak dinner – but without the steak! It was made in 20 minutes flat – and all we had to do was cut the potato. On the plate: steak oven fries, steak roasted mushrooms, salmon steak and steamed green beans.

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

1 cup whole mushrooms, washed

1 bag green beans

1 salmon steak – 3 ounces

2 teaspoons barbecue sauce

1 potato

vegetable oil spray

garlic parsley powder

black pepper

no-salt-added ketchup

balsamic vinegar or glaze

Cut 1 potato in wedges and place on cookie tray that is lightly sprayed with vegetable spray. Sprinkle potatoes with garlic-parsley mix and black pepper. Place in oven for 15 minutes and turn over for the last 5 minutes. Potatoes are done when crispy on the outside but tender on the inside.

Place salmon in baking dish and spread the top with the barbecue sauce. Put in the oven and bake 15 minutes.

Place mushrooms in a baking dish and bake 15 minutes.

When potatoes, mushrooms and fish are almost done, microwave the green beans until tender, about 3 minutes.

Serve all together. We garnished the potatoes with a drizzle of ketchup and the mushrooms with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar glaze (you can also use balsamic vinegar).

Enjoy!

February is heart month – here are more popular topics for hearth healthy cooking:

What to do with a can of beans – because beans help lower cholesterol but what does someone do with a can of beans? Here is a great dinner that would be a good cooking demo topic

http://lighterspoon.com/2008/09/what-to-do-with-a-can-of-beans/

The art of working with ground turkey breast – because many people substitute turkey breast for beef but it is tricky to do:
http://lighterspoon.com/2007/03/penne-pasta-and-the-art-of-working-with-ground-turkey-breast/

Pasta With Fresh Veggies:
http://lighterspoon.com/2008/05/pasta-with-fresh-veggies/

Super Tapas – for more appetizers and snacks and veggies:
http://lighterspoon.com/2010/01/super-tapas/

Stir Fry – more veggies – would maybe pair this one with the pasta:
http://lighterspoon.com/2009/05/stir-stir-stir-fry/

Mediterranean Pizza – because everyone loves pizza – but this one is much better for your heart – and tastes great!
http://lighterspoon.com/2009/05/mediterranean-pizza/

And here is one more fun theme – 25 heart healthy ingredients turned into 15 different inexpensive meals:
http://lighterspoon.com/2009/11/watch-our-show-25-ingredients-for-15-delicious-meals-what-we-bought-for-63/

UPDATE: USAT featured this recipe in their Spring 2010 Inside Triathlon magazine!

Looking for the 2011 Handouts? Click Here

One of our subscribers called and requested healthy appetizers for the Super Bowl. We got to work right away on the project and decided to have a little fun with a tapas theme. Tapas means little plates and these dishes originate from many Mediterranean countries. So, we started making many small plates of vegetables and fruit and stored them away.

We had some people over the next day and exclaimed that they were getting our Super Bowl fare. The end result? Empty plates! That is always good.

Now, these are very simple. Simple enough for kids to make. And they are healthy.

Veggies with Cucumber Yogurt Dill Dip

1 cup strained non-fat yogurt (you can buy this in the dairy section of your grocery store or strain nonfat plain yogurt over night in a strainer with a paper towel on the bottom)

1/2 cup diced cucumber

1 tsp fresh chopped dill

dash garlic powder

Mix the dip and place in a small serving bowl. Surround with cucumber sticks, baby carrots and bell pepper rings.

Chips with Low-Salt Salsa

We figure everyone loves chips so we know we will not get away with leaving them out. We picked tortilla chips and salsa because the salsa is made from veggies. And the blue corn chips have plenty of anthocyanin which is good.

We made the salsa quickly from low-sodium canned tomatoes.

1 14 ounce can no-salt-added diced tomatoes

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

dash hot pepper sauce

Place in food processor and pulse until the salsa is chunky. Pour into serving dish and surround with white and blue corn chips.

Tomato Pinwheels

Tomato Pinwheels look impressive but they are very easy to make.

1 whole wheat tortilla (we tried to find one that is lower than 300 mg of sodium)

2 tablespoons prepared hummus (we tried to find one that is not too high in sodium – the varieties in our deli varied so it paid to read the label – this one was less than 100 mg of sodium per serving)

1 chopped plum tomato

1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes

Spread the whole wheat tortilla with the hummus. Place the diced tomatoes on one end and roll tightly. Cut in 1 inch pieces and arrange in a circle on a plate. Place the grape/cherry tomatoes in the center.

Veggies With Hummus

Here is another small veggie plate that is not the standard stale veggie platter you find in most grocery stores – and it is a way to use up the hummus from the pinwheels.

1 cup hummus
1 cup celery sticks
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
1 cup broccoli florets (tops)
Arrange the veggies on a plate surrounding the hummus. If you want a little red color on the hummus you can add a little tomato paste.

Fruit Tapas

Dried fruit is popular in the Mediterranean. We made a platter with figs (cut them in half so they look better), dried cranberries, dried plums (this is a sneaky word for prunes), and apple wedges. We cheated and used the apple wedges that are already cut and in bags in the grocery store.

By making these 5 small plates and arranging them around the room you have a nice appetizer spread or great snack plates in your refrigerator. Use them for the Super Bowl or for any time of year – for parties or after school snacks. Everyone loves the variety!

Looking for the 2011 Handouts? Click Here

Here is a rosemary plant that is shaped like a holiday tree – to add wonderful smells to your kitchen – and flavor to many dishes including potatoes and poultry. We used fresh chopped rosemary on a delicious casserole of low-fat scalloped potatoes for a video series for healthy potato dishes. This “tree” makes a lovely decoration and every cook loves fresh herbs. Rosemary tastes wonderful when it is minced finely and added to dishes near the end of the cooking process.  It adds a flavor that is reminiscent of pine.

And a gingerbread house – for families on the go – decorating our pre-fabricated house became a fun family project that allowed us to bond without stress  - everyone could help and there was not much mess. (Not to mention that we have something to admire instead of too many calories to tempt us.)

I bought the gingerbread house from Whole Foods as a sort of last minute purchase because it was peanut safe (my son has a peanut allergy) and I thought it would be a great way to have something fun for us to make together without the work and calories of cookies this year.

Here is how I made the royal icing (which does dry pretty hard and it makes a great non-fat icing to hold the candies on the house):

1 pound powdered sugar

1 tablespoon egg white powder (I like this because it is pasteurized and it is a great staple for baking for when you run out of eggs – look for it in the baking section of the store)

1 tablespoon water (more or less)

Mix and add the water slowly until the consistency is thick like paste. The amount of water is always a variable based on the sugar and the temperature of the ingredients.

We used peanut-safe candies and had a great time decorating – we did it side by side until we had all four sides complete.

An extra house was a hit as a gift to my sister and her family – she and her kids were decorating it today and they will probably take it to an elderly relative to enjoy. As for ours – we have begun to eat it – but just a few pieces of the roof. I guess that is the other thing about a house – you just don’t gorge on it like you do a platter of cookies!

And here is a batch of calorie-free Holiday Tea that went together in minutes and made a lovely table centerpiece:

3 quarts water

6 red tea bags (we chose red fruit tea and red rooibos tea – there are many choices in the grocery store you just have to pick your favorite), caffeine free

1 orange, cut in quarters

1 lemon, cut in quarters

1/2 cup cranberries

We mixed everything and let it stand at room temperature until our guests arrived. Serve with ice and enjoy! It was great for kids or adults.

For our party goods – we served a wonderful array of healthy tapas – these small plates held various combinations of raw veggies with healthy dips, chips with home made salsa, and fruits that were a mix of dried and fresh.

Our guests were delighted that they were sampling our “super bowl snack fare” – and much to our delight all of the veggies disappeared! We will be showing that soon – we have more video recipes to come to get you ready for Super Bowl Dipper Parties.

Thanks to a wonderful reader and member who called to request Super Bowl recipes – we are happy to oblige and will have something to post soon!

Merry Christmas to all!