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

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!

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”

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:

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.

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:

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.

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:

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

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 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

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

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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!

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!

If you use a large serving bowl for dessert you will probably fill it. Does this mean the portion size is right? No. It probably means that the portion is going to be, on average according to our experiments, about three times LARGER than it should be. Over time, excess calories from over-sized portions can really add up.

For dessert dishes, it’s time to line up smaller options. Explore your cabinet or nearest dish outlet store. Look for small sauce dishes that can become petit dessert plates. Pictured here are sushi sauce dishes that doubled as dessert plates. We had fun mixing and matching with the dishes, berries, and sorbet flavors.

Members can receive a 2 page handout on this recipe and more – click here for more info

Here are the dishes:

Raspberry sorbet with fresh berries

Cabernet Sauvignon sorbet with fresh berries and shaved milk chocolate

Passion fruit sorbet and fresh raspberries

By serving the petite dishes on a small tray you allow the guests to pick and choose the flavors they like and it becomes a fun, gourmet style treat. This grand finale can help any home-cooked meal have a spectacular low-calorie finish that does not cost a lot. The portion control for the small container of sorbet helps us get many servings rather than a few big bowls.

Here are a variety of sauce dishes from our Crate and Barrel Outlet – from the bargain area – I decided to mix and match to make it fun.

And here is our #30 scoop that is one ounce. If you get used to using this scoop for fat-free ice cream and sorbet you will learn to use less and to judge portion sizes better. It also makes a gorgeous round ball. Our scoop was a little large so the serving size we used is about 1.5 ounces (volume). The package calls for 1/2 cup which is about 4 ounces (volume). We like to use a variety of fruits and we feel this was a fun and attractive way to manage portion control for dessert!

Members can receive a 2 page handout on this recipe and more – click here for more info

I made a delicious dessert using the currants and berries. The currants are a beautiful color!

They are small in size – and you have to separate them from the little stems that they grow on – but it is all worth the work.

Here is the recipe:

Currant Syrup:

1 pint fresh red currants

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

Bring these to a boil for one minute. Remove from the heat and add blueberries and raspberries.

Lacy Oatmeal Cookies:

4 oz trans-free margarine

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup all purpose flour

1-1/2 cups rolled oats

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Cream the margarine and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg and cream until smooth. Fold in the rest of the ingredients, scraping the bowl and mix until smooth. Bake in spoonfuls on an oiled piece of aluminum foil on a pan in a preheated 350 oven for 12 minutes. They will run very flat and be “lacy” in appearance.

Serve the Lacy Oatmeal Cookies on top of the berry compote.

Enjoy!

And it was used to have everyone participate in a make-your-own chicken fajita burrito – complete with rice, beans, corn, chicken fajitas, blue corn chips and sundried tomato tortilla wraps.

You see, I like to be clever when serving guests. There is  no way I am going to abandon my healthy cooking strategies but I want to keep fantastic flavor and a fun factor when serving everyone who comes to eat at our house.

I had bought all of these ingredients while shopping in Walmart the other day and I was most inspired to come up with something Mexican/Southwestern when I saw the delicious tomatoes, ripe avocados and the great selection of tomatillos. Today I picked up key limes while riding our weekly 62 mile bike ride to Robert’s Produce Stand.

This meal did take a lot of chopping, if truth be told. But with a sharp knife it can be done fast. And I believe I can chop all of that faster than I can go to the store and buy the salt-laden stuff – the key was having it all on hand.

Platter:

Pica de Gallo:

• 4 ripe tomatoes, core, cut in half, squeeze out seeds and dice
• 1/3 poblano mild pepper, seeded and minced (can also use Tabasco sauce)
• 1/2 cup green onion, sliced thin
• 1/2 lime -fresh juice
• 1 tsp chopped fresh cilantro
• fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice to taste

Guacamole:

• 1 Florida avocado (light variety), cored, peeled, diced
• 1 Haas avocado, cored, peeled, diced
• 1/4 cup sliced green onion
• 1/2 lime – juice
• dash of dried oregano
• pinch of chopped poblano or mild chili pepper

Green salsa (grind all in food processor):

• 8 tomatillos, peel outer husk and core
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• juice of 1/2 lime
• dash hot sauce

1 bag romaine or butter lettuce, shredded

2 cups fat-free sour cream

Other Ingredients:

1 can pinto beans, no-added-salt

1 bag blue corn chips

1 bag tomato flavored tortillas (these were low in fat and salt)

4 ears of corn, cut in half and boiled until tender, about 3-5 minutes

6 cups cooked brown rice

8 ounces chicken breast tenderloins – sauteed with 1 red bell pepper and 1 sliced onion, seasoned with lime juice, oregano, garlic

You can chop all of the platter ingredients in advance, cover and refrigerate. Put tortillas and chips in bowls and set to the side. Cook corn, rice and chicken together and serve hot in separate bowls. Reheat beans and tortillas briefly in the microwave at the last minute. Serve all family style and watch the veggies disappear fast – this served 5 people and we have enough left over for me to have for lunch the next day.

I used the basil in a batch of delicious tomato basil risotto. But it was a big bunch – and I didn’t want it to wither in the produce drawer. So, I blended it in the food processor with a little olive oil. And then I froze it in a flat chunk in foil (see the picture below). A traditional pesto has more ingredients – like garlic, pine nuts, other herbs, etc. and you can certainly add all of those, but there is also nothing wrong with simply preserving an herb in olive oil and freezing it and using it like pesto.

Last night we made a low-fat, low-sodium tomato basil pizza –  this is thanks to a low-sodium crust called Mama Mia, salt-free Enrico’s pasta sauce, my frozen basil stash, fresh tomatoes and a very light 1 tablespoon sprinkling of grated Parmesan cheese. The basil was so delicious it more than made up for the lack of cheese that you would usually find on pizza – much less saturated fat and sodium too!

I regret that there is not a picture of the finished pizza – we were scurrying to eat it while watching the Tour de France and forgot to photograph it!

One day, I was visiting the CIA website. I am not sure why; maybe to find a picture of the school to show a friend. But I will never forget my reaction when I stumbled upon their ProChef Certification program. My reaction was nothing short of, “I want that!”

And so my ProChef journey at the CIA began.

Since graduation from the CIA along with my work experience gave me ProChef Level I status, I was able to commence the program at Level II. From the start, I was optimistic; of the four major culinary competencies listed, I already had two in my pocket: baking/pastry and healthy cooking. I was delighted to see that ProChef II required a command of Mediterranean cooking. Honestly, returning to school had begun as a fun idea. I felt that listing ProChef Level II certification on my FoodAndHealth.com website would be impressive. But now I realized that learning Mediterranean cooking methods would benefit my business.

So I printed out the study guide and bought some books and videos on the CIA list. I signed up for two CIA classes: 1) Mediterranean Cuisine: Ingredients and Techniques class and 2) Charcuterie. Then I picked a December 2005 test date for ProChef II.

I found a great resource in David Edens, a California-based chef who took the ProChef II exam and was listed on the CIA site as a success story. He gave me many helpful tips. But he also gave me a wake-up call: ProChef II involves taking 11 tests over four days. It sounded pretty tough. I even learned that ProChef II is a stepping stone to the Certified Master Chef test! (Only 61 chefs have passed that test in more than 20 years in the US!)

While I was at the CIA for the Mediterranean cooking class, I made good use of my time. Before each class, I spent the whole day in the library working on the study exam. I also studied the history and culture of the Mediterranean region. The Mediterranean class was taught by  Certified Master Chef Ken Arnone. I really enjoyed preparing and eating all of the tapas and many wonderful authentic foods from 7 of the main Mediterranean countries. I also ate at all the restaurants on campus daily for new ideas and great food. The Ristorante Caterina de’ Medici was a favorite! But not far behind were the Apple Pie Bakery Cafe, Escoffier, St. Andrew’s Cafe and the American Bounty Restaurant. I also went back up a second time to the CIA for the  Charcuterie, Smokehouse and Condiment Workshop with Chef Instructor David Kamen. Charcuterie proved to be a great decision since I had not made sausage, pate or ham since my days at the CIA. Now I was really working hard on my study guide. I talked to many instructors and was surprised at how readily they were willing to share information and tips.

Two weeks before the ProChef II test, I was cooking all day, every day to practice. I made pâté and fabricated meat and fish. I practiced making many dishes in Mediterranean cuisine style, and brushed up on skills for baking, healthy cooking and garde manger.

Test week was challenging. The mornings were packed with taking tests, preparing garde manger food items and making menus and prep lists. The evenings were spent on cooking exams, which didn’t get us out of the kitchen until 7 or 8 p.m. And after that I had to scurry back to the room for more study – I remember being hungry a few times because there just was not time to eat.

The first day was baking. I figured it would feel nice to “come out of the gate” on familiar ground. But even that test was challenging for a veteran baker like me. Why? First, you’re in a different kitchen from your own with different equipment, ingredients and conditions. Second, you have people watching you. You have to work quickly, neatly and efficiently while under pressure. You have to serve everything on time. And finally, you have to discuss your day’s performance: why and how you made your dishes and what you would do differently the next time.

At the end of each day, I would learn if I passed and was still in the running. I would be relieved when I passed. But I then I would worry about the next day and I would fall asleep studying for the next test!

By the last day of ProChef II, however, I came to really appreciate the grueling experience – I don’t think I had more than 3 or 4 hours sleep on any one night. The chefs cared so much about helping us. They went above and beyond to share their knowledge. They emphasized flavor and purpose and the craft of the kitchen that makes us chefs. I learned a lot from them and from my colleagues!

Our moderating chef told us on the first day that the ProChef II experience would make us much better chefs. He was right.

Honestly, I went into this ProChef Level II certification looking to get a snazzy little plug for my website. But I got so much more. It really wasn’t about the destination; it was about the journey. I acquired a much greater awareness for my cooking and a finer skill level. The CIA chef instructors treated us all as if we were all future candidates for the Certified Master Chef exam which was a lot of pressure but I like to be pushed to see what I can do. We even had a guest master chef address the class. He had so much wisdom and insight on how to make food taste good and look good and just make sense. He gave us a critique as though we were taking his test. I learned so much and am grateful for that.

I would like to someday travel in the Mediterranean and learn even more about the food. I want to visit the spice market of Istanbul. I will concentrate more on making my knife cuts more perfect instead of just going through the motions to chop everything quickly. I really love my trade all over again.

I want to go back to the CIA for more continuing education. And of course I want to take the ProChef Level III course. I look forward to learning Asian, Latin and classes for pairing wine with food and creating a chef’s market basket.

Here are some photo highlights:

Pix above include: a healthy cooking test – The salad is Fatoush – it is an Egyptian salad with chopped herbs, romaine, cucumbers, sundried tomatoes and feta cheese – complete with whole grain pita triangles. The entree in the middle contains:  Moujadra with Carmelized Onions, Spiced Winter Squash and Roasted Peppers for the vegetarian entree. I took an Egyptian theme and these are actually my favorite foods to make and eat – I was inspired from a Mediterranean restaurant in Miami that prepares them.  Dessert was delicious and light: Pears with Dried Fruit in a Spiced Vanilla Broth.

The rolls are from the baking test. And to the right of those are the chocolate eclairs, cream puffs and pastry cream. I also had to make pound cake, pie shells, more rolls and Parisian Breasts in the 4 hour time period.

The buffet on the left is from the Mediterranean test. We were given a grab bag of a country, cooking method and meat and we had to prepare authentic dishes. I was given Greece, grilling and lamb. YUMMY! So I created lamb kabobs with three dips: cucumber yogurt, hummus and eggplant dip. The buffet on the right is the final day’s work – the pate platter from the Garde Manger test. Complete with pork pate, cheddar walnut crackers, pickled grapes, ketchup from scratch and green bean salad. And no, it was NOT healthy!

Special thanks to:

Rudy Speckamp, CMC – for all of his lessons during testing – he has a very sharp eye and a lot of knowledge

Ken Arnone, CMC – for a wonderful class on Mediterranean cooking complete with stories and pictures of his travels to the area and his stories of the CMC test

Mark Ainsworth, CHE – for his guidance to all of us during our tests

David Bruno, PCIII, CEC, CHE – CIA Chef Instructor who passed ProChef2 with flying colors – I learned a lot from watching him

David Kamen, PCCIII, CCE, CHE – great instructor who helped a lot with our Charcuterie Clas at the CIA and who helped me get ready for the test

Hinnerk von Bargen, CHE – for his enthusiasm and encouragement during our testing

David Edens, PCIII – for his advice as a PCII finisher

Tama Murphy – for her help with the management portions of the study guide

To my son and family for their countless hours of sacrifice to make sure I made it to the finish! Our best memory is the chocolate eclairs – my son insisted on eating those for breakfast and for putting them in his lunchbox – he still talks about them!

The official story is here  - it is from the CIA site.

Living more environmentally friendly is more important than ever. Everything from travel and electricity to the food we eat affects the carbon foot print we leave behind and our pocketbooks. There are small steps that we can make at home that will have a big impact on preserving our global environment.

Plan

• Planning your menu at least a week at a time and then using it to make your grocery list saves you time and money and is usually healthier for you. The more trips to the store you make, the more you spend. This is often because you don’t have a list and can’t remember what you need, but also because you have more time at the store to be tempted by clever marketers.
• Making fewer trips also saves on gasoline and therefore, carbon emissions. The more planning you do, the less food you discard.

Discard Less

• Put a compost bin in your backyard instead of throwing food away. According to a study by the University of Arizona Garbage Project, Americans throw away 1.3 pounds of food every day, or 474.5 pounds per year. That garbage is filling up our landfills. The Johnson County Environmental department is concerned we may fill up the local landfill sooner than planned. The USDA estimates that higher percentages of fresh fruits and vegetables, dairy and grain products are thrown away than other items.
• Look for products that have less packaging. More and more companies have listened to our concerns and are now reducing their packaging.
• You can also use biodegradable disposables and attempt to reduce the use of disposables such as paper and foam plates, cups and paper towels.
• If you are already washing a load of dishes, a few more pieces being washed will increase costs only slightly and result in considerable savings in the cost of disposables. And use fragrance-free detergents as they are more eco-friendly than their counterparts.
• Instead of buying bottled water, buy a water bottle to fill.

Buy Local
Think global by buying local. Do some research and find out the best place to purchase local products. The more local the product, the less it has had to travel, thus cutting down of carbon emissions.

You can make a difference in energy consumption with small changes in your cooking and baking, too.

• Many newer ovens come to temperature so rapidly that they make preheating unnecessary. When roasting or baking, put the food in right away and then turn the oven off five or ten minutes early and let dishes finish cooking in the residual heat. The same concept is true for anything cooked on an electric stovetop.
• Glass or ceramic baking pans warm up faster and retain heat longer than metal pans, so you can lower the oven temperature by 25° and conserve energy. Foods will cook just as quickly as they would in the original recipe.
• When it’s time to replace equipment, purchase Energy Star products. To earn Energy Star qualification, products must meet strict criteria for energy efficiency set by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. The Web site www.energystar.gov offers lists of Energy Star-qualified products such as dishwashers, refrigerators, lighting fixtures and ceiling fans.
• While you’re at it, investigate induction cooking. This method uses electricity to produce a magnetic field that reacts with the ferric content in stainless steel, cast iron, and enameled steel cookware, exciting the molecules and producing heat. The cookware (and therefore the food) gets hot, but the stovetop doesn’t. Less heat is wasted and the food heats faster, saving time and energy. Induction cooking is about 90% energy efficient compared with gas and electric radiant, which are 50% to 60% efficient.

Small steps can make a huge difference in our environment with very little disruption in your life. Sources: Today’s Dietitian Vol. 10 No. 6 P. 8, University of Arizona Garbage Project, Amy Reaman, Dietetic Intern

By Nichole Burnett, MS, RD, LD
http://www.johnson.ksu.edu
Family and Consumer Sciences
County Extension Agent
K-State Research and Extension
Johnson County

Edited to add: We had one comment that making a switch to a more plant based diet is important – and we do not want to leave this point out of course!! Science Daily reports, shifting entirely from an average American diet to a vegetable-based one would reduce the same emissions as 8,000 miles driven per year.  As a comparison, they state that switching to a diet that is completely local would save 1,000 miles per year.

Just wanted to share some pictures from our vacation – we went camping and hiking around Yellowstone. What a way to spend a great active family vacation on a budget! Our national parks and especially the Grand Teton NP and Yellowstone NP are just wonderful with regards to visitor experience and environmental stewardship. We camped in a tent cabin which is very inexpensive compared to a hotel; we made dinner by the campfire – complete with campfire chicken stew, fresh pasta, make your own tostadas and more – healthy eating was not forgotten! And we hiked almost every day – some days I went close to 9 miles if you included my morning run.

Campfire Chicken Stew

Grand Tetons at sunrise

Grand Canyon of YellowStone

We have a healthy vacation class and more weight/wellness education products here.

Join my new group on Facebook

Or find our Food and Health Communicatoins group on LinkedIn

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Our new vegetarian PowerPoint slide show is finished and shown above. It was a fun project with the theme that vegetarianism has changed over the last decade. There are many different reasons to be vegetarian, with health being the most important in our opinion. And there are many different types ranging from the more freedom loving flexitarians or semi-vegetarians to the stricter and devout vegans. It is all good – the more of a switch you can make to a plant-based diet that is based on whole grains, vegetables, and fruits, as opposed to refined foods including processed meats and cheeses that are high in fat, sugar and sodium, the better.

Two things really stand out to me after editing the vegetarian show with our writer, Hollis Bass, MEd, RD. First is the minimatrix made by the American Institute for Cancer Research site dietandcancerreport.org site:

The evidence is pretty compelling to stay a healthy weight, eat a plant based diet and exercise/stay active.

The second thing that stands out to me is the positive message that there is a whole world of colorful healthy food out there for everyone to try! Take a look at this picture that came to me via my brother in law from the spice market of Istanbul – who ever said that plant foods were boring! I wish I could have been there taking that picture and getting to buy those spices!!

Here is the link to our show:
http://foodandhealth.com/shop/products/Vegetarian_and_Plant_Based_Diet_for_Better_Health_PowerPoint-144-0.html

The Mediterranean Foods Alliance has selected our Mediterranean Pizza Recipe as the Grand Prize Winner for their recipe contest.  Did you know that May is Mediterranean Food Month?

Here is their announcement:

Mediterranean Month Recipe Contest

Mediterranean Month produced a number of mouth-watering entries for the Med Month recipe contest. Click here to check out some of our favorite recipes, and remember to keep making every month Mediterranean, all year long!

Congratulations to the creators of some of our favorites  (in alphabetical order):

Beauty Ranch Almond Cookies by Susan Zabriskie

Bruschetta with Cannelini Bean Paste, Tomato Chutney and Reduced Balsamic Glaze by Joshua James Ogrodowski

Crispy Chickpea Cakes with Cilantro and Pickled Onionsby Kevin Church

Grape Leaves Stuffed with Rice and Figs with Lemon-Yogurt Sauce by Diane Nemitz

Hazelnut Crusted Cod Loins with Roasted Plum and Fig Garnish by Diane Nemitz

Mediterranean Salad with Lemon Balsamic Vinaigretteby Dustin J. Burnett, MS, RD

Mediterranean Lamb Salad with Avocados by Don Cavness

Mediterranean Pizza by Judy Doherty

Pumpkinseed & Sundried Tomato Pesto by Carol Leivonen

Warm Lemon Orzo & Spinach Salad by Melanie Plesko, RD

Our number one favorite was the Mediterranean Salad with Lemon Balsamic Vinaigrette. This salad is a nutritional powerhouse, with the same power pack of flavor and texture.

And, our randomly selected grand prize winner is Judy Doherty. Congratulations, everyone!

Congrats to everyone – we can’t wait to try some of those recipes!!

A visit to a local farmer’s market proved to be a wonderful experience. There was a huge array of tropical fruits, local grown seasonal produce, fresh herbs, sunflowers and more!

What a way to support local growers and revamp the creative juices in my kitchen. I chose mint, opal basil, baby potatoes, a red bell pepper, an extremely ripe mango, corn on the cob, fresh local-grown, ripe tomatoes, an orange, bananas and an avocado. I plan to use them during the week and the only regret is that I did not buy more.

The mango and orange were sliced for a rather delectable breakfast treat. The mango literally tasted like candy, it was so ripe! I plan to try more tropical fruits the next time I go – there were many from the area that I have not heard of before.

The tomatoes were astounding – they were so ripe, juicy and delicious. We ate some of them sliced fresh with just a little oil, vinegar and black pepper. Later on in the day I roasted some of the tomatoes for a simple angel hair pasta dish with roasted marinara, complete with the opal basil that was also at the market.

Why should you attend a farmers’ market?

• A cheap family outing and fun event

• Exercise and Vitamin D from walking around outside

• Learn more about produce

• Try new things

• Eat more fruits and vegetables

• Get items that are fresher, better tasting and naturally ripe

• Support local growers

• Great bargains on local seasonal produce

Here is what you should bring:

• Cash

• Hat/sunglasses

• Water – if it is hot outside you might get thirsty on your expedition

• Bug spray if there are mosquitoes near you

• A bag or box to carry your items home

• Cooler with ice in case you have other errands to run afterwards – some items like leafy lettuce and fresh herbs are more delicate and may not hold up that well in a hot car.

Here are favorite recipes using Farmer’s Market Ingredients:

Open-Faced Fish Sandwich Dinner:

1 fillet of fish, baked

1 slice whole grain toast

2 slices fresh tomatoes

1/2 tsp low-fat mayonnaise

1. Assemble sandwich with toast on the bottom then fish and tomatoes on top.
2. Serve with these items on the side to make a complete meal:

• 2 cups leafy green salad tossed with fresh lemon juice

• 1 potato made into oven fries with salt-free ketchup (bake sliced potato wedges for 20 minutes at 425 degrees)

• 1 cup fresh mint tea (boil fresh mint for one minute and then chill over ice)

Serves 1: 432 calories, 5.5 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 43 mg cholesterol, 384 mg sodium, 10.5 g fiber, 72 g carbohydrate, 27 g protein

Angel Hair Market Pasta

8 ounces angel hair pasta, dry

3 large, ripe tomatoes, cored, halved and seeded

1/2 onion, peeled and quartered

1/4 cup fresh chopped basil dash granulated garlic

dash dried oregano

4 tablespoons grated parmesan

1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

1. Cook pasta according to package directions then drain and hold.
2. Meanwhile, preheat your oven broiler. Place tomatoes and onion side up in a large baking dish.
3. Roast the vegetables under the broiler until skins turn very brown and blisters – about 10 minutes. Place herbs and onions into a food processor or blender. Puree briefly until basil is chopped fine then add the tomatoes and puree until almost smooth. Reheat sauce and toss with cooked angel hair pasta. Sprinkle 1 grated parmesan and fresh cracked black pepper over the top of each.

Serves 4. Each 1-1/2 cup serving: 256 calories, 2.5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 4 mg cholesterol, 81 mg sodium, 47 g carbohydrate, 2.5 g fiber, 10 g protein.

Simple Boiled Corn:

Husk the corn and boil in a large pot of water for 3 minutes. Drain and serve hot. We like to top with fresh lemon and spray margarine. If you prepare a large amount in advance you can use the leftovers in salads and salsas during the week.

Per cob: 156 calories, 1.5 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cho- lesterol, 399 mg sodium, 36 g carbo- hydrate, 4.5 g fiber, 5 g protein.

Farmer’s Market Salad:

1 cucumber, partially peeled and seeds removed

1/4 red bell pepper, sliced thin

1/2 tsp olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh sliced basil

black pepper – freshly cracked – to taste

garlic parsley blend

Toss together and serve.

Serves 4. Each 1/2 cup serving: 13 calories, .5 g fat, 0 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1 mg sodium, 2 g carbohydrate, .5 g fiber, 0 g protein.

Each meal: 424 calories, 5 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 4 mg cho- lesterol, 481 mg sodium, 86 g carbo- hydrate, 7.5 g fiber, 16 g protein.

Check out our new Farmer’s Market Poster:

Download a free Farmer’s Market Handout and Tip Sheet

To find a farmer’s market near you, visit http://www.localharvest.org/

Take a look at our photo above – we found a sale on vinegar bottles in a kitchen store and stocked up on a few of them. We filled them with balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar and rice wine vinegar. They were put on a decorative plate with a black pepper grinder and a bottle of olive oil. Voila! We now have an attractive centerpiece that always helps us serve a healthy salad!

Researchers found that vinegar helped curb appetite when consumed before a meal – why not have a salad with vinegar? (European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (vol 59, issue 9, pp983-988)

Enjoy! This photo compliments of our new macro lens – more photos to follow!

Get more lessons on wellness at weight loss here

Inside Triathlon Magazone Spring 2009 Page 46

USAT was kind enough to put my pic and recipes in this month’s issue of USA Triathlon Life magazine for Spring 2009 - see page 46. 

I guess the fact that I could make 15 meals in one day means they are fast, right? The whole point to our video, 25 ingredients, 15 meals is that you utilize many of the same ingredients throughout the week and you cook once and serve twice!

Here is a slide show:

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Rainbow Rotini

And another favorite – bulgur – I love to make tabouleh with it!

Tabouleh

2 cups bulgur
2 cups very hot water
1 cucumber, chopped
1 small tomato, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1/2 cup fresh mint, chopped
2 cups chopped fresh parsley
sprinkle granulated garlic

Dressing:
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
black pepper to taste

1. Pour hot water over bulgur and allow to stand until water is absorbed, about 30 minutes (you can do this before class starts).
2. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Serve immediately or chill for future use, up to 3 days.

And 2 more favorites from our pantry:

I have been working all day on the photos and charts for the new video and just wanted to share the pix! Whoever said that healthy is boring or not tasty?

That is the new amount of salt, in mg per day, recommended by the Center for Disease Control (cdc.gov) for almost 70% of all Americans – including anyone over 40, people with prehyptertension or hyptertension, and all African Americans.

That is about slightly more than the amount you would get from food if you ate mostly fresh items, cooked everything yourself and avoided all processed (meaning canned, frozen and packaged foods) and restaurant food. Which is what most Americans need to do to get to that threshhold. Most get 2 or 3 times that amount each day – and 77% of that comes from food that is processed or from a restaurant.

Here are some interesting stats from our scientist, Dr. James J. Kenney, PhD, RD, FACN, who has spent the last 12 years updating a reference paper we have on salt on our site (it is for a CPE course but anyone can read his article for free):

• Salt toxicity and subsequent hypertension (HTN) is the #1 destroyer of kidneys
• HTN is a major risk factor for senility, which can take the fun out of ones latter years.
• HTN being the #1 risk factor for stroke, which is the #1 reason people go into a nursing home for the rest of their lives.
• And while heart attacks are down, heart failure is up and the #1 cause of heart failure is salt toxicity and related HTN.
• Heart failure coupled with excess salt intake is the #1 reason Americans get admitted to a hospital.
• Heart failure is also known as congestive heart failure because fluid builds up in the lungs (causing congestions) causing shortness of breath and a slow suffocation. Living with a failing heart usually means relatively low enjoyment of life.
• Hypertension and salt toxicity greatly increase the risk of developing Atrial Fibrillation – the most common heart rythm disorder
• And let’s not forget HTN and salt toxicty are major causes of the 1.5 million heart attacks each year.
• Excess salt and meat are the two major causes of  kidney stones
• The increased calcium lost in the urine with each salty meals contributes to osteoporotic fractures
• Cancers of the stomach, esophagus, and kidneys are all prmoted by excessive salt intake
• Excess salt intake promotes more headaches and heartburn
• The majority of Americans have HTN by the time they are in their 60s and of those who are lucky enough to escape HTN up to age 65y two-thirds will still develop it before their 75th birthday and 90% by their 85th birthday.
• According to a recent University of Southern California study reducing salt intake by  1200mg/day (or by less than 1/3) would save as many lives over the next 10 years as if all American smokers quit tomorrow for good.
• And research shows that cutting sodium intake even more to about 1200 to 1500mg/day depending on age would virtually eliminate HTN and other lills caused largely by added (“second hand”) salt.

Sodium Education Kit

Of course we are busy updating our new sodium kit and will have more tips – but the easiest way to start working on your new goal of 1500 is to spend more time in the produce aisle and less where there are boxes, cans and frozen things!

We also have a new DASH Poster:

DASH Poster

Here are my top 5 recommendations for bringing the Mediterranean diet, and all of its health benefits, into your kitchen:

1.  Make plants – fruit, vegetables, grains, legumes, seeds – the centerpiece of your meals. Start lunch with a tossed salad, adding in chickpeas and pumpkin seeds.
2.  Include olives or olive oil in as many foods as possible. Toss your salad with olive oil or add olives to your favorite recipes.
3.  Use nuts as part of your protein choices. Add a handful of nuts to your salad or sprinkle nuts over breakfast oatmeal.
4.  Choose fish or shellfish at least twice each week. Toss pasta with tuna and olive oil or coat salmon with crushed pistacchios.
5.  Flavor your foods with herbs and spices instead of salt.

We couldn’t agree more! In fact we liked the timing of her post since we had just prepared a Mediterranean Pizza using potatoes for a crust.

6 yukon gold potatoes, medium in size, skin on
drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil
fresh chopped garlic
fresh chopped basil
3 ripe plum tomatoes
1/4 cup sliced sundried tomatoes
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped fresh spinach leaves
2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
fresh-cracked black pepper to taste 

Rinse the dirt off the potatoes and pierce with a fork. Microwave the potatoes until done, about 2 minutes each. They are done when a knife goes through them easily.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Mash the potatoes into a lightly  oiled rectangular 9X12 baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with basil and mashed garlic. Top with sliced plum tomatoes, sundried tomatoes, spinach and mushrooms. Sprinkle with grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or  until the cheese is golden brown and the veggies are roasted. Cool slightly then cut into squares. Grate black pepper over the top. We like to serve with a large tossed salad with roasted walnuts, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar and roasted asparagus.

This recipe appears in our new DVD, 25 Ingredients, 15 meals.

A stir fry dish is so easy to make! 

Brown rice – make it in the rice cooker or according to package directions using 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water for 3 cups or about enough for 4 people (go 1.5 cups of rice and 3 cups of water if you have a heartier appetite). Rice should be  done in 30 minutes and it can be cooking while you prepare and cook the stir fry below.

Here is the recipe for the stir fry (note – this is from our Video 25 ingredients, 15 meals – we are using roasted chicken from the first day that we roasted one):

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 cup chopped onion
1-1/2 cups chopped celery
1-1/2 cups chopped baby carrots 
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups fresh spinach leaves
1 cup roasted chicken breast
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
Dash of sesame oil

Pour oil in large shallow pan or wok and heat lightly. Saute the garlic and ginger until nutty brown. Immediately add the onion, celery and carrots and saute briefly. Add the chicken broth and cover the pan. Cook until the vegetables are crisp tender. Add the spinach, chicken, soy sauce and sesame oil and reheat. Serve the stir fry over top of the cooked brown rice or fold in the brown rice and reheat and serve.

You can also add toasted sesame seeds, snow pea pods, broccoli, nuts, etc. to make this stiry fry more fun. And occasionally, instead of using the chicken, we like to use frozen shrimp – we get those on special in our grocery freezer – completely peeled, deveined and tail off – very easy.

Tip: Cook extra rice to use for another day! Sometimes we even freeze the extra rice – it is so easy to pull it out and use it in tacos, soups, more stiry fry dishes, etc. 

Tip: Go easy on the soy sauce and use the reduced-sodium variety whenever possible. Did you know that the CDC just came out with a recommendation for almost 70% of the US population to lower their sodium intake to 1500 mg per day? We do have that info here.  Read the article for free.  Get a great presentation on low-sodium cooking here.  And the CDC recommendation is here. 

Enjoy! Comments and questions are always appreciated.

I think this has to be the most delicious and yet healthiest pizza I have ever created! Healthy because it is low in fat and sodium. Tasty because everyone said so!

It was my son’s 13th birthday party and I got up very early to bake the cake and make the pizza dough before yet another video shoot. It was all worth it when the kids said, “oh wow, it is HOME MADE” – I guess that is the new luxury, right?

Anyway, here is the recipe for the crust:

1 cup warm water (warm meaning warm to the touch but not hot) about 110F
1 packet dry yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp olive oil

Mix very well.Then allow the dough to rise covered at room temperature until it doubles in volume, about an hour. Form into balls and roll into a crust. Prick with a fork and bake 10 minutes in a 350F oven. Makes 2 12-inch crusts that are about 1/4 inch thick.

Notes:
I like to use the paddle on my Kitchen Aid mixer because I feel the dough hook just rips it up and does not develop the gluten strands very well. I guess I am spoiled from using a Hobart for too long while in pastry kitchens of the Hyatt! But anyway, after it was mixed, I put it in the refrigerator all day to let it rise slowly.  I made a double batch or 4 pizzas.

Toppings:
No-salt-added pasta sauce (use about 1/2 cup per crust)
Julienne of red pepper or your favorite vegetable sliced thin
fresh chopped basil (or use dried oregano)
a sprinkle of no-salt-added farmer’s cheese*

Spread the sauce over the crust. Add the veggies then the cheese and herbs. Bake for 10 minutes at 375F and cut into 8 pieces (2 pieces per person).

We served the pizza with pasta, salad, fresh fruit and a big chocolate birthday cake of course! No big pizza delivery bill and much better health – never to mention the aroma of the fresh baked pizza surrounding the whole house with the guests here – that was priceless…

*I just discovered Friendship no-salt-added farmer’s cheese in the dairy section of our grocery store and I love it! It tastes a little like Feta cheese but without the salt. It is low in fat (2.5 g per ounce) for a cheese. It is just the ticket for salads and pizza and more!

Take a look at our new poster – 100 Calorie Snack Packs. We were so surpised at the difference in size between the portions of calorie-dense “snacks” like cookies, bagels, donuts and chips,  and all of the fruits and nonfat light yogurt. For 100 calories of carrots, apples, grapes, oranges, celery, berries and a banana you get to eat a larger portion than with cookies.

And here is one pic we took for fun – 100 calories of lettuce! Imagine if most people chose that more often than chips! They would not even be able to finish 100 calories of lettuce in most cases.

And that is precisely our point with this poster – which item would make you feel more full? It is not easy to eat just 100 calories of chips – but it is more likely that you will feel full after just one apple which is only 70-80 calories!

So after watching our first take, my assistant and I decided that we have to come up with a master list of around 20 foods to buy and then show  at least 12 different fast meals you can make from these ingredients! That is a challenge!! I do admit to stretching the list to 25 items, but then I did come up with 15 different items you can make with those that everyone will like that are easy to prepare – we make them over and over here and my son can even make some of them. 

Here is our list of foods starting with whole grains, lean protein, fruits and vegetables and dairy (mostly fat-free except for Parmesan cheese which is used sparingly):

1. Pasta, whole grain penne
2. Brown rice
3. Tortillas, whole wheat
4. Lentils
5. Chicken, whole
6. Fish
7. Walnuts
8. Salad mix
9. Fresh spinach
10. Tomatoes, plum
11. Baby carrots
12. Broccoli
13. Butternut squash
14. Zucchini
15. Onions
16. Canned diced tomatoes, no added salt
17. Strawberries
18. Blueberries
19. Celery
20. Apples
21. Potatoes
22. No Salt Added Tomato Sauce
23. Fat-free sour cream
24. Yogurt – light vanilla
25. Parmesan cheese

The cost for all of those ingredients was just $63!! (This assumes you have staple cooking items like oregano, black pepper, cumin, coriander, ginger, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, vinegar, oil, soy sauce and sesame oil on hand. )

And our list of meals – including 1 snack and 2 desserts:

1. Lentils and rice – plain, winter squash, onions
2. Lentils and rice – burrito or wrap
3. Whole chicken – Roasted with potatoes/onions, carrots, salad
4. Chicken salad – with chicken, potatoes, salad
5. Chicken – pasta, broth, veggies
6. Chicken with rice – arroz con pollo
7. Chicken stir fry – spinach, celery, broccoli, onions, carrots
8. Chicken rice veggie soup
9. Fish – microwave with zucchini and rice
10. Tortilla Pizza
11. Potato Pizza – potatoes with plum tomatoes, spinach, onions, parmesan cheese
12. Baked stuffed potato – potato with broccoli, ff sour cream, parmesan
13. Snack platter with apples, carrots, celery
14. Dessert with berries and yogurt
15. Apple sauce with vanilla yogurt

We feel this teaches many lessons - 

• Making balanced low-fat, high-fiber meals that are based on grains, fruits and vegetables with minimal amounts of animal protein and fat – helps you get to requirements of MyPyramid and the Dietary Guidelines
• Buying more fruits and veggies is a great idea to add variety and color for all of your meals – note how we just have a few grains and lean protein items on our list
• You can save money, time and calories by cooking yourself versus going out to eat.
• You save a lot of money by buying less-processed food and it really doesn’t take that much more time or effort to cook yourself – with our easy ways of course!
• Stocking your kitchen for fast healthy meals that save significant time, money and calories from eating out
• How to use planned overs
• Meal planning and list making
• Time saving tips
• Cooking tips

Stay tuned!

Our newest video is in the works! Stock Your Kitchen For Fast and Healthy Meals!

Why: because you will save time, money and calories

You will save time because you won’t have to keep running to the store or out to eat. Consider how long it takes to go to a restaurant, place an order, wait for it, take it home and serve/clean up. Our surveys to health professionals showed that it takes less time to prepare a healthful meal if you have the ingredients on hand.  Get organized and have more time to enjoy your home and  your life!

You will save money – it costs roughly .80 each for lasagna versus $12.95 for the same dish while out. Save money on food and have more to save and spend on other things you enjoy!

You will save calories, fat and sodium. Most restaurant food contains at least double the fat, sodium and calories if not more. Take control of what goes in your food and in your body!

Here is the first picture from our grains section. We like to keep pasta, rice, couscous, bulgur, oatmeal, whole grain low-sodium cereals, light popcorn and whole cream of wheat on hand – all delicious whole grains that you cook that do not have added salt or fat. 

We will add more sections as we shoot – stay tuned!

Here is a compelling slide from our new show Healthy Shopping on A Budget. With every MyPyramid food group (grains, vegetables, fruits, meat/beans, milk), we found that the least processed foods were the least expensive foods. While most people assume healthy foods are more expensive because chicken breasts and fat-free cookies are more expensive than their regular counterparts, we found that this assumption is a narrow-minded approach and that frugality and healthy shopping require a broader scope. Take a look at the vegetable chart above – you can see that fresh vegetables are the least expensive (and might even be less than this when they are in season or from a farmer’s market) compared to more processed ones like frozen potatoes (mashed, French fries) and potato chips.  Clearly, healthy shopping on a budget means buying less processed foods, not fat-free processed foods!

This slide was another of our favorites:

Cooking from scratch at home does save money! And our healthy lasagna is a lot lower in fat and sodium, too! If you compare to a restaurant meal of lasagna you save either way:

Scratch Lasagna – .80 per serving

Frozen Lasagna – $2.95 per serving

Restaurant Lasagna – $12.95 per serving

We looked up the nutrition facts for a restaurant portion of lasagna and we were shocked. In addition to spending a lot more money you get a lot more fat (47 grams), calories (850) and sodium (1280 mg)!

Here is a list of inexpensive healthful foods you should have in your meals and on your weekly shopping list:

We like to shop our freezer and pantry first – to use up what we have on hand – and then we take a look at store specials – did you know most grocery stores have weekly flyers online?

Here is the info about our show – with a flash edition for preview. 

And our best tips – to help you save more:

A wonderful way to make dinner is to roast everything in the oven – this process is attendance-free, efficient and impressive in the way it looks and adds aroma to your house. This whole chicken pictured above was only $4.79 at Walmart (they are running about $8-9 in our grocery store) so I bought it and put it in the freezer for a special day, knowing I can defrost it easily in the microwave. There is something about a roasted chicken that reminds me of the meals my grandmother used to make. 

Here is the menu:

- Herb roasted chicken
- Winter Squash
- Potato Casserole with carrots, onions and herbs
- Pink Apple Pie (crustless)
- Tossed salad 

Herb roasted chicken:
1 chicken, whole, defrosted
2 bayleaves
1 tsp each: dried thyme, granulated garlic, rosemary, black pepper 

Preheat the oven to 325F.  Rinse the chicken in cold water and put it in the glass baking dish. Rub the outside with dried thyme, rosemary, granulated garlic and black pepper and put bay leaves inside.  I roasted it uncovered to an internal temperature of 180F, which took 90  minutes. 

Winter squash: Cut 1 butternut squash into quarters and remove the seeds. Put in a glass baking dish and cover with foil and place in the oven with the chicken. It takes about 80 minutes to bake.

Potato casserole:
3 small baking potatoes
1 onion
1 cup baby carrots or sliced carrots
Rinse potatoes to remove loose dirt. Cut in slices, along with onions and carrots. Place them in a baking dish. Drizzle with a little olive oil and toss with granulated garlic and parsley mix and black pepper. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 70 minutes.

Pink apple pie:
3 apples, cut in wedges
1 cup leftover berries
1/4 cup pomegranate juice or any juice
Cut apples in wedges and toss with some berries and juice – in this case we were using old berries from a photo shoot. Cover and bake one hour.

If you notice, I started putting the longest-baking items in the oven first and everything came out at once in the end.

Here are pix:

I served the potatoes, winter squash and salad on the plate with just a few slices of chicken. The leftover chicken was made into 2 more great meals the following days:

- Chicken sandwich on whole wheat bread with lettuce, grapes, baby carrots and yogurt

- Chicken and rice:

1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1 cup chopped chicken (bone and skin free)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped red pepper
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup peas
1 tsp each: coriander, granulated garlic with parsley
1/2 tsp chili powder

Place all of the ingredients in a rice cooker, cover and cook until done, about 30 minutes. You can also put all in a pan with a lid and cook on medium-low heat until done. This dish is done when all water is evaporated and the rice is done.

I served the Chicken and Rice with a few tortilla chips for garnish and a big green salad on the side!

Here are the new products we are making – some fun posters and one more to come that shows all different foods at 100 calories each!

5 Ways to More Fruits and Vegetables

It was time for “Make Your Own Burritos” night here.

We bought flour tortillas that are low in sodium and a good deal from Walmart. These can be stored in the freezer to make wraps, soft tacos, burritos and pizza, so they are important in our house.  Calories each are 120 and sodium is 110 mg. 

Next, we cooked some ground chicken breast that we found on sale along with some onions:

After cooking until completely done, we seasoned with chili powder, oregano, cumin and coriander and then added some fresh lime juice. Then we ground it in the food processor to make it resemble the fine texture of ground beef that is a lot higher in fat. 

Next up is the roasted salsa:

This is made by broiling 3 plum tomatoes, one onion and a sweet or hot pepper (your choice) then grinding them in the food processor along with lemon juice and chopped cilantro. This makes a tasty salsa that is inexpensive and very low in sodium compared to prepared ones you find in the store.

Next was a simple bean dip made with no-salt-added pinto beans, a touch of tomato paste,  cumin, garlic powder and chili powder (add those to taste):

Brown rice was made in the rice cooker and served to use as a filler for the burritos or a side dish – diner’s choice.  Creativity and choice is what is fun about this meal!

So, diners had a choice of a large tossed salad, fresh-made salsa, tortillas, brown rice, ground chicken breast, bean dip and fat-free sour cream for their burritos. It was a festive meal that was made fun by passing all the bowls and making fun creations. 

Enjoy!