I am having fun making my famous “Salmon Orzo with Grilled Veggies” and delivering it to peoples homes or offices in exchange for a donation for my daughter’s upcoming mission trip. It is an upscale pasta salad. I use orzo, which is a type of small pasta. I grill some salmon and chopped veggies like onion, zucchini, red bell peppers, and mushrooms that have been tossed with olive oil, lemon juice and some seasonings. I crumble the salmon and toss it all together in a light sauce and top it with shredded parmesan cheese. It is great served hot or cold. It’s probably my most requested dish.
So instead of eating out this week or next, invest that money instead in a worthwhile cause and enjoy a one-of-a-kind pasta dish brought to you. Think of all that driving, parking, and waiting you won’t have to do!
I’m always looking for healthy products to enjoy and recommend. Yogurt, like many foods, can be very healthy or just another sugar laden dessert in disguise. It is surprising to realize that some yogurts have as much sugar as a serving of Frosted Flakes cereal, a Pepsi, or a Snickers bar with very little live cultures to benefit your digestion. For a closer look at yogurt and a comparison of some name brands, read ‘Getting a little culture - yogurt - Brand Name Comparison’.
Stonyfield Farms, on the other hand, has always had high quality organic products with lots of live cultures and plenty of flavors to pick from. Recently, I did some sampling of and a post about delicious Chobani Greek yogurt which is much thicker than regular yogurt because most of the whey is drained off.
The folks at Stonyfield Farms, who I also mentioned in that post, thought their product, Oikos - organic Greek yogurt, was also very good and sent me coupons for their 4 flavors to see if I agreed. I redeemed the coupons and held a “yogurt tasting” with a friend and Greek yogurt connoisseur.
Initially, my favorite thing about the plain variety was the ingredient list. First, it lists cultured pasteurized organic nonfat milk and second, it names five live cultures. That’s it. Imagine that, yogurt made only from milk and cultures. Simple and delicious. The plain variety would make a great substitute for sour cream as a topping, or to make a ranch type salad dressing. I thought it would make a great dip like cucumber and dill, artichoke and parmesan, or smoked salmon. It was delicious mixed with a little feta and herbs, spread on a pita, and topped with sliced olives.
I also tried their flavors - vanilla, blueberry, and honey. They all had a fantastic flavor and would be great as a snack or as a topping for fruit or cereal. The vanilla was not overly sweet which I appreciated. It would be perfect as a layer in a parfait of strawberries, blueberries, and bananas. The blueberry made a great topping for a whole wheat bagel. And the honey on a bagel with a few sliced almonds was truly dessert-like. I also used the honey to make a dip for fruit by stirring in a little natural peanut butter and topping it with a dash of cinnamon.
If you would like to replace cream cheese on a bagel - start with a Thomas brand whole wheat bagel (or mini-bagel) and mix 1/3 less fat cream cheese with equal amounts of either honey or blueberry Oikos. Each time you make it, use less cream cheese and more Oikos until you eating it straight. I personally could see myself taking hunks of a bagel and dipping it into (ok, honestly more like dredging it through) the straight Oikos for breakfast.
So, if you want to try a yogurt that is between 90 and 120 calories per serving, no fat, less sugar, fewer carbs, and twice the protein of most yogurts, then Oikos from Stonyfield is for you. You can even go to their website and get a coupon!
Fruit Dip Snack (serves 4):
Mix 2 Tablespoons of natural peanut butter into 1 (5.3 oz.) container of honey Oikos and sprinkle the top with a little cinnamon. On a tray, put 1 apple, cored and sliced; 1 banana, cut into chunks; and 8-10 strawberries. Dip and enjoy. 134 calories per serving.
Pita Appetizer (serves 4):
Mix 2 Tablespoons of President Crumbled Feta with Mediterranean Herbs into 1 cup of plain Oikos. Cut 2 whole wheat pita pockets into 16 triangles. (Cut each pita into fourths and split at back seam to make 8 triangles from each pita.) Can be toasted to crisp them if desired. Spread each triangle with the feta yogurt mixture and top with a few sliced black or green olives. You could easily use Triscuit Thin Crisps instead of the pita triangles. 102 calories per serving.
I thought I’d give you a peek onto my cookbook shelf. But honestly, there are two resources I use more than anything in print - the internet and the library. A quick google search for the ingredients you want to cook with - like “healthy recipe chicken, red pepper, brown rice” returns thousands of recipes instantly. Then you can open ones that sound appealing until you find one that has ingredients you would use and seasonings that you know you enjoy. The library has a huge and varied collection of cookbooks. You can check out several and keep them for 3 weeks. During those weeks, write a stack of recipe cards for dishes you’d like to try and then return the cookbooks. Once you try the recipes, keep only the cards for the ones you enjoyed.
Now let me give you a tour of what books are on my cookbook shelf and why. Some books are there because they helped establish my foundation and outlook of a healthy diet. Those include Jordan Rubin’s ‘The Maker’s Diet’ and his ‘The Great Physician’s Rx for Children’s Health’, and ‘Country Life Natural Foods Cookbook’. Initially, I used them daily, now I look up something occasionally or loan them out.
Then there are books I use for information and for brainstorming good ingredient blends - like ‘The Herbarist’ and ‘Foods that Harm Foods that Heal’.
I also have a section of books I keep because they have several recipes I love or they are sentimental. Like the wedding gift ‘Betty Crocker Cookbook’ (that I desperately needed) which is now held together with a large rubberband because the spine is completely gone. Also in this section are ‘Southern Living’s Party Cookbook’, ‘Giada’s Family Dinners’, ‘The Popular Potato’ , and a few church or society cookbooks. When I use these books, I substitute whole grains and reduce or substitute fats and sugars to “healthify” the recipes. I write those changes in the book with a pencil, so next time I can follow my version of the recipe. Other times, I just glean ideas of ingredients that work well together to create my own recipe.
The last section of cookbooks I keep are marketed as healthy cookbooks. However, I still tweak these recipes to fit my idea of healthy. Included in these books are ‘The Sneaky Chef’, ‘Secrets of Fat-Free Cooking’, ‘The Olive and the Caper’, and my newest addition, ‘Fix-It and Enjoy-It’. Here is what I tweak in recipes from these types of books:
If the recipe calls for rice, pasta, or flour, I use a whole grain version.
If it calls for egg substitute, I use real eggs.
If it calls for margarine or shortening, I use butter or canola oil (in small amounts) and add unsweetened applesauce if more liquid is needed. (Butter for cookies, oil for muffins or cakes.)
If it calls for sauteeing, I use a small amount of olive oil, Olivio spreadable butter, water, or broth.
If it calls for splenda or other sugar substitute, I use turbinado sugar, dark brown sugar, or even white sugar all in small amounts (ex. 3-4 T per recipe).
If it calls for chicken stock, I use Herb Ox chicken bullion without msg.
If it calls for half and half or cream, I use skim milk mixed with a little canola mayonnaise or a little Daisy light sour cream.
If it calls for cheese, I use a sharp cheese (stronger flavor when using less) made from 2% milk and in small quantities (1-2 T per serving) sprinkled on top of the casserole or each serving.
If it calls for vegetables, I leave the peel on carrots and potatoes, and use more than suggested of vegetables that give flavor like onion, garlic, peppers, and celery.
If it calls for meat, I use a very lean version and a usually smaller quantity than suggested (and increase the quantity of vegetables).
Anyway, a cookbook is meant to be USED. So go ahead and write in, mark up, and dog-ear pages in your favorite cookbooks and donate those you haven’t opened in years and probably won’t again. Don’t be afraid to substitute ingredients and change a recipe to make it something you love to eat and is also good for you. If you’re interested in talking cookbooks, I’ll be glad to tell you more…all you have to do is ask.
I was thinking about how to make Mother’s Day special when it occurred to me, “Hey, wait a minute… I’m a mother, so what would make it special for me?” I took that thought one step farther and thought, “What would make it special for my mother?” As I carried those thoughts even farther I realized that I can step outside of the traditional box and have, eat, do, and wear whatever I want to make that day special for me.
I really enjoy eating breakfast any time of the day (and so does my mother), so breakfast is now the menu for my Mother’s Day dinner. Feeling empowered, I decided that I really do enjoy shrimp. So, shrimp and grits will be on the table along with some fruit, eggs, red potatoes, and whatever else strikes my fancy.
I realized that there really are no “Official Mother’s Day Dinner Rules”. If I want to eat on disposable plates, I can. And if I want to serve it all from my grandmother’s china, I can do that too. I might do both! I may even find something “breakfasty” to grill so some of us can be outside on the deck.
The days of me stressing out over having the perfect menu, eaten in the perfectly clean house, while wearing that once-a-year outfit are over. So, if you’re looking for me this Mother’s Day, you’ll find me enjoying a great-tasting healthy meal, laughing and talking with my family, all while wearing my comfy pink piggy slippers. I hope you’ll be doing the same. Happy Mother’s Day!
I was chatting with someone after a recent Lunch-N-Learn about healthy foods and she reminded me of a couple of tricks she uses to satisfy cravings in a healthier way. I thought I’d share her tips and a few others.
When wanting a late night snack, drink a glass of water because we often mistake thirst for hunger.
When craving something sweet, brew some flavored coffee. Often, the warmth and the sweet smell satisfies your craving.
If craving chocolate, make a mug of hot cocoa using skim milk, cocoa, a little sugar, vanilla and a dash of cinnamon.
Only stock your house with healthy sweets and snack options.
Take a multi-vitamin and multi-mineral to make sure your body gets what it needs.
Here are a few other resources that bring an interesting perspective to the cravings discussion. The folks at Family Education have an article titled Healthy Eating: Hunger vs. Cravings to help us better understand our body signals. Nutritional Counselor, Stacey Morgenstern, has an article titled Deconstructing Cravings that even has four things for you to do to answer your craving.
Did you ever consider that your body might be craving a particular nutrient? The folks at Naturopathyworks have. They developed a chart with things like “If you crave bread, what your body needs is more nitrogen, and it will be satisfied if you eat more high protein foods like fish, meat, nuts, and beans.
Cravings aren’t good or bad. They are just your body’s way of telling you what it wants right now. How you answer it will determine what it becomes tomorrow.
