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Guide to Fast and Delicious Meals

Guide to Healthy Recipes

Eating healthy means making a commitment to preparing healthy food. But for many of us, the term “healthy meal” brings to mind hassle, effort, and tastelessness.

Preparing healthy, good-for-you foods doesn’t have to be a stumbling block to a healthy diet. Plenty of resources exist to help us eat well and transform our favorite foods and recipes into healthier fare.. Read on to discover simple recipes and tips for specific health concerns as well as a generally healthier diet.

In This Article:

* The benefits of cooking and preparing your own food
* Making your favorite recipes healthier
* Recipes for a heart-healthy diet
* Weight loss recipes
* Fighting cancer through diet
* Recipes to fight osteoporosis
* Diabetes diet
* Related links

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The benefits of cooking and preparing your own food

In today’s fast-paced culture, the prospect of planning, cooking, and savoring a home-cooked meal can seem daunting. The “quick-and-easy” way of life full of microwaves, fast-food restaurants, and packaged meals easily overshadows the importance of cooking and preparing food the old fashioned way: at home in your own kitchen. Many prepared foods, whether from the drive-thru or a microwave-safe package, can contain a myriad of unhealthy ingredients.

In addition, many of us have been put on special diets to address specific health concerns ranging from heart disease prevention and diabetes, to weight loss. Diets often have you eating the same things over and over which can become monotonous over time. Being exposed to different types of foods and creative methods of preparation can infuse your diet with a new twist and give you the delicious tastes you’ve been craving.

Taking the time to prepare quick and healthy meals gives you more control over what you and your family are eating. Seeking out a variety of healthy recipes and preparing nutritious meals can help prevent common medical conditions and concerns, and engages your senses in a sumptuous world of flavors, textures, aromas, sights, and sounds!
Making your favorite recipes healthier

What if I just don’t have time to cook? Or prepare my lunch? Or eat breakfast? All common refrains from people who don’t realize how easy and fast it can be to prepare your own meals. Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated.
Some basic tips for making your favorite recipes healthier include:

* Decrease the meat and increase the vegetables called for in stews and casseroles.
* Choose whole-grain versions of pasta and bread; substitute whole-wheat flour for bleached white flour when you bake.
* Serve imaginative whole-grain side dishes like bulgur or kasha instead of white rice or pasta.
* Cook with less fat by using non-stick skillets.
* Blot all fried meats on paper towels.
* Avoid cooking with soy or Worcestershire sauce and products that contain monosodium glutamate (MSG).
* Substitute garlic or onion powder for garlic or onion salt, and use unsalted or low-salt vegetable broths and products.
* Buy reduced-fat cheese or use mozzarella which is naturally lower in fat.
* In recipes calling for milk or cream, substitute 2% or reduced fat versions. This also works well for low-fat cream cheese, yogurt, and mayo.
* Unhealthy fats like certain oils, butter, or margarines can usually be cut by 1/3 to 1/2 in recipes. At first try a small cut-back and then use less and less over time; you’ll hardly notice the difference. You can also use fat substitutes like prune purees and applesauce in baked goods.
* Use fresh-frozen fruit without added sugar if fresh is unavailable.
* Cut the sugar called for in most recipes by one-third to one-half.
* Sweeten waffles and quick breads with cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla or almond extracts in order to cut the sugar content.
* Try salsa on a baked potato or salad rather than high-fat dressing or butter.

Learning the basic building blocks of a healthy diet is the first step to eating better and promoting overall health. See Healthy Eating: Tips for a Healthy Diet for guidelines and suggestions.
Recipes for a heart healthy diet

Harvard Medical School breaks down the basic guidelines for heart healthy eating into the following 5 steps:

1. Eat more liquid (unsaturated) fats, and fewer solid (saturated and trans) fats.
2. Eat more colorful, nutrient-loaded fruits and vegetables, and fewer white potatoes.
3. Eat more fiber-filled whole grains, and fewer refined carbohydrates (white starches).
4. Eat more heart-healthy proteins such as fish, poultry, beans, and low-fat or nonfat dairy products, and less red meat.
5. Eat more potassium-rich fruits and vegetables, and less sodium-rich processed food.

Source: Harvard Health: Healthy Eating for a Healthy Heart

If you are focusing on a heart-healthy diet, you may want to choose recipes that are low in sodium, high in fiber and protein, and low in saturated fat (unsaturated, “good” fats, like Omega-3 and Omega-6, can actually be beneficial to heart health.)

To learn more about eating for heart health, see Preventing Heart Disease and Stroke
Recipes for heart healthy breakfasts

* Muesli — With oats, bran, and flax, this high-fiber treat makes a great breakfast. (Waukesha Memorial Hospital Heart Healthy Recipes)
* Applesauce-oatmeal pancakes — Made with egg whites and fat-free milk, these are a delicious low-fat alternative to ordinary pancakes. (About.com: Low Fat Cooking)
* Broccoli-cheddar breakfast burrito — Broccoli is a powerhouse vegetable, and by using a whole-wheat wrap and added flax, you’ll get some extra fiber as well. (Discovery Health National Body Challenge)
* Egg and avocado wrap — Avocado is a wonderful source of “healthy fat”. (Discovery Health National Body Challenge)

Recipes for heart-healthy lunches

* Open-faced sardine, watercress & carrot sandwich — Sardines are full of healthy omega-3, and carrots pack an antioxidant punch. (Reader’s Digest Food & Recipes)
* Chicken veggie pita — Made in 10 minutes flat, this recipes uses whole-wheat pita and heart-wise grilled chicken, along with crunchy cucumbers and tomatoes (which have the added bonus of lycopene, a cancer-fighter, and vitamin C). (Discovery Health National Body Challenge)
* Edamame and summer bean salad — Edamame are full of soy protein, which may reduce the risk of heart disease. (Mayo Clinic Healthy Recipes)

Recipes for heart-healthy dinners

* Pasta with ricotta and tomatoes — By using whole grain pasta in this easy dish, you can make it even better for your heart. (Heartscreen.com)

Weight loss recipes

Healthy weight loss is about avoiding restrictive or “starvation” diets, and focusing instead on consuming better foods and controlling portion sizes. Incorporating a variety of healthy recipes into your eating plan will keep diets from becoming boring or repetitive. Healthy snacking is also a smart way to stave off hunger and avoid bingeing on fattening, processed foods — so we’ve included some recipes for filling, weight-loss appropriate snacks, as well as quick and easy meal ideas.

For more information on losing weight, see Healthy Weight Loss.
Snacking for healthy weight loss

* Cucumbers & cottage cheese — A crunchy, creamy snack with a protein and calcium boost. (Eating Well.com)
* Banana, apricot and bran smoothie — Fiber helps fill you up; the natural sweetness of fruit can curb sugar cravings. (WeightLoss.com — Australia)
* Spice-roasted almonds — Almonds are great sources of vitamin E, protein, and healthy fat, and are thought to lower LDL cholesterol. (MedicineNet.com)

Breakfast recipes for healthy weight loss

* Spinach scramble — Thanks to flavorful pepper and spinach, you won’t miss the fat in this recipe, (About.com — Walking Recipes)
* Quick apple muesli — Chock full of fruits, nuts, and fiber, this muesli combines with low fat yogurt to give you a healthy, delicious and filling start to your day. (Delicious Low Fat Recipes — commercial site)
* Low-fat apple bran muffins — If you’re always on the go, these fiber-filled low fat muffins are a perfect solution. (Family Oven.com — commercial site)

Lunch recipes for healthy weight loss

* Turkey and broccoli crepe — A light, easy meal with nutritional powerhouse broccoli. (Mayo Clinic Healthy Recipes)
* Grilled chicken Caesar salad — This remake of a popular salad uses heart-healthy olive oil and grilled chicken which cuts the fat to 10 grams. (Food Network)
* Zesty minestrone — Pairing some whole grain bread with this flavorful, vegetarian soup makes for a hearty but healthy lunch. (Low Fat Recipes.com)

Dinner recipes for healthy weight loss

* Pan-seared halibut with lemon-herb mayo — With only 7 grams of fat and 231 calories per serving, this seafood feast works well with any diet. (Food Fit.com — commercial site)
* Tofu manicotti — Vary your protein sources with silken tofu, which can be a great substitute for cheese in Italian dishes. (Better Homes and Gardens)
* 15-minute chicken & asparagus stir-fry — Diet meals don’t need to be time consuming. Not only is this chicken dish quick and easy, it’s stir-fried to provide taste without added fat or calories. (World’s Healthiest Foods - The George Mateljan Foundation)

Fighting cancer through diet

New research is strengthening the link between healthy eating and the prevention of certain types of cancer. Eating more fruits and vegetables, limiting red meat, and incorporating more “healthy fat” and fiber into your diet can help fight many forms of cancer, while strengthening your immune system and general health.
Cancer-fighting recipes

* Flaxen French toast — Flax contains lignans, a substance thought to prevent breast cancer, as well as healthy Omega-3 fatty acids. (Alive Magazine)
* Linguine with sautéed veggies — This delicious pasta has broccoli, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, jalapenos, garlic and turmeric — all known cancer fighters. (BFeedMe.com — commercial site)
* Berry blender blast — Berries contain ellagic acid , found to prevent cancers of the skin, bladder, lung, esophagus and breast. This smoothie has the added benefit of soy protein from tofu. (Walgreens.com Health Corner)
* Mashed sweet potatoes and turnips — With beta-carotene, fiber and vitamins A, C and E, sweet potatoes are a true super food. Turnips are in the cancer-fighting cruciferous family of vegetables. (American Institute for Cancer Research)
* Tofu creamed spinach — This recipe is not only high-protein from the tofu, but thanks to the cartenoids, folate and anti-oxidants in spinach, it is an anti-cancer delicacy. (AllRecipes.com)

Recipes to fight osteoporosis

The treatment plan for osteoporosis always includes ensuring that there are sufficient amounts of calcium and Vitamin D in the diet. Foods rich in calcium include milk, yogurt, cheese, tofu, sardines, salmon, turnips, and some green and leafy vegetables, such as spinach, broccoli and kale. The main food sources of vitamin D are cold saltwater fish (e.g., salmon, halibut, and herring), fortified milk, egg yolks, liver, and especially fish oils.
Osteoporosis-fighting recipes

* Raspberry popsicle parfaits — Made with high-calcium yogurt. (FoodFit.com — commercial site)
* Cottage cheese cantaloupe salad — Cottage cheese is a great source of calcium. (Reader’s Digest Food & Recipes)
* Three-cheese spinach frittata — Between the spinach, cheese, and eggs, you’ll have much of your calcium and vitamin D needs taken care of by breakfast! (Good Housekeeping)
* Sauteed tofu with bitter greens — A filling combination of calcium-rich tofu and bitter greens. (Martha Stewart.com)
* Sauteed chard and salmon — Salmon provides vitamin D, while the swiss chard adds some much-needed calcium. (Whole Foods Market)
* Fettucine with mushroom sauce — By using evaporated milk, you can create a creamy, calcium-rich comfort food without all the fat. (OBGYN.net)

Recipes for a diabetes diet

A diet for diabetes should keep blood glucose from rising too high or dipping too low. Eating too much can cause blood glucose to elevate to unhealthy levels. Conversely, the consequence of glucose levels dropping too low is hypoglycemia , or low blood sugar. This can manifest as nervousness, trembling, weakness, and “brain fog.” Thus, the key is to stabilize blood glucose at a healthy level.

In addition, diabetics are at significant risk for increased blood pressure and high cholesterol, two of the main risk factors for heart disease. Besides managing blood glucose levels, eating a heart healthy, low-cholesterol diet can help diabetics further reduce their risk of heart problems.
A selection of recipes for diabetic diets

* Cran-apple oatmeal (American Diabetes Association — Virtual Grocery Store)
* Banana bars (American Diabetes Association — Virtual Grocery Store)
* 7-minute egg casserole (DLife.com — commercial site)
* Chicken-chutney wraps (Diabetic Gourmet Magazine)
* Upside-down taco (Diabetes Self Management — commercial site)
* Slow-roasted butternut squash & carrot soup (Liberty Medical — commercial site)
* Parmesan-crusted pork tenderloins (Fabulous Foods.com — commercial site)

To Learn More: Related Helpguide Articles

*

Healthy Weight Loss: Popular Plans and Tips for Managing Your Weight
*

Healthy Fast Food: Healthy Restaurant Eating
*

Healthy Eating: New Food Pyramids and Tips for a Healthy Diet

* Nutrition for Women: Lifelong Healthy Eating
*

Organic Foods: Pesticides, GMOs, Food Irradiation, and Eating Well On A Budget

Related links for healthy recipes
General healthy recipes

The World’s Healthiest Recipes — Database allows you to search for recipes based on particular ingredients that you’d prefer included or excluded in the meal. The majority of these recipes have preparation and cooking times of 30 minutes or less. (The George Mateljan Foundation)

5 A Day Recipes — Search for recipes that contain fruits and/or vegetables based on type of meal, preparation time, season, and color. (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute)

Meals for You (commercial site) — Advanced search finds recipes based on particular diets (i.e., vegetarian, diabetic, etc.), taste, preparation time, and nutritional requirements. (Point of Choice)

Recipe makeover — Learn “how to convert typically unhealthy western style foods into healthier, lower calorie versions — without sacrificing the taste.” Recipes include nutritional analysis. (Mediterrasian.com)
Healthy recipes for heart disease prevention

Delicious Decisions — Online “cookbook” from the American Heart Association.

Cooking the Heart Healthy Way — Collection of recipes that are low-fat and promote heart health. (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute)

Heart-Healthy Recipes — Large and diverse collection, including appetizer and beverage recipes. (Mayo Clinic)
Healthy Recipes for Weight Loss

Weight-Loss Recipes — Recipe ideas for a well-balanced diet. (Readers Digest)

My Recipes — Healthy Diet — Website offering searchable, healthy recipes from Cooking Light and Health magazines.
Healthy recipes for cancer prevention

Recipe Corner — Contains numerous healthy recipes for a variety of meal types including appetizers, breads, beverages, soups, entrees, and desserts and provides diet and health guidelines for cancer prevention. (American Institute for Cancer Research)

Recipes — Browse healthy recipes by type of meal including breakfast, appetizers, soups & salads, entrees, side dishes, beverages & shakes, and desserts. Recipes include nutritional analysis. (Stanford Cancer Center)

Cancer Center Recipes — Offers numerous cancer-preventing recipes. (University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center)
Healthy recipes for a diabetic diet

Diabetic Recipes — A collection of over 800 recipes which are both diabetic-friendly and heart healthy. (Diabetic-Recipes.com)

Diabetic Gourmet Recipe Archive — Recipes divided into categories such as “Regional and Ethnic,” “Sauces and Condiments,” and “Holidays and Special Occasions.” (Diabetic Gourmet Magazine)
Recipes to fight osteoporosis

Calcium-rich recipes — Includes guidelines on calcium needs for osteoporosis, and recipes incorporating significant calcium and vitamin D. (ObGyn.net)

Recipes for Healthy Bones - Online cookbook of international recipes rich in calcium and vitamin D. (International Osteoporosis Foundation)

Suzanne Barston created this article with contributions from Gina Kemp, M.A., Heather Larson, and Deborah Cutter, Psy.D. Last modified: March 08.
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http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?pfriendly=1&tname=recipe&dbid=95

5-Minute Kale

With this delicious, easy-to-prepare recipe you can include kale as part of your Healthiest Way of Eating in a matter of minutes. Kale is one of the healthiest vegetables around with one serving providing you with an excellent source of vitamins A and E. Enjoy!
Prep and Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

* 1 pound kale
* Mediterranean Dressing
* 2 tsp lemon juice
* 1 medium clove garlic, pressed
* 1 TBs extra virgin olive oil
* salt & black pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Directions:

1. Chop garlic and let sit for 5 minutes to enhance its health-promoting properties.
2. Fill bottom of steamer with 2 inches of water and bring to boil.
3. While water is coming to a boil, slice kale leaves into 1/2-inch slices, and cut again crosswise. Cut stems into 1/4-inch slices. Let kale sit for at least 5 minutes to bring out it health-promoting properties.
4. When water comes to a boil add kale to steamer basket and cover. Steam for 5 minutes.
5. Transfer to a bowl and toss with Mediterranean Dressing ingredients. Mediterranean Dressing does not have to be made separately. For the best flavor it is best to toss with dressing while kale is still hot.
6. Top with sunflower seeds. Serves 2

The judge was fair and threw out the seizure so she got her car back. What a fiasco that was! But at least she stopped smoking pot. She’s a staunch libertarian now.<<<

She got off easy, and it was worth the lesson she learned.

Yes, there are dumb cops and over eager cops and some are crooks.

Keep in mind that sometimes they do have a tip and I bet if all the truth were known about the vacant house with flower plants, they would find out that one of the group called the cops and told them that there was a pot farm there.

The police do get tips, we didn’t have a swat team in Wellton, once we got Sgt. Ogdon, he was our swat team, 6’ 6” or more of prime manhood in his mid 30’s.

He once came into my office and asked if I would give him a ride, which I was glad to do.

In a few minutes, he had his equipment loaded into my little Toyota, the smallest model they made in 1974 and we had to lay the seat down to get him in.

I took him to a large building, drove in the entry of the building and he unloaded, for he would spend the night there, waiting for a break in they had a tip on.

LOL, he could have given the job to one of the deputies, for he was in charge of our section of the county and was the top man.

The rules on how many tickets they write and other ways they get the income, do not come from the officers, unless he is an eager beaver, they come from the top, mayor, city council and I would bet your governor.

We didn’t have a problem with earning money in our district, as the I-8 freeway went through it for about a 100 miles and the Highway Patrol, wrote the tickets.

We also had a wise and honest Judge, or Justice of the Peace, and he was into helping folks, rather than jailing them.

Before I worked at the court, I had a few questions and no money for an attorney, but needed to know what to do next.

He told me exactly what steps to take if the event happened and I did so and have been able to help a couple others who found themselves with the same problem.

So yes, I have known good ones and bad ones, and can almost pick them out on the scanner.

I know that I have heard several that i would not choose to cover my back.

I may downgrade the format to .rtf. It’s a very basic format that even old copies of Microsoft Word can read, and also Windows Wordpad.<<<

Way over my head.

LOL, in the past I didn’t click on rtf links....

Too old to learn all this fancy stuff.

But I trust you to do the best for the whole group, and I thank you.

Remember those 4 boxes to manage our country...

Soap Box
Ballot Box
Jury Box
Ammo Box<<<

Excellent list!!!

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?pfriendly=1&tname=recipe&dbid=102

5-Minute Collard Greens

Collard greens are a highly nutritious green rich in calcium, and becoming increasingly popular side dish that complements almost any meal.
Prep and Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

* 1 pound collard greens chopped
* Mediterranean Dressing
* 1 tsp lemon juice
* 1 medium clove garlic, pressed or chopped
* 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
* sea salt and black pepper to taste
* 1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Directions:

1. Fill bottom of steamer with 2 inches of water.
2. While steam is building up, slice collard greens leaves into 1/2-inch slices and cut again crosswise. Cut stems into 1/4-inch slices, and let both leaves and stems sit for at least 5 minutes to enhance their health-promoting properties.
3. Press or chop garlic and let sit for at least 5 minutes to bring out more of its health-promoting properties.
4. Steam collard greens for no more than 5 minutes.
5. Transfer to a bowl. For more flavor, toss collard greens with the remaining ingredients while they are still hot. (Mediterranean Dressing does not need to be made separately).
6. Top with sunflower seeds.

Serves 2

Healthy Cooking Tips:

Optional: to mellow the flavor of garlic, add garlic to collard greens for the last 2 minutes of steaming.

Food value and the vitamins and minerals are here for this dish:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=recipe&dbid=102

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=recipe&dbid=96

Steamed Mexican Corn on the Cob

The red chili powder will add a spicy twist to this summer favorite – corn on the cob!
Prep and Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

* 4 ears fresh corn on the cob
* 2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
* 2 tsp red chili powder
* salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a steamer with a tight fitting lid. Do not salt water.
2. Remove husks and corn silk from corn cobs. Place the corn in the steamer basket, cover, and steam for 5 minutes.
3. While corn is steaming mix together olive oil, chili powder, salt and pepper.
4. Remove corn from steamer, brush with oil mixture and serve hot. Serves 4

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=recipe&dbid=100

Mediterranean Swiss Chard

Swiss chard is one of our most nutrient-rich foods and so easy to prepare. It is a great complement to almost any meal.
Prep and Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

* 2 large bunches chopped Swiss chard
* 1 medium clove garlic, pressed
* ½ TBS balsamic vinegar or fresh lemon juice
* extra virgin olive oil to taste
* salt and black pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Press garlic and let sit for 5 minutes to bring out its health-promoting properties.
2. Bring lightly salted water to a rapid boil in a large pot. Cut off tough bottom part of stems.
3. Add the chopped leaves to the boiling water and simmer for only 3 minutes, until tender.
4. Strain through colander and press out excess water. Toss with rest of ingredients. Make sure you don’t toss chard with dressing until you are ready to serve. Otherwise the flavor will become diluted. Serves 2

http://www.mediterrasian.com/recipe_makeovers_chicken_pf.htm

Recipe Makeovers

Fried chicken

Crunchy, tasty fried chicken with less calories and far less “bad” fats than regular fried chicken from a fast food outlet.

Fried chicken was always a special treat in our family when I was growing up. I loved the taste and texture of the crispy chicken, and thoroughly enjoyed the coleslaw and fries (or potato and gravy) served on the side.

I also remember thinking to myself that, even though it was fast food, it can’t be all that bad because I knew that chicken was healthy.

I’m under no such illusion these days. I realize that chicken meat may be healthy, but deep-fried chicken is anything but. Yes, the underlying chicken meat is low in saturated fat and rich in high-quality protein. But it’s what’s on the outside that spoils things.

For a start, fried chicken is typically cooked with the skin on. Chickens store lots of their fat in their skin, and a lot of this fat is saturated fat, which can raise “bad” LDL cholesterol levels in the blood. To make matters worse, the chicken is then breaded and deep-fried in fat. Fast food outlets like KFC use partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil to fry their chicken. Unfortunately partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil contains lots of trans fat, which studies show is even more harmful to your heart and arteries than saturated fat.

All this fat isn’t only bad for your health, it also contains lots of calories, which isn’t good for your waistline either. Most of us then compound the damage by eating foods like commercial coleslaw and French fries with the chicken. These foods are also high in calories, and French fries typically contain high amounts of trans fat.

So, in no way or form is fried chicken healthy for you (as KFC tried to promote recently in U.S. television advertisements—before receiving a severe rebuke for false advertising from the Federal Trade Commission) and should be eaten sparingly or on special occasions.

Healthy fried chicken

However, there is a way to enjoy the taste of fried chicken more regularly. Our recipe for fried chicken is oven-fried instead of deep-fried. And in our version we remove the skin and liberally brush the chicken with healthy peanut oil which is rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat.

Let’s have a look at the nutritional difference between our fried chicken and typical fried chicken from a fast food outlet:

Quite clearly our chicken is far healthier. Not only is it lower in calories but it contains much less saturated fat and no trans fat compared to the fast food version.

The great thing about this chicken is that it’s not only healthy, it also tastes delicious. And if you want to turn this into a true feast, why not have this fried chicken with some healthy antioxidant-rich coleslaw and healthy French fries.

Now let’s look at the simple steps involved in preparing and cooking healthy fried chicken. (This recipe serves 2.)

1. Mix together coating

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F then combine 1/3 cup of fine bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon paprika and ½ teaspoon ground white pepper in a large bowl.

2. Brush chicken with oil

Pat dry 4 skinless chicken pieces (two breast pieces and 2 drumsticks) with a paper towel, then brush with 3 tablespoons of peanut oil.

3. Roll chicken pieces in mixture

Roll each chicken piece in the bread crumb mixture, pressing to coat well.

4. Bake for an hour

Place the chicken pieces on a non-stick baking tray (or lightly grease a regular baking tray with oil). BAKE for 1 hour without turning.

5. Serve with accompaniments

Serve with your choice of accompaniments.

http://www.mediterrasian.com/recipe_makeovers_pizza.htm

Recipe Makeovers

Pizza

When pizza is made the traditional Italian way it not only tastes delicious but it contains less calories and more nutrients than regular fast food pizza.

Pizza, when it’s made in a traditional way, has little resemblance to the pizza available in most fast food outlets. These pizzas are usually topped with lots of meat, lots of cheese, very few vegetables, and are served on a thick doughy crust.

Compare this to a traditionally prepared pizza which contains little or no meat, moderate amounts of good quality cheese, fish or seafood like anchovies or shrimp, a variety of vegetables and fresh herbs, and served on a thin crisp crust.

In fact, when pizza is made in a traditional way like this, it not only makes a wonderful meal (especially when it’s served with a fresh tossed salad and little red wine) it’s also very good for your body as well.

The tomato sauce that is spread over the crust is rich in vitamins and contains a powerful phytochemical called lycopene which protects against certain cancers. The vegetables on the pizza are a good source of vitamins, minerals and fiber. By choosing fish like anchovies or seafood like shrimp on your pizza instead of meaty toppings you get lots of good quality protein without the high saturated fat content. Fish and shellfish are also a good source of health-promoting omega-3 fat. The crust supplies your body with energy-giving carbohydrates, B-vitamins and dietary fiber. And because the pizza isn’t drowned in cheese you get the benefits of the protein and calcium it contains without ingesting too much saturated fat.

So pizza, prepared the right way, can be good for you. But that’s little surprise because so many of the traditional foods eaten throughout the Mediterranean and Asia taste good and are also good for you. That’s what makes this way of eating so easy to live with!

Ordering your own

The recipe I’m about to show you for pizza is easy to prepare at home. But sometimes you might not even have the time to prepare this simple recipe. That’s fine because you can just follow the principles of a traditionally prepared pizza when you order a pizza from a fast food outlet. Simply make sure to order your pizza on a thin base, tell them to halve the cheese and double the vegetables and choose a fish or seafood topping (like anchovies, shrimp, tuna, smoked salmon, smoked oysters, clams, calamari) instead of a meaty topping. If you do choose to have meat on your pizza, use it sparingly by telling them to halve the amount. Diced chicken is another low saturated fat alternative to meat on your pizza.

How to make a healthy pizza

Before I show you step-by-step how to create your own healthy pizza at home let’s have a look at the nutrient comparison between a slice of typical fast food pizza and a slice of our healthier version:

What a difference! For a start there’s almost half the amount of calories in our version, which means you’ll fill up on our pizza without filling out. Because the pizza contains no meat and we haven’t gone overboard with the cheese, a slice of this pizza contains four times less potentially harmful saturated fat than a regular pizza. Our traditional-style pizza also contains more dietary fiber than a regular pizza and just as much protein.

Here’s how to make this pizza at home. This recipe makes 1 pizza, or enough for 2-3 people.
1. Prepare the vegetables

Finely dice ½ a red pepper (capsicum), finely slice a quarter of a red onion, finely chop 1 tablespoon of fresh flat-leaf parsley, and halve 5 pitted black olives

2. Cube the cheese

Cut 2½ oz (75g) of mozzarella cheese into very small cubes.

3. Mix together the tomato sauce

Mix together ½ clove of crushed garlic, 3 tablespoons of chopped canned tomatoes, 1 tablespoon of tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil and ½ teaspoon of sea salt in a small bowl.

4. Spread the tomato sauce over the crust

Spread the tomato sauce over 1 store-bought pre-baked pizza crust (about 12-inches in diameter and thin crust). Alternatively use a large whole grain pita bread as the crust.

5. Top with shrimp and scallops

Top the pizza with 8 large peeled raw shrimp and 8 scallops (roe removed).

6. Add other toppings

Arrange the sliced onion, finely diced pepper and halved olives evenly over the pizza.

7. Add the cheese

Evenly place the cubed mozzarella cheese over the top of the pizza.

8. Bake and serve

Preheat the oven to 230°C/450°F and place the pizza on the oven baking rack and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with a tablespoon of lemon juice, a little freshly ground black pepper and the chopped parsley. Cut into 8 slices to serve.

[TVP a storage food]

http://www.mediterrasian.com/recipe_makeovers_tacos.htm

Recipe Makeovers

Tacos

Mouthwatering tacos loaded with tasty fillings but not loaded with saturated fat and calories.

When you think about it, there are a lot of high calorie ingredients in a typical taco. The high fat taco shell, the ground beef, the cheese, the guacamole. At first glance it would seem a difficult task to reduce the calories in a taco without somehow drastically altering the taste.

But let me assure you, it is possible, and the results are very tasty.

Let’s start with the taco shell. Taco shells are typically cooked with partially-hydrogenated vegetable oil which contains unhealthy trans fat. Soft taco shells are a healthier alternative and they contain less calories than regular taco shells. So if you decide to make this recipe frequently I would certainly recommend wrapping the filling ingredients in a soft taco shell instead of regular taco shells.

But there’s something special about the crunch of a taco shell contrasting with the mixture of soft filling ingredients, so in this instance I’m going to use regular taco shells.

Adapting the ground beef filling

The savory ground beef filling in a taco is also high in calories and saturated fat. In fact ground beef (also known as beef mince) is one of the fattiest types of meat with around 60 percent of calories coming from fat—a lot of it saturated.

Instead, our savory ground beef filling is going to be made from TVP (textured vegetable protein). When I did a makeover on cheeseburgers I used this versatile soy-based product, that looks and tastes like ground beef, to make hamburger patties.

This time I’ll turn the TVP into a “beef” chili mixture for filling tacos. This not only reduces the calorie and saturated fat content, but you also get the health benefits of soy.

The guacamole and cheese

Guacamole is made from avocados, which are high in fat. But most of this fat is heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. So guacamole is the ideal ingredient to give you that “mouth feel” of fat without compromising your health. (Just remember, guacamole is still high in calories so we won’t go drowning our tacos in it.)

Cheese contains a fair amount of saturated fat, but I’m not going to recommend you use low fat cheese as a substitute. Simply use real full-flavored cheese in small amounts. Too much cheese on a taco takes away from the flavors of the other ingredients and tends to easily spill out of the taco anyway.

Before I show you how to make these healthy tacos, let’s take a look at the nutritional difference between our healthy tacos and a regular taco:

Our recipe has reduced the calories substantially, and our taco contains three times less saturated fat than a typical taco. And remember, if you want to make this recipe even healthier use soft taco shells instead of regular taco shells.

Here’s how you make these tacos. This recipe makes 12 tacos, which serves four people.

1. Soak the TVP

Pour ¾ cup boiling water over 1 cup TVP in a bowl, cover, and set aside for 15 minutes to soak.

2. Dice onion and peppers

Dice an onion, half a red pepper and half a green pepper.

3. Cook the onion and peppers

Cook the onion and peppers in a frying pan over a medium heat in 1 tablespoon of canola or peanut oil for 5 minutes. Add 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic, 2 teaspoons cumin, 1½ teaspoons paprika and ½ teaspoon chili powder and cook, stirring, for a minute.

4. Add the other ingredients

Add the soaked TVP, ½ cup rinsed and drained canned red kidney beans, 14 oz (420g) canned chopped tomatoes, 1 cup beef stock, 1 teaspoon brown sugar, 2 tablespoons tomato paste, 1 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon ground black pepper, and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Prepare the guacamole and fresh ingredients

While the chili simmers, make the guacamole. Mash 1 halved, deseeded and peeled avocado with 1 teaspoon lemon juice, ½ clove crushed garlic, ¼ teaspoon sea salt and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper with a fork until well combined. Next, prepare the other fillings and put into separate bowls: 2 cups shredded iceberg lettuce; 3 diced tomatoes; 1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese; guacamole and ready-made salsa.

6. Heat the taco shells and serve

Place the tacos on a baking tray and heat according to packet instructions. Fill each taco with some shredded lettuce, a couple of tablespoons of chili, diced tomato, salsa, a little guacamole and grated cheese to serve.

Now you’ve done it! ... I’ll have to make a pizza this week, to get the yearning taste out of my mouth, Granny! BTW, have you ever mixed in one minute oats to your pizza dough? Hearty!

http://www.med.umich.edu/umim/food-pyramid/fats.htm

Healing Foods Pyramid
Healthy Fats Image

This Facts About reviews healthy fats and gives examples of foods to choose from as well as foods to avoid. We provide a guide for selecting an appropriate portion size, and recommendations for incorporating healthy changes into your diet.

What are the recommended servings per day?

* 3-9 servings per day (see serving sizes below)

What are the different types of healthy fats and oils?

[Has many links and lots of information.]

Am I the only one that for the past 2 nights, has had to go and sign in again, in the middle of posting a post?

Howdy.

Pizza sounds good to me.

No, I haven’t used oats in cookie dough, LOL, but have sneaked it into lots of other things over the years and always in meatloaf, pancakes and any place it would go, with the bread machine, I use regular oatmeal to take up the extra liquid, if I have to add it after it is mixed.

On the last thread, I posted an old recipe, for a fruit cocktail cake that used cooked oatmeal in it, someone invented it many years ago, to use up leftover mornings oatmeal.

It was my stepfathers favorite cake.

You can also season, add onions and an egg to leftover oatmeal and maybe even a dab of flour so it will hold together to make a patty and then roll in cornmeal and fry in bacon drippings and it makes a tasty patty.

Why not run a handful of dry oats through the blender and use it for breading chicken, squash or? with seasoning in it, it should be very good.

You are absolutely cruel! Now I have to drink another glass of water to stop the mouth watering after reading your suggestions. ;^)

First of all, I want to apologize to all if I have been ‘cranky’ tonight - Low pressure coming in with cold rain/sleet/snow mixture - Sure has my sinusitis in an uproar.

LOL Maybe this would be the perfect time to lay some accumulated experience on why you should can your own food out there...

Some of you may have seen where I have had a couple of years of experience in the commercial food preparation business. I worked as an Area Manager for Receiving, Clean & Prep, Initial Processing and Freezer operations for a now closed very large food processing company here in the East.

I left that company over some of their practices even though many of them were standard operating procedure throughout the industry. Knowing those normal operating practices is what really drove me to canning my own.

A few examples...

What do you do with a truckload of string beans that has been rejected for worms? Process them as french style beans - worm strips are not readily noticeable.

If peeled potatoes are left exposed to the air till they turn dark - even almost black - what do you do with them? Put them in the can anyway, but increase the salt. After 3-5 years in the increased salt solution they will lighten up or bleach out to where it isn’t noticeable. Yep that can may have been sitting in a warehouse for 5 years before it was sent to the distributor then to the grocery store.

Vegetables are transported throughout the plant by pumping the product. Each pump has a drum that the vegetables drop into from a dewatering reel from the previous pump. Quite often, pumps plug up and overflow the drum and fill the pit where the pumps are located - a worker or two are put into the pit with shovels to shovel the vegetables into the unstopped pump - along with the slime, mold and whatever has accumulated in the pit. They do change the water in the pumps once a day and rinse off the tanks with hoses to knock the foam/slime/mold off.

Flash frozen vegetables are run through a blast of super cold air blast which has been blown over ammonia coils - those coils freeze moisture on them from the vegetables and from the air - so Glycol (an anti-freeze) is continuously sprayed on those coils to deice them. Mist from that is blown through the vegetables traveling on the freezer bed. Yum.

USDA - while having one inspector for the whole plant, and a couple of technicians (mostly for paperwork) only toured the plant once a month and relied on opening 3 cans from each lot (about 10,000 cans) and inspecting what was in the can to assign it a grade. Most of the time, plant workers selected best looking vegetables as they went through for the inspections. Marking the cans to be pulled for USDA.

Ever wonder how those potatoes and carrots are peeled in such large quantities? They are dumped into a vat of caustic - yep very hot Lye. Then the conveyor runs them up and into a scrubber that has first hard rubber rough rollers which beat off part of the lye dissolved outer layer. Then they are run through a polisher which consists of brush rollers and then it goes to the pumps and off to a conveyor for obvious trash and bad potatoes or carrots are removed by hand on a 3’ wide conveyor running 1-2 deep past 8 women at a pretty good clip who are trying to pick out the bad. Then to another pump to the cutting and then to the can fillers. Snakes, frogs, other critters usually get past the pick-out tables as the first response is for them to jump back from them. The reels have a grill that takes out most of them.

The peels/lye mixture is pumped into a tank truck and hauled to a lagoon on a cattle ranch. After a few weeks in the lagoon, the pH has neutralized enough to where it can be mixed with hay and fed to cattle.

While most of us believe that Kosher has special processing and inspection - Well, not hardly. To run Kosher lots, the Rabbi comes in and is given a tour of the newer part of the plant once a year, they bring the Kosher Salt, Kosher Onion Powder, etc. out of storage in the freezer for the Rabbi to see and check labeling on it. He then proceeds to the boiler room where incense is burned in the boiler, prayers are said and he departs. As soon as he departs, all the Kosher ingredients go back into the freezer for next years inspection. Production continues as usual.

Ever wonder when you buy peas and carrots or mixed vegetables, how they get them all to mature at the same time? They don’t - The early vegetables are frozen in open tote boxes and stacked in a freezer - then when all the ingredients needed have come to season, they dump the frozen vegetables in with fresh ones and process as though they were all fresh.

Think your particular brand is special and better than the rest? Probably not. This plant processed 26 different vegetables and mixes - they are stored in warehouses in bulk pallets and when an order comes in on any of the over 600 labels they packaged for, they pull the grade called for and run the labels on. When the quantity needed is met, the line continues but with the next label going on. So you can see Aunt Lydia string beans coming off, and without stopping you change to Libby’s then even Del Monte and on and on to fill the orders. 6,000 cases for Libby, 5,000 for Aunt Lidia, 3,000 for Island Farm Brand, etc. all day long.

The final straw for me was when you are taking your turn on the weekends for plant operations, they run cooker charts (temperature and pressure round chart disks) without product going through so they can replace the charts for the lots that had malfunctions or breakdowns when they were run. Then they expect the manager to sign off on those charts saying they actually were from the original cook. Not me... I took all the charts they wanted me to sign and on Monday morning marched down the long hall to the Owner’s office. slammed them on his desk and told him that if he wanted to have these fraudulent cooker charts signed, that he needed to get out HIS pen and start signing, and if he didn’t, then they could expect to have a vacancy. He wouldn’t so I marched right out - never to return.

So, next time you go to the grocery store and pick up a can of vegetables, ask yourself - shouldn’t I be canning these myself - then I could know what is in it and how it was handled and processed and how fresh it really is...

I hope this doesn’t ruin anyone’s dinner, but while I was on my soapbox, I wanted y’all to know the ‘rest of the story’.

Maybe now some of you understand a bit more why I am so passionate on the growing/preparing/canning/freezing/drying your own food right!

Tomorrow I should be back to my normal sweet self (if this sinusitis will just abate a bit) and we can chat about more pleasant things.

Then to another pump to the cutting and then to the can fillers. Snakes, frogs, other critters usually get past the pick-out tables as the first response is for them to jump back from them. The reels have a grill that takes out most of them.

Most?

>>>>Remember those 4 boxes to manage our country...<<<<

Wish I could take credit for that, but someone else put it together and it impressed me enough to remember it and take it to heart.

>>>have you ever mixed in one minute oats to your pizza dough? Hearty!<<<<

Absolutely - adds a nice bit of chewiness to the crust and a great flavor. Love it and make about half of mine that way.

Thanks for passing on the tip.