quick, easy, & healthy desserts!

 

I have to admit that I like desserts as much as the next toothless person, I just try and maximise the healthy parts and keep the fattening, suggary bits to a minimum......still has to taste good tho'.

The photo is fat free plain (natural) yogurt...I like Greek yogurt because it is really thick but you can use whatever yogurt you have on hand....drain it in some paper towel over the sink for an hour or 2 while you make dinner if you want a thicker consistency. To the yogurt I added sliced strawberries (fresh or frozen), pomegranate seeds (crunchy and juicy), some thinly sliced fresh mint, and....the piece de la resistance....warmed Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread). Just pop the jar in the microwave for 20-30 seconds so it goes a bit liquidy and then drizzle over your fruit/yogurt etc.

Alternatively, pop a couple of seedless clementines onto a square of foil...add liqueur (brandy, grand marnier, sherry), or apple/orange juice, some honey or brown sugar. Wrap up and bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes until softened.

 

Serve with frozen yogurt, low fat ice cream, or yogurt. As you can see from the photo, I added a drizzle of Nutella (I love the stuff...)and some crushed up rice cakes for crunch....
 

Yum! I know the Nutella looks a bit brown and clumpy in the photo but if you get it liquidy enough it will drizzle beautifully...I just didn't have the patience! A food stylist I am not!

Mouldy, wrinkly veggies!

1/21

I was rooting about in my salad drawer the other night and came across a couple of red peppers that were starting to look a little wrinkly around the edges...def. not salad material! So, I broiled them under the broiler and peeled off their skins then blitzed them up along with some other ingredients to make a Romesco sauce.....with some whole wheat spaghetti and a salad it was a dinner of champions......


Here's the recipe (unless I'm baking I quite like to wing quantities, but I'll do my best here to be fairly exact).....

Romesco sauce (quick and easy version)
2-3 roasted red peppers (you can use the jarred ones if you don't broil your own)
1 clove garlic, minced (feel free to use more garlic if you like it)
sliced almonds (1/4 cup)
1 slice toasted white bread, torn into pieces
olive oil (1/4 cup)
sherry vinegar (2 tbsps)...if you don't have sherry use whatever you have on hand
parmesan cheese to taste
pasta water or stock (chicken or vegetable) (1/4 cup)

Blitz all the ingredients in a food processor.......then heat gently in a large saute pan....then add the cooked pasta. Use extra pasta water to loosen the sauce as necessary and add extra parmesan to taste.

Serve with green leaf salad and crusty bread. You could also throw some peas into the pasta water for the last 1-2 minutes of cooking time for extra color and nutrition.....

The peppers in this recipe provide lycopene ....a potent antioxidant, both vitamin C & A. The almonds provide vitamin E,also an antioxidant. Garlic is part of the allium family and is thought to provide a protective effect against certain cancers.

Enjoy!

Eating out and its pitfalls!

1/12/07

I had the good fortune to be taken out for lunch on Wednesday to save my poor work worn fingers from having to go through another round of vegetable chopping...
As you are well aware, it's a minefield of unhealthy food out there, people! There's fat and sugar hidden in things you wouldn't believe....

I visited a Brazilian Churrasceria (that's barbeque to us) where they have the meat on the skewers and bring it around to your table! Yum! This particular restaurant had some turkey and chicken but it was mostly red meat......however, do not despair, all foods can fit into a healthy eating plan and red meat is a good source of protein as well as heme-iron. As you can see from my plate, even Dietitian's eat red meat!
Of course, being the healthy eater that I am I also loaded up on salad and got stuck into that before I started on the meat-fest. However, all was not totally healthy...they do a great desert of a banana rolled in cinnamon sugar and cooked. I say cooked because I am am hoping it was baked but it was probably fried! But, back to my theory about all foods fitting into a healthy diet....I only ate 1/2 of one! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it...just gives me an excuse to go back there!


So, after a big lunch I just wanted something light for dinner, so made one of my signature salads. I really like fruit in my salad and try and mix up different combinations...some work really well and some don't do so well together. Here are some that work really well:

Spinach, fat free crumbled feta, mandarin oranges (canned in juice) or fresh, home made light candied walnuts, and a raspberry or light honey mustard dressing.

Chopped flat leaf parsley (not the curly kind) used like lettuce..so plenty of it, shredded carrots, chopped pear, dried cherries, and a lemon juice/light olive oil dressing.

Romaine lettuce, diced apple, celery, raisins or dried cranberries, cooked chicken breast, with balsamic vinegar & lemon olive oil. Or you can make it more of a Waldorf salad and thin out some light mayo for a creamier dressing.

Spinach, pomegranate seeds, chopped mint leaves, mango slices, and cooked diced chicken breast with pomegranate vinegar and olive oil dressing. Throw on a handful of chopped pecans or walnuts and enjoy!

The picture shows below shows my last creation......very tasty and healthy too!


Anyway, enough for now.....off to the gym. Look for a recipe for healthy candied nuts in the next few days......

Healthy dinner...easy soup recipe

Here goes the first recipe of many, I hope!

It's a mild curry flavored soup made with red lentils, which you can get from Asian/Arabic markets or health food stores (Clarks Nutrition in Loma Linda for sure) or you can use small white beans instead. Either way, both are full of fiber (not more fiber, you groan) and curry has been suggested to have anti infective and anti cancerous properties. Either way, it's really tasty......have a look at the picture...I garnished it with lime slices, a bit of natural yogurt and some fresh mint leaves and served it with some naan bread (an Indian bread...available fresh or frozen from Trader Joe's).


Curried lentil soup (inspired by a recipe from BBC Food)

Ingredients

1 tbsp curry paste (you can use curry powder if you don't have paste, just add 1 tbsp canola oil when you fry the onion etc)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1.5 in piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds (cumin powder is ok if you don't have seeds to hand)
2 cups red lentils or canned white beans (rinsed)
2 1/2 pints chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 cup golden raisins (regular raisins can be substituted if nec.)
1 lime, grated rind and juice
salt and pepper
fat free natural yogurt, chopped fresh mint, pita or naan bread to serve

Method

Put curry paste or powder and oil along with onion, garlic, cumin & ginger in a large stock pot and cook gently for about 4 minutes, stirring.

Add lentils or beans and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Add golden raisins to the pot and cook gently for another 10 minutes. Then add the lime rind and juice, salt and pepper as necessary (or as your diet allows!)

Ladle into bowls and dollop with yogurt and mint. Serve with warm pitas or naans.

Serves about 4.

Breakfast of champions!

1/9/07

Here it is! Breakfast of champions.......McCann's Oat Bran made with half water, half 1% Sunmilk, sweetened with Splenda and topped with blueberries (the frozen ones.....they're just as good as fresh, unsweetened) and a sprinkling of bran for extra fiber. It's quick and easy.....mix the cereal with the liquid, microwave for 1 1/2 minutes, stir and eat!
The Oat Bran has 4 gm fiber per serving and the blueberries around the same. So, I've just ingested about 1/3 of my day's fiber needs in my first meal! Not bad, eh? BTW...daily fiber requirements are between 25-35 gm per day. This may be a healthy breakfast, but it also tastes great, which is a requirement for me. I like to eat well but it has to taste good and fill me up!

Look out for a nice easy, healthy soup recipe later.

January...time for some inspiration.

1/8/07

It's that time of the year again.......after the gluttony of the holidays comes the need for some healthy eating and the removal of the spare tire that has somehow attached itself around the waistband of your jeans.

You've read the magazines, seen the celebrity shows, and lived off cabbage soup for 4 weeks at a time (ok, with the odd trip to Burger King while, ahem, "sleeping"). So, aren't you just a little bit sick of being told what you should be eating when you know those doing the preaching are not living on lettuce leaves and iced water? If that's the case then this blog is for you!

Come and live the life of a dietitian vicariously. See what we actually eat when we are not preaching the gospel according to 5-a-day.

It will be real....pictures and recipes will abound, but fear no more the wrath of those who preach....for you will be in the inner sanctum, warts and all! There will be plenty of veggies but you may see the odd fried Milky Way recipe (NOT)!

Come on in, the veggies are crunchy!