This Mama Cooks! On a Diet

Ratatouille for Bastille Day

Happy Bastille Day! To celebrated the le quatorze juillet, storm your local farmer’s market and your grocery store’s produce section and make some ratatouille.

What I love about ratatouille is how healthy it is – fresh vegetables, a little olive oil, some herbs, and salt and pepper. You can serve it as a side dish, as a main meal, in an omelet, or even in no-flour no-sugar crepes.

This very basic recipe comes from What’s Cooking?, a terrific and adorable children’s cookbook from the Pixar movie Ratatouille.  It’s simple and straight forward. If you like you can add fresh parsley, different colored tomatoes, and yellow summer squash. I like to make this later in the summer when we have more zucchini, tomatoes and squash that we know what to do with.

The Skinny On Losing Weight without Being Hungry and Pomegranate Salad

I’ve been reading The Skinny: On Losing Weight without Being Hungry-the Ultimate Guide to Weight Loss Success by Louis J. Aronne M.D. with Alisa Bowman.

I was interested to learn more about why Dr. Aronne feels some people, like me, never feel satisfied and overeat because they’re constantly hungry. It’s all about brain chemistry and not willpower, he says.

He shows you how to retrain your body and mind to eat for fullness with filling foods (similar to Weight Watchers Momentum plan) and feels you should eat veggies first, lean protein second, and carbs last. It sounds a little bit like the South Beach Diet, too, but there is some good food for thought like:

• sweet zero calorie drinks like diet soda actually make us hungry because they stimulate your appetite
• vinegar decreases appetite so make sure you have an oil and vinegar dressing on your salad
• a lack of sleep can make you fat
• daily moderate exercise is great – you don’t have to work out strenuously to see weight loss results
• don’t exercise on an empty stomach or you’ll be ravenous afterwards

The Skinny: On Losing Weight without Being Hungry is a book I recommend checking out especially if you’re doing Weight Watchers and South Beach. What Dr. Aronne recommends fits well with those plans and it’s reassuring to know the science behind why it’s so hard to lose weight.

Summer salads: Holly Clegg's Marinated Shrimp Edamame Salad

Summer has finally arrived in Colorado, meaning it’s hot and the AC and fans are most of the day. In this heat, the last thing I want to do is cook. Actually, I want to lie down next to one of the vents and read books all day. (I’m not good in the heat.) So finding easy to make, healthy salads – and sharing them with you - is my mission this week. 

My first choice comes from Holly Clegg. I’m a big fan of her freezer meal bible, Holly Clegg's Trim & Terrific Freezer Friendly Meals. She personally sent me a few of her cookbooks, including her latest KIDS COOKING for Mommies, which encourages parents and children to cook together. Love it, but I wish it had pictures and an index, too.

However, the book that really intrigued me was Holly Clegg's Trim & Terrific Gulf Coast Favorites. I lust after Cajun and southern cooking – but don’t like it’s high fat content. (Justin Wilson anyone? Love him! Only he could make pork stuffed pork.) Instead, Holly uses her usual culinary magic to create every day dishes that are healthy and delicious. Each recipe comes with full nutritional info including diabetic exchanges. Trim & Terrific Gulf Coast Favorites also features vegetarian and freezer friendly make-ahead recipes and menus.

Shrimp and edamame are always in my freezer and wasabi paste is always in the fridge, so this salad is first on my list after I get more cherry tomatoes from Costco. The ones I bought last week have magically disappeared. (Burp.)

Tofu on a stick? You betcha! Try Grilled Tofu Kabobs

Tofu kabobs? Who said that only meat eaters could enjoy grilled food?

Tofu Kabobs are perfect for when your vegetarian friends come over for a barbeque. (Double check to make sure the Adobo sauce is vegetarian. If not, make a seperate skewer and use teriyaki sauce.) It’s also something you meat eaters should try since nutritionally tofu is:

• A great source of protein. One half-cup serving (approximately 4 ounces) of raw firm tofu contains 10.1 grams of protein. By comparison, 1/2 cup of milk contains 5.1 grams of protein, one whole egg contains 6 grams, and 4 ounces of ground beef contains about 26 grams.
• Low in calories. One half-cup serving of raw firm tofu contains 94 calories. By comparison, 4 ounces of ground beef contains 331 calories, and 1/2 cup of 2% milk has 60 calories.
• Low in fat. One half-cup serving of raw firm tofu contains 5 grams of fat, and low fat tofu contains 1.5 grams of fat per serving. 4 oz of beef has 15 grams of fat, while one whole egg contains 5.5 grams of fat.
• A good source of calcium. One half-cup serving of firm tofu contains about 227 mg of calcium or nearly 22% of the Recommended Daily Allowance. Check the label since calcium amounts vary by brand.

This recipe comes from those sweet people at the National Honey Board, the ones who sent me a flight of honey to review.

Culinary memoir extraordinaire: Siren's Feast and Armenian Eggplant Salad

You’d think that the last thing someone on a diet would want to do is read a book about food and cooking. Au contraire, I love a good culinary memoir! Reading them gives me the satisfaction of enjoying wonderful and stories of cooking because I’m grazing with my mind and not eating with my mouth and consuming all those calories. Ruth Riechel's, Tender at the Bone and Julia Child’s My Life in France are two of my favorites.

Recently added to that list is Siren's Feast, An Edible Odyssey by Nancy Mehagian. Quincy Jones, longtime friend of Nancy’s, calls Siren's Feast,

“A spicy brew of recipes and adventures. I don’t know whether to eat this book, smoke it or make love to it.”

What an endorsement!

The book has been compared to Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, which I confess I haven’t read yet even though I own a copy. Instead, Nancy’s novel could be referred to as “Cook, Meditate and Get It On with Unavailable Men.” Seriously though, it’s a hard to put down, true story about one woman’s spiritual and culinary adventure through life. It follows Nancy’s as she grows up Armenian-American in Arizona in the '60s and '70s, then rebelliously travels through Morocco, India and Ibiza. She then spends 16 months in a London prison with her newborn daughter to serve time for “accidental” drug smuggling. The constant thread through her journey is her passion for healthy and wholesome food and cooking.

Weight Watchers update, SXSW, and a berry and fruit salad recipe

Well, it took five weeks, but I finally lost my first five pounds at Weight Watchers. (Actually I’m down six pounds.) I think the weight is coming off slower on the scale this time around because I’m exercising. In fact, I’ve also gone down a clothing size. (When I’ve done Weight Watchers in the past I never exercised. Now I’m doing at least 35 minutes, 2 POINTS worth, of exercise per day, six days a week.)

Challenges

My next challenge is my daughter’s birthday dinner tonight, since we’re going to a ‘50s diner type place that is not very diet friendly. Then it’s Chuck E Cheese tomorrow, followed by a few days at SXSW Interactive in Austin. (Hello, Texas-style barbeque!)

By the way, I’m speaking on the Dad is the New Mom panel, Room 18BCD, on Monday, March 16th from 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm. Come by and say hi! Since I’ll be gone, I may be away from my blog for awhile. But I’ll be very active on Twitter, so sign up for my feed.

Recipes from the Campbell's Mom Blogger Event

(Congrats to Shannon of Charming Bitch who won the year’s supply of Campbell’s Chicken and Stars soup.)

Speaking of Campbell’s, the mom bloggers at the Campbell’s blog event were treated to several delicious and healthy dishes during lunch featuring one of their newest products, V8 V-Fusion juices. (Yes, V8 is a division of Campbell’s and the juices are fantastic. They're a great way to get your daily servings of fruit and veggies.)

Two of my favorite dishes were V8 V-Fusion® Pan-Seared Salmon in Peach Mango Sauce and the V8 V-Fusion® Smashed Sweet Potatoes with Açai Mixed Berry. I ended up going back for seconds on the sweet potatoes as my dessert.

V8 V-Fusion® Pan-Seared Salmon in Peach Mango Sauce
Prep: 20 minutes Cook: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients:

• vegetable cooking spray
• 4 salmon fillets, 3/4-inch thick (about 1 pound)
• 1 large red pepper, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups V8 V-Fusion® Peach Mango
• 1 mango, peeled, seeded and chopped (about 1 1/4 cups)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1 tbsp. lime juice
• 1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper
• 4 cups fresh baby spinach
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 cups cooked regular brown rice

Directions:

1. Season the salmon as desired.
2. Spray a 12-inch skillet with the cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat for 1 minute.
3. Add the salmon, skin-side up and cook for about 5 minutes or until it's well browned.
4. Turn the salmon over and cook for 4 minutes or until it flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove the salmon from the skillet and keep it warm.
5. Add the red pepper and garlic to the skillet and cook over medium heat until the pepper is tender-crisp.
6. Stir the V8 V-Fusion, mango, honey, cornstarch, lime juice and black pepper in a small bowl.
7. Stir the V8 V-Fusion mixture and the spinach into the skillet. Cook for 2 minutes or until the mixture boils and thickens. Stir in the cilantro. Serve over the salmon.
8. Serve with rice.

Notes: If you can find and afford it, buy wild caught over farm raised salmon.

Nutritional info: Calories 430, Total Fat 9g, Saturated Fat 2g, Cholesterol 56mg, Sodium 106mg, Total Carbohydrate 63g, Dietary Fiber 4g, Protein 26g.

Weight Watchers POINTS: 8

More Thanksgiving sides - pomegranate cranberry sauce and roasted Brussels sprouts

Dave Grotto’s book 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life features this recipe by Chef Kyle Shadix, a Culinary Institute of America graduate who has an M.S. in nutrition.

Pomegranate-Cranberry Sauce
Recent studies link pomegranate juice to lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol and blood pressure.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (or 16 fluid ounces) 100% pomegranate juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 12-ounce bag (about 3 cups) of fresh or frozen cranberries
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 11-ounce can of mandarin oranges, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds (optional)

Directions:

1. Bring pomegranate juice and sugar to a boil.
2. Add cranberries and simmer, stirring occasionally, until berries just pop, 10 to 12 minutes.
3. Stir in zest, orange segments and pomegranate seeds, if using.
4. Chill for 24 hours.
5. Serve with turkey or chicken.

If you are diabetic, you may want to use Stevia instead of sugar. For those wanting something more “wholesome” than white sugar try organic cane sugar, maple syrup or Agave Nectar. I’m not sure how using these substitutes will cook up, so you’ll need to experiment. I’ll be using the organic cane sugar I get at Costco.

More polymeal cooking: antelope tenderloin with blackberry sage sauce

Recently I did a review of  Jonny Bowden’s book Healthiest Meals on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth About What Meals to Eat and Why and his theory that “polymeals” cut the risk of heart disease and boost your overall health. (See my post, Healthy holiday polymeal cooking with the Healthiest Meals on Earth.)

A polymeal is a meal composed of seven “magic” ingredients: red wine, chocolate, almonds, garlic, fish, fruits and vegetables. Dr. Bowden also endorses eating wild game because it’s a high-quality protein with a complete complement of amino acids, low saturated fats, no trans fats, and a higher content of polyunsaturated fats, especially omega-3 fats. Wild game also contains natural ACE inhibitors that reduce blood pressure.

Our suburban hunting and farming lifestyle

Did I mention that my husband hunts? Paul recently came home from a hunting trip to Wyoming with fresh pronghorn antelope meat. Now, most people in Wyoming will tell you that antelope meat is awful. We have no idea why because we love it. (Maybe it’s something they tell out-of-towners to scare them away.)

Since it was a small animal, we processed the meat ourselves, cutting it into roasts and steaks, wrapping it in butcher paper, and freezing it. (It’s not that gross, really. And it’s much cheaper to do it yourself than to take it to the butcher shop.) Even the kids helped by cutting up meat to grind up later. We froze everything except for the backstraps (the filet mignon equivalent of wild game) and the tenderloin – the two best parts of the animal.

Did I tell you about the enormous blackberry bushes taking over our backyard? Before we processed the meat, Paul and the kids picked two huge bowls of blackberries – about 16 cups worth – from the bushes growing behind our garage. Hmmmm, maybe I could make a sauce for the meat.

I checked Joy of Cooking for sauce recipes and found one for a venison meat sauce that uses wine, shallots and sage. We had fresh sage in the garden so all I had to do was go to the store for some shallots.

Got too much squash? Try a Summer Squash "Lasagna" Bake

I was looking for a recipe to use up our large supplies squash and zucchini from the garden, and at the same time use up some of the ground venison we have in the freezer.

In the Taste of Home’s - The Ultimate Ground Beef Cookbook, I found a recipe that would do the trick - Zucchini Beef Bake by Christy Saniga. I revised it to make it healthier and more weight loss and diet friendly. I decided to go with summer (yellow) squash since we had more of that. Either should work.

Summer Squash “Lasagna” Bake
Gluten Free - Yield 10-12 servings

Ingredients:

• 8 cups of water
• 6 cups sliced summer (yellow) squash
• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 2 medium onions
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 3 cups cooked rice
• 12 ounces tomato sauce (use leftover spaghetti sauce in a pinch)
• 1 8-ounce container of small-curd cottage cheese
• 3 egg whites, slightly beaten
• 2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano or 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh basil or 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

1. Cook rice according to directions on box or package.
2. In a medium sized pot, bring water to a boil. Add the summer squash. Return to a boil. Reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 3 minutes or just until tender.
3. Drain and immediately place squash in large bowl of cold water. Drain and pat dry.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
5. In a skillet, cook the ground meat, onion and garlic until the meat is no longer pink. Drain.
6. Stir in rice, tomato sauce, cottage cheese, egg whites, oregano, basil, and salt.
7. Arrange half the squash in a greased 13x9x2-inch baking dish. Top with meat mixture.
8. Arrange remaining zucchini over top and then sprinkle with shredded cheese.
9. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees F for 40 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted.

Make it even healthier

• Use lean ground turkey or ground venison. Meat substitute crumbles are an option for vegetarians.
• Instead of white rice use brown.
• Use low or non-fat small-curd cottage cheese.
• Use low-fat cheddar or Parmesean cheese. Reduce amount to one cup.
• Once the cheese bakes, it is easily peeled off the top, and you can always remove it for further calorie reduction.
• Add 1 cup shredded zucchini or carrots.

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