Peaches and Mixed Greens Salad

This delectable salad is perfect for special occasions.  Light, flavorful, crunchy, and delicious, the sweet fruit and tangy dressing will add zest to a meal of pork, chicken, or salmon. 

Created by Jennifer Martinkus, Cooking Light, JULY 2006

Dressing ingredients:

• 1/2 cup raspberries
• 3  tablespoons  crème de cassis (black currant-flavored liqueur) or cherry liqueur
• 1  tablespoon  sugar
• 2  tablespoons  minced shallots
• 2  tablespoons  champagne or white wine vinegar
• 2  tablespoons  honey
• 1  teaspoon  Dijon mustard
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt

Salad ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups raspberries
• 6  cups  mixed salad greens (about 8 ounces)
• 2  cups  thinly sliced peeled peaches (about 2 large)
• 1/4  cup  thinly sliced green onion
• 1/3  cup  chopped hazelnuts or pecans, toasted

Preparation:

• Combine 1/2 cup raspberries, crème de cassis, and sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat; bring to a simmer. Cook 5 minutes or until raspberries are very tender; cool to room temperature. Press raspberry mixture through a fine sieve into a bowl, reserving liquid; discard solids.
• Combine raspberry liquid, shallots, and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk.
• Combine remaining 1-1/2 cups raspberries, mixed salad greens, and remaining ingredients in a large bowl; add shallot mixture, tossing gently to coat greens. Serve immediately.  Serves 6.

Nutritional information:

Calories:  164 (30% from fat)
Fat:  5.5g (sat 1g, mono 3.3g, poly 0.8g)
Protein:  3.3g
Carbohydrate:  24.5g
Fiber:  5.1g
Cholesterol:  2mg
Iron:  1.7mg
Sodium:  138mg
Calcium:  66mg

Spicy Roasted Salmon

Who knew healthy could taste so good? An added bonus is the ease of preparation for this dynamic dish. Serve with green beans, corn muffins, and a tangy Peaches and Mixed Green Salad.

From a recipe by Lisë Stern, Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2007

Ingredients:

• 1/2  teaspoon  ground cumin
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground coriander
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  paprika
• 1/8  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  (2 1/4-pound) skinless salmon fillet
• 2  cups  thinly sliced onion
• Cooking spray
• 2  tablespoons  chopped fresh cilantro
• Lemon wedges

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. To prepare salmon, combine first 6 ingredients; rub spice mixture evenly over fish.
3. Place onion in an 11 x 7-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Place fish on top of onion; bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.
4. Place salmon on a platter. Arrange onions evenly around salmon. Sprinkle salmon with chopped fresh cilantro.  Garnish with lemon wedges.  Serves 6.

Wine note:

This salmon has lots of rich, piquant flavor and needs a wine that won’t be intimidated by such bold spices as cumin, coriander, and cinnamon. Riesling’s fruitiness offsets the spices while its clean, pure freshness is exactly the right counterpoint to the rich salmon. Washington State makes some of the best rieslings in the country.

Loaded Twice-Baked Potatoes

Potatoes are one of the great comfort foods, especially when stuffed with a satisfying mixture of lean ground beef and broccoli florets plus Cheddar cheese and (optional) low-fat sour cream.  Serve alongside a crunchy green salad.

The Flat Belly Drink

Finally got my “Flat Belly Diet Pocket Guide”, with the complete recipe for SASSY WATER.  Before beginning the Flat Belly Diet, you need to do a four-day “jumpstart”, during which you drink one complete recipe of Sassy Water (recipe follows) each day.  Here’s what the book has to say about it:  “The ingredients in Sassy Water aren’t just for flavor:  The ginger helps calm and soothe your GI tract.  Even more important, the simple act of making this Sassy Water every day will serve as a reminder during the jumpstart that life is a little bit different and things are going to change.”

SASSY WATER

• 2 liters of water (about 8-1/2 cups)
• 1 teaspoon of freshly grated ginger
• 1 medium cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 medium lemon, thinly sliced
• 12 small spearmint leaves

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher and let the flavors blend overnight.  Drink the entire pitcher by the end of each day.

Thai Chicken with Noodles

Sawatdee Kaa!  You may think you are back in Bangkok when you taste these hearty vegetables paired with the subtly delicious combined flavors of peanuts, lime, garlic, and ginger with fresh roasted chicken.  

Servings:  4

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts
• 8 oz. uncooked whole wheat spaghetti
• 4  Tablespoons  peanut butter (smooth, lowfat)
• 4 Tablespoons lime juice
• 4  cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 2 cups frozen or fresh edamame, shelled
• 8 cups fresh vegetables: your choice — [note: nutritional data is based on one cup of each]

1. onion, slivered
2. carrot, cut into 2″  julienne strips
3. celery, cut into strips no wider than 3/4″, then sliced on diagonal
4. snow peas, cut into thin strips on the diagonal
5. bell peppers, cut into 2″ thin strips
6. cauliflower, thinly sliced
7. broccoli, cut into 1″  flowerets
8. Enoki mushrooms

•  4 Tablespoons coarsely chopped peanuts
• 6 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal

Bacon-and-Egg Salad with Nutty Toast

The creamy egg salad and flavorful bacon taste top-notch with crunchy salad greens, sliced garden tomatoes, and strips of crispy toast.  Serve with juicy chunks of orange for a tasty brunch or lunch!

Servings:  4

Ingredients:

• 1/4  cup  fat-free mayonnaise
• 3  Tablespoons  fat-free sour cream
• 2  teaspoons  Dijon mustard
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 3  Tablespoons  thinly sliced green onions
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  grated lemon peel
• 2 Tablespoons wheat germ
• 8  hard-cooked large eggs
• 8 cups mixed salad greens
• 4 large garden tomatoes, sliced 1/4″ thick
• 2 slices Health-Nut bread, toasted and cut into 4 long strips
• 4 bacon slices, cooked and drained on paper towel
• 2 ripe oranges, peeled/seeded/cored and cut into chunks

Mini-Quiches with Tomato-Scallion Salad

Bake these bite-sized quiches in a miniature muffin pan, using your choice of healthy ingredients and herbs to suit your personal preference. Serve with garden-fresh tomato-scallion salad to maximize the protein-carbohydrate balance. 

Note:  Tomato-Scallion Salad must be prepared 1 hour ahead.

Servings: 8 (2 mini-quiches and 1 salad per serving)

Ingredients for Mini-Quiches:

• Cooking spray
• 1/2  cup  shredded low-fat extra-sharp cheddar cheese
• 4  large egg whites
• 2  large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. wheat germ

Choice of Extras:

• 1  cup  finely chopped vegetables (onion, tomato, spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini) AND
• 1-1/2 to 2  cups  chopped reduced-fat deli meat (ham, chicken, turkey, or a mixture) 

[note:  for nutritional data, I used 1/4 cup onion, 1/4 cup chopped broccoli flowerets, 1/4 cup mushrooms, 1/4 cup spinach and 1-3/4 cups deli turkey]

Challenge: Mental Fitness

Here are some excerpts from several articles in Fitness magazine by Maura Kelly, all about keeping your brain in top form. It’s all about knowing the right moves, from foods that feed your mind to habits that will stimulate your neural connections, increasing vital learning and memory skills.

1. Exercise Your Mind

To be at your sharpest, hit the ground running. “A challenging exercise regimen increases blood flow and oxygen throughout our bodies and activates growth-stimulating hormones in the brain that help form new cells there,” Dr. Hogan says. No wonder a recent study found that fitness buffs have a larger hippocampus — the region of the brain that plays a crucial role in learning and memory — than couch potatoes do. Active people may even be smarter: Exercise makes tough mental tasks, such as plotting strategy, easier to do by forging new connections between our brain cells, says Kirk I. Erickson, PhD, an assistant psychology professor at the University of Pittsburgh and coauthor of the study.

Working out also helps reverse the effects of chronic stress, which may hurt your brain. “When we’re under constant pressure, our bodies become flooded with cortisol, a stress hormone that changes the structure of the brain, shrinks the size of the hippocampus, and hinders our ability to learn and remember,” says Raj Shah, MD, medical director of the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Exercise appears to lower cortisol levels and “rebuild” mental muscle by revving up the process that generates new cells and neurons. “In addition, physical activity may produce endorphins and other natural chemicals that calm us down and help us focus,” Dr. Shah explains.

Wise Eats

When you are working so hard to get strong and stay slim, you need good, hearty food to fuel your body, but you don’t want to undermine all your efforts! These lists were gleaned from Fitness magazine, and represent the best, I think, of the many suggestions out there.

1.    Keep Bones Strong 

• 1,000 international units per day of vitamin D3:  Tuna fish, salmon, 15 minutes of sunlight
• 65 micrograms vitamin K:  Spinach, broccoli
• 4.7 grams potassium:  Chicken, turkey, fish, fruits, vegetables
• 320 mg magnesium:  Green vegetables

2.    Choose a Variety of Fruits and Vegetables

• Purple:  Plums, blackberries, purple grapes, raisins, prunes, purple cabbage
• Red:  Tomatoes, red onions, watermelon,  red grapes, radishes, cranberries, strawberries, red bell peppers, red or pink grapefruit
• Orange:  Carrots, apricots, mangos, oranges, pumpkin, cantaloupe, sweet potatoes
• Yellow:  Yellow bell pepper, grapefruit, pineapple, lemons, squash, yellow corn
• Green:  Kiwi, broccoli, romaine lettuce, spinach, cabbage, honeydew
• Blue:  Blueberries
• White:  Pears, bananas, cauliflower, onions, garlic

Hawaiian Pork, Fave Veggies, and Spicy Slaw

Lean, grilled pork loin with fresh pineapple is a perfect complement for the citrus-sweet zest and chili-hot spice of this crunchy slaw.  To round out the nutrients, a blend of my favorite veggies:  carrots, broccoli, edamame, and black beans seasoned with garlic.  And still only 370 calories! 

 

Servings: 4

Ingredients for Hawaiian Pork:

• 8 oz. boneless pork loin, cut into 8 equal rounds
• 1/2 tsp. chili powder
• (4) 3/4″ slices of a cored fresh pineapple

Ingredients for Fave Veggies:

• 1 cup of carrots, cut into rounds
• 1 cup of fresh or frozen edamame
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
• Pam cooking spray
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1 cup of fresh broccoli flowerets

Ingredients for Spicy Slaw:

• 4-1/2 tsp. cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. orange juice
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1-1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/4 tsp. chili powder
• 4 cups green cabbage, thinly sliced
• 1 cup red onion, thinly slivered
• 1 cup red sweet bell pepper, cut in thin strips
• 2 Tbsp. wheat germ
• 4 tsp. blanched almonds

Grilled Salmon with Summer Fruit and Veggies

Fresh fruits combine with tangy barbecue sauce in a tempting, flavorful fiesta of savory grilled salmon. A generous serving of mixed summer veggies seasoned with sweet basil completes this nutritional powerhouse.

Servings: 4

Ingredients for Grilled Salmon:

• 4 fresh, skinless salmon filets, about 1″ thick (~4 oz. each)
• 2 Tbsp. barbecue sauce
• 1/2  tsp. black pepper
• 2 lemons, sliced into wedges

Ingredients for Summer Fruit Salsa:

• 2 nectarines, pitted and coarsely chopped
• 3/4 cup fresh blueberries
• 1 Tbsp. barbecue sauce

Ingredients for Sweet Summer Veggies:

• 4 cups fresh green beans
• 12 medium baby carrots, halved lengthwise
• 4 tsp. olive oil
• 1 cup yellow crookneck summer squash, sliced
• 1 cup sweet Vidalia onion, cut into wedges
• 1 tsp. dried basil

Tex-Mex Chicken Wrap with Cilantro-Lime Salsa

This tender roasted chicken-spinach wrap gets an extra shot of pizazz from an unbeatable tomato salsa seasoned with fresh lime and fragrant cilantro.

Servings: 4

Ingredients for Cilantro-Lime Salsa:

• 2  large ripe tomatoes, seeded and coarsely chopped (about 1-3/4 cups)
• 1/4  cup finely chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained on paper towel
• 4 Tbsp. chopped black olives
• 1/4  cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1  Tbsp. finely chopped fresh jalapeño pepper
• 1  Tbsp. lime juice
• 1/8  tsp. salt

Ingredients for Tex-Mex Chicken Wrap:

• 3-4 Tbsp. low-fat cream cheese
• 1 Tbsp. dry taco seasoning mix
• 2  10-inch flour tortillas
• 2 Tbsp. wheat germ
• 1/2 cup shredded low-fat cheddar or colby cheese
• 2  cups fresh baby spinach
• 12 oz. roasted chicken breast, thinly sliced

Other Ingredients:

• 1/2 cantaloupe, peeled, seeded, cut into chunks

Salade Nicoise Pita Pocket

Crisp lemon and savory mint enhance this hearty Greek salad wedged inside a whole-wheat pita flatbread, with crunchy broccoli flowerets on the side, and colorful summer berries for garnish.

Servings:  6

Ingredients:

• 1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into 1″ pieces
• 1 (12-oz.) can tuna (water pack), drained and flaked
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/3 cup pitted Nicoise olives, chopped
• 1/4 cup sweet onion, finely chopped
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint
• 2 Tbsp. wheat germ
• 1 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 2 tsp. olive oil
• 1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cups mixed salad greens
• 3 whole-wheat pita flatbreads
• 3 cups broccoli flowerets (may be steamed if preferred)
• 3/4 cup fresh blueberries
• 3/4 cup fresh strawberries, sliced

20 Superfoods

The right foods help you get in shape by revving your calorie burn and curbing cravings.  Add these eats to your plate today and you’ll be slimmer and healthier in no time!
By Camille Noe Pagán
From the August 2008 Issue of SELF Magazine

• Steak
• Eggs
• Kale or Spinach
• Steel-cut or Rolled Oats
• Lentils
• Dried Goji Berries
• Wild Salmon
• Apple
• Buckwheat Pasta
• Blueberries
• Almonds
• Pomegranates
• Chiles
• Yogurt (Greek is best)
• Quinoa
• Sardines (ew!)
• French Tarragon (instead of salt)
• Fresh Grated Parmesan
• Avocado
• Olive Oil

Formula to Increase Energy

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) = Important because it transfers energy, and a deficiency of ATP can cause disease

1. Ultimate Omega 3 Fish Oil = THE foundation for energy production

2. Exercise – more energy is a byproduct of better blood flow. Exercise also improves bone strength and lengthens lifespan overall!

3. The Awesome Foursome:

• Magnesium [400 mg/day]: broccoli, peanuts, leafy greens
• Coenzyme Q10 [200-400 mg/day]: antioxidant found in beef, chicken, canola oil
• Acetyl L-Carnetine [500mg/day]: fat burner found in beef, pork, cow’s milk
• D-Ribose [750mg/day]: energizes muscles, provides endurance