Roasted Cod

When I was at Central Market yesterday I picked up a pound of fresh cod, the special fish on sale for the week.  I enjoy roasted fish, a simple way to prepare fresh fish.  I turn my convection oven on "convect roast", 375 degrees, and spray a baking sheet with olive oil spray.  I dry the fish, sprinkle a little sea salt and freshly ground pepper on it.  At this point you can add a seasoning mix, spice blend, fresh herbs or a sauce, then put it in the oven for 15 minutes, a little longer for thicker fish.  This is a good recipe for salmon, halibut, snapper, cod, or just about any fish.  Tonight I sauteed some sliced...

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Treasure in my freezer

I found a bowl of Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup in my freezer tonight.  It was like finding buried treasure because I thought I had eaten all of it already.  You see,  I made the soup several weeks ago with some real Minnesota wild rice someone had given me.  It was a great soup and I was happy to freeze the leftovers.  I enjoyed a few bowls of it, even took it to work for lunch. Frozen soup really tastes great re-heated, believe it or not.  Everyone in my house is sick right now and no one wanted dinner so my bowl of soup was just perfect.  Earlier in the day, my daugher re-heated Albondigas...

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Will's Hobo Breakfast

Visting my daughter in Houston and having her make my breakfast is a real treat.  She's a busy mom, working as Senior Manager of Communication, Houston ISD.  Her boyfriend, Will, is a pescatarian, so they eat a lot of vegetarian meals. Helen made me Will's creation, we named the "hobo breakfast".  It was a delicious mixture of potatoes, Boca crumbles, egg whites and spices.  The Boca crumbles tasted like sausage and have none of the fat or cholesterol.  We had some bagels and Greek yogurt on the side.  My cup of Starbucks Via, the food cooked by my daughter, and sharing a meal with my granddaughter, Grace,...

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PB 2 or Peanut Butter?

I recently read about a product hailed as a great way to get the taste of peanut butter without all the fat, called PB2.  I was shopping for groceries and saw it sitting next to the regular peanut butter and out of curiousity picked up a jar.  PB2 is mixed with equal parts water and 2 tablespoons has 45 calories compared to 200 calories for 2 tablespoons of my usual organic chunky peanut butter.  Sadly, I am not a fan.  The PB2 tastes flat and unpleasant to me.  I would rather have 1 tablespoon of the real stuff.  Now I have a jar of PB2 to give away. Now, for a good way to use peanut butter, regular of PB2...

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Veggie Chili

 Everyone in my family loves my beef chili so I make it from time to time and freeze bowls of it.  That way when I'm eating some weird dinner, maybe a strange fish, my husband can just grab a bowl of chili.  I made beef chile and decided to make an additional pot of chili last night, with half the calories of the beef chili and filled with fresh vegetables.  There are many ways to make veggie chili so don't feel locked into my recipe.  Basically you can take any fresh vegetables, stock, a few seasonings and beans and you have veggie chili.  I added a cup of cooked farro which has a meaty qualtiy.  Farro...

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Divas' Dinner Party

Divas’ Dinner Party January 21, 2012 Back in October I, along with a group of women who worked on the Azle Taste Tour, volunteered to help with a special dinner party that raised money for the Azle Community Caring Center. The Divas' Dinner Party, in which a group of women would decorate the table, drive guests to the dinner, cook, serve, and clean up after, was the brainchild of Dawn Zuilhof.  Dawn is the treasurer, Board of Directors, Community Caring Center.  She envisioned this event, described it in the live auction in October, and in the end two "Divas'" parties were sold.  The cook volunteers, Dawn, Jackie...

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Albondigas Locas Soup (Mexican Meatball)

I stopped for a quick lunch last week at Sweet Tomatoes on W 7th St. in Fort Worth.  I like the fact that I can choose from a variety of fresh vegetables.  I skip all the heavy stuff and enjoy my salad with some light dressing.  I also selected a cup of soup from their big selection, called Albondigas Locas, and was pleasantly surprised.  It was spicy and had a mixture of vegetables and rice along with some little meatballs, but although it tasted good it was waaaay oversalted.  I decided right then and there that I would make my own version of that soup soon, which I did last night.  My soup, pictured,...

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Great Grilled Shrimp

I was so busy yesterday getting ready for a big event tonight--a "Divas' Dinner Party" where a group of us are putting on a fancy 5 course dinner that someone won in a live auction to benefit the Azle Community Caring Center.  I am making a few dishes so getting ready is a little hectic, however I am excited about the fabulous food we are preparing and I know it will be a lot of fun. While I was shopping at Central Market I noticed Texas Gulf shrimp, the large ones, on sale so I picked up a pound to prepare for our dinner last night. Grilled shrimp is easy to prepare and low in calories if you make it yourself and...

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Soleil Omelet

We once had a little cafe in Azle for called Cafe Soleil.  Chef Paula Ambrose made fantastic omelets and I loved to get her "Soleil omelet", filled, as I remember, with sun dried tomatoes, spinach, mushrooms, and goat cheese. It had a brown buttery taste, so I imagine she used real butter in the pan.  My lighter version uses egg and whites and a little olive oil.  The combination of assertive sun dried tomatoes with the creamy goat cheese and a little crunch of the greens is irresistable.  A piece of Gwin Grimes' Artisan Baking Company Harvest 9 grain toast on the side makes this one of my favorite breakfasts. Soleil...

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Soup's On

There's nothing like a pot of homemade soup on a cold day. I prefer to make my own soup because I know what's in it. I have purchased soup from restaurants and grocery stores and find them to usually be way oversalted, greasy, or suffering from being kept hot for too long.  Making soup is not too hard and well worth the trouble.  One of my favorites is butternut squash soup.  You can use fresh whole butternut squash or buy a package of already cubed squash at Costco.  If you use a whole squash, prick it with a fork and place it in the microwave for a minute.  The skin will soften enough to cut it easily.  I learned...

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End of the week stir fry

I always have a lot of vegetables in my refrigerator since I have salads every day and use a variety of vegetables in other dishes as well.  My favorite way of using up all the "ends and pieces" of these vegetables is to cut them up and stir fry them with some type of meat or tofu.  This weekend I made stir fried chicken and vegetables.  I have posted this before but it is worth repeating.  My private student, Linda Johnson, makes versions of "stir fry" frequently and she has developed quite a reputation for her delicious stir fry. Master Recipe for Stir-Fried Vegetables and Meat Step 1: Choose a protein 3/4 lb. steak, pork,...

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Guiltless Quiche

I'm always looking for something special for Sunday morning breakfast.  I was thinking about a quiche I had years ago at Angelsgate B & B in Bryan, Texas.  The owner called it "picante quiche".  I looked in my recipe collection and found the recipe which called for lots of cheese and sour cream.  Hmmm, how to remake this..... So here is my new version which has 215 calories as opposed to the original version which I made for my husband with cheddar cheese and a serving of crumbled breakfast sausage which had 466 calories. Be sure to place the ramekins on a baking sheet before you put them in the oven or it will be...

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French Toast

French Toast can be a nightmare if you're trying to lighten things up.  An order of Sonic French toast sticks has 500 calories and restuarant plates of stuffed French toast can be close to 1,000.  I wanted French toast this morning that fit within my breaksfast calorie range of under 300 calories for grains, fruit, and protein.Yesterday I picked up my weekly loaf of bread of Artisan Baking Company on White Settlement Road.It is open from 9-1 on Fridays, so if you want artisan bread made with the highest quality ingredients that tastes like bread is supposed to taste, then make a trip there, or go to the Cowtown Farmers Market on Saturday...

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A salad a day.....

Salads don't have to be boring. Taking a salad for lunch nearly every day is a lot simpler if all the ingredients are prepared ahead of time and ready to go.  On Sundays I wash and dry a head of red leaf lettuce and a bag of mixed field greens using a salad spinner.  If you don't have one I highly recommend it.  If your lettuce is not dry it will wilt and turn brown quickly but dried in the spinner and placed either back in the salad spinner as a bowl (without the insert) or in a zip loc bag lined with a paper towel, the lettuce will keep for several days.  Now I know you can buy big tubs of already washed lettuce or...

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New Zealand King Salmon at Pappadeaux

My usual behavior is to let eating out at a restaurant throw me off track, gain back the pound or two I struggled to lose all week and I'm back to square one.  Well, I made a decision to quit doing that this year and figure out how to enjoy restaurant meals even while I'm losing weight. I was tested in this decision last night when we had dinner at Pappadeaux Restaurant on our way back from a long trip to Love Field to pick up my son, Glenn. I know what's on their menu so it's not a big challenge to figure out what to eat (or not to eat!)They do have a new section called, "naked fish" where you choose a plain fish and a sauce, however...

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Ultimate Healthy Breakfast Sandwich

Start with a whole wheat Rudi's organic muffin (120 calories), brown a slice of Applegate Farms nitrate free turkey bacon (35 calories), add an egg cooked in the non-stick pan with Pam (80 calories), sprinkle on an ounce of Cabot's 75% reduced fat cheddar (35 calories) and there you have it--a 270 calorie delicious breakfast sandwich.  If you want to lower it even more use an egg white instead of the whole egg and it would be 220 calories.  I use the whole egg for the vitamin D in the yolk.  Contrast that to a McDonald's bacon, egg, cheese biscuit with 420 calories, 1160mg of sodium and 23 grams of fat. ...

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My meatless Monday lunch

Trying to cut back on meat is a good way to eat lighter and I really like the Amy's "burgers".  I've tried the Texas burger and yesterday tried the California burger for the first time.  I usually have a package of whole wheat tortillas on hand.  Using the wrap idea again I defrosted the burger for 30 seconds on high in the microwave, browned it and cooked it for a few minutes in a skillet sprayed with Pam.  I cut it into 3 sections and lined the section down the middle of the tortilla, added a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, rolled it up and wrapped it tightly with saran wrap since I was taking it to work for lunch.I made a salad...

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Chirashizushi in honor of my mother

 New Version My mother's version Today was the annual Fort Worth Japanese Society New Year Party, a day when over 100 society members gather to celebrate the New Year, share Japanese food in a pot luck, win raffle prizes, and see old friends.  My mother always loved to go and tried to talk me into going with her.  I usually said I was too busy with church, children, or something.  Now that I'm on the board of directors I go to almost all the events and seeing her old friends, all the little 80 something year old Japanese ladies, I smile to myself and know that my mother would be so happy that I'm involved.  Whenever...

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Goat Cheese Salad with Grilled Salmon at Gogo Gumbo

Goat Cheese Salad with Grilled Salmon at Gogo Gumbo in Boyd, an unassuming little place with some of the best seafood around. It's not far from Azle so we are fortunate to be able to dine there often, however since their food is so good it's hard to eat "healthy".  That's because I am often tempted to taste my husband's seafood rigatoni in jalapeno cream sauce, or start watching people getting desserts that are housemade and award winning, such as the 2 die 4 or the banana cream pie with chocolate and caramel sauces and suggest Steve order a piece so I can have a "bite". But last night  I had the Goat Cheese Salad, a...

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Spinach is my friend

I like raw spinach in salads mixed with other salad greens, but I much prefer it cooked, but not overcooked.  Overcooked spinach is awful and maybe why a lot of people think they don't like cooked spinach.  You can buy washed, ready to eat  spinach anywhere now and it's usually in huge plastic bins, or my preference, a bag of local, ready to eat spinach from Central Market. If you take it out of the bag where it's been pressed to take up as little space as possible it looks like an enormous amount, but once properly cooked it will shrink down before your eyes.  The best way to prepare it is by heating a small amount...

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Sandwich cravings

Sandwich cravings come along sometimes, especially after seeing a giant flatbread wrap filled with turkey, cream cheese spread, and vegetables in a magazine.  Of course I'm not going to make myself a 1,000 calorie sandwich, but I was able to get the craving out of my system by making my own version. One whole wheat tortilla (Central Market) 2 ounces 3 pepper turkey breast (Deli at Central Market roasts turkey breast daily--always good) 1 ounce reduced fat swiss cheese organic red leaf lettuce Texas hothouse local tomato whole grain mustard I held it together with toothpicks and it was a fabulous lunch, along with a Gala app...

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Roasted Green Beans

I picked up a 32 ounce bag of green beans, "hand-trimmed haricot vert" at Costco the other day (same day I bought the seaweed snacks) and decided to use them tonight with my simple meal of salad and chicken burger. Don't laugh, but the chicken burger was a sweet caramelized onion chicken burger, gluten free, no preservatives, 150 calories and also from Costco.  Hey, if I don't make this easy it won't work!   Chefs can't make gourmet meals every day, especially when there has to be time for exercise. The green beans were tossed with some smashed garlic, a little mustard, tarragon, olive oil and freshly ground salt and pepper.  They were roasted in a hot oven and developed nice caramelized areas and the flavor was outstanding.  Only 1 tablespoon of olive for...

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Seaweed-my all time favorite healthy snack

Here's the best one money can buy--seaweed.  Yes, that's right.  A case of roasted seaweed snacks can be found at Costco for abour $6.00 for 12 packs.  Only 30 calories, 0 fat, 50 mg sodium and it's even good for you.  Funny thing is I was eating Korean roasted seaweed for years, buying it in the Korean store and eating it from a big sheet.  My family thought I was weird, and then I saw cases of the same seaweed at Costco.  Who's laughing now? Try it and see if you like it.  If you don't like seaweed I found lots of other good snacks at Costco, Lara bars, Clif Mojo bars, dried fruit, etc.  Just...

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365 Days of Healthy Eating Challenge

September 2006 I have been overweight for ages, sometimes losing a few pounds and then gaining them back.  It's been a big struggle and harder in recent years to get weight off. I worked really hard in 2011 to get healthier.  In April 2011 I started working out at a private weightlifting club, The Barn, in Azle, with Sandra Kidd, a personal trainer.  She is a competitive body builder and is very serious about what she does.  I have been meeting with her 2-3 times a week since April and managed to drop almost 14 pounds and get into much better shape, necessitating smaller work clothes and a new wardrobe of skinny jeans and...

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