COOKING HEALTHY FOR THE NEW YEAR!
I have been on a cooking tear lately and really enjoy finding tasty new healthy recipes for myself and my family. My latest favorite cookbook: “Giada at Home,” by Giada De Laurentiis, known from both The Food Network and The Today show. Giada really fuses healthy living in with great food and has a lot of protein- centered dishes that are friendly for all bariatric procedures. As I test these recipes out, I will make sure to pass on the good ones to you!
Recipe Compilation
Speaking of recipes, I think it would be great to start a recipe club at the support groups. If anyone has a good recipe to share, bring in a copy. We will run copies to share with the whole group! Try adding a few hole-punches to them and you can keep them in a binder. In a few months you may have a great little collection. To start you off, I am attaching my healthier meatloaf recipe that I hope you will enjoy!
Lean Meatloaf
1 pound 4 % fat ground been
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 egg
1 Tbs minced garlic
1-2 Tbs of brown sugar
Splash of Worcestershire sauce
Dash of garlic salt, oregano, basil or other spices as you like to taste
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mash all of these ingredients together and then place in a small loaf pan that has a little brown sugar sprinkled underneath the meat, and drizzle on a small amount of ketchup on top. Bake 50-60 minutes. You can even prepare the night before and refrigerate until ready to use. It has great protein, and is pretty good on calorie count, and it is a hit at dinnertime around our place!
Enjoy!
Healthier Cooking Tips and Alternatives
There are a few basic things that I think are essential to healthy cooking at home. Some of these materials you may already have, but not they are easy to incorporate into your normal cooking routine. Simple changes can add good flavor to your food without any negative side effects!
Sea salt or coarse salt - excellent flavoring for pasta water, on meats, and even on sautéed veggies. Packs a lot of flavor without having to use a ton.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil - I have used this to sauté all of my veggies lately, as well as cooking my eggs, my meats, and even use it in brownie mixes and people love them!!!! It does have a different flavor than corn oil or vegetable oil, but it is better in terms of fat and has better Omega 3 properties. And to go with it, I highly recommend an OIL DRIZZLER!!!!! They are very cheap and great to have sitting right by the stove, easy to use and refill.
Grill pan - Especially in these cold winter months, it is not always easy to get outside to grill meats. By using a grill pan, you really can get pretty good grill like flavor indoors and also get the healthy benefits of grilled meats or vegetables. Grilled pineapple is also a lovely treat. I recently picked up a very nice one, non-stick at Target for about $30 and have gotten lots of use out of it already. Cheaper than one meal at a steakhouse for sure!
Pepper mill - easy, inexpensive way to add no calorie flavoring to anything.
A good paring knife - this makes prep work so much easier. Make sure you sharpen your knives so your prep work is as easy as possible. Nobody wants to spend a lot of time in the kitchen chopping and prepping, so anyway to make it easier is okay by me. I also tend to go for the pre-chopped, pre-washed veggies in their own bags at the store. I don’t steam them, but rather sauté in a little olive oil and sea salt - it has even made me like broccoli and cauliflower - my mom is shocked!
Premier Bariatric Quarterly
Volume 1, Issue 1 January 2011
