Fit Cuisine Cooking Menu for 1/3/2011

Soup: Pasta Fagiolo This soup was made so many time by my mom and now my sister and I; it is a complete and healthy meal that can be eaten for lunch or dinner. All the nutrients you need are in this great soup. Entree: Bruschetta Chicken Breast This dish was a thought up in the middle of a long run; my thinking was that every family gathering we go to they serve this dish before dinner with bread and crackers that we don't need, so why not add it to dinner. Since everyone LOVES chicken but runs out of ideas on what to do with it I thought lets come up with a less oil filled way to do that. Goes great with a side vegetable and rice. Lasagna Rolls: Love the stuff but hate all the cheese and extra calories. So I decided to come up with a way to get a taste in a small portion size. I changes the noodles to whole wheat, and cheese is combination of low fat ricotta, and cottage cheese. Plus since the noodles are rolled you get a small taste with great flavors. Very good! Individual Meat Loaves: This dish has been in the family forever, we call it Italian meat loaf. I changed it a bit by adding, pesto, using lean meat, and adding flavorful marinara. Frank is a big fan of this dish and loves it for lunch. I make 2 small loaves so that they cook fast and you have dinner or lunch for 2 days. Great with my whipped butternut squash or sweet potatoes.

Healthy Banana Cookies (or Bars)

Last week I was on a mission to find a small ingredient, healthy cookie that Frank and I could eat that wouldn't mess the waistline, had some form of nutrients, and took me all of 10 minutes to make after a long day at work. I came across these banana bars in the store and decided to try and make a small cookie that mimicked it. I google searched a ton of recipes and believe me there are plenty...but here was what I came up with and they were really good, and healthy. Ingredients: 1 cup rolled oats 4 small riped bananas 1/2 cup chopped dates 1 tsp vanilla extract 1/3 cup vegetable oil Preheat oven to 375. In a bowl mash up your bananas, add all the rest of your ingredients and mix well. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and place your cookies about 1 inch apart. Use a tsp to measure how big your cookies will be. You may need to shape them with your hands as well. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes and let them cool for about 10. Tips: These cookies can be made into small bars, if you like. They can also be good breakfast cookies...(no more then 2 servings). You get a well balanced treat here with the potassium from the banana the fiber from the dates and whole grains from the rolled oats. They are a light healthy treat that you can make and keep in a container for up to a week. If you are not a fan of dates add cranberries, or chopped walnuts, shaved coconuts. Whatever you enjoy is fine. So let me know what you think and healthy eating!

Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well lets just say that I clearly don't enjoy baking (thought today would be different)....I have zero patience for measuring, whipping, mixing...there is just to much work required, to many ingredients and clearly the time it takes to bake is just not worth it.

So today I decided to try a recipe for the holiday that I thought would be quick; but as I started to deconstruct it, I realized it is so much easier to roast a veggie. The baking item today was a healthy cookie...the results came out well Frank even ate a few...so if you are the baker type gives these a try.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup rolled oats

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup can't believe its not butter

1 egg

1/3 cup organic cane sugar

1/3 cup organic brown sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup dark chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375. Take your oats and chop them in a processor (be careful I spilled mine all over the counter). In a small bowl combine, processed oats, wheat flour, baking soda and mix together. Then add both sugars, egg, vanilla, oil and soft butter. Mix all together till everything is well combined. Add chips for the final stir. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place your cookie dough on the sheet. Bake for about 20 minutes and let cool.

I decided to try to make these cookies Fit Cuisine style put everything in a bowl and serve...it worked out well, just reminded me that I should stick to cooking healthy meals not healthy desserts. But if you are game enjoy!

Fit Cuisine Meals

This weekend I made some yummy meals for a few clients. I decided that with the cold weather coming, "what better comfort meal is there then soup?" The problem with ordering soup from a restaurant is often the high sodium content. Sadly, the canned varieties aren't any better. I prepared two soups: "Vegetarian Split Pea" and "2 Bean Minestrone" - (Both) low-sodium and filled with nutrients . These were very easy to make, with a total cooking time of 30 minutes. The best [art is that they were as YUMMY as they were EASY. To try these simple recipes look below. 2 Bean Minestrone 1 TBSP Minced Garlic 1 TBSP Olive Oil half small Onion Chopped 1 can rinsed White Beans 1 can rinsed Red Beans 1 cup chopped green beans 1 small squash Diced 1 can diced stewed tomatoes 1 TBSP Ms. Dash Tomato Basil Garlic Seasoning 4 Celery Stalks chopped 1/4 cup chopped carrots 1 box low fat low sodium vegetable broth 3 cups water In a medium soup pot saute, onions, garlic, celery and carrots till the onion is just about soft. Add your box for vegetable broth and water. Bring to a small boil and add your squash, green beans, stewed tomatoes, and canned rinsed beans. Let the whole pot simmer for about 20-30 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Add your seasoning stir one last time and serve. Tips: If you want this dish is great with small pasta like ditalini. I prefer this soup without pasta, but if you are going to use it opt for whole grain. This soup is truly a complete meal. Vegetarian Split Pea 1 bag dried split peas 1/2 cup diced carrots 3 celery stalks chopped 3 TBSP diced onion 1 TBSP minced garlic 1 TBSP olive oil 1 container of vegetable stock (low sodium) dash of black pepper 6 cups of water In a soup pot heat oil, garlic, and onions till translucent. Add in your carrots and celery, along with the vegetable stock and water. Bring to a small boil and add your peas. Let the entire pot boil for about 30 minutes until your vegetables are tender and the peas have gotten mushy. Once it is to the soft texture, add your black pepper and simmer low for an additional 10 minutes and serve. Tips: I like split pea but not with the ham. I started looking at other recipes but most required potato, or a touch of cream. I wanted this soup to be as clean as possible to the palette. You don't need a tone of ingredients to have a yummy soup. Sometimes less is more. This soup I think is a great lunch soup. So give it a try and let me know what you think.