Save your money, save your waist-line…
It’s the first week of October, so of course the stores are well-stocked with trick-or-treat candy, but does that mean you need to stock your pantry?!? Probably not…be realistic, if you buy Halloween candy now will it actually be around on October 31st when the kids come knocking? I doubt it! Instead you or your spouse and/or your kids will have eaten it all up and you will have to go buy more for the trick-or-treaters.
My advice, leave the candy in the store until just a few days before Halloween otherwise, stepping on the scale might get a little scary!
Yours in Health & Fitness,
Karin Jennings
XO Fitness
karin@xofitness.com
05-Oct-2012
Comments Off on Wait! Don’t buy that Halloween Candy yet!
28-Sep-2012
Comments Off on XO Friday Foodie: Super Simple Salmon Patties (Low Carb, Gluten Free)
Sometimes it’s nice to simplify something already simple. Too many ingredients and preparation equals a big mess. With many of our clients trying out our Smart Loss Seminars and learning how to cycle their carbohydrates to break weight loss plateaus, we decided that it was time to simplify our already simple Salmon Patties.
Low Carb Salmon Pattie1 pouch (5oz) of Salmon (See the original recipe if you want to use a larger, less expensive can of salmon)1eggs
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1 pinch of black pepper
07-Sep-2012
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25-Aug-2012
Comments Off on Friday Foodie: Eggplant Palooza
Friday Foodie: Eggplant Palooza
Category : Healthy Eating
Our neighbor had a few extra eggplants that they had grown and I happily took them. I thought I’d make one of my favorite
eggplant recipes, baba ghanouj (pronounced ga-new), but one of my clients always talks about how good his eggplant Parmesan is, so I made that instead. The eggplant is baked instead of fried, but it is still breaded which admittedly reduces its diet-worthiness. (My recipe for grill-cooked baba ghanouj is at the bottom of this post).
Eggplant Parmesan (Adapted from a Meatless Monday recipe)-1 large eggplant or up to 3 smallish ones (which is what I had)– 1 cup flour-2 eggs-1/2 cup milk-2 cups italian bread crumbs (or more)-2 cups of your favorite marinara type spaghetti or pizza sauce-1/2 cup parmesan cheese-1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (optional, omit for lower fat/calorie version)My client Jim E. says the secret to his Eggplant Parmesan is to remove as much water from the eggplant as possible ahead of time. He does this by slicing the eggplant into 1/4 inch thick discs, lightly salting them and placing them in a single layer between two kitchen towels for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 400′ and cooking spray two cookie sheets (or ‘grease’ with olive oil).
Next, put the flour in a bowl and dredge each slice of eggplant until they are coated and set eggplant aside. Add the Italian bread
crumbs to remaining flour (or dump out the flour, your choice). Scramble the two eggs and milk together in a bowl. Dunk a slice of eggplant into the milk and egg mixture and then dredge to coat in the bread crumbs. Arrange breaded eggplant onto your prepared cookie sheets. Repeat until all the eggplant is coated, or your hands
get so disgusting that you decide to throw it all out and go out for dinner (only to remember you left the oven on ;-).
Put the eggplant in the oven for 10 minutes. Pull it out, flip the eggplant slices and bake again for 10 minutes. Remove the eggplant from the oven and TURN THE OVEN DOWN to 350′.
Next, put the browned eggplant into a greased 9×13 pan, layer in an overlapped fashion as needed to fit it all in. Pour the two cups of marinara sauce on top and then sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes.
Remove your eggplant from the oven and remove the aluminum foil. (You can add the mozzarella now if desired). Put it back in the oven and bake uncovered about 10 – 15 minutes until the cheese looks bubbly or slightly browned. We recommend serving with extra marinara sauce and a gorgeous salad.
Baba Ghanouj (A delicious eggplant dip)-1 large eggplant-2 cloves of garlic-2 Tablespoon lemon juice or juice of 1/2 a fresh lemon-1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)-1/2 teaspoon ground cumin or coriander(optional)-2 Tablespoons Tahini (optional, none for low fat, or up to 4T to taste)-1 Tablespoon Olive oil (also optional for low fat version)Roast the eggplant until mushy soft. You can do this several ways and here is a link to a great photo series. Method one: On the grill, prick the eggplant and wrap in aluminum foil and bake on low heat, rotating 1/4 turn every 8-10 minutes until very soft. Method two: prick and wrap in aluminum foil as before but bake at 350′ in oven for 45-60 minutes until very soft (use a pan or cookie sheet to catch drips). Method three: Slice eggplant in half and place face down in greased pan and put under broiler for 15-30 minutes until charred and very soft. Method four: Prick eggplant and place on a couple paper towels or in bowl and microwave on high until it deflates 8-15 minutes depending on size (This last method loses that tasty smokey flavor, but it is the quickest.)
When cool enough to handle, scoop out the soft insides and put into blender with any captured juices and all other ingredients. Blend until smooth and enjoy with fresh vegetables or on a sandwich. Try to avoid using every bread and cracker in the house to scoop it up or you’ll blow this otherwise healthy food! Enjoy, -XO
17-Aug-2012
Comments Off on Friday Foodie: Edamame Falafel w/low fat cumin chipotle sauce
I found this recipe in the May 2012 edition of Martha Stewart’s “Everyday Food” magazine. It looked simple and absolutely
delicious at first glance, but the calorie count was way too impressive: a serving had a whopping 600 calories. Falafel is traditionally fried and in my opinion, despite dripping in oil, usually tastes dry anyway. Here is my variation that drops the calories to only 240 per serving by baking them instead of deep frying them and serves them with my new favorite low calorie sauces.
Ingredients:1 cup dry chickpeas (2 cups re-hydrated)2 cups shelled edamame, frozen.2 teaspoons cumin1/2 teaspoon salt Method: Put the chickpeas in water and leave overnight. They should double in volume, leaving you with 2 cups uncooked chickpeas. To hurry this process up, you can boil the chickpeas in the microwave and allow to sit for 2-4 hours. Drain. Use a food processor or a blender to mince chickpeas and edamame to a coarse mixture that sticks together when squeezed. Thoroughly mix or blend in cumin and salt. Form in to patties and place on a greased cookie sheet. I like to use an ice-cream scoop for this. Pop in the oven at 375′ until bottom side is browned, flip, and brown the other side. Serve in whole wheat pita pockets (or whole wheat tortillas) with diced tomatoes, onions and your choice of the following sauces: Chipotle-Cumin ‘Greek God’ dressing: (6oz plain, nonfat greek yogurt with 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons of cumin, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of ground chipotle blended together). This ‘sauce’ has no fat, 18 grams of protein and only 100 calories PER CUP!!! or 7 calories per Tablespoon. Compare that to cumin-chipotle mayonaise which weighs in with 12g fat and 110 calories per Tablespoon (or 192 grams fat and roughly 1760 calories per cup). Coriander Tatziki (speedy version): Peel and cut a cucumber in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and toss into a blender with a 6 oz container of plain, nonfat greek yogurt. Add 1 teaspoon of ground coriander and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Blend well. Options: Blend in fresh dill or add 1 teaspoon of garlic-ginger paste (available at Indian grocery stores). Another healthy sauce is to add a bit of water to store-bought hummus and to use as a dip. This is really a good idea if you think about all the flavors now available.10-Aug-2012
Comments Off on Friday Foodie: 15 Minute Creamy Avocado Pasta
Two things attracted us to this recipe:
- 15 minutes…we love any dinner item that takes only 15 minutes!
- Avocado…we love avocado (although it’s really hard to spell!)
We want to give credit where credit is due, so the source of this recipe is www.ohsheglows.com
Ingredients:
- 1 medium sized ripe Avocado, pitted
- 1/2 lemon, juiced + lemon zest to garnish (use caution, it is easy to make this too tart)
- 1-3 garlic cloves, to taste (we used 3 b/c we love garlic, but if you’re not a big fan use less)
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
- ~1/4 cup Fresh Basil
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 servings/6 oz of your choice of pasta (We like Barilla brand pasta in the yellow box)
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Directions:
1. Bring several cups of water to a boil in a medium sized pot. Add in your pasta, reduce heat to medium, and cook until Al Dente, about 8-10 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, make the sauce by placing the garlic cloves, lemon juice (be careful with the lemon juice…you can always add more, but you can’t take it out…the first time we made this it was WAY TOO TART), and olive oil into a food processor. Process until smooth. Now add in the pitted avocado, basil, and salt. Process until smooth and creamy. Ryan says next time he would omit the olive oil and just blend up the other sauce ingredients.
3. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta into a large bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Garnish with lemon zest and black pepper. Serve immediately. Makes 2 servings.
Please note: This dish does not reheat well due to the avocado in the sauce. Please serve immediately.
03-Aug-2012
Comments Off on Friday Foodie: Crunchy Chickpeas Snack
One of our clients suggested that we try this super simple savory snack. Low in fat and high in fiber these are a nicely satisfying snack that ranks high in the nutrition world.
Each 1/4 cup of crunchy goodness has 120 calories comprised of 2g fat, 6g protein, 20g carbs (including 6g of fiber: that’s a whopping 24% of the recommended daily allowance of fiber). Omit the salt and use chickpeas made from dry if you are concerned about your sodium intake.
Crunchy Chickpeas (makes 1 3/4 cups):- 2 cans (3 1/2 cups cooked) Chickpeas
- A whimsical mixture of your favorite spices (see suggestions)
- popcorn salt (for after cooking)
- 1/2 teaspoon of: cumin & 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne.
- 1/2 teaspoon of each coriander and paprika (or smoked paprika)
- 1 teaspoon curry, either hot or sweet
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of any premixed seasoning blend, ie: Nature’s seasoning, Pleasonings, Lawry’s etc…
- Note: Do not use spice mixtures containing sugar as it will burn.
*Now say “signature super simple savory subtly spicy snack” five times fast! Enjoy -XO
27-Jul-2012
Comments Off on Friday Foodie: Simple Basil Pesto
Friday Foodie: Simple Basil Pesto
Category : Healthy Eating
Keep it simple, right?
This pesto is kept simple with fancy additions later.
All you need is two large bunches of basil, 2-3 cloves of fresh garlic, ½ – ¾ cup olive oil and ½ teaspoon salt. You can add parmesan and pine nuts later if you like.
Fresh basil is best purchased at the farmer’s market for a fraction of store bought. Karin purchased a plastic shopping nearly full of basil for just $4 (four large bunches).
You only need two bunches for this recipe.
Remove the flowering heads, leaves from the stems and wash the leaves to remove any sand and dirt.
Pat them dry with a towel and coarsely chop them.
Pour ½ cup Olive Oil and 2-3 cloves of garlic into a blender and blend well with the cover on (unless you like oil on your ceiling). Add the coarsely chopped basil in bunches, alternately stopping the blender to push the basil down. Patiently continue to do this, adding more olive oil as needed to allow blending.
Once you have a thick, but coarse paste add ½ to ¾ teaspoon salt to taste. That’s it!!! We like to freeze it in small 4 oz. Glad containers. You can add minced pine nuts (walnuts or raw skinless peanuts also work well) and parmesan cheese to taste when you serve it.
What can you do with pesto?
Make a speedy-quick version of a Caprese Salad: Mix several tablespoons of pesto, halved grape or cherry tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese. Yum!
Also, it’s great mixed with pasta and fresh tomatoes, on toasted french bread and pizza!
21-Jul-2012
Comments Off on Friday Foodie: Blueberry Health Muffins
This time of year you can buy blueberries by the quart instead of by the pint. Sometimes we get overzealous at the Farmers Market and have so many we have to start making everything with blueberries! This week we’ve made blueberry pancakes, blueberry smoothies and blueberry muffins.
I tore this recipe out of a Whole Living magazine a few years back. It has become a favorite at our house and I’ve even brought a batch into the studio on occasion to share with clients.
Muffin Ingredients
- 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (we usually don’t have white flour in the house, so I make it with all whole-wheat flour and it turns out fine)
- 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- (I also like to add 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon)
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups blueberries
Muffin topping ingredients
- 2 Tbsp. wheat germ
- 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Mix dry ingredients. Add milk, oil, eggs and vanilla; stir until just mixed. Gently fold in blueberries.
- Divide evenly among 12 lined muffin cups. We like to use a regular size ice cream scoop for this.
- Sprinkle tops of muffins with muffin topping.
- Bake approximately 20 minutes…until a toothpick comes out clean.
Nutrition Information (per muffin)
196 calories; 1 g saturated fat; 5 g unsaturated fat; 36 mg cholesterol;
30 g carb; 5 g protein; 2 g fiber
If you want to read all about the benefits of blueberries
in your diet check out The World’s Healthiest Foods
13-Jul-2012
Comments Off on Friday Friday Foodie: Avocado Salsa
This week’s Friday Foodie is Nicole C. who suggested this most delicious salsa from one of my favorite food websites:
www.epicurious.com. If you haven’t checked epicurious out, you can type in a main ingredient and come up with a list of recipes that incorporate your searched ingredient along with excellent reviews and ratings. It is an un-abashedly flavor first, damn the calories website, so it is wise to be calorie wary when surfing their delicious recipes.
Simple and delicious, the original recipe adds more olive oil than we would without sacrificing flavor. That said, we’ve tweaked the recipe with 1/2 the olive oil (subtract roughly 200 calories) and we strongly suspect that 1/4 the olive oil (1T) would be un-noticeable. Here’s our take:
Avocado Salsa:
- 2 large tomatoes, seeded, diced
- 1/2 red onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (try 1 tablespoon, it’s probably plenty and you can always add more)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 1 to 2 large jalapeño chilies, seeded but not deveined, minced
- 1 large avocado, diced
Mix well and serve! Enjoy with friends to savor the fresh wonder of this simple recipe. -XO