FHC

I had a request - “Mom, can you make tomato soup?” Okay - and so anyone who knows me, knows that I am not going to buy canned tomato soup because of the high sodium content. So, I bought a box of pomodoro tomatoes, without added salt. And I am definitely going to be buying more of them. I have been using them in pasta (simple pasta with sauteed garlic, tomato and basil), risotto and now soup. It was so easy to make - and so delicious. We saved seconds for tonight’s dinner.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic (I buy it crushed in a tube in the produce section of the store)
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 can low-sodium chicken broth
1 box diced pomodoro tomatoes (about 2 cups - see the picture below), no added salt
1 cup water
1 tablespoon fresh chopped Italian Herbs or Basil (I buy that in a tube in the produce section too - very economical and always ready to use - see in the picture)
2 bay leaves
dash granulated garlic
black pepper to taste

Saute the garlic, onion, carrot and celery in the olive oil in a Dutch oven pan over medium heat until golden, about 2-3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil. Cover the pan, reduce heat to simmer and simmer until the veggies are tender over low heat, about 15 minutes. Puree with hand held blender or in blender or food processor - taking care that the soup is hot and you don’t want to splash it on you.

Serve hot in a bowl - we sprinkled with a bit of parmesan cheese.

Our salad had a fun mix of fresh veggies - celery, cucumbers, grape tomatoes, grated carrot, dried cherries and toasted almonds. We topped with balsamic vinegar. And we served soup, salad and open faced tuna sandwiches for dinner. All in all I spent about 20 minutes in the kitchen from start to finish - fast, delicious and healthy - and low in fat and calories, too.

Enjoy

Posted on September 26th, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Cooking, Shopping | 3 Comments »

Using canned beans for meals makes sense for a lot of reasons. For one, they are probably the healthiest protein food you can eat - they are high in fiber, many nutrients and phytochemicals - and they don’t contain saturated fat. It is even easy to find canned beans with no added salt. For a second reason, which concerns most, they are low in cost per serving - just pennies an ounce. For a third reason, they are convenient and fast. Our taco recipe was made in less time than it takes to round us up and drive to a restaurant.

But a real drawback - is what to do with them? It is not like you are going to find them extremely palatable to open the can and eat them. But a few easy steps in the kitchen can bring you a feast.

Delicious Vegetarian Tacos:
Bean filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 small onion, sliced
1 bell pepper, sliced
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
1 can no-salt-added black beans

cooked rice (2 cups)

10 medium soft taco shells - see notes at end

non-fat sour cream

4 ears of corn, microwaved and kernels sliced off into bowl (or use 2 cups frozen corn kernels and heat according to package directions)

1 sweet potato - bake 5 minutes in the microwave - cut in quarters

1) Saute the garlic, onion and pepper in the olive oil until golden, about 2 minutes. Add the canned beans including the juice. Season with cilantro and lime.
2) Soften the tortillas in the microwave by heating briefly
3) Make the tacos by placing rice, beans, corn and sourcream in the center of the tortilla and rolling up.

Serve the tacos on a plate with corn and sweet potato. Roll and chill extra tacos for later.

We made fresh peaches for dessert - quarter peaches and place in microwave container with lid. Cover and cook for 6 minutes.

Notes about the tortilla shells and other ingredients. We found these tortillas that are low in fat and sodium - that is more important to us to have them low in sodium than it is to have them be whole grain particularly with the fiber found in the beans. Many tortilla shells are very large and very high in sodium so you have to read the labels.

We like the tubes of garlic and cilantro. They are only $3 and they last a long time - we get at least 20 meals out of each one.

New products
Holiday products

Posted on September 23rd, 2008 by admin
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I found these in the Walmart Superstore and decided to give them a try for dinner - and what a winner!! They were eaten so fast I couldn’t get a picture of the finished meal but I promise I will make them again and come back and put one here. If you click on the picture you are taken to the Jennie-O site that shows their nutritional value - only 1.5 grams of fat per serving.

I made Apricot-Herb Roasted Turkey Tenderloin, Skinny Mashed Potatoes, Light Cranberry Sauce and Pear Walnut Salad for dinner - all in about 30 minutes or less.

Roasted Turkey Tenderloin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place tenderloins in baking dish and coat with apricot jam. Add chopped onions and top the tenderloins with rosemary, thyme, black pepper and granulated garlic/parsley mix. Bake until done, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

Meanwhile make a batch of skinny mashed potatoes and light cranberries.

Serve with Pear Walnut Salad:
1 bag ready-to-serve romaine lettuce
1 slice cheddar cheese cut in thin strips
2 tablespoons toasted walnut pieces (use toaster oven on light setting)
1/4 red or green bell pepper, sliced thin strips
1 pear, cored and cubed, peel left on
1 carrot, shredded
1 lemon, grated zest and juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
fresh cracked black pepper
Toss ingredients together and serve.

This was a fast 30 minute dinner that had holiday charm and disappeared with gusto!

Here is the link to a selection of Holiday Recipes.

And here are our Holiday Education Products.

Posted on September 12th, 2008 by admin
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You might love this fun project - we made a big head out of vegetables when coming up with a theme for a poster. I just came across this picture while organizing files on the computer!! Imagine using this for a fun Halloween theme - making a bunch of delicious fresh vegetables into a scary head!! Of course you would have to have some kind of a green herb dip, too.

This was our first poster:

And now we offer this new and updated version:

This poster, and more are found here (shameless plug - we always have so much fun making them!!):
http://www.foodandhealth.com/products.php?cat=7

Posted on September 5th, 2008 by admin
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Do you ever find yourself running through the grocery store buying the same items you buy each week - with no idea as to what you are going to make for dinner during the week, much less an idea if you are even going to make dinner? This happens to everyone these days especially when we are on the run with too much to do and especially now that school has started again.

I find that it is much easier to come home and cook when you know what you are going to cook and you have the ingredients on hand.

Breakfast is easy - we keep the same staples on hand like oatmeal and whole grain cereal with skim milk and fruit. Snacks are also from staples like cereal, baked potatoes, whole grain low-fat crackers, yogurt and fruit. Lunch is low-fat sandwiches and leftovers from dinner.

For dinners, I plan at least 5 meals I can make during the week. Sometimes that is on paper before I shop and sometimes it is in my head while standing in the produce aisle - stuffed baked potato, fresh veggies for pasta, stir fry veggies, fresh veggies to go with fish or chicken, baked sweet potatoes, etc.

We have been making a shift here with regards to really eating on the run. This is because we are at football practice for 2.5 hours every night. I am sure I am not the only one who is spending a lot more time outside the house so I thought I would share what is working for us and our kitchen in this circumstance.

Here are a few things we are doing to cope:
1) dinner at 3:30PM - that is right - when we come home from school - dinner is ready very soon after we get in the door. I figure this way we can refuel then have a few hours for our meal to digest before being on the field - and why not fill up with quality food instead of expensive and not-really-healthy snack food like chips.

2) make lunch for the next day when we come home from school - it is too late at the end of the night and we are too scrambled the next morning so we get ahead - I believe that the lunch we pack always trumps the school lunch choices that are way too high in sodium and fat

3) my workouts are being done while he is practicing - I am not sitting in the stands

4) the second dinner when we come home is right after practice - that is usually something left over or even a fun breakfast food like waffles with fresh fruit. It has to be fast and light because we have to be in bed to get up at 5:30AM for class the next day.

To keep the meals interesting and to maintain enthusiasm, I am asking for input from my son. Here are some of the things he came up with that I used for menu planning:

Asparagus has been a good price in our stores lately. We found the best way to cook it in our test kitchen - flavorful, easy, fast, not messy!

Break the asparagus off roughly 2/3 from the tips - discarding the stems. Rinse in cold water. Place on a toaster oven tray. Toast on medium or until crisp tender, about 3 minutes. Serve with a sprinkle of fresh cracked black pepper and balsamic vinegar.

Enjoy!

Posted on August 7th, 2008 by admin
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Many processed chips, cookies, bars and dessert type items indicate a one ounce serving size on their Nutrition Facts Panel. I find this to be very telling about the calorie density of packaged foods.

Here are the calories in various fruits and vegetables, per one ounce:

Apple - 14 calories
Baked potato (plain) - 26 calories
Carrot - 11 calories
Celery - 4 calories
Grapes - 19 calories
Melon - 9 calories

Whereas most cookies and potato chips are between 140 to 160 calories per ounce (28 grams), even if they are baked, fat-free, whole grain or trans-fat free! This clearly shows that fruits and veggies are the way to go for snacks for those watching their waist.

Our cookie package says:
-Mini size
-Handy snack sack

We wonder if most would treat this bag as a one-serving snack and not realize how many calories they have consumed? 9 small cookies (1 ounce) is a small serving for 130 calories and the bag makes it tempting to keep eating more –That is 1040 calories for the bag!!!!!!!! We would tend to think of these more as a treat not a snack.

Flip over the bag and check the Nutrition Facts Panel - which we have summarized here:

Food and Health Communications has just produced a new game called Nutrition Facts Label Game

It is great for teaching people the difference between package claims and the Nutrition Facts Panel as well as being able to evaluate foods and make better choices in the grocery store.

We have opened the comments section of this blog - if you are reading tell us hi and what you think. We welcome food and cooking questions, too!

Posted on July 15th, 2008 by admin
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These are not exactly low in calorie density - but they are low in saturated fat and trans fat (okay so now we feel like the cookie package making these claims!). And the recipe is easy enough for a kid to make, tasty for everyone and a low-cost treat for all - it is our favorite!

1/2 cup trans-free, light margarine

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

_______________________________

1/4 cup egg white

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1-3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup semi-sweet dark chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Cream the margarine, sugars and vanilla together until fluffy using hand beaters or the paddle on a mixing machine.

2. Add the egg whites slowly in 3 parts.

3. Add the flour, baking soda and chocolate chips; scrape the bowl, then mix for one minute.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop the cookies with a tablespoon onto nonstick trays. Bake for 12 minutes. Allow to cool then transfer the cookies to a plate. Cover and store up to 3 days at room temperature. Makes about 2 dozen and the cost is about .15 each - much cheaper than a dessert out and half the price of store bought one!

Tips for kids:

- Always wash hands before starting any kitchen projects.

- Assemble and measure all ingredients before starting recipe. Have an adult assist in using beaters or mixing machine and oven.

- Clean as you go - put ingredients away as they are no longer needed. Keep counters clean and rest spoons and spatulas on cups so you don’t have extra mess.

- Be careful to use a clean dry towel or mitt to remove hot cookie trays from oven. Wet towels cause burns!

- Unless you are using pasteurized egg whites, do not eat or lick the raw cookie batter.

Serves 24. Each cookie: 127 calories, 3 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 0 g trans fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 66 mg sodium, 23 g carbohydrate, <1 g fiber, <1 g protein.

Posted on July 2nd, 2008 by admin
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That price got your attention, I bet! Everyone is concerned about fuel and food prices at present and with good reason.

Lately I have been making a greater effort to keep the food budget on target. I have been stocking up on sale items that we use on a regular basis (gotta love the 2 for 1 specials!), not buying so many convenience/treat type things like diet soda, crackers, cereals and chips, and taking at look at each item and the other choices instead of just flying through the store like a 747 buying everything I buy out of habit. I am buying “ingredients” much more than “prepared foods.”

This has led me to notice one thing I was spending a lot of money on - lettuce. 2 people in this house go through 4 bags of lettuce a week. Pre-washed lettuce is now $2.50 a bag in our store which would equal $10.00 per week. BUT this doesn’t mean we are not eating salad or lettuce!! I did notice that whole heads of red leaf and romaine, that are very robust in size, are $1.25 each. So, I opted for 1 of each of those.

Tonight I decided to shoot photos while I was preparing the lettuce. When I weighed the lettuce, I discovered that one head is actually equal to 2 bags (One head of prepared lettuce without the core weighed 15 ounces while one bag prepared lettuce weighs about 8 ounces) - hence the discovery that I now have it for just 62 cents per bag instead of $2.50. And I must say, last week I was surprised that the cut lettuce lasted 4 or 5 days - we ran out before it went bad.

So here is how I prepared it:

Cut the lettuce in bite-sized pieces with a sharp stainless steel knife and place into large pot of cold water and stir well; allow to sit for a bit so that all the dirt sinks to the bottom. Remove the lettuce from the top of the water and allow to drain well in colander (and yes, instead of a colander you can use a lettuce spinner to remove the water). Place drained lettuce in plastic bag with a few holes cut in the bottom and keep refrigerated. The lettuce should last about 4 days.

Here are a few other vegetable specials I found this week:

- Campari tomatoes - these are slightly larger than cherry tomatoes and were the best value per pound this week in the store. I like to quarter them and put them on salads or use them in pasta or salsa.

- Mild Cubanelle peppers - these are not that hot - just a bit spicy. They were 3 for $1.79 while green bell peppers were $2.99 each and red bell peppers were $4.99 each. I was able to use one of them to make salsa and the others will be used for salad for the week.

And voila - the finished products:

Fresh garden salad with summer specials on produce.

Salmon with fresh-roasted salsa made in the food processor with oven-broiled campari tomatoes, onion and cubanelle pepper, lemon juice and Gourmet Garden’s cilantro paste.

Microwave fresh corn - I put an ear of corn that was wrapped in plastic in the microwave for 2.5 minutes.

Posted on June 20th, 2008 by admin
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Every time I grocery shop, I am always looking for new products to try as well as new trends and label tricks. We had fat-free, then we had carb-free and now we have a variety of trends including whole grain, calcium added, trans-fat free, 100 calorie servings and flavor decadence.  Most of all right now we have the worry that food prices have gone up. Recently I just saw whole chickens for $9!!

I think one of the worst shopping mistakes one can make, though, is to shop based on assumption. Assumption meaning buying things that you think are healthy without checking out the Nutrition Facts panel.

Currently we are working on a really fun new PowerPoint show called, The Label Says - Nutrition Facts Panel Game.  I managed to find and buy, on one fell swoop, about $166 worth of food that sounds okay but has a different story on the back of the box - all for the purpose of photography and research for this game. Some food items look like one serving, but they are really more. Others make all sorts of single nutrition claims but fall short on the whole picture. While others are dietary disasters with regards to total calorie, saturated fat or sodium content.

Most of us would assume fish or chicken is healthy, right? Well, maybe if you are buying a small, fresh piece and cooking it yourself without a lot of fat or salt. But most likely not if the food manufacturer has gotten ahold of it first.

Consider this fish product that claims 0g trans fat:

One would think that fish with 0g trans fat is okay, right?

But, flip the box and see the Nutrition Facts!

This product, per 3.8 ounce serving, contains 17 g fat, 3.5 g saturated fat and 720 mg sodium.

Posted on June 2nd, 2008 by admin
Filed under: Shopping | Comments Off