guilt free comfort

8/6/2019 GUILT FREE COMFORT

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49SEPTEMBER 2009WWW.MAXMUSCLE.COM

Guilt-FreeComfort

Keep the comfort but ditch all those

extra calories! Here are some ways to

lighten up great-tasting burgers, fries,

lasagna and more!By Kristin Wood, CertifedFitness Nutrition Specialist Photos by Becky Gleaves

W

e all love to have a great meal with

comort oods those hearty, lling

dishes that leave us eeling really satised.While some o those meals can be waistline killers,

tweaking them can make them more nutritious and

still satisying. Oh, and a nutritious meal does not

have to be tasteless! The trick is to gure out where

to skim at and calories, so you can lighten up a

recipe without also cutting out the favor. Here are

a ew great ways to lighten your meals to help you

get started.

LasagnaLasagna is a gooey comort ood that denitely satises

taste buds and leaves us with a comortably ull stomach.

It also can heap on unwanted calories and at, especially i

were eating in a restaurant, where single-serving portions

can range rom 10 to 25 ounces o lasagna. At home, we

have much more control over portion sizes, as well as ouringredients. Here are a ew great ways to slim down your

avorite version o this meal:

Replace the lasagna noodles with 2-3 zucchinis, cut

into inch slices (longways). For every layer o zucchini,

sprinkle to 1 tablespoon four on top beore adding

the next layer to absorb extra liquid. Or, try grilling the

zucchinis rst to get some o the water out (this will make

the zucchinis a bit crunchier in the lasagna), then top with

four. Calorie savings per serving? 477 calories and 6 grams

o at and 88 grams o carbohydrates. Three zucchinis have

93 calories, no at and 20 grams o carbohydrate while 9

lasagna noodles have 570 calories, 6 grams o at and 108

grams o carbohydrates!


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Swap 1 cup ricotta cheese with 1 cup 1-percent cottage

cheese and save a whopping 265 calories and 30 grams

o at. (One cup ricotta has 428 calories and 32 grams at

while one cup 1-percent cottage cheese has 163 calories

and 2 grams o at.)

Substitute one cup part-skim mozzarella or the ull-at

version and youll save 265 calories and 21 grams o at.(336 calories, 25 grams o at versus 71 calories and 4

grams o at)

Try using o the cheese you normally use. You likely

will not notice the dierence and can shave o 25 percent

o the calories, whatever cheese you use!

Editors note: For this lasagna recipe, we added 7

percent lean ground turkey or us meat eaters. Lean turkey

is a healthy and great substitution or ground bee. But i

youve got to have your bee, then read on or ways to

make it healthier and less attening.

Burgers & Other Recipes That Call

for Ground BeefWe all know that ground bee is a staple in the American

diet and its a great place to start skimming calories rom

your recipes. While ground bee is rich in protein, zinc, B-12

and absorbable iron, it also contains signicant amounts o

saturated at and sodium. Ground bee is generally sold in

categories based on its at content. Most commonly, these

range rom super lean with 4 to 10 percent at content;

extra lean (also called ground round) with 15 percent at

content; lean (also called ground chuck) with 20 percent at

content; to regular hamburger with 30 percent at content.

Choose a leaner ground bee and you can peel o calories

rom at without sacricing taste. For burgers, meatloa

and meatballs and other meals that call or hand-shaping

the ground bee, these leaner

cuts will be the best way to

cut unwanted calories.

Leaner ground bee gener-

ally has a higher price point

than its atty brothers, howev-

er, so it isnt always the best

solution or all meals involvingground bee. I you are cook-

ing the meat in a skillet (or

lasagna, a meat sauce, tacos,

etc.), you dont need to

go to the expense o

purchasing super

lean bee to slash

the hamburgers

at and calorie

content. Just

drain the at o

as you normal-

ly would, thenput the bee in

a colander and

rinse completely

with hot water. You can

pat it dry i the meat seems

too watery ater rinsing. Tak-

ing this simple step ater the meat is thoroughly cooked

renders that inexpensive hamburger as lean or leaner than

super lean bee.

Below you will nd a chart showing the dierences among

the various types o ground bee, as well as reduction in at

content that comes rom draining hamburger.

How Do You Like Your Ground Beef?

Type o

Ground Bee

1 pound

raw;

weight

ater

cooking

1 poundraw;caloriesatercooking

1/4poundraw;caloriesatercooking

Super Lean

(7% fat)

12 - 2/3 oz 680 170

Extra Lean

(15% fat)

12 oz 859 214

Lean (20% fat) 11 - 1/2 oz 876 219

Regular (30%

fat), broiled

10 - 2/3 oz 880 220

Regular (30%

fat), drained &

rinsed

11 oz 620 155

Source: Beefinfo.org

Got other healthy

comfort food

substitutions or recipes?

Email them to

[email protected]

and well put them in afuture article!

Enjoy!


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51SEPTEMBER 2009WWW.MAXMUSCLE.COM

French FriesFrench ries are another classic dish,

one that tastes delicious but is very

unhealthy. The good news is there are

several great ways to have French ries

that can reduce the damage.

For example, make them at home

instead o getting them at a ast ood

joint and save 140 calories and 9 grams

o at. A 3-ounce serving o Chick-

Fil-A wafe ries has 270 calories with

13 grams o at. But i you bake rozen

wafe ries instead, a 3-ounce serving is

just 130 calories with 4 grams o at.

Better yet, put potato wedges driz-

zled with olive oil, sea salt and rosemary

on the grill. A 3-ounce serving has 144

calories and 2.5 grams o at, is very low

in saturated at and cholesterol and is a

very good source o ber and vitamins A

and C.

For a surprise twist, roast caulifower

forets instead! These caramelize

beautiully when drizzled with olive oil

and sprinkled with sea salt, ground

pepper and garlic powder and baked in

a 400-degree oven or 25-30 minutes.

Calorie count? A cup has 48 calories

and 2.5 grams o at.

So, think creatively and youll be

surprised how easy modiying your

avorite recipes is once you start really

ocusing on making healthy changes.

Choose nutrient-rich oods to ensure

your meals are ull o vitamins and

minerals, and use disease-ghting

antioxidants (deeply colored ruits

and vegetables) as the basis or yourrecipes.MS&F

J

ack Walker, 28, has a secret.

Its a big amily secret. And, the

secret is in the sauce ... er, the

seasoning. Three blends to be

exact all o which are guaranteed

to put the zing into any delectable

dish. Your ood will taste so good,

youll want to Slap Ya Mama or

not cooking like that! At least thats

how the old Cajun saying, which

lends its name to the Slap Ya

Mama brand, goes, according to

Jack.

Jack is just one member o Walker

& Sons, a amily-owned business

that started as a convenient store

with a deli serving up some o the

best Cajun vittles in Louisiana.

People started asking i they could

buy our seasoning, so we bought

little glass jars and lled them with

our blends, says Jack. The demand

became so great that Walker &

Sons had to nd a manuacturer to

make and distribute their products,

which are now available in specialty

ood stores and a number o

national grocers. Or, you can nd

the products on www.slapyamama.

com.Raised in Ville Platte, Louisiana

where the spicier the better prevails

when it comes to ood, Jack is

proud to be a part o this amily

business and their secret blends.

The ingredients are listed on each

container, but youll never know

the proportions, says Jack, with

a wink.

There are three dierent

blends. In the yellow canister

is the original blend; the white

pepper blend is in the white canister

(white pepper digests easier than

black pepper or those who may

have digestion problems); and in the

red canister ... yep, you guessed it

... the hot version. We took out a

lot o the salt and packed a lot more

heat in that one, says Jack about

the red blend, which is his avorite.

You can use the seasoning blends

as a rub, a marinade or as table

seasoning. Jack suggests using

the original blend or chicken and

pasta, the white blend or seaoodand the red blend i youre grilling.

Here is one o the Walker amilys

avorite recipes using the white

blend o Slap Ya Mama Cajun

seasoning:

Slap Ya Mama Shrimp Stir-FryIngredients:

1 lb cleaned shrimp

1 tsp chopped garlic

Slap Ya Mama White Pepper Blend to

taste

Olive oil1 bag of Asian Stir-Fry

glass red wine

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

Coat bottom o a pan with olive oil

and put over medium heat. Season

shrimp with Slap Ya Mama white

pepper to taste. Add garlic, shrimp

and lemon juice in pan. Cook until

shrimp turn pink. Now add veggies

wine and brown sugar and cook

until veggies are sot. You can alsoadd noodles i preerred.MS&F

Good!Good!Finger LickinFinger Lickin

Jack Walker (left) and his brother, Joe Walker, (right)travel around the United States sharing their familyssecret Cajun seasoning recipe blends at food shows.

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