Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Recipe: Grilled Halibut with Mediterranean Salsa


Food Weight: 4.0
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients  

Salsa:
· 1 pound plum tomatoes, chopped
· 1 cup chopped arugula
· 1 large shallot, finely chopped
· ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
· Juice from 1 medium lemon
· 1 can (15 ounces) Northern beans, rinsed and drained
· 1 small jar capers (approximately 3 ounces), drained
· ¼ teaspoon salt
· ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper  

Fish:
· 4 (6-ounce) halibut steaks
· 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
· Salt and pepper to taste, optional
· Fresh lemon slices, for garnish

Directions   
Combine all the salsa ingredients together in a bowl and mix. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
Brush fish with olive oil (both sides); sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill over medium high heat for 4 minutes per side or until fish flakes easily. Serve topped with salsa and garnished with fresh lemon slices.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (1 halibut steak plus approximately ¾ cup salsa):
Food Weight: 4.0, Calories: 412, Fat: 11 g, Cholesterol: 54 mg, Sodium: 692 mg,
Carbohydrate: 16 g, Dietary Fiber: 5 g, Sugars: 3 g, Protein: 40 g

Friday, May 25, 2012

Boost Your Burn

Your daily calorie burn rate is segmented into three categories: resting metabolic rate, metabolism from digesting, and assimilating food and physical activity. Target all three to boost your burn. Increase calorie-burning lean muscle and resting metabolism by strength training at Fitness Together at least three times/week; eat small frequent meals with a little bit of metabolism-raising lean protein across the day; and get your cardio in, your FT workouts, and just plain move more the rest of the day!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Recipe: Veggie Pita Pocket Sandwich

Hummus—the perfect sandwich filler

It’s Monday and you plan on participating in the National movement to go meatless on Mondays. (Meatless Monday is an international campaign—started by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health—that encourages people to not eat meat on Mondays to improve their health and the health of the planet.) You’re short on time, need a quick and tasty vegetarian sandwich filler—so you reach for the prepared hummus. Ideally it’s best to make your own hummus ahead of time but if that’s not an option, the store -bought kind is a decent substitute. At just 25 calories a tablespoon, it’s a great way to spruce up veggies in a pita pocket (whole wheat…of course!)--a perfect sandwich to grab and go. Quick, tasty and deliciously healthy.  

Food weight: 2.5

Ingredients  

  • 2 tablespoons hummus 
  • 1 100% whole wheat pita bread
  •  ½ cup dark greens, chopped 
  • ¼ cup broccoli crowns, chopped 
  • 1 tablespoon Vidalia sweet onion, chopped 
  • 1 tablespoon diced tomato 
  • 1 tablespoon diced red bell pepper

Directions  

Cut pita bread into two halves. Open pockets and spread hummus in each pocket. Stuff veggie evenly inside each pocket and enjoy.  
Serves 1

 NUTRITION IN A BOX Per serving (1 sandwich):   Food weight: 2.5 Calories: 235 Fat: 4 g (0 g EPA, 0 g DHA, 1 g ALA) Saturated Fat: 1 g Cholesterol: 0 mg Sodium: 485 mg Carbohydrate: 42 g Dietary Fiber: 5 g Sugars: 2 g Protein: 9 g

Friday, May 18, 2012

Beans, Beans, the Poor (and rich) Man’s Meat

There is no protein source that can rival beans in terms of supplying you with a nice array of amino acids in addition to a huge cache of fiber (a whopping 13 grams per cup), antioxidants, and tons of vitamins and minerals—and all this for only a few cents and just a fraction of the calories in meat! So learn to include beans in your day for a delicious, low-calorie, antioxidant-rich vegetable protein source that fills you up and not out.

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Recipe: Bean Dip

Serve as an appetizer with crudités or eat as a snack with baked tortilla chips or whole wheat pita crisps, or even spread as a sandwich filler with veggies. Either way this is a quick and tasty way to get in three of my top ten superfoods: garlic, extra virgin olive oil and beans. Food weight: 1.0 

Ingredients

Yield:  10 servings (serving size: 1/10thof recipe, 54 grams or ~ ¼ cup)
  • 1 (15.5 ounce) can of cannelloni beans, rinsed and drained
  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • Juice from ½ a lemon
  • Freshly ground pepper to taste 

Directions

In a food processor, add beans, olive oil and chopped garlic. Process until smooth. Season with salt, lemon juice and pepper, blend and transfer mixture to a serving dish. Serve as a dip for fresh vegetables or as a spread on baked tortilla or whole wheat pita chips.

Nutritional Information per Serving (54 grams or ~ ¼ cup):
Food weight: 1.0, Calories: 97, Fat: 8 g, Cholesterol: 0 mg, Sodium: 275 mg,
Carbohydrate: 7 g, Dietary Fiber: 2 g, Sugars: 0 g, Protein: 3 g