Sam's Health Blog

When you bake peaches you caramelize the sugars in them. They become sweeter and softer. With baked peaches you can make many delicious desserts. The simplest would be:
Baked peaches with syrup and fat free Greek yogurt. The blend of the sweet and semi-sour is tasty and actually good for you. This dessert is only 170 calories:
•    One medium sized peach (59 calories) 
•    1 tbsp of syrup (52 calories)
•    ½ cup of fat free Greek Yogurt (55 calories.)
Of course these calories are only averages but for a dessert you can’t get much better than this. In addition to the low calorie count, this dessert packs 10 grams of protein. Now that is pretty good.
Slice your peach in half, take out the pit, drizzle the syrup over the peaches and bake for about 20 minutes on 325 (make sure to bake them in a bowl or something that will catch all the juices because you will want to pour those back on at the end.)  or for a quick fix microwave them for about 5 minutes (and it will still taste great.) Then place the peaches on a plact and put a good helping of yogurt on the side. For some variety replace the syrup with cinnamon and granola.
A more work intensive, but totally worth it dessert, is the peach cobbler.

This recipe will serve eight.
Ingredients
    6 medium peaches (you want to peel, pit and slice them)
    2 tbsp of sugar
    1 tbsp cornstarch
    1 tsp lemon juice
    1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
    1 cup of all-purpose flour
    1/2 tsp baking powder
    1/2 tsp table salt
    3 tbsp reduced-calorie margarine
    1/2-cup fat-free milk

 Here is how to make it:
 In a large saucepan, mix the peaches with 1/3 cup of sugar (your going to use the rest for the topping latter), cornstarch, lemon juice and cinnamon in order to coat them. Then, place the pan over a medium heat for about a minute, until it starts to boil and thicken. Remove the pan from the heat and put the mixture into an 8 inch-by-8 inch. baking pan.
Now onto the topping: mix the flour, the remaining sugar, baking powder, salt and margarine in a large bowl. Continue mixing until what you have resembles coarse crumbs. Then add the milk and stir. Then evenly place the topping on the peach mixture (if you are trying to make eight distinct portions, then place the topping in eight mounds.) Place the pan into the over and bake until the topping is goldeny-brown and this filling is slightly bubbling. On average this take about twenty to twenty-five minutes.

These taste great but with fewer calories than regular pancakes. This recipe is for 4 servings, 90 calories each. Please e-mail me and tell me what you think about them.

Ingredients

•    1/4 teaspoon baking soda
•    1/4 cup cake flour
•    1/2 cup canned pumpkin
•    1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt
•    1/4 teaspoon salt
•    1 large egg yolk
•    4 large egg whites
•    Cooking spray
 (For some extra taste add nutmeg or cinnamon.)

Here is how to make them:
Put the pumpkin, vanilla yogurt, flour, egg yolk, and the baking soda into a bowl and whisk them together. Separately, whisk the egg whites with the salt in another bowl and then pour them both together. Now, pour 1/3 cup of batter (for each pancake) into a pan that has been sprayed with the cooking spray. Flip the pancakes when brown. This total cook time should be about 5-7 minutes on a medium fire. Add some syrup for a bit of extra sweetness.

We struggle to drink enough liquids, and many people gag at the thought of 8 glasses of water every day.  I suggest soup, and they are easier and healthier to make than the sodium and MSG-laden varieties in the supermarket.

Miso Soup is a soy-based broth, low in calories, tasty and quick to make.

1/2 cup miso (I like white or light) from the refrigerated section of the grocery store

2 cups water

2 cups vegetable or chicken broth

2 tablespoons soy sauce

4 Shitake mushrooms, in slivers

2 Green onion (scallion) sliced thin

Tofu cubes (Tofu will be found where you find the miso paste. Open the package, empty out the water, wrap the tofu block in a clean kitch towel, and weight it down with your teakettle or iron for five minutes to squeeze out the liquid.  Cut some into half-inch cubes for the soup, and save the rest for tofu stir fry)

Here is how to make it

Bring water and broth to boil. Whisk in the soy sauce and miso. Simmer ten minutes. Pour into four bowls that have the mushrooms, onions and tofu cubes at the bottom. 

At my house we eat breakfast for dinner. It's fast, it's hot, it's nutritious.

8 eggs cracked in a bowl

1 cup milk added

salt, pepper, and any other seasonings (Taco or herbes de Provence, for example)

1 diced pepper (green, red, or yellow)

1 diced onion

any other vegetables if you like (zuchini, squash, spinach, asparagus)

1 lb. soy sausage, or taco-seasoned soy meat, broken or mashed up.  (These products are fully cooked so they are so fast to use.)

4-6 tortillas, pitas or lavosh breads.

How to make it

Saute all of the vegetables, starting with the onions which will take the longest.  Add the meat until all are hot and mixed together. Remove to a bowl.

In the same pan, scramble the eggs and milk. As they come together, add the vegetable-meat mixture for the last 30 seconds.

Scoop into the bread, add your favorite hot sauce, salsa, avocado, or sour cream (if you must), and roll.

Note:  You can add beans which are worth it for the fiber, or cheese (because kids love cheese), but there is plenty of protein from the eggs and the soy meat.  This is a healthier meal without the cheese.

3 onions

2 stalks celery

3 carrots

Medium dice the above and let them sit in the pot.

Finely dice a garlic clove and add.

Add any herbs you like:

my favorites (1 tbls fennel seed and 1 teas hot pepper flakes)

or thyme, marjoram, basil, a bayleaf

add two large cans tomatos (diced or whole) and 

four cups water or vegetable broth

Above is your soup base--now what to add?

2 small zucchini, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 yellow squash, diced

mushrooms

1 lg. can chick peas, drained and rinsed with water

and/or cannelloni beans drained and rinsed

salt and pepper to taste.

Tastes better every time you reheat.

Some people like to pre-saute the vegetables, and you can do this, but use minimal amounts of oil or you soup will be oily!

First a word about Garlic, or Vitamin G, as my uncle calls it.  We live on it at my house and always have it in two kinds:  Fresh peeled cloves in the freezer and cooked/ready to use.

Take a cup of peeled cloves and add a cup of canola or olive oil. Cook in a saucepan on a low temperature for an hour.  The oil will boil and brown and soften the garlic.  Pour into a jar when cool and store in the refrigerator. You get ready to use roasted garlic, and homemade preservative-free garlic oil.

Hate your vegetables?  Don't boil them--roast them.  Set oven to 400 degrees.  Array vegetables (green beans, asparagus, sliced beets, potatoes, eggplant, mushrooms, zuchini, yellow squash--pretty much anything but broccoli and really leafy greens). Place veges in flat pan and spoon on some of the garlic oil from above and salt.  Roast ten minutes until edge look crisp.  

You can roast several types of vegetables together if they are the same size.  Otherwise you have to start with the slow cooking ones and add the smaller softer ones toward the end.

In winter, we roast winter vegetables, parsnips, sweet potatoes, carrots. As they come out of the oven, add a tablespoon of maple syrup.

In the summer, we make ratatouille using the zucchini, yellow squash, onions, peppers, and fresh tomatoes.These can be layered and baked and this dish is good at room temperature or a picnic.  Much better than potato salad!

4 heads of sauteed garlic prepared as above, and 1 tablesoon of sauteed garlic oil.

1 onion, 3 stalks celery, i leek (all sliced and sauteed until translucent in the oil).

Add the sauteed garlic cloves, 6 cups of chicken or vegetable broth, and simmer for an hour or two. 

Put in each serving bowl some drained and rinsed cannelloni beans, and washed fresh spinach leaves.

Strain the soup and pour the garlicky broth into each bowl.