Gluten Free: Spinach Salad, Potato Soup, Healthy Chicken Salad, Honey Lime Fruit Toss

It's been cold here. Very cold, like in the single digits. I've often commented on how we eat a lot of soups in the winter time. It seems to just go to the core and help give us some warmth.

This meal is pretty healthy. The potato soup is very good. Most of the healthy things we eat are flavorful, and also much, much better than eating out. I always use fresh ingredients, occasionally frozen, so as to keep the sodium level controllable. Have you ever looked at the sodium content in canned goods??? Yikes! Hubby needs to watch his sodium, so I do not use salt in my cooking. I also use mostly no or low sodium ingredients. If this is not an issue for you, adjust as necessary!

The chicken salad is healthy because it does not use mayo for a base, which is good. It can be eaten on bread or alone. And spinach salad......I can't say enough about spinach and salads. Spinach makes wonderful salad, and the health benefits of spinach are out of this world!!

By the way, this meal is gluten free!

Dinner Tonight is:

Spinach Salad
Potato Soup
Healthy Chicken Salad
Honey Lime Fruit Toss
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Spinach Salad

• 8 ounces fresh baby spinach
• 1/4 cup feta or goat cheese, crumbled
• 1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 8 cherry tomatoes, halved
  
• 1 tablespoon toasted sliced almonds (optional)

• Dressing:
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing
• 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon grated orange zest (optional)

1. Wash and clean spinach. Tear into bite size pieces and place in a serving bowl. Add half of the feta or goat cheese and onion; toss to combine.
2. Combine dressing ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Top with dried tomatoes and almonds. Serve immediately.

Potato Soup

• 1 3/4 cups diced peeled potatoes
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, peeled and chopped
  
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth (Swanson's Natural Goodness is gluten free)
  
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated fat-free milk, divided (use Carnation)
  
• 1 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon real bacon bits (like Hormel)

1. In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes, onion, celery, broth and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 15-18 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Combine cornstarch and 1/4 cup milk until smooth; stir into potato mixture. Add the remaining milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat. Stir in cheese until melted. Serves 5

One serving equals 178 calories, 2 g fat (0 saturated fat), 9 mg cholesterol, 274 mg sodium, 26 g carbohydrate, 0 fiber, 14 g protein


Healthy Chicken Salad

• 4 chicken breasts, baked or boiled, and shredded
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1/4 cup celery, diced
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Mix all ingredients together. Serve on wheat bread, or alone.




Honey Lime Fruit Toss

• 2 1/2 cups freshly cut pineapple
• 1 1/2 cups orange segments, cut in half
  
• 2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
• 2 medium firm bananas, sliced
• 2 kiwifruit, peeled, halved, and sliced
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon grated lime peel

1. In a bowl, combine the pineapple, mandarin oranges, strawberries, bananas and kiwi. In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, honey, lime peel. Pour over fruit; gently toss to coat.

One serving (3/4 cup) equals 133 calories, 1 g fat (trace saturated fat), 0 cholesterol, 7 mg sodium, 33 g carbohydrate, 4 g fiber, 1 g protein.

Vegetable Night!

We're back to starting to follow a more stringent healthy diet again. This summer we have been lax -- well, really, since the spring. When we cook at home, we're using the same healthful ingredients but the warm weather and kids out of school has brought along with it being away from home. When away from home, it becomes easier and easier to make bad food choices since restaurants are usually involved.

Well, this has finally caught up with us. I've gained about 3-5 lbs and D has gained some as well. Also, his blood pressure shot up sky high this past weekend after we had spent the whole week with the grandkids taking them out to various places. There was healthy food involved, but there was also a lot of bad food involved as well.

So, it's back to cooking at home for dinner and I am also packing D's lunches again. Right now, he is getting mostly raw stuff in his lunch to help bring his blood pressure down, because raw foods have very little sodium. It seems to have worked after the first day. It's not down low, but it's out of the big red danger zone that it was in the other night.

This also means that I am back to buying and using fresh veggies and herbs in the dinners we cook. `tis not bad, just more work. When using fresh food, preparation and chopping is usually involved and it can be time consuming for those who don't have an 30 minutes just to chop the needed ingredient for dinner. The way I look at it is, it's worth it! To be healthy, to get rid of the massive amounts of sodium, fat and calories that is in pre-prepared food or canned goods, it's worth it.

In the meantime, I am hoping that the kids pick up on what they see and grow to think that's the way it should be. I know that my father never allowed sugar in the house unless he was baking, which was usually Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Other than that, we always had artificial sweetner and very seldom used actual sugar. This is something I have carried over from my childhood, as I can actually feel the granules of sugar when it's used in drinks and such and I don't like it! Just as well......we get enough processed sugar in breads and starches and cereals.

Last night we had a couple of things that I have made before, so I am just gonna copy and paste the recipes for those, but I also made a new dish --- Creamed Spinach. I got this recipe out of a low fat cookbook, so it's rather healthy.

This whole meal, with the serving sizes suggested and without dressing or cheese on the salad, is only 271 calories, 5 grams of fat, and virtually no sodium. How's that for a healthy meal??I also included the individual nutritional information with each dish, in case you want to make them separately to add to other dished you may make.

Add non fat yogurt and fresh blueberries/strawberries for dessert!

So Dinner Tonight is:

Garden Salad
Spaghetti Squash
Creamed Spinach
Broiled Tomatoes
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Garden Salad

This salad when using iceburg and without dressing or cheese, contains:

59 calories
0 fat
virtually no sodium

• 2 cups of lettuce of choice
  
• 1/4 yellow squash, sliced
• 1/4 cucumber, sliced
• 1 small portobella mushroom, sliced
• 5 cherry tomatoes
• 3 baby carrots, sliced lengthwise
• Parmesan Cheese (optional)
• low cal, low fat dressing of choice
• Add more raw ingredients of choice
  

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Serve.



Spaghetti Squash

1 cup has:
42 calories
0 fat
10 grams of carbs
4 grams of sugar
28 grams of sodium (very, very low)


1. Pre-heat Oven to 400 degrees.

2. After cutting and cleaning the seeds out of the spaghetti squash, place 1/2 cup of water in a casserole dish. Place the squash open side down in the water. Bake for an hour.

3. When you take it out, the outside of the squash will be very very soft, as well as hot. I use an oven mitt to pick up one half of the squash, and take a fork and clean out the inside into a large bowl. It will come out in strands, like spaghetti. Do this with both halves.

4. Use about 1/2 stick of Smart Balance butter (a 50/50 butter blend with omega fats) and toss with the squash.

5. Serve, adding pepper if desired.


Creamed Spinach
Makes 4 servings at 137 calories and 4 grams of fat per serving

• 2 lbs of fresh spinach
• 2 cups of 1% milk
• 1 small shallot clove, peeled and chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon oil
• i teaspoon unsalted butter (we use Smart Balance, a butter blend that's healthier)
• 1 1/2 tablespoon of cornstarch (you can use flour, but cornstarch has no sodium)

1. Trim the spinach and rinse in cold water. Shake and squeeze the excess water from the leaves. Put spinach in a large pot, cover and cook on medium high heat until wilted (about 3 minutes).

2. Pour into colander and rinse with cold water to cool it. Squeeze out excess water and coarsely chop.

3. In a small saucepan, mix milk, shallow, garlic and thyme. Bring to boil, then immediately reduce heat. Simmer for 20 minutes.

4. When milk mixture is close to finishing, place oil and butter in a medium saucepan and set over medium heat to melt butter. When melted, add the cornstarch and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly with a whisk.

5. Strain the milk mixture into the flour mixture, stirring constantly with whisk. (Discard the milk solids left behind from the garlic and shallots). Cook, stirring constantly with whisk for about 5, 10 minutes or until thickened.

6. Add the chopped spinach. If sodium is not an issue, season with salt and pepper. Cook one minute to heat thoroughly.



Broiled Tomatoes

One large tomato has about 33 calories, less than 1 gram of fat, virtually no sodium, and comes packs with a good 1/3 of your recommended daily intake of Vitamin C and Vitamin A. Of course, they're also a wonderful source of lycopene an antioxidant known for its disease prevention properties. Sinply factor in the sprinkle of parmesan into your calorie intake.

• 4 large tomatoes
• basil
• parmesan cheese

1. Halve the tomatoes
2. sprinkle with basil and Parmesan
3. Broil for 2-3 minutes

Makes 4 servings.

Meatless Night! Spaghetti Squash, Grilled Portobellos , and Zucchini Bake

This became an acquired taste for me, but D loves it. I'd never heard of spaghetti squash before until I started hunting down more healthy recipes that had variety.

And it is so simple to cook!

To prepare the squash for baking, you need to cut it in half. Once cut in half, you'll need to clean out the seeds like you would a pumpkin. You want to leave the pulp, as this is what will become "spaghetti-like" after it's cooked.

Once you do this, you're ready.

Nutritional Information is as follows:
For 1 cup of spaghetti squash there is 42 calories 28 mg of sodium (wow!! virtually nothing!) 10 grams of carbs, of which 2 grams are dietary fiber & only 4 grams sugar 1 gram of protein
(when/if you add something else, butter for instance, read the nutritional and serving size information on the packaging to add to this if you keep a food journal)

For 1 cup of portobello mushrooms alone there is: 42 calories 12 mg sodium (wow again - very low) 6 grams of carbs, 3 grams of which are dietary fiber 5 grams of protein

This is also a good source of iron. The actual recipe I will give below for the portobellos mixed with ingredients has a total of 76 calories and 4 grams of fat per serving, but I do not have the other information for the recipe as is. The recipe will be for 4 servings. Not sure of the serving size amount, but once you cook it, divide it equally into 4 parts and you'll have your serving size.

The Zuccini Bake Recipe Nutritional Information is as follows per serving. Again, the recipe will make 4 servings, so divide it equally when cooked into 4 parts and you will have your serving size.

114 calories 7.4 grams of fat 8 grams of carbs 2.2 of which are dietary fiber 6.2 grams of protein

Dinner Tonight is: Spaghetti Squash Grilled Portobello Mushrooms Zucchini Bake Fresh Strawberries and blueberries with fat free/sugar free vanilla yogurt

Spaghetti Squash
Pre-heat Oven to 400 degrees.

After cutting and cleaning the seeds out of the spaghetti squash, place 1/2 cup of water in a casserole dish. Place the squash open side down in the water. Bake for an hour.

When you take it out, the outside of the squash will be very very soft, as well as hot. I use an oven mitt to pick up one half of the squash, and take a fork and clean out the inside into a large bowl. It will come out in strands, like spaghetti. Do this with both halves.

Use about 1/2 stick of Smart Balance butter (a 50/50 butter blend with omega fats) and toss with the squash.

Serve, adding pepper if desired.

Grilled Portobellos

• 2 tablespoons low or no sodium, fat free chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 4 large potobello mushrooms, stems removed

1. In large shallow dish, mix broth, oil, vinegar, and thyme. Arrange mushroom caps in single layer in the dish, turning once to coat. Let stand at room temperature, turning occasionally, for one hour.
2. Cover broiler pan with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray. Bake mushrooms at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. (Can also grill them directly on the grill for 10 minutes on medium-high heat)

Zucchini Bake

Ingredients:
4 medium zucchini
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheese, low fat
1 tablespoon butter (smart balance)
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
ground black pepper to taste


1. Slice the zucchini lengthwise and score diagonally across the top of zucchinis.
2. Place in a baking dish.
3. Baste with melted butter and garlic, sprinkle with cheese and season with pepper to taste.
4. Bake in a moderately hot oven for about 15-20 minutes (or until tender and crisp).


For dessert, mix 1/2 cup of strawberries and 1/2 cup of blueberries with 3/4 cup of fat free/sugar free vanilla yougurt (sweeten with sweet and low if desired) and enjoy! Strawberries and blueberries are chock full of fiber and antioxidants

Healthy Tacos

D and I have started a low glycemic index diet. (How long will that last? Stay tuned!)

In this, I am following a certain diet that provides me with the recipes to follow this kind of diet for each meal. And last night's dinner just happened to be Beef Tacos with a cup of red grapes.

The serving size is 2 taco shells plus 3 oz of beef (1/1/2 oz for each shell) plus lettuce, a bit of cheese, salsa and avacado.

It's relatively simple, really. I have another blog - an actual diet blog - which I may actually post out the actual food I am eating during the day, breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner all - and I will include the link here at some point in the near future for anyone interested.

In any case, this was an easy dinner. The kids, as usual, had their bean and cheese burritos, so the theme of the food was not lost on them.

Tacos

3 oz of lean ground beef (I use the 96/4 lean)
1/4 cup of diced onion
dash of paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons of salsa
1 ounce of shredded low fat cheddar
lettuce
chopped tomato
1 tablespoon chopped avocado

2 corn taco shells

Brown the ground beef in a skillet with the onion.

Add the paprika, chili powder and garlic powder while cooking.

Add the salsa.

Spoon into taco shells, top with cheddar, lettuce, tomato and avocado.

Our recipe called for a cup of grapes to be eaten with this dinner too. So, that's optional for you.