A Simple Fish Chowder

Delicious supper tonight. A simple fish chowder. Made with 1 lb of tile fish simmered for 5 minutes in a vegetable broth, 1 lb of potatoes cooked in the same broth minus the fish, a few chips of slab bacon to saute the onion, skim milk, a dab of homemade yogurt and fresh parsley from the garden. The chowder will be divided into 6 portions, three of which will be frozen.

Recipe for red cabbage

I haven't been cooking much recently and there has been a head of red cabbage in the refrigerator for several weeks waiting for me. Tonight I finally prepared my favorite red cabbage recipe. It comes from an old cookbook by Pierre Franey entitled: Low-Calorie Gourmet. My cookbook falls open to this recipe because I have made it so often.

It is as follows:

1 red cabbage cut as thinly as possible with a mandoline
1 large apple peeled and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon of butter
1 large onion chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 cup water

Melt butter in butter in a wide pan and saute onion for 1 minute. Then add the sliced apple and the cabbage and saute for 5 minutes stirring. Add the salt, pepper, and brown sugar. Add the water and vinegar and cook covered for 30 minutes with occasional stirring.
I find that the quality of the wine vinegar can make a difference in the final taste, as does the quality of the apple . The recipe makes 6 to 8 servings, depending on the amount of red cabbage used.

Salt Cod Bouillabaisse

A bit of a nutritional surprise this evening. Last night I prepared one of my favorite soups. It is a bouillabaisse that is made with dried salt cod. I prepared it with 1 pound of salt cod that had been soaked in water for two days, one pound of boiling potatoes, onions, leek, garlic and tomatoes and two tablespoons of olive oil. It was flavored with a large pinch of saffron. I divided the the soup into 6 portions and assumed that each was equivalent to 2 proteins, 1 carb and one fat and 1 vegetable. The soup shown in the photo was supper tonight. It also contains a few garlic croutons made with homemade bread. Along with a nice tossed salad this made a delicious, filling, wholesome, and low calorie (so I thought) supper. To my surprise, when I calculated the nutritional analysis of the soup (shown below), the caloric content was considerably higher than I expected. This is due to the fact that dried salt cod has 3 times as many calories as fresh cod! So,I am going to divide the remainder of the soup into 7 rather than 5 portions and will no longer consider this dish a low calorie fish dinner. However, I still think it is delicious and healthy since it is so low in saturated fat.
To see the details of the nutritional analysis click on the image to view an enlarged version.

A Calorie Free Treat-- The Miracle Ball

In maintaining weight we are told that is important to find activities that are as or more pleasurable than eating. One such activity that I discovered recently, thanks to my yoga instructor, is the Miracle Ball. These balls, and the "exercises" that are found in the accompanying booklet were developed by Elaine Petrone. They are fantastic! They relieve stress and tension in the most amazing way. And in some positions allow for strengthening exercises in a completely painless way. I particularly enjoy placing a ball under my neck while lying on the floor. Also, two balls under my hips are extremely relaxing. But just about any of the suggested positions are wonderful, and I cannot recommend these balls enough.

Peanut Butter Breakfast

This breakfast has 1 carb, 1 fat, 1 protein, and 1 fruit. It consists of 1 oz of homemade bread, 4 tsp of peanut butter, 1/2 sliced banana and 1 crumbled walnut to enhance the photo. I combined it with 1 tablespoon of psillium dissolved in a glass of water for fiber, 1 glass of 1% milk, and, of course, a great cup of coffee--vesuvio blend from Batdorf and Bronson.

A favorite soup

This is a red pepper and potato soup from the New York Times that I like very much. One cup is equal to 1 carb and 1 fat. The photo in the Times looks extremely appetizing, but I like mine too. The Times recipe calls for fresh basil which would certainly be nicer than the fresh chives that I used, but that is all I have. The lower photo shows the way the soup looks before it is pureed.

Is this cookie worth it?

There was an interesting recipe for whole grain chocolate cookies in the NY Times a few days ago. They look very tempting so I decided to do a nutritional analysis on nutritiondata.com. The results are shown here. Basically, one cookie is equal to 1 carb and 1 fat, and because all of the fat comes from butter, most of it is saturated. Not sure whether it is worth it. Perhaps for an occasional splurge? Click on the image to see an enlarged version.