BariatricEating.com Health & Nutrition
Linda’s Recipe & Cooking Forum!
READING A RECIPE
• The recipes that Susan Maria or I post are all written in the same format. They are precise, simple, and easy to understand. There will be no abbreviations; all measurements will be written out.
• Read the entire recipe, including instructions, all the way through and assemble your ingredients and cooking utensils before you start. There's nothing worse than having the dish halfway prepared and discover you don’t have the right pan or a key ingredient.
• The ingredients listed will be in the order used. You won’t come to the end of the recipe and find out the last ingredient was supposed to be sautéed with the first three! Whenever possible substitutions or recommendations will be noted. We will list the number of servings and nutritional stats at the end of the recipe.
• Pay attention to the wording in a recipe. For instance 1 cup chopped nuts, is different than 1 cup nuts, chopped. It measures differently. (Now, 1 tablespoon butter, melted is the same as 1 tablespoon melted butter! - but most of the time, the wording is the way it is for a reason.)
• We will also try and include ideas for ways to serve the dish or suggestions of sides for the family.
• The instructions will be concise and to the point and in order. When applicable you’ll notice that the first thing you do is preheat the oven. I’ve read recipes where you do all the measuring, stirring, sifting, folding, carefully transferring to a baking dish and THEN the instructions say to put it in a preheated oven…..would have been nice to know ahead of time, before your fragile egg whites deflate or your baking soda over-activates!
• No rambling and story-telling in there for distraction, either. (Someone – me – loves to do that!)
• The equipment we use is mostly standard and easy to find in a store if you don’t have it.
This one’s easy:
• The eggs are self-explanatory.
• The onions, olives, and tomatoes are chopped, sliced, or diced before measuring.
• The salt and pepper have no measurement given – they are to taste.
• The Feta is crumbled and then measured.
LINDA'S GREEK-STYLE EGG SALAD
4 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion 2 tablespoons sliced Kalamata or black olives
1/4 cup diced, seeded tomatoes
2 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
2 teaspoons milk
Salt and black pepper 2 tablespoons crumbled Feta cheese
In a medium bowl, combine eggs, onion, olives and tomatoes. Stir in mayonnaise, milk, and seasonings until well mixed. Gently stir in cheese. Cover and chill. Makes 4 servings, 1/3 cup each.
Per Serving: 114 Cal; 8 g Protein; 7 g Tot Fat; 3 g Carb; 0 g Fiber; 3 g Sugar; 197 mg Sodium
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This one is more involved, but easy to understand:
• Ingredients are in order used…the salt and pepper in the above recipe are at the end…in this one they are at the beginning. It just depends on where you use them in the process. No measurement…to taste.
• Susan has given you the size of the squash, instructed you to remove the casings for the sausage, the type of sauce she likes to use and the parmesan has no measurement because it’s an optional or to taste ingredient.
• She has you preheating the broil FIRST while you prep the zucchini. This way it’s ready when you are. She’s also told you how long to let them bake AND the description of the food as it should look or be when done. If the timer goes off and the dish doesn’t look like the description, add a minute or two until it does.
4 small zucchini, about 5-7 inches each
2 teaspoon olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
16 ounces Italian turkey sausage, casings removed
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 cup marinara sauce (I use Barilla Marinara or Rustica Sweet Peppers and Garlic)
Parmesan cheese
Preheat broiler to high. Cut zucchini in half lengthwise and remove seeds from each half using a spoon, creating a shell. Arrange on baking sheet cut side up, brush cut surface with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Broil 8 minutes, until zucchini are fork tender, and set aside.
While zucchini are broiling, cook turkey sausage in a nonstick skillet over high heat, mashing with a fork or wooden spoon until well browned and finely crumbled.
Assemble boats by spreading some of the ricotta in the hollow of each prepared zucchini, fill with 1/8th of the cooked meat and top with a little sauce. Sprinkle generously with Parmesan cheese. Broil 5-7 minutes, until boats are heated through and cheese is lightly browned.
WLS serving, 1 zucchini boat: Calories 154, fat 6 gr, carbs 4 gr, protein 18 gr Makes 8 boats, 2 per regular serving
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This one involves baking…don’t panic!
• Note the baking time and the description of how the pie should look when done. If it is too jiggly in the middle, continue baking for another minute or so.
• Every oven is different. The best thing to do is to buy an inexpensive oven thermometer and make sure your oven is 350 degrees when it’s set at 350. Mine is 25 degrees too hot. I burnt some cookies and over-cooked custard before I found out!
• She’s instructed you to use the Splenda that measures…not the packets.
• A pinch of salt is literally a PINCH between your finger and thumb.
• She states butter, melted…written this way because it’s easier to cut it from the stick, measured and then melt.
• Why not just say 3/4 cup pecans? The chopped ones are in the filling, the halves are for decoration.
• In some recipes the pie crust will be the first item. This is because it probably is meant to be baked, cooled and THEN filled. In this recipe it’s not baked before filled, so it’s the last item used.
• The whipped cream – no measurement. Optional ingredient.
3 large eggs
3/4 cup Splenda Granular
Pinch of table salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons salted butter, melted
3/4 cup Joseph's Sugar Free Maple Syrup, available on this website
1/2 cup chopped pecans, plus 10 halves
One 9-inch homemade unbaked pie shell, not deep dish
Whipped cream sweetened with Splenda
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Beat the eggs in a large bowl until well blended and stir in the Splenda, salt, vanilla, butter, and syrup. Mix in the chopped pecans and pour the filling into the pie crust. Arrange the pecan halves evenly on the custard and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the sides are set but the center is still a bit soft. Cool to room temperature and serve in small wedges with Splenda-sweetened whipped cream.
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Reading the recipe through, assembling all your ingredients and tools and understanding the wording will make cooking or baking so much easier and pleasurable for you. It will become something you look forward to, instead of wondering if “it will turn out this time”.
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© BE, Inc. 2011 - Susan Maria Leach. All rights reserved.
