Category Archives: Food

Mediterranean Bean Salad

Here’s a lovely little salad that works equally well as a side dish or a light lunch! I love Mediterranean flavors in the summer and this combination is perfect – especially the salty bite from the feta and olives.  It doesn’t hurt that it’s super quick to prepare, either!

 

Mediterranean Bean Salad

serves 8 as a side dish

 

Ingredients:

1 can garbanzo beans

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup Roma tomato, diced

1/4 cup black olives, sliced

2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

1/8 cup red onion, finely chopped

Dressing:

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tablespoons Greek yogurt

1/2 cup English cucumber, diced

salt and pepper to taste

 

Directions:

1.  Drain and rinse garbanzo beans in a colander, running water over them until it stops bubbling. Transfer beans to a medium bowl.

2.  Add rest of salad ingredients (parsley through onion).

3. Add the dressing ingredients to a glass jar , and shake to mix. Pour dressing over  salad and toss to coat with dressing. Keep refrigerated.

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Buffalo Chicken Salad

I don’t know about you but when I see a Buffalo Chicken Salad on a menu I want it.  Unfortunately, most of the time, the chicken is fried, the salad has a mound of shredded cheese, and it’s doused in a high fat dressing. Consequently, I rarely order it when I’m out. I wanted something I could make at home to scratch the itch and this is it.

The buffalo sauce on the chicken has just enough kick and the homemade bleu cheese dressing trims the fat compared to what you’d find in a restaurant. A serving of this salad clocks in at just about 250 calories leaving plenty of room for an appetizer, cocktail, or dessert! That’s my idea of a great Friday night meal.

 

Buffalo Chicken Salad

adapted from Ellie Krieger

serves 4

 

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets
2 tablespoons cayenne pepper hot sauce or buffalo sauce, plus more to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 hearts Romaine, chopped (about 8 cups)
4 celery stalks, sliced
2 carrots, shredded (or sliced)
2 scallions,  sliced
1/2 cup Blue Cheese Dressing, recipe follows

Directions:

1. Preheat the broiler. On a cutting board, slice the cutlets into strips.

2. In a large bowl, combine the hot sauce and the oil, add chicken and toss until the chicken is well coated. Arrange the chicken on a baking sheet and broil until it is cooked through, about 4 to 6 minutes, turning once.

3. In a large bowl combine the Romaine, celery, carrots and scallions. Toss with the dressing. Divide the greens between 4 plates, top with the chicken. Serve with extra hot sauce.

Blue Cheese Dressing:

2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 cup lowfat buttermilk
1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese
Salt and freshly ground pepper

1.  In a medium bowl, whisk the buttermilk and yogurt into the mayonnaise until smooth. Add the vinegar and sugar and continue to whisk until all the ingredients are well combined. Stir in the blue cheese and season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

Yield: 3/4 cup

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Which Cheerios is Healthier?

This shouldn’t be a trick question. But sadly, it is.

As your children are well aware, there are many many many varieties of Cheerios (Honey Nut, Chocolate, Apple Cinnamon, Peanut Butter, and so on) and when we’re all racing through the store in our eight minutes of allotted time to pick up groceries, reading SIDE labels may sound like a waste of time. Especially when there’s all that information right on the front of the box. But skipping over the side label would be a big mistake. Here’s why.

Which of these would you think is healthier based on the FRONT LABEL (aka the part you actually read?)

Cheerios Side By Side

Multi-Grain of course, right? I mean just look at those healthy grain colors…and the big words MULTI and GRAIN. Must be the better choice.

But if you looked closely at the side labels, here’s what you’d find.This is the label for plain old Cheerios. One grain. Oats.

Cheerios Original Label

This is label for Multi-Grain Cheerios, which does indeed have MULTIPLE GRAINS (corn, wheat, oats, barley, rice) – and THAT’S where it gets the name.

Cheerios MG label

However, what this healthy sounding variety doesn’t include is any more fiber than Original Cheerios. None. Baffling when you realize that’s what you think you’re getting with all those grains!

Instead, it has considerably more SUGAR. The purple box weighs in at 6g sugar per serving while Original has <1. (Don’t even get me started on Honey Nut or Chocolate which each have 9 grams!)

So, is it a disaster to buy Multi-Grain Cheerios? Certainly not. But with no more fiber and 5 extra grams of sugar, I’d stick with the big yellow box if you’re buying this brand!

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