Check Out These Recipes

Autumn Squash Casserole
Baked Eggplant
Black Bean Stuffed Peppers
Stuffed Artichokes
Stuffed Green Bell Peppers
Vegan Bean and Orzo Casserole

Don't they sound yummy? Those are the kind of recipes I like since, as you know, I usually have a vegetarian main course for dinner. The recipes are vegetarian, low fat, and all made in a crock pot. (Just put the ingredients in, set it and forget it)

If you want to get the recipes, click on the link below, then click on the logo "Crockpot", select the tab above that says Recipes. Then scoll down and click on "Vegetarian Dishes":

Crock-pot Slow Cookers

I hope you enjoy them .

My 2 Cents on Non-stick Pans

I cook most things in non-stick cookware, be it a frying pan or a saucepan. Using a non-stick surface allows me to cook with very little fat and that produces healthier dishes.

My take on cookware is this: When it comes to pots and pans, I like to get good quality, heavy stainless steel pans. My favorite brand is AllClad.
But when it comes to non-stick frying pans, I usually go for decent quality and low cost.

A good stainless steel pot or pan will last forever, but any type of non-stick surface does not last very long, so I never spend a lot of money on my non-stick frying pans. When the non-stick surface wears out, and food starts to stick, I discard it and get a new one.

Check out my favorite frying pan at my website:

My Favorite Products

Do You Exercise?

It is a never ending mantra. If you want to lose weight, you must eat right and exercise.
And there are many ways of exercising. You can run, walk, swim. Those are considered cardio workouts.

But what about strength training? These are resistance exercises, where a muscle is isolated and worked for strength. You can go to the gym and use their weight training machines or buy your own machine if you have the space and the money.

I saw an ad in a magazine of an exercise machine that claims that you can exercise in 4 minutes a day and have a great body! No kidding.Do you know how much it costs? ... $14,615 ! Who can afford that? Certainly not me.

In fact, I used to go to the gym but now since it's gotten so expensive I am working out at home. I use two 5 pound dumbells, some floor excercises and best of all my band set.

It is a fitness set that fits in a small bag made by Bodylastics. Quite frankly, for under $50 I got myself a variable resistance system that I can use with in my own home. And the best part is that they offer online video instruction once you buy the product.

The way it works is that you use elastic bands that have handles and perform certain movements to work specific muscles. Some of the exercises require you to connect the elastic to a door and others are created by simply standing on the elastics.

See for yourself:

Go to Bodylastics

Kitchen Gadgets: Mortar and Pestle

One of my favorites kitchen gadgets is a mortar and pestle. I use it to grind herbs, spices and nuts into pastes or powders.

I prefer the ones that are made out of stone, such as marble or granite, because they are stable and easy to clean. Some can be heavy but they should be, if you don't want your mortar traveling allover the place as you pound and grind.

They also should look good enough to sit on top of the counter.

Why use it? When you grind spices, it releases fresh oil that have intesnse flavor. One of my favorite uses is for making herbal pastesfor roasting or grilling.
Add garlic and salt, mash a little, then add some olive oil and chopped herbs. It could be fresh basil, and it would be great onturkey cutlets. Rosemary if you are making lamb or chicken. You can experiment with other ingredients such as cliantro and dried chilies (toast chillies in a pan before grinding).

You can view my favorite mortar and pestle on my website:
Mortar and Pestle

Do meal replacement diets work?

So what's all the hype about the Medifast diet? Actually

I just found out how popular this diet is becoming. But the

funny thing is that is not new. In fact, the plan has been around for

27 years and is has been fairly successful. Their website provides

many success stories of people who not only lost their excess

weight but they kept if off.

If you want to learn more about it, see my review:

http://www.thedietplans.com/medifast.htm

How To Make Flavorful Dishes While Dieting

It is a known fact that weight loss plans are not easy to follow on a long term basis and everyone who has ever been on a diet knows that.

One of the main reasons, I think, is that meals can become boring. After all, how many times a week can you have broiled chicken and enjoy it? Soon the cravings take over, and people often go back to their old foods that made then overweight in the first place.

Most diets call for low fat meats or fish, plus low carbohydrate vegetables prepared in a low fat way. So that leaves you with steaming or broiling, both of which can get very boring.

Over the years I have developed some methods and combinations that can make the same old diet foods taste better.

The methods include using low fat-low calorie flavoring ingredients as well as what I call accent ingredients, usually low calorie aromatic foods that give a lot of flavor without adding calories.

Some of those ingredients include:

Flavoring agents:

Onion and garlic powders
Herbs
Tamari soy sauce (most flavorful)
Chili powder or flakes
Miso (Japanese soy bean paste)
Bottled barbecue sauce
Balsamic vinegar
Rice vinegar
Cumin

Low calorie “accent” ingredients:

Jalapeno peppers
Scallions
Garlic
Lemon or lime juice

Some of the ways I use these ingredients are as follows:

Dilute store bought barbecue sauce with water (my favorite is KC but any brand will do) at a 50/50 ratio. Add it to grilled chicken or turkey breasts. Diluting the sauce will cut the calories in half without sacrificing flavor.

Add onion powder, garlic powder and powdered spices to roasts such as turkey breast

Make a dipping sauce with soy sauce, lime juice, some red pepper flakes, some chopped scallions and a few drops of sesame oil. Sesame oil is very flavorful and a little goes a long way.

Marinate chicken tenders, chicken breasts or pork tenderloin in a citrus marinade made of lemon or lime juice, orange juice and some flavoring agents such as chopped up garlic and the herbs of your choice. You can then spray some oil on a non-stick pan and slowly cook the meat. It will brown beautifully because of the sugars in the orange juice.

Flavor your fish (steamed or broiled) with fruit salsas.

Use a good quality balsamic vinegar (preferably from Italy) to add to steamed vegetables or to a tomato or avocado salad.

Dilute miso with a little rice vinegar and a fruit juice (orange, apple, etc, no sugar added) for a flavorful salad dressing.

Dieting doesn’t have to be boring if you use your imagination to make the meals more flavorful. Play around with the ingredients listed here and you will be surprised how well food can taste with very little effort. You see that you will lose ten pounds before you know it.