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{38 Power Foods} My Favorite Weight Watchers Friendly Berry Recipes

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Fresh Raspberries
Fresh Raspberries

Fresh Raspberries

This week our 38 Power Foods Group continues on it’s healthy eating exploration with berries: blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. (Every week a small group of bloggers is working its way hrough Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, by Martha Stewart and the editors of  Whole Living Magazine. If you are interested in joining us, contact Mireya at My Healthy Eating Habits. We’d love to have you join us.)

If you are a berry fan, be sure to check out what these other participating bloggers have cooked up:

This was a fun post for me, since berries are one of my favorite foods. And though I feel like I love all berries equally, I discovered that they’re definitely NOT all equally represented here on Simple Nourished Living. (While strawberry recipes are abundant, recipes using blueberries, raspberries and blackberries are not, which is something I plan on working to change.)

Naturally low in calories and rich in fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants,  berries rich beautiful jewel colors hold the secret to their many health benefits. (The same compounds that give blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries their rich colors provide the antioxidants believed to help counter the risks of cancer, heart diseas and brain deterioration due to aging.)

Instead of obsessing about which berries contain which phytonutrients, I think it’s easier to remember to eat from the rainbow, incorporating as many different colors into your diet as possible.

Here are a few of the ways I love to enjoy strawberries, blueberries and raspberries:

I love them for breakfast on top of cereal, or yogurt…

Fresh Raspberries and Yogurt

Fresh Raspberries and Yogurt

On toast with laughing cow cheese and honey…

Toast with Raspberries, Laughing Cow Cheese, & Honey

Toast with Raspberries, Laughing Cow Cheese & Honey

Layered into a parfait…

Strawberry Yogurt Granola Parfaits

Skinny Strawberry Yogurt Granola Parfaits

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Filed Under: Breads & Muffins, Breakfast & Brunch, Cobblers, Crisps & Crumbles, Desserts & Sweets, Salads, Sauces & Condiments Tagged With: , , ,

{38 Power Foods} Weight Watchers Asian Baked Kabocha Squash Recipe

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Weight Watchers Asian Baked Kabocha Squash
Weight Watchers Asian Baked Kabocha Squash

Weight Watchers Asian Baked Kabocha Squash

Asian Baked Kabocha Squash: wedges of kabocha squash brushed with a combination of oil, honey, and five spice powder, baked until tender, and then sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and chopped cilantro – another winning recipe from one of my latest cookbook acquisitions:  the Weight Watchers PointsPlus Power Foods Cookbook.

(I’m batting a thousand from this book so far. All 3 recipes I’ve tried have been winners :-) )

This is a milestone week for our 38 Power Foods Group. We’ve reached the end of the vegetables chapter and are closing it out with one of my favorites: winter squash (A Weight Watchers Power Food with 0 PointsPlus).

If you are just tuning in, each week a dedicated group of us is working our way through Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, by Martha Stewart and the editors of  Whole Living Magazine. Other participating bloggers writing about winter squash, this week include:

(And stay tuned because next week we move on to fruit!)

What’s to Love about Winter Squash?

Well, I love them because they’re hearty, colorful, simple to prepare , delicious and low in calories/PointsPlus. All the health benefits are an added bonus.

You might be able to guess from their color that winter squash are a rich source of beta-carotene,  giving them excellent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. They are also great sources of Vitamin C, B6, potassium and fiber.

My two favorite winter squash choices are acorn, which I love to bake and/or stuff, and butternut, which I enjoy both roasted and mashed.  I also make spaghetti squash occasionally. So, this week, I decided to branch out and try something new. I opted for Kabocha, a round, squat, thick-fleshed winter squash that comes in a variety of colors including gray, green and orange.

I chose a green one…

Kabocha Squash

Kabocha Squash

We had this for Weight Watchers Asian Baked Kabocha Squash for dinner last night along with miso-glazed pork tenderloin (a winner from Mark Bittman I will post soon) and a mixed green salad tossed in a light sesame ginger vinaigrette (sticking with the Asian theme). The flavors of the squash were delicious, but the texture a little drier than I expected, which was probably due to the squash and not the recipe. It’s a tasty filling 2 PointsPlus side dish I definitely plan to make again.

Enjoy!
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Filed Under: 2 PointsPlus, Side Dishes, Vegetables, Vegetarian Tagged With: ,

{38 Power Foods} Spinach and Feta Crustless Quiche

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Spinach & Feta Crustless Quiche
Spinach & Feta Crustless Quiche

Easy Crustless Spinach & Feta Quiche

I chose to make a quick and easy crustless spinach & feta quiche for this week’s 38 Power Foods Blog Group. Can you guess the Power Food ingredient? Yes, it’s spinach. (And no, that’s not ketchup on the plate. It’s ajvar, a chunky red pepper and eggplant spread popular in the Balkans that my sister introduced me to, and that I now can’t get enough of. I’m eating it with everything.)

I continue to have fun each week making and writing about a healthy ingredient from Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, by Martha Stewart and the editors of  Whole Living Magazine and then checking out what my fellow bloggers – Alyce -  More Time at the Table, Ansh - Spice Roots, Jeanette - Jeanette’s Healthy Living, Jill - Saucy Cooks, Mireya - My Healthy Eating Habits, Sarah - Everything in the Kitchen Sink, Casey – My Sweet & Savory, Bambi - Adobo Down Under have whipped up.

Spinach is nutritious and delicious. We eat a lot of it around here, which turns out to be a very good thing. Rich in vitamins and minerals, it is also concentrated in health-promoting phytonutrients such as carotenoids and flavonoids that provide powerful antioxidant protection which can help protect you from inflammatory problems, oxidative stress-related problems, cardiovascular problems, bone problems, and cancers!

I came across the recipe for this easy spinach and feta crustless quiche in one of my favorite cookbooks of the moment, which I’ve mentioned several times lately, 5 Easy Steps to Healthy Cooking: 500 Recipes for Lifelong Wellness, by the talented Camilla Saulsbury.

This quiche is much lighter and healthier than classic quiche because: 1) it’s crustless and 2) it’s made with nonfat cottage cheese.

You simply whirl the ingredient together in a blender, pour the mixture into a pie dish and bake, so it’s a great quick & easy weeknight supper solution. And the leftovers can be warmed up for a super quick breakfast or lunch.

Enjoy!

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Filed Under: 4 PointsPlus, Breakfast & Brunch, Easy Healthy, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , ,

{38 Power Foods} Lentil, Mushroom and Kale Burritos

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Making a lentil, mushroom and kale burrito
Lentil, Mushroom, and Kale Burrito

Lentil, Mushroom, and Kale Burrito

Would you ever think to turn a mixture of lentils, mushrooms, and kale into a filling for burritos?

I certainly wouldn’t. But I’m glad the talented Camilla Saulsbury did for her cookbook, 5 Easy Steps to Healthy Cooking: 500 Recipes for Lifelong Wellness.

And I’m happy I found the recipe and tried it for this week’s 38 Power Foods Blogging Group. (For nine weeks now, a group of bloggers, led by Mireya of My Healthy Eating Habits, has been posting recipes using the healthy ingredients from Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, by Martha Stewart and the editors of  Whole Living Magazine.)

Because of this group, I’m trying all kinds of recipes I probably wouldn’t otherwise, with surprising results: I never would have guessed in a million years that my midwestern born and raised meat and potatoes loving husband would have enjoyed these lentil, mushroom and kale burritos so much he would opt to eat them two nights in a row! But he did. Really.

So, what is this week’s power food? Mushrooms.

Lentil, Mushrooms and Kale

Lentils, Mushrooms and Kale

Did you know that mushrooms, considered among the most medicinal of all the earth’s natural substances, have been used to fight cancer and boost immunity in China and Japan for centuries?

They’re low in fat and a good source of protein, fiber, vitamin D, potassium, and B vitamins, including B12, which is good news for vegetarians. And it turns all mushrooms – wild, cultivated, Asian, fresh, and/or dried – have their respective strenghts. So be sure to eat a wide variety for the most benefits.

Making a lentil, mushroom and kale burrito

A lentil, mushroom, and kale burrito in progress

This lentil mushroom and kale burritos recipe was really quick and easy, especially if you use already cooked lentils. And surprisingly delicious. The recipe calls for canned lentils, but I used Trader Joe’s steamed lentils, which I love. And as Camilla explains, be sure to remove the virtually inedible stems and tough center ribs of the kale, before slicing it.

Enjoy!

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Filed Under: 10+ PointsPlus, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , ,

{38 Power Foods} Simple French Shredded Carrot Salad (Carottes Rapees)

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French Carrot Salad
French Carrot Salad

French Carrot Salad – Shredded Carrots in a Simple Lemon Dressing

This French carrot salad of shredded carrots in a simple lemon dressing was inspired by my sister who is staying with us. She hates cooked carrots and I wanted to make something for this week’s 38 Power Foods Group post that everyone would enjoy.

(Fridays, a group of bloggers, led by Mireya of My Healthy Eating Habits, is posting recipes using the healthy ingredients from Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, by Martha Stewart and the editors of  Whole Living Magazine.

If you haven’t seen the book, it’s definitely worth taking a peek, especially if you’re trying to eat healthier. The 38 Power Foods are categorized into 5 chapters: 1) Vegetables; 2) Fruits; 3) Grains and Legumes; 4) Nuts and Seeds; and 5) Eggs, Yogurt and Fish. In addition to several recipes for each ingredient, there’s interesting health information, along with buying, storing, and preparation tips.

We are now up to #8, Carrots, on the alphabetical list of vegetables.

It turns out Bugs Bunny was right, chomping on carrots is a good thing to do for your health. They’re full of fiber, vitamin C, and beta- carotene, which your body converts into vitamin A, a nutrient essential for healthy skin and night vision. Carrots are richer in carotenoids than any other vegetable too, helping to protect you from cancer, heart disease and cataracts.

Because beta-carotene is fat soluble, it’s best to eat them with a little healthy oil so your body can more fully absorb the nutrients, making this French carrot salad recipe a naturally delicious & healthy choice.

I slightly adapted this simple French shredded carrot salad, Carrottes Rapees, from one of my latest cookbook acquisition, The Bonne Femme Cookbook: Simple, Splendid Food That French Women Cook Every Day. I used only 1 tablespoon of olive oil, instead of 2, giving it a Weight Watchers PointsPlus Value (PPV) of 2.

We all loved it so it’s going into my regular rotation salad and vegetable rotation.

Enjoy!

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Filed Under: 2 PointsPlus, Easy Healthy, Salads, Vegetables Tagged With: ,

{38 Power Foods} Skinny Broccoli Cheese Muffins

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Skinny Broccoli Cheese Muffins
Skinny Broccoli Cheese Muffins

Skinny Broccoli Cheese Muffins

Skinny, healthy, and delicious broccoli cheese muffins.

If you’re one of those people who thinks that muffins and quick breads have to be sweet to be good, I hope these savory broccoli cheese muffins help change your mind!

Looking for something a little different to highlight broccoli, this week’s 38 Power Foods group ingredient, I happened upon a recipe for fresh broccoli Parmesan muffins, in what has to be the best muffin cookbook of all time, 750 Best Muffin Recipes: Everything from breakfast classics to gluten-free, vegan and coffeehouse favorites. (You can read my full review here.)

Fridays, a group of bloggers,led by Mireya of My Healthy Eating Habits, is posting recipes using the healthy ingredients from Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, by Martha Stewart and the editors of  Whole Living Magazine.

If you haven’t seen the book, it’s definitely worth taking a peek. I’m more pleased with it with each passing week. The 38 Power Foods are categorized into 5 chapters: 1) Vegetables; 2) Fruits; 3) Grains and Legumes; 4) Nuts and Seeds; and 5) Eggs, Yogurt and Fish. Along with recipes for each ingredient, there’s interesting health information, as well as buying, storing, and preparation tips, making it a useful resource for anyone wanting to eat healthier.

This week’s Power Foods Ingredient is you guessed it – broccoli.

Not a week goes by when we don’t eat broccoli or broccolini at least once or twice, which turns out to be a good thing for our health. Packed with vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants that act like a broom to sweep away all kinds of cancer-causing free radicals, broccoli is the most nutritious cruciferous vegetable you can eat!

Since I love broccoli and muffins, combining the two seemed like a winning idea. I adapted the recipe slightly to make it Weight Watchers friendly and divided it in half to make 6 muffins instead of 12. (Portion control is one of my favorite strategies for staying slim.)

Enjoy!

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Filed Under: 5 PointsPlus, Breads & Muffins Tagged With: , , ,

{38 Power Foods} Marinated Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

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Marinated Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese
Marinated Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

Marinated Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

Roasted beets, sliced and marinated in a simple vinaigrette, then topped with goat cheese and mint. Deciding which recipe to make for this week’s 38 Power Foods group was easy. As soon as I spied this quick and easy recipe for marinated roasted beet salad with goat cheese and mint, I knew it was the one since I had everything I needed on hand except the beets.

Every Friday a group of bloggers led by Mireya of My Healthy Eating Habits, is working their way through the healthy ingredients contained within Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, from Martha Stewart and the editors of  Whole Living Magazine.

And as you’ve already guessed, this week’s Power Foods ingredient is beets.

If you haven’t seen the book, it’s definitely worth taking a peek. The 38 Power Foods are categorized into 5 chapters: 1) Vegetables; 2) Fruits; 3) Grains and Legumes; 4) Nuts and Seeds; and 5) Eggs, Yogurt and Fish. Along with recipes for each ingredient, there’s interesting health information, as well as buying, storing, and preparation tips, making it a useful resource for anyone wanting to eat healthier.

So what are beets health benefits exactly? Well, they’re low in calories, high in fiber, rich in iron, folic acid, and beta-carotene. Naturally sweet and delicious, they come in a rainbow of colors – red, white, golden and even candy cane striped (Chioggia).

Full of powerful antioxidants and phytonutrients, beets and may help protect against cancer, heart disease, and eye diseases. And their leafy greens are even more nutritious than the roots, so be sure to find a way to use them. (I usually just wash them, chop them and saute them like I would spinach or swiss chard.)

I did make a few minor changes to the recipe. First, instead of steaming the beets, I wrapped them in foil and roasted them in the toaster oven until tender because I think it’s easier. I also reduced the olive oil called for from 2 tablespoons to 2 teaspoons, which was more than enough for our tastes.

Everyone really enjoyed this simple marinated roasted beet salad with goat cheese and mint, so it’s getting added to my “Make Again” file.

Enjoy!
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Filed Under: 4 PointsPlus, Salads, Side Dishes Tagged With: , , ,

{38 Power Foods} Avocado Pear Smoothie

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Avocado Pear Smothie
Avocado Pear Smothie

Avocado Pear Smoothie

My exploration of power foods continues this week with this lovely pale green Avocado Pear Smoothie, a refreshing healthy way to start the day with just 4 Weight WatchersPointsPlus value.

A group of bloggers led by Mireya of My Healthy Eating Habits, is working their way through the healthy ingredients contained within Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, from Martha Stewart and the editors Whole Living Magazine.

This week’s Power Foods ingredient is Avocado, a personal favorite, so I ended up making two recipes from the book: this avocado pear smoothie and a delicious quinoa and corn salad with toasted pumpkin seeds and avocado that I lightened up to make more Weight Watchers friendly.

If you haven’t seen the book, it’s worth checking out. The 38 Power Foods are categorized into 5 chapters: 1) Vegetables; 2) Fruits; 3) Grains and Legumes; 4) Nuts and Seeds; and 5) Eggs, Yogurt and Fish. Along with recipes for each ingredient, there’s interesting health information, as well as buying, storing, and preparation tips, making it a useful resource.

Avocado is number 3 of 15 power foods included in the vegetables chapter.

Can you believe that I was well into my 20s before ever tasting an avocado? It was love at first bite and now I feel like I’m trying to make up for lost time! Fortunately, I live in Arizona where they are reasonably priced and plentiful, especially at this time of year.

With their rich, creamy texture, it’s easy to guess that avocados are high in fat. Thankfully, it’s the good kind – monounsaturated – which may help lower your LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and increase your HDL (“good”) cholesterol.

But I don’t think you’d ever guess just how rich in fiber avocados are (13 grams) or that gram for gram they have more potassium than bananas.  They also contain a healthy dose of beta carotene, as well as vitamins B6, C and E, folate, niacin and thiamin.

I use avocado all the time in salads, sandwiches, for garnishing soups, and of course, for guacamole, but I’d never used one in a smoothie until today.The original recipe called for silken tofu, but since I’m not a fan I used nonfat Greek yogurt instead. Light, creamy, refreshing, and slightly sweet, this lovely pale green smoothie is one I look forward to making again.

Enjoy!
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Filed Under: 4 PointsPlus, Breakfast & Brunch, Drinks, Easy Healthy, Snacks Tagged With: , ,

{38 Power Foods} Chilled Asparagus Soup with Spinach and Avocado

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Making Chilled Asparagus Soup with Spinach and Avocado in the Vitamix
Chilled Asparagus Soup with Spinach & Avocado

Chilled Asparagus Soup with Spinach and Avocado

The temperatures have soared into the triple digits here in Phoenix, so when I was trying to decide on a recipe for this week’s 38 Power Foods Group, started by Mireya of My Healthy Eating Habits, this one for chilled asparagus soup with spinach and avocado immediately caught my eye.

Each week we’re blogging about one of the ingredients in Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, from Martha Stewart and the editors Whole Living Magazine.

This week’s Power Foods ingredient is Asparagus and I chose to make one of the recipes featured in the book: Chilled Asparagus Soup with Spinach and Avocado.

The book’s introduction includes “10 Golden Rules” for eating healthy along with a brief glossary of common terms. The 38 Power Foods are broken down into 1 of 5 categories: 1) Vegetables; 2) Fruits; 3) Grains and Legumes; 4) Nuts and Seeds; and 5) Eggs, Yogurt and Fish.

There are 15 ingredients included in the Vegetables chapter, the second of which is asparagus. Information regarding the health benefits, along with buying, storing and preparation tips, and several recipes are included for each ingredient.

Asparagus comes into season in early spring, so this soup would be at it’s best then, when you can make it from young tender skinny stalks.

As for the health benefits of asparagus, it can fight a wide range of diseases and may help boost libido, contains more folate than any other vegetable, and is rich in vitamins A, C, and K, potassium, and selenium. It also has high doses of glutathione, that can help promote healthy cell replication, protect/repair your DNA, and minimize skin damage from sun exposure!

This is a simple no-cook soup that you can serve right from the blender, or chilled, which is what I opted to do. It took just a few minutes to prep the vegetables and blend them together in my Vitamix, until velvety smooth. The bright emerald green color of this soup was stunning.

Making Chilled Asparagus Soup with Spinach and Avocado in the Vitamix

Making Chilled Asparagus Soup with Spinach and Avocado

This chilled asparagus soup with spinach and avocado tasted bright and fresh and a bit “healthy” kinda like a green smoothie in a bowl. This is definitely a dish you know is good for you. We enjoyed it as part of a cold supper served with tomato, basil, and mozzarella salad and shrimp cocktail.

If you’re not a fan of green vegetables and/or green smoothies, it’s probably best to skip this one. But if you are, I’d definitely give it a go. I don’t think it’s the kind of dish I’d ever crave. But’s definitely one that’s as good for you as it is good. The perfect antidote to days or weeks of overindulging when you want something light and refreshing.

Enjoy!
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Filed Under: 3 PointsPlus, Easy Healthy, Soups, Stews & Chilis Tagged With: , , ,

{38 Power Foods} Easy Whole Wheat Pizza with Artichokes

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Whole Wheat Pizza with Artichokes
Whole Wheat Pizza with Artichokes

Whole Wheat Pizza with Artichokes

I have Mireya of My Healthy Eating Habits, to thank for this yummy whole wheat pizza with artichokes. I’m taking part in her new group that’s blogging a recipe from the cookbook, Power Foods: 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients, from Martha Stewart and the editors Whole Living Magazine, each week.

(As a Weight Watchers lifetime member who is in love with the PointsPlus 2012 program, how could I not participate in a group focusing on “power foods” since this is the term Weight Watchers uses to indicate the foods you should eat to get the most “bang for your PointsPlus value buck.” )

This week’s Power Foods ingredient is Artichokes. And as you can see, I chose to make one of the recipes featured in the book: Whole Wheat Pizza with Artichokes.

Whole Wheat Artichoke Pizza

Whole Wheat Artichoke Pizza

I’m enjoying the book, very much. (I bought the Kindle Version.) The introduction includes “10 Golden Rules” for eating healthy along with a brief glossary of common terms. The 38 Power Foods are broken down into 1 of 5 categories: 1) Vegetables; 2) Fruits; 3) Grains and Legumes; 4) Nuts and Seeds; and 5) Eggs, Yogurt and Fish.

There are 15 ingredients included in the Vegetables chapter, the first of which is artichokes. Information regarding the health benefits, along with buying, storing and preparation tips, and several recipes are included for each ingredient.

I knew that artichokes were low in calories (60) and high in fiber (6 g), but didn’t know they were a source of protein (4 g) or that they contained powerful antioxidants to boost liver health. They’re also a good source of magnesium, potassium, and folate.

And probably most interesting of all, artichokes stimulate our sweet receptors, helping to satiate our “sweet tooth.” Back in the 1930s, a scientist discovered that for many people, even a glass of water tastes sweet after eating artichokes! How cool is that?

I made a few minor adaptations to this recipe for Whole Wheat Pizza with Artichokes to make it a little easier and more Weight Watchers friendly. First, I used rinsed and drained artichoke hearts, instead of frozen. I substituted fat-free ricotta for the full fat kind, saving 1 PointsPlus value, and I used parmesan instead of pecorino, since that’s what I had in my pantry.

Homemade pizza really is quick and easy when you start with store-bought dough. More and more stores are carrying it in the refrigerator section. I used whole wheat pizza dough from Fresh & Easy.

Enjoy!
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Filed Under: 7 PointsPlus, Pizza & Sandwich Tagged With: , ,