Gael Greene’s Morning After Orange Fruit Soup – #46 on Gourmet’s 50 Women Game Changers in Food

Gael Greene's Morning After Orange Fruit Soup
Gael Greene's Morning After Orange Fruit Soup

Gael Greene's Morning After Orange Fruit Soup

Gael Greene’s Morning After Orange fruit soup – an interesting combination of frozen orange juice concentrate, quick cooking tapioca, and sugar, combined with fresh fruit – makes for a refreshing and delicious way to begin the day.

We enjoyed this orange fruit soup for breakfast this morning and look forward to having it again. It’s a perfect light and healthy breakfast option here in Phoenix, where the temperatures are sky high a good part of the year.

I have #46 on Gourmet’s List of 50 Women Game Changers in Food, American restaurant critic, author and novelist,  Gael Greene to thank for this unusual recipe. I’m quite sure I never would have discovered it, it  it weren’t for my participation with a group of food bloggers, led by Mary from One Perfect Bite, who have been cooking their way through the Gourmet list since last spring.

Who is Gael Greene you ask? (I had no idea and had to look her up. Do you ever wonder how you survived before Google and Wikipedia? I do.)

It turns out that Gael Greene was the Insatiable Critic for New York magazine for 40 years, where she helped change the way New Yorkers think about food. She became the magazine’s restaurant critic in the fall of 1968, when most New Yorkers were unsophisticated about food and celebrity chefs were virtually nonexistent.  According to Wikipedia, “She was a passionate early “foodie” before that word was used. Indeed, the American edition of The Foodie Handbook credited her with first using the word.”

You can read some of her fun reviews here on her blog: Insatiable-Critic.

Greene is also the author of two best selling novels and a memoir: Insatiable: Tales from a Life of Delicious Excess.

In 1981 she co-founded Citymeals-on-Wheels, along with teacher and food writer James Beard, to help fund weekend and holiday meals for homebound elderly people in New York City. She remains an active chair of the company’s board, hosting an annual Power Lunch for Women.

Gael explains in the headnote for this recipe on her website, “I don’t remember where I got the recipe for this refreshing and delicious fruit soup – always a waker-upper at my brunches for friends. If I stole it from you, please forgive me.”

Bowl of Morning After Orange Fruit Soup

Bowl of Morning After Orange Fruit Soup

I made the orange juice and tapioca mixture before bed last night and then popped it into the fridge. This morning, when I went to stir in the fruit, I thought it seemed a little too gelatinous and stirred in about 1/2 cup orange juice to loosen it up.

Morning after orange fruit soup ingredients

Morning After Orange Fruit Soup Ingredients

Each serving has about 137 calories and 4 Weight Watchers PointsPlus. Enjoy!
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Weight Watchers Friendly Tip: 24 Healthy Snacks for Weight Loss

Healthy Snacks for Weight Loss
Healthy Snacks for Weight Loss

Healthy Snacks for Weight Loss

When you are trying to lose weight, it’s tempting to try to see how long you can go without eating. But, it’s really not a great idea since there are so many ways it can backfire on you.

Going too long between meals can make you tired and cranky. (It sure does me, anyway.) It can also work against your weight loss efforts if you end up overeating later. What’s the point of starving yourself all day if you end up eating a whole day’s calories and more from dinner through bedtime?

That’s where healthy snacks come in. I’m not talking about mindless munching on junk. The key is to be strategic with your snacking.

When you are really hungry, the right kinds of snacks can give you the stamina to power through your day and lose weight, instead of getting caught in the chocolate and caffeine trap. (Or even worse, the starve and binge cycle.)

3 Basic Rules for Healthy Snacking

1. Never snack if you are not hungry.

2. Include some protein in your snacks. Protein keeps you feeling fuller longer than fat or carbs.

3. Choose real foods, not highly processed manufactured snack packs.

Here are some healthy snacks that will help you you feel energized and satisfied for hours. All have no more than 6 WW PointsPlus Value; most with just 2 to 3 WW Points+. By keeping a few of these easy healthy snack options around, you’ll avoid falling victim to the vending machine or convenience mart danger zones.

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Deborah Madison’s Tips for Eating More Fruits & Vegetables – Perfect for Weight Watchers Members

Borough Market London
Borough Market London

Ways to Enjoy More Fruits & Vegetables

Now that most fruits and vegetables have a 0 PointsPlus value on the Weight Watchers plan, are you looking for ways to eat more of them? I know I am. I guess it’s human nature to love what’s free!

I read a great interview with Deborah Madison in the January/February issue of Cooking Light, in which she discussed  some of her favorite ways to eat more fruits and vegetables. (Deborah is author of lots of wonderful cookbooks, including the classic, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone.)

She began by saying that the best thing we can do is change the way we think about fruits and vegetables – to flip our thinking upside down  - away from ‘getting our fruits and vegetables in’ and  toward – seeing them as offering pleasure.

This was an aha moment for me. It’s human nature to seek pleasure and avoid pain, so by flipping our  focus to the joy and pleasure fruits and vegetables can bring, it will be easy and fun to fill ourselves up with beautiful healthy 0 and low PointsPlus fruits and vegetables. How easy and healthy is that!

Here’s a List of the Tips for Enjoying More Fruits & Vegetables Deborah Shared in the Article:
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Easy Strawberry Shortcake

Strawberry Shortcake Photo Credit Flickr: Audrey Elizabeth

Strawberry Shortcake Photo Credit Flickr: Audrey Elizabeth

Strawberry shortcake is the perfect summer dessert, especially with these easy strawberry shortcake recipes to turn to.

As soon as strawberries begin appearing everywhere, my mind immediately turns to this easy luscious fruit filled dessert.

It’s loved by young and old alike and comes in lots of different styles and variations but is basically made by taking sliced strawberries, mixing them with sugar and letting them sit until they get juicy and then serving them them over either cake or a biscuit that you then top with a bit of whipped cream.

It really is a pretty simple delicious easy healthy dessert, especially if you keep the serving size reasonable.

I grew up eating strawberry shortcake made with biscuits so it’s still the way I prefer it. (I never liked those little individual sponge cakes that are displayed with the strawberries at the grocery store.)

If you prefer yours with cake, a lighter healthier option is angel food cake. It’s available in most every grocery store and has only about 75 calories per serving, making it a healthy easy option for your strawberry shortcake base.

I recently found a recipe that suggests grilling or heating your angel food cake slices in a pan, before topping them with strawberries and whipped cream, which sounds absolutely heavenly (Yes, I meant to say that!)

Getting back to the topic of biscuits, you have lots of choices here as well. To keep things super quick and easy, you could buy the refrigerated or frozen kind, begin with a baking mix, such as Bisquick, or make them from scratch.

I usually opt for Bisquick since it’s always in the pantry and is a little less work than making them from scratch.  There are lots of great options with Bisquick these days too – with heart healthy, trans fat free and gluten free versions to choose from.

When strawberries are in season, I hope you’ll give one of these easy strawberry shortcake recipes a try.


Classic Strawberry Shortcake with Bisquick

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

1 quart strawberries (4 cups), sliced
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/3 cups Bisquick
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup whipped cream or whipped topping

Directions

Put two cups of the strawberries in a medium bowl and then mash them with a fork or potato masher. Stir in the sugar and the remaining 2 cups of berries.  Put aside and let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.

Meanwhile, make your biscuits.  Preheat your oven to 425 F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Put the Bisquick, 3 tablespoons sugar, the milk and butter in a medium bowl and stir until the mixture comes together to form a soft dough. Place 8 evenly sized spoonfuls of dough on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart from each other.

Bake until lightly golden, 8-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack, allowing the biscuits to cool for about 15 minutes.

For each serving, split a biscuit in half with a knife and place it in a bowl. Fill and top with strawberries and whipped cream.

Cook’s tip: You an also bake one big shortcake and then cut it into 6 wedges.  Spread the dough in an ungreased 8-inch round baking pan and bake until lightly golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 minutes. Cut into 8 wedges and then split each wedge and fill and top as you would the drop shortcake biscuits.

Nutritional Estimates Per Serving (1/8th): 300 calories, 12.3 g fat, 44.7 g carbs, 2.1 g fiber, 3.9 g protein and 8 WW PointsPlus Value.


Recipe for Easy Shortcake Biscuits from Scratch

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup firm butter
3/4 cup milk
1 large egg, slightly beaten

Directions

Heat oven to 375 F. Grease the bottom and side of a 8-inch or 9-inch round baking pan and then dust the pan with flour and tap out any excess.

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Mix in the butter with a pastry blender or a fork until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. (You can also do this by pulsing several times in a food processor.) Stir in the milk and egg just until blended. Spoon the dough into a pan and spread it out evenly.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes.

Cut the shortcake into 8 wedges. For each serving, split each wedge in half then fill and top each wedge with strawberries and whipped cream.

Nutritional estimates per serving: 280 calories, 9.7 g fat, 44.1 g carbs, 2.3 g fiber, 5.5 g protein and 8 WW PointsPlus Value


Recipe for Gluten Free Shortcake Biscuits

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 12 minutes
Yield: 8 servings

I love that Bisquick is now available gluten free so all of those suffering from gluten sensitivity or intolerance can indulge in delicious strawberry shortcake too.

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups Biscuick gluten free mix
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3/4 cup milk
3 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Heat the oven to 425 F. Grease a cookie sheet.

In a medium bowl, combine the Bisquick mix and 1/4 cup of sugar. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in the milk, eggs and vanilla, just until combined.

Place 6 evenly sized spoonfuls of dough on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart from each other.

Bake until lightly golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. For each serving, split a shortcake in half then fill and top with strawberries and whipped cream.


Easy Angel Food Cake Strawberry Shortcake with Balsamic

This is an easy healthy and sophisticated version of strawberry shortcake, definitely designed for grown up taste buds, thanks to the addition of balsamic vinegar and cracked black pepper. Since the recipe calls for no added sugar, use the sweetest, ripest, juiciest strawberries you can find.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

2 cups sliced strawberries
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
Pinch of freshly cracked black pepper
1 tablespoon butter (optional)
4 wedges of angel food cake, each 1-inch thick
1/2 cup whipped cream

Directions

Mix the strawberries, vinegar and pepper in a bowl and let sit for 10 to 15 minutes to marinate.

Heat a grill, stovetop grill pan or nonstick frying pan until hot. (If you are using a pan, add the butter; if you are grilling leave the butter out.) Add the cake slices and cook on both side until caramelized and toasted. Transfer to 4 bowls or dessert plates. Top with the strawberries and their liquid and a dollop of whipped cream.

Nutritional Estimates Per Serving: 146 calories, 5.6 g fat, 22.1 g carbs, 1.9 g fat, 2.3 g protein and 4 WW PointsPlus Value


Sources: Betty Crocker Ultimate Bisquick Cookbook: Hundreds of new recipes, plus back-of-the-box favorites, Betty Crocker Cookbook: Everything You Need to Know to Cook Today, New Tenth Edition, Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide

Links:

Simple Strawberry Cake – In Erika’s Kitchen
Gluten Free Strawberry Cake – The Cake Mix Doctor
Mom’s Easy Strawberry Cake – Mommy’s Kitchen
Strawberry Yogurt Cake – Betty Crocker
Healthy Strawberry Muffins – Whole Living
Simple Strawberry Dessert – Simple Daily Recipes
Strawberry Basil Sorbet – Enlightened Cooking
Strawberry Crepes- Ashley Memory at World of Crepes.

Related Posts:

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies – the flavors of strawberry shortcake in little cookies
Simple Banana Cake – simple easy banana cake that begins with a mix
Easy Blueberry Cheesecake Bars – simple homemade cheesecake bars embellished with fresh blueberries and jam

Breakfast Fruit Parfaits & Other Easy Summer Breakfast Recipes

Fruit Parfait
Breakfast Yogurt Granola Parfait

Yogurt, Strawberry and Granola Breakfast Parfait

As temperatures continue to rise well into the hundreds here in Phoenix, my interest in refreshing easy breakfast recipes and easy fruit recipes and easy summer recipes is increasing too.

I’m still enjoying the muesli recipes very much. The trick is remembering to assemble the muesli before bed, something that hasn’t become a habit yet.

Mornings I realize I forgot to stir together my oats, yogurt, fruit and nuts, I often turn to another of those quick easy breakfast recipes that is especially perfect for summer: magical yogurt breakfast cream.

Breakfast Smoothies are another delicious way to get your day started on a healthy note and I’ve always been a fan of cottage cheese since it can be enjoyed in so many ways and a great breakfast cookie recipe can be fun from time to time.

Sometimes I want something a little more substantial than a healthy smoothie and I’m out of cottage cheese. What then?

How about a breakfast fruit parfait? With a variety of tasty fruits widely available and my love of yogurt, nuts, flax, and crunchy cereal, a layered parfait seems like another easy breakfast recipes winner for summer.

Breakfast Fruit Parfait Recipe

When assembling my morning breakfast parfait I choose whatever seasonal fruit is ripe and appealing. I’ve been using mostly Greek-style yogurt too. I love its rich creamy texture, but feel free to choose whatever form of plain yogurt you like best. Of course, you can opt for a pre-sweetened fruit flavored yogurt, but the amount of sugar and calories you are consuming will increase significantly. My favorite crunchy cereals include homemade granola and Grape-nuts and with nuts, I usually reach for almonds or walnuts for their omega-3 boost.

  • 1 1/2 cups fruit of your choice
  • 1/2 cup plain low fat or  nonfat yogurt
  • 2 teaspoons honey, agave syrup or maple syrup
  • 2-3 tablespoons toasted chopped nuts, crunchy cereal, low fat granola or or coconut — in any combination you desire

Spoon half of the fruit into a glass or bowl. Spoon half the yogurt on top and drizzle with half your sweetener. Sprinkle with half of your selected crunch toppings and then repeat the layers. Serve immediately. This easy breakfast fruit parfait recipe makes one delicious serving.

Some of My Favorite Breakfast Fruit Parfait Combinations:

  • Nectarine, blueberry and almond breakfast parfait
  • Peach, raspberry, and Grape-nuts breakfast parfait
  • Banana, pineapple, coconut, and walnut breakfast parfait
  • Watermelon, cantaloupe, and strawberry and granola breakfast parfait
  • Blueberry, strawberry, blackberry and granola parfait

The nutritional estimates and Weight Watchers PointsPlus value will vary depending on what kind of yogurt, fruit and topping you use. Most that I’ve calculated have between 4 and 6 PointsPlus values.

I hope you will give one of these delicious breakfast fruit parfaits a try when you are looking for healthy easy breakfast recipes solutions for summer and would love to hear about your favorite flavor combination. Inspiration for these easy breakfast fruit parfaits comes from the wonderful book, The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight and Eating Great by Pam Anderson.

More Easy Recipes for Breakfast

7 Healthy Blueberry Muffin Recipes – gathered from my easy recipe files and from around the web
8 Breakfast Cookie Recipes – gathered from my simple quick and easy recipes and from around the web
Banana Oatmeal Cookies – Easy cookies made from oats and bananas that are healthy enough for a quick and easy breakfast

 

Healthy Smoothie Recipe For Breakfast and Beyond

Healthy Smoothie
Healthy Smoothie

Healthy Smoothie

When the weather turns hot I love to start the day with a healthy smoothie.

Healthy smoothies are a simple way to get the day started in a cool refreshing way while providing a delicious source of healthy protein, fiber and phytonutrients.

There are gazillions of healthy smoothie recipes and healthy breakfast smoothie recipes to choose from, but in the name of keeping things simple (including smoothie making) all you really need is a basic smoothie recipe to use as a template from which you can create your own delicious variations till your heart’s content.

And while smoothies are a great quick and easy healthy breakfast  solution, they also make a perfect light summer lunch or mid afternoon pick me up too.

I’ve been having a blast making all kinds of healthy smoothies since I got my Vitamix. (My sister has been telling me for years that it was awesome and I finally gave in and make the big investment. I’m so glad I did. I love making the creamiest smoothies and soups with it.)

Of course, you don’t need a Vitamix for making smoothies. Any strong blender will do!

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