Food: January 2010: Healthy Eating

So my blogs have been decidedly absent as we were away for ten days, but I was working away on recipes!  Given the month of new beginnings, I have focused my attention on healthy, whole food eating.  Many of you have contacted me about wanting more menu plans and more healthy inspirations after a holiday season of vice.  Inspired by the diet that everyone is talking about  - the Mayo Clinic Diet, I have been spending my vacation experimenting and coming up with recipes that follow these simple ideas: eat real food, eat 3-4 more servings of vegetables and the same of fruit everyday, eat lean meats, eggs and fishes- but less than the size a deck of cards everyday, no sugar, eat all whole grains, eat breakfast and eat healthy fats.  Generally whole foods of whole grains, vegetables, fruits and lean proteins are the household norm, but the month of december is generally the exclusion with all the "festivus for the rest of us" that goes on.  This month will feature some takes on that approach with ideas for making them kid and adult friendly.  If your kids are better with spices, make them together! If not, check out my kid version. Lets start with a super quick breakfast for the kids with one for the adults as well.  When making the transition to healthy foods, I always recommend using Whole Foods short-cuts (ex. buying salsa fresca in the vegetable section rather than making yourself), you will spend more money that way but its a great way to get started and later you can make your own versions.  All the ingredients below can be found at Whole Foods but also at most grocery stores.


Omelette for 2 Adults:


Ingredients for adult omelette - 2 servings, each roughly 100 calories
1/2 cup egg whites (I like Organic Valley - the price is great, and they are pasteurized)
2 teaspoons canola oil
1 cup baby organic arugula (Olivia's organics is the best!)
4 tablespoons Whole Foods Salsa Fresca (if you are making your own, use chopped tomatoes, red onions, scallions and cilantro)
1/4 cup part skim grated mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste


Serve with a mini-whole wheat bagel toasted and topped with 1 tablespoon 365 whipped cream cheese (135 calories) for a total of 235 calorie breakfast.


Ingredients for Children's Omelette - serves 2
2 eggs
2 teaspoons canola oil
1/4 cup whole milk or 2% depending on your child's age
8 baby spinach leaves stacked, rolled and julienne both ways for a fine dice
1/4 cup grated part skim mozzarella


Serve with mini-whole wheat bagel with your child's choice of peanut butter, almond or soy nut butter, or cream cheese.  I tend to have my little ones split a bagel, or it will fill them up leaving no room for the yummy eggs.


Directions:
Break the kids eggs and whip them with the milk, set aside.  Grate the cheese and measure for each omelette.  Chop the kids spinach ( my turns out so small that when cooked, I can refer to them as green eggs and they are not even seeing the spinach leaf - especially because its on the inside.)  Take two small omelette pans on put them on medium heat, pouring the canola oil into each and spreading it over the bottom of the pan with a cooking brush.  The oil should be hot almost immediately, so pour the kids eggs into one pan and the whites into the other and turn both to med-low heat.  To the kids omelette, add the spinach on one side of the omelette and to the adults, the salsa and arugula, salt and pepper on one side.  Using a rubber spatula, work around the edges of the omelette, lifting the edges slightly to ensure that you will be able to lift and fold.  If at any point it smells or looks like the bottom is browning at this point, turn the stove to low immediately.  If not, keep on medium-low.  When the omelets are getting firm on the bottom and only really runny in the middle of the top, add one half of the cheese to each on the side with the veggies and fold the omelette empty side over the veggie side so that it looks like a half- moon or a crescent.  Turn the pan to low, add the remaining cheese on top of the crescents and cover.  Cook no more than 2 minutes then turn off the heat and keep the cover on and let sit another minutes to fully melt the top cheese on each.  serve!


With all the yummy greens in the house - think about an arugula and spinach salad for lunch a sliced fresh juicy, nectarines on top, reduced-fat feta cheese, sauteed yellow onions, slivered almonds, 1/4 avocado and drizzled with olive oil and lemon or lime juice.