Bev Davis
Register-Herald Senior Editor
January 15, 2008 10:09 pm
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With the New Year’s top resolution to lose weight or eat more healthfully still a priority, a Beckley cooking instructor offered her class some figure-friendly recipes.
“After all the heavy holiday meals and rich desserts, people are ready to eat something a little more on the light side, anyway,” said Sawsan Galal, an adjunct instructor at the National Institute for Culinary Arts at Mountain State University. “It’s also the time of the year that people resolve to be more conscientious about their eating habits.”
One way to avoid the pitfalls that come with such resolutions is to lower fat content, but not eliminate fats completely,” Galal said.
“Fat is where the flavor is. If we eliminate fats altogether, we just wind up craving them more, and it’s easy to lose our focus and fall back into bad eating habits,” she said.
Using nuts helps add healthy fats into the diet, along with lots of texture and taste. Her recipe for Chinese chicken breast with peanuts combines the best of oriental flavors with America’s love for peanuts for a satisfying entree that won’t leave you craving unhealthy snacks later on.
Adding more vegetables helps build a diet rich in nutrients.
“Most vegetables are also very versatile and lend themselves to being prepared in a lot of different ways,” Galal said.
Cheesy zucchini boats, for example, combine parmesan and mozzarella cheese, spices and walnuts that make a hearty meals.
Preparing some healthy snacks to keep on hand when an attack of “the munchies” comes also helps keep sensible eating a priority.
Peppered rosemary oat crackers provide a nutritious snack that won’t leave you feeling guilty.
“If we take the time to prepare foods that are good as well as good for us, we’re more likely to stick with our healthy eating goals,” Galal said. “It’s time well spent, and it’s part of the strategy we need to be successful in managing not only our weight, but our health as well.”
Galal adapted these recipes from Epicurious.com:
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon chopped rosemary leaves
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Put the oats into a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add flour, salt, pepper, rosemary, baking powder and butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal.
Add milk and pulse until a dough forms — about 15 seconds.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick (about a 13-inch round) and cut out about 60 square oatcakes.
Arrange oatcakes on baking sheets 1 inch apart and bake in the middle of the oven 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown on the bottom. Transfer oatcakes to a rack and cool completely.
4 zucchini, halved lengthwise
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
5 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper
6 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Using a small spoon, scoop out the zucchini flesh, leaving a 1/4-to-1/2-inch thick shell. Wrap the zucchini flesh in a paper towel and squeeze out any excess liquid; discard the liquid and set aside the flesh. Place the zucchini shells cut side down on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over high heat. Add the zucchini flesh and onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Push the vegetables to the side of the pan. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil and the bread crumbs and toast the bread crumbs for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat. Stir in the nuts and oregano, then combine with the vegetables. Season with salt and pepper.
Flip over the zucchini shells and line the bottoms with the mozzarella. Pack in the filling. Sprinkle the parmesan on top. Bake until the zucchini is tender when pierced with a form, 20-25 minutes.
1 pair chicken breasts
1 scallion
1 small clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon sugar
Few drops vinegar
1 teaspoon sherry
1 slice fresh ginger, minced
Few drops sesame seed oil
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/4 blanched peanuts
1/2 to 1 teaspoon hot chili pepper flakes, to taste
Cut chicken meat from bone. Peel off skin and discard. Cut meat into dice a little larger than the peanuts. Split scallion lengthwise and cut into 1-inch sections. Cut garlic into slivers.
Mix chicken with salt, 1 teaspoon soy sauce and 1 tablespoon cornstarch. In a small bowl, mix the remaining soy sauce with cornstarch, monosodium glutamate, sugar, vinegar, sherry, scallion, garlic, ginger and sesame seed oil.
Heat oil in frying pan. Add peanuts and stir until golden Add first hot pepper flakes, then chicken. Stir fry in a wok for 1 minute.
Stir the mixture in a small bowl until smooth. Add to the chicken and stir fry until sauce thickens and coats the chicken.
— E-mail:
bdavis@register-herald.com
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Photos
Chinese chicken breast with peanuts combines some of the best oriental flavors with the crunch of an American favorite. Register-Herald Photographer