I don't cook. I'm a once every two-weeks kinda cook (and that's rare). I am also not good at cooking and struggle to follow a recipe properly. Part of my problem is that I try to lower the fat, calorie and sugar content of a lot of recipes to get more food for less "calorie-cost." Sometimes the recipes work as in the case my awesome lowfat brownie recipe. Kids love them. I've won fans at parties with them. That recipe rocks.
Other times my attempts to make a swap fail. Miserably. I once attempted to make a lowfat, low-sugar key lime pie. It was so horrendous that my dog wouldn't even try it. He would eat sawdust and grass but not my drywall-looking key lime pie. Yeah, that bad.
So I was thrilled with the tips I learned from Cooper Wellness' Director of Nutrition Kathy Duran-Thal. She gave me a bunch, so many that I couldn't share them all in the one-minute and forty-five second piece. I used her top 3 swaps (hint: Fage Greek yogurt, Cabot reduced fat cheese and silken tofu) for our Get Healthy Texas segment on CBS11 & TXA21 and received a huge response.
But I wasn't content just doing a story on the swaps. I wanted to try some of the recipes she told me were flavorful, healthy and easy to make. I went for the Halibut with Roasted Tomatoes and Balsamic Glaze. It seemed easy enough. (Here's a link to the recipe). I had to get help with the fish from the store. Having tried to just cut skin off a filet and failing in the past, I needed the fish peeps to do it for me.
With my two filets in-hand I went about making my dish. It was beyond easy. It took longer to make the balsamic glaze than it did the entire dish. I sliced the cherry tomatoes, placed them next my seasoned fish and threw them in the oven. I tore my basil and mashed it with the tomatoes and poured the beautiful balsamic glaze over the finished product and it was done!
It was delicious. Seriously tasty, fulfilling and so painfully easy that it could totally become something I actually make on a regular basis.
Duran-Thal had another fabulous tip that I thought was really effective, easy and sort of a "why didn't I think of that". Simply mix a few low-sugar, whole grain cereals like a Kashi Good Friends and maybe some Fiber One. To that mixture, add some dark chocolate and some dried cranberries or some other dried fruit of your choice. Store the mix in a big, clear container in your kitchen with a pre-measured serving scoop in the container. A quarter-cup measuring spoon is ideal. It's easy to see and is a great way to get a snack, that's around 50 calories and truly satiates your appetite. The key there: not going back for more!
All of these tips were so easy, doable and delicious. Even for the idiot kitchen neophyte like me!
