Sorta Healthy, Fruity Pizza

With this no-sugar plan I am attempting, I tried and tried to think of something without sugar or flour in it to take to book club.  Sure, I could've taken black bean dip, or a vegetable plate, or a dozen other items.  But it was book club.

You can't possibly understand how impossible it is to eat healthy at book club.  Unless you've been in a book club, especially a book club like my book club.

It's the kind of book club where we members all cook the yummiest-sounding, fattiest recipes we can find. The kind where the host provides lots of yummy drinks.  And it's definitely the kind where we all over-indulge and spend almost no time talking about the books we all actually do read.  You know, it's that kind of book club.

Luckily for my waistline, it only happens once a month.

This particular book club was the last Friday of my spring break.  As you may remember, I teach high school.  On this particular Friday, I had not eaten (much) sugar for almost three weeks.  So I decided to do the logical thing to comfort myself regarding my impending return to work: make fruit pizza.

If you have ever had fruit pizza, you already know that, as healthy as it may sound, it isn't very healthy.  See, it has a lot of fruit on it, so you can look at it and pretend you are being conscientious about your caloric intake.

Then you realize that the crust of fruit pizza is made of cookie dough.

I still am including my fruit pizza recipe here, because honestly it is a great way to encourage picky child eaters to eat a great deal of fruit.  In addition, the topping of the pizza does have nutritional value.  If you don't eat too large a slice, it's not a horrible snack.

Besides, it's pretty.

Fruit Pizza

One package refrigerated sugar cookie dough (low-sugar if you can find it – good luck)

1 1/2 containers 1/3 less fat strawberry-flavored cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar (optional)

1 tsp. vanilla

a variety of colorful, sliced fruit

Preheat your oven according to cookie dough package directions.  Using cooking spray, lightly grease a round pizza pan.

Unroll your entire package of cookie dough into a crust using a rolling pan.  Bake large, pizza-shaped cookie according to package directions.  Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

fruit pizza crust, cooling

When considering what fruit to use for the pizza, I like to have a variety of color.  In addition, very juicy fruits, like pineapple, can make your pizza soggy.  For this pizza I chose green grapes, blueberries, strawberries and kiwi.  Kiwi is a must.  Because it's pretty.  

I've also used bananas.  They are not as attractive on the pizza – they turn brown quickly.  However, they taste really good on the pizza.  It is your call.  Depends on whether you are trying to impress someone or you're just going to scarf the entire thing down yourself.  

Cut all your fruit into cute little pieces.  I didn't cut my blueberries, because blueberries already are cute little pieces.  You may want to make sure the fruit pieces of the same fruit are the same size.  Obviously, you can take creative liberty here because the fact you are making this recipe automatically makes you a fruit artist.  Cool, huh?

Have you noticed I never use a cutting board?  Well, unless I am cutting something ooky and gooky like meat.  What's the point of having stone countertops if you don't use them? Am I right?

Mix cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in a bowl.  If you do not add the sugar, your "sauce" will still taste plenty good.  Of course, I like sugar, so I wanted to add sugar.  You could be better, smarter, more disciplined than me.  But then, that's not very fun.  Just sayin'.

Spread your "sauce" on your "pizza crust."

Arrange your fruit in a beautiful, creative pattern.  Get in touch with your inner artist.  And you're finished with a tasty, gorgeous dessert that may or may not be healthy, depending on your perspective.

Changes for the Better

So here's the deal: I have been so busy lately that I cannot even sit down for 10 seconds to write.  I hate it when people make excuses about why they haven't been blogging; don't you hate it?

But seriously.  I have been busy helping with parties for my sister's wedding. Which is in six weeks. When I have to wear a dress the color of my skin.  Standing next to at least four, six-foot-tall, blonde, supermodel types.  Tan supermodels.

And I've also been busy because I'm in charge of planning my 10-year class reunion.  Oh, I didn't mention that?  Yes, this summer is my class reunion.  You know. The one where everyone shows up to see who is rich or overweight.  And I have to go. Because I'm planning it. Because 10 years ago I thought it would be cool to plan.  Before I realized why people attend reunions.

No, I'm not really that cynical.  Actually, I am very extra super excited for both of these events.  But they are motivating me to get my rear in motion.

Except, of course, I'm too busy to move rear.  Because I'm planning all these events.  That I want to look good at.

Come to find out, it takes time to get in real shape.  I needed to find a way to fake it.  Therefore, I decided the best way to make the number on the scale go down, for me, was to quit eating so much sugar.

There, I typed it.  Now that you all know about it, I can no longer cheat.  Very much.

And since I decided to cut back my sugar intake, I also decided to quit white flour altogether.  (Which reminds me, I was making a cupcake recipe – they weren't for me, don't worry – from Martha Stewart's Web site, and she spelled cake flour, "flower."  Oh, it just cracked me up. I mean, she thinks she's perfect, but she's getting her flowers mixed up.  Sounds like something Amelia Bedelia would do: Plant cake flour in the garden.  Hehe.)

I don't eat very much white flour anyway.  Whole grains are tasty.

I remember back in the day, five years ago, when I was living in northeastern Kansas, they came out with whole grain pasta.  It tasted like absolute sandpaper.  (Or maybe it just seemed that way because that entire year leaves a sandpaper taste in my mouth, but that's a different post.)

Whole grain pasta has improved so much that I can barely tell the difference between it and the real thing!  Whole grains metabolize so much differently than processed grains; you should all switch to whole grain pasta immediately.

Anyway, here's the good news: I lost two whole pounds last week, and that's really all I did differently.  It's the sugar.  I eat. A lot. Of sugar.  This no sugar thing stinks, but it's awesome. And just so you know, I WILL be having wedding cake at my sister's wedding.  An entire, frosting-covered piece.

In other news, I am probably going to be changing my blog to three sections soon: Healthy Eating, Healthy Living, and Healthy Little Ones.  It's going to be so much fun. I can hardly wait.

Creamy Tomato Soup – Without the Cream

My dad, being the sweet man he is, purchased me a really cool magazine called The Best of America's Test Kitchen: Best Recipes and Reviews 2010.  It's really fun to look through, because basically the authors of the articles have worked to create the "best" version of this or that.

Since I decided today I was giving up white flour and sugar until my sister's wedding (don't worry, we'll discuss and debate this idea later this week), I was thrilled when I found a neat recipe for tomato soup that appeared almost healthy.

The author of the article accompanying the recipe claimed he (she?) wanted to omit cream because cream mutes tomato flavor.  Secretly I think the author was thinking about homegirls like me who want to at least pretend to cook healthy food for their families.

I love soup ... well, homemade soup anyway.  I also really enjoy tomatoes in the summer, and I seem to be on a summer eating kick.  The neat thing about this soup is it uses canned tomatoes, so you can make tasty homemade tomato soup year-round.

This soup was so easy to make, that I think I even got it right the first time.  I may love to cook and bake, but it seems like I never get it right the first time.

I'd give you my husband's recommendation, but when we sat down I learned he does not like tomato soup.  Married four years and you think I'd know everything he doesn't like... but the list is just so long.

Creamless Creamy Tomato Soup

1/4 extra-virgin olive oil
1 onion, chopped medium (about 1 cup)
3 medium garlic cloves, minced
pinched red pepper flakes (optional)
1 bay leaf
2 (28-ounce) cans whole tomatoes
1 tablespoon brown sugar
3 slices high-quality white sandwich bread, crusts removed, torn into 1-inch pieces
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 T brandy (optional)
salt and pepper
1/4 cup chopped chives

-J Kenji Lopez-Alt from Cook's Illustrated


Heat your olive oil in a Dutch oven.  By the way, I did not use all the olive oil the recipe called for, because goodness that is a lot of olive oil.  You are welcome to do as you please.

Heat the olive oil until it simmers and add the onions, garlic and bay leaf.  I did not use the red pepper flakes, because I wanted this to be all about the tomato.

Open up those cans and pour in all those tomatoes.  Mmmmm they smell so good.

I sort of fell in love with this tomato.  Can you guess which one?  It was just so perfect, with all its skin perfectly removed.  I really, really didn't want to smash it with my potato masher, which is what comes next.  Mash those tomatoes until no pieces bigger than 2 inches remain.  So says Lopez-Alt.  But don't mash the bay leaf... it gets to live.  But not my poor tomato.

Stir in the sugar.

And the bread.  OK, time out here.  Since I am not eating sugar or white flour, I decided I had to choose one to eliminate.  Since I love sweet, I chose white bread.  I used whole wheat bread instead.  I also used the crusts.  I do not recommend using the crusts.  But I thought the wheat bread was just fine.

Bring the soup to a boil.  Cook, stirring occassionally, until the bread starts to  break down.  This is about 5 minutes.  Remove the bay leaf.

At this point I am missing a photo, because my blender exploded.  I was too embarrassed to take photos of my blender shooting tomato all over my kitchen, so please excuse the lack of illustration.

Put about half the mixture from your Dutch oven into your blender, add a little more olive oil and mix until mixture is smooth and creamy.  The recipe says this is 2-3 minutes, but I think you can do it for about 1 and be just fine.

Return the first half to a bowl and put the remaining mixture from the Dutch oven in the blender.  Mix until smooth.  Put both halves back into the Dutch oven. Add in your 2 cups chicken broth. Bring to a boil, and then you are ready to serve.

Serve with black pepper and chives if you wish.  

Chicken Salad to Summon Summer

I love chicken salad.

It reminds me of a warm summer day.  This isn't summer?  Hmm.  Guess I'll make it anyway.

I feel that chicken salad is like meatloaf: Everybody's favorite is different.  It's almost risky to make your chicken salad for company.  But this chicken salad I would make for you, if you were my company.

I have three favorite kinds of chicken salad. 1. My mom's (duh).  2. My friend Delena 's.  It's ranchy carrotty.  (This isn't the link to her recipe; it's the link to her blog. I don't know if her recipe is on her blog archives somewhere or not.) 3. This kind.

A couple years ago my husband and I went to Fort Worth, Texas, to visit a friend.  We went to some soupy sandwich lunch spot.  I have no idea what it was called.  I got chicken salad.

Upon reflection, I have no idea why I got chicken salad.  It's usually so filled with fatty mayonnaise that I would choose something else.  Guess it sounded really good; either that, or I was pregnant.  That's probably it, considering I've been pregnant since I got married. (Don't worry; I am NOT pregnant.)

When I arrived back home, I immediately tried to duplicate the recipe.  This is what I came up with: It's low-calorie, but it's very sweet.  If you aren't into sweet, you may want to alter the ingredients ... a lot.

Cranberry-Orange Chicken Salad
(serves 4)

3 large cooked and cooled chicken breasts
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1/2 cup Craisins or other brand of dried cranberries
1/2 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. orange juice
1 Tbsp. honey
low-calorie, whole grain buns or bread

Cook your chicken breasts however you like to cook chicken breasts.  I like to spray mine with olive oil-based cooking spray, sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover in foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes.  You may have a better method.

Let your breasts cool (because who likes hot chicken salad?) and cut into large chunks.  This is where you need your food processor.

I have mixed emotions about food processors.  They are so handy and so difficult all at once.  Mine weighs as much as my husband.  It also has 82 parts that all need to be hand-washed.

Yet nothing can chop my chicken like my food processor.  Use a blender if you must, but I forever pledge my loyalty to Mr. Cuisinart Q. Foodprocessor.

Place your chicken pieces in the food processor.

Pulse five or six times, until your chicken is chopped into nice sizes.  I'm not talking smithereens, just a nice size like this:

Now it is time to toss in your almonds.  Almonds give the salad the crunch.  And you know it needs the crunch.

The Craisins give it color, flavor and that delicious chewy texture.

Now it's time for the dressing.  You should probably get out another small bowl for this part.  Dressings are scary when it comes to calories.  This one isn't too bad.  I don't like my chicken to be drowning in dressing anyway, and the low-fat mayo is kinda tasty.  I use Kraft.  You can use whatever you have, but I do recommend low-fat.

Take your 1/3 cup mayo and mix in 1 Tbsp. of orange juice and your 1 Tbsp. honey.  Actually, I'd start with slightly less OJ.  If you don't, you might end up with soggy, nasty chicken salad.  I've never done that, of course.  Just a hunch.

Mix and then add to your salad.

Stir it up, and you should have the perfect amount of moisture in your salad – just enough, not too much.

To avoid carbohydrate indulgence, you could eat your chicken salad over lettuce, by itself.  But that's not my style.

These are so tasty, and each one has 110 calories.  I only ate half of it.  It was so worth 55 calories.

The final product looked like this:

Doesn't that just make you want summer?  Sweet summer, if I can't have you, I'll just eat your sandwiches.

The Cost of Good Health

If our government really wanted to do something productive, it would regulate the prices of healthy food. Seriously, this issue might infuriate me as much as anything that happens at my local grocery store.

Well, OK, the thing that makes me the most angry is when the store raises the price of something and sticks a little sign on it that says "New LOW Price."  I may be stupid, ladies and gentlemen, but I do realize that sign means the store raised the price of an item, not lowered the price.  And it is just downright insulting store personnel think that sign is going to fool me.

But that is not what I want to discuss in this post.  I want to talk about the price of healthy stuff.

Yesterday I went to the grocery store because I forgot an ingredient I needed to make my chocolate pie for book club.  I understand that chocolate pie is not healthy, and that is why I am not giving you the recipe for my delicious pie.  (However, if you want to hear a funny story about chocolate pie, read "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett.)

I forgot to get sweetened condensed milk at the store the night before.  Sweetened condensed milk is terrible for you, and I just don't recommend eating very much of it.  Unless you are making my chocolate pie, in which case you will need to purchase some.

I always use fat-free sweetened condensed milk, because it makes me feel just a tiny, teeny, eensy-weensy bit better about eating the chocolate pie.  Besides, it tastes exactly the same.

I arrive at the baking aisle, and I notice that sweetened condensed milk, in every brand and variety, is on sale for $1.65.  I always love a good deal, so I am pleased about this.  Until I realize that the only type of sweetened condensed milk not on sale is the one variety my store carries in fat-free, which still is priced at $2.55.

This brings on all kinds of irrational anger.  "Bleepedy-bleep-bleep-bleep!" I scream inside my head.

This single incident reminds me about how often this happens with all kinds of food.  The healthy brands of frozen meals nearly always are more expensive than the fattening TV dinners.  Lean ground beef costs dollars more a pound than really nasty fatty ground beef.  Reduced-fat crackers and cookies and 100-calorie packs cost a great deal more than the regular variety. And it goes on.

I haven't even mentioned how expensive fresh produce is, and you cannot have a healthy diet without it. To be healthy in this country, you must spend more money.

I have read countless health articles and Web sites that try to deny the fact it is more expensive to eat healthier.  They do not want people to use this as an excuse.

BUT IT'S TRUE.  It may be an excuse, but it is a valid one.

Please click here to watch a Center for Disease Control map of how the United States has gotten more and more obese in the past 25 years.  It is fascinatingly horrifying.

Yet the entire food industry is making it really difficult for people to purchase healthy things at a reasonable cost.  I know this must be a factor for a lot of people, because I am not terribly poor and still weekly I have to force myself not to buy the less expensive, much less heart-healthy ground beef.

Truly, if I had unlimited cash flow, my groceries would be much healthier than they already are. And they are pretty darn healthy as it is.  Think of the people who just can't afford the fat-free sweetened condensed milk.  They are forced to eat a McDonald's, buy the heart-attack hamburger at the grocery store, and eat slightly more fattening chocolate pie.

Is cost the reason why obesity exists? No.  Obesity exists because of sedentary lifestyles and poor eating habits.  But do grocery costs aid in the fight against obesity? No.  It is just one more deterrent to a healthy lifestyle.

I, for one, am tired of it.  I still bought the fat-free variety of sweetened condensed milk.  I was not going to consume a handful of additional calories because the grocer deemed it more cost-effective, but I feel taken advantage of.  The grocer knows being healthy is important enough to me that I will pay more.  His trick works on me.

But what about the people whose tight budgets mean they don't have a choice?

Hurt Pride, Hurt Rear

This morning my friend (who is really cute and single, by the way, so if you know any decent single men HOLLA) and I decided to try a new exercise class.  Trying a new class is usually a good idea.  I mean, it gets you out of your routine, works different muscles and can even break an exercise rut.

The class we selected was labeled a strength training class, and we figured it would be challenging.  We thought so because most of the other classes we have taken at our gym have been challenging.  Both of us were ready for an intense workout: Sweat big or go home.  We were pumped.

We busted into the workout studio right on time, and suddenly we faced ... a room jammed full of silver hair.  Now, I'm not talking about a variety of ages in the room or simply a handful of silver-haired ladies.  No, the average age of the more than 40 ladies in this class was probably 60.

I want to be clear, 60 is not old, in my opinion.  It's just that there was not one woman in the room who was less than 15 years older than we were. We kind of panicked.  My friend asked if we were in the right room, and we were.

So being ageist egoists, our next thought was, of course, "This class is going to be easy!"

We arranged our equipment, feeling confident and preparing to outdo our more mature counterparts.  The instructor started the class, and she had us pick up our exercise balls with both arms and make a figure-8 shape in the air.

If you've never held one of these stability balls, they do not weigh much, maybe 2 lbs.  Those figure 8s, I have to tell you, were just not difficult.  My friend and I looked at each other thinking "This class is a joke."

And then, God decided to punish us for our cockiness.  

The instructor went into turbospeed with arm weights.  We both had to downgrade a size from the weights we usually use.  This lady made us do about 50 repetitions of each and every impossible exercise, and all of it was done while sitting on the ball.

But that was nothing compared to the leg exercises.  Leg lifts. In every direction. Hundreds of reps. Hip flexors, glutes.  Muscle exhaustion.  Ouch.

As we hobbled out, my friend and I looked at each other again.  We came up with excuses.  We decided not very many of the "old ladies" actually did all the reps.  We said we'd rather do 10 reps correctly rather than 100 reps too fast.  We complained about the lack of cardiovascular exercise we did.

I left the gym feeling better. My pride was healing.

Until this evening.  This evening, I cannot walk.  This evening, my rear hurts so bad I am not sure I even can make it to the gym tomorrow.  

This evening, I admitted to myself that some silver-haired ladies kicked my twenty-something butt.  And it hurts.

Berry Chocolate Trifle

I got my sister a trifle dish for her first bridal shower, mostly because I always had wanted one but didn't have one.  Then my mom brought me a very pretty one that was extra from her kitchen.  I needed to make a trifle immediately.

Trifles are wonderful desserts for a number of reasons.  Firstly, they are beautiful.  Also, they are tasty.  Finally, it is very easy to make them a great deal healthier because the ingredients are available in lower-calorie varieties.

Coincidentally, it is Valentine's Day.  Therefore, the trifle needed to be rich and somehow romantic.  My husband The Engineer deserves nothing but the best for his special dessert on the Day of Love.  If you ask me, nothing says romantic like strawberry, heart-shaped marshmallows ... but we'll save those for the end.

Berry Chocolate Trifle

2 containers Cool Whip Free
2 packages instant sugar-free chocolate pudding (any chocolate variety)
2 cups cold skim milk
1 9 oz. container low-fat sour cream
1/2 an angel food cake
2 small containers raspberries
1 pint strawberries

Colorful fruit are what makes trifles visually appealing. I chose red berries for Valentine's, but you could do any berry or juicy fruit.  First, wash your raspberries.

Next, wash your strawberries and cut the tops off.  Cut half of your strawberries lengthwise, and the other half crosswise.  

lengthwise

Next, make one package of pudding according to package directions using your skim milk.  Place in refrigerator to set.

Combine the contents of your second package of chocolate pudding with the sour cream and one entire carton of Cool Whip Free, which as you know is a miracle ingredient.  This will result in a thick, sticky, mousse-like substance that is absolutely delicious.  It's so good you won't want to make your trifle but instead will want to run to your sofa and gorge yourself.  Or maybe that's just me.

We are now ready to assemble our trifle.  First place a single layer of whole raspberries along the bottom of your trifle dish.  Use all but about half of one container. Tear up your half an angel food cake into pieces about an inch or smaller in diameter. You know, if you are in a hurry you can purchase angel food cakes from just about any grocery store, already baked for you.  Throw all of the pieces into your dish on top of the raspberries.

Now line the strawberries you cut lengthwise around the edge of your trifle bowl as garnish.  If you do this now, your pudding won't cover them, and the outside of your bowl will look nice.  

When you have those strawberries perfectly arranged, pour the pudding you prepared with milk over your angel food.  Place the strawberries you cut crosswise in a single layer over your chocolate pudding.

Here you have a choice to make.  You either can use a spatula to spread your other container of Cool Whip Free over the strawberries, or you can place the mousse-y stuff next.  I chose to do the Cool Whip first because I wanted white between the two brown layers, but the mousse-y stuff also is difficult to spread, and it can be more difficult to make smooth for your top layer.

So once you spread those two layers on top of one another, go to your raspberry reserves.  You can do any sort of pretty decorative pattern you like.  I believe it usually looks nice to go around the outside and then do something in the middle, but a food artist I am not.  To be festive, I used some of the heart-shaped marshmallows my mom got Ruby to add a little love to the whole thing.

The results of this impromptu, gorgeous, low-calorie (but not low-calorie-tasting) dessert made a great way to celebrate L-O-V-E, which is what I feel today for an Engineer and two little baby girls.