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This is a cookie you can feel really good about
eating!

supremely good for you cookies!

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
4 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 tbsp. cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 bar dark chocolate (one square to top each cookie!)

In a stand mixer, beat butter until soft, then add sugar,
vanilla and eggs.  Follow with dry ingredients, ending
with bag of chips.  Place the mixture in the fridge or freezer
for 10-15 minutes (this will keep the cookies rounded shape
while baking).  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place a sheet of
foil or parchment paper on baking pan.  Scoop out dough
with a soup spoon and use your hands to form a ball.  Place
balls of dough (I make 8 or 9 per batch) on baking sheet,
then top each with a square of dark chocolate.  Bake in the
middle of the oven for 20-22 minutes.  I set the timer for
20 minutes, then maybe bake as long as 6 more minutes,
checking after each minute or two.  Let cool on a rack, then
place each cookie in a baggie to keep fresh.  Enjoy!

1 large onion, diced
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
4-5 tbsp. olive oil
1 bag baby carrots, cut each into thirds
1 bunch celery, cut off both ends, wash, cut each piece in half lengthwise, then into 1/2 in. pieces
1 1/2 cups arbrorio rice
1 1/2 cups white wine
2 bunches swiss chard, cut off stalks, tear off and use  leaves
2-3 tsp. salt, 12 grinds fresh pepper
6-8 cups chicken broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1 rotisserie chicken, meat removed and diced

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil over med. heat 10 minutes, stirring occasionally; add carrots and celery, stir and saute 5-7 min.; add rice,
stir, then add wine; add chard, more wine if needed and increase heat to wilt chard; season with 2 tsp. salt and pepper, cover and let cook
5 min.; add six cups broth, reduce heat to low and cook covered 20 min.  Add tomatoes and chicken, more broth and seasoning if necessary.
Heat and serve piping hot with good bread!

Serve this soup, along with black eyed peas on new year’s day as a way to start the year off on a healthy and delicious note!  Bon appetit!

There is something about anticipating snow that triggers my need to make lasagna.  Whether the prediction is for 1 inch or for a foot of snow, I make a dash to my favorite grocery store with a list of the following ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. fresh pepper
3-4 tbsp. flour
3-4 tbsp. olive oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 pkg. brown (cremini) mushrooms
1 cup red wine (white will do!)
15 oz. can tomato sauce

3 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. flour
2 cups milk
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. fresh pepper
4 cups shredded swiss cheese (I usually buy Gruyere and grate it, but this last snow storm was a doozy, so I bought it already shredded – lots easier!)
9 oz. pkg. oven ready lasagna (only oven ready will do – who needs the mess of boiling a huge pot of lasagna, then having to pull the sticky noodles apart!)

This lasagna is something I learned while living in Switzerland – with my added shortcuts!  It is comprised of two sauces, meat and a white, which are layered with
the noodles and cheese.

Put the ground beef in a bowl and season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle with flour and mix with your hands.  Dice the onion.  Clean the mushrooms, cut off stems and
cut each into quarters.  Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over med. high and saute meat until nicely browned.  I use a wooden spoon, then a metal spatula to scrape the bits of
browned meat which will stick to the bottom of the pan.  Don’t let the meat burn, but do not be alarmed by the sticking.  Add the onions and mushrooms, continue stirring a
few minutes, then add the wine.  Reduce heat to medium and start scraping!  The wine will loosen the brown bits, which will make the sauce taste so good!  Add tomato sauce,
then season with 1/2 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper.  Let cook on low for4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, then set aside.

For the white sauce, melt the butter in a med. sauce pan over med. heat, add flour and whisk until dissolved.  Add 2 cups milk (I use whole, but 2 percent is fine) and keep
whisking over the heat until the sauce thickens (a few minutes) and season with salt and pepper.  Set aside.  Butter your lasagna pan (my daughters, Caroline and Michele,
gave me a light blue pan last Christmas and it is just one of my favorite things!)  and start layering: first the noodles (I put 4 in a row and there is some space on either side
- don’t worry the sauce will fill it in.)  Ladle the meat sauce onto the noodles, then white sauce, then cheese (I put a couple of ladlefuls of meat sauce, then less white and
mix them a little- it just needs to cover the noodles, not be a lake of sauce).  Repeat layers 3-5 times, depending on size of pan and finish with cheese on top.  Bake covered
with foil at 375 degrees for 30 min. then uncover and continue baking 20 min.  I like to eat a huge square of this with a glass of red wine, especially on a snowy night.
And since you may be snowed in, it tastes even better reheated the next night!

1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
4-5 tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. kosher salt
10-12 grinds fresh pepper

5 oz. box pre-washed spinach
6 oz. box raspberries
6 oz. box blueberries
6 oz. blackberries
1 cup walnuts, whole or chopped

1 chunk of parmesan cheese

This is so easy and very good for lunch or dinner.  Pour balsamic in the serving bowl and whisk in the olive oil until emulsified.  Add salt and pepper, then spinach and berries.  I tend not to wash my raspberries (I am partial to Driscoll’s brand), but do wash the blue and blackberries and pat dry with a paper towel before adding to the salad.  Add walnuts, toss and serve with a chunk of parmesan cheese on the side.  I love to grate big slices on top of the salad.  Serve with good bread or your favorite crackers.  Try the rosemary and olive oil triscuits!  Yum.

Let me know what you think.  I have eaten this salad twice since Thanksgiving – good for a little post holiday detox!

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 egg yolk

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1-2 cups m&ms

I put the butter, both sugars and vanilla in my kitchen aid mixing bowl and cream together until fluffy, then add the egg and yolk.  Continue mixing, add the flour, baking soda and powder and mix well on low speed.   Add chocolate chips, mix until blended.  If time permits, cover and place in the refrigerator.  It seems to give the cookies a better shape when baking.  However, when in a hurry go  straight to the oven!  I put a piece of parchment paper, foil or a silpat on a large, heavy baking sheet, then scoop out a large spoonful of dough and form a ball  using my hands (depending on my mood, the recipe makes 8 – 10 cookies!)  Now for the really fun part – put a handful of m&ms on top of each ball of dough and bake for 22-24 minutes in the middle of a 350 degree oven.  (start checking on the cookies at 20 minutes, then keep adding 2 minutes until cookies are a little brown around the edges.)  Place cookie sheet on a rack to cool.  Enjoy!  (for smaller cookies, reduce baking time to 12-15 minutes).

You need to have something good at the end of the day,  and it might as well be dessert!  Some people tell me that they eat really well during the day, then go overboard at night, grazing aimlessly through their  pantry and fridge.   Replace this behavior with a green light for a real piece of dessert.  Knowing that you can have something delicious at the end of the day will help you stick to a  ”healthier” eating plan during the day.

Last night I had a huge chocolate chip cookie after dinner, and it was very satisfying.  By giving myself permission to have a generous portion of dessert, I get to have what I really want, and it  is easy to end the “eating” part of my day there.  It takes a little planning.  Somehow waiting until after dinner and scrounging through the pantry or freezer for some dessert I don’t even like won’t cut it. Think about what sounds good to you, and then make that stop at the bakery on the way home from work, class or running the kids to soccer practice.  Don’t deprive yourself.  Deprivation left unattended will just end up biting  you in the “you know where”!  And we don’t want that, so make time to take care of yourself, and for me that means making dessert!  One of my favorite recipes is chocolate chip m&m cookies.  See following blog.

Raspberries, Greek Yogurt, and Walnuts. Yum!

I just had one of my favorite lunches, yogurt with rasperries and walnuts.  I love raspberries and walnuts, but if I was only allowed a few of each I would not be satisfied and this could lead to snacking later.  So, I buy the Driscoll’s raspberries and eat the whole  box with one of my favorite yogurts, Fage (Greek yogurt is so good and thick and rich and it will leave you feeling full, which is a good thing!) and I pile it high with walnuts. Yum!  I love the texture and taste of walnuts, but would not feel satisfied with only a few, so I have found a way to have my walnuts and eat them too! – with low fat plain yogurt and raspberries, which are low in calories, high in fiber, and completely non-fat.  The key is in “making it whole”.  I don’t eat the yogurt out of the container.  Nothing wrong with this, but taking the time to put the yogurt in a pretty bowl and filling  it high with the berries and walnuts gives me the feeling of completeness.

You can use this same principle of “making it whole” with any food that you love.  Maybe you crave potato chips everyday.  Don’t try and deprive yourself, you will only end up overeating them at some point and most likely out of a family size bag!  Give yourself permission to eat whatever you want by incorporating it into a meal.  With potato chips, have them with a lower fat lunch, maybe with chicken salad or tuna salad or even a vegetable salad, just leave off the bread and have your chips.  You will feel whole if you give yourself a whole portion of chips.  If at home, put them in a nice bowl to give yourself some limits.  The cute bowl will add to the specialness of the meal.  If this sounds too cute or like too much work, then go back to sneaking a few chips and feeling deprived which leads to eating the whole bag of chips and more overeating followed by the seemingly endless cycle of “I will start on a diet tomorrow….”

Chocolate is a metaphor for all of the finer things in life, and it just happens to be the one I enjoy most of all.   And I do enjoy chocolate on a daily basis.  In fact, if you plan your diet around the food you love the most, and make sure to incorporate that into your daily eating plan, not only will you feel satisfied, you will find yourself fitting into your favorite clothes!

Sound too simple to be true?  I did not say to eat as much chocolate as you want all day long, but rather pick one substantial piece of chocolate, something that can be turned into a “whole” and have that whole piece of cake or brownie or cookie.  Then you will feel satisfied and not need to keep eating more than you need.

Now work backwards from there and plan the rest of your day around foods that you love, but now eat foods that are high in vitamins and minerals and fiber, such as fruits and vegetables and whole grains.  Sound boring.  If you eat the same old salad day after day, then yes boring, so follow some of my recipes and go on a culinary adventure, while at the same time learning how to stay slim.