Author Archives: Kimberly Crocker

Satisfying 1200 Calorie Diet

A 3 Step Plan to Achieving a 1200 Calorie Diet Can Work for You!  By loading the calories on the earlier part of the day, then gradually reducing intake, energy is used into the evening.  The suggested plan is for:

  • reducing dietary intake
  • promoting weight loss
  • for the individual who is not physically inclined to move as often.
  • slow metabolism (i.e. hypothyroidism)

Reducing and controlling the intake of energy by cautiously planning meals is easy to do by simply following 3 Steps.

Step 1: Move the higher caloric dinner-time to a lunch menu, allowing energy to be expended over the day instead of packing the calories at night when they can turn to fat quicker, because of less movement and exercise on an individual’s part.

Step 2:  Promote effective digestion by adding: the juice of  a 1/2 lemon freshly squeezed to 1 glass of water and drink the special “lemonade” twice throughout the day.  After meals chew on 6-12 fennel seeds to add: fiber, reduce gas, natural phyto-estrogens and freshens breath.

Step 3: Plan Each Meal, pick and choose your food, aiming for the total suggested calories per snack or meal.

BREAKFAST is important to fueling your day with energy and focus throughout the morning.  Begin your day by drinking 2 glasses of water then choose your menu, aim for 300 calories for breakfast, try to include 1 fruit.

  • 1 egg  (211 calories)
  • Yogurt 1% milk fat 8 ounces (218 calories)
  • Slice multi grain bread (69 calories)
  • 1 tsp Jelly (40 calories)
  • 1 tsp honey (49 calories)
  • Slow cook unflavored oatmeal made with water (14 calories)
  • Glass 1 % Milk 8 ounces (110 calories)
  • Orange Juice 6 ounce (71 calories)
  • 1 Cup coffee (5 calories)
  • 1 fruit (70 calories)
A.M. SNACK time is a way to pick up and recharge allow for 100 calories
  • 1 fruit  is one serving size (tennis ball size), on average varies in 70-85 calories
  • 1/2 ounce of nuts (80 calories)
  • 1/2 ounce sunflower seeds (82 calories)
  • 1 glass water
LUNCH anytime between Noon and 2:00 pm provides a boost to get throughout the day. A larger lunch provides a feeling of satiety that will last to light dinner.  Begin with 1 glass of water then opt for: 1 protein, 1 bread, 2 vegetables, 1 fruit. Aim for 500 Calories.
3 ounces of any protein:
  • Fish (138 calories)
  • Chicken (245 calories)
  • Red Meat (213 calories)
  • Pork (207 calories)
  • 1 cup beans (215 calories)
  • 1 cup lentils (226 calories)
Bread
  • White Rice 1/2 cup cooked (85 calories)
  • Long Grain Brown Rice 1/2 cup cooked (108 calories)
  • Pasta cooked (140 calories)
Vegetables
  • Green Salad (60 calories)
  • 1/4 cup: sliced Carrots or snow peas or beans (25 calories each)
  • 1 tsp olive oil / vinegar dressing (45 calories)
Fruits
  • 1 fruit (70-80 calories)
  • 1/4 cup berries (16 calories)
  • 4 prunes (80 calories)
P.M. SNACK for  a total of 70 Calories
  • 1 fruit (70 calories)
  • 1 glass of water
DINNER time keeps it light. Best time for dinner is when hunger hits. Begin with a glass of water and have dinner between 6:00-8:00 pm allowing for digestion and a full nights sleep. Suggestion: Soup and salad or 2 vegetable and a fruit serving.  Goal is 230 calories, include 1 glass of water before or with dinner.
  • sweet potato baked (115 calorie)
  • 1 cup salad (60 calories)
  • 1 cup vegetable soup (110 calories)
  • roasted pepper and mushrooms with minced garlic and 1/2 tsp olive oil (80 calories)
  • 1 sliced whole red, green, yellow peppers  (37 calories)
  • 1 cup sliced zucchini (20 calories) saute` with 1/2 Tbsp olive oil (80 calories) and minced garlic
  • Saute` or grilled portobello mushroom (80 calories)
  • 1 glass milk (110 calories)

Before bedtime have a glass of water. Allow eight hours of rest to promote additional calorie loss and waking up refreshed and ready to begin a new day!

By: Kimberly Crocker-Scardicchio

  • Lemon Juice:  http://eatknowhow.com/2008/01/28/gas-pains-drink-lemon-water
  • Fennel Seeds: http://eatknowhow.com/2011/12/05/fennel-seeds-to-restore-health

Flavorful Christmas Dinner Ideas

Invite the Outdoors to a Holiday Dinner

Celebrating Christmas with family and friends can be even more enjoyable with a planned menu and recipes that are easy to make and have traveled around the world.  Mint flavored Welsh Lamb , Italian Potato Pie, Creamy Zucchini Soup from Venezuela and many more. With only 2 recipes that must be made on the special holiday the other 4 dishes can be made a day in advance. Choose your ideal Recipes to enhance your holiday dinner! Several dishes can be made 1-2 days in advance so that you may also enjoy your party.

Avocado Shrimp Salad

Creamy Zucchini Soup

Seasoned Mint Lamb

Zesty Moroccan Carrots

Italian Potato Pie

Cindy's Basic Cheesecake

Recipes

 

 

 

Shrimp Mango Salad  and the Flavorful Welsh Lamb should be made the day of your celebration.

Creamy Venezolana Zucchini Soup and  Cindy’s Cheesecake! can both be made one day in advance

 

 

Moroccan Carrots and the Italian Potato Pie can be made 2 days in advance stored and served warm or room temperature. To warm Italian Potato Pie, pre heat oven to 400 F (180 C). Place in oven for 20 minutes to heat and serve warm. The carrots can be served cold.

 

 

Drinks enhance the flavor of the food. For nonalcoholic beverages choose 100% Pomegranate Blueberry Juice which will add to the meal and excite the taste buds. For wine, consider serving Cabernet Sauvignon whose gentle  savor will compliment and not overpower the menu.

Bitter coffee, black tea or a Brut Spumante are all excellent choices to off set the sweet cheesecake.

Recommended Daily Intake of Vitamins & Minerals

Recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals and actual breakdown of Vitamin Content for Vegetables and Fruits with a glance at Mineral Content on Fruit and Vegetables Informative links that nicely graphs the proper milligrams of vitamins and minerals that should be ingested on a day to day basis with warnings about how they may create organ sensitivity or organ damage.

Eat Know How.  Know the Healing Power of Food

Recommended link: Vitamins and Minerals

Nutrition to lower LDL, increase HDL Cholesterol

Cholesterol Reducing Foods

Plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and extra virgin olive oil are heart healthy and can be utilized to reduce cholesterol. By changing the way you eat total cholesterol can be reduced by 5 to 10 percent. Eat foods in which the skins can be consumed too. Consider the importance of monounsaturated fats like nuts and certain oils (replacing saturated fats all animal products: ice cream, butter, dressings.)

The soluble fiber found in fruits and veggies reduces absorption of cholesterol in your intestines, then binds bile (which contains cholesterol) and dietary cholesterol so that the body excretes it.

FRUIT 4 servings/day Great for Reduction: apples, prunes, pears, plum, apricots. Choose fruits whose skin can be eaten. Fruits with membranes or seeds are also helpful: oranges, grapefruit, pomegranates.

VEGGIES 5 servings/day Great for Reduction: Any leafy green, introducing roughage into the diet: broccoli, rapini, kale, collard greens, spinach, lettuce. Other helpful vegetables: avocado, garlic, beans. Soluble fiber.

WHOLE GRAINS 7-8 serving /day (1 serving size is 1 ounce) also Barley and Oats, Bran, Flaxseed!!! Soluble fiber.
Fish, Lean Meat, Poultry 2 servings/day. 3-4 ounces per serving (Eat more Fish which contains healthy omega 3 and 6 oils.)
Nuts about 1 tbsp 4 times a week. Walnuts, Almonds. (Monounsaturated fats.)
OILS 3 tbsp per day Extra Virgin Olive Oil is a monounsaturated fat and contributes to raising HDL (healthy cholesterol) and causes LDL cholesterol to be reduced.
Water 8 glasses / day

REDUCE LDL (Lousy Cholesterol)

The best way to reduce LDL and triglyceride levels is through Aerobic Exercise. By doing so you are telling your body what to do with the extra calories and creating healthy blood flow in your blody. This can be done by swimming, walking, jogging, rollerbladding. The idea is to move cholesterol deposits by increasing your heart rate, which will in turn cause blood vessels to dialate and blood to push through the body.

Reduce bread servings to 6 servings a day and alcohol consumption to every other day can both play a factor in reducing triglyceride levels.

Increase HDL (Healthy Cholesterol)

Food choices also play a critical part in reducing LDL and increasing HDL including substituting new flavors for old preferences; replacing dressing with extra virgin olive oil, seeds and pepper to your salads, providing your vessels with the necessary elasticity that they need (healthy mono and poly unsaturated fats.) Since oils are are fluid at room temperature  they will not clot your arteries the way that saturated fats found in butters and dressings will. Pan fried chicken with a small amount of canola oil, then turned in garlic, Marsala, seasoned with spices introduces potassium, and vasoldilators allicin and a touch of alcohol to open vessels and allow nutrients to function and remove unwanted blockage.

Its your body, Know the Healing Power of Food and make choices to improve your health for a living a longer and stronger life.  

By: Kimberly Crocker

For more information:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/cholesterol/CL00002

http://www.bddiabetes.com/us/main.aspx?cat=1&id=496

Tuscan Lasagna

Tuscan Lasagna brings the flavors of the hills of Italy to your meal.

TUSCAN STYLE LASAGNA is a fantastic party dish that is easy to prepare! Made with a white cream sauce instead of tomato sauce, this flavorful meal promotes the Fall/Winter foods utilizing mushrooms, nuts and thyme. A big hit at any party, or for a classical holiday dish. Enjoy!

Servings 12. 9×13 pan.

Directions:  Preheat oven to 400 F (180 C)
Preparation 15 minutes. Bake time 40 minutes.

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 onion chopped\
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2 cups sliced portabella or porcini mushrooms
  • 1/2 Marsala wine
  • 250 g of Philadelphia Cream Cheese
  • 5 cups milk
  • 1/4 tsp thyme  (dried)  or 1tsp freshly chopped thyme
  • 12 oz or (375 g) FRESH Mozzarella (cut into small cubes)
  • 1/3 cup sliced almonds
  • Entire box of Barilla Lasagna

Step by step creating the base of the Tuscan Cream Sauce

Wash and chop mushrooms.  Over medium heat, place large sauce pan add olive oil, onion and salt.Saute for 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and Marsala, stir all ingredients together with wooden spoon.

Add Philadelphia and milk to mushroom and onions to make cream sauce.

Place into pan Philadelphia Cream and milk. Stir, incorporating all ingredients about 5 minutes. Add thyme herb, mix well with a wooden spoon. Turn off stove remove cream from heat.

Build lasagna by placing 1 1/2 cup (3-4 ladles) of sauce into bottom of baking pan.

  • First layer 3 lasagna sheets into pan side by side. Add 1 cup (2 ladles) of sauce on top of  first lasagna layer. Add mozzarella 1/2 cup cheese and 1/8 cup of almonds.
  • Second layer side by side 3 more sheets into pan. Add 1 cup (2 ladles) of sauce on top of  lasagna. Add mozzarella 1/2 cup cheese and 1/8 cup of almonds.
  • Third,  layer side by side 3 more sheets into pan. Add 1 cup (2 ladles) of sauce on top of lasagna. Add mozzarella 1/2 cup cheese and 1/8 cup of almonds.
  • Fourth, layer side by side 3 more sheets into pan. Add 1 cup (2 ladles) of sauce on top  lasagna layer. Add mozzarella 1/2 cup cheese

Loosely cover dish with aluminum foil and place into oven. Allow to bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and allow to bake without foil for another 20 minutes.  Let sit for 15 minutes before serving. May be made 1 day in advance and stored in refrigerator. Next day, add 1 cup milk slowly around edges of lasagna, cover with aluminum foil. Bake in oven to reheat for 20 minutes on 400 F or 180 C.

By Kimberly Crocker-Scardicchio
Eat Know How Cooking Class