Simple Healthy Recipes

I am a huge fan of Doctor Oz. My husband and I watch his show every evening while we are eating dinner. Doctor Oz always suggests drinking Green Tea I do not have a problem with tea because I love it. What I am trying to do is get my consumption of water in daily. I just CANNOT make myself drink plain water. For years and years I have used Distilled Water because I cannot stand the water from the facet, even using a filter. I even went as far as buying this Vanilla flavoring syrup for water, tea, and coffee to see if I can drink water that way. But it just does not work for me.

So every day I begin by making a pot of Green Tea-and I am actually drinking it. I will either put one tablespoon of Vanilla flavoring syrup in it, or one teaspoon of sugar. The cup is one of those tall 16 oz. cups. The Vanilla Flavoring Syrup has 70 calories for 2 tablespoons. So as far as calorie count goes, I use 35 calories for each 16 oz. cup of Green Tea I drink. (No, sodium)

What are the health benefits of Drinking Green Tea? Studies have showed that by drinking Green Tea, it helps with rheumatoid arthritis, high cholesterol levels, cardiovascular disease, and impaired immune function. Studies also show that Green Tea and green tea extract can help with weight loss. Green Tea does contain some caffeine but not as much as coffee.

Why does Green Tea help with these things? It is rich in catechin polyphenols, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) which is a powerful anti-oxidant. Grapes and berries, red wine and dark chocolate have the same potent antioxidants.

Pour 2 quarts of boiling water over two heaping teaspoons of Green Tea and let it steep for 15-20 minutes. Add sweetness to your own taste.

I really LOVE bread and what makes it worst is I love all kinds of bread! So I have had to REALLY adjust this area. I cook a lot from scratch; I always have and enjoy doing it. But when I do not make our own bread I will eat these things called: Nature's Own 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Rounds they are 100 calories, 5g. Fiber, 20g Whole grain, but 180mg. of sodium. So in my case I will only eat one a day if I am having a sandwich.

I love Quesadillas and my husband loves Taco's so I had to come up with something where we both could enjoy the things we love. Although he does not have High Blood Pressure, he does have high cholesterol and chooses to eat low sodium foods as well.

I wrote a lens How to use one Recipe for Biscuits and Flatbread and I will use this recipe to make homemade tortilla shells/flat bread. For weight loss, I have changed one thing in the recipe to make it healthier.

Homemade Flat Bread/Tortillas

½ cup of wheat flour
½ cup of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon No Sodium Baking Powder
2 Tablespoons of Canola Oil
2 Tablespoons of Dried Buttermilk
(found in the baking section of your grocery store by the can milk)
Water

Mix everything together adding enough water to make the dough workable but not too sticky. Sprinkle your surface with some flour. Divide your dough into 4 pieces to make larger flat breads or divide into smaller pieces for smaller ones (the smaller the flat bread, the fewer calories).

Roll each piece into a flat round disk, preheat a large fry pan sprayed with a non-stick cooking spray. Place your disk in the pan and allow it to cook until it forms bubbles on top like pancakes do. Lightly spray again with the cooking spray and sprinkle with black pepper, turn and allow it to finish cooking approximately another minute or so. Put it onto a plate and cover with a dampened cloth and finish cooking the remaining flat breads.

Calorie Break Down: 170 Calories for one Large Flat Bread and 20mg. Sodium

For the whole batch of Flat Bread there is 680 calories so divide how many Flat Breads you decide to make into 680 for your total.

My Vegetarian Pizza

In a bowl-Add:

One cup of lukewarm water
I package dry active yeast
1 teaspoon of honey
2 teaspoons of olive oil
1 1/2 cup of wheat flour

Mix together with a whisk.

Slowly add, 1 and 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. You will have to use your hands to mix the rest of the dough. Work it until everything is blended, cover and let is raise for about 20 minutes.

Dust your counter with flour and roll the dough out flat and place on a lightly sprayed pizza pan. Make the thickness however you like it, and trim off the rest of the dough. Lightly spray the top with olive oil and sprinkle with black pepper and bake for 10 minutes on 375 degrees.

I use an organic tomato sauce with no added salt. I spread a light layer of sauce over the dough; sprinkle it with Mrs. Dash fiesta seasoning, black pepper, oregano, parsley and onion powder.

Then I add whatever toppings I want, last night I added chopped spinach (watch the sodium content in spinach it naturally has 160mg of sodium per one cup of raw spinach) Diced portabella mushrooms and a small amount of Mozzarella cheese. Often I will add organic black beans because again, they are lower in sodium and calories. My husband loves his pepperoni pizza so on half of the pizza I will add turkey pepperoni (watch the sodium content it is high even on turkey products) and sliced sweet onions and of course additional mozzarella cheese.

** Please Note: you eat less sodium by eating Mozzarella or Swiss cheese oppose to cheddar cheese. At our grocery store they sell an Amish Swiss Cheese which is even lower in sodium.

Put the pizza back into the oven and cook another 20 minutes.

Doctor Oz always suggest eating from smaller plates, it helps your mind to think you are eating more than you are. When I make one of these pizzas, my husband and I will get two meals from it. Having one slice with a nice dinner salad is always good.

Calorie Break Down: If you use these measurements and make one large round pizza, the calories in the crust alone is 214 calories-not counting the toppings you add. 1 oz. of low fat Mozzarella cheese has 80 calories but 170mg. sodium.

Finely chop one good size carrot
Finely chop 1- red pepper
Finely chop 1- yellow squash
Finely chop sweet onion (amount is your choice)

Cook together in a frying pan with a little olive oil or unsalted butter until softened.

Add ¼ cup of organic tomato sauce and stir together. Season with black pepper and parsley. Cook 1 ½ cups of whole wheat penne pasta, strain and add to cooked vegetables. Add one can of organic black beans that have been strained and rinsed.

**Please note: I use Harvest Farms Organic Black Beans. For a ½ cup of beans the calories are 120 and the sodium is 85mg.

You can eat this dish a lone or serve it with a nice salad or steamed vegetables. If it is a little too dry, add a little olive oil. Top with a light sprinkle of Parmesan Romano cheese.

I really do love chocolate and I do believe I am addicted to it. There are certain times of the month that I HAVE to eat some kind of chocolate, no joke!! So I came up with this recipe combining my husbands favorite cookie which is a sugar cookie and my favorite chocolate. I have a very similar recipe posted on other lens, but I modified this recipe for my current goal.

Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cookies

2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon No-Sodium Baking Soda
1 teaspoon No-Sodium Baking Powder
1 Stick unsalted margarine (melted)
1 cup organic sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons Vanilla

Melt your margarine. Add the sugar, melted margarine, and vanilla, baking soda and powder together real good. Add one cup of flour, the egg and mix again. Add the remaining flour until the dough is well mixed. Use a small scoop and scoop cookies onto a cookie pan that has been lined with parchment paper. Flatten the cookie to the thickness you want them. Bake at 375 degrees for 14-15 minutes. Let them completely cool.

Use a double boiler pan (if you have one) and melt ½ cup of 63-70% coco chips and ½ cup semi-sweet dark chocolate chips. Dip ½ of the chocolate into the chocolate and lay back on the parchment paper.

**Please note: you can cut calories by using less sugar, and mixing ½ wheat flour with ½ all purpose flour and last but not least, you can dip less than half of the cookie into the chocolate. Because remember, the objective is to feed that chocolate craving when you have it. Are you ready for the calorie count??

You should get 20 to 21 cookies per batch. The total calories count (including the dark chocolate) is: 142 calories per cookie and if you use no-sodium products, the sodium content is 4mg. (because of using the whole egg which had 65mg. of sodium in one large egg)

I bet I do not eat RED meat but on rare occasions. I came up with an unusual recipe that is really good. Since my husband does not mind eating red meat, I have to be fair and cook him the foods he likes so I wanted to come up with something so we could basically have together except his hamburger does not have spinach in it, (whispers-or does it?)

Spinach Hamburger Delight

6 oz. 80/20 lean Ground Beef (or mix 3 oz. Lean Ground Beef and 3 oz. Turkey Burger)
¼ cup Low-Sodium Bread Crumbs
1 cup Chopped Raw Spinach
1 Egg White
½ cup of Organic Black Beans
Pepper (to taste)
Onion POWDER (to taste)

Mix everything together and divide into three sections. Flatten and cook. I will freeze the other two hamburgers so I can have them later. I like having a very thin slice of Mozzarella Cheese on mine and I will have it on Whole Wheat Sandwich Round that I mentioned earlier.

Calorie Break-Down

6 oz. 80/20 Lean Ground Beef =462 Calories, 1/4 cup Low-Sodium Bread Crumbs=110 Calories, 1 cup Spinach=20 calories, 1-egg white=17 calories, 1/2 cup Organic Black Beans=60 calories

Total Calories Count: 669 and Total Sodium Count=270mg. Divide this mixture into 3 Hamburgers and Each Burger has:

223 Calories and 90mg. Sodium This is just for the Burger, if you eat a Sandwich Round and a thin slice of White Cheese, the calories and sodium both go up. But still within healthy range.

**Please Note: White Cheese such as Mozzarlla and Swiss has lower calories and lower sodium than Chedder or Yellow Cheese.