2 Great Sweet and Savory Grapefruit Recipes

February is national grapefruit month--perfect timing since citrus fruit is in season during the cold winter months! Let's celebrate!
 
Have you ever wondered why a grapefruit is called a "grape" fruit?  Yes, it's a fruit, but it's so much bigger than a grape.  It all goes back to the land and the growers.  When the fruit is at its peak and ready to be picked from the tree it tends to hang out together like a cluster of grapes, hence grapefruit.
 
Grapefruits are one of the power houses within the tropical fruit family.   They are actually a natural cross-fertilization of a pomelo and a sweet orange.  Pomelos are more pear shaped and larger.  Grapefruits can be found with yellow, pink or red pulp, but I reach for the sweeter, red-pulp ("ruby") variety when I want to peel it and eat it just like an orange and the yellow pulp variety when I am going to bake it topped with honey and chopped pistachios.  

Chef Meg's Perfect Pizza Video

Who doesn't love the taste of warm and chewy pizza? Turns out, it does have a place on a healthy plate. Here's how!

Use It or Lose It!

With a title like "Use It or Lose It," I could be discussing anything from fitness, brain power, or your health spending account.  Rest easy, I talking about food and your pantry.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics the average American spends more than $6,000 on food each year.  Do you know how much food the average American throws in the garbage due to spoilage? We waste 27% of food fit for consumption! That's a lot!
 
My goal for 2012 is to make small changes in my pantry and ingredients that I buy so that I pitch less food this year.  After taking an inventory of my pantry, refrigerator and freezer, my creative cooking juices started flowing.   I've come up with these "livable and lovable" tips to help you use up your food. 

150-Calorie Chocolate Mousse, Plus Answers to All Your Chocolate Questions

Today is Valentine's Day, one of the most popular days for giving, receiving and eating chocolate.

I firmly believe that chocolate has a place in a healthy diet--it sure does in mine! It can even be a part of savory dishes. I try to be choosy about chocolate: I reach for dark over milk, splurge on from-scratch  baked goods, and keep my portions in check.
 
In addition to sharing an amazingly easy and better-for-you recipe for chocolate mousse, I'm here to answer some of your questions about chocolate. We'll get to the questions later. First, let's eat!

Chef Meg's Heart-Healthy Meals Video

If you're on heart-healthy diet, that doesn't mean you have to eat boring foods. The same flavor-boosting techniques that will help you lose weight also help keep your heart healthy.

Chef Meg's Roasted Winter Vegetables

By roasting these hearty winter vegetables, we soften their strong tastes and bring out their natural sweetness.

7 Sure-Fire Tips to Get Kids Excited about Healthy Cooking

With all the talk of how we should help kids stay healthy and fight childhood obesity, my mind keeps returning to the same thought: Teach them to cook! In my home, the kitchen is an extension of the family room, and my three teen boys have helped me cook since they were small. Teaching your kids to cook doesn’t mean that you have to turn them loose on their own. It just means letting them play an active role in meal planning, preparation—and cleanup. Training little chefs is easy. Here are some tips to get you started:

Chef Meg’s Cut The Fat, Keep The Flavor Video

Think that you have to cut flavor as well as fat and salt when trying to lose weight? Think again.

Chef Meg's Light Lemon Blueberry Donuts

 At 300 calories a pop, donuts are an easy way to wreck a healthy breakfast. Not my baked ones. They're bursting with fruit and flavor--not fat!
 
Minutes to Prepare: 15
Minutes to Cook: 10
Number of Servings: 10

Tips
No donut pan? Bake these in muffin tins instead!

Nutritional Information

• Servings Per Recipe: 10
• Amount Per Serving: 1 doughnut
• Calories: 104.9
• Total Fat: 1.9 g
• Cholesterol: 0.7 mg
• Sodium: 187.3 mg
• Total Carbs: 21.0 g
•  Dietary Fiber: 2.2 g
•  Protein: 2.4 g

Chef Meg’s Makeover: Cheeseburger Soup

Cheeseburger soup was not one of the recipes that I prepared in culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu. I took one look at the ingredient list (1/2 pound processed cheese!) and the nutrition info (almost 1/2 day's worth of salt in every serving), and I knew I had to make this over. You could eat a McDonald's cheeseburger and small fries for just about the same amount of calories! 

Minutes to Prepare: 5
Minutes to Cook: 25
Number of Servings: 4
 
Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 4
• Amount Per Serving: 1 cup
• Calories: 196.6
• Total Fat: 4.8 g
• Cholesterol: 30.0 mg
• Sodium: 72.5 mg
• Total Carbs: 19.3 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3.6 g
• Protein: 14.4 g

Diet Myth #5: Baking and Steaming are the Only 'Healthy' Cooking Methods

As part of our research for "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight," we conducted a "Ditch the Diet Taste Test." We asked successful SparkPeople members, yo-yo dieters and others to answer questions about weight loss, healthy eating, and dieting--and to pit Chef Meg's healthy, delicious recipes against traditional, bland "diet food."

You can read all about the Taste Test in Chapter 2 of "The SparkPeople Cookbook," but this week we're sharing five of the diet myths we debunked as part of that project. Did you miss the rest of the series? Read the rest here.

Learning to cook is like learning to dance. Once you know the basics, you’ll be able to walk onto the dance floor and know immediately whether you should waltz, tango, or jitterbug to a particular piece of music. Try to tap dance at a wedding reception or waltz to a bluegrass band. It doesn’t feel right, does it? The same goes for cooking. Learn the classic methods, and you’ll be able to walk into any farmers’ market or grocery store, pick up any ingredient, and cook it with pretty good results. There are reasons you don’t steam pot roast or sauté muffins. Below are the techniques I use most often to create healthy and delicious foods. Learn these techniques, and you’ll be whipping up meals you love to eat—with and without a cookbook—in no time!

Diet Myth #5: Baking and steaming are the only cooking methods you need to know.

No way! Today we're outlining one healthy cooking method, but we have several more to share with you in "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight." Grilling, broiling, sweating, sautéing, and, yes, baking and steaming--we cover them all.

Diet Myth #3: Cut Salt and Fat, Forgo Flavor

As part of our research for "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight," we conducted a "Ditch the Diet Taste Test." We asked successful SparkPeople members, yo-yo dieters and others to answer questions about weight loss, healthy eating, and dieting--and to pit Chef Meg's healthy, delicious recipes against traditional, bland "diet food."
 
You can read all about the Taste Test in Chapter 2 of "The SparkPeople Cookbook," but this week we're sharing five of the diet myths we debunked as part of that project.
 
Some people buy dresses. I buy spices. They’re my vice.

To me, food isn't worth eating if it's bland and flavorless. Novice cooks might reach for fat, salt, or sugar for flavor, and they'll turn out some tasty food—but it won't be healthy. A good cook knows to start with wholesome food that’s as close to the source as possible (as unprocessed as can be), and use herbs and spices to impart flavor. Herbs, spices, and seasonings are a big reason why I can cook and eat what I love and still fit into my clothes!

Unfortunately, the most common seasoning in American kitchens is salt. While salt is a crucial ingredient in many recipes, it should rarely be the sole seasoning. If a food is seasoned properly—from the beginning and through every step of the cooking process—there is no need to salt or pepper your food at the table.

Diet Myth #3: When you cut back on salt and fat, you forgo all flavor in food.

As you’ll read in Chapter 12 of "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight," there are plenty of tricks you can use to impart flavor with almost zero calories. When you’re watching fat and calories, herbs, spices, and certain condiments are your new best friends. They add flavor and pizzazz to your cooking with little to no calories and fat. Do take care in your choice of premade spice blends and condiments, however, as many of the versions you get in the supermarket are full of salt—a big no-no when you’re watching your sodium levels or you have high blood pressure.

Comfort Food Slimdowns

I want to pass on all my family favorites to my kids--without all the fat and calories. Now, it's a passion of mine to make those delicious comfort foods healthier. 

Chef Meg's Decadent Desserts Video

Chef Meg has a real sweet tooth, but she keeps her cravings in check. Find out how she indulge without going overboard.

Chef Meg's Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili

The secret to this hearty vegetarian chili is butternut squash. It holds its shape and adds a layer of flavor and sweetness.
Minutes to Prepare: 20
Minutes to Cook: 360
Number of Servings: 8
 
Nutritional Info

• Serving Per Recipe: 8
• Amount Per Serving: 1 cup
• Calories: 263.4
• Total Fat: 2.4 g
• Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
• Sodium: 472.9 mg
• Total Carbs: 51.4 g
• Dietary Fiber: 18.6 g
• Protein: 12.9 g