This month’s theme is grilling, and we’re fired up for some killer cookouts.
1. Grilled Salmon with Grilled Peach and Avocado Salsa: Bursting with flavor, this entrée from The Roasted Root is a real catch. One bite and you’ll always serve a fresh slab of salmon with a juicy, sweet salsa. What better way to get your daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids?
3. Hawaiian Chicken Sandwiches: This tropical sandwich from The Way To His Heart will be on the table in just 20 minutes. Take this cookout special to the next level by topping it with a crunchy slaw or adding a spread of mayo on the bun—yum!
4. Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad: Make your favorite restaurant salad at home with a helpful hand from Recipe Renovator. Grilling the lettuce makes for a super quick hearty salad with an added smoky taste.
5. Grilled Watermelon Salad: Watermelon, feta, and mint is a staple choice for many, but this genius combination of grilled fruit and parmesan from Teaspoon of Spice will easily take place as your favorite. Doused in lemon juice and tossed with basil and mint, this salad is sure to impress your guests.
This article originally appeared on Health.
By Julie Mazziotta
Lena Dunham has clearly drank the fitness Kool-Aid (which is actually green juice, of course).
She’s talked about her new love of hitting the gym for Acroyoga and Tracy Anderson Method classes in the last few months, and now she’s found another, unexpected favorite: running.
“Not usually one to post a paparazzi shot but this fills me with pride,” Dunham wrote in the caption of the above Instagram post. “Basically my whole life I have hated running and run like a wounded baby Pterodactyl. It was embarrassing and honestly I did not trust myself to escape a burning building or even move briskly towards a buffet.”
But that’s all changed now, she explains. To prep for an upcoming episode of Girls, Dunham went to a class at Mile High Run Club, a running studio in New York City. And this time, she came out of it with a different perspective.
“Within an hour I had a different relationship to this formerly torturous activity. I felt strong, swift, and proud,” she wrote. “I’m not about to embrace that triathlon life but it’s a true joy to continue getting more connected to my body and its powers.”
And the picture shows exactly that: Dunham looks incredibly strong, swift and proud as she pounds the crowded NYC pavement.
These are just a few of the many benefits from Dunham’s “physical fitness kick.” In an April Instagram post, she opened up about how exercise has helped with her mental health in ways she couldn’t believe.
You’ve probably started seeing powdered peanut butter on the grocery shelves—right there next to standard peanut butter. No doubt, it’s becoming increasingly available, but what exactly is it?
It’s a product that’s made by pressing roasted peanuts to remove most of the natural oils, and the remaining peanut “particles” are ground into a fine powder. Out with the oil/fat go many of the calories. Compare:
Standard creamy peanut butter (2 tablespoons)
190 calories
16g fat (2.5g sat)
7g protein
You can reconstitute the powdered product to create lower-calorie, less-fat peanut butter, but the texture is not as smooth and creamy. *When you reconstitute 2 tablespoons of the powder, you end up with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter; the resulting nut butter will be lower in calories and fat, but the difference won’t be quite as impressive.
The flavor of the reconstituted nut butter is deeply peanutty, but I honestly wouldn’t look to this product as a replacement for my morning smear on my whole-grain waffle; the texture and flavor just don’t quite live up. (It’s a little grainy and less rich.) Also, and I think this is an important point: Peanut butter may be calorie dense and high in fat, but it’s mostly heart-healthy unsaturated fat, and satiating, satisfying fat at that—meaning it will help keep you filling fuller, longer. There is nothing wrong with peanut butter.
If you are dieting, though, and really looking to cut calories, this can be a good product for you. But I like to think of it from more of a culinary point of view—how can you use its deep, roasty flavor and powdered texture to benefit your cooking? It does have certain advantages: It doesn’t clump as standard peanut butter might; it incorporates smoothly and easily into smoothies, batters, and more. And it can be used in a similar way as flour. So here are some ideas for delicious ways to use peanut butter powder:
• Stir into plain Greek yogurt or your morning bowl of oats, and swirl in lower-sugar grape jelly. Either one of these PB&J breakfast bowls will take you right back to childhood.
• Add a couple tablespoons to a smoothie or (even better!) a milkshake.
• Substitute up to 1/3 of the flour in your standard pancake or waffle batter for a more protein-packed start to your day.
Make peanut butter waffles!
• Dust your popcorn with it! Combine with a little powdered sugar and salt for a sweet take, or combine with crushed red pepper, salt, and lime rind for more of a savory Thai take.
• Make a 50/50 combo of peanut butter powder and whole-wheat flour, and season with garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and cumin—use this to bread chicken cutlets. Or try this delicious makeover of Sweet and Sour Chicken.
• Incorporate into frosting for cakes or cupcakes. Here I whipped up 1 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup peanut butter powder, 1 tablespoon softened butter, 1 tablespoon 1% milk, and 3 ounces softened Neufchatel cheese. (This makes enough to lightly top 12 cupcakes—per serving, this PB frosting has 73 calories, 2.8g total fat, and 1.2g sat fat.)
Top chocolate cupcakes with a simple peanut butter frosting!
What are your favorite ways to use peanut butter powder?
I make simple syrup by shaking up 3/4 cup sugar and 1 cup warm water in a jar until dissolved—no cooking or cooling required. Store in the fridge up to a week, and use for cocktails, sauces, and desserts.
Right now, my phone tells me it’s 90ºF outside. My phone might as well read, “If you step outside, you’re going to feel like you’re swimming your way through warm, wet cotton.” That’s the best way to describe Alabama summers. We spend them jumping from air-conditioned building to air-conditioned building, dodging thunderstorms and the sun’s severe rays. That’s why you’ll never catch us turning down every opportunity to cool down with a frozen pop, ice cream sandwich, or cold beer. If you’re experiencing a scorching summer, too, it’s time to chill out with these fun finds for sweet treats, bubbly brews, and more.
FOR SPRINKLES AND SAUCES
Stoneware can go from hot to cold, so it suits your favorite summer treat–from frosty ice cream to hot fruity pie. Available in 7 colors. $20 each, lecreuset.com
GET THE SCOOP
Zyliss’ Right Scoop is ergonomically designed to help you get your portion of ice cream with minimal effort. Plus, it’s designed to be tongue-friendly so it’s more lickable. $12, zyliss.com
SUMMER SNOWFLAKES
West Bend’s Professional Snowball Machine easily makes extra-light, fluffy ice shavings for your favorite syrups. Machine, $80; cups, $8/set of 20; williams-sonoma.com
FRESH AND FIZZY
The sleek sparkling-beverage maker from SodaStream gets a fun ′50s makeover thanks to KitchenAid. Available in 7 colors. $250, kitchenaid.com
SQUEEZE EASY
Juice groves of citrus, from Key limes to grapefruit, in just seconds with Breville’s popular Citrus Press, now available in 3 tropical colors: orange, lemon, and lime. $130, williams-sonoma.com
We welcome back Gai Doran to the blog to hear more about her Cooking Light Diet experience. We recently got a peek into the beautiful garden that was inspired by the Diet. Hopefully her tomatoes are coming in rosy red at this point. Perfect for some of our summer recipes hitting the diet.
Gai was born in Australia and now lives in New Haven, Connecticut, working as a Research Administrator at a university. When she’s not administrating HIV research, she’s gardening, hiking, and spending time with her husband and son. Read on to see what she has to say about dieting without knowing you’re dieting.
Along with working in a University’s research department, Gai is an avid hiker.
Marie:How did you hear about the CL Diet? Gai: When I saw the Cooking Light Diet, I loved that it has limited ingredients with the kind of stuff that you may have in your refrigerator or at your local grocery store, without having to go to a specialty store. And they’re quick. At the end of the day I can find something that I can make in 30 minutes.
M:Do you lead a very active lifestyle, and has that changed since starting theCooking Light Diet? G: I’m a hiker. I have been doing that all of my life. I’m actually going backpacking in Idaho in August with my friends. We were all friends when our kids were little. We started as a way of free exercise while our kids were in preschool, and now all of our kids are in their 20s. So we started backpacking together 20 years ago to get away from our families [laughs]. This is our big 20th anniversary trip!
Gai will be celebrating her 20th year of hiking with her friends in August.
M:What sort of success have you seen on the Diet? G: I feel better about what we’re eating, and it’s definitely stabilized my diet. I’m not focused on having to lose weight. I just feel very happy that I can prepare a meal that I know is going to be delicious and good for us and within the right calorie range.
M:What are you enjoying most from theCooking LightDiet? G: I love cooking. I love entertaining. One of the things before the Cooking Light Diet, I was sort of buying the same things every week, and then coming home and cooking the same things every week. I was getting very resentful. Why am I the only one that has to put food on the table? So this has made a little peace in my household. Now I really enjoy cooking dinner at night.
M:Why is this program working when others haven’t? G: Everything has always felt like a diet. It’s very restricted. Write everything down, keep track, keep it on your mind, always thinking about food to avoid food. That’s probably another thing I like about this program (although I don’t even think of it as a program – it’s more of a recipe book) but it’s that I’m not thinking that way anymore. I don’t even feel like I’m on a diet anymore.
If you’d like to know more about the Cooking Light Diet, visit CookingLightDiet.com, or email us at feedback@cookinglightdiet.com. We’d love to hear from you! Have a great week.
*Members following the Cooking Light Diet, on average, lose more than half a pound per week.
I miss my native Massachusetts most of all in the summer. Growing up, my summers were spent on the Cape, scarfing whole belly clams, lobster, and oysters, sweet-briny flavors that perfectly distilled Cape Cod’s terroir (merroir?).
Alabama summers are different: my time is spent rushing from one air-conditioned environment to the next, hoping to dodge the inevitable–and often quite violent–daily thunderstorms. Summer food is smoky pig and gorgeously sweet and juicy peaches, delicious delights in their own right, but not scratching my itch for the flavors of home.
This is where my new seasoning obsession comes in. Wellfleet Sea Salt, a company and product started by Zachary Fagiano and Hope Schwartz-Leeper. (Full disclosure: Zachary is the son of David Bonom and Marge Perry, friends of and contributors to Cooking Light. Fuller disclosure: If I didn’t actually really like the salt as much as I do, I wouldn’t bother writing about it.)
Besides being all-natural and free of anti-caking agents found in table and kosher salts, Wellfleet Sea Salt is extracted from the waters of the Cape, the very same surf that gives Wellfleet oysters their luscious brininess. I’ve been using it as a finishing salt for grilled corn and ripe, raw heirloom tomatoes, and it has given me a comforting taste of home to help me through Dixie’s dog days.
A few days ago, two friends and I got into a fight over the merits of cheesecake as an acceptable dessert. They love cheesecake as it is in its natural form: buttery crust; tangy, creamy filling; and possibly a fruity topping. I love cheesecake in its adapted forms: frozen pops, inspired ice creams, even a little no-bake cheesecake bar. As it turns out, we’re all right. If you’re as much of a fan of cheesecake as we are collectively, you’ll be happy to know that today is National Cheesecake Day. In honor of it, here are a few of our favorite cheesecakes. Pin them today, save them for later. Better yet, pin them today, make them today, and then share them on Instagram with us using #cookCL.
Yes, that’s right—breakfast salads! They’re a thing, and they’re fantastic. If this concept is new to you, just hear me out, please. A salad in the morning is a great way to work in a serving or two of veggies (or whole grains, or fruit—more to come in this series!) right off the bat. They’re light, fresh, and balanced, preventing that all-too-familiar carb/sugar overload that’ll have you crashing an hour or two later.
For me, the breakfast salad is ideal because I’ve never been too fond of traditional breakfast foods. I just have a few guidelines for how to build a great one:
→ In general, avoid really strong flavors. A mouthful of raw garlic isn’t exactly what most folks take to first thing in the morning.
→ Be sure to include protein and fat for satiety. That protein can come in the form of an egg, a little cheese, some leftover bacon, a sprinkle of nuts, a pile of canned beans, or a bed of whole grains. Unsaturated fats (think olive and nut oils, avocado, or nuts) are ideal and go a long way to keeping you satisfied longer.
→ Keep it fast and simple. This is breakfast, after all, and on weekdays you don’t have time to fuss with a lot of prep. I’ve strived to keep things nice and easy.
→Pay attention to texture. Ideally your salad will include something crispy-crunchy, creamy-silky, juicy-fresh, and/or meaty-chewy.
→Vary the base. Sometimes, go with greens. Other days, opt for beans, whole grains, or shredded or chopped fresh veggies.
Simple Salad with Honey-Lemon Ricotta Lightly sweetened, citrusy-floral-flavored ricotta makes this breakfast salad feel quite indulgent. You don’t have to stick to strawberries; use any in-season fruit you have on hand. You also don’t have to go with a sweet flavor profile; use chopped veggies in place of berries, and flavor the ricotta with herbs.
1/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 cups mâche or baby spinach
1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
3 strawberries, quartered
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped lightly salted almonds
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a small bowl; stir well to combine.
2. Combine mâche, oil, juice, and salt; toss gently to coat. Arrange on a plate. Top with ricotta mixture, berries, and almonds. Sprinkle with pepper.
Light, fluffy, and most importantly, 2 ingredients—these pancakes are absolutely to die for! We tried and loved the 3-Ingredient Pancakes for 1, so when I heard about this trend of these super simple veg-based pancakes, I had to jump on board.
Though I was a little skeptical at first, I became a believer after biting into these decadent pancakes, which are completely clean and healthy. The best part—they’re simple enough for weekdays, yet feel indulgent enough for weekend brunch, (even though they’re not indulgent at all).
If you’re like me and plan out your menu on the weekends, you might roast a couple of sweet potatoes at the beginning of the week. If you do, this recipe will be even quicker for you.
*I made and shot the photos of this recipe for 2, but it’s broken down to serve one.
Ingredients: Makes 1 serving
1 roasted sweet potato
2 eggs
a dash of cinnamon (optional)
a dash of allspice (optional)
Directions
1.Remove the flesh from a cooled, roasted sweet potato and mash. Mix in two eggs. Add spices, if desired. The consistency should look like the image below.
2. Heat a griddle pan over medium-high heat. Coat it with cooking spray, oil, or butter of your choice. I used Kerrygold butter. Spoon out 1/4 cup of batter onto the griddle. Let cook 5 to 7 minutes.
This is the tricky part! These pancakes do not bubble like typical pancakes, so you have to really rely on the timer. Second, it helps to use two spatulas to flip, so that they stay together. Once you’ve flipped, cook for another 3-5 minutes, remove, and serve.
Bonus: Instead of using pure maple syrup or honey, I decided to mix up a cinnamon-y, slightly sweet yogurt sauce. Mix 1/2 cup fat-free or 2% Greek yogurt with a dash of cinnamon and 1 teaspoon of maple syrup.
Dig in and Enjoy! These pancakes work best if served right off the griddle. Enjoy with almond butter, peanut butter, Greek yogurt, or any other protein-packed topping of your choice for an extra boost in the morning.
I don’t know about you, but my summer calendar seems to stay filled with picnics, backyard barbecues, and even a pool party or two. Those occasions usually require that I bring an appetizer or finger food, so I’ve mastered the easiest appetizer ever for summer gatherings. Now, I’m sharing it with you.
If you have your own garden, this appetizer will be a real breeze! Your little tomato plants are probably churning out more than you can possibly eat, and basil plants are at peak production right about now. We’re going to put those to good use in this 4-ingredient summer snack.
Ingredients
25 cherry tomatoes
25 mozzarella pearls, such as Bel Gioioso
3 basil leaves
balsamic drizzle or glaze, such as Gia Russa
Preparation 1. Halve tomatoes. Pierce the top of a tomato half with a toothpick. Pierce a piece of cheese. Slide another tomato half onto the toothpick. Arrange on a platter.
2. Chiffonade several basil leaves. Sprinkle basil over tomato-mozzarella skewers. Drizzle with balsamic glaze (not pictured above) just before serving.
Note: If you can’t find mozzarella pearls, you can just slice a mozzarella ball into bite-sized pieces.
