I'm looking for healthy, low fat ideas using primarily rice and
other grains, fruits, vegetables, little if any salt, and perhaps
occasionally, using skinless boneless chicken breast or white meat turkey.

Yep, I need to start getting serious about healthy eating for a change. I saw
an autheor at one of the local Barnes and Noble bookstores--she's written a
book called _Heal Your Heart_--and she's the nutritionist at Duke's Rice Diet
Program.  I haven't gotten to the recipes yet--but I do like her writing style
and approach--explaining WHY we need to not only eat healthy for a healthier
lifestyle, but we also need to incorporate exercise [no surprise there] AND
we need to look at spirituality and growth in this regard, too.

She also said that since I work at Duke, I'd get a discount if I participated
in the Rice Diet Program...  I'm not sure if/when I'll do that--since I need
to worry about finding a new place to live, but if I can't do this healthy
living thing on my own, i may consider going through the program for at least
a week or two to get a jum start on things.

In the meantime, I'm hoping to get ideas/suggestions/recipes from the rest
of you, especially with so many fruits and veggies  available in the summer
time. And I've never done a lot with rice, would love some interesting ways
of fixing this...

TIA!

25 responses total.

How about this one for a rice-based salad - it's quite good, 
low fat and healthful.

                Corn and Wild Rice Salad

  Salad
1 box Far East brand Long Grain and Wild Rice 
2 cups (approx. 4 ears) raw shucked sweet corn
1 cup finely chopped celery
3/4 cup shredded carrot
3/4 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup unsalted, raw sunflower seeds
1/2 cup finely chopped onion

  Dressing
1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. soy sauce
Rind of one orange, grated
salt and pepper to taste

Prepare rice mix as directed but omitting the butter.
Toast the sunflower seeds in a hot dry pan until lightly toasted
Whisk together all dressing ingredients.
Toss together all salad ingredients.  Pour dressing over.
Mix well, cover, and chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

Serves 8.

Too, do you like curried foods?  I have another recipe
you might like; it's from _Sundays at Moosewood_, for
curried stir-fried rice.  

I often eat the kind of diet you describe, but I usually don't bother
to make stuff that's fancy enough to require a recipe.  If you don't
feel the need to fool a taster that's intent on eating junk food or
fancy fare, here's some simple ideas:

Apples (wash, quarter, core, eat), bananas, carrots (peel, cut into disks,
add a touch of black pepper (& maybe a bit of sunflower seeds) and eat as
a salad), brocolli (fresh - be picky in the grocery store, wash, cut up
into a pot, add some water, and boil until *just* tender), nuked spuds
(scrub, cut out bad spots, stab a few times so steam can excape, and
microwave; cut up w/knife & smash w/fork in a bowl, then add liquid &
seasonings to taste (I tend to the strange & spicy - cider vinegar &
beet horseradish last time)), oatmeal (make with plain oatmeal (comes in 
a big cardboard "can", skim milk & a small amount of DARK brown sugar or 
"robust" molassas), homemade whole grain bread (machine suggested, I
experimented a lot to get a recipe I liked), and whole wheat spaghetti
(with home-made sauce, so you can control the sodium & fat).

I'm not too keen on rice myself - even brown rice doesn't look to amount
to much nutritionally, and it takes too long to cook.  The foods you
(except the poultry) don't sound complete in the amino acid department,
so you might want to give that some thought.  

Mary, the rice/corn salad sounds delicious; thanks!!  And yes, I like curry,so
the curry stir fried rice recipe may be good!!  


And Walter, thanks for your ideas, too. Sometimes I forget about the
basics--the raw fruits and veggies, the oatmeal, pastas, etc. Rice by itself
CAN be pretty bland, especially since I'm going to try and reduce salt, too.
But that's why I'm looking for some interesting recipes to try using various
herbs, spices, fruits and/or veggetables with it [or with other grains or
pastas--like couscous, for example].

I know there are a number of low fat cooking magazines out there and some of
you have mentioned some... I know Mary has, and I think Audrey and Valerie,
too?  What are some of the better ones?? I think Mary suggested "Cooking
Light"? Any others?

And any other ideas for jumpiing into this? I'm trying to decide which would
be easier, doing this gradually or just going cold turkey so to speak in
cutting out the red meats, cutting down the fat and salt, and just start doing
it.  I figure that if I can read/learn about it and get really morivated and
then pick a starting date, then maybe it won't be so hard!?

Mary brought curried rice to a Grex pot luck once.  I can vouch that it's
delicious.

If you're after rice in particular, I recommend using brown basmati rice. 
It smells so good while it's cooking that I don't use any other kind of rice
anymore (except for sushi).

When my sister got married, I put together a cookbook of my favorite recipes.
I still have the original file I printed it from.  Yell if you'd like me to
e-mail it to you.  The recipes are all vegetarian, many contain lots of
grains, and many are low in fat.

I differ with Walter: the foods you describe sound nutritionally fine, not
incomplete at all.  Nutritional thinking on the "complete protein" question
has changed radically in recent years.  In fact, even the person (Frances
Moore Lappe) who wrote the book (Diet For A Small Planet) that started people
worrying about this issue has now changed her mind.

Speaking of good recipes with lots of veggies and rice....  The cookbook _Diet
For A Small Planet_ has lots of those.  Another good one is _The Moosewood
Restaurant Cooks At Home_.

What caught my eye on the protein thing was the lack of any beans, nuts,
or dairy products and minimal meat/fish in the foods that denise mentioned
in 0.  I'm neither a vegan nor a nutritionist to really know about this, 
but I'd suggest finding out from a definitive source before jumping to 
a restrictive diet.

Here is that Curried Fried Rice recipe.  It wasn't out of
"Sundays...", it's from "The Moosewood Restaurant Cooks
at Home".  

                 Curried Fried Rice

2 eggs (or equivalent egg beaters)
1/4 cup vegetable broth
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. Patak's mild curry paste
4 plum tomatoes, diced
2 cups chopped fresh spinach
4 cups cooked basmati rice
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. fresh lemon juice (1 1/2 lemon, approx.)

*Spray a wok with vegetable cooking spray, allow it
get hot, then add the beaten eggs and swirl the mixture
forming it to make a firm but thin crepe-like omelet.
Remove the omelet from the pan, allow it to cook, and slice
it into thin short strips.

Add the broth, garlic and curry paste to the wok.  Cook for
one minute before adding the tomatoes and spinach.  Stir-fry
until the the spinach just wilts.  Add the rice and peas and
stir-fry until well mixed and heated through.  Stir in egg
strips, soy sauce and lemon juice.

Serves 4 large (main dish) portions.

(I have altered this recipe slightly from the one printed in
 the cookbook, mostly to make it lower in fat.  I have substituted
 egg beaters when I have them and they work just fine.)

  Not that I cook or anything, but I poked my head in here to tell you that
the saudi's have a magazine with native saudi cooking. You can find the web
site at http://www.saudi.net  
  In addition to having recipes, it offers interesting reading about the
culture and the lifestyles of the saudi people. Very informative.

Hmm, too bad I can't access the web to look at this Saudi stuff... [my
computer doesn't have enough RAM].  Thanks for the suggestion, though, omni!


What are some of the better 'healthy' cooking magazines and cookbooks are
people reading?  Any good recommendations??

[BTW, I'm moving next week--so I'm not getting superserious about this until
after I move and get settled. But am looking forward to having my OWN kitchen
again, after having to share for the past 2 1/2 years!! Now I'm sure I'll
start cooking much more than I have been these past couple years...]

Just use lynx here on grex to access the web site. Don't need pictures to
read text recipes. 

Ya, Denise, to see this site, type:

        !lynx http://www.saudi.net

at any Ok: or Respond or pass: prompt.

Hey Y'all, I'm still looking for suggestions for some good magazines
and perhaps a few good cookbook suggestions as well...  <nudge>
Please share your favorites!!   :-)

Looks like I'm going to have to start buying the various magazines related
to healthy living and see for myself [as at appears that people don't have
favorites of their own to share!?]...  So far, I've picked up a copy of
Gourmet, Eating Well, and Cooking Light, but haven't had the chance to DO much
reading nor actual recipe-trying/cooking yet.  Will do so soon, I hope!

Well, recipes like these are scattered around the whole cooking conference.

Good luck with the new diet and with the magazines.  If you run across amazing
recipes and you're willing to come back and post them here, there is indeed
an eager audience.

Hey Denise, I went to a cooking demonstration last Wednesday,
at Kitchen Port, on cilantro.  Marge Biancke (the Marge from
the Ann Arbor News food section) did 4 recipes, all winners.
One was a lentil salad that I made up today to have for dinner
(as wrap-sandwiches) tomorrow evening.

Now, lentils aren't rice but this does make a healty meal.
I'll share it if you are interested.

Even if Denise isn't interested, I am.

I haven't tried doing anything with lentils but am interested in trying! I
do hope to get into this healthy cooking and such after I finish unpacking!

Denise, yell if you're interested in my all-time favorite lentil recipe, also
known as The Recipe That Convinced Valerie To Become A Vegetarian.  Also known
(for today at least) as The Recipe That Valerie Cooked For Dinner Last Night.
 :)

And if Denise isn't interested in that recipe I certainly am. ;-)

I'll post the lentil salad recipe next time I'm here.

I'm quite sure I've entered this before, but I can't find it on-line anywhere.

This is based on the recipe "Lentils, Monastery Style" from _Diet For A
Small Planet_.  I've modified the recipe a fair amount.  In fact I've never
cooked the original the way it is described by the cookbook.  My version
is probably similar to what was originally intended, but easier.

It's often easier to double this recipe and use a whole 32 ounce jar of
spaghetti sauce, rather than use half a jar.  Leftovers keep well in the
fridge; you can warm them up in the microwave.

1 large onion
small amount of oil (optional)
1 or 2 carrots, chopped
1/2 teaspoon each thyme and marjoram (optional)
3 cups water
1 cup lentils, with any small stones or what-have-you picked out
1/4 cup dried or chopped fresh parsley
16 ounces any kind of spaghetti sauce
a hunk of cheese (colby, monterrey jack, mozzarella, cheddar, whatever)

Chop onion, and saute it in either the oil or in a small amount of spaghetti
sauce, until the onions are just beginning to brown.  Add all other
ingredients except the cheese.  Simmer for 45 minutes.  Serve in bowls, with
about two tablespoons of cheese sliced or grated on top.

Got it.  Thanks.  I bet that would be especially good using
Mom's Spaghetti Sauce.

Here's the one from the recent cilantro demo:

            Southwest Lentil Salad

1 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced 
1 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup of corn (I used one 11-ounce can.)
1 cup salsa (I used a medium-hotness bottled salsa.)
1 4-ounce can can of chopped green chilies, drained
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1/2 cup sliced ripe olives, chopped
1/2 cup or more chopped fresh cilantro 
3 tablespoons lemon or lime juice (I used lime.)

Place lentils in a medium size stockpot with onions, garlic, chili
powder, cumin and 2 cups of water.  Heat to boiling, reduce heat,
cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes until lentils are just tender.  Don't
let them get mushy.  Remove from heat and drain if necessary.

Add the remaining ingredients.  Cover and chill at least 8 hours;
overnight is best as the flavor gets better given time to bind.

Serve as a salad, in a tortilla wrap with sour cream, or as 
a dip with tortilla chips.

That does sound good.

Valerie and Mary, thanks for sharing these recipes! i hope to give them a try
soon.  [am making progress with my unpacking... and now have most of the
cookbooks unpacked. Tho' my kitchen has very little counter and cabinet space
[or space of any kind], so I need to go out and buy some kind of shelving or
cabinet or something, to store my non-perishables in. I need to do that before
I do a good grocery shopping...]

btw, _Eating_Well_ is*the* magazine for wonderful, lowfat recipes of
all sorts.   They editors feature dishes from around the world,
presented with sensible, easy-to-follow instructions.

The dishes range from vegan to lacto-ovo vegetarian to carnivorous
to omnivorous.

A special feature is their recipe rescue section, wherein they'll 
reconstruct readers' favorite recipies into reduced fat/calorie
/sodium versions.

I've always had great results with any _Eating_Well_ recipe I've
tried.  Thanks to _Eating-Well_, I've roasted vegetables, soaked
corn in the husk prior to grilling, made a winter vegetable
turrine, and turned out some killer cheesecakes with vastly
reduced fat content.


Did I mention that their recipies taste great?

Here's an article about 'nutrition on the run':

Nutrition on the Run
Before you surrender your spare change -- and your healthy eating habits
-- to the  vending machine, try our Top 10 ideas for nutritious and
tasty on-the-go snacks. They'll  sate your appetite and keep your body
running strong.

By Lisa Kingsley
    
For better or worse, snacking is part of life -- so make it a good one.

But how, when you're at your desk -- or on the road --in between
activities and actually  need to sub a snack for a meal?

Here are some great ideas for healthful, portable take-and-go snacks
from home,  convenience store, and fast-food drive-through -- or even
from the office vending  machine.

1. McDonald's Fruit and Yogurt Parfait
It's creamy and sweet; you'll get fiber from the fruit, and calcium and
protein from the  yogurt. Skip the high-fat granola topping, though.

2. Flavored instant oatmeal. Keep a box of your favorite oatmeal flavor
at your desk,  along with a mug and spoon. If you've got access to a
microwave, you can have a  sweet, high-fiber, filling (and warm!) snack
whenever you need it most.

3. Single-serve bag of wheat crackers and a single string cheese. This
combo -- sold  separately -- is available at most convenience stores or
mini marts. It's party food for  anytime, with whole-grain carbs from
the crackers and calcium from the cheese.

4. A bottled yogurt smoothie and a banana. The beauty of a bottled
smoothie is that  you can find it at a convenience store or the grocery
store (same goes for the banana)  -- you don't have to track down the
nearest smoothie stand. But be sure it's one made  without fructose or
high-fructose corn syrup! They make your blood sugar rocket up  and
crash back down just as fast, leaving you hungry again.

5. Single-serve bag of cinnamon-flavored apple chips. Made from nothing
but real  apples and cinnamon, these yummy chips have the satisfying
crunch of a potato chip  without the salt and fat. There are several
brands available -- you can find them at  supermarkets and health-food
stores, too. Keep a few bags in your car or desk for  quick fixes.

6. Make-it-yourself snack mix. Stir together 2 cups of toasted oat
cereal, 1/2 cup  chopped walnuts, and 1/2 cup dried cranberries; divide
it up into small snack bags and  keep some in your purse, desk or glove
compartment. These little snack packs are  loaded with fiber (cereal),
antioxidants (cranberries), and heart-healthy omega-3 oils  (walnuts).

7. Single-serve bag of pretzels. When nothing but something salty and
crunchy will do,  this is a much better choice than a bag of chips --
and you can grab this from just about  anywhere, including the vending
machine at work.

8. Single-serve package of fat-free fig bars. When nothing but a cookie
will do, these  are a much better choice than the usual vending machine
choices of high-fat, high- sugar chocolate chip or cream-filled cookies.
(And you get some fiber from the figs,  too.)

9. Single-serve bag of light microwave popcorn. If you have access to a
microwave,  this is an ideal choice from the vending machine or to bring
from home. Hot, crunchy,  and high in fiber, popcorn hits the spot. (The
smell may set off a snacking wave  throughout the office.)

10. Single-serve tuna-and-cracker packs. This is for when a substantial
snack is in  order -- almost a mini-meal. (Add a piece of fruit, and it
is.) The best part? They're  vacuum-packed, so no refrigeration's
needed.

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