Low Fat Pita Pizza with Ground Beef

Greetings!

When you're trying to lose weight, the last thing you want to think about is Pizza. But this low fat Pita Pizza with Ground Beef Recipe will make you want to think about dinner time!

This recipe makes 4 servings, and each serving has the following nutritional contents:

• 202 Calories,
• 7 g Total Fat,
• 3 g Saturated Fat,
• 30 mg Cholesterol,
• 418 mg Sodium,
• 21 g Total Carbohydrate,
• 3 g Dietary Fiber,
• 15 g Protein, and
• 150 mg Calcium .

• 4 small (1-ounce) whole-wheat pitas, split
• horizontally to make 8 rounds
• 4 ounces extra-lean ground beef (10% or
• less fat)
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 cup tomato sauce (no salt added)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
• 3 ounces skim-milk mozzarella cheese,
• grated
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

This is what you do:

Preheat oven to 425o F.
Place pita rounds onto nonstick baking sheet; bake 5-10 minutes, until toasted.
Remove pitas from oven; leave oven on.
Meanwhile, spray small nonstick skillet with nonstick cooking spray; heat.
Add beef and garlic; cook over medium-high heat, stirring to break up meat, 2-3 minutes, until no longer pink.
Remove from heat; set aside.
Spread each toasted pita round with 2 tablespoons tomato sauce. Sprinkle sauce with equal amounts of oregano, then cheese;
top cheese with equal amounts of reserved beef, then sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper. Bake 5 minutes, until sauce is bubbling and cheese is melted.


Yours in Health,


Skinny Jeff

In Memory of Our War Heroes.

Greetings!

Today is a very special day in Australia and New Zealand: ANZAC Day.

It commemorates those soldiers of the Commonwealth fallen on duty to protect our freedom.

To them... all our respect and appreciation for their dear sacrifice, and out eternal gratitude.


Yours in Health,


Skinny Jeff

Low Fat Saturday Sundaes (Only 3.5 Pts!)

Greetings!

A low fat Saturday Sundae worth only 3.5 points?

Well, it's true. With this recipe you may give your kids a great tasting dessert, and keep them trim.

This recipe serves 4, and it takes only 15 minutes preparation (plus setting time). This is great for a weekend, with lots of fruit, cream and even a cherry on top. Yummmm!

Ingredients:

• 1 packed of low joule (diet) straberry jelly
• 5 tsps granulated artificial sweetener (I use Splenda)
• 1 punnet of strawberries
• 1 banana, sliced
• 1 kiwi fruit (optional if you're outside of Australia and don't have kiwi fruits handy)
• 1 nectarine, peeled and chopped (or a peach)
• 300 g of low fat custard
• 4 Tbsp whipped cream
• 4 cherries

This is what you do:

Make the diet jelly as per instructions in the pack, and leave to set.
Puree half the strawberries in a blender, and add a tsp of Splenda.

Dice the jelly (once set), and divide between 4 dessert glasses.

Mix the chopped strawberries with the rest of the fruit, and layer with custard and strawberry puree.

Top with one Tbsp of cream on each glass, and pot a cherry on the top.

That's it! Easy!



Yours in Health,


Skinny Jeff

I've Added a Swicki to my Blog!

Greetings!

I've added a Swicki to make it easy for you to find information in this blog (or from other relevant sites).

A Swicki is a community powered search engine.

Say you're looking for a low fat cake recipe in my blog. Well, you type "low fat cake" and click on search, and it will return a list of links to my blog archives where that term is likely to be.

And it also gives you links to other sites that have the same term.

You can also click on the keywords I've included (as a short cut).

Check it out.


Yours in Health,


Skinny Jeff

How Much Fat and Sodium A Day?

Greetings!

It's Good Friday, and I'm at home today!

There'll be a bit of indulgence at my partner's parents' place, as they'll be having fish and every sort of seafood, and beer. Honestly... I'll enjoy myself today. I won't abuse myself eating, of course, but I'll just enjoy myself today.

Speaking of which... have you ever wondered what is the maximum amount of fat and sodium you're allowed to have on a daily basis?

I was reading the March 06 edition of Choice Magazine this morning and found out.

According to them

An average woman should be aiming for no more than 70 g fat per day, an average man 90 g.

But how much is 70 g of fat? Well, that's 1 teaspoon of fat for every 5 g, or 1 Tbsp equals 20 g.

As to sodium, your intake should not be over 2,300 mg a day.

Now, take this into account: the above amounts are the maximum. You should not go above or near this amount anyway. Your aim is to keep it lower, much lower than the maximum.

This is because by doing that, you're allowing your body to process a reasonable amount of fat and sodium so that it does not affect you.

And you don't have to eat cardboard boring tasting diet food for that. Just take the time to plan your meals incorporating healthy recipes, low fat - low sodium - recipes. If you take the time to look for them, you'll find many deliciuos meals you can make yourself that are also low in fat.

You can find some here in my blog.

Have a Happy Easter!

Yours in Health,


Skinny Jeff

Who's Fat?

Greetings!

I read an article today that suggest people have a blind spot when it comes to realizing (or admitting) that they are obese. Check it out (a new window will open).

It reminded me of Obelix (as in the comic strip/comic books Asterix and Obelix) always asking "who's fat" whenever someone raises the issue).... And to some extent, many of us act like him.

Sure, we acknowledge we ought to lose a couple of kilos, and even add that as one of the first items in our new year's resolution lists (which is abandoned after the first days in January), but admitting we're obese? Never!!!

Looking at our BMI can be challenging for some of us. A BMI of 24-25 seems to be ideal, and anything over 30 is regarded, in medical terms, as obese... but we tend to ignore it, or attribute it to bone density, ethnic differences, age, or any other excuse we may think of to justify our bulkiness.

But the truth is... if we have a BMI of 30 or higher, we must address that immediately through a weight management system. Choose your favourite system: Weight Watchers is my system of choice because it worked for me (and I'm still struggling to get to the magic BMI of 25!), but you can also do the Low Carbs regime, the raw food diet, or even going alcalyn.

Provided you do it under medical supervision, the important thing is to take massive action to get you to the healthy BMI range.


Yours in Health,


Skinny Jeff

Low Fat Fruit Vanilla Omellette

Greetings!

This low fat fruit vanilla omellette recipe makes 4 servings, and it only takes about 15 minutes to prepare and cook. This is a souffle omellette recipe that you may want to prepare for a weekend breakfast.

It's worth only 3.5 WW Points (with only 235 kilocalories per serving).

Whoever said low fat meals have to be tasteless and boring?


Ingredients:

• 1 can of apricots in natural juice (1 x 420g)
• sultanas/raisings (25 g, ie 1 oz)
• 1 banana
• 1 Tbsp of arrowroot or cornflour
• 1/2 tsp of ground cinnamon
• 4 eggs
• 1 Tbs of Splenda (or your favourite artificial sweetener)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 4 tsp low fat spred
• 4 tsp icing sugar (for sprinkling)

This is what you do:

First, put the apricots (with juice and all) into a saucepan, and then add your raisings and banana.

Next, blend the arrowroot or cornflour with a bit of cold water, and stir in the saucepan with the fruit. Heat gengly till thickened, and add the cinnamon.

Now separate the eggwhites. Beat the egg yolks, and add the Splenda and vanilla essence.

Then whisk the egg whites till stiff, and fold into the egg yolks.

Preheat your grill to medium heat.

To make the omellettes, do one at a time by melting your low fat spread or margarine (polyunsaturated margarine) in an omelette pan.

Add 1/4 of the egg mixture and cook until the base is set. Then, grill it till the surface gets firm.

Put the omellette in a warm plate, and spoon 1/4 of the fruit mixture. Fold it over, and serve, sprinkling your icing sugar (or granulated Splenda).

Repeat the process for the next 3 souffles.

Enjoy your fruity breakfast!


Yours in Health,


Skinny Jeff

Low Fat Thai Vegetables Recipe

Greetings!

This is a quick low fat Thai style vegetables recipe you may want to try for dinner.

It's only 4.5 pts per serving (4 servings), and it should only take about 15 minutes to prepare (plus 35 minutes to cook).

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp sunflower oil
• 356 g Quorn cubes
• 6 shallots, halved
• 1 aubergin
• 1 red pepper
• 1 green pepper (capsicum, we call them here)
• 225 g sweet potatle
• 175 g mushrooms
• 4 lime leaves
• 1 Tbsp Thai green curry paste
• 300 ml (1/2 pint) skim milk
• Coconut essence
• 300 ml (1/2 pint) vegetable stock, and
• 2 tablespoons of fresh coriander (chopped)

Got all that ready? Ok...

This is what you do:

Dice and de-seed the capsicums, chop the sweet potato, slice the mushrooms, and chop the fresh coriander.

Next, heat the oil in a large pan and cook the Quorn, shallots, aubergine, capsicums, sweet potatoes and mushrooms. Stir for about 5 minutes, and stir in the lime leaves, curry paste, milk and add a few drops of coconut essence (that is better than using low fat coconut milk). Add the vegie stock.

Bring to the boil and allow to bubble for another 5 mintues, then simmer for 25 minutes or so.

Serve warm. If you want, you can accompany this dish with steamed rice (add a couple of points to your traker), and scatter coriander over the top.

Bon apetit!



Yours in Health,


Skinny Jeff

Low Fat Cauliflower Soup... with Croutons

Greetings!

Winter is approaching in Western Australia. It's just around the corner. In fact, our summer was unusually wet, with several rains in between....

For some reason, winter makes me hungrier than usual. It must be my metabolism.

But rather than stuffing myself up with No-No-Food (the type of food that makes you rounder), I have a series of recipes that are delicious, filling, and low in fat and calories. This is one of them.

Ingredients:

• 4 slices of white bread
• 500g cauliflower florets
• 1 medium potato, peeled and chopped
• 3 cups vegetable stock
• 2 cups of skim milk
• 1 tbs chives, chopped

This is what you do:

First, preheat your oven to 200 C (392 F).

Cut the slices of bread into cubes and coat them with cannola spray oil (lightly).

Put them on a baking tray and bake them for 5 minutes, or until they go crisp and golden (but not burnt!). Set aside.

Next, whilst the croutons are baking, put the cauliflower, potato and onion in a large microwave resistant bowl, add the vegetable stock, cover with plastic wrap (in Australia we call it "gladwrap"), and nuke for about 7 minutes... or even 10 minutes.

Take it out of the microwave, and carefully remove the gladwrap (with a fork, as the vapour is very hot, and may scald you).

Transfer the "soup" and chunky bits to a blender or food processor, and blend till smooth.

Add the skim milk, transfer to a pan, and reheat.

Serve on individual soup bowls (I use my own giant cups), and scatter with chives and croutons.

Ahhhhh.... simply delicious! :-)





Yours in Health,


Skinny Jeff

Low Fat Pumpking & Leek Soup Recipe

Greetings!

This pumpking and leek soup recipe is ideal for those times when you feel "peckish", and just need something to fill your stomach... without the fat.

This is a zero points low fat recipe (in the Weight Watchers Points scale), and it makes 4 servings.

Ingredients:

• 1 large leek, sliced
• 1 kg butternut pumpking, chopped
• 2 cups cauliflower, chopped
• 4 cups of water, and
• 4 chicken stock cubes

What to do:

Combine all the ingredients in a medium saucepan.

Bring to the boil, and lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes (or until the pumpkin is soft and tender).

Transfer to a blender, and process till smooth.

If you want an extra creamy texture, you could add a tablespoon of low fat sour cream on each serve.

Enjoy.




Yours in Health,


Skinny Jeff