Header

For years now, we’ve been giving your favorite recipes a healthy makeover.  In this week’s Cooking with the Moms podcast, we share our best-kept secrets for rescuing recipes – everything from replacing the saturated fat from butter and shortening with healthier oils like canola and increasing the fiber and nutrients by using whole wheat flour, oats, and ground flax seed in our baked goods.  If you think healthy means bland and boring, you’ll love our tips and tricks for making your tried-and-true recipes fast, flavorful and more nutritious than ever.

The two recipes we rescue in this show are Cheesy Spinach Bites — a healthier version of spinach balls — and Double Strawberry Smoothie Pie, with a better-for-you Graham cracker crust.

Spinach balls are one of those quintessential holiday favorites that seem healthy – after all, they’re made with spinach – but are typically loaded with artery-clogging saturated fat.

When Jen M., a mom of three from Overland Park, Kansas sent us her recipe for Spinach Balls and asked us to give it a healthy makeover, we couldn’t resist the challenge. “Spinach Balls are a special treat for the kids and a great party food,” said Jen, “but they’re so greasy.” After looking at Jen’s recipe, made with a stick and a half of butter (that’s 12 tablespoons!), we had to agree.

Athena, age 7, loves her mom's new recipe

3-year old Orion eats with gusto

The Rescue:

Hmmm. What to do with those 12 tablespoons of butter? While we’re not opposed to butter all together, the 7 grams of saturated fat in just three of the spinach balls pushed us over the edge. For our rescue, we used four tablespoons of butter plus four tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (rich in heart-healthy monounsaturated fat). We also cut the Parmesan cheese from one cup down to a half.

When made with less fat and Parm, the spinach balls turned out a bit dry. Jen had the same problem when she initially tweaked this recipe at home. “I experimented with less butter and I even used some olive oil but it didn’t work – they were too dry.”

Our final fix was the addition of half a cup of shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese. This did the trick and we were happy with the results of our recipe rescue. More importantly, Jen and her family were happy too. “They stayed moist without that greasy quality of the original, and we liked the new flavor,” Jen told us when we spoke on the phone recently. At first, 7-year-old Athena said, “Never make this again,” but then proceeded to devour them! Jen made a batch and froze half. She plans to serve them to friends over New Year’s. We hope she’ll report back and tell us what her friends think of the Recipe Rescue.

Cheesy Spinach Bites

Makes 16 servings (about 48 “bites”)

• Two 10-ounce packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 2 cups crushed herb-seasoned stuffing mix (we like Pepperidge Farm made with white & whole wheat bread)
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
• 5 large eggs, beaten
• 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray two large, rimmed baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Drain the spinach well by pressing in a colander and using paper towels to remove excess moisture.
3. In a large bowl, combine the spinach, stuffing mix, Parmesan cheese, Cheddar cheese, eggs, flaxseed, oil, butter, onion powder, thyme, and pepper and mix very well.
4. Roll the mixture into 48 balls (about 1 to 1 ¼-inches in diameter) and place on the prepared sheets. Bake until golden brown on the bottom, about 10 minutes.

Nutrition Information per Serving (3 “bites”): 150 calories, 10g fat (3.5g saturated, 0.5g omega-3), 210mg sodium, 8g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 6g protein, 90% vitamin A, 10% calcium

For comparison sake, the original recipe had 160 calories, 12g fat (7g saturated), and 300mg sodium in three “bites.”

If you want us to give your favorite family recipe a healthy “rescue,” send it to moms@mealmakeovermoms.com.

If we could click our heels and be in Spain or Italy right now, we’d be the happiest dietitians in the world.  That’s because the foods of the Mediterranean — olive oil, nuts, legumes, seafood, vegetables, whole grains — are some of the healthiest and most delicious on the planet.  Recently, we attended a Mediterranean diet conference sponsored by Boston-based group called Oldways.  At the meeting, we hobnobbed with scientists, chefs and fellow health professionals and sampled everything from artisinal olive oils to French cheeses. 

For this week’s Cooking with the Moms podcast, we share two of our favorite Mediterranean-inspired recipes:  Potato Ole Omelet and Walnut Cannellini Wraps.  We promise your kids will like the recipes as much as the adults do!  Tune in and let us know what you think of the show, and feel free to share your family’s favorite Mediterranean recipes right here on our blog.

On today’s Cooking with the Moms radio podcast, we hit the holiday party scene with recipes for Sugar & Spice Pecans and Mini Mango Cheesecakes.

Mini Mango Cheesecakes

The great thing about these easy recipes is that they taste great and they’re not dripping in sugar, saturated fat and calories.  In other words, your friends and family can feel good about eating them.  To make the spiced pecans, we use less sugar than most spiced nut recipes — but they’re still sweet enough for our taste — and there is less bad fat in our yummy mango cheesecakes thanks to the 1/3-less-fat cream cheese and light sour cream.  We hope you’ll tune in, and by all means, if you get a chance to try the recipes, let us know what you think of them.

Sugar & Spice Pecans

Every year, we attend the annual meeting of the American Dietetic Association. This year’s conference was in Chicago (and yes, it was windy there).  As part of the show, we had an opportunity to try an array of new and nutritious food products for kids and families.  Here’s a sampling of what we found:

Clif Kid Organic Twisted Fruit:  Looking for a fun new snack to pack in your child’s lunchbox or backpack?  Your search is over.  Clif Bar is out with a new line of Twisted Fruit snacks.  They take real fruit – strawberry, pineapple, grape — and twist it into a rope shape.  It looks like licorice but is all natural and has no added sugar.

Food Should Taste Good:  Multigrain, sweet potato, olive, and even chocolate. Those are a few of our favorite Food Should Taste Good snack chip flavors.  The sweet potato chips were a big hit with our kids – something we appreciate given their 3 grams of fiber and 20% vitamin A per serving. 

PlumSweet:  Sunsweet is at it again with a new dried plum snack your whole family will love.  PlumSweets are scrumptious, bite-sized pieces of dried plums coated in rich, dark chocolate.  Yum!

Read more about some of the other healthy new food products at the show in the Chicago Tribune, and let us know what new kid-friendly snacks you have found at your local market.

Late Tuesday, we returned from Chicago after several action-packed days at the annual meeting of the American Dietetic Association (ADA).  We saw many old friends (by old we mean, “we’ve known them for a while” vs. they’re old), sat in on interesting lectures (we’ll share some of what we learned in future posts) and got to cruise the exhibit hall to sample new family-friendly food products and to peak at recipe booklets and cookbooks.

We have so many cool things to share with you, but decided to start with a recipe for Cocoa Raisin Muffins.  We tasted this recipe at the California Raisin booth after meeting fitness trainer, Valerie Waters (if you go to the raisin website, you’ll find lots of Valerie’s easy-to-follow healthy living tips).  Anyway, despite the fact that we just got back to reality land, we tested & tweaked the recipe and infused some of our Meal Makeover Mom magic. 

These double-chocolate muffins are perfect for Halloween – whether you’re hosting a neighborhood party or just looking for a new muffin recipe to keep your little ghosts and goblins happy. 

Cocoa Raisin Muffins

Makes 24 Muffins

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup 1% lowfat milk
• 1 cup California raisins
• 1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly oil or coat 24 mini muffin cups with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Whisk together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.
3. Combine the applesauce, egg, oil, and milk in a medium bowl and stir until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until just moistened.  Stir in the raisins and chocolate chips. The batter will be thick and “fudgy.”
4. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups (fill them generously).  Bake about 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes.  Remove the muffins and cool an additional 5 minutes before serving.

Nutrition Information per Serving (2 mini muffins):   210 calories, 8g fat (1.5g saturated, 0.6g omega-3), 260mg sodium, 33g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, 4g protein, 10% iron

As you may know, we’re huge fans of chocolate – which is why this recipe caught our attention.  What also caught our attention were the raisins.  They offer an easy way to get more fruit into the family diet:  They’re portable, available year round, and kids naturally love them.

More news from our ADA adventures in upcoming posts this month!

Snack chips are often criticized by dietitians for being too high in fat and sodium and for containing ingredients like partially hydrogenated vegetable oils and artificial colors. To investigate what snack food companies are doing to improve their products, we recently took a tour of the Frito-Lay plant in Killingly, CT.  It’s not every day you get to walk through a food manufacturing facility … nor is it every day you get to wear a hair net, ear plugs, and protective goggles (a hands-down Glamour Don’t though clearly a safety necessity)!

On the tour, we saw how potato chips and Smartfood Popcorn are made, and we got to eat them warm as they came off the production line (incredibly yummy, if we must say so ourselves). We were impressed by the fact that Frito-Lay has reduced the saturated fat in its chips by switching to sunflower oil and that all its chips are trans-fat free. They even have a line of products called Pinch of Salt featuring lower sodium versions of their most popular snacks (we blogged about this on July 7, 2008).

It’s nice to know you can enjoy chips without all the guilt when you need a little crunch with your lunch! As with all snacks, keep an eye on those portion sizes!

If you’re like us, kitchen craziness kicks in every day around 3:00PM when the kids get home from school. After backpacks are unloaded and hands are washed, it’s snack-attack time. What you choose for a snack can have a major impact — either positive or negative — on the quality of your child’s overall diet. In this week’s Cooking with the Moms radio podcast, we feature lots of healthy snack ideas along with two snack recipes: Lime ‘n Honey Black Bean Dip and our oh-so-delicious Grab & Go Granola Bars. Be sure to tune in to our podcast to get the skinny on snacking or check out our Smart Snacking story featured in this month’s issue of Kiwi magazine (it’s on the news stand now).

Lime ‘n Honey Black Bean Dip
Makes 6 to 8 Servings

One 15 ½ -ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 cup salsa
1/4 cup light sour cream
2 tablespoons lime juice (juice of 1 lime)
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Place the beans, salsa, sour cream, lime juice, honey, cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder in the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth and creamy.

2. Serve with baked tortilla chips or baby carrots.

Nutrition Information per Serving (1/4 cup): 60 calories, 0.5g fat (0g saturated fat), 180mg sodium, 13g carbohydrate, 3g fiber, 3g protein

If you have a favorite after-school snack idea you’d like to share, post it here on our blog!