Prospero's Kitchen

You're too busy, too worn-out, and can't think about being healthy

That sounds like a lot of us, doesn't it? But if you regularly take even a few moments out of your frantic life, you'll see results very soon.

Try walking. You can walk from where you park your car at the end of the parking lot to your office, classroom, grocery story, or shopping mall. You didn't notice that much, did you? If you can't walk, try wall push ups

Try chilling. You're at your desk and the papers are piled up in front of you. They're a mess and you're on edge. Try closing your eyes for ten seconds, breathing deeply, imagining that you're breathing out all that clutter in your mind. Easy. Right?

You're exhausted at the end of the day and can't even think about cooking. What you want to do is stop on the way home and pick up something at the drive-through. Try resisting the urge to grab a quick fix that's usually over salted and high in fat. Instead when you get home, take out a carton of flavored low-fat or fat-free yogurt or a small carton of flavored low-fat or fat-free milk and drink it while you're sitting down. Then, when you've got some energy back, take out some nutritious leftovers or stir-up a Super Easy recipe like the one below. Add an apple or other fruit of your choice and you're on your way to a strong, vital, healthy life!

Toasted Cheese with Tomato Slice

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 teaspoons lite mayonnaise

2 slices whole grain bread

2 slices reduced-fat cheese such as mozzarella or Swiss

2 slices from a large tomato, if available

Method

Cover cookie sheet or toaster oven tray with aluminum foil. Spread lite mayonnaise onto each of two bread slices. Place cheese and then tomato on each slice of bread. Put the cookie sheet into the oven or the tray into a toaster oven. Toast until the cheese begins to melt and the bread turns brown. Remove with a spatula onto plates.

 

I'm Baaack! With Some Pretty Good News

Thanks for being patient. I've been hunkered down going over my soon-to-be-published book page by page, line by line. And in doing so, I've realized this is NOT a gourmet cookbook. It's a collection of delicious, healthy, very easy recipes and shortcuts on how to eat healthily.

Several readers of this blog volunteered to be recipe testers, some from as far away as the United Kingdom and Australia. And surprisingly, I learned most from those recipe testers who weren't gourmet cooks. I also learned from the gourmet cooks about tweaks that the recipes needed.

We, those of us who are foodies, have gotten used to recipes and cookbooks that assumed we all know a lot about cooking and have lots of time to do it. The truth is we don't. And that's where the revised theme of the book started. Busy people won't  bother with the recipes if they seem difficult or speak a foreign gourmet language.  So, the book, Even You Can Be Healthy, now has a subtitle: This is NOT a gourmet cookbook!

Stay tuned. I'll be posting more recipes, more advice on becoming healthy, more ways to do it all easily. So that Even You Become Healthy!

Healthy, Easy, Chocolate Mousse!

Becoming healthy means we pay attention to what we put into our bodies. It doesn't mean giving up our sacred, favorite goodies. With this recipe you get your chocolate fix without the downside of high fat.

The essential threes of health are exercise, stress relief, and most of all healthy eating. And healthy food means loading our plates with colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains (not white flour), and lean protein (no saturated fats or trans fat).

The dish here, Healthy, Easy, Chocolate Mousse has cocoa powder as an all important ingredient to chocolate lovers. There's no settled definition of the cocoa pod. Some say the inner part, from which we get out cocoa, is a seed, some say a nut. What matters to us is that with cocoa powder the fat has been removed and we get the powder, plain and simple.

The other part of this dish that is important to us healthy eaters is the tofu, which is derived from soy beans and is very high in protein.

Overall this amazingly good, healthy dessert is very low in calories and a good source of protein, too. Make it, enjoy it, and don't feel the least bit guilty.

(This recipe was tested by Emma Allan, UK, photo by Emma, also.)

Chocolate Mousse Light

This tastes rich and delicious and it’s so good for you as well as being extremely easy to make. I recommend you try this easy recipe.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

8-12 ounces plain silk tofu

1/3 to ½ cup cocoa, regular, not extra-dark

½ cup sugar or honey, or to taste

1 tablespoon vanilla, or to taste

1 tablespoon milk or more as needed, low-fat or skim, or “milk” of your choice, just enough to liquefy

Method

Add all ingredients except milk to blender bowl. You can also use a handheld blender in a small bowl.  Blend until smooth, adding milk only if needed to liquefy. Adjust sweetener, cocoa, and vanilla to taste. Pour into a bowl, serving dish, or individual custard cups. Chill 2 to 3 hours or more until ready to serve. The mousse will set as it chills. It keeps well in refrigerator.

White Fish Fillet with Tomato, Onion, Capers, and Olives

This recipe is a prime example of the easy, delicious, healthy recipes that I'm collecting for you.

The cook who tested this recipe says, “This was the first time I had ever used capers in a recipe, and I love the flavor they added. The dish was really easy and really tasty. I like the fact that it cooks all in one skillet and is done in about 30 minutes. You can bet I'll be cooking this recipe again and again!” 

Let me know what you think!

 

White Fish Fillet with Tomato, Onion, Capers, and Olives

Serves 4-8

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil or canola oil

½ cup onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped, or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 14.5-ounce can tomatoes, diced, any flavor

1 tablespoon capers (optional)

2 tablespoons canned black olives, sliced and drained (optional)

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried parsley 

1 pound raw fish fillets such as tilapia, snapper, sea bass, grouper, sole, or flounder (Tilapia is very inexpensive.)

Juice of ½ lemon or 1 teaspoon vinegar

Method

Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sauté onion till tender. Add fresh garlic, if using, and sauté for 1 minute more. Stir in canned tomatoes with juice, powdered garlic, if using, and parsley. Add red pepper flakes, capers, and black olives, if using. Cover and simmer on low for about 10 minutes. (This dish tastes best if you use most ingredients when cooking it.)

Remove cover and add raw fillets. Drizzle the lemon juice or vinegar over the fillets and spoon the sauce over them. Re-cover and simmer for another 10-20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillet. The fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork.

Serve over about ½ to ¾ cup cooked brown rice, couscous, or other whole wheat pasta.