DIY Take 2: Sushi

Sushi, in my opinion, is really fun food. If done right, it can also be very nutritious and low-calorie. If done wrong, it can be a nutritional nightmare. Think chunks of cream cheese, creamy, calorie-filled sauces (beware of those spicy rolls- they almost all have mayo-based sauces!) and battered and fried ingredients (tempura). Many also contain surimi, which is fake crab meat. Surimi is actually white fish that is washed free of all fishy flavor, then pumped full of salt, sugar, and dye to resemble crab meat. Not appetizing when you think about it. Trendy sushi places all have menu items loaded with these gut-busting ingredients.

Luckily, you can make your own sushi and make it much more healthful. This can be a fun date night or you could even involve the kids if they are adventurous- they could help with "decorating" and rolling the sushi :)

Start with sheets of Nori Seaweed (found in the international aisle of most grocery stores). Sea vegetables are great sources of a bunch of different vitamins and minerals, including iodine, zinc, B vitamins, iron, and also contain lignans. All that for minimal calories.


The rice filling in sushi is usually white rice, and you probably already know how I feel about refined grains. They contain little natural vitamins or minerals, no fiber, and they will cause your blood sugar to act like a rollercoaster. This sets you up for failure! Instead, use a mix of medium-grain brown rice and short-grain white rice to retain the sticky quality yet add some nutrition.


Instead of the aforementioned fatty fillings, chop up some fresh cucumbers, carrots, green beans, and/or daikon radish sprouts. Add slivers of avocado for some healthy fats, and thawed, chopped, pre-cooked shrimp for some satisfying lean protein. Top with toasted sesame seeds, sushi ginger (also found in the international aisle), a dab of low-sodium soy sauce, or a bit of hot sauce.

Garden Shrimp Rolls:

Sushi Rice:

3/4 cup medium-grain brown rice

3/4 cup short-grain white rice

1T sake

21/2 T rice vinegar

pinch of sugar

3/4 tsp sea salt

Combine rice, 21/2 cups of water and sake in saucepan. Bring to boil then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer 10-15 minutes or until nearly all the water is absorbed. Let rest 10 minutes off heat.

Whisk together vinegar, sugar and salt. Drizzle over the rice and stir. Cover with a damp cloth and let cool.

Lay a sheet of nori on a sushi mat or plastic wrap. Dampen the top inch or so with water. Spread the rice in a thin layer on the sheet, leaving the top inch bare. Lay your fillings in a line about 1 inch thick near the bottom of the sheet. Roll the sheet up tightly from the bottom. Seal with the dampened top edge.

Repeat with remaining nori, rice, and fillings. Cut each roll with a serrated knife into 6-8 slices.

Sodium Soup

Greg's Chicken Taco Soup

3 large cans boned chicken
1 medium onion
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced tomatoes w/green chilies
1 large can white hominy
2 cans dark kidney beans
2 cans pinto beans
1 large can tomato paste
2 packages frozen corn
1 large bottle V8
2 large cans chicken broth
1 package dry taco seasoning
1 package dry Ranch dressing mix
1 can refried beans

Combine all ingredients, simmer 1 hour. Garnish with tortilla chips, sour cream, cheddar cheese


This soup has a lot of good things going for it. Broth- or tomato-based soups are great for filling you up with few calories/fat, and there have been studies showing that diners who eat a cup of soup before a meal end up eating fewer calories at that meal than those who do not. This soup gets a huge fiber boost from the beans, plenty of lean protein from the chicken and beans, and tons of antioxidants from the tomatoes, V8 and onions. The downside is that this recipe is maybe a little too starchy (do you really need a large can of hominy AND two packages of corn??), and definitely too salty. Nearly every ingredient in this recipe has added salt, and plenty of it. Why should you care? Eating too much sodium causes your body to retain water, which first of all makes you feel bloated and icky and second of all puts stress on your heart. This stress can cause high blood pressure- some people are more prone to it than others. High blood pressure is a scary thing, because you don't feel it, but it can lead to heart attack, stroke and kidney failure. No, thank you, I'd rather not. The last reason sodium can harm you is that it makes you really thirsty. This can be a problem if you typically reach for high-calorie or sugary drinks.

So, lets trim that sodium...Buy no-salt- added canned tomatoes, and get two cans of them. Buy a separate can of green chilies to add to them. One can of green chiles has about 400mg sodium, but one can of tomatoes with chiles has about 1000! No-salt-added vegetables are getting pretty easy to find. Even Wal-Mart has a whole line of them now. The beans are harder to find without added salt, but canned beans are so convenient that I wouldn't stop using them because of it. Just make sure you dump them in a colander and rinse really well before using. Same goes for the hominy. As for the V8, buy the low-sodium version which has 140mg sodium per serving compared to 420mg in the regular V8. Use only half of the bottle, which is plenty to get the flavor into the finished product, between the V8 and the tomato paste. I also cut out the chicken broth completely and substituted plain old water. With all of the flavors going on you won't miss it, and you definitely don't the 1000mg sodium per can.

Now, how about those seasoning packets. Have you ever read the ingredients? They read like a high school chemistry experiment. Here they are:

Taco seasoning: includes hydrogenated oils (trans fat!!), salt, MSG, sugar, and preservatives
Ranch: maltodextrin, buttermilk, salt, MSG, lactic acid, dried garlic, dried onion, spices, citric acid, calcium stearate, xanthan gum, carboxymethylcellulose, guar gum, and artificial flavor.

A good rule to implement in your kitchen is to avoid eating anything that you haven't a clue what it really is. You would be surprised how easy it is to use your own spices. A taco seasoning can be made with 1 T dried onions, 2tsp chili powder, 1 tsp garlic powder, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp cayenne pepper. Ranch mix can be made with 2T minced onion, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 2tsp dried parsley, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper, and 1/4 tsp black pepper. Yes, it takes a little more measuring but it is totally worth it to cut out all those weird preservatives and all that salt.

A couple other things I did to improve this recipe: You already know how I feel about meat, so it won't surprise you that I cut down the chicken to only two cans. It's still plenty! If you have time, get your own chicken (free range if possible :) and cook and chop it. If not, go for all-natural canned chicken with no extra preservatives, 97% fat free. Also, look for fat-free or vegetarian refried beans. Otherwise, they have LARD in them. Gross. Last, I cut out the frozen corn  and kept the hominy, which really adds character to this soup. I swapped this starchy vegetable for an extra onion and large yellow bell pepper, which are non-starchy vegetables and therefore have less calories. This soup was absolutely delicious!

2 - 12.5 oz cans boned chicken
2 medium minced onions
1 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
2 cans no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1 can diced green chilies
1 large can hominy, rinsed
2 cans dark kidney beans, rinsed
2 cans pinto beans, rinsed
1 can tomato paste
1/2 large bottle of low-sodium V8
4 cups of water
3T dried minced onion
2tsp chili powder
1 1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cumin
1 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp black pepper

Combine all ingredients, simmer one hour. Garnish with tortilla chips, reduced-fat sour cream, and cheese (in small amounts).

Q&A: Trail Mix

Lyndsey writes:

Terri,

I am wanting to make a good trail mix to have on hand for the kids (and myself) to munch on. I don't really want to do the raisin, M&M, pretzel trail mix (actually that's EXACTLY what I'd like to do) but was thinking I'd like some crunchy oats in there. Do you suggest coating oats with honey or molasses and baking for a bit?
Thanks and I love your blog!




The main problem with trail mix is that the typical ingredients such as dried fruit and nuts (and of course, M&Ms) are really calorie-dense foods- you can only eat about 1/4 cup for a reasonable number of calories. It's ok to use these ingredients but I would recommend mixing in some whole grain cereals like puffed brown rice, wheat chex, or cheerios to add some volume and help you feel satisfied without adding too many extra calories. Your own homemade granola would also go well in a trail mix, but beware of store-bought versions that are way too high in fat. Your don't even need to add any oil to your recipe to make it good. Try this:

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/3- 1/2 cup honey or maple syrup (a mixture is good, too)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup of raw nuts or seeds of your choice (I love walnuts or almonds with flax seeds)

Mix oats, nuts/seeds and cinnamon in a large bowl. Drizzle honey or maple syrup over oats, stir really well to combine. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray and spread mixture evenly. Bake at 325 degrees, stirring every 15 minutes or so, until the oats are a deep golden color and the nuts are toasted.

Baking the granola long enough is essential to really bring out the flavor.

Thanks for writing, Lyndsey!

DIY Pizza

Who doesn't love pizza? No one, that's who. At least no one that I've ever met can resist sinking their teeth into a gooey, stringy, chewy peice every now and then. But how much does that pizza cost you? Probably 20 bucks by the time you pay the delivery and tip, but I'm also talking about the nutritional cost. A slice of cheese pizza from Papa John's, for example, is about 212 calories and 8 grams of fat. A slice of pepperoni from Domino's will run you 324 calories and 13 grams of fat. Ever eaten half a pizza in one sitting? Yeah, me too. Yikes.

Your best bet (as usual) is to make your own pizza, crust and all. It is really much easier than you might think. If you make your own, you get to control what goes into the crust. Soaked in butter? No, thank you. White whole wheat flour (my favorite!)? Yes, please. The easiest way to make a pizza crust is with a food processor but it's not that much harder to make if you don't have one. Take some time on a weekend afternoon to whip up a big batch of dough, let it rise while you are busy with other things, then divide it up and freeze for later. You can just pull out a dough ball from the freezer on a weekday morning, let it thaw in the fridge during the day and use it when you get home for a quick and easy dinner.

The toppings are up to you: I recommend lots of veggies such as red onion, mushrooms, bell peppers, broccoli, spinach, and tomatoes. For the sauce you can just use canned pasta sauce (look for "light" varieties- they actually do make the stuff without sugar). If you are a meat lover's pizza person, you can use turkey or vegetarian versions of pepperoni or sausage in order to cut down the fat and calories. I'll bet Pizza Hut can't do that for you!

We all know it wouldn't be pizza without cheese. Instead of the inch-thick layer you find on many restaurant pizzas, just try a thin sprinkle of part-skim mozzarella. Three or four ounces will do for a whole pie, and with that amount you won't feel deprived.

This recipe for homemade pizza will deliver lots of satisfaction for a fraction of the calories. And by a fraction, I mean about half- approx. 150 per slice with only 4 grams of fat and (bonus!) almost 4 grams of fiber per slice. Now this is a pizza of which you could eat half and not feel too guilty :)

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

1tsp instant yeast

1 tsp sea salt

1T olive oil

2/3 cup canned pasta sauce

1/3 cup canned mushrooms

1/3 cup chopped red onion

1/3 cup chopped bell pepper

crushed red pepper or italian seasoning to taste

3 ounces shredded part-skim mozarella

1. Combine the flour, yeast and salt in food processor using dough blade attachment. Turn the machine on and add 1/2 cup water and 1/2 T olive oil through the tube. Process for about 30 seconds, adding more water about 1T at a time until the dough forms a ball that is just slightly sticky. (You can do this step by hand with a mixing bowl and wooden spoon.)

2. Turn dough onto floured work surface and knead by hand for a few seconds, forming a smooth, round ball.

3. Put 1/2 T olive oil in a bowl. Roll dough ball in the bowl then cover with plastic wrap and let rise until dough doubles in size (1-2 hours, but you can skimp if you are short on time).

4. When dough is ready, roll into a even, flat round or press into a pizza pan. Top with pasta sauce, toppings and shredded cheese

5. Bake at 450 degrees until cheese and crust are lightly browned.

Italian-ish night

This recipe is for a casserole-type dish, somewhat reminiscent of lasagna but with a sour cream and onion twist.

2T butter
1 1/2 lb ground beef
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
6 chopped scallions
1 tsp sugar
2 8oz cans of tomato sauce
1 8oz pkg spiral pasta
1 cup sour cream
1 pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup grated cheese
1/2 can french fried onions

1.Cook pasta according to package directions
2.Brown the meat with garlic. Add salt, pepper, sugar, tomato sauce, and butter
3. Mix cream cheese and sour cream and add scallions.
4. Layer in casserole dish: 1/3 noodles, 1/3 cheese mixture, 1/3 sauce mixture. Repeat
5. Top with grated cheese and french fried onion rings.
6. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

This dish is extremely high in fat- between the meat, cream cheese, sour cream, grated cheese, butter and french fried onions, you probably wouldn't be able to afford to eat another gram of fat all day long! To make matters worse, the fat found in meat and cheese is the saturated kind which will wreak havoc on your cholesterol levels.

Let's talk about meat for a sec. Those of you who know me, know that I am not a fan. Not because I am an animal rights activist. In fact, I am all for eating things that are beneath me on the food chain. However, the overconsumption of meat in the western diet has led to some really unfortunate farming practices. Our demand for meat far exceeds the amount that could be produced by raising cattle on grass fields where they can graze freely and get exercise, producing leaner, healthier beef with a more balanced profile of fatty acids. Instead, they must be raised cooped up in pens, eating grain (which their bodies are not meant to do) and living in less-than-clean conditions. They are then fed antibiotics to keep from getting sick and hormones in order to mature more quickly and thus, be ready to slaughter more quickly. We are only beginning to discover what this does to our health, not to mention our environment.

I do not tell anyone not to eat meat. I just advise that if you be aware of what and how much you are eating. If you can, buy free range and grass fed meat. I used bison meat in this recipe, which is super lean and usually grass fed. If you can't or don't want to buy different meats, then just be cognizant of your portion sizes. Most people need about 5-6 ounces (the size of two decks of cards) of meat or other protein foods per day. How often do you see a 12 oz steak on a restaurant menu? Yikes. Cut down a bit and your health and the environment will thank you.

Okay, off the soapbox now. As I said, I used bison in this recipe. I also cut the amount down to 1 lb and used a 1/2 pound diced mushrooms to fill in for the rest. Mushrooms have a meaty-type flavor, and they add fiber and potassium to this dish. You really could use any type of vegetable that usually goes well in italian dishes- onion, bell pepper, zucchini, etc. Up the tomato sauce a bit- I used 2 15oz cans because I like things quite saucy. Cut out the salt (canned tomato sauce comes with plenty) and the butter and sugar (no purpose, really). Be sure to brown the meat separately, drain off all the fat/blot with paper towels and THEN add the vegetables and garlic. Otherwise, your vegetables will act like little sponges, soaking up all that grease. Nice.

Now, for the cheese layer. Besides the aforementioned saturated fat, the cream cheese and sour cream do not contribute much nutritionally. Unlike many dairy products, they don't even contain all that much calcium or protein. Buy reduced fat versions, then cut down the amount and substitute one of my favorite stealth ingredients for creamy dishes: silken tofu. Really. Don't be afraid, it takes on the flavor of the sour cream and cream cheese and it's a good source of protein and UNsaturated fat.

Change the pasta to whole grain. That's a no-brainer. As for the topping, I don't believe the 1/2 cup of cheese and french fried onions on top are really necessary; this dish already has many flavors going on as it is. I just used 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. (if you REALLY want something crunchy on top, I recommend Lay's baked Parmesan and Tuscan herb chips)

Anita's Stew, contributed by Jennifer M:


1 lb ground bison
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp pepper
8oz chopped mushrooms
1 bunch chopped scallions
2 15oz cans of tomato sauce
1 8oz pkg whole wheat spiral pasta
1 12oz pkg silken firm tofu
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
4oz reduced-fat cream cheese
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup crushed baked Parmesan and Tuscan herb potato chips, if desired


1.Cook pasta according to package directions
2.Brown the meat. Drain and blot with paper towel. Add pepper, garlic, mushrooms, tomato sauce. Simmer until mushrooms are tender.
3. Mix cream cheese, tofu, and sour cream with hand mixer or food processor. Add scallions.
4. Layer in casserole dish: 1/3 noodles, 1/3 cheese mixture, 1/3 sauce mixture. Repeat
5. Top with grated cheese and crushed chips if using.
6. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes


Serve with a big green salad. Thanks for the contribution, Jennifer, and good luck with the weight-loss challenge :)