Reduced Fat Shrimp Mold

Hi All,

Sorry it’s been a while since my last post, but things have been hectic with the Holidays and the Book.  I’m posting a brand new recipe today—a great appetizer you can use during the Holidays.  I hope you all enjoy it.  A quick note about the book:  all is going well, and it should be out for Mother’s Day.  I’ll keep you updated on the actual release date, and to everyone, thank you for your support.  Have a wonderful Holiday and a healthy New Year.

Greg

Reduced Fat Shrimp Mold

Ingredients

½ cup chopped celery

¼ cup chopped onions

½ cup reduced fat mayonnaise

8 oz reduced fat cream cheese

½ can tomato soup

2 teaspoons Knox gelatin

10 oz bag of frozen baby shrimp

Mix celery, onions, mayo, and cream cheese together.  Set aside.  Heat soup with 2 tablespoons of cold water.  Heat until lukewarm.  Add gelatin to soup and stir until dissolved.  Combine soup with cream cheese mixture and mix well.  Add shrimp and mix well again.  Pour into a mold greased with mayo.  Chill for 24 hours.  Serve with crackers or raw vegetables.

Reduced Fat Vegetarian Stuffing

My Mom and Me

Hi All,

A friend of mine asked me if I had a vegetarian reduced fat recipe for stuffing.  I revamped my family’s stuffing recipe and decided to use it for my next podcast.  Hope you like it.  It gave me a great idea.  If you have any dish you would like to see reduced, let me know; and I’ll try my best to do it.  Just e-mail me a note or send me a video.  You never know—you may be in my next podcast.

As for my book, it’s coming along great.  It should be finished and on the shelves by the spring. 

Happy Holidays.

Greg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x23cdkI-un0

Reduced Fat Vegetarian Stuffing

Ingredients

1 15-ounce bag of seasoned stuffing

Olive Oil Pam Spray

2 tablespoons olive oil

8 stalks of celery chopped

1 large onion chopped

2 cups chopped cooked chestnuts

½ cup of sherry (or brandy)

2 ½ cups of apple juice (no sugar added)

2 cups vegetable broth

1 egg

Spray a large pot with Olive Oil Pam Spray, add olive oil, and sauté celery, onion, and chestnuts for five minutes over medium heat.  Add the sherry (or brandy) and a 1/2 cup of apple juice.  Continue to sauté for an additional ten minutes.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, mix seasoned stuffing, vegetable mixture, 2 cups of vegetable broth, and egg.  Continue to mix, gradually adding 2 cups of apple juice.  Mix well.  Either stuff the bird or bake in a casserole dish.  If you are going to use a casserole, spray it with Pam and bake for twenty minutes at 350 degrees.

Notes:

If you prefer a non-vegetarian but reduced fat stuffing, you may substitute the vegetable broth with chicken broth and add turkey sausage.  Spray the pot with Olive Oil Pam and sauté turkey sausage in one tablespoon of olive oil.  We are using only one tablespoon of olive oil, because the turkey sausage will release fat.  After you have sautéed the sausage for ten minutes, add the celery, onion, and chestnuts and continue as above. 

If you prefer to use whole wheat bread for your stuffing, you can toast cubed whole wheat bread, sprayed with Olive Oil Pam and baked for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Reduced Fat Vegetarian Whole Wheat Lasagne

Hi All,

First, I want to let you know that I have lost 10 pounds since I started my diet.  It is coming off slowly, but at least it is coming off.  This week I decided to try my hand at making a podcast.  I demonstrate how to put a reduced fat lasagne together.  Don’t worry if you miss anything, because I am including everything you need in the actual blog. Just click on the youtube link below and watch.   Also, be kind.  It’s my first podcast, and they will get better each time—I hope. 

Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjBRzMHA8Jg 

            Reduced Fat Marinara Sauce

Ingredients:

4 cloves of garlic

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Olive oil Pam

3 cans (28 oz size) whole tomatoes, crushed by hand

1 can tomato paste

½ cup chopped fresh basil

Salt

2 teaspoons of baking soda

Spray pot with Pam.  Sauté whole garlic cloves slowly in olive oil over medium heat until golden brown.  Remove from heat and let cool.  In a bowl crush the whole tomatoes with your hands.  Put pot back on medium heat and add tomatoes slowly to the oil.  Cook for 10 minutes or until bubbling.  Add basil, salt, and baking soda.  The baking soda is used to blunt the acidity of the tomatoes.  Add paste and 3 cups of water.  Simmer for about an hour. 

Reduced Fat Vegetarian Whole Wheat Lasagne

Ingredients

8 cups of Marinara Sauce

1 large bag of frozen chopped spinach (thawed with all water squeezed out)

1 pound of whole wheat lasagne

1 pound of skim ricotta

1 medium skim mozzarella, grated

1 egg

1 cup grated Reduced Fat Parmigiano Cheese

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

Olive Oil Pam

salt and pepper to taste

Sauté garlic in olive oil in an Olive Oil Pam sprayed pan until slightly browned.  Add spinach and continue to sauté until spinach is cooked, about ten minutes.  Remove the two cloves of garlic and discard.    

Have Marinara Sauce already prepared and warm.  Mix ricotta with ½ cup of sauce, salt, pepper, ½ cup of the grated Parmigiano, and egg.  Cook lasagne in salted boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender.  (Spray Olive Oil Pam in water to prevent sticking.)  Drain and spread lasagne on a serving platter, spraying with Pam.  Pour ½ cup of sauce on the bottom of a lasagne pan or dish sprayed with Olive Oil Pam.  Put in a layer of lasagne, spread ricotta mixture over lasagne, add a thin layer of the sautéed spinach and a layer of mozzarella.  Sprinkle with grated Parmigiano.  Repeat layers until all ingredients are used, ending with a layer of lasagne covered with sauce.  Bake in moderate oven (375 degrees) for 10 minutes or until lasagne is thoroughly heated.  Serves 6.

 

Giambotta

Hi All,

Quick update:  I have lost ten pounds since I started my new way of living—small portions, exercise, and, let’s not forget, “Reducing the Fat-Never the Flavor.”  Plug, plug, plug.  The book is also going well.  Most of the touching and funny stories in the book deal with my weight problem, being gay, and, of course, my family here in Jersey.  I don’t talk about it much in the book, but there was a time when I lived in LA.  I used to spend six months out of the year there for pilot season.  It was a blast.  I loved it and made some great friends.  The only time I really got homesick was on Sundays.  I knew my whole family would be at my mom’s having these wonderful Sunday dinners that my grandmother would prepare, so I decided to have my own Sunday dinners.  It started with just having a couple of friends over for dinner.   Well, it turned out that a lot of people were missing their family dinners at home; so from a couple of people, we ended up being twelve or more.  Everyone would take turns cooking a Sunday dinner.  On my Sunday I usually made everyone’s favorite, my grandmother’s Giambotta.  It’s great.  She made it with chicken, sausage, peppers, potatoes, etc.  I retooled it by using turkey sausage, sweet potatoes, and, of course, less fat.  Oh, please excuse the picture of it.  Christine, who takes all those wonderful pictures of the food, had to shoot a wedding the day I made the Giambotta; so the picture was taken by me with a little pocket camera—but  have no fear, she will be back for the next shoot.

Enjoy

Giambotta

Ingredients

2 pounds of boneless chicken breasts cut in 2 inch pieces

1 ½ pounds of turkey (or veal) sausage cut in 1 inch pieces

4 bell peppers cut in 2 inch pieces (I use different colors—green, red, yellow, orange)

3 peeled sweet potatoes, parboiled then cut in 2 inch pieces

10 medium size mushrooms, quartered

1 onion sliced

1 large clove of elephant garlic chopped

Olive Oil Pam spray

2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

1 package of Good Seasons Salad Dressing

½ cup of white wine

Salt and pepper to taste

Spray a large (6 quarts) pot with the Olive Oil Pam Spray, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sauté the garlic and onions for about five minutes over a low heat or until translucent (not browned).  Turn the heat up to medium and add the chicken pieces to brown, stirring constantly to avoid sticking.  Add the sausage and continue to sauté for an additional 6 to 8 minutes, again stirring constantly to avoid sticking.  Add the colored peppers, the mushrooms, the sweet potatoes, the white wine, and the Good Seasons Salad Dressing, stirring to mix all the ingredients well.  Cover and simmer over low heat until chicken and sausage are cooked and the vegetables are tender.  This should take about 15 or 20 minutes.

Shrimp and Mushrooms Fra Diavolo Over Whole Wheat Penne

Hi Everyone,

First, I want to thank everyone for your e-mails and encouragement.  I am very happy so many of you are enjoying the recipes.  One of the first e-mails I received was from a friend who described my posts as “the culinary talents of Julia Childs meeting the witty humor of Nathan Lane—a great idea for a cookbook.”   I couldn’t agree more.  In fact, that’s what I have been doing for months—writing a cookbook. 

The book is all about growing up as an overweight gay kid.  I mean food was my best friend.  It attended all of my most important, crazy, and funny occasions in life; and my grandmother was always there, giving her great advice and her incredible support, and cooking those mouth-watering dishes. Wait until you read the chapter I just finished:  “No Need to Panic.  Just Don’t Button It.”  It’s one of my favorite memories of how my grandmother’s great advice, and, of course, her homemade spinach and meat ravioli, turned a humiliating but humourous First Communion experience into a wonderful family dinner. 

My cookbook will include my grandmother’s delicious old-world recipes, but don’t worry.  For us poor folks who have to lose a few pounds, there will be my reduced-fat versions.  Now I’m sure you’re asking yourselves, “Why is he telling us this?”  Good question.  Instead of posting a recipe every Monday, I'm going to start posting every other Monday.  This will give me time to finish the book and to work on something new.  Next month I’m going to try to do a podcast of a cooking demonstrating of one of my recipes—the key word here being “try.” 

Now, for this week’s recipe:  Whole Wheat Penne with Shrimp and Mushrooms.  Enjoy.  

Shrimp and Mushrooms Fra Diavolo Over Whole Wheat Penne

Ingredients

1 ½ pounds of shrimp peeled and deveined

½ cup of sliced Oyster Mushrooms

1 cup of sliced Crimini Mushrooms

1 cup of sliced Portabella Mushrooms

1 cup of sliced White Mushroom

Olive Oil Pam

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 clove of elephant garlic coarsely chopped

1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper

2 cups of canned crushed tomatoes

1 small jar (no more than 8 ounces) of sundried tomatoes drained and rinsed

½ cup of clam juice

Salt to taste

1 pound of cooked Whole Wheat Penne

Spray a medium pot with Olive Oil Pam.  Add olive oil and heat over medium flame for one or two minutes.  Sauté the garlic and the crushed red pepper in the olive oil until garlic is lightly browned.   Add the crushed tomatoes, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, and clam juice.  Salt to taste.  Cook for fifteen minutes on medium  heat.  Add the shrimp.  Cook for an additional ten minutes.   Serve over whole wheat penne.

Note:  If the variety of mushrooms are unavailable, you may use all White Mushrooms.

Turkey Swedish Meatballs

First, let me tell you that I joined a gym.  All I can say is:  “OH MY GOD!”  The elliptical is a torture devise.  All right, so I’m over-exaggerating; but it’s not fun.  Everyone tells me it will get better.  I say:  “LIARS.”  I’ll keep you updated.

As for the recipe of the week, I have decided to reduce the fat in one of my own original recipes that I created years ago.  I have given many parties—from Halloween to Christmas—and everyone’s favorite dish has always been my Turkey Swedish Meatballs.   Originally, I made them with ground beef.  A few years ago, I decided to use turkey instead; because many of my friends were cutting down on their intake of beef.  Now, the trick is to reduce the fat in the sauce.  After a few tries, I think I got it right; but you be the judge.  Try them and tell me what you think.  Oh, and there is an added bonus:  any leftover turkey mixture can be made into a meatloaf, topped with the reduced fat sauce.  Let me tell you, it tastes great.  Try the meatballs for a party or the meatloaf version for dinner.  Either way, enjoy and let me know what you think.  I so want to hear your feedback—so post-post-post.

Until next Monday, have a great one.

Greg

Ingredients

2 ½ pounds of chopped turkey

4 cans of regular Campbell’s Golden Mushroom Soup

1 can of Campbell’s Healthy Choice Cream of Mushroom Soup

2 cups of Fat Free Half and Half

1 egg beaten

3 tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce

2 cups seasoned bread crumbs

Olive Oil Pam

Salt to taste

Spray a baking pan with Olive Oil Pam.  In a large bowl, mix the ground turkey, 1 can of Campbell’s Golden Mushroom Soup, one beaten egg, 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce, and 2 cups of seasoned bread crumb.  Salt to taste.  Shape into small meatballs—about one-inch in diameter.  Place the meatballs on the Pam-sprayed baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes or until browned.  Check occasionally to prevent over-browning. 

Make the sauce while the meatballs are baking.  In a medium pot combine 1 can of Campbell’s Healthy Choice Cream of Mushroom Soup, 3 cans of Campbell’s regular Golden Mushroom Soup, 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce, and 2 cups of Fat Free Half and Half.  Heat to boiling then simmer for about ten minutes, stirring occasionally.  Drop the baked meatballs into the sauce and continue to simmer for ten additional minutes.  Stir often to prevent sticking.  If you feel the sauce is getting too thick, add a little more of the Fat Free Half and Half.  Serve hot in a chafing dish or in a large bowl.

To make a meatloaf:

Mix the meatball ingredients as above and shape into a loaf or two smaller loaves if you so desire.  Bake at 350 degrees for forty minutes or until cooked.  Make the sauce as above and pour over the meat loaf when serving.

Creamy Cheesecake

You never know when you’re making a memory—one of my favorite sayings—and it never rang more true than this week when I was working on my reduced fat cheesecake.  The original recipe was given to my mother by her friend, Nilda; and mom called it, “Nilda’s Cheesecake.”  When I started to re-work the recipe to reduce the fat and the sugar contents, my mom began to reminisce about Nilda and the “good old days.”  She started to laugh and told me a story about a party they had attended in the 60’s.  The woman who was throwing the party was pregnant with her first child.  Both my mom and Nilda already had two children.  During the course of the conversation, someone had asked Nilda and my mom if they were planning on having more children.  My mom said she planned on it but wanted to wait a year or so.  Nilda laughed and said she was going to wait, too.   Little did they know they were both already pregnant with their third child.  Nine months later I was born.  Mom said she and Nilda laughed about that often.

I remember enjoying this cheesecake on many occasions.  Now when I make my reduced version, I have a new memory of my mom and her friend Nilda.  Perhaps when you make it, you will think of the two friends behind the cheesecake.

Oh more thing.  This week 2 pounds.  Slow but steady

Creamy Cheesecake

Crust Ingredients:

1 ¾ cups Graham Cracker Crumbs

¼ cup coarsely chopped walnuts

½ teaspoon of cinnamon

½ cup reduced fat margarine melted

Mix the above ingredients together.  Use a nine by three round spring pan.  Press crust ingredients to the bottom and three quarters of the way up the side of the spring pan. 

Filling ingredients:

3 well-beaten eggs

2 light or reduced-fat packages of cream cheese (very soft)

1 cup Splenda Sugar Blend

¼ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon vanilla

½ teaspoon almond extract

2 cups of sour cream

Combine all the ingredients for the filling except the sour cream and beat until smooth.  Fold In the sour cream with a wire whisk.  Pour filling into the crust and bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes.  (The filling will be soft when removed from oven but will solidify when chilled.)  Let cool and refrigerate overnight.

Note:  The cream cheese must be very soft before combining with other ingredients.  If

          not, it will form tiny lumps that will not be melted by beating or baking.

      

Ratatouille Served Over Polenta

                                                                 Photo by www.photosbychristine.com

Gallerano—a good old Italian family name, and we Italians have many traditions:  the seven fishes on Christmas Eve, Zepolle on Saint Joseph’s Day, Pizza Rustica (Rustic Pizza aka meat pie) on Easter, and no meat on Fridays during Lent to name a few.  On those meatless Fridays, Mamma (remember that’s what we called my grandmother) would make a frittata, pizza, or, my favorite, Ratatouille over Polenta.  The Ratatouille makes a great first dish or, add some cannellini beans for protein, and you have a terrific main course.  I’m telling you, it’s really good.  Also, remember, if you try this or any of the recipes, please post or e-mail glg2611@gmail.com and let me know what you think.  Oh, and as for my diet, I have lost 3.6 pounds this week.  I know “.6” why not just say 3 or 3 and half.  Trust me, anyone who has tried to lose weight will tell you, between the exercising and the dieting, we want every ounce we’ve lost accounted for. So, as I said, 3.6 pounds.   Oh and remeber to become a follower here at bloger or a fan on facebook.  Facebook link is on the left. 


Enjoy and see you next Monday.

Ratatouille

Ingredients

6 medium zucchini

6 medium fryer peppers

1 large eggplant

1 medium onion coarsely chopped

2 cloves elephant garlic finely chopped

3 heaping teaspoons of tomato paste

1 28 oz. can of plum tomatoes, hand crushed

Juice from can of plum tomatoes

2 teaspoons olive oil

Olive Oil Pam Spray

1 teaspoon of salt or season to taste

Select firm zucchini, wash and scrape lightly.  Remove the top of the zucchini and cut a thin slice from the bottom and discard.  Cut in half and cut each half lengthwise.  Remove the seedy center of the zucchini as this tends to get mushy.  Slice the zucchini crosswise, about 1/4 inch thick.  The cut pieces will be crescent-shaped.

Wash fryer peppers, cut in half and remove stem and seeds.  Cut the halves into quarters, lengthwise, and cut each quarter in half, crosswise.

Wash the eggplant, remove top and a slice from bottom.  Cut in quarters and clean out some of the seeds.  Cut the eggplant in 1 inch chunks.

Drain the juice from the can of plum tomatoes into a bowl and set aside.  Hand crush the plum tomatoes, removing the inside stem if you desire, and set aside.

Spray a five or seven quart pot with Olive Oil Pam Spray, add the two teaspoons of olive oil, and sauté the garlic over medium heat for one minute.  Add onions and sauté until translucent (about four minutes).  If the garlic and onions stick to the bottom of the pot, turn off the heat and spray the mixture with the Olive Oil Pam Spray.  Then continue sautéing.  Mix in the tomato paste, melting it into the mixture, about two minutes, stirring constantly.  Stir in the juice from the can of plum tomatoes and add the hand-crushed plum tomatoes.  Season with one teaspoon of salt or season to taste.  Cook for five minutes.  Add peppers, zucchini, and eggplant.  Coat all vegetables with the tomato, onion, and garlic mixture.  Simmer, stirring often, until vegetables are tender (about ten to fifteen minutes).  Serve over Polenta.

Note:  If you would like to add protein to the Ratatouille, add a one pound can of Cannellini beans with the liquid, and reduce the juice from the plum tomatoes to half.

Polenta

Ingredients

3 cups boiling water

1 cup yellow corn meal

1 cup cold water

1 tablespoon of light margarine

Salt to taste

Bring the three cups of water to a boil.  Combine the corn meal with the cold water, stirring to break up any lumps.  Add this gradually to the boiling water, stirring constantly.  Add the margarine and salt and continue cooking for twenty minutes, stirring constantly.  Pour Polenta into an oval vegetable dish and let stand at room temperature until ready to use.  When ready, turn Polenta on to a platter and slice.  Makes eight servings.

Serve the Ratatouille over the Polenta. 

New recipe on Monday

I have my next dish.  Ratatouille over polenta.  See ya Monday

Chicken Cacciatore

I  found the perfect dish with which to start my blog—Reduced-Fat Chicken Cacciatore.  God, I love that dish.  It’s funny, when I found that recipe, I thought of the time I tried making Mama’s version.  (We called my grandmother “Mama.”)   She was busy making me a reversible dress for an audition I had for an ‘80’s show,  called “Putting on the Hits;” and yes, I did say a dress.   When we know each other a little better, I’ll tell you all about that one.  Now, let’s get back to the chicken.  Not only did I reduce the fat, but I also made it more nutritional by using the white meat instead of the dark, adding vegetables, and serving it over whole wheat pasta.  The best part of this recipe is that I only used two tablespoons of olive oil.

I invited my friend, Christine, and her husband for dinner.  I served my Chicken Cacciatore, and he had no idea it was a reduced-fat recipe.  They loved it.  I know what you’re thinking.  They’re my friends—what else would they say?  If I were reading this blog, I would be thinking the same thing.  Who’s he kidding?  You’re sharp.  I like that.  We’re going to get along.  But if you don’t want to take their word for it, then judge for yourself—make it and taste it.  Let me know what you think.  Share and enjoy it with your family or friends.  Like I always say, you never know when you’re making a memory.   Oh, and the dress thing.  I am an aspiring actor.  When I say aspiring I mean unemployed—but that’s another story.

 Greg’s Reduced Fat Boneless Chicken Cacciatore

Ingredients:

2 ½ lbs cubed boneless, skinless chicken beasts

1 lb turkey sausage (Optional)

2 cans (28 oz size) crushed tomatoes

1 can (28 oz size) plum tomatoes (hand crush and discard juice)

1 cup red wine

3 cloves of chopped garlic

½ cup chopped parsley

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 cup sliced green peppers

1 cup sliced yellow peppers 

2 tablespoons olive oil

Olive Oil Pam spray

Salt and pepper

Spray a large pot with Pam, and then add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Sauté garlic until lightly browned.  Add chicken and sausage.  (Again sausage is optional.)  Sauté for ten minutes, stirring occasionally.  If meat starts to stick to pan, close the flame, spray with Pam, and relight flame.  When the chicken pieces start to brown, gradually add the wine.  Continue to cook for ten minutes.  Add the green pepper slices that have been cut in half, the parsley, and the mushrooms.  Add the hand- crushed tomatoes.  Stir and cook for ten minutes.  Add the crushed tomatoes and cook for 40 minutes.  Serve over brown pasta.

                                                              Photo by http://www.photosbychristine.com

The Journey Begins

Okay, so I have gone through my family recipes and have picked out the first one I am going to modify by reducing the fat.  Great timing, because I am starting a diet.   Again!  This time I know what to do.  Portion control and reduce the fat-never the flavor. 

My friend Christine and her husband are coming over for dinner this weekend.  Come back on Monday to learn what I cooked, to get the recipe, and, more important, to find out how it tasted.      

See ya then.

G 

Welcome

Yes, I am a foodie. I have had an affair with food my entire life, and I have the waistline to prove it. I have been on every diet you can imagine and have lost and gained the same hundred pounds. Because of this, I learned two very important things: portion control, and more important, if it has no flavor, you will never be satisfied. So, I decided to do something about it. I read through all my family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. There has to be a way to make these great dishes with reduced fat, so they will become better suited for weight loss and weight maintenance. I’m working on it.

Another thing I learned is to enjoy the cooking process and to sit down and savor the fruits of your labor. Invite friends over to share these great recipes. Have more family dinners. When I look at these recipes, they always remind me of the special occasion or holiday when they were traditionally served. I have some really wonderful memories—large waist but great memories. So please come back every week and read my blog, try my recipes, and share them with friends and family. You never know when you’re making a memory.