Conference turris::cooks

    You can always go to the library and check out the American Heart
    Association cookbook and see if they have any good recipes that
    would be good for your Dad.
    
    Good luck!

    You can also call the AHA and ask for their recipe pamphlet.  After
    you see what is has (perhaps 20 pages or recipes and ideas) you can
    send them a donation.  :-)
    
    ed

  Seems to me there must be a couple of notes covering low-cholesterol
  cooking and other topics of interest to people with cardiac
  conditions. In any case, I believe the Pritikin folks have published
  at least a couple of cookbooks with just the sorts of recipes and meal
  planners you'd be interested in. They should be available in just
  about any bookstore.

    Serve fish...
    a nice piece of cod, broiled, and springled with lemon juice is as
    healthy as can be, followed by mild vegies like carrots, spinach, and
    such,
    fresh fruit compotes are great also, specially pears, or peaches,
    apples are fine too... there are many foods to choose from.
    
    Ana
    

I probably entered this somewhere else, but I'll put it in here again 
'cause it's very low in fat and cholesterol.  Granted, it is chicken, but 
it's a little different and tastes delcious.


		CHICKEN BREASTS IN CRUSTY POTATO BATTER 
	  (from Boston Globe with quantities modified by me)

				2 servings

1 small onion
1 lg. baking potato
1 egg white
1 1/2 tbs fresh thyme leaves (substitute 1 tsp. dried)
2 tsp. Dijon mustard 
salt & freshly ground pepper to taste
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, about 1/2 lb
1-2 tbs. flour
1 tbs. canola oil


1. Grate onion in food processor.

2. Peel potatoes and cut in large chunks.  Grate in food processor.

3. Mix onion with potatoes, egg whites, seasonings.

   Before doing this you might want to squeeze the onions and potatoes in
   some paper toweling to get the excess water out.

4. Wash and dry chicken, and cut each breast in half.  Dust with flour.

5. Pat the potato mixture generously on both sides of each breast.

   I pat one side, then put that side down in the pan to cook and then 
   pat the other side.  If you do both sides first, the stuff would fall off.

6. Heat oil in nonstick skillet and saute breasts over medium-high heat
   until golden brown;  turn and brown the other side.  Cook longer than
   you think is necessary --- batter is thick and will keep chicken from 
   cooking quickly and also from drying out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The potato coating is reminiscent of potato pancakes, but without all the 
fat.  If you have excess potato as we did, just fry it up as well.  

Susan:

I think this recipe is really great for a touch of elegance in a healthy meal.

It is very colorful and I think it is really tasty.  You can moderate the

cayenne pepper usage to your own taste.  The first time I made it , I forgot to

add it and I liked it just as well (maybe even better) 

					Good luck!

					Colleen

			Healthy Fish Florentine from Bon Appetit

268 calories per serving
(makes 4 servings)

1 lb fresh spinach stemmed	1 T cornstarch
1 T olive oil			cayenne pepper
2 T minced red bell pepper	salt(optional)
1 large garlic clove, minced	1/2 cup water
pinch of nutmeg			1/4 cup dry white wine
ground pepper			2 T clam juice
3/4 cup lowfat milk
1 small onion cubed		(4) six oz sole, flounder or cod fillets folded
2 bay leaves			    in half lengthwise skin sides touching
2 whole cloves			non stick vegetable spray
2 t fresh lemon juice		3 T parmesan cheese

Cook and drain spinach (till just tender) press to extract liquid.

Heat oil in heavy large skillet and saute bell pepper and garlic over
medium heat for 1 minute.  Add spinach and heat through.  Add nutmeg, 
season with pepper.

Combine 1/2 cup of milk, 1/2 of cubed onion, 1 bay leaf and both cloves in
small saucepan.  Mix remaining milk with cornstarch.  Stir cornstarch mixture 
into saucepan.  Cook over medium low heat stirring constantly until mixture just 
comes to a boil and thickens.  Reduce heat cover and simmer until thick and smooth.
Strain sauce, season with cayenne pepper, ground pepper and salt if desired.

Combine water, wine and clam juice in a heavy large skillet.  Add remaining
onion and bay leaf and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Add fish cover and 
simmer until almost cooked thru about 4 minutes.  Remove fish with slotted 
utensil and drain.  Boil cooking liquid until reduced to 2 tablespoons.  Stir
into milk sauce.

Preheat roiler.  Spray 4 gratin dishes ( or a baking dish ) with vegetable 
spray.  Spread spinach, top with fish.  Drizzle with lemon juice.  Spoon
sauce over fish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead
covered and refrigerated) 

Broil 2 inches from heat source until bubbly and browned. 5 minutes plus.. 

    Chicken doesn't have to be bland and boring to be healthful.
    
    Get some skinned boneless chicken, put in a pan (Corningware?) that has
    about 1/4" of water in it, sprinkle (liberally) desired spices
    (parsley, oregano, etc., just don't use the 'seasoned salts').
    cover and bake. The chicken stays really moist and takes on the spice
    flavor. Serve w/boiled white rice or potato and steamed veggie. You can
    add lemon juice to the veggies and/or chopped veggies to the rice.
    
    beth

    This can be done in the microwave or oven.
    
    Put some cleaned fish in a pan (corningware) with some water or wine or
    lemon juice. Cover with chopped zucchini, squash, and tomatoes. Cook.
    
    Serve w/rice or potato (or even pasta).
    
    b

You can serve a meatless sauce over no-yolk pasta (some health-food stores
carry it - call around and find it).  The sauce can be:

chop ripe, fresh, plum tomato.  in a heavy bottomed saucepan or skillet,
cook a clove of garlic, smashed and diced (or two cloves, three cloves,etc.)
with 4 tablespoons olive oil over gentle heat for a few minutes.  Add tomatoes,
and fresh diced/crushed herbs to taste (I like oregano, parsley, etc).
Heat just until hot and remove from heat.  Toss with pasta and serve with
grated parmesan cheese (fresh, of course).  A stunningly fresh salad of
all kinds of lettuce, tomato, cucumber (English cuke to prevent burps), some
sweet red pepper, sweet red onion (sliced thin and separated into rings),
some edible flowers (some markets have them and they add so much to a salad)
tossed with a homemade vinegarette (vinegar, very little olive oil, a pinch
of sugar or honey to soften the vinegar, herbs and lots of black pepper for 
zip...and a dash of fresh squeezed lemon juice.  Dust this with fresh grated
parmesan (buy from local Italian market) instead of croutons (too much grease).

You can offer Italian bread rounds, brushed with olive oil (use a light hand
with that brush)and dusted with garlic powder, crushed, dried parsley...
broil just until browned under the broiler....voilla! garlic bread.

Dessert:  bake some chocolate and/or almond and/or orange meringue kisses 
(cookies made without fat - recipes in cookbooks everywhere)...serve fine 
coffee or tea.

For more sweetness, you can also serve a scoop of non-fat frozen yoghurt.  
I like the citrus yoghurts, mocha, and chocolate.  Or, try a sorbet (some
yuppie markets carry them)- completely non-fat.

.9> no-yolk pasta (some health-food stores carry it - call around and find it).
.9> [...] Dust this with fresh grated parmesan (buy from local Italian market)
.9> [...] try a sorbet (some yuppie markets carry them)- completely non-fat.
    
    Gee, here it is barely 2 years later, and I can buy imported pasta with
    no eggs at Idyllwilde (did I get all the extra letters in there?),
    and it's delicious... Italian parmesan ditto, and Dole sorbet at my
    local Stop and Shop! (strawberry is nice)
    
    ( Gentrification is nipping at all our heels... :-)

    We made a delicious low-fat salad yesterday, copying from a lunch we
    had in France one day.  It's just a mixture of white rice, sweet corn,
    chopped green peppers, chopped onion (I used fresh chives, since I
    didn't have an onion) and a small amount of canned tuna.  These flavors
    mix very well together, and this is pretty close to non-fat -- probably
    less than one gram per serving.
    
    
    -ellie

    
    My grandfather recently was put on a low salt diet (1000 mg/day).
    I often bake casseroles for him, frozen in single serving sizes.
    None of my recipes are low salt.  If I omit the salt and but no salt
    tomatoes, I expect it will be pretty bland.  What are some good
    spices to use to take the place of salt?  I typically make lasagna
    for grampa... how can I make it taste good?
    
    Karen

     Use red pepper and italian spices to liven it up a bit.

    It will only take a couple of weeks before you no longer miss the salty
    taste.  In the meantime, use some extra garlic and oregano.  We haven't
    cooked with salt in my house for many years, and no one misses it. 
    Though it does mean that we find we don't like a lot of commercial
    baked goods anymore (I never could stand Cheerios anyhow, though I don't
    remember them as being especially salty) because they are way too
    salty, especially a lot of bakery breads.  Luckily, bread is real easy
    to make, especially if you use the new fast-rising yeast so you don't
    end up with a really late dinner on work nights.
    
    /Charlotte

    I have to second Charlotte's observation.. it really doesn't take long
    to wean yourself from the salt, though one interesting effect is that
    some of the packaged foods you used to love become downright nauseating. 
    
    bread is an *excellent* thing to do without salt, especially if you get
    the routine down to the point where you 
    (a) make the dough the night before
    (b) put it in the fridge as soon as you get it kneaded
    (c) take it out the next morning, but leave it in a cool place
    (d) form it into loaves when you get home, and continue as normal
         from here.
    
    The extra time with the yeast working slowly in the dough adds a little
    extra flavor. Other tricks are adding a little Rye flour (up to about
    1/4 of the recipe), or some chopped up fresh rosemary or basil.. these
    all make different breads, but all can be good.
    
    Also, you might want to grow some herbs in a windowbox.. fresh herbs
    really help. Basil is a little on the fragile side, but it is *great*
    when you just *have* to make pesto! 8-) (another great salt avoider.
    BTW..)
    
    ...tom

    Tom,
    
    The way I make pesto, I wouldn't call it lo-salt after the parmisan and
    romano are added.  
    
    We cook mostly low salt, as that was the way I was raised.  Garlic,
    onions, more herbs, and lemon juice can brighten somthing you would
    otherwise put salt in.  Likewise, Mrs Dash, or Dr. Bronners pure
    mineral supplement are low sodium.  There is also a
    salt-substitue/replacement made with a brewer's yeast base.  I don't
    remember the name right off hand, but Frank liked it when we were using
    that on and off for a while.  (vege-mumble?)
    
    meg

    I recently received a spice catalogue from Penzey's, located in the
    midwest.  They have many no-salt spice blends.  I ordered several
    items, and am very happy with them.  I don't know if this has been
    discussed in here, but I would be happy to post the address if anyone
    is interested.  They have every spice you can imagine, in various
    quantities.  Everything is very fresh.
    
    Julie