Showing posts with label Mediterranean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mediterranean. Show all posts

Monday, May 10, 2010

Mediterranean Diet Recipes For Weight Loss


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The Mediterranean Diet is famous for its many health benefits from lowering the risk of heart disease and Alzheimer's Disease, to reducing the risk of an unborn child developing asthma. What's more, the traditional Mediterranean diet has now been recognized as an effective weight loss diet. Read on for meal ideas for the Mediterranean diet and Mediterranean diet recipes. Your waistline and your taste buds will thank you.

These simple Mediterranean Diet recipes are all suitable as main meals. Mediterranean salad recipes have been included as a healthy accompaniment. Alternatively, fresh steamed vegetables would also be great selections for Mediterranean cuisine.

Spinach, Mushroom, Tomato Frittata with Feta Cheese. (Serves 4.)

Many Mediterranean food recipes incorporate plenty of fresh and colorful vegetables. Try substituting your very favorite vegetable and herbs for a more unique and personalized Mediterranean meal.

Ingredients:

1 Tabspn extra virgin olive oil
8 oz, or 3 cups, sliced mushrooms
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tspn pepper
1/4 tspn salt
1/2 tspn oregano, or any fresh herb you prefer
10 oz, or 1 bag, fresh spinach, chopped
1/4 cup milk, preferably reduced fat or skim
1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled, preferably reduced fat
6 eggs
2 tomatoes, sliced

Method:

Add oil to non-stick ovenproof pan, and over a medium heat, cook mushrooms, onion, garlic, salt, pepper, and herbs. Stir to prevent sticking for approximately 8 minutes, until all liquid is removed.
Add spinach, cover, cook for about 5 minutes until spinach is just wilted.
Whisk eggs in mixing bowl. Add cheese and eggs to pan containing cooked vegetables and stir gently to mix. Turn heat to low. Place sliced tomato on top and cook uncovered for about 10 minutes, until only slight amount of juice remains.
Place under grill for 3-5 minutes until set.
Slice and serve with salad or steamed fresh seasonal vegetables drizzled with a little extra virgin olive oil.

Roasted Mediterranean Style Leg of Lamb With Artichokes. (Serves 10.)

This is a great example of a Mediterranean recipe, featuring such traditional Mediterranean foods as lamb, garlic, and artichokes.

Ingredients:

4lb leg of lamb
1 tspn oregano, chopped finely
1 tspn pepper
2 tspn salt
1 garlic clove, minced
8 oz, or 1 cup of tomato passata
1 cup, or 250 ml, water
9 oz artichoke hearts, tinned, marinated, or frozen

Method:

Heat oven to 325º F.
Rub the combined oregano, pepper and salt into the lamb. Place lamb on rack in shallow baking pan. Bake in oven for 2 1/2 hours.
Remove lamb and baking rack from oven. Drain fat from baking juices and place lamb back in pan without the baking rack.
Combine garlic, passata, and water, and pour over lamb. Place sliced lemon over top of lamb. Place artichokes around lamb in baking dish.
Bake for another 30-60 minutes, basting occasionally with sauce, until meat thermometer reaches 175-180º F.
Serve with salad or roast vegetables, such as potatoes, pumpkin, and sweet potato.

Healthy Greek Salad. (Serves 4.)

Ingredients:

2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped or sliced
3 tomatoes, chopped
1 Spanish onion
4 teaspn fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspn oregano
salt and pepper as desired
8 pitted Kalamata olives, chopped
1 cup feta cheese, reduced fat, crumbled

Method:

Combine cucumbers, tomatoes, and onion in appropriately sized salad bowl.
Combine lemon juice, olive oil, oregano, salt and pepper. Drizzle over salad.
Place feta cheese and olives decoratively on top.

Traditional Tabbouleh (Serves 4 as an accompaniment.)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup boiling water
1/4 cup bulgur
1 onion, finely chopped
5 tomatoes, chopped
1 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
juice of 1 lemon
2 teaspns extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt if required

Method:

Add boiling water to bulgur in small bowl. Mix, then cover. Stand for about 60 minutes. Drain off any leftover water.
Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl. Add softened bulgur and mix well.

Conclusion.

You may have noticed that these Mediterranean Diet recipes use extra virgin olive oil. The reason? Extra virgin olive oil is made from the very first pressing of the olives, and as a consequence contains the very highest levels of anti-oxidants. The Mediterranean Diet is famous for being a rich source of anti-oxidants, which are vital for good health and mopping up dangerous free radicals.

Hope you enjoy these Mediterranean Diet recipes for weight loss. Healthy? Yes! Boring? No.

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Why Should We Eat Like a Mediterranean?


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The Mediterraneans were always aware of healthy eating habits. Mediterranean fasting and diets are very popular because most of their meals are low in fat, low in carbohydrates. There are many Greek and Turkish recipes available online that will qualify as detox diets. Different recipes for preparation of several varieties of vegetable soup using combinations of fiber and nutrient rich ingredients can be accessed and gained from wide choice of diet sites online as well as offline.

Cabbage soup is a very popular and included in detox diet . It is very satisfying and gives you a feeling of fullness. This is the best part of the fiber rich food. It is very satiating and always prevents you from over eating. So is Gazpacho. A type of Spanish soup prepared from tomatoes, red peppers, bell peppers, green and yellow cucumber and fresh garlic clove. This soup is served hot or cold.

Another great detox and dieting diet recipe is called "Dave's Detox Surprise". This great tasting detox soup is prepared from following ingredients. Firstly 2 quarts of water is brought to a simmer. Later add to it 2 finely chopped onions, two half of a garlic clove, finely minced, four stewed tomatoes (after removing the skin) and then diced. To this add two chopped carrots, 7 pieces of sliced mushrooms, 3/4 of a cup of brown rice and two beef bullion cubes. Let this soup simmer for about one hour on a low heat, then is best, served hot.

To add to the taste serve "Dave's Detox Surprise" along with a boiled entree of Red pepper, sprinkled with pure organic lemon juice and a side dish of fresh and organic green beans with mushrooms and crushed fine almonds. This combination would certainly be a delicious mouth watering meal!

Your food selection for preparation of any detox diet recipes that you like will certainly test your creativity. Idea of being able to eat the food you can enjoy will motivate you to stay on track and not give up the challenge. The more variety of recipes that you can come up with, the much easier your detoxification and dieting process will be. It is rightly said variety is the spices of life. There is a saying in Asian culture , "A cup of organic brown rice is worth a thousand diet recipes".

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Five Mediterranean Diet Recipes


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All Mediterranean Diet Cookbook or recipes are usually tasty, exotic and delicious in taste, but it is often known for its excellent health benefits. If you're just trying to lose weight or improve your diet and health, these are some recipes from my Mediterranean cookbook to your needs.

In the Mediterranean diet:

- Butter is often replaced with the use of extra virgin olive oil

- There are syntheticGrassi.

- Processed foods are not an option

- A red meat and dairy products are consumed in moderation.

- The cheese is usually feta, parmesan, goat cheese, etc.

Some of the popular Mediterranean diet recipes: --

1. Grilled Shrimp Salad

Basic ingredients: --

- 10-12 large shrimp.

Is a Mediterranean shrimp shells, which can be identified with the shrimp. Prawns are mainly found in sea water.

- Two or three of your zucchini Requirements.

Zucchini is a vegetable Italian summer - almost anywhere.

- A group of asparagus.
Asparagus is a type of vegetable, good for most meals in particular the young shoots.

- Two cups of selections including radicchio endive salad, lettuce and butter
Endive is a variant of the type folio winter chicory plant that will be used for the first time in the kitchen or can be eaten as a salad. Chicory is a greenVegetables>, is red-white-striped leaves, or leaves.

Butter lettuce is an easy annual plants usually developed as a leaf vegetable. However, not all the leaves of dark lettuce

- An avocado

Avocado is a tree, and the collection of the plant that is specified in the species of flowering plants Lauraceous and can be identified with berries.

-) Leaving two cups of chopped fresh basil (a type of leaf of plant.

- Cup extra virgin olive oilOil.

- A cup of lime juice, without additives.

- One tablespoon of yellow mustard to a thick paste flavor strong.

- Two teaspoons of garlic powder.

- A cup full of tart red-purple, which has a sour taste.

Guidelines to make grilled shrimp salad

A mixture of olive oil, lemon juice, pesto, garlic and chopped fresh red wine vinegar. Then the shrimp available in 1 ½ of the sauce for about half an hour. Chop and place the shrimp on the bayonet andZucchini and asparagus on the page. Then place the shrimp, zucchini and asparagus grilled and prepared to oven heat. All in a heated pool, cut the avocado and put it in the substance heated.

2. White Bean dip

Essentials --

- A small onion, chopped.

- A large spoon of garlic powder.

- One Crimson Pepper, a kind of spice.

- Two cans of beans or flotilla blue.

- Extra virgin olive oil.

GUIDELINES FOR MAKE bean dip

Saute the onion in the life of oil, a tablespoon of crushed garlic and chopped raw peppers in olive oil until it is hot and the color of the light bulb. Draw all the water that washes and 2 cans of beans pale blue. Place all ingredients in a food grater, and mix until it becomes soft. Mix with salt and pepper (spice) to taste and top with olive oil and sprinkle on it with hot parts of the wheat bread served.

3.> Vegetable Bean Soup

Vegetable and bean at a time can be served up to eight people.

Essentials --

- Cup of beans.

- Bucket full of white beans, salt.

- Two medium size onions.

- A peeled and coarsely chopped carrot.

- A bay leaf chopped coarsely.

- A cut of some rhizome.

- A bunch of chopped dill.

- Three leaves of cabbage.

- A cup of spinachLeaves.

- Three of endive leaves (leaves of endive and cut into thin slices to be shared. Leaf color is green).

- Black pepper.

- 1 cup of rice washed.

- Olive oil, to give a moist feel the shell is necessary.

- Parmigiano Reggiano and for use as condiments.

GUIDELINES FOR THE PREPARATION OF PLANT bean soup

Saturate dry beans in ice water for about an hour and then pull out of the water. Get a big bowl full of salt water and heat. ThenBeans, onions, carrots, celery and bay leaves. If the water boiling, reduce heat so the broth bubbles or fish soup. After 45 minutes check on the smoothness of the beans and if they are still stiff, then continue cooking until they are soft.

After the first trial, in dill, cabbage leaves and endive. With salt and pepper to taste. Boil the mixture on low about 30 minutes, put the rice and cook for fifteen minutes with the lid.Sprinkle with olive oil and cheese over and it is ready to serve.

4. Spaghetti with fresh tomatoes

It can be controlled up to a maximum of four people.

Essentials --

- Seicento grams of fat tomatoes.

- Four pieces of garlic.

- Three large tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.

- Add chopped oregano (important)

- Fifty grams of chopped spicy pecorino.

- Basil, finely grated.

- Red or black spices and salt toTaste.

GUIDELINES to make spaghetti with fresh tomato

The tomatoes in boiling water, remove them after a considerable amount of time, and then gave up the skin and cut into small pieces by hand. It may all the seeds with care, but most people do not. Place tomatoes in a dish bowl with grated minced garlic, oregano, olive oil and basil.

Put the tomatoes in boiling water, delete them after a few minutes, peel and cut into chunksHand. Discard the water and seeds. Place a cloth over a bowl for 1 hour so that all the wet ingredients into the bowl. After an hour, cook the spaghetti and cook, cut the cheese and put it in the bowl itself. On top of that, sprinkled with black or red pepper to your taste. Serve with red wine.

5. MEDITERRANEAN tomato sauce.

Essentials --

- Twelve peeled and lightly crushed tomatoes.

- A big spoonful of olive oil.

- A fresh choppedGarlic.

- A cup of red wine

- Two tablespoons of grated basil leaves.

- Sprayed black pepper and sea salt.

GUIDELINES FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE MEDITERRANEAN TOMATO SAUCE

Put the fresh tomatoes in a saucepan and cook for more than a minute. Subsequently, the remaining water, tomatoes, peel and cut into slices. Deep Heat the olive oil (not to heat too hot) in a pan and then drop the garlic, onion, heat for more than 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until they are soft. Add a little 'redWine, herbs, black pepper and salt and cook accordingly. Cook the pasta for 15-20 minutes. Put the sauce in the refrigerator for three days. Mediterranean tomato sauce can be frozen for a period of four to five months.

At least one of them will be as you wish and be like me, you cook them over and over again.