Peppermint Meringue Snowballs

Makes 3 Dozen
Ingredients
4 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract, optional *
1/4 cup finely crushed candy canes or peppermint candy

Directions
Line two large baking sheets with aluminum foil and set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on medium speed until frothy. Gradually add the sugar, one tablespoon at a time, beating until whites stand in stiff, glossy peaks. This will take about 10 minutes. Beat in the peppermint extract as desired.

Preheat the oven to 200°F. Drop meringue by rounded tablespoon onto the baking sheets, leaving a 1-inch space in between. Sprinkle tops with crushed candy. Bake1 1/2 hours. Turn oven off and leave meringues in the oven for 30 minutes.
Let meringues cool completely before removing from foil. Store in an airtight container.

* Do not use peppermint extract containing peppermint oil (the meringues will deflate). For best results, use imitation (gasp!) peppermint extract.

Nutrition Information per Serving (1 meringue): 30 calories, 0g fat (0g saturated), 5mg sodium, 7g carbohydrate, 0g fiber, 0.5g protein

Source:
Peppermint Meringue Snowballs

Ways to Shave Calories

When it comes to healthy weight management, small steps add up. In fact, little changes in eating and activity level have a more positive impact on health than drastic ones. This is because you are more likely to stick with smaller changes over time. Extreme diets and intensive exercise regimens may work well at first, but they rarely last over the long term.

Healthy weight is all about balancing food intake with physical activity. Most of us could improve our energy balance by shaving just 100 calories a day off our usual intake. It’s not difficult:

• Lighten up your favorite coffee drink with non-fat milk and sugar-free syrup.
• Trim all fat from beef, pork and chicken. Remove the skin from poultry.
• Dish up slow-churned, reduced-calorie ice cream in place of regular.
• Enjoy raw vegetables with salsa or fat-free ranch dip instead of chips.

Small Changes Add Up
Here are more great ideas that will cut calories from your daily intake, possibly without your even noticing:

1. Downsize Your Dishes. Use smaller plates and bowls to help you eat less. We tend to fill up the dish we’re using and then eat it all. Our brains also think we are getting more when the same amount of food is placed in a smaller dish.
2. Savor Your Meals. Eating slowly helps you consume only what your body needs to feel satisfied. Eating too quickly, in less than 20 to 30 minutes, leads to overeating and feeling uncomfortably full afterwards.
3. Leave Some Food on Your Plate. This is especially important if you grew up in the “clean plate club.” By leaving even a few bites, you can focus more on your internal signals of satisfaction and less on eating food just because it is there.
4. Don’t Eat Out of a Bag or Box. When you eat out of a package, you are likely to keep eating until it’s all gone – no matter how many servings the package actually contains. Pour one serving into a small bowl.
5. Choose Your Glass Wisely. Here’s another place where our eyes play tricks on us. When glasses are short and wide, we tend to fill them with more fluid and to drink more. Use a slender glass for any beverage except water.
6. Rethink Your Drinks. High-calorie beverages like soft drinks, juice drinks, energy drinks, specialty coffees and alcohol add calories just like solid foods. Whenever possible, replace these drinks with plenty of water.

Source:
http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6849

“Mom, the House Smells Great” Roasted Chicken

Makes 6 Servings

Ingredients
1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil, or 1 teaspoon dried basil
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary, or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon bottled crushed garlic or 1 to 2 garlic cloves, minced
One 4- to 5-pound roasting chicken
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Combine the olive oil, lemon zest, basil, rosemary, salt, and garlic in a small bowl and mix well.
Place the chicken on a work surface or cutting board. Loosen the skin from the chicken breast and drumsticks by inserting your fingers and gently pushing between the skin and meat. Rub the seasoning mixture under the loosened chicken skin. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper.
Place the chicken, breast side up, on a broiler or roasting pan in the center of the oven. Bake until the chicken turns golden brown and an instant-read meat thermometer registers 180°F, about 1 hour and 20 minutes (18 to 20 minutes per pound).
Remove and discard the skin. Slice the meat and serve.

Nutrition Information per Serving: 190 calories, 10g fat (2g saturated), 300mg sodium, 1g carbohydrate, 0g fiber, 23g protein, 10% iron

Source:
Roasted Chicken

Back to Basics for Healthy Weight Loss

While there are plenty of ways to lose weight, maintaining your weight loss over the long term is often unsuccessful. If you've lost and found the same pounds several times before, it's probably time to go back to the basics of a healthy weight:

• Prevention of weight gain or stopping recent weight gain can improve your health.
• Health can improve with relatively minor weight reduction (5 percent to 10 percent of body weight).
• Adopting a healthy lifestyle – eating smarter and moving more – can improve your health status even if you don't lose any weight at all.
• If you want to maintain a healthy weight for the rest of your life, it's all about energy balance. Here are three basic steps for success:

Make Smart Choices from Every Food Group

Your body needs the right fuel for your hectic, stress-filled schedule. The best way to get what you need is to enjoy a wide variety of nutrient-rich foods that are packed with energy, protein, vitamins and minerals from all the MyPyramid food groups.

Where can you find these smart choices? When you go shopping, look to the four corners of your supermarket:

• Fruits and vegetables from the produce aisles
• Whole grains from the bakery
• Low-fat milk products from the dairy case
• Lean proteins from the meat/fish/poultry department.

Here's an easy way to eat more produce: Enjoy one fruit and one vegetable as a snack each day. It's quick, easy, tasty and very nutrient-rich.

Get the Most Nutrition from Your Calories

The biggest nutrition problem for most Americans is posed by high-fat, high-sugar foods and drinks, such as snack foods, candies and soft drinks. Eating smarter does not mean you have to immediately go sugar-free and fat-free. You can make a big difference in your calorie intake by just eating and drinking smaller portions and by making empty calorie choices less often.

The key is to moderate, not eliminate. Watching portion sizes is an easy way to cut back without cutting out. If you want to consume less sugar, limit your soft drink intake to one can a day and switch to sparkling water the rest of the time.

Balance Food and Physical Activity

What you eat is just one part of the energy balance equation. The other is your physical activity. Most of us take in more calories than we spend on our daily activities.

Finding a healthier balance means fitting more activity into your day. The minimum for good health is 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity each day. To reach a healthy weight, you may need to be physically active longer (60 minutes a day) or participate in more intense activities. How much activity do you usually get now? If it's only 15 minutes, try adding a 15- or 20-minute walk during your lunch break.

Source:
http://www.eatright.org/Public/content.aspx?id=6847

Physical Activity Calorie Chart

The chart below shows the approximate calories spent per hour by a 100-, 150- and 200- pound person doing a particular activity.

Source:
American Heart Association