SAVORY SHRIMP MINI-EMPANADAS

Yields: 12 Servings

Ingredients:

1/4 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp diced leeks
2 tbsp diced onions
½ tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp minced jalapeno pepper
2 tbsp chopped red bell pepper
2 tbsp chopped tomatoes
6 oz shrimp, peeled, deveined & diced
1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp Zsweet (zero calorie sweetener), Erythritol
⅛ tsp ground white pepper
⅛ tsp salt
4 sheets phyllo dough
Pam spray

Preheat Oven to 400º

Heat olive oil in a saucepan, add leeks, onions and garlic and cook until tender. Add jalapeno pepper, red bell pepper and tomatoes and cook for about 5 minutes over low heat. Add shrimp and continue to cook until shrimp is done (about 5 minutes). Add cilantro, vinegar, Zsweet, salt and pepper and cook until all liquid in the mixture has evaporated. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Place one sheet of phyllo on a dry, flat service; spray Pam lightly on top covering the entire area. Place a second sheet of phyllo dough on top of the first one and spray Pam again. Cut the longest section into six strips. Spoon about 1 tablespoon of the shrimp mixture on the far end of each strip. Fold into triangle shape using the entire strip. Repeat the process with the remaining strips. Spray all of the mini-empanadas with Pam and bake in the oven for about eight minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately.

Per serving:

Calories 40.56
Protein 3.51 g
Fat 0.77 g
Saturated Fat 0.15 g
Carbohydrates 4.77 g
Cholesterol 21.53 mg
Sodium 76.7 mg
Fiber 0.41 g
Butternut Squash Soup with Lobster and Ginger Cream

Yields: 16 Servings

Ingredients:

1 oz butter
12 oz onions, diced
6 oz leeks, diced
6 oz celery, diced
2/3 oz ginger root, minced
4 ea garlic cloves
2 ½ lbs butternut squash, peeled, seeded, diced large
12 oz sweet potato, peeled, diced large
1 gal lobster stock (or chicken stock)
2 ea cinnamon sticks
½ tsp nutmeg, ground
2 tsp salt
1 oz lime juice
2 oz white wine
40 oz evaporated, condensed skim milk, hot

Garnish:
Lobster meat, diced butternut squash, steamed ginger cream

In a large stock pot, melt butter; then ad onions, leeks, celery, ginger, and garlic and cook until tender. Add squash, sweet potatoes, cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, salt, and lobster stock (or chicken stock). Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 25-30 minutes. Remove cinnamon sticks and discard them. Puree the soup mix in a food mill or blender. (If not used immediately, it can be cooled and stored at this point.)

Bring the pureed soup to the boiling point and reduce heat. Add hot, condensed skim milk, wine, and lime juice. Do not boil again. Serve immediately or keep warm in a double boiler. Serve the soup garnished with diced cooked lobster, diced cooked butternut squash and ginger cream.

Per Serving:

Calories 101
Protein 5.7 g
Fat 1.5 g
Carbohydrates 16.5 g
Fiber 2.0 g

GRILLED STUFFED PORK TENDERLOIN

Yields: 12 servings
Serving Size: 7 oz

Ingredients:

2 ½ lb pork tenderloin, silver skin and visible fat removed (about 2
medium pork tenderloins)
1 tsp olive oil
1 ½ cups diced onion
1 ½ cups diced celery
1 ½ cups mixture red, green and yellow bell peppers
2 tsp fresh minced garlic
1 lb Granny Smith apples, cored and diced (do not peel)
¾ cup diced prunes
2 tbsp fresh chopped thyme
4 tbsp fresh chopped basil
2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
½ tsp salt
1 tsp fresh cracked white peppercorns
Pam spray or equivalent

Preheat grill and oven to 350˚F.

Cut Pork tenderloins into a thin sheet looking like piece (if to thick it can be pounded with metal mallet). Set aside in the refrigerator. Heat olive oil in large sauté pan. Add onion, celery, peppers and garlic, and cook until vegetables are tender crisp. Add apples and prunes and continue to cook until apples are tender (about 10 minutes). Mix fresh herbs and add only half of this mixture to the vegetables. Also add only half of the salt and pepper to season. Toss very well and remove vegetable and apple stuffing to a sheet pan to cool. When the vegetables are already cooled to room temperature, and then start to stuff the pork tenderloins by placing half of the vegetable mixture on one end of the sheet -formed pork; then form a roll enclosing the stuffing. Using butcher’s line, tie the roll of pork to keep it from loosing its shape and exposing the stuffing. Spray pork tenderloins with Pam and season with remaining fresh herbs, salt and pepper. Mark the stuffed pork tenderloins on the grill and then transfer to the oven to finish the cooking process (it will take approximately 40 to 50 minutes to properly cook them. Temperature should reach a minimum of 170˚F in the center). After properly cooked, transfer the stuffed pork tenderloins to a cutting board and let rest for at least 10 minutes before untying and slicing.

Per Serving:

Calories 178.10
Protein 20.69g
Carbohydrates 15.60g
Fat 3.8 g
Saturated Fat 1.16 g
Cholesterol 61.42 mg
Sodium 156.5 mg
Fiber 2.58 g

RED PIMENTO MASHED POTATOES

Yields: 12 servings
Serving Size: 2.5 oz

Ingredients:

1 lb caking potatoes (Idaho or Russet)
½ lb cauliflower florets
1 medium red bell pepper, roasted, peeled, seeded, pureed
¼ cup skim milk, warm
2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
¼ tsp salt
⅛ tsp ground white pepper
⅛ tsp ground nutmeg
Pam Spray

Peel potatoes and cut into one-inch pieces; and then place them in a medium size pot along with enough water to cover. Cook potatoes until tender; but still firm. Do not over cook potatoes otherwise they will absorb too much water. Drain potatoes and set aside.

Meanwhile, cook cauliflower florets in boiling water until very tender (about 10 to 12 minutes) and then drain them very well.

Place cooked potatoes and cauliflower in a food mill and puree. Add red pimento puree, milk, chives, parsley, salt, pepper and nutmeg and mix well with rubber spatula until mixture has a uniform appearance. Serve immediately or keep warm in a double boiler.

Per Serving:

Calories 41.55
Protein 1.28 g
Carbohydrates 9.24 g
Fat 0.18 g
Saturated Fat 0.04 g
Cholesterol 0.09 mg
Sodium 20.5 mg
Fiber 1.42 g
MADEIRA SAUCE
Yields: 2 Cups
Portions: 10
Portion Size: 1.5 fl oz.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Chopped Shallots
1 tsp Chopped Garlic
¼ cup Madeira Wine
2 cups Veal Jus (or demi-glace) *
¼ tsp Salt
1/8 tsp Ground White Pepper
Pam Spray
Sauté shallots and garlic in sauce pan sprayed with Pam until lightly browned. Add wind and bring to boil. Teduce heat and let simmer until almost dry. Add veal jus (or demi-glace), bring back to boil and let simmer slowly for about 10-15 minutes. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. If sauce is too thin, it can be thickened with cornstarch diluted in cold water )mix about 1 tablespoon cornstarch and 1 tablespoon cold water), adding it slowly while stirring fast. Use only the amount needed to thicken the sauce and give a nice glossy appearance. Do no thick the sauce too much, otherwise it will be necessary to add chicken broth or water to thin it back; bringing as a consequence a weaker flavor.

*Note: Demi-glace is a refined brown stock usually made in upscalr food establishments to be used as a base for brown sauces. It can be purchased in a gourmet food store by the pint or quart; it is usually expensive due to the process used to make it. If not available, you may use canned beef consommé (low sodium) as an alternative. The flavor will of course be different, but acceptable. There might be a need of adding about 2 tablespoons of tomato paste and increasing the amount of cornstarch to thicken.
Per Serving:

Calories 19.66
Protein 1.19 g
Carbohydrates 1.75 g
Fat 0.05 g
Saturated Fat 0.02 g
Cholesterol 0.0m g
Sodium 191.47mg
Fiber 0.01g

CRUST-LESS MARBLED PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

Yields: 1 cheesecake (16 servings)

Ingredients:

20 oz Fat Free Cottage Cheese (2 ½ cups)
12 oz Fat Free Cream Cheese (1 ½ cups), softened
1 cup Zsweet (zero calorie sweetener), Erythritol
6 tbsp Corn Starch
1 Egg
2 Egg Whites
8 oz Fat Free Sour Cream
1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
1/8 tsp Salt
1 tsp Fresh Lemon Juice
¾ cup Good Quality Canned Pumpkin Puree (or fresh roasted pumpkin puree)
3 tbsp Brown Sugar
2 tbsp Unsulfured Molasses
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
¼ tsp Ground Ginger
1/8 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/8 tsp Ground Cloves

Preheat over to 325˚F. Lightly coat a 9-inch spring-form pan with non-stick cooking spray. Wrap the outside bottom of the pan with a double thickness of aluminum foil to keep out water while the cheesecake is baking.

In a food processor, puree cottage cheese until very smooth, stopping once or twice to scrape the sides of the bowl. Add cream cheese, Zsweet, 4 tbsp of corn starch, egg, egg whites, sour cream, vanilla extract and salt, and then process until smooth. Measure 3 ½ cups of the batter, stir in lemon juice and set aside. This will be your vanilla flavored cheesecake mix.

Add pumpkin puree, brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and 2 tbsp of corn starch to the remaining mixture in the food processor and mix well. This will be your pumpkin cheesecake mix.

Pour about 1 cup of the vanilla flavored cheesecake mix into the center of the prepared spring-form mold. Then pour about 1 cup of the pumpkin flavored cheesecake mix into the center of the vanilla filling. Add remaining mixtures in the same manner, alternating cups of vanilla and pumpkin filling. Concentric circles of vanilla and pumpkin mixtures will form as the fillings spread. To create a marble effect, gently swirl a toothpick or skewer through the fillings.

Place the cheesecake in a shallow roasting pan or cookie sheet pan and pour in enough hot water to come ½ inch up the side of the spring-form pan.

Bake for about 50 minutes or until set (the center no longer jiggles when the pan is tapped).
Turn the oven off and transfer cheesecake to a cooling rack. Spray a knife with non-stick cooking spray and quickly run it around the edge of the cake. Let cheesecake cool and room temperature for about 2 hours and then refrigerate uncovered until chilled. Carefully remove the cheesecake from the spring-form mold and then cover with plastic wrap. Keep refrigerated for up to 5 days.

Per Serving:

Calories 91.49
Protein 11.18 g
Carbohydrates 9.96 g
Fat 0.49 g
Saturated Fat 0.22 g
Cholesterol 15.58 mg
Sodium 181.46 mg
Fiber 0.75 g

*The club opens February 3, not February 23, as I originally posted.

What: Designer Sample Sale
What you’ll find: Clearance items from local designers Abi Ferrin, Courtney Warren, Sarah Briggs, Eddie Jo Jewelry, and Nest Jewelry. Tons of items only $10-$25!
When/Where: Friday December 5th, 10-8 and Saturday December 6th 10-6 at West Village, 3839 McKinney suite 160 (the old Lucy space at the NW corner of McKinney and Blackburn).

What: The Warehouse Sale
What you’ll find: 80% off premium denim (Frankie B, William Rast, AG Jeans, Rock & Republic, Diesel, and more), tops, dresses, and pants.
When/Where: Friday December 5th, 2-8 and Saturday December 6th, 10-4 at The Dallas Market Center, Freeway Hall, 2200 N Stemmons Fwy.

What: MaryGold jewelry Trunk Show
What you’ll find: 14k gold-filled bracelets, necklaces and earrings that are dripping with colorful precious and semi-precious stones. Full line priced 30-40% below retail for this event.
When/Where: Friday December 5th, 11-6 at Betty Cupcake in Snider Plaza.

*Update: Well, Katie, great minds must think alike. I didn’t, however, think of all the clever V words that you’ve used! ShopTalkers, here’s double the info on V Spa. It’s clearly a trip worth making right now!

**Another update: V Spa was able to raise $2,100 for Genesis Women’s Shelter!

Texans could unwittingly be eating themselves to death. Texas doctors are sounding the alarm and taking measures to prevent it.

The killer, say physician leaders of the Texas Medical Association (TMA), is sodium — known as salt — in our food. People are consuming twice the recommended amount of sodium every day. “This is simply unhealthy for our patients,” says George W. Wharton, MD, chair of TMA’s Council on Scientific Affairs. Doctors are taking action to educate patients. They also are working to influence restaurants and processed-food manufacturers to cut sodium and add nutrition information to menus, to help people eat better.
The American Heart Association and other scientific and governmental organizations recommend that Americans consume no more than 2,300 milligrams of sodium daily. However, people with hypertension should only consume 1,500 milligrams per day. A diet high in sodium can contribute to hypertension, which can cause heart attacks and strokes. More than 65 million Americans suffer from hypertension, and a half-million Americans die each year from heart disease and stroke.

Yet limiting and monitoring sodium intake is tougher than most people imagine. “Even if a person never added salt while cooking or at the table, they are still getting more than 1,500 milligrams of salt every day,” says Vincent Fonseca, MD, MPH, a member of the TMA Council on Scientific Affairs. Why? Because most restaurant food and prepared packaged food contain lots of salt, and people eat lots of those.

More than three-quarters of the salt we typically consume is hidden in restaurant food and prepackaged food from a store. Just take a look at how much sodium these foods contain:

• A McDonald’s Quarter Pounder with Cheese: 1,190 milligrams (mg) of sodium;
• One Wendy’s Chicken BLT salad with no dressing: 1,280 mg;
• Salad dressing for the salad: 330 mg; and
• A half-cup serving of canned green beans: 400 mg of sodium.

Totaling these examples demonstrates how unattainable the 1,500 mg or even 2,300 mg targets seem. And it is difficult if not impossible to find nutritional information when dining out, making it a challenge for people to select low-salt foods.

Doctors say eating all of this sodium makes people 90 percent more likely to develop hypertension. TMA’s Texas Medicine magazine reports that cutting 50 percent of the sodium in processed food could save 150,000 lives each year.

“This is a man-made problem caused by conscious decisions by food processors to disguise their food with so much salt,” says Dr. Wharton. TMA’s Council on Scientific Affairs is asking the association’s governing body to push the U. S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Congress to act. TMA’s Council on Scientific Affairs physicians want food manufacturers to reduce the salt content of food served in schools. They also want manufacturers to put warning labels on high-sodium foods. The American Medical Association is among the medical groups already on the salt-reduction bandwagon. TMA’s national affiliate petitioned the FDA to toughen the regulatory status of salt and revoke its status as “generally regarded as safe.”

The Texas Public Health Coalition, which TMA helped form in 2007 and of which TMA is a member, also supports local and state efforts to push manufacturers to reduce sodium content, and to more clearly label processed foods and restaurant meals. “We know that merely labeling changes behavior,” says Dr. Fonseca, arguing that people would make healthier choices if high-sodium foods were more clearly labeled.

These actions come not a moment too soon. Physicians say children as young as 5 years are beginning to suffer from kidney stones, a health condition that once only adults faced. Medical experts believe that kidney stones — painful crystallizations of several substances in urine, are chiefly caused by improper diet: A diet too high in sodium and too low in water consumption. “As a pediatric nephrologist, I have seen a remarkable increase in kidney stones in children,” says TMA physician leader Watson Arnold, MD, clinical professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine. Beyond salty foods and snacks, he blames high-sodium athletic drinks like Gatorade and PowerAde as chief culprits. He says “simply eliminating these salt-saturated drinks in many cases removes the [higher calcium] that causes kidney stones.”

Food manufacturers in America are reluctant to cut the salt in their products, according to Dr. Fonseca. He says they claim using other flavorings instead of salt would increase costs. However one major food corporation, Yum! Foods, just announced they will begin posting caloric information on menus in their restaurants, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, Long John Silver’s, and A&W All-American Food. The new menus apparently will not list sodium content, but the corporation pledges to “look at ways to reduce sodium” in its food.

Dr. Fonseca notes that some European countries have been reducing sodium in food for years. Menu items at European McDonald’s restaurants have lower sodium than their American counterparts. “They’re still selling Big Macs,” he says. “They’re still making money. The manufacturers already know how to reduce sodium.”

Dr. Wharton hopes for eventual national policy to reduce sodium and improve food safety. “We must educate physicians and the public so that public pressure can reverse this costly health crisis,” he says. “We have to act to protect patients before it’s too late.”

TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing more than 43,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 120 component county medical societies around the state. Organized in 1853, TMA’s key objective is to improve the health of all Texans.

The 33rd Annual Dallas Fashion Awards gala was held at the Dallas Market Center Saturday night. Max Azria (of BCBG Max Azria) received this year’s Fashion Excellence Award for his Herve Leger collection (which was relaunched in 2007 and has since been seen on many starlets including Lindsay Lohan, Victoria Beckham, Rihanna, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Kate Bosworth) and Gianna Madrini (Style Editor and Executive Producer of Global Fashion News) was the recipient of the Personal Style Award. Other winners included:
Accessories: Sondra Robert
After 5: Marc Bouwer GLAMIT!
Jewelry: Devn Leigh
Contemporary: Kenzie
Casual contemporary: Taka
Modernwear: Lynn Ritchie
Children’s wear: Florence Eiseman
Bridge/Designer: Zelda

Congrats to all!

Tuesday, September 23rd
Costco, 2601 East State Hwy 114, Southlake, TX 76014
Signing Only @ 4:00-6:00 pm

Monday, September 29
Wal-Mart, 915 East Randol Mill Road, Arlington, TX
Signing Only @ 6:00 p.m.

Tuesday, September 30th
Barnes & Noble, 7700 West Northwest Hwy. Dallas, TX
Signing Only @ 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.

Monday, October 6th
Borders,10720 Preston Road, Dallas, TX
Signing Only @ 6:00 p.m.

• a shirtless T.O. running on the beach
• a shirtless T.O. reading a book at home
• a shirtless T.O. standing under some type of flowing water feature
• a shirtless T.O. doing tai chi by the pool
• a shirtless T.O. standing and smiling in said pool

And that, dear readers, is in addition to the shirtless T.O. on the front cover and the shirtless T.O. on the back cover. The man does have a hot bod, so I can’t say I blame him too much, but that’s a whole lot of shirtless. If you’re interested in actually reading the book, you’ll be able to do so on September 23 when Simon & Schuster releases T.O.’s Finding Fitness into the world. If you follow T.O.’s guidelines, maybe one day you, too, can feel so comfortable sans top.

But things had gotten out of hand. Rather than going to the grocery store or ordering something sensible when I went to a restaurant, I was eating every meal like it was my last. So I went online to Diet Gourmet, determined to eat better without sacrificing good food. I am, after all, very picky. Okay. I’m a snob.

I’ve been eating Diet Gourmet for more than two weeks, and I am happy to report I feel a thousand times better, I’m eating more fruits and vegetables now than ever before, and I actually look forward to my meals. They use organic fruits and vegetables when available and hormone-free chicken. And they put together combinations of flavors I would never dream of–think edamame salad with mandarin oranges and red onion or lentil salad with cranberries. The Mediterranean combo I had for lunch on Monday came with tabblouleh as good as Ali Baba. I look forward to the smoked chicken whole wheat ravioli for dinner that’s coming up in week 4. Seriously, this is good stuff. Of all the meals–I do lunch and dinner–I have only been disappointed in two: chicken and dumplings (it was bland, even after I added some salt) and a open-faced prosciutto sandwich, a chef’s special, that just didn’t work (although the accompanying angel hair pasta salad was scrumptious).

So, if you want to eat better, but you’re afraid that means you have to eat bland, then check out Diet Gourmet. You can pick it up or they’ll deliver. Trust me. You won’t be sorry.

1. Superfruits, which include goji berries, noni fruit, açai berries, and mangosteen fruit, among others, are named such because they have higher amounts of nutrients per serving than other healthy fruits and vegetables. They pack a punch, ladies and gents.

2. The açai berry is rich in the antioxident anthocyanin (it has 3.5 times that of red wine), plus 21 essential and non-essential amino acids, which is why this beauty berry encourages healthy skin, hair, and nails. It’s also an anti-aging agent.

Now, to make your insides match your outside, there are three more Boosts to boot: Happy Boost, which includes goji berries and supports positive moods, healthy aging, and liver and kidney health; Youth Boost, which has mangosteen juice and supports healthy aging, joint health, and cardiovascular health; and Inner Boost made with noni, a fruit that supports natural cleansing, healthy digestion, and healthy immune function. I sampled the Inner Boost, and it was surprisingly sweet, with a nice apple-juice flavor.

Per the nice folks at Central Market, you’ll be able to get a Boost in stores around the middle of next week. If you just can’t wait to try it, order online here.

I picked up a bottle (?) at Central Market a few weeks ago. It was about $10, and I was pleased to learn that because of the new packaging, it also held a third more wine than a conventional bottle. I can’t say I was super-impressed with the vino, though. I remember it having a slightly tinny aftertaste. But it’s green, it’s organic, and it’s inexpensive. Three reasons I’ll definitely try it again.

That’s all I could recollect but it was enough! Can’t I even DREAM without worrying about my weight??? Sheesh! I mean, dreams are supposed to be about sugarplum fairies and winning the lottery, NOT whether or not I’ll fit into my jeans next week! And by the way, I’m not some waif thin stick with anorexic tendencies, or a work out addict. In fact, it takes every ounce of strength I have to get to the gym twice a week. I’m just a regular woman trying to keep my girlish figure. I think about my weight and food as much as the rest of you (which is probably more than any of us would like to admit). Regardless, I was just annoyed that my brain had an opportunity last night to make me a millionaire, or put me on a yacht in the Mediterranean with Brad Pitt, but instead it had me calculating how many Baked Lays I could eat before the butt of my jeans would split.

Oh and p.s. - The a/c repair people called this morning to say they can’t fix our system because it’s raining so we now have to wait until Monday. I wonder what kind of dreams three more restless nights on the couch will bring…probably giant Cheeto’s with legs chasing me through the gym. Stay tuned…