This Tuesday Tip is a recipe for a very flexible, sweet and sassy salad!

Yes, you read that right — Salad. I know I’ve avowed my aversion to the stuff in various posts, but this is one salad recipe that I love and will actually eat without much complaint. For those of you in the New York area, you may have seen something similar in Cosi, one of the chain sandwich shops. Nordstrom’s also makes a similar salad in their store cafe.

Why is it so tasty? Well, it’s got the sweet thing going, but also, you can mix and match any of a number of ingredients to make it just the way you want it. So, I’ll give you some of the variations and let you decide how to personalize.

Sweet and Sassy Salad

2 to 3 cups of greens (you can use romaine, red leaf lettuce, mesclun greens, arugula, spinach. I like it best with the mesclun greens. Definitely avoid the iceberg lettuce route)

1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese (you can also substitute blue cheese which is my favorite yum)

1/2 of a Ripe pear cubed (a nice crisp apple will also work)(if you like it sweet, use the whole fruit!)

1/2 of a tomato, cubed

Handful of dried cranberries (or raisins or currants)

Handful of pecans, chopped (or walnuts)

Handful of chopped scallions (but not onions unless you’re doing a mild Vidalia or Maui onion)

Put all of the above in a bowl and toss with a low fat balsamic vinegarette or another mild salad dressing. You don’t want to use a strongly flavored salad dressing because that will interfere/clash with the more delicate flavors of the fruits and cheeses. This salad is so flavorful, you may want to try it with just a hint of vinegar sans oil or even a citrus vinegarette.

A tip for chopping the nuts without having them go flying all around the counter — stick them in a sandwich bag, put them on the chopping board and with the back of your knife, just give them a few whacks. I guess you’re actually crushing them, but the nuts will break into the pieces and then you just empty the bag onto your salad!

Voila! A sweet and sassy salad that has a combo of things that are sure to keep you satisfied for a while, namely, some proteins, fats and carbs. One big dieting mistake is to just have plain ol’ salad with dressing and while the volume of the salad will fill you up, without any proteins/fats/carbs to sustain your energy levels, you are just asking for a major energy crash that will make you have hunger pangs.

One of the things I’ve found during my last two weight loss campaigns is that it was easier to lose weight if I ate more times during the day, but watched what I was eating.

Why is that? Well, skipping meals may slow your metabolism as will crash diets (anything less than 1500 calories per day). Your body will sense that you aren’t providing it with enough fuel and slow down to retain the stored energy it has (in other words — the fat you want to lose).

The other problem with skipping meals and eating less is that when you do deplete the energy you’ve taken in, you will crash and experience major hunger. That may lead to poor food choices.

What’s the answer and this Tuesday’s Tip? Those ubiquitous 100 calorie packs that are now available everywhere. The problem is finding the ones that are actually satisfying since there’s nothing worse than opening one of those bags and finding that there’s not enough there to satisfy a craving.

Which ones have I tried and found to be fairly good? Here’s a list of some of the better ones I’ve tried:

Entenmann’s Little Bites Cookies and Cream
Sunshine® Cheez-it® Right Bites
Oreo Thin Crisps
Nabisco Cheese Nips
Oreo Candy Bites

Is there anything bad about the 100 calorie packs? Price for starters. You’re going to pay more for the convenience. Also, as you can tell from my list, the snacks on my list aren’t all that nutritious — they are for satisfying your sweet tooth.

That also means they are probably high in carbs and may only provide a temporary sugar rush.

The good part about them, besides the taste, is the portion control. You know exactly how many calories you’re taking in without having to count or measure.

What other 100 calorie (or less) things can you eat that are probably better for you? Well here’s some of the things I also munch down on:

Cabot’s Reduced Fat Cheddars (which also come in pre-packaged slices)
Polly-O Skim Mozzarella and String Cheese
Apple
Orange
Low Fat/Fat Free Sugar Free Yogurt
Strawberries (10 large)
Blueberries (1 cup)
Hard-boiled Egg
Jello Sugar-Free (one serving is only 10 calories!)

Not sure of the calories? Click here to use an easy Food Analyzer from Kraft. com.

Hope this Tuesday tip was helpful!

Copyright 2008 Caridad Pineiro Scordato www.caridad.com

One of the dishes that we serve on Christmas Eve is yuca with mojo. Yuca is a type of tuber that is the Cuban equivalent of the potato. Yuca is known as cassava in English and besides boiling it, you can also make fries or chips with it. However, yuca is toxic when eaten raw so make sure it’s always cooked when you try it! Read the rest of this entry �

We didn’t do a lot of baking in our house. Mostly breads, occasionally cakes, but hardly ever cookies.

My friend Kathy makes these wonderful walnut cookies at Christmas and a few years ago we discovered that they’re Mexican Wedding/Christmas cookies, although you can probably find similar cookies in many other cultures. Read the rest of this entry �

The weather is dreary here in the Northeast which brings wishes for all kinds of comfort foods. One of my favorites was always meatloaf and my grandma’s was a tasty treat covered with a tomato sauce and stuffed with two hard boiled eggs. Read the rest of this entry �

Sorry for not giving you a hot sexy man on Monday, but I was battling a cold and the only thing that looked hot and sexy to me was the cup of chicken soup my hubby brought me.

Which got me thinking about today and things that are comforting when the weather is starting to get chill. Actually, I love beans and eat them every chance I get. They are packed with fiber and potassium and when combined with rice form a complete protein, making that a great meal! Read the rest of this entry �

Halloween is almost here and you may need something special to make for the little ones or maybe for your ghoulish soul! Read the rest of this entry �

Time for a tasty treat this Tuesday. This wonderful recipe comes courtesy of my friend and fellow author, Lois Winston, whose latest release is LOVE, LIES AND A DOUBLE SHOT OF DECEPTION. Besides being an award-winning writer - did I mention her latest book is nominated for a Golden Leaf award?– Lois is an amazing artist who went to art school and has had a fairly successful career as a writer and designer in the consumer crafts industry, designing craft and needlework projects for kit manufacturers as well as magazine and book publishers. Read the rest of this entry �

Whenever I had a cold, my grandma, abuelita Nieves (that’s me with my grandma and who I am also named after in part as my whole first name is Caridad de las Nieves) used to make me a special drink that always managed to make me feel better. She would scald some milk with stick cinnamon and afterward, add honey. Once I drank it down, I’d feel it chasing that cold away and fall fast asleep. To this day, that is my most effective cold remedy. Read the rest of this entry �

I really was struggling with what to give you as a Tuesday Tip, torn as I am between sharing a wonderful recipe and some tips for losing weight. So I decided to do a little bit of both!

Today’s recipe uses basil from the bumper crop that is growing in my garden (and which the gopher that has taken up residence there clearly doesn’t like). Read the rest of this entry �

I had the pleasure of meeting Patrick Sanchez at last year’s Chica Lit festival in Miami. Here’s a picture of me with Patrick and my friends and fellow authors, Lara Rios and Berta Platas.

Patrick recently provided me with a double treat — he let me review his latest novel, ONCE UPON A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN and to thank me for the review, sent along some wonderfully tasty goodies. Read the rest of this entry �

Okay, I must confess that when I was about 60 pounds lighter, I bought some sexy exercise clothes to show off my svelte new figure such as these cute things from Otomix. (Although I never did the belly thing. Not me. Not my style.)
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Many many years ago, I ran across a recipe in Gourmet magazine when I was trying to find something different to do with some excess zucchini from my garden (at the bottom of the blog there’s some quick pictures of how this year’s garden is doing). Since I loved potato pancakes and my husband’s grandma’s zucchini flower fritters, a recipe for zucchini pancakes caught me eye since try as I might, I always missed picking the zucchini flowers when I should!

Over the years I adapted the recipe to make it easier and I’ve added a little variation to increase the number of veggies I’m getting in the mix and to add some color. Read the rest of this entry �

This Tuesday Tip - a recipe for Scottish Shortbreads- is from my friend Irene Peterson whose latest release - KISSES TO GO - is on the shelves right now!

From Irene:
When first married, I lived across the street from three ladies from Scotland. Trying to impress them, I made some shortbread, only I didn’t have butter, so I used margarine. They said the cookies were lovely, but what were they?
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With the weather finally getting warmer, I thought Lois Winston’s recipe was the perfect Tuesday Tip for today!
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Easter is a toss-up holiday in my family and where we spend it depends on who asks us first! If we go to my sister’s, we have a baked ham and other goodies as well as an Easter Egg hunt, even if the kids are all in their teens. They still love it. Sometimes the neighborhood kids will join in as well and it’s a blast. We give the little ones a head start so they can grab the eggs off the lawn.

If we go to my husband’s family, it’s Italian fare with an assortment of traditional goodies, like a delicious egg bread that has colored whole eggs baked into it.

What kinds of things do you do for Easter?
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It’s been a long time since I gave you any kind of recipe, maybe because I’ve been trying to stick to this diet and failing miserably. Especially with Valentine’s Day and chocolate abounding everywhere!

Anyway, this is my friend Irene Peterson’s Famous Fudge. Really easy to make and even easier to eat! Irene has a new release coming up with Kisses to Go. It’s a story about a chef (always good) and art historian, stuffy British royalty and it has some paranormal happenings as well. Is it a good book? RT gave it 4 stars!

So here’s Irene’s Famous Fudge recipe (And yes, I hear you all. I’ll go back on the diet soon!):
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We were always sports fanatics. I grew up watching everything and anything sports-related. Naturally, watching led to participating.

My mami, all 5 foot one inches of her, had played tennis and basketball (!!) in Cuba. Mami is the one wearing those mod sixties sunglasses in the picture.

Papi played volleyball on a club team in Cuba that was exceptionally good. Papi is the tall slender one at the right in the photo.

My brother was a great football player. He’s the one hamming it up at the top of the bench.

My sister, Carmen, and I played everything in high school — field hockey (soccer was not a “sport” back then), volleyball, some basketball (I’m vertically challenged), volleyball and softball. Carmen is standing next to my mom and I’m standing next to my dad. Accurate since my sis is a twin to my mom, while I took after my dad — except height-wise. My sis and her family ended up with all the height.

Anyway, being sports fanatics and becoming totally emerged in American culture, one of the biggest sports events was the Super Bowl. Being Cuban, that also meant a ton of food would be available for friends and family who were coming to watch the game.

Here’s one of our favorites for you to try out for your Super Bowl spread!
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Maybe you’ve noticed the progress bar to the right of the blog. Maybe you didn’t. It’s a bar that’s measuring how much progress I’m making in keeping to my New Years Resolution to lose weight. I decided to put it up on the site for a couple of reasons. First, I hope it keeps me honest and keeps me off the sweets wagon. Second, I know a lot of you had the same resolution and maybe seeing how I’m doing will help you reach your goals as well.

I do have some hints to help with the diet.

First, we know why diets usually fail. Diet food is so damn tasteless. I’ll give you a quick recipe later on for a quick snack or meal that isn’t tasteless and will satisfy. I think that’s a key to staying on a diet — learn to make food with lots of flavor so that you feel satisfied after eating.

Remember to drink lots of water. It helps wash out the byproducts of burning all that fat and keeps things moving along.

Next, try to increase your activity, even if only a little bit each day. A fifteen or twenty minute walk at a nice clip will really help. Can’t do that much at one shot. Do 2 ten minute segments. Studies have shown that the effects of exercise are cumulative (but 20 minutes is key for aerobic health).

Last, but not least, don’t give up just because you blow one day. Nobody is perfect, so don’t be so hard on yourself if you don’t stick to your diet. Just don’t do it too often.

Anyway, here’s that tasty snack/meal. I can’t take credit for all of it. The basic idea for the soup came from something on HGTV. I think the garlic bread thing came from Giada’s Everyday Italian, but regardless, it’s tasty and relatively low fat.

The Soup:

One of the following:

Here’s how easy it is:

While the soup is warming: Toast a slice or two of a good quality bread. Peel a clove or two of garlic. Once the bread is toasted, take the garlic and scrape it across the toasted bread. The roughness of the toast will grate the garlic. The final result — an oil-free tasty garlic bread!

Saturday is a full day for me. I’ve got my monthly NJRW meeting and other running around.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

It’s holiday time and if you’re having a party or going to one and need something fun and tasty to make, this is the dip for you!

The recipe for the Tex-Mex dip was first given to me by the wife of one of my husband’s professors at Columbia.  Since then I’ve played with it, made some changes and it is a favorite with all my friends and neighbors.  I always make a double batch because I know that it will go very quickly.  Serve the Tex-Mex dip with tortilla chips for dipping.  I love it on top of my hamburger – it makes it a great Tex-Mex burger!

Sour Cream Topping
(This is enough for a double batch.  Use only half for a single batch and put the excess into a bowl for people to use as dip)
1 pint sour cream
½ cup Mayonnaise
1 envelope taco seasoning mix

Mix all of the above and let sit for at least half an hour.

You will need the following ingredients.  After chopping and grating, you will layer them as noted below.  A flat dish is best so that your guests will be able to dip more easily.  If you like guacamole, you can add it as another layer right after the bean layer.

Ingredients:

2 medium tomatoes – finely chopped. Let them drain in a sieve to get rid of their juice.  It will keep the dip from getting watery.
1 8 oz. Can of pimentos – finely chopped
2 scallions – finely chopped
1 16 oz can of refried beans – Try to use the fat free and if you like it spicy, use the spicy refried beans from Old El Paso
1 16 oz. Can black pitted olives – finely chopped
4  oz sharp cheddar cheese - grated
4 oz Monterey jack cheese with jalapenos - grated

How to layer:

Place refried beans on the flat dish – spread them out to form the base.
Pimentos
Scallions
Place half of the sour cream topping if you are doing a single batch
Tomatoes
Black olives
Combine grated cheddar and montery jack – spread all around to hide what is underneath this layer.  If you have a gadget known as a Supershooter, place chunks of both cheeses in the feed tube and just grate it right onto the black olives.

If you like things spicier:  Add a few drops of tabasco sauce in the sour cream topping.  Substitute monterey pepper jack cheese for the regular monterey jack cheese.   Also add some jalapenos in the same layer as the pimentos