What's for Munch?

A couple days ago, Keith asked me to invent "Munch." We share our home office, and as I surveyed the empty snack bags and peanut butter jar from the night before, I knew what he meant -- Midnight Lunch. Aptly named Munch. He's a night owl, you see, and while he sticks with the svelte plan during the day, he tends to snack at night.

Admittedly, I've been somewhat of an enabler lately. You see, I have an alter-ego who is somewhat of a diet saboteur. I'll call her Dough Girl (a bad enough name to hopefully deter her appearances, as I certainly don't want to be "doughy!"). While I love the challenge of making healthy recipes that taste great, I also love to bake. Mostly pies and breads -- I love the whole delicate process and the delectable result! So anyway, Dough Girl has frequented my kitchen lately, and I'll wake up to find that there is significantly less pie or cookie dough than there was the evening before. And I know I'm not sleep-eating!

I know Keith is going to stay up late, and I know he's going to snack. I also know that I love to have a snack in the evenings, as well. My favorite hobby is watching cooking shows and reading cooking magazines, which is maybe why my appetite just won't quit. So whether you do your snacking for Munch, Brunch or Linner, here are some healthy choices to keep you svelte!

We go through a LOT of plain yogurt in this house. I use it for everything from dinner sauces to dessert. For snacking, try mixing plain yogurt with your favorite herbs and spices -- this makes a great dip for raw veggies or homemade whole grain tortilla chips (see next tip) and it's significantly lower in calories than mayo or sour cream. In fact, you can eat a whole cup of plain yogurt for about 150 calories -- fewer calories than 2 tablespoons of mayo! And let me tell you, a cup is a LOT of dip. You won't eat that much. I mix mine with tarragon, basil, dill, garlic, caramelized onions, fresh mint, etc. -- not all at once, I experiment with my favorite flavor combos! If you're in the mood for sweet, add a teaspoon or two of honey and some berries. YUM.

Instead of reaching for that bag of fried tortilla chips, try making your own! They are fantastic with salsa or your favorite yogurt dip creation. Take your favorite brand of whole grain tortillas, slice them into wedges with a pizza cutter, spread them out on a cookie sheet, mist them with olive oil and sprinkle them with your favorite spices -- salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne, whatever! Bake them at 350 degrees for 7 minutes. Don't worry if they're still a bit soft when you take them out, as they'll crisp up as they cool. And they keep well in a plastic bag for several days, so you can keep them on hand.

Keith always turns his nose up when I offer him an apple, but he'll pick off my plate when I'm having one. You may not think an apple will satisfy you, but once you dig in, you'll be happy you did! Drizzle it with honey or dip it in yogurt if you like. Yum! Fresh fruit is always a winner, but so is frozen! I've talked about frozen grapes, which are our favorite -- simply pull them off the stems and freeze them in freezer bags. They make a surprisingly good snack! Frozen blueberries also work quite well, as do frozen banana slices. Try making a smoothie with fresh or frozen fruit, ice and bit of skim milk. SO good, and very filling!

I love edamame (boiled baby soybeans in the shell). It's loaded with fiber and great soy protein, and sprinkled with a bit of salt, it takes the place of salty snacks like pretzels. If you haven't tried it, you should. It's really good! I buy it frozen in just about any decent grocery store.

Popcorn is a whole grain and can be a great snack if you watch the oil. I love using my air popper. I mist it with spray butter and sprinkle it with salt and it's a perfect healthy snack.

And of course The Svelte Gourmet Main Courses leftovers make a great Munch! A couple strips of leftover chicken wrapped in a piece of lettuce with a drizzle of your favorite yogurt dip is great! Heat up some leftover soup or chili for a tasty serving or two of veggies and lean protein. A slice of The Svelte Gourmet pizza would be healthy, too, if there was ever any left over -- hasn't happened yet!

So hopefully, that's what's for Munch. Or Linner. Whatever! I just hope that Dough Girl stays away for a while -- the temptation is killing me!

The Svelte Gourmet: A Month of Main Courses is available at www.thesveltegourmet.com/products.html. A portion of all sales through the end of February will be donated to the relief efforts in Haiti.

I'm an eater.

OK, this one is going to be a little bit embarrassing. But I'm willing to put myself out there, because I bet there are others just like me! Truth is, I love to cook -- but I also love to eat.

Trust me, I'm not one of those people who makes dinner, boasts about it being healthy, and then picks at it and pushes it around the plate. If I let myself, I could out-eat my husband. It's been known to happen during a gluttonous weekend or vacation. Stop eating when you're full. What?! And waste this lovely food? I think not. I think by now we all know the difference between actual hunger and just wanting to eat, but I still maintain that I'm always hungry.

I also don't work out as consistently as I'd like (the Wii Fit told me yesterday that it's been 109 days since my last session -- whoa! Has that much time really gone by?! I did ride my bike for several miles last week, and painting an entire house has to count for something, but still...) While I'm not teeny-tiny, I do manage to stay in pretty good shape and within 5 pounds of my average at all times. How? I have some tricks that might help my fellow "eaters" out there. If you have tips that you use, PLEASE share them via the comment section below! I need all the help I can get. Seriously.

1. Control portion sizes. I grew up family-style, where dinner was put out on the table with serving spoons and we all went at it. My mom is a really healthy cook, too, but if you're an eater like me, then going back for thirds still isn't a great idea. So now, I make the food and make our plates, instead of putting the food on the table. All leftovers immediately go into containers and into the freezer once they cool (my husband doesn't like "recent" leftovers, so I save them for future lunches or dinners in the freezer). If he wants more, he has more. But I stay away. Any bowl on the table gets revisited by me, so this trick has worked like a charm!

2. Eliminate the unhealthy carbs from big meals. I'm not a fan of eliminating a whole food group from your diet, but I do follow a few simple rules that really work. Basically, we rarely have a starch with dinner and if we do, it's a whole grain like brown rice or whole-grain pasta which fills you up faster and keeps you full longer. And remember, a serving of this as a side is 1/2 cup! Not the foundation for your whole plate. Anyway, our dinners consist of lean protein (4-6 oz), veggies and Svelte Gourmet Signature Salad. Trust me, this is enough food. And for the most part, you won't miss the baked potato. And please get rid of the bread basket! It's sabotaging you! You don't need it, I promise. You will be full.

3. Avoid buffets. So I have the unfortunate trifecta of dieter sabotage. I love to cook. I love to eat. And I am not picky. URG. Buffets are a nightmare for me. There is no possible way to try everything on a buffet and still be within a normal person's serving of food. As Ellen DeGeneres put it in one of her HBO specials, "We don't need to eat ALL we can eat." It's MUCH funnier the way she says it, but she's right. So steer clear of the buffet unless you have the willpower that I don't!

4. Find healthy snacks and sides. You will not get fat eating vegetables. I promise. And I happen to LOVE raw peas and green beans. So if you like that sort of stuff, pile it on! Fill up on that! Use my dip trick below! But for non-meal times, I've found some tried and true snacks that will allow you to eat and eat and eat and not pack on the pounds. Besides the obvious, here are two of them you may not have thought of:

-- Plain yogurt. This stuff is great and I use it for everything! I have a posting planned with some great yogurt recipes, but for now, suffice it to say that you can replace the sour cream or mayo with plain yogurt in almost any recipe. I use it a lot for dips and appetizers. Any dip recipe -- even those powder packets of ranch or onion dip -- come out wonderfully with yogurt as the base. And get this -- for 120 calories, you can eat veggies dipped in 2 tablespoons of the regular recipe or a WHOLE CUP of the one made with yogurt. Now for an eater like me, this is an obvious choice. Just beware of the Greek yogurt and read the labels -- it's much thicker (and so much yummier!), but stick with the 2%. It still tastes amazing!

-- Frozen grapes. What? Yes, frozen grapes. Even the kids will love these. Just remove the grapes from the stems, put them in freezer bags and pop them in the freezer. They last for weeks and they taste great! A cup of grapes has about 62 calories and I can usually fit 2 cups per bag. And let me tell you something -- you CANNOT plow through two cups of frozen grapes quickly. If you do, you'll have the worst ice cream headache you've ever had. Trust me. This snack will last most of the night and it will satisfy your sweet tooth. Even my husband loves them!

So there you go. I'm an eater. I'm not thrilled about it, but I'm not willing to give up eating to stay small. I've tried it and it's just not going to happen. So I do it this way. Please share your tricks and snacks! And as I discover more, I'll add them here.