Whole Wheat Pita Bread Margarita Pizza

Hi! I am Sara Allred. This is one of my "go to" recipes. I work several jobs and I am going to school so fast and cheap are very important to me. This dish only costs about $1.50 a serving so even feeding friends is very doable. I hope you like it!

Taste: Anyone who likes pizza and Italian food will appreciate this dish. This dish is lite and fresh which is great when its hot outside or if your trying to slim down but would prefer not to give up pizza (which is almost everyone).  It's especially awesome when you consider how easy it is to prepare.

Preparation: This recipe is almost too easy. It takes 5 minutes to prepare and about 5 minutes to cook. Anyone in a time crunch can appreciate a meal that takes a total of 10 minutes before eating.

All that is needed:
-1 can of low sodium diced tomatoes
-2 oz. of part skim mozzarella cheese (I like the fresh mozzarella packed in water)
-Whole Wheat Pita bread
-a few leaves of thinly sliced basil.
I always drain the tomatoes to start with and thinly slice the cheese to put on top of your pita. Bake for about 5-7 minutes at 425. Right after you take it out of the oven, while the pizza is still hot, sprinkle the basil over the top (this way you don't burn the leaves but the heat releases the flavor). 

Nutritional Information: Any of us concerned with keeping our girlish figures can rest assured that this recipe is very figure friendly. It is very low calorie and low fat.

A serving is one pizza and the Recommended Daily Allowances are as follows:
-Calories 250
-Total fat- 12%
-Saturated fat 22%
-Cholesterol 0%
-Sodium 15%
-Potassium 4%
-Carbohydrates 9%
-Fiber 16%
-Protein 12 g
-Vitamin A 10%
-Vitamin C 15%
-Calcium 25%
-Iron 9%
-under 2 grams of sugar
(nutritional information estimated based packaging)

Benefits of this dish: This recipe is low calorie and low fat but because of the complex carbohydrates and fiber in the whole wheat pita bread it will keep you full while helping to keep your blood sugars stable. It is also low in sodium and sugar. All of these benefits work together to give us a hearth healthy option. The tomatoes in this dish offer a wide variety of nutrients that are essential to maintain a healthy body. First of all, they are high in Potassium which is essential for making your heart beat correctly. Tomatoes also contain a lot of vitamin C which helps us ward off infection and absorb iron. Another little fact about tomatoes is that they contain Lycopene, the substance that gives red fruit its color. Lycopene has a lot of benefits for our skin and for men their prostates. The Calcium in this dish comes primarily from the cheese. Calcium is essential for our bone structure and muscle function, with out enough of it in our diets we risk diseases such as osteoporosis as we age.

What this could use more of: Although this dish does have some Iron and Potassium, for a balanced and healthy diet it would be beneficial to have more in your meal. As previously stated Potassium is essential for regulating your heart rate and Iron is essential for building your blood. 

What to serve with it: I always have this with a tossed green salad. I like mine loaded with a variety of veggies and dressed with olive oil and lemon juice but you can make it however you like! This will help boost the nutrient content. Because this is a simple dish it does not have a high content of some vitamins and minerals such as Iron. 

-Allred, S

Summer Vegetable Tian

I am not a big fan of vegetables so, the fact I love this Summer Vegetable Tian recipe speaks volumes.   Not only is this dish full of different vegetables that nourish your body but is also a cheap meal costing around $8 for the whole casserole.  I originally found this recipe on Pinterest but it originates from www.budgetbytes.com.

Taste: I love the taste of this casserole!  My favorite part is the tomatoes, zucchini, and the garlic. The mixture of all the vegetables makes this meal fresh and delicious!

Ease of Preparation: This recipe is pretty easy to make but it does require a lot of slicing.  Also I did experience some problems trying to get the potatoes to cook all they way through.  You can alter the recipe and slightly boil the potatoes before you cut them or cook the casserole for longer.

Ingredients:

1 yellow zucchini
1 green zucchini
1 roma tomato
1 yellow onion
1 russell potato
3 cloves of garlic
1 bag of shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation of Recipe:  The hardest part of the meal is chopping up all of the vegetables.  I took around 15 to 20 minutes to slice and chop all the vegetables.  I sliced the tomato, potatoes, yellow and green zucchini first.  Then I chopped up the onion and garlic finely and sautéd them for a few minutes placing the mixture at the bottom of my 11 x 7 baking pan.  The last steps is layering the vegetables, season as desired, top with mozzarella cheese, and popping it in the oven for another 30 minutes!

Specific Nutritional Value: This meal is low in calories and high in nutrients, which makes it a nice light dinner!

Estimate Nutritional Value Per Serving:

Calories 172
Fat (g) 8.5
Saturated (g) 4.9
Cholesterol (mg) 29.5
Sodium (mg) 255.6
Potassium (mg) 262.9
Carbs (g) 12.5
Fiber (g) 3
Protein (g) 12.1
Sugar (g) 4
Vitamin A (%) 17.9
Vitamin C (%) 72
Calcium (%) 23.2
Iron (%) 5.8

Nutrients:

The RDA recommends around 64 g of fat in a 2,000 color diet so a 8.5 g in a dinner dish is perfect! The fattest part of this meal is the mozzarella cheese.  The sodium in this meal is also rather low also.  Warning though, I found that my potatoes need extra salt for taste which increased the sodium for my serving,.  With all the vegetables in this meal is comes to about 13 % of your daily value of sugar which is rather low. This meal is low carb making it great if you've eaten most of your daily carbs.  Also the Vitamin C in this meal makes up almost 3/4 of your daily intake!  Not to mention all the different colors of the vegetables, that give us a rich supply of photochemical.

What Nutrients This Meal Lacks:

Unfortunately, summer vegetable tian lacks in iron.  Thats why its good to pair it with a protein or make it on a day you've already consumed enough iron.  Fiber is lacking from this meal as well.  You might want to consume your fiber with a whole wheat bread or have a fiber rich breakfast that consists of oatmeal. Also vitamin A is lacking from this meal which can be consumed through from carrots, cooked sweet potatoes, dark leafy greens, and tuna fish.

What else to eat: Summer Vegetable Tian is very light with a main focus on vegetables and dairy, so I recommend pairing this meal with a side that is a bit heavier such as an whole grain bread and/or chicken apple sausage.  This way you can reach your daily intake of dairy, vegetables, proteins, and grains.

Enjoy, Julia Dillman

Cauliflower Steaks

 Hello! Makynsey Boyer here! I chose to cook the Cauliflower Steaks from one of my very favorite cookbooks that I found a few years ago. This recipe is one of my favorites because it goes with so many different things!  I did not realize when I bought this cookbook that it was a vegetarian cookbook. Being a vegetarian is something I have never actually attempted. I love my meat so I usually spice the recipes up with something else too!

Taste

 The cauliflower reminds me of the taste of plain mashed potatoes, but add the scallions and cheese on top for melting, and it is a wonderful thing!

Ease of Preparation

To cut a head of cauliflower, dice some scallions, sprinkle some cheese, and the oven time, it takes a total of 35 minutes. The cauliflower steaks cook on both sides for 15 minutes each at 375 degrees F.

Specific nutritional value

This recipe is high in potassium and vitamin K.

Nutritional Value of This Meal

I based these numbers off of one serving.

1 serving = 1 cup of cauliflower steak, 1 large scallion, and 1/3 cup of shredded cheese.

Total fat: 9.15g

Saturated fat: 5.04g

Cholesterol: 8%

Sodium: 34.08g

Potassium: 372.01g

Carbs: 7.14g

Dietary Fiber: 3.1g

Sugar: 2.98g

Vitamin A: 5%

Vitamin C: 85%

Calcium: 24%

Iron: 4%

Folic Acid: 11%

After reading more about cauliflower, I was amazed to read about all of the benefits it offers. Cauliflower contains sulforaphane, which is a sulfur compound that has been shown to slow tumor growth. The sulforaphane has been found to improve kidney health and improve blood pressure. Cauliflower has also been known to help with detoxification, digesting, and works as an anti-inflammatory. Cauliflower is very high in potassium, which is an important mineral in the body for metabolism, water, and chemical balance.

Surprisingly scallions, or what some people call spring onions, are very high in vitamin k. Vitamin k plays an important roll in the body when we bleed. It works in the body to help with blood clotting and has also been shown to help with bone support.

The downside to this recipe would be the saturated fat of 25% in one serving of the shredded cheese. Saturated fat raises the level of cholesterol in your blood which researchers have said can lead to heart disease.

Other Things to Eat

With the cauliflower steaks and scallions being vegetables, I like to add some sort of meat for protein! Eating fresh pineapple with some frozen yogurt would add a little bit for some fruit! Usually when you cook good food, you also get good company to eat with :)

Boyer M.

Nutrition Ananysis, Acai Bowl!

I like this recipe because it is so tasty and healthy! It is a great energy booster for the morning time and easy to make while you have a busy schedule. I usually soak the chia seeds first thing in the morning, so it is a quick breakfast to make when the time comes.

*Vegetarian/Vegan

*Gluten Free

*Breakfast

Taste- This is a super tasty breakfast for someone who is on a healthy CLEAN diet. (Obviously we aren’t talking as tasty as Kneaders french toast, but to much of that would kill us.)

Ease of Preparation- SUPER easy. I make this a few times a week!

Nutritional Value-  This recipe is a great source of fruit, protein, and the acai powder will help aid with weight loss, skin health, heart health, is a great energy booster, and so forth. It’s also vegan AND gluten free!

Specific Nutritional Value- **This depends on how you make you bowl, but here is what mine usually will consist of.

Calories 350

Calories from Fat 80

Total Fat 10g

Saturated Fat 2g

Carbohydrates 66g

Dietary Fiber 6g

Sugars 43g

Protein 5g

Why are these nutrients important?

Fruits: Fruits are full of essential fiber and nutrients! Although one negative side of a lot of fruit is that they are slightly high in sugar, when they are consumed in moderation they can provide the body with great minerals and vitamins. When eaten correctly, they can help prevent from certain types of cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and cholesterol and help speed up your metabolism.

Nuts: (If you use them as a topping for your bowl). They are a great source of protein and good fat. They also provide a good source of fats, protein, and fiber. Also, from what I have found they are great for quick energy!

Protein Powder: A little unusual to use in a normal Acai bowl, but it is a great way if you are an athlete to help with muscle recovery and repair, lean muscle growth and overall health. If you are looking to lose fat… The more muscle you grow, the more fat you burn!

Acai Powder (Berries): There are many benefits of Acai berries (powder). These berries are full of antioxidants and have been used for aiding with healing, immune stimulating, energy, heart health, aids with weight loss and many other benefits. I have also found that this is a great energy booster for the morning! Although a negative side of this berry is that the research is very limited, and claims about these benefits haven’t yet been fully proven.

**You could add some gluten free oats on the side in order to include all essential food groups.

Serves 1 Person

• 1 Cup Frozen Blueberries (I like to switch this out for raspberries sometimes.)
• 1 Frozen Banana (You can also replace this with 1 cup of strawberries)
• 1 Handful of Spinach (I substitute this with Baby Kale)
• 1 Tbsp Acai Powder
• 1 Tbsp Chia Seeds (or Flaxseed)
• About three Tbsp of Vanilla Protein Powder (I like the whey or vegan friendly)
• ½ Cup Unsweetened Almond Milk (I like Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk)

Directions: Soak the Chia seeds for about 20 minutes in some of the almond milk. Once done, combine the soaked chia seeds with the blueberries, banana, spinach, acai powder, protein powder and the rest of the almond milk into a blender. Blend the ingredients until smooth and creamy, if you would like, you can add more almond milk to make it a little bit thinner. Spoon into a bowl and add fresh berries, banana, nuts or seeds.

Torres A.

Five Can Soup

Hi all! This is Dr. Hall. I’d like to share a recipe that my roommate passed onto me during graduate school. I love this recipe because it is so cheap (about $5 to feed 4-6 people) and easy (takes about 10 minutes to prepare). It tastes pretty good too!

Taste: Excellent! This tastes like a great taco soup. You’d think you’d need to put a lot more time into a dish to make it taste this good, but this is so easy.

Ease of preparation: Excellent. Just open up five cans and a packet of taco seasoning, dump them into a pot and turn on the heat, wait for it to heat through and you’re done! Takes about 10 minutes.

These are all the ingredients you need!

Specific nutritional value: This meal is low fat and high fiber and contains protein and vegetables. I calculated the value for one serving (one bowl) based on the nutrition labels, serving sizes, and number of people served. See below.

Estimated Recommended Daily Allowance in One Bowl

Total Fat: 35%

Saturated Fat: 0%

Cholesterol: 0%

Sodium: 40.2%

Potassium: 18.9%

Carbs: 20.1%

Dietary Fiber: 53.9%

Sugar: 3 grams

Vitamin A: 11.8%

Vitamin C: 22.4%

Calcium: 5.6%

Iron: 16.8%

Folic Acid: 0%

Fats and Sugars

While this meal contains 35% of the RDA of fat in one bowl, this meal is very low in saturated fats (0%) and cholesterol (0%) according to the nutrition labels when I added all the ingredients together. This is great since as Americans we generally get way too much saturated fat, which increases bad cholesterol and risk of heart disease.

Sometimes I like to add cheese to the meal. Warning: Even with the reduced fat cheese I bought that said it has 33% less fat than normal cheese, when I added a quarter cup of cheese the saturated fat content in my meal jumped from 0% to 17%!

While sugars should be avoided, there are 3 grams in this recipe. The American Heart Association has set a maximum level of sugar consumption of 30 grams per day. This recipe contains well below that.

Vitamins and Minerals

As shown above, this dinner is a good source of dietary fiber and carbohydrates which perform a number of beneficial functions in the body. High fiber foods result in lower blood glucose levels than high-starch foods, reduces absorption of cholesterol, likely controls weight, and reduces risk of obesity and cardiovascular disease. The type of fiber found in the beans (the majority of the fiber in this meal) is soluble fiber, which lowers bad cholesterol, regulates blood sugar, and reduces risk of Type 2 diabetes. The type found in the tomatoes is insoluble, and this helps prevent constipation.

This recipe is also a good source of Vitamin C, especially in the tomatoes but also between the two cans of corn. Vitamin C helps form connective tissue and is important for wound healing. Vitamin C acts as an antioxidant, increases iron absorption (which is good since a serving of this recipe also contains about 17% of the RDA of iron). Benefits of vitamin C may include protection against immune deficiencies, cardiovascular disease, and eye disease. It has also been claimed to lower stress, help prevent more serious symptoms of colds and flu, reduce risk of stroke, and prevent skin from wrinkling. Vitamin C can boil out of food, so I would recommend just heating the soup through to warm it and not bringing it to a boil.

A downside of this recipe is the high sodium content. One bowl contains about 40% of the RDA of sodium and this is mostly from the taco seasoning. Most Americans eat too much sodium. Sodium can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. If eating this meal, I would recommend making sure you do not eat foods with lots of salt earlier in the day.

What Else to Eat
This meal contains proteins and vegetables. For a good mix of food groups, pair with some healthful whole grain bread. For desert, you could have some fruit and yogurt. This should cover all important food groups.

Here's the finished product! PS - I'm your professor. :-)

 Posted by Dr. Hall