In the Kitchen with Chef Donna

Turns out I am quite the Julia Child and I can cook up a storm if I feel like it. For Easter, I made turkey breasts stuffed with stuffing, along with mashed potatoes, baked okra, carrots, asparagus, gravy and a strawberry rhubarb crumble. This past weekend, a deconstructed lasagna.

With that said, I have decided to add some healthy recipes to the blog because, although we love to eat Noche, the girls at Atlanta Activewear like to eat a home cooked meal. It's hard to constantly cook at home when you work the amount of hours we do and then hit the gym at 7:15 or later, so to be honest, most of the time I take a leaf out of Sandra Lee's book and go "semi-homemade".

Her show kills me, but I love that she always adds a cocktail.

Once, she took a perfectly good Publix apple pie, dumped it into a bowl, mashed it up and called it apple crumble. I almost died.

Here's the secret to healthy 

semi-homemade cooking:

IF YOU WANT IT TO ACTUALLY BE HEALTHY, 

READ THE LABEL BEFORE YOU BUY IT!

So, what do you look for on the label:

Start with the nutritional chart, check the sodium and sugar levels. They should both be close to nothing. Next, check the list of ingredients. Stay away from words you saw in your high school chemistry book, such as fructose, sucrose, monoglyceride, aluminosilicate, etc. Of course most products will have some sort of preservative in them because they have to be stored, but the closer they are to the end of the list, the better. You want things from the garden listed first: Organic tomatoes, organic onions, sea salt, parsley, garlic, EVOO, oregano, black pepper, etc.

Side note/pet peeve: JUST BECAUSE THE SUGAR SAYS ZERO DOESN'T MEAN THERE ISN'T SUGAR OR SUGAR SUBSTITUTES IN IT! This is something I never understand. People complain about sugar, but at least your body is capable of breaking sugar down. Our bodies are not made to break down Aspertame or Sucralose, in my (humble) opinion, these ingredients are worse for us than sugar because our body stores them and can not break them down. The most natural of sugar substitutes is Stevia, a plant extract, if it is between stevia and something else, choose stevia. Sorry, end of rant.

As of January 2011, the American Heart Association LOWERED the recommended daily intake of sodium to 1500mg for an average person. The recommended daily sugar intake for women is 20g (5 teaspoons) and 36 grams (9 teaspoons) for men. A SINGLE can of coke has 39g of sugar. Today alone I, personally, have QUADRUPLED my daily sugar intake by drinking 2 cans of coke. Oh. My. God.

Just thinking about sucking on all those sugar cubes is putting me in a sugar coma. Wow.

As many of you who encountered me last summer know, I participated in a challenge at BTB Fitness called the Paleo Challenge where we "ate clean" for 45 days. This challenge opened my eyes to the fact that not everything is created equal, which I knew, I just ignored it. Spending an extra 5 minutes in a section can help you determine which "semi-homemade" option is best.

Here is a recipe for my personal Semi-Homemade Putaneska sauce:

And don't judge on my measuring terms, just act like Emeril and judge with your eyes. Also, I cook everything in a wok, it cooks everything really easily and is great for sauces because it's so deep.

Heat your pan.

Add a 2 second pour of EVOO.

Add 1tsp of garlic, minced.

Add 1 medium onion, roughly chopped.

Pinch of salt and pepper.

2 pinches of red chili flakes

Add 1 lb lean ground beef or mild Italian sausage. Cook through but not browned.

Add a few shakes of Italian seasoning, or fresh herbs (basil, bay leaf, oregano)

Add red, green and yellow bell peppers. 1/2 of each, cut into small pieces.

Let these simmer until onions are transparent, peppers have softened and meat is cooked.

Add pitted, chopped black olives.

Add one jar of HEALTHY marinara sauce (check labels!)

This should take about 15-20 minutes overall. Cook pasta or add extra veggies for a more hearty meal. I add broccoli and artichoke hearts if I don't feel like pasta. It's really good, I promise.

Hope you like the new addition of recipes to the blog, next week Italian Sausage and Spinach Meatloaf. (Don't tell Tom, but it's better than the one on Murphy's menu which inspired me to make it!)

xox

Donna

Atlanta Activewear Style & Training Blog by Donna Burke, Atlanta Activewear is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.AtlantaActivewear.Blogspot.com.