Consuming Consciousness

This year I’m lucky enough to be living in a house instead of an apartment, with a garden and a lawn. The lawn, like many things about the house, is a bit ragged and in spring it came up more dandelions than grass. I thought about weeding, but we’re only here until December — not enough time to see serious yard work pay off. So, instead, I decided to to eat them. I adapted my usual recipe for sesame & spinach salad, and it worked very well with the greens.

Salmon, cream cheese and avocado! What could taste richer? This is a quick and tasty snack for lunch, hungry kids, or company.

The calorie count is figured without the sesame crackers, since they vary a great deal from brand to brand. It is also calculated with low-fat cream cheese and regular mayonnaise, so you can reduce it if you use a non-fat cream cheese and a low-fat mayo. (more…)

I love smoked fish, but it’s usually too expensive for me to buy. However, lately I’ve been seeing packages of smoked fish in the deli sections of many of the less up-scale supermarkets, and I’ve been buying smoked trout this way. In my part of the world it costs about a dollar an ounce. Yeah, I know that amounts to sixteen bucks a pound, which could hardly be called economic, but you don’t need more than two ounces to get the full benefits of the wonderful taste of smoked fish. And the rest of the ingredients in this dish are inexpensive, so you can feel like you’re living in the lap of luxury while not breaking the bank.

This recipe stretches an eighth of a pound of smoked fish to feed four on a lunch menu, or to serve six people as a side salad. It’s also low enough in calories that you can have a big, satisfying bowl and still add less than 350 to your daily total. And they’re good calories too: 21.4 grams of protein per serving, and only 7.2g of fat, most of it from the fish. You’ll meet 25% of your daily needs for Vitamin A, calcium and iron in a single serving, and over 80% of your Vitamin C needs. All that and it tastes fabulous, too! (more…)

This combination of rich black beans and sweet corn, tart vinegar and aromatic spices is positively luscious. If you use all fresh ingredients you need to give yourself several hours of preparation time to soak and simmer the beans and cut the corn off the cob. However, if you’re in a hurry, you can use canned beans and frozen corn (reducing the prep time to 45 minutes, since you have to pre-soak the dried chile) and put the salad together in about 15 minutes. At about 350 calories for a side-dish sized serving (200g), it’s not low-calorie, low-fat or low-carb, but it’s high in protein, fiber and vitamins, very low in saturated fat, has no cholesterol, and the beans have a low glycemic index (30). (more…)

I gave up sugar and honey a while ago, but every so often I get a powerful craving for something sweet. This sugary-tasting carrot salad always does the trick, and the nuts and raisins make it taste downright sinful. Despite the big flavor burst, it’s surprisingly low in calories, full of Vitamin A and C, and a great source of fiber. Grating the carrots takes almost no time, and the salad is easily assembled in about 15 minutes. (more…)

A single avocado, with balsamic vinegar and spices makes a lovely, rich appetizer for two, with great flavor and aroma. This recipe will take you less than ten minutes to make and cost you about a dollar. (more…)