Blog Posts by SparkPeople.com

What's the secret to a perfect omelet?
By Chef Meg Galvin, Healthy Cooking Expert at SparkPeople.com
from "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight"

The egg-white omelet is a staple breakfast for many healthy eaters, but they're often rubbery and bland. After several trials, I've found that it's easy to make a flavorful omelet that's very low on fat: The secret is to add a tablespoon of Parmesan cheese to the eggs after beating them. You'll find it really improves the texture.

Adding cheese to the eggs leaves plenty of room to fill the omelet with vegetables. To make the weekday breakfast easy, sauté vegetables ahead of time, then reheat them slightly in the microwave before adding them to the eggs.

Add two slices of whole-wheat toast, a cup of fat-free milk and a cup of melon for a meal that has less than 400 calories!

(VIDEO: How to Make an Omelet)

Awesome Omelets

You can fill an omelet with anything. Here are a few of my favorite combinations:

· Sautéed onions and

Read More »from Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Omelets

Creamy squash soup

By Chef Meg Galvin, Healthy Cooking Expert at SparkPeople.com
from "The SparkPeople Cookbook: Love Your Food, Lose the Weight"

Creamy soups are so versatile: Cream of broccoli. Cream of chicken. Cream of celery. Cream of mushroom.

Those soups are so rich and comforting to us, but there's no need to reach for the canned version--unless you like that familiar SLURP sound they make when they plop into the pot. Making your own is easy.

In classical cooking, there are rules for everything, even creamy soups. Here's how to keep your soup velvety smooth--no lumps or risk of curdling.

• If the cream (or milk) is warm, it will blend into the soup better.
• I often use fat-free evaporated milk, which is shelf-stable and at room temperature. There's no need to heat it before adding to soup, and it adds a velvety texture.
• Cream should always be added at the end of the cooking process. I prefer adding it after I puree the vegetables.
• Once the cream (or evaporated

Read More »from A Chef's Secret to Perfect Creamy Soups

Roasted winter vegetables

By Chef Meg Galvin, Healthy Cooking Expert at SparkPeople.com

By roasting these hearty winter vegetables, we soften their strong tastes and bring out their natural sweetness.You can use any combination of these three vegetables in this recipe.

Fennel has a mild licorice flavor, and it becomes very sweet when roasted. You can save the fronds for use as garnish or in salads, but discard the tough green stems.

To prep the fennel, slice off the root end, then remove the stems. Slice in half from root to tip, remove the tough inner core, and slice into half-moons.

To prep fresh Brussels sprouts, rinse them well, then slice off the ends, remove the outer layers, and cut into quarters. Rinse again to remove any residual dirt.

Minutes to Prepare: 15

Minutes to Cook: 30

Number of Servings: 8

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 head cauliflower, broken into florets
2 small fennel bulbs, sliced (white parts only)
2 cups Brussels sprouts,

Read More »from Our Favorite Winter Veggie Side Dish

Chop onions like a pro--no crying!

By Chef Meg Galvin, Healthy Cooking Expert at SparkPeople.com

Have you ever heard that if you are trying to sell your house you should always bake a batch of cookies right before showing the house to a prospective buyer? Supposedly the smell incites the potential buyer and "sells" the house.

Let me let you in on a secret. Forget the cookies--sauté some onions instead. Walking into a room filled with a cooked onion aroma will put a smile and a "let's stay for supper" into anyone's mind. The beauty of the onion is that the outcomes are endless. Will they go into a spicy vegetarian chili, be layered on top a juicy lean roast beef sandwich, or serve as the star in steaming bowl of French onion soup?

Onions contain potassium, vitamin C, folic acid, and vitamin B6. For 1/2 cup serving they provide 1.6 grams of fiber, 1.2 grams of protein, and only 38 calories.

Varieties of Onions:
My favorite is the Vidalia, a Southern onion that is only around for a couple of

Read More »from Chop Onions like a Pro--without Shedding a Tear

Choose healthy holiday party foods.

By Stepfanie Romine, editor of SparkRecipes.com

Did you know that overindulging on the weekends can lead to weight gain of nine pounds a year?

To stay on track and still have fun with friends and family, serve some of these healthier party foods.

Bruschetta: Traditionally, this starter is made with thin slices of toasted bread rubbed with garlic and topped with tomato and basil. Get whole wheat or multigrain baguettes from the bakery. Have them slice the bread--it'll be thinner and more uniform. 45 calories; 2 g fat per piece

Smoked salmon mousse: In a food processor, mix 6 ounces smoked salmon with light cream cheese, some dill, lemon zest and juice, and a handful of capers. Mix until creamy, then spread on sliced baguettes and top with a thin slice of English cucumber. 75 calories; 3 g fat

Salsa: Jarred or homemade, spicy or mild, this is a no-fail appetizer. Serve it with baked or whole-grain chips, vegetables or pita chips. 50-75 calories a cup

Guacamole: Full of

Read More »from 11 Healthy Party Appetizers

Beans and lentils: Good for more than just chili, legumes add fiber and protein to any meal in a flash.

By the experts at SparkPeople.com

The humble bean is quite the super food: packed with calcium, iron, potassium, B vitamins, plus about a quarter of the protein and half the fiber recommended daily for adults-all in a single serving. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, beans may even lower LDL ("bad") cholesterol levels, which can help boost heart health. Beans also do double duty in the food pyramid as both a vegetable and a protein. Not to mention, beans are easy to cook with, widely available and inexpensive.

Beans and their legume cousins (such as soybeans, chickpeas and lentils) have been cultivated and consumed for centuries as a part of many world cuisines: Black beans figure prominently in Central American and Caribbean dishes, chickpeas are a staple of Middle Eastern cooking, lentils are common in Indian and Persian recipes, and white beans are a fixture of French and Italian cookbooks.

Even though beans offer a slew of health benefits and

Read More »from Beans: The Super Food that Keeps You Full

By Stepfanie Romine, co-author "The SparkPeople Cookbook"

In addition to storing your fruits and veggies properly, it's good to know approximately how long the fresh stuff will last. Plan your trip to the grocery or farmer's market accordingly so that your foods are at the peak of freshness when you plan to prepare them, and you're not throwing away food that's gone bad before you get a chance to use it.

Read More »from How Long Will My Fruits and Vegetables Last?

Burgers CAN be healthy!

By Chef Meg Galvin, Healthy Cooking Expert at SparkPeople.com

I love a good burger--turkey, beef, pork, chicken, veggies, you name it! With my current focus on weight training, I think my body is craving extra protein. For me a lean burger is a quick, easy meal that, with added toppings, will never look or taste the same twice It's one of those "crowd pleaser" meals because the every member of the family can make each his or her own signature meal.

My slim-it-down tip (without taking out the taste) is that I usually do not eat hamburgers with my fingers. I use a fork because I almost always only eat one half of the whole grain bun. By doing this I trim close to 60 calories, and the fork forces me to slow down and enjoy the meal. (If I really want to use my fingers, I choose a low calorie thin whole grain bun.)


Though you can't go wrong with the classics, I like to get creative with my burgers. Here are some of my favorite toppings. Try them at tonight!

• Corn and

Read More »from A Chef's Favorite (Healthy) Burger Toppings