Thursday, July 15, 2010 at 07:14 AM
One of my favorite summer time recipes is Pasta Fra Diavolo: sea scallops, litleneck clams, and shrimp all simmering in a spicy tomato sauce and served over pasta. I often make this dish when my husband’s family visits from out-of-town because it is a great way to offer up the best of New England’s seafood in an easy one-dish meal. In my town, we are fortunate to have a wonderful fish market that supplies many restaurants. So I head there to buy my ingredients before I begin to cook.
When you make a meal like this, it is tempting to make it just for the grown-ups in the family and to make something a little more plain for the kids. But that would be making two dinners. And I really try to avoid making two dinners. This is not a restaurant, I tell my kids. I have to admit that until now, I did not serve my kids Pasta Fra Diavolo for fear of shellfish allergies. Most pediatricians advise parents to wait until children are over three to introduce shellfish. I take the uber-conservative route when it comes to potential allergies, so I waited until my kids were 5 and 7 to feed them clams!
While I could go to the trouble of making the sauce for this dish from scratch, I opt for the easy route during the beautiful summer weather in order to spend more time outside playing and less time in the kitchen cooking. All you need is an onion, a jar of Fra Diavolo sauce, some seafood, and some pasta.
Ingredients:
1 onion, chopped (NuVal score: 93)
2 lbs. littleneck clams (NuVal score: 82)
1/2 lb chopped clams (NuVal score: 82)
1/2 lb sea scallops (NuVal score: 51)
1/2 lb shrimp (NuVal score: 75)
1 jar Fra Diavolo sauce (NuVal scores vary – see below)
1 lb pasta, cooked (I used Dreamfields Linguine with a NuVal score of 87)
Directions:
Oh, it’s soooooo easy. In a non-stick skillet, heat the onion.
That, by the way, is my Circulon pan. I think it is like over 14 years old and it still looks brand new. Love it!
While you heat the onion until it is almost translucent, have your helper (your husband or child), scrub the littlenecks to remove any sand.
Add scallops and chopped clams to the pan:
When the scallops become opaque, add Fra Diavlo sauce, shrimp and littleneck clams:
Cover, and simmer until the clams open – about 8 – 10 minutes.
Toss with hot cooked pasta in a big, beautiful bowl. Serve with a crisp green salad.
The NuVal scores for Fra Diavolo sauce really vary. Here’s the highest I could find, the lowest, and one that was in the middle:
- Rao’s Homemade All Natural Arrabbiata Fra Diavolo Hot Sauce: 65
- Sclafani Medium Fra Diavolo Sauce: 38
- Newman’s Own Fra Diavolo Sauce Hot and Spicy: 23
So, how did the kids react? Overall, they were pretty adventurous eaters. Out of the different kinds of shellfish, they liked the scallops the best and the clams the least (a little too chewy for their little teeth). Surprisingly, they did not complain about the spicy sauce. They loved the fact that they had real live clam shells on their plates.
The best part about this meal? Leftovers!! We reheated and got a whole second dinner out of it. You gotta love just microwaving plates on a hot summer night.
The worst part about this meal? Forgetting to take the kitchen trash out that night. Pee-you!!!
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Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Dinner Recipes
Tags: Dreamfield's, Pasta Fra Diavolo, Seafood
Tuesday, September 15, 2009 at 09:23 AM
Well, the gym was busy, busy this morning at 5:30 and I was not surprised one bit. I’ve been a gym rat for quite some time and I’ve been moonlighting as a Pilates and Group Exercise instructor since 2001, so I’m familiar with the trends. The three busiest times for health clubs are:
- The first 3 weeks of January (it dies down by Superbowl)
- Mid-end of April (my sister, Julie, owner of RI Pilates Studio, says it coincides with the warmer weather because women will be baring their arms)
- Mid-September (once the kids are settled in their back-to-school routines, Moms feel they can finally get some “Me” time and after a summer of cookouts, vacations, and cocktails by the pool, we need it)
I’ve always loved September, and to me, it feels like a New Year. In the Jewish faith, it is in fact the New Year. I’m not Jewish, but my Dear Husband tells me that I want to be. Maybe I was in a previous life. In any case, to me, September is the start of a New Year and it is a great time to get back on track, if you’ve strayed at all from your healthy routine. When I’m feeling like I’ve fallen off the wagon a bit, I try to squeeze in some extra workouts, use my online food journal daily, and put only the most nutritious foods on our weekly menu.
Squeeze In Extra Workouts
Whether you are a busy Mom or not, this is not always easy. Even the most devoted of us early risers gets tired now and then. And lack of sleep is not good for weight loss/weight maintenance either. One way I squeeze in extra cardio time is by running on the elevated track that surrounds my daughter’s gymnastics class and my son’s sports class. I figure I can yada-yada-yada with some Moms outside the door, or I can get in 45 minutes of cardio instead. No brainer. And no, chasing the kids does not count as a workout according to a new study presented at a meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine.
Use My Food Journal
Now, I’m not a dietitian and I don’t play one on my Blog. But I am a lifetime Weight Watcher and writing everything down (these days, I use the Weight Watchers online tools) is critical whether I’m trying to lose a few pounds or just maintain. Now, of course there are things that don’t count, like a few dark chocolate chips after dinner!
Put Only the Most Nutritious Foods on the Weekly Menu
Working for NuVal opens my eyes to the highest ranking foods according to their nutrient-richness. So, when my DH and I feel we need to get back on the straight and narrow, there’s lots of baked or grilled fish on the menu. Last night, it was baked haddock (which scores a 64). Cod would have been a better choice since it scores an 82. And at a work lunch last week, I chose a spinach salad with grilled salmon since the fish has a score of 87. We also eat lots of grilled chicken breast which scores a 39. My favorite recipe, which I have on a dog-eared card from Martha Stewart Living’s July/August 2000 issue (yes, there once was a time that I actually read that magazine), adds no fat and has a spicy kick. We make it on the weekend and use leftovers on top of salads and in wraps.
Grilled Chicken Paillard
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Zest and juice of 2 limes (most of the time I just use bottled lime juice and skip the zest)
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
4 boneless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/4 inch thickness
Salt and freshly ground pepper.
Make the marinade in a large resealable plastic bad and add the chicken. Chill in refrigerator 15 minutes or up to 24 hours. Grill 4-5 minutes per side.
The leftover factor gives us some extra time to actually cut up the fruit sitting on the kitchen counter and prepare the fresh vegetables that we bought from the farmer’s market.
So, I guess “squeeze it in and trade up for better nutrition” is my message of the day. I ate breakfast while driving to the office this morning – multitasking is “squeezing it in”. I had a Thomas’ Original Made with Whole Grain English Muffin (scoring a 26) with Teddie Peanut Butter Chunky (scoring a 38). A better choice would have been a Thomas’ English Muffin Light (scoring a 38) and Teddie Peanut Butter No Salt Creamy (scoring a 49). I still need to work on Trading Up.
I would love to hear from you on this topic. How are you squeezing it in? Do you write down what you eat? And are you trading up for better nutrition?
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Exercise, Seafood
Tags: Grilled Chicken Paillard, Seafood
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 02:23 PM
Everyone in the world of health and fitness is talking about John Cloud’s article in Time magazine, “Why Exercise Won’t Make You Thin.” Mr. Cloud makes the claim that “fiery spurts of vigorous exercise could lead to weight gain.” He writes that he is more hungry on the days that he does cardio and therefore, he eats more on those days. He also feels that he is more sedentary during his non-exercise hours than he would be if he didn’t exercise.
This attention-grabbing headline may have sold some magazines, but the article has been criticized as one of the most poorly researched pieces of all time. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the largest sports medicine and exercise science organization in the world, released a statement as a rebuttal to Mr. Cloud’s article. Janet Rankin, Ph.D, FACSM, an expert in nutrition and exercise put it this way: “A practical response to the claim that exercise makes you eat more and gain weight is to look around. If this were the case, wouldn’t those who regularly exercise be the fattest? Obviously that isn’t the case.”
I am in complete agreement with the ACSM, of course. My dear husband (DH) and I have been known to eat a cookie and then comment, “Well that cancelled out this morning’s workout.” Exercising does not give you license to eat whatever you want – at least not if you hope to lose weight or maintain your weight. When I’m working out on the elliptical or treadmill, I often think back to 2001 when I was completing my AFAA (Aerobics and Fitness Associate of America) group exercise instructor certification. I remember being on the treadmill for 30 minutes and then our instructor telling us how many calories we had burned and what it equated to in terms of food. It wasn’t much.
We have some great twenty-somethings who work in my office and who seem to have speedier metabolisms than those of us who are headed to the big 4-0. When they offer me chips, my response is usually, “Oh, no thanks, I get up waaaaayyy too early in the morning for that.” You see, I have a choice: beauty sleep or early morning workouts. And I usually pick the latter. So if I eat chips at 3 pm, my snack has cancelled out my spin class and I lost out on precious sleep so I have to buy more of my $100 eye cream. Not good.
I agree with Mr. Cloud that I often feel hungrier on the days that I take Spin or when I run. But it is no license to eat high calorie snacks with low NuVal scores. I often reach for one of my Top Ten Favorite Foods and I try to incorporate protein throughout the day. When I get home from the gym in the early morning, my DH is usually whipping up some scrambled eggs following his basement gym workout. His recipe is 4 eggs whites, 1 egg and a little skim milk. Eggs have a NuVal score of 33. We pair them up with a cereal that contains protein and we’re good to go.
I’ve always been more of a veggie girl than a carnivore, but I know that protein is important and I do eat it in all forms. I wrote a lot about some non-meat protein sources (skim milk, greek yogurt, chick peas, almonds) in my Top Ten Post, so here is some information on Meat and Seafood. As you can imagine, Seafood has the higher median score at 81, compared with a median of 28 for Meat.
Here are some sample seafood scores:
Salmon Fillet 87
Cod Fillet 82
Shrimp 75
Haddock 64
Lobster 36
and some meat scores:
Skinless Turkey Breast 48
Boneless Chicken Breast 39
Beef Tenderloin 30
Ground Sirloin (90% lean) 30
Ground Chuck (80% lean) 26
In this day and age, when obesity statistics are off the charts and most Americans do not meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity, the Time headline was probably the last thing we needed. I often think of the people in the movie WALL-E. As the centuries wore on and life got more automated, they got fatter and fatter. They could barely lift up their Slurpees, never mind sit up. Thanks for the advice Mr. Cloud, but I think I’ll stick to my plan!
Posted by: Melissa
Posted in: Exercise, Seafood
Tags: Meat, Seafood
