Kitchen Makeover Meal Plan
OK, so you`ve stocked your kitchen with three kinds of flour, four kinds of rice -and enough spices to sink a ship. Now what? For those of you who always though cilantro was a country in the Middle East, here`s five-day meal plan to show you how to use your new staples and spices in creatively fresh and healthy ways.
Day 1
Breakfast
2 5-inches pancakes made with low-fat pancake mix, with 1 cup blueberries and 2 tablespoons maple syrup.
1 cup non-fat milk
Midmorning snack
4 cinnamon-honey graham crackers Herbal tea
Lunch
Quesadilla: 1 large whole-wheat flour tortilla, 1 tablespoon grated partskim mozarella cheese, 1/4 cup chopped zucchini, 2 sprigs cilantro and 1/2 sliced tomato. Heat in nonstick pan till cheese melts, serve with 1/4 cup salsa.
1 cup black beans stir-fried in 1/2 teaspoon hot oil with 2 cloves crushed garlic and 1/4 cup nonfat yoghurt.
Midafternoon Snack
1 cup campbell`s tomato soup sprinkled with 1 teaspoon basil and 1/2 teaspoon Parmesan cheese.
4 saltines.
Dinner
BBQ Chicken Pizza: Make 1 pillsbury pizza crust, as directed on package. In a nonstick pan, saute 8 ounces of chicken strips in nonstick cooking spray and 1/4 cup barbeque sauce. Place cooked chicken strips on pizza crust and top with 1/2 cup red onion slices and 3 ounces grated part-skim mozarella cheese. Bake as directed on package. Serving size is 2 large pieces, about 1/4 of the pizza.
2 cups escarole tossed with balsamic vinegar and 1 teaspoon olive oil.
Herbal tea or coffee
Nutritional information:
2,459 calories, 12 per cent fat (33 grams; 6 grams saturated), 73 percent carbohydrate (452 grams), 15 percent protein (96 grams).