CARAMELIZED ONION & GREEN OLIVE TAPENADE

CARAMELIZED ONION AND GREEN OLIVE TAPENADE

Tapenade (French pronunciation: [tapənad]) is a Provençal dish consisting of puréed or finely chopped olives, capers, anchovies and olive oil. Its name comes from the provençal word for capers, tapenas (Occitan pronunciation: [taˈpenɔ]). It is a popular food in the south of France, where it is generally eaten as an hors d’œuvre, spread on bread. Sometimes it is also used to stuff fillets for a main course.

Makes 3 cups

Ingredients: 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup dry white wine

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

 2 cups pitted green olives

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook for 7-8 minutes until softened, stirring occasionally.


2. Stir in thyme and garlic and cook for 2 minutes.


3. Add wine and vinegar, bring to a boil then reduce heat to low and cook for an additional 7 minutes or until most of the liquid evaporates, stirring occasionally.


4. Place onion mixture in a food processor then add the olives and black pepper. Process until smooth.

NUTRITION FACTS:
Serving Size: 1 tablespoon (14 g)
Servings Per Recipe: 28

Amount per serving
Calories 18
Calories from fat 15
Total Fat 2 g
Saturated Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg
Sodium 228 mg
Total Carbohydrates 0 g
Dietary Fiber 0 g
Sugars 0 g
Protein 0 g

CHERRY CLAFOUTI

Cherry Clafouti

Clafoutis, sometimes in Anglophone countries spelled clafouti, is a baked French dessert of black cherries arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. The clafoutis is dusted with powdered sugar and served lukewarm.

This dessert is an amazing combination of fluffy almond flavored custard studded with a handful of ripe sweet cherries. The biggest, darkest fresh cherries are best for the ultimate flavor, but frozen cherries work well in a pinch if you drop them into the batter while still frozen. If you can’t find cherries in the market, fresh (or frozen) blueberries will also make your mouth water. Learning to live well after bariatric surgery means that you need to be creative in finding substitutes for the high fat and sugar desserts that we used to devour.

½ cup low fat milk
½ cup part-skim ricotta cheese
2 large eggs
½ cup granulated Splenda
½ cup flour * you could use your favorite unflavored or vanilla flavored proetin powder here, adjust nutritional values accordingly.
½ teaspoon pure almond extract
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup fresh pitted cherries
Confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 425º. Combine the milk, ricotta, eggs, Splenda, flour, vanilla, and almond extract in a food processor or blender, blending until smooth. Let batter rest for 20 minutes. Spray the bottom of a 9 inch round ceramic baking dish. Pour the batter into the dish and evenly arrange the cherries in the batter. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Serve warm, dusted with 1 teaspoon of confectioners sugar and cut into wedges.

Serves 10
Full portion,

Calories 82,

fat 2 grams,
carbs 8 grams,

protein 5 grams

Texas French Toast

Ingredients

• 3 large egg(s)
• 6 tablespoon milk, lowfat (1%)
• 1 vanilla extract, whole bean, pulp removed
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
• 4 slice(s) bread, white, thick-cut

Preparation

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla bean, and cinnamon.
2. Spray a nonstick pan with cooking spray, and heat it over the stove on medium.
3. Dip the bread slices into the egg batter and place them in the pan. Cook one side until golden brown, then turn the slices over and cook the remaining side until golden brown.

Nutritional Info (Per serving):

Calories: 150, 

Saturated Fat: 2g, 

Sodium: 220mg, 

Dietary Fiber: 1g, 

Total Fat: 5g, 

Carbs: 17g, 

Sugars: 3g, 

Cholesterol: 161mg, 

Protein: 8g

Exchanges: 

Starch: 1, 

Lean Meat: 1, 

Fat: 0.5

Carb Choices: 1

BAKED FISH EN PAPILLOTE W/ MIXED SPRING VEGETABLES

Baked Fish En Papillote with Mixed Spring Vegetables

Whole fish or fillets
Parchment paper - found in a roll in the plastic wrap section of supermarket (great kitchen tool so foods don't stick) OR foil
Lemon or orange
Olive oil
Oregano
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

A bag of steam in the microwave vegetables
1 tablespoon butter

- Cut a large sheet of parchment paper and place on kitchen counter. Paper will be folded over fillet so it needs to be double the size of your baking sheet.

- fold paper in half, place on baking sheet, open like a book, place a few thin citrus slices on right half of 'book' lay fish on top of citrus.

- squeeze some of the citrus over fish, place the slices on top, then drizzle the fish with olive oil, using about 2 tablespoons

- sprinkle fish with oregano, salt, and black pepper

- fold over the paper, and begin folding edges of paper over itself beginning at the fold and moving around the edges

- bake for 20 minutes

- when fish has five minutes left to bake, microwave vegetables toss with butter and salt in bowl

- remove fish, slit open parchment, transfer to plates with portion of vegetables

FRENCH ONION SOUP

French Onion Soup

 

There is nothing more comforting than a bowl of homemade onion soup – while most of us have only savored this dish in a restaurant, once you see how simple it is, you will make it a family favorite. If you are a bariatric patient, fortify your portion of this soup with an unflavored whey isolate such as PURE – as this is not a protein food. A very thin crispy broiled sourdough crouton, with melted provolone is a tasty item to float in your soup bowl!

4 large sweet onions, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1 cup white wine
4 cups chicken broth – Swanson’s Natural Goodness Chicken Broth is a good choice
2 cups beef broth – Swanson’s Certified Organic Beef Broth is a good choice
Freshly grated nutmeg

Sauté onions and garlic in the butter and olive oil until lightly browned and caramelized – 25 to 30 minutes.

Add white wine, chicken and beef broth and cook for 25 to 30 minutes.

Add ¼ teaspoon of the nutmeg, or to taste - season with salt and pepper.

Serves 6
Calories 195,
fat 3 g,
carbs 18 g,

protein 5 g