My name is Jared Hansen. I am a personal fitness and nutrition consultant and a certified personal trainer. This blog is dedicated to the support and education of anyone who wants to build a healthy, strong body.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Green Bean Casserole

As far as greens go, this is not a bad way to eat your vegetables.

4 cans cut green beans, drained
2 cans Healthy Request or fat free cream of mushroom soup
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup onions, diced
3/4 cup mushrooms, sliced (optional)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute onions and mushrooms (can also be added to ingredients raw). Whisk soup, milk, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper together. Mix together ingredients and spoon into a 3 quart (9x16) glass casserole dish. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until bubbling.

Casserole can also be topped with shredded cheese before baking, or after 20 minutes of baking, topped with toasted sliced almonds or fat free croutons.

Makes 12 servings.

Nutrition Facts (per serving):

Calories- 65 Carbs- 10g Protein- 3g Fat- 1g

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Ma-Ma-Ma-Mashed Potatoes

I love mashed potatoes for the holidays. Actually, I love mashed potatoes anytime! Just remember you can have too much of a good thing, so if you are watching your weight, control your portions.

12- 15 medium sized russet potatoes
4 cubes or 4 tsp chicken bouillon
3 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp salt
1 cup skim milk
3 Tbs margarine or butter (optional)

Peel the potatoes and dice into 1" cubes. Immerse cubes in lukewarm water. Let sit for 15 to 20 minutes, then drain water and rinse off cubes. This will remove extra starch from potatoes. Next add potatoes and chicken bouillon cubes to a boiling pot of water. From this point, you can cook them one of two ways.
For thick potatoes:
Boil potatoes about 35 minutes. Boiling water will cloud, from potatoes breaking up. Drain excess water, and hand mash, adding pepper, salt, and margarine (leaving out milk).
For thinner potatoes:
Boil 15 to 20 minutes, or until potatoes are barely tender. Drain water, and mash potatoes with a hand mixer, adding salt, pepper, margarine, and milk.

It is important to drain the boiling water before mashing potatoes because this will, again, remove extra starch from the potatoes.

Makes 12 servings.

Nutrition Facts (per serving):

Calories- 135 Carbs- 29g Protein- 3g Fat- 0g

Thanksgiving, Here We Come!

It's almost time for the holidays, which for many means an extra 10 pounds of holiday weight gained. Fear not! In the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving and Christmas, we'll be sharing tasty alternatives to traditional holiday dishes. If you are lucky enough (or unlucky, depending on how you see it) to be cooking for the holidays, you will have the opportunity to help yourself and your family avoid the extra pounds.