A Lighter Cocktail

Alcohol is one of those things we've cut back on since we've decided to count our calories. We haven't given it up completely, but it's now a treat once or twice a week. Matt is typically happy with a beer, but I like a refreshing Gin and Tonic (with Hendrick's Gin, of course). The problem is tonic is quite high in calories. Sure I could use a diet tonic, but have you tasted diet tonic? It's really gross and I don't like the chemicals used in diet sodas. (It's hard enough to find a regular tonic water that doesn't contain high fructose corn syrup.) Then I discovered this at World Market.

Fever Tree Naturally Light Tonic Water

This tonic has only 49 calories per 8oz serving (about 45% less than regular tonic)and uses fruit sugars as a sweetener. Their regular tonic contains 9g of sugar while this one only has 4.8g. Best of all it taste great. I would drink this even if I wasn't watching my calories.

Let's face it a cocktail is never going to be diet food, but now I've found an easier way to work one into my day.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2013 Kathy Lewinski

Dal with Kale

Things continue to go well on our "diet." We are learning to portion better, lighten our existing recipes and are trying lots of new ones too. We are seeing some success too, Matt has lost 17 pounds and I'm down 8. Not too bad for 6 weeks in.

This is a new dish for us to make. Matt ordered some Bob's Red Mill Red Lentils after trying a Campbell's Golden Lentil with Madras Curry Soup. He loved the flavor of the soup wanted to experiment with making his own versions. This one is much more stew than soup, but had the flavors he was looking for.

Matt made his own curry seasoning for this dish. I think it was an excuse to use things like the charnushka he picked up at Penzeys. The flavor was really great and it made the house smell amazing. You get a lot of very satisfying food for the calories with this dish. Plus it made great lunch leftovers.

Dal with Kale
1 c red lentils
14 oz can crushed or diced tomatoes
1 t turmeric
1/2 T olive oil
1 c chopped yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t mustard seed
1/2 t black onion seeds (charnushka)
1/2 t ground fenugreek
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground coriander
4 oz chopped kale leaves, blanched for 1 minute in the microwave
salt

Put the lentils, 2 1/2 c water, tomatoes and turmeric and a large pot. Bring to a simmer. Cover, but leave the cover open slightly. Let cook for 30 minutes or until the lentils are done.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and sauté until it starts to get translucent. Add the garlic and sauté for one more minute.

Crush the mustard and onion seeds to a powder. Add to the onion and garlic with the remaining spices. Sauté a minute or two until fragrant. Add to the lentil mixture. Stir in the kale and heat through. Taste for seasoning and add salt as needed.

Makes 5 servings at 183 calories per serving.
We served it with jasmine rice at 160 calories per serving and chicken samosas from Trader Joe's.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted. © 2007-2013 Kathy Lewinski