It’s 2010 and if you haven’t started a diet no doubt you soon will be, even if you’re not overweight but still want to commit to a healthier way of eating. Just because you want to eat a healthy or low calorie diet doesn’t mean you have to give up on tasty food. One of the easiest ways to carry on eating favourite meals like spaghetti Bolognese or chilli con carne is to replace the meat with a vegetarian alternative such as Quorn or another mince substitute. This is extremely low fat, compared to mince which has fat melting into your sauce, and the vegetarian mince absorbs flavours so it works especially well in tasty sauce recipes.
For a healthy version of spaghetti Bolognese it’s best to make the sauce in the traditional Italian way as this adds more vegetables than most recipes. Start by chopping half a stick of celery, half a carrot, a couple of cloves of garlic and a small onion very finely. These should be chopped so finely that they will disappear in the sauce so a chopping gadget is really handy if you intend to make Italian sauces regularly. It’s also a great way to get children to eat hidden vegetables.
Fry the chopped celery, carrot and onion with the garlic cloves in some extra virgin olive oil – enough to cover the bottom of the saucepan. Olive oil is a monounsaturated oil, generally considered better for your health, and it’s always best to get the least processed product so choose extra virgin. Research has shown that it’s easier to stay slim while eating monounsaturated oil, so it’s best not just to assume any vegetable oil is good. I stick to extra virgin olive oil to be sure.
Add two bay leaves and a couple of sprigs of fresh rosemary to the vegetables as they fry (or dry herbs if you can’t get them fresh) and keep stirring then remove from the heat before they start to turn brown. Add the Quorn mince or other meat substitute then add a carton of tomato passata – smooth tomato sauce is better than chopped tomatoes for this recipe. Put in an equal amount of water by using the same passata container to measure it. Squeeze in some tomato puree and a splash of red wine if you want to. Bring to the boil and then lower the heat and simmer for about an hour until the sauce reduces, adding salt to taste. Keep an eye on the sauce, stirring occasionally. You can vary the amount you cook depending on the number of people eating and also because it’s easy to keep leftover sauce to eat in a variety of ways during the week or by freezing, so it’s a great recipe even if you’re eating on your own.
To make chilli con carne follow a similar method but start by frying only onion and garlic chopped finely and throw in some fresh or dry chillis – just a little as you can add more when you taste the sauce later. A few pinches of dried chilli will be enough to start. Then put in the Quorn or other mince substitute followed by the tomato passata, an equal amount of water, one can of red kidney beans,  some salt to taste and cook for an hour as it reduces. This sauce and the Bolognese can be eaten with the traditional rice or spaghetti, but they also taste great with a baked potato.
I like to use quinoa, which is prepared like rice but is a remarkable grain and available from health stores. It contains twice the protein of other cereals, less carbohydrate, more healthy fats, fibre, phosphorous, calcium and iron. I also think it tastes fantastic, and it contains the minerals manganese and copper which work together as an antioxidant to help eliminate free radicals which cause ageing as well as diseases including cancer. Quinoa is good for those on a gluten-free diet and is a great aid to losing weight as well as a tasty way of getting so many important nutrients.
The garlic in these recipes is good for your heart and blood pressure, as has been scientifically proved, because it contains allicin which relaxes the blood vessels and keeps blood flowing easily. Perhaps this also explains why many feel it’s an effective aphrodisiac. Tension in the blood vessels of rats in a test was reduced by 75% when bathed in crushed garlic juice. In fact it’s so effective that it’s best to use fresh garlic in recipes as too much garlic from supplements can lead to thinning of the blood, so take care.
Omega 3 also helps you lose weight and stay slim and you can find it in flaxseed oil which can be taken as a daily supplement, or you can find it in tofu which is another good vegetarian substitute for meat. The best types of flaxseed oil are available in health stores and should be kept refrigerated, and flaxseed and olive oil both taste nice as a salad dressing mixed with balsamic vinegar (one spoonful of oil to two of vinegar). Why not try this as a dressing on some leafy salad as a side dish to your Bolognese or chilli con carne?
If you have any more tasty healthy recipes I’d love to see them here, so share them with us.
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