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Posted by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD

With a clever recipe makeover, you can cut calories and fat, and boost nutrition.

I don’t know if anyone has done a ‘Recipe Makeover’ cooking show – if it hasn’t been done, it should be. A successful recipe redo can be just as exciting and dramatic as anything you see on reality television – where a change of someone’s hair, makeup or clothing makes for a stunning transformation. You start with an ‘ugly duckling’ of a recipe – one loaded with extra fat and calories – and turn it into a ‘beautiful swan’ of a dish that’s loaded nutrition. Not long ago, I gave you some general tips for giving your recipes a makeover, but today I want to walk you through the process with a real recipe makeover.

Recipe Makeover – look it over and decide what to change

I don’t always follow recipes to the letter – especially when the recipe sounds good, but can tell from the ingredients that I could give it a makeover to make it healthier. I came across this recipe for a Crab and Corn Chowder that sounded like it could make a nice winter meal with a salad – until I saw how much fat was in it. Here is the ingredient list for the original recipe:

Crab and Corn Chowder – original recipe

• 3 cups / 24 oz corn kernels
• 4 cups / 32 fl oz chicken broth
• 3 cups / 24 fl oz whipping cream
• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 8 slices of bacon (reserve 3 Tablespoons of bacon drippings after cooking)
• 1 ½ cups / 12 oz chopped onion
• 1 ½ cups / 12 oz chopped leeks
• ¾ cups / 6 oz chopped celery
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 ¾ pounds white potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
• 2 Tablespoons of butter
• 6 ounces sliced mushrooms
• 2 Tablespoons dry sherry
• 1 tsp. thyme leaves
• 1 pound crabmeat
• 2 Tablespoons chopped parsley

As I looked this recipe over, there were a few obvious things that jumped out at me: the 3 cups of whipping cream, the 7 Tablespoons of added fat (from the oil, the bacon fat and the butter), and the bacon. And while there are some veggies in the soup, I thought that I could add even more to the soup to give it more color, flavor and nutrition.

Crab and Corn Chowder – step by step healthy makeover

Here’s what I did to give this yummy dish a healthy makeover … and keep the taste!

1. Replaced 3 cups of whipping cream with 2 cups of lowfat milk and 1 cup of plain, nonfat Greek-style yogurt. This reduces the fat dramatically, but keeps the creamy texture.
2. Omitted the bacon – which was used to garnish the soup – and replaced it with some toasted walnuts instead. This eliminated the bacon grease, too. The omega-3 fats in the nuts are much healthier than the saturated fat in the bacon, and the nuts add a nice flavor and texture on top of the finished soup.
3. Reduced the oil from 2 Tablespoons to 1, switched from vegetable oil to olive oil, and eliminated the butter entirely. The oil in the original recipe was used to sauté the onions and leeks, and the butter was used to sauté the mushrooms, but I couldn’t see any reason why they needed to be cooked separately, so I just cooked them all together while using less oil.
4. I used some of the potatoes to thicken the soup, instead of the heavy cream in the original. Instead of leaving them all in chunks, I pureed some of the potatoes with the broth to thicken up my soup. That meant I could add more broth to the soup and get 2 more servings.
5. I added a pound of chopped spinach to my chowder. It gave it a beautiful color, and boosted the nutrition considerably. The addition of the spinach and the broth from the step above also increased the number of servings by 2, which also helped to reduce the calories per serving.

Crab and Corn Chowder – light version

This looks like a lot of prep work, but this soup actually goes together very quickly.

• ½ cup / 4 oz chopped walnuts
• 1 pound frozen chopped spinach
• 3 cups / 24 oz corn kernels (can be fresh, frozen or canned without salt)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 ½ cups / 12 oz chopped onion
• 1 ½ cups / 12 oz chopped leeks
• ¾ cups / 6 oz chopped celery
• 6 ounces sliced mushrooms
• 1 ¾ pounds white potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
• 5 cups / 40 fl oz chicken broth
• 2 cups / 16 fl oz lowfat milk
• 2 Tablespoons dry sherry
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. thyme leaves
• 1 cup  / 8 fl oz plain Nonfat Greek yogurt
• 1 pound crabmeat
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 Tablespoons chopped parsley

Directions:

1. Prepare walnuts: sauté over medium high heat in a dry skillet until lightly toasted  Set aside.
2. Prepare spinach: Thaw frozen spinach in a bowl in the microwave. Pour into a strainer and squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible. Set aside.
3. Prepare corn kernels: If using fresh corn, cut the kernels from 6 cobs and set aside. If using frozen corn kernels, thaw briefly in the microwave and drain. If using canned corn, drain liquid. Set corn kernels aside.
4. In a large stock pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onions, leeks, celery and mushrooms and sauté for a few minutes until vegetables are starting to soften.
5. Add the potatoes, and stir for a minute or two, then add the chicken broth and the lowfat milk. Add the sherry, fennel and thyme to the pot, bring to a simmer, and simmer for about 10 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
6. Remove about 2 cups of the mixture – try to get mostly potatoes and just a little bit of broth – and whirl in the blender until smooth. Then, add back to the stockpot.
7. Stir in the spinach and corn, and simmer until heated through.
8. Lastly, add the nonfat yogurt and the crabmeat and stir over medium heat until just warmed through (don’t boil hard, or the yogurt will curdle). Check the seasonings, and add salt and pepper to taste.

When ready to serve, garnish with a sprinkle of parsley and toasted walnuts.

***

Recipe Makeover – fewer calories, less fat, more nutrition

I was really happy with my version of this soup. It tasted great, and I was able to make it much healthier. And just look at the nutrition comparison! I’ve retained the protein, but cut the calories by more than half, reduced the fat by 85%, doubled the vitamin A and increased the calcium by 100 mg!

Do you have a favorite recipe that you’ve “lightened up” – or do you have a recipe that needs a makeover? Leave a comment and let us all know!

Written by Susan Bowerman, MS, RD, CSSD. Susan is a paid consultant for Herbalife.

Looking for a low impact workout? This is the video for you. Join me, Samantha Clayton, Director of Fitness Education at Herbalife as I show you this fun, beginners' workout that anyone can do. 

As always, start a workout with a warm up. If you're not sure how to warm up, check out my previous video on how to do a basic warm up: https://hrbl.me/17rocO7 

Here we go with the workout—the first move will be 30 seconds of walking, with arms up overhead. This works the upper body and lower body. It should challenge your coordination because you're taking opposite arm to opposite leg. 

Our next move is a windmill. Step back, arms come down; step across, arms come over. You'll be able to feel this move work your glutes and your inner thighs. This move starts to engage your core and will get your heart rate up. You'll feel your oblique starting to work. 

Now go into squat position because the next move is a squat with jab punches. I want you to sit back into squat. And we're just going to do simple jab punches. Bring your arms out at shoulder height. Make sure your core is engaged, sit back so that your knees are behind your toes, and you're working the glutes. 

The next move is for your hips. Start by putting your arms up, and then lift your heels to meet your hands. This range of motion really helps with the hips, but you're still engaging your core and arms. 

The last move: lunge knee drives. Start in a lunge position with your arms coming straight out. Drive your knee to meet your hand. Again, this will engage the core, and it will also engage the glutes.

Try each of these moves for about 30 seconds each. Then take it back up to the top and repeat this circuit through for a second time.

Today, I wanted to show you a few low-impact moves that are perfect for beginner exercisers. A workout is considered to be low-impact if at least one of your feet remains in contact with the ground at all times.

Low-impact exercise is great for people who are carrying excess body weight because these exercises tend to be less jarring on the body and joints, and is generally less intense overall. If you are already fit and active you can do this low impact workout on a day that you want to give your joints a rest!

I believe that it is important for you to incorporate a wide variety of moves into your exercise routine. Following a stepped approach and working with low impact moves is a great way to get started. Have fun and remember to always listen to your body.

For more videos, check out my Herbalife Fit Tips playlist https://hrbl.me/Herbalife_FitTips and take a look at my blog https://www.discovergoodfitness.com for motivation and fitness advice.

Fruit salads are easy to make, so today I'm going to show how to make one that looks as good as it tastes. I'm Susan Bowerman, registered dietitian, and today I'm making a colorful and healthy fruit salad. Fruit salad mixtures are very healthy; you get more of an antioxidant punch when you eat fruits together than when you eat them separately. Fruit salad is also a great way to introduce some new fruits into your diet. My fruit salad recipe for today has watermelon, pineapple, berries, kiwi, mango, and an exotic fruit; but you can create your own fruit salad mixture too. Tell me how your fruit salad turned out in the comments section. For more nutrition advice from Herbalife, visit http://www.DiscoverGoodNutrition.com or take a look at my YouTube playlist: http://hrbl.me/VJ6XEl.