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Food

Cut the fat, not the taste

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published September 27, 2006

Getting fine flavor into a low-fat dish with a few common ingredients is a neat trick.

A new cookbook, Prevention's Fit and Fast Meals in Minutes, by Linda Gassenheimer (Rodale, 2006, $19.95 paperback), is up to the challenge. The book features 175 recipes featuring good, and good for you, food that can be made in 30 minutes or less.

This recipe for burgers for two would be a tasty way to check out what the book offers. These tuna burgers with a Texas taste are flavored with scallions and onion and get a kick from jalapeno peppers mixed into mayonnaise.

Though the lunch and dinner recipes each make two servings, Gassenheimer promises the recipes double easily.

The book also is helpful when it comes to entertaining guide. One section features complete menus for six diners; all recipes have countdowns and shopping lists so there are no excuses for being unorganized.

AN APPROPRIATE ENDING: Serve sliced bananas and strawberries, sprinkled with a bit of lemon juice and artificial sweetener if you'd like, for dessert.

Texas Tuna Burger With Jalapeno Mayonnaise

1 medium jalapeno pepper, seeded (about 1 tablespoon)

2 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise

6 ounces fresh tuna, coarsely chopped

2 scallions, sliced (about cup)

¼ cup frozen chopped onion

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil spray

2 whole-wheat hamburger rolls (about 3 ounces)

1 small tomato, sliced

2 romaine lettuce leaves

Chop jalapeno peppers in a food processor fitted with a chopping blade. Remove and mix with the mayonnaise. Set aside. Without washing the food processor bowl, add the tuna, scallions and onion and pulse several times until ingredients are finely chopped. Add salt and pepper to taste. Form into 2 patties, about 4 inches in diameter and ½ inch thick. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and coat with olive oil spray. Add the burgers and cook 2 minutes. Turn and cook 2 minutes longer. Place each burger on the bottom half of a hamburger roll. Place several slices of tomato on each burger and lettuce leaves over the tomato. Spread the mayonnaise on the top half of the roll and close.

Makes 2 servings.

Nutritional information per serving: 298 calories, 9g fat (2g saturated), 26g protein, 29g carbohydrates, 6g fiber, 384mg sodium.

[Last modified September 26, 2006, 08:47:41]