Individual Vegetable Lasagnas

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium Spanish onion, finely chopped
1 medium carrot, finely chopped
1 medium zucchini, finely chopped
1 medium summer squash, finely chopped
8 asparagus spears, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 pound fresh plain lasagna sheets
2 cups tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups canned white beans, rinsed and drained
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
3 cups shredded mozzarella
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, halved
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a saute pan over medium heat, add extra-virgin olive oil. When almost smoking, add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the carrot and cook for 3 minutes. Add the zucchini and squash cook for 5 minutes. Add asparagus and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat when all vegetables are completely cooked but still have a good crunch. Allow to cool.

Using a 6-inch round cookie cutter, cut circles out of the lasagna sheets. You will need 18 circles. Coat the bottom of 6 (6-inch) gratin dishes with a teaspoon of tomato sauce in each. Place a circle of pasta on the bottom of each ramekin. Rinse the beans with water and season with salt and pepper. Divide the beans between each ramekin. Next, divide the spinach between the ramekins. Place a second layer of pasta on top and gently press down. Divide the sauteed vegetables among the ramekins and top with a tablespoon of tomato sauce in each. Place the third layer of pasta in each ramekin and coat with a tablespoon of tomato sauce. Sprinkle ramekins with the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, and top each with 1/2 tablespoon of butter. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and place gratin dishes on top. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until brown and bubbling.

I did not make tomato sauce, I used a Muir Glen Tomato Basil sauce but I did make fresh pasta and rolled it into sheets for lasagna noodles.  I love the pasta attachment for my KitchenAid stand mixer.  I used more zucchini and yellow squash and eliminated the asparagus since my husband isn't fond of them. 

Today we went to Jazzercise, then home for a quick and easy breakfast.  I packed some equipment for a class I did this afternoon and made some delicious banana chocolate chip bar cookies.  My husband brought home bananas that he didn't eat this week at work and casually mentioned that they were ripe and great for baking.  What a helper!

After relaxing and reading with a cup of tea and a bar, I got ready to go cook. Today was a fun day, as usual!  I was cooking with Paige who just turned 10 and 7 of her girlfriends at Paige's house.  Paige invited them to cook with her, she chose the menu, they cooked and then had a special dining room dinner with candles.  Today we made:

• Chicken in Puff Pastry
• Shredded Zucchini
• Strawberry Fondue

I managed to take some pictures as they worked.  They loved the food they cooked and did a great job.

I finished cleaning the kitchen as they had dinner.  As I was leaving the plans for the rest of the party included the opening of gifts and then decorating and painting aprons that Paige's mom purchased for favors.  And there was going to be music, a Miley Cyrus CD. 

Once home I was so happy to see a clean kitchen courtesy of my husband.  We heated some lasagna and I think it was better today.  The rest went to the freezer for another day.  Perfect. 

Now I am going to finish my book and probably hold the cat.  A great day!

According to a United States Department of Agriculture report released this year, available calories from all forms of added sugars increased 17 percent from 1970 to 2006. The dramatic rise in obesity is the principal concern about sugar consumption among health professionals, but sugar’s impact on the development of diabetes, dental cavities and other health problems is also an issue.

But can sugar itself — even the much-maligned overuse of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) — take all the blame? Or is an increase in overall calorie consumption what’s really at the heart of this debate?

Sugar use up, but so is calorie consumption

The rise in sugar consumption in the United States in the past three decades includes the use of table sugar, cane and beet sugar, honey, molasses and other syrups, as well as high fructose corn syrup and other corn sweeteners like glucose and dextrose.

Many point to the introduction of low-cost HFCS in the 1960s (created by converting some of the glucose in corn to much sweeter fructose molecules) as the beginning of the American sugar rush.

While an increase in sugar seems to correspond to the rise in obesity, that’s not the whole story: Total calories from all food sources also increased by 520 calories a day from 1970 to 2006. Although the increase in sugar, HFCS and other sweeteners played a role, added calories from fat and grain products actually account for even larger portions of our increased calories.

Americans clearly need to reduce our excessive calorie consumption, and reducing added sugars is just part of that.

Does sugar type make a difference?

But if we need to cut back on added sugars, is there any difference between old-fashioned table sugar and the HFCS now so common in commercial foods? In short, no. In fact, when the American Medical Association issued a statement earlier this year that encouraged limiting consumption of all calorie-containing sweeteners, it did not support specific warnings on high-fructose corn syrup.

Much of the debate surrounding HFCS focuses on differences in the metabolic effects of glucose and fructose, the two simple sugars that combine to make the product. But both table sugar (sucrose) and HFCS are composed of nearly equal amounts of fructose and glucose.

Since sucrose is easily broken down in the digestive tract to the two simple sugars, both HFCS and table sugar seem to result in absorption of similar amounts of fructose and glucose.

A healthy diet will always include some sugar, as it naturally occurs in many nutritious foods like fruit and milk. The key is to limit added sugars of all types, rather than focusing on table sugar (sucrose) versus HFCS.

Guidelines for sugar consumption

Current guidelines from the Institute of Medicine suggest that added sugars can supply up to 25 percent of our daily calories. But this allows for up to 125 grams of added sugar a day on a 2,000 calorie diet — equivalent to 500 calories and almost two-thirds of a cup of sugar.

Many nutrition experts contest this figure and recommend that no more than 10 percent of daily calories come from refined sugars. In fact, USDA dietary patterns show that after we meet our nutritional needs, most people have room for only 150 to 350 total “discretionary calories” (calories from “treats” that don’t supply much nutritionally, such as sweets and alcohol).

Even the lower figure cited by the USDA would allow for up to 22 teaspoons of added sugar if all discretionary calories were spent on sugar-sweetened soft drinks (the largest source of added sugars in the American diet) and other sweets.

While that may sound like a lot, check the Nutrition Facts panel on food labels to see how quickly it adds up. You’ll often find one or two teaspoons of added sugar (four to eight grams) in each serving of pasta sauce, white bread, hamburger rolls, ketchup and soup, with even larger amounts in cereal, yogurt and desserts.

Further research may provide additional guidance. For now, if we avoid sugary drinks and choose less-processed foods, we can cut excess sugar and calories to help with weight control and have room for more high-nutrient, health-promoting foods as well.

(This article was provided by the American Institute for Cancer Research in Washington, D.C. A registered dietician is available to respond to questions about diet, nutrition, and cancer at the free AICR Hotline at 1 (800) 843-8114 during business hours.)

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You pay attention because he is a LaLanne, the grand-nephew and possible heir apparent of the godfather of health and fitness, Jack LaLanne.

In the realm or exercise and nutrition, this is royal blood we’re talking about. Along with the pedigree, mind you, Chris brings the distillation of everything he’s learned in ten years of studying training regimens — a formula for the perfect workout program. A formula which, it turns out, isn’t fundamentally different from that of great-uncle Jack: short and intense workouts that are heavy on diversity and light on exercise machinery.

To expand on that, here are his Ten Tips:

• Be your own competitor. Record how long it takes you to complete your workout — doing X pushups and sit-ups, running Y distance, etc. — and then re-time yourself once a week or so doing the same workout, striving for improvement.
• Using the above data, set, and continue to set, specific numerical goals for yourself.
• Skipping rope is easy, cheap, convenient, and outstanding aerobic exercise; so get jumping.
• Routine and boredom are treacherous energy-sappers, and it’s essential that you vary your workout program from day to day to maintain physical stimulation.
• Put your emphasis on basic exercises: push-ups, squats, lunges, pull-ups and calisthenics.
• It’s not the number of reps, but the intensity with which you do them, that counts. Brief and furious beats prolonged and leisurely hands down.
• Rebel against the machines. Resistance-based gym devices aren’t as productive as such fundamental equipment as chinning bars and free weights: dumbbells, barbells and the like. Forget the pricey tech stuff; on grand-uncle Jack’s TV exercise show, the “fitness equipment” was an office chair.
• Begin by stretching the important muscle groups — lower back, hamstrings and so on — before launching into your workout.
• Join a workout group. The camaraderie, mutual encouragement and simple group dynamic produce notably higher levels of effort and intensity than exercising alone.
• Keep a food journal to record what and how much you eat. How you fuel your body is critical to how well that body can perform, Chris says.

But of course he would say that. He’s a LaLanne.

(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)

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