I don’t remember where I got this, but it’s excellent. I feel guilty about eating the mashed potatoes with which it should be served, so, to alleviate a little of the guilt, I mix in some very finely chopped steamed spinach. The mashed potatoes look rather pretty with the little flecks of green, and they have extra nutrients and fibre.
**Lentil Loaf **
Ingredients
* 2 cups water
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup lentils
* 1 small onion, diced
* 5 or 6 chopped mushrooms
* 1 cup quick-cooking oats
* 3/4 cup grated cheese (cheddar, swiss, jack or american)
* 1 egg, beaten
* just over ½ cup spaghetti sauce or tomato sauce
* 1 teaspoon garlic powder
* 3/4 teaspoon dried basil
* 1 tablespoon dried parsley
* 1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
Directions
Bring salt and water to a boil in a saucepan.
Add lentils and simmer covered 25-30 minutes, until lentils are soft and most of water is evaporated.
Drain and partially mash lentils.
Allow lentils to cool slightly and stir in bowl with onions, oats and cheese until mixed.
Add egg, tomato sauce, garlic, basil, parsley, seasoning salt and pepper, mixing well.
Put in non-stick or greased loaf pan, smooth top with back of spoon and bake at 350 degrees for 30- 45 minutes.
Remove when top of loaf is dry, firm and golden brown.
Cool for about 10 minutes.
Run a sharp knife around edges of pan then turn out loaf onto serving platter.
Do you (and your husband) like spinach? Not the mushy, cooked-to-hell stuff from your childhood cafeteria (or nightmares) but lightly steamed or sauteed? Or raw?
Raw spinach makes a great salad - or as an addition to salad, like mixed half and half with your iceberg or butter or Romaine or whatever.
If you like it sauteed/steamed, it’s really easy. Wash some spinach - more than you think you can eat, because it disappears to almost nothing. Don’t bother drying it off.
Put a little oil into a pan and saute some onion, cook till lightly browned. Add garlic - it only needs a few seconds, so don’t burn it. Add the spinach, stir/toss to coat with the oil, and clamp on a lid - the water clinging to the leaves will steam it in just a few minutes. You want it lightly wilted, ideally.
Dress with vinegar or a vinaigrette. I like to add some chopped hard-boiled egg, while the other Shoe prefers Parmesan.
The bacon alternative: fry up two pieces of bacon. One for each of you, of course. When done, remove from the pan. Continue as above, using the bacon fat to sub for the oil. Crumble the bacon over the salad once it’s done and on the plate.
Remind yourself that the healthiness of the spinach totally outweighs the unhealthiness of one itty-bitty slice of bacon. Congratulate yourself on your amazingly tasty yet high-fiber and nutritious food. Feel smug and superior to all others.
The recipe actually makes about 16 smallish pancakes, not 4. I’m not sure why they say 4. It would be 4 huuuge pancakes. I usually make this for a breakfast-for-dinner kind of meal.
For convenience foods, Kashi products generally have a lot of fiber. 6 grams in a granola bar, 7 grams in their pilaf side dish, 6 grams in their veggie lean pocket thing.
I do a lot of bean recipes that don’t rely much on spice. My wife likes to do pinto beans in a crockpot and then throws in mild Pace salsa (or the equivalent) where you get much more tomato flavor than spice. If you want to avoid spice altogether, use canned diced tomatoes and garlic, onion and italian-style seasonings. Then there are baked beans, which I like to do myself because I can make them less sweet than commercial brands.
Split pea soup is just about solid fiber. A bowl of it can be half your day’s fiber right there. Just follow the recipe on the back of the package and season to taste.
I make meatloaf using oatmeal - just throw in as much in oats as you’d normally put in of breadcrumbs. Instant oats will pick up the moisture they need even if they’re not cooked in advance. (And, I do my meatloaf with about 1/3 bread/oats and 2/3 meat, which is more than most recipes call for). I’ve been told that bran works well too.
Collard greens are not the highest in fiber, but they’re not bad. I cook them in a variety of ways - usually I do some bacon, pepper and salt and that’s good enough.
Try vegetable-based quickbreads like zucchini bread or pumpkin bread. They’re often sweet, but you can control the sugar and they’re great in place of toast or a bagel. To increase fiber, use applesauce as a substitute for some of the fat, sugar and water. Carrot cake is also excellent - my wife’s recipe uses crushed pineapple for flavor, sweetness and moisture (and added fiber). Both applesauce and pineapple are about 2 g of fiber in a cup. With all of these, you can use whole wheat flour and/or bran to add even more fiber.
Alternatively, Alton Brown’s split-pea soup is amazingly delicious, especially in the colder months. And yes, the curry powder is crucial. It’s even better mixed with a dollop of sour cream, or if you want to be REALLY healthy, plain yogurt.
If it wasn’t so damned hot out right now, I’d go make a bowl myself!
Your information is incorrect. 1/3 cup of Bran Buds (i.e., a serving) has 10 gram insoluble fiber, and 3 grams soluble fiber.
I use a third of a cup of Bran Buds, and take a little sip of Pepsi with each bite. Sounds weird, I know, but to me the tastes are quite complimentary. Then I have a glass of orange juice.
TMI department
Good stuff:
Bran Buds make you regular as can be.
Bran Buds do something to your stool that makes it so that you barely have to wipe.
Bad stuff:
Fiber makes you fart a lot more, although after the first week this gets a bit better. Beano doesn’t help me.
You get a really full feeling if you eat too much.
I’ve read in a number of sources that too much fiber can gum up the works. Also, enough of a fiber with not enough liquid. Don’t overdo it.
1 bag of white beans [flageolets or northern beans]
1 medium onion, peeled with 2 whole cloves stuck into it [makes it easy to fish them out]
1 sprig each thyme, parsley, rosemary, oregano tied up in gauze with 12 black peppercorns lightly smashed
1 smoked pork neck bone
NO SALT
Put in a very heavy stock pot of at least a gallon. Fill with enough water to cover the beans by at least 2 inches.
Simmer gently [DO NOT BOIL] until the beans are almost done - they should have the same crunch/texture of a fresh from the garden raw pea [NOT frozen, those have been cooked]
Drain, do not reserve the water, it will make you fart lots.
In a heavy casserole dish that has a cover:
Line it with strips of bacon [mmmm bacon] then layer beans with diced meat [great way to use leftovers - beef, lamb and duck are great combination] until you have at least 3 layers beans and 2 layers of meat.
Pour in defatted chickenbroth just to the bare tops of the beans. Top with about an inch of bread crumbs, then discs of garlic sausage [I use keilbasa] and chicken legs [technically it is supposed to be confit of goose or duck for the expensive version.
It also can have some tomato paste mixed into the broth, though chopping tomatoes into it can be nice. mrAru likes adding chopped onions and tomatoes to the beans, I prefer it without.
It needs to then be placed in a very low oven - like 250 degrees fahrenheit and cooked gently covered for about 6 hours. Originally it was a casserole cooked after the bread baking was finished to use up the residual heat in the oven. It is one of my winter comfort foods. I get this killer artesan made bacon locally that I keep specially for it.
Vegetarian chili, with any or all: kidney beans, black beans, pinto beans, garbonzo beans, lots of veggies (onion, bell peppers, fresh tomatoes, sliced carrots, garlic, etc). This takes only about 20 mins to make. You can also serve it over brown rice, yum.
Oh, one more recipe: three-bean salad. You can do your own pretty easily by taking one can each of kidney, garbanzo (chick pea) and green beans, adding Kraft Italian dressing, a little balsamic vinegar and thinly sliced onions. You can switch up the dressing to make it sweeter or more acidic.
I may try that, but I’m not so sure about the curry. It’s also missing the celery, carrots and bacon/ham that I usually add. And I don’t puree mine; I just cook it until the peas and vegetables fall apart on their own (3 hours or so).
Get some Metamucil (or rather the generic) and a glass or two a day is all you need. Or you can try Benefiber which is without taste and almost no texture. You can throw that in any dish you make and add fiber to it.
Thanks for all the recipes - it looks like I have some cooking to do. The hard part is getting my husband to buy into this. I’ll eat practically anything, but he’s a really picky eater, so I might end up having to try the interesting stuff when he’s not around.
The cassoulet recipe looks really interesting; the best meal I ever had was a cassoulet in Paris, so I’d love to try that one. The lentil loaf, on the other hand, kind of scares me.
I have been taking Metamucil, on my doctor’s recommendation, but that stuff is just horrible, and only adds 3 grams per glass. I’ll continue to take it at least once per day, but I need to add other sources for the rest. As **overlyverbose **pointed out, adding more vegetables should crowd out some of the stuff that’s not so good for me. I absolutely refuse to “diet” having done that and failed so many times before, so I’m going for more of a lifestyle change.
You said that you usually have your vegetables on the side. I think of the easiest ways to sneak more vegetables to yourself is to put them under, not next to, the main dish.
If you have scalloped potatoes or other creamy casseroles, serve them over a bed of steamed (or microwaved, which is easier) broccoli. Not only do you get in more fiber and vegetable nutrients, you can cut back on how much of the casserole itself you need to eat to feel full. It is so good, I
promise! Especially if you enjoy broccoli with cheese sauce to begin with.
If you’re having a steak or chops, serve them over a spinach or mixed green salad. The meat juices make great salad dressing. I don’t think this works with fish, though I could be mistaken.
Miralax is not a fiber supplement. It’s a chemical laxative. It serves absolutely no dietary purpose, which Metamucil and Benefiber do. The OP isn’t looking for bowel regularity, but for the benefits of dietary fiber, which are much more than that.
Some stores have it in the same section as the other flours and meals, but I usually see it in the specialty/organic section. I like Bob’s Red Mill brand myself. Some people prefer to buy the flax seeds and grind them at home but I’m just not that into it all.
When done, remove from the pan. Continue as above, using the bacon fat to sub for the oil. Crumble the bacon over the salad once it’s done and on the plate.