Starchy Food & Quiches

Some years ago pasta and rice helped me to lose a lot of weight in a Weight Watchers context and even to maintain the weight loss afterwards; but I had eaten too much of them so now I eat them more scarcely. Nonetheless, pasta and rice are still an important comfort food that when combined with low fat sauce can make wonders.

In the family of starchy food we also find leguminous (eg. lentils, beans, chick-peas etc), this type of food is a part of my tradition as Greek and is pushed by Weight Watchers because it is healthy and satiating! In Greece, we often make soups out of them, but I discovered other recipes that valorize them and that I share with you. Try them and you will see the difference :)

And now you will ask, how on earth QUICHES can be good for dieting? The secret resides with the quantity we eat and the quantity of cream and cheese we are using to make them. Manage cream and cheese are the only solution to make light quiches because as we all know crust (brisée or feuilleté) has butter in it (or other type of fat) and I have not yet managed to diminish its quantity enough to make a good one :) But then again, I have not really tried! Maybe I will do it in the future, I will keep you posted.

Tarts with cherry tomatoes and tapenade with black olives
Vegetarian Food
Dimitra

Tarts with cherry tomatoes and tapenade with black olives

This tart with cherry tomatoes and homemade tapenade is really gorgeous! Tomatoes couple very well with the tapenade which is a sort of puree with black olives and their taste is like no other  Make the time to make homemade puff pastry because this version is quick and has nothing to do with commercial puff pastry! Mark my words!

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Shrimps à la créole
Starchy Food & Quiches
Dimitra

Shrimps à la créole

These shrimps à la creole are very special because they couple well tomato puree and lime (juice and zest)! Seeing these two ingredients together we might think they will not match, but this is not true, they go very well together! Besides onions, garlic and red peppers that give some extra taste there is also thyme, bay leaf and some chili that bring even more flavor! On top we grate a little bit of nutmeg and thus we create a wonderful sauce that goes very well with pasta or rice! You need to try it to see for yourself!

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Sauce with tuna, tomato and rosemary - solo food
Starchy Food & Quiches
Dimitra

Sauce with tuna, tomato and rosemary

This is a fine sauce that is easy to make and it uses ingredients that can be found easily at the house: tomato puree, canned tuna, and rosemary for some extra flavor! It’s really good and can help you when you run out of inspiration, time or ingredients!

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lentils the Greek way -fakes- as a normal dish
Greek Food
Dimitra

Lentils the Greek way (fakes)

Lentils the Greek way are cooked as a soup or as a dish and they are made with tomato puree, onion and garlic and they have some bay leaf for extra flavor! You serve it with some red wine vinegar or Xérès vinegar and it’s really good! They are different from the lentils as we eat them in France and this recipe has better taste! But the lentils themselves are better in France than those in Greece and they cook faster! Give them a try and let me know!

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Risotto with shrimps - solo food
Starchy Food & Quiches
Dimitra

Risotto with shrimps

This is a fine risotto that is easy to make and you can use fresh shrimps or frozen! It’s good either way! It has some onion and of course garlic and some red peppers! To season, we use either some “pili-pili” peppers or some French Espelette pepper but if you don’t find either you can use some chili powder or some Cayenne pepper! It’s cooked into white wine for more flavor and you do not need to be on top of the casserole to observe the cooking! It’s easy, very good and quick!

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