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    THE NIBBLE’s Gourmet News & Views

    Trends, Products & Items Of Note In The World Of Specialty Foods

    This is the blog section of THE NIBBLE. Read all of our content on TheNibble.com,
    the online magazine about gourmet and specialty food.

Archive for Low Calorie

PRODUCT: Tropicana Trop50

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Juice with half the calories. Photo by
Jerry Deutsch | THE NIBBLE.

 

Do you enjoy a glass of juice but not the high calorie and sugar content?

Tropicana has addressed those concerns with Trop50 juice beverages: 50% less sugar and calories. An eight-ounce glass has 50 calories.

We tried two flavors of Trop50: Pineapple Mango and Pomegranate Blueberry.

The juice beverages have a nice, delicate fruit flavor—yes, it’s more dilute flavor than “full test” juice, but a good fruit juice solution for those who have given up this high-calorie, high-sugar, high-carb food.

The products will be welcomed by dieters, carb counters and America’s 20-million-plus diabetics, who have had to give up juice; not to mention parents who are counting their kids’ carbs. While the sugars are still high (11g per eight-ounce glass), Trop50 gives people on sugar quota on the choice to have a glass of juice.

Trop 50 is simple, yet not simple:

You certainly can dilute your own juice with filtered water, but Tropicana’s process adds in natural flavors and PureVia (a brand of natural, calorie-free stevia)—plus vitamin C to ensure that one serving still contains 100% of your daily value of vitamin C.

Trop50 is certified kosher by OK.

One thing to note: It’s no longer a half gallon (64 ounces) but 59 ounces. Contemplation of the day: How much more can companies shrink gallons, pounds (16 ounces of coffee is now 14 ounces), etc.?

  • Find more of our favorite reduced-calorie and sugar-free products in our Diet Nibbles Section.
  • Comments

    TIP OF THE DAY: Have A Water-Tasting Party

    Antipodes-Spring-Water-230

    It can walk the walk on the grocery shelf, but
    can it “taste the taste?” Have a mineral water
    tasting party to find out. Photo courtesy
    Antipodes.

     

    Whether you’re looking for a zero-calorie way to get through the Academy Awards or a great way to entertain adults and kids in general, water is the way.

    Have a mineral water tasting, comparing domestic and imported waters to your local tap water and club soda (with sparkling waters).

    It can be a formal sit-down or a walk-around event, open or “blind”—where you mask the water bottles in wine bags so tasters aren’t biased and you reveal the results at the end.

    Select up to 12 waters—perhaps six still and six sparkling—and a great time will be had by all. What should tasters look for? See our article, How To Evaluate Water.

  • Find reviews of spring and mineral water and more articles about entertaining with waters, in our Bottled Water Section.
  • Check out our Water Glossary.
  • Comments

    PRODUCT: DiGiornio 200-Calorie Pizza “Without The Guilt”

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    A great, 200-calorie pizza fix. Photo by
    Evan Dempsey | THE NIBBLE.

     

    Love pizza but avoid it because of the calories? Love pizza but don’t have enough “takers” to order an entire pie? Love pizza and wish you could have it more often? Need something quick to feed the kids?

    DiGiorno has a solution you’re sure to love:

    New DiGiornio 200 Calorie Portions are individually-wrapped pizza slices that go from the freezer to the microwave when desire calls. Calorie (and carb) watchers know exactly what they’re getting…and everyone gets to eat truly delicious home-cooked pizza.

    Unlike warmed-over microwave pizza, these DiGiorno slices emerge with a crisp crust, not to mention fragrant and delicious.

    More than 12,000 products are introduced into supermarkets each year. Most don’t sell enough and disappear from the shelf (brown sugar Sweet ’n Low, to recall an oldie).

    DiGiornio 200 Calorie Portions deserve to stick around forever! Pick some up on your next shopping trip. (If they’re not in your store’s pizza freezer, ask the store manager to order them.)

    In Cheese and Tomato, Chicken with Peppers and Onions, and Pepperoni, the suggested retail price is $3.19. Each package contains two individually-wrapped, three-ounce servings.

  • Read the history of pizza, plus 12 gourmet pizza recipes and pizza-making tips.
  • Comments

    TIP OF THE DAY: Low Calorie Party

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    This barbecue pork loin saves many calories
    with a sugar-free blackberry sauce. Here’s
    the recipe. Photo courtesy The J.M.
    Smucker Company.

     

    Want to throw a get-together but fear for your strict diet? Have a pot luck diet lunch or dinner.

    Everyone brings his or her best low-calorie dish, along with copies of the recipe to share and, if it’s a buffet, an index card to set in front of the dish, with the name of the dish and the cook, the ingredients and, if possible, calories per saving.

    For more party fun, everyone can rank their top three dishes, and winners can be named.

    The prizes?

    Something low-calorie, of course! Or something no-calorie, like fancy brands of mineral water.

    It’s a great party idea: Less cooking for you and the opportunity to try lots of new low-calorie recipes with your friends—who will be very thankful for all the new recipes they’ll be taking home.

    This party concept works with any dietary restriction—fat-free, sugar-free, gluten-free, low carb, vegan, etc.

    Comments

    TIP OF THE DAY: Sugar-Free Jigglers

    jello-jigglers

    Make Diet Jello-O a fun diet food with Jello-O
    Jigglers molds. Photo courtesy Kraft Foods.

     

    Our next-to-last diet tip for Healthy Food Month at THE NIBBLE:

    If you’ve ever made Jell-O brand Jigglers for kids—Jell-O poured into egg-size molds that are particularly popular at Easter—those molds make colorful and tasty diet food when you fill them with Sugar-Free Jell-O, and are a treat any time of the year.

    Choose your favorite flavors and make up a batch—we love cranberry, strawberry banana, orange, lemon and lime. You can serve the eggs whole or cut them with an egg slicer.

    If you don’t have a mold, you can prepare the Egg Jiggler recipe in a 9″x13″ pan and then cut shapes with cookie cutters.

    Serve Sugar-Free Jiggers with fruit, yogurt and cottage cheese, for light meals, snacks or dessert. Fun food takes the sameness out of dieting; and at just 10 calories a serving, Sugar-Free Jell-O is a caloric bargain.

  • To buy the Jigglers mold: There’s a plain egg plus five fancy versions, from footballs to racing cars. Consider making low-calorie snacks for the kids, as well. ($3.50 each)
  • The Jigglers recipe is usually on the carton, but here’s the recipe: Use vegetable oil or PAM to barely moisten the insides of the molds; wipe with a paper towel. To 1 package (8 serving size) or 2 packages (4 serving size) JELL-O Sugar-Free Gelatin Dessert, stir 1-1/2 cups boiling water (no cold water). Stir at least 2 minutes until completely dissolved (we use a whisk). Pour into measuring cup with pour spout. Using a funnel, carefully pour gelatin into mold through the fill holes until each egg is filled just to the top of the mold. Refrigerate at least 3 hours.
  • Find more of our favorite diet foods in our Diet Nibbles Section.
  • Comments

    PRODUCT: Polaner Sugar-Free Preserves With Fiber

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    Apricot and Raspberry, two of the six flavors
    of Polaner’s Sugar-Free Preserves with Fiber.
    Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

     

    Why add fiber to sugar-free preserves?

    According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, most of us don’t get enough fiber in our diet. On average, American women get 12 grams per day; American men get 18.

    Experts say we should get from 25 to 40 grams of fiber daily to help support a healthy digestive system, reduce the risk of heart disease and manage our weight (fiber is more filling). That’s why when you have a choice of eating foods with more fiber or less, you’re better off choosing more (most fruits and vegetables are high on the fiber list).

    If you’re on a sugar-free or reduced-sugar diet, chances are that you’re already eating lots of good fruits and veggies. But now it’s sweeter to get an extra 3 grams of fiber (about 12% of your daily requirement), with every tablespoon of Polaner Sugar-Free Preserves with Fiber. They’re sweetened with Splenda.

    We’ve been enjoying these jams—yes, they’re actually jam, not preserves (more about that in a minute)—since their debut, around the beginning of November 2009 (sorry we’re late in sharing the news).

    We use the Raspberry and Strawberry to glam up our nonfat plain Greek yogurt (Chobani, FAGE Total and Oikos—we love ‘em all)—to delightful results. Similarly, we use it to top our Breyer’s Extra Creamy No Sugar Added Vanilla Ice Cream.

    Polaner recommends it on toast and muffins, of course; as an addition to smoothies or cookie dough, or whisked into oil and a bit of vinegar for a marinade.

    The line is certified kosher. It’s just 10 calories per tablespoon, and for you carb counters:

    - Sugar Free Apricot Preserves with Fiber: 4g carbs – 3g fiber = 1g net carb
    - Sugar Free Blackberry with fiber: 5g carbs – 3g fiber = 2g net carbs
    - Sugar Free Grape with Fiber: 4g carbs – 3g fiber = 1g net carb
    - Sugar Free Orange Marmalade: 5 carbs – 3g fiber = 2g net carbs
    - Sugar Free Raspberry with Fiber: 5g carbs – 3g fiber = 2g net carbs
    - Sugar Free Strawberry with Fiber: 5g carbs – 3g fiber = 2g net carbs

    COUPON: You can get a $1.00 coupon here. If you don’t have the Java aplet for printing coupons, start at the Polaner home page.

  • Now about the difference between jam and preserves: Jam can be a purĂ©e of fruit or have a soft pulp, but it does not contain chunks of fruit. The two Polaner flavors we had were purĂ©es, without chunks of fruit. Preserves differs from jam in that large or whole pieces of fruit are suspended in a syrup base. The texture of preserves is not smooth like jelly or jam.
  • See the differences among all the spreads—jelly, curd, marmalade, etc.—in our Jam & Jelly Glossary.
  • Find more of our favorite sugar-free foods in our Diet Nibbles Section.
  • Comments

    PRODUCTS: 10 Appliances To Jump-Start Your Diet

    If you haven’t yet begun to make good on that New Year’s resolution to eat healthier and/or lose weight (and we’re guilty of that!), read our recommendations of 10 appliances that help you cook enjoyable, lower-calorie foods.

    Take a look at how you can benefit from:

  • An electric food steamer
  • A food dehydrator
  • Countertop grills
  • A vertical rotisserie
  • A pressure cooker
  • An electric wok
  • Vapor cookware
  • An electric frother
  • A loose leaf tea brewer
  • See them all and decide if they can help you with your eating goals.

     

    cooks-penney-230

    This food steamer makes it easy to cook
    three different types of healthy veggies
    at once. Photo courtesy JCPenney.com.

    Comments

    TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: Big Papi En Fuego Gourmet Hot Sauce

    One of the challenges of the food-writing profession is that, to do a really good job of it, you’ve got to taste everything straight off the spoon. Even hot sauce. Otherwise, the flavor of the bread, chicken or other food you’re using as a base gets in the way.

    Tasting soy sauce from the spoon was a tough job. We were concerned that our Big Papi En Fuego hot sauce tasting would take out our taste buds for the rest of the day. But Big Papi is such a fine product, that even the XXX-Tra Hot version was enjoyable (very hot, but flavorful).

    There’s a lot of small-batch hot sauce out there, made by hot sauce lovers who haven’t been satisfied with what they’ve found on the market. So they gather up the best ingredients starting with fresh chiles (many brands are made with chile extract—just a liquid without any texture or nuance).

    One of those hot sauce lovers is the Boston Red Sox slugger David “Big Papi” Ortiz. Working with a product development company and the finest chiles, he’s developed a line of Louisiana-style hot sauce that is so flavorful, it’s a pleasure to eat from the spoon. Each is a different chile blend, and even the hottest of the four delivered great taste in addition to heat. We never go for hot salsa—we have a delicate palate. So consider how good these are.

     

    big-papi-spoon-230

    So thick, fruity and luscious: Big Papi hits
    this hot sauce out of the park. Photo by
    Evan Dempsey | THE NIBBLE.

    And, they’re calorie free! Made from vinegar, chiles and salt, this is a condiment you can sprinkle onto (and into) anything. Read the full review and heat things up a bit.

  • Don’t know the difference between jalapeño and habanero? Never heard of the Scoville Scale? Check out our Chile Glossary.
  • Want more than hot sauce? Our Gourmet Condiments reviews include chutney, ketchup, mustard, mayo, olives, pickles, and more.
  • Comments

    TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: Bare Fruit ~ Organic Healthy Snacking

    Your New Year’s resolution may be to eat healthier. But what do you do if you have a natural sweet tooth—or an addiction to chips?

    Try Bare Fruit. The crispy and crunchy apple chips and chewy pears hit the spot. And every serving counts toward the “5 to 9 a day” of fruits and vegetable servings recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (In fact, dried fruit is the CDC’s fruit of the month for January.)

    Even if your idea of a good time is not sinking your teeth into an apple or a pear, you may enjoy the fruit in its chip form. There are three options for apple chips: sweet Fuji apple chips, plain or with cinnamon, and tart Granny Smith apple chips. In addition to the pear slices, there are sweet but higher-calorie mango strips and dried cherries.

    Bare Fruit products are gluten free and have no added sugar. Kids love ’em too. They’re certified USDA organic and kosher.

  • Read the full review of Bare Fruit and revisit your 2010 snacking strategy.
  • Find more of our favorite low-calorie, healthy snacks.
  •  

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    Sweet, low-calorie apple chips are as satisfying
    as sugary snacks. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

    Comments

    TIP OF THE DAY: Save Bread Calories

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    Wasa crispbread, at 20 calories a slice, is
    another way to cut bread calories. Photo by
    Melody Lan | THE NIBBLE.

     

    Want to cut calories but can’t give up the bread?

  • We switched to Pepperidge Farm thin-sliced bread, for half the calories of a regular slice.
  • We couldn’t give up our beloved bagels, so we switched to bagel chips—fresh bagels cut into wafer-thin slices by the seller. We keep them in the freezer and thaw or toast our daily allocation.
  • If your local bagel store or deli counter doesn’t sell bagel chips, tell them to get with the [diet] program!
  • Both options give you all of the flavor and satisfaction of the bread with a big savings of calories and carbs.

    See six additional ideas in our Diet Bread Tricks article.

    Comments

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