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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 Fat
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July 20, 2009 at 7:00 am
· Filed under Diet Nibbles, Low Fat, Recipes
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Enjoy a south-of-the-border twist with fewer calories. |
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Mexican food is wonderful in the summertime with an ice-cold cerveza or an oversized salt-rimmed Margarita. Who wouldn’t love some tacos smothered with cheese and guacamole, covered in sour cream?
Well…maybe Mexican food isn’t that great an option in the summertime when you have a bathing suit to fit into. Worry not, beachgoers, we’ve got a healthy, delicious alternative to high-calorie, south-of-the-border-fare using Starkist Creations’ Sweet and Spicy Tuna. Try it out at your next fiesta. This is anything but your basic can of albacore. |
| Southwest Tuna Salad
- 1 (5-ounce) pouch StarKist Creations Sweet & Spicy Tuna
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans
- 8-ounces low-fat ranch dressing
- 6 ounces Cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
- 1 (16-ounce) jar salsa
- 10 ounce lettuce, washed and torn
Mix ingredients and serve on top of lettuce. Serves 6.
Also take a look at President Obama’s favorite (and sustainable) tuna salad recipe.
Try a healthy Mediterranean tuna salad recipe with dried cherries, feta and green beans.
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July 4, 2009 at 7:42 am
· Filed under Low Fat, Snacks
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Sour Cream & Onion Popchips, along with
Cheddar, are now available in the 3-ounce
and .8 ounce single serving sizes. |
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Pop pop, hurray! We’re serving the two newest Popchips flavors at our cookout today. Sour Cream & Onion is a terrific interpretation of the potato chip-and-dip combination; Cheddar is perfect with a beer.
Popchips, a Nibble Top Pick Of The Week, are the newest and best way to enjoy potato chips. They’re not fried or baked—they’re popped, applying heat and pressure to create a crunchy chip with intense potato flavor, that’s truly healthier. There are no preservatives, no cholesterol, no saturated fat or trans fat; Popchips have 3.5g fat per serving and 100 calories per individual-portion bag. That’s great snacking! Read our full review of Popchips.
Hungry for more potato chips?
Learn the history of potato chips.
Here’s a recipe for homemade potato chips.
Take our Snack Food Trivia Quiz.
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June 25, 2009 at 7:01 am
· Filed under Cheese/Yogurt/Dairy, Kosher Nibbles, Low Fat, Organic
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| When you’re Gary Hirshberg, founder and CEO of Stonyfield Yogurt, the daily choice of yogurt is pretty vast. So who’d have guessed, after looking at the Stonyfield Yogurt empire, that his favorite treat as a boy was authentic Greek yogurt, made by his next door neighbors? Last year, he launched his own brand of Greek yogurt, under the Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt label. Oikos is the Greek word for house, and also the root of the word for ecology, which is fundamental to the organic, environment-supportive Stonyfield brand. The Oikos line has 0% fat, is certified organic and kosher and is available in Plain plus Blueberry, Honey, Strawberry and Vanilla.
Oikos Greek Yogurt is thicker than regular yogurt, but not as thick as FAGE Total Greek yogurt or another relative newcomer, Chobani probiotic Greek yogurt, both of which can pass for thick sour cream. There’s a big difference in the texture—with Oikos being more like “normal” yogurt—as well as in the flavor. Whereas FAGE Total and Chobani can sometimes pass for sour cream (wishful thinking), Oikos is definitely yogurt.
Read the full review and find out what makes a yogurt “Greek.”
Find more reviews of our favorite yogurts in THE NIBBLE’S Yogurt Section.
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Oikos Organic Greek Yogurt is fat free, organic and kosher. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE. |
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Read about the different styles of yogurt in our Yogurt Glossary.
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June 18, 2009 at 6:10 am
· Filed under Contest, Kosher Nibbles, Low Fat, Snacks
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Enter to win the Guiltless Gourmet Sweepstakes |
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Eat chips, feel no guilt and maybe win a trip to Vegas or other prizes. You read correctly—buy any flavor of Guiltless Gourmet tortilla chips, in tempting choices such as Spicy Black Bean and Chili Lime. Check the code on the bag online for a chance to win coupons for free products and American Express gift cards. Everyone who enters a code on the Guiltless Gourmet site by September 30th will also be registered for a shot at the Grand Prize: three nights for the winner and a guest at a five-diamond Las Vegas resort, a $1,500 world class spa package and a fat stack of cash. (BYO chips?) |
| Speaking of fat, all Guiltless Gourmet products have 3 grams or less per serving. Please pass the salsa.
See reviews of our favorite tortilla chips in our Snacks Section.
See reviews of our favorite salsas to go with them.
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June 16, 2009 at 6:26 am
· Filed under Ice Cream, Low Calorie, Low Fat
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Half the fat doesn’t mean you can eat twice
as much! Be sure to check the calories, too—
some brands of “light” ice creams have more
calories and sugar than other brands of “regular.” |
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Our friends at Consumer Reports have been dipping into the light ice cream to give you the scoop on light ice cream (in the July 2009 issue). By law, a “light” ice cream must have one-third the calories or half the fat of a brand’s regular ice cream.
The taste test compared three light ice creams with their regular counterparts, and also tried Häagen-Dazs Five, which isn’t marketed as a light ice cream but has a third less fat than regular Häagen-Dazs. The comments:
All of the lighter versions are quite tasty.
The lower-fat Häagen-Dazs Five was actually a bit better than the regular HD.
Breyers regular and light ice creams were very close in quality.
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The light ice cream versions can also be less costly. Per half-cup serving, the lighter brands from Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s were less expensive as well as having far fewer calories. However (and there’s always a “however”), the term “light” is relative. The lighter Häagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry tried actually have more calories and sugars than the regular Edy’s/Dreyer’s and Breyers varieties.
Learn more about the different types of ice cream in our Ice Cream Glossary.
See reviews of our favorite ice cream brands and check out ice cream recipes in our Ice Cream Section.
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June 3, 2009 at 9:59 pm
· Filed under Low Calorie, Low Fat, Snacks, Spreads & Dips
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| There exists a fine balance between sweet and savory—too much of one and the other falls short. For those who like sweet salsa, Mrs. Renfro’s Gourmet Salsas deserve your attention. All natural, there isn’t one ingredient on the label that wouldn’t come straight from your refrigerator or pantry. Rather than dominate the flavor palette, the fruit notes in these salsas amplify the vegetable flavors and cut through the heat. The consistency is on the thick side, perfect for clinging to a tortilla chip, blanketing a bland meat like chicken or blending with yogurt or sour cream for an instant, creamy crudité dip or spread.
Tequila
Tequila adds a piquant bite to mellow, sweet pineapple. The subtle tang of fresh lime juice and a mounting heat towards the finish make for an excellent overall flavor. |
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Mrs. Renfro’s Pineapple Salsa. |
Pineapple
If you’re at all a fan of fresh, ripe pineapple, this is the Holy Grail of salsa for you. As proven by the popular “Hawaiian” pizza, tomato and pineapple make a delicious couple. With juicy chunks of sweet-and-tangy fruit in every bite, you barely notice Mrs. Renfro’s signature hot finish.
Pomegranate
Many products claiming to be pomegranate-flavored end up tasting like anything but. Not so with this salsa. The fruit shines clearly through the rich, smoky chipotle without so much as a peep from artificial flavoring. The lingering sweet-hot afterburn will have you immediately reaching for another chip.
The verdict: we’re more than likely to dip into these again!
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May 28, 2009 at 6:35 am
· Filed under Beverages, Low Fat
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| There used to be a time where smoothies could only be had fresh out of a blender at home. Then, beginning with the iconic Orange Julius, chains like Smoothie King, Jamba Juice and Robek’s began popping up all over the place. Now, we have become a nation of smoothie drinkers.
We recently tasted Sunkist Naturals’ line of premium, all-natural smoothies, featuring fruit juices sourced from small regional farms—juicy Marion berries from Oregon and Michigan, sweet strawberries from coastal California and legendary Alphonso mangoes. They have no added sugar, preservatives or any artificial ingredients and are laden with antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients. Flavors include Berry Blue Bountiful, Berry Cherry Bountiful, Glorious Greens, Golden Mango, Orange Cream, Pomegranate Sunshine, Strawberry Dream and 100% Valencia Orange.
Sunkist Naturals are not as thick as smoothies from Odwalla and Naked Juice, and as a result, a few fewer calories. We liked them all (like ice cream, has there ever been a smoothie flavor anyone didn’t like?) With eight delicious flavors we’re sure you’ll find one to call your own. Suggested retail price is for $2.79 for 15.2 ounce bottle and $3.99 for 1 liter. |
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Sunkist Naturals’ smoothies. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE. |
| See our recipes for healthy homemade smoothies.
- Check out super juice from China.
- Discover the many benefits of natural fruit juices. |
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February 6, 2009 at 1:37 pm
· Filed under Cookies/Cake/Pastry, Diet Nibbles, Low Calorie, Low Fat, Valentine's Day
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| Send your favorite dieter Vitalicious 100-calorie, heart shaped chocolate muffins; and enter for a chance to win a Tiffany diamond pendant at http://vitalicious.com/store.html. The chocolate muffins, available year-round in standard muffin shape and muffin tops, are quite tasty for diet food.
- Read our review of Vitalicious Muffins.
- Find more of our favorite diet products in the Diet Nibbles section of TheNibble.com. |
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January 20, 2009 at 9:00 am
· Filed under Cheese/Yogurt/Dairy, Kosher Nibbles, Low Fat, Snacks
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Michael Season’s Cheddar Cheese Puffs (front)
and Chili Cheese Puffs (rear) offer real cheese
flavor with reduced fat. |
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Love chips, but want to cut back on the fat and the calories? Michael Season delivers a line of baked cheese snacks that have fewer calories, less fat, and taste even better than his regular line. They’re also wheat-free, gluten-free, certified kosher and all-natural—no preservatives, no hydrogenated oils, no MSG, and made with organic grains.
Michael Season heard the call to organic foods more than 20 years ago. He tried his hand at organic farming long before it was hot, because he wanted his family to be able to eat foods free of chemicals and additives. He developed one of the largest natural foods distributorships in the U.S., and then began to produce “better for you” snack foods—reduced fat and lowfat potato chips. They promise:
- All-natural ingredients
- No preservatives
- No artificial colorings or flavorings
- No GMOs (genetically modified ingredients)
- No MSG
- No hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated oils
- Kosher certification |
We had the opportunity to taste the Season’s line of cheese puffs and cheese curls—the regular, “Ultimate,” line and the reduced fat, “Baked” line, which have half the fat (or more) of traditional puffs and curls—and are wheat-free and gluten-free to boot.
Whether digging into the Ultimate or Baked Line, these snacks are delicious. Where one bite of a major supermarket brand of cheese puff or curl tastes like artificial food, here, these all-natural snacks taste just like that: all natural. Light and crunchy, they’re made with real cheese, not an imitation cheese-flavored powder. That being said, you still end up with orange-powdered fingers. It must be part of the ritual.
Snack along with us as we review these noteworthy, cheesy, crunchy snacks. Read the full review on TheNibble.com.
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January 5, 2009 at 4:18 pm
· Filed under Low Fat, Recipes, Spreads & Dips
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With those New Year’s resolutions that include “lose weight,” substituting mustard for mayonnaise wherever possible is an easy switch. French’s claims that, simply by substituting mustard for mayonnaise on your sandwiches three times a week, you could lose a minimum of four pounds per year. To that, we’d add, try Dijon mustard instead of sugar-laden ketchup as a dip for fries and on burgers. Mustard has no fat, no carbohydrates, is gluten-free and has as few as 5 calories per teaspoon (honey mustard has more). Ketchup has about the same calories (15 per tablespoon), but it’s mostly sugar, and thus 4-5g of carbs, compared to 0g for the mustard. |
Mustard is an extremely versatile ingredient. Dijon is often used to add flavor to vinaigrettes, soups, sauces, as well as dips. You can vary the flavors with horseradish mustard, walnut mustard, spicy mustard: the mustard at your specialty food store is a gourmet paradise, and even the supermarket has a lot of choice. Here’s a tasty cucumber dip recipe from French’s—at 45 calories per 2-tablespoon serving, it compares quite nicely to mayo-based dips that start at 100 calories a tablespoon.
Cool & Creamy Cucumber Dressing
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup reduced-fat sour cream or nonfat yogurt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill weed or 2 teaspoons dried dill weed
2 tablespoons honey Dijon mustard or spicy brown mustard
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
Preparation
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor. Cover; process until well blended. Transfer to covered container; chill in refrigerator.
2. Serve over mixed salad greens or with crudites. Makes 1-1/3 cups dressing.
Nutritional amount per 2 tablespoon serving: 45 calories, 4g fat, 2g saturated fat, 1g protein,
2g carbohydrates, 0g dietary fiber, 2g net carbs, 8mg cholesterol, 61mg sodium. |
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