The DIY Diet

It’s name alone sounds elegant and royal - Beef Stroganoff. It’s a satisfying, comforting meal that takes away the chill when the winter wind turns cold and snow flurries fill the air.

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Making Chicken Diablo is a delicious holiday treat, though my family and I love it so much we will make it for special meals throughout the year.

Vera, the housekeeper and cook at the former Caland Ore Company Guest House (one of the Inland Steel Company family of companies for which I worked for many happy years) in Aitkokan, Ontario, served this dish the first night I stayed at the Guest House and generously shared her recipe with me.

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Is there any better winter food to warm and comfort the body and the soul than a good beef stew?

And this is a good one. The recipe was given to me by my friend, Gaye, whom I believe got it from one of the Red Wing area church cookbooks. The recipe originally called for hamburger; I use beef stew meat. And it is designed for simmering in a slow cooker. It can also be simmered on top the stove but will require stirring occasionally.

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This is another comfort food, perfect for cold, snowy, winter days.

I used to make it often for my friends in the makeshift kitchen I assembled in my two-room Bachelor Officers’ Quarters suite in Anchorage, Alaska.

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Quiche isn’t as popular as it once was. I don’t remember when I last saw it on a restaurant menu.

To me, it is one of the most elegant fall lunch or brunch entrées you can prepare.

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Crudités — a pretty fancy word for raw vegetables with something to dip them into.

Crudités make a nice low-calorie lunch, especially during the Thanksgiving and Christmas season when many of my evening meals are going to have high-calories items, like Christmas cookies and other delicious holiday desserts.

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I learned to make fried rice from my Okinawan-heritage sister-in-law.

She taught me to start with sautéing the vegetables requiring the longest cooking time.

I always had trouble in the end when all the ingredients were at last in the large frying pan.

When I tried to stir the mixture, the rice, meat, and vegetables would fall over the edge of the pan onto the stove. I had to figure out a better way for me to do it because I love homemade fried rice. This recipe is the technique I developed.

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Grilled, wild Alaskan salmon is my niece’s favorite seafood, so when she was coming to Minnesota for a visit I wanted to make something special for her.

I’d originally encountered this recipe on Alton Brown’s informative and imaginative Food Network show Good Eats. The name of the recipe was Salmon Fillet en Papillote with Julienne Vegetable.

I made the entrée according to the recipe once, then I began making changes to meet my needs. That’s why I now call it Salmon and Vegetables Baked in Parchment. I eliminated the snow peas, the coriander seeds, and the vermouth called for in the original recipe and reduced the salmon from an 8-oz. fillet to a 4-oz. fillet (277 calories). I also wanted to oven bake it rather than prepare it in the microwave as Alton Brown did.

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Quesadillas are nice low-calorie luncheon choices if you use the low-calorie tortillas available now days. I buy the Whole Wheat Low-Carb/Low-Fat Tortilla, Original Flavor by La Tortilla Factory. They are about 7 inches in diameter and are only 50 calories each.

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French toast is one of my favorite foods especially on a weekend morning when I eat my breakfast a little later than on normal weekdays. Here’s how I prepare my French toast for a breakfast of less than 400 calories.

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