BBQ’ing this Weekend? Eat THESE Bites with Benefits Recipes

Food isn’t just for the purpose of filling and fattening you up. Every ingredient has a benefit. I call them Bites with Benefits. Here are a few of my faves when it comes to a BBQ!

Tomato, Basil, Onion Salad (no cheese)

Ingredients:
Tomatoes- cut, sliced, chunked… however you like to feel it in your mouth
Basil- fresh, torn or sliced
Onions- sliced in decent but not huge pieces
Extra Virgin Olive Oil- small drizzle
Balsamic Vinegar- small drizzle
Salt- to taste
White Pepper- to taste
Mix it all together. Yum!

Grilled Asparagus

Looking for a great, easy, quick, low fat, low cal, hangover preventing, de-puffing, detoxing recipe that’s perfect when company comes over? Try my Grilled Asparagus recipe.

Ghost Pepper Turkey Burger

I love this spicy spicy spicy Turkey Burger recipe with Bhut Pepper‘s naga jolokia (ghost pepper). It’s definitely not a full pepper though, just a small amount of the powder. In fact, if you just ate an entire ghost pepper (ranking 1,000,000 on the Scoville Scale), you’d probably simultaneously be passing out and guzzling a gallon of water. The Scoville scale measures how hot a pepper is based on how many times it’s extract has to be diluted before it can no longer be tasted. The hottest pepper—the Naga Jolokia—has to be diluted 1,000,000 times!

Intimidating, sure, but research has found that eating hot peppers could help you lose weight. Ever notice how your whole body can get hot after eating a pepper? That’s a good thing! Your body requires energy to heat up. In other words, getting hot burns calories.

Here’s the recipe from Bhut Jolokia:
1 lb ground Turkey or Lean Beef
1/4 cup Onion finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh Parsley
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/8 tsp Ghost Pepper Powder
1 Garlic clove

Mix all of the ingredients and shape in to 4 burger. Grill over medium heat 10 minutes or until cooked through, turning once

Fat-Burning Skinny Herbaceous Cocktails!

“Sex and the City” popularized the Cosmo. Bethenny Frankel brought the Skinnygirl Margarita. Now it’s all about Herbal Cocktails.
But don’t just pour some vodka and float a leaf on the top. Here are four ways to easily add spice, each with a slightly different effect:

-Muddle it- Place the herbs at the bottom of the glass and smash them with a spoon or cocktail stick to break up, bruise and release the oils- the flavor. Once muddled, add the alcohol and ice, shake it, then dump the whole thing in the glass. The herbs almost become textural in addition to the flavor.

-Shake it- The herbs are broken up in the violent act of shaking. The ice cuts the herbs into little chards, then the larger pieces of herbs are strained out, leaving the flavorful oils and aromatics.

-Spank it- Take an herb leaf and spank it in your hand to bruise it, and release the oils. Then drop the one whole leaf on top of the drink serving as an aromatic garnish.

-Infuse it- This is the original way of adding herbs to alcohol. Basically, you add herbs to alcohol and let it sit for several hours to a couple of days, allowing the herbs to release its oils into the alcohol.
Here are Two Fab Skinny Herbacious Cocktails to Try:

Skinny Jalapenito

Beyond the mojito, it’s the Jalapeno that ups the anty on this fab cocktail. How? Hot peppers are natural fat-burners. Fat-burning foods tend to literally be “burning”- mouth burning that is. They also naturally heat up the body while helping to increase digestion, circulation, and the metabolism. If you can find a hot-spiced cocktail at your fave local bar- great! Here’s how to make it on your own:
1½ oz. Rum
12 Mint leaves (fights gas, antiseptic, digestive aid)
4 Jalapeno slices (fat-burning, metabolism boosting)
1 Lime- juiced (fat-burning, immune boosting)
3 packets Truvia (or other sweetener)
Splash of Soda water
Ice

Muddle mint, lime, jalapeno and sweetener. Muddle.
Add Rum. Muddle.
Add Ice. Shake!!!
Pour into a glass.
Add soda.
Drink!

Garden Refresher

Play with your herbs! Have fun with what you have growing in your garden. Choose different flavors. Mix them together. Find your fave combo. Here’s one of mine:
4 Cucumber slices (fights plaque build-up)
1 Lime- juiced (fat-burning, immune boosting)
1 Basil leaf (blood sugar stabilizer, antioxidant)
1 packet Truvia
1 1/2 oz. Vodka
Ice