A Low Calorie Comfort Meal

This post is one of several I will be doing on meals and snacks that are healthy as well as delicious. A few months ago, I purchased a book called "The 4 Day Diet" by Ian Smith. The title is somewhat deceptive because you are not actually finished in 4 days. I wish it were that easy. It is a series of several diet plans that each run over a period of 4 days. It is an excellent book, and although I haven't strictly adhered to the diets, I have taken many of his suggestions and put them to use on a daily basis.



Dr Smith suggests lots of brown rice, greens, and legumes. We love all of those things, so we eat them fairly often. Last night I fixed collards, brown rice, and field peas with snaps. Oddly enough, he suggests ham hock for flavor.

I used 1 lb of a 2 lb bag of frozen peas from Publix. I covered them with water and simmered them with ham hock for about an hour and 1/2. I seasoned them with thyme, several bay leaves, and a generous amount of salt.

I used two bags of collards and simmered them for about 45 minutes with another ham hock. Again, more salt. It takes a good bit to bring out the flavor.

For the rice I used my rice cooker. (Actually Gil did it. He is a great cook and we like to tag team in the kitchen after we have both worked.) I used 1 cup of brown rice in 2 1/2 cups of water or chicken broth. The chicken broth is better. I also add a couple of teaspoons of butter. The rice takes about 45 minutes.

The result is a low cost meal that is high in fiber and nutrition and and low in calories. It is comfort food to us. Some sliced tomato will be great with it this summer.