Super Bowl Party for a Super Body

Conventional Super Bowl food and football look like this:

But the people in the Super Bowl look like this:

or like this:

Here’s a menu and recipes to help you have a great time while you avoid heart burn, weight gain and feeling like crap.

Chips and dip

There are a lot of dips you can choose from:  salsa, baba ganoush, and guacamole, are my favorite.  I just go with the better store bought stuff because I rarely have the time to make it myself.

#1.  Baked Rutabega Chips

These don’t come out all that crispy, but they are still very good and you can spoon pretty much anything on top of them.

Ingredients

1 Rutabaga, peeled and sliced into thin “chips” (a food processor makes this quick and easy)
1 TBS olive oil + 1 TBS to coat your baking sheet
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp Old Bay Seasoning

Directions

Preheat your oven to 425 F.  Mix all the ingredients except 1 TBS of olive oil that should be left over for the baking hseet.

Coat a baking sheet with the remaining olive oil, and then spread the seasoned chips out in a single layer.

Bake for about 30 minutes, turn them once or twice.

#2. Low-Carb Cheese Crackers

Ingredients

4 slices (approx 1 oz each) cheddar cheese (pre-sliced from a grocery store – I’ve used several brands and they all seem to work fine.)

Parchment paper

Directions

1.  Take cheese and fold into quarters (you end up with 4 pieces of cheese that are about ¼ the size of the original slice) and place on baking sheet that has been covered with a sheet of parchment paper.

For best results and crisp leave the unbaked cheese out overnight.

2.  Preheat oven to 400 F, and put cheese in oven when the oven heats to 400.
3.  Bake for 8min

For a crisper cracker – leave the cheese on the parchment paper for an hour or more to help it dry out.  The longer it sits out the dryer it gets and the crisper your cracker.

Nutrition

Makes 4 servings of 4 crackers

Regular cheese crackers – 18g net carb per 1oz serving
These cheese crackers – .5g net carb per 1 oz serving (4 crackers)

#3.  Raw veggies

I know.  This is very anticlimactic, but it’s also probably the easiest one to do.

Pizza

Low-Carb Pizza Green

1 La Banderita (there are other brands too) low-carb tortilla (you can get them at Safeway, Harris Teeter and probably other places)                               5g net carb
2-3 tbsp pesto (fresh is better, watch for added sugar)       1g net carb
1 handful spinach                                                                        .5g net carb
½ cup cooked chicken                                                               1g net carb
½ cup mozzarella cheese                                                          1.5 g net carbs
Pinch parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Low-Carb Pizza Red

1 La Banderita (there are other brands too) low-carb tortilla (you can get them at Safeway, Harris Teeter and probably other places)                               5g net carb
2 tbsp no sugar added pizza sauce                                          2.5g net carb
4 slice tomato                                                                                2g net carb
½ cup cooked chicken                                                                1g net carb
1 small handful fresh basil leaves
½ cup mozzarella cheese                                                         1.5g net carb
Pinch parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions – Same for both (ingredients are listed in ascending order: tortilla first, next thing on top, etc.)

1. Pre-heat over to 400 F and lightly spray large baking sheet.
2. Place tortillas on sheet and add ingredients (Ascending order – so tortilla 1st, then pesto, then spinach, and so on)
3. Bake for 8min, cut up and enjoy!

Nutrition

Green = 9g net carb per pizza
Red = 12g net carb per pizza

Quesadillas

Ingredients

2 x 6” La Tortilla Factory low-carb tortillas
1/4 cup plain, cooked chicken breast     (optional – you can put anything else inside or nothing except cheese)
1/2 cup     Salsa
cooking spray

Instructions

1. Heat skillet with cooking pray
2. Place cheese and chicken between the tortillas, and cook until brown on both sides and cheese is melted.
3. Eat with salsa, and a side of raw veggies like peppers, cucumbers, celery or carrots.

Jalapeño Poppers (not deep fried)

This one is all new and from a client.  It turns out that you don’t have to batter and deep fry a jalapeño to make it taste good.

Ingredients:
- jalapenos
- cream cheese
- bacon (you can also use turkey bacon, and I guess some sort of veggie “bacon” would work too)
- toothpicks

Preheat oven to 350.
Cut jalapenos in half and de-seed with a spoon.
Fill jalapeno halves with cream cheese.
Wrap 1/2 slice of bacon around each filled jalapeno, then secure with a toothpick.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bacon starts to squeeze the cream cheese a bit (I use a baking drip tray to let the grease drip off).
Eat. They are addictive.

And for dessert Pineapple & Cream Crepes

Ingredients
1-2 oz mascarpone                                                 125-250 kcal (.5-1g carb)
2 oz super thin slices of pineapple                     27 kcal (5g carb)

Instructions

1. Cut off top and bottom and sides of pineapple, and place in freezer for 10-15min.  With a very sharp knife and careful technique, or preferably a mandolin (you can find one for a good price online), slice 2oz of pineapple.  This should yield 3-4 thin slices.

2.  Take half the mascarpone and put into center of pineapple, and roll around.  Enjoy!

Nutrition Facts

Makes 1 serving @ 152-277 kcal , and 5.5-6g net carb per serving

Josef Brandenburg is 2010, Washington, DC  Personal Trainer of the Year Nominee for both Personal Fitness Professional Magazine and The Washington, DC Fitness Association, The DC Fitness Advisor and the Fitness Expert for the PCOS Challenge TV Show. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a FREE copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

Super Easy Low-Carb Appetizer for Your New Year’s Eve Party

In case you have been living under a rock, or taking nutrition classes at a University, then you know that when it comes to fat-loss and health low-carb wins hands down.  I’ve written about that here, here, here, here, here, here and a whole lot of other places.

Your New Year’s Eve party is right around the corner, so I wanted to give you something easy that you could make that would be both tasty and helpful with getting a head start on your New Year’s Resolutions.

When you go low-carb one of the things that you miss the mot is crunchy stuff like crackers.  Here is a great alternative that I love with Baba Ganoush (a great, lower carb alternative to hummus).

Low-Carb Cheese Crackers

Ingredients

4 slices (approx 1 oz each) cheddar cheese (pre-sliced from a grocery store – I’ve used several brands and they all seem to work fine.)

Parchment paper

Directions

1.  Take cheese and fold into quarters (you end up with 4 pieces of cheese that are about ¼ the size of the original slice) and place on baking sheet that has been covered with a sheet of parchment paper.

2.  Preheat oven to 400 F, and put cheese in oven when the oven heats to 400.
3.  Bake for 8min

For a crisper cracker – leave the cheese on the parchment paper for an hour or more to help it dry out.  The longer it sits out the dryer it gets and the crisper your cracker.

Nutrition

Makes 4 servings of 4 crackers

Regular cheese crackers – 18g net carb per 1oz serving
These cheese crackers – .5g net carb per 1 oz serving (4 crackers)

Josef Brandenburg is 2010, Washington, DC  Personal Trainer of the Year Nominee for both Personal Fitness Professional Magazine and The Washington, DC Fitness Association, and author of “The Body You Want”. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a FREE copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.

Nutritious, Delicious, Romantic and Budget Friendly

You know how you usually think of lobster as a very special and expensive treat?  Well, not this year.  Since people consider lobster to be a luxury food, demand is way, way down this year, and supply is way, way up thanks to really good oversight of fishing practices.

More supply + less demand = cheaper lobster.

It’s actually cheaper than steak right now.  So, my fiancé (will be my wife tomorrow!) and I have been taking advantage.

This weekend we went to Harris Teeter and got 8 lobster tails for about $21.  (A year ago I think that one lobster tail in a restaurant was $20.)

Read more

Josef’s Fiance Presents: Veggie Spaghetti

Q: When is spaghetti a vegetable?

A: When it’s a spaghetti squash!

We all know that we will have less body fat, better health, and more energy with fewer processed carbs in our lives. The spaghetti squash offers a way to improve your physique and eat a yummy old favorite at the same time. Try this as a side dish with your favorite protein, or add ground turkey, beef, or imitation meat to the sauce for a complete meal.

Ingredients

1 medium spaghetti squash
Salt & pepper to taste
1 jar pasta sauce (with no sugar added)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450? F. Chop squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and slimy gunk; be thorough and get it all.
2. Spray lightly with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Place cut side down on a baking sheet and roast for 30-40 minutes.
3. Let the squash cool approximately 5 minutes. Scrape the tines of a fork across the insides to separate the “spaghetti,” scoop out, top with sauce, and enjoy.

Nutrition Facts

Number of servings depends on the size of your squash. Per 1.5 cup serving with 1/2 cup sauce including some olive oil is 150 kcal.

Josef’s Mom Presents Her Low-Carb Latkes

Believe it or not, I am not a fan of man-boobs, spare tires or muffin tops. So, to that end I don’t eat much in the way of fried starch. I love latkes, but fried potatoes don’t do anything for my girlish figure:-). With that in mind, my mother came up with this recipe.

Honestly, I was skeptical at first – “green latkes? That ain’t right.” But, they are simply delicious, and pretty easy to make.

Ingredients

1 Large zucchini	52 kcal
1 small carrot	21 kcal
1 small onion (optional)	29 kcal
1 egg, beaten	70 kcal
2 tbsp olive oil (total for sheets)	240 kcal
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Apple sauce (per person)	25 kcal
2 tbsp Low fat sour cream (per person)	35 kcal

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400°F.
2. Grate veggies, and mix with egg, salt and pepper.
3. Lightly oil a baking sheet. Drain off the extra water, and spoon mixture onto the baking sheet(s).
4. Bake for 10min on each side.
5. Enjoy with any kind of lean protein you wish.

Nutrition Facts

Nutrition: 4 servings at 103kcal/serving, 163 with sour cream and apple sauce

Josef’s Mom Presents Her Low-Carb Eggplant Parmesan

No, it’s NOT to good to be true, but it is too good to be my recipe. You can thank my mommy for this one. Battered and deep fried looks bad on everyone. If you just lifted weights, go ahead and serve this with a small side of whole wheat pasta, otherwise eat it alone.

Ingredients

1 large eggplant – cut into 1/4 inch slices	136 kcal
Spray olive oil	100 kcal
1lb grass-fed ground beef (regular is OK too)	800 kcal
1 jar organic pasta sauce	420 kcal
2 cups low fat ricotta cheese	480 kcal
6oz fresh mozzarella – sliced	360 kcal
1 free-range, omega-3 egg	70 kcal
Nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 F, and slice up eggplant.
2. Roast sliced eggplant on a baking sheet for 7-8min on each side and set aside to cool. Lower oven to 350 F
3. While eggplant is roasting brown the beef in a large pan, then add the pasta sauce. Turn off heat and mix well and set aside to cool.
4. Mix ricotta cheese and egg and spices well.
5. In a baking dish layer eggplant, meat sauce, ricotta cheese, mozzarella.
6. Bake at 350 F for 30-40min.

Nutrition Facts

Servings – 6 @ 394 kcal

Quick and Easy Low-Carb Pizza

For as long as I can remember I have loved pizza. I ate my first whole large pizza from Pizza Hut when I was 8, and its probably no coincidence that my doctor first started getting on my about my weight at about that age:-).

So, this is my new thing – taking stuff that used to be special occasion only (like cheeseburgers and pizza) and making it into stuff that I can eat every day without compromising on taste, fullness, energy or the way my pants fit.

These are super easy – less than 5min to get it ready to go in the oven, and about 8min to cook; and they are super yummy.

Low-Carb Pizza Green

1 La Banderita (there are other brands too) low-carb tortilla (you can get them at Safeway, Harris Teeter and probably other places)                               5g net carb
2-3 tbsp pesto (fresh is better, watch for added sugar)       1g net carb
1 handful spinach                                                                        .5g net carb
½ cup cooked chicken                                                               1g net carb
½ cup mozzarella cheese                                                          1.5 g net carbs
Pinch parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Low-Carb Pizza Red

1 La Banderita (there are other brands too) low-carb tortilla (you can get them at Safeway, Harris Teeter and probably other places)                               5g net carb
2 tbsp no sugar added pizza sauce                                          2.5g net carb
4 slice tomato                                                                                2g net carb
½ cup cooked chicken                                                                1g net carb
1 small handful fresh basil leaves
½ cup mozzarella cheese                                                         1.5g net carb
Pinch parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions – Same for both (ingredients are listed in ascending order: tortilla first, next thing on top, etc.)

1. Pre-heat over to 400 F and lightly spray large baking sheet.
2. Place tortillas on sheet and add ingredients (Ascending order – so tortilla 1st, then pesto, then spinach, and so on)
3. Bake for 8min, cut up and enjoy!

Nutrition

Green = 9g net carb per pizza
Red = 12g net carb per pizza

Josef Brandenburg is Washington, DC’s top personal trainer for busy people. He shows normal people with hectic lives and average genetics how to create the bodies they want in the time they actually have. To find out more about the 7-Day Free Trial click here. You can also pick up a copy of his brand new CD – “Why Eat Less and Exercise More is The Worst Advice Ever” here.