Audra Lowe: If you’re anything at all like may your favorite food so are not the ones that are the most healthy but today, Rhiannon is in the kitchen with the woman who wants you to know that eating well doesn’t have to mean giving up flavor or the foods that you love.
Rhiannon Ally: Thanks Audra. I’m here with Janet Zappala, Emmy-winning TV reporter turned healthy eating guru. She’s got new cook book “My Italian Kitchen”. She’s giving a healthy twist on some of our favorite Italian recipes and we’re so excited to get cooking but first I have to ask you. You have had a great career in television.
Janet Zappala: Well, thanks.
Rhiannon Ally: So, what made you decide to become a chef.
Janet Zappala: I’ll tell you. I loved it for so many years, Rhiannon. I mean you know this business is…it’s wonderful. I mean you have a passion for it and everyday you do something different so the excitement never ends but I also had other passions and one is cooking and helpful eating. So I wanted to make sure that before I die which probably I’m hoping to soon.
Rhiannon Ally: Right, a little low time in the future right.
Janet Zappala: And you know with the way we eat, you really make sure that you add a few years on to your life and that’s another reason why I wanted to do is because I have the passion for writing. The cookbook was very conducive to that and a passion for healthful eating and spreading that healthful message.
Rhiannona Ally: That’s great. Italian food is not always the healthiest.
Janet Zappala: Now, how can you say that?
Rhiannon Ally: Because I love it. I know.
Janet Zappala: You‘ve got fresh tomatoes and basil and cheeses and this dish we’re doing a orzo rainbow pasta dish and you’ve got basil and tomato which of course, are having a love affair so you know you’ve got a winner on your hands. Some garbanzos beans are a great source of fiber – wonderfully healthy – some fresh cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, a little bit of parmesan cheese.
Rhiannon Ally: Oh, I love that.
Janet Zappala: Some pignoli nuts-pine nuts and of course, there’s your basil and all you do is you throw in your cooked pasta which we have here and I made the whole wheat. So we’ve got whole wheat; so you’ve got your fiber which is so healthy for you and then, what you want to do is you always want to save little bit of cooking water. Perhaps, we can save quite enough but you want to save some cooking water to give it that consistency so that’s it is nice and moist.
Rhiannon Ally: Oh, so you just want o dump the water over it? I never would’ve realized that.
Janet Zappala: Absolutely. Now a little bit of cracked, black pepper on top and then, salt.
Rhiannon Ally: A lot of people are a little weary of using wheat pasta but it actually tastes just as good if you find the right brand.
Janet Zappala: Just the same. That’s right and I think over the last few years, companies have really come up with a better way to make whole wheat pastas so they are not so heavy because I think that’s what really turned a lot of people off. They didn’t taste the same; they were too heavy. Now they’ve lighten them up but they still fill you up faster than regular pasta so you don’t eat as much.
Rhiannon Ally: Oh nice. So, what are we going to eat with this?
Janet Zappala: what you’re going to eat with this is a great water crest salad. It’s a light salad. Water crest is very in season right now so you can get it easily , very easily accessible some red onion, capers, some shape parmesan cheese, blackberries of course, and it’s also very easy to make. The dressing all it is, is a lemon and olive oil. And we know olive oil.
Rhiannon Ally: Dressing is usually what sends salad over the edge so that’s why it was healthy.
Janet Zappala: Just those two, some fresh lemon juice and a little bit of cracked black pepper and some salt.
Rhiannon Ally: And the pie?
Janet Zappala: And then you know you have to top it off with some key lime pie and I’ll tell you why I came up with this recipe, Rhiannon, because I couldn’t find when will really like except in key west and I can’t keep going back and forth to key west for a piece of key lime pie so I came up with this recipe and I also used a whole wheat gram cracker crust and just a little bit of a garvey which is sweeter than sugar but it has got a very low glycine make index. So it’s good for you – good for you, good for me, good for diabetics and it’s again a good source of fiber.
Rhiannon Ally: I know.
Janet Zappala: And very little sugar in there.
Rhiannon Ally: What I love about this pie is it’s just a hundred calories per serving.
Janet Zappala: Yes. Yup.
Rhiannon Ally: Yes it won’t ruin your diet.
Janet Zappala: That’s right.
Rhainnon Ally: Thank you so much.
Janet Zappala: Oh my pleasure.
Rhiannon Ally: While I’m trying this quickly, tell us what are 20 of your other favorite recipes in the book?
Janet Zappala: Oh my goodness. There are so many. It really depends on what you like but all the pasta has used the cream de pepper pasta in there, a creamy tortellini and what I do with this book is I offer a lot of options. You can use a little heavy cream with the cream of pepper pasta but you can also use low fat milk.
Rhiannon Ally: Oh nice. Perfect!
Janet Zappala: And if you do that, you can use that breed of skim milk with my creamy tortellini.
Rhiannon Ally: See with all alternatives.
Janet Zappala: So I give alternatives so you can go a little bit less in the fat department and the calorie department but not compromise the taste.
Rhiannon Ally Well thank you so much Janet. This was “The Delicious”.
Janet Zappala: Oh I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Rhiannon Ally: You can find all of these recipes and much more on our website had to bettertv.com.
Janet Zappala: Thank you so much.
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