The Soul Food Healthy Makeover
Soul Food is a term used for an ethnic cuisine that is traditionally prepared by African Americans. Many say this style of cooking originated during the slavery period. During slavery, people were given leftovers and undesirable parts of the animal, which they had to turn into flavorful meals.
Many years later, some are still consuming foods that are high in fat, sodium and sugar. African Americans need to change their diet or face continued health risks. In my kitchen, I show you how to reduce the calories of a meal by 60% without a lot of sacrifice.
Check out Healthy Makeover Cooking Demo on WCIU
You can still enjoy traditional cultural favorites, but you need to limit the frequency, monitor the portion sizes and change the way it is prepared. To demonstrate my point, I have taken a traditional soul food meal and created a lighter version.
The Makeover
Traditional Soul Food Meal
- Fried Chicken
- Collard Greens with Ham Hock
- Macaroni and Cheese
- Cornbread
- Soda Pop
1064 calories, 84% daily value (DV) of fat, 51% DV of cholesterol and 117% DV of sodium
Lighter Version
- Blackened Tilapia
- Collard Greens with no Meat
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes
- Wheat Roll
- Sweetened Ice Tea
420 calories, 5% DV of fat, 20% DV of cholesterol and 30% DV of sodium
Lighter Version Recipes
Blackened Tilapia
4 servings
Total Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients
• 1 pound Tilapia fillets (4 ounces a piece)
• 2 teaspoons blackening seasoning
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
Preparation
- Preheat skillet to high and add canola oil.
- Rub Tilapia on both sides with blackening seasoning. Sauté until cooked through, 3 to
4 minutes per side.
Mashed Sweet Potatoes
4 servings
Total Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
• 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1/2 cup non-fat sour cream
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Preparation
- Place sweet potatoes in a large pot and cover with water.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook 10-15 minutes or until tender when
pierced with a fork.
- Drain and place potatoes in a large mixing bowl.
- Mash with sour cream, butter, salt, cinnamon and brown sugar.
- Serving size should be ½ cup.
Collard Greens with Smoked Turkey
4 servings
Total Time: 75 minutes
Ingredients
• smoked turkey necks
• 3 cans fat free chicken broth
• 1 small red onion diced
• 2 clove garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2 - 3 bunches of collard greens
• salt and pepper to taste
• crushed red pepper flakes or Jalapenos (optional)
Preparation
- Rinse collards greens in the sink under running cold water.
- Pick greens away from the stem.
- Stack collard greens into several leaves on top of each other.
- Using a cutting board and knife, roll the leaves together and cut collard green leaves
into 1 inch thick strips.
- In a large pot, sauté diced red onion, garlic and olive oil.
- Add equal amounts of water and chicken broth to large pot.
- Add greens to pot, bring to boil and then reduce heat to simmer.
- Cover with lid and continue to simmer for 1 hour.
- In a small pot boil turkey necks over medium-high heat until tender. Once turkey
parts are tender, rinse and transfer to the pot containing your collard greens.
- Once greens are tender, add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add red pepper flakes or Jalapenos if you want a little heat.
2 Comments
Brian 'Wiz' Ray said:
I know that there is a difference between collards cooked with turkey meat and collards cooked with pork (personally I prefer neckbones to ham hocks, because ham hocks are gross), but I would be interested in if the difference is all that substantial. Same with beans. Especially since pork today is a lot leaner than in the past.
Chef Eric Paul said:
Hey Wiz-
Not sure if I ever answered this question.
There are two reasons people cook with meat, the flavor and to consume that actually protein. If you are looking for the meat flavor, you can cook your greens or beans in chicken or beef broth. if you like the taste of meat with your greens or beans, you are on the right track to substitute a lean meat.
As I write this post, I am getting really hungry ;-).
Here's to your health,
Chef Eric
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