LUSCIOUS COOKING:

something to sing about

**An Encouraging Word, Vol. 10**

an occasional note from Jean Fain

 Harvard Medical School psychotherapist & hypnosis instructor

 Published April 1, 2007

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Read on if you’re interested in losing weight without the deprivation associated with dieting. Feel free to forward “An Encouraging Word” to a friend. If you didn’t receive this note directly from Jean Fain and you’d like to subscribe, send an email to the address above with the word “subscribe” in the subject field. If you’d rather not receive future announcements, send an email with the word “unsubscribe” in the subject field.

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Big Fun On The Bayou…

After yet another weight-management client confessed she felt guilty whenever she enjoyed eating, even nutritious food, An Encouraging Word decided to devote another issue to the importance of pleasing your palate. After years of monotonous, restrictive menus, veteran dieters, I understand, have trouble believing that nutritious can be delicious. No amount of talking seems to convince otherwise.

When my well-crafted argument fails, I launch into a story. Stories go down more easily than arguments. One sunny, cool morning, I’m breakfasting at my favorite bakery, enjoying my favorite seven-grain bread, toasted and smeared with peanut butter. I can hear the birds singing; spring has finally arrived.  Beyond the window, a gorgeous bird I don’t recognize and a couple of sparrows are flitting around the birdfeeder. They peck and sing, sing and peck. A duck waddles out of the river to see what all the fuss is about. The bird feeder is standing room only, but that doesn’t stop the mallard and his family from savoring the sidewalk crumbs. The ducks peck and quack, quack and peck. My fine-feathered friends make a persuasive case: food is something to sing about.

As do the musicians of the Louisiana bayou, who sing about “jambalaya, crawfish pie and file’ gumbo.” Even if you don’t think food is cause for celebration, watch four-year-old Hunter Hayes’ rendition of Jambalaya. It’s infectious. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQPEsa5e7K0) Then have yourself a jambalaya festival with this tasty, easy recipe from “Great Good Food: Luscious Lower-Fat Cooking” by Julee Rosso, “Silver Palate” cookbook author emeritus. I make this traditional Cajun stew a touch more luscious and nutritious by adding a little olive oil to the sauté.  Enjoy!

Jambalaya

SERVES 8

1 ounce minced prosciutto or Canadian bacon, trimmed of fat

2 cups cubed boiled country ham, trimmed of fat

1 pound spicy smoked turkey sausage, cut into ½-inch pieces

1 cup coarsely chopped onion

1 cup cubed green bell pepper

1 tablespoon slivered garlic

3 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped fresh plum tomatoes

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup tomato juice

¾ teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf

½ teaspoon Tabasco, or to taste

½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

¾ cup white rice

1 pound sea scallops or large bay scallops

1-½ pounds shelled and deveined jumbo shrimp

½ cup finely chopped Italian parsley

1. In a very large ovenproof skillet with 3-inch sides, sauté the prosciutto over medium heat until it just begins to get crisp around the edges. Add the ham, sausage, onion, green pepper, and garlic; increase the heat to medium-high and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, until the meat begins to brown.

2. Add the tomato, broth, tomato juice, thyme, bay leaf, Tabasco, and pepper; cover and simmer for 8 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°.

4. Stir in the rice; cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Add the scallops and shrimp. Cover the skillet and place it in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring once or twice.

6. Transfer the jambalaya to a large heated serving platter. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve immediately.

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This Just In…

Weight Watchers is one of the most flexible, accessible and nutritious diets, and yet it doesn’t work for everyone. That’s OK, especially if you consider what will work for you. For inspiration, check out this More Magazine article about one Cambridge, Massachusetts writer who recruited her friends and friends of friends to start their own support group. Rather than a church basement, they meet in a chi-chi restaurant, where they weigh in, and share their successes and failures over a fabulous lunch. Click here to read the story.

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Food For Thought…

“The irony of your present eating habits is that while you fear missing a meal, you aren’t fully aware of the meals you do eat.”

--Dan Millman

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In addition to seeing clients in private practice, Jean Fain teaches hypnosis at Cambridge Health Alliance, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School, and she writes for O, The Oprah Magazine, among other women's magazines. More information about Jean Fain’s services and weight-loss CDs is available on her website (www.jeanfain.com).

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(Click the Newsletter link below to read other volumes of "An Encouraging Word.")

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