NEW YORK, June 21, 2008

Healthy, Scrumptious Summer Meals

Cookbook Author Pam Anderson Offers Recipes As Early Show's "Chef on a Shoestring"

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    It can be toughing eating tasty foods while also trying to maintain that beach body during the summer season. Cookbook author Pam Anderson offers some delicious and low calorie recipes for under $40.

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(CBS)  If you're caught between wanting a great beach bod this summer and wanting all those tempting foods, you've come to the right place.

Pam Anderson, author of "The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight & Eating Great" (Houghton Mifflin), knows the weight-loss struggle firsthand: She's managed to shed 40 pounds - and keep them off for three years and counting.

On The Early Show Saturday, Anderson accepted our "Chef on a Shoestring" challenge and prepared a healthy, delicious three-course meal for four - and tried to do it on our slim budget of ... 40 bucks!

Her menu: Smoked Salmon Tartare, Barbeque Pork Tenderloin, and Double Chocolate Pudding!

To read an excerpt of "The Perfect Recipe for Losing Weight & Eating Great," click here.

FOOD FACTS

Smoked Salmon: Smoked salmon is a preparation of salmon, typically a fillet that has been cured and then hot or cold smoked. Most smoked salmon is cold smoked, typically 80ºF. The cold smoking does not cook the fish, resulting in a delicate texture. Hot Smoking "cooks" the salmon, making it less moist, and firmer, with a less delicate taste. It may be eaten like cold smoked salmon, or mixed with salads or pasta.

Capers: Capers are actually immature buds plucked from a small bush native to the Middle East and Mediterranean regions of the world. Fresh caper blossoms are not especially flavorful, but their sharpness increases dramatically after sun-drying and brining in vinegar. The caper is often used as a seasoning or garnish. Capers are a common ingredient in Mediterranean cuisine.

Pork Tenderloin: As the name implies, this is a very tender cut. It cooks easily and quickly, so the best methods are the fast ones: pan-frying, grilling, sautéing, broiling, and quick roasting.

TAKE-HOME TIPS

  • Salmon tartare can be made ahead-of-time and refrigerated up to a week.

  • Cooking with foil packets means no cleanup.

  • Foil packets can be prepared in the oven or on the grill.

    RECIPES

    Smoked Salmon Tartare

    If you don't want the added calories of a cracker, serve a small mound of the tartare in teaspoons. Whether you enjoy this hors d'oeuvre on a cracker or from a spoon, you can top each bite with a small piece of very thinly sliced lemon, rind and all.

    MAKES ABOUT 1 1/3 CUPS, SERVING ABOUT 7

    INGREDIENTS:
    1/8 cup drained capers
    4 ounces smoked salmon
    1 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
    1 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
    1/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
    1/8 cup finely diced red onion
    1 Italian or French baguette (sliced and toasted)

    METHOD:

    Pulse capers in a food processor until coarsely chopped. Add salmon, dill, oil, and lemon zest and pulse until salmon is finely chopped and tartare is well-mixed.Transfer to a small bowl, stir in red onion, and serve.

    38 calories per serving (4-5 teaspoons)

    FOR MORE RECIPES, GO TO PAGE 2.

    Continued



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    Add a Comment
    by libra1636 June 21, 2008 9:54 AM PDT
    Smoked salmon contains not only a lot of salt, but nitrates as well.If everyone worried about sugar as much as they do calories, they wouldn''t have to worry so much about their weight and many other health problems. Also making sure that we get enough fiber in our diets, which in the average person is lacking. And also that gluten has got to go. More vegetables, fruits and grains and less animal products are in my opinion the best.
    Reply to this comment
    by libra1636 June 21, 2008 9:55 AM PDT
    Smoked salmon contains not only a lot of salt, but nitrates as well.If everyone worried about sugar as much as they do calories, they wouldn''t have to worry so much about their weight and many other health problems. Also making sure that we get enough fiber in our diets, which in the average person is lacking. And also that gluten has got to go. More vegetables, fruits and grains and less animal products are in my opinion the best.
    Reply to this comment
    by barbaraf4 June 21, 2008 11:56 AM PDT
    I wouldn''t eat anything raw that came out of our poluted oceans and rivers.
    Reply to this comment
    by cyberus-2009 June 21, 2008 4:07 PM PDT
    I see their ingredient cost list still fails to list everything ... they use government math I guess.
    Olive oil, milk and sugar aren''t free anywhere around here but they never seem to count here.
    Reply to this comment
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