816-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 5, 1997
Make Your Summer
Meals Tasty And Healthy
Summer has finally arrived and
with it our plaits for barbecues and
picnics. With Americans becom
ing more health conscious, the
usual fare of hot dogs and ham
burgers have often been replaced
with lower-fat alternatives. People
are selecting meatless burgers,
poultry alternatives or extra lean
ground beef and adding certain
foods to “dilute” the fat and calor
ies. Sometimes, though, the alter
natives ate not as lean as you
might expect It pays to read the
food labels carefully when making
comparisons.
To evaluate the summer picnic
choices, let’s first look at the nu
tritional analysis of hamburgers.
A 3-ounce cooked, regular ground
beef patty provides 245 calories.
18 grams of fat and 66 percent of
calories from fat. A 3-ounce
cooked patty made from extra lean
ground beef has 215 calories, 14
grams of fat, and 58 percent of
calories derived from fat
By comparison, 4-ounce un
cooked ground poultry provides
anywhere from 120-210 calories,
0.5-15 grams of fat and 4-64 per
cent of calories from fat. Pre
cooked, meatless alternatives,
such as soy burgers, give 70-215
calories, 0-8 grams of fat and
0-45 percent of calories from fat
One all beef hot dog link pro
vides 150 calories, 13.5 grams of
fat and 80 percent of calories
from fat Mixed beef, pork, and
poultry gives 150 calories. 13
grams of fat and 78 percent of cal
ories from fat
By comparison, beef alterna
tives have a range of 40-120 calo
ries, 0-10 grams of fat and 0 to 75
percent calories from fat in one
link. Mixed beef, pork, poultry al
ternatives give 40-110 calories,
0-8 grams fat, and 0-65 percent
calories from fat per link. All
poultry alternatives have a range
of 40-130 calories, 0-11 grams of
fat and 0-83 percent calories from
fat. Meatless .alternatives such as
soybean dogs, yield 4S-120 calo
ries, 0-6 grams of fat and 0-S4
percent calories from fat
If meadess alternatives do not
sound appealing to you, there are
other ways to make the burger or
hot dog meal lower in overall
calories and fat. The following list
provides suggestions for your
summer picnics:
• Make sure that you have plen
ty of fresh fruits and vegetables as
side dishes.
• Keep the dips to a minimum or
make them low fat by using non
fat yogurt
• Load your plate with fresh
fruits and vegetables.
■ Top your burger or wiener
with salsa, sprouts, sliced toma
toes. onions, and lettuce.
• Use sauces such as barbecue,
hot pepper, soy, and Worcester
shire. Watch the sodium levels, if
you are hypertensive.
• Use portion control when
forming patties. Stick with a
4-ounce raw patty that will code
down to a 3-ounce patty or the size
of.a deck of cards.
One other method to limit the
fat and calories in burgers is to
“dilute” the meat patty by using
other foods as extenders. To each
pound of uncooked ground beef,
add one half cup of moistened
bread crumbs. Or you may use a
half cup of finely grated carrots,
potatoes, or cooked and ground
soy beans, or one cup of dry
breakfast cereal. The following
recipe demonstrates one way to
dilute the fat and calories.
EGGPLANT HAMBURGERS
Makes 8 Patties
12 ounces extra lean ground
beef
1 eggplant (Vi to 1 pound),
baked, peeled and coarsely chop
ped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 to 2 cloves garlic, minced
MIX. IT DOES A BODY GOOD:
8 tablespoons whole-grain
bread crumbs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
cheese
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 teaspoons plain nonfat yogurt
Salt and pepper to taste
• Pre-heat broiler to its highest
temperature.
, royalty in ,er-i_ vrence js Include,
Crystal Bozlinskl, Rachel Wright, Julie McConnell, Lori Harman, Deidra Brunton,
Whiting, Racheal Kenny, and Kristen Morgan.
Beaver-Lawrence
VOLANT (Lawrence Co.)
Julie McConnell, daughter of Jeff
and Roberta McConnell of Volant,
was crowned the Beaver-
Lawrence County Dairy Princess
at the Big Knob Grange on June
14.
Julie, who is a senior at New
Wilmington High School, will be
assisted in carrying out dairy
promotions in two counties with
dairy ambassadors Heather Baud
er, da ugh ter of Robert and Melanie
Bauder of New Galilee; Crystal
Bozlinski, daughter of Philip and
Cindy Bozlinski of Wampum; and
Rachel Wrigth, daughter of Scott
and Debbie Wright of Harmony.
Dairy maids installed include
Deidra Brunton, daughter of Wil
liam and Mary Jo Brunton of Ali
quippa; Lori Hartman, daughter of
Gary and Diane Harman of New
Castle; Rachel Kenny, daughter of
Don and Wendy Kenny of Enon
Valley; Kristen Morgan, daughter
of Gary and Debbie Morgan of
Beaver; and Lane Whiting,
daughter of David and Denise
Whiting of Edinburg.
Master of ceremonies for the
pageant was Ed Fasnaught,
Lawrence County commissioner.
ingredients, reserving half of the
bread crumbs. Shape the mixture
into eight patties and dredge them
on both sides in the reserved
crumbs. (At this point, you can
freeze any patties you won’t be
cooking now.)
• Broil cm rack (overa foil-lined
tray) 4 inches from heat for about
3 minutes on each sit until >
Julie McConnell will promote the dairy industry In both
Beaver and Lawrence Counties.
ty on the outside and well done
within. (To cook from frozen
state, preheat broiler, then broil 2
inches from heat for about 5 min
utes on each side.)
3‘/i -ounce burger provides ISO
calories and 7 grams of fat.
Recipe adapted from Consumer
Reports on Health, June 1997
Dairy Royalty