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Thursday, January 09, 2003

By Woodene Merriman, Post-Gazette Senior Editor

The holidays are history. The fruitcake's finished, cookies consumed, eggnog a mere memory. Now we all resolve to eat healthfully, exercise more and maybe even lose a little weight.

	Joanne Bissell tosses Warm Wild Mushroom Salad With Sweet Peppers, Thyme and Shallot Vinaigrette at Weight Watchers' test kitchen in Green Tree. (Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette)

It's all so bland and boring, isn't it? And that "eating healthfully" resolution sounds like a lot of work, too.

Not if you're as kitchen savvy as Joanne Bissell of Chalfont Borough. "In the time it takes to prepare one meal, you can make three," she says.

A food adviser for Weight Watchers, Bissell can turn out a low-fat, nutritious, good-for-you dinner faster than going to the drive-through window. It will have attractive colors and different textures, too, to whet your appetite.

Here are some of the ways she does it:

Ten cups of fresh vegetables, enough for several meals, are roasted at once. Bissell goes through her refrigerator bin, picks out all the bits and pieces of fresh vegetables, cleans them and chops them into bite-size pieces in a big bowl. While she's working, a large cookie sheet is heating in the oven, set at 500 degrees.

Peppers in red, green and yellow, eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, onions -- the choice is yours. Salt and pepper are added as desired, plus 1 tablespoon of olive oil (or other oil if you prefer). She mixes the vegetables well to distribute the oil and dumps the veggies onto the hot cooking sheet. It will sizzle. The veggies are roasted at 500 degrees for 15 minutes; then the cookie sheet is removed and covered loosely with aluminum foil while the mixture cools. The foil keeps the veggies from drying out.

When the colorful mixture is cool, she packs it into meal-size airtight containers. The vegetables will keep for a week in the refrigerator.

Herbs and other spices can be added as the veggies are used. If she wants to put them in a pita to make a wrap, for example, she might add chopped cilantro to give a bit of Mexican flavor. Oregano goes with the vegetables to be added to a pasta sauce.

Along with a cut-up, already-cooked chicken breast, they can be added to fat-free chicken broth to make a hearty roasted vegetable and chicken soup. One night they might go into a pasta sauce, another time they can top a pizza. "Or they are great plain," Bissell says.

If you don't have 10 cups of vegetables, scale the recipe down and "roast" the veggies on your George Foreman (closed lid) grill.

Cook several boneless chicken breasts at once and have them ready to use many ways -- on salads and in soups, sandwiches, casseroles.

Keep a bag of shelled and cooked shrimp in the freezer ready to use for stir-fries, pasta and salads.

When you buy fresh herbs for a recipe, don't leave the remainder in the box. Trim off the bottoms of the stems, and stand them, stem down, in the refrigerator in a glass of water, covered loosely with plastic wrap. They'll keep much longer.

Put a few sprigs of the leftover herbs to soak in a bottle of vinegar to flavor it, or freeze them for use later. If you must use dried herbs, freshen them first in a bit of lemon juice.

Gradually lure the family into eating various kinds of greens -- romaine, mesclun, baby spinach -- by mixing them with crisp iceberg lettuce in a salad.

"When you eat iceberg lettuce, you taste the dressing, that's all," she says. Iceberg lettuce doesn't have much taste. Other greens have distinctive tastes the family may have to learn to enjoy.

Think of other ways you can cut down on preparation time. Buy celery and carrot strips, and other partially prepped veggies. Frozen chopped onions are handy if a recipe calls for them to be cooked.

Like other Weight Watchers employees, Bissell went through the weight-reducing program herself. After giving birth to two boys, D.J., now 10, and Chris, 9, she felt she needed to lose some weight -- and did. But she also became interested in developing ways to prepare healthful food quickly and easily, without added fat, and helping people expand their palates and monitor the size of the portions they eat.

Her background, incidentally, is in school administration, not nutrition.

Now she gives about 10 classes a month to Weight Watchers groups and other clubs and organizations. (Interested groups can call 1-800-487-4818 for more information.)

Despite her interest in cooking, she has not gained back the weight she lost. A small, dark-haired woman, Bissell stands before audiences, chopping, cooking, dishing out samples and insisting, "I like volume."

Ah, yes, but that "volume" has lots of fresh herbs and vegetables, and very little -- if any -- fat or other high-calorie ingredients.

WARM WILD MUSHROOM SALAD WITH SWEET PEPPERS AND FRESH THYME SHALLOT VINAIGRETTE

Joanne Bissell's recipes are flexible. Whatever mushrooms are on sale can be used in this salad, but a mix is more interesting. One or several colors of peppers can be used. Several lemons can be juiced at once; the remaining juice, covered, will hold for several days in the refrigerator. Or use frozen lemon juice. Garlic and chives can be minced in larger quantities and held in the refrigerator. A little peanut butter can be used if your sesame oil isn't toasted, and if the mustard is plain, not Dijon, that's OK. But don't skip the maple syrup; it adds to the good flavor of the dressing.

• 1 1/2 pounds assorted mushrooms, domestic, oyster, portobello, shiitake, in any combination, washed and sliced
  
• 6 cups mixed greens
  
• 1 yellow pepper, julienned
  
• 1 red pepper, julienned
  
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, minced
  
• 1/2 cup shallots, minced
  
• 1/3 cup cider vinegar
  
• 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
  
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
  
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

In a small mixing bowl, combine shallots, thyme, vinegar, maple syrup, mustard and salt and mix thoroughly. Whisk in olive oil.

Place sesame oil in large saute pan. Over high heat, saute sweet peppers 30 seconds. Add mushrooms and saute 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Toss greens with vinaigrette. Place in center of plate and top with mushrooms and peppers. Serves 6.

Joanne Bissell for Weight Watchers

PAN STEAMED COD WITH LEEKS AND FINE FRESH HERBS

If minced garlic and chives and fresh lemon juice are held in the refrigerator, this recipe is super-fast. Notice that it contains no added fat.

• 4 (5-ounce) cod fillets
  
• Juice of 1 large lemon (about 1/4 cup)
  
• 2 teaspoons liquid aminos (low-sodium soy product found at health food stores) or soy sauce
  
• 1 large leek, white part only, julienne cut
  
• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
  
• 1/4 cup fresh chives, minced
  
• 3 tablespoons fresh basil, chiffonade cut

Place leek, lemon juice and aminos (or soy sauce) in saute pan. Place cod filets on top. Sprinkle with fresh herbs and cover. Place over high heat until liquid begins to steam. Turn heat down to medium-low and simmer 6 to 10 minutes or until cod is flaky. Remove fillets to serving platter and pour leek mixture over top. Serves 4.

Joanne Bissell for Weight Watchers

Correction/Clarification: (Published Jan. 10, 2003) Weight Watchers food adviser Joanne Bissell lives in Chalfant Borough, not Chalfont as stated in a story in yesterday's Food section.