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Number Crunching

Keeping track of your calories and monitoring your weight are keys to learning what works for you. The Perfect Portion cookbook makes calorie “counting” a snap, so it’s easy to keep track of how many calories you are eating. All of the recipes in the book are broken down into 100 calorie portions – whether you are looking for a 100 calorie snack or a 500 calorie dinner, we have the perfect portion you are looking for.

If you do want to lose weight, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends slow, steady weight loss by decreasing calorie intake and increasing physical activity. Whether your goal is a small calorie reduction to prevent weight “creep” or a larger reduction for greater weight loss, you can generally equate a reduction of 3,500 calories for a pound of weight loss. Therefore to lose one pound in a month you would need a daily reduction of roughly 100 calories, and to lose a pound in a week you’d need a reduction of 500 calories a day. Consult your doctor before making dramatic changes in diet or physical activity.

No matter what your weight loss goal, The Perfect Portion cookbook helps you find the healthiest way to cut calories by featuring fabulous recipes, meal planning guides and more… which in turn helps you to reduce empty calories from added sugars, fats, and alcohol ALL WHILE helping you with perfect portion sizes!

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All About the Perfect Portion

Whether you are looking to plan every aspect of your meals or are just looking to better understand portion sizes and the calories contained within them, the 100 Calorie Counting System was developed to truly adapt to you, your needs, and your goals. In this digital age, there are plenty of ways to track the calories you’ve already had. Now you have the perfect way to plan and portion those calories out before you eat them.

An example of a healthy 500 calorie dinner includes our Classic Meatloaf and Green Beans Almondine recipes as well as a comfort food favorite, Stovetop Mac & Cheese – try the recipe below.

Creamy Stovetop Mac & Cheese doesn’t just come out of a blue box; in fact, you can make it from scratch in nearly the exact same amount of time as the boxed stuff. Making an extra creamy cheese sauce from real Cheddar cheese can be difficult to do without the sauce separating, but this recipe uses both cornstarch and reduced-fat cream cheese to bind things together and keep things easy and foolproof.

Stovetop Mac & Cheese
 
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Recipe type: Casseroles & One-Pot Meals
Makes: 12 Lunch portions
Ingredients
  • 16 ounces elbow macaroni
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 ½ cups chicken broth
  • 1 (12-ounce) can fat-free evaporated milk
  • ¾ teaspoon salt
  • 4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese
  • 3 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
  • 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
  1. Boil the macaroni according to package directions. Drain, but do not rinse.
  2. In a stockpot over medium-high heat, whisk the cornstarch into the chicken broth, until dissolved. Bring up to a simmer, and let cook for 2 minutes.
  3. Whisk the evaporated milk and salt into the thickened chicken broth, and bring back up to a simmer.
  4. Remove sauce from heat, and stir in cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, and Parmesan cheese, until melted and creamy.
  5. Add the cooked macaroni into the cheese sauce, and stir to combine before serving.
Perfect Portion Stovetop Mac and Cheese

HELPFUL TIP: It is best to make the sauce as the macaroni is boiling, so that you can add hot macaroni into the sauce. If the finished dish has cooled too much, simply warm over medium-low heat and stir constantly, until hot throughout.
Serving size: ⅓ cup Calories: 100

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Make your own dressings and Save $

You can save a lot of money and be healthier this year by making your own dressings. These will be fresh and healthy alternatives to the preservative-packed versions on your grocery store shelf.

Tzatziki Sauce

Tzatziki is a creamy, tangy Greek sauce and dip made from fresh cucumber, dill, and yogurt. It makes a refreshing topping for meats seasoned with Mediterranean spices like oregano, in the same way that you would top a Mexican dish with sour cream. Beyond that, it’s also an incredibly low-calorie dip that is excellent with baked pita chips or fresh-cut vegetables.

Tzatziki Sauce
 
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Recipe type: Dressings, Sauces & jams
Makes: 10 Topping or 5 Dip portions
Ingredients
  • 1 medium cucumber, peeled
  • ½ teaspoon salt, divided
  • 18 ounces nonfat plain Greek yogurt
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
  • 2 tablespoons minced red onion
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • ⅛ teaspoon pepper
Directions
  1. Slice cucumber in half lengthwise, and use a spoon to scrape out the seeds, making sure to get all of the translucent flesh around the seeds and discarding it.
  2. Chop the seeded cucumbers, and place in a colander. Cover with a paper towel, and press down to squeeze as much water as possible from the cucumber.
  3. Sprinkle the cucumber with ¼ teaspoon of the salt, and toss in the colander to mix. Let drain in sink for 15 minutes, as the salt brings out the liquid in the cucumbers. Press cucumbers through a paper towel once more before proceeding.
  4. Add the drained cucumbers and all the remaining ingredients, including the remaining ¼ teaspoon of salt, to the bowl of a food processor, and pulse in short bursts for 1 minute to finely grate the cucumbers and combine everything into a sauce.
  5. For the best flavor, cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours to let the flavors marry before serving.
Perfect Portion Tzatziki Sauce

HELPFUL TIP: Some brands sell nonfat plain Greek yogurt in 18-ounce tubs (Fage brand is 17.6 ounces, which is close enough), but if you are having any issue finding that size, the easiest thing to do is purchase 3 (6-ounce) cups.
Serving size: ½ cup Calories: 100

Avocado Caesar Dressing

Mona’s Family Favorites: I LOVE avocado. It’s one of those healthy ingredients that creates creaminess with less fat than mayonnaise. In this recipe, we used puréed fresh avocado instead of the egg yolk and Parmesan cheese. Not only does the avocado make this dressing thick and creamy, it also adds nutrients, great flavor, and only unsaturated fat! This delicious Avocado Caesar Dressing knocks it out of the park.

Avocado Caesar Dressing
 
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Recipe type: Dressings, Sauces & jams
Makes: 6 Dressing portions
Ingredients
  • 1 medium Haas avocado, halved, peeled, pitted, and chopped
  • ½ cup 2% milk
  • 2 teaspoons anchovy paste
  • 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • ¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
  1. Place the avocado in a food processor, and process until mostly smooth.
  2. Add all the remaining ingredients, except the Parmesan cheese, and process until smooth and combined.
  3. Fold the Parmesan cheese into the dressing, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour before serving. Store refrigerated for up to 1 week.
Perfect Portion Avocado Caesar Dressing

HELPFUL TIP: Anchovy paste can often be found in the Italian food aisle, although 2 whole canned anchovies can be used in its place.
Serving size: ¼ cup Calories: 100

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5 Easy Ways to Burn 100 Calories

Start your New Year Right! Here are 5 easy, possibly unexpected ways to burn 100 calories, from walking to dancing to cooking to cleaning! The calories burned can add up if you incorporate any of these into your daily routine.

Perfect Portion 100 Calorie Burn - Walking

Walking: 20 minutes
Perfect Portion 100 Calorie Burn - Dancing

Dancing: 35 minutes
Perfect Portion 100 Calorie Burn - Shopping

Shopping: 30 minutes
Perfect Portion 100 Calorie Burn - Cooking

Cooking: 35 minutes
Perfect Portion 100 Calorie Burn - Vacuuming

Vacuuming: 20 minutes

The times listed are based on a 150-pound person performing these activities at a moderate speed.

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Guacamole-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

Mona’s Family Favorites: Not all party finger foods have to be heavy, greasy “calorie bombs.” These little “cherry bombs” are a simple and satisfying alternative for your guests. With only 25 calories in each filled tomato, you can go back for a second, or third, or fourth without any guilt!

Guacamole-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
 
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Recipe type: Entertaining
Makes: 24 Tomatoes or 6 Appetizer portions
Ingredients
  • 24 large cherry tomatoes (about 2 pints)
  • 1 lime, halved
  • Salt
  • 1 cup Fresh Guacamole (see recipe below)
  • 6 corn tortilla chips, crushed
  • Chili powder
  • Fresh cilantro
Directions
  1. Slice the tops and bottoms off each cherry tomato, cutting just a thin sliver from the bottoms for the tomatoes to stand upright.
  2. Use a melon baller or grapefruit spoon to remove and discard the pulp and seeds from each tomato, placing them on a serving dish as you finish.
  3. Squeeze the lime over all the tomatoes on the serving dish, and then lightly sprinkle with salt.
  4. Fill each tomato with 2 teaspoons of the Fresh Guacamole, letting it pile up and out of the tomato.
  5. Top the filled tomatoes with crushed tortilla chips, and then sprinkle lightly with chili powder. Garnish each with a leaf of fresh cilantro and serve.
Perfect Portion Guacamole-Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

HELPFUL TIP: Stores are often overstocked with (oval) grape tomatoes and have very few (round) cherry tomatoes. If you are having trouble finding them, don’t forget to check the organic produce section. They may even have both yellow and red cherry tomatoes to make a multicolored platter!
Serving size: 4 tomatoes Calories: 100

Avocados are known to be an expensive, temperamental fruit, so it’s no wonder that store-bought guacamole is often loaded with fillers and preservatives to bulk it up and prolong the shelf life. Yet the one thing they don’t seem to bulk up guacamole products with is flavor! We vastly prefer homemade! The best time to make guacamole is when avocados go on sale, as they’re not only less expensive, but they’re typically at their peak as well.

Fresh Guacamole
 
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Recipe type: Entertaining
Makes: 3 Dip or 6 Topping portions
Ingredients
  • 2 medium Haas avocados, halved and pitted
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 tablespoons minced red onion
  • 1 tablespoon seeded and minced jalapeño
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
Directions
  1. Use a large spoon to scoop the avocado out of the peel, then roughly chop.
  2. Place the chopped avocado in a medium-size mixing bowl, and toss with lime juice.
  3. Use a heavy fork or potato masher to mash the avocado until creamy and mostly smooth.
  4. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Serve immediately, or cover tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour to let the flavors combine.
Perfect Portion Fresh Guacamole

HELPFUL TIP: A ripe Haas avocado has brown skin, is slightly soft to the touch, and reveals green when the short stem on the top is pulled out. Hard avocados should be ripened at room temperature. Ripe avocados can be kept in the fridge for 2–3 days before using.
Serving size: ¼ cup Calories: 100

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Savory Southern-Style Cornbread

Some cornbreads are just as sweet, if not more sweet, than dessert. Real southern cornbread is far more savory. While we don’t call for baking our cornbread in the traditional cast-iron skillet, our cornbread’s deep corn flavor and tender crumb has all the other qualities of a fantastic, authentic southern cornbread. And we don’t have to fret about seasoning our skillet!

Savory Southern-Style Cornbread
 
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Recipe type: Sides
Makes: 8 Side dish portions
Ingredients
  • Nonstick cooking spray
  • 1 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F, and spray a 9 x 9-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and butter.
  4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, mixing together just until combined into a batter.
  5. Spread the batter in the prepared baking dish, and smooth out the top.
  6. Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until the top has lightly browned and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing. For 100 calorie portions, slice into 16 sections by cutting 4 rows by 4 rows.
Perfect Portion Savory Southern-Style Cornbread

HELPFUL TIP: When preparing a quick-bread such as this (as well as biscuits and muffins), it is always best to lightly mix the batter, as overdoing it can make the final bread more dense. A few lumps in the batter are perfectly alright!
Serving size: 1/16 cornbread Calories: 100

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No Need to Skip the Dip

Forget about the packaged powder dips… bring your own amazing onion dip made with caramelized onions. The secret ingredient for the perfect 100 calorie portion? Greek Yogurt!

Forget about packaged powdered dips. We build layers of phenomenal flavor by first caramelizing onions and then mixing in bold seasonings. Cool, creamy, and loaded with onion flavor, this is a dip that you won’t want to wait to dive into!

French Onion Dip
 
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Recipe type: Entertaining
Makes: 9 Appetizer portions
Ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 2 cups diced yellow onions
  • 18 ounces plain nonfat Greek yogurt
  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
  • 1 ½ teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • ¾ teaspoon onion powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ teaspoon white pepper
Directions
  1. Place the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, and cook until well caramelized, about 15 minutes. Let cool.
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine the cooled onions and all the remaining ingredients, folding until well mixed.
  3. Cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving garnished with additional chives, if desired.
Perfect Portion French Onion Dip

HELPFUL TIP: Two cups of diced yellow onions is about the yield of two medium onions. Sweet yellow (Vidalia) onions are recommended over Spanish onions, as the natural sugars in the Vidalia onions will help them caramelize in step 1.
Serving size: ⅓ cup Calories: 100

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Eat a Bunch of Crunch

Raw veggies not only add color and crunch to your party, plus the fiber keeps you fuller. For 20 calories or less, you can enjoy 1 cup of celery sticks, broccoli, zucchini, baby carrots, peppers, or cucumbers! Happy Munching!

Smart Dipping

1 cup sugar snap peas = (35 calories)
1 cup sliced radishes = (20 calories)
1 cup celery sticks = (15 calories)
1 cup broccoli florets = (20 calories)
1 cup baby carrots = (70 calories)
1 cup sliced cucumber = (15 calories)
1 cup sliced zucchini or squash = (20 calories)
1 cup sliced bell pepper = (20 calories)
½ cup Oven-Fried Potato Chips, see recipe below = (100 calories)
7 whole-wheat pita chips = (100 calories)
10 pretzel chips = (100 calories)
6 reduced-fat woven wheat crackers = (100 calories)
8 multigrain tortilla chips = (100 calories)

 

We forego the mess of deep-frying with a tidier and healthier alternative, the oven-fried chip. Rinsing our potato slices washes away sticky surface starch, allowing us to use a mere 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a couple of spritzes of cooking spray to “fry” our chips. Not to mention, they taste fantastic! You can have your chips and eat them too, without any guilt.

Oven-Fried Potato Chips
 
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Recipe type: Satisfying Snacks
Makes: 8 Snack Portions
Ingredients
  • Nonstick cooking spray
  • 1 ½ pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ teaspoon seasoned salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives (optional)
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 475°F. Spray 2 sheet pans with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. Slice the potatoes into very thin slices, about ⅛ inch thick. For best results, use a mandolin slicer or the slicing attachment of a food processor.
  3. In a large bowl filled with water and the ½ teaspoon of regular salt, soak the sliced potatoes for 10 minutes. Drain well, and pat potatoes dry.
  4. In a large mixing bowl, toss the sliced potatoes with the olive oil, separating the slices to ensure that each is evenly coated.
  5. Arrange the oiled potatoes in single layers on the prepared sheet pans.
  6. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until the edges of the potatoes are well browned.
  7. Season with the seasoned salt, pepper, and chopped chives before letting cool for at least 5 minutes.
Perfect Portions Oven-Fried Potato Chips

HELPFUL TIP: Soaking the sliced potatoes in salted water helps remove some of their excess starch and liquid content, making for crispier baked chips.
Serving size: ½ cup Calories: 100

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Restaurant-Style Salsa

Smart Dipping

SALSA is the healthiest dip around—all fresh chopped veggies with a flavor kick!

Most homemade salsa recipes are made by either dicing tomatoes for a very chunky, pico de gallo style or by puréeing them to a thin, tomato sauce-like consistency. This recipe uses both techniques to give you a variety of fresh flavors and textures in every bite.

Restaurant-Style Salsa
 
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Recipe type: Entertaining
Makes: 2 Appetizer or 8 Topping portions
Ingredients
  • 1 ½ pounds plum tomatoes, halved
  • ½ red onion, finely diced
  • ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • ¼ cup finely diced green bell pepper
  • 1 large jalapeño pepper, finely diced, with seeds
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • ¼ teaspoon chili powder
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper
  • ¼ teaspoon salt, or more to taste
Directions
  1. Core, seed, and dice the plum tomatoes, and place in a large mixing bowl.
  2. Add all the remaining ingredients, and toss to combine, adding any additional salt to taste.
  3. Transfer ⅓ of the salsa to a food processor, and process until very finely minced and almost smooth.
  4. Fold the puréed salsa back into the diced salsa, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to let the flavors combine before serving.
Perfect Portion Restaurant-Style Salsa

HELPFUL TIP: For a milder salsa, discard the seeds of the jalapeño, as that is where most of the heat comes from. Or simply omit the jalapeño and increase the diced green bell pepper from ¼ cup to ⅓ cup.
Serving size: 1⅓ cups Calories: 100

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