TGIF!  Today’s Skinny Recipe comes from guest blogger, Kim Galeaz of The Dietitian Does Dessert. Kim is a registered dietitian and culinary nutritionist with a passion for blending great taste with good health. We’re both so excited to share this wonderful recipe with all of you. Here’s what she had to say:

There are triple benefits packed into this zesty salsa – easy, tasty and filled with health-promoting nutrients! In-season mango and strawberries are blended with zesty jalapeno and garlic to create a refreshing and unique dip for corn tortilla chips or an accompaniment to grilled fish or poultry. Tart lime is balanced with just a hint of sweetness, but no extra calories, thanks to no-calorie sweeteners. Picnics, graduation parties, BBQ’s, cookouts and reunions….you’ll find unlimited reasons to make this great-tasting and healthy salsa!

Check out the recipe below and if you like it, visit her website for more or follow her on Twitter @kimfoodtalk.

Makes 9 servings of ½-cup each

Ingredients

1 pound strawberries, hulled and diced (roughly 3 heaping cups diced)
1 large mango, peeled, pitted and diced (roughly 1-2/3 cups diced)
1/3 cup diced red onion
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and very finely diced
Zest from 1 lime
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
¼ cup very finely chopped cilantro
1 to 2 packages calorie-free sweetener (such as Splenda, Nutrasweet, Sweet ‘n Low, Truvia)
½ teaspoon Kosher salt
¼ teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

In a large bowl, gently toss strawberries, mango, red onion and jalapeno pepper together. In a small bowl, whisk together lime zest, lime juice, cilantro, calorie-free sweetener, salt and garlic powder.  Pour over berry mixture and toss lightly to blend. Serve immediately or refrigerate in a tightly covered container.

Calories: 40
Fat: 0g
Carbohydrates: 10g
Protein 0.5g
Fiber 2g

Recipe created by Kim Galeaz, RD CD

Today is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day and I think it’s probably my favorite of the little-known holidays! Those of us trying hard to eat healthy and/or lose weight shouldn’t be left out of this very important celebration, so here’s an extra special low-cal chocolate chip cookie recipe that will melt in your mouth with ooey-gooey goodness!

Ingredients

2/3 cup margarine, softened
2/3 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup granulated sucralose sweetener, like Splenda
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, brown sugar, granulated sweetener, and vanilla together in a medium mixing bowl. Mix until well blended and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape sides of bowl. Add flour, baking soda and salt. Mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips.

Place level tablespoons of cookie dough on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool on a wire cooling rack.

Nutritional Info:

Calories:90
Total Fat:5g
Total Carbs:11g
Sugars:7g
Dietary Fiber:0g
Protein:1g

Don’t forget to track your weekly waist measurement as well as your weight. Even if the scale doesn’t move your waistline may be melting.

This is a new guest post from registered dietitian Ellen Stokes. Ellen writes and creates videos about nutrition education, food safety, menu planning, grocery shopping, and healthful cooking on a budget. She formerly worked for CNN as a writer and producer and has taught food safety online for Georgia State University. This post is sponsored by Calorie Control Council. You can check her out on Twitter @EllenS_RD

As a registered dietitian, I can often be found rummaging through the aisles of grocery stores, checking out the latest products.  So, there I was the other day, at a well-known supermarket, when I noticed the store brand of diet cola carrying a conspicuous label that said “aspartame-free.”  When I looked more closely at other store brands, I noticed that some of them had labels proclaiming they were free of this or that ingredient – all of them ingredients which numerous research studies have found to be perfectly safe.

So, grocery stores are using a little stealth marketing to push their private labels.  What could possibly be wrong with that?  Actually, plenty.

It appears that in their zeal to sell the store brand, some grocery store chains are creating unfounded fears where they didn’t exist or playing on internet rumor mills about the alleged dangers of ingredients like aspartame.

And yet, when a group of budding scientists asked grocery stores to show proof that their negative advertising of these ingredients was justified on scientific grounds, they got nothing back.

The grocery stores’ only defense was that negative front-of-package labels are what consumers want.  Really?  Consumers want to be misled and unnecessarily frightened away from a safe ingredient like aspartame just so the grocery store chain can make a sale?  I doubt it.

In my work with the Calorie Control Council, I’ve looked at what respected organizations have to say about aspartame and it’s overwhelmingly positive.  Check out the Mayo Clinic’s discussion of aspartame and other low calorie sweeteners.

The next time you’re pushing a grocery cart, steer clear of marketing scare tactics.  Know the facts and choose the product that’s best for you and your family.  For more information about aspartame, visit www.aspartame.org.