The 4 rules for the perfect and diet-proof sandwich
But who said that sandwiches must necessarily be heavy or unhealthy? Let's find out how these typical lunch break foods can become a correct meal and also perfectly compatible with the diet. Plus practical tips to remember to build personalized, good and healthy sandwiches. Practically perfect! Is it true that sandwiches make you fat? The answer is very simple: it depends on the sandwich. Like all the dishes that give energy, from those based on cereals, to cheeses to protein seconds and so on, even sandwiches should be customized according to your energy needs. But this, when we buy a sandwich at the bar, does not happen: generally the sandwiches offered, are the same for everyone. But women, for example, burn significantly fewer calories than men because mother nature has given us less muscle mass (able to increase energy expenditure).
Many times choosing a sandwich during the lunch break is the most practical, economical and fast choice. Obviously, if consumption is occasional, special attention should not be paid, even if it would always be better to make friendly choices of a healthy diet. However, when the sandwich outside the home becomes a more frequent meal due to work or study needs, the risk on the one hand is that of not respecting one's energy needs, and on the other hand of following a repetitive and unbalanced diet. In short, there is no single sandwich that is good for everyone or that is good forever. In this regard, we often become attached to the same type of sandwich that we continue to prefer over the years. Thus contravening the need to vary the diet to feed not only more completely but also to avoid the excesses of nutrients that must be limited. For example, those who love cold cuts sandwiches, on the one hand will take too much salt and too much processed red meat on the one hand, and very little fiber and antioxidants on the other. Who cheeses, "exaggerate" with saturated fats, salt and so on.
It should be imagined as a complete meal
Before entering the practical part, perhaps the most important general advice is to consider a sandwich as a normal meal but portable: therefore the more complete and varied it is, the better. Obviously, at home it is easy to prepare complete and light sandwiches, but with a little patience you can also be able to convince the bartenders.
How to proceed to obtain a sandwich that gives life to a balanced meal and also protective for health? A simple system can be to choose an ingredient from each of the following 4 points.
1 The cereal base
Whether they are sandwiches, flatbreads, wraps or other, it is better to usually choose those based on 100% wholemeal flours, alternating wheat with other cereals such as spelled or rye. Whole grains contain vitamin E, minerals like magnesium and potassium, and more fiber. And as weights stay between 80 and 100 grams of bread (which provide respectively about 180 and 220 calories)
2 The protein part
It is good to let in some new air in the sandwiches, going beyond the usual cheeses or cold cuts, preferring, in case, always the leaner types. Regarding cheeses, it is better to be careful with portions that are around 30-50 grams for seasoned ones, to be reduced into slices or flakes. Do not worry, instead if you prefer ricotta: 80 grams give just over 100 calories or even yogurt or cheese flakes.
Legumes in the sandwich are also excellent: now chickpea hummus has become quite common ingredients, but also other homemade legume creams, burgers and meatballs (home made or purchased), grilled seared tofu. As servings, stay around 100 g for cooked legumes and around 80 for derivatives such as tofu. But as a protein source, even a hard-boiled egg is perfect and low in calories.
Who is not vegetarian, instead of the "usual" tuna can stuff sandwiches with anchovy fillets, sardines or mackerel, all beneficial fish for the cardiovascular system thanks to omega 3 fatty acids, they are also a good source of vitamin D and also calcium if they contain bones such as sardines. In addition, blue fish, in addition to being healthy and cheap, has the advantage of not being polluted like large predatory fish (tuna and swordfish, for example).
3 Essential vegetables
Vegetables are essential to give freshness, body and crunchiness to every self-respecting sandwich. Follow the seasonality, alternating vegetables of various colors, from the white of fennel or cucumbers through the orange yellow of peppers and carrots to the red tomato (or purple of beetroot and eggplant) to get to the green of salads and leafy vegetables such as spinach. Even better if you combine raw vegetables - such as salads, cucumbers or carrots - with grilled or freshly blanched vegetables: pepper, eggplant, red radicchio, Brussels sprouts ... The most daring can experiment with combinations with fruit: green apple, with a pleasant sour taste, and figs go perfectly with cheeses and a few salad leaves.
4 Good fats to complete
You can enrich the sandwiches by sprinkling them with aromatic herbs, fresh or dried, or some oilseeds (sunflower, sesame, walnuts, pine nuts) and - if needed - very tasty ingredients such as dried tomatoes, olives, capers ... Finally, you can complete them with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, if the whole is too dry or unseasoned and a splash of the vitamin lemon juice. Or use as an alternative fat one-two slices of avocado, delicious and healthy.
The Panino alla Caprese is one of the unique summer dishes par excellence based on tomato, basil and mozzarella. Let's find out together how to make this sandwich!
Ingredients
4 Ciabatta breadExtra Virgin Olive Oil to taste2 tablespoons of Pesto250 g mozzarella1 Tomatobasil to tastesalt to tastePepe to tasteoregano to taste
Procedure
To prepare the Caprese sandwich, start by dividing all four slippers in half: sprinkle with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a little pesto and bake the bread for five minutes in the oven at high temperature. Meanwhile, clean and cut the tomato into slices and drain and cut into slices also the mozzarella. Remove the bread from the oven when it is crispy and stuff it by alternating slices of tomato with basil leaves and mozzarella: finally sprinkle everything with a little oil, a sprinkling of oregano, salt and pepper, close everything and enjoy your Caprese sandwich.
NoteYou can sprinkle the bread with a further drizzle of spicy oil and mix the pesto with plain yogurt to make the Caprese sandwich even tastier and more special. The Caprese sandwich should be enjoyed at the moment and it is therefore not recommended any type of conservation.
But who said that sandwiches must necessarily be heavy or unhealthy? Let's find out how these typical lunch break foods can become a correct meal and also perfectly compatible with the diet. Plus practical tips to remember to build personalized, good and healthy sandwiches. Practically perfect! Is it true that sandwiches make you fat? The answer is very simple: it depends on the sandwich. Like all the dishes that give energy, from those based on cereals, to cheeses to protein seconds and so on, even sandwiches should be customized according to your energy needs. But this, when we buy a sandwich at the bar, does not happen: generally the sandwiches offered, are the same for everyone. But women, for example, burn significantly fewer calories than men because mother nature has given us less muscle mass (able to increase energy expenditure).
Many times choosing a sandwich during the lunch break is the most practical, economical and fast choice. Obviously, if consumption is occasional, special attention should not be paid, even if it would always be better to make friendly choices of a healthy diet. However, when the sandwich outside the home becomes a more frequent meal due to work or study needs, the risk on the one hand is that of not respecting one's energy needs, and on the other hand of following a repetitive and unbalanced diet. In short, there is no single sandwich that is good for everyone or that is good forever. In this regard, we often become attached to the same type of sandwich that we continue to prefer over the years. Thus contravening the need to vary the diet to feed not only more completely but also to avoid the excesses of nutrients that must be limited. For example, those who love cold cuts sandwiches, on the one hand will take too much salt and too much processed red meat on the one hand, and very little fiber and antioxidants on the other. Who cheeses, "exaggerate" with saturated fats, salt and so on.
It should be imagined as a complete meal
Before entering the practical part, perhaps the most important general advice is to consider a sandwich as a normal meal but portable: therefore the more complete and varied it is, the better. Obviously, at home it is easy to prepare complete and light sandwiches, but with a little patience you can also be able to convince the bartenders.
How to proceed to obtain a sandwich that gives life to a balanced meal and also protective for health? A simple system can be to choose an ingredient from each of the following 4 points.
1 The cereal base
Whether they are sandwiches, flatbreads, wraps or other, it is better to usually choose those based on 100% wholemeal flours, alternating wheat with other cereals such as spelled or rye. Whole grains contain vitamin E, minerals like magnesium and potassium, and more fiber. And as weights stay between 80 and 100 grams of bread (which provide respectively about 180 and 220 calories)
2 The protein part
It is good to let in some new air in the sandwiches, going beyond the usual cheeses or cold cuts, preferring, in case, always the leaner types. Regarding cheeses, it is better to be careful with portions that are around 30-50 grams for seasoned ones, to be reduced into slices or flakes. Do not worry, instead if you prefer ricotta: 80 grams give just over 100 calories or even yogurt or cheese flakes.
Legumes in the sandwich are also excellent: now chickpea hummus has become quite common ingredients, but also other homemade legume creams, burgers and meatballs (home made or purchased), grilled seared tofu. As servings, stay around 100 g for cooked legumes and around 80 for derivatives such as tofu. But as a protein source, even a hard-boiled egg is perfect and low in calories.
Who is not vegetarian, instead of the "usual" tuna can stuff sandwiches with anchovy fillets, sardines or mackerel, all beneficial fish for the cardiovascular system thanks to omega 3 fatty acids, they are also a good source of vitamin D and also calcium if they contain bones such as sardines. In addition, blue fish, in addition to being healthy and cheap, has the advantage of not being polluted like large predatory fish (tuna and swordfish, for example).
3 Essential vegetables
Vegetables are essential to give freshness, body and crunchiness to every self-respecting sandwich. Follow the seasonality, alternating vegetables of various colors, from the white of fennel or cucumbers through the orange yellow of peppers and carrots to the red tomato (or purple of beetroot and eggplant) to get to the green of salads and leafy vegetables such as spinach. Even better if you combine raw vegetables - such as salads, cucumbers or carrots - with grilled or freshly blanched vegetables: pepper, eggplant, red radicchio, Brussels sprouts ... The most daring can experiment with combinations with fruit: green apple, with a pleasant sour taste, and figs go perfectly with cheeses and a few salad leaves.
4 Good fats to complete
You can enrich the sandwiches by sprinkling them with aromatic herbs, fresh or dried, or some oilseeds (sunflower, sesame, walnuts, pine nuts) and - if needed - very tasty ingredients such as dried tomatoes, olives, capers ... Finally, you can complete them with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, if the whole is too dry or unseasoned and a splash of the vitamin lemon juice. Or use as an alternative fat one-two slices of avocado, delicious and healthy.
The Panino alla Caprese is one of the unique summer dishes par excellence based on tomato, basil and mozzarella. Let's find out together how to make this sandwich!
Ingredients
4 Ciabatta bread
Extra Virgin Olive Oil to taste
2 tablespoons of Pesto
250 g mozzarella
1 Tomato
basil to taste
salt to taste
Pepe to taste
oregano to taste
Procedure
To prepare the Caprese sandwich, start by dividing all four slippers in half: sprinkle with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a little pesto and bake the bread for five minutes in the oven at high temperature. Meanwhile, clean and cut the tomato into slices and drain and cut into slices also the mozzarella. Remove the bread from the oven when it is crispy and stuff it by alternating slices of tomato with basil leaves and mozzarella: finally sprinkle everything with a little oil, a sprinkling of oregano, salt and pepper, close everything and enjoy your Caprese sandwich.
Note
You can sprinkle the bread with a further drizzle of spicy oil and mix the pesto with plain yogurt to make the Caprese sandwich even tastier and more special. The Caprese sandwich should be enjoyed at the moment and it is therefore not recommended any type of conservation.
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