Usually, the chicken for General Tso’s is deep-fried. I use baked chicken breast nuggets that have been par-fried and have only 160 calories, 3.5 grams of fat (1 saturated), 85 mg of cholesterol, but does have 530 mg of sodium. The sauce is a blend of onions, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and soy sauce with hoisin sauce added. I use brown sugar, molasses and agave to add sweetness. The fried rice has a small amount of toasted sesame seed oil and pork in it, but not enough of either to raise the fat and sodium content to an alarming level. The egg roll should be considered a treat item if you are watching your weight or eating for health. It has 180 calories, 7 grams of fat (2 grams saturated), 20 mg of cholesterol and 490 mg of sodium for ONE egg roll and we serve two. You can fit that into the DASH diet if you are careful the rest of the day. There’s no health reason not to enjoy the California roll. The surimi or imitation crab has some sodium in it, but I only use about half a portion on an entire roll. One portion of the California roll will give you about 150 mg of sodium. If you cannot tolerate the small amount of gluten in soy sauce, the vegetables, soup and California roll are the only 100 percent gluten-free items available today.

Ratatouille is a stewed vegetable dish that originates in the Mediterranean coastal town of Nice in the Provençal region of France, very close to Italy. It features ingredients common to both Italy and France, like stewed tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, peppers, garlic and onions. I have made it enough that I am sure most of you are familiar with it. My version is meat-free, has a very small amount of olive oil and is relatively low in sodium. For the 100% vegans out there, I am using the Better Than Bouillon chicken and ham bases in this recipe. You can buy the Better Than Bouillon Soup Ham base I use right down at Gene’s grocery store! Look for the “Chef Steve’s Grab Good” label in the aisle! The chicken breast we add to it has 160 calories, 3.5 grams of fat (1 gram saturated), 85 mg of cholesterol and 530 mg of sodium. This meal easily fits into almost any diet on the healthy diet spectrum! Leave off the meat and it even fits into the plant-based whole foods diet. Most importantly, it tastes great! I use 2% milk instead of cream in the soup. It is thickened with an oil-based roux so it does have some fat in it, but it is a healthier version of a cream soup than you will find in other restaurants. The chicken and ratatouille are gluten-free.