Lower Blood Pressure

It’s no secret that the mediterranean diet brings heart health benefits such as lower blood pressure and reduced cholesterol. So just what exactly IS the mediterranean diet ?

The Mediterranean diet refers to the traditional cuisine and healthy lifestyle (such as fresh air, and exercise), enjoyed for thousands of years by people from countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. The food is freshly cooked from healthy natural ingredients, unprocessed and unrefined, and is low in saturated and trans fats. It also includes plenty of fresh vegetables, legumes, wholegrains, fruits, nuts, seeds and olive oil, as well as an abundance of fish, poultry and only small amounts of red meat.

So, if you would like to sample some authentic, heart friendly mediterranean cooking, we’ve got a couple of delicious, healthy and nutritious mediterranean diet recipes below that are quick and easy to prepare :-

• Penne with Ricotta
• Sicilian Swordfish

Penne with Ricotta

Photo: www.mediterraneanrecipes.org/penne_ricotta.jpg

 Ingredients

• Penne — 100 grams
• Ricotta Cheese — 40 grams
• Grated parmesan — 20 grams
• Salt
• Pepper

This recipe can be prepared within 25 minutes and good for one serving only.  Penne with Ricotta is a tasty energy meal and excellent for your personal enjoyment.  Ricotta is a dairy product.  It is very rich in protein and derived from different types of milk.  

Preparation

Mix water with salt then boil in a saucepan.  Follow the directions on the package for cooking the Penne.  Drain the water but leave at least 2 to 3 tablespoons of water.  Add cottage cheese in the pan then season the mixture with salt and pepper.  Before serving, make sure to sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.  

Nutritional Value

Sicilian Swordfish

Photo: www.mediterraneanrecipes.org/Sicilian_swordfish.jpg 

Ingredients

• Swordfish — 600 grams
• Tomatoes — 200 grams
• Onion — 1 pc
• Black Olives — 50 grams
• Garlic — 1 clove

Swordfish Sicilian is a unique southern Italian recipe.  This recipe can be prepared in 25 minutes and good for 4 servings.  It has low fat and low calorie content.

Preparation

Briefly boil the tomatoes so you can clean and peel them.  Finely chop the onions and crush the garlic while preheating the olive oil in a frying pan.  After heating, fry the onion and garlic until golden brown.  

You can now put the sliced Swordfish in the frying pan.  Make sure that the slices of the Swordfish are approximately 1 cm thick.  Cover the frying pan while cooking the Swordfish.  Add the tomatoes after a few minutes.  Before removing the Swordfish from the pan, sprinkle the black olives and chopped parsley on top.  Serve hot.  

 Nutritional Value: 
 

About the Cooker – Felicia R. Mcclinton writes for the blog  mediterranean beef recipes , her personal hobby blog she uses to help people learn how to make Mediterranean recipes to eat healthy to prevent diseases.Recipes kindly donated by mediterraneanrecipes.org