Good food that's also good for you

Kitchen-sink hot cereal contains oatmeal, chia seeds, pine nuts and dried and frozen fruit, and I add fresh fruit and low-fat milk. As with many dishes, I make a large batch to last a few days.

Jamaican ackee and salt fish (cod) served with boiled sweet potato and a whole-wheat dumpling. The dish gets a lift from Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce.

Two organic eggs served with stir-fried collard greens and Chinese broccoli, plus light potato gnocchi from a Meal To Go purchased at Jerry's Gourmet and More in Englewood.

Trader Joe's Organic Whole Wheat Fusilli with canned sardines in tomato sauce. For this lower-sodium version, I drain and rinse the sardines under running water.

The pasta spirals stand in for bread at breakfast the next day, when I serve them with an egg-white omelet containing pesto and reduced-fat sliced cheese.

A 5-pound box of Clementine Hybrids from Israel were on sale for $6.99 at the Englewood H Mart. They are harder to peel than Spanish Clementines, but taste better.

Two organic eggs with sun-dried tomatoes -- served with king whiting steak, upper right, and mashed Korean yams, sweet potatoes and Kabocha squash.

From the vegetarian menu at Wondee's Fine Thai Food and Noodles in Hackensack: Crispy tofu tossed with fruit and carrots in lime juice and chili paste ($10).

Wondee's shrimp soup with mushrooms, lemon juice and chili paste ($4).

Wondee's fried rice with fresh basil leaves, another vegetarian dish ($10).

Steam softens the bright colors of large shrimp topped with sweet and sour chili sauce ($17). We took a no meat and poultry pledge at Wondee's three years ago, and I'm the only family member who still sticks to it, relying on great seafood dishes like this one. 

Tasting and cooking notes -- in pictures

One of my favorite breakfasts got healthier when I asked the Golden Grill, on Queen Anne Road in Teaneck, to grill or broil fresh whiting fillets, which are normally fried.

Frozen sea scallops from Costco Wholesale were a little tough and a few contained fine grit. I made them with organic diced tomatoes, white wine and lemon juice.

I made a faux Cuban sandwich for my son, above, using a crusty baguette from Balthazar Bakery in Englewood. I had only two of the four ingredients, roast pork and Swiss cheese, and no heated press. My son doesn't like mustard, so I used Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, and melted the cheese under the broiler, below.

I used pre-washed organic spring mix to garnish a sandwich of canned fish salad with sweet pepper, onion, garlic, apple, Dijon mustard, lemon juice and ground cumin.

A fluffy 10-inch frittata, above and below, was made with 7 organic whole eggs, smoked wild salmon, shredded cheese, low-fat organic milk, fresh and sun-dried tomatoes, and no-salt organic seasonings. I started it on top of the stove and finished it under the broiler, and served it with orgnaic brown rice and sweet plantains. Almost all of the ingredients came from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

At Whole Foods Market in Paramus, a briny Lobster and Corn Bisque is made without heavy cream. A small, 8-ounce cup is $3.74, including tax.

A 16-ounce cup of Organic Indian Chai, a spiced black tea, is $1.93 at Whole Foods.

Whole Foods' gorgeous antipasti will set you back $9.99 a pound. I'm happy with the assorted Italian olives with whole garlic for $3.99 a pound at Jerry's in Englewood.

A perennial favorite in our home is Valentina Mexican Hot Sauce (Extra Hot), with a black label, which we buy at Hackensack Market on Passaic Street.

An earlier version of canned-fish salad went great with Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, cucumber, tomato, kimchi and za'atar thyme mixture.

I cook ahead hot cereal, pasta with sardines and other dishes in larger than unusual quantities to cut the time it takes to put a meal on the table. Here, fresh blackberries and low-fat milk were added to reheated 10-grain cereal and rough-cut oatmeal with pignoli nuts, dried cherries, black chia seeds and goji berries.