Calories in the Vegetable and Cheese Strata Update

[Guest guest]

> I can't believe it either, but it looks like it's true, 769

> calories!!!!!!!!!

 

When the numbers from MC look suspicious, take a close look at the

way each ingredient is entered. In this recipe there are two

ingredients that are culprits.

 

1) egg subsitute: enter " Egg Beaters® 99% egg substitute " instead. MC

uses the USDA data base, and the egg substitute it lists is an old

product (military food) and it is substantially higher in fat and

calories than the egg white products we use today.

 

2) Italian bread: enter Italian bread cubes and link the ingredient

to " bread cubes " . Or enter " bread cubes " and put " Italian " in the

preparation field.

 

When things are entered in the ingredient database as a weight, but

entered in a recipe as a volume measure, MC must do a conversion. And

it uses the weight/density of water as the baseline. In this case, MC

must covnert because it knows the n/a for 30 " grams " of Italian

bread, but the recipe calls for 8 " cups " .

 

The conversion is fairly accurate if the food density is similar to

water; however, the density of bread is much less than that of water,

so this threw the n/a way off.

 

Note: If you are using v4, there is a preference you can turn on:

" Display Nutrition Calculation Notes " . When you do a n/a, it will

list every ingredient that might possibly be inaccurate because of

assumptions MC had to make. [i *believe* this is also an option in

the Windows version.]

 

By making the two changes when entering the recipe that I described

above, the nutritional info is more credible:

 

Per serving: 241 Calories; 4g Fat (16% calories from fat); 17g

Protein; 34g Carbohydrate; 6mg Cholesterol; 589mg Sodium

Food Exchanges: 1 Starch/Bread; 1 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 1/2 Non-Fat

Milk; 1/2 Fat

 

See, we can enjoy this recipe, even on a lowfat or low-calorie diet!

Thanks for posting it!

 

 

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method

-------- ------------ --------------------------------

1 teaspoon oil

2 cups diced zucchini

2 cups sliced mushrooms

1 cup diced red bell pepper

1 cup diced onion

2 cloves garlic -- crushed

3/4 cup canned artichoke hearts -- drained and chopped

8 cups Italian bread -- cubed

cooking spray

1 cup reduced fat extra sharp cheddar cheese -- shredded

1/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese -- grated

1 1/2 cups egg substitute

1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon dry mustard

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

12 ounces evaporated skim milk

oregano sprigs -- optional

--

Ellen C.

ellen