Dietitian spins healthy meals for family

Marie Dini learned to cook from the best.

Her mom, Rita won an Italian meatball contest at Friendship Village in Schaumburg where she lives and has been featured here as a Cook of the Week.

Marie cherishes her mother's recipes but when it comes time to cook for her own family, Marie, a registered dietitian, gives meal a healthy spin.

“My cooking tends to be on the healthy side but I also try to make it flavorful and taste good so that it is still satisfying,” she said.

Marie said she loved to cook with her mom, adding they cooked everything from scratch. But she also recalls a battle with weight and wearing “chubby” clothes ordered from a catalog. It was in sixth grade, she recalled, when she began to pay attention to nutrition.

A dietitian for more than 20 years, Marie said she gives clients the same tips that she uses to maintain a healthy weight.

“I learned to take that weight off and keep it off. It is still a struggle for me. It doesn't come easy,” she said. “You have to work at that every day. I like to share that part of my background with the people I work with because they know I understand their struggles.”

While portion control is key, another is filling the plate with fruits, vegetables, lean proteins and whole-grain carbohydrates. Using such fresh herbs as parsley, cilantro and dill as well as onion, garlic and fresh ginger allows her to keep salt to a minimum.

“The freshness of those flavors certainly can enhance the dish,” she said.

Marie said she tries to keep recipes simple but special and healthy, but she also likes to experiment with cultural flavors.

“My background is Italian, so I tend to gravitate toward that a lot but I'm not afraid to do Mexican foods or Asian and even now I'm getting into Middle Eastern spices,” she said.

Marie likes recipe makeovers, altering dishes to be healthier but still flavorful. One of her favorites is her jalapeno poppers, a recipe she brainstormed with her 23-year-old daughter Natalie. She also reworked fettuccine alfredo and makes her own Greek-style yogurt that she uses in place of mayonnaise in chicken salad, spoons into oatmeal, adds to smoothies or dollops on baked potatoes.

“These show how you can make some adjustments that are not really too difficult and make it taste good,” she said.

Making Italian dishes, which can be filled with cheese and meats, Marie said “has been a challenge, but I like a good challenge.” She uses ground turkey, low-sodium sauces, smaller quantities of quality cheese and adds herbs to enhance flavor.

She adds, “I always serve a vegetable. I grew up in a house where we always had a vegetable with our dinner and I continue that.”

While most dishes can be healthy, friends will ask her to prepare her mom's winning meatballs. Marie gladly complies.

“I don't play around with it because it is traditional,” she said. “I don't try to make it healthier because it is just so good.”