Guiltless Gourmet

Cooking healthy, gourmet meals can be a challenge. Most recipes call for rich ingredients loaded with great taste but bad fat. Coming to the rescue is Maison Le Grand.

Created by a French-Canadian foodie, these amazing pestos, tapenades, and sauces can quickly transform a bland pasta dish into a delicious, diet-friendly delicacy. The ingredients are vegetarian, 90% organic, gluten free, and contain no preservatives or added sugar.

My favorite is the "Lemon Confit & Pumpkin Seed Aromatic Sauce." I mixed this light, tangy sauce with shrimp and pasta to create a quick but impressive dinner last night. Check out the easy recipe:

1 1/2 cups Carba-Nada Roasted Garlic Fettuccine Pasta (140 cals)

16 large pre-cooked shrimp (90 cals)

1/2 cup steamed broccoli (15 cals)

2 tablespoons Le Grand Sauce (80 cals)

Mix them all together for a total of only 325 calories! I also dotted the vibrant sauce around the edge of my plate to create that ritzy restaurant look.

The sauce, which is made from lemon confit, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and a variety of spices, has only 2 carbs per serving and 8 grams of healthy fat.

Le Grand's other scrumptious products include: Garden Pesto, 4 Nuts and Cheese Pesto, Sun-dried Tomato Pesto, and a Mild or Spicy Olive and Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade.

They are made fresh weekly by Chef Bernard Le Grand and his wife at their home in the Quebec countryside and shipped to grocery stores here like Whole Foods.