I had a great bite the other night at GOL! The Taste of Brazil (411 E. Atlantic Ave., 561-272-6565, golthetasteofbrazil.com) , a downtown Delray Beach favorite of mine.

This popular Brazilian-style steakhouse offers the usual churrascaria all-you-can-eat spread (for $39.95) of meats sliced tableside and an extensive salad bar (love the prosciutto di Parma!). But the real find on my last visit was the linguica, a Portuguese sausage.

The version at GOL! is just right — not too spicy (but not too bland) and grilled to perfection. The only problem? As tempted as I might be to fill up on it, I’ve got save room for the rest of the GOL! offerings.

That sound you hear is the crunching of diet-crazed America, at full tilt this month after mindless holiday grazing. We are diving in to fruits and veggies with all the gusto we can muster, amping up flavors with little or no fat.

There’s something so satisfying about the sweet-salty flavors of Asian cuisine — and this crispy slaw does it without an ounce of fat. Skinny slices of jicama beautifully absorb the flavors of the dressing — and pack a punch of Vitamin C. Granny Smith apples and crunchy cabbage add to the harmony.

Top with warm grilled shrimp for a meal in a bowl and the diet survives another day.

Asian Apple Slaw

Serves 2 as an entrée, 4 as a salad

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup lime juice

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup jicama, julienned

1 cup Granny Smith apples, skin on, julienned

1 cup cabbage, thinly shredded

Coarse salt, to taste

In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce and sugar. Stir in the jicama, apples and cabbage. Add salt to taste. Refrigerate at least 2 hours to meld flavors.

The best sub shops know that marinating a mix of veggies and herbs to top freshly baked bread, meats and cheeses make their sammies irresistible. And now, so do you.

Behold and taste Diva sammy slaw, a colorful side dish for Christmas dinner or a light change for those days between big holiday meals.

Diva sammy slaw is part salad, part topping of sweet bell peppers, Roma tomatoes, onion, fresh garlic, fresh basil, pepperoncini peppers and oregano bathed in extra-virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Make it 30 minutes before serving on artisan rolls or baguette, with best-quality deli meats and cheeses, no mayo necessary.

Or lighten up with whole grains, turkey and reduced fat Swiss cheese.

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The combination of green, red and orange makes this salad a spectacularly inviting side dish that will dress up your holiday table.

The striking red seeds of the pomegranate are especially beautiful amid the vivid greens, and their sourness blend well with sweet clementines to make a wonderful taste sensation.

This salad is low in calories and packed with a plethora of nutrients and fiber.

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By FRANCINE SEGAN

Most of us think of chocolate as something just for dessert, but the Italians have been adding it to pasta, risotto, polenta and meat dishes for centuries.

“Chocolate, the ‘food of the gods,’ conquered not just the candy shop but also the kitchen,” says Riccardo Magni of ICAM, one of Italy’s premier chocolate makers, based in the city of Lecco in the northern region of Lombardy.

This is not so surprising if you reflect that the cacao bean, from which chocolate is made, is not itself sweet. In fact, the ancient dwellers of Mesoamerica mixed ground roasted cacao seeds, chile peppers, cornmeal, spices and water into a spicy, sacred brew.

As G.B. Mantelli, marketing director at Venchi, an artisanal chocolate company based in Turin, defines it, “Like so many other seeds — pepper, fennel, cardamom and caraway — cacao beans are a spice.”

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By LISA ODEGARD

This salad is full of nuts and seeds to keep you full of energy all day.

It is vegetarian, vegan and egg free.

Winter Greens Salad

1 bunch rainbow chard, finely chopped
1/2 bunch escarole, finely chopped
1 bunch kale, finely chopped
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, roasted
2 avocados, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 cup currants
2 apples, julienned
1/2 cup roasted almonds, sliced
1 cup cooked and cooled bulgur wheat

Toss all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and add your favorite tahini vinaigrette.

Lisa Odegard is a regular contributor to www.NaturallySavvy.com, a Web site dedicated to educating people on the benefits of living a natural, organic and green lifestyle.

Robust food. Glorious wine. Outstanding company. Fabulous weather.

Thanksgiving in South Florida promises a bounty of gifts made even more special when enjoyed among the flowers and foliage of our local settings.

The Palm Beach Post’s sirens of the celebrated sip gather at the home of Swirl Girl Earthy to share their favorite Thanksgiving dishes and wine pairings. It is a feast as eclectic as the girls themselves.
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Looking for a tasty source of fiber? If you eat the whole cup of bulgur without anything else, it contains a whopping 33 percent of your daily value of fiber! And it’s hard to imagine a tastier way to eat bulgur than in tabbouleh salad, one of the mainstays of Middle Eastern cuisine.

This recipe is vegan, vegetarian, egg free, dairy free and raw.

Tabbouleh Salad

1 cup cracked/bulgur wheat2 bunch Italian parsley, small coarse chop
5 medium lemons, juiced, 1 zested
1/2 cup water
1 large cucumber, sliced
2 large tomatoes, medium dice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Pour bulgur into at least a 4-quart bowl and top with 1/2 cup of water, salt and pepper. Stir the water into the wheat.

Then zest one lemon (a microplane works best) right into the bowl then cut the all the lemons in half and juice with a reamer or a fork straight on top of the wheat. Be careful of the lemon seeds — you might want to place a fine mesh strainer about the bowl of wheat when you juice the lemons to catch the seeds.

Once juicing is done, incorporate the juice all over the wheat and let soak for 15 minutes.

Stir again and let soak for 10 more minutes. Then add the chopped parsley, cucumber and tomatoes, and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Fast food may be cheap, but it almost always comes at a hefty dietary price.

On those days when it just doesn’t seem like there’s time to cook, it’s easy to turn to takeout. But these options usually are a recipe for lots of calories and fat. And you’ll still probably need to spend $15 or $20 to feed a family of four.

Before you pick up the phone or pull up to the drive-thru, check out some better options.

Supermarkets are filled with pre-washed, precut and precooked products that, though a bit more expensive than some unprepared foods, can be the basis for healthy alternatives that are still reasonably priced.

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Question: I’d like to know which is the best variety of potatoes to use for potato salad? — Phylis B., Boynton Beach

Answer: Red potatoes are considered more suitable for potato salad. In the potato salad, which is tossed with mayonnaise etc., you want the spuds to hold their shape after being boiled and diced. Low-starch red potatoes are denser than the high-starch varieties, such as Russet, which will absorb more water and are likely to become mushy.

There are several sizes of new red potatoes available in the market now. We often leave the skins on for potato salads. If you don’t like, or can’t find, red potatoes in your market, thin-skinned round white varieties are the next best choice. Read the full story