Category: Recipes

Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

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Squash season is here! This is a great recipe that can help sneak in some additional vegetables onto the dinner plate, and you can substitute any winter squash in this recipe. Try it with pumpkin, acorn squash, honeynut, delicatas or really any mystery gourd at the farm stand. Side note: You can eat any winter squash, which is always my excuse to buy some fun gourds!

Winter squash is a great source of many vitamins and minerals but it’s a great source of beta carotene, which is a precursor to vitamin A. Winter squashes are also high in vitamin C, B6, magnesium and fiber.  –Dana Mealing, RDN, LDN, CIEC, Tevis Center for Wellness community nutrition educator

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Perfectly Roasted Eggplant

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Eggplant can be a challenging vegetable to cook. If it’s not cooked right, you get the equivalent to an oil-soaked chunk of memory foam, but cooked correctly, you get the most savory, soft, creamy vegetable you could imagine. Eggplant is also a great vegetable to add to your diet because its nutrient dense with about 3 grams of fiber for 1 cup, an excellent source of potassium, and the skin is rich in anthocyanins, which can help reduce inflammation, and may help improve cardiovascular health. I strongly encourage you to try eggplant, and this is a great starter recipe. –Dana Mealing, RDN, LDN, CIEC, Tevis Center for Wellness community nutrition educator

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Light Lemon Cod

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We hear a lot of talk about omega 3 fatty acids and salmon, but cod is another excellent source of these heart-healthy, anti-inflammatory essential fatty acids. Cod has a soft but firm texture, and a mild flavor that has a hint of sweet to it. It’s also a great lean protein and an excellent source of B12. Cod also tends to be a lower mercury fish. If you have concerns about the contaminants in your fish, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does provide a watch list for recreationally caught fish, which are linked below. –Dana Mealing, RDN, LDN, CIEC, Tevis Center for Wellness community nutrition educator

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Coconut-Lime Overnight Oats

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Here is a convenient, grab-and-go breakfast recipe with a fresh flavor. Overnights oats can be made with any flavors, fruits, nuts, seeds or nut butters, but however you flavor it, the combination of fiber-rich rolled oats and protein-dense Greek yogurt will keep you full and satiated all morning and help bring stable energy (and blood sugar) to the start of your day! If you’re looking to change this recipe into a healthy, hearty dessert, top it off with a crushed graham cracker or two crushed Biscoff cookies. —Dana Mealing, RDN, LDN, CIEC, community nutrition educator at the Tevis Center for Wellness

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Chicken with Rhubarb Sauce

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Although in the culinary would its often treated as a fruit, rhubarb is actually a vegetable! And, as a vegetable, it has many health benefits; it’s rich in nutrients and a good source of fiber. Rhubarb originated from the western parts of China and has been used in traditional medicines for hundreds of years. Contemporary research shows that rhubarb has a host of health benefits. It has anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory properties, and it also has an impact on gut health. Not only does it have anti-microbial properties that help fight bad bacteria, such as H. pylori (the cause of stomach ulcers), but also helps to feed the good bacteria in our intestine while also strengthening the mucosal lining of the intestine. Learn more about rhubarb here. –Dana Mealing, RDN, LDN

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Chicken Caprese Burger with Spinach Pesto

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As the weather continues to get warmer, you may find yourself craving a meal that feels light and fresh, but still satisfying and full of flavor. This Chicken Caprese Burger with Spinach Pesto is just the thing to make. Use lean ground chicken to cut down of the saturated fat that contributes to high cholesterol levels and risk of heart disease, while also including an extra nutrition boost by adding spinach into the pesto. You could also use other greens like kale, chard, beet greens or even peas! –Dana Mealing, RDN, LDN

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Greek Yogurt French Onion Dip

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Spring is here and with it comes onion season! Of course, the kitchen staples of yellow, white and red onions are available year-round, but now is the best time to enjoy the variety of mild and sweet spring onions, including scallions, wild ramps, garlic grass, scapes, chives and more. You may see some of these at the local farmers market. Because onions are such a common ingredient, it’s easy to overlook their nutritional benefits. Aside from being flavorful, low carb, fiber dense, and rich in vitamins and minerals, onions also have been researched specifically for their anti-inflammatory properties. This has been correlated to improvement in heart disease, blood sugar control and even the ability to help fight certain cancers. Onions may not have the superstar reputation of other “superfoods,” but they are super just the same! –Dana Mealing, RDN, LDN Read More

Roasted Radishes

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What do you do with radishes? They’re spicy, maybe a little smelly to some people … but overall, a vegetable that needs a glow up. This recipe is that glow up! It’s easy, low carb and a good source of fiber, vitamin C, folate and more. When cooked radishes take on a soft potato-like texture and lose their sharp bite. They’re great roasted, pan fried and even boiled in soups. –Dana Mealing, RDN, LDN

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Omega-3 Fish Tacos

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As we wrap up wrap up Heart Health Month, let’s wrap up a tasty meal that our hearts will thank us for: fish tacos! We hear a lot about Omega-3 fatty acids and their benefits on heart health, but salmon can be expensive, and many supplements have an unpleasant aftertaste. It’s time to embrace the sardines! These little fish are convenient, are no fishier than canned tuna and they’re shelf stable. Best of all, for a 3-ounce serving, you get about 1.3 to 2 grams of Omega-3s for as little as $0.63, compared to salmon that provides roughly the same for about $3.37 for the same serving. In addition to that, if you get bone-in sardines, you have the added benefit of an excellent source of calcium and collagen, helping to maintain the health of your bones, joints, skin, tendons and more. Read more on the health benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids. — Dana Mealing, RDN, LDN, community nutrition educator, Tevis Center for Wellness

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Classic Kale Chips

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Your healthcare provider may have recommended the DASH diet (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) to help you with your blood pressure, but you may be finding it hard to get in all that veg while cutting back on salty snacks. Try these delicious kale chips for a crunchy snack that’s rich in vitamins C, A, K and antioxidants.

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