Tag: recipe

Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce

Carroll

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

Read More

French Toast Casserole

Carroll

If you are hosting overnight guests this holiday season, this recipe is a must! You can make this several days ahead of time, it’s packed with nutrition, it’s filling and maintains the sweet holiday spirit. This recipe cuts back on the cream and added sugar, while at the same time uses a whole grain loaf for added fiber, berries for vitamins and minerals, and some Greek yogurt for a protein boost!

Read More

Crispy Air Fried Latkes and Applesauce

Carroll

Just about every culture that has access to potatoes has some variation of a crispy fried potato cake. Of all the delicious potato cakes around the globe, it’s hard to choose a recipe. However, for potatoes, ‘tis the season for latkes! This recipe utilizes an air fryer, cutting back on excess grease but maintaining the crispy goodness. Latkes are traditionally paired with applesauce, which is incredibly simple to make, and sour cream. Now, if you’re looking to add even more nutrition to this dish, you have to be willing to tamper with the original recipe. Using a 50/50 blend of potato with another veggie such as parsnip or zucchini will add in more fiber, nutrients and cut the carbs for those who need to watch their intake. In addition, replacing sour cream with a 2% plain Greek yogurt will give added protein to balance out the carb-y potato. If you’re hesitant about the transition to Greek yogurt, try full fat first— it’s still lower in fat than sour cream. For 2 tablespoons, Greek yogurt has 1g of fat and sour cream has 5g. They taste the same, I promise!

Read More

Feta Pumpkin Dip

Carroll

We’re knee deep in pumpkin season now! There are so many fun types of gourds to try, and you can use any of them in this recipe. Overall, winter squash is an excellent complex carbohydrate, with 2 to 3 grams of fiber per cup and an incredible source of vitamin A. The feta and Greek yogurt add fulfilling protein to this dish as well. This recipe not only makes a satisfying snack when paired with hearty, seed-laden crackers or veggies to dip in it but is also a tasty topping or spread to other dishes like soups, salads or sandwiches.

Read More

Squash Mac ‘N Cheese

Carroll

Squash as a pasta sauce base may sound unusual, but this is something community nutrition educator Dana Mealing, RDN, LDN, has been serving up for years— and it has yet to be rejected by picky eaters. This is a great way to make a rich, flavorful pasta sauce that is thick and creamy without adding extra saturated fat, and the bright orange color gives the illusion of being extra cheesy, making it irresistible to kids. This sauce is also great for smothering other veggies like broccoli and cauliflower. If you’re looking for a unique way to get more veggies in your diet this fall, you’ve found it! For an extra filling all-in-one meal, try using a pasta made from lentils or chickpeas!

Read More

Sweet and Savory Red Pepper Soup

Carroll

Red peppers can make a delicious addition to any meal, but serving them roasted really brings out their sweet, rich flavor. Peppers are an excellent source of many vitamins, such as vitamin A, E, C, B6 and B9, along with minerals such as folate and manganese. The vitamin C in red peppers is something that stands out. Research shows the average red bell pepper has over 300% the daily recommended amount of vitamin C. Compare that to an average orange that has about 90% the daily recommended amount. This high vitamin C content gives red peppers a powerful antioxidative effect, which scientists are researching as a way to alleviate arthritis.  

Read More

Baked Chicken Veronique

Carroll

Grape season is here! A choice fruit for late summer, grapes are full of powerful antioxidants. Many of us are familiar with the study that came out years ago that left the media presenting the suggestion that we should drink one glass of red wine a day for our heart health. This is because the powerful antioxidant resveratrol has been shown to help prevent damage to blood vessels and reduce out “bad” cholesterol, known as LDL. However, alcohol is considered a toxin and can be damaging to our health. So how do we get resveratrol in our diet without red wine? Grapes. You can also find it in other fruits, such as blueberries and blackberries. Grapes are a common snack, but most people don’t use them in their cooking. This recipe is a unique sweet and savory way to cook with grapes and get some heart-healthy antioxidants in your system! 

Read More

Corn Salad

Carroll

Corn gets a bad reputation for spiking blood sugar, but there are benefits to this misunderstood starchy vegetable. Corn is a good source of fiber, which can actually help reduce an extreme fluctuation in blood sugar. This recipe has extra fiber added through the additional veggies, and the protein from the cottage cheese can also help reduce blood sugar spikes. Corn is also a good source of nutrients, such as zeaxanthin and lutein, which are carotenoids that may help improve eye health. 

Read More

Zacusca (Eggplant Pepper Spread)

Carroll

Eggplant may be a challenging vegetable for many to cook. It doesn’t have a ton of flavor on its own, but it does a great job of soaking up the flavors of other things. Think of eggplant as a flavor sponge. This is one of the reasons you’ll see it baked or grilled as a cooking method, because it soaks up all that deep smoky flavor. An eggplant is mostly water, so it doesn’t have much caloric value. While it’s not very nutritionally dense as far as vitamins and minerals, it does have a decent amount of fiber and is rich in phytochemicals, such as anthocyanins, which are powerful antioxidants. These are particularly dense in the skin of the eggplant.

Traditionally, zacusca recipes remove the skin from the eggplant, but if you’re using a food processor, the skins will break down into the spread. Just give them a rough chop first.  Alternatively, you can stuff your leftover skins like you would a stuffed cabbage. Then if you topped that off with the zacsuca, what a meal that would make! 

Read More

Crunchy Parmesan Kale Salad

Carroll

It’s easy to get stuck in the same old salad routine. It’s time to add some pizzaz to your greens with this crunchy, cheesy kale salad recipe. Kale can be difficult for some people to introduce into their diet. It’s high fiber, which is great for your health, but it’s difficult to chew; it also has a strong, bitter taste. This recipe calls for a technique called massaging. It’s exactly how it sounds. With clean hands, squeeze and squish the kale with your dressing. This does two things. One is that manually squeezing physically helps to break the fiber in the leaves, making the kale more tender. The acidity of the dressing will also help with this. The crushing also impacts the flavor, making the kale less bitter while maintaining its nutrition. You can use this technique on all sorts of bitter greens in your salad. Try this technique with arugula, mustard greens, chard or collards.

Read More