Super Easy & Healthy Crock Pot Meals

Believe it or not, even the weather in Texas where I live is turning a bit cold. Cold weather certainly lends itself to certain types of warming, comforting foods - doesn't it? And there's nothing better than coming home and smelling the aromas of a meal that has been cooking slowly all day long.  Mmmm. Crock pots are one of those secret weapons for busy families that allow for home cooked mealtimes together, and timely bedtimes during the school year. I don't know about your kids, but mine are ready to eat immediately after I walk in the door from working all day. It's difficult to cook fast enough to feed their hungry mouths!

I love crock pot meals because you come home and the work is pretty much done. If you look at many of the recipes, they allow for some flex on types of meats, beans and vegetables depending on preference or sale that may be going on at your local grocery store.  Search for crock pot meals that have less than 10 ingredients so the amount of preparation time is minimized. If you get the kids to help, they will look forward to getting home later that evening to see their finished masterpiece! Check out a few that I love to make that are super easy - so easy that they hardly need a recipe:

Navy Beans with Ham

Ingredients: 2 ½ cups dry navy beans
5 cups water
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup minced onion
1 pound smoked ham, cut in 1” pieces
1 teaspoon salt (optional)

Directions:  Put beans in cooker, soak overnight in water.   Add garlic, ham and onion.  Cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or on high for 4 hours.  Add optional salt during the last hour of cooking time. 

Tips: Add fresh picante sauce or chili sauce for an extra spicy kick!  Serve with a fresh field green salad topped with your favorite colorful veggies. 

 Super Easy Slow Cooker Beef Stew

Here's the traditional slow cooker pot roast that I made last week.
But for a more color and a unique touch, try red onions, asparagus
and/or purple onions instead.

Ingredients:

2-3 pound round roast or pre-cut stew meat
3-4 cups vegetables
1- 16 ounce can cream of mushroom soup
1 package of onion soup mix

Directions: Cut veggies up in 1” chunks.  Add stew meat and pour soup and onion mix over top.  Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.

Tip: Try different types of potatoes – sweet, new, purple along with red onions and asparagus or spinach for a nice colorful alternative to the typical pot roast meal.

Shrimp Marinara in the Crock Pot

Ingredients:1 pound cooked shrimp, deveined and de-shelled
1 teaspoon Italian seasonings, fresh preferred
1-6 ounce can tomato paste
2 cups diced tomatoes (or, 1-16 ounce can diced tomatoes)
1 teaspoon salt
¼ - ½ teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons fresh parsley

Directions:Combine tomatoes, tomato paste, Italian seasonings along with salt and pepper in the cooker.  Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.  Turn cooker on high and stir in shrimp, cooking for 10-15 minutes. 

Tip: Serve over brown rice or whole wheat spaghetti, top with some fresh grated parmesan or mozzarella.
What is your family's favorite crock pot meal?  Let me know!  I'd love swap recipes. :-)

Thanksgiving: Healthy Strategies & Last Minute Recipes

Oh, the joys of Thanksgiving!  Our family is looking forward to a nice, intimate family meal with my sister-in-law and her family as well as my father-in-law.  It will be a team effort with all parties contributing dishes to the meal.  I love potlucks because it allows us to share different recipes, tastes and flavors with each other.   I hope you are looking forward to the special time you plan to spend with loved ones as much as we are.

Thanksgiving is usually the official start of the holiday season; that which is filled with shopping, parties, travelling and time spent with extended family.  This is a wonderful time to build memories that last a lifetime, but it is also a high risk time of poor eating habits and weight gain for the average American.  Stress, decreased physical activity and excessive calorie intake are some of the main culprits.  Research suggests that holiday weight gain can be the type of weight gain that stays around for years.

Some of my adult weight loss clients are nervous about the upcoming holidays.  They have made positive lifestyle changes and as a result, have lost weight, improved blood sugar levels and/or have lowered their cholesterol and blood pressure.  Holidays can have a way of throwing all of us off our healthy lifestyle track.  The good news is that this does not need to happen.  There are many things you can do that will allow you to enjoy some of the pleasures that the Holidays bring while also maintaining a balanced approach to your healthy lifestyle.  Here are some survival strategies to help you stay on track through the holiday season:

Avoid starving yourself in preparation for a party or get together.  This is a very common approach, but it is a guaranteed way to take in too many calories.  Instead, strategize a plan so you can enjoy calorie-rich foods in moderation.  Eat a good, hearty breakfast to start your day.

Maximize the veggie tray.  Most parties do have some lower calorie fare such as vegetable trays and salads.  Load your plate with larger portions of these foods to keep your total calories in check.

Contribute the healthier dish.  If you need to bring a dish to a potluck party, bring a healthy dish to balance out the higher calorie choices.  Most people that have healthy mindsets are very thankful for these type of dishes.  This also ensures that you have some low calorie choices to include with the higher calorie foods you plan to eat.

Be mindful of mindless eating and grazing.  Many people tend to eat in the absence of hunger during social situations because the food is simply there.  Try and be extra conscious about why you are eating.  It sounds obvious, but make sure you only eat when you are hungry and not just because the food is merely there in front of you.  Go back to the basics.

Increase physical activity.  Who says time spent with family during the holidays has to only involve eating and sedentary activities?  Be the encourager of your family by suggesting a refreshing morning walk or even an after dinner game of hoops at a local park.  Be creatively deliberate about staying active, which is sure to help avoid holiday weight gain.  Our family likes to take the opportunity of extra time off that holidays allow to do some fun activities together.

Great, Healthy Homestyle Recipes
If you are still looking for that special dish to complete the Thanksgiving feast, I have a cookbook that has not failed me one time.  Every time I make a dish out of this cookbook, my guests love them.  The cookbook is More Healthy Homestyle Cooking: Family Favorites You’ll Make Againand Again by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD.  She has the original Healthy Homestyle Cooking and the Healthy Homestyle Desserts cookbooks that I keep meaning to get – and this blog post has gotten me to finally purchase them.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find new books, as Amazon only could find me gently used versions and I was unable to get a hold of Evelyn before this post published.  But I am sure the recipes in the first one are as good as the second, but I will be sure to report back to you with my thoughts. 

What I like about Evelyn’s More Healthy Homestyle Cooking cookbook is that she makes several excellent suggestions to make a homestyle recipe healthier while at the same time, minimizing the loss of good taste and flavors.  That’s the key right there.  Living in Texas, many people I know are always on the lookout for good homestyle recipes that are also healthy.  If this is you, consider Evelyn’s cookbooks.

Here are a couple of her recipes:

Barley Risotto
1 onion, chopped
4 cups fat-free chicken broth
1 cup quick-cooking barley
1/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted
¼ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon finely shredded lemon peel

Coat a large saucepan with nonstick spray and warm over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes, or until tender.  Add 3 cups of the broth and the barley.  Cover and simmer for 25 minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed.  Uncover and gradually add the remaining 1 cup broth, about ¼ cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next (a total of about 15 minutes).  Stir in the pecans, parsley and lemon peel.  Serve immediately.  Makes 6 servings.

Per serving: 176 calories, 7g protein, 29g carbohydrates, 4g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 533mg sodium, 5g fiber.

Homestyle Hint:  To toast pecans, place them in a dry skillet over medium heat.  Cook, shaking the pan often, for 2 minutes, or until lightly browned and fragrant.

Roasted Tarragon-Vegetable Medley
VEGETABLES
3 carrots, halved lengthwise, then quartered
2 medium crookneck or yellow summer squash, cut diagonally into ½”-thick slices
2 portobello mushrooms, each cut into sixths

GLAZE
2 T fat-free chicken broth
1 T dry white wine or fat-free chicken broth
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 T chopped fresh tarragon or 1 teaspoon dried
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped

TO MAKE THE VEGETABLES: Position one rack in the top third and another in the bottom third of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets or roasting pans with foil and lightly coat with nonstick spray.

Arrange the carrots, squash zucchini, mushrooms, and peppers on both baking sheets or pans in single layers.  Place the mushrooms with their gills facing up.

TO MAKE THE GLAZE:  In a small cup, combine the broth, wine or broth, oil tarragon, and garlic.  Drizzle evenly over the vegetables.

Roast for 20 minutes.  Reverse the position of the baking sheets so that the top sheet is on the bottom and vice versa.  Roast for 15 minutes longer, or until the vegetables are tender and lightly browned.  Makes 6 servings.

Per serving: 69 calories, 3g protein, 11g carbohydrates, 2g fat, 0.5g saturated fat, 0mg cholesterol, 30mg sodium, 5g fiber.

From my family to yours, I wish you a very blessed, happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

Oh My Gourd (OMG)! Super Easy Roasted Butternut Squash

After such a sizzling summer here in Texas, I am really getting into fall festivity.   The weather here is slowly getting cooler and it feels great! I just love going to the market this time of year and seeing all the gourds so beautifully displayed.  The warm colors remind me of the colors of the changing leaves.  Displaying gourds are such an easy way to add to fall to your home décor;  you can put them in nice bowls as a centerpiece for your dinner parties and warm up the room.  When we think of edible gourds, we commonly think of our famous pumpkin.  But zucchini, squash and some melons also get categorized in the gourd family since they fall in the same plant species.  The orange colored varieties like pumpkin, acorn and squash are high in beta carotene, which is a powerful antioxidant. They are also rich in fiber, potassium and vitamin C.

Roasting butternut squash is super easy,
and can be a great fall complement to
your family dinners. 

Butternut squash is a tasty choice that children have a tendency to like because of its mild taste.  There are a lot of great recipes for butternut squash, but they can be very easy to prepare without a recipe.  For a nice roasted taste, all you have to do is cut one butternut squash in half horizontally and put face up on a baking sheet lined with tin foil.  Scoop out the seeds (you can wash and roast them with a pinch of salt..they are edible!).  Brush the squash with margarine, sprinkle with sea salt and a dash of brown sugar.  Roast it in the oven at 375 for 45-60 minutes until the squash is tender enough to cut with a butter knife.  Cut it up into small squares and serve as a side dish, or if you have more time, add it to some cooked quinoa pine nuts, sautéed onion and your favorite spices for a great flavor combination.  If you want to serve it with an interesting flair, present the roasted squash in-tact and stuff the area where the seeds were with other colorful roasted vegetables.

Take advantage of the great fall vegetables to add a nice, seasonal taste to your family dinners.  Food variety is best for overall nutrition and it also exposes your children to more flavors.  It doesn’t have to be complicated.  What’s your favorite easy, but tasty fall recipe?  I’d love to hear from you!

Cheap & Healthy on a Budget: Recipes + Tips

With the state of the economy right now, times are financially tough for many families.  Healthy, quick and family meals can continue inexpensively with some creative planning.  I like to call that "Budgeating." 

I sent a request out for cheap, healthy and quick recipes and I appreciate those who sent them in!  Here are a few feature recipes that you might want to try.  All of them are under $10 and serve four people.  Be sure to check out my cheap food tips at the end of this post.

Chicken Tacos with Salsamole
Elizabeth Ward, MS, RD
Boston, MA

Ingredients
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch of each: fresh ground black pepper, crushed red pepper, dried thyme, dried rosemary, onion powder
1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breast
8 (8-inch) whole wheat tortillas
"Salsamole" (1 cup salsa + 1 cup guacamole)


Directions
Heat the grill, or coat a 12-inch skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium-high heat.  In a small bowl, combine the salt with the pepper, red pepper, thyme, rosemary, and onion powder. Rub the chicken with the salt mixture. Grill or bake the chicken for 5 minutes on each side, turning once. Remove from the heat and let rest. Cut into thin slices and keep warm.  To make tacos, spread salsamole on each tortilla, top with sliced chicken and roll up or fold into quarters to eat.  Liz recommends pairing with a nice fruit salad.  I decided to pair it with fresh corn on the cob (cheap if you remove the husks) and some sliced banana and peanut butter to stay under my tight budget.  

Recipe Notes: This original recipe is actually Steak Tacos with Salsamole out of Liz's new book, MyPlate For Moms: How To Feed Yourself and Your Family Better.  But when I went to make the recipe, I could not find sirloin on sale.  So, I prepared it with chicken.  Consider modifying your old recipes or the recipes of others to make stretch your dollar.  Check out her book, by the way!

Whole Chicken Crock Pot
Amanda Wendt
Trumbull, CT

Ingredients
4 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 large roasting chicken (with pop-up timer if possible)
1 cup onion, chopped (optional)

Directions
In a small bowl, combine the spices.  Remove any giblets from chicken, remove skin and clean chicken.  Rub spice mixture onto the chicken.  When ready to cook, put chopped onion in bottom of crock pot.  Add chicken. No liquid is needed, the chicken will make its own juices.  Cook on low 4-8 hours.  Serve with your favorite beans or rice.  Add a side salad to complete the meal.

Amanda’s Notes: I highly recommend a pop-up timer in the chicken because some crock pots cook faster/slower than others (my crock pot cooks this recipe in 4-5 hours).  And I typically serve this with brown rice or a baked sweet potato and a veggie...broccoli or zucchini are my kids' favorites.  Or a salad. 

Scrambled Egg Pizza
Neva Cochran, MS, RD, LD
Dallas, TX

Ingredients
8 whole eggs
1/4 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/2 cup canned diced Italian tomatoes, drained
1/2 cup canned mushrooms, drained
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
non-stick cooking spray
2 tsp. canola oil

Directions
Heat a medium saucepan coated with non-stick spray and oil over medium heat. Add onion and bell pepper and cook until just soft. Add tomatoes and mushrooms, turn heat to low and simmer. Beat eggs in a mixing bowl with milk. Scramble in pre-heated skillet coated with non-stick spray until thickened and no visible liquid egg remains. Transfer cooked eggs to a serving bowl or platter and top with tomato mixture.  Sprinkle with cheese. I served it with whole wheat tortillas a bit extra cheese per person, and apple slices for dessert.

Recipe Notes: My friend, Neva, sent me this super cheap recipe (I priced it at $5.21 with the apple slices!) and it's so easy for moms to whip up.  The original recipe called for whole wheat rolls, but I decided to save money since I was already buying the whole wheat tortillas for Liz's recipe.  I also went ahead and used red onions and green bell peppers with this recipe since I was about to make the red beans and rice (see below).  When possible, take your whole week's worth of dinner meals and modify the same why I did to save some cash!

Easy Red Beans and Rice

(this one is mine)

Ingredients
1 pound pre-cooked ham, cut into 1/2-inch chunks 2 (15 ounce) cans red beans, drained
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 (10 ounce) cans rotel tomatoes with green chiles
3/4 cup chopped red onion
2 cups cooked brown or wild rice

Directions
Combine all ingredients in crock pot. Cover and cook on LOW for 5 1/2 to 6 hours.  Serve over hot, cooked rice.  Serve with some steamed broccoli sprinkled with lemon juice and a dash of pepper.  Serve with light yogurt topped with fruit.

Cheap By Food Group

Fruits and Vegetables.  My local grocery store often sells  10 bags of frozen vegetables  for $10.  The other day, they had a sale on canned foods where you only pay 26 cents for 20 cans!  You have to watch the sales and then buy in bulk when able.  But remember, frozen is about equal to fresh (sometimes fresher) on nutrient quality and low sodium canned vegetables and canned fruit in their own juices are just a close second.  You can often buy bags of beans for less than $1.  Consider searching out a produce co-op in your local area or visiting your local farmer’s market.  Locally grown produce usually contains superior nutrient quality since it’s farm to plate distance is shortened, and you get to support your local farmer.  If your funds are really tight, government coupons or WIC cards encourage for the purchase of produce items.

Grains.  Make your own breads!  Make your own pancakes by adding half whole wheat flour.  Start your day off with a big batch of steel cut oatmeal in the crockpot.  Purchase things such as wild rice, whole wheat couscous, brown rice and barley in bulk or in the bags versus the boxed varieties.  Cook them in large quantities and eat them throughout the week.  Add these grains with beans, top with a low-fat cheese – serve with a side salad or frozen veggies for a super easy and nutrient-rich meal!

Dairy.  Generic brands of milk are often cheaper.  Look for dairy items that are on sale.   Blocked cheese is cheaper than the pre-shredded.  Purchase yogurts in the larger

Protein foods including meat, chicken, fish, soy, nuts, seeds and beans.  Bulk, bulk, bulk.  Remember that 3-4 ounces is a portion – decreasing portion sizes for each family member is a huge cash saving!  For seafood, shop ethnic grocers such as Asian stores, as they have a tendency to have cheaper prices.  Look for frozen bags and canned seafood on sale. 

General Cheap Tips

Be Flexible. Maybe your favorite food items are out of your budget.  Remain patient and there will come a sale.  Explore other foods.  You might find something you like better!  And the more variety we have, they better nourished we are.

Plan Ahead. Shop for your groceries one full week in advance in order to avoid the eating out trap. Eating out excessively leads to both budget and belt busting every time!

Bulk and freeze. This will not only save you money, but will also save you time – two precious commodities these days. Free resources for doing this can be found at http://www.menus4moms.com/bul k/index.php and http://bulkcooking.com/. Be sure to choose the healthy recipes!

Grow your own garden. Again, eating on a budget demands that flexibility! What a fun thing to do with your children. Don’t have enough room outdoors? No problem. Many people are growing all kinds of produce indoors. Check out an interesting article found on Bella Online – The Voice of Women: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art15693.asp.

Brown bagged your lunches. Many of these components not only save you money, but they also help you stay on track with your healthy lifestyles. You can bag healthy food items that go on sale or even eat leftovers from last night’s dinner.

Be on the lookout for sales and good coupons. Grocery stores have weekly specials that can be found in a saver book located at the front of the store. You can also shop for coupons online at websites such as http://www.coupons.com/, http://www.couponsurfer.com/ and http://www.smartsource.com/. Consider taking a look at the coupons to help plan your weekly menu. You can search for recipes by ingredient at websites such as http://www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.gov// (under Recipes) and http://allrecipes.com/search/ingredients.aspx.

Do you have great ideas to save money on food?  Please share!

Quick Recipe! Summer Spring Rolls

The summer months can mean a busy schedule packed full of time at the pool, outdoor adventures, and vacations. What a great way to end the hot day by preparing an easy, tropical meal – our Mommy Dietitian signature Summer Spring Rolls! We included a complement of ingredients that provide great flavors, but feel free to switch out ingredients as you wish. If you have cooked chicken or tofu, replace that instead of shrimp. You can also swap various vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and cabbage.

Mangos are an exotic and major source of vitamin C, vitamin A, and fiber. These are keys to good immune function, vision, and digestive health. Shrimp is also a good source of high-quality protein and iron. In addition, an assortment of colorful vegetables is delicious and provides a ton of nutrients for the growing body.


Our Summer Spring Rolls are
yummy, light and nutrient-rich!

Summer Spring Rolls

Makes 12 rolls
Serving size: 3 rolls

Ingredients:

Spring Rolls:
½ lettuce, leaves separated and ribs removed and sliced in half
1 grated carrot
1 diced cucumber
2 diced mangos
1 diced red pepper
¼ cup minced basil
24-36 small to medium shrimp, shelled
12 (8 inch) round Rice Paper (can be found in ethnic aisle at grocery store)
1 large bowl filled with warm water

Dipping Sauce:
½ cup Rice Wine Vinegar
2 tsp. minced basil
1 lime, juiced
2 Tbsp. minced garlic
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp soy sauce

Directions:
1. Combine all dipping sauce ingredients in a bowl. Set aside to infuse flavors.

2. Cook shrimp in boiling water until they turn opaque, which may take 1-2 minutes. Take them out of the boiling water and immediately place them into cold water to stop the cooking process. When it is cool, devein each shrimp.

3. Mix grated carrots, diced cucumber, diced mango, diced red pepper, and minced basil together in a bowl.

4. Take one rice paper sheet and soak in warm water for a couple seconds. You will want to make sure that it absorbs the water, but not for too long. In a few seconds, you will see that it is pliable and flexible. Keep the sheet flat and place onto a plate.

5. Take one lettuce leaf and place it in the middle of the rice paper, and bring it halfway towards you. Leave a 2-inch border on the bottom of the rice paper round. Next, take a couple scoops of the mango-vegetable mixture and place it on top of the lettuce. Then, place two or three shrimp halves upon the vegetable mixture.

6. Take the left and right sides of the rice paper and bring it towards the center. Holding these sides down, take the side of the rice paper closest to you and bring it over the filling. Make sure that these are secure enough to hold the filling, but not too tight to tear. Continue rolling the filling away from your body.

Pat yourself on the back for rolling a spring roll.  Dip Summer Spring Rolls in dipping sauce, and enjoy!  You can cover your spring rolls with a damp paper towel if you are not serving them right away.  Serve with a fluffy, light rice for some added grain – such as jasmine rice.

Special thanks to Gina Tran, Texas Woman’s University dietetic intern, for all her hard work on this blog post!  Watch out, we’ve got a future foodie RD in the making. J

Empowering Kids in the Kitchen

One of the great benefits of “mommyhood” is to watch your children discover things for the first time. It may be watching them see, taste, learn or experience something that really gets them excited. The foundations we lay in our children have long term impact. It is great to know that the precious time that we invest in their lives will prove to be profitable and equate to large dividends.

The same is true for exposing your children to no pressure food experiences. As parents, we wonder why our children are such picky eaters, or apprehensive to try new flavors - yet we don’t allow our children to “experience” food. Our family recently bought Adobe Premiere Elements, which is video editing software, so we could play around with making our own videos. Over the holiday break, my 6 year old, Hannah and I, spent some time playing around in the kitchen. Hannah loves to be in charge, so we decided to film her very first video of her showing people how to make a tropical fruit smoothie. Hannah’s grandmother got her Disney’s Magic Kitchen Cookbook for Christmas and we are planning to make every recipe.

Hannah was the leader – she decided which recipe she wanted to make and even which fruit she was going to choose to put in the smoothie. We had a discussion about what her viewers might want to know while she is making the recipe – handwashing, cleaning the fruit and safety in the kitchen. As you watch the video, take notice of Hannah’s glances over at me to see my approval. As we let our children take the lead, encourage and commend them on a job well done. Remember their age and their capabilities! Don’t expect perfection. I thought Hannah did wonderful for her very first video shoot! We originally planned it to be just Hannah by herself, but at the last minute, I was added as the “host” so I could assist with filling in any missing gaps. It’s a raw, homegrown video, but I cherish the video documentation of our experience together.

You don’t necessarily have to shoot videos with your children, but I do encourage playing in the kitchen with them.  Allow them to role play as the “chef teacher” so they can gain confidence and learn vital leadership skills in the kitchen and life in general. In our busy everyday lives, let’s all remember to take time out to invest in those ways to build our children up in the kitchen. Hannah and I had a lot of fun, spent some great time together and we look forward to doing some more.

My next post will be a book review of the cookbook. Stay tuned!




Special thanks to our director, Nicky Hales, and our producer, Jeff Lemond for pushing our small project to completion.

Do Not Fear The Pomegranate

If you have been to the grocery store in the last month, you’ve probably seen the pomegranate displays.  Did you just walk by? It’s that time of year when pomegranates are at their peak season, but the majority of people don’t know what to do with them so they don't even try them. Or, they are stumped on how to cut the seedy, red-staining fruit up without causing a big mess. I recently received some pomegranate in my produce co-op share and I was looking for new ways to eat this seasonal treat. So, let’s explore pomegranates together.

The word pomegranate is French derived from pomme garnete, which literally means “seeded apple.” Favored by the gods in ancient mythology, considered as a symbol for fertility in many cultures, prosperity among Jews and hope among Christians, this unique fruit has only positive origins and references. Nutritionally, it is a rich source of fiber, postassium, Vitamins C, K, B6 and Pantothenic Acid. Pomegranate contains antioxidants like polyphenols, tannins and anthocyannins which effects in removal of free radicals from our body cells. It also helps in repair of cells and boosts the immune system. Pomegranate juice is known to be among the super healthy drinks of today. It is helpful in osteoarthritis and keeping the skin and heart healthy.

Interested yet?  If I have now piqued your interest about pomegranates, you may consider eating one if you gained confidence in cutting one up. The California Pomegranate Council says that there is an easy 3-step process in cutting and de-seeding pomegranates:

1. Cut off the crown, and cut the pomegranate into sections.

2. Place the sections in a bowl of water and then roll out the arils (juice sacs) with your fingers. Discard everything else.

3. Strain out the water, then eat the arils whole, seeds and all.

You can blendarize the arils and seeds to make juice, or use the nutritious seeds as a topping to oatmeal, yogurt or salads. For recipe reference, one medium pomegranate yields about a ¾ cup of seeds and ½ cup juice.

If you want to start slow, try this wonderful nutritient-rich recipe that mildly uses the sweetness of just one pomegranate, but mixes it with bolder flavors of lime, jalapeno and salmon.  As a proud Texan, this is my kinda flavor!

Roasted Salmon with Pomegranate and Avocado Salsa

Roasted Salmon with Pomegranate and Avocado Salsa

 

2 teaspoons ground coriande
2 teaspoons sugar

Salt, as needed

1 pomegranate, seeded (see above for process)

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion

3 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 teaspoons finely chopped jalapeno pepper or to taste
1 large clove garlic, chopped finely
2 avocados, preferably Hass, cut in 1/2-inch dice
1 head hearts of Romaine, about 7 ounces
4 center-cut Salmon fillets the same thickness, 6 to 7 ounces each
1 lime, cut in eighths for garnish

Mix coriander, sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt; reserve. Up to 4 hours before serving, mix pomegranate seeds, onion, lime juice, jalapeno, and garlic; gently fold in avocado. If holding more than 30 minutes, put plastic wrap against the surface of the salsa, then tightly cover; store in the refrigerator. Remove about 30 minutes before serving. Separate the romaine leaves; wash, then dry thoroughly. Reserve 4 of the most attractive leaves for garnish. Slice the remaining leaves crosswise in thin shreds; reserve.

To prepare the salmon, rub a generous teaspoon of the reserved seasoning mixture over each piece. Arrange the salmon on a baking sheet, skin-side down. Roast at 500˚ F about 11 minutes for medium rare (salmon should be spongy when pressed with a finger at its thickest part.) and 13 minutes for medium-well (salmon should be just firm when pressed with a finger at its thickest part.).

Do you have a favorite recipe that uses pomegranates?  If so, I would love to hear from you!
 
Some information provided in this post came from the California Pomegranate Council website.