Tag

veggies

Browsing

Soon, your avocados will last longer thanks to a Bill Gates-funded startup

Eating all your avocados at peak ripeness before they spoil is a feat that takes some serious planning. If you slice them too early, you have a hard, inedible center, but if you’re too late, you have a mushy, brown avocado that heads straight to the trash can. But Apeel Sciences, a California-based startup company that counts Bill Gates among its investors, says it has developed a way to keep avocados, and other produce, ripe and delicious for twice as long. The gif below, courtesy of CBS This Morning, shows how strawberries treated with the new product stand up to strawberries left untreated. via GIPHY Apeel uses food waste and other plant material to create a coating on produce that delays the aging process. The coating mimics the natural peel or skin that already protects the produce, and can replace the wax that grocery stores currently use. Aside from saving consumers from fruit and…

Brussel sprout chips with a kick

Brussels sprouts aren’t exactly the most-beloved vegetable at the market. But as a member of the nutritious cruciferous family — think cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli — they should have a place in your healthy diet. Brussels sprouts are the killer combination of being both high in fiber, vitamins and minerals, but low in calories. A half cup of cooked sprouts is just 28 calories, but has 137 percent of your vitamin K (good for blood clotting and bone health), and 80 percent of your vitamin C (immune functions) along with other nutrients like vitamin B6, potassium, iron, thiamine, magnesium, and phosphorus. For people who don’t get enough fish or seafood, Brussels sprouts can be a good plant-based source of omega-3 fatty acids. They’ve also been shows to keep blood sugar levels steady, and some studies suggest that their high levels of antioxidants can help protect against certain types of cancer. Phew! That’s…

Refreshing pineapple, cucumber salad

Summer is the season to celebrate with fresh fruit salads. There is such a bounty of fruits and vegetables and you can enjoy them individually of course, but you can also put them together in unusual ways and get excited about bright new flavors pairs. This is one of my favorite fruit salads to share. People are always surprised at how well this colorful combo works together. Sweet pineapple is balanced by the bite of the lime and the crunchiness of the cucumber. The cilantro brings it all together — herbs are good like that. Truth-be-told, this recipe is just a variation of a pineapple salsa recipe I make — just with bigger pieces of pineapple and cucumber so it’s easier to eat with a fork (and not just a tortilla chip). But, that said, if your crowd appreciates a little heat, you can consider adding the diced jalapeños back in. They…

20 Minute Honey Mustard Garlic Shrimp Recipe

Here’s an easy weeknight meal you’ll master on the first try. This Honey Mustard Garlic Shrimp takes no more than 20 minutes to make, but it also looks like you put major effort into dinner — don’t you just love when that happens? Honestly, if I would have known a delicious honey mustard sauce was so easy to make, I’d have been slathering it on all kinds of foods a long time ago. This sauce is equal parts honey and Dijon mustard with a healthy heaping of minced garlic for tons of flavor. While spring hasn’t exactly made a grand entrance yet, farmers markets are starting to pop up. The produce stands might not be overflowing but vendors still have tons of homemade jams, breads and honey to offer. They are all great items to buy local year round. So stock up on that local honey, support local business, and benefit with delicious dishes like this easy…

Sweet potato muffins with pecans and raisins are perfect way to use up leftovers

There’s something about using veggies in baked goods that feels so smart. Zucchini bread and carrot cake are two classics, but if you like those, you should try making these sweet potato muffins. They’re a great way to use up leftover sweet potatoes whether they be baked, mashed or casseroled. You can always eat leftovers the next day same way, but isn’t it more fun to make something new? Here’s a simple recipe for sweet potato muffins. They have a mild flavor, and can be dressed up with honey, a pat of butter or an extra drizzle of syrup, but if you’re fine with a clean and healthy tasting muffin, you’ll gobble them up as-is. *Note: If your sweet potatoes aren’t already well-mashed, or if they’re in a casserole, mash before using in recipe. (If casserole is covered in marshmallows, consider scraping some off before mashing.) Sweet Potato muffins with raisins and pecans Makes…

Strawberries top list of produce with most pesticides, avocados have the least

If you pass on the organic produce in order to save a few bucks, perhaps you should at least consider the organic strawberries, new research suggests. For the third year in a row, strawberries rank the worst on the Environmental Working Group’s Dirty Dozen list of fruits and vegetables. The annual list looks at which of our grocery store produce is harboring the highest number of harmful pesticide residues. This year, more than 98 percent of samples of fruits like strawberries, peaches, cherries and apples tested positive for at least one pesticide residue on the skin. About a third of all strawberry samples had at least 10 pesticides present, the study reported. One sample had an “astounding” 22 pesticide residues. Behind strawberries on the Dirty Dozen list landed spinach. About 97 percent of spinach samples showed pesticide residues were present. Nectarines, apples and grapes rounded out the top five. The report is based…

Creamy avocado pesto sauce with veggie noodles

Pasta never gets old. Just change the sauce and the veggies and you have an entirely different meal. This pasta and sauce combo puts a California twist on an old favorite — pesto. Avocado is so versatile. If you’ve only been using it as a breakfast food or burrito topping, you’ve been missing out. Its unbelievably creamy texture adds tons of flavor and it coats almost any type of noodle really well — Angel hair, farfalle, whole wheat rigatoni. Add in a few handfuls of basil and some nuts for texture, and you’ll have a seriously satisfying sauce and spread. I chose veggie noodles (sometimes called zoodles because of the zucchini) as my base to give this dish a truly West Coast kind of feel. You can make them with lots of different vegetables by using a spiralizer or by carefully and thinly slicing each vegetable with a knife. As a time saver, or if…

12 Foods you think are vegetarian but surprisingly aren’t

Becoming vegetarian isn’t always as easy as recognizing there is pepperoni on your pizza or bacon bits on top of your Brussels sprouts. Whether you’ve gone vegetarian for dietary or ethical reasons, you always have to be on the look out for the sneaky animal products manufacturers slip into seemingly safe food items. If there’s not chicken stock in your vegetable soup (very common at restaurants and in store bought brands), there’s gelatin in your marshmallows (so long Rice Krispie squares!). Here are 10 other foods that have got to go if you’re serious about an animal-free diet. 1. Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese For vegetarians, cheese can spruce up a plate of pasta, make a salad extra satisfying, or add oomph to a tray of appetizers. Unfortunately, for vegetarians, not all cheeses are, well, vegetarian. Some cheeses use an enzyme called rennet that is sourced from the stomach lining of goats and cows. This enzyme helps…

Blackberry, red onion, cheese tart recipe

It’s always when you have a nearly empty fridge, that you come up with the most delicious recipes. This was one of those recipes for me. I usually keep a pasty puff on hand as an easy way to serve up an excess of veggies, but when I searched the fridge, I found only one single sad onion — nothing close to the colorful crop selection I’m used to working with. But from these unlikely beginnings came the most delicious tart. It’s unique flavor combination falls somewhere between light lunch and slightly sweet dessert. Whatever reason you have to serve it, it’s a must try. Blackberry, red onion, cheese tart Ingredients 1 pre-made puff pastry 1 medium red onion about 20 blackberries (fresh is best, but frozen works, too) 1 cup shredded aged white cheddar (Kerrygold was what I used) 1/2 cup shredded goats cheese fresh cracked pepper 1/4 cup sliced almonds 1-2 tbsp olive oil 3…

New tearless onions make kitchen prep less of a pain

Lots of great recipes require onions, so sadly, there’s no getting around it — the tears, the stuffy nose, the smelly hands. But after years of kitchen struggles and decades of work, scientists have finally figured out a solution to take away at least one of our complaints. Enter: The Sunion. They taste just like regular onions with a sweet and crunchy snap, but unlike other store-bought onions, Sunions won’t make you weep. They were created through natural cross-breeding over more than 30 years rather than using genetic modifications. When you cut into an ordinary onion, a volatile compound called lachrymatory-factor synthase is released. When this gas hits your eyes, you body produces tears in attempt to reduce the irritation, which is why you appear to cry. Sunions have been bred to have decreasing amounts of this compound, resulting in an onion that doesn’t release tear-causing gas when sliced and diced. Sunions made their debut back…