Turnips? Yes Please!

We confess. We love turnips. Rutabagas too. And beets, carrots and parsnips.

Winter is a great time to take advantage of root vegetables, which stay “in season” even when it’s snowy. Root vegetables are totally affordable, very versatile, and deliciously healthy. The trouble is, many people avoid these veggies because they either:

a)      Have childhood memories of eating bland, boiled root vegetables that didn’t pique their palate

OR

b)      Have no idea what to do with them after they buy them.

Here are some ideas for cooking up these vegetables – and the results are anything but bland.

·         Roast rutabagas, parsnips and carrots with your favourite herbs – try oregano, rosemary and basil with a ribbon of olive oil. Roasting brings out the delicious sweetness of these veggies and can turn even the most die-hard avoider into a root vegetable embracer.

·         Grate carrots and beets into a unique salad. Season with garam masala, cumin, cinnamon or other piquant spices. Top with a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds and dried cranberries.

·         Prepare your normal vegetable soup, but use cubed carrots, parsnips and turnips as the base. 

·         Make pink pasta! Boil beets until tender, and save the beet-red cooking water. Use it to cook your favourite pasta shape, and the resulting noodles will be pink. Add cubed beets, goat cheese, roasted garlic and wilted arugula for an amazing pasta dish. 

·         Make a parsnip-carrot slaw with lemony vinaigrette for a great savoury side.

See? It’s possible to come up with creative, exciting meal ideas with root vegetables. Say good-bye to mushy over-boiled rutabagas and embrace your roots!

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Not just for breakfast...

Sure there are some common connections - fresh berries and bananas, for example. But when you think fruits and veggies, you don’t always think of cereal. Our friends over at Shreddies do and they’ve included Fruits and Veggies – Mix it up!® In an exciting contest that will help you think about it a little bit more too.


Think about some of the ways that you incorporate fruits and veggies into your meals and snacks. Now think about to mix that up by adding Shreddies to your favourite recipe – you might surprised at what you can come up with when you think outside the box! When you’re ready, cruise on over to our Facebook page (While you’re there, feel free to like us), follow the link to the Shreddies "Cook of the Week" contest and enter your new recipe for a shot at winning a cool $1,000 cash prize!

Don’t be afraid to Mix it up!®


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GUEST BLOGGERS: ANNA & KRISTINA (Part 2: Kristina)

If I had to choose one favourite fruit, it would be raspberries. I love to get my fill when they come in season in the summer. The best way to eat them is - they’re just bursting with flavour and don’t need any dressing up at all. Of course, who doesn’t enjoy raspberries on top of ice cream and other sweet delights?
I also enjoy raspberry jam any time of the year, on toast, as a cake filling or topping, and even in tarts or cookies. Have you ever tried baked brie with raspberry compote spread on a warm slice of baguette? A warm, sweet treat on a chilly winter’s day.

Buying Tips: Fresh raspberries have a pretty short shelf life, so it’s best to buy them and eat them right away. Look for plump, somewhat firm berries that are a deep pinky-red. Avoid any berries that are mouldy or squashed. Raspberries also freeze well and will last for up to a year.

As for my favourite vegetables, I want to say tomatoes and avocados, but those are actually fruit! When it comes to my favourite true vegetable, I do love potatoes. You can do so many things with them. Bake, boil, poach, fry, smoke, mash. Potatoes are so versatile, and they never disappoint!

Buying Tips: Choose potatoes that are fairly clean, smooth, firm and heavy for their size. Avoid any potatoes with dark spots, large cuts, growth cracks, bruises, decay, sprouts, or shrivelling. If you’re cooking from a recipe, pay attention to the type of potato called for. For example, baking potatoes are really only good for baking and turn chalky if cooked other ways. For boiling, you want smooth, new potatoes, which have more fibre and so hold together well.

I also love corn, asparagus, butter lettuce, and red peppers, all when in season. I enjoy them most when they’re freshly-picked, plain and simple, maybe with a bit of salt, pepper, and a dollop of good olive oil.

And I think radishes are totally under-appreciated. Beets too. I could go on and on.

-Kristina

Anna Wallner (left) & Kristina Matisic are journalists, shopaholics, and hosts of the cookbook and product testing series Anna & Kristina’s Grocery Bag, airing on W Network in Canada and OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) in the USA. You may also know them from their original series, The Shopping Bags, and their fashion & beauty series, Anna & Kristina’s Beauty Call.



Read more about Anna & Kristina and all of their product reviews at annaandkristina.com.

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GUEST BLOGGERS: ANNA & KRISTINA (Part 1: Anna)

I am a tomato lover through and through. Any shape, type, size, or colour. Heirloom to beefsteak to Italian roma, cherry, grape, red, yellow, purple, or striped. I love them all. And there are so many different kinds of tomatoes.

I like to eat tomatoes plain, or dress them up with some simple sea salt and a drizzle of olive oil on toasted bread. Tomatoes are easy to take along for lunch, a snack, or a picnic. Little nuggets of juicy goodness. And they’re really good for you, too.

When they’re not in season, I still enjoy tomatoes year round. Stewed in a hearty pasta sauce, or as a sun-dried topping on my favourite food in the whole world: pizza. (Think tomatoes have anything to do with my pizza addiction? Yes, they certainly do.)

Buying Tips: Tomatoes should be somewhat firm yet yield to the touch. Choose the reddest, ripest tomatoes you can find for the most nutritional value, and then eat them right away. Avoid tomatoes that are going soft, wrinkly, or that have cracks or bruises. (If it’s just a small bruise and the rest is fine, you can get away with slicing off the bad part.)

Spinach is my favourite vegetable. I can’t get enough of it. Of course, I enjoy the usual spinach salad, which can easily be dressed up with nuts, even sunflower and pumpkin seeds. For a heartier salad, add some crumbled or grated cheese, and diced bacon or prosciutto. In the summer, try spinach salad with dried cranberries or other fruit, crumbled goat cheese, and top with raspberry vinaigrette.

But it doesn’t stop there. I really enjoy hot spinach dishes too. Spinach steamed with butter, salt, and garlic: yum. Spinach is also so easy to add to omelettes and other egg dishes. And of course, I like to put it on my homemade pizza!

Buying Tips: Look for plump, fresh-looking leaves that are a dark, even green. Smaller leaves (baby spinach) tend to have a sweeter flavour than larger ones. Avoid any spinach that is turning yellow or that have started to go slimy. These are past their prime.

- Anna


Anna Wallner (left) & Kristina Matisic are journalists, shopaholics, and hosts of the cookbook and product testing series Anna & Kristina’s Grocery Bag, airing on W Network in Canada and OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) in the USA. You may also know them from their original series, The Shopping Bags, and their fashion & beauty series, Anna & Kristina’s Beauty Call.

Read more about Anna & Kristina and all of their product reviews at http://www.annaandkristina.com/. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Eating more fruits and veggies

The U.S. government released their new Dietary Guidelines for Americans on January 31st. One recommendation was to “Increase vegetable and fruit intake.” Another recommendation was to “Eat a variety of vegetables, especially dark green and red and orange vegetables and beans and peas.” These are very similar recommendations to what you find in Canada’s Food Guide.

What was interesting was that they translated the recommendation to “Increase vegetable and fruit intake” to “Make half your plate fruits and vegetables.” Now that makes it real. This helps you visualize how to increase your vegetables and fruit intake. I would add to this “Include vegetables and fruit as a main part of your snacks.”

How many servings of Vegetables and Fruit do we need every day?
Children need 4 – 6 servings a day; Teens need 7 – 8 servings a day and Adults need 7 – 10 servings a day.

Plan to have a serving at breakfast; morning snack; lunch; afternoon snack and a couple of servings at dinner. Here is an example of what that can look like, taking into account that it is February!

It is still easy to include those brightly coloured vegetables and fruits in the middle of winter.

Breakfast
1 cut up orange 1 serving
Snack
Carrots and celery sticks 1 serving

Lunch
Squash Soup 1 – 2 servings
Afternoon Snack
Pear 1 serving

Dinner
Green salad 1 serving
Broccoli 1 serving

There are many great options when it comes to vegetables and fruits no matter the season. You can also check the frozen plain vegetables and fruits to increase the variety.

Remember that a serving is ½ cup (125 mL) of fresh, frozen or canned vegetables; ½ cup (125 mL) cooked leafy vegetables; 1 cup (250 mL) raw leafy vegetables; 1 fruit or ½ cup (125 mL) fresh, frozen or canned fruits and ½ cup (125 mL) 100% juice.

By Carol Dombrow
Heart and Stroke Foundation registered dietitian,
Health Check program


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Kids can Mix it up!™ too

One of the (many) things that is so great about the Fruits and Veggies - Mix it up!™ program is the Freggie™ Children’s Program we’ve designed to compliment it. Our friend Freggie™ lives at www.freggietales.ca and encourages kids not only to eat their fruits and veggies each day but to learn and understand why it is so important for them. The website has fun games and recipes as well as the Freggie Tales Adventures™ newsletters and our popular Write to Freggie™ program. You’ll also find information about the Freggie Friday™ program and let me tell you, this is a program that we are both proud of and excited about – and not just because my kids think it’s “totally cool” that I get to work with Freggie!

Freggie Friday™ is available to schools across the country and we’re currently running a fully integrated pilot project with the Ottawa Catholic School Board and working with CHEO’s Healthy Active Living Obesity Research team to measure the impact of the program. We visit schools each week and deliver a 45 minute interactive presentation to help the kids (and their teachers) kick off the program.

We recently had the opportunity to bring the Freggie Friday™ program to St. Leo Catholic School in Etobicoke, Ontario, thanks to the generous support of our friends at Gambles Produce. The staff and students at St. Leo could not have been more welcoming – and polite! Freggie made some new friends while Kyla and Tom from Gambles Produce (pictured with Freggie below) provided apples, bananas and Clementines for each of Freggie’s new friends.

Our thanks to St. Leo for having us and to Gambles Produce for making our visit possible. We look forward to bringing Freggie™ to more schools across Canada so our kids can learn to Mix it up!™ too.

You can find out about Freggie by visiting http://www.freggietales.ca/ – click on the Parents and Teachers section for information about Freggie Friday™!

That’s all for now!
Lianne

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Plan to Mix it up!™

Always on the run? Too busy to eat a healthy diet rich in fruits and veggies? Doing a little prep work can help you include more fruits and veggies in your day. Here are some ways I try to Mix it up!™:

My favorite breakfast is a smoothie. Once fresh bananas start getting a little overripe, I peel them and place them in freezer bags to have on hand as the start of my breakfast smoothie. Check out CPMA’s Guide to Freezing Fruits and Veggies for more tips. I add some low-fat yogurt and then whatever fruits and veggies tempt me. Yes, veggies too! Carrots, celery and cucumber work great. My latest favorite is mango, banana, carrot, Clementine and yogurt. It takes just a couple of minutes to blend together and off I go. My son likes to experiment and choose what to layer in the smoothie – then we try to guess what colour it will turn out once blended.

Pack lots of fruits and veggies into your lunches - plan a little extra time after a shopping trip to prep your fruits and veggies for the week. Having cut up veggies makes it easy to throw together a quick salad for lunch or stir fry for dinner. I try to pack a small portion of veggies – red peppers, carrots, snow peas – for my afternoon snack.

Sunday afternoon we try to batch cook - spaghetti sauce, stew or soup – we keep enough on hand for a couple of lunches then freeze the remainder in smaller portions for a quick weeknight meal. I always know I have something in the freezer in a pinch.

-Melanie





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