News Taffy

Last week, I reviewed the book Salt Sugar Fat which profiles the food industries’ concern with financial success over nutritional value. This week, I’m offering a simple nutritious recipe to show that eating healthy meals doesn’t have to be complicated, take a long time to prepare and that it can taste good. Eating real food you could grow or raise as opposed to prepared or fast foods is the only way to insure better health. Yes, my family does eat some prepared foods like crackers and chips and even the rare fast food meal but these are not part of our regular diet. Our regular diet consists of at least 3 servings of fruits and vegetables every day, some type of lean protein and some grains, at least 1/2 of which are whole grains like whole wheat bread or oatmeal. Yes, I do serve white rice and pasta, but once again, not every day. We all love cheese but never put as much cheese in a dish as called for in most recipes. After reading Salt Sugar Fat, I plan to cut back my consumption of cheese even more.

I thought I’d share a list of foods that we seldom eat, not that I’m trying to appear virtuous, but to demonstrate foods we have found we can live without. No, your kids don’t have to have chips for their lunch, nor cookies or pudding. There are healthy alternatives. Anyway, these foods are rarely found in our house:

*Store-bought cookies

*Candy

*Chips

*Pizza

*Frozen prepared meals

*Sausage

*Donuts or store bought muffins

Rather, foods you can usually find in our house every day include:

*Fresh fruit 

*Vegetables, fresh, canned or frozen, no salt added or other seasonings

*Lean protein like fish or chicken

*Beans, canned and dried

*Skim milk

Anyway, I recently tried this recipe and thought it was delicious. Vegetarians will love it. Arugula can have a sharp, peppery taste but it works well in this dish. I kept this simple and just served a crusty bread with it but a nice dish of sliced seasonal fruit would make a nice dessert. Try fresh peaches, peeled and sliced with a dash of cinnamon and a tablespoon of heavy cream. Decadent and satisfying without being over the top.

Italian Pesto Pasta Salad

INGREDIENTS:

*8 oz. elbow macaroni, whole wheat or white wheat

*1 7 oz. jar basil pesto or make your own

*1/4 cup red wine vinegar

*1/2 tsp. salt

*2 15 oz. cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

*1/2 5 oz. package baby arugula or about 3 cups

*2 oz. Parmesan, shaved preferably

*1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted

DIRECTIONS:  Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside. In a large bowl, stir together pesto, vinegar and salt. Add beans, cooked pasta, arugula, half the cheese and the pine nuts. Toss well. Serve immediately or cover and chill. Top with remaining cheese before serving.