Seasonal Healthy Food Choices

Here is some helpful and healthy food choices for the up and coming months. I think they are very useful in meal planning!

• In spring, focus on tender, leafy vegetables that represent the fresh new growth of this season. The greening that occurs in springtime should be represented by greens on your plate, including Swiss chard, spinach, Romaine lettuce, fresh parsley, and basil. 
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• In summer, stick with light, cooling foods in the tradition of traditional Chinese medicine. These foods include fruits like strawberries, apple, pear, and plum; vegetables like summer squash, broccoli, cauliflower, and corn; and spices and seasonings like peppermint and cilantro
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• In fall, turn toward the more warming, autumn harvest foods, including carrot, sweet potato, onions, and garlic. Also emphasize the more warming spices and seasonings including ginger, peppercorns, and mustard seeds. 
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• In winter, turn even more exclusively toward warming foods. Remember the principle that foods taking longer to grow are generally more warming than foods that grow quickly. All of the animal foods fall into the warming category including fish, chicken, beef, and lamb. So do most of the root vegetables, including carrot, potato, onions and garlic. Eggs also fit in here, as do corn and nuts.

In all seasons, be creative! Let the natural backdrop of spring, summer, fall and winter be your guide. 


FYI:'S courtesy of;

http://whfoods.org/genpage.php?tname=faq&dbid=28

Great Cooking using Tuttorosso Tomatoes

When I was a young girl my Mom would can her homegrown tomatoes every year in the fall.  I did not know they even had such a product as canned tomatoes.

 Every fall she would spend hours canning bottles and bottles of her homegrown tomatoes because they was the base for her pasta sauce, soups and stews.

I remember watching her work so diligently and spending days on end standing at the stove  perspiration dripping from her head.   At that time I thought that was how it had to be done to have a great pasta sauce. Grandma canned tomatoes, Mom canned tomatoes and I guessed I'd be canning tomatoes some time down the road for my family to enjoy delicious pasta sauce.

Well times have changed Mom got older and couldn't can anymore. I grew up, got married and was a working mom and wife.  Mom suggested I try Tuttorosso Brand tomatoes because she had started using them in all her recipes that would use tomatoes.  Her sauce was still as fabulous tasting and she no longer had to spend all her time canning tomatoes and no one noticed the difference. How about that?

I am a Tuttorosso Tomato lover and I'd like to show you several of my family dishes that have been prepared using Tuttorosso Tomatoes as it's main ingredient.  

I want to mention that I wasn't asked to write this about Tuttorosso tomatoes I did it because I really love the homegrown taste of this product and I think you will too!  Bon Appetit!

Tuttorosso Pasta Sauce

Homemade pasta sauce with meatballs

Chili with Beans

Chunky marinara with Angel Hair Pasta

Gnocchi with peas in marinara

Mother's Day Brunch 2013

A few photos of our Mother's Day Brunch with our son and his family!