Slammin' Salsa!

If you currently have an overabundance of tomatoes from the garden, the farmers market, or a CSA share-make SALSA!

 Salsa is high in nutrients and has zero fat! Great as a salad dressing, as a topping on fish, or to spice up your burritos, salsa is not just for chips!

Grab some of those in season green and banana peppers and get going! **Did you know green peppers are packed with Vitamin C, a vitamin that helps you heal?

**You Have To Peel Those Tomatoes:

The most annoying thing about making salsa is you have to peel those tomatoes.  To do so: 

1. Bring a pot to a boil.  
2. Mark the bottoms of each tomato with an X shaped slash (you can do this as you place them into the pot)
3. Drop in tomatoes for about 2-3 minutes, or until you see skin just start to peel
4. Take them out and place into a cold ice bath to stop cooking
5. Peel skins off

-Alternative: you can freeze tomatoes with skin on.  When you are ready to use them, the skins will peel right off while slightly thawed

Ingredients (recipe is easily doubled or tripled depending on how many tomatoes you have!):

• 10 cups (about 6 pounds) tomatoes (peeled)
• 2 c of chopped banana peppers or hotter peppers depending on your taste (wear gloves)
• 5 c of chopped green or assorted red and green peppers
• 4 cups of onions (about 1.5 pounds)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1.5 tbsp salt
• 3/4-1c apple cider vinegar (depending on how juicy watery your tomatoes are-if they are very juicey like ours, reduce the amount of vinegar or your salsa will be too soupy)
• optional: 1 tsp hot sauce

Directions (makes about 9 pints)

1. Place all of the above ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil for about 10 minutes
2. If canning: pour hot salsa into hot jars.  Place into a hot water bath for 15 minutes.

**recipe adapted from Ball canning recipe

*Use as a heart healthy topping for seafood or chicken

Nutritional Benefits:
Tomatoes: High in Lycopene, an anti-oxidant that prevents cancer
Peppers: High in Vitamin C, promotes healing and disease prevention (196% of daily needs!-1 cup has more than 2x's the amounts of an orange)

Garlic: Anti-inflammatory and aids in blood circulation/cardiovascular health
Apple Cider Vinegar: lowers blood sugar levels, can aid in heart health/blood circulation/lowering blood pressure

Baked Spaghetti Squah

Love pasta but want to replace those heavy carbs? Try spaghetti squash!

This squash can be cooked quickly in a microwave and is a great swap for pasta.

To Prepare:

1) slice squash in half and remove seeds without taking out flesh

2) place half flesh side down in a pan with a little water, cover, and place in microwave for 15 minutes

3) remove from micorwave (be careful jot to get burned by steam) and use a fork to scrape out flesh.  It'll come out in strands

4) Top with your favorite sauce and enjoy!

Additional Suggestion: 

We made a vegetarian "pasta" bake that's kid approved!

-mix sauce into squash, and top with fresh herbs like basil and low-fat cheese, such as Parmesan or part-skim mozzarella.
-Bake in oven at 375 until cheese has browned.
*For additional protein, you can add organic veggie burgers or beans, as was done in the picture below.

Benefits of Spaghetti Squash:
Nutrients: Spaghetti squash supplies modest amounts of carotenoids, plant substances that the body turns into Vitamin A and that may help protect against some diseases.  While not as nutrient dense as other squash, spaghetti squash provides 3 percent of the Daily Value for calcium, 5 percent of the DV for Vitamin A, 9 percent of the DV for Vitamin C and 8 percent of the DV for dietary fiber.

If you top with sauce, you will gain the added benefits of tomatoes, a nutrient-packed food with many 

cancer fighting properties.

Pasta Comparison

One cup of cooked enriched spaghetti yields 221 calories, 1.3 g of fat, 43 g of carbohydrate and 2.5 g of fiber. Pasta does provide more B vitamins. If you have diabetes or are watching your weight and carbohydrates, you can save 179 calories and 33 g of carbohydrate by eating a cup of spaghetti squash instead of a cup of pasta.

Calorie Content:Per 1 cup of cooked spaghetti squash provides 42 calories, 0.4 gram of fat, 1 g of protein, 10 g of carbohydrate (4 g as sugar) and 2.2 g of fiber

*If prepared as above, you will increase your protein amounts depending on the veggie burger/bean of your choice, increased fiber, and added calcium from the cheese. Your fat content will increase as well, depending on the cheese of your choice (go low-fat!).

Healthy Stuffed Banana Peppers

You don't have to have high calorie stuffed banana peppers to make them awesome. In season now, these spicy peppers are great stuffed with shredded zucchini, fresh herbs like basil and dill, with a small amount of shredded parmesan cheese mixed in. The liquid from the zucchini provides the moisture that is typically from high fat cheeses when you get them in a restaurant.

To ensemble (amounts vary based on number of peppers made, we used 5 peppers for 10 1/2s)

-mix together 1/2 c shredded zucchini, herbs, 1/2 c tomatoes, & 1/4 c low fat cheese like Parmesan, a little freshly ground pepper and pinch of salt (2:1 ratio of tomatoes/zuc:cheese)

-slice peppers in half (we wear gloves because the oils in the peppers can be hot and burn your skin!)

-cook on grill or in oven @375 until slightly browned 

Benefits of zucchini: Contains magnesium, an element needed for bone strength, folate-aids in tissue maintainence, and Vitamin C-repairs and rebuilds tissues

Benefits of Peppers-loaded with Vitamin C (1c provides 171% of daily needs Vit C) and fiber (4g in 1 c). Hot peppers also aid in blood circulation, which promotes healing

Benefits of Tomatoes: high in Vitamin C (1c provides 38% of daily needs) and Vitamin A (30% daily needs), in addition to being high in Lycopene, an anti-inflammatory nutrient linked to cancer prevention

Nutrition Information:

For entire recipe: 

-162 calories, w/o cheese: 54 calories

-Packed with Vitamin C 165% of your daily needs

-4 grams of fiber

-7g of fat

-28% of your Daily calcium 

That's a lot better than a typical stuffed banana pepper from a restaurant-where 1 pepper could be more than double the calories in this recipe and loaded with fat! Here you get 5 peppers (which is plenty for 2 people)

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