Posted by Kris Drake, RN, CHPD
I ran across this quote from Andy Rooney that you may relate to, “The biggest seller is cookbooks and the second is diet books – how not to eat what you've just learned how to cook.”
It may not seem possible to prepare a great tasting meal without adding a lot of extra calories, but healthy meals don’t have to lack flavor. With local farmers markets open, now is a great time to prepare meals with locally grown, fresh produce, which adds both flavor and interest to your meals.
Healthy meals include a variety of fruits and vegetables, which are readily available at a farmers market and naturally low in calories. Choose from a rainbow of food colors to ensure that your family gets the nutrients they need – for example, try tomatoes, beets, carrots, lettuce, spinach, green onions, Swiss chard, radishes, strawberries, broccoli and cauliflower.
You could also try adding a new herb to your recipes to spice things up without adding calories. Culinary herbs such as rosemary, parsley, basil, sage, mint, oregano, lemongrass, mint, fennel and chives are popular herb choices at farmers markets.
Freeman offers a farmers market on Wednesdays and Thursdays during the summer. I hope you will stop by and check out the locally-grown produce.