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Posts Tagged ‘lycopene’

  1. Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

    February 24, 2011 by erinRD

    How colorful is your plate?

    Let’s make some pretty colors on your dinner plate tonight.

    Quinoa Stuffed Peppers
    Adapted from Peas and Thank You

    4 bell peppers, your choice of colors
    1 cup dry quinoa, rinsed and drained
    1 small onion, minced
    1 1/4 cup water
    1 1/4 cup tomato sauce
    2 teaspoon minced garlic
    2 teaspoon chili powder
    salt and pepper to taste
    1 cup 2% sharp cheddar cheese, divided
    Garnish: cilantro, avocado

    Directions:
    1. Wash and deseed peppers, trimming off the top. Set aside.


    2. In a medium saucepan, toast quinoa and minced onion until both are toasty and fragrant, about 5-6 minutes.


    3. Add water, tomato sauce, garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
    4. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until most of liquid is absorbed and quinoa is fluffy. Add in 1/2 cup cheddar cheese.
    5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    6. Fill each pepper with 1/4 of quinoa mixture.
    7. Top each pepper with the remainder (1/2 cup) of the cheese.
    8. Cover with foil and bake for an hour.
    9. Remove foil from peppers and preheat broiler.
    10. Broil peppers until cheese and peppers are starting to brown. Garnish with cilantro and guacamole (not added into the nutritional info). Serves 4.

    Nutrition Notes: They always say, the more colorful your plate is the healthier it is. Interestingly, when it comes to bell peppers, color can actually make a difference to your health. Red bell peppers have been shown to offer better protection against heart disease and even cancer. Red bell peppers have higher concentrations of nutrients than the others. While any color bell pepper will provide healthful properties, the red variety packs the most healthful punch and are packed with nutrients and antioxidants including vitamin C and vitamin A. The combination of these two antioxidants is especially crucial in killing free radicals. Free radicals basically cause harm to healthy cells and they also build up cholesterol, cause nerve and blood vessel damage and cataracts. Bell peppers also contain good amounts of vitamin B6, beta-carotene, folic acid and lycopene ,like we discussed, is present in tomatoes too!

    Taste Test: These were absolutely delicious. I am falling in love more and more with quinoa as I incorporate it into my recipes. I want to try this recipe with poblano peppers next! Yum!

    Do you think about color when you are planning your meals?

    Category Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,, | 1 Comment

  2. Chicken Parmesan with a Twist

    February 9, 2011 by erinRD

    In search of a healthy, easy and delicious weeknight meal? I have the perfect recipe. A twist on a classic dish. I don’t think you’ll ever revert to the original way of preparing this dish after trying…

    Chicken Parmesan with a Twist
    Adapted from Food and Wine

    2 chicken breast halves, pounded thin
    1/2 cups Panko breadcrumbs
    1 eggs
    1/4 cup whole wheat flour
    1/4 cup skim milk
    1 Tablespoon Italian Seasoning
    2 Tablespoons olive oil
    1 cup shredded 2% mozzarella
    2 ounces turkey pepperoni
    1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
    1 jar Barilla marinara sauce
    salt and pepper to taste
    8 ounces whole wheat pasta, cooked

    Directions:
    1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
    2. In a shallow dish or pie plate, combine the eggs and milk. In another dish, pour the panko and in one more, spread the flour (you should have three shallow dishes all lined up). Add the Italian seasoning to the flour mixture.
    3. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and working with one breast at a time, dunk in the eggs/milk, then the panko and finally the flour. Repeat until all chicken breast halves have been battered.
    4. Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chicken breasts and lightly fry until golden on each side.


    5. Drain the chicken on paper towels and then lay in a greased casserole dish. Cover with tomato sauce, Parmesan and mozzarella.
    6. Finally, lay the pepperoni slices on top.


    7. Bake for 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Serve over pasta. Serves 8.

    Nutrition Notes: Tomatoes are my favorite summertime produce. (Confession: I typed “veggie” in place of “produce” but realized some people would call it a fruit but it doesn’t seem like a fruit to me. The End.) Tomatoes can be red, yellow, orange, green, brown or purple! They are loaded with vitamin C, niacin, folate and potassium. You may have heard of lycopene in the news over the recent years. It is an carotenoid found in red/pink fruits and vegetables such as watermelons, pink grapefruit and papayas but it’s mainly found in tomatoes and tomato sauces like used in this recipe. Lycopene has been shown to reduce cancer risk especially in colorectal, prostate, breast, endometrial, lung, and pancreatic cancers. It has also been linked to prevention of heart disease including decreasing cholesterol levels.

    Taste Test: You can use any brand of marinara sauce but my preference is Barilla. I think it tastes the best of any jar sauce and the husband actually asked if the sauce was homemade – it was that good. At first I wondered why the recipe calls for both Panko breadcrumbs and flour but this combination made for a nice crispy crust on the chicken. The flour filled in all the gaps left by the bigger Pancko breadcrumbs. So delicious!

    Did you know that organic ketchup delivers about three times as much lycopene as non-organic brands?

    Category Uncategorized | Tags: ,,,,,,, | 4 Comments