Ready for some healthy foods and snack ideas to warm you up this fall? We’ve got you covered! This week, we will give you some fall-inspired healthy ideas you can try out. And depending on how much you like it, you can even include it in your Thanksgiving dinner. As stated by the Center for Disease Control, “Using more fruits and vegetables, along with whole grains, lean meats, nuts, and beans, is a safe and healthy way to lose or maintain weight.” Therefore, you can expect that these ideas will incorporate fruits and vegetables.
You may have seen these quick ideas before, but you can always try including them. A good place to start is a vegetable medley like the one from our Healthy and Simple Vegetable Dishes blog while using the list of seasonal produce on The U.S. Department of Agriculture website. You can also take a look at our Refreshingly Cool And Healthy Snacks and Drinks blog for some fruit smoothie ideas. You can even do fruit or vegetable kabobs.
Chip & Dip: Here’s a quick snack you can make with friends and family—making your own salsa and baked vegetable chips. For the salsa, you can try a mango salsa using ripe mangos, cilantro, bell peppers, red onion, and lime juice. To spice things up, you can even try adding some jalapeños. Or, you can look at our blog here for a nice pico de gallo recipe. Like the other recipes we’ve mentioned, you can decide how much of each ingredient you’d like. And for the chip, you can try baking kale, slicing and baking vegetables (like squash, carrot, zucchini, etc.), or baking whole wheat tortillas.
Zucchini Noodles: This is a healthier alternative to noodles or regular pasta. You can use a spiralizer (if you have one), or check out this How to Make Zucchini Noodles Without a Spiralizer YouTube video for three other methods of cutting your zucchini into noodle form. You can also try this with other things like carrots, squash, beets, cucumbers, etc. Get creative! Try it with any vegetable you’d like and see how it turns out. Afterwards, you can steam them to cook (or eat it raw) then top with a light vinaigrette or lemon/lime juice.
Vegetable Pasta Sauce: If you’d like more of a sauce (than a vinaigrette) for your pasta, you can try making it from cooked and pureed vegetables. This will leave you with a low calorie and filling topping. You can sauté or bake vegetables of your choice (i.e. spinach, bell peppers, carrots, beets, zucchini, squash, etc.) until they’re soft then blend them using an immersion blender or a regular blender (to your desired consistency). As with the noodles, you can get as creative as you’d like. You can serve as is or mix it with regular pasta sauce. Also, you don’t have to limit it to being pasta sauce as it can also serve as pizza sauce on cauliflower crust.
Cauliflower Rice: A rather simple process. Cauliflower rice can be made using a food processor, grater, potato ricer, or even a knife. Whichever method you choose, you want to make sure you wash the cauliflower first then cut it into easy-to-hold pieces/chunks. After you have your riced cauliflower, you can enjoy it raw or cook it on the stove with enough water to cover it as you season it to taste. It can then be topped with a vegetable stew or soup. If you do cook it, be sure to drain excess water so it doesn’t become soggy. Also, consume it as soon as possible as it has a short shelf life of a few days. If you are simply prepping and want it for a later date, you can rice the cauliflower, pat it dry, and store it in the freezer until you’re ready to cook.
Remember to get creative as possible with the ideas that we have listed here. The limit is your imagination! You may surprise yourself with the dishes you create. Enjoy them and have fun, while maybe even adding it to your Thanksgiving menu.
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Kay Loughrey, MPH, RDN, LDN
Transformational Speaker, Breakthrough Coach, Nutritionist-Dietitian
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