Its ingredients include tomatoes (41%), tomato purée (5%), vinegar, sugar, onions, sultanas, sea salt, mustard seed and spices.

In the U.S. it’s called…ketchup.

But what a ketchup!

The layering of flavors is magnificent: fruity from the tomatoes and the sultanas, pungent from the vinegar and mustard seed, oniony from the onions. It’s sweet enough for American palates used to Heinz.

(By contrast, Heinz ketchup ingredients are tomato concentrate, vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, salt, spice, onion powder, natural flavoring and Tabasco.)

The texture, the rich fruity taste and the impeccable seasoning make Ballymaloe a ketchup you can eat from the spoon (if you’re so inclined).

It’s ketchup the way it used to be, when it was a homemade condiment—before it got “blandified” by big American brands into tomato paste blended with high fructose corn syrup.

Ballymaloe ketchup is the house recipe from the Ballymaloe Country House in Cork, Ireland. The Country House is a former private home, renovated into a hotel and restaurant (and it looks absolutely charming).

You can buy the ketchup online at the BallymaloeUSA.com website; $5.29 per 8.5-ounce bottle.

It is also available at select retailers, including A&P, Dean & DeLuca, Fairway, Food Emporium and King’s.

Learn more about Ballymaloe on the company website.

Bring a bottle as a house gift, or give them as stocking stuffers. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

It can include meat, poultry, seafood or other ingredients. Like grains and legumes.

If you’re not eating enough whole grains, here’s an easy way to combine them with veggies into a luncheon salad or a dinner first course or side.

We love the bright colors in this photo from Melissas.com. It shows how important eye appeal is.

For St. Patrick’s Day, you can do a medley of greens: artichokes, arugula, asparagus, bok choy, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, collards, fiddleheads, green beans, green onions, kale, kohlrabi, mizuna, mustard greens, pea pods, snow peas, spinach, sprouts, Swiss chard, tatsoi, turnip greens and watercress.

FIRST: PICK A WHOLE GRAIN

Don’t be afraid to try a grain you’ve never had before. If you can’t find any of these in your supermarket, check a natural food store.

 
Need help with choosing colored vegetables? Here’s an extensive list.
 
Plus

 
Skip the lettuces; you’ve got other opportunities for lettuce salads.
 
LAST: PICK A DRESSING

A vinaigrette is the best option here; but there are many, many vinaigrettes to try, varying types of oil and types of vinegar or citrus juice.

After the salad is tossed. Photo courtesy Melissas.

 
See all of the culinary oils in our Culinary Oils Glossary.
 
Types Of Vinegar

 
Plus

 
As you can see, the number of combinations will last through many, many salads.
 
Take a look at all the vinegar types in our Vinegar Glossary.

†These oils can be very strong in flavor, and are best diluted with olive oil or canola oil. Start with a 1:3 proportion of strong oil to mild oil, and tweak to find the proportions that are right for you.
  

 
On days when we’re not lunching on products for NIBBLE reviews, we’re guilty of all of these.
 
Then we were invited to sample lunch at Between The Bread, a takeout place in midtown Manhattan (145 West 55th Street) that’s different from any takeout we’ve ever seen. It’s as if a nutritionist had dreamed up the take-out menu:

 
For those who need a pasta fix, there are orzo salad a variety of penne dishes, along with fresh soups and yes, some sandwiches for those who must have something “between the bread.”

 
*Also called a scallop or escalope, paillard is a piece of boneless meat orpoultry that has been thinned with a mallet or rolling pin; it can also be butterflied.

 
Everything looks beautiful and fresh. You wouldn’t even think of it as “good-for-you food,” but as “I want to eat it now food.”

It’s how America should eat.

Tell the counter attendant not to include the rolls that come with the entrées. They’re O.K. but not worth the empty calories. Ditto for the muffins.

There are desserts: bread pudding and assortment of bars, cookies and cakes. You’ve done so well with your choices, though: Pass them by.

If only there were a Between The Bread everywhere. Maybe it needs a name change though, to No Bread Necessary.

Look at what you’re cooking tonight and see how you can do a variation—divide the recipe in half and serve both. See what everyone thinks.

Here are two riffs on that family favorite, lasagna. The one at the bottom is actually “faux” lasagna, called pasta al forno.

> July 29th is National Lasagna Day.

> The history of lasagna.

> 18 more lasagna recipes, including gluten-free options made without noodles!
 
 
RECIPE #1: SPINACH LASAGNA

Ingredients

How to get your family to eat more spinach: spinach lasagna! You can substitute kale (photo and recipe © Westside Market
\ | NYC).

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 350°F.

2. HEAT olive oil in a skillet. Add onion and garlic; sauté for 2 minutes. Add spinach, oregano, and basil. Set aside.

3. MIX ricotta/cottage cheese, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheeses in a large bowl with parsley, salt, pepper, and egg.

4. SPREAD half of the spinach mixture in an 8 x 8-inch ovenproof baking dish. Spread half of the cheese mixture on top. Add one layer of lasagna noodles. Repeat. Cover with foil and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

5. REMOVE foil and bake another 15 minutes. Let sit 10 minutes before serving.
 
 

Pasta al forno, which means “pasta in the oven” or baked pasta (and defines lasagna), is a variation that provides the flavor and relative appearance of lasagna without the effort of cooking and layering lasagna noodles.

Ingredients

Preparation

1. PREHEAT oven to 375°F. COAT a 2-1/2-quart baking dish with vegetable cooking spray.

2. REMOVE Remove from casing, break up into pieces and sauté in a skillet until sausage loses its color.

3. COOK pasta. While the pasta is cooking, combine marinara sauce, 1-1/2 cups mozzarella, peas, ricotta, 6 tablespoons Pecorino Romano/Parmesan, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in pasta and sausage, and pour mixture into the baking dish.

4. STIR together in a small bowl 1-1/2 cups mozzarella, 2 tablespoons Pecorino Romano and oil. Sprinkle over top of pasta. Bake until hot, about 25 to 30 minutes. Let pasta sit for 10 minutes before serving.
 
 

One of our favorite juice producers, R.W. Knudsen, is offering another way to eat more veggies—or in this case, drink more veggies.

The 100% juice blends are 50:50 fruit juice and vegetable juice from concentrate or purée. But the flavor profiles lean toward the sweet, so no veggie-hater need know.

An eight-ounce glass contains 100 to 120 calories.

The blends include:

 
HOW TO ENJOY THEM

 
And feel good that you’re sneaking more veggies into your diet.