You can make a salad with celery as the main
ingredient. Photo and recipe courtesy
Whole Foods Market.

Lettuce is a low calorie food. Most varieties have just 5 to 10 calories per cup. Just don’t heap on creamy dressings at 100 calories/tablespoon. Instead, use a vinaigrette with heart-healthy olive oil or a reduced-calorie dressing. And pre-dress the salad immediately prior to serving. This enables you to use the least amount of dressing to cover the ingredients.

No matter how you might enjoy a crunchy salad of romaine or an iceberg wedge, it gets boring day after day. So here’s how to enjoy a different salad every day:

• Find a good produce market and go to town with a different lettuce—or mix of lettuces. Switch among arugula, bibb lettuce, Boston lettuce, curly endive, endive, leaf lettuce, mâche (lambs’ lettuce), mesclun mixture, mizuna, oak leaf lettuce, radicchio, red-tip leaf lettuce, romaine (cos), Swiss chard and watercress.

• Keep it interesting by adding at least two non-lettuce items to your salad: beans, beets, carrots, celery, cheese shavings/shredded cheese (in small amounts), cherry tomatoes/sundried tomatoes/tomatoes in season, cucumber, fennel, fresh fruit (berries, julienne of apples or pears; orange or tangerine segments), green beans, mushrooms, olives, onion or green onion, peas, pickles and other pickled vegetables, sprouts, water chestnuts, etc. There are scores of choices. You can add rice, grains, even leftover bacon—in moderation.
• And don’t forget the herbs: basil, chives, cilantro, parsley or other favorite will really pick up the flavor of your salad.

Speaking of celery, you can make a salad with a base of celery—or fennel, green beans or any green vegetable . Here’s a recipe from Whole Foods Market that serves four:

CELERY & CITRUS SALAD RECIPE

Crunchy celery and sweet, tender citrus create a lovely salad that shows how just a touch of a highly flavorful ingredient—here feta cheese—can elevate a dish without adding too much fat or sodium. And balsamic vinegar is one of the great, high flavor/low calorie ingredients one can use in many different dishes.

Ingredients

• 5 honey tangerines, Murcott or Satsuma oranges
• 1 ounce (about 1/4 cup) feta cheese crumbles
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 4 cups (about 1/4 pound) mixed salad greens
• 1 cup roughly chopped celery leaves
• 3 cups sliced celery

Preparation

1. Squeeze juice from one of the oranges into a large bowl.

2. Add feta cheese and vinegar and mix with a fork, mashing the cheese to make a dressing.

3. Peel remaining citrus and separate into segments. Transfer to bowl with dressing.

4. Add salad greens, celery leaves and celery and toss well. Serve.

Nutrition Per Serving: 110 calories (15 from fat), 1.5g total fat, 1g saturated fat, 5mg cholesterol, 190mg sodium, 23g total carbohydrate (5g dietary fiber, 17g sugar), 4g protein

Loaded with the flavor of herbs, garlic and a hint of tangy buttermilk, Wish-Bone’s smooth and creamy Ranch dressing is great on salads, vegetables in dips and more. It’s also available in a fat-free version, is an excellent source of Omega-3s and is gluten free.

Retail Value Of Prize: Approximately $14.00.

• To learn more about the new and improved dressing, visit Wish-Bone.com.
• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Oils, Vinegars & Salad Dressings Page and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, January 10th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!

Spread this dressing on your favorite bed of
greens. Photo by Katharine Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

Cook with it, spread it on bread, eat it from
the jar with a spoon. Photo courtesy Jif.

While your recipe just might be the winner, the odds of winning are much better in THE NIBBLE’s Gourmet Giveaway, which just happens to be a Jif Peanut Butter Gift Basket.

The gift basket includes:

• 1 Jar Jif Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1 Jar Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter
• Jif Apron
• Jif Recipe Cards

HURRY! THE NIBBLE’s Gourmet Giveaway ends on January 10, and Jif’s contest ends on January 17.

Retail Value Of Prize: Approximately $90.00.

• To learn more about Jif and the Holiday Spread Recipe Contest, visit Jif.com.
• To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Jams, Jellies, Preserves & Peanut Butter Page and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, January 10th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck! 

It’s a challenge, since the diet for many of us is too high in saturated fats. (America’s two favorite foods, burgers/cheeseburgers and pizza, are full of them). The processed foods most of us eat too much of are full of salt and sugar. And our diets are too low in key nutrients such as omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D.

When searching for easy solutions, one need look no further than the sea. Fish and seafood are natural sources of the nutrients we need the most. They’re in a food group that both adults and children should eat more of.

Most likely, you know this.

But since it’s Healthy Food Month at THE NIBBLE, we want to remind you that groups such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and World Health Organization recommend the benefits of eating fish for heart health in adults and brain development in babies.

This easy high-protein snack, lunch dish or
appetizer uses Star Kist Yellowfin Tuna in
heart-healthy extra virgin olive oil. Photo
by Katharine Pollak | THE NIBBLE.

According to Jennifer McGuire, MS, RD at the National Fisheries Institute (NFI) and blogger of seafood recipes:

1. You Cannot Eat “Too Much” Seafood
”For the general population there are no types of commercial or store-bought seafood to limit or avoid,” says McGuire. According to the FDA, the dietary goal is to eat a variety of seafood 2-3 times a week, but few Americans meet this goal. On average, Americans eat fewer than three ounces of seafood a week, compared to the recommended 8-12 ounces. NEW YEAR’S GOAL: Triple or quadruple the amount of fish you eat to meet the recommendation. Add shrimp and scallops to pasta, omelets and salads; eat more sushi and sashimi; grill fish twice a week.

2. Dietary Supplements Only Provide Partial Health Benefits
According to McGuire, fish oil supplements are not an equal substitute to eating fish as a whole food. “A variety of seafood will give your body omega-3s, lean protein, vitamins including B and D, iron, calcium, and more,” says McGuire, “whereas a fish-oil pill stops at omega-3s.” Supplements are not a complete trade-off. Oily fish like tuna, salmon, mackerel and sardines are some of the top omega-3 sources. NEW YEAR’S GOAL: Serve tuna and salmon at least once a week. It’s easy to pan-fry, poach or grill salmon and toss canned tuna into hundreds of recipes. If you think you don’t like mackerel and sardines: Look for fresh sardines—delicious grilled—and try mackerel at sushi bars. Raw mackerel is mild and not “fishy” like the cooked version.

3. Developing Babies Need Nutrients Found In Fish
The 2004 FDA recommendation for pregnant women and nursing mothers states, “Fish and shellfish contain high-quality protein and other essential nutrients, are low in saturated fat, and contain omega-3 fatty acids. A well balanced diet that includes a variety of fish can contribute to heart health and children’s proper growth and development. So, women and young children in particular should include fish or shellfish in their diets due to the many nutritional benefits.…” There are just four fish varieties that this target audience should avoid as they aim for 2-3 seafood meals a week: shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish, all of which have mercury levels.

4. Marine Foods Are The Only Naturally Rich Food Sources Of Omega-3 Fatty Acids
The type of omega-3s linked to heart and brain health (DHA and EPA) are only found in marine foods. McGuire notes, “The omega-3s in plant foods like walnuts, canola oil and flaxseed are healthful, but less powerful than the type in seafood. The body has a hard time converting plant-based omega-3s to DHA and EPA, so there isn’t really a substitute for seafood.”

5. Canned Seafood Counts
Fish in all forms, as long as it is prepared in a healthy way, counts toward the 2-3 servings per week goal. “I eat a lot of canned and pouch tuna, salmon, and sardines along with frozen and fresh fish,” says McGuire.

New year, new opportunity to eat better: There is no better time to include seafood in your diet than now.

• Find our favorite fish recipes in our Seafood Section.

If you’re one of the millions of people who have just made a New Year’s resolution to pursue better food choices, here’s an “inspirational” video. It shows some simple, portion-controlled snack ideas that let you treat yourself without going overboard.

Whether you have a sweet tooth or prefer savory flavors—and there’s no reason you can’t have both—pick up some tips to maintain your 2011 eating plan.

Some of our favorites: