Ways & Reasons to Use Tomatoes—through the Alphabet!

Posted by tomatowellness on March 15, 2013 in Food and Nutrition, Health, Tomato Products

By dietitian and healthy living expert, Corinne Dobbas, MS, RD

Below you’ll find a fun exploration on how to use tomatoes and why you should! Hope you enjoy!

• Avocado it up! Mix salsa with guacamole or avocado for a fantastic tater topper!
• Bake with tomato sauce or tomato paste! Top lean proteins, like chicken or turkey with marinara or tomato paste for extra flavor & antioxidants.
• Create healthy quick easy-to-cook recipes! Marinara sauce is the perfect addition and tie-in to a pot full of a lean protein, veggies, and a whole-grain, like quinoa or brown rice.
• Dip veggies in salsa for extra pizzazz.
• Entertain your guests with a veggie platter and be sure to include baby tomatoes and hummus for veggie dipping!
• Flavor a mixed dish by adding rich hearty tomato paste!
• Grate low-fat cheese over sliced eggplant, sprinkle with sundried tomatoes, top with marinara, and bake at 375 degrees for about 40-45 minutes.
• Have fire roasted tomatoes mixed in with your whole grains to help fill you up, without filling you out! And to add more flavor.
• Incorporate tomato soup instead of water when cooking quinoa to make the grain more enticing, especially for kids.
• Juice it up and add 100% tomato juice to the mix.
• Keep it light by adding lots of veggies to stir-fries, particularly tomatoes for more antioxidants and lycopene.
• Leverage your veggie power by mixing them in with a marinara sauce. The sauce will make the veggies more appealing to the kiddos.
• Mix ½ cup salsa with ½ cup beans and top with 1 tablespoon of low-fat mozzarella for a healthy satiating snack.
• Nibble on cherry tomatoes and hummus for a quick easy snack.
• Open a can of tomato soup for the perfect sandwich partner, especially in the cold months!
• Put gazpacho on the list of appetizers before a party for a healthy start to dinner.
• Quit thinking no one likes veggies in your family. Simply find ways to incorporate them into dishes your family already likes. Add them in things like, tomato soup, pasta sauces and casseroles.
• Rest assured that when you add tomatoes to any dish, it’ll become more loved.
• Stuff tacos with salsa, veggies, lean proteins and/or beans for ultimate healthiness.
• Touch a tomato to see if it’s ripe. It should be tender to the touch, not super soft.
• Utilize cookbooks for new ways to make marinara sauces. Inspiration is always good!
• Vary your veggies to get different phytochemicals and nutrients, so you stay at your peak! Fact: tomatoes, particularly cooked tomatoes, are the number one source of the antioxidant, lycopene, in the American diet.
• Whittle your middle by eating more veggies! Did you know that tomatoes are only 32 calories per cup?!
• Xercise your recipe-making skills by creating your own tomato-using recipe! You can pass it down to your family.
• Yearly, get your fill of heirloom tomatoes! They’re delicious, healthy, and super easy to make! Typically, you slice, drizzle with olive oil and touch with salt and pepper.
• Zest up your mixed dishes by adding stewed or fire-roasted tomatoes.

Pick a letter of the alphabet and leave a reason why you eat tomatoes or how you eat them!

Corinne Dobbas, MS, RD is a San Francisco-based registered dietitian specializing in nutrition, health communications, and social media. Passionate about empowering people to reach and maintain a state of optimal wellness, Corinne’s messages reach thousands of people every day. Corinne strives to help people cultivate the best, healthiest, and happiest “you” there is. To learn more about Corinne, visit http://www.corinnedobbas.com/.