Judy E. Buss

Festive and scrumptious vegetable dishes greatly enhance holiday meals and help prevent belt-busting weight gain. Nutrition-packed and healthfully prepared, they take up “parking space” in our tummies limiting consumption of calorie-rich meat and desserts.

A fruitless attempt to resuscitate lifeless canned, or previously cooked/ frozen veggies, often leads to camouflaging them with vats of cream, butter, and maple syrup, mountains of bacon, or other health hazards – don’t try this at home! Fresh, inexpensive, and wholesome produce can be easily transformed into delightful complements to the richer food.

Briefly steaming, sautéing, or cooking them in a small amount of olive oil and seasoning in a covered pan, are the best and quickest cooking methods. Such techniques preserve vegetable nutrients, flavor, texture, and color as well as minimize work.

Include several types of greens in your raw vegetable salad, such as Romaine lettuce, spinach, arugula, or Belgian endive. Adding colors and increasing nutrition can be achieved with sliced red onion, grated or sliced radishes or carrots; fresh herbs, artichoke hearts, olives, a chopped tomato, a sliced cucumber and/or mushrooms, or pieces of dried fruit, roasted nuts or seeds, sectioned citrus fruit, and more. Garnishing with crumbled feta or blue cheese can also lend variety and flavor.

A light, tangy dressing renders a salad lovely and refreshing. Made in minutes from red wine vinegar, or fresh lemon juice, and extra virgin olive oil, it is also the basis of a wide range of easy-to-make variations. Try adding lemon or orange zest and/or juice to make a citrus vinaigrette; or mix in two tablespoons chopped cilantro, oregano, parsley, or mint; or perhaps some soy sauce and garlic for an oriental touch – the sky is the limit!

Don’t let the “Big Bird,” ham, and the Cookie-and-pie monster steal the show; include plenty of veggies in your holiday cuisine. Happy and healthy holidays!

  For a larger group double or triple the recipes below and adjust flavors.

Festive Green Salad with Cranberries and Nuts
4 servings

3/4 cup roasted, coarsely chopped walnuts
2 navel oranges
8 cups shredded mixed salad greens (two or more kinds: Romaine lettuce, spinach, red leaf lettuce, or arugula)
6 tablespoons dried sweetened cranberries

DRESSING:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons lemon juice or wine vinegar
3/4 cup orange juice from concentrate
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon peeled, finely grated ginger root, (from about 1-1/2-inch piece)

TO ROAST THE NUTS:
Heat a large, ungreased skillet over medium heat. Add the nuts single layered. Toss frequently to prevent them from burning. Roast until the nuts are fragrant and very slightly browned 5 – 8 minutes, depending on the size of the pieces. Immediately remove from the stove and transfer to a plate. Let cool.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together all the dressing ingredients. Set aside.

TO PEEL THE ORANGE: With a serrated knife, cut off the top and bottom of the orange. Now make several skin-deep cuts from the top to the bottom, about 3/4-inch apart all around the orange.

With your fingers, pull back and remove each peel segment. Pull apart and separate the orange sections. Cut each section in half, discard the seeds, and add the orange to the dressing.

Mix in the greens and place the salad on 4 serving plates. Top with the nuts and cranberries.

Tip: Ginger root can be found in the produce section of most grocery stores and in some ethnic or health food stores.

Green Beans with Mushrooms
4 servings

1 pound fresh green beans, stem-ends trimmed
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
10 fresh white mushrooms, rinsed, paper towel-dried, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons dried oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons lemon juice

Cut the beans into 1-inch segments and steam about 12 minutes, until tender-crisp.

When the beans are done cooking, gently rinse them in cold water for a few seconds to halt further cooking. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Mix in the onion, reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook about 12 minutes, until the onion is translucent, stirring once or twice.

Raise the heat to medium, stir in the oregano, salt, and pepper. Mix well. Add the mushrooms. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and cook about 10 minutes, until the mushrooms are tender but not mushy… stirring occasionally. Mix in the lemon juice and green beans and cook 2 more minutes to heat through.

“Mission Nutrition” Tips and Recipes from Judy E. Buss, Syndicated Eating-for-Health Columnist

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