Cooking with Ellen

When shopping for vegetables, it’s often hard to decide between fresh, frozen, or canned vegetables. While fresh veggies are preferred, since they have been through little or no processing, they only last a few days, where frozen and canned varieties last for months.
Canned vegetables retain alot of health benefits seen in fresh and frozen [...]

Some foods just taste better as “leftovers.” It’s known (like in this week’s dip recipe) that when foods sit together for extended periods the flavors combine and often change to develop even better flavors. My grandmother calls this “Marrying” of the flavors.

Letting foods “Marry” is easy and practical – that means you can prepare ahead [...]

This month’s Today’s Dietitian provided a very interesting article about 100 Calorie Packs. I thought I’d share what I learned:
100 Calorie Packs can be found everywhere with nearly every type of snack food there is. The largest benefit we get from these is portion control. If someone gave me a large package of Oreos chances [...]

I love spinach dip anytime I’m having a party. I think it’s best to put it in Hawaiian bread and serve it with the bread and crackers. Here’s a way to make it a little healthier.
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
1 cup fat-free yogurt
1 cup fat-free sour cream
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained [...]

1 tub (8 ounces) fat-free cream cheese spread
1/2 cup fat-free or reduced-fat mayonnaise
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (preferably packed in water), drained and chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Mix all ingredients until well blended. Refrigerate until service.
Serve with whole wheat crackers or fresh vegetables.
Adapted from: KraftFoods.com – Kraft [...]