Today’s focus is on CRANBERRIES

Grown in marshes and harvested in bogs, cranberries are beautiful as well as nutritious. This indigenous American berry is full of all kinds of good stuff including vitamin C, vitamin E, potassium, magnesium, iron and folate, wow!

Here’s a TIP:

Because they’re available now, get your fresh cranberries while you can, stick them in the freezer and use them up throughout the year! Why should cranberries be a holiday food only?

Here’s today’s TRICK:

Cranberries will help protect your urinary tract against infections. It’s the phenols and antioxidants that make it so powerful. But the sugar undoes this powerhouse, so unsweetened is your best bet!

And your RECIPE:

And your RECIPE (from our Low Carb Menu-Mailer) HINT: if you don’t want to use turkey, use chicken instead!

Cranberry Turkey Burgers
Serves 4

1 pound ground turkey (or use ground beef)
2/3 cup dried cranberries (if unavailable in your grocery, omit)
1/3 cup quick cooking oats
1/3 cup green onion, chopped fine
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2/3 teaspoons ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Ground pepper to taste

Preheat oven broiler or barbecue to medium high. If using barbecue lightly grease grills.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly and form into four patties. Grill on medium high for 5-7 minutes per side or until meat is no longer pink in center. Serve immediately.

Per Serving: 205 Calories; 10g Fat; 21g Protein; 7g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 90mg Cholesterol; 110mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain (Starch); 2 1/2 Lean Meat.

Oranges are inexpensive and delicious! Besides enjoying them as a snack, I love to use orange sections in salads or with Asian inspired dishes. Oranges are busting at the seams with vitamin C, flavonoids, fiber, potassium and pectin.

Here’s a TIP:

The concentration of vitamin C is in the pulp, people! Make sure you eat the pulp and buy orange juice that has lots of pulp!
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Yes, indeed…here we go again, another installment of Tricks, Tips and a Recipe. Today you’ll learn a tip, as well as a trick and you’ll get a great recipe to try it out with. Isn’t that the totally FUN?

AND, I sure hope you get our Thursday emails…this week (11/12/09), we’ll be telling you how to win grocery cards from SavingDinner.com!! But you gotta be on the list to get the exclusive scoop!
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Do you remember that nursery rhyme about uncooperative Mary? It goes like this:

Mary, Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow? With silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row.

I don’t know what a cockle shell is and right now my garden is in dire need of a fall cleanup, but my pantry is really looking spiffy since I did my Kitchen Makeover (you can see it on www.leanneely.com).

But back to Mary. It’s no fun being contrary so if your pantry looks gnarly like my garden, let’s get ‘er done! How’s your pantry looking? Do you have 5 cans of tuna scattered about the cupboard instead of all stacked up together. Can you find cereal boxes here, there and everywhere? How about your staples, like flour, sugar, baking powder, cornstarch, etc.? Are they grouped together into a baking center or do you have to go on a pantry scavenger hunt to find them all?

Let’s do a little pantry perk-up, shall we? Set your timer for 15 minutes and start getting your dry goods in logical order. Like goes with like. You’ll want a shelf for the canned goods (and put the same thing all together, too). A big basket to hold your bags of dried beans, a smaller basket to hold envelopes of spice blends, mixes, etc. (look around the house, I bet you have what you need), and if you haven’t done it already, big containers (I like big glass jars) for your flour, sugars, oatmeal, etc. Putting dried goods like flour etc. into containers will keep the bugs out!

Getting your pantry together will help you get your meal planning in order, too. Get rid of the stuff you don’t use (donate it to a food bank if it’s good, usable food) and watch your pantry take shape. I want to challenge you to make a meal out of something in there this week!

Here’s a wonderful easy dinner recipe (from our low carb Menu-Mailer) to get you in the mood for a good pantry routing:

Chicken Nicoise
Serves 4

1 cup dry white wine, or use low sodium chicken or vegetable broth
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/3 cup frozen pearl onions (or you can use the same amount of chopped onion)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 small red bell pepper, deribbed, deseeded and sliced into strips
4 each olives, use what you like (I prefer Kalamatas)

Heat 1/4 cup of the wine (or chicken broth) to boiling in a skillet. Cook chicken in wine, turning once, until brown. Remove chicken and keep warm.

Add garlic, onions, olive oil, Italian seasoning, bell peppers, olives and remaining wine (or broth) to skillet and heat till boiling. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Add chicken back to the skillet, reducing heat to medium low. Cook 10 to 15 minutes until chicken is cooked thoroughly.

Per Serving: 330 Calories; 6g Fat; 55g Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 137mg Cholesterol; 196mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 0 Grain (Starch); 7 1/2 Lean Meat; 1/2 Vegetable; 0 Fruit; 1/2 Fat.

LC SERVING SUGGESTION: Serve over cauli-rice alongside sautéed green beans.  (To make cauli-rice trim cauliflower and cut into piece small enough to feed through food processor tube.   Process cauliflower till it is grainy and resembles rice.  Steam ‘rice’ on stove top or cook in microwave.  Microwave on high for about 10-12 minutes in microwave safe bowl. Add 3 tablespoons water and stir every 4 minutes while cooking.)

SERVING SUGGESTION: Add some brown rice.

VEGETARIANS: Skip the chicken and opt for a Boca Chikin patty or another veggie patty. Cooking time will be less.

KOSHER: None needed.

It’s apple season right now and the price, flavor and availability of apples is amazing! Apples are wonderful for helping you control your appetite because the fiber in the apple is pectin; it gets bigger as it gets in your tummy, yay! That pectin is also important in your digestive tract because it gets the toxins and bad guys out of your body. See why the old “apple a day keeps the doctor away” adage is so important?

Here’s a TIP:

Green apples for baking pies for sure, but any apple will work for applesauce. If your apples are starting to get a little old, don’t throw them out, make applesauce!

Here’s today’s TRICK:

Well, maybe not a trick, but definitely a treat. Buy your apples organically if at all possible. The skin is full of flavonoids and you miss those if you peel your apple. Flavonoids are what give fruits and veggies their colors and fight inflammation. Important stuff!

And your RECIPE:

Crockpot Applesauce
Makes 1 quart

3 pounds apples, peeled and quartered
1 cinnamon stick  (or 1 1/2 teaspoons)

In a crockpot, place prepared apples and cook on high for about 3 hours, or until fork tender.  Serve in bowls warm.

For an extra special touch, put about a half teaspoon of butter on top and and sprinkle with a little bit of sucanat or brown sugar (just a little!).

Per quart: 730 Calories; 4g Total Fat; 2g Protein; 191g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 0mg Sodium