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Holiday Window Shopper: Holiday Recipes
The Key Ingredient for Healthy Holiday Meals
(ARA) – One of the most memorable things about the holiday season is all the delicious food that goes with it. Turkey and dressing, wonderful side dishes and of course, pumpkin pie for desert.
This holiday season, show your guests how much you care about them by offering dishes that are good for them as well as tasty. Increasingly, nutritionists are touting the benefits of including grains in a well-balanced diet. This includes not only the whole grains found in breads and cereals, but numerous white and brown rice varieties that bring worlds of flavor to your table. With all of these choices, it should be easy to work some healthy grains into your menus.
Research shows in recent years many people have changed their eating habits by switching to healthier menu options and by increasing their rice consumption. In fact, per capita consumption of rice in the United States is now estimated at 27.09 pounds per person.
And the move to include more rice in our diets is paying off. According to a recent survey conducted by Iowa State University’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Development, rice consumers in the United States are healthier than those who don’t eat rice. They are “more likely to choose a diet that includes choices consistent with the 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines; their average intakes of vegetables and fruits are higher; and added discretionary fat and added sugar are lower.”
Consumers today are not only reading nutrition labels, but also questioning where the food is coming from. “A good portion of the rice Americans eat -- more than 88 percent of it in fact -- is actually grown and processed right here at home,” says Deborah Locke, product manager for RiceSelect, the producers of Texmati, the first basmati rice to be successfully grown in America. The company’s rice fields are in Texas.
While best known for their rice sold in clear plastic jars, the company recently introduced a new product line to satisfy those looking for healthy solutions to please their family’s palates. RiceSelect Organic Side Dishes are available in six different flavors: Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil, Garden Vegetable, Wild Mushroom and Herb, Three Cheese, Toasted Almond Pilaf and Roasted Chicken and Herb. To ensure consistently high quality from the fields to the consumer’s plate, each of the dishes are grown and packaged in the United States, certified Kosher and made with USDA certified organic Texmati whole grain brown or light brown rice.
While the new side dishes are intended for those who need an easy option, here’s a tasty recipe you may want to try as a holiday side dish:
* Cranberry Pecan Rice Pilaf
Yield: Makes 4 servings.
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1 cup uncooked Texmati (R) Light Brown Rice
1 14 1/2-ounce can chicken broth
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 cup sliced green onions
Salt and ground black pepper, to taste
Directions: Melt butter in a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add rice; cook and stir 2 to 3 minutes. Add broth and heat to boiling; stir once or twice. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 20 minutes or until liquid is absorbed.
Remove from heat. Stir in cheese, cranberries, pecans and onions. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
“Rice is not only an easy dish to prepare with literally hundreds of uses, but because of all the health benefits, we can also feel good about serving it to our families,” concludes Locke.
For more ideas on how to incorporate whole grain rice into your diet, log on to www.riceselect.com. You can find RiceSelect products at grocery stores across the country.
Courtesy of ARAcontent
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