Healthy Recipes for the Family

Food doesn’t have to be high in fat to be interesting and delicious. Get the whole family to help slice, dice, and learn how to put fat and calories on the kitchen chopping block. You’d be surprised how easy heart healthy cooking and snacking can be.

Healthy Family Snacks

• Put sliced apples, berries, or whole-grain cereal on top of low-fat plain yogurt

• Put a slice of low-fat or fat-free cheese on whole-grain crackers

• Make a whole-wheat pita pocket with hummus, lettuce, tomato, and cucumber

• Pop some low-fat popcorn

• Microwave or toast a soft tortilla with low-fat cheese, sliced peppers, and mushrooms to make a mini-burrito or quesadilla

• Blend low-fat milk with a banana or strawberries and some ice for a smoothie

Heart Healthy Cooking Tips

• Cook with low-fat methods such as baking, broiling, boiling, or microwaving rather than frying

• Choose low-fat or fat-free dairy products, salad dressings, mayonnaise, and other condiments

• Serve fruit, instead of cookies or ice cream, for dessert

• Add salsa to baked potatoes, instead of butter or sour cream

• Eat fruits canned in their own juice instead of syrup

• Remove skin from poultry and discard before cooking

• Cool soups and gravies and skim off fat before reheating to serve

• Use the microwave because it's fast and adds no fat or calories