Tag: Vegetables

Cooking Tips for the Holidays

No need to wait for the New Year to start healthier eating habits. Check out these easy cooking tips that will help everyone be a little trimmer this season!

Meat, Fish, Poultry

  • Choose from the many options for lean protein foods this season.
  • When using lean cuts of meat, choose moist cooking methods, such as baking, boiling, or slow-cooking.
  • Limit breading. Consider using marinades or rubs for optimal flavor.
  • For all types of meat and poultry, decrease the fat content considerably by cutting off visible fat and the skin and by removing the fat from pan juices before use. Use fat-free broth thickened with cornstarch or pureed potatoes for a sauce or gravy. Add a small amount of fruit juice for extra flavor.

Side Dishes

  • Include lots of vegetables in your meals, both raw and cooked. To cook, just steam and serve. Dress them up with herbs or pair with other vegetables, such as green peas with onions.
  • Use a low-fat, reduced sodium cream soup with fresh mushroom slices added for a quick vegetable sauce.
  • Use fat-free yogurt or fat-free cream cheese as a base for dips. For dippers, try sliced veggie sticks or baked, whole wheat pita squares.
  • Use fat-free evaporated milk when making cream soups or white sauces.
  • Flavor dressings with fruits, herbs, spices, and whole grains, rather than with meat or chicken fat.
  • Choose foods made with whole grains more often, such a brown rice, oats, or whole wheat, instead of foods made with refined grains.

Dessert

  • Make desserts that taste sweet, yet have little sugar or fat.
  • Try poaching pears or baking apples or bananas that you have lightly seasoned with cinnamon and cloves.
  • Mix fruits with plain or flavored non-fat yogurt.
  • Keep whole, dried, frozen, or canned (in water or juice) fruit on hand for a quick and easy snack.
  • Consider serving traditional pie fillings as a custard in order to eliminate the calories and fat in the pie crust.

By: Jamie Rathbun

Healthier Green Bean Casserole

Makes 9 servings.

Ingredients

1 can (10¾ ounces) reduced-fat cream of mushroom soup

½ cup fat-free sour cream

½ cup fat-free milk

2 cans (15 ounces each) drained green beans OR two 9-ounce bags frozen green beans

½ cup canned French-fried onions (See note below.)

Directions

  1. Mix soup, sour cream, and milk in a 2-quart casserole dish.
  2. Stir in beans and bake uncovered at 350oF until mixture is bubbly – about 40 minutes.
  3. Sprinkle onions on top and cook for 5 more minutes

Nutrition per ½ cup serving: 100 calories, 4g fat, 5mg cholesterol, 230mg sodium, 12g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 3g sugar, 3g protein.

Dare to Compare Green Bean Recipes

Green Bean Recipes Calories per ½ cup serving Fat per serving (grams) Carbohydrates per serving (grams)
Traditional Green Bean Casserole* 180 12 15
Healthier Green Bean Casserole 100 4 12

*Made with regular cream of mushroom soup and 1 1/3 cups of French-fried onions.

Note: For extra calorie and fat savings, consider gently cooking fresh onions in a non-stick skillet to use as topping instead of purchased French-fried onions.

By: Jamie Rathbun

Plant Garlic in the Fall

Fall is a good time to plant garlic (Allium sativum) if you want large quality cloves next summer. It is best to apply 3 pounds of 10-10-10 fertilizer per 100 square feet and mix into the soil before planting, or fertilize according to a soil test. Plant individual cloves point up and spaced 6 inches apart and 1 to 2 inches deep. The larger the clove planted, the larger the bulb at harvest. Water in well and mulch with straw to conserve soil warmth and encourage good establishment.

Harvest will not occur until next summer. Test dig when the lower 1/3 of the foliage is yellow. If the cloves have segmented, it is time to harvest. If they haven’t segmented, wait another week or two. Elephant garlic (Allium ampeloprasum) should also be planted now. It is a plant with a milder garlic flavor and is actually a closer relative to the leek than to true garlic.

Inchelium Red has an excellent storage life and Chesnok Red is good choice as well. Others you can try include Armenian, Music, Purple Glazer, Carpathian Mountain, Metechi, China Strip, Ajo Rojo, Asian Tempest and Silver White.  Kansas has the type of climate that allows us to grow a wide variety of garlic types well.

For more information on growing garlic check out this K-State Garden Hour- https://mediasite.k-state.edu/mediasite/Play/7cf6d3b9d31843a2b7b51c499ee1e57e1d

By: Cassie Thiessen

Physiological Leaf Curl in Tomatoes

Every year we have calls from gardeners who have tomato plants with leaves that curl up. When tomato plants grow vigorously in mild, spring weather the top growth often exceeds the root development. When the first few days of warm, dry summer weather hit, the plant ‘realizes’ that it has a problem and needs to increase its root development. The plant tries to reduce its leaf area by rolling leaves. The leaves curl along the length of the leaf (leaflet) in an upward fashion. It is often accompanied by a thickening of the leaf giving it a leathery texture. Interestingly, leaf roll is worse on some varieties than others.

Though rolling usually occurs during the spring to summer shift period, it may also occur after a heavy cultivating or hoeing, a hard rain, waterlogged soil or any sudden change in weather. This leaf roll is a temporary condition that goes away after a week or so when the plant has a chance to acclimate, recover from injury, or the soil has a chance to dry out.

By: Cassie Homan

Vegetable Planting Dates

The veggies we grow in the garden fit into two groups, based on their temperature preferences- cool season and warm season crops.

Most cool season crops can be planted and will germinate when soil temperatures average 45F.  These include:

  • Lettuce
  • Radishes
  • Spinach
  • Potatoes
  • Onions
  • Peas
  • Carrots
  • Cabbage
  • Asparagus

Most warm season crops will not germinate and should not be planted until soil temperatures are 55F – some even 60F.  These veggies are:

  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers
  • Cucumbers
  • Melons
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Pumpkin
  • Squash
  • Eggplant
  • Beans

We typically reach the 45F level about mid to late March and the 55F level around late April.

The next step is finding out your soil temperature. K-State Mesonet Site is a great resource to find local soil temperatures. https://mesonet.k-state.edu/

By: Cassie Homan

Soil Temperature and Vegetables

One of the most neglected tools for vegetable gardeners is a soil thermometer. Soil temperature is a much better measure of when to plant than air temperature or the calendar. Planting when soil is too cool can cause some seeds to rot and transplants to not root successfully.

A number of vegetables can germinate and grow at cool temperatures. For example, peas will germinate and grow well at a soil temperature of 40 F. Though lettuce, parsnips, and spinach can sprout at a soil temperature of 35 F, they prefer at least 45 F for best germination and growth. Radishes also do well at a soil temperature of 45 F. Even if the seeds of these cool- season crops are planted below the recommended soil temperature, the seed will rarely rot.

Warm-season crops such as tomatoes, sweet corn and beans are different. They prefer at least 55 F for germination (or transplanting), but others such as peppers, cucumbers, melons and sweet potatoes need it even warmer, about 60 F. If planted when soils are too cool, they likely will rot before germinating.

To take the temperature of your soil first, use a metal soil thermometer, which is sold in many garden stores. Take temperature 2.5 inches deep at about 10 to 11 a.m. Temperature variations throughout the day and night affect soil temperature, with lowest readings after dawn and warmest around mid-afternoon. The late-morning reading gives a good average temperature. Be sure to get a consistent reading for four to five days in a row before planting, and make sure a cold snap is not predicted.

By: Cassie Homan