Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Make Your Meals Pop

One of the things that helps me eat healthier meals is ensuring that I am packing a lot of flavor punch in each bite. For whatever reason, I feel like frequently, eating healthy is perceived as bland. But, I think that if you use the right additions to your recipes, you can really bring out a good flavor and pack a flavor punch in each bite. Having tasty bites makes it a meal that the family wants to have.

One product that I have found that can add a lot of flavor to a meal, without adding many calories, is salsa. I use salsa in many family favorites, including Taco Stuffed Shells and Beef Taco Skillet.

Sometimes though, I use it in more simple ways.

To 'spice' up ordinary baked chicken, I simply scoop a little salsa over top of the chicken before baking it. It creates a wonderful flavor for the chicken and paired with some Mexicorn (add some diced red and green bell peppers to corn before preparing), it makes for a tasty meal.

I also like to use salsa in place of salad dressing on my salad. It provides the 'moisture' that I am looking for in a dressing and provides a good flavor as well. Since it is only about 10 calories and 0 g of fat per 30 g (~2 Tbsp) according to my jar, it feels like a healthier alternative to traditional salad dressings.

I love the ChiChi's Salsa Snackers pack. Each cup is just under 1/2 c salsa and is perfect to keep on hand for so many recipes. Plus, since there isn't an open jar of salsa in my refrigerator, I am less tempted to snack on tortilla chips!

How do you spice up your meals?

No compensation was received for this post. All opinions expressed are mine or those of my family. I am completing this post as a participant in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger program. Hormel Foods provided some of the information for this post.

4 comments:

Andi said...

I love salsa too! I will have to look for those because they are a great size for cooking. I shared your blog today on mine. I hope you have a great day! http://crazydazedesigns.blogspot.com/2012/02/super-awesome-day.html

Mari said...

Salsa is low fat and healthy way to make your meals interesting.

runningmatey at hotmail dot com

Betty Roberts said...

I actually have never tried these I didn't know they sold them like this ill have to look for it next times go shopping

Anonymous said...

I enjoy salsa with eggs, tacos, salsa beef on rice... I also zip up meals with spices like cinnamon or smoked paprika (yummy)...there are lots of spices out there for different recipes and we go to penzeys to get spices and all. The vietnamese cinnamon is super sweet and aromatic and not like typical cinnamon in a shaker. I like trying different things. rujerro at aol dot com