We should all be grateful that yams have been filling our Thanksgiving tables for so many years.  Who knows? Maybe on that first Thanksgiving table, yams were laid out for the feast.  If they weren’t, they should have been, and they ought to be hanging out on your table this year as well (and frankly, all year ‘round).  Don’t think that just because your grandma or your great-aunt Pearl smothered their yams in butter, sugar and marshmallows that that’s all there is to these beauties.  You can make your yams just as delicious with half the fat and calories, while still getting the most nutrients your sweet potatoes have to offer.  It’s not hard—in fact, it maybe the easiest dish you make this year.

We don’t recommend sweet potatoes just because they’re a “supposed to be there” food for Thanksgiving tables.  We recommend them because they’re amazingly healthy and they taste so great!  Maybe you cringe at the taste of Brussels sprouts and beets, but most people smile when offered a yam; and they’re lucky because so many of the foods we love don’t bring much to the table nutritionally.  Yams, though, are chock-full of beta carotene, a powerful antioxidant that helps protect cells from damage from free radicals and heavy metals.  Yams are amazingly high in vitamin A and are one of the best natural sources for this vitamin (and they have more potassium than bananas!).  If you want to retain the highest levels of these health-giving qualities, there are a couple of things you should know: always steam or boil them and cook them with a little fat.

The fat is necessary for optimum absorption of beta carotene, but it doesn’t take much—only 3 to 5 grams of fat/meal.  For instance, in one recipe of Healthy Mashed Sweet Potatoes, 1 tablespoon of olive oil is called for; with just this small amount of olive oil, each serving (for a total of four servings) contained 3.5 grams of fat.  As for your cooking method, steaming and boiling are the best ways to retain the most benefits nutritionally.  Studies have shown that steaming sweet potatoes is the best way to preserve their anthocyanins (an antioxidant), and boiling has shown more positive effects on blood sugar levels (lower glycemic index or GI value) than roasting.  Fortunately for you, there are plenty of recipes that utilize this method and include enough healthy fats to really help your body make the most of this food.  Here are a few:

Chili-Spiced Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Sweet Potato and Spinach Quesadillos

Sweet Potato Pudding

Sweet Potato and Ginger Soup

Lamb and Sweet Potato Curry Stew

Healthy Mashed Sweet Potatoes http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=recipe&dbid=94

Heavy on the yams, we say!  Fill the table with them, fill your belly with them, eat them all year ’round!  And let us know what you think of the recipes we’ve included–how did they work out for you?

Ever wondered what vegetarians do for Thanksgiving?  What if you’re the only vegetarian in the family and it’s your turn to host?  Thanksgiving without a turkey may seem unnatural to most Americans, but vegetarians don’t get a veggie vacay just for a holiday dinner.  So, what’s a veggie to do?  And what’s a veggie to do when the rest of the family was hoping for a bird?  Here are a few tips:

Remember that sides are your friends.  So many traditional side dishes are not only delicious but vegetarian, so it’s not like you’ll have to miss out on everything.  Sweet potatoes are a Thanksgiving favorite and a super food, AND you can cook them in so many different ways!  Mashed, roasted, in casseroles, for dessert—the possibilities are endless!  It’s also easy to keep the “health” in your sweet potatoes; they are so naturally flavorful that they don’t need the traditional brown sugar and marshmallow toppings that we associate them with to wow.

Another traditional fave that you can bring back over to the healthy side and enjoy just as much (if not more)—green beans.  You don’t have to drown them in canned soups and fried onions to make them taste great.  Get some fresh green beans and steam them, then add a bit of olive oil and sesame seeds.  There are a million great recipes on the internet– just ask Google. 

Grab your favorite fresh veggies and make the most out of their natural goodness by steaming, broiling or grilling them (or eat them raw!).  Add some parsnips or cauliflower to your favorite mashed potatoes and not only give the taste factor a boost, but the nutritional value as well.  Get creative and no one will miss the turkey—trust us.

Replace the bird with a fabulous vegetarian main dish. Sometimes, it may feel like, as a vegetarian, you’ve just got a plate full of sides—but it doesn’t have to be that way.  Think outside the Thanksgiving box and try lasagna, perhaps.  Feel free to go traditional (sans the meat), but there are also some great recipes for lasagnas that incorporate lots of great fall flavors like butternut squash, spinach, chard, and/or pumpkin. Or take things off the beaten path with a vegetarian Thai Pumpkin Curry, or pumpkin dumplings, or pumpkin and sage pasta, or a vegetable stew.  There are so many great options for a vegetarian main dish that no one will even miss the turkey.

If you do your homework, you’ll find more recipes than you can shake a stick at that will wow even the most die-hard carnivore.  Make the most of your vegetables natural flavors and don’t for get the spice! Who knows—you might become the new “it” house for the family Thanksgiving dinner.

Sheila E. once sang, “Yellow is a happening color if you’re a banana…”  Apparently, it’s also pretty happening for mac and cheese because Kraft doesn’t want to give it up—not completely anyway.  If you’re hanging out at Brown Bag, chances are that you’re looking for food that goes back to its basics—food that isn’t processed or crawling with chemicals—and tastes delicious, like you’d cook it at home.  Getting it fast to fit in with your hectic weekday schedule is a bonus, too.  So, we think you’ll be happy to hear that a change is being made by the folks over at Kraft Foods.  You know their famous Mac & Cheese?  Well, some of its incarnations aren’t going to be quite so yellow in 2014, but please pay attention to the word “some.”

Kraft has decided to listen to the call of parents everywhere for healthier food options for their kids.  In 2014, Kraft’s character line of products (such as Sponge Bob Square Pants Mac & Cheese, Halloween and winter shapes, as well as “How to Train Your Dragon 2” and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shaped pasta) will no longer contain Yellow No. 5 or Yellow No. 6 food dyes. Yellow No. 5 and Yellow No. 6 (as well as other food dyes) have come under fire in the last few years through links to all sorts of health and behavioral problems (ADHA, asthma, certain skin conditions and even cancer), but one condition has garnered a lot of attention: ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder).  Considering mac and cheese is commonly associated with foods that children like, it’s clear to see why parents of children with ADHD are concerned by a possible link.  There’s no research to indicate that food dyes or other additives cause ADHD (or any of the other above-mentioned conditions), but some studies do show that certain additives, like Yellow No. 5 and Yellow No. 6, increase hyperactive behavior in some children. 

The British government has recommended that most food manufacturers remove all artificial food dyes from their products, and foods containing these two dyes in Europe must include the following warning label: “This product may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children.”  While the US does require that Yellow No. 5 be clearly labeled on food packaging, it has no such labeling requirements on other additives.  The FDA’s food advisory committee does not accept a link between food colorings and ADHD because they say that there are no studies that clearly link the two.  But apparently, Kraft didn’t need proof to heed the wishes of parents. “Parents have told us that they would like fun Mac & Cheese varieties with the same great taste, but with improved nutrition,” said Lynne Galia, a company spokesperson for Kraft.  To that end, Kraft’s new, improved versions will contain 6 more grams of whole grains, be lower in sodium and saturated fats and will use spices instead of food dyes to get that orange-yellow color we all know.  Interesting, huh?

You may be wondering about Kraft’s iconic elbow shape Mac & Cheese, so we’ll tell you: Nothing’s changing there.  In Europe, the company decided to make that change—remove the food dyes and get the desired colors through the addition of paprika and beta carotene—but in the US company spokesperson, Galia, says, “Making ingredient changes isn’t as simple as it would seem.” Such double standards have caused one food blogger, Vani Hari, to start a petition on Change.org to try to get Kraft to remove Yellow No. 5 and Yellow No. 6 from all of their products. 

So, baby steps in the right direction, but steps all the same? Do you think Kraft will listen to the collective voices of people through a petition and make a change to their most popular mac and cheese product?  What do you think of artificial food dyes and food additives?  Let us know on our Facebook or Twitter pages!

We think pumpkin seeds are one of Nature’s perfect foods.  Anytime you combine delicious with nutritious, you know you have a winner; but pumpkin seeds go beyond the “health” factor of most foods.  Pumpkin seeds are chock full of zinc (and phosphorus, magnesium, manganese, iron and copper) and vitamin E.  While there are lots of foods that give you more vitamin E than pumpkin seeds, few foods give you the diversity of vitamin E that pumpkin seeds offer.  Pumpkin seeds are such powerhouses of zinc and vitamin E that the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends them as a way to obtain these two nutrients.

In case you don’t know, zinc is an important mineral to the human body.  Zinc is found in cells all over the body and it helps strengthen the immune system so you can fight off bacteria and viruses; it also helps the body to heal its wounds.  Everyone needs zinc to make proteins and DNA; pregnant women and children need zinc for proper growth, and believe it or not, zinc is an important factor in taste and smell. That was a new one to us.  Most multi-vitamin supplements contain zinc, as do homeopathic cold remedies and some lozenges.  Zinc, because it is so important to the immune system, is thought to lessen the duration of the common cold, and we know lots of people who swear by it.  One thing to beware of: nasal sprays and gels containing zinc.  They’ve been associated with a loss of smell, which in some cases has been permanent.  Besides healing our boo-boos and fighting off infections, pumpkin seeds keep on giving.

Vitamin E, as we said, is in lots of foods but few other foods have the variety of vitamin E that pumpkin seeds hold.  The following forms of vitamin E are found in pumpkin seeds: alpha-tocopherol, gamma-tocopherol, delta-tocopherol, alpha-tocomonoenol, and gamma-tocomonoenol.  If you’re looking at this list and thinking, “This means nothing to me,” then you’re not alone.   The last two types listed here have only recently been found in pumpkin seeds and are the topic of much scientific research into vitamin E because their bio-availability may be more than some other types of E.  Variety is said to be the spice of life, but in the case of vitamin E it’s also vital.

If you want to get the most out of your roasted pumpkin seeds, then don’t roast them for more than fifteen to twenty minutes.  Changes in pumpkin seed fat occur around that time, so pop them out of the oven before you lose their full power.  In case you need some pumpkin roasting tips, we have a few. Check them out:

1.  Clean ‘em up!  Get all of those slimy pumpkin innards off them.  We recommend you cook and eat the rest of that pumpkin, but to get nice crispy seeds, clean them off and rinse them with cold water in a colander.

• 2.  Boil for 10 minutes in salt water.  Toss the seeds into a medium-sized pot of water with 1 tsp. of salt.  Bring the water to a boil,  then reduce the heat to a simmer (low-medium heat) and let the seeds cook for about 10 minutes.

• 3.  Drain the seeds and dry them a bit with a towel or paper towels.

• 4.  Spread them out on a baking sheet and drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil (1/2 to 1 tsp), then rub the oil in with your hands.  Spread the seeds out in a thin layer (try not to overlap much), and add a nice sprinkle of fine sea salt.  Bake for 10 minutes in a 325 degree oven.  Then, take the seeds out of the oven, stir them around and bake for another 5 minutes or so.  Feel free to take a few out in those last five minutes and test the seeds to make sure they’re not burning on the inside!

If you’re making Jack-o-Lanterns, then be sure to enjoy every bit of them that you can and save those seeds for roasting!  Healthy snack foods don’t get better than this.