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Salsa shapes up to add spice to healthy diet

 
By Becky Varner | Published: August 13, 2008    Comment on this article Leave a comment

Salsas are a wonderful way to add flavor to many types of food, and they are extremely versatile. A salsa is a spicy sauce made with fruits or vegetables. Traditional salsas are made from tomatoes, onions and chiles, but today salsas are made from a multitude of ingredients including fresh or dried chiles, common to exotic fruits and vegetables, usually some type of vinegar and/or citrus juice such as lemon, orange, lime or tomato, and various seasonings. They also are easy to prepare. Most salsas can be kept in the refrigerator for several days after preparation.

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Glazed Chicken

Aug 13Becky Varner shows Angi Bruss how to make glazed chicken...

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To watch Recipe for Health columnist Becky Varner show Angi Bruss how to prepare a more healthful recipe for Glazed Chicken with fruit salsa, go online to NewsOK.com/food.

Salsas are generally low in fat and calories, unless they contain a significant amount of a high-calorie ingredient such as avocado, oil or chopped nuts. Our salsa is seasoned with jalapeno chile, cilantro, lime juice and rice vinegar. Dried or canned jalapenos chiles can be used if fresh ones are not available or if you're not wanting to use the fresh ones due to the recent salmonella scare involving fresh jalapenos.

Salsas can be served many ways. They are often served as a dip for chips or vegetables. Salsas are great to top a baked potato, rice or cottage cheese. Poured over a brick of cream cheese and served with crackers or raw vegetable slices, they make a great appetizer. Salsas enhance an omelet or scrambled eggs. And they can be served as a sauce for grilled poultry, fish, seafood, pork or other lean meat, which is how we are going to use salsa in our lighter recipe.

Here is how we lightened the original recipe:

•Replaced the cranberry sauce with a fruit salsa.

•Replaced the French dressing with pineapple juice.

The modified recipe has 345 fewer calories and 24 fewer grams of fat per serving.

Original Glazed Chicken

Makes 4 servings

4 (4-ounce) skinned and boned chicken breasts

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 can (16 ounces) whole-berry cranberry sauce

1 cup spicy-sweet French dressing

Lighter Glazed Chicken

Makes 4 servings

2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

1 jalapeno chile, seeded and finely chopped (2 tablespoons)

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 cup diced fresh strawberries

½ cup diced yellow or red pepper

1 can (15¼ ounces) pineapple tidbits in their own juice, drained and juice reserved

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 (4-ounce) skinned and boned chicken breasts

•Make salsa by combining cilantro, jalapeno, lime juice and rice vinegar in a small, nonmetallic bowl and mix well.

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Related Topics: Culture and Lifestyle, Health and Fitness, Food and Cooking, Foods, Meat, Recipes, Fruits and Vegetables, Main Dish Recipes, Diet and Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Chile Peppers



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