Summer is long gone and it's time to do a little house cleaning. Before you start moaning and groaning, we're not talking about your apartment, we're talking about your body! Your body needs to be as "clean" as possible to work well. Our Harvest Home Farmer's Markets are full of fruits and veggies that will help you get rid of the "muck" caused by eating too much summer junk food. "Cleaning" your body means eating delicious fall fruits and veggies! Easy. That's the kind of cleaning we can all get behind!
Our body's cleaning tool is FIBER! Fiber acts as a "broom," naturally sweeping through our bodies and clearing out "muck" like bad cholesterol (LDL) and fatty deposits that make you sluggish. Research shows that adding 5g - 10g of soluble fiber to your diet per day will reduce LDL cholesterol. That's just one cup of black or kidney beans for a healthier heart!
Clean Up with these simple, delicious fiber-rich dishes:
- Honey Roasted Veggies: Chop sweet potatoes and apples into chunks; add 1/2 cup of cranberries and coat in some honey and olive oil. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes on a cookie sheet at 375 degrees. Dust with cinnamon. It's like eating a healthy dessert...for dinner!
- Collard Greens: Chop the leaves and stems of a large bunch of collard greens. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil, add 3 garlic cloves, 2 thinly sliced carrots and the collard stems. Cook until the carrots are soft. Add collard leaves, 2 teaspoons of thyme and 2 tablespoons of water. Cook about 5 minutes until the greens are soft. Skip the meat, save money and get healthier!
Fiber works throughout your digestive system to help maintain healthy blood sugar and promote normal body weight. It's a hard-working house keeper. Sit back, eat up and enjoy "cleaning" for a change!
For more great tips, follow HHFM on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Make sure to tag @HarvestHomeMkts in your posts!
Spicy Black Bean Burgers
Recipe
So full of taste you won't miss the meat while you save $$$.
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 ear corn, kernels cut from cob
- 1 (15 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
- 4 tsp chili powder
- (For a less-spicy burger, reduce the chili powder)
- 1 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, or as needed
- 1 Tbsp olive oil, or as needed
Preparation
- Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
- Cook and stir onion, garlic, jalapeno pepper and oregano until onions are soft (8 - 10 min).
- Stir red bell pepper and corn into onion mixture until red bell pepper is tender (2 - 4 more mins).
- Mash black beans in a large bowl.
- Stir vegetable mixture, bread crumbs, chili powder, cilantro, cumin and salt into mashed black beans.
- Divide mixture into 4 patties and coat both sides of each patty with flour.
- Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
- Cook patties until browned, 5 - 8 mins on each side.
Fiber Fun
Tips
When Preparing The Burger
- Chop up some fresh tomatoes and red onions. They'll make a great side dish for the Spicy Black Bean Burger.
- Cutting kernels from a corn cob is easy! Stand the ear of corn on one end and slice the kernels off with a sharp knife. Ta da!
More Fiber Tips
Tasty ways to add more fiber to your eating
- It's easy! Snack on a bit of fruit, toss some of these hard-working fiber veggies into salads, soups, stews or rice.
- Some fruits and veggies have more fiber than others.
- Chickpeas and avocado! A cup of chickpeas or an avocado have 1/2 of all the fiber a woman needs in a day! (1/3 of the fiber a man needs).
- Black beans, collard greens and acorn squash give you about a 1/3 of what you need.
- Apples, pears, bananas, mangoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots and dark leafy green veggies add flavor and fiber to almost any dish you make.
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