Guest Author - Jill Valente

Good health and smart eating doesn’t only require cooking well, it also means choosing the right ingredients. Each season I will focus an article on supermarket staples as my grocery lists definitely change according to the time of year. To start we will focus on summer…

Seasonal Fruits
Watermelon, apricots, nectarines, peaches, plums, limes, cantaloupe, honeydew, blueberries and cherries are all in season during the summer. Add blueberries to your cereal in the morning, keep slices of cantaloupe and honeydew in your fridge for a quick snack and wedges of watermelon make a perfect dessert after a barbeque. A wedge of lime in club soda makes as refreshing calorie free drink and fresh lime juice is essential for marinades or salad dressings. Nectarines and peaches are great in a fruit salsa or relish, check out their use in my recipe for Summer Salsa.

Seasonal Vegetables
Corn on the cob, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, eggplant and bell peppers are the vegetables of the moment during summer months. Corn on the cob is great alone or in side salads, tomatoes are so fresh that they can be enjoyed solo as well , bell peppers are great to slice up for dips or to toss into a green salad for an added crunch. Zucchini and summer squash can be used in pasta dishes or try them as the main focus of a side dish like my Summer Squash Sauté.

Fresh Herbs
Cilantro, mint and basil are my summer go-to herbs. All three are great in salads, mint is refreshing in a cocktail and basil is fabulous with tomatoes as an appetizer.

Greek Yogurt
Greek yogurt is satisfying as a snack with some fruit, honey and flaxseed or great to use as a marinade for fish or chicken as you can see in my dish Sensational Swordfish.

Farmland - Special Request Skim Plus®
Skim Plus is creamier than and not as blue as regular skim milk can be and it has added protein and calcium. Use it in your tea, coffee and with cereal in the morning.

Kashi® GOLEAN Crunch!™
This cereal is perfect for breakfast as has twice the fiber and protein as the average cereal. You can also use it instead of granola with nonfat yogurt and fruit for a yogurt parfait.

Please see the related links listed below to find the aforementioned recipes.
Happy Shopping!