Healthy Eating Adds Up to a Healthy Heart

Tasty Tuesday Recipe

Creamy Chicken Broccoli Casserole Tasty Tuesday Recipe: Making healthy food choices can be overwhelming, especially if money is tight. Good nutrition is at the core of good health and reducing risk of cardiovascular disease, such as heart disease and stroke. Planning ahead can help your Euro go further.  Here are some tips that were developed to help families shop, eat and cook healthier meals on a budget.

• Make a list. Plan your menu ahead of time so you spend your money on what you really need. Try theme nights, such as Meat-free Monday, Taco Tuesday, Fakeaway Friday.
• Go frozen. Fresh fruits and vegetables are frozen at their peak ripeness, so they’re as tasty as they are fresh, won’t spoil, and are often cheaper.
• Be sale savvy. Stock up on staple foods such as low-sodium canned sauce and whole wheat boxed pasta when they go on sale. Use supermarket rewards schemes and coupons for even greater savings (most supermarket chains in Ireland now have apps that you can download to your phone to get some great savings).

Here’s one example of a tasty, healthy meal the whole family will love:

Creamy Chicken Broccoli Casserole with Whole-Grain Pasta
Serves 6, costs about €2.50 per serving

• Half kilo of whole-grain spiral-shaped pasta
• Half kilo of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, all visible fat discarded, cut into 1-inch or 2.5 cm  pieces
• 3/4 teaspoon salt-free Italian seasoning blend or 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• Half kilo ounces frozen broccoli, thawed
• One tin, no salt added corn, rinsed and drained, or 16 ounces frozen whole kernel corn, thawed
• 200 grams of fat-free cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup fat-free, plain yogurt (Greek Yogurt is great too)

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degree C. In a large pot, cook the pasta according to package directions, omitting the salt. Drain well in a colander. Return the pasta to the pot. Cover and set aside.

2. In a large skillet, cook the chicken over high heat for 5 minutes, or until no longer pink in the centre, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to low. Stir in the Italian seasoning blend, broccoli, corn, cream cheese, yogurt. Cook for 5 minutes, or until the cream cheese has melted.

3. Transfer the chicken mixture to the pot with the cooked pasta, stirring to mix well.

4. Transfer to a rectangle shaped baking dish. Bake, covered with tinfoil, for 15 minutes, or until heated through.

Analysis (per serving):

In each serving of Creamy Chicken Broccoli Casserole Creamy Chicken Broccoli Casserole Tasty Tuesday Recipe there is a total (average) of 486 calories and 4.5 g of fat.