A Little Treat with A Big Taste

How can a high-fat food be part of a healthy diet? When it’s a nut. Nuts have unsaturated fats that are high in calories but healthy for your heart. Today’s Health-e-Recipe for Almond Fig Bars was devised to give you maximum taste and nutrition in each bite so you’re satisfied without eating too many.

That’s a tall order, but the orange zest and almond extract give these chewy bars rich flavor, while the dried figs provide natural sweetness. The figs and whole-wheat flour provide more dietary fiber than you’d usually get in a small serving of most baked goods, while the almonds offer crunch, protein and vitamin E.

Although they are high in fat, almonds and other nuts are nutritious foods. The omega-3 fats in walnuts made headlines for possible cancer prevention. With nuts, just rein in your serving size. For almonds, 23 whole nuts equal a 1-ounce serving and have 163 calories and 14 grams of fat.

Chopped or slivered nuts can be toasted to bring out their flavor so you only need to add a small amount to a recipe: place a tablespoon-full in a dry skillet over medium-high heat and stir constantly for 2 minutes until they are fragrant and golden — then toss them into salad, cereal, smoothies, soups, whole grains and steamed vegetables. Test your nut knowledge by taking our quiz. Click here to subscribe to weekly Health-e-Recipes from AICR’s Test Kitchen.


This Week’s AICR Health-e-Recipe: Healthy Pesto Possibilities

bigstockphoto_olive oil_2330122If you love pesto sauce but can’t find pine (pignoli) nuts, relax. Today’s Health-e-Recipe for Pesto Toastini from AICR uses blanched almonds for the nuts – one of severalGetty almonds FD002107_47 substitutions that still gives you a great-tasting pesto. (Walnuts are another great swap for pine nuts).

Baby spinach and parsley add variety and phytochemicals to green basil. And in olive oil, scientists continue to find healthy compounds – not only polyphenols and carotenoids, but also oleocanthal, which has anti-inflammatory benefits, according to the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.

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