Five Healthiest Foods for Your Buck

By Brett Hill
From Health magazine

Load these in your cart: They’re nutritional heavyweights for less than .

1. Frozen mixed vegetables
Add these low-calorie, fill-you-up, vitamin-rich gems to stews, soups, or pasta. Or serve them on the side, tossed with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper.

2. Canned wild salmon
Scramble it with eggs, use in place of tuna for a healthy sandwich, or top a salad with a few forkfuls for added protein and a boost of omega-3s.

3. Brown rice
Serve this filling, high-fiber grain as a side dish, add it to a salad, mix it with veggies, or even warm it up with a little cinnamon and milk for breakfast. Heads-up: It takes about 45 minutes to cook, so make a big batch.

4. Frozen edamame
Boil it for snacking, toss some into a stir-fry, or mix it with rice for added nutritional punch. Edamame is high in protein, fiber, B vitamins, folate, and vitamin K.

5. Sweet potatoes
Put them in casseroles, slice them for roasting, mash them, or use them in quick breads. These versatile veggies are loaded with fiber, beta-carotene, and vitamin A.

Last Updated: March 12, 2009
Filed Under: Shop Smarter

Ten Waist-Slimming Foods for Your Grocery Cart

By Brett Hill
From Health magazine

I consider myself a pretty savvy food shopper. I know enough about healthy eating to choose whole-grain bread rather than white, skim milk instead of whole, oatmeal over sugar-laden cereal. And I read labels as carefully as the next health-conscious gal. But what about foods that have confusing labels—or no labels at all?

“Smart shoppers often get tripped up by seemingly healthy foods that are lacking in vitamins and nutrients or are relatively high in calories or fat,” says Lauren Slayton, RD, founder of Foodtrainers, a nutrition-counseling center in New York City. In an effort to give my weekly haul a nutritional boost, I handed its contents over to the expert. Slayton’s suggested trade-offs took my groceries from just OK to amazingly good-for-me.

Refreshing Red Wines You Can Serve Chilled

What makes some reds chill well while others don’t? The secret is in tannin, a component from the grapes’ skins that gives red wines their gripping, tongue-drying texture. Chilling amplifies the effect and can make red wine seem bitter. But some softer tannic wines (ones with a less intense and lower amount of tannins) actually benefit from chilling, because it pumps up their fruitiness and makes them even more refreshing. There’s nothing on the label to tell you whether a wine is suitable for chilling; you just need to know what varietals to look for. Here are the best.

For pork, poultry, salmon, and other light meals:
A subtle, earthy, elegant option is Pinot Noir. Firesteed 2006 () from Oregon takes on a snappy cranberry-cherry flavor when chilled.

For spicier grilled fare such as barbecue or sausage:
French Beaujolais-Villages such as Georges Dubœuf () or Louis Jadot () are grapey and juicy.

For steaks and burgers:
Chill a California Zinfandel like the dark berry–flavored Rancho Zabaco Dry Creek Valley ().

Andrea Robinson is a master sommelier and author of Great Wine Made Simple.

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Last Updated: February 26, 2009
Filed Under: Shop Smarter