Mashed Veggie Roots

Mashed Veggie Roots

Hey everyone! I'm Matana Myers. I decided to do this recipe because it is super simple and it has a very small amount of preparation time. My dad has cooked this for my family for years, and it is definitely one of my favorites. It's super healthy, and if you love mashed potatoes, chances are that you will love these! This recipe is great because you can substitute the ingredients for different things and/or add whatever root veggies you love.

Preparation time: 20 min.
Cook time: 25 min. or until tender when pierced with a fork

Ingredients:
2 large potatoes (I used russet potatoes, but red or gold can be used as well)
1 yam
1 sweet potato
1 parsnip
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp. olive oil
2 tbsp. milk

...you can also use beets, carrots, turnips, or any combination of root vegetables...

Directions:
Wash all roots and give them a light scrub to get any left over grit off. Peel all veggies. Cut all veggies into rounds about 1 inch thick. Drop them into a pot of water and bring to a boil. Boil for about 25 minutes or until tender when pierced with a fork. When done cooking, strain and let sit for just a minute or two. Mince up the garlic and put in with the veggies. Take a potato masher and start smashing all vegetables and garlic. Adding about a tsp. of olive oil and 2 tbsp. of milk will make the potatoes a little more smooth and creamy. You can mash the mixture for as little or as much time as you'd like depending on how chunky you want the veggies. Mine were almost completely smooth and mixed and it took me about 5 minutes.
You can add any spices you like (i.e. chives, rosemary, dill, garlic powder, minced onions, etc.) and salt according to taste.

Servings: 

This recipe can serve anywhere from 4-8 people (even more or less) depending on how much each person is served.

Nutrition Facts: We'll go with an average of 5 servings for the nutrition facts, and I will provide the nutrition info per serving. (this is about a cup serving size)
126 calories
.13 grams of Fat
30 grams Carbs
2.4 grams of Protein
23.8 milligrams of Sodium
672 milligrams of Potassium
No Cholesterol :)
3.35 grams of Sugar
74.6% of Vitamin A
42.6% of Vitamin C
2.8% Calcium
4.6% Iron

Price: This cost me less than $7 to make!

Taste:
I love the taste of these because they are just like a healthy version of creamy mashed potatoes. Because of the yams and sweet potatoes they are naturally sweet, and you get a taste of the garlic as well!

Ease of Preparation:
This are so beyond easy to make. Once you get past the peeling (I hate peeling things, but it wasn't too bad) and cutting them up, it is little to no effort at all. Plus, you can get other things done while waiting for them to boil.

Dinner:
I would normally think of this as a dinner side dish. You could pair this with a source of protein and a glass of milk, maybe a source of grain, for a very nutritious meal! It goes great to pair with anything you want. Plus, you can put some of your other favorite veggies in the mix as well, to change it up a bit. The good thing is that these have a little bit of protein on their own, as well as many vitamins and minerals!

Vitamins and Minerals:
This dish includes Vitamin A, which is important for the growth and development of several systems within your body, Vitamin C, which is a powerful antioxidant and helps the body form connective tissue, Calcium, which builds your bones and keeps them healthy while also clotting our blood and helping our muscles contract, and Iron, which is a part of all cells and carries oxygen from our lungs throughout our bodies. There is a lot of potassium, very little fat, and no cholesterol.

Proteins and Carbohydrates:
While these aren't the first thing you think of as a source of protein, it does offer 2.4 grams of protein. Protein is necessary in the diet for building bones, muscle, cartilage and more. It also makes enzymes, hormones, and other bodily chemicals that are needed. There is 30 grams worth of carbs in this dish. Carbs are good for providing energy for your body. Starches are a complex carbohydrate where lots of sugar molecules are joined together. These will help provide lots of energy for your body.

Fats and Sugars:
This dish is extremely low on fat and relatively low on sugars. Fats and sugars are necessary to provide protection, insulate us, and provide energy for your body.

There's so many benefits with this recipe. I don't really have something I don't like about these considering all the good it comes with. It's so easy to made and my whole family loved them too!

Cauliflower Steaks

 Hello! Makynsey Boyer here! I chose to cook the Cauliflower Steaks from one of my very favorite cookbooks that I found a few years ago. This recipe is one of my favorites because it goes with so many different things!  I did not realize when I bought this cookbook that it was a vegetarian cookbook. Being a vegetarian is something I have never actually attempted. I love my meat so I usually spice the recipes up with something else too!

Taste

 The cauliflower reminds me of the taste of plain mashed potatoes, but add the scallions and cheese on top for melting, and it is a wonderful thing!

Ease of Preparation

To cut a head of cauliflower, dice some scallions, sprinkle some cheese, and the oven time, it takes a total of 35 minutes. The cauliflower steaks cook on both sides for 15 minutes each at 375 degrees F.

Specific nutritional value

This recipe is high in potassium and vitamin K.

Nutritional Value of This Meal

I based these numbers off of one serving.

1 serving = 1 cup of cauliflower steak, 1 large scallion, and 1/3 cup of shredded cheese.

Total fat: 9.15g

Saturated fat: 5.04g

Cholesterol: 8%

Sodium: 34.08g

Potassium: 372.01g

Carbs: 7.14g

Dietary Fiber: 3.1g

Sugar: 2.98g

Vitamin A: 5%

Vitamin C: 85%

Calcium: 24%

Iron: 4%

Folic Acid: 11%

After reading more about cauliflower, I was amazed to read about all of the benefits it offers. Cauliflower contains sulforaphane, which is a sulfur compound that has been shown to slow tumor growth. The sulforaphane has been found to improve kidney health and improve blood pressure. Cauliflower has also been known to help with detoxification, digesting, and works as an anti-inflammatory. Cauliflower is very high in potassium, which is an important mineral in the body for metabolism, water, and chemical balance.

Surprisingly scallions, or what some people call spring onions, are very high in vitamin k. Vitamin k plays an important roll in the body when we bleed. It works in the body to help with blood clotting and has also been shown to help with bone support.

The downside to this recipe would be the saturated fat of 25% in one serving of the shredded cheese. Saturated fat raises the level of cholesterol in your blood which researchers have said can lead to heart disease.

Other Things to Eat

With the cauliflower steaks and scallions being vegetables, I like to add some sort of meat for protein! Eating fresh pineapple with some frozen yogurt would add a little bit for some fruit! Usually when you cook good food, you also get good company to eat with :)

Boyer M.

Greenberry Smoothie

My name is Shaun Schofield. I am going to show how to start your day off healthy and with the energy that you need! My mom has shared this recipe with me since I was probably 14 years old and it's the greatest! It's a healthy smoothie and really easy to make! It serves one to two people.

Taste: I really like the taste of these smoothies. The taste is much like a regular fruit smoothie that you would buy in a restaurant, but with vegetables. They really taste great and they have spinach in them! Can you believe that?

The preparation really is simple. It's as simple as putting every ingredient into a blender and pressing start. And in about 5 seconds you have your Greenberry smoothie.

Preparation time: 2 minutes.

Greenberry Smoothie Recipe: 

• 1 cup raw spinach
• 1 cup mixed berries
• 1 banana
• 1 container of greek yogurt
• 1 cup water

 Put all of the ingredients into the blender. Blend until smooth. Serve right away.

Some totals for the Greenberry Smoothie:

Total fat: 2.9g                                            Saturated fat: 1.6g

Cholesterol: 15mg                                     Sodium: 112.25mg
Potassium: 652mg                                     Carbohydrates: 63.75g
Calories: 330                                             Sugar: 41g

Yogurt: Calories:140 Total Fat: 0g Cholest. 5mg Sodium: 60mg Total Carbs: 21g Dietary Fiber: <1g Sugars: 17g Protein: 13g Vitamin A: 0% Vitamin C: 2% Calcium: 15% Iron: 0%
Spinach: Calories: 5 Total Fat: 0g Cholest. 0mg Sodium: 16.25mg Total Carbs: .75g Dietary Fiber: .5g Sugars: 0g Protein:.5g Vitamin A 40% Vitamin C 10% Calcium 2% Iron 3.75%
Mixed Berries: Calories: 70 Total Fat: 0g Cholest. 0mg Sodium: 15mg Total Carbs: 17g Dietary Fiber: 3g Sugars: 11g Protein: 1g Vitamin A: 2% Vitamin C: 20% Calcium: 6% Iron: 4%
Banana: Calories: 110 Total Fat: 0g Cholest. 0mg Sodium: 0mg Potassium:450mg Total Carbs: 30g Dietary Fiber: 3g Sugars:19g Protein: 1g Vitamin A: 2% Vitamin C: 15% Calcium: 0% Iron: 2%

These ingredients make for a great smoothie and if you take out the yogurt from the smoothie, the numbers drop surprisingly in fats and sugars.

There are negative aspects of the recipe including sugars and sodium. Sugar is bad for your teeth and it can become addictive. Sodium is bad because after you consume it a lot it makes it so you have high blood pressure and more at risk for a heart attack.

Variations: This smoothie has almost everything you need to have all of the food groups in it but one of the groups it doesn't have is grains. I would suggest adding granola to the smoothie to give you the grains that you need. Also it lacks the meat group. To substitute this group you could add a fish (which I would not do) or you could add some seeds with the granola like sunflower seeds.

*Vitamins and Minerals provided from each of the ingredients:

Spinach: Is rich in iron and has a medium content of calcium. Spinach is an excellent source of vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, and magnesium. It is also a very good source of dietary fiber.

Let me just say some of the benefits of spinach in your diet: Cancer prevention, asthma prevention, lowering blood pressure, better bone health and it gives you healthy skin and hair. I don't know why you wouldn't want luscious skin and hair. Put two cups in the smoothie!  

Mixed Berries:  

Potassium – helps combat high blood pressure, and its a risk factor for heart disease. 

Dietary fiber – helps reduce blood cholesterol levels.
Vitamin C – for growth and repair of all body tissues and keeps teeth and gums healthy. 
Folate (folic acid) – Helps the body form red blood cells.

The raspberries in your daily life will help you with cancer prevention. 
Blueberries keep your memory sharp as you age! 
All of the berries mixed help with your heart and your bones as well. 

Banana: It is high in potassium. Bananas are a great source of vitamin B6 and a good source of manganese, vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber, biotin, and copper.

Bananas are so important in so many ways and can help you out a ton! I just learned a few. Here they are: they help you overcome depression, reduce swelling, protect against muscle cramps and they lower blood pressure.

Yogurt: The yogurt in this smoothie is what gives it thickness along with the banana. I used greek yogurt because it is less in calories and sugar compared to regular yogurt like Yoplait. It's an important part in the smoothie but you can also put a yogurt that is lower in sugars to make it even more healthy.

Yogurt contains probiotics that help your immune system and give a healthy digestive track. It also is rich in calcium which will strengthen your bones!

*Vitamin and Mineral information found on the internet.