Winter Greens Healthy Food Guide

Dark leafy greens, such as kale, chard and collards, thrive in the chill of winter when the rest of the produce section looks bleak. If you've avoided these nutritious greens because of their bitter reputations, pair them with judicious amounts of intensely flavorful ingredients-like feta cheese, bacon and walnuts-to balance their bitterness. Now is the time to celebrate the dark side this winter and welcome these beautiful greens into your kitchen.

Tomatoes Healthy Food Guide

There's nothing quite like a summer-ripe tomato-the heady, sweet smell, the intoxicating, succulent flavor, and of course the acidic juices to beat the heat. A terrific source of vitamin C, with a touch of vitamin A, potassium and fiber thrown in for good measure, they don't just taste great, they're also good for you. Tomatoes are also rich in lycopene, an antioxidant that may slow down aging of the skin and may be beneficial against cancer and heart disease. Cooking may actually increase the health benefits of this lush fruit.

Sweet Potatoes Healthy Food Guide

A veritable powerhouse of nutritional goodness, the sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato. And don't call it a yam-it's not even the same species! The sweet potato is a flowering perennial vine in the same family as morning glories, with delicious, starchy, tuberous roots.The Center for Science in the Public Interest calls sweet potatoes one of the most nutritious vegetables in the land. Instead of smothering sweet potatoes in butter and brown sugar, try one of these fresh ideas.

Snap Peas Healthy Food Guide

You've probably never heard of Calvin Lamborn. But he's the guy who made sugar snap peas so sweet and succulent that you want to eat them raw. Though edible-podded peas have been enjoyed for hundreds of years, Lamborn accidentally developed snap peas in the late 1960s while breeding shell peas. Though sugar snap peas are a cultivar of snap peas, you'll most likely see them called "sugar snap peas" at the grocery store.

Salad Greens Healthy Food Guide

In spring and summer, salads using fresh, seasonal greens are an ideal way to get dinner on the table fast without spending much time in front of the stove.

Rhubarb Healthy Food Guide

Tart and tangy rhubarb has flourished in America for two centuries, although it is native to Asia where as early as 2700 B.C. it was used medicinally. Rhubarb thrives in cool weather and it's one of the first plants to mature each year. Prime time for rhubarb is April through September.

Potatoes Healthy Food Guide

Potatoes have been revered for centuries. The Spanish Conquistadors must have seen value in this humble tuber when they first carried the potato to Europe from its home in South America in the sixteenth century. From there, the potato traveled across the globe and became a staple crop in many cultures, including Ireland, Russia and even the Nepalese Himalayas and Rwanda in Africa. During the Alaskan Klondike gold rush in the late nineteenth century, gold was traded for potatoes because of their high vitamin C content; in Tristan de Cunha, a remote island in the south Atlantic, potatoes were once the unofficial currency.

Onions Healthy Food Guide

Onions are an assumed part of most meals, whether they form a base for a stew or garnish for a salad. Most of the time they are not the focus of a dish, they're included to enhance the other flavors in the dish. But after enjoying a steaming bowl of French onion soup, it's easy to see that onions can also take center stage.

Mushrooms Healthy Food Guide

Mushrooms were prized in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, and have been cultivated in Japan for 2,000 years. But settlers in North America were late to the feast. We're making up for that now and the variety of fresh mushrooms available in supermarkets is on the upswing. Whether served as a side dish or the main event, mushrooms' meaty texture is very satisfying.

Green Beans Healthy Food Guide

While one of the most iconic uses for the ever-popular green bean is in a creamy casserole at the holidays, fresh, local beans purchased in season at your local market can't be beat. Also called snap beans or string beans, green beans actually come in a range of colors, from green to yellow to purple. When a recipe calls for green beans, most likely it means the ones that are green in color-although any color will work.

Cucumbers Healthy Food Guide

Food historian Waverley Root once wrote that a cucumber is "about as close to neutrality as a vegetable can get without ceasing to exist." He must not have tried the right ones. From crisp kirbys to nearly seedless greenhouse cukes, there are plenty of alternatives to the thick-skinned types that typically dominate supermarket bins.

Corn Healthy Food Guide

While nothing quite beats eating quickly boiled or grilled corn on the cob with butter dribbling down your chin, taking a slightly exotic approach can be nice too. Corn goes south of the border when grilled and topped with a spicy, tangy sauce and a light sprinkle of salty Mexican cheese. The Louisiana favorite Macque Choux is a colorful family-friendly saute. Corn gets sophisticated with a touch of bacon and meaty mushrooms. Tangy lime juice and coconut milk make Coconut Creamed Corn something special.

Cabbage Healthy Food Guide

If the only time you eat cabbage is when it's drenched with mayonnaise in coleslaw or boiled with corned beef for St. Patrick's Day, it's time to broaden your horizons. This surprisingly versatile vegetable just begs to be used more creatively-so we've come up with some other options for you. Like most of its Brassica relatives, cabbage is a nutritional powerhouse. Rich in vitamin C and fiber, it also supplies isothiocyanates-chemicals that amp up the body's natural detoxification systems. Studies suggest that cabbage may help fight breast, lung, colon and other types of cancer. Download a FREE Healthy Cabbage Recipe Cookbook!

Broccoli Healthy Food Guide

Broccoli is one of America's favorite everyday vegetables: affordable, always available and densely packed with the plant nutrients essential to healthful, Mediterranean-style eating.

Avocados Healthy Food Guide

Opening a perfectly ripe avocado is one of the small joys in life. Avocados, the savory berries of evergreen trees in the Laurel family, likely originated in MesoAmerica. Centuries of domestication produced dozens of varieties prized for their rich, buttery texture, their size or their oil content.

Asparagus Healthy Food Guide

One of the most anticipated tastes of spring is the first bite of tender, grassy asparagus.
Even before we realized that asparagus was a culinary treat, people in ancient times used it medicinally. The Greeks used it to treat bee stings and toothaches; Chinese herbalists treated arthritis with dried asparagus-root tea (possibly since its high level of asparagusic acid is a diuretic and can ease swelling).

Artichokes Healthy Food Guide

Artichokes, the stunning bud of a plant in the thistle family, are in season March through May. Italians have a deep attachment to this vegetable, which is native to the Mediterranean and first appeared in modern records in Naples around 1400.

Great Food FAQ

1. What is The Great Food Guide?

Have you ever been out, looking for somewhere to eat, and can't find anywhere, or don't know what the food is like? If you have, the Great Food Guide is for you! Your one stop shop for reviews of restaurants, pubs, cafes, bistros, bars, fast food joints - pretty much anywhere you can eat out in the United Kingdom!